| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_vixen_low_rez_7574.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:Rolas would like you to know he ''is'' wearing shorts.]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | The Red Vixen Adventures are a series of sci-fi romance novellas by Creator/RoyceDay that invoke traditional Age of Sail romances, [[RecycledInSpace in space]], with [[FoxFolk anthropomorphic fox]] aliens as the main characters. Tying the novellas together is a pirate who calls herself the Red Vixen, and her relationship to members of the noble House of Darktail. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | [[AC:The current novellas include:]] |
| 7 | * ''Literature/CaptiveOfTheRedVixen'': Rolas captured by the titular vixen. |
| 8 | * ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Red-Vixen-The-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00A09WLJE/ Shadow of the Red Vixen]]'': Rolas' sister Lady Sallivera Darktail goes on holiday, saddled with a bodyguard, Alinadar, in the pay of her family's enemy. |
| 9 | * ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Her-Sins-Vixen-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00IEA5XQY Shadow of Her Sins]]'': Alinadar must face the consequences of her crimes, and the discovery that she has surviving family. |
| 10 | * ''[[https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Doubt-Vixen-Adventure-Adventures-ebook/dp/B01G6VBGD6 Shadow of Doubt]]'': Sallivera and Alinadar must face the disapproval of their families while facing down a new enemy. |
| 11 | * ''[[https://www.amazon.com/Red-Vixen-Sea-Adventures-Book-ebook/dp/B071Z34XXG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494596683&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Red+Vixen+at+Sea The Red Vixen At Sea]]'': When Rolas and Melanie try to reconcile their marriage in the face of Melanie's criminal past, Rolas is critically injured as a storm shipwrecks them on a strange and dangerous island. |
| 12 | * ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Fought-Claw-Won-Vixen-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00FEDIIUW/ I Fought the Claw and the Claw Won]]'': Taking place in parallel to the second half of "Captive", though containing spoilers to "Shadow". Marturari Greycoat is just an average foxen mercenary pilot earning a living escorting freighters through deep space, until that brings him between the Red Vixen and her savage rival Bloody Margo. |
| 13 | * ''[[https://www.amazon.com/Stuck-Middle-Vixen-Adventures-Book-ebook/dp/B08X3Z7F25 Stuck in the Middle with You]]'' Three years after the evens of ''I Fought the Claw...'' Ali returns with her new wife Sallivera to find Marty still stuck where she'd left him [[spoiler:indentured to Madame Habebti.]] She and Marty engage in some TeethClenchedTeamwork to take down a criminal conspiracy. |
| 14 | * ''[[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085RTKNG5?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 The Visitors']]'' Rolas discovers the true story behind First Contact between foxen and humanity, and the secrets his ancestor the first Lord Darktail kept hidden. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | !!Tropes: |
| 18 | * AdrenalineMakeover: Salli gets one when she sets out to rescue her own bodyguard after they're attacked by space pirates. |
| 19 | * AerithAndBob: Foxen names include Rolas, Sallivera, Alinadar, and Melanie. |
| 20 | * AirVentEscape: Attempted by Rolas in "Captive", but he finds a note from the Red Vixen and a trap waiting at the grille above the lifeboats. Greycoat in "Claw" also tries it with slightly more success, but comes out in Ali's cabin.2 |
| 21 | * AliensSpeakingEnglish: Averted in ''Shadow of the Red Vixen'', where Salli and Ali are visiting Earth and rely on most of the locals and signage being bilingual in [[CommonTongue Galactic Basic]]. |
| 22 | * AMatchMadeInStockholm: Notably the Red Vixen is much more attracted to Rolas than vice-versa. Until he starts dating her true identity. |
| 23 | * AMinorKidroduction: Done in the worst possible way with Alinadar, with the prologue of ''Shadow of Doubt'' introducing her at age eight, just before she's [[spoiler: forced to [[ChildrenForcedToKill murder her first victims]]]] in service to Bloody Margo. |
| 24 | * ArmorPiercingQuestion: Salli is good at this. |
| 25 | ** ''Shadow of Her Sins'' |
| 26 | -->'''Salli:''' "Who hurt you?" |
| 27 | -->'''Margo:''' "What do you mean?" |
| 28 | -->'''Salli:''' "Who made you so terrified that the only way [[FreudianExcuse you could make yourself feel safe]] was to make sure everyone else was frightened of ''you''?" |
| 29 | ** ''Shadow of Doubt'', when confronting her parents about forgiving Ali for her crimes. |
| 30 | -->"What would be enough?" |
| 31 | * ArrangedMarriage: Salli's marriage to Viscount Highglider. Initially she was perfectly fine with the idea of marrying a countess' heir. It wasn't until after the marriage that she found out her husband's true nature. |
| 32 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Salli combines this with an epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech when she's finally rescued by Melanie. |
| 33 | -->'''Salli:''' One, for interfering in my damned vacation. Two for playing Meddling Auntie with my personal life. Three, for making Rolas wear that ridiculous outfit... |
| 34 | * BarefootCartoonAnimal: Foxen typically don't wear shoes, as noted in ''Shadow of the Red Vixen'' when Salli visits South Dakota in winter and has to wear "foot protectors" that she finds highly uncomfortable. |
| 35 | * {{Bookends}}: |
| 36 | ** The first and last stories in the ''Complete Red Vixen Adventures'' end with Melanie and Rolas laughing as they step outside Darktail Manor for a walk. |
| 37 | ** The first prequel novella set before FirstContact ends with Lord Rolas the First being rescued by Mother Country paratroopers. More darkly, the last prequel story ''The Visitors'' ends with paratroopers invading Rolas' holiday manor to try and capture the [[spoiler: escaped human explorers.]] |
| 38 | * BrainsAndBondage: The Red Vixen likes her men in collars and Lady Melanie keeps Rolas ChainedToABed during their honeymoon. |
| 39 | * BrokenBird: Salli at the start of ''Captive''. She gets better, though she still suffers from depression and panic attacks when off her meds. |
| 40 | * CanonWelding: |
| 41 | ** A minor character in "Shadow of Her Sins" turns out to be from Gerwart, an expy of Germany from Day's earlier novella "Prisoners of War", implying that it was set in Foxen Prime's pre-spaceflight era. |
| 42 | ** Confirmed in “The Visitors”, where the RVA-era Rolas Darktail discovers a diary written by his ancestor, the protagonist of “POW.” |
| 43 | * CantSpitItOut: Alinadar's whole problem while working for the Red Vixen, as Marty points out. |
| 44 | * CartesianKarma: In "Shadow of her Sins" Ali is arrested for the crimes she committed as a slave, [[spoiler: but is acquitted of most, though not all of them.]] |
| 45 | * ChainedToABed: Implied in the epilogue to "Captive". |
| 46 | ** Also implied with Marty's antics during his military service: "Drunk, disorderly, and conveniently pre-handcuffed gets you a lot of ribbing when the MP's arrive." |
| 47 | * ChekhovsGun: |
| 48 | ** In ''Captive'' Salli is mentioned reading in the dark thanks to her cybernetic eye's low light vision. In the next story it comes in very handy while she's searching for Ali in the dark and rain. |
| 49 | ** Halfway through ''Doubt'' a human resort company wants to lease a large plot of land on Greenholme, which Salli is reluctant to agree to. [[spoiler: It ends up paying for Ali's regeneration.]] |
| 50 | * ChildSoldiers: Alinadar was a child "pirate" after Margo killed her family and enslaved her when she was six. [[spoiler: At her trial the judges cite historical precedent of child soldiers and acquits her of all crimes she committed as a minor under duress. And give her a fairly light sentence (lifetime of hard labor, under her present employer and lover) for the twenty-eight counts of interstellar piracy committed as an adult.]] |
| 51 | * ColdBloodedTorture: What happens to [[spoiler: Alinadar]] (offscreen thankfully) after she's captured. |
| 52 | * CollateralAngst: Rolas' twin Salli is the victim of DomesticAbuse, but the focus of ''Captive of the Red Vixen'' is on his inability to protect her. |
| 53 | * CommLinks: Everyone carries "Palm Comps" which operate almost exactly like a modern smartphone, except they can also project holograms. |
| 54 | * CommonTongue: Galactic Basic, a throwaway line in "Shadow of the Red Vixen" makes it clear that it's not English but that English is still spoken by humans.[[note]]When visiting South Dakota Salli needs a handcomp to translate some signs, and a human thug trying to kidnap her says something that sounds like "rish bish" (Likely "rich bitch").[[/note]] And foxen retain at least one language of their own. |
| 55 | * DefusingTheTykeBomb: The Red Vixen attempted this with Alinadar after capturing her. The results were mixed. Ali is better socialized, but until she formed a relationship with Sallivera, she still mostly saw herself as a slave to be commanded. |
| 56 | * DemocracyIsBad: In the main novels democracy is seen by foxen as a bizarre human thing, and that their feudal caste system is better because their leaders are trained for the job from birth, if nothing else. While in the distant prequel "Prisoners of War" the nation of Gerwart is a parliamentary republic and portrayed as the foxen version of Nazi Germany. |
| 57 | * DeniedFoodAsPunishment: After a failed escape attempt, Rolas is brought back to his cell and informed that his AutoKitchen will now only provide [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutraloaf "Prison Loaf"]] |
| 58 | -->'''Red Vixen:''' "[It] contains every bit of protein, vitamins and nutrients that a healthy adult needs for one day, and tastes like wet cardboard, or so I'm told."\ |
| 59 | (later)\ |
| 60 | '''Narration:''' As it turned out, the Red Vixen had been wrong about the prison loaf. Comparing it to wet cardboard was [[InsultToRocks really a deep insult to the disposable packaging industry.]] |
| 61 | * DistressBall: Alinadar and Sallivera trade it back and forth in the "Shadow" novels. |
| 62 | * DistressedDude: Rolas and Greycoat at certain points. |
| 63 | * DomesticAbuse: Lady Sallivera's ex-husband, Lord Kev Highglider, who beat her for two years, eventually gouging her eye out. Thanks to his mother's influence Kev was only declared violently insane and committed to an asylum, while Salli was so traumatized that she hid herself away for years before her family found an off-world psychologist (foxen psych is very undeveloped) to help her. |
| 64 | * DraconicHumanoid: The Wazagans. No wings or breathing fire, but they're large, with scales, fangs and claws. |
| 65 | * DrowningMySorrows: After Countess Highglider sabotages their attempted exodus, Rolas copes by getting massively drunk, and judging by the complaints about [[HangoverSensitivity loud noise]] the next day, so did the rest of the Darktail household. |
| 66 | * JustForFun/DrinkingGame: [[SelfDeprecatingHumor The author himself]] [[http://jeriendhal.livejournal.com/1203223.html made one]]. |
| 67 | * DroppedABridgeOnHim: The main antagonist in ''Captive of the Red Vixen'' and ''Shadow of the Red Vixen'' is mentioned to have committed suicide off screen in the next story. |
| 68 | * EasyAmnesia: Rolas suffers from this after a blow to the back of the head during a boating accident, erasing his knowledge of his marriage to Melanie and Salli's marriage to her abusive husband. Its treated slightly realistically in that he regains his memories after a couple of days. |
| 69 | * EroticDream: In "Captive of the Red Vixen" Rolas has a dream of being BoundAndGagged by the Red Vixen and his current girlfriend, Lady Melanie, who are holding leashes tied to his manhood and tugging it towards them. Also about as explicit as it gets in the series. |
| 70 | * EternalProhibition: Tobacco is banned entirely in human and foxen space, to the point of being extinct on Earth/Human Prime. |
| 71 | * EyeScream: Happens to Salli ''twice''. Once in her back story as the climax of her husband's abuse, the next in ''Shadow of Her Sins'' when Margo pulls out its cybernetic replacement just for the hell of it. |
| 72 | * FakeArmDisarm: Salli brushes off the loss of her prosthetic eye in ''Shadow of Her Sins'' with "the second time the novelty wears off." |
| 73 | * FantasticCasteSystem: Foxen are divided into Nobles, Commoners, and Military. Though it seems that everyone is required to serve some time in the military regardless of caste. |
| 74 | * FantasticDrug: Combat drugs, amphetamines that reduce pain and make one feel invulnerable and are commonly used by soldiers, usually highly addictive with serious long-term side effects. One particularly illegal one is called Redline. |
| 75 | * FemaleGaze: Any description of Rolas will inevitably mention how firm his muscles are, and he's frequently the subject of a ShirtlessScene. |
| 76 | * FemaleGroinInvincibility: {{Averted}}. When Ali is teaching Sallivera self-defense, and they discover that a knee to the groin is still pretty painful for them. |
| 77 | * FeudalFuture: Foxen society, though the highest level of government appears to be a Council of Countesses and the only noble titles listed below Countess are Viscount(ess) and Lord/Lady. |
| 78 | * FirstContact: The plot of ''The Visitors'' revolves around Rolas' IdenticalGrandfather discovering that humans have arrived on the Foxen homeworld and have been captured and imprisoned. |
| 79 | * FoxFolk: Foxen, an alien race that resemble humanoid foxes. |
| 80 | * FramingDevice: The prologue and epilogue of ''The Visitors'' has one with Rolas and Melanie talking to a human anthropology student. The rest of the book consists of the first Lord Rolas' diary and letters to his wife. |
| 81 | * FullyDressedCartoonAnimal: All of the foxen characters wear clothes, despite having full coats of fur. |
| 82 | * UsefulNotes/FurryFandom: Um, yeah... |
| 83 | * {{Gayngst}}: Most averted. Ali angsts a little mostly because she's attracted to Salli and the latter is [[spoiler: mostly]] straight, but she's comfortable with her orientation. |
| 84 | * GildedCage: Rolas' cell on the ''Scarlet Claw'' resembles a luxury cruise ship cabin, with entertainment center, AutoKitchen, [[PrisonsAreGymnasiums weights and treadmill]]. |
| 85 | * GoGoEnslavement: Male version with Rolas. |
| 86 | * GreenAesop: Minor one in the prequel ''Prisoners of War'', set during Foxen Prime's SteamPunk pre-spaceflight period. The protagonists' home nation uses alcohol fueled steam engines for power, and are disturbed to find their Gerwart captors use coal. |
| 87 | ** And excerpts from an upcoming interquel about FirstContact with humanity indicates that global warming caused some diplomatic issues when the foxen found out. |
| 88 | * GroinAttack: When teaching her to fight Alinadar tells Lady Sallivera that a knee to the groin is one of the more effective moves to use on males. Then Salli tries it on Ali and it turns out to be pretty effective on females too. |
| 89 | * HappinessInSlavery: Alinadar did not like her service to Bloody Margo but she was practically attached to [[spoiler: The Red Vixen, who was much kinder. And leads Melanie to believe that she needs a "mistress", so she sets her up with Sallivera when she plans to retire from piracy.]] |
| 90 | * HeelFaceTurn: Ali in her backstory. Not that she had to turn very far. |
| 91 | * HidingInAHijab: Used by Marty and Ali, when they're trying to move unobserved on a space station. |
| 92 | * HonorBeforeReason: Why Lu arrested his sister [[spoiler: Ali]] after searching for her for twenty years. |
| 93 | * HostageVideo: Rolas makes one to his parents when first kidnapped by the Red Vixen. |
| 94 | * HumanityIsInsane: The foxen opinion of humans, and humans do have a higher reported rate of mental illness than foxen. However this means that the foxen are ill-equipped to handle those of their kind who do go crazy. |
| 95 | * HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: In "Shadow of the Red Vixen" Salli has to go through a superluminal transit clinging to the hull of a ship in a spacesuit. At first the jumble of semi-theoretical mathematics is terrifying, but after a few hours it gets boring. |
| 96 | * IdenticalGrandfather: Lord Rolas Darktail the First, who stars in a couple of novellas set prior to the ''Red Vixen'' series in Foxen Prime's pre-spaceflight era. Just as dark furred, amber eyed, and romantically moody as his modern counterpart. |
| 97 | * IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: In "Shadow of her Sins" Bloody Margo makes [[spoiler: Alinadar]] gouge out [[spoiler: Lady Sallivera's natural]] eye to prove that she's sincere about wanting to come back to her crew. Instead [[spoiler: Ali stalls long enough for her brother to line up a shot at Margo.]] |
| 98 | * ImpoverishedPatrician: House Darktail thanks to Countess Highglider sabotaging their infrastructure out of petty revenge. Part of the reason Rolas was captaining their freighter himself, and why his family couldn't pay the ransom. |
| 99 | * ImprobableAimingSkills: Mild example in ''Shadow of her Sins''. Lu manages to shoot Bloody Margo with a stun rifle, hanging ''upside down'' from a hole cut in the roof of an auditorium. |
| 100 | * IncompatibleOrientation: This is Ali's whole problem while working for the Red Vixen and later Salli. Fortunately the latter decides IfItsYouItsOkay. |
| 101 | * IndenturedServitude: Indentured servants are mentioned multiple times, [[spoiler: and Alinadar is sentenced to hard labor for her crimes, albeit doing the same job she was doing at the time of her arrest.]] |
| 102 | * InterfaithSmoothie: Worship among foxen revolves around the Mother Goddess, which takes aspects of both Paganism (centered around a female deity with a dosing of GreenAesop) and Abrahamic monotheism. |
| 103 | * InstitutionalApparel: |
| 104 | ** Rolas initially gets the orange jumpsuit during his imprisonment, before his captor decides to start playing dress-up. |
| 105 | ** The captive humans in ''The Visitors'' also get orange jumpsuits, and have their shoes confiscated to keep them from running away too quickly. |
| 106 | * InvisibilityCloak: "Spoofer" cloaks and stealth suits appear a couple of times in the series, offering invisibility to regular and infra-red vision. |
| 107 | * InterClassRomance: Salli and Ali. A Viscountess and a former pirate of unknown [[spoiler: turns out to be Military]] caste. |
| 108 | * ItsRainingMen: At the climax of the prequel novella ''Prisoners of War'' Mother Country special forces soldiers come to the rescue using the recently developed technique of High Altitude Low Opening parajumps from ''airships.'' |
| 109 | * JerkassHasAPoint: Marty points out to Alinadar that trying to help the pirates who captured him doesn't make much sense. |
| 110 | * KarmaHoudini: The fact that the Red Vixen is responsible for the death of one the crew of the ''Sallivera'' is pretty much dropped after she's seen expressing remorse over it as Melanie. |
| 111 | ** To a lesser extent the Highgliders, Kev is simply committed for disfiguring Salli's face while his mother [[spoiler: loses her lands and is committed too, but considers that a victory since it reunites her with her son. They even have enough money to post a bounty on Salli in "Shadow of the Red Vixen" but it's later mentioned that they hung themselves after that failed.]] |
| 112 | * KickTheDog: Bloody Margo, almost committing it literally when she kicks Salli while the latter is already bound to a chair. |
| 113 | * TheKindnapper: After the Red Vixen captures Ali, she makes her a slave to help Ali adjust to working with a less psychotic crew. Slightly subverted in that she offered to try and find Ali's surviving family, but Ali refused the offer. |
| 114 | * LampshadeHanging: After Salli tricks Ali's attacker into a confession set up like a classic drawing room {{Denouement}}, a police officer accuses her of channeling "...her inner [[Literature/MissMarple Matron Marmalade]]." |
| 115 | * LizardFolk: Wazagans, one of the more widespread species along with humans. |
| 116 | ** Technically they're [[http://jeriendhal.livejournal.com/598971.html more like platypuses]] but they ''look'' like lizards. |
| 117 | * LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: The foxen live in the same universe as humanity, and some even date and have relations with each other, though they aren't inter-fertile. |
| 118 | * LongevityTreatment: Nanotechnological cellular regeneration effectively brings a patient back to their early twenties but the cost takes up a significant chunk of a domain's GDP. |
| 119 | * LongLostRelative: In "Shadow of Her Sins" Alinadar meets her long-lost older brother, Commander Lu Blacksailor from the Allied Worlds Patrol. [[spoiler: Their relationship doesn't stop him from arresting her when he finds out she was a pirate, but he does put in a good word for her.]] |
| 120 | * LoveObstructingParents: Salli's mother towards Ali in ''Shadow of Doubt'', though her husband is a bit more accepting of their daughter's girlfriend. |
| 121 | * LoveTriangle: In ''The Red Vixen at Sea'' Melanie discovers that Rolas has a pair of lovers in his youth, one male, the other female. Both of them loved Rolas, but didn't love each other, so when he suggested they both marry him they turn him down flat. |
| 122 | * LukeNounverber: The majority of Foxen names are like this, including Rolas Darktail (a pun on "dark tale" given his family's tragic background), Ali Waterfarmer, Lu Blacksailor, and Kev Highglider. |
| 123 | * LoverAndBeloved: Mild example between Salli and Ali. The age difference is only five or six years, and they're both consenting adults. The real gap is in education and life experience, with Ali being a mere Commoner (and a convicted criminal to boot) while Salli is a Countess' heir. |
| 124 | * MadeASlave: Alinadar after she kidnapped by the pirates who killed her family, and then remained one even after she was captured/rescued by the Red Vixen. |
| 125 | * MasculineFeminineGayCouple: Skirted with Alinadar and Sallivera. Salli is very feminine, rarely wearing anything except a dress. However while Ali is her bodyguard, she's usually dressed in a blouse and skirt, even if she's also wearing a gunbelt. |
| 126 | * {{Matriarchy}}: Noble inheritance in Foxen society is matrilineal, though there's nothing stopping males from obtaining titles. And one of the [[http://jeriendhal.livejournal.com/1093211.html short excerpts]] on the author's Website/LiveJournal indicates that in the military Noble caste vixens can start as officers while males have to work their way up. |
| 127 | * MeatPuppet: Rolas ends up one after being taken over briefly by an Ardalian in ''The Red Vixen at Sea''. Once he's rescued it's treated exactly as if he'd been [[MindRape mind raped]]. |
| 128 | * MedicationTampering: In ''Shadow of Doubt'' someone spikes [[spoiler: Alinadar's]] medication with cleaning solvent. [[spoiler: It causes massive damage to her veins and starts to reach her heart before the paramedics manage to stop it. Even then she needs cellular rejuvenation therapy to survive.]] |
| 129 | * MonumentalDamage: The leftmost face (Washington?) on Mt. Rushmore is stated to have worn away, inverted by the Crazy Horse Memorial which has been completed. |
| 130 | * MonsterIsAMommy: Ironically used in ''The Visitors.'' The monster in this case is [[spoiler: Captain Alesha Jackson, a human trapped on the Foxen Homeworld when her exploration mission's shuttle crashed.]] When the soldiers chasing her see her cradling her newborn child, they flatly refuse to attack her. |
| 131 | * MulticulturalAlienPlanet: Foxen Prime is divided among several nations, the largest and sole spacefaring power being the Mother Country, a feudal confederation ruled by a council of Countesses. The second largest is Gerwart, a parliamentary republic that is generally portrayed as a FantasyCounterpartCulture to Germany. |
| 132 | * NarrativeProfanityFilter: Occasionally used depending on who's point of view the scene is focusing on. When Rolas and the Red Vixen encounter one of her enemies, she's noted as using "A short, very human, curse word." Scenes from Alinadar's perspective just have latter vixen letting out a simple "Fuck". |
| 133 | * NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters: The Red Vixen's crew only use stunners when boarding, only take the cargo and sometimes the captain for ransom, and leave the ship intact enough to call for help. [[spoiler: And even when she starts on her vendetta against House Highglider she allows crews to escape in lifeboats before blowing their ship up.]] Her rival Bloody Margo, as her name suggests, is far more brutal. |
| 134 | * NeverFoundTheBody: What keeps Lu searching for [[spoiler: Ali]], after the rest of their family was murdered. |
| 135 | * NeverSuicide: In ''Doubt'' Sallivera's mother voices suspicion that Countess Highglider and her son really hung themselves, and all but accuses Ali of arranging it. |
| 136 | * NoBiochemicalBarriers: Slightly averted. Greenholme's atmosphere is shown to be perfectly fine for foxen, but it's noted at a dinner in ''The Red Vixen at Sea'' that the salad comes from native plants that have been tested to make sure they're safe to digest. It becomes a more urgent issue when [[spoiler: Rolas and Melanie are shipwrecked on an island, and risk starvation because they don't know what plants or animals they can eat.]] |
| 137 | * NoMedicationForMe: Inverted for Sallivera, who shows a drastic improvement when she starts on anti-anxiety meds. |
| 138 | * NonActionGuy: Lord Rolas the First in ''The Visitors''. Justified in that he was in sixties at that point, so he has to rely on his more GuileHero skills. |
| 139 | * NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture: Averted. In ''Shadow of the Red Vixen'' Ali mentions enjoying [[SoBadItsGood lousy movies]], and supplementary material details Foxen comedy shows, which take inspiration from classic CommediaDellArte. In ''Doubt'' she's seen watching a cheesy {{Kaiju}} film with foxen actors in rubber suits and human actors with forehead prosthetics, and mentions that the Earth equivalents often have foxen actors with dyed fur and fake fangs and strange camera angles as the aliens. It's so ridiculous that Salli starts [[{{MST}} riffing]] the movie. |
| 140 | -->'''Salli:''' (commenting on a cub in a secure weapons facility) "Does this child have [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E19InvasionOfTheNeptuneMen Level Seven clearance]]?" |
| 141 | * TheNoseKnows: Foxens place great importance on scent. The Red Vixen wears heavy perfume to prevent identification and Rolas recognizes Melanie as her by taste. And Commander Blacksailor recognizes Alinadar as his long-lost sister by her scent, and the fact that she has living relatives finally breaks through to Ali when he gives her a toy that belonged to his sister which is still saturated with her scent due to being sealed in a plastic bag for twenty years. |
| 142 | * NudityEqualsHonesty: |
| 143 | ** At the climax of ''Shadow of Her Sins'', Ali is forced to strip naked and confess to Salli that she murdered children as Bloody Margo's [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]]. |
| 144 | ** To a less fraught extent, Noble Caste foxen often strip naked while conducting public ceremonies, to demonstrate their honesty and piety to the lower castes. |
| 145 | * NukeEm: Alinadar's suggestion when they spot an encampment of survivor's from Bloody Margo's base in "Shadow of Her Sins". She's dead serious. |
| 146 | * OhMyGods: The most common swears are "By the Mother Goddess!" and "Cold and Dark" (a reference to the Foxen concept of afterlife.) |
| 147 | * OneHeadTaller: Salli to Ali |
| 148 | * PirateGirl: The Red Vixen, naturally, and her far more brutal rival Bloody Margo. |
| 149 | * PoweredArmor: Used by the Red Vixen's boarders, part of how they're confident enough to only fire stunners. |
| 150 | * PragmaticHero: Ali. Her first thought when offered the option of [[NukeEm nuking]] a group of her former pirate comrades is to use it immediately. |
| 151 | ** She also sees nothing wrong with [[spoiler: stunning Salli]], even though protecting the noblevixen was ''her job'', to keep Salli from objecting when Ali had to break cover to distract a group of pirates. |
| 152 | * PrecisionFStrike: Ali lets loose with "Frell, frag, ''fuck''!" when she's stopped from running into a potential free fire zone to rescue Lady Salli. |
| 153 | * PrivateMilitaryContractors: Marturari Greycoat from "I Fought the Claw...", a mercenary SpaceFighter pilot who was hired to guard House Highglider's freighters, which got him in the middle of the Red Vixen and Bloody Margo's feud. |
| 154 | * PropertyOfLove: Played straight, skirted and subverted. Ali ''wants'' this in her relationship with the Red Vixen, who ''thinks'' she can arrange that between Ali and Salli. Whereupon Salli puts her footpad down, allowing Ali time to get her head together so they can enter a more equal relationship. |
| 155 | * RealityHasNoSubtitles: Towards the end of ''The Red Vixen at Sea'' Ali has a brief conversation in Arabic with one of her former shipmates, which is untranslated since we see it from Melanie's POV. |
| 156 | -->'''Ali:''' "Fahda? Hal ha'athihi entee?" [[note]]"Fahdah? It is you, yes?"[[/note]] |
| 157 | -->'''Fahdah:''' "Ali-kat? Ha qudd jun'nunt. Fa-entee mutawafia! Fa'alun ana fee jaheem, Fa-entee laa tastahequee an takunee huna, yaa Ali!" [[note]]"Ali-kat? I've gone mad. You're dead! Maybe I'm in hell. Oh, Ali, you don't deserve to be here!" [[/note]] |
| 158 | -->'''Ali:''' "Laa ya Fahda, bull ana a'aysha was entee aydunn. Nahnu huna le inquathek.” [[note]]"Fahdah, I'm alive and so are you. We're here to rescue you."[[/note]] |
| 159 | -->'''Fahdah:''' "Eth'habee min huna! Hu'naka wahush! Qudd iktashafat Ma'argo ka'in Al-Ardalian! Wa hiya taqtull a'adah'ihaa lahu in lam yaqumoo bi awaa'mirihaa!" [[note]]"Get away from here! There's a monster here! Margo found an Ardalian! She's been feeding her crew to it, anyone who dares disobey!"[[/note]] |
| 160 | * RecruitedFromTheGutter: How Ali was recruited by the Red Vixen. |
| 161 | * RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Most Foxen nobles spend their time administering their holdings and dealing with the concerns of Commoners in their domain. |
| 162 | * RubberForeheadAliens: Invoked in ''Shadow of Doubt'' while Salli and Ali are watching a {{Kaiju}} movie. |
| 163 | -->'''Salli:''' "Who are those humans in the [[SpaceClothes silver jumpsuits]] with the [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants prosthetic foreheads]]?" |
| 164 | * RunningGag: |
| 165 | ** Marty's demands for a pair of pants. [[spoiler: He never gets them.]] |
| 166 | ** Whenever she's referred to by her full title, it's always "The Red Vixen, Scourge of the Spaceways(tm)" with the trademark. |
| 167 | ** [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial There is no such thing]] as the Ministry of Assasination. |
| 168 | * SafeSaneAndConsensual: Specifically referenced by Rolas in ''The Red Vixen at Sea'', after a bondage game on his sailboat ends with him being knocked unconscious and thrown overboard in a storm. |
| 169 | ---> "Somehow we both seem to have forgotten the Safe part. Quite possibly the Sane bit as well." |
| 170 | * ScarsAreForever: Played with. Salli can hide the white fur that grows over her scars, but eventually chooses not to. |
| 171 | * ScaryDogmaticAliens: |
| 172 | ** The Kinis are CatFolk LibertariansInSpace who hold that the only law is contracts between individuals. WordOfGod states that while not outright evil, almost everyone else considers them unpleasant to deal with. |
| 173 | ** Played straight with the Foxen themselves in ''The Visitors'', as Reg seriously considers imprisoning a human exploration crew for life, and launching an astronaut on a suicide mission to protect Foxen Prime after viewing a historical vid about the Holocaust. |
| 174 | * SecondaryCharacterTitle: The series as a whole and half the individual titles refer to the Red Vixen, a character with very little actual screen time except as her SecretIdentity Lady Melanie, and the story isn’t told from her perspective until “The Red Vixen at Sea”. |
| 175 | * SecretIdentity: The Red Vixen, who is really Lady Melanie. |
| 176 | * SettlingTheFrontier: House Darktail's plan to escape Countess Highglider's petty revenge was to save up enough to buy a fleet of colony ships for themselves and their loyal sworn commoners, which was why they couldn't afford to pay Rolas' ransom in "Captive". But [[spoiler: after the Red Vixen helps expose the Countess's crimes they get her lands and the plan is sidelined. Up until Salli claims the planet Bloody Margo was using as a secret base in the "Shadow" books and they start a colony there.]] |
| 177 | * SexShifter: Ali has a cousin who is married to a "Blended", a genetically engineered foxen who can change sexes through a week-long process, named Fin; and only ever referred to by name, without [[PronounTrouble pronouns]], even by Fin's own kids. |
| 178 | * ShamefulStrip: After being stunned and captured by Bloody Margo, Salli wakes bound naked to a chair. A little bit later Ali arrives to negotiate her release, and Margo forces her to also strip naked to show she isn't concealing any weapons. |
| 179 | * ShipperOnDeck: Melanie does her best to hook up Salli and Ali, and even has shades of this towards [[spoiler: ''Rolas'' when she finds out he had a boyfriend in his youth]], happily watching when he and Dak kiss. |
| 180 | * ShirtlessScene: Rolas while he's the Red Vixen's "Cabin Boy". |
| 181 | * ShockCollar: When captured Rolas is given one that triggers if he goes through his cell's door (but not the vents) without the Red Vixen's permission, or if he gets more than five meters away from her when she takes him for a "walk." Ali is fitted with an ankle bracelet that does something similar when she's arrested. |
| 182 | * ShoutOut: |
| 183 | ** The Red Vixen's self-given title of "The Scourge of the Spaceways"(tm) is from Creator/RobertHeinlein's book ''Literature/TheRollingStones1952'', though there it's referring to a deliberately over-the-top fictional hero, not a space pirate. |
| 184 | ** The plot of ''The Visitors'' is basically the same as Creator/AlanDeanFoster's novel ''Nor Crystal Tears''. To the point that the book is dedicated to him. |
| 185 | ** In ''Shadow of Doubt'' Salli and Ali watch a Foxen {{Kaiju}} movie that bears a strong resemblance to ''[[Film/InvasionOfAstroMonster Godzilla vs. Monster Zero]]''. |
| 186 | * SlaveCollar: In ''Shadow of the Red Vixen'', Alinadar wears a silver choker made of interwoven chains to symbolize her ownership by the Red Vixen. |
| 187 | * SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Even though the main character's home nation uses IndenturedServitude as a criminal punishement, when it's revealed that Alinadar was the Red Vixen/Melanie's slave, it's treated as a flatly evil act that the latter has a hard time living down. |
| 188 | * SlidingScaleOfAnimalCast: Animals With Minor Human Characters. Humans appear in minor roles, but none of them are a main character. |
| 189 | * SmokingIsNotCool: Played straight when Marty and Ali go after [[spoiler:a tabacco smuggling ring.]] It's noted that tea or coffee can give a similar high without the risk of cancer. |
| 190 | * SpacePolice: The Stellar Patrol, Lu's employer. |
| 191 | * SpacePirates: Seems to rely a lot on knowing where freighters will drop out of superluminal. |
| 192 | * SpyCatsuit: In a side story, Salli finds out that the Red Vixen had one made out of [[HellBentForLeather leather]] for Ali, to make her look impressive when they were out in public. It was abandoned after they figured out it was more important Ali have full freedom of movement than to look cool. |
| 193 | * StateSec: The Ministry of State Security, which is the main villain in ''Prisoners of War'' and the short story "To Catch The Lightning," is basically the Waffen SS in Gerwart, the Foxen homeworld's equivalent to Nazi Germany. |
| 194 | * StarfishAliens: [[http://jeriendhal.livejournal.com/1269463.html Ardalians]] resemble 150-yard diameter sea anemones whose tentacles can interface with the nervous systems of sentient beings and use them as puppets. |
| 195 | * SpeculativeFictionLGBT: After the first book the action switches from the straight romantic couple of Rolas and Melanie, to Rolas' sister Salli and her romance with Ali. Notably while Salli's parents object to her love of Alinadar, it's because Ali is a convicted pirate and ex-[[ChildSoldiers child soldier]], not because of her gender. Later it's revealed that Rolas briefly had a same-sex relationship that ended badly, and that one of Ali's aunts is married to a SexShifter |
| 196 | * {{Stripperiffic}}: The Red Vixen's outfit is usually a piece of cloth around the waist, a bikini top, and a gun belt |
| 197 | * SubspaceAnsible: Instant interstellar communication is available, though it's described as being extremely expensive. As most of the characters are rich Nobles, cost is never really an issue. |
| 198 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The plot driver of ''Shadow of Her Sins'' and ''Shadow of Doubt''. Ali has to first face prosecution for the crimes she committed [[CartesianKarma as a slave]], and then Salli must deal with her mother's understandable reluctance to approve of an affair between the Heir of their noble house and a convicted criminal. |
| 199 | * SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: "No. No, of course not. Lady Melanie Lovejoy has nothing to do with the Red Vixen." |
| 200 | ** And in Day's Website/LiveJournal, he's said several times that there is ''no such thing'' as the [[http://jeriendhal.livejournal.com/1210095.html Foxen Ministry of Assassination]]. |
| 201 | -->''So, in conclusion, there is no such thing as the Foxen Ministry of Assassination made up of highly trained ex-Military caste Special Forces members. There is no secret Eleventh Countess leading it. It is absolutely 'not' receiving material support from the League of Concerned Commoners, nor are its actions being covered up by the Commoner Media Association and its related news reporting companies.''\ |
| 202 | ''Seriously.''\ |
| 203 | ''So stop asking.''\ |
| 204 | ''Now.''\ |
| 205 | ''You'll be safer for it.'' |
| 206 | * TamerAndChaster: While the ''Red Vixen Adventures'' has some mildly suggestive elements, two canon stories set in Foxen Prime's pre-spaceflight era, ''Prisoners of War'' and ''Prisoner of Midnight,'' are outright BDSM erotica. |
| 207 | * TapOnTheHead: Played with. In ''The Red Vixen at Sea'' Rolas gets one after a boating accident results in a blow to the back of the head and an extended dunk in the ocean. When he's rescued several hours later he's suffering from hypothermia and EasyAmnesia, but is woken up by Melanie after being warmed up and receiving anti-shock medication. However, despite it being treated as a serious injury, he's up in half a day and walking around. |
| 208 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: Salli loathes Melanie for enslaving Ali and Melanie thinks Salli is a stuck-up prig, but both of them put their feelings of animosity aside whenever Ali is in trouble. |
| 209 | * ThatCameOutWrong: Said almost word for word by Rolas after he arrives at Melanie's home dressed in his formal House uniform, and tells her "This isn't for you." (He's actually going to place flowers on the grave of a recently deceased crewman from his ship.) |
| 210 | * ThereAreNoTherapists: On Foxen Prime anyways, foxens are supposedly more mentally stable on average than humans so they have very little experience helping those who do develop mental illnesses, House Darktail has to import a psychologist from Earth to help Salli. |
| 211 | * ThroughAFaceFullOfFur: Averted. Whenever a foxen character is described as blushing, it's always the inside of their ears turning red. |
| 212 | * TookALevelInJerkass: Melanie's actions in "Captive" look a lot less romantic in the later stories, as she fails to convince her in-laws that enslaving Ali was the right thing to do. |
| 213 | * TraumaticHaircut: Ali has her entire pelt shaved off after she's captured by Bloody Margo. And then left staked out to die of hypothermia in the cold rain. |
| 214 | * ThrownOutTheAirlock: "I Fought the Claw and the Claw Won" starts with Greycoat about to be spaced and reflecting on how he ended up like that. [[spoiler: In the end Melanie decides to indenture him to a brothel instead.]] |
| 215 | ** In "Shadow of the Red Vixen" Ali blasts open a docking tube connecting the airlocks of a pirate ship and the liner they were raiding. Sending everyone in the tube, or within close proximity of either airlock, into space. |
| 216 | * {{Unishment}}: Ali's punishment for being convicted of space piracy is a lifetime of hard labor. Which means she'll continue on working directly under Salli like she always wanted. |
| 217 | * VillainousBreakdown: |
| 218 | ** Countess Highglider becomes explosively unhinged towards the end of "Captive" in the end ranting that the Council of Countesses are commoner sympathizers and how she wants her son back, [[spoiler: in front of the entire Council, who unanimously vote to have her committed to the same asylum where her son was incarcerated.]] |
| 219 | ** In ''The Visitors'' Reggie Sharptail breaks down weeping when his soldiers come close to [[spoiler: shooting Commander Jackson and her newborn son]]. |
| 220 | * VomitIndiscretionShot: |
| 221 | ** After she's stunned twice in a row and had her artificial eye yanked out by Bloody Margo, Salli is tied to a chair where she wakes up and promptly throws up over herself. |
| 222 | ** Melanie likewise throws up while on Rolas' boat, though it's because [[spoiler: she's pregnant]] not seasick. |
| 223 | ** Commander Jackson also throws up after being rescued by Old Lord Rollie in ''The Visitors'' for the same reason. |
| 224 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Reggie Sharptail in ''The Visitors'', who is perfectly willing to [[spoiler: imprison a stranded crew of human explorers, and potentially launch a foxen astronaut to their death to protect his world.]] |
| 225 | * WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture: Rolas' ransom was to the amount of 5 million GSA credits. |
| 226 | * WigDressAccent: Or in the Red Vixen's case colored contacts, fur dye, heavy perfume, and less clothing than her civilian alter ego. |
| 227 | * WhatTheHellHero: Salli calls out Melanie and punches her in the nose after finding out she'd enslaved Alinadar in her persona as the Red Vixen. |
| 228 | * WouldntHitAGirl: At one point Rolas is given the chance to stun his captor and escape. And doesn't take it, stating that he doesn't shoot vixens in the back. ''The Red Vixen at Sea'' proves he's worried about becoming like his brother-in-law. |
| 229 | * {{Xenofiction}}: Written from the perspective of distinctly non-human, but relatively close, aliens. |
| 230 | * YouMeanXmas: Winter Solstice, which includes gift giving. Though there's a similar Summer Solstice as well. |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Literature / TheRedVixenAdventures
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
