MXTX Exchange Letter (2020)

Dear Gifter,

Hi there! I'm really excited to participate in this exchange, and very much looking forward to reading whatever you come up with. I want to stress this letter only contains possible directions if they happen to inspire you, you definitely don't need to write any of the prompts I offered here if you've got something else in mind.

I hope you have fun writing, and thank you!



GENERAL LIKES:

best friends in love, antagonists in love, mutual obsession!!, codependency, found families, messed-up families, slow build, character/relationship studies, unreliable narrators, daemons au; i have a preference for canon or canon divergence settings rather than complete AUs, but it's definitely not absolute

on the more light-hearted side of things, i love banter and silly antics and domesticity and i love all the usual cliché tropes (mutual pining, mistaken to be dating, fake relationship, accidental relationship, accidental marriage, arranged marriage, marriage of convenience, soulbonding, bed-sharing, temporary amnesia, mistaken identity shenanigans, etc.)

on the more serious side of things: loyalty kink!!, king and lionheart dynamics!, people on a mission, morally gray characters, amoral characters, righteous characters, where do you put the line and what do you believe in and what are you willing to compromise on and what are you wiling to sacrifice, just the different ways people relate to right and wrong and guilt and responsibility and all that jazz; time travel shenanigans; unhealthy dynamics as long as they're recognized as such by the text if not by the characters; characters who aren't quite there yet—there being a healthy dynamic or being good or happiness—but want to work together or push each other towards it

 

GENERAL DISLIKES:

outright PWPs, unhappy or generally depressing endings, character bashing, rape/non-con*, major character deaths, unrequited love, cheating, nominated characters being romantically or sexually involved with people outside of the ships requested

*i'm okay with dubious consent when it comes to dark ships, specifically here bingjiu

• THE SCUM VILLAIN'S SELF-SAVING SYSTEM; original luo binghe/original shen qingqiu

i really enjoy terrible people who are obsessed with each other as a ship dynamic, i-hate-you-but-i-can't-live-without-you. while the obsession is mostly on bingge's side in canon, shen jiu's own brand of devotion is pretty extreme, and he feels like someone who very badly wants to be needed, which can pave the way for such an interesting dynamic between them, imo. canon takes it..... pretty...... far, so i'd be very happy with some canon divergence here, if only because lugging around a torso just seems awkward (things you'd never thought you'd write.....).

potential tropes: accidental soulbond, forced/arranged marriage, temporary amnesia, forced proximity

potential prompts:
the one where bingge is never exposed as a demon and stays in qing jing peak;
hdm au where shen jiu's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dæmon_(His_Dark_Materials)">daemon</a>)is kind to bingge and shen jiu hates it and also it changes everything!;
the one where bingge meets bingqiu earlier in his own timeline;
the one where bingge doesn't meet bingqiu earlier but decides to bring his own shizun back

• TIAN GUAN CI FU; quan yizhen/yin yu

uhh, i'm just gonna use my yuletide letter here, just know i am as wildly in love with this ship as i was when i wrote it, if not more:

I absolutely loved these two and their dynamic. I don't think I can speak coherently about Yin Yu's last scene. I just went to reread it while writing this and I'm just as overwhelmed as before. So he's petty and jealous, so what? So he resents and hates Yizhen, so what? He wanted to be kind if he couldn't be powerful but he couldn't be that either. God!! I just, have a lot of emotions.

I'd just love anything exploring their relationship, Yin Yu's pride and resentment and Quan Yizhen's absolute worship of him, how despite everything Yin Yu liked him, when they were just two disciples of the same sect, liked taking care of him, liked that Quan Yizhen only cared for him, up until his inferioriy complex soured even that. It doesn't need to be romantic if you're not into that, but if you are, yes please.

I'd be happy with any canon or canon divergent setting, be it back before Yin Yu fell, or while he was running away from Quan Yizhen (feel free to lean into the comical aspect of it if you want), or some post-canon fix-it. Maybe they get magically stuck or stranded together at some point and are forced to deal with each other. Maybe their relationship wasn't quite entirely platonic during or pre-canon. Maybe uh, fixing the post-canon situation involves some marriage ritual or dual cultivation, I'm ready to blame Airplane-bro for it if you are.

Most of all I just want them to be happy, or to be consciously working towards happiness.

potential tropes: accidental/purposeful soulbonding, fake relationship/marriage of convenience, practice kissing, bed-sharing, temporary amnesia, forced proximity

potential prompts:
post-canon fix-it!
the one where they get magically stuck or stranded together at some point and are forced to deal with each other
the one where they had a thing pre-canon
the one where bringing yin yu back requires some marriage ritual or dual cultivation

• THE UNTAMED; lan wangji/wei wuxian

last but not least, wangxian! i asked for cql here because i saw it more recently than i read the novel, but i'm fine with either verse, or a pick-and-choose approach to canon. i should probably say a few words about what i love about this ship but i might start crying if i try. their respective character arcs, the plot, the family dynamics, the themes of the novel/show, all so perfectly complete and enhance the relationship development. paragon of virtue meets his only match in gremlin troublemaker! the devotion! the devotion!! that's as far as i can go.

i like post-canon getting together or established relationship as much as anyone, but also: pre-timeskip canon divergence fix-it, when everything was good and almost nothing hurt!

potential tropes: accidental marriage, arranged marriage/marriage of convenience, fake relationship, domesticity

potential promtps:
the one where tying your forehead ribbon around someone's arm definitely counts as marrying them and woops they're married now, that sound you hear in the distance is lan qiren having a qi deviation

maybe they're on a night hunt investigating a sensitive issue and someone (wei wuxian) decides they need to be incognito and someone (definitely wei wuxian) decides they have to pose as a married couple (crossdressing optional for either or both of them, why not)

maybe people keep irreverently hitting on lan wangji by respectfully offering courtship and wei wuxian decides his only choice is to pretend to be lan wangji's cultivation partner to chase them away