Femslash "Mini": OT3s

[sqbr]

OT3s: Are there any awesome OT3s out there? Are any of them all from the same canon? Can you still call is femslash if one of the three is a man?

I can't speak on this topic authoritatively but I have some thoughts based on my personal experience.

Two examples of relatively popular f/f/f that come to mind are Kat/Jo/Roxy from Eastwick and Ty Lee/Mai/Azula from Avatar the Last Airbender. I quite liked the Ty Lee/Mai/Azula vid Bad Romance.

There are a couple of canon or almost canon f/f/f threesomes in Dragon Age (Leliana/Warden/Isabela in Origins and Merril/Hawke/Isabela in DA2) but as with f/f in general they're not particularly popular. There is a moderate amount of f/f/f in the f/f section of the kink meme, but (unsurprisingly given the context) most of it seems to be pwp and I don't think I've come across any longer, more plotty/shippy/character-driven f/f/f (which is more what I'm after)

I avoid anything sexually explicit in Homestuck fandom since most of the characters are underage, but I've still encountered some f/f/f (and f/f/f/f), which isn't surprising given how femslash friendly canon and fandom are. There's lots of possibilities, but Vriska/Kanaya/Rose is the most obvious and as a love triangle is practically canon.

I've encountered a lot more m/f/f than f/f/f, and I think such stories can count as femslash (and I would usually tag them as such), but in the same way as other stories which contain both het/slash and femslash pairings: the overall categorisation of the story depends on what is foregrounded by the narrative.

Some possibilities that I have seen in increasing levels of femslashiness, and some places I've seen them used in fanworks:

A love triangle where the women decide to share the man (Katara/Zuko/Mai from Avatar the Last Airbender). Really not femslash at all.

A friends with benefits f/f relationship which continues but takes a backseat once the female protagonist gets a boyfriend (Isabela/f!Hawke/Fenris and Isabela/f!Hawke/Anders in Dragon Age 2) Kinda femslashy.

A love triangle where the women decide to share the man and decide they like each other too. (f!Warden/Alistair/Alistair's wife in Dragon Age Origins, Katara/Zuko/Mai from Avatar the Last Airbender) Femslashiness depends on the emphasis.

Other examples of m/f/f where one or both m/f relationships are foregrounded: not really femslash.

m/f/f where no sub relationship is foregrounded. (Isabela/f!Hawke/Fenris from Dragon Age 2, though only as pwp or art) I sort of count this as femslash? But it really is m/f/f as it's own category.

In general, m/f/f where the f/f relationship is foregrounded: femslash.

Usually historical: An f/f relationship which breaks up when one of the women marries but the story doesn't care about the m/f relationship except as a source of angst. (Gilbert/Anne/Diana from Anne of Green Gables) Definitely femslash.

An f/f relationship which does not break up when one of the women marries and the story doesn't care about the m/f relationship except as it affects the f/f one. (I'm sure I've seen this but no examples come to mind. Leliana/f!Cousland/Alistair from Dragon Age: Origins is this in canon) About as femslashy as m/f/f can be.

And that's the examples that come to mind. Since this is supposed to be "mini" meta I will stop there :)

Comments

[senmut]

Strangers in Paradise: Francine/Katchoo/David I would so totally still put under femslash, as the David angle has often been *background* in a way to me. The primary relationship was always Francine/Katchoo.

[sqbr]

*nods* I never got to the point in the story where they were all actually together, but that was definitely the vibe in what I have read.

[rymenhild]

Not handled particularly well, but in Mercedes Lackey's first Valdemar book, Arrows of the Queen, three women are soulbonded to each other. (One is much younger than the other two, and they don't acknowledge the third soulbond until one of the first two partners dies, but I feel that fic can fix this!)

[sqbr]

Huzzah for the fixit properties of fic :)

[dagas_isa]

My first immediate thoughts were Fang/Vanille/Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII (because you don't have to break up the practically canon Fang/Vanille to put Lightning in a ship) and Yuna/Rikku/Paine from Final Fantasy X-2 where none of the ships is canon, but the interact enough that shipping them isn't a stretch.

[sqbr]

I really need to play FFXIII, the relationships sound really interesting.

[ghostgum]

Hmm, yeah, I'd never given this much thought. I think the only time I've written f/f/f was when it was a case of three genderswapped boys; so, you know, I took a slash ot3 and made it suit my tastes a bit more.

I've always categorised anything that happens to have a man in it as het/femslash together, sort of. Again, not something I've given a great deal of consideration in the past!

[sqbr]

As it happened I was thinking about this recently: I realised I hadn't made any femslash in ages, the spent a while thinking "Do my two recent m/f/f works count?".

[ashen_key]

Not sure if this counts, but I have grand hopes for Sucker Punch fandom once we stop being squeaky and new as a fandom - there are the five girls, after all, all of whom bounce of each other wonderfully, and Dr/Madame Gorski as well.

[saekhwa]

THIS! I feel the same way.

Also, for me, the film Death Proof has Zoe/Kim/Abernathy.

[ashen_key]

I looooooove this canon. :)

[sqbr]

I really, really need to get around to watching Sucker Punch!

[ashen_key]

You doooooooooooooooo. Is grand fun! And, you know, five main female characters with insane chemistry! (And frankly, if Blondie/Amber isn't canon, I'll eat my hat)

[saekhwa]

Oh! Another fandom that I thought about with lots and lots of ladies is St Trinian's. And it could very much be everyone/everyone. I think that's why I'm so fond of language_escapes series Having Chosen, So Defined.

I wish there was more m/f/f that focused on the female pairing of the threesome, but it seems like what I tend to encounter is the triangle of f/m\f, so the women don't interact much, if at all.

[sqbr]

I haven't read any St Trinian's fic, but I can definitely see the potential.

f/m\f makes me think of /o\, and it does kind of have that effect sometimes :)

[katarik]

One of my huge ships is an m/f/f (Julian/Dee/Jenny) that is based way more on the relationships between Jenny and Dee and Jenny and Julian than Dee and Julian, because, uh, frankly, DEE/JENNY FOREVER, they are best friends in LOVE. The lack of femslash in that fandom makes me a sad Kat.