No War AU
The New Years Ball, 304 AC. An excerpt from Maester Alleras:
“The newly wedded Crown Princess Sansa spent the ball enjoying the company of her friends, most notably Lady Desmera Redwyne and Lady Wynafred Manderly, and was surrounded by many admirers.
It was a joyful occasion that was celebrated by all, except for the Princesses own lady-in-waiting Jeyne Poole, who that very night decided to leave the capital under suspicious circumstances. Some said that her return North was due to being unable to find a husband in the capital, while others believed in more nefarious rumours regarding the Starks.
That same night, witnessed by several onlookers, Lady Arya Stark rejected a marriage proposal from her close friend and confidant, Lord Edric Dayne, the night before he fled the capital…on charges of treason and conspiracy against the crown.
In the following weeks tensions grew between the houses of Lannister, Baratheon and Stark. As the latters loyalty was put to the question.
Three moons later the Targaryen army would first land ashore on Westeros and the War of Beasts would truly begin…”
From left to right, top to bottom:
Jeyne Poole, Crown Princess Sansa Stark, Lady Desmera Redwyne, Lady Wynafred Manderly, Lady Arya Stark.
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queen shaera targaryen, the unlikely | GLBH AU, inspired by this edit. this one very much fits older shaera :)
there was not a soul who presumed the quiet firstborn of rhaenyra targaryen would ascend the iron throne, but the dance of dragons had burned away nearly all of house targaryen in a mere two years. with her brothers dead, and her only remaining family her stepsisters and a mere child, shaera velaryon took the name targaryen and was named queen of the seven kingdoms—a sight her half-year queen of a mother would have liked to see. and while she sat the throne in king’s landing, her husband—only in name, some would say—sat the throne in sunspear, officially welcoming dorne into the crown’s purview for the first time. at just twenty years of age, shaera targaryen, the first of her name, had done what her ancestors could not.
but throughout her reign, grief followed her. she had lost nigh her entire family in the war, save only for her stepsisters, baela and rhaena, and her brother, aegon the younger. gone was her dragon, slaughtered by her uncle’s, sunfyre, in a cannibalistic rage. gone was her lover, still chained to his saddle at the bottom of the god’s eye. gone were her brothers and mother and fathers.
similarly to aegon, she wore only black, forever in mourning. however, on the namedays of those she still had left, many claimed she wore velaryon blue and targaryen red, and sometimes a small smile could be seen slipping through her perpetual despair. when she welcomed a daughter back from sunspear a year after the war—one many thought to be a bastard for her pale hair and dark eyes that belonged to a kinslayer—it was only that girl, named visenya for a sister who never got the chance to live, who could truly rouse the queen from the storm hanging over her head. then there was a son, a boy with dark hair and even darker eyes donning the name aemon. though he was surely the son of the prince of dorne, there was little doubt he reminded the queen greatly of her lost love. and when her brother viserys was returned, many claimed to see the first true smile on shaera targaryen’s face—their embrace on the docks of blackwater bay enough to drive many to tears.
for thirty years, shaera targaryen was queen, wearing not the crown of her mother—for that had been sold in exchange for a betrayal rhaenyra would never recover from—but the crown of both a conqueror and usurper. though her reign was largely peaceful, some say the rubies of aegon’s crown were cursed, reddened by the blood spilled to form the seven kingdoms and break them apart as well.
first, her husband would pass quickly. his death would come in the form of a letter brought by ravens from the south, sent by his firstborn daughter, who inherited dorne and loved rhaena of pentos. shaera was said to have grieved quietly and in private, only thirty years old and already made a widow—some would say for the second time. she would not take another husband despite the urgings of the twins, who only wished to see her happy.
next went her son. aemon was only two-and-ten when he was found dead. some said the greens still had supporters so long after the war, some said there was a wish to push the queen to madness so her brother, aegon, could take over—now a man. some said the boy merely had a weak heart and succumbed to an illness that hid deep within him. but the death of aemon was enough to remind many of the queen before, who at the death of jacaerys velaryon seemed mad with grief and chose only to haunt the halls of dragonstone and the red keep. such was a similar state for shaera, who after her son was burned on a pyre, seemed incapable of ever smiling again.
neither her sisters nor her brothers could bring a semblance of peace to her. even the sight of morning, rhaena’s pink dragon, couldn’t stir a moment of nostalgia in her heart—she and aegon were similarly broken by the dragons of old. for namedays, the birth of baela’s and rhaena’s children, the visits from aliandra martell, shaera simply sat upon the iron throne, a crown of rubies upon her dark and greying hair. she only ever watched. she never partook. the last time she danced was with a man lost to a lake.
it was only when her daughter, visenya, wed aegon in an attempt to stall any potential civil wars before they could build, that some say shaera actually cracked a smile, small and weak as it was. though the realm saw them wed per the seven’s wishes, shaera had them wed per their house’s true religion on dragonstone—with fire and blood. neither were truly happy, for their lives had been nothing but loss, but for a moment, many say visenya and aegon found peace. and some say, while aegon always wore black for his mother, visenya always wore green for her true father.
from their marriage came three children: daemon, daenerys, and aenys. but grief was great and sorrow ever present for two children born in a civil war, and visenya was left widowed when aegon died of consumption at only six-and-thirty. some say she could not bear to live without him, and her heart broke one night, slaying her in her sleep, leaving her children to baela and alyn, who took the three in without issue.
shaera, hearing news of her daughter’s and brother’s death, called for her remaining family to return to the red keep. many wondered if she would abdicate to viserys for her grief was too great. she named viserys her heir, baela her hand, alyn the master of ships, rhaena the master of laws, and aliandra the master of whispers. when all was said and done, shaera bid her court a farewell, claiming she was far too tired to continue and that she would return to court on the morrow with news for the approaching winter. lord cregan stark, a dear friend of hers, was set to return after years protecting the north.
however, when he returned to see his queen, he was met only by a corpse. in her sleep, at the age of fifty—almost thirty years of ruling—queen shaera targaryen died. some claimed foul play. some said she deserved it for being a woman on the throne. some simply wrote songs about the grief she endured, and the peace she had brought, unlikely as she was. death had swept through house targaryen once more, but shaera ensured it stood strong, for she settled succession and protected her youngest brother’s claim before she passed. lord cregan stark was known to have lauded her for knowing when her time was near but remaining selfless enough to not return to her family, who all undoubtedly waited for her beyond the living veil, until all was settled.
unlikely, unwilling, shadowed always by grief in a black veil that never seemed to leave her hair, shaera targaryen was a good and just queen despite it all. and while her mother ruled only for half a year, she protected rhaenyra’s memory and claim for thirty long and prosperous years. years that many claim to be better than they should have been. years that went free of blood after so much was spilled before.
reunited once more with her family in death, some say baela and rhaena and viserys and aliandra all had similar last words—that they wished to return to their families. some even claimed that shaera’s last words were a breath of relief, at finally being free, and she called to her brothers and mother and fathers and daughter and son and husband.
and to aemond targaryen, who shaera velaryon loved before she was shaera targaryen. who the good queen refused to let him be known as a kinslayer in all of the histories written in thirty years of ruling. he was merely prince aemond to her.
and she was his shaera, reunited once more.
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cpdb rui + nene cards and emu5 tsukasa + emu cards for the alien alien/niccori survey team/opera space opera “alien race w the goal to spread love and cheer because positive emotions are their society’s fuel (like monsters inc. laughter as a fuel) invasion for Benevolent Reasons” ruikasa/emunene au where emu+tsukasa crash land on earth and are found by rui+nene who have to hide them from authorities/fix their ship… maybe len as the alien ship AI rin as the AI rui made/found/whatever… do u see my vision… the dish I’m cooking up…
Assorted vague ideas that may or may not end up making the cut:
> CPDB cyberpunk dystopia being a result of emu’s grandpa giving earth (his favorite little planet) some technology because he was like surely the humans will use this to usher in a new era of peace and love 😊 (he was wrong)
> emu’s grandpa gave them souped up hyper competent chat gpt/ai to solve their more boring meaningless issues so they could focus on creating art and then capitalism ruined it 😔
> no I don’t have an agenda against ai generation what would make you think that (graphic design major being told to use generative AI because “that’s the future” when it Looks Like Shit)
> emu crash lands them on earth when they’re meant to be going elsewhere because she wanted to take “a quick teeny weeny detour” to look at her grandpa’s favorite planet (she knew something was wrong w it. Energy outputs were bad? Maybe the alien society wrote off earth as a lost cause) and tsukasa’s like no absolutely not (they wrestle with the controls -> crash land -> emu’s like oopsie daisy 😊 while tsukasa has a hysterical fit)
> if I want to be really evil emu’s grandpa could have died on earth and she wanted to see if he was alive? But I don’t want to hurt emu like that… I’d rather just go the path of her Really Really wanting to save earth. Au version of Wonderstage.
> or maybe tsukasa and emu are just sent to see why it’s failing. But I think the crash landing thing is really funny.
> ohh maybe instead of emotions it’s music based (harnessing the true emotions behind music) and the reason earth has begun to fail is the increasing drive to create empty pop songs that go viral. That would be a better explanation than the general positive emotion harvesting if you’re assuming everyone in the CPDB dystopia is “happy” (complacent with the status quo of capitalism driven entertainment)
> “it’s a tragedy to view it from this small fry of a planet, but it’s a comedy if you view it from space” “I fell in love with you from far far away” “when this song reached over there and resonated, it was you who gave it meaning! Sure enough this universe is wonderhoy!”
> “I don’t read the lyrics anyway, so give me something catchy” “is it about the numbers than the artistry/awful price to pay for vitality/then what do we do? Was that how it’s supposed to go?/the mind going in circles and slowly dying away” “don’t disguise yourself, fantasies and ideals are fine”
> “The trembling streetlights, the pelting rain/My wavering feelings, an emotional telepath/The lost two make contact/And my heart learned of love “A fluorescent light repeatedly switching off and on/The paranormal confusion quietly ate into you/The parallel signals intersected due to singular point/Created-reality-blind acceptance-itus, sensitivity instinct”
> “we will set out to study the world’s smiles” “Between us, we have something that will turn the impossible into a possibility”
> ^ I can probably do something with those lyrics. General vibes to work with. Etc.
> (rui kamishiro voice) sometimes the cure for complete apathy/hopelessness and disillusionment with the current state of the world can be two goofy aliens (nene kusanagi voice) what the fuck are you talking about
> obligatory rui making joke threats about dissecting emukasa (as he did w wxs sekai plushies/aliens in 2024 April fools) & tsukasa going “y. You’re not serious right” “hehe” “RIGHT??”
> tsukasa initially is very “we need to fix this ship and Leave we have a job to be doing” (realizes the state of the earth) “nnnrgg FINE we have to fix this”
> (sees one bug) “nvm emu can we explode this planet into a million pieces and leave- emu. Emu why are you letting it crawl on you dONT GET NEAR ME WITH THAT” (emu chasing him around w a centipede in her hands)
> emu is immediately infatuated with nene “your voice is the prettiest thing I’ve heard in the whole universe” -> “you make me happy just by existing and I want to make you smile every day”… nene goes from “I want nothing to do with this” to “ok I’m involved now. Not just because emu asked. Rui stop laughing at me. (Would be crying and throwing up on the inside if emu was even a little upset)”
> as with all my aus the ruikasa dynamic is “oh he’s pretty and very talented” vs “what an interesting guy (I want to put him in a maze and watch him solve it for rewards)” -> “this guy is fucking insane and is going to kill me one day (said with begrudging fondness and irritation at his own shit taste)” vs “what an interesting guy (I want to put him in a maze and watch him solve it for rewards) (also I am madly in love with him)”
> they destroy the ai thing or something yay happy ending. Idk. I’m not a polisci major you can’t expect me to have a good neat solution for a huge societal issue.
> ending is hard because I don’t want to separate them but emu + tsukasa have way too much left on the home planet to ever consider leaving it permanently… hmm ending where emu + tsukasa are like we gotta go back for a bit but we’ll return to check on the progress -> more permanent way for visits to happen is set up with the eventual intention for rui and emu to join tsukasa and emu on their adventures?
> saki as a researcher on the alien planet w the rest of L/N… tsukasa prioritizing getting communication set back up first and foremost and rui’s like “is he gonna contact his home planet and ask to be rescued even after he promised to help” & then tsukasa calls home just to tell saki (+ she updates toya) he’s ok (she was understandably distraught thinking her brother fucking crash landed somewhere and died) tsukasa tenma voice I’ve upset my sister. I’m going to go run directly into traffic.
> rui and nene live together (making money thru mechanics and programming). Nene has a shit load of arcade games that she and rui fixed up. Neither of them like how society is but they’re both kind of like “wtf can we even do” although rui does his guerrilla shows on the side (how he finds emu+tsukasa maybe?). Rui dragging himself home at 4 am wounded from nearly getting caught by security and nene’s like are u fucking kidding me.
> actually I think nene playing video games and making money by being a top player is a funnier idea than her helping rui with mechanics. She has some tech knowledge by virtue of living with him but she’s also rank #1 in several competitive games. Nene is the real bread winner in this household.
> I think nene should play video games with emu… emunene arcade date while ruikasa are in the workshop downstairs fixing up the ship (tsukasa is kinda useless he’s just micromanaging/doesn’t want to third wheel emunene because nene kept giving him death glares last time)
Nene: (long winded gaming explanation) so that’s why you want to keep the higher ground during the game
Emu: woaw! you’re so smart nenechan!!
(Loud explosion heard from downstairs) (tsukasa screaming) (rui laughing)
Nene: um. Is tsukasa ok.
Emu: yep he just does that sometimes 💕!! Ooo what’s this game called??
Nene: (whatever it’s not my problem and I’m having fun with emu) this one is called DDR do you want to play 🥰
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