FFFX 2024 letter

[nemainofthewater]

Dearest Author,

Thank you so much for my gift in advance! Please know that I will absolutely adore anything that you gift me and though I am going to provide more likes/dislikes and some general prompts further down, please feel free to combine prompts, or ignore them completely if you get inspired in a different direction! I’m Nemainofthewater on AO3 and most other fandom spaces.

I am very open to comics as well as fic, and am always grateful for treats!

Please go wild – I will literally adore anything that you make me. I am also open for treats if anyone feels so inclined! If you want to do something experimental (a series of drabbles, interactive fiction, art, etc…) I will be delighted to see it!

 

 

Things I like:

-Found family! I really love team-as-family, slice of life type stories where everything may be difficult (or not!) but at least they have each other

-I love angst. Please put my blorbos through The Horrors ™  . I would prefer to have a glimmer of hope at the end, but honestly, I am also very happy for all knives all the time so long as appropriately tagged

-Adventures: I love case fics or adventures where the characters work together to solve a problem. It doesn’t have to be anything important! Problem solving is wonderful at all levels, whether it’s something large like overtaking an empire or small like hunting for the perfect cake. Bonus for characters displaying unexpected knowledge/skills, or just being good at their jobs and their team appreciating that

-some canon divergence AUs or role reversal (although on the whole I am not a fan of college/high school AUs). I really like time travel and time loops as well as ‘for want of a nail’ type stories. Modern day AUs are a little hit or miss for me; sometimes I love them and sometimes it really takes me out of the story? I am fond of the type of modern day AUs that preserve the fantastical elements (ie, cultivation in the modern world type thing!)

-characters who don’t take care of themselves being gently bullied into sleeping/eating/resting, or just generally just looking after themselves. I am a huge fan of the ‘perfect mask much work until I collapse’ type character, especially when there are others around to take care oof them before/when they eventually collapse.

-food or creating things as a love language (platonic or romantic)

-OT3s to solve love triangles

-people appreciating other people’s competencies!

-multimedia! (meta, articles, etc). Outsider POV is also something that I love and if you feel intrigued by adding that and/or any multimedia bits please indulge yourself!

-identity porn

-wingfic, especially wingfic that looks at the practical things associated with wings/the (pseudo)biology/the social implications…

-survival stories? I don’t know how to characterise this. Kind of the ‘trapped on a desert island’ kind of thing where everyone has to work together and bring out their various specialities and intelligence to build a home. The kind of domestic slice of life type thing only with having to literally establish their own settlement type thing

 

DNWs: high school/college AUs, texting fics, characters watching the show/read the book they’re from, PWP, sibling (biological or otherwise) incest, underage, character bashing (out of universe: it doesn’t count if characters don’t like each other in canon, for example), racism, sexism, homophobia, aphobia, transphobia

I have added some prompts for the fandoms, but the length or breadth of prompts has no bearing on how much I want a fandom – it’s very much what’s in my mind at the time of writing.

Above all, please create whatever pleases you and whatever you have fun making; I promise that I will love whatever I get!

I opt in to:

Podfic of my work | Recursive fic of my fic |Art of my fic | Sequels/Prequels/recursive works of gifts I have received (with the author’s permission) | Any relationships (that don’t hit my DNWs) for Character requests | Crossovers with fandoms that I have previously created for/requested

 

 

 

Original Work

A lot of these prompts tend to invoke chinese dramas because that is what I have been reading/watching more often. however, if you want to set your stories in another place and time go for it! I will love it! Do you want to bring your culture to fic exchanges? Do you want to explore fantasy or sci/fi worlds? Maybe you are an expert on a historical period and want to indulge. Please feel free and write away - so long as you enjoy writing it, I will love reading it!

Female general looking for ruzhui husband/down-on-his-luck scholar

In case anyone was unfamiliar with the term, a ruzhui (or matrilocal) marriage was historically when a man would marry into a woman’s family (where they would live with the woman’s family, their children would get their mother’s family name) etc.

This would often happen if there was a powerful or noble family (or just a rich one) who only had daughters, who would then recruit a son-in-law (often a younger son from a poorer or lower status family) to marry into the family.

Potential prompts:

-what does this society look like? The pairing was in the context of imperial china, but I would be interested in seeing how this to be adapted to different settings!

-why would the scholar do this? is he happy to be married to the general? Is this something that they’ve discussed? Are there miscommunications?

-what is the female general’s social status? Is this an AU where women have a higher social status? Or is it more historical, and she is an exception?

 

Politically inconvenient politician/same-sex spouse awarded to them by the emperor

-I just think this is really funny. I’m happy to have this be Any/Any

-what makes a politician politically inconvenient?

-did the politician’s spouse know the politician beforehand? This has great potential for enemies to lovers OR alternately could it be a plot between the two lovers to get married?

 

The Emperor's Older Brother/Young Imperial Minister

The vibes in this sound intriguing!

Is the emperor’s younger brother content with his position? Does he want more power? Does he want to stay out of court life?

What about the imperial minister? He’s young, does that he mean he’s inexperienced? Is he ambitious? Does he know it’s the emperor’s younger brother he’s meeting?

 

Child from a rich family accidentally swapped at birth & Child they were swapped with

-I read a lot of webnovels, and either the child swapped at birth or the child they were swapped with tend to become this terrible caricature. Secretly an awful person all along type thing. I just want them to be friends! To bond over this traumatic experience that only they can really understand! I want all the found family!!!

 

Retired emperor & his subordinate trying to convince him to come back to work

-again this is just… so funny to me

-why did the emperor retire? Can emperors do that? If the subordinate does get him to come back to work, is it a coup?

-Is the emperor’s subordinate his successor????

-‘Your Majesty, please, I just want your input on these grain tariffs-’ and the retired Emperor is just… harvesting melons or something and going lalala I can’t hear you and by the way hold this melon for me.

 

Person who accidentally ascended to godhood & the worshipers they’re embarrassed to have

-imagine ascending to godhood for something Incredibly Embarrassing, but never mind you can get past this! Except it turns out you can’t, because your worshippers do the equivalent of whipping out your baby pics at every opportunity

 

Female General Returning From War/Hostage Prince She Has To Marry (F/M) (OW)

Again, all the gender feels and vibes! How is the hostage prince treated? Why are they getting married? Do they want to get married? Why is she a female general? Who is being married into which household?

 

Female Transmigrator in a Cultivation World/Male Villain Cultivator She Saved (OW)

Give me all the tropes! Does the transmigrator know anything about the book? Does she save the villain on purpose? Who did she transmigrate into? Main or side characters? Her own OC?

 

Heretical Cultivator/Orthodox Cultivator (Any/Any) (OW)

A true classic!

What does orthodox mean? What does heretical? Do they belong to organisations? Is one or the other a rogue cultivator?

 

Virgin General Suspicious of Romantic Overtures/Playboy Foreign Ally Who's Very Into Him (M/M) (OW)

Why is the general a virgin? Why is he suspicious? How has he met the playboy foreign ally? Has he met them before? Why is the playboy ally interested in him? Where are they meeting – the general’s kingdom of the foreign ally’s?

 

 

 

Nirvana in Fire

 

Mei Changsu/&Lin Chen (& Fei Liu)        

-for once, Mei Changsu isn’t the one that needs to be looked after, Lin Chen is. Mei Changsu gets to be on the other side of the ‘friend/patient is being awful and won’t just sit down and heal, but insists on actually straining himself for reasons I feel are Inadequate, but he won’t listen to me’. Mei Changsu hates it. Lin Chen, when he isn’t trying to hide how awful he feels, is smug. Fei Liu is helpful. Whether this actually helps is up to you.

-A pre-canon jianghu adventure! Perhaps Lin Chen and MCS need to go undercover but Lin Chen isn’t taking it seriously? Maybe they get kidnapped, forcing the poor kidnapper listen to them bickering instead of being adequately intimidated by said kidnapping? Maybe there is a friendly rivalry between members of the Jiangzuo Alliance and Langya Hall and Mei Changsu and Lin Chen are both vicariously competing (and actually competing) through their subordinates? Id this the adventure where they find and save fei liu? Or does Fei Liu have to be ‘kidnapped’ only he’s very bad at it?

 

Lin Chen/Jingyan

I am lowkey obsessed with the pair of them. I want them to meet onscreen, I want them to have messy emotions. One of them only knows and cares about MCS, one of them misses xiao-Shu and is starting to build a tentative friendship with MCS. I think it isn’t an overstatement to say that one of them is MCS’ best friend and one of them is xiao-Shu’s.

Do they get along? How do they fall into a relationship? Are they each finding the missing piece of their friend in the other? I am just feral about this relationship.

 

Lin Chen & Nihuang

I just want to see them interact more! I think they have the potential to be fascinating together, and I would love to see something exploring a potential relationship

-post canon, Nihuang decides to wander the jianghu for a time and leets in Chen. Where? Was it on purpose? What do they do? Are they brought closer by grief or do they blame each other?

-pre canon, Nihuang went to langya hall at literally any point. What happens?

 

Character: Lin Chen

-It would be hilarious if Langya Hall, being the source of all knowledge etc, also moonlit as a relationship advice column. I can’t imagine the amount of chaos that this could cause, and I can’t decide whether Lin Chen would be an amazing relationship guru or a terrible one (purposefully or not!)

-Oops Lin Chen has accidentally Ascended to godhood through no fault of his own (he hadn’t realised that the MacGuffin he was looking for did that). Now he’s on a mission to gain more followers and game the system to stop Mei Changsu from dying

 

Mei Changsu/Xiao Jinghuan

God this is so spicy. So many power dynamics, so much more identity porn.

-Xiao Jinghuan wins. What does that mean for MCS?

-Jinghuan doesn’t win, but he doesn’t die. What does that mean for him? Is there a place for him in Jingyan’s court? Would he want one?

 

-canon compliant, except that they were in a relationship. What does that mean?

 

Lin Chen/Jingyan/Mei Changsu

My favourite OT3 is MCS/Lin Chen/Justice (aka Jingyan). What does this look like? Could it work? Would MCS try and prevent it?

 

 

 

 

 

The Untamed

 

Lan Qiren/Wen Ruohan

I got really into this pairing through Nirejseki’s (amazing) fic on AO3 and now I can’t get enough. This pairing is so rare, I will adore anything I get, I am literally dying.

-How did they get together? Does their relationship change anything about the Sunshot Campaign? Doesn’t it?

-What do other people think about it? Do any of the younger generation know about them?

-AU where QHJ doesn’t go into seclusion and he has ISSUES with his younger brother’s relationship with WRH. Whether this is more heartwarming or creepy is up to you!

-I have a new appreciation for arranged marriage (once again I blame Nirejseki for this) and would love any iteration of that

-Any interactions are delicious, tbh

 

Lan Qiren/Wen Ruohan/Madam Wen

All of the above except Madam Wen is now here as well. What does this mean for the relationship? How do they get together? Does LQR get childtrapped except they aren’t even his children (but someone has to raise Wen Xu and Wen Chao and it’s certainly not going to be his parents…)

 

Lan Qiren/Cangse Sanren/Wei Changze

LQR is so Lan that he needs not one but TWO gremlins as his fated ones.

canon divergence where Qingheng-jun and Madam’s Lan story doesn’t end quite as badly and Lan Qiren isn’t acting set leader?

Shenanigans while WCZ and CSSR are studying at the cloud recesses?

are they rogue cultivators together? Is LQR still the Acting Lan Sect Leader and they come back to visit him? What do their dynamics look like?

LQR has to get married and CSSR agrees to do it. Then they meet WCZ and have to convince him (and fit him into their lives). Angst! Comedy! Drama! The woes of scheduling! Any and everything!

Alternately, how do CSSR and WCZ woo Lan Qiren? Does he notice?

 

Xiao Xingchen

Anything about the immortal mountain sounds intriguing – who is BSSR and who are her disciples? Are they slightly eldritch?

Outsider POV my beloved – can one accidentally become a god/immortal is enough people believe you are?

 

Jiang Cheng & Lan Sizhui & Jin Ling

Jiang Cheng realises he has an unknown nephew and now has to make up for 13 years of not-uncling. Jin Ling;.. how does he feel about this? How does Sizhui? Does communication happen?

 

Jin Zixuan & Jin Guangyao

Meng Yao | Jin Guangyao goes to Lotus Pier instead of Qinghe Nie and become Jiang Yanli’s friend. Now Jin Zixuan has to both a) apologise and convince someone who he’s, frankly, been pretty awful to marry him while also, b) figure out how he feels about having a brother.

Jin Guangshan dies just after the Sunshot Campaign and now Jin Zixuan is thrust into being Sect Leader despite not being ready for it at all. Luckily both his new wife and his new brother are both politically savvy

Jin Zixuan and Jin Guangyao accidentally swap bodies.

 

Lan Qiren/Qin Su; Jiang Yanli/Wen Ruohan

How do these pairings happen? How do we get here?

 

Jin Guangyao/Su She

Something something loyalty something something the only one who doesn’t betray JGY, the only one who sees SMS

 

 

 

The Legend of Shen Li

 

Shen Li/Xing Yun | Xing Zhi (Legend of Shen Li)

-I would love to see something set in their courtyard inhabiting days, whether that is in the early arc when Shen Li is a chicken and Xing Yun is a mortal, or post canon

 

-Does Xing Zhi get kidnapped? He could escape (probably) but isn’t it nicer to wait to be rescued? The kidnappers, on the other hand, are having a terrible time. Please take him back Bicang-wangye

-Xing Zhi is now just an immortal, but he used to be more. Many, many unscrupulous people want to take advantage of that

- Shen Li might be one of my favourite characters in cdrama, please tell me more about her. Put her in Situations™.  And Xing Zhi He is so blorbo shaped. So full of potential angst.

 

Shen Li & Shen Muyue | The demon emperor

I would love something looking at their relationship? I am here for complicated family dynamics, and I really love Shen Muyue as a character.

 

Furong & Shen Li

I think an AU where Shen Li signs Furong’s contract and they decide they are going to be platonically married would be hilarious, especially considering the look on everyone else’s faces

.

 

 

Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

 

Shu Yanyan/Baili Qingmiao/Zhongli Qian

Post-canon – Zhongli Qian is finally leaving, except no one wants to let him leave. Can one be elected the leader of a demonic sect? And why has Baili Qingmiao been dragged into this?

 

Qiu Congxue & Baili Qingmiao & Su Hai & Zhongli Qian; Zhongli Qian; Baili Qingmiao & Zhongli Qian

What adventures did our intrepid explorers have during those 30 years of travelling the jianghu?

Zhongli Qian worked hard to get out from his family’s expectations. What was that like for him?

Zhongli Qian and Baili Qingmiao are linked – what does that mean for them? They seemed like true friends – how did that come to pass? What was it like getting to know each other?

 

Worldbuilding

What does Xuanyuan Sect look like? I loved the depictions we had of it in the books: please explore it some more! How do things function when everyone is trying to take more power? What shenanighans are happening?

 

 

 

 

The Blood of Youth

 

Lei Wujie & Sikong Qianluo & Tang Lian & Xiao Se | Xiao Chuhe & Ye Ruoyi

Feel free to give me any combination of any of the youths – I love them all.

I love all of the youths so much! Give me adventures! The timeline is so wibbly wobbly, anything could have happened!

 

Sikong Qianluo/Wu Xin/Xiao Se

I don’t have much to say here except I love them and I think they would be obnoxious in a relationship, and I am here for it.

 

 

 

Oh My General

 

Hu Qing/Ye Zhao/Zhao Yujin

I think that OT3s to solve love triangles are the way to go! Both A’Zhao and Yujin are convinced that the other is in love with Huli and wants to help their spouse succeed. Does this help or hinder?  Does Huli even notice?

 

Hu Qing & Liu Xiyin

What do the politics look like in Western Xia? How did the pair of them interact?

Huli and Xiyin Western Xiao Role reversal – how did we get here and what happens.

 

Ye Zhao & Xuan’er & Concubine Yang & Meiniang

I love all the concubines and their early interactions with Ye Zhao – please give me more of that!

 

The Emperor/Fan Zhongyan/Hu Qing

The Emperor is very tired and very in need of competent assistance. Minister Fan and Military Strategist Hu are both very competent.

 

Hu Qing

Hu Qing writes terrible angsty poetry.

What does his life look life outside of Ye Zhao?

 

 

 

Joy of Life

 

Chen Pingoing/The Emperor/Fan Jian

The Emperor, Chen pingping, and Fan Jian have such divorced energy. Tell me about them! How did they get together? Are they still together? Did Ye Qingmei’s death change things? How did it change things? Tell me about this terrible polycule! The love was there, but omg did it make everything worse.

Chen Pingping/The Emperor

At point while watching the show, I had a lot of fun adding ‘in bed’ to all the dialogue between Chen Pingping and the Emperor – what are different points between scenes where this could happen?

 

Eldest Princess of Beiqi/Li Chengru

They are incredibly cute and if anything bad happens to them, then I riot. How do they do in the capital? Do they end up getting married? What’s happening with their scandalously unchaperoned dates? Who has custody of the horse?

 

The Emperor & Fan Xian & Li Chengyu & Li Chengze

More awkward family dinners! These people are the most dysfunctional family ever, but there are very enjoyable moments watching them so long as one doesn’t have to be too close. Alas, Fan Xian doesn’t have that luxury.

 

Chen Pingping & Fan Xian

The Overwatch Bureau is so menacing in universe, but also seems to be easily bribe-able and full of chaos. What is it like to work there? What does an average day there look like?

 

What do the members feel about their Chief Chen? How about Fan Xian? What is the water cooler gossip saying?

 

 

Fan Wujiu & Li Chengze & Xie Bi’an

I wasn’t expecting to love these most side of side characters, but I do. Please tell me more about the bodyguards and their relationship with their prince.

 

Fan Ruoruo & Fan Sizhe & Fan Xian (Joy of Life)

Fan family best family! How do they interact when things aren’t going to pieces? How would they do if things were slightly worse?

What is a very low stakes problem that they could get incredibly involved in? What are some more family businesses to open?

 

Fan Xian & Haitang Duoduo

I just love them, they are both gremlins. Maybe instead of meeting in Jiangnan, Haitang Duoduo comes to the Qing capital?

 

 

 

Word of Honour

 

Qin Huaizhang & Zhou Zishu

AU – time travel fix it. ZZS manages to travel in time and make things better.

AU – time travel break it. ZZS travels in time and everything becomes so much worse, but at least he has Four Seasons Manor and his Shifu. Or does he?

Pre-canon – what does Four Seasons manor look like? Why did the jianghu turn against them?

AU – canon divergence. Four Seasons Manor is helped by other jianghu sects, subsequently it doesn’t move to the capital. What does this mean for the future?

 

Wen Kexing & Ye Baiyi

Their interactions are just so funny. I love them they are so annoying.

 

Wen Kexing/Ye Baiyi/Zhou Zishu

Continuing from the previous point, can you imagine how obnoxious they would all be together? Who’s the peacemaker? Do they all enjoy sparring together? Who gangs up on who, and what does a day in the life of this trio look like?

 

Jing Beiyuan & Zhou Zishu; Prince Jin & Zhou Zishu

What does it mean to dedicate your life to something, only to realise that it has taken everything from you?

AU – Prince Jin has slightly fewer hinges – what does this mean for Zhou Zishu and Jing Beiyuan?

In this universe where ZZS is Prince Jin’s cousin, what’s his cover story? Is he also lounging around pretending to be a dissolute noble with Jing Beiyuan? I would love to see this

 

Ye Baiyi

YBY is so grumpy. Adopting people left and right while bitching at them. Doesn’t want to live anymore, but keeps lecturing people on throwing their life away anyway.

Post-canon YBY travels around the jianghu on a food tour, avoiding the pointed invitations to return to Four Seasons Manor. How long can this continue?

 

 

 

Mysterious Lotus Casebook

 

Yun Biqiu & Li Lianhua; Yun Biqiu/Xiao Zijin; Yun Biqiu

Tell me about Baichuan court. When was it established. What as it like? How did they decide who the court masters would be (and YBQ is my blorbo but since it’s known to the court masters that he poisoned their sect leader, how is he still second court master?)

Tell me about Sigu Sect! How did they recruit? Who were the first people to join? How did it become so powerful so quickly?

Yun Biqiu is my blorbo. He is…so soggy. Also full of guilt, that I don’t think will get any better when he realises that LLH used the last of his energy to heal him before leaving to die. Please do either nice things or terrible things to him.

Yun Biqiu/Xiao Zijin – my crack pairing. something about unhealthy relationships post canon. Two people who know that they caused llh’s death, with different reactions to it. One knowing there’s no absolution and one who doesn’t want to find it but needs to find someone else to blame. Self punishment and flagellation. That becomes reluctant companionship because the only other person who (they believe) will understand them is the other, who they despise. But who else is there?

 

 

 

Jiao Liqiao/Li Lianhua/Di Feisheng

Oh but Jiao Liqiao was totally ready to marry them both and I think that’s very sexy of her. AU where that happens?

 

Shi Shui/Yang Yunchun

 

He Xiaofeng & He Xiaohui & He Xiaolan

It looks like these three sisters had an interesting relationship – what were they like a decade ago? How did He Xiaolan’s death affect them?

 

Fang Duobing/Princess Zhaoling                      

Fang Duobing has undergone so much growth through the series! AU – canon divergence. FDB agrees to properly marry Princess Zhaoling if the Emperor allows LLH to use some of the Wangchuan flower.