mekare's 2023 Wishlist

[guardian_wishlist_mod]

Username: mekare
AO3 Username: mekare
Does your account accept gifts? Yes!


Medium Likes: fic, art, icons, vids, fancrafts, fannish recipes, meta, picspam, podfic, recs
Medium DNWs: -

General Likes: Gen, fluff, humour, crack, pwp, porn with plot, canon, canon-divergence, fix-its, time travel shenanigans, hurt/comfort, competency, devotion/loyalty, identity porn, (mutual) pining (only if it is resolved later), domesticity, communication, healing from trauma, realistic aftermath of canon events (physical or mental experiences), characters exploring new interests/skills/kinks and being supportive of each other throughout, crossdressing, happy/bittersweet/hopeful endings, crossovers

General DNWs: sad/hopeless endings, no-powers AU, school/college/university AU, stupid misunderstandings, hurt/no comfort, mpreg, humiliation, teacher/student, age-play, infidelity, characters stripped of their canon-level competence. I don‘t want unrequited love, pure angst or too much whump.


Fandom: Guardian (drama)
This year I‘d really like something focused on Da Qing and Yunlan (at any point of their relationship, or even pre-relationship) or Da Qing and Zhu Hong's relationship and their common ground as yashou (or alternatively their complaints against the SID and Haixing people/customs/prejudice etc.)


Fandom: DMBJ/The Lost Tomb Reboot

Characters: Pangzi, Xiaoge, Wu Xie, Xiao Mei, Piao Piao
Pairings: Pangzi/Xiaoge/Wu Xie, Pangzi/Piao Piao

Likes: Iron Triangle shenanigans, Iron Triangle as lifepartners (asexual or sexual in any combination you can think of), I love fanworks exploring the different ways they fit together, adapt to each others needs, love their secret knocking language, nonverbal communication in general, supporting each other through bad days (Xiaoge is traumatised to the max, Wu Xie has moooooods and has been manipulated all his life via Jiumen plots, Pangzi has a lot to bear and grief to work through). I would also love to know how Xiao Mei fits into their life post-TLTR-canon! Let Piao Piao live and write me a polyamory negotiation fic! She made Pangzi so happy!

Possibly a crossover that brings them to another world via tomb curse? But basically anything featuring all of them is fine.


Fandom: Detective L

Characters: Qin Xiao Man, Luo Fei, Ben Jie Min, Susu
Pairings: Qin Xiao Man/Luo Fei/Ben Jie Min

Luo Fei and Susu! Tell me more about their relationship. Bonus if it‘s from her point of view. Double bonus if Susu is trans and Luo Fei knows (how did he find out? What deal did they make?)

Ben/Xiaoman/Luo Fei OT3! Anything goes. I have a particular fondness for the case from episode 19/20 (the one with the gorgeous costumes). Trap them in a hotel! Or whatever else you can think of. Bonus: getting together trope.


Comment below to leave a gift for this wishlist! Gift comments can be anonymous or signed in. Comments are screened until reveals on 29 September (Reunion Festival).

All gifts must be posted in or linked in comments. If you like, you can post transformative works to the AO3 collection. If your gift doesn't meet AO3's terms of service (picspams, etc.) and is too big to fit in a comment, you can post to Googledocs, set the security to "anyone with the link", and link to the work in the wishlist comments. Other hosting (Tumblr, etc.) is also fine as long as the gift is only visible with a direct link. In any case, please leave a link to the gift in the comments here.

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Comments

[velithya]

Dear mekare, Happy Reunion Festival! I've written you a story which you can find on AO3 here. Please enjoy! ♥

[mekare]

Ah thank you so much! I‘m going to have to postpone reading until tomorrow, I‘m too tired right now.

Detective L fic

[sakana17]

The Case of the Letter and the Lady (teen & up; no warnings apply; Luo Fei & Wang Susu) Luo Fei's first case as a detective introduces him to Wang Susu.

I hope you enjoy it! Your prompt was inspiring. Wang Susu is wonderful and deserves to live her very best life. <3

Re: Detective L fic

[mekare]

Thank you for choosing this prompt!

Early Days (G, no warnings)

[marycrawford]

Early Days

When Zhu Hong first joined the SID, it didn’t take her long to get the measure of everyone there. Lin Jing, Chu Shuzhi, Lao Li, and the Chief. The nerd, the muscle, the caretaker, and the boss.

It was a small office, and a quiet one, except when Lin Jing’s work exploded. Or imploded. Or, on one notable occasion, changed the laws of gravity.

Then the old Chief retired, Zhao Yunlan came in to replace him, and Da Qing got promoted from street detail to Deputy Chief, apparently just to keep him company. Suddenly the office felt a lot more crowded. A lot more chaotic. A lot more alive.

Zhu Hong couldn’t decide how to feel about the new Chief, with his casual “call me Lao Zhao”, his glinting smiles, his terrible jokes, his habit of sitting on everything except an actual chair, his terrifying intuition that solved cases faster but felt sloppier than the old Chief’s careful methodical plodding rule-bound investigations - no, she couldn’t decide how she felt about him. She would like to stop thinking about him at all, actually, but he seemed to make that impossible. When he was in the room, everyone else just…faded away.

She knew how she felt about Da Qing, though. There was absolutely no need for another Yashou in the office. Especially not a cat. What could a cat possibly achieve that a six-foot snake couldn’t do better?

---

“You could have told me,” Da Qing hissed to Zhao Yunlan, who was driving them home. “Did you see her eyes glow red? She wants to eat me.”

“You’ve got something in common, then,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Big appetites.”

Da Qing growled, deep in his throat. “Cats and snakes don’t get along. Everyone knows that.”

“I wonder if there are fish Yashou. Shark Yashou... Hmm. Dog Yashou?” Zhao Yunlan said with an air of innocent interest.

Da Qing unsheathed a claw and poked it into his thigh, where his jeans were thinnest and about to fall apart.

“You really want us to end up in a ditch?” Zhao Yunlan protested.

“Why not. Then you can trade in this rust bucket for something better.”

“Maybe I’ll trade it in for a motorcycle,” Zhao Yunlan said, ignoring Da Qing’s offended yowling. “What? I’ll buy you a helmet—or I could ask if the shop needs a good mouser—ow!”

---

One awful day where nothing went right, Zhu Hong discovered a sunny spot in the SID office. It was a dusty corner of the unused library, where the angled light from a high window created a perfect sun trap. She set about dusting it, then changed forms and coiled up in it.

It was perfect.

The sunlight warmed her scales, pouring over them like honey, and she closed her eyes and basked.

After half an hour or so, the stairs creaked. “Zhu Hong, you up here? Lao Zhao said—oh.”

A pause.

She didn’t open her eyes. It wasn’t like she needed them to identify the speaker. “Go away.”

“Hey, I—“

“Go away,” Zhu Hong repeated, her voice laced with annoyance. She didn't want to deal with anyone right now, especially not Da Qing. It was bad enough that he’d seen her fail. Had he come to rub it in? If he did, she was going to show him some fang.

Da Qing let out a sigh. “Come on, Hong-jie. You can't hog the sunny spot forever."

Zhu Hong opened one eye. Hong-jie? “Plenty of windows in this place.”

Da Qing sauntered over and then shifted form easily, apparently just to wave his tail back and forth at her. “But this spot is the best. So make some room or I'll have to sleep on top of you."

Zhu Hong opened the other eye to glare more effectively.

He blinked back at her, undaunted, smug. Expectant.

“…fine. But don't expect me to be happy about it.” She shifted some of her coils out of the sunlight.

Da Qing smirked. “Who says I need you to be happy? As long as I get what I want.” He curled himself up neatly, forefeet tucked under, and his eyes slid shut.

He’d made a tidy loaf of himself, and it was easy to coil one of her loops around him. He didn’t even look up, though she could crush the life out of him in an instant.

His cat form was…very warm, against her scales. Warmer than a human. And his fur was unfairly soft.

For a while, nothing mattered except the sunlight and the quiet. Dust motes, dancing in the air.

A faint creaking sound made her look up, and then Da Qing did too. They both turned their heads to see Zhao Yunlan standing at the entrance of the library, a curious expression on his face.

“Well, well, well. Found my two troublemakers,” Zhao Yunlan said, his lips curling into a fond, teasing smile.

Zhu Hong winced, opened her mouth to protest, but Da Qing beat her to it. “Who’s trouble? We're just enjoying some quality sun time.”

Zhao Yunlan chuckled, stepping closer to them. “Mind if I join you?”

Zhu Hong and Da Qing exchanged a glance before simultaneously rolling their eyes. Zhao Yunlan plopped down beside them, jostling Da Qing in the process.

"Hey!" Da Qing yowled, his tail fluffing up in annoyance. "Watch where you're sitting, Lao Zhao!"

Zhao Yunlan laughed. "Relax. There's enough sun for all of us." He patted Da Qing's round head, ducking the swipe aimed at his wrist.

It was helpful that they were ignoring her, for the moment. She needed that moment to get herself together.

Zhao Yunlan’s long legs spilled out over her coils, carefully not making contact, but he was still quite close. Fearlessly exposing his slender throat as he tilted his head back, smiling up into the sun. It was…a lot to deal with.

She rustled her many coils, hoping he wouldn’t read it as embarrassment. Most humans didn’t react well to seeing her other form. But Zhao Yunlan was not most humans.

“Next time I’ll get you some backup,” Zhao Yunlan said to her. He sounded just like he did when he spoke to her human form. Casual. Confident. “We’re undermanned right now, though we should be getting a rookie in soon.” He exhaled, stretching his arms over his head, then letting them drop. “You did a great job, tracking the guy by scent. Not your fault that he could fly.”

Zhu Hong tasted the air with her tongue, but he didn’t sound or smell like he was lying. Or even like he was trying to placate her. His tone was utterly matter of fact. She tried to match it. “Do we have backup that can fly?”

He snorted a laugh. “Not yet. But who knows! Maybe one of the crows will decide to join us.”

Da Qing made a sound as though he was horking up a hairball. “Fat chance. And even if they wanted to, we couldn’t trust ‘em.”

Zhao Yunlan waggled a hand. “You never know.” So confident. So open to all possibilities. So…alive.

His gaze slid to her, and he winked. It was a good thing that snakes couldn’t blush. “Da Qing’s just jealous that he can’t turn into a panther, or anything else your size. You’re going to keep him on his toes.”

Da Qing made an outraged noise, and Zhu Hong hissed with laughter. She stretched out a little, to uncramp her tail, and neither the cat nor the human reacted.

Instead, Da Qing yawned and curled himself up again. This time, he deliberately wedged himself into her coils, as if it was his right. “Another half hour,” he announced. “Don’t tell anyone we’re here.”

Zhao Yunlan scritched him behind the ears. “You’re pushing it, cat. But for today, I’ll let you.”

Snakes didn’t really deal in facial expressions. She flickered her tongue at him, just to see what he would do.

He gave her a look brimming with humor. “And it looks like Hong-jie will, too.”

Re: Early Days (G, no warnings)

[mekare]

I‘ll leave proper feedback tomorrow,for now thank you so much!

Re: Early Days (G, no warnings)

[marycrawford]

When I read your excellent prompt for "Da Qing and Zhu Hong's relationship and their common ground as yashou" my contrary brain immediately went "oh, but I bet they didn't start out like that..." XD

I was on holiday so I opted for the easier option of dumping the story straight to a comment, but here we are: Early Days

[mumblemumble]

Hello! :-) Since you were open to picspams and I loved the outfits in Detective L too, I made you these little things with screencaps from episode 19. The most dapper throuple! <3

[mekare]

This is gorgeous and I loved these outfits so much!

[mumblemumble]

Me too, I enjoyed this case so much! <3

[sakana17]

These are great! <3

[mumblemumble]

Thank you! <333

[trobadora]

So gorgeous! :D

[mumblemumble]

Thank you, and they aaaare! 😍