Dear Yuletide Author,

Hi there! First of all, thank you very much for offering one of my tiny fandoms! I’ve tried to put together some thoughts and story prompts for each of them below, but basically, just know that these are all canons and characters I love, and I’m excited to read whatever you want to write about them. :) Everything here is just to help supply ideas.

I like slash, gen, and friendships that occupy some ambiguous, platonically-intimate space in between. I like darkfic and light fic, happy endings, unhappy endings, ambivalent or unresolved endings. Plotty, developed stories are great; slice-of-life character pieces are great. Even my DNW list is somewhat flexible — just keep it in mind and use your own discretion. :)

Likes:

❤ General / Stylistic / Thematic Stuff:

• Descriptive detail / imagery / textures / objects
• Settings / spaces / histories / worldbuilding
• Missing scenes / episode tags / set pieces / one-shots / five things / 5+1
• Stuff that feels like canon (in whatever respect – plot elements, tone, characterization, etc.)
• Set pieces / one-shots / five things / 5+1
• High fantasy / epic / travel / adventure
• Gothic / darkness / all senses of "haunted" / psychological or cosmic horror / suspense
• Mythic elements / magical realism / Borgesian fabulation

❤ Character Tropes:

• Self-discipline / controlled emotions / stoic characters being stoic
• Confessions / accidental reveals / in vino veritas / stoic character’s mask slips
• Moral complexity / gray areas / hard choices / tragic flaws
• Loyalty / devotion / self-sacrificing love (reciprocated or otherwise)
• Isolation / alienation / otherness / outside-looking-in
• Disguises / lies / masks / secrets / identity porn
• Self-deceptions / blind spots / realizations / moments of truth
• Passage of time / change and adaptation / lost chances / looking back

❤ Shippy Stuff:

• Complicated relationships / conflicted loyalties / unstable power dynamics
• Platonic intimacy / preslash / friends to lovers
• Forced proximity / trapped together / sharing a room, bed, etc.
• Indirect touches (smoking off someone else's cigarette, wearing their jacket, etc.)
• Things left unspoken / mutual understandings / shared history
• Established relationships / domestic moments
• First times / new experiences

❤ Hurt/Comfort Tropes:

• Exhaustion / fainting / vomiting / fever / stomachaches / headaches
• Any physical discomfort relieved by touch (massage, pressure, topical applications, etc.)
• Emotional breakdowns / characters being overwhelmed
• Supportive closeness / touches / hugs / unsolicited acts of kindness
• Comfort rejected / "everything’s fine" / iron woobies being iron
• Hurt-no-comfort / solo characters powering through / angst

Do-Not-Wants:

• Explicit sex (Would prefer fade-to-black if anybody’s pants are about to come off, sexually or otherwise. Anything above-the-waist or otherwise non-explicit is fine.)
• Real-world deadly diseases (Most anything else is fine: fantasy illness, poison, injury, possession, cold, flu, etc. Anything canonical or canon-typical is fine.)
• Unrequested pairings (If it's mentioned in a prompt, go for it! Anything canonical or implied by canon, or anything involving only minor/background characters or an OC, is also fine.)
• Present-tense narration / 2nd-person POV / 1st-person POV (Unless in typically 1st-person media like epistolary fiction, journal entries, or any fandom where the canon itself is in 1st-person, in which case do whatever you think fits.)
• AU / crossover / fusion / crackfic (Canon divergence is fine -- I do like canon-compliance where possible, but small-scale changes to canon events or things like expanding the timeline to fit more scenes in between canon stuff are perfectly okay.)

Requested Fandoms:

• 鹿鼎記 - 金庸 | The Deer and the Cauldron - Louis Cha

• 鹿鼎記 | The Duke of Mount Deer (TVB 1984)

• 狄仁傑之通天帝國 | Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)

• 春光乍洩 | Happy Together (1997)

鹿鼎記 - 金庸 | The Deer and the Cauldron - Louis Cha

Requested characters: Kangxi, Wei Xiaobao

  

Canon Intro: A classic yet perversely genre-subversive wuxia anti-epic by Louis Cha. In brief, the novel traces the adventures of a street-urchin trickster protagonist, Wei Xiaobao, as he (in one reviewer’s words) "traipses around the countryside, avoiding problems and creating even more of them." The core of the story, though, is the improbable and complicated relationship between Wei Xiaobao and the young Emperor of China. And if you’ve got your slash goggles even halfway on, their subtext is glorious.

There’s wrestling. There’s gazing. There’s hand-holding. There’s "I just want to stay with you forever."

If you matched me for another fandom but are curious about this one, you might start by glancing at the book recap I wrote up last year, and see what you think. There’s also a more balanced and general plot summary on Wikipedia. A professional English translation of the novel, in three volumes, is available here on Amazon, and there's also a fan-translation available here, for free. (Fair warning: the book is quite long. And also the misogyny is... a lot. Content warnings for, uh, kind of everything?)

Anyway. It's ridiculous and honestly a bit of a mess, but I love the setting, I love these characters, and I will love anything you write about them. <3

Prompts/Thoughts:

• I’d love to see what sort of mischief these two usually get up to when they’re not busy dealing with palace intrigue or national politics. They apparently spend time together in the Upper Library nearly every day, and the Emperor also seems to rather frequently invite Wei Xiaobao into his private quarters. What are they up to? (I obviously do ship these two, but for a more platonic reading, this could simply be a "domestic scenes" prompt. For instance, Kangxi might spend some time trying — probably in vain — to impart a little culture to Wei Xiaobao by teaching him to play chess, read/write, or just generally behave a bit more suitably for his status. Conversely, Wei Xiaobao might spend time corrupting the Emperor by teaching him dice games or curses, or regaling him with exaggerated tales of his own adventures.)
• It’s noted repeatedly that the Emperor dislikes being cooped up in the palace and envies Wei Xiaobao’s freedom. Meanwhile, Wei Xiaobao seems to have no trouble at all smuggling people into or out of the palace gates in broad daylight, as long as he can dress them up as eunuchs or guards or something. Is there any reason why he couldn’t smuggle the Emperor himself out for a few hours, in pursuit of some adventure, or just for a visit to town?
• Sort of reversing the above: there’s a scene where Wei Xiaobao has a talk with a eunuch in the kitchens and hears that as a rule of the palace, no "rare or unusual food" can be offered to any of the imperial family (because "if one of them were to suffer the slightest little sickness after eating it, it would be off with our heads"). The eunuch is worried that the Emperor has "the curiosity of youth" and therefore might be dangerously attracted to foreign and exotic experiences. Now, in reality, what Wei Xiaobaou is doing is a lot worse than anything the eunuch suspects; but regardless of that, this whole exchange kind of makes me want to see him actually sneaking exotic food (or really any other forbidden/exciting thing) into the palace for the Emperor -- who as usual has to rely on his street-urchin friend to supply the adventures his attendants keep trying to protect him from.
• Just in general, I feel like there’s a lot of hurt/comfort potential for these two. Kangxi, in spite of being very controlled and dignified in front of everyone else, often gets quite emotional around Wei Xiaobao, and seems to generally look to him for support when he has any problems. Wei Xiaobao also has his own sources of angst, and on top of that he spends like 80% of the novel in some condition of recent injury or under the influence of some kind of poison.
• Not really a prompt in itself, but: one thing I’d particularly love to see for this fandom is more descriptive detail to bring the historical moment to life. In the novel, we get a lot of action and a fair amount of dialogue, but rarely much description of things like landscapes, rooms, garments, architecture, or objects of any kind. You don’t need to go research 17th-century Chinese palace décor for me! I know exactly nothing about it myself. I’m just saying that any little visual/sensory details you’re able to throw in would be lovely.

鹿鼎記 | The Duke of Mount Deer (Hong Kong 1984)

Requested characters: Hong-hei Emperor, Wai Siu-bou

    

Canon Intro: Okay, yes, I know this series is more than a bit dated, with its roughly Star Trek TOS-level production values, flimsy props, absurd plot devices, and recurring misogyny. BUT. It's still such an absolute gem. Like the novel it was based on (above), it centers around the improbable and complicated relationship between a trickster street-kid and the maturing boy-Emperor whom he unexpectedly befriends. It stars Tony Leung and Andy Lau back when they were both very young.

I think the thing I love most about this show is how deeply flawed both of the main characters are, while still being sympathetic and generally likeable. There’s also something very bittersweet about the way they struggle to sustain the fiction of an equal friendship, in spite of the massive power imbalance between them. For instance, the way as their friendship starts to deteriorate, the Emperor seems to increasingly fall back on boyish displays of intimacy (like referring to himself as "Little Yuen" or going out of his way to make physical contact), and it's hard to tell how much of it is genuine and how much is deliberately manipulative.

If you came here for something else but are curious about the show, all 40 episodes are viewable with English subtitles here (and also on TVB's official YouTube channel, but only with traditional Chinese subtitles). I also wrote up a ridiculously thorough, screencap-illustrated recap of the series a few years ago, here.

Thoughts/Prompts:

• In general: I basically love every single canon interaction between these two, from the fluffy scenes where they’re just fooling around or getting up to mischief together to the darker scenes where their trust issues, identity issues, or power-dynamic issues take the foreground. I also love all the scenes where either character gets very protective about the other one. Branching from there, I feel like hurt/comfort fic could work well for them, especially since they both have so many possible sources of distress, and so few other places to look for help or consolation. There are also potentially any number of "trapped together" plots just waiting to happen, what with the two of them regularly sneaking around together all over the palace compound, especially at night.

• I’d love to see a post-canon reunion, maybe many years later, when both characters are much older and have lived very separate lives. Maybe Wai Siu-bou ends up in some new crisis or under arrest, and the Emperor gets wind of it and decides to intervene. How would they react to seeing each other again? How estranged would they be, or how naturally would they fall back into familiarity? And how easy, or difficult, would it be for them to separate again?
• These two come from very different worlds, and I love seeing them try to connect, successfully or not. Maybe Wai Siu-bou is willing to let the Emperor give him some basic reading/writing lessons, or teach him to play chess? On the other side, maybe the Emperor is willing to let Wai Siu-bou get him drunk, or teach him to gamble?
• So there’s that one scene where Siu-bou rushes to the Emperor’s room in the middle of the night, and the Emperor tells the guards to let him in, and then invites him to sleep there. Does Siu-bou ever take him up on this offer?
• Siu-bou seems really proud of his massage-giving skills, and rather eager to try them out on the Emperor -- who, for his own part, doesn’t seem all that resistant to the idea (except maybe insofar as they happened to be outside and potentially in public view at the time). Further development on this topic? [Note: Someone wrote me a treat based on this prompt last Yuletide, and it is both a) utterly wonderful and b) something that I would happily read more of, so I’m keeping the prompt up. :) ]

狄仁傑之通天帝國 | Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)

Requested characters: Di Renjie

    

Canon Intro: A fantasy-historical wuxia film which follows the martial-arts-and-sleuthing adventures of Di Renjie (a fictional Chinese detective-hero who has appeared in various types of popular media since the 18th century, and was originally very loosely based on a renowned judge of the early Tang Dynasty). The movie seems like it really wanted to be China’s answer to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but just didn’t quite get there, which is a shame: It’s got lovely sets and costumes, an awesome fantasy-historical setting, and a fascinating cast of characters. I would have loved for this film’s plot to have spanned a whole miniseries, with all the character development and worldbuilding and plot-unfolding that that would have entailed, instead of getting packed into two somewhat chaotic hours of action-heavy film time. I love all the stuff we do get, though, and would be delighted to see fanfic that explores the world or the characters more.

If you matched me on something else but are thinking of checking out this film, the internet tells me you can watch it for free on Tubi or Pluto. It’s also available to rent or buy on Amazon, Vudu, Sling, and iTunes.

Note on the prequels: There are two, but you don't need to be familiar with them. If you want to check them out, they’re also online, but not free. The first one, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon (2013) is available on Vudu and Viki. The second, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings (2018), is on Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, and Sling.

Thoughts/Prompts:

• I really love the idea of the Phantom Bazaar, and was sorry that we see so little of it in the film. Spooky underground city, caves, underground rivers, Stygian ferryman, creepy magical black-market bazaar, all in an ancient wuxia setting with shape-shifting, mutants, and monsters... I want a whole miniseries just about this. Anyway, I’d be happy to see any story that further develops the Underground City, whether in terms of its physical features or its culture, inhabitants, visitors, merchandise, history, etc. -- ideally in some kind of spooky, supernatural, or mythical way.
• More specifically, I’d love to see a post-canon story about Di Renjie living in the Phantom Bazaar. Does this feel like a new form of imprisonment, or is he content with his lot these days? Is there any hope that he can be cured? Is Wang experimenting to try to cure him? What is Di Renjie doing in the meantime? Has he retired? Is he still solving mysteries? Is Wang teaching him the ways of transfiguration? (Pre-canon fic about the place would be great too. It seems like Di Renjie is already pretty familiar with it in the movie, but we never hear anything about why. What brought him there before?)
• Casefic! This could be post-canon (maybe Di Renjie has been cured, or maybe he’s just working at night and/or remotely from within the Phantom Bazaar?), or it could be canon-concurrent, if you want to expand on the case he solves during the film, or have him on some other side case at the same time, or whatever. Feel free to include other characters. (I'm not really looking for romantic pairings of Di Renjie with anybody during the canon timeline, though. I mean, except maybe in canon-typical ways where people try to seduce him but it never gets anywhere.)
• [This prompt supposes knowledge of the second prequel.] So, in the second prequel, Di Renjie develops some kind of mysterious illness that is never explained, and never really relevant to anything. When asked about it at the end of the film, he says it’s caused by a "demon" inside him. (The way the final battle plays out might lead one to infer that an internal "demon" must be a metaphor for hatred, but there’s never any indication that Di Renjie hates anyone, so... ???) Anyway, he presumably still has this illness after the second prequel, but seems to have been cured of it by the time of Phantom Flame. I assume Shatuo must have cured him at some point between the two films, but... how? (I'm happy with Di Renjie and Shatuo's relationship being either platonic or slash, whatever you prefer.)

春光乍洩 | Happy Together (1997)

Requested characters: Lai Yiu-Fai

  

Canon Intro: Wong Kar Wai’s films are always stunning, but this is easily my favorite of them. I love how casually oblivious the film itself seems to be to its own provocativeness -- the way Wong Kar Wai approaches this untidy gay romance in exactly the way he approaches all other romances, with a passion for aesthetics and emotional complexity, and characters who can hardly understand themselves, much less each other. The whole movie is sort of slow and wandering and never really "ends up" anywhere, but every scene seems to resonate with a certain eloquent silence, through all its beautifully-framed shots of cramped rooms, lonely spaces, trivial conversations, washed-out colors, and the way the characters seem hopelessly unable to articulate themselves or find their place.

If you came here for a different prompt but are interested in checking this one out, you may be able to watch it free on Kanopy, if you have a public library card or are a university student. You can also find the DVD on Amazon or eBay, though it tends to be pricey.

Note on DNWs: My general "fade to black before anybody’s pants come off" rule is somewhat negotiable for this fandom, since canonically the main characters barely even wear pants. Just, ideally, if you feel like you need to include a sex scene, keep it non-explicit and don't make it the main focus of the story. (Also, for this fandom, past and present tense are both fine, 3rd and 1st person POV are fine, non-linear narrative, screenplay format, etc. In terms of narrative style, pretty much anything goes.)

Thoughts/Prompts:

• As far as characters go, Lai Yiu-Fai is the one I’m primarily interested in, but he doesn’t have to be the only focus of the story. I find all his interactions with other characters interesting, as well as the time he spends alone. You’re welcome to pair him with whoever you want, or with no one, and do whatever you want with the timeline. I would imagine that this film might lend itself most easily to simple set-pieces, disconnected one-shots, domestic scenes, etc., but anything else you’ve got in mind is great too.
• I feel like Lai Yiu-Fai and Ho Po-wing’s trip to get to Argentina could probably furnish a plot all on its own, especially if there were complications, whether flight-wise or just between the two of them, or all of the above. (I did a ticket search last Yuletide out of curiosity, and the absolute shortest, single-stop flight I could find between Hong Kong and Argentina was over 25 hours long. These two trapped in airplane seats together for 25 hours sounds like such a disaster.)
• Chang bringing drunk!Lai Yiu-Fai home seems like something that probably happened more than once. I'd enjoy seeing this as either a platonic(ish) hurt/comfort-y thing or as a point where they actually hook up, or almost hook up -- like, maybe Lai Yiu-Fai wants to, but Chang stops him because he's drunk. Or maybe Lai Yiu-Fai wants to but he stops himself. Or maybe one of them just ends up sending the wrong signals and the other isn't sure they're on the same page.
• I enjoy watching people remember things, so I'd be interested in something like Lai Yiu-Fai, post-canon (maybe during his trip back to Hong Kong, or after he's already there), looking back on events from canon or pre-canon (whether with Ho Po-Wing or Chang, or just things about his time in Argentina without a specific focus on either relationship).
• I’m also open to OC relationships for this fandom, if, for instance, you want to focus on Lai Yiu-Fai’s string of one-night-stands after he and Ho Po-Wing have split up. Were there any moments/hook-ups that were especially memorable, representative, dangerous, hopeful, revealing? Can we learn anything about him, or does he learn anything about himself, during this time?

Thank You!

Truly, I will be delighted no matter what you write for any of my requests! Fluff, darkfic, plot, no plot, slash or gen, anywhere inside or outside the canon timeline. It’s all good. Thank you for offering something on my list!