Line #39 FanFic/Teratogenesis


1	''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11292890/1/Teratogenesis Teratogenesis]]'' is a ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' fanfic by Ferric that is fairly unusual, to say the least. Rather than a general story fic or romance, it tells a series unconnected AU ficlets, each of which deals with a character from the series being infected (and mutated) with one of the many viruses or parasites from the series and needing to deal with the consequences.
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3	Despite the unusual premise, the fic is extremely well-written, and positively ''loaded'' with tearjerkers and nightmare fuel, as well as segments of absurd humor.
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5	Due to the nature of the fic and the difficulty of troping ficlets without giving away major plot points and details, expect many unmarked spoilers for both the fic and the games.
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7	One set of ficlets was later expanded into its own story, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12485739/1/Ship-of-Theseus Ship of Theseus]]'', and tropes for that are also listed below for convenience.
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10	!!''Teratogenesis'' provides examples of:
11	* AdorableAbomination:
12	** [[spoiler: Despite the horrific mutation she goes through, "Tracy" is still more or less the same chipper person after her transformation, and still mostly retains her face and...assets.]]
13	** [[spoiler: The leech-Rebecca is indistinguishable from the original one, including to herself for a while.]]
14	* AttractiveBentGender: In one ficlet, Chris and Piers turn into clones of [[MsFanservice Ada Wong.]]
15	* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: In ''Ship of Theseus'', the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service forces end up being the ones who [[spoiler:kill Dr. James Marcus]].
16	* BehemothBattle: ''Diptych 1'' and ''2'' feature a character mutating from the T-Abyss virus and fighting Jack Norman.
17	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:''Ship of Theseus''. Rebecca fully realizes and admits to herself that she (or rather, the original person she's based on) is dead, but the fact the leeches copied her perfectly means that she'll continue to do what the original Rebecca would have in regards to Umbrella and against weaponized viruses in general. However, with her leech swarm growing both in number and size it's only a matter of time before she's discovered, and she seems to realize this in that she works nights and stays as far away from everyone as possible.]]
18	* BodyHorror: Each and every single chapter. To recap just a few:
19	** ''Some Give All'': Piers becomes a Tyrant-like organism, with extra eyes and lower jaws that split to become mandibles.
20	** ''Of Monster and Men'': While Sherry seems outwardly human, there is a large mass of mutated tissue under her breast, and it also happens to have a G-Virus eyeball.
21	** ''Kafkaesque'': [[NothingIsScarier We are not told the full extent of Moira's t-Phobos induced mutations,]] but we are quite graphically told about her hand undergoing necrosis before falling off, and the bone blades that eventually grow from the stump.
22	** ''Holding On'': Jill appears to be similar to a normal [[{{Mook}} Ooze]], which may not sound like much. Considering the beautiful woman Jill once was though...
23	** ''Someone Posted This On A Forum, Is It?'': "Tracy" emerges from the cocoon with numerous insectile limbs, most of which are poorly formed, and tree of which are gigantic scorpion pincers and a blade on the body of a young woman. It should be noted her design is similar to the original concept art of [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 mutated Deborah]].
24	** ''Burrow Your Way To My Heart'', ''Monsters Inside Me'', and ''Ship of Theseus'': Appear to be subversions at first as Rebecca still resembles a normal human. [[spoiler: Then she realizes at the end that this is because she has become a WormThatWalks...]]
25	* ChekhovsGunman: The Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service members who Rebecca meets during her aborted attempt at going back to the facility in ''Ship of Theseus'' end up getting more heavily armed reinforcements that [[spoiler:take out Dr. James Marcus]].
26	* ContinuityNod: ''Ship of Theseus'' has [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service members]] threaten Rebecca when she initially goes to look for Dr. Marcus’s lab and [[spoiler:end up being the ones who take out James Marcus]].
27	* CryLaughing: ''Diptych 2'' ends with Chris doing this.
28	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Moira's ficlet; she (apparently) dies at the end.]] It's ambiguous exactly what happened in the climax though.
29	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Lisa Trevor still loves her family as much as ever, and so does Moira during her months of isolation on the island.
30	* ForeignLanguageTitle: "Teratogenesis" is a word for the development of congenital malformations, derived from the Greek words for "Monster" and "Origin".
31	* {{Main/Foreshadowing}}:
32	** “Kafkaesque” has a ton of foreshadowing for [[spoiler:Moira’s FaceMonsterTurn]], most notably the section where she reminisces about ''Literature/TheMonsterAtTheEndOfThisBook''.
33	* FormulaBreakingEpisode: There are a few chapters which diverge from BodyHorror.
34	** ''We Won't Get Fooled Again'' involves a group of cancer researchers being stymied by ill-informed protestors.
35	** ''The Enemy of My Enemy'' involves a duo of BSAA agents investigating an incident at an island lab.
36	** ''Life, Love, Friendship, and Lemons'' is a character piece on Albert Wesker, pre-Raccoon City.
37	* GenderBender: Both Chris and Piers transform into physical copies of Ada Wong in ''The Truth'', female anatomies and all.
38	* HorrorHunger:
39	** [[spoiler:Moira]], when she realizes she has a very strong desire to hunt down and eat the human coming to the island at the end.
40	** Steve from ''The Little Things That Matter'' finds himself devouring zombie corpses quite often early on in his mutation.
41	** In ''Animal Companions'', Leon has a hard time differentiating between good and rotten food, and the plaga seems to prefer rotten stuff.
42	* HumanoidAbomination:
43	** Arguably all the characters who have a humanoid figure.
44	** [[spoiler: Rebecca from ''Ship of Theseus'' looks and acts normal for the most part, despite being composed entirely of T-Virus mutant leeches wrapped around the original Rebecca's skeleton.]]
45	* LeftHanging: ''The Enemy Of My Enemy'' leaves what exactly transpired hanging.
46	* LighterAndSofter: ''The Truth'', ''Hearts and Minds'', ''Someone Posted This On A Forum, Is It?'', and ''We Won't Get Fooled Again'' are this to the rest of the ficlets, being far more focused on humor and having little horror in them.
47	* MsFanservice: "Tracy" becomes an InUniverse example of this trope when "Ian" films her emerging from her C-Virus cocoon, and focuses the camera on the "certain unchanged parts of her anatomy." [[FanDisservice But from the point of view of other characters, though...]]
48	* NightmareFetishist: Both "Tracy" and "Ian" from ''Someone Posted This On A Forum, Is It?''
49	* NoMedicationForMe: [[spoiler: Leon stops taking the plaga-inhibiting drugs in ''Animal Companions'' when he starts losing muscle control. Without a dominant-strain plaga to give orders, his doesn't take control utterly, but it does have very pronounced effects on Leon.]]
50	* ShoutOut: Probably unintentional, but the general themes and plot details of Moira's ficlet concerning her slow and painfully gradual mutation [[spoiler: (as well as what appears to be a MercyKill at the end)]] is highly reminiscent of ''Film/TheFly1986''.
51	* TheStoic: Rostam from ''Hearts and Minds''. Fitting, considering he's a Tyrant.
52	* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Rebecca]] actually dies around the halfway point of ''Monsters Inside Me''; the [[spoiler:Rebecca]] whose POV we see through for the rest of the fic is likely a Queen Leech that has completely assimilated the deceased original Rebecca both physically and mentally, and it's only at the end that she realizes this.

Context FanFic / Teratogenesis