MXTX Exchange Letter (2021)

Dear Writer,


I had so much fun participating last year, and I'm very happy to be participating again. I'm very much looking forward to your gift, and want to start this letter by telling you you can do no wrong! Aside from a few DNWs, I know I'm going to be overjoyed reading whatever you come up with. My prompts and this letter are simply suggestions you can follow if you're looking for directions, you can feel free to pick whatever strikes your fancy or follow your inspiration if you've already got something in mind! I'll love anything with these ships and characters. Most of this is copy-pasted from last year's letter because I'm still obsessed over the same things and I'm terrible at coming up with these kinds of letters.

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; canon or canon divergence settings

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 with bingjiu (or wangxian's canonical kinks)
**i'm okay with temporary character death, you have to be in these fandoms lbr

• 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

or potential prompts:
→ the one where bingge is never exposed as a demon and stays in qing jing peak;
→ hdm au where shen jiu's daemon 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
→ the one where bingge's parents never died and he grew up as a demon lord

• 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
→ basically any scenario where yin yu has to stay there and Feel Things

• THE UNTAMED & MODAO ZUSHI; lan wangji/wei wuxian

last but not least, wangxian! i asked for either verse, and i'm also fine with 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:
→ (cql verse) 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

→ (cql verse) anything about the very obvious Longing after they meet song lan and xiao xingchen (what if they do get to live that life!! either pre- or post-canon)

→ (any) 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)

→ (any) 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

→ (any) maybe the war never happens and lan wangji does visit yunmeng

→ (novel verse..... but really either) maybe the war does happen and gusu and yunmeng decide to strengthen their alliance through marriage

→ (novel verse) maybe the war is happening and everyone is Tired of wangxian constantly fighting and anyway: much ado about nothing AU. surely, the conspirators think, having no idea what they're about to unleash, surely they'll get super awkward and avoid each other like the plague and we'll finally have some peace, and other famous last words.