Line #72 Literature/DestructiveHarmonics


1	''Destructive Harmonics'' is a currently mostly unpublished writing project by Tropers/{{Floria}}. It takes place in DarthWiki/TheHarmonicsverse, a sort of MundaneFantastic-meets-WorldOfWeirdness version of early twenty-first century Earth, and can be described as "''{{WesternAnimation/Metalocalypse}}'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] one of those [[{{Moe}} cutesy]] SliceOfLife anime series about [[ImprobablyFemaleCast a bunch of quirky high school girls]]," [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KOn]][[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LuckyStar]][[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/AzumangaDaioh]] although in this case the "girls" are five rock stars in their twenties and thirties. The project is mostly concerned with Maenad, a popular all-female heavy metal band that's difficult to precisely classify by subgenre, and whose members are, to a woman, WeirdnessMagnet {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s, the band members' daily lives, their odder adventures, and the many ways they drive their [[OnlySaneEmployee long-suffering]] [[TeamMom manager]] to distraction.
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3	Some writing about Maenad and associated characters can be found [[http://bishoujoklok.livejournal.com/ here]].
4	See also the [[Characters/DestructiveHarmonics character sheet]].
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6	----
7	!! Contains examples of:
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9	* AlienGeometries: The living room of Maenad's BigFancyHouse has four walls, but the sum of its angles adds up to a little more than 360 degrees.
10	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Maenad, in-universe. Mostly-normal young women who just happen to be {{Weirdness Magnet}}s? {{Humanoid Abomination}}s who don't ''attract'' supernatural wrongness so much as ''create'' it? {{Apocalypse Maiden}}s fated to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt? And that's not even covering the normal differences of opinion people tend to have about celebrities.
11	* AluminumChristmasTrees: [[invoked]] A running gag involves Yanang (a city girl with no interest in plants that you can't eat, smoke, or ferment) not believing that certain plants (including wintergreen, mistletoe, and wolfsbane) are real-world life forms.
12	* AssholeVictim: Fairly common as victims of the more serious negative effects of Maenad's Aura of Weirdness.
13	* AuthorAppeal: Music, exotic pets, lesbians...
14	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: No matter what's just happened to her, Lilja never looks worse than a bit pale and mildly disheveled. Does not apply to the other female characters.
15	** Valerian's hypothesis is that Lilja bathes in Scotchgard.
16	* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: The Brocklehurst Center For Troubled Youth. In Valerian's grandmother's defense, she didn't know this when she sent Val there.
17	* BrandX: Glacial Geyser bottled water.
18	** Iron Dragon Chymists' Guild (a BlandNameProduct / CaptainErsatz of [[http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/ BPAL]])
19	** See also ShoutOut.
20	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Most creative types.
21	* CanonWelding: Maenad was originally in a different continuity from Venus Envy and some other parts of the Harmonicsverse.
22	* CasualKink: Valerian had a day job as a dominatrix for a while before she joined Maenad, and Yanang has a few kinks of her own. It's not treated as any big deal.
23	* Myth/ClassicalMythology: Valerian's a fan, and Maenad's name is a reference to it.
24	* CoolHouse: Maenad's mansion, in all its Gothic Revival, geometry-defying glory.
25	** Lilja ''wants'' a dragon (or failing that, a pterodactyl), but has failed to find a reputable scientist who can make her one.
26	* CreativeDifferences: In-universe, one of the reasons Valerian left [[DeathMetal Imploded Aneurysm]] (the other was strained vocal cords). Val wanted to explore more [[HeavyMithril fantastic]] and introspective themes and was beginning to cultivate her interest in weird religious imagery at the point that the other band members wanted to go DarkerAndEdgier.
27	* CreepyChild: Violet Aciano was a mild example in her youth, due to odd mannerisms and an aura of eeriness rather than anything actually dangerous. Perhaps surprisingly, she grew up to be rather {{moe}} as an adult.
28	* CrossesTheLineTwice: Thanatocide's entire body of work, in-universe.
29	* CulturalPosturing: Regarding [[http://bishoujoklok.livejournal.com/5030.html#cutid1 bizarre Scandinavian fish dishes]], of all things.
30	* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: Any time Violet tries to be intimidating generally comes out like this.
31	* CutLexLuthorACheck: Magnus Ravnen actually earned the majority of his money through legal uses of his scientific talents, and viewed his supervillainy as a sort of combination of political activism and performance art.
32	* DeathbringerTheAdorable: Most of Maenad's pets. After all, they are a metal band and have certain standards to maintain.
33	* DrowningMySorrows: Musa, whenever she's under stress, and Violet, after Artemisia gets hurt.
34	* DumbAndDrummer: Averted. Musa is the only member of Maenad with a university education.
35	* EveryoneIsBi: Or at least most of the women who have a canonical sexual orientation.
36	* EveryoneIsChristianAtChristmas: More like "Everyone is pagan on the Solstice."
37	--> "We all have our party together and burn a Yule log on the Solstice. It is a good central location, and everyone believes in astronomical events."
38	* {{Expy}}: Valerian Nightshade, Musa Hawthorne, and Lilja Lakebetonika were fairly heavily inspired by Nathan Explosion, Pickles the drummer, and Skwisgaar Skwigelf of [[WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}} Dethklok]].
39	* ExtranormalInstitute: The boarding school Artemisia attended, which catered to the daughters of supervillains and people in similarly exotic occupations. They had classes in [[StuffBlowingUp applied chemistry]] and "interrogation techniques" along with fencing and home ec.
40	* FakeBand: Loads of them.
41	* FauxSymbolism: In-universe, Valerian likes to use religious imagery on occasion, and she once wrote a song about Joan of Arc.
42	* FictionalMedia: Quite a bit of it.
43	** The musical output of the various {{Fake Band}}s.
44	** Erica Hawthorne's books.
45	** ''Eaten Back To Life!'': a JukeboxMusical based on the music of Music/CannibalCorpse.
46	* FreudianExcuse: Fairly common, although not particularly severe.
47	** Valerian: didn't meet her mother until she was in her twenties, had a stormy relationship with her paternal grandmother, due to the whole "irresistible force versus immovable object" problem.
48	** Violet: her mother died when Violet was a preschooler, the aunt who raised her is a loving but rather intimidating [[MyBelovedSmother Beloved Smother]]/JewishMother hybrid.
49	** Lilja: was both parents' [[TheUnfavorite Unfavorite]], Linnea Hammerfall was sort of a surrogate parental figure before she joined the band.
50	** Musa: was both parents' [[TheUnfavorite Unfavorite]] (although her sister sees the dynamic differently), and is closer to the hippie neighbor lady who babysat her than she is to either of them.
51	** Yanang: is [[AvertedTrope actually]] on amiable, if a bit distant, terms with her family.
52	* GargleBlaster: Most of the cocktails Musa invents. For example, "Suicider," a little hard cider, apple brandy, Everclear, and cinnamon schnapps based concoction that tastes deceptively smooth for how strong it is, especially when it's served hot.
53	* GeniusDitz: The girls in Maenad, although they don't all manifest it the same way, and the level of ditziness often depends on RuleOfFunny.
54	** Musa may count as a DitzyGenius instead, as she's fairly book-smart.
55	* GenreMotif: Metal, although more focused on the [[MundaneMadeAwesome lovably over the top]] elements than sheer brutality.
56	* GermanicEfficiency: The Hekatefest interview mentions an actual German efficiency consultant who was, true to the trope, very good at her job. Unfortunately she was also a serial embezzler.
57	* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Doctor Love thinks so.
58	* GoshDangItToHeck: Valerian occasionally falls into this, unintentionally. She blames her religious upbringing.
59	* GothicMetal: One possible way to classify Maenad's music, although the question is complicated by the fact that nobody seems able to precisely define what gothic metal is, exactly.
60	* HeavyMithril: Shows up in their lyrics on occasion.
61	* HitlerWasAVegetarian: Yanang, being the [[SarcasmMode suave and well-mannered]] lady that she is, brings this up once to Violet. This leads to [[YouKnowImBlackRight You Know I'm Jewish, Right?]]
62	* HollywoodHomely: Explored in-universe, since the characters are female celebrities.
63	* ICallItVera: Freyja, Lilja's favorite guitar. Lilja's attitude towards "her" verges on CompanionCube or CargoShip status at times.
64	** Also, [[Comicbook/{{Empowered}} Ninjette]], Yanang's motorcycle (a Kawasaki Ninja 250R).
65	** And [[Literature/SnowCrash Raven]], Yanang's favorite glass knife.
66	* ImprobablyFemaleCast
67	* InTheBlood: Normally, Artemisia is a calm, and dignified with a SugarAndIcePersonality, but she occasionally has the strong desire to let her hair down and indulge in a bit of [[EvilIsHammy villainous ham.]] She tries not to publicly express this.
68	* InformedAbility / TakeOurWordForIt: Side effect of being a musician in a non-auditory medium.
69	* IronButtMonkey: Several minor characters. The Harmonicsverse can be a dangerous place, and Maenad does not help.
70	* KillerRabbit: Averted with Maenad's peacocks, much to Yanang's disappointment.
71	** The swans are a straighter example, although they never manage to do more than lightly maim anyone.
72	* KnockingOnHeathensDoor: Discussed in the "Holidays" interview.
73	--> Dude, Val would be awesome at that. She’d be like, "Hey, [[HollywoodJehovahsWitness you want a copy of ''The Watchtower''?"]] and they’d be like, "Yes, please! Make it two! Just don’t hurt me!" and nobody’d dare tell her "GTFO I’m an atheist" because she’d… fucking eat ‘em.
74	* LighterAndSofter: Maenad, compared to Valerian's earlier bands [[TechnicalDeathMetal Judas Cradle]] and [[DeathMetal Imploded Aneurism]].
75	** On a meta level, Destructive Harmonics compared to its major inspiration (the one that's not Manga/AzumangaDaioh), due to a much lower blood and gore quotient.
76	* MalevolentArchitecture: While the living quarters of Maenad's house are safe enough, the basements range from "difficult to navigate" to "how is that geometrically possible?" to "actively hostile to human life." The band [[NightmareFetishist thinks this is pretty metal.]]
77	* MarshmallowHell: Valerian is very tall, full-figured, and of a physically demonstrative nature, at least with close friends. This was probably bound to happen sooner or later.
78	* [[MistakenForRacist Mistaken For Antisemite]]: For some reason, Violet's grandmother has developed the idea that all Scandinavian metal musicians (including Lilja) are Neo-Nazis. This makes things awkward when the band meet each other's families.
79	* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon: Finding potential romantic partners who weren't scared of her has been a problem for Valerian on occasion.
80	* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Yes and no. Violet has a decent fanbase, but she tends to get more attention for her {{Cloudcuckoolander}} traits and being [[{{Moe}} really cute]] than for her musicianship.
81	* NoodleIncident
82	* OldShame: Lilja used to be in the dorkiest PowerMetal band ''ever''.
83	* PassThePopcorn: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] during Lilja and Yanang's seltzer-and-pillow fight.
84	* PekingDuckChristmas: Violet (who is Jewish) mentions that in years when Christmas and Hanukkah don't overlap, she spends Christmas eating Chinese food and watching movies.
85	* PeripheryDemographic: In-universe example: [[{{Moe}} Violet's]] biggest fan bases are among [[{{Shoujo}} young girls]] and [[{{Seinen}} college-age men.]]
86	* PiranhaProblem: Artemisia keeps a few big tanks of piranhas, but she uses them more for the disposal of already dead bodies than as a means of execution.
87	* RealPersonFic: In-universe, Maenad gets some written about them. Valerian doesn't mind this, but she does wish that she didn't get slotted into the "abusive seme" and "fundamentalist homophobe" slots so often.
88	* SatiatingSandwich: Yanang's "best sandwich ever," which consists of bacon, [[BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce four kinds of chile peppers]], spicy pickled fish fillets, curry mayonnaise, fried onions, fried garlic, kimchi, and radish sprouts, garnished with crumbled blue cheese, balsamic vinegar, and dried shrimp, and served on dark sourdough rye bread fried in bacon fat. ''She'' thinks it's awesome. [[PickyEater Lilja]] is {{Squick}}ed.
89	* SeinfeldianConversation: The conversation between Violet and Musa about what cleaning products from different countries would, theoretically, taste like.
90	* SeriousBusiness: Anything that Maenad's involved in, between the "metal is SeriousBusiness" crowd and the people who believe that the band have supernatural powers.
91	** Also, [[http://bishoujoklok.livejournal.com/6302.html#cutid1 online popularity contests.]]
92	* ShoutOut: Lots of them, including:
93	** [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Wienrich and Boettcher chocolates]]
94	** [[Music/{{Pantera}} Pan Terra]], a bakery/gourmet sandwich shop.
95	** [[Music/{{Ihsahn}} Thou Shalt Suffer]], the pro domme house where Valerian worked for a while in her pre-Maenad days.
96	** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony_Tears Ebony Tears]], Valerian's favorite brand of eye makeup.
97	** One of the {{Fake Band}}s mentioned in passing is called Rosa Sanguinea Gothica, i.e. [[Fanfic/MyImmortal Bloody Gothic Rose]].
98	** [[GargleBlaster "Suicider"]] is a reference to [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Nanny Ogg's]] homebrew.
99	** Three of Lilja's former bands were called [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Storm Bolter, Sororitas]], and TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}.
100	** One of Val's exes was named Robert Music/{{Candlemass}}.
101	** Music/IcedEarth is a high end brand of frozen desserts (rather like Häagen-Dazs but more expensive and metal.)
102	** [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Shelob]] the tarantula.
103	** The Brocklehurst Center for Troubled Youth is a ''Literature/JaneEyre'' reference.
104	** Artemisia has a desk plaque that reads [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 "Be polite, be efficient, have a plan to kill everyone you meet."]]
105	** [[http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=2146 Memory Garden]] funeral home, one of Val's employers in her pre-Maenad days.
106	** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folkearth Folkearth Supplements]].
107	** Martha Jane Vikernes (the reporter from the [[http://bishoujoklok.livejournal.com/4450.html#cutid1 holiday]] and [[http://bishoujoklok.livejournal.com/1403.html Hekatefest]] interviews) is named after [[Music/{{Burzum}} Varg]] (and Calamity Jane), although she has little in common with either of them.
108	* SickEpisode: One vignette in which Artemisia gets a cold and the girls [[NurseWithGoodIntentions try to help her get better]] with dubious homemade herbal remedies.
109	* SliceOfLife
110	* SoBadItsGood: In-universe example: most of Maenad's non-musical creative endeavors. They wound up making a movie that was the cinematic equivalent of high-budget AuthorAppeal but turned out reasonably watchable due to a competent director and successful application of the RuleOfCool.
111	* SpringtimeForHitler: Any effort Maenad makes to troll its fanbase winds up becoming strangely popular.
112	* TakeThat: Violet doesn't think much of {{Moe}} fandom. To be fair, when you already have problems being taken seriously as an adult "real musician" even by your closest friends, having your girlish innocence fetishized by strangers on the internet ''does not help.''
113	* TeamMom: Artemisia Mandrake (and occasionally Valerian) for Maenad.
114	* ThemeNaming: Maenad and many of the people around them (their manager, the producer they work with, the members of Musa's former band, their doctor, their shrink, and some of their family members) all have plant-themed names. All of Valerian's named exes (and several other minor characters) are named after bands. Most of the MauveShirt employees are named after {{One Woman Song}}s (or the male equivalent.)
115	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted, although plenty of characters who probably need help still aren't getting it, and the one therapist to get much characterization has plenty of issues of her own.
116	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Yanang Bai (tomboy) and Violet Aciano (girly girl).
117	* UnusualPetsForUnusualPeople: Maenad and their associates have quite a menagerie.
118	* UrbanLegendLoveLife: Lilja's not celibate by any means, and she does flirt, but her in-universe reputation as a female TheCasanova who goes after anyone is a gross exaggeration. If she had ''that'' much sex she wouldn't have any time left to spend with her [[CargoShip real love]].
119	* TheVerse
120	* VitriolicBestBuds: Yanang and Lilja. Yanang and Violet have a one-sided variation at times.
121	* WatchItStoned: Musa discovers that drugs ''don't'' improve ''Manga/{{Uzumaki}}''.
122	-->"Honey, a word of advice – weirdass surreal Japanese horror does not make more sense when you’re really, really high."
123	* {{Whatevermancy}}: Vinomancy, [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl Musa's]] alleged power to make ''anything'' alcoholic.
124	* WritersSuck: Erica Hawthorne (novelist) and Robert Candlemass (celebrity author of self-help books) are both rather obnoxious.

Context Literature / DestructiveHarmonics