FanChatsđź’¬submit your prompts!It's trope discussion Monday! What do you think about Crack Ships/Rarepairs? What makes them work for you? Can you recommend a fic that makes an unexpected pairing work well? 
villainous friend@FandomChats I love rarepairs! I think they are my favourite thing about transformative fandom. I really enjoy the challenge of figuring out what characters who barely know each other, or don’t even meet in canon, would have in common and see in each other; there’s also the question of how they might meet and what it might take for them to be open to getting to know each other.
It’s a both a chance to be creative and an opportunity to really think about their personalities and circumstances!
@FandomChats here’s something I wrote a little while ago about A-Qing/Nie Huaisang/Ouyang Zizhen from #MDZS: https://federatedfandom.net/@villainousfriend/112083633278728426
villainous friend (@[email protected])
@[email protected] well, I ship both legs (?) of the V separately, and I like that each puts OYZZ into quite a different position—there’s absolutely space for evolution in both, but I think things with AQ would start out with him seeing things through a very romantic light, honestly rather stereotypical with himself as the gentleman scholar and her as the beauty from a humble background. Meanwhile, I see AQ as starting off quite mercenary but realising faster than him that she’s interested in OYZZ as a person, and *always* teasing him and pushing against him in a playful way. Meanwhile, with NHS he’s starting off as an ingenu in relation to a mysterious, experienced older man—but I think NHS here, postcanon, is in a much more vulnerable place emotionally than he’s been able to allow himself to be in for most of a decade, barely starting to feel out what he might actually want in a relationship rather than what he has to take in order to play his role. This could go in a number of directions!
Dr. Neon, PhD in Tragedy@villainousfriend oh that's an interesting combination!