book 1 Linh Cinder you will ALWAYS be famous. bitter and angry teenager hating her life and dropping so many sassy bangers. "do you realize you’re missing tear ducts?" "what? I thought I was just emotionally withdrawn". "I’m sure I’ll feel much more grateful when I find a guy who thinks complex wiring in a girl is a turn-on". "I’m so sorry if they didn’t ship me home in a cardboard box, if that’s what you were hoping for". "petition the government then. I’m sure Peony will be happy to take your cause direct to the prince himself". it takes balls to get sold as cannon fodder by your stepmother and return to her house the next morning acting like it was no big deal and your only goal in life is to get to work on time
16 days later and The Lunar Chronicles have been annotated! (Well . . . almost. There was a printing error with STARS ABOVE, so I’ll tackle that one next week.) Revisiting this project was so much fun. I can’t believe how much I’d forgotten, especially in WINTER! And I loved getting to jot down my thoughts and share them with you as I went. Lots of little insights about characterization, themes, writing process, research, LOLs, ❤️s, and details I might change if I were writing these books today.
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Want to get your hands on a fully annotated boxed set? Keep your eye out for the official preorder announcement coming from @litjoycrate later this year!
Hey!!!! Saw that you were taking requests and came her to do just that hahah. But before that!!!! I love your fic's premise and ur writing SO MUCH! It is fantastic!!! And also, ying? Congrats man you made me physically recoil while reading about him gaH. Anyways. Eagerly awaiting next chapters but till then, my req!
Ok so no.1: a teensy jealous kai ficlet/fic if you would be okay with that? I yearn for jealous kai fics lmao. Maybe cinder becomes friends w one of the palace mechanics and he's jealous when they both talk trade stuff in detail- idk. He just wants to share her interests but poor boy does not know the T of technology. Or it could be a modern au! OR maybe during the period where they only have dating speculations and they haven't been official in the public eyes? Maybe there are some rumours of cinder dating some random ah lunar and kai is just back on earth like ":(("
Or! Option 2: kai helping cinder through a nightmare! Or! Phantom pain in her limbs maybe? Smthn like that.
So late but here you go!
Hair Ties and Optosensors
Or The One Where Kai is Cinder’s First Love but He’s Not Her First Crush
“Just put in a ticket, Linh Cinder!” Iko huffed beside her, “Konn Daren will snap my personality chip in half if he sees me letting you into the workshop hours before a press conference”
Cinder ignored Iko, dragging her broken ServDroid down the corridors of New Beijing Palace. “It is too much of a bother to file one. You have to fill out so many boxes,” she said behind her, “This will take me 15 minutes and a power drill.”
“It is cameras on in 110 minutes and you are wearing a cream cheongsam! Your hair is blown out!” Called Iko, “Forget it. I am going to go to the press room, you better be there soon!”
Rolling her eyes, Cinder left her behind and flashed her wrist at the ID scanner for the maintenance wing. The serenity of the outer palace gave way to the hubbub of the guts that ran it. Serv Droids and servants clattered through the rooms bearing fresh linens, carts of food and a million ports in a symphony of productivity.
It had taken her all of two weeks to get access to the area and another two weeks after to become such a permanent fixture that no one spared her a second glance.
Tucked away in the back was the oddest room of the palace. A gorgeous bamboo panelled room with wide windows, delicate coloured walls and rows of messy work benches dedicated to maintaining the hundred of androids that made the palace tick. With her stunning white cheongsam and metal plating, Cinder fit right in.
Kai was convinced that the only reason that the Royal Mechanics did not resent her for her tendency to fix any android in her vicinity was that she was more efficient than a lightning strike. (Unlike he had been with his attempts to help out in the library as a teenager, he admitted somewhat sheepishly)
No, the people in the shop seemed more than happy to have her and head supervisor Leung had even begun to page her for any open tasks at the end of the workday. Just for her to take a stab at in the night if she wanted. No pressure. For her part, Cinder relished the change of pace.
So, Cinder was completely at ease walking into the room - filled with more crates than was usual - until she caught sight of Supervisor Leung signing a port held by a shockingly familiar face.
————-
11th July 125 TE
“Delivery for Linh Cinder”
Cinder looked up from the arm of the escort droid she was fixing up. A curly-haired delivery boy was standing at her shopfront, a teetering cart of supply boxes behind him. The scruffy exteriors clearly marked the boxes as belonging to her equally scruffy shop. Placing her screwdriver down, she made her way to the front of her booth to sign for the shipment. “Are you from Nguyen Hardware?”
“That’s right - I’m the new delivery driver Surya. Surya Krishnan.” Brown skinned and tall, she guessed he was around twenty-twenty two. “Is your boss around,” he asked, “I need a signature from Linh Cinder.”
Her internal tally of are-you-really-linh-cinder ticked up as she sighed and held out her hand. “I am Linh Cinder.”
“Ahh.” Instead of handing her the port screen, the delivery boy - Surya, she remembered - took her gloved hand and shook it with a wide grin. “Nice to meet you Linh Jie.”
Cinder blinked twice, once for the handshake and once for the honorific. She wasn’t used to the respectful tone or the openness of the smile he was giving. A pit formed in her stomach and a warning for an increase in her heart rate popped in the corner of her eye. The prosthetic felt oddly heavy on her wrist as he shook it. Had she not eaten that day?
“Likewise,” she said gingerly, drawing her hand back before he noticed it was stiff metal. She looked over his (broad, she noted for some reason) shoulder at the boxes behind him. “Have you got the magnetic bearings? Nguyen Laoban had mentioned that they were low in stock.”
“He made sure you got your order in first,” he grinned impossibly wider, “Being our most prolific customer and all.”
Cinder nodded tightly, still weirded out by the rapidness of her heart beat. She took the port screen from him and signed rapidly. “Could you unload them out back? Near the shelf with the power tools.”
“Of course Linh Jie,”
Cinder stepped back and watched as he dragged carried the supplies in. Her eyes rested on the brown skin of his forearm for a touch too long before she realised what she was doing. Fidgeting with her glove, she stared outside her booth and tried to ignore the temperature warnings popping up in her retina.
What was wrong with her?
It was only when Surya turned to take his leave and the sun caught his curly hair and his bright smile widened that Cinder realised.
Cute, her mind automatically supplied.
Oh.
Oh.
How fifteen of her.
————-
Surya was nice to her every single time he came to deliver parts to her, always smiling wide. He would chat a little about work and films and ball games. His night college courses. His siblings. She learned that he was twenty one and one of four siblings and he liked gaming. He talked a lot. Cinder was not quite used to it.
She would respond the best she could, telling him about her work and Peony. Casual conversation was a novelty. If Iko noticed her wiping her face before deliveries were due, she never said anything.
He was just a very friendly person, she concluded, watching covertly as he visited other booths around her after supplying her latest parts order. Always grinning and chatting. She often wanted to talk a bit more to him - ask him about the business degree at the night school, ask him if he liked the same rock bands as her, ask him if he remembered her as anything but a regular customer - but the words jammed in her throat each time.
He was just friendly by nature. That was all.
Then, one day, she found herself working on a droid with her hair loose on her shoulders. Peony had once said it looked nicer that way and maybe she was just feeling oddly fanciful that day. The delivery was due any moment and so what if she had just cleaned her face? It didn’t mean anything.
Only, safety regulations warned against open hair for a reason and she soon found her hair stuck in the limb hinge. In her painful tugs to break free, she did not notice a presence until a warm pair of hands stilled her shoulders. The gentle pressure quickened her heart.
“Hey. Hey. Calm down.” The heat of the slender fingers on her shoulders was burning. Why had she chosen to wear a sleeveless top that day? Thank the stars that she had chosen to wear a sleeveless top that day. “Struggling makes it worse,” said Surya, “Hold still, I’ll get you out.”
Cinder obeyed, frozen, as surprisingly nimble fingers made quick work of the tangle.
“There are safety regulations, you know?” Surya’s voice was light and teasing as he finally freed her but it felt like a stab of embarrassment to Cinder.
“My hair tie snapped,” she mumbled, glad her lie detector never flashed for herself. “Thank you.”
“Thank stars you weren’t working on a motor-“
Her heart lurched. Could he mean..
“- we would hate to lose our best customer.”
Cinder bit her lip, shoulders sagging. Surya must have taken it as her relaxing because he grinned and said, “Think you can add in a tip for your delivery boy for saving your life?”
“This isn’t America,” Cinder mumbled. “And I know Nguyen Laoban would be heartbroken if you lost me as a customer.”
“All truths.”
Packing up the shop two weeks later after the next parts delivery, Cinder found a pack of bright yellow hair ties resting on her table.
Oh. That was nice of him.
It was a moment of pure girlishness that made her loosen her hair and retie it with one of her new rubber bands. They were so cute, cuter than the black ones she usually bought at the discount store.
A bubble of giddiness followed her home, a song at her lips from the shop to the apartment. She was still humming when she went to bathe, even the prospect of the cold water not enough to upset her.
And then, while filling the bucket with the icy water, her eye had caught the dull reflection of her limp ponytail in the corroded plating of her hand, the yellow hair tie a joke against the grease and dirt and rust.
Ridiculous.
Stars knew that nothing was going to come of this. It was not as if he would like her if he knew she was a cyborg. He seemed nice and polite but politeness and niceness meant nothing. Who was she to like anyone? She was acting like Peony of all people, mooning over a boy.
At least, she consoled herself, she wasn’t ridiculously in love with the prince like her sister. Now that would have been a pipe dream.
The next time he came for a delivery, she did not bother wiping her face. Her usual black hair tie held back her hair. She buried the twinge in her stomach when he smiled. She replied stiffly at all his attempts to talk to her. Who knew if he even noticed her demeanour change.
It took a few months but the twist in her stomach got looser and looser every time. By August of the next year, he was just a friendly face.
_______
“Krishnan Jun?”
Cinder halted, the android she was dragging behind her skittering to a stop. It was him. He looked pretty much the same, a little older and a little broader. Hair still curly, smile still wide, eyes wide with recognition.
A grin spread across her face before she knew it. “It has been a long time,” she said, rushing forward, “How have you been?”
Her days in the market seemed a lifetime away, memories of a very different girl. Usually reminders of that time made her either hollow at the memory of Adri or sadden at the thought of Peony. This casual happiness was unusual to her.
Surya seemed startled that she recognised him but recovered quickly. “Linh Jie - Your Majes - Ambassador Linh Blackburn! I am surprised that you remember me.”
“Of course I do!” Cinder beamed, thrusting her hand forward for a handshake. “We worked together for so long. You made the deliveries for nearly all of my parts!”
Supervisor Leung was looking between them with a curious look in his eyes. The other mechanics too were turned to them. Surya chuckled nervously before taking her metal hand gingerly to shake. Cinder paused in her rush.
Right.
Metal hand. Had he known she was a cyborg in the before? She could not remember. He must not have. He had been nice to her, hadn’t he? He could not have known. It must be uncomfortable for him now.
Not even to mention the part about being Lunar Royalty with fearsome mind powers who was secretly engaged to his monarch.
Yeah.
Sometimes she forgot that she was Selene Blackburn, saviour of Earth and former Queen, a designation that seemed to intimidate just about anyone. While she remembered him as the same person as always, to him she had undergone an impossible transformation from an awkward mechanic to the most notorious person in the world.
It was a bit much, she knew it. But stars, it was so wonderful to meet someone who knew her from her old life that didn’t absolutely detest her. Presumably.
“Are you doing well,” she asked, trying to put in as much warmth and familiarity as she could, “Are you still with Nguyen Laoban?”
Surya seemed to blink away a daze. “Ah. No. I started my own shop with one of the other guys after Nguyen Shifu retired. None of the kids wanted to take over so we managed to buy most of his inventory.” He puffed his chest a little at this. “We just got a contract for the Palace’s rotor supply.”
“Krishnan Jun runs a solid supply business,” said supervisor Leung, “We are excited to work with him. It is good to have your word of approval too, Ambassador.”
“Oh! A palace contract is a very big deal! Congratulations!”
“Thank you, Linh J- Ambassador.”
She grinned, about to ask him (perhaps uselessly) to just call her Cinder when the door zipped open.
“Cin? Love, are you here? Iko and Torin sent me to fetch you.”
Cinder scoffed inside at the familiar voice behind her. Some secret engagement they had when Kai could not stop the informal talk for more than three minutes. She turned to him to respond but she found her lips already tipping up without her permission as she took in his freshly cut hair and navy suit. Damn him for being so distracting.
“Still have thirty minutes left,” she said, “Come here, want you to meet Krishnan Jun - he used to handle all of the deliveries to my booth back in the day.”
If Surya was surprised by her informal tone with the Emperor, he did not let it show. Everyone else around had long become accustomed to them.
Kai made his way over with his beatific Emperor smile. “Supervisor Leung, I am sorry to disturb your peace again. It is a delight to meet you, Krishnan Jun.”
“Your Majesty!” He sank into a low bow. “The honour is all mine.”
“Krishnan Jun is a supplier for the palace now,” she said, “Stars. The world is a small place.”
“Ah - Thank you very much then Krishnan Jun, I am indebted to all who play a role in keeping this palace alive. Have you been in this business long?”
“Not long, Your Majesty. We have been lucky with bagging our orders.”
“He exaggerates his luck, Your Majesty.” Supervisor Leung said. “We have had rave recommendations.”
“I trust you with the best decision, Supervisor.” His polite voice transformed when he turned to her. “Think you’ll be done in 20? Torin’ll have my head if you’re late.”
“I just need to replace her optosensor.” Cinder tucked back her hair, annoyingly bouncy after Iko had gone overenthusiastic with the roller brush that morning.
“What does that mean?”
“It should be quick,” supplied Surya, “Especially if the socket is not fried.”
“No - I think one of the leads came loose. It should be a simple replacement.”
“Is it an RX7490? Because that entire line had a lot of manufacturing defects. We have been recommending using the older RX7400 sensor line until the RX7550 comes along this November.”
“It is! You know, I did read something about a recall sometime last month.” Cinder mused. “I am not sure if we have any RX7400 on hand, do we Supervisor Leung?”
“Krishnan Jun just brought us some!”
“Oh. Perfect. I’ll pull up their spec sheet.” Cinder grinned. “It should be plug and play anyway.”
“Love, you’re sure -“
“I’ll be quick. Promise,” she said emphatically, pushing back another errant strand of hair, “I am going to be done in 15.”
“Hopefully you have a hair tie this time.”
Cinder flitted her eyes away from Kai to Surya who now wore a wide eyed expression that suggested that he could not believe what he himself had blurted out.
“Because of - because of the -“ He gestured vaguely at his head.
Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what he meant before it finally struck her. The open hair. The bot. The hair ties.
“Ah. That time.” Cinder chuckled weakly, already replaying the rather humiliating moment. “You remember that.”
“It had been a bit unexpected for you. You are usually very thorough.”
Kai was quizzical. “Why? What did you do?”
Cinder turned her gaze back to him, dreading the fuss he would make. “I was - um - I was working on a droid once with my hai - my hair and it got - um - caught. Snagged. Luckily, Krishnan Jun helped me.”
“You were working with your hair open?” Kai’s voice was sharp. “Cin, you could’ve been hurt.”
“It was fine! Really. Krishnan Jun, please tell him.”
“It was a pretty risky thing..”
Cinder gaped at the betrayal as Kai placed his hands on his hips, attention fully on her. “Why’d you even have your hair open? It’s dangerous.”
If she could blush, she would have. Eyes darting to Surya, she mumbled, “I don’t remember.”
Kai narrowed his gaze and she blustered, all too aware of the entire room watching him fuss over her, “It was one time! I always pull my hair back. You know this!”
“Where’s your hair tie now?”
Cinder paused. Of all the days to forget..
“Unbelievable,” he muttered, hand sneaking into the pocket of his suit. “Really.”
He opened his fist to reveal one of her hair clips, the golden one Kai had gotten her a handful of spares of. Cinder liked that one, it held her hair back without tugging at her scalp or inviting Iko’s grumbling. And maybe she thought it was pretty…
“Do you just casually carry these around?” Cinder muttered, pulling her hair back and grabbing the claw to secure it. She was no hairstylist but even she could not mess this up. “Happy? I will be safe when I unplug a chip now.”
“Peachy. I’m gonna to try stall Torin for you.” He turned back to Surya and Supervisor Leung, voice dignified again, “I must apologise Krishnan Jun, I have to leave just as we have met. I do hope that we cross paths again. Please give your husband my best regards, Supervisor Leung.” He turned to her. “Remember. Twenty minutes.”
“Honestly,” she grumbled as he walked away. What a weird man. Turning back to her company, she nodded into a short bow. “I must finish up too. We have a press conference.”
“You could always file a ticket, you know?” Supervisor Leung grinned. “We’ve shown you how.”
“Too many boxes.” Cinder turned to Surya with a bright grin. “It really was wonderful to see you again.”
The smile she got was finally the sunny one she remembered. “Likewise, Linh Jie.”
“Then,” she nodded again and made for the bench in the back of the room. “Until next time.”
“Until next time.”
——————-
The press conference went well, all things considered.
Only two mildly ableist remarks about the initiative for Employment Reform for Cyborgs and over a dozen positive and insightful questions. Even her self-tied hair passed Iko’s judgemental eye. Overall, she was quite relaxed as she leaned against the elevator walls up to his chambers.
“What do you think about cold soba for dinner? Cinder tapped the walls idly. “Or maybenaengmyeon? I just feel like eating something cold today.”
It was a Thursday and so it was their night to cook dinner for their standing date in the balcony of his rooms. They had started the tradition over a year ago after seeing Scarlet and Wolf laugh like children while preparing a simple pot roast. It had been their yearly reunion trip to Rieux and Cinder had been struck by the fact that the only activities she and Kai really did together were, well, work. Since then, it was decided. Thursday dinners and Saturday lunches had to be made by them.
“.. or maybe we could pick up some cold cuts and pate for a bahn mi…” Cinder paused in her musings. Kai was uncharacteristically quiet beside her, gaze fixed on the floor. “Kai?”
“Naengmyeon sounds good.”
Cinder frowned. Was his tone… petulant?
She eyed him more carefully, taking in the embarrassed flush of his ears, his foot tapping on the marble floor of the elevator and the tight set of his jaw.
Stars.
“Are you sulking?”
“No” Kai protested. “Maybe,” he relented.
Startled, she let out a soft laugh at his cute pout. “Whatever for?”
He picked at the elevator railing. “You left your hair loose to look pretty.”
“My hair is tied up -“ Her eyes widened and an embarrassed denial left her lips. “No! Why would I - Why - How did you - Stars, how did you even get there?”
“I know you,” he grumbled, “You got that look on your face earlier. Same as when you sneak a bite of the good Artemisian chocolate without me.”
Cinder blinked as the elevator doors opened and Kai strode out. Heels clacking, she followed him into the long corridor to his rooms. “You concluded that I wanted to look pretty from that?”
“I told you. I know you.” Kai grumbled again, opening the door for her.
Cinder stepped inside and Kai closed the door behind them, slipping off his navy suit jacket and draping it over the entrance foyer. “What conclusion,” she called as he headed for his closet.
Even if most of her clothes were there, she still thought of it as his. Those grand rooms were not something she saw as theirs yet. Propriety meant that she technically had her own - much simpler - rooms in a whole another wing but she had only slept there once - the time when he had the flu and she had a visit to a Children’s Hospital lined up. They really served more as an oversized closet for Iko.
“You had a crush on him,” he mumbled, “Didn’t you?”
Cinder burst out laughing. Stars, he was adorable like this. She skittered across the room behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, chin resting on his shoulder blade as she waddled with him to the closet. “Are you jealous?”
“..Maybe?”
“We’re engaged!” Cinder hooked her chin on his shoulder and wiggled her finger before him even if the sparking stone was currently tucked away safely in her calf compartment. “You’re seriously jealous?”
“He knew how to change an ophthalmosensor! I don’t even know what that is.”
“It’s his job! And um -“ She knew she ought to keep mum but she couldn’t help herself. “It is an optosensor.” She cut in before he could speak. “Kai. Come on. Why are you jealous?”
He took her hand in his and pulled, steady hands guiding her to stand before him. There was something insecure in his eyes that made her pause her playful demeanour. This was not just playful petulance. “Kai?”
“You,” he said, clasping her hands tight, “Sometimes I wonder if you could have been happier in a life without me.”
“Kai-“
“- without all of the media and the press and the documents and - and the hair styles. Just. You and your machines and somebody who knows what an optosensor is.”
His fingers held her tightly as if he was terrified that she would pull away. The doubt in his eyes broke her heart.
“Kai - Love, I was never going to get a quiet life. I am literally a former Queen. I - They have action figures of me. And statues.” She gripped her fingers equally tight. “And I want this, Kai. I really do.”
“You always say your head’s quiet when you work on a machine. I - I sometimes wonder if I am tying you down to a role you don’t want. I know you love me but I don’t know if- if-“
“If?”
“I don’t know if I could ever give you the life that makes you happy.”
The defeat in his tone made her crumble. It was true that life with him would never give her the freedom that she craved. She would never be an anonymous face in a milling crowd. She would never travel the world on her own adventure.
When she had been sixteen, her best hope for a better life had been a mechanic’s shop in a quiet town where no one knew her. After work ended, she would come home to make her dinner, something simple but hearty, something she would eat till she was full. She would then eat in a small room with a single chair at the dining table. Lying in bed alone, she would doze off easily from the day’s labour. The next day, she would repeat it all. Even in her fantasies she had never imagined companionship.
This life must have felt like a delirium to that girl. The fact that she chose it even more so.
Cinder tilted her head. “The life I want is the one with you. I want to wake up with you. I want to sit in press conferences with you. I want to cook Thursday dinners and go for our morning runs and - and - I want to have your babies!”
Kai let out a weak chuckle at that. “You want to have my babies?”
Cinder did not allow herself be embarrassed about her admission. “Yes. At least three. And-“ She swallowed, unsure if her words would cement her churning thoughts incorrectly. “Kai. I want to be by your side. I want to better this nation, this world. I - I haven’t been a sixteen year old mechanic for a long, long time. There is so much more that I want to do and I want to do it as your Empress.”
Kai let out a shaky breath before wrapping her up in his arms. As he squeezed her tight, Cinder breathed in deep, catching his soapy cologne and the fainter, familiar note of his skin. “I know. Stars, I know. Sometimes I just..”
“Spiral for no good reason?”
His chuckle rumbled against her. “Exactly.”
“I love you.” She pulled back and pecked his cheek, glad to feel it rising into a smile against her lips. “Even when you accuse me of sneaking the chocolate.”
The force of his laugh made her shake. “Then don’t sneak it.”
“I do not sneak!” Cinder scoffed. “I just really wanted to eat one the exact moment that you were in the shower.”
“You know, I bet you would never have done this with your real first love.”
“What first- Stars, it was just a crush,” she mumbled, burying her face back into his chest, “And seriously. Did you really get all that from a single look?”
“I am observant… And maybe Iko mentioned something when grilling me about which of my past tabloid link ups was real.”
Groaning, Cinder made to pull away but Kai didn’t relent, pressing her closer even as she muttered, “Hypocrite.“
“He seemed nice. A bit old for you.”
“Not like I met many boys my age.” Cinder groaned. “He was nice. I liked his smile.”
“Is that how I got lucky with you?”
“Partially.”
“Partially?” His tone was indignant but his lips were smiling as he pecked her cheek. “And here I thought it was my persistence.”
“Maybe a little,” she chuckled, “Maybe a lot.”
He placed a loud, smacking kiss on her laughing mouth, teeth clashing and lipstick smudging. “Let’s get started on making dinner?”
Cinder hummed, extracting herself from his arms to get changed into her comfy clothes that just lived in the closet of the imperial suite. Kai had turned away to do the same and maybe Cinder snuck a few glances as he shed the rest of his suit and slipped on his ridiculously luxurious pajamas. It was a nice back. Who could blame her?
“Naengmyeon, right?” She asked, reaching for her hair clip at last, “I’ll go boil the eggs first.”
“Sure,” he said and held his hands out, “That’s mine.”
Cinder paused. “My.. hair clip?”
“Yes.”
“O-kay.” She narrowed her eyes at him again but handed him the clip anyway. He stalked right over to his suit for the next day and tucked it inside. “Do you do this everyday?”
“Yes.”
What a weird man.
“Why?”
“Torin got annoyed with me wearing your rubber bands on my wrist.”
“Then why the clip?”
“Iko got concerned about you developing traction alopecia because of the rubber bands.”
Cinder snorted hard. She had been on a hair tie ban for three months after Iko discovered some breakage at her left temple from wearing the hair tie in the mechanics shop. The hair clips had been a compromise, a compromise that she quite enjoyed. “I am surrounded by madmen obsessed with my hair ties.”
“You know, say what you want, I’m the only boy to buy you pretty things for your hair.”
Cinder paused and stood stock still, saying nothing.
“Cinder?”
“I - I should go boil the eggs.”
“Cinder,” Kai called after her uselessly, “Cinder!” Cinder had longer skittered away to their kitchen.
So last month I re-read The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, and one of the things I thought was absolutely hilarious was the different compositions of the Rampion Crew, because it is NEVER stable and it's always funny. I took a break from making Dragon Games redesigns to doodle most of them.
I wanted to do them all, but things get pretty chaotic in the last third of Winter and I was getting burnt out, so I ended up cutting Team: Not Again when Cinder and Wolf get kidnapped and Maha gets shot, Team: DIY Brain Surgery when Jacin, Thorne, Iko, and Cress pull Cinder out of the lake and patch her cybernetics, Team: AWOOOOOOOO when Scarlet and Winter convince the wolf troops to revolution, and Team: REVOLUTION!! for the final battle when everything kinda just goes bonkers.
Also! Fun fact! Even if you include Wires and Nerve and Something Old, Something New, the only time Cress and Scarlet exchange on-page dialogue is like 2 lines during the first time Cress video-calls the Rampion.
The first time they even have an off-page conversation is AFTER Levana dies and they're both recovering from battle wounds while they wait for Cinder to wake up.
Meyer is also a master of dramatic irony. The funniest parts of this book series are as follows (not in any particular order):
-Jacin not finding out Cinder is Princess Selene until AFTER he backstabs them all and genuinely thinking she and the crew are maniacs for the entirety of Cress
-Kai losing his mind for all of Scarlet AND Cress because in addition to the whole "get married to a tyrannical dictator so you can get her plague antidote and delay a war even if it means you get assasinated while also having to be the emperor at 16 because your parents just prematurely died to said plague," he cannot figure out what Cinder's deal is and trying to be objective about it and accept that she's a criminal is actually making it so much worse. Culminating in the beautiful scene where she shoots him with a tranq dart and kidnaps him because they don't have time for a moral crisis.
-The crew's partial reunion in Farafra when Cress assumes everybody here wants to kill her because let's be real, they are BEYOND sketchy and she showed up at THE WORST time.
Me, my husband, and my brother are reading The Lunar Chronicles together and discussing what we think fiction television and literature are like "Do they still have sitcoms? Did we lose the laugh track? Did Grey's Anatomy have a Letumosis season?"
When she does come to earth, he makes sure she’s not overwhelmed with people - very limited staff and no journalists or cameras if he can help it. And asks the chefs cook everything he knows she likes. From the time she became queen of luna, he already has a suite picked out for her in the palace. For whenever, if ever, she comes to stay.
If Kai impresses her with something or goes viral on the net she always tells him not to forget her when he’s famous.
In Gilmore girls there’s a line where one character tells a girl who’s meeting her long-distance boyfriend in real life to “hold the phone up to her ear so her boyfriend will recognise her” and I definitely think a variant of this joke would have been said to Cinder when she goes to Earth.
Her glare still makes him feel like “a grain of salt,” so if he has to tell her something daunting or how he broke something (again), he’ll put a hand across her eyes and say it. But it only ends up making her laugh.
They’ll regularly eat off each other’s plates or take drinks from each other’s hands to share.
He wakes her up for a birthday with a cupcake with an unlit candle. Just a private moment between them two and to show how much he knows her, and it makes her feel better about things that are still hard to talk about.
He absolutely does not forget about the half-promise of dancing lessons that’s given at the end of Winter, and prior to the next annual peace ball, he sets time set aside to teach her as much as he can. I could go on forever about how amazing this is like it needs a 50,000 word fic but I’ll restrain myself.
Agree with the headcanon that she helps him during his most anxious moments. Puts a hand on his knee when she sees it bouncing or slips a hand into his under the table, both of their expressions unchanging but he gives her hand a squeeze as a discreet thank you. When at the beginning, she’s up on her own, giving a speech or leading a meeting and she’s still not used to it all, she finds him in the crowd - he’s already looking at her - and he calms her down.
There’s an old crack-canon from ye olden days on tumblr where someone says he accidentally calls her babe on national television and is beating himself up over it. This actually happens.
They often play chess together. It’s something he used to play with his dad and a game that cinder loves - OG strategist. They take turns beating each other and it forms a little healthy rivalry.
Much like Barack Obama and Michelle Obama being caught on the kiss cam at the pre-olympic basketball game, so too do Kai and Selene end up on the kiss cam on live television. Watch Ashton Kutcher’s and Mila Kunis’ kiss cam and that’s what I picture for them, with Cinder laughing probably more from being flustered and a bit embarrassed while Kai loves it.
As emperor and empress they visit lots of schools together as part of diplomatic missions and fundraising events, even participating in a lot of the activities. I think they jokingly race each other in one video and you can see Kai point behind her to make her look at something and he gets a split second head start and darts off while she has to catch up after him. It’s these sorts of moments that humanise them as a couple in people’s eyes.
They have play fights and she tries to use the tactics Wolf taught her. At the end of the day biology wins out and he still is stronger than her. She sulks after that.
They’re both pretty private but after many requests and when they’re an established couple, he recounts how they met in an interview, how they fell in love (maybe Thorne’s podcast??). He says he couldn’t stop thinking about her, he asked her to the peace ball and well…he smiles fondly, “we all know what happened after that.” Interviewer says no, what happened. “Oh! She rejected me.”
As practically the most famous person in the world, my darling Cinder ends up getting a lot of attention, both wanted and unwanted. She ends up having more admirers than she’s prepared for, even the sons of political party members or celebrities. There’s especially one guy, we can call him Adam, a son of one of the union members who’s not much older than her, and it’s obvious he has a huge crush on her. Cinder and Kai are both secure enough in their relationship that it’s never an issue but Kai does use it as healthy fodder for teasing. They’ll be planning the wedding and she’ll ask him if they should have shrimp and he says, I don’t know does Adam like shrimp? Or, do you think Adam would like egg-shell for the bathroom walls? Many similar jokes and definitely enough that she threatens to hit him.
He brushes the grease spot off her forehead. Every chance he gets. Even if there's nothing there, he has an unconscious habit of gently brushing the hair off her brow in that spot and she knows he's going to kiss her. It makes her wait in anticipation which makes him laugh and yeah. YEAHHHH
the phone thing is real. When I see my boyfriend after a long time I’m always struck by the sheer 3Dness of him. I imagine these two fools also go through that when they meet.
Them teaching things to one another has to be the best.
I like to think that they develop a habit of fixing each other up all of the time. Messy hair, crooked tie, fallen dress strap, undone collar, bits of lint. All the little details. They are always touching each other in small ways in public.
Very KDrama coded but Kai will absolutely go out of his way to like. Serve her food or open her drink for her or mix noodles for her or place choice cuts of meat in her bowl. Cinder loves it. Everyone else in the rampion crew is baffled. In general he lays on the chivalry thick as molasses with her and to everyone’s surprise (no one’s surprise) she loves it so much.
Speaking of chess, these two would totally spend their entire honeymoon playing long matches of games like chess and go and mahjong in between other intimate agenda items. The matches are long because 1) them knowing how the other thinks makes for intense strategising and 2) them talking and talking and talking between plays. They spend hours in the balcony of the little cottage they are staying in just playing in between conversations.
Your brainnn! Yes, I agree with everything, especially how attentive they are to each other. Kai being a k-drama bf. There's nothing better than the dynamic between a character who has always been overlooked and their love interest who was built in a lab to spoil them. Yes to the honeymoon board games. It's sometimes cute and sweet but sometimes they are out for each other's blood, which to me IS cute
Dear friend, you always spit bars whenever you post your kaider thoughts. Do you have any that you've been cooking up recently, if you'd be willing to share? 🤔
AHHH ty ty, okay I definitely lean more analytic aka character analysis than creative (headcanons). There’s a reason I've never posted headcanons and it is because I’m very bad at them so please make room for that in your heart.
Okay oops there will be Part 1 and Part 2, I got too into it.
This one sort of ties into a longer, Cinder-focused headcanon but I always picture her finally getting a mechanical engineering degree after stepping down as queen. When Cinder was first adopted by the Linh family she begged to go to school. She has a real propensity for learning and is naturally very intelligent but was denied by Adri. Even Garan would find ways to gently let her down as he’s quite skittish when he first adopts her, and would think possibly the less people who saw her the better. A lot of her concepts were self taught and she secretly always wanted to get an engineering degree, even dabbling in some projects for her own enjoyment. I see her leaning heavily into advanced concepts like theoretical physics and mathematical sciences. She does some work with larger companies as a mechanic because she’s quite sought after and her work sometimes overlaps with that of an engineer. Everyone can tell she enjoys it. Senior engineers even encourage her or place her forward for young engineer scholarships and honorary achievements but Adri always forbids it - both because time spent studying would mean a dent in business hours and revenue but also because she is steadfast in denying Cinder things that she wants. After Cinder steps down as queen, she gets accepted into the same engineering course that she had looked at a hundred times. Kai is so unbelievably proud of her. He knew from the start how intelligent she is and how much of a private dream it was for her, encouraging her to do it multiple times.
With her quick interface and natural intelligence, she gradually picks up more languages than him. Each time she switches to a different language (speeches, conversations with other political figures), he’s captivated. I definitely that in a lot of her self-teaching in her long hours as a mechanic, she tries to attain a fundamental understanding of the most common languages which comes in CLUTCH as a diplomat.
The imperial palace has a MASSIVE indoor pool and one of the forms of exercise the young prince does is swimming since a life in politics does not an athlete make. Kai turns out to be a very talented swimmer, and it’s one of the only forms of exercises he actively does regularly. He’s fully aware of Cinder’s fear and…incompetence in the water (not her fault, she’s literally built to drown). He commissions a prosthetic leg with her measurements, built out of something lighter like carbon fibre that will weigh her down less. She still fights him each time he begs her to go in with him but he finally wears her down. Eventually they’re both in the water and he’s beside her, calmly guiding her through every swim, with a hand under her, enough pressure so she knows he’s there but letting her get the hang of it cause he knows she can. Eventually he calms her down enough that she’ll put her head under. Side note: the first time they all go to beach or the river near Scarlet’s house, Thorne does bring little kiddie arm floaties for Cinder. When they’re all swimming together, Kai always has a hand near her.
I do love the whole dynamic of Kai teaching her things because she is such an impressive person that these moments are few and far between. Kai would love it too. The beginning of her reign is hard for them as a couple as they have to cope with the distance but he’s her one-stop call for all stupid questions and insider tips. When they’re together in person, he makes her practice her speeches in front of him. I think of Cinder as a confident but slightly introverted person, and more quiet around people she doesn’t know. Public speaking (when not absolutely essential and facilitated by the adrenaline of a revolution) is a struggle for her. Kai makes her look him in the eye while practising, eventually moving closer and closer till she can’t keep looking away. He has anxiety but truly no social anxiety, and is a natural public speaker. There’s a lot of Kai making her laugh, words of encouragement, Kai doing serious improv as outrageous reporters or party leaders until they both can’t keep on track.
More than once, Kai is pictured with a hair tie on his wrist. Stylist team are aggrieved each time.
Kai asks Cinder to the next annual Peace Ball at the end of Winter and we see that he’s relieved and happy when she finally says yes. I think he also asks her not to betray and publicly humiliate him this time and she says sorry etc etc but she is in politics.
He calls her Cin. Without a doubt. Not even a question in my head. And he calls her Linh when he’s teasing her. I try to think of nicknames she has for him and I think later in their relationship she does call him things like love or honey. But at the start, he so rarely is referred to by his name by the people around him since his parents passed, and he just wants to hear her say Kai.
In my head, during the events of Cinder and before the ball, they spend more time with each other at the market. It’s a bit of a tricky situation because she knows its not right and will only lead to their imminent self-imposed separation being harder for her. She feels she’s not appropriate for him but he can’t help wanting to see her, especially after his father passes and staying in the palace feels more alone and suffocating than ever. Anyway, she teaches him to drive (she self-taught very young due to her business) and he criticises how fast she goes while she maintains she’s just a confident driver. It’s a joke between them that he’ll never get in the hover with her again. At the shop, he hangs around even though she tells him to go home. There are long stretches of talking, and long stretches of her working on her various jobs for clients and him reading his own documents. And they’re comfortable like that. In my head there’s a sort of shabby back-room/office since this is the place Cinder spends all her time. (All mechanic shops have a garage for people to drive in cars so I really think the place is bigger than we think.) He loves it there. She jokingly gets him to help out under the guide of it being “good for him.” He doesn’t mind at all. Being there, it’s the most he’s felt like himself in months. It’s sort of this time that he thinks about more and more when he thinks he won’t see her again after the events of Cinder. She still won’t ever let him buy her lunch even though he sees she’s there most of the day without eating enough. She walks into her shop one day, he’s not around but there is food and a cup of coffee on one of the small work tables.
There’s a street dog that periodically roams the market that gets very attached to Cinder. Was a puppy when she first started there so it’s been years that she’s seen him. Sometimes he comes into the shop to sleep on the ground and she lets him, giving him whatever food she has. He’s an absolute sweetheart and its usually him, Cinder and Kai somehow all in the shop at the same time sometimes. It breaks her heart to leave him when she’s planning for her escape from New Beijing, but she knows some of the other shopkeepers will look out for him as they usually do. He’s tried to follow her home a couple times which makes Adri furious. She doesn’t see him for a long time but sometime in her reign as queen and on a diplomatic mission to the commonwealth, maybe even one that brings her closer to the market as people want to see her revisit it, Kai has put out the word for someone to find the dog, and when he sees Cinder again he goes crazy with joy. Cinder is also a bit overwhelmed. And it definitely becomes a viral clip with the dog jumping all over her and Kai grinning. And yes, Kai adopts him into the palace for her.
LOVE LOVE LOVE. Of course, Cinder does a mechanical engineering degree at some point. I mean, c'mon, that's basically canon. She's not gonna throw all her mechanical skills away!
Also for YEARS I have dreamed of Kai helping Cinder learn properly how to swim (and get over the trauma of drowning) except in my brain it was in an outdoor pool. But let's be real: New Beijing Palace probably has multiple pools, both indoors and outdoors. And yes to him teaching her things and guiding her! Too often we depict Kai as the less useful/competent one in the relationship which is a war crime! He is very intelligent and surely a great teacher. And of course he calls her Cin. Anyone who disagrees, I'm sorry, we're kicking you out of the fandom.
The hc about them hanging out at her booth is so sweet. It reminds me of this AU I had where they meet much earlier and have moments like that--just getting to know each other. Sigh, such a shame the timeline of the first book is only two weeks. If only.
Hahaha TYY for the ask! These are so basic but I had to establish what was canon in my head first.
Yes to Kai's inaccurate misrepresentation! Cinder leans on him A LOT during the books when she does have him and he's almost always very confident and self-assured while Cinder is the one feeling awkward haha. I picture him being a very secure and calming teacher.
It's still kind of insane to me that it's only about two weeks before the events of the ball go down. No hello or how are you ahh. I yearn for more time for them to get closer and get to know each other more especially because they're both so lonely with his father and then Peony passing. They're essentially going through the same hardship. But it would be a bittt unethical for them to grow much closer than they did while Cinder is hiding the fact that she's lunar and cyborg. The reveal would have been worse. In my delusions, I ignore this factor and that always works for me
After reading this post, I’ve come to the conclusion that Cinder would look absolutely gorgeous in photos taken of her and Kai sitting court side at some game. I feel like many pictures taken of celebrities in this spot show them in a more casual and laidback look, and I think it would really highlight her natural beauty. Plus we all know she rocks a good ponytail, and paired with some natural light makeup and a cute casual outfit, you cannot tell me she wouldn’t look so beautiful.
Kai is caught smiling at Cinder in every. single. picture. Just turned to her and grinning from ear-to-ear with his pearly whites. These pictures begin circulating on Pinterest and she becomes a trending inspo pic for that natural ethereal going-out look.
It's giving Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prince Jr at a basketball where he's looking at her like she hung the stars in the sky. Possibly a bit too much PDA for the royals but I think Kaider would internalise this energy (esp the one where he's kissing her hand??). People are like how was the game and he's like there was a game?
And yes to Cinder's natural beauty being enhanced when she looks most like herself - If no one got her, that ponytail got her. She's only 16 during the series and I think she gets prettier as she hits 18 and then her early 20's.
When she does come to earth, he makes sure she’s not overwhelmed with people - very limited staff and no journalists or cameras if he can help it. And asks the chefs cook everything he knows she likes. From the time she became queen of luna, he already has a suite picked out for her in the palace. For whenever, if ever, she comes to stay.
If Kai impresses her with something or goes viral on the net she always tells him not to forget her when he’s famous.
In Gilmore girls there’s a line where one character tells a girl who’s meeting her long-distance boyfriend in real life to “hold the phone up to her ear so her boyfriend will recognise her” and I definitely think a variant of this joke would have been said to Cinder when she goes to Earth.
Her glare still makes him feel like “a grain of salt,” so if he has to tell her something daunting or how he broke something (again), he’ll put a hand across her eyes and say it. But it only ends up making her laugh.
They’ll regularly eat off each other’s plates or take drinks from each other’s hands to share.
He wakes her up for a birthday with a cupcake with an unlit candle. Just a private moment between them two and to show how much he knows her, and it makes her feel better about things that are still hard to talk about.
He absolutely does not forget about the half-promise of dancing lessons that’s given at the end of Winter, and prior to the next annual peace ball, he sets time set aside to teach her as much as he can. I could go on forever about how amazing this is like it needs a 50,000 word fic but I’ll restrain myself.
Agree with the headcanon that she helps him during his most anxious moments. Puts a hand on his knee when she sees it bouncing or slips a hand into his under the table, both of their expressions unchanging but he gives her hand a squeeze as a discreet thank you. When at the beginning, she’s up on her own, giving a speech or leading a meeting and she’s still not used to it all, she finds him in the crowd - he’s already looking at her - and he calms her down.
There’s an old crack-canon from ye olden days on tumblr where someone says he accidentally calls her babe on national television and is beating himself up over it. This actually happens.
They often play chess together. It’s something he used to play with his dad and a game that cinder loves - OG strategist. They take turns beating each other and it forms a little healthy rivalry.
Much like Barack Obama and Michelle Obama being caught on the kiss cam at the pre-olympic basketball game, so too do Kai and Selene end up on the kiss cam on live television. Watch Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’ kiss cam and that’s what I picture for them, with Cinder laughing probably more from being flustered and a bit embarrassed while Kai loves it.
As emperor and empress they visit lots of schools together as part of diplomatic missions and fundraising events, even participating in a lot of the activities. I think they jokingly race each other in one video and you can see Kai point behind her to make her look at something and he gets a split second head start and darts off while she has to catch up after him. It’s these sorts of moments that humanise them as a couple in people’s eyes.
They have play fights and she tries to use the tactics Wolf taught her. At the end of the day biology wins out and he still is stronger than her. She sulks after that.
They’re both pretty private but after many requests and when they’re an established couple, he recounts how they met in an interview, how they fell in love (maybe Thorne’s podcast??). He says he couldn’t stop thinking about her, he asked her to the peace ball and well…he smiles fondly, “we all know what happened after that.” Interviewer says no, what happened. “Oh! She rejected me.”
As practically the most famous person in the world, my darling Cinder ends up getting a lot of attention, both wanted and unwanted. She ends up having more admirers than she’s prepared for, even the sons of political party members or celebrities. There’s especially one guy, we can call him Adam, a son of one of the union members who’s not much older than her, and it’s obvious he has a huge crush on her. Cinder and Kai are both secure enough in their relationship that it’s never an issue but Kai does use it as healthy fodder for teasing. They’ll be planning the wedding and she’ll ask him if they should have shrimp and he says, I don’t know does Adam like shrimp? Or, do you think Adam would like egg-shell for the bathroom walls? Many similar jokes and definitely enough that she threatens to hit him.
He brushes the grease spot off her forehead. Every chance he gets. Even if there's nothing there, he has an unconscious habit of gently brushing the hair off her brow in that spot and she knows he's going to kiss her. It makes her wait in anticipation which makes him laugh and yeah. YEAHHHH
WHY doesn’t this have more notes??? HELL YEAH AGREE AGREE AGREEEEE. Ykw this is so good im going to follow up with a separate reblog reacting to each hc
When she does come to earth, he makes sure she’s not overwhelmed with people - very limited staff and no journalists or cameras if he can help it. And asks the chefs to cook everything he knows she likes. From the time she became queen of luna, he already has a suite picked out for her in the palace. For whenever, if ever, she comes to stay.
If Kai impresses her with something or goes viral on the net she always tells him not to forget her when he’s famous.
In Gilmore girls there’s a line where one character tells a girl who’s meeting her long-distance boyfriend in real life to “hold the phone up to her ear so her boyfriend will recognise her” and I definitely think a variant of this joke would have been said to Cinder when she goes to Earth.
Her glare still makes him feel like “a grain of salt,” so if he has to tell her something daunting or how he broke something (again), he’ll put a hand across her eyes and say it. But it only ends up making her laugh.
They’ll regularly eat off each other’s plates or take drinks from each other’s hands to share.
He wakes her up for a birthday with a cupcake with an unlit candle. Just a private moment between them two and to show how much he knows her, and it makes her feel better about things that are still hard to talk about.
He absolutely does not forget about the half-promise of dancing lessons that’s given at the end of Winter, and prior to the next annual peace ball, he sets time set aside to teach her as much as he can. I could go on forever about how amazing this is like it needs a 50,000 word fic but I’ll restrain myself.
Agree with the headcanon that she helps him during his most anxious moments. Puts a hand on his knee when she sees it bouncing or slips a hand into his under the table, both of their expressions unchanging but he gives her hand a squeeze as a discreet thank you. When at the beginning, she’s up on her own, giving a speech or leading a meeting and she’s still not used to it all, she finds him in the crowd - he’s already looking at her - and he calms her down.
There’s an old crack-canon from ye olden days on tumblr where someone says he accidentally calls her babe on national television and is beating himself up over it. This actually happens.
They often play chess together. It’s something he used to play with his dad and a game that cinder loves - OG strategist. They take turns beating each other and it forms a little healthy rivalry.
Much like Barack Obama and Michelle Obama being caught on the kiss cam at the pre-olympic basketball game, so too do Kai and Selene end up on the kiss cam on live television. Watch Ashton Kutcher’s and Mila Kunis’ kiss cam and that’s what I picture for them, with Cinder laughing probably more from being flustered and a bit embarrassed while Kai loves it.
As emperor and empress they visit lots of schools together as part of diplomatic missions and fundraising events, even participating in a lot of the activities. I think they jokingly race each other in one video and you can see Kai point behind her to make her look at something and he gets a split second head start and darts off while she has to catch up after him. It’s these sorts of moments that humanise them as a couple in people’s eyes.
They have play fights and she tries to use the tactics Wolf taught her. At the end of the day biology wins out and he still is stronger than her. She sulks after that.
They’re both pretty private but after many requests and when they’re an established couple, he recounts how they met in an interview, how they fell in love (maybe Thorne’s podcast??). He says he couldn’t stop thinking about her, he asked her to the peace ball and well…he smiles fondly, “we all know what happened after that.” Interviewer says no, what happened. “Oh! She rejected me.”
As practically the most famous person in the world, my darling Cinder ends up getting a lot of attention, both wanted and unwanted. She ends up having more admirers than she’s prepared for, even the sons of political party members or celebrities. There’s especially one guy, we can call him Adam, a son of one of the union members who’s not much older than her, and it’s obvious he has a huge crush on her. Cinder and Kai are both secure enough in their relationship that it’s never an issue but Kai does use it as healthy fodder for teasing. They’ll be planning the wedding and she’ll ask him if they should have shrimp and he says, I don’t know does Adam like shrimp? Or, do you think Adam would like egg-shell for the bathroom walls? Many similar jokes and definitely enough that she threatens to hit him.
He brushes the grease spot off her forehead. Every chance he gets. Even if there's nothing there, he has an unconscious habit of gently brushing the hair off her brow in that spot and she knows he's going to kiss her. It makes her wait in anticipation which makes him laugh and yeah. YEAHHHH
Dear friend, you always spit bars whenever you post your kaider thoughts. Do you have any that you've been cooking up recently, if you'd be willing to share? 🤔
AHHH ty ty, okay I definitely lean more analytic aka character analysis than creative (headcanons). There’s a reason I've never posted headcanons and it is because I’m very bad at them so please make room for that in your heart.
Okay oops there will be Part 1 and Part 2, I got too into it.
This one sort of ties into a longer, Cinder-focused headcanon but I always picture her finally getting a mechanical engineering degree after stepping down as queen. When Cinder was first adopted by the Linh family she begged to go to school. She has a real propensity for learning and is naturally very intelligent but was denied by Adri. Even Garan would find ways to gently let her down as he’s quite skittish when he first adopts her, and would think possibly the less people who saw her the better. A lot of her concepts were self taught and she secretly always wanted to study, even dabbling in some projects for her own enjoyment. I see her leaning heavily into advanced concepts like theoretical physics and mathematical sciences. She does some work with larger companies as a mechanic because she’s quite sought after and her work sometimes overlaps with that of an engineer. Everyone can tell she enjoys it. Senior engineers even encourage her or place her forward for young engineer scholarships and honorary achievements but Adri always forbids it - both because time spent studying would mean a dent in business hours and revenue but also because she is steadfast in denying Cinder things that she wants. After Cinder steps down as queen, she gets accepted into the same engineering course that she had looked at a hundred times. Kai is so unbelievably proud of her. He knew from the start how intelligent she is and how much of a private dream it was for her, encouraging her to do it multiple times.
With her quick interface and natural intelligence, she gradually picks up more languages than him. Each time she switches to a different language (speeches, conversations with other political figures), he’s captivated. I definitely think that in a lot of her self-teaching in her long hours as a mechanic, she tries to attain a fundamental understanding of the most common languages which comes in CLUTCH as a diplomat.
The imperial palace has a MASSIVE indoor pool and one of the forms of exercise the young prince does is swimming since a life in politics does not an athlete make. Kai turns out to be a very talented swimmer, and it’s one of the only forms of exercises he actively does regularly. He’s fully aware of Cinder’s fear and…incompetence in the water (not her fault, she’s literally built to drown). He commissions a prosthetic leg with her measurements, built out of something lighter like carbon fibre that will weigh her down less. She still fights him each time he begs her to go in with him but he finally wears her down. Eventually they’re both in the water and he’s beside her, calmly guiding her through every swim, with a hand under her, enough pressure so she knows he’s there but letting her get the hang of it cause he knows she can. Eventually he calms her down enough that she’ll put her head under. Side note: the first time they all go to beach or the river near Scarlet’s house, Thorne does bring little kiddie arm floaties for Cinder. When they’re all swimming together, Kai always has a hand near her.
I do love the whole dynamic of Kai teaching her things because she is such an impressive person that these moments are few and far between. Kai would love it too. The beginning of her reign is hard for them as a couple as they have to cope with the distance but he’s her one-stop call for all stupid questions and insider tips. When they’re together in person, he makes her practice her speeches in front of him. I think of Cinder as a confident but slightly introverted person, and more quiet around people she doesn’t know. Public speaking (when not absolutely essential and facilitated by the adrenaline of a revolution) is a struggle for her. Kai makes her look him in the eye while practising, eventually moving closer and closer till she can’t keep looking away. He has anxiety but truly no social anxiety, and is a natural public speaker. There’s a lot of Kai making her laugh, words of encouragement, Kai doing serious improv as outrageous reporters or party leaders until they both can’t keep on track.
More than once, Kai is pictured with a hair tie on his wrist. Stylist team are aggrieved each time.
Kai asks Cinder to the next annual Peace Ball at the end of Winter and we see that he’s relieved and happy when she finally says yes. I think he also asks her not to betray and publicly humiliate him this time and she says sorry etc etc but she is in politics.
He calls her Cin. Without a doubt. Not even a question in my head. And he calls her Linh when he’s teasing her. I try to think of nicknames she has for him and I think later in their relationship she does call him things like love or honey. But at the start, he so rarely is referred to by his name by the people around him since his parents passed, and he just wants to hear her say Kai.
In my head, during the events of Cinder and before the ball, they spend more time with each other at the market. It’s a bit of a tricky situation because she knows its not right and will only lead to their imminent self-imposed separation being harder for her. She feels she’s not appropriate for him but he can’t help wanting to see her, especially after his father passes and staying in the palace feels more alone and suffocating than ever. Anyway, she teaches him to drive (she self-taught very young due to her business) and he criticises how fast she goes while she maintains she’s just a confident driver. It’s a joke between them that he’ll never get in the hover with her again. At the shop, he hangs around even though she tells him to go home. There are long stretches of talking, and long stretches of her working on her various jobs for clients and him reading his own documents. And they’re comfortable like that. In my head there’s a sort of shabby back-room/office since this is the place Cinder spends all her time. (All mechanic shops have a garage for people to drive in cars so I really think the place is bigger than we think.) He loves it there. She jokingly gets him to help out under the guide of it being “good for him.” He doesn’t mind at all. Being there, it’s the most he’s felt like himself in months. It’s sort of this time that he thinks about more and more when he thinks he won’t see her again after the events of Cinder. She still won’t ever let him buy her lunch even though he sees she’s there most of the day without eating enough. She walks into her shop one day, he’s not around but there is food and a cup of coffee on one of the small work tables.
There’s a street dog that periodically roams the market that gets very attached to Cinder. Was a puppy when she first started there so it’s been years that she’s seen him. Sometimes he comes into the shop to sleep on the ground and she lets him, giving him whatever food she has. He’s an absolute sweetheart and its usually him, Cinder and Kai somehow all in the shop at the same time sometimes. It breaks her heart to leave him when she’s planning for her escape from New Beijing, but she knows some of the other shopkeepers will look out for him as they usually do. He’s tried to follow her home a couple times which makes Adri furious. She doesn’t see him for a long time but sometime in her reign as queen and on a diplomatic mission to the commonwealth, maybe even one that brings her closer to the market as people want to see her revisit it, Kai has put out the word for someone to find the dog, and when he sees Cinder again he goes crazy with joy. Cinder is also a bit overwhelmed. And it definitely becomes a viral clip with the dog jumping all over her and Kai grinning. And yes, Kai adopts him into the palace for her.
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