Randomry: OT3 edition

[extrapenguin]

I'll be backing up my tumblr this week, but in the meanwhile, I decided to be whimsical so as to post a bit more. Perhaps I'll resurrect Music Monday Meme next week.

On the dying wastes of Tumblr, I encountered birdsquirrel's OT3 classification:

every ot3 has these very important roles:

person a, who runs headlong into crazy bullshit
person b, who acts like they’re too sensible to run headlong into crazy bullshit, but is really just as bad as person a
person c, who actually tries to avoid running headlong into crazy bullshit, but keeps getting dragged into it by the other two anyway

So I decided to come up with some OT3s I (might) ship, and slot them into this three-way categorization! Now, I generally am no OTPer and can psych myself into writing one (1) shipfic for pretty much any combination, so here goes:

Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen/Xue Yang (of Heaven and Earth) has Xiao Xingchen as Person A. Xue Yang and Song Lan take turns being Person B; most of the time it's Xue Yang, but sometimes they're both Person B. The adults in their life despair.

Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian/Jiang Cheng is very clear-cut: Wei Wuxian is Person A, Lan Wangji is Person B whenever Wei Wuxian is concerned, due to a lack of Wei Wuxian defense skills accumulated during adolescence, and Jiang Cheng is Person C, though with definite B tendencies in certain areas. Wei Wuxian knows he's running into crazy bullshit, but it's always either an accident from a moment's whim or The Right Thing To Do, so Lan Wangji follows him to the end. Jiang Cheng is glad Wei Wuxian has a second minder, but then he realizes Lan Wangji is just as bad if not worse, and he has two boyfriends to try to keep out of crazy bullshit. They manage. Jiang Yanli finds it hilarious.

Zhao Yunlan/Shen Wei/Ye Zun (surely someone else must ship it, too?) Zhao Yunlan is definitely Person A (albeit he knows he's running into crazy bullshit, he's just taking a calculated risk), Shen Wei is Person B, and Ye Zun is the crazy bullshit that turns Shen Wei into Person A and Zhao Yunlan into Person C. More seriously, I have A Lot of thoughts about Ye Zun, namely how he was raised from a young age by a physically and emotionally abusive liar, got his first taste of not being the butt monkey in a context of "might makes right", and was locked up for 10 000 years in almost-solitary confinement. Of course he's screwed up! I just want some restorative justice where he's nudged onto the path of rehabilitation, okay? A canon divergence redemption arc and some quality time with gege where Shen Wei lets loose 10k years' worth of repressed big brother feels! Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan, heavily into the role of Person C, is canceling the bonuses of everyone who so much as remarks upon the existence of the twincest category on PornHub.

Do I ship other OT3s, even in theory? IDK. Feel free to poke me in the comments with an OT3, and I'll speculate about how they act around crazy bullshit!

Comments

[schneefink]

That is a fun way of looking at OT3s!

Leverage:
Parker is definitely A, and I think Hardison is B and Eliot C.

NiF:
I only ship it in AUs, but: Lin Shu is clearly A, Nihuang is B, Jingyan is C (but he secretly loves it.)

[extrapenguin]

Indeed, the NIF threesome would go like that, though by canon era Jingyan has found a pile of dumb shit he's been led to, and has decided to stay there forever. In their youth, it'd definitely go as you said.

(Another fun way is the Norn way – which one unspools the thread of fate, which one measures it, and which one cuts it.)

[maggie33]

My favorite OT3 is James/Thomas/Miranda from Black Sails and that classification works for them, too. Thomas is person A, James is B, and Miranda is definitely C.

And I like Zhao Yunlan/Shen Wei/Ye Zun a lot. Ye Zun is so obsessed with Shen Wei, I love that scene in episode 35 when he say to Shen Wei “In your heart others are more important than me.” And then thinks “But in my heart others are just dust compered to you, my brother. Since you left me alone I started wearing the mask, because I don’t want to see my face anymore, it looks the same as yours.” So, so good… This sort of obsessive and possessive love between siblings speaks straight to my id. :)

And I would love to read some long canon divergence redemption fic for Ye Zun.

[extrapenguin]

I have a bunch of vagueish half-ideas, some of which I'll slam together to force Ye Zun to be redeemed. I have a few approaches I might take alone or in combination; one of them is sex pollen + Dixingians are basically space aliens so we can handwave in some mpreg, right? Others include bodyswap, various forms of making him actually resolve his misunderstanding with Shen Wei, and then a threesome, once I figure out what his post-redemption-crisis personality would be.

[maggie33]

I admit, mpreg is usually not my cup of tea (I’m not saying I never enjoyed it, I did, just very rarely), but the rest sounds great. If Ye Zun and Shen Wei just talked earlier – I would love to read a fic starting with that, threesome ending is good, too. :)

As for Dixian sex-pollen... Heh... I actually have a plot bunny like that for Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan and Chu Shuzi/Guo Changcheng fic. But a very tiny bunny, not very grown-up, so I don’t know when and if it will be written.

[extrapenguin]

My masterplan was having Guo Changcheng toss what he thought was the equivalent of a scent candle at Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei ... except the thing was actually fuck-or-die pollen, and "Shen Wei" was actually Ye Zun! Cue Guo Changcheng's bonuses being cancelled forever.

I have recently acquired a taste for mpreg, and I guess I'm just ... indulging it? But as I said, I have several idea components I might mash together. Some are mutually exclusive. I'll have to mull the idea over.

[rosefox]

I don't know about fic, but this is absolutely me, X, and J.

[china_shop]

Hee, I love this framework! Thanks for the link!

[trobadora]

Ye Zun is the crazy bullshit that turns Shen Wei into Person A and Zhao Yunlan into Person C

Haha, OMG, that is so spot on.

(I hope you don't mind me randomly commenting here; I saw this on network and laughed out loud.)

[extrapenguin]

Welcome! I'm 100% open to anyone turning up with a comment.