Beyond the Roundels

3. You've got your OTP, you have to throw a third into the mix (from the same fandom), creating an OT3. Who is the OTP, and in your opinion, why would they make a perfect third for them?

I don't really have an OTP as such, just a range of pairings, some of which are more OTP-ish than others, and some OT3s. Given that I have a lot of fandoms, I'm not sure where I'd start or stop with the list.

My OT3s probably already fit this in some ways, because clearly Sapphire/Steel is a perfect pairing, a true OTP. Whoever else could come into the mix? I thought, watching the start of Assignment Three. And then Silver appeared and I OT3-ed them forever in less than 2 more episodes, but obv Sapphire and Steel are the two who are the two. They would ditch Silver like a shot if they had to, although they would miss him badly if it came to it. The OT3 is shiny and perfect though, and that is always what I prefer to play with. Mind you, I do think - given how strange they are, and how they interact - that there is a degree to which I kind of ship Elements/Elements generally, and that that might in some ways be nearer to the truth than any human arrangement.

And in Department S, Annabelle/Stewart are obviously or have been some kind of item, because they reference this a few times, but equally the OT3 is just so much better, although it is a V-shaped OT3 with Annabelle/Stewart and Jason/Stewart but Jason & Annabelle in the other corner. Their love is true also, but probably not sexual. (Jason's sexuality is everybody-but-Annabelle pretty much, although also this is Jason. They probably would some time, because Jason, and Annabelle does own to some curiosity over what all the fuss is about re. Jason.)

(I feel bad about excluding Sir Curtis, but I don't think he could maintain the kind of diplomatic dignity, authority and denial about caring for his operatives (he DOES NOT, it is all PROFESSIONAL, thank you) if he was in an OT4 with them. He just has an occasional affair with Stewart in far-flung railway carriages and boat cabins instead, obviously. If not, I don't know why he keeps wasting the department's budget by summoning him to all these inconvenient locations just to hand over a file.)

My other real OT3 is the Dracula (1868) lot, which is more of a pick and mix affair, because honestly everyone is a potential ship in that anyway and I love that about it so much, but basically, the true OTP here is Mina/Lucy, my personal OTP is more Mina/John, (for actual reasons, but also they're Suzanne Neve and James Maxwell so I can't not), and John/Lucy are engaged anyway, so why not have an OT3 of hapless Victorian vampire fodder? I love them a lot, anyway.

I have grown into also shipping Mina/John/Jonathan as a post-canon solution, because otherwise I don't know what to do with Jonathan. (This is the fault of random generators and calliopes_pen, mainly, though. But it is a fun option!)

But as someone who likes new options and tends to write invisible shippiness, I'm happy to consider it unless the third is part of a NOTP with one of the original pairing.

I was thinking some pairings don't lend themselves to this so much, like Ruth/Harry, but then of course, I thought, well, Tom? And I could definitely go with that. And then there's the dark side with Juliet, or the deeply disturbed Mace/Harry/Ruth kind of options. So, then, I was, yes, but Zaf/Jo, and then thought: wait, no, Zaf/Jo/Ros, and basically I am a what if kind of person when it comes to fanfic, because isn't that the point, really? At least every once in a while, if not as a true OT-anything. Isn't never say never the motto of fandom once you've been in it more than a month or two? ;-p

(But also Zaf/Jo/Ros should be a thing now, okay.)