30 Days of Guardian

[extrapenguin]

10. Favorite rarepair
Wang Zheng/Zhu Hong! I never expected it to become canon, but absolutely loved all their interactions in the early episodes, and Zhu Hong being all "jiejie will take care of you" at Wang Zheng. Then Sang Zan turned up. >:( However, fic lets us fix undesireable aspects of canon, and I wrote A Cottage Outside the Woods for my ship! (It's a fluffy ficlet.)

But just ... the way Zhu Hong held onto Wang Zheng for the Hanga roadtrip. Catnip for my id!


Of course, we can also argue about what is the definition of "rarepair", or define it differently, or be interested in multiple ones, so, a list of some other rarepairs I enjoy!
Canon: Wang Yike/Zhang Ruonan
Slash: Ye Zun/Zhu Jiu
Poly with bonus debate on the definition of rarepair: Shen Wei/Ye Zun/Zhao Yunlan; let didi have some fun, too
Current canon divergence shiny: Shen Wei/Zhu Jiu
World's worst sedoretu: Shen Wei, Ye Zun, Zhao Yunlan, and Zhu Jiu in any configuration
...but I'm a multishipper at heart, and enjoy most rarepairs I've encountered. 100% willing to chat about rarepairs!

1. Favorite episode
2. Favorite case
3. Least favorite case
4. Favorite Holy Tools arc
5. Least favorite Holy Tools arc
6. Which character would you resurrect?
7. Favorite SID member
8. Favorite guest character(s)
9. Favorite piece of worldbuilding
10. Favorite rarepair
11. Favorite headcanon
12. Least favorite headcanon
13. Favorite main villain
14. Favorite case villain
15. Villain you’d like redeemed or whose redemption you liked
16. Favorite conversation between Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei
17. Favorite Dixing power and/or power you want to have
18. Least favorite villain
19. Least favorite character
20. Most appealing point for a canon divergence AU
21. Favorite character moment
22. Favorite badass moment
23. Favorite soft moment
24. Favorite team moment
25. Thoughts and feelings on the ending
26. Rec a fanfic
27. Rec a vid
28. Rec a fanart
29. Rec a meta post
30. Prompt for a fanwork

Comments

[maggie33]

IMO in Guardian every pairing besides Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan and Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng is rairpair.

And I love Zhu Hong f/f pairings - Zhu Hong/Li Qian and Zhu Hong/Wang Zheng the most, but I have a few plot bunnies for Zhu Hong/Dr Cheng Xinyan, and one day I'll maybe even turn one of them into a fic. :).

And I love Shen Wei/Ye Zun/Zhao Yunlan - I wish there was more of it.

[extrapenguin]

IMO in Guardian every pairing besides Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan and Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng is rairpair.
Same, but there are people who see A/B/C -type ships as subcategories/extensions of A/B, and thus my favorite twincest threesome wouldn't count. It's a nice ship, yes, and I, too, want more of it.

Zhu Hong/Li Qian is probably the one femslash ship I've seen in this fandom that actively doesn't work for me, but yeah, Zhu Hong is very shippable (Wang Zheng! Ya Qing!) and I'm just rewatching 27, which has a very nice scene for Li Qian/Sha Ya.

[maggie33]

but there are people who see A/B/C -type ships as subcategories/extensions of A/B, and thus my favorite twincest threesome wouldn't count.

Ok, I find that very strange, because for me these are two different ships. In my experience people who ship A/B pairing don't ship A/B/C usually. Some of them do, sure, but not many.

Oh, Li Qian/Sha Ya - a very nice pairing. And yes, Zhu Hong/Ya Qing would be wonderful, I would love to read a post canon fic like that. And I admit I forgot about Sha Ya, she's very shipable for femslash ships, too. :)

[extrapenguin]

Ok, I find that very strange, because for me these are two different ships. In my experience people who ship A/B pairing don't ship A/B/C usually. Some of them do, sure, but not many.
I mean, I agree, but: people on the internet. (And in this particular case, I do prefer the threesome dynamic to be similarish to a Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & the cranky didi platonic dynamic.)

Sha Ya is very shippable, too! All the possibilities – she hangs around with Ya Qing, foe yay with Li Qian (/trying to seduce Li Qian for lab access), I'm sure you could get in Zhu Hong as well, and then she hung around with Hua Yuzhu a lot pre-canon.

[phyrry]

Yay! I think I've figured out how to get Wang Zheng and Zhu Hong to meet and get shoved in the metaphorical boat together in Space AU, so that'll be fun. (Sang Zan? What Sang Zan? 👀 He's stuffed in a pillar somewhere... else...)

Also I can't stop laughing at the 'world's worst sedoretu' thing. Oh no, it's true. 😂

[extrapenguin]

\o/ yay! He's stuffed in a pillar somewhere... else... Yes, I support this. Just ignore him. Let Wang Zheng and Zhu Hong be together in peace!

And the good bit about the world's worst sedoretu is that Ye Zun would want to fuck gege regardless of the rules! Someone have sympathy for long-suffering gege and Zhao Yunlan.

[solo]

I like the idea of Zhu Hong with Wang Zheng, that could totally work! (Sang Zan boring.)

Ima be a stick in the mud and just have a hate boner for anything Ye Zun/Shen Wei, Ye Zun/Zhao Yunlan or any combo of that, really, so I'm not on board for that. Okay, he can have Zhu Jiu if you like. :) Zhu Jiu would love it!!!

[extrapenguin]

Sang Zan boring.
+1, I agree. I wish we'd have gotten more of Wang Zheng and Zhu Hong interacting, sigh.

Aw. Is your hateboner for Ye Zun as a character, or for Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan being disrupted in any way? (And what are your thoughts on Ye Zun/Da Qing?) Zhu Jiu would absolutely love to be a hero and bridal carry boss out of the pillar into his bed.

[solo]

Hm, that really made me think, primarily wrt how I really feel about Ye Zun. It's... complicated?

The easier part - no, I don't like anyone coming between, or being added to the relationship between, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. I could imagine some poly relationships that might work for me, but generally it's not what floats my boat anyway, and here, I really just want it to be strictly the two of them.

Ye Zun. IDK, hate boner seems a bit strong. I typed at random about this for half an hour and then sorted my rambling thoughts into what seems like categories to me. :)

Question of personality

I don't like him much because unlike, say, Ya Qing, he takes actual pleasure in killing, and he takes pleasure in torturing people. I don't see him as 'fundamentally a nice guy who made bad choices' but 'fundamentally a guy who chooses to make the same bad choices over and over'. I don't think a guy like that belongs in a relationship with anyone, but least of all my preciouses.

Question of damage

You could argue that the poor lad has pillar trauma (and before that, Rebel Chieftain trauma), and I'd be all 'yes, of course, the poor lad', but since it's turned him into a psychopath, I still don't see how an acknowledgement of that trauma gets him into Zhao Yunlan's and Shen Wei's bed. It should get him into therapy in a secure institution.

Question of his prior relationship with Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan

He tortured both of them and killed and ate one. He attacked Zhao Yunlan's team, he attacked his world. Never mind Shen Wei's otherworldly forgiveness and reconciliation with him, I think Zhao Yunlan might have things to say about introducing this guy to the family, never mind bed. Shen Wei is unnaturally soft on him, and I get why, he still has guilt issues and it's his poor traumatized didi, but I don't see why anyone else should be, why Zhao Yunlan should be, or why I should be. Give him a couple of decades doing community service cleaning the toilets of a never-ending Octoberfest with a toothbrush, and I might let my chastely peck Shen Wei's cheek.

Question of attraction

I'm not very fond of having him brought back from the big KABOOM in fic, though I roll with it because he clearly matters to Shen Wei. But I never got the impression that he matters to Shen Wei in the seXX0r kind of way, and it would genuinely surprise me if he did. Shen Wei's type is not that. (I can see why Ye Zun might want to tap Zhao Yunlan. But I can't really see him being interested in Shen Wei that way unless it's about some sadistic power play.)

And what are your thoughts on Ye Zun/Da Qing?

Waaaaaiiii would I want to do that to a poor cat???

But now you mention Da Qing, I realize that while I still don't roll that way, wouldn't write and probably wouldn't read it, the idea of him in a bed with Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan doesn't give me quite the same urrrrrghDNW as the thought of Ye Zun there. He probably sleeps on it as a cat a lot of the time anyway and only leaves to give them some privacy when required. :)

[extrapenguin]

Ooh, such a long reply!

I must give the caveat that I only ship the threesome in canon divergence scenarios, not as some post-canon thing. Post-canon, Ye Zun deserves a high-security mental facility in which to get therapy and an evaluation of whether he was mentally competent and responsible for his actions.

I don't think he's a psychopath, however. He does seem genuinely upset when Zhu Jiu is gone, and in general comes across more as unhinged and lashing out than sadistic-for-the-sake-of-it. Also, when he reconciles with Shen Wei, he doesn't argue or get defensive, he relatively calmly accepts Shen Wei's version as the truth, so yeah, I think there'd be serious potential for redemption/reformation/repentance there with a bit of canon divergence sparkles. (And given that this is Shen Wei's family, Zhao Yunlan would at minimum be perfectly willing to arrange therapy somewhere.)

The incest leg of the threesome stands mainly on Ye Zun and Shen Wei both being bad at boundaries in different ways and Ye Zun's all-encompassing gege obsession, plus that apparently kinda dodgy challenge message he engraved on the pillar. The Zhao Yunlan/Ye Zun has more backing (Ye Zun turns up in his Slutty Shen Wei costume, refers to him as "my xiao-Yunlan", and tries to seduce him to evil once gege's out of the way).

Da Qing, OTOH, I don't want in my OTP's bed (except in kitty form, potentially being kicked out). I read one Da Qing/Zhao Yunlan fic and found it incredibly squicky, though idk what the squick was precisely.

[solo]

I must give the caveat that I only ship the threesome in canon divergence scenarios, not as some post-canon thing.

Ahh, okay. I could be more on board with that - depending on how and when it diverges - though I fail to find it particularly interesting. :)

I don't think he's a psychopath, however.

You're right, I was using the word lazily. IDK what a good word would be. Evil creep? Yes, unhinged is about right, too.

And given that this is Shen Wei's family, Zhao Yunlan would at minimum be perfectly willing to arrange therapy somewhere.

Oh, agreed, even in a post-canon scenario. I just think that's as far as he'd want to go.

Ye Zun and Shen Wei both being bad at boundaries in different ways

Okay, if we're going canon-divergent, I just can't judge how divergent would make this work. I think Zhao Yunlan, given his current position and personality, would make sure that Shen Wei learns about and enforces that particular boundary. I should add that I'm not against incest in fic as such; I used to read Wincest, but in my head that's different. And while Ye Zun is definitely interested in Zhao Yunlan, I don't think Zhao Yunlan would reciprocate the compliment. After all, he has Shen Wei. Why be interested in an inferior version of him?

So basically, if you go canon-divergent enough that some of these issues just don't exist - maybe they are Arctic explorers stuck in a Canadian shack, and Shen Wei is the more reserved and Ye Zun the more outgoing twin and they have to find creative ways to keep warm or not die from boredom - then sure! But the more of the canonical stuff you bring back, the more limited I would personally think the scope for a threesome becomes.

Do you have recs for any canon-divergent 3some fic I could give a try, just to see what I think?

[extrapenguin]

Oh, agreed, even in a post-canon scenario. I just think that's as far as he'd want to go.
I'm pretty sure that, should he know they're brothers a bit earlier/before it's 24/7 crisis mode, he'd at least try to go "Hey so why do you hate your brother, anyway?" at a convenient opportunity to chat.

After all, he has Shen Wei. Why be interested in an inferior version of him?
Fic so far seems to have taken the "Shen Wei and Ye Zun are a package deal" route where they reconcile before Zhao Yunlan meets them. OTOH, there's not that much fic in the first place. I was going to hunt you up some canon-divergent fic to rec, but that doesn't really exist. (Guardian is still a smallish fandom, and most fic output is for the juggernaut.) Instead, have my general threesome rec list:

Haixing-Dixing Interstellar Cultural Exchange Program (series) is setting change AU, but it's space opera, so I can forgive it, and it has hot xeno porn in addition to a nice Ye Zun characterization and generally tries to keep close to canon.

Then there are some WIPs by starandrea – Call us home, we'll be a family, which is the only threesome work that fits your specs, though generally I think an earlier divergence would work better
and Reweave Our Lives, which is post-canon and interesting, though it's sort of on the edge of what I'm buying.

[solo]

Fic so far seems to have taken the "Shen Wei and Ye Zun are a package deal"

Um, perhaps in accepting that Ye Zun is around but surely not in terms of having to have sex with both?

Thank you for the links; I love space opera so will try that, and xeno porn is one of my kinks.

starandrea is one of my favourite writers in this fandom, so I'll definitely try the first link of hers, too.

Maybe the second one day I feel daring. :)

[extrapenguin]

Um, perhaps in accepting that Ye Zun is around but surely not in terms of having to have sex with both?
I mean, I'm talking about the threesome fics; I'm sure the Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Ye Zun fics will have taken the non-sex route. (And if Zhao Yunlan encounters a pair of hot twins, it's not "Shen Wei and inferior copy of Shen Wei" to his eyes, it's two hot twins with different personalities.)

I'm glad you found the fic recs interesting! For the fic by starandrea, I really recommend reading the first fic in the series first before delving into the one where the threesome is set up.

[solo]

So, while I was sick on my vacation #lifeissounfair I read some of these stories. :)

The The Dixing-Haixing Interstellar Cultural Exchange Program I enjoyed greatly - removed enough from canon, TENDRILS, what's not to like! Ye Zun is kind of... well, he's fun to use as an observer, the kind of snark and brattiness people tend to give him can work well with that. So that was fun.

I also read Reweave our lives, and that went well enough (brattiness, snark, attitude) and I'm just so fond of starandrea's stlye... until I got to the actual sex and that, I'm afraid, was really not my thing.

I'm intrigued by how the idea of what Ye Zun might be like *as a person* under all the insanity seems to be fairly well established in fandom? Or maybe there's an 'annoying little brother' trope people just like?

Will still read the long stories and get back to you! :)

[extrapenguin]

Being sick on a vacation is the worst fate, it is true.

TENDRILS, what's not to like!
Exactly! It is the best. Spaaace!

I also read Reweave our lives, and that went well enough (brattiness, snark, attitude) and I'm just so fond of [personal profile] starandrea's stlye... until I got to the actual sex and that, I'm afraid, was really not my thing.
Wait, the actual sex – where did that happen? Did I miss a chapter? Zhao Yunlan volunteered to be a clothed blanket for Ye Zun, but that's as far as anyone's gotten, save for Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei smooching.

I'm intrigued by how the idea of what Ye Zun might be like *as a person* under all the insanity seems to be fairly well established in fandom? Or maybe there's an 'annoying little brother' trope people just like?
I mean, we do get glimpses of him on several occasions, and there is a baseline that must be maintained? Unless you're diverging from over 10 000 years ago, he's a traumatized mind control victim, so he has trauma and some effects from that. He's also canonically obsessed with Shen Wei and jealous of Zhao Yunlan. I disagree with others over how dramatic and theatrical he is innately vs as a reaction to his mind controlled youth, but, well, we do have things to build upon, and there will of course be an intersection between likely truths and things that appeal to people's ids. Though now I'm intrigued whether you're only basing this on the Ye Zun threesome fics, or all Ye Zun fics in the fandom.

[solo]

Wait, the actual sex – where did that happen?

Huh. Did I read the wrong story in my delirium? I shall investigate!

Must also think more about Ye Zun and what I've encountered of him in fic. It just seemed enough of a baseline that I noticed, somehow.

Will get back to you on this!!!

[extrapenguin]

Neither of starandrea's stories have gotten to any sex yet, so either you misclicked or misread. *g*

[solo]

I'm really, really intrigued now (but not currently in a position to check)! IDK how I'd have misclicked, I didn't go looking for OTHER Ye Zun fic, and yet...

Maybe I had a fevered dream. >.

[extrapenguin]

Maybe I had a fevered dream. >.
Obviously your subconscious ships it now! *g*

[clevermanka]

canon-divergent 3some fic
I just finished FayJay's Guardian Gothic series that (eventually) incorporates a threesome in the part 5 DVD extra. I...really enjoyed it? And I generally avoid threesomes at all, especially when there's incest involved. It wouldn't have worked for me without the ~90k words leading up to the last installment, but the previous four stories sold it really well, imo.

It helped that I have a well-established love of fairy tales and Gothic romance. If those aren't your bag, the series might not work as well for you.

[firestar]

I am so here for Zhu Hong/Wang Zheng. XD I loved their earlier interactions and was sad when they didn't interact as much after Sang Zan showed up. I am curious, though, why Zhu Hong/Li Qian doesn't work for you.

[extrapenguin]

I loved their earlier interactions and was sad when they didn't interact as much after Sang Zan showed up.
Same! If only Wang Zheng could've been a shoulder for Zhu Hong to cry on when it became clear Zhu Hong would lose the love triangle. They could've even spun it as responsible sisterhood/gals comforting pals unlucky in love!

I am curious, though, why Zhu Hong/Li Qian doesn't work for you.
It's a combination of several factors, I think. Mostly just ... did they even ever meet? The dynamic I'd imagine between them is the very opposite of appealing to me so shipfic would be :/ or OOC. And Zhu Hong especially has much more obvious femslash ships while this seems more of a crackship.
Tldr: nothing in canon suggests it, and trying to imagine it it seems unappealing and/or OOC.

[clevermanka]

Ye Zun/Zhu Jiu
I'm surprised I haven't seen any of this, tbh. Is it out there and I just missed it? Off to check the Archive of Dixing site...

[extrapenguin]

I'm not aware of any, but there's a Ye Zun & Zhu Jiu fic that can be read as very shippy – Voice of the Heart. Nothing has been tagged with Ye Zun/Zhu Jiu.

[clevermanka]

Thanks!