Just for fun: Based on Ian Haramaki’s Writing Prompt, a contemporary Chandrani family AU concept where the Chandrani of Earth are named “Malik.”

05/28/26:

What if the Chandrani family and the rest of the cast were changed from secondary world protagonists to contemporary setting protagonists?

...THIS MEANS THEY ARE NOT THE CANON FAMILY OF ANTONIO KHAN-GILL'S, PART OF THE TIMELINE OF 100,000 YEARS AGO ON THE SUPERHERO-FILLED EARTHIAN 1990'S TO 2020'S.

They are instead our Imionian Chandrani and Chandrani-Rivera, etc., in modern day Earth!

This is all based on Ian Haramaki’s writing prompt here. Thanks for makng me think about it properly, Ian.

So this hinges on the idea that the Chandrani family…

Well, “Chandrani” is a pretty common female first name in India and an extremely uncommon surname in real life. So I thought about it, and I’d probably have them be named “the Malik family.”

So Antonio would be “Antonio Malik-Rivera” and Layla would be “Layla Malik.” Etc. etc. etc.

However, if anyone ever wants to write a high school or college AU of Blue Horizon’s secondary world characters, they can utilize either “Chandrani” as a surname or “Malik” as a surname; it wouldn’t bother me.

Similar note is that these are loose thoughts I have and thus people can ignore these ideas if they want to write their own high school or college AU.

So the Malik family would adopt even more than planet Imion’s Chandrani family already does. So I believe Antonio, Fernando and Raj would be adopted.

BECAUSE Ranvir and Armando are gay/queer and adopt in a Texas city, they would all be somewhere between 2012 and 2015 babies, OMG. So in 2026 Antonio and his twins would be 10 as December babies, Alejandro would likely be 11, Leo and Khaleel likely 12, and Alia and Layla likely 13.

Everyone could be like, "That family has amazing levels of gay adoption among South Asians." (Noting that I changed the wording the next day despite being South Asian because I felt I worded it badly.)

(I love that; I worked on Blue Horizon’s worldbuild due to an obsession with trying to understand gender and sexuality, not due to not wanting adoption as a topic. Adoption will be a part of Blue Horizon.

However, in XX years in the future, it’s possible they can have the same backstory as their canon Imionian counterparts, due to realities like this—

Ongoing research

There is some ongoing research that may one day make it possible for same-sex couples to have a child that is biologically connected to both of them. In 2018, a scientist at the University of Cambridge announced in their lab had a mouse pup that was born to two fathers. It may be possible to use stem cells from one parent to create a sperm with a woman's DNA in it.

This research is ongoing, and it will be a long time before this procedure is medically approved for human use. Mice are much less complex than humans, and a lot more experimentation will be necessary. But some day, same-sex couples may be able to have a baby that is biologically both their children.

)

NOW TO PROCEDE...

If Antonio Chandrani-Rivera HIMSELF were living in a contemporary setting, he would:

Be a straight-A student (intense levels)
Start a band and play electric guitar
Be emocore
Cajole Alejandro Caldera-Altaha into joining his band
Live in a Texas city
Become a history professor as an adult

And of course, would be named “Antonio Malik-Rivera.”

Layla Chandrani in the same contemporary setting (not her Earthian counterpart)—

Scrape by in [the same] Texas city school
Active part of the newspaper club
Similar wears to her Imionian high school self, AKA the likes of sleeveless black shirts and knee-torn jeans
Would befriend the mysterious straight-A student Alia Atif-Akinyemi without noticing her mom is famous
Become a successful Youtuber/streamer over intense sociopolitical topics as an adult

And of course, would be named “Layla Malik.”

Alia Atif-Akinyemi in the same contemporary setting:

Straight A-student
Deals with her mom being a famous media personality of some sort; she likes that Layla doesn’t notice and doesn’t tell her until it’s necessary one day
Deals with the pressure of her mom surprisingly well but hates it; seeks out intel well
Fashionable
Girl-boss type in adulthood, unsure what field but she’d excel and go too hard tbh

Alejandro Caldera-Altaha in the same contemporary setting:

Does pretty well in school
Asked to join Antonio’s band and does bass guitar
Unlike his canon Imionian self, would have totally different goals and even interests (more science-oriented), but would pursue them with a lot of focus
Becomes a scientist or doctor as an adult due to this, likely medicine, pursues PhD
Has a similar outline of the backstory I've given to the canon Alejandro C. of the canon Blue Horizon (superhero-filled) Earth of the 2000’s, except of course he’s born in 2015, same year as Antonio. Will not spoil what I mean by this.

Khaleel Atif-Akinyemi in the same contemporary setting:

Does pretty well in school
Refuses to join Antonio’s band
Tries to ignore his mom being a famous media personality even more than Alia does, but it also doesn't affect him as much as Alia because their mom heaps most of her expectations onto you-know-who
Plays basketball a lot
Has a conflicting relationship with his scientist father like in canon
Becomes a scientist, research-oriented

Leo Abara in the same contemporary setting:

Does pretty well in school
I feel like he’d like a team-based sport, but he could do tennis or something with a team instead? IDK
As outgoing and friend-seeking and easygoing about dating as Imionian Leo
Admires his scientist father and Alejandro's scientist mother, Rosa
Becomes a scientist, research-oriented

Again, these are loose thoughts I have for this sort of AU and people can ignore these ideas if they want to write their own high school or college AU.