Trauma Stitched with Love
, written by Rinichey, is a Monster Prom fanfic.
Vicky Schmidt, a cute Frankenstein monster, is determined to get a public education for her last year of high school. There, she becomes fast friends with a small group of students known as The Outcasts, including Amira, the fiery djinn, Brian, the cool zombie, and Oz, the dorky manifestation of fear.
Things seem to look up for Vicky until the dense yet lovable Scott enters her life and brings back unpleasant memories.
This Fanfic contains examples of:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Several characters, primarily Vicky, Scott, and Brian.
- Adaptational Intelligence: While not the sharpest tool in the shed, Scott is portrayed as more observant and thoughtful.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: While still very hotheaded and prone to violence, Damien shows a surprisingly loyal side to him when he angrily calls out Polly for turning down Brian's affections and acting like nothing had happened.
- All-Ghouls School: Spooky High, a school made specifically for monsters.
- Be Yourself: A very downplayed example as it comes into play in one chapter, and is mostly Played for Laughs. Scott, who has developed a crush on Vicky, starts to imitate Liam's demeanor and fashion in an attempt to impress her. This ends up going From Bad to Worse, as almost everyone else starts adopting this style, much to Liam's anguish.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Most prominent with Amira and Damien. While the two of them can get into very heated arguments at times, they usually end up having rough sex later on.
- A more minor case with Brian and Polly. While the two of them can get into heated arguments at times, almost everyone can see that fighting each other actually turns them on.
- Beta Couple: Damien and Amira, along with Oz and Liam.
- Broken Bird: Vicky. Despite her cheery demeanor, she is still struggling with some very serious trauma.
- Blessed with Suck: How Brian describes being a zombie. He’s able to survive life-threatening injuries, but the trade-off is that everything (including pain and emotions) feels dull to him, usually having to rely on drugs to actually feel anything.
- Commitment Issues: Polly's free-spirited lifestyle makes it damn-near impossible for her to settle down into a relationship. This hits Brian, and hits him hard.
- Cool Big Sister: Amira to Vicky.
- Drowning My Sorrows: After getting turned down by Polly when asking her to Homecoming, Brian completely wastes himself on booze and weed.
- Face Your Fears: Vicky’s initial character arc focused on her overcoming her fear of werewolves with a little help from Scott.
- Fantastic Racism: Vicky’s father, Murray, has an aversion to werewolves, but not without his reasons.
- The story addresses high tensions between monsters and humans, showing that fights and even murder are quite common between them.
- Foil: Brian and Vicky. Both of them are classified as "corpses", but while Vicky is an energetic Nice Girl, Brian is more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. There’s also the fact that while Vicky was brought back to life through scientific measures, it’s hinted that Brian’s reanimation is more magic based.
- Friendly Zombie: While more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Brian's heart is unambiguously in the right place and is always there for his friends.
- Friends with Benefits: Deconstructed While Polly is perfectly happy with this situation with Brian, lovingly referring to him as her “wing-man”, Brian has genuine feelings for Polly and wants to have something more meaningful than just sex. This ends up causing quite a bit of drama later on in the story.
- Fur Against Fang: Averted. Despite having the perfect set up for this trope, Scott and Liam remain good friends despite their obvious differences.
- Gentle Giant: Scott to a T. Despite his large frame and physique, Scott is too nice to hurt anybody. That is, until the Full Moon comes out.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: The main reason Vicky chose to go to Spooky High in the first place.
- Interspecies Romance: Every single couple in this story qualifies as this.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Plenty of examples, but mostly Brian, Liam, Amira, and Damien.
- Love Triangle: Two examples involving Vicky.
- Both Vicky and Oz have a crush on Liam, who doesn’t reciprocate Vicky’s feelings and ends up with Oz.
- Then, you have Scott developing a crush on Vicky, who has a crush on Liam. While Vicky definitely notices Scott’s feelings, she is initially conflicted, unsure of how Liam feels about her. When Liam finally turns her down, she and Scott get together.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Played With. Whenever Scott goes full werewolf, he's susceptible to some of his more feral instincts. However, he has also shown to have some semblance of control over himself, but still remains a deadly threat to his friends.
- No Antagonist: There really is no clear-cut antagonist in the story, as it mostly focuses on the students’ various misadventures through school, as well as their struggles with dating and friendship.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Liam.
- Official Couple: Vicky and Scott.
- Original Character: Murray, Vicky's father and a bit of a Mad Scientist.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Vicky, Brian, Amira, and Oz. The four of them are all very close friends with no romantic interest in each other.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Brian is the savvy guy to Polly's energetic girl.
- Secret Relationship: Downplayed. The only person Vicky keeps out of the loop with regards to her relationship is her father, and with good reason.
- Sex as Rite-of-Passage: Seeing how all three of her friends have had their cards punched, Vicky makes it her goal to have her first time as well.
- Sex Equals Love: Brian and Polly are friends with benefits. However, Brain ends up developing genuine feelings for Polly and secretly wants something more meaningful. Polly's feelings are… conflicting to say the least.
- Shipper on Deck: Damien and Miranda are this for Brian and Polly. After the two of them have a falling out, the two of them aggressively encourage them to kiss and make-up for different reasons. Miranda thinks that they genuinely make a cute couple, Damien supports their relationship because they made parties fun.
- Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: The Outcasts have their sights set on asking someone from the Big Six, the most popular students at monster high, to the prom.
- Smart Jerk and Nice Moron: The studious and standoffish Liam (Smart Jerk), to the simple yet friendly Scott (Nice Moron).
- Stupid Sexy Friend: Vicky starts developing a Crush on Scott, someone she only saw as a friend. There’s also the fact that his species is her greatest fear.
- Take Our Word for It: Any and all sexual encounters are only mentioned in passing and never explicitly shown.
- True Companions: Vicky, Brian, Amira and Oz. Even though they don't always agree on the same things, there's no doubt that the four of them will always be there for each other.
- Vampire-Werewolf Love Triangle: Involving Scott (the werewolf), Liam (the vampire), and Vicky (a Frankenstein monster).
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: It's mentioned that humans and monsters aren't usually on the best of terms, as evidenced when Vicky, Brian, Amira, and Oz are approached by a group of humans who threaten them to leave their neighborhood. It doesn't end well for the humans.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: The main cast as a whole to varying degrees. While some of them can get into fights at times, they all still spend time together and have each other’s back during times of hardship.
- Will They or Won't They?: Brian and Polly’s relationship is much more complicated compared to everyone else’s. It's made very clear that the two of them like each other and want to make things work, but have a difficult time figuring out how to get there without one sacrificing for the other.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Vicky starts out with a crippling fear of werewolves, and her initial goal is to conquer her fear.
