Id Pro Quo 2024 letter

[amancay]

AO3 username: laurus_nobilis

GENERAL LIKES
Casefic and missionfic; backstory and missing scenes; hurt/comfort; slice of life; adventure; humor; dramatic irony; silly/humorous premises; competence and teamwork; friendship; sibling and sibling-like relationships; characters finding common ground.

GENERAL DNWs
Detailed descriptions of graphic violence; non-con/dub-con; non canonical character death; non canonical incest; unrequested non-canon ships; AUs that change the setting; D/s dynamics; spanking.

七爷 | Qi Ye - priest

Jǐng Běiyuān/Wū Xī (Qi Ye - priest)
I love how ridiculously intense these two are about each other, to the point that they pretty much break fate, and yet each of them has his own "I'm not worthy" moments. Somehow they get to have both intense drama full of epic grand gestures, and a quiet slow burn where they show how much they care in small, every-day ways. They love each other so much but they're very messed up people in different ways, and that makes their eventual happy ending hit even harder.

Freeforms:
- Amnesia - character reverts to a dramatically different previous version of themselves
- Bedside Vigils
- Body Worship as Possessiveness
- Character A is delirious and calls for B even though B is right there
- Character finally finds an unconditionally good relationship; not sure how to handle
- Character trying to hold it together is clearly fraying at the edges
- Character's difficult canon backstory explored in delicious whumpy detail
- De-aged character is de-aged to an age that was particularly traumatic for them
- Downplaying Trauma
- Dreams and Nightmares - Nightmares That Are Memories
- Dreams and nightmares - Symbolic and weird and revealing the character's subconscious
- Established Marriage - Rescuing One's Spouse From Danger
- Established Relationship - Couple still absolutely stupid in love despite being together for ages
- Experienced partner lets inexperienced one explore them
- fandom-appropriate sci-fi/magic leads to sharing memories and learning new things about each other
- Hurt/Comfort - Character Treats Other Character's Injuries
- Hurt/Comfort - hurt character is barely conscious due to injury
- Pining - Mutual admiration
- Scars Touching/Kissing
- Your past is your past but your future is MINE

*

Jing Beiyuan & Lu Ta (Qi Ye - priest)
Their weird little family fills me with joy. I love the way Jing Beiyuan and Lu Ta's personalities play off each other; that line about how it was hard to tell who was the dad and who was the child lives in my mind rent free. It's fun to see Lu Ta bring out Jing Beiyuan's "teacher" side but there's also a lot of room for Beiyuan being the one learning new things.

Freeforms:
- learning new languages
- Nature that Wants to Eat You
- Parent gets new insight on child
- Parenthood Helps Quell Character's Dissatisfaction With Their Own Childhood/Family
- Slice of Life

*

Jing Beiyuan/Helian Yi (Qi Ye - priest)
The thing about Jing Beiyuan and Helian Yi is that they are so messed up and so bad for each other, and yet the love is there. That's fascinating! I also think it's interesting how they're never really on the same page: first Beiyuan is a lot more into Helian Yi than the reverse, and then it gets turned around. I'd enjoy fic from any point in their timelines - first life or current one or even the ones we only see mentioned in passing.

Freeforms:
- Amnesia - A Doesn't Remember Falling Out/Estrangement With B
- Amnesia - character reverts to a dramatically different previous version of themselves
- Balancing Identity as Monarch With Personal Identity in Relationships
- Character A Doesn't Realize How Much Power They Have Over Character B
- Downplaying Trauma
- Foreshadowing of Future Tragic Canon Events
- grey morality
- Loyalty so intense they commit crime/treason for the character they're loyal to without question
- Obsession expressed through extreme loyalty
- Obsessive Possessive and Codependent
- Seeming fluff that's actually incredibly bittersweet due to surrounding circumstances


天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tian Guan Ci Fu - Moxiang Tongxiu

Feng Xin/Mu Qing (TGCF NTM)
These two hit me right in the "constant bickering turned into UST" trope, but there is also a serious undercurrent behind the humor that helps make them rounded characters. They've spent centuries stuck in the same dynamic, without either becoming friends again or avoiding each other. Their original falling out (with each other and with Xie Lian) was complex and very human: they both had good points, they both screwed up, and given their circumstances it makes sense why they couldn't see eye-to-eye. They're very funny, but they also have emotional depth.

Freeforms:
- "Because I love you!" Oops I said it out loud
- "Thank Fuck You're Alive!" Emotions Turn Into Frantic Fucking
- A accidentally says I love you to fuckbuddy B in the middle of sex
- Action Couple - perfect teamwork; unison attacks; combining abilities for greater effect
- Bantering and Bickering as Flirting
- Case Fic - Character(s) Investigating A Mystery
- Character A attempts to sacrifice themself for B; B gets very upset
- character A shielding character B and getting hurt in their place
- Character A thinks they're about to die and voices their feelings for B; but oops A survives
- Characters argue their way into a confession of feelings (and do something about them)
- Characters investigate and explore a strange location
- Competence Kink - Character A Annoyed By How Hot They Find Character B's Competence
- Crack Treated Seriously
- Fighting turns into sex
- Magic or science compels truthfulness
- Mutual Pining
- One character defending another character passionately and that other character overhearing them
- Pining while fucking
- Sex Pollen - Characters Mistakenly Believe They've Been Sex Pollened
- Unabashed Humor and/or Silliness

*

Ling Wen/Pei Ming/Shi Wudu (TGCF NTM)
Ling Wen/Pei Ming/Shi Wudu (TGCF NTM)
I love how in spite of each of them having their own personal drama, they're actually very chill together. I think the idea of these people who nobody else seems to like because they're dicks even by TGCF!Heaven's standards becoming friends (and/or lovers) is very interesting, and I wish we had seen more about them together.

Freeforms:
- Bantering and Bickering as Flirting
- Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other
- A came back wrong but B is into them anyway
- Canonically dead character comes back as annoying ghost
- Case Fic - Character(s) Investigating A Mystery
- Characters investigate and explore a strange location
- Characters scheming together
- Crack Treated Seriously
- the power of unusual friendship saves the day
- Unabashed Humor and/or Silliness


Crossover Fandom

Nie Huaisang (MDZS)/Ling Wen (TGCF)
Nie Huaisang (MDZS)/Qin Banruo (Nirvana in Fire)
These are two ships that I first saw mentioned semi-jokingly but then I just couldn't stop thinking about. I love the idea of Nie Huaisang finding someone that he has a lot in common with (the scheming! the ruthlessness!), but who would at first find him incredibly exasperating.

Freeforms:
- Bantering and Bickering as Flirting
- Brutal Court Politics All Draped in Politeness
- Character A discovers character B is smarter than they seem
- Character A displays an unexpected competence. Character B is smitten
- Characters keeping secrets - I Know That You Know That I Know
- Characters scheming together
- Competence Kink - You're great at murder and that's hot
- Cracky Crossovers - Mechanics Not Important Just Get People Together
- Crossover - Shared Universe AU
- grey morality
- Intelligent Characters Enthusing Over Learning New Things (Especially From Each Other)
- Mutual Manipulation


山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021)

Rong Xuan/Yue Feng’er (Word of Honor)
I love them and their five minutes of screentime. What's shippier than tearing out some random person's heart to bring your husband back from the dead?

Freeforms:
- Bedside Vigils
- A came back wrong but B is into them anyway
- Established Marriage - Rescuing One's Spouse From Danger
- Obsessive Possessive and Codependent
- person thought to be gentle/less dangerous than their peers is actually terrifying when in action
- Seeming fluff that's actually incredibly bittersweet due to surrounding circumstances


陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)

1: Nie Huaisang (The Untamed)
I love Nie Huaisang's secrets, his ruthlessness, and his contrasts. The drama shows us a lot of his friendly, carefree side in his youth, and it's really interesting (and heartbreaking) to see him end up as a lonely manipulator, and how he really was a rage-filled, stubborn Nie after all.

Freeforms:
- Canon is the evil mirrorverse dimension; visiting "good" versions struggle to cope
- Character trying to hold it together is clearly fraying at the edges
- Dreams and Nightmares - Nightmares That Are Memories
- Dreams and nightmares - Symbolic and weird and revealing the character's subconscious
- Foreshadowing of Future Tragic Canon Events
- Grief/Mourning
- person thought to be gentle/less dangerous than their peers is actually terrifying when in action
- Revenge - character achieves revenge but finds it hollow; what next?
- Thing character has built a large chunk of their life around comes to an end; finding a new path

*

Nie Huaisang & Nie Mingjue (The Untamed)
The contrasts are a big part of what I like about Nie Huaisang's relationship with Nie Mingjue: they're very different, at least superficially, but they love each other deeply in spite of their arguments and would do anything for each other. I love their mutual protectiveness and how intense they are about each other.
(I've watched and liked Fatal Journey; I don't *expect* fic that uses it as a canon source, since it's just a tie-in, but feel free to use it if you want!)

Freeforms:
- "Who did this to you?"
- Bedside Vigils
- Body Swap - Characters Are Alarmingly Good At Being Each Other
- Character A attempts to sacrifice themself for B; B gets very upset
- Character A Doesn't Realize How Much Power They Have Over Character B
- Character A drops the lighthearted facade when Character B is in danger
- Character A is delirious and begs B for forgiveness for something B bears no grudge for
- Character A is delirious and calls for B even though B is right there
- De-aged character is de-aged to an age that was particularly traumatic for them
- Displays of Love/Affection That'd Probably Weird Out Anyone But Their Intended Recipient
- fandom-appropriate sci-fi/magic leads to sharing memories and learning new things about each other
- Foreshadowing of Future Tragic Canon Events
- Mutual Protectiveness
- Protectiveness - Normally Gentle Character A Gets Scarily Protective When B Is Hurt
- Regrettably nobody knows you quite as well as your sibling
- Time Travel - Character changes the past to prevent traumatic events and succeeds

* An extra note about the Nie bros, because as I was proofreading the letter I found myself thinking "wow, these freeforms sure are smarmy": don't worry too much about threading the needle with the incest DNW. Just not mentioning sexual attraction is enough. The smarm is pretty much baked into the canon anyway...

*

Nie Mingjue/Jin Guangyao (The Untamed)
The terrible thing about Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao is that they do respect each other at first but become incapable of seeing things from the other's perspective, even before Jin Guangyao goes full villain. Their slow falling out is all the sadder because of that lingering feeling that in different circumstances they could have been a great team. At the same time, and depending on your freeform of choice, they have a lot of potential for funny disasters!

Freeforms:
- "I love you. I wish I didn't have to kill you."
- Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies
- Amnesia - A Doesn't Remember Falling Out/Estrangement With B
- Amnesia - character reverts to a dramatically different previous version of themselves
- Case Fic - Character(s) Investigating A Mystery
- Characters A and B Hate Each Other But Work Together To Rescue Character C
- Characters argue their way into a confession of feelings (and do something about them)
- Characters keeping secrets - Technically I Didn't Lie
- Competence Kink - Character A Annoyed By How Hot They Find Character B's Competence
- Enemies Forced To Work Together
- fandom-appropriate sci-fi/magic leads to sharing memories and learning new things about each other
- Fighting turns into sex
- Foreshadowing of Future Tragic Canon Events
- Highly competent characters are even better together
- Locked in a coffin together
- Magic or science compels truthfulness
- Reconciliation - "I'm Tired of Hating You"
- Thinking you have no one on your side and then someone unexpected shows up to have your back
- Time travel scenario where two characters at odds have to work together
- you're an unhinged disaster but you're MY unhinged disaster and no one's allowed to hurt you