please come tl;dr at me about Shen Wei

[extrapenguin]

I need to figure out stuff about Ye Zun, and [spoilers], but also stuff about Shen Wei! Since having other people say things about the thing is in general a productive way for me to acquire thoughts, I now invite your opinions on Shen Wei and secrecy. He's trying to tell Zhao Yunlan the absolute minimum to protect him and also the timeline, yes, but in a divergent scenario where he was unavoidably associated with Zhao Yunlan, how much would he tell? What do you think is the core of the (over)protectiveness and secrecy? What is the root of his nondisclosure?

Comments

[china_shop]

I also imagine Shen Wei is crap at being on a date

I've been driving around thinking about this, and I'm not sure what you're basing it on. (Tell me? :-)

I mean, Shen Wei is awkward when he's uncomfortable, or when he's having to lie and doesn't want to, and I think he spends a lot of his time as the Envoy in the early episodes trying to calculate how much he can safely say and trying to hide his reactions/assess Zhao Yunlan's attitude to himself and to Dixingren generally, but as Professor Shen we see him pretty at ease around Zhao Yunlan even as early as episode 4, and if they were dating, wouldn't Zhao Yunlan be going out of his way to put him at ease (which he'd be great at)? And Shen Wei would want to be there, so I don't think it would be that difficult? I mean, they talk comfortably in Shen Wei's office all the time...

[jo_lasalle]

Have you read the ficlet that already exists for this story where Shen Wei meets Zhao Yunlan?

[china_shop]

I think I did, but it's since fallen out of my sieve-brain. (Sorry, I didn't realise you were talking in a fic-specific context, rather than generally. *shuts up now*)

[jo_lasalle]

I wasn't entirely. I just wanted to know what context you're moving in because the degree of your disbelief struck me as odd in the context of Extrapenguin's story. :-)

I've been driving around thinking about this, and I'm not sure what you're basing it on.

I'm basing it on:

1. I mean, Shen Wei is awkward when he's uncomfortable Yes, he is. He also gets flustered a couple of times being physically close to Zhao Yunlan in the early episodes. He has several instances in canon where he is not super smooth at the humaning, especially when he's not in control of the situation or, indeed, feeling awkward.

2. or when he's having to lie and doesn't want to And this. At a stage where hidden identities are still going on, he isn't going to be intrinsically comfortable.

What I'm bringing to the table unless contradicted by the 'verse (which might have happened by now, but here's where I generally sit):

3. I think this would be his first date. So he'd be learning on the job in a high pressure scenario. :-) This is different from talking nicely and companionably at the university as part of a case, which has a professional framework, and no outright admission of "yes I'm totally that into you (and also you're the love of my life and aroooooo)".

What the story brings to the table:
4. To me at least it seemed pretty clear that on the scale of "most shy still plausible Shen Wei" and "most smooth still plausible Shen Wei", ExtraPenguin's story holds the ledger distinctly in the direction of the former, seeing how he reacted in his first meeting with Zhao Yunlan, so I wasn't discussing The Truth of 'Shen Wei on a date', but the part of a range I find most applicable to a scenario like this one.

wouldn't Zhao Yunlan be going out of his way to put him at ease (which he'd be great at)?

He might be, and of course that would have an impact on Shen Wei's mood and smoothness. He might also like to flirt, which canonically flusters Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan's instinctive urge to poke Shen Wei with a stick to see what he does goes away once the secrets are out, but in a dating scenario wehre they're still getting to know each other, I'd see that more in parallel with the getting-to-know-each-other run of the early episodes, and Zhao Yunlan is good to Shen Wei, but he surely doesn't exclusively "put him at ease". :-)

[extrapenguin]

Coming here late without Starbucks (like the Envoy himself!) to co-sign this and also confirm that yes, this is Shen Wei's first date.

To me at least it seemed pretty clear that on the scale of "most shy still plausible Shen Wei" and "most smooth still plausible Shen Wei", ExtraPenguin's story holds the ledger distinctly in the direction of the former, seeing how he reacted in his first meeting with Zhao Yunlan,
Well, I was trying to base it on their meeting in episode one (while not having canon available to review), in which he does get a bit flustered and is not at all smooth. Do I interpret the point of "most smooth still plausible Shen Wei" not as far towards smoothness as other people? He is, after all, plenty awkward and flustered in the early episodes, and while he is elsewhere competent socially, I would not call him smooth (but that's probably just fucking the comma).

[jo_lasalle]

Uh, in trying to answer your question, I was being me and the answer got long and kind of specific. I would take sth that references specifics of a WIP to email now - do you want to shoot me an addy through DM or do you want a hopefully shorter version here?

[extrapenguin]

Given that the specifics in question have already been published on the internet/on this very journal, I'd say that the cat of that matter has left the bag and had some kittens. But if you're more comfortable discussing out of sight, I'm emailable at extrapenguin at gmx dot com! I do enjoy long and in-depth thoughts on words I've written, in any format. :P

[extrapenguin]

jo_lasalle answered more fully downthread, but I think that in any canonverse fic Shen Wei would be pretty awkward on his and Zhao Yunlan's first date, because it's almost certainly Shen Wei's first date ever (at least for the modern concept of dating), and the entire context of a date is figuring out whether there's a spark going on, so Shen Wei doesn't have any external structure or context to hold on to while he explores this terra incognita. In his office etc, he knows Zhao Yunlan is there at least technically for case reasons, so all the smoldering glances are just extra rather than the entire purpose.