Line #7 Fanfic/RedDeadVirgo


1	A Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} fanfic by adamantApoplectic, found [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GQeDS6XE69PNnHKuQJ-ddCyt7kt2G5G80TCwf-uclhM/pub here]] and mirrored on nepeta.mozai.com [[http://nepeta.mozai.com/stories/Red_Dead_Virgo.html here]]. The stories are listed chronologically, but are actually written out of order.
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3	Red Dead Virgo ([=RDV=]) is at its core an [[AlternateUniverseFic Alternate Universe]] WhatIf fic, asking "What if the trolls all had a different blood color than they do in canon?" The focus is on a Red Kanaya, who decided she simply couldn't hide her "mutant" blood color from her friends. [[BreakTheCutie This turns out to be a bad thing.]] However, the story jumps around a lot to several other trolls, all with different blood colors (shifted down five places from canon[[note]]Somewhat - since the canonical order is actually the same as the zodiac, only Kanaya, Gamzee, Eridan, Feferi and Nepeta were shuffled down five. Terezi, Vriska and Equius were shuffled down six, Aradia, Tavros and Sollux four, all while keeping the zodiac order... and yet Karkat was extremely displaced and shuffled down eight, to go after Feferi and before Aradia.[[/note]]), and more importantly different upbringings. The characters are somehow [[InSpiteOfANail similar to the way they were in canon]]...and yet [[ForWantOfANail at the same time they aren't]]. A part of what makes the story work is the contrast between these AlternateUniverse characters and their canon counterparts, and how much about them was nature and how much was nurture. This extends to most (pretty much all) of the relationships as well. Even SGRUB is a bit different, while remaining the same.
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5	This story has a gained a large amount of popularity, which has spawned fanart, other fanfics set in a similarly altered universe for the human characters, and even [[JournalRoleplay roleplayers]]. As such, it's worth reading.
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8	!!This fanfic has the following tropes:
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10	* AllTakeAndNoGive: Terezi gives a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[spoiler:Kanaya]] accusing her of having this sort of relationship with [[spoiler:Vriska]].
11	* AlternateUniverseFic
12	* AmbiguousGender: The kids have this going for them all the way, though the author states that the only intentional instance of this was Jade Strider.
13	* AnachronicOrder: The stories are arranged chronologically, but they were not written that way.
14	* BlindSeer: Subverted. While Terezi is a Seer, she is only ''mostly'' blind, as well as mostly deaf.
15	* BornLucky: Tavros, in sharp contrast to the canon counterpart.
16	* BreakTheCutie: Poor, poor Kanaya and Jade.
17	* CameBackStrong: [[KnightInShiningArmor Vriska]], [[{{Seers}} Rose]], and [[TimeTravel Jade]].
18	* DeaderThanDead: [[spoiler:Feferi]] made a pact and gruesomely killed all the trolls save [[spoiler:Kanaya, Vriska and Eridan]] to ensure that they would live on in dream bubbles. However, because [[spoiler:Kanaya, Eridan and Jade]] were still alive at the time of the [[spoiler:Scratch]], they don't get to join their friends in any form of afterlife, EXCEPT for [[spoiler:Kanaya's]] and [[spoiler:Eridan's dreamselves]] (though [[spoiler:Dream!Kanaya]] is basically a completely different person, according to [[WordOfGod Word of Fanfic Author]]). [[spoiler:Jade]], however, had hit god-tier by that time, so they were the only one to be completely erased.
19	* DownerEnding: So very, very much, though it may also cross over to BittersweetEnding territory depending on how you interpret it. Could also count as a SuddenDownerEnding.
20	* {{Expy}}: Eridan is a ''lot'' like canon Dave. Right down to the time travel...
21	* FixFic: ''Especially'' after [[DarkestHour early January/February 2011 events]]. Quoth [[WordOfGod the fanfic author]]
22	--> Stay tuned for updates to the RDV-verse, where everything is actually pretty [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] happy and functional and sane. Who woulda thunk!
23	* ForWantOfANail / InSpiteOfANail: Very much [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zagged]]. The characters are recognizable, but different, and that creates some odd things. For example, it's Eridan who breaks up with Feferi in this universe, rather than the other way around. Though he certainly didn't want to... then there's Vriska's conversation with Doc Scratch, who makes the same prediction of Vriska's ultimate fate, except he bets on her living instead of dying.
24	** InSpiteOfANail: The kids except Jade go through the same events as the canon kids (from what can be interpreted from Jade's offhand references to them)... until "We KINDA Fucked Up," where [[spoiler:Dave]] was revealed to have gone [[spoiler:grimdark]], [[spoiler:John]] went off to stop [[spoiler:Jack Noir]], and Rose [[spoiler:died the most heroic of deaths to save Dave and Jade]].
25	* GenkiGirl: Vriska, or [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation maybe not]]. "Chooooress!!"
26	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler:Dave]] went grimdark for... [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse some reason]].
27	* IncrediblyLamePun: Nepeta is a catfish!
28	* {{Jerkass}}: Pretty much half the trolls, ''especially'' Terezi and Karkat.
29	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Equius is still as racist as he was in canon, despite his lower social standing. And yet his idea of showing caste superiority to Kanaya is ''doing incredibly nice things for her''. And Karkat, who's been shown to be both a [[{{Jerkass}} huge jerk]] and a manipulative bastard, gets a few moments himself.
30	* KickTheDog: Karkat and Terezi in ''Paladin'' and ''Make Her A Member Of The Midnight Crew''. Then again, it worked out...
31	* LaughingMad: Terezi is ''messed up''.
32	* LethalChef: Vriska is a minor one.
33	* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: In ''Sanguine'', Kanaya, while in the process of ''bleeding enough to cause her to pass out from blood loss and die'', is more concerned with it leaving an easy trail to follow and worrying Vriska.
34	* ManipulativeBastard: Karkat and Terezi. [[ShipTease They make a cute couple too.]]
35	* MultipleEndings: In the April Fools 2012 update, there are three color-coded endings: Red, Blue and Green. The Red ending is the "normal" ending where everyone dies. The green ending isn't explained but seems to turn everyone in a cyborg. The Blue ending is a good ending where Kanaya, Vriska, Eridan, Feferi and Karkat survive and Kanaya wins a ticket for a free trip to Maui.
36	** ShoutOut / TakeThat: To [[spoiler: VideoGame/MassEffect3's endings.]]
37	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Eridan]] crushed [[spoiler:Feferi]]'s thoughts of having ''any'' sort of relationship with him because he saw that his powers were going to involve a LOT of dying, and wanted to spare her that anguish. [[spoiler:Feferi didn't take it well at ALL.]]
38	* NoodleIncident: Kanaya apparently did ''something'' to Terezi, which was the cause of her going mostly blind and deaf, but isn't mentioned in anything except a few offhand mentions.
39	* OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank: Kanaya bleeds ''a lot'', especially in ''Bloodrage'', ''Sanguine'' and ''Blue Bastards''.
40	* ThePaladin: Vriska is explicitly referred to as one, especially [[spoiler: when she ascends to god tier as the Knight of Life]]. She herself isn't entirely comfortable with the idea though.
41	-->"...you never read about any holy warriors who wore scrubby oversized shirts and rolled dice at their foes."
42	* PetTheDog: Karkat to Kanaya, in ''Full Circle''. [[spoiler: But nobody said he was good at it]]. And even Terezi helps Kanaya avoid doomed outcomes by mocking her relentlessly.
43	* PronounTrouble: Dave is referred to as a "she" in ''Hello, I Hate You, Won't You Tell Me Your Name''. Jade is also, on several occasions, referred to as a boy, but this is probably intentional due to her (also intentional) ambiguous gender situation.
44	* ResetButtonEnding
45	* ResignedToTheCall: This version of SGRUB forces some of the trolls out of their comfort zones. Vriska doesn't think she's cut out to be [[spoiler:a God Tier KnightInShiningArmor]] since she was a humble stuttering farmgirl all her life. Equius is horrified that he has both a lofty title (Prince of Space) and [[spoiler:the ''huge'' responsibility of ''creating the new universe'']] since he was a servile bootlicker before the game started. Eridan really doesn't like being the Mage of Time since dealing with TimeTravel is so messed up. Aradia was an aloof and antisocial [[TheSmartGuy smart girl]] before the game so she isn't happy that her new role is to be TheEmpath. Nonetheless, all of them try their best to fulfill their roles since they have no other choice.
46	* SatelliteCharacter: Quite a few of the trolls (notably Aradia, Tarvos and Sollux) don't do much except chat with other trolls and remark on their lands and titles, but they at least get off better than Rose, Dave and John, who don't even get a ''single'' speaking line in the whole story - just a few offhand mentions. [[spoiler:[[WeHardlyKnewYe And then they get erased by the Scratch.]]]]
47	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: In ''Glub'', Eridan messages Kanaya and keeps her moving all the way to her hive. It quickly becomes clear that [[spoiler:Kanaya didn't make it the first time.]]
48	* SharpDressedMan: Karkat, Tavros, and Sollux. The former makes the biggest deal of it.
49	* ShipTease: Jade and Eridan, Karkat and Terezi, Kanaya and Karkat, and Kanaya and Vriska. The latter seems to be the main pairing, though it's one-sided on Kanaya's part, [[spoiler: but "Decide" hints that Vriska may share the same feelings towards her]].
50	** Jade and Rose are ship teased together in [[https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=12sjp459WBtTCLK8TnIr9Cv7Bb9POwTEDpdVQ6cyCVtw this]] chatlog (written but never linked to in the masterpost).
51	* ShoutOut: The April Fools' intermission has shout-outs to Mass Effect 3, and the Blue ending has one to the infamous "Congratulations!" ending of Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion.
52	* SplitPersonality: Sollux, but according to [[WordOfGod Word of Fanfic Author]], it's really two trolls forced to share the same body.
53	* StandardBleedingSpots: Is shown to happen at least once or twice to Kanaya.
54	* ToxicFriendInfluence: Sollux and Feferi suspect that Aradia may be one to Captor.
55	* TwistEnding: [[spoiler:This session turns out to be a doomed session that preceded the canon one.]]

Context Fanfic / RedDeadVirgo