"Yugi, a demon of seduction, meets a quiet teenaged loner named Yami - can they save each other when their lives fall apart?"
— FanFiction.net
story synopsis.
story synopsis.A Game of Masques is a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction written by Silvershadowfire.
Tropes in A Game Of Masques:
- Abusive Parents: Yami's father is a controlling sadist who degrades Yami and hands out punishments like not being allowed to speak unless spoken to for days.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Yugi likes running his fingers through Yami's hair.
- The Ageless: Yugi chose to freeze his apparent age at about 17, and Otogi, Ryou, and Bakura also look like teenagers despite being old demons.
- Older Than He Looks: Yugi is about 600 years old, but looks 17ish; otogi is 1800 and looks like a teenager.
- Really 700 Years Old: Yugi is about 600… while Otogi is three times that.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Yugi is generally harmless, interested just in amusing himself playing with people, but the first time he sees Yami's father he has to restrain himself from ripping his throat out, and he goes on to vow to destroy him.
- Bespectacled Cutie: Yami in this story has wire-rimmed glasses, to make him a little more vulnerable. (Although they disappear from the story after the first couple chapters.)
- Brainwashed:
- Kaiba becomes a pawn for Marik and Malik, under their Mind Control.
- Yugi is concerned at the thought that his enemies will turn Yami into a mindless slave to use against him.
- Broken Bird: Yami starts out utterly broken.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Yami is conditioned and brainwashed into believing that his father's insane punishments are right.
- Costume Porn: Yugi's outfits especially are described in some detail.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Yami has spent nine years with his abusive parents, after being ripped from the happy home of his grandfather.
- Depraved Bisexual: Yugi doesn't so much care what gender he's seducing.
- The Eeyore: Yami is depressed and depressing as hell and saddled with feelings of worthlessness.Yami: [in his thoughts] I can't take this anymore... I can't... Just open up and swallow me and let me fall forever and ever and ever...
- Emotion Eater: Bakura is a Japanese vampire (gaki) who feeds on pain; he's exploited by Yugi to eat Yami's despair.
- Emotionless Boy: In the beginning Yami feels empty and dead inside.
- Flashback Nightmare: Yami has flashback nightmares about his punishment at his father's hands.
- Flight: Incubi and hunter demons, at least, can fly.
- Freakiness Shame: Yami is convinced he's an ugly freak because of his eye color and the natural streaks in his hair.
- Gayngst: Yami's father is an abusive homophobe and Yami has dreams about guys; this is not good for his mental health.
- Gone Mad From The Isolation: A flashback scene shows one of Yami's punishments when he was twelve that involved leaving him alone in the basement until he broke.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: Yugi, a demon, has big black bat wings.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Yugi is described at first in wearing all leather and spikes, and he keeps up the theme in his costume changes.
- The Ingenue: Subverted - Yuugi plays this up, with his innocent appearance and wide eyes - and this is exactly how Yami sees him, a sweet and innocent angel unaware of his sexiness - but he is in fact an incubus.
- In Love with the Mark: In this case yami was marked by Yugi himself to be the target of his seduction game; he didn't expect to fall in love with him.
- Intangibility and Invisibility: Yugi is able to make himself invisible and intangible to go through walls and spy on people.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Barely averted. Both Yugi and Yami make plans to leave the other to protect them from the people after them.
- Lovable Rogue: Yugi is a demon who likes to play with people, but darn if he isn't lovable.
- Love at First Sight: Seeing Yugi the first time makes Yami breathless and he sees him as an angel - although given that Yugi is an incubus, this may have been intentionally invoked.
- Manipulative Bastard: Yuugi is a nice version, an expert at playing people's emotions to his own ends. It's all a game to him.
- Marked By The Supernatural: The demon mating ritual binds the two of them together, letting the dominant demon find their mate. In this case it sometimes manifests as a mutual marking; Bakura (a human) was transformed into a gaki, and Ryou's hair changed to match Bakura's.
- Mating Dance: Yugi teaching Yami to dance might as well be a sex scene.
- Meaningful Name:
- Ludus, a.k.a. Yugi, has names meaning "Game", because he likes playing (and never loses) games of seduction.
- "Yami" means "darkness". His father exploits this trope by telling him that darkness is the absence of anything, and that means that Yami is nothing. Yugi turns this around to tell him that darkness is untapped potential and limitless power.
- Mind-Control Device: The Sennen Rod can take over mortal minds instantly.
- Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality:
- Perception Filter: Mortals don't notice Yugi unless he wills it.
- Plug 'n' Play Friends: Yami gets adopted into Yugi's circle of friends extremely quickly.
- Punishment Box: It's implied rather than state, but "the basement" is one of the worst punishments Yami can imagine.
- Scenery Porn: Yugi's apartment, especially the bathroom, is described in loving detail.
- Scoundrel Code: Yugi has his own rules that he abides by, including that he will never break up an established couple (unless they are already on the rocks or established on false pretenses) and he doesn't use his actual powers for seduction, because that would be "cheating".
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Bakura is the only one to drop f-bombs, or even other normal English swear words.
- Stopped Caring: In the beginning, Yami has given up on being happy or interested in things; he goes through everything by rote and tries to detach himself.
- Succubi and Incubi: Yugi and Otogi are incubi.
- Super-Senses: Yugi has an enhanced sense of smell which lets him smell pheromones and tell people's interest level and keen enough hearing to hear dreaming mutters through closed windows.
- Technicolor Eyes: The mystical aspects are played straight, unlike in the canon series; this Yugi's purple eyes reflect his incubus nature.
- Tranquil Fury: Once Malik's Hair-Trigger Temper gets pushed far enough, he flips over the end of the scale into icy rage.
- The Trickster: Yugi is actually in the mortal realm at all because he seduced a demon lord's consort on a dare, and he seems to be in things mostly for the fun.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Yugi doesn't really understand why, once he has Yami, he wants to keep him and protect him and not feed on him until Yami's ready.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In chapter 4, Yugi shakes Yami into trying to develop some self worth.Yugi: You are handsome, and clever, and damnit you are NOT a freak!
