#tlc au

[asters-28]

@gaiabythesea so sorry ur first fanart was actual garbage HERES A BETTER ONE. also based off a conversation i had w @alsedoesart where peony decorates cinders arm and torin is like 🫪 but i drew him happy cause I don’t want the angst rn. ok.

this is fanart of The Unexpected Daughter, an au where Torin adopts the Linh girls and it’s SO GOOD it’s like the one of two fics I have pinned. read it read it read it!!

[cyborgcourt]

Kaider (or rather Kailene) au where Kai and Selene are both the crown heirs of their respective kingdoms and both their families have agreed to a marriage alliance between the two (now young adults). Their only previous encounter was as children (ages 5 and 6) when the imperial family visited Luna for something. Kai is still the huge loverboy he's always been, and despite only ever meeting as young children, he’s admired Princess Selene ever since.

At only 5 years old, Selene was already known by all the palace as being a wild and free-spirited princess who marched to the beat of her own drum. Kai remembers seeing little her in her special gown covered in dirt while playing with a frog that her mother repeatedly told her to put down. From that moment on, he knew there was something different about her from the rest of her family. Even before the officiation of their marriage alliance, he had already grown a fondness for Princess Selene.

Now for Selene's point of view. Upon being told that she was being married off, she became outraged. She refused to be betrothed to some "boring Earthen boy who every girl fawns over". The thing about Princess Selene is that she is a very strong, confident, and bold young woman. She is the last person you could force to marry some guy they don’t even know. She protests against her mother and aunt, putting up a fight and refusing to go through with it, but to no avail. Adding to it, she keeps receiving gifts and letters and all sorts of offerings from this Earthen prince, but she simply rolls her eyes and ignores them. Did I mention she's stubborn? Then he begins trying to reach her via comm and it only adds to her annoyance and negative perception of him. She thinks a mundane Earthen boy like him would only ever bother a young woman like her with things to do and a life to live.

Ultimately, she's manipulated and forced by Channary and Levana to go through with the marriage. Selene’s practically forced onto the ship that brings her to Earth. When she gets there and is greeted by Kai, she only offers a cold expression to his warm and dorky smile. Every chance that he tries to get to know her, she brushes him off and instead allows herself to curiously study the history and architecture of the imperial palace (to take her mind off the reason she's here).

One day, Kai finds her analyzing some poetic artwork graciously framed on one of the walls. He walks up beside her and says "It's neat, isn't it?" and begins to (cutely and awkwardly) tell her about the history of the piece and information he learned from his mother. Perhaps she offers a rather emotionless response (Wednesday Addams core). Kai considers it good progress. In this moment, Selene almost softens at the idea of this prince maybe having something of a personality underneath all his good looks. But she's reminded of the marriage she was being forced into and walks off.

Through all the cold-shoulder Kai’s been receiving from her, he still finds himself admiring Selene. Her tan skin and brown hair, her sharp features and the way she holds herself. Most of all, he admires her character and her inability to crumble easily under pressure. Including how she ignored all his many previous efforts to communicate, he gives her a LOT of grace. Probably more than she deserves. He gives her the benefit of the doubt, saying her coldness isn't far off from a head-strong girl being forced into an unwanted marriage. But he's determined to show her that, marriage alliance aside, he genuinely wants to get to know her. But he'd be lying if he said it wasn't difficult trying to break down her walls and have her open up to him. It begins to break his heart seeing his love completely disregard him and all his efforts. But nonetheless, he persists.

The evening following their wedding ceremony, Kai wanders the halls looking for Selene and finds her silently crying while sitting alone under a jasmine tree in the gardens. He doesn’t want to intrude on her privacy but also what good husband would leave their wife crying alone? He gently approaches her and begins to console her, being careful not to upset her further because he’s well aware at this point what she thinks of him.

The reality is, she's scared being away from home, on a planet she's never been to before, and so far away from everything she's ever known. On top of that, she’s just married to some Earthen prince. She feels objectified by her family who thinks they can just use her as a pawn in their political business. The whole situation makes her question her own strength and whether the way she's always presented herself — strong, unwavering, confident, not a force easily reckoned with — meant nothing to anyone, and especially to her own family. She's especially upset at her mother and aunt and swears to never see their faces ever again. She doesn't end up completely opening up to Kai in that moment, but she does give him a little insight through her tears. Kai sees this as more progress being made, but he can’t help still feeling hurt, only this time, he feels partly guilty. Like he was holding her back and keeping her captive on this foreign planet, even though the marriage alliance wasn’t his choice neither.

Later that night, she comes back to their living quarters and finds a table full of Lunar delicacies, bath salts, and things that reminded her of home — all with a card addressed to her. It says "A little something to ease your home sickness" followed by a poem Kai wrote through the eyes of the "narrator" and his admiration for a beautiful strong-willed princess with tan skin, brown hair, and a sharp tongue. It's signed at the bottom with "Yours truly, Kai". She takes it all in — the poem, the gifts, the gesture — and stands there appalled. No one has ever done anything like this for her before. Political opponents and enemies only ever took delight in seeing her in defeat or, most of all, vulnerable. Why would this Earthen boy do this for her? Surely he doesn't think they have to be actual husband and wife, does he?

But this gesture is the catalyst that changes the lens in which she sees him through. From then on, she begins to notice him more deeply than before. His copper brown eyes, tousled black hair, and the way he gets so flustered around her and the tip of his ears turn a pink hue. The way he constantly cares for her and her wellbeing despite that not being part of their contract. She begins to fall for him.

Not too long after their wedding, something urgent threatens Kai (possibly to do with the newfound alliance). He’s being targeted by an unknown group and the safety of him and his family is at risk. He’s stressed out and scared and confused by all of this. Selene sees this and begins to feel almost protective of him. Watching this innocent boy — her husband — being threatened by someone was shocking for her. Of course, politicians and royal figures, including her own family, are not unfamiliar with threats and such — but who would want to harm a charming and kind guy like him? He wasn’t evil like her family.

Speeding it up a bit, the whole situation intensifies and the entire palace is on high alert. They haven’t figured out who was sending these threats or how they knew what they knew. Selene begins to care for Kai under all the stress he was feeling. It’s subtle at first and almost shy, but it warms Kai’s heart more than she knows.

Fast forward AGAIN, turns out that the evil group that’s been threatening to kill Kai is none other than Selene’s own family, the Blackburns. Selene is once again outraged at yet another one of her family’s evil and wicked plans. She contacts them for the first time since before the wedding and demands they stop at once. They tell her that killing him was the plan all along and the reason they didn’t let her in on it was because they knew that deep down she was weak and would fall for the poor and helpless Earthen boy.

She immediately tells Kai this but he doesn’t believe that she wasn’t in on it all along. All the times she ignored him and pushed him aside, it was all because she would eventually dispose of him. His heart has now broken even more. Just when he thought he was seeing more of who she was inside, letting her guard down, this happens.

She begins to cry and is trying to tell him that it isn’t true, but he’s too hurt to listen. Who can he even trust? Was he seriously so naïve that he fell for this trap?

Now the tables have turned and he’s the one ignoring her. Selene feels terrible for how she treated him. This was all her fault. For being so stubborn that she hurt the one person who had ever shown her genuine compassion and respect.

Eventually, thaumaturges sent by the Blackburns infiltrate the imperial palace. Selene tries to fight them off and warn Kai, but she gets knocked down. After getting back up, she gets in the warrior headspace, determined to stop her family and make sure nothing gets to Kai.

Unfortunately, she’s not fast enough. One of the thaumaturges gets to Kai, but not without him putting up a fight. It was rough, and by time Cinder got there to help knock the thaumaturge out, Kai had been wounded pretty badly. Now, she was the one holding a bleeding Kai in her arms on the cool marble floor of the palace. She began to cry, shouting for help.

(Btw he’s fine. The wound is bad like a gauge, but nowhere near the severity of Cinder’s stab)

Through stinging pain, Kai’s insisting he’ll be fine. She helps prop him up to sit against the wall while help is on its way. Still crying, Selene is apologizing to him once again, telling him that this alliance was a mistake and that she promises to leave to Luna and never come back in order to protect him and Earth from the evil doings of her family. He looks at her for a moment, and then trying to smile through the pain says “But if you’re not here then who am I going to write my poems about?”. A laugh escapes through her sobs.

Anyway, fast forward one last time, Kai makes a full recovery, all while Selene’s by his side. They end up falling even more deeply in love with each other and live happily forever after with their adorable future children and fields full of garden to write poems in…

So what do we think? Please excuse any typos or grammar errors, I wrote a lot of this on my phone in bed at like 2am😐 I’m not even going to bother rereading it, so if it doesn’t make sense then sorry. Just make up something to fill the holes

just a glimpse into how kaider my brain is. btw I wrote this in the middle of the night instead of studying for my calculus II midterm that’s tomorrow. Wish me luck, soldiers🫡

Tagging my buds @cinderswirecutters and @gingerale2017

[gingerale2017]

THE LONG AWAITED (by only me) TLC COLLEGE AU BECAUSE I’M FINALLY IN COLLEGE LET’S GOOOO

For starters, they’re all go to a made up university because if I told you what American universities they fit in best, you’d know EXACTLY where I live, and that’s dangerous… I’m extremely biased towards my college (since birf). Also, I think they’d all go to different colleges (kai is 10000% ivy, scarlet is 10000% agricultural school in the south, thorne is either an elite cali school or an sec school with an acceptance rate of 82%, wolf either goes to community college or plays d1 in the acc, etc) but again if I told you what colleges I think they’d go to, YOU’D KNOW WHERE I LIVE.

Ok so let’s call this school, uh, University of Luna State (I almost did Luna State University but that’s too close to LSU… I don’t live in Louisiana btw).

They’re all the same age and first-years students for the sake of this AU.

Cinder: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Minor in Computer Science. On here on a scholarship that pays most of her tuition. Has an on-campus job at the recreation center (hates it but part of her financial aid). She’s in the engineering club, also for her scholarship. She’s doesn’t do much with the school outside of that. She’s really good at her stem classes but hates any liberal arts classes the school makes her take. Tutors all her friends. She’s minimalist and cleans up her side of the dorm well. She also will clean the suite whenever something’s been dirty for a minute. Very considerate. When they go out, she usually doesn’t drink much and will only get drunk on rare occasions.

Kai: He’s the extra kid. Double Majoring in Business and Political Science (he’s either pre-law or pre-business, I haven’t decided yet) and minoring in Public Policy. Definitely in the Honors school, has a legacy in the university, 0 financial aid, was valedictorian and study body president at his high school. High ACT and SAT scores, could probably skip college with the amount of credits he got from APs, and beautiful recommendation letters that made admission officers tear up. AND he’s an orphan who’s helping to run his father’s company on the side. Yeah, he’s going WHEREVER he wants. Harvard is begging him to apply. Maybe he’s president here too! In a bajillion clubs like debate, pre-business, classical, maybe in a business frat?, running, tutoring, swing dancing (for giggles). Bro is never free. He’s a neat freak who likes to cook so his roommate loves him. Actually, he’s everybody’s campus crush, and is a popular subject on yikyak. Sororities LOVE him (he can’t stand their lack of uniqueness). When going out, he does like to drink but opts out because he’s a bit of a lightweight (#embarrased) but is SO funny when drunk. In fact, Thorne and Scarlet make it their mission to get him absolutely hammered just once.

Scarlet: Majoring in agricultural studies, minor in Spanish. She wants to be trilingual. She’s an average student academically, an all rounder im all subjects. She’s a farmer ❤️. Not concerned with getting outstanding grades because she doesn’t want to go to grad school. Making her grandma proud. She’s on the dance team!! (I decided she should be a dancer in this). Someone convinced to join a sorority her freshman year so she rushed and got into a top one. DESPISED it. She was never on good terms with the president (or wtv they’re called) and was always doing something that got her in trouble. She quit after she getting in trouble for flirting with a man on the basketball team. She joked she was the sorority’s diversity hire because she was a redhead (there was only ONE black girl there, MAJOR red flag). Would commonly refer her sorority days as the dark times. She’s a MAJOR heavyweight, would be the one helping her friends home even if she drank because she’s not affected. She gets messy but always cleans after herself, even if it takes her a minute. Lives “deep cleaning” the while suite and will turn the space upside to scrub every corner, maybe once every two months? THE BEST cook, everyone is always asking her to prepare a meal.

Wolf: majoring in, uh, environmental science? usually, athletes like him try to major in something easy so they can focus on their sport, but he really cares about his eduction. I’m not sure exactly what he’d study though. Maybe something with animals. He either plays D1 boxing, wrestling, or football, again I haven’t decided. Boxing is more realistic but I want Scarlet to have this big football boyfriend at her side during school, just to piss off her old sorority. Wolf just fits the uniform, yk? Anyways, he’s sweet and loyal, lives at the gym, always at practice. He really only carves time out of his schedule for Scarlet because he woofs her. Once he gets along with everyone else he starts hanging out with them individually (wow, Wolf can talk!) and they get lunch. Sometimes he steals food from the athlete dining hall to share with his suite mates. He opted out of rooming with other athletes because they weren’t kind and not humble at all. He doesn’t have much stuff and everything is always tidy. He doesn’t mind cleaning or cooking, though he is bad at it at first. When going out, he doesn’t drink because of his sport, so he’s usually taking care of everyone. Papa bear.

Cress: Smarty-pants is majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Theater. She’s a prodigy, genius, perfect score on the math part of the SAT and the math and science part of the ACT. Studied really hard in school so she got great grades. Also on here on a scholarship. Also honors student. She’s also a BIG nerd and loves singing so she auditioned for a role for a show in the spring and got a small part but, hey, at least she got a part!! Took a lot of convincing from her friends to audition. She’s always at the library or somewhere quiet where she can sing. When going out, she was shy at first but now she can take a few drinks. Depends what, though, because she’s an extreme lightweight. Give one hard seltzer and she’s gone.She moves margaritas though. If she’s drunk, she’ll start dancing and she can move pretty well! She’s not good at cleaning but she tries and is always on too of it. But no one really taught her how to broom or vacuum so it’s not perfect. She does get a lot better eventually!

Thorne: Oh stars above. He’s going through a phase, okay? It’s the first time in his life without his dad breathing down his neck so goes a little bananas. He decided not to join the ROTC, but join a frat. A true ‘service’ fraternity. He’s pre-business like the rest of them, but not like Kai. Brother is majoring in beerology at this point, because all he does is drink beer. Heavyweight, obviously, some type of drink in his dorm. Also smokes, not vape (thank goodness), and will occasionally smoke weed. Fake ID. Womanizer, need a I say more? Your typical frat bro. The baseball cap, polo shirt, khaki pants, flip flops, and sunglasses. Fails his midterms, uses it as a wake-up call, and gets better. Man, that first semester is rough for him. Especially with the hazing. He got pee’d on 100%. Maybe whipped. When he starts hanging out with his real friends, he finds out he has more fun and slowly drifts away from the frat. Then he only goes back for required stuff and opts out of living in the house. Yay Thorne! Proud of him. He goes through some traumatizing stuff in that house. He’s messy and doesn’t clean up after himself. He gets better at that too, though.

Winter: Majoring in International Relations, minor in Global Policy. She wants to do something international, she doesn’t want to stay stagnant. Very smart, valedictorian of her high school, very well-spoken. She’s also very committed to her education. Everyone just loves her, but notice that she is a little odd at times. Oh, her strange quirks? That was developed as a coping mechanism from the trauma she received from her evil stepmother. We don’t have to go into details right now, though. Anyways, she’s patient and funny. The perfect roommate. Everyone’s campus crush. She cleans and cooks too! When going out, she’ll drink, but try not to get drunk. She does on accident the first couple times because she didn’t know her limit. Only when it is just their group in a small space, she’ll go all out. She’s not super involved with the campus, she’ll go to games often because she loves cheering them on, but not in many clubs. She tried intramural field hockey for the first time, though, and loved it.

Jacin: Majoring in Biological engineering, pre-med track, minor in chemistry. So, he’s awaiting death. Pre-med is HARD and gen eds are demanding for no reason. He’s always at the library, if not, he’s at office hours, if not, he’s at his dorm studying. His schedule is strict and follows it to a T. His ‘fun-time’ is going to the gym, eating, and hanging out with Winter. Bro is tired. There’s never an end to the work he needs to do. Unlike Cress and Cinder who are geniuses and like what they’re learning, he’s normal and struggles. It is that he’s not smart, it’s just a lot of work. He’s committed, though, and performs well. He’ll usually say no to going out unless Winter says yes which is most of the time. Doesn’t drink. He doesn’t want the hangover to affect his studying. I think he’ll switch his major later on to biology because he realizes that, though it looks good on medical school applications, he’d rather not burn himself out. Doesn’t do much with the school, will occasionally attend sport events, usually minds his own business. Cleans often and well.

Iko: D9 ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA. She loves her sorority, that’s why she doesn’t live with the rest of the girls. Makes lots of friends there. It does stress her out a lot though. Majoring in marketing, minor in public relations. Influencer. Fashion expert. Wanted to go to design school, but thought this career would be more feasible. Sometimes forgets to clean after herself, but always apologizes for it. Extroverted, invites all her friends to her sorority parties. Knows where the functions are. Lives in the club. Fake ID, always getting stuff for her friends. She loves her friend group and wishes she could take them everywhere with her. Knows where all the best spots to eat, hang, and party in town are. Literally knows everyone and is friends with the entire campus. Also knows all the lore, tea, drama, beef, etc. Has terrible luck with boys, swears them off for a week after every situationship, but eventually goes back. Iko, STOP GOING FOR THE FRAT BRO’S, THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU.

I’m too lazy to do the rest but they’re there too. The girls all live together in a suite for 4, and so do the guys. In fact, they live across the hall for each other! That’s how they meet. Cinder and Cress are roommates and Scarlet and Winter are roommates. Kai and Thorne and roommates and Wolf and Jacin are roommates. Works out! Scarlet and Wolf are immediately smitten, but she’s talking to a basketball player (the one she got in trouble for). Then he cheats, Wolf helps her get revenge and the drive off into the sunset forever. They are PDA, and she’s always asking for the room for themselves…

Jacin and Winter already knew each other, and, woah, they live across the hall! Only up from there. At first, they didn’t know they were going to the same school because Winter wanted it to be a surprise. She though maybe they needed space, but she was so, so, so wrong. They were meant to be together.

Thorne and Cress, deep sigh. Cress always had a crush on Thorne, but he was too evil to date her. Cinder even tried to set her io with Kai, but everyone knew that Kai was in love with Cinder. Thorne doesn’t see Cress that way at first, but slowly becomes infatuated with her. He even skips his frat parties to go to her shows. She’s the reason he recovers, really. Everyone thinks he’s not good enough until he proves himself. Amazing boyfriend to Cress. They cute. Took a minute. Though, he’s tight with Cinder at first.

They kiss, actually. College is the time for mistakes, and Cinder and Thorne are not the exception. They’re best friends, obviously, and she smokes with him sometimes. The kiss, oh, we don’t talk about that. He just leaned in, she accepted, turned into a mini-makeout session, until she pulls away, slaps him, and screams in horror. Why? Oh, because she pictured Kai. They weren’t together at that point, but the kid was madly in love with her and she was oblivious. Thorne follows around with a ‘what are we?’ and she hides in her dorm in fear. Fortunately, she confronts herself about her feelings and realizes she’s madly in love with Kai too.

Kai honestly doesn’t know what to do but to confess. Scarlet is his number one wingman. She tells him, wait, she’ll fall for you. Scarlet’s right. Kai and Cinder are always together, he asks her to tutor him math and he helps her write her papers. He gets impatient and starts dating another girl, but doesn’t actually like her that much. Cinder tells him to break up with her and he’s like OK. Cinder honestly does like him and wants to hang out with just him. She also like his laugh, his soft voice when he’s explaining grammar, his hair that falls perfectly into place every time, his smile that makes her feel warm inside, the way his ears blush first, his eyes that convey so much emotion, his perfectly shaped lips that she could- shit. She has the small revelation during one of their sessions and she can’t stop thinking about him and then she kisses Thorne (because then MAYBE he’ll leave her mind) and then she thinks about what it would be like if Kai was kissing her right now. That leads to another and they eventually get together but in secret. Their study sessions became makeout sessions. So the crew is trying to get them to date and they travel to a cabin overnight. Scarlet and Thorne offer to sleep with Cinder and Kai and they force them into a bed. Little do they know, they wanted to cuddle. Scarlet and Thorne wake up to them all over each other and they’re like ‘do they know something we don’t?’. The secret comes out and everybody’s happy.

So yeah, that’s my college AU. I love. I love. I love. Let me know your thoughts! And help me decide for Wolf.

[some---weirdo]

Imagine an AU where Cinder get's hired as the official royal mechanic or something. (Basically if the entire plot of the first book didn't happen, or happened much slower) She starts working in the palace, fixing androids and portscreens and such. Maybe she's also there because Dr. Erland is teaching her how to use her lunar gift and other things she needs to know to be Princess Selene. Maybe she's also there because she's lowkey dating Prince Kai. Maybe she's also there to advocate for cyborg rights. Maybe she's there because she gets paid enough to have her own place away from Adri. Maybe Iko tries to make friends with the palace androids and has a terrible time. Maybe things almost go wrong when Princess Winter comes to visit and recognizes her little cousin. Maybe she becomes friends with Cress because they both need someone to talk to. Maybe I should actually write this...

[hellishcircusworld]

Doodle #2: Kinger comforting Octavia 🧡💜

[thelovelycircusau]

~ Prince Caine’s Tour

“I.. I think I enjoy a Tour actually.. s,seeing as that I’m new here-“ you stammer, you don’t know much about this world, but this Prince seems rather nice at least- you witness what seems to be a smile from him before being scooped up and cradled, then a white FLASH before suddenly being Teleported outside, high above everything- you scream, terrified of heights, but also the suddenness of it. You dig your face into his chest puff thing before feeling calm enough to look down at the land you’ve found yourself in. His large long hand sort of petting you gently, as to help soothe you. Your cheeks are so red at this point- you wonder if he’s aware?

Deep breath… you look down, clinging very tightly to your tall thin Tour Guide-

All around you is dark yet colorful space- so much space.. but as you dare to look down you see it- white & pink heavenly clouds, a golden very feminine futuristic castle, the “circus” that looks more like a Hotel Resort than anything- and lots of other places. To the left you notice the forested area, as well as a rather beautiful looking well maintained Garden, a Silver looking Futuristic City, lots of lights, people w Usernames over their players running around. You notice a Coliseum like place, w a bubble dome over it, splatters of blood and muffled noises.. tearing your eyes from that you see what appears to be a Fair or Theme Park? To the right of that looks to be a very relaxing looking Beach, w water that flows over the edge in a waterfall. You squint, wondering what that Center of some sort is? “Hmm..”.

Prince Caine says nothing for the moment, just lets you look it all over for the time being.

As you continue to take in the view, you see some other floating clouds, with their own individual places- one seems to have characters from media you recognize, some you don’t, another cloud looks to be a giant Day Care or Kids Play-Place, then you notice the other floating forest in its own cloud right above the others below- it… scares you, but you also feel intrigued.

After you’ve gotten a good look at it all The Prince asks you where you’d like to go or if you’d like him to explain it to you? He tells you it’s all marvelous and there’s something for just about everyone!

You hold onto him, thinking it over..

What would you like?

😫 Go back Home! (“Circus”)

👀 Go someplace in particular (Part 2 - list of places)

👁️ Prince Caine explains everything to you

Voting ended onJun 11, 2024

// The Map:

Close up of Pomni experiencing Fear of Heights mixed with Teleport Sickness & Caine, so happy to show her around //

[healing-winston-pratt]

girl I'm such a fan of your tlc reversed art omgggg I CANT LIKE CINDER???? NOW A SASSY EMPRESS WHO CRUSHES OVER KAI??? THE MECHANIC WHO FIGHTS LIKE STARS TO SAVE THE PRINCESS???? we. need. more. reversed. kaider. PLS IM BEGGING YOU ASFJSFHIWHH

Sorry for the long wait!!! I saw your ask some days ago but I've been busy catching up with life 🥹🥹 but AÑDNALSKAL I'm always down to go back to the Reverse Rol AU so I'm so glad u found it and liked it this much!! Thank youuu 🥺🥺✨💖✨💖✨💖✨💖✨

[doodleimprovement]

Part one of two

For the uninitiated, in the Coffee Shop AU Nell’s best friend has a slight obsession with the Subcon Snatcher cryptid and ends up just... buying Nell a shit ton of merch as gifts(Because they can). Here are some of Nell’s favorites

In the TLC AU, she buys it all herself because she both loves kitchy stuff and once she knows Ru is the Snatcher it is also very funny to watch him huff and puff all exasperated.

CSAU @/doodledrawsthings and TLC @/bittybattybunny