amancay | Fic In A Box 2024 letter

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FIC 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.

ART LIKES
Characters with contrasting looks/outfits; silly or funny situations; shippy art where the characters look very happy; abstract backgrounds; overt symbolism; fancy clothing; dramatic windswept hair and clothes; flowers/leaves/other botanic elements.

ASW LIKES
Dark humor; bittersweet tone; the way ASW comics can put a funny twist on really dark canon moments or viceversa. (For book canons, I have no preference about any visual adaptation/art/etc for the panels: whichever works for you!)

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

I'm open to receiving treats!

七爷 | Qi Ye - priest
This is the darkest canon I'm requesting, so just to avoid worries about my DNWs, I'm fine with doing what the book does and having all kinds of horrible things acknowledged as long the work itself doesn't go into detail about them.
This year I’m also opting into “Any In-Universe Documents That Fit the Canon Setting” for this canon, and that’s something I’d love with any combination of characters. These are all political figures, after all (even Lu Ta!). What do others in-universe think and write about them? What do future textbooks say?
Jing Beiyuan/Wu Xi (Qi Ye)
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.
Prompts

I'd love anything post-canon for them: domestic fluff about their new everyday life, something about them adjusting to being in a relationship and having to actually deal with all their issues, a combination of both or anything in between.
For works set during canon, there's a lot of potential for Wu Xi pining and/or Jing Beiyuan trying very hard to stay in denial.
These two are made for the kind of fanart that's full of symbolism, especially if it's about their pre-canon selves in the underworld.
For during or post-canon art, I'd love domestic shippy moments, and it'd be great if their snake and sable are there too!

Jing Beiyuan/Helian Yi (Qi Ye)

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 works set in any point in their timelines - first life or current one or even the ones we only see mentioned in passing.
Prompts

I would love anything that plays with their mismatched ideas and expectations of each other. Beiyuan is scared of Helian Yi even when the current version of him technically hasn’t done anything wrong; Helian Yi can tell Beiyuan is wary of him but doesn’t know why. Beiyuan not being nearly as over Helian Yi as he thinks is also fun.
It’d be cool to see something about first life, even more ruthless Jing Beiyuan and paranoid Helian Yi.
These two are also great for fanart full of symbolism, whether it’s set in their current lifetime or a past one or a mix.
Also great: fanart of cute, sweet moments between them (the dramatic irony!).

Jing Beiyuan & Zhou Zishu (Qi Ye)

Terrible people who nonetheless genuinely care for each other are one of my favorite things in fiction and these two are great for it. Their friendship is so strong, even though or perhaps because they have no illusions about the kind of people they are: they just seem to get each other. And I love those times when Jing Beiyuan is stuck in the middle of his two very dramatic suitors and Zhou Zishu is just there being a good bro.
Prompts

Anything set during Beiyuan's first life would be interesting. I am haunted by that scene where he just casually mentions that oh yeah, Zhou Zishu tried to warn him that he was going to have to frame him.
We know very little about what exactly happens after Jing Beiyuan gets wounded in the war and before Wu Xi manages to sneak him away, so it'd be interesting to see how Zhou Zishu deals with his friend almost dying.
For a very different tone, it'd be nice to see them just lazying around or drinking or otherwise trying to act like they're just normal people. (I feel like this one might work both as fic or as art.)
Art that plays around with colors/shadows/symbolism to lean into their darker sides would be really cool!

Jing Beiyuan & Lu Ta (Qi Ye - priest)
Jing Beiyuan & Wu Xi & Lu Ta (Qi Ye)

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. We don't see much of how Wu Xi fits into that dynamic in canon aside from Lu Ta's confusion about him and his dad, but that's what makes it interesting!
Prompts:

Teaching and learning! Especially if it goes both ways and it’s not just the adults teaching Lu Ta, but he also gets to teach his dad about Nanjiang.
By the time the book ends, Beiyuan has realized that both his childhood and his relationship with Helian Pei were pretty messed up. It’d be interesting to see him use parenthood as a chance to come to terms with that and try to be better.
Fluffy slice of life is great for both fic and fanart.

天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Feng Xin/Mu Qing (TGCF )
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.
Prompts:

Getting together! After 800 years, and with their shining personalities, how does that even look like?
One of my favorite things about these two is how the book kept putting them in ridiculous, tropey peril, so more of that would be great. I'd love either fic or art of this!
For a less silly take, it'd be interesting to see them forced to work together for some case/mission so they can show off their more competent sides.
Art where they are both very in love and very angry about it is one of my favorite genres of fanart for them: angry blushes, "is this hugging or wrestling?", Mu Qing being slightly horrified at sweet gestures, that kind of thing.

魔尊也想知道 - 青色羽翼 | Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know - Cyan Wings
Baili Qingmiao & Zhongli Qian (Devil Venerable)
Their friendship made me so happy! I love how different they are and how good they are for each other. They bring out the best in each other and both of them learn a lot. Also, the parasite connecing their emotions is an excellent plot device.
Prompts:

They’ve got decades of adventures together that we don’t see. Anything set during that time would be great!
Alternatively, do they meet again post-canon? How do they deal with not having that connection anymore?
Fanart of their time traveling together! I love the vibes that the eyepatch and blindfold give them during that era.

Qiu Congxue/Shu Yanyan (Devil Venerable)

Shu Yanyan is one of, if not the, smartest characters in the book and yet when she’s in proximity to Qiu Congxue she becomes just as dumb as everyone else. Love that for her. I love how ambitious they both are and how different from each other and how their reaction to this situation is to basically punch each other forever.
Prompts:

They’ve both been part of Xuanyuan sect for a long time, so what’s the history there?
Shu Yanyan reluctantly (or not so reluctantly) getting Qiu Congxue out of whatever trouble she got into this time.
Their respective aesthetics are so different that I’m sure that’ll make for fun fanart!

Wenren E/Yin Hanjiang (Devil Venerable)

This ship has it all: loyalty kink, pining, incredible mutual trust, competence kink, misunderstandigs due to hallucinations, “I’ll destroy the world for you”, a ton of comedy…! But what I love the most is how they both learn to see each other (and themselves) as fully realized people. They have such an earned happy ending and I love them.
Prompts:

Yin Hanyiang pining before he even realized his own feelings, and Wenren É inadvertently making it worse.
Post-canon “where do we go from here?” fic with them adjusting to their new dynamic.
Battle couple stuff! Either as fic or as art, I’d absolutely love it.

WB: Abusive Romance Reader Responses To Changes (Devil Venerable)
WB: God of Annihilation Reader Responses To Changes (Devil Venerable)

The comments from the “original” books’ readers were some of my favorite parts of the book! I’d love to see anything in that vein, whether it’s as regular fic or as one of the in-universe mediums.

魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Jin Guangyao/Lan Xichen (MDZS)
Jin Guangyao/Nie Mingjue (MDZS)
Lan Xichen/Nie Mingjue (MDZS)
Jin Guangyao/Lan Xichen/Nie Mingjue (MDZS)

I love the tragedy of 3zun (and of each of the pairings involved) because they had so much potential. These are people who could've brought out the best in each other, but their circumstances and their own flaws doomed them to be a disaster. Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue are both good people trying to do the right thing, and yet Nie Mingjue is all action while Lan Xichen is all thought. Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao respect each other at first but become incapable of seeing things from the other's perspective, even before Jin Guangyao goes full villain. Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen care deeply for each other and see the best in each other, but their relationship also hinges on Jin Guangyao hiding terrible secrets for years. And when you put all three of them together, of course it all goes up in flames.
NieYao prompts:

Sunshot era adventures! Not a lot of time passes since they first meet until Nie Mingjue writes Meng Yao a recommendation letter, so those early good impressions must have been pretty intense. I'd love to see what's going on during that short amount of time when they made a good team.
The "can't get over your ex" situation where they already had their falling out, they know getting involved is a bad idea, but they can't help themselves.
Post-canon works about them as fierce corpses stuck in a coffin, as serious or cracky as you'd like.
I can't get enough of fanart that leans hard into the gothic horror of this ship: the coffin thing, Nie Mingjue as a fierce corpse, Jin Guangyao with his dead boyfriend's head...
For less dark fanart: these two are great for contrasting looks, especially the height difference.

XiYao prompts:

Works set when Meng Yao was hiding Lan Xichen from the Wen sect. That time has so much hurt/comfort potential, and it'd be interesting to get to actually see their first impressions about each other. This era makes for nice domestic fanart, too.
A mutual pining, courtly love type of thing where they're in love with each other and know it, but they also know they can't act on it.
Any kind of canon divergence where Jin Guangyao doesn't spiral into digging himself an ever-deeper hole; I'd love for them to have nice things.
I love the kind of fanart where they're both very clearly stuck in their romance bubble: smiles, gazing, that thing from CQL with Lan Xichen stopping Jin Guangyao's bows.

NieLan prompts:

These two are made for "battle couple" kind of stuff, so I'd love to see them go on adventures and be competent together: going on night hunts, fighting during Sunshot, anything like that. Art of them as a battle couple would be awesome too!
When and how did Lan Xichen first find out about the Nie sect's qi deviation problem? How did he try to help? I can see this going in a canonically angsty direction, or in a fix-it direction where his help works; I'd enjoy either of those.
Again with the pining/courtly love thing: how do two Sect Leaders make a relationship work?
I love the kind of fanart where they're still young and happy, both when it's pure fluff and when it has some kind of sad foreshadowing.

3zun prompts:

I'd love anything about them navigating getting together, especially if it's happening at around the same time as their sworn brotherhood and they already have all the fallout from Sunshot to deal with.
Post-sworn brotherhood casefic, with them having to solve problems while dealing with their interpersonal mess.
Fix-its! There are so many points where a canon divergence might improve things for them. I love their tragedy, as I said, but I'd be up for some happiness too.
They are great for fanart with lots of symbolism and/or contrasts between their happy times and their eventual tragedy. I always enjoy the "Lan Xichen and his ghosts" type of art.
On the sillier side of art prompts, Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao going at each other's throats while Lan Xichen doesn't notice is always a classic.

Crossover Fandom

Lan Xichen (MDZS) & Zhongli Qian (Devil Venerable)
Lan Xichen (MDZS MXTX)/Zhongli Qian (Devil Venerable)

Zhongli Qian’s character arc feels like it could be Lan Xichen’s good end, so obviously I want them to meet now. If someone can make Lan Xichen’s life a little better it’s this guy. Both gen or shippy would be equally great!
Prompts:

The post-canon version, where they meet after Lan Xichen has left seclusion and Zhongli Qian helps him find his own version of happiness.
The canon divergence version, where they meet when Lan Xichen is still young (pre-Sunshot? right after? so many possibilities!) and he decides that leaving behind everyone’s expectations of him would be great, actually.
Some fanart ideas: slice of life moments, scenes of them travelling together, anything that plays with the fact that both are considered really good looking in-universe.

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’m putting both of these in the same section because what I like about them and my prompts for them are really similar. 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.
Prompts:

“Brutal Court Politics All Draped in Politeness” was a freeform for IPQ this year, and I’m stealing it because I can’t word it better than that.
Nie Huaisang playing up his alleged incompetence, and the other person slowly realizing that he’s actually very smart beneath the annoying act.
Mutual manipulation! Or attempts at manipulation, at least, and then maybe a team-up.
Once again this is a group of characters where I’d love fanart that leans into the symbolism.
Or for a sillier/comedic tone of art, Nie Huaisang being over the top annoying and Ling Wen |Qin Banruo being exasperated at him.

Yin Hanjiang (Devil Venerable) & Yin Yu (TGCF)

The loyal sidekicks in charge of herding cats! They hit a sweet spot for me where on the one hand they’re pretty different, and on the other hand they have a lot in common.
Prompts:

Maybe they meet because they’re both trying to solve the same problem. Great opportunity for casefic.
Or maybe they just have a drink together in Ghost City and rant about their lives.
For fanart: anything having to do with the masks!

Star Trek: Discovery
Star Trek in general is a great fandom for field and mission reports, so go wild if that’s what sparks your interest!
Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets (ST: Discovery)
I really enjoy all aspects of their relationship, from their grounded, domestic cuteness to the whole epic "bringing your husband back from the dead" thing. I love them individually, too: Paul's curiosity and grumpiness and his earnest love for science, Hugh's kindness in spite of his sometimes harsh demeanor and his snarkier sense of humor.
Prompts:

I would love to see backstory fic for them. We get several interesting glimpses about how they met and their early relationship, and it'd be nice to see that expanded upon.
Anything about their daily life in the future, whether it's set during canon or after season 5.
Or maybe they can have a ST-style adventure! Bonus points if one of them is hurt or in danger and the other gets all intense about it.
I'd love domestic slice-of-life moments for fanart.

Keyla Detmer/Joann Owosekun (ST: Discovery)

I love their “best friends who are also lovers” vibe so much. They clearly understand and respect each other a lot, and they're so supportive! They always give the impression that they’re just having a lot of fun together. I love Keyla's hotshot pilot side, and of Joann's kindness that extends even to robots, and how both of them are more than ready to get into all kinds of adventures.
Prompts:

They really should have kissed in the season 3 finale! It'd be great to see that, in fic or art.
I'd completely buy it if they've been together all along, so established relationship is fine by me too. Star Trek is yet another canon where I love missionfic and "girlfriends having adventures in the future" is a very enjoyable kind of work.
Flying the mirrorverse Enterprise to Federation Headquarters. Did they have their own adventures on the way there? Was it basically a vacation? I’d love to see those missing scenes!
We know very little about their backstory, so what was that like? How did they first become friends? When did they learn they made such a good team?
They should get to have their vacation in Hawaii! This is something else I'd love either art or fic for.

山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021)
Cao Weining/Gu Xiang (WOH TV 21)
These two are so adorable, and then they break my heart. Cao Weining starts out looking very naive and silly, but he has a backbone and real principles. Gu Xiang has a lot of baggage but she's still a cheerful young woman who's a much better person than she thinks. Their love is so sweet and earnest, and my favorite thing about them is that they do see each other for who they are, and still choose to be together.
Prompts:

Anything about their time in the Gentle Wind Sword Sect and/or their eloping. It's a really interesting point in their relationship, since Cao Weining has only recently found out the whole truth.
A canon divergence fix-it where they don't die is always welcome, of course. Maybe they finally get to open that sweets shop, or maybe they do end up following Wu Xi and Jing Beiyuan to Nanjiang.
These two are the reason for the "unless requested" caveat in my DNWs: reincarnation AUs! I want to believe the bracelets work and they do in fact meet each other again across their many lives. Fanart of those AUs would also be cool!
I'd also love shippy art of them in general, whether it leans more towards Cao Weining's huge puppy eyes for her or towards symbolism/foreshadowing or anything in between.

琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV)

Lin Chen & Fei Liu (NiF)
Lin Chen & Mei Changsu (NiF)
Lin Shu | Mei Changsu | Su Zhe & Xiao Jingyan (NiF)
Mei Changsu & Fei Liu (NiF)
Mei Changsu/Mu Nihuang (NiF)

I love everything about Mei Changsu: his cleverness and his layers of secret identities, of course, but also his righteous anger, and his sense of humor, and his stubborness, and his lying, and honestly I could be here all day. I love the tragedy and loyalty and short-lived joy in his relationships with people like Jingyan and Nihuang, who knew him as Lin Shu (and the lies, yes, also the lies). I love his weird sibling-like relationship with Fei Liu and how much he spoils him. I love how Lin Chen is pretty much the only person who tells him when he's being an idiot, and that one line about how doesn't care about Lin Shu because his friend is Mei Changsu broke my heart. I love Lin Chen’s own eccentric relationship with Fei Liu, how they fight all the time in canon and he’s very willing to get on a teenage boy’s level, and yet they’re sticking together by the end.
When I was trying to come up with prompts for each requested relationship I realized that it was getting repetitive, so I did something different for this section and separated them into fic prompts and art prompts instead. I’m also opting into in-universe documents for this canon; both canon-era documents or “future” historical texts would be cool.
Fic prompts:

This is an excellent canon for loyalty tropes in all forms, romantic or otherwise.
Hurt/comfort! There are so many wonderful opportunities for this, both during canon or in pre-canon stories.
I would love anything dealing with the Mei Changsu-Lin Shu duality, either because the other character(s) in the fic remember his past or because they don't.

Fanart prompts:

Go wild with the symbolism of all kinds!
This show is really, really great for costume porn.
I just love the whole winter-y feel of the show in general.

莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV)
Li Lianhua & Fang Duobing & Di Feisheng (MLC)
Such a fun team! My favorite thing about them is how most of the show doesn’t have all three of them on the same page - whether because Fang Duobing is being kept in dark or because Di Feisheng is on another round of amnesia or whatever else - but they still work great together and complement each other. They’re hilarious, they’re competent, and they’re very tragic all at the same time. I love them.
Prompts:

These three are made for casefic with humour. It could work either during canon era, or something post-canon where Li Lianhua is still alive and they all go fight crime together.
For a late- or post-canon fic, there’s also a lot of interesting stuff to do with all of the information finally being out in the open and the looming tragedy of it all. How do they deal?
I love fanart that leans into the humor of their different personalities. Also my eternal “overt symbolism” request! That’d work really well for them.

Solo: Yun Biqiu (MLC)

He took me by surprise in the very last episode. I love characters who do terrible things knowing full well they’re terrible, but they still believe they’re for the greater good - and Yun Biqiu is also the kind of character who’s more than willing to deal with the consequences of that.
Prompts:

The obvious one: he follows Li Lianhua’s advice and slowly learns to live a good life.
His past is also fascinating because we see so little of it, even during the canon timeline. What was it like from his point of view, the first time he betrayed Li Xiangyi? What was he up to during canon?
For art, I think you could both go really angsty and symbolic or lean into slice of life post-canon moments.

陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)

Nie Huaisang & Wei Wuxian (The Untamed)
Nie Huaisang & Nie Mingjue (The Untamed TV)
Solo: Nie Huaisang (The Untamed TV)

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. The contrasts are a big part of what I like about his relationship with Nie Mingjue, too: 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. And of course their bond is what drives the present-day plot! Meanwhile, with Wei Wuxian, what I find interesting is how similar they are - they even acknowledge it themselves - and yet they end up going in very different paths. I like that the drama gave their friendship so much screentime, too, and we've seen them genuinely have fun with each other.
(I've watched and liked Fatal Journey; I don't expect works that use it as a canon source, since it's just a tie-in, but feel free to use it if you want!)
Nie Huaisang prompts:

His point of view on what's happened between Nie Mingjue's death and the present would be really interesting to see. What was his headspace like?
Post-canon works about whatever he decides to do after it's all over. Does he mean what he says to Wei Wuxian about not getting involved anymore? Does he get in trouble anyway?
I looove bird symbolism/imagery for Nie Huaisang, and also the kind of art that plays with the contrasts between his gentle, harmless looks and his ruthlessness.

Nie Huaisang & Nie Mingjue prompts:

Their backstory! Anything about their chilhood/youth, including the timeskip years, would make me very happy. With them what I find most interesting is their relationship itself, regardless of plot. Seeing them as kids would be lovely both in fic and in art.
That said, some kind of time travel fix-it would be really fun too.
Nie Huaisang and his brother's fierce corpse is another kind of fanart I'll never, ever get tired of.

Nie Huaisang & Wei Wuxian prompts:

Post-canon works where they're forced to awkwardly work together. Maybe they go on an adventure, maybe they have to solve a mystery - I think it'd be fun to see them stuck with each other and hopefully start rebuilding their friendship.
For a lighter tone, works set during the Gusu era would be great, both in fic and in art. What other nonsense did they get into that we didn't see?
I also love the kind of more symbolic art that plays with parallels and their darker sides.

Wei Wuxian & Wen Ning (The Untamed)

I love their friendship, and their deep, mutual loyalty, and how they are in fact pretty damn dangerous. For both of them, being good people is an active choice. Wen Ning is a sweetheart with a hidden backbone of steel, Wei Wuxian can be very kind under all his bluster, and the combination makes for a really interesting mix.
Prompts:

There's a lot of unexplored time while they're in the Burial Mounds. It'd be interesting to see them build their little community and try to have some semblance of peace in the middle of everything that's going on. Art set in this era would also be lovely!
Post-canon works with the newly evolved, self-assured Wen Ning after he's done some of his own traveling. How does their relationship change? Are they more of a team of equals, now? Even more fun if they end up going in some kind of adventure together.
These two have a lot of canon-divergence potential, too. What happens if Wei Wuxian manages to rescue Wen Ning earlier? Or if they meet in a different way in the present day?
Art playing with the Yiling Laozu & Ghost General aesthetic would be very cool.

Meng Yao | Jin Guangyao & Su She | Su Minshan & Xue Yang | Xue Chengmei (MDZS - MXTX)

They can be really dark, or they can be a workplace sitcom! I find it fascinating that Su She and Xue Yang are probably the characters that know Jin Guangyao best. They’re probably the only ones who’ve seen both the best and the worst of him. At the same time, I can’t imagine Su She and Xue Yang getting along with each other at all so it’s probably been a constant ticking time bomb.
Prompts:

Seriously, I would love the workplace sitcom version of this relationship. They’re made for dark humor.
For a less silly tone, it could be really interesting to see a casefic type of story where they have to solve problems together.
I feel a bit silly saying “I’d love anything!”, but I genuinely think fanart with these characters could be anything from extremely dark to extremely dumb, and I would appreciate any version of it.