#nainsi

[impossiblesuitcase]

Fighting, and Loving

“Do you ever take those off?”

Cinder’s hands were hauled up at her chest and gloved. The thin fabric was white, though it was hard to tell when they were so heavily stained with grease and soot. He didn’t think he had ever seen her without them, but then again, she had always been working in the few times they had met.

Few times? 

Kai realised, with surprise, that they hadn’t spent even a whole hour together since meeting. It felt much, much longer.

Startled but defiant, she clocked him dead in the eye. “No.”

Huh. This girl got more mysterious by the second, yet simultaneously felt like the most honest person he’d met in years.

Plus, she was pretty cute.

It was warm in the elevator—or that could just be him. He was already simmering all over from watery grief and rage that morning when Levana stood on his balcony and cast her control over his people. Manipulating them. Brainwashing them. 

His eyes were now barren, stickiness dried on his cheeks. If Cinder had noticed, she hadn’t said anything. She regarded him with a quiet tenderness; a condolence, but not surface-level like that of so many other staff and guards and representatives.

Stars, he wanted her to come to the ball. Needed her to, now that he knew the filthy Lunars had planted the chip in Nainsi to extract information.

He was a prince. He rarely faced rejection. While he did respect her right to decline, something in him was convinced that her rejection wasn’t completely true. It never reached her eyes, as though some force was drawing the words from her mouth. Why did she hesitate if she seemed so comfortable with him? From the little he knew of her, she did not strike him as the type to indulge someone’s feelings if she did not reciprocate. 

What was holding her back? He was a prince. He had resources. He could make those obstacles disappear. 

“I think you should go to the ball with me.”

Cinder’s eyes widened. “Stars. Didn’t you already ask me that?”

“I’m hoping for a more favourable answer this time. And I seem to be getting more desperate by the minute.” 

“How charming.” 

That wasn’t the cadence of a voice that was about to accept. 

“Please?”

They went back and forth; Cinder’s responses were still vague, never giving him an idea of why she refused. Until:

“Well there are about 200,000 single girls in this city who would fall over themselves to have the privilege,” she reasoned drily, glaring at her feet. 

Wait, was she rejecting him because she thought herself unworthy? 

“Cinder,” he started, softly. Soothingly. “200,000 single girls. Why not you?”

Cinder looked torn. Insecure. “I’m sorry. But trust me—you don’t want to go with me.”

Trust me, I do.

The doors parted, she scrambled outside, and Kai internally whooped when he saw the audience.

If she thought she was unworthy, he wouldn’t hesitate to prove otherwise.

“Come to the ball with me,” he declared.

Cinder froze. The staff froze. Kai could practically already read the hundreds of gossip posts that would emerge from their gospel testimonies. 

Let the whole world know that Cinder was worthy of his attention. Then maybe she’d believe it too.

She turned around with a sharp expression, oddly reminiscent of his mother when a seven-year-old Kai shattered her crystal lamp copying Taekwondo moves from a netdrama. The expression warmed him.

Cinder manhandled him back into the elevator—which would kindly exacerbate those rumours.

The doors shut incriminatingly and she sighed. “Listen. I’m sorry. I really am. But I can’t go to the ball with you. You just have to trust me on that.”

He studied her. Her scowl spoke of irritation, but the firmly planted hand on his chest was at ease. 

She noticed his gaze and retrieved her touch.

“Why?” he appealed, almost whining. “Why don’t you want to go with me?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go with you, it’s that I’m not going at all.”

Aha. “So you do want to go with me.”

Kai was certain that he was seconds away from finally getting through Cinder’s barrier—assuring her that it didn’t matter if she couldn’t dance, trying to allay her doubts—when something…changed. Her whole body deflated as though he’d just delivered some terrible diagnosis.

“It’s my sister.”

“Your sister?” he questioned, puzzled. Was this sister selfishly barring Cinder from attending the ball due to some slight? 

“Yes. My little sister. She has the plague. And it just wouldn’t be the same without her, and I can’t go—won’t go.” Then, like it was the truest admission of them all, she murmured, “I’m sorry.”

The weight of his insensitivity pressed into him. Great going Kai, he thought, you got so caught up in yourself that you forgot people have lives. All that flirting and pushing, even in front of a crowd! And the whole time, he’d been disturbing her.

He took a step back, reconsidering.

If she didn’t come, that meant that the ball would proceed as dreaded. Entertaining Levana, disappointing the world with his announcement, feeling the final tattered shreds of hope slip through his hands.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

He nodded, but it was a lie. He had no incentive to lie to her. “Levana thinks she can play me like a puppet. And it just occurred to me that she might be right.”

Nothing he did would change anything.

The warmth in Cinder’s gaze bandaged his wounds. He wanted to change everything.

“Imagine there was a cure,” slipped out unbidden, “but finding it would cost you everything. It would completely ruin your life. What would you do?” He leant closer, seeking some sort of surreptitious pardoning. An intimate assurance that, no, he didn’t have to marry Levana. It was completely fair for him to refuse and spare his own life.

Her face showed no hope. “Ruin my life to save a million others? It’s not much of a choice.”

Of course. Why was he even seeking that assurance? Cinder was a good person. Cinder was logical, as was he.

He would do the right thing. 

The right thing, 

the right thing,

She glanced at his lips and soon, he was doing the same.

An inner voice screamed at him. Now is not the time! You barely know her! Your country is on the brink of war and you have to find an antidote. Priorities!

But, being a teenage boy and all, priorities weren’t his friend when it came to pretty girls. 

“I’m sure this is horribly inappropriate, but… it seems that my life is about to be ruined.”

He couldn’t have changed his mind now even if he tried. Kai gently guided her elbow to have her facing him. He craned his head. It had been a long time since he’d kissed a girl and yet, he didn’t recall the thrumming of his heart ever being this loud. Cinder closed her eyes and tilted her head up. She thought this was the right thing too.

His pulse leapt up to his throat as they inched closer to each other. Her breath fanned his mouth, so hot her lips could already be on his own.

Then Cinder cried out and crumpled in on herself.

The band of tension snapped. Romantic distractions would turn into worried distractions, it turned out.

———

Kai could do with more distractions, he decided.

Despite the roughly eighty million pressing issues all demanding his attention, his thoughts kept sprinting away to Linh-mèi. Linh Cinder, who still wasn’t coming to the ball, who was still subject to some unspecified illness. 

Distraction. He pulled up his non-work related comms, hoping for a brand new alert that would pull him into something, anything. A ‘how are you?’ or ‘check out this vid’, or ‘dude, that levana chick be crazy. Stay away.’

His inbox was a barren desert.

Prince Kaito was loved by the world. Kai had no friends.

Cinder was a friend now, right?

Parted lips, her palpable jolt of surprise. Her scrunched eyes and tilted head.

Irrational disappointment gnawed at his chest. It was for the best. Kai had obviously been grief-stricken—no state in which to deliver a meaningful first kiss. Especially when for a whole second he’d looked at Cinder lying on the ground and found her face piercing and hypnotising and something was very clearly wrong.

She’d set her head in her hands, the spell broke, and he still had no idea what had come over him. Probably his sanity doing cartwheels.

Cinder hadn’t reached out. Still, he couldn’t resist shooting off a comm when he yearned for a friendly voice.

Hey, Cinder. I hope you’re recovering well. Like I said, if you need any tests done, feel free to come to the palace. We can’t have the city’s best mechanic in poor shape.  Yours, Kai.

A day passed, and nothing. She was probably resting. But an extra comm never hurt, right?

Hi Cinder, how’s things today? Any more malfunctioning androids? I’ll let you know if there are any in the palace—hopefully none of them are befalling the same fate as Nainsi. You know what I mean.

Three comms in, Kai realised he was a touch presumptuous.

“Your Highness?” 

Kai startled and flipped around to see a palace official in the doorway, head lowered in a bow.

“Ah yes, Park-dàren, a pleasure to see you.”

The woman extended a portscreen. “I have the final details for your coronation security checks. They require your approval.”

Kai shook off his distraction and strode over, once again falling into the skin of the responsible royal. When the official gave her condolences for his loss, he remembered that he would be assuming that role indefinitely.

He was professional with guards and servants, even Torin now. He wasn’t himself with anyone anymore. The Kai he’d been with his parents and classmates would be locked up somewhere in his mind. He didn’t know when he would see that Kai again.

“As you can see outlined in section eight, we are taking strict measures to ensure your safety. Once 80% of guests have arrived, we will instigate a cut-off time, in which no further guests can be allowed to enter. Citizens under criminal restrictions will doubtless attempt to enter under the guise of being late, assuming the name of someone who failed to attend—”

“Wait,” he interrupted. Clenching his fingers around the port, he deliberated. “Remove the cut-off time.”

A slow blink. “...I beg your pardon?”

Kai couldn’t help but imagine Cinder on the day, debating with herself if she would or wouldn’t come. What if she vowed to stay home, only to regret it more and more with the ticking of the clock until she raced over to meet him?

“It’s just, erm, with this time of mourning, many of the guests may feel overwhelmed at the thought of attending without my father present. But perhaps they may change their mind that very evening?”

The woman considered this—or perhaps was thinking of a way to gently inform him that that was a stupid idea.

“Of course,” she corrected finally. “Please accept my apology on behalf of our department. We had not considered that. I shall amend the protocol to allow for at least an extra hour.”

A smile tickled his cheeks, but understanding followed it, and at once he berated himself. Did he really just compromise their security for a girl? 

As he handed the port back to the woman he noticed her hands, well-kept and uncovered.

There was one person, recently, that he’d been himself with. 

“Excuse me,” he said before he could stop himself. “May I ask you a question?”

“Certainly, Your Highness,” she exclaimed eagerly.

He did not allow himself to back out now, despite the embarrassed tension caging his spine. “Do you ever…wear gloves?”

Her eyes widened. Her hands folded over one another as though self-conscious, and he studied their complexion. It was impossible to imagine Cinder’s scrappy gloves on such pristine knuckles and cuticles.

“Uh, not often, Your Highness. On formal occasions, mostly. I have a pair that I wear to the peace ball. I’ll be wearing them this year.”

He nodded, pursing his lips. “Thank you. I realise it’s a strange question. I just wondered if they would make a nice gift for someone.”

An amused smile. “Any gift from Your Highness would be an appreciated one.”

Once she had left, Kai paced over to the window to ruminate on this new idea. He was used to being welcome in any room he entered. He was certainly used to girls admiring him endlessly, and he’d grown skilled at politely declining their advances whilst secretly basking in the feeling of adoration. 

But Cinder wouldn’t be so easily swayed. She seemed stubborn and grounded and unwilling to betray her values, no matter who asked it of her. 

Kai unclipped his port from his belt and checked his comms. Still no responses.

What was he trying to achieve by this? Would she even like gloves? Or would that send the message that he was so clueless about women that her workwear was all he could think to buy her?

But these would be formal gloves, no, ballroom gloves. For the ball. He would give them to her, kiss her gloved hand and lead her down the ballroom steps. He remembered how that surprisingly petite hand had been so stiff when he’d kissed it in Dr. Erland’s office, as though his very touch had turned it to metal. 

He liked to think that she’d been romanced by it. He liked to think he had an effect on her.

Her hesitant glance at his lips. Her pull towards him in an unconscious magnetism.

Maybe she would like gloves, so long as they were from him.

———

He’d made up his mind by the time his seamstresses were fitting him for his coronation garb. They would give him the best advice.

“Say,” he wondered aloud, aiming for naturalness. “Where could I find some gloves for a formal event, perhaps, the ball?”

One of the older women, Kaminari, pulled a pin from her mouth without a glance his way. She had scolded a five, ten, even fifteen-year-old Kai many a time for wriggling during fittings. “You have a collection of gloves in your closet, Your Highness.”

“No, ah…” Treacherous heat covered his ears. “I was referring to women’s gloves.”

Now she looked at him over thin-framed glasses. Her eyes were scrutinising yet she graciously answered after a brief hesitation. “Well, the city’s department stores have the largest collections. You’ll find many fine pairs there.”

Kai enquired further, lacing his voice with casualness as though he was barely interested in such a trivial topic. Not because he feared rumours would erupt—Kaminari was a shrewd woman—but because that shrewdness enabled her to read him easily. There begged a question of why the prince would want women’s gloves, and ultimately, the most plausible conclusion was as a gift for a lady.

———

Kai sent Cinder another comm that night. She would be finished her workday, he assumed, and he recalled her mentioning a sister and a stepmother, so he waited until it was late enough that any family responsibilities would be completed.

It was also late enough that sending a comm would glaringly imply that he was thinking of her, now, at this late hour.

His previous messages were admittedly quite formal. This time, Kai hoped a laid-back approach would soften her digital wall of silence. 

Just a thought, if you feel like taking up dancing—for no particular reason at all—I’d be happy to be your instructor. I can practically see you rolling your eyes from here, but hear me out. You never know when those skills may come in handy.

The sent icon blipped on the right side of the screen. He stared at the left, drumming his fingers, waiting for the icon showing that she was responding. For the next five minutes, there was none.

Okay Kai, baaack it up a bit.

Sighing, he slid out of the app onto his netlink. Holding two fingers down, he flicked them away from himself so the feed appeared—lifesize—on the holographic projector before his bed. 

Kaminari’s recommendation was scrawled on his hand with one of her pattern markers. Saying it aloud brought an array of fashions to life, cycling one by one a carousel.

Kai’s back straightened. He shuffled closer on the bed. “All right. Display: gloves.”

He knew immediately that the particularly flashy ones that passed by would not work. Nor did peacock feather accents quite seem that of a modest mechanic.

He specified some criteria. Ballroom, elbow length, and then, classic. The pink and frills were replaced with simpler options. With no idea what colour dress she would be wearing* (if she was even coming*) a neutral colour would be the safest. With white, some were toned with ivory, rose gold or pink, and others a stark white. He liked silver best.

One instantly caught his attention. Elbow length, silver white, not gaudy but not as plain as her work gloves. The hem was rimmed with pearls for a touch of elegance. Cinder wasn’t elegant per se, but she did have a sort of unmatchable grace, uniquely characteristic to her.

Something about them felt…familiar.

Leaping out of bed, Kai tossed the port from his lap and jogged over to his closet. The lights flickered on as he opened the door, illuminating the long room that seemingly extended almost to the other end of the palace. The eighth cupboard down, third drawer on the left.

Laying neatly folded in lush velvet casing were three pairs of gloves. Kai fished past the navy and gold for the white pair underneath. He pulled them out, holding them up and inspecting them under the light.

They were ivory instead of silver, with diamonds instead of pearls. His mother hadn’t been all that fond of gloves. She always said a hand was better to hold if you could feel the touch of it in yours.

They still smelled vaguely of her perfume.

Kai held it to his face, inhaling the only remnant he still had of warm hugs and soothing lullabies and innocence. He had vowed as a child that he would never forget her scent or her voice or her smile.

No image of wide-spread teeth could come to his mind. He usually had to reference old home vids for the singsong murmurs.

Kai set them back in the tray, folded to match the others, and trudged back to his bed.

How would Mum feel to know that he would be forced to marry Levana? 

His portscreen was still there on his covers, glowing in the dimness. He bookmarked the tab of the department store and shut off the holographs so the blue light wouldn’t keep him awake. In vain, of course. His sleep had fled weeks ago.

Kai settled back into his bed sheets, closing his eyes and willing himself to rest. Instead, his mind fixed on Cinder, and he indulged in a brief, fleeting fantasy of her reaction when he delivered his gift. Would she smile? Turn red in the cheeks and stammer out gratitude? 

Or, considering her clear vehemence against attending, would she scoff and toss them away? 

No, that wasn’t the Cinder he’d come to know.

Kai turned from his back to his side, smushing his cheek in his pillow. Even if it didn’t sway her a single bit on his offer, her smile would be repayment enough. It probably wouldn’t work. Really, he didn’t know why he was so determined to buy her a gift, but the best reason he could come up with was that he simply wanted to.

———

Imagining her reaction became a hobby of his. 

Kai woke the next day, quickly dressed and ate a lonely breakfast in the empty dining hall. He distracted himself by checking his schedule. A blank hour between meetings and preparations piqued his interest. It would be prudent to use that time to practise his speech for the coronation or catch up on his father’s unfinished work or spend time groaning over his next meeting with the Lunar Queen.

Instead, he decided that if Cinder was willing to go out of her way to return Nainsi to him herself, he should return the courtesy. It would take ten minutes to get to the store by hover, around thirty to weave through the crowds in the rush hour and purchase the gloves (fifteen, if he played the prince card), and another ten minutes to return. If he did play the prince card, he might even have time to deliver them now, but if not today, he would make the time. 

Kai scheduled a hover to be posted at the palace entrance at 12:00 and set an alarm to give him notice.

Right. Now he would…work.

Time passed agonisingly. Kai had no office and was adamant that he’d stay out of his father’s for as long as possible. It belonged to the emperor, and that was his father. It wasn’t his yet. Never would be.

Instead, Kai worked in one of his sitting rooms where Torin could locate him and inform him of his burgeoning reminders. But Kai knew his father’s—his adviser was refraining as much as possible, for his sake.

09:15. Reviewing the classified strategies the Earthern Union hoped to employ to gain control of Levana.

09:21. Realising that the strategies summated to ‘We don’t know. Let’s wing it.’

09:27. Cupping his chin, eyes wandering to the window, trying to recall exactly where he’d last left his sweatshirt.

09:30. Work. Memorising the final itinerary for the coronation.

10:00. Trying to recall if he’d washed the sweatshirt that had been worn in stifling humidity and he’d definitely been sweating—

10:11. Skimming the newest report on Letumosis figures. Heart dropping to his stomach at the figures. 

10:29. Thinking of the gloves.

10:40. Work!

11:12. Mapping out the fastest route to Cinder’s booth.

Kai rammed his fist into his forehead, steeling his thoughts into obedience. His wished his brain were a limb; his arm—he could force it down with the other. His foot—he could weigh down to stop movement.

His brain was where the old Kai lived, and like an infectious tune, she was what it strayed to.

Now that the Lunars were around, Kai wasn’t so enthusiastic about the words mind and control being in the same sentence, so instead he commanded his fingers. Pick up the stylus, put it to the port and work.

It obeyed. Kai managed to concentrate until the beautiful, blessed alarm chimed through the air.

He sprang up, beaming.

Torin entered, apology pencilled on his brow.

“What.”

“Your Highness, the queen has requested an audience with you.”

All the gravity in the room dialled up to eleven, dragging every molecule of his body down with it. Kai flopped back onto the chair, grumbling. So much for that idea.

———

Kai’s schedule remained unforgiving. An extra two comms to Cinder were fruitless, and no other free hours appeared. The gloves slipped to the back of his mind.

Two days before the coronation, Kai was closing the tabs on his port and saw the bookmarked gloves. He jolted upright, knocking the underside of the coffee table and startling the china vase. 

Kai gnawed at his lip, pulling up his schedule and flipping over meetings and duties in hourly and bi-hourly increments. There would be something, he convinced himself as Nainsi rolled in with a tray of hot matcha tea.

“Thank you, Nainsi,” he mumbled as he took the cup and sipped. The scalding water sloshed over the rim onto his fingers and he thrust it down, hissing.

“Are you injured, Your Highness?” 

He tucked his hand beneath his thigh. “I’m fine.”

Her sensor glowed yellow—what he’d always thought of as her version of a nod—and she began to roll away.

“Wait.”

Nainsi stalled and swerved her cylindrical body around.

“Nainsi, could you make an order for me?”

“I would be honoured, Your Highness.”

Kai sent her the details of the purchase which she processed without delay. “Where should I have it sent to?”

Kai had been busy reexamining the gloves, even when it was too late to change his mind. “Pardon?”

“I assume they are to be a gift since they would not fit you,” she observed in that ever-neutral robotic tone. “Should I have them delivered to the recipient?”

“No,” Kai blurted. Hesitated. “I’m sure I can find some time…”

He raced through his schedule for any open slot, knowing there was none. Every meeting and hour was dedicated to some very noble, very unavoidable cause. Except, he thought as his eyes stopped on an extra coronation rehearsal mere hours before the ceremony. He’d be fine, so long as he didn’t throw the crown like a frisbee at Levana’s head.

“Have it sent to me,” he decided, clicking the timeslot and sending out a note to cancel it. “I’ll deliver it myself.”

“Certainly, Your Highness.” 

As he closed his calendar the screen was replaced with a newsfeed—article after article on the protests in the Commonwealth. Guiltily he clicked on one and was instantly rattled to see the vitriol on their faces, but also the fear. They were right. Levana shouldn’t be here. He should be able to fix it.

“Would you like the gift to be wrapped in advance, Your Highness?” 

“Ah, no, that’s fine,” he murmured distractedly. Nainsi’s sensor glowed green with confirmation and she ambled away.

He picked up his tea, now cooler, and sipped as he looked through the feeds. The hysterical cries, scathing posters and critical journalists weren’t just a blow to the regal, world leader Kaito. They hurt the Kai locked away, too.

———

When his coronation day arrived, Kai was so overrun with visitors and preparations that he genuinely blanked when Nainsi informed him his purchase had arrived. 

The knock at his door jolted him out of his confusion. Kai sprung into action, rifling through his closet for the grey hoodie and wrestled himself into it.

The courier blinked in surprise when Kai came to the door to pick up the package, but all the same bowed and handed him the box as though it held the crown jewels. He had probably expected a servant, and certainly not one dressed for a winter marathon.

“Thank you.” Kai paused. It was a plain brown box. “Uh, was there any wrapping paper for it?” 

The courier’s mouth hung open. “...You requested it unwrapped, Your Majesty.”

Kai almost instinctually corrected him on the honorific but refrained. Technically, he would only be His Highness for a few hours more.

“Of course. That is my mistake. Thank you. Never mind it.”

The man ignored this, rummaging through his bags and producing a selection of paper and ribbons. “Do you like any of these?”

Kai picked out a gold foil and noticed a sturdy-looking white bow in the man’s bag. He pointed at it. “Do you have any more like that?”

The man cut a sheet of the foil and handed it over gingerly, avoiding crinkles. When he pulled out the bow, Kai saw it was already wrapped around a gift. Without hesitation, the courier unwound the ribbon and flattened it out.

“Oh no,” Kai attempted, shaking his head, “please don’t take someone else’s—”

The bow was forced into his hands. 

The right thing to do would be to insist he couldn’t possibly accept it. Conscious of the ever-dwindling time, Kai buried his courteous instincts, thanked the man, and rushed briskly past him.

As the elevator descended, Kai ran over his plan. He could always wrap the gift in the hover, except he would need scissors and tape. He didn’t even know where he could find them. Paper was scarcely used anymore, so scissors were solely for cooking or cutting hair or clothes making or essentially any activity that a prince never did. There was always a maid or servant delegated to that task.

It was very important to Kai that something for Cinder was something he did himself.

He quickly thumbed the doors-open button, landing him five floors above the ground level. As he emerged, the adjacent elevator opened to a group of maids. Seeing him, the man and two women bowed respectfully. Kai returned a kind nod. But when their backs turned, he called, “Wait.”

They turned around. 

“Pardon me, but would any of you know where I could find some scissors and, uh, some tape?”

The other two exchanged some surprise, but the shortest woman bowed again with confidence. “We can certainly locate some for you, Your Highness.”

It turned out that the servant supply rooms had everything a person could ever need, including a large, paint-flecked table. Kai assessed the supplies and got to work. He took his time, trying and failing to get a meticulous seal and clean fold. It was shabby but functional, so he moved onto the bow. One loop was larger than the other—his bow-tying abilities were strictly limited to shoelaces.

Kai remembered how his father would wrap gifts for his mother himself. It was never the finest job, and neither was Kai’s, but that didn’t matter.

Satisfied, Kai abandoned the supplies on the table and took the wrapped gift to the palace gate where the hover was waiting for him.

———

Cinder looked completely baffled when he presented the box to her. He might as well have brought her a strangled puppy for her horrified expression.

“What?” he protested. “I can’t buy you a gift?”

Cinder’s nose scrunched in disbelief. “No. Not after I’ve ignored six of your comms in the last week. Are you dense?”

Any regret for sending those comms dissipated. “So you did get them!”

Cinder huffed, turning away. “Of course I got them.” Her tone wasn’t angry. Of course I got them; Of course I read them. Enough, evidently, to know specifically that he’d sent six comms.

Hope awoke in his chest. “So why are you ignoring me? Did I do something?”

There was a haze over her, some kind of veil, and he just needed to lift it. “It’s just that I…” Cinder fingered the hem of her gloves contemplatively. Her mouth parted. She ducked her hands under the table and blurted, “Because you kept going on and on about the stupid ball!” 

Oh.

She was nothing if not obstinate.

Kai glanced down at his gift, startled. A laugh tore out of him at the irony of it all. “Stars, Cinder, if I’d known you were going to embargo me for asking you on a date, I wouldn’t have dared.”

Cinder looked away, grumbling.

He would be reasonable; asking a girl to be your personal guest at the most documented event of the year was more of a tenth-date level of request. This girl was mesmerising; intelligent, snarky, comfortable in her grease-spotted skin. But Kai knew how to read people. There was hesitation below that: anxiety, self-doubt. 

It needed to be non-committal. Casual. A first date.

He unleashed his winning smile. “Might I have the honour of treating you to lunch?”

As though she had a specific ‘reject any non-work-related activity involving Kai’ vendetta, Cinder continued to rebuff him.

She was deflecting, so he fought back. Ask the other vendors to tend to your booth. Ask your android. That last one seemed to irritate her the most.

His public speaking instructor would have told him here: when you’re at an impasse, there’s always something else to say. Another angle to convince them.

Cinder didn’t seem annoyed with him, but she wasn’t convinced, either.

It was all right. If she wasn’t coming to the ball, or she wouldn’t go to lunch with him, there would be other times.

Cinder regarded him in a way he thought—hoped—was almost regretful.

Could there be?

In a few hours, he would be emperor. If he were busy as a prince, he would have no time for respite now. And Cinder was…nothing more than a subject. A mechanic he sought a service from. She may have been willing to kiss him, but to let him court her?

One day—in the future. Maybe.

“Come on. I can’t take you to the…B-word; I can’t take you to lunch. Short of my unplugging the processor on one of my androids, this could be the last time we ever see each other,” he said nonchalantly, hoping there was no obvious tinge of disappointment.

Cinder stared at her toolbox. “Believe it or not, I’d actually kind of resolved myself to that fact already.”

Her words cemented it. No, he would not be able to escape his fate of marrying Levana. No, he would not be free to pursue a relationship with the only person left who made him feel like more than just a figurehead.

He didn’t allow her to give him back the gloves. All the same, he would treat her with kindness, and show his gratitude, and then perhaps she wouldn’t forget about him.

Pushing the box to her, he requested, “Take it. And think of me.” 

He smiled sincerely at her, hoping it would leave a lasting mark in her memory. Something just as indelible as she had become to him.

His mood soured when Cinder’s stepsister arrived, spoiling what may be his last interaction with her. And yet as he stepped back into the crowd, he turned once more to watch. The messy hair and grease-stained clothes and magnetising charm. That was what he'd remember.

———

Kai was an idiot.

Grade A idiot. World-class idiot. All his fans who called him charming and kind and benevolent were wrong.

At first, seeing Linh Pearl at the ball was just another nail in the coffin of the awful day that was his coronation. But her news struck an unexpected chord in his chest.

Cinder’s stepsister had died. The one she had mentioned in the elevator. The reason she hadn’t come to the ball.

Kai had completely forgotten that the girl was ill. And he’d marched up to Cinder’s booth, attempting again to get her to come to the ball; he’d even nagged her for ignoring his comms! Was he so dense?

Idiot.

For all the guilt, there was also a twinge of hope. Because if Cinder was in mourning, perhaps she wasn’t rejecting him. Perhaps it had just been the wrong time. So then if…

No. It was wishful thinking. Cinder hadn’t shown up to indicate anything. And tonight he had to announce his plans to wed Levana.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” said Kai to the girl, genuinely meaning it.

Pearl sniffed, though it was more haughty than mournful. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I know you truly do feel that in your heart. I can’t say the same of my awful stepsister.”

He blinked. “Pardon?”

“Oh, she is a monster. If only you knew what she’s really like. And don’t worry, I made sure she wouldn’t taint your generous gift with her filthy claws.”

“What do you mean? Those were a gift for her to use.”

Pearl’s sneer was frighteningly sincere. “Trust me, a creature like her doesn’t deserve them. You see, that awful, ungrateful wretch is a cy–”

A voice boomed over the speakers, spreading commotion amongst the joviality. Kai frowned at the interruption, too busy waiting to correct whatever nonsense Linh Pearl was about to spew. Then he heard the announcement.

“Please welcome to the 126th Annual Ball of the Eastern Commonwealth, a personal guest of His Imperial Majesty: Linh Cinder of New Beijing.”

Kai’s breath snagged, heart tripling in size. At the top of the stairs, Cinder stood in all her crowning glory. That being her version: a muddied, wet dress, mussed hair and—

Holding up the dripping silver skirt were silk-gloved hands. 

Every mouth hung as she descended the stairs. Heat rushed to his cheeks, then laughter to his heart. Cinder had come to the ball. She was wearing his gift. 

That had to mean something.

Cinder’s fierce eyes were trained on him as she marched forward. It didn’t even seem to bother her that her ballgown looked half dragged out of a sewer, the crowd around her staring blades and ice shards into her back. He didn’t know if she didn’t notice, or if she didn’t let herself. Kai rushed forward, blessedly excused from his delightful conversation partner. He was just preparing to meet Cinder halfway when she was intercepted by a woman. His feet stopped beneath him.

The two argued. Pearl scurried next to the strange woman to hurl accusations of her own. Cinder’s nostrils flared, and even the guards looked perplexed at whether they should intervene.

The woman raised a flat hand, Cinder flinched, and Kai saw scarlet red.

“Your Majesty!” the woman gasped out, as his firm hand locked around her wrist.

“That is enough,” he disciplined. He kept his fury contained, lest any shows of anger make Cinder even more afraid.

Pink filled the woman’s cheeks. “I am so sorry, Your Majesty. My emotions—my temper—this girl is…I am sorry she has interrupted…she is my ward—she should not be here…”

Her stepmother. “Of course, she should. She is my personal guest.” His tone was light, but commanding all the same. His eyes darted to Cinder. Traced over the shock on her face. The defused fear. The arms wrapped around her waist, cradling—or caging—herself.

He wished so fervently to strip that pain away.

Kai released the woman and ordered the merriment to resume, which everyone attempted half-heartedly. Then he pulled Cinder into his arms and into the most socially acceptable method to have a private conversation amidst a crowd: dancing.

Once having guided Cinder away, Kai was finally able to give her a closer inspection. That’s how he noticed the dark smudges on the silver silk gloves.

Okay. Maybe she had defaced his gift, but she was still wearing them. How could he expect anything else from the girl who had been so exponentially unlike anyone he’d ever met before?

Cinder gaped up at him, and while the damp glove was seeping cold into his shoulder, her waist was warm under his hand. It took only a heartbeat for him to realise that she was not experienced in the ways of waltzing. 

He chuckled. “You have no idea how to dance, do you?”

“I’m a mechanic,” she hissed, and it stirred a louder laugh under his sternum.

“Believe me, I noticed. Are those grease stains on the gloves I gave you?” he teased, because really, he couldn’t even make himself mad about it. He expressed that by twirling her under his arm, to which she stumbled and toppled into his chest.

A grin overtook him. Cinder cringed. She was wholly out of her element, and clearly uncomfortable by all the scrutiny. And yet, this flustered and dishevelled version of Cinder had come all the way to the ball for him, despite the opposition from her guardian. Despite her own self-doubts.

Then he remembered the other reason she hadn’t wanted to attend.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he started softly.

He momentarily thought that she might start to cry. “I didn’t know how.”

“I would have understood.”

The more he apologised, the more at ease she seemed. It was as though he was pardoning her, assuring her that being here would not dishonour her sister’s memory. She looked at him like she was seeing his face in whole for the first time; not just in pieces.

A voice came to him, Torin this time, lecturing him that this was a foolish pursuit; that he would still have to make his announcement of his betrothal to Levana. But it was a small heartache he didn’t dwell on it. Because something else Torin had once said came to him.

“Perhaps you’ll meet a girl at the festival. Have a whirlwind romance, a happily ever after, and have no more worries for the rest of your days.”

Cinder tied her fingers in the hair at his neck. She was here. Reasons she had rejected him didn’t matter now. He liked her. She liked him. There were no other reasons needed.

Somehow, ludicrously, Cinder being here meant everything.

As long as Cinder was around, he knew that the Kai locked away inside of him would stay alive. And, one day, return.

Fighting, and loving.

Notes

…And then everything crashes and burns spectacularly :D 

Writing Kai at this stage is so interesting because his life is falling to pieces and yet he is so effortlessly flirty with Cinder, making it appear that he's coping. Then you get to his povs and he is not coping, and when you read 'The Mechanic' you see how he wants to sound "witty" to impress her. He was holding in all those emotions so he could flirt effectively lol. Anyways I recommend reading these scenes in the actual book because I didn't include all the dialogue, just snippets to highlight Kai's perspective.

I am most indebted to @spherical-empirical for the line, "I can practically see you rolling your eyes from here, but hear me out." It was from a post from a long time ago, but I started this fic a long time ago. I am VERY happy that this is finished after TWO YEARS of it sitting in my drafts.

@cindersassasin @hayleblackburn @spherical-empirical @salt-warrior @just2bubbly @gingerale2017 @icarusignite @kaider-is-my-otp @slmkaider @luna-maximoff-22 @cosmicnovaflare @kaixiety @snozkat @mirrorballsss @skinwitch18 @vincentvangothic @bakergirl13 @wassupnye @linh-cindy

[rosiethorns88]

Dropping the latest Patreon Sketch-a-Wish for May! The opening scene for The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, featuring Cinder, Kai, Iko (who is basically an EVE/Wall-E love-child), an unconscious Nainsi and a bunch of easter egg items, as requested in our poll. (can you point them out?)

This was definitely one where the background itself was its own character; There's so much happening here and it's very nuanced to the context of the scene. I think those who aren't familiar with the book will have a hard time figuring out what's happening here - but seriously, caption this artwork: "Doting dad drops off his two android kids at day camp where the youngest has already stolen the cyborg foot off of the caretaker." ... and it still works. 😂

In order to fish for Easter Egg items, I re-listed to the Lunar Chronicles for the first time since I first read them a few years back; they were my gateway series into the bookish community and I absolutely fell in love with it all over again! I have Gilded on my TBR shortlist, and just recently listed to Heartless last month. I'm definitely on a Meyer bender, with the fabulous Rebecca Soler (the narrator) to keep me company!

[cosmicnovaflare]

Kai and Nainsi off to the market.

Full time-lapse on Instagram

[princessselene126]

I'm not including Iko in this bc she's a main character imo and not a supporting one.

Please reblog for a bigger sample size!

[ikosburneraccount]

I'm sorry I'm so bothered by the fact that in Cinder, when Kai asks Cinder updates on Nainsi (and Cinder respectfully says she hasn't gotten around to it yet), Kai says "You probably have a client list a mile long."

WHY are they using the Imperial system and NOT the metric system? This is bothering me so bad. Literally 99% of the world uses the metric system.

[monsterdoodling]

my alchemist Fae, Nainsi :)

[linh-cindy]

An Unexpected Rejection

The scene where Cinder is asked by Prince Kai to be his personal guest at the 126th Annual Peace Ball but she declines- in Kai"s point of view!

Kai was late.

He really needed to see Dr. Erland, but apparently, time wasn't on his side.

He spotted the nearest elevator behind him and as it was about to close, the elevator operator was able to hold it.

"Please hold," the voice announced.

"Sorry, sorry," Kai said to the person inside the elevator, practically slipping into it, "thanks for the hold--"

His voice caught when he saw the person inside.

Linh Cinder was leaning on the elevator wall, arms crossed, and she seemed genuinely shocked to see him standing there.

"Linh-mèi?" Kai blurted out.

She froze. She pushed herself off the elevator wall, something that Kai should have told her not to do and risk her being uncomfortable.

"Your Highness," Cinder muttered quietly, bowing.

Kai could sense the tension radiating off her. He wished he could do something to ease it.

Silence filled the elevator. A minute passed before Cinder spoke.

Cinder cleared her throat. "You should, um, just call me Cinder. You don't need to be so-" She slammed her mouth shut.

Kai's mouth twitched into an almost-smile.

Stop! Act normal! Kai scolded himself.

"All right, Cinder," he said, thankful his voice was steady. "Are you following me?"

Cinder frowned, which made Kai a little guilty he was teasing her. "I'm just going to check on the med-droid," she said. "That I looked at yesterday. To ensure it doesn't have any remaining bugs or anything."

Kai nodded. This was not going well. "I was on my way to talk to Dr. Erland about his progress," he told her to cut the silence. "I heard through the grapevine that he may have made progress with one of the recent draft subjects. I don’t suppose he said anything to you?"

Cinder fidgeted with her belt loops. "No, he didn't mention anything. But I'm just the mechanic."

They didn't say anything after that.

She doesn't know.

The elevator stopped. Kai motioned for her to exit first, then he followed her.

"Your Highness?" said a young woman in front of him. "I am so sorry."

"Thank you, Fateen," said Kai quietly. He kept walking.

Cinder frowned, confused.

Not a dozen steps later, they were halted by a man who also gave his condolences to Kai.

Kai saw Cinder shiver beside him. She stopped.

"You haven't seen the net this morning."

A heartbeat later, Cinder's eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

Kai was surprised, but it faded away easily. He ducked his head. "Good guess."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know-" she stammered frantically, her voice hinting at a million apologies.

Kai tucked his hands into his pockets. "I wish my father's death were the worst of it."

Cinder's eyes clouded over. Was something wrong? "Your Highness?"

Kai turned to look at her. He was getting sick of all these "Your Highnesses". Of course- not when Cinder said it. Wait-

"You can call me Kai," he blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Excuse me?"

"No more ‘Your Highness.’ I get enough of that from…everyone else. You should just call me Kai."

Cinder seemed momentarily dazed before he continued. She blinked like waking up from a daydream. "No. That wouldn't be-"

"Don't make me turn it into a royal command," he said, smiling.

Cinder scrunched her shoulders up by her ears. "All right. I suppose."

"Thank you," said Kai gratefully. "We should go then."

After a bit of quiet walking, he asked curiously, "What was wrong with the android?"

Cinder scratched at an oil stain on her glove. "Oh, I’m sorry. She’s not done yet. I’m working on her, I swear." She's talking about Nainsi.

"No, I meant the med-droid," said Kai, pushing down the urge to ask more about Nainsi. "That you fixed for Dr. Erland?"

"Oh. Oh, right. Um. It was…it had…a…dead wire. Between its optosensor and…control panel," she stammered.

Kai raised his brow. She was lying.

Cinder cleared her throat as if to clear away the awkwardness. "You, uh, said that something was worse? Before?"

Kai said nothing.

"Never mind," said Cinder, shrugging. "I didn't mean to pry."

Dammit, Kai. You just blew it.

“No, it’s all right. You’ll find out soon enough.” He lowered his voice. “The Lunar queen informed us this morning that she is coming to the Commonwealth on a diplomatic mission. Supposedly," he told her.

Cinder almost tripped, and Kai felt a pang of guilt as she stumbled after him. "The Lunar Queen? You can't be serious."

“I wish I weren’t. Every android in the palace has spent the morning taking down every reflective surface in the guest wing. It’s ridiculous—like we have nothing better to do.”

“Reflective surfaces? I always thought that was just superstition.”

“Evidently not. Something about their glamour... It doesn't really matter."

“When is she coming?”

“Today.”

Cinder looked horrified.

“I’ll be making an announcement in half an hour," said Kai.

“But why would she come now, when we’re in mourning?”

Kai smiled grimly. “Because we’re in mourning.”

He stopped.

Shoot, Nainsi.

Kai turned toward Cinder nervously. “Look, I really appreciate your helping with the med-droids, and I’m sure the best mechanic in the city has a million jobs to prioritize, but at the risk of sounding like a spoiled prince, could I ask that you move Nainsi to the top of your list? I’m starting to get anxious about getting her back. I—” He paused long enough to catch the anxiousness in Cinder's face. “I think I could use the moral support of my childhood tutor right now. You know?” He wanted her to know he was lying. He needed to let her know he was lying. Lying for something far more important than childhood attachments or moral support.

Understanding flashed across Cinder's grease-coated face. “Of course, Your Highness. Sorry, Prince Kai. I’ll take a look at her as soon as I get home.”

Kai would have hugged her.

Oh, Cinder, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Kai stomped down his ridiculous thoughts and gestured at a door that had Dr. Dmitri Erland's name labeled on it.

As soon as they entered, Erland leapt to his feet. "Your Highness--I am so sorry. What can I do to help you?"

“Nothing, thank you,” said Kai. Then he reconsidered. "Find a cure."

“I will, Your Highness.” He pulled his hat on. “Of course I will.”

Cinder looked at Dr. Erland and guilt immediately clouded her eyes after a few seconds.

Kai cleared his throat. “I found your pretty new mechanic down in the lobby, and she tells me she’s here to check on the med-droids again. You know I could get you funding for some upgraded models if you require it.”

Oh shoot shoot shoot, did I just call her pretty? Kai thought furiously. What was I THINKING, oh SHOOT.

He willed himself to ignore her.

“No, no, they only needed a touch of maintenance,” said Dr. Erland, reassuringly. “Nothing to worry about, and I would hate to have to program a new model. Besides, if we didn’t have any malfunctioning androids, what excuse would we have for asking Miss Linh back to the palace from time to time?”

Kai saw Cinder glare at the doctor from the corner of his eye, and he couldn't help smiling.

“Doctor," Kai started, “I heard a rumor that you’ve made some sort of a breakthrough in the past few days. Is it true?”

Dr. Erland seemed as if he could slap anyone who started the rumor, but so far he seemed calm. “My prince, you should know better than to ask after rumors like that. I hate to give you hope before I know anything concrete. But when I do have solid information, you will be the first to see the report.”

“Right. In that case, I’ll leave you be and hope to see a report cross my desk any day now.”

“That could be difficult, Your Highness, considering you do not have a desk.”

Kai shrugged, unprovoked, and turned toward Cinder. "I hope our paths will cross again." He bowed his head a little.

"Really?" asked Cinder, grinning quite stiffly. "In that case, I guess I'll just keep following you."

Regret shined in Cinder's eyes for half a breath before Kai laughed.

Kai took Cinder's hand before he could stop himself. Panic crossed her face as he lifted her hand and placed a soft kiss on it.

Kai let go of Cinder's hand and bowed, exiting the room.

Then he got an idea.

An idea so crazy, it just might work.

"Gracious," whispered Dr. Erland as Kai opened the door.

“Pardon me, but might I have one more brief word with Linh-mèi?”

Dr. Erland gestured toward the mechanic. “By all means.”

Kai turned to her, still in the doorway. “I know this sounds like very poor timing, but trust me when I say my motives are based on self-preservation.” He inhaled a sharp breath. Please let this work. “Would you consider being my personal guest at the ball?”

Cinder froze for four heartbeats and a half. Her eyes were big and scared.

Kai waited.

And waited.

Then he raised his brows to catch her attention.

She blinked. "E-excuse me?" she stuttered.

"I assume you are going to the ball?"

“I-I don’t know. I mean, no. No, I’m sorry, I’m not going to the ball.”

The hope rushed out of Kai in a millisecond.

SHOOT.

“Oh. Well...but...maybe you would change your mind? Because I am, you know.”

"The prince," Cinder completed for him.

"Not bragging," Kai blurted out, feeling sweat trickling at the back of his neck. "Just a fact."

"I know."

After a long moment, Cinder said, “I-I’m sorry. Thank you—I… thank you, Your Highness. But I must respectfully decline.”

Kai took a moment to process what she said. Once he did, he attempted a grin that hurt his face muscles. “No, it’s all right. I understand.”

In truth, he didn’t.

Hell, she was probably in love with someone else.

“My sincerest condolences, Your Highness,” said Dr. Erland. Kai nearly forgot he was there. “In more ways than one, it seems.”

Cinder glared at the doctor. Kai found it cute when she narrowed her eyes at him, scrunched her eyebrows and pressed her lips together.

Kai blinked a few more times to clear his head of that ridiculous thought.

“It was nice to see you again, Linh-mèi,” said Kai.

The look of annoyance was peeled off Cinder’s face and was replaced by panicked apology, but Kai couldn’t stand a second longer in there. Her mouth was just opening when Kai wrenched open the door and closed it behind him quietly.

Kai leaned against the wall beside the door to Dr. Erland’s office and dragged a hand down his face. “Stars,” he breathed. How could he be so foolish?…

Kai heard the doctor’s faint voice through the wood.

“What a shame you cannot blush, Miss Linh.”

Overwhelmed and exhausted, Kai cleared away his confusion at the doctor’s statement.

Can my life get any worse?

Tags:

@kaider-is-my-otp

@cerenoya

@just2bubbly

@impossiblesuitcase

@thetlctrash

@opakitty

@winterrhayle

@cindersassasin

[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.

[morgannotlefay]

“While her sisters were given beautiful dresses and fine slippers, Cinderella had only a filthy smock and wooden shoes.”

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

————

Duration: 19 hr, 2 mins

————

Behind the Scenes (Lil’ Tidbits abt the Drawing):

Iko (bottom left) is wearing the ribbon Peony gave her

Cinder has her original hand on, complete with rusted knuckles and joints

I headcannon that when business is slow, Cinder makes sculptures out of whatever is handy, like wires, screws; and gears. You can see the sculptures on the shelves. (One of them is Wall-E, from…well… “Wall-E”)

There’s a “To-Do” list on the counter on the right, listing “replace foot, repair car, get gasoline, fix Prince Kai’s android”

In the background, you can see Chang Sacha’s bakery, where a customer is picking up an order of honeybuns. There is also a group of children playing and singing “Ring Around the Rosy”, as they do in the first scene of the book.

Kai’s android, Nainsi, (far right, the on counter) is modeled after Eve from Pixar’s “Wall-E”

Okay—confession time—Cinder’s hair in this isn’t book-accurate. 😬 It’s longer, has layers, bangs, and it’s in a lower and looser ponytail than it should be. However, I tried and failed miserably to get her hair style right—it just kept looking really weird!!

I don’t know shit about tools, so I had to use pictures of toolboxes to get them right! In true Lunaratic fashion, I only know what wire cutters are 😉

————

Who should I draw, next?

[gingerale2017]

I figured out a new name for Kai's sister instead of Nainsi: ✨Lucy✨ or is that too English?

no wait i kinda like it. maybe bc (my hc) their parents immigrated from asia kai was a newborn but when they came to america maybe they wanted more of an american name? maybe as a middle name.

my family kinda did that bc they wanted their kids to fit in ig but they could’ve had some cool ass names.

but lucy is kinda growing on me tbh

[impossiblesuitcase]

in the Kaider relationship who’s the hydrated one and who literally never drinks anything ever?

Kai is hydrated because he's had Nainsi bringing him tea at hourly increments his whole life.

Cinder was working all day in her booth and would get so laser-focused on her work that she'd forget to drink until Iko would remind her to.

Now, Kai brings drinks to her office when he knows she'll forget, so it all balances out.

[modfiyed]

How to choose the Best Content Marketing Agency in Delhi - Modifyed

At Modifyed we believe in embracing digital and staying ahead of all the trends and changes. We use Content Marketing Agency in Delhi transformative strategies to grow your brand and increase our years of experience and knowledge to create solutions

[princessselene126]

I'm not including Iko in this bc she's a main character imo and not a supporting one.

[ikosburneraccount]

The first question Kai asks Nainsi once he gets her back from Cinder is where Cinder is. The second question Kai asks Nainsi is if Cinder mentioned anything about the ball. GET A GRIP MY GUY

[witch-of-the-world]

My first time in a tag game, how exciting!

(Tagged by @senseiwu)

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs. I have deemed that this isn’t just for writing either. Sketch titles? Comics? DnD campaigns? If you have an unfinished project, it counts!!

I’ll have to think about this for a minute, there’s quite a few. Also I don’t give drawings proper titles and some of the books don’t have titles either so you get the word-mashes I make into filenames.

Drawings:

calmnya

chibitimetwins

contemplatingcole

imightjusttouchthesky

kotatsu

lavahands

lessons

paperdoll4

sleepygoldsmith

somegirlfriends

Fanfic:

Apology

Echo and Nainsi

Crossover

Piper

Stories:

farmhouse

Books:

A House of Wires

backyardfarm

baku

bathhouse

dairyfarm

garden

Girls’ Night

Girls’ School

inthecountry

ladiesmaid

servicedroids

Small Town School

The Grass Alley Kids 1

The Witch’s Apprentice

Hm, who do I tag... 

Okay I have no Tumblr friends besides the one who tagged me so I’ll have to think of someone later.

[a-salting-the-world]

Kai: It’s been a rough year.

Nainsi: It’s the first week of January, Your Majesty.

Kai: Yes. What’s your point?