[MEME] The Trope Meme (open to all!)

[freebaseforger]

[Shamelessly stolen from Bakerstreet's very own Trope Meme.]

The Trope Meme


Behind the cut is a list of common fanfiction and role playing tropes. What’s a trope? If we’re getting technical a literary trope is the use of figurative language. But in the case of this meme a trope is commonly recurring literary device or motif, a cliché. There’s a mix of fluffy, sexy, angsty and gen prompts in the list. Here’s how to play:

- Post with Your Character and any preferences from my character list (+ specification, hotheaddick, deceptiveparadox and others I might not have listed yet).
- List any preferences you have. Or list any tropes you absolutely refuse to play.
- Lets play out the tropes to our heart’s content!


Tropes

Accidental Baby Acquisition: One of the characters in your story, by means other than pregnancy or adoption, acquires a child. This could be because his or her parent was killed, or someone leaves the child on the doorstep, or any other plotline. The main idea is that the main characters have to band together to raise the child, even if it is only temporary.

Accidental Marriage: Two of the main characters, who may or may not already be in a romantic relationship, wake up and find that they are married. Often set in Las Vegas, and often there are mind-altering substances (alcohol, drugs) involved. The marriage may or may not be annulled by the end of the story.

Alpha/Beta/Omega: Alpha/Beta/Omega or Alpha/Omega (occasionally Alpha/Beta) is a kink trope where some or all people have defined biological roles based on a hierarchical system, with the terms originating from animal behaviour research. There may be werewolf, knotting, or other animalistic elements involved, or the characters may be otherwise purely human.

Amnesia: Giving a character amnesia is a popular fanfiction story trope. The amnesia is usually temporary with the cure and the aftermath as the climax of the story, but sometimes it is permanent.

Animal Transformation: Animal transformation is a fanfic trope in which one or more characters are transformed into an animal, or else an Alternate Universe story wherein the characters are cast as animals.

Bodyswap: Bodyswap is a plot device or story trope involving two (or more) characters switching their physical bodies by magical, scientific, mystical or unspecified means. The device is used in canon and fanfiction alike, and fanfic may expand upon canonical instances of bodyswap.

Celebratory Kiss: Two (or more) of the main characters kiss at the climax of some event. Often, the action is somewhat spontaneous, and the characters are not in a romantic relationship at the time. The kiss is often the impetuous for the characters to end up together.

Cross-dressing: Crossdressing refers to characters dressing as members of the "opposite" sex or gender. It is used comedically, as a plot device and as a kink, both sexualized and not, in fanworks and in canon.

Curtainfic/Domestic: Curtainfic is a term used to describe fan fiction that focuses on ordinary domestic situations (such as the characters in a romantic pairing shopping for curtains).

Day at the Beach: The main characters spend a day at the beach. This could be a vacation for one or two of them, or it could be a team-building exercise planned by a boss or administrator. Sometimes it is a planned excursion, other times, the characters decide to stay to soak up the sun after a mission or assignment that takes them to the beach.

De-aged: De-Aging is a story trope where adult characters are turned back into children or younger adults. The transformation can be fully physical and mental. It can also be a physical transformation that leaves the adult mind in a younger body; or the opposite, where the mind is reverted to a child-like state, but the body remains as is.

Fake Relationship: Pretend Couple is a trope found in all genres of fanworks. This trope includes all sorts of pretenses; marriages of convenience, undercover identities, investigations, financial schemes, immigration schemes, high school reunion dates, wedding dates, making someone jealous, and many others.

Fuck or Die: Fuck or Die is a fanfiction trope in which the author puts two or more characters into a situation that forces intimacy between them. Like many tropes it can be and often is combined with others such as sex pollen or Aliens Made Them Do It and Virginity Sacrifice. It can result in dub-con or non-con fanworks.

Handcuffed/Bound Together: Bound Together is a bonding trope in which two characters are chained together, psychically or physically, either through magical or technological means. The usual result (in ship fic) of all this one-on-one "bonding" time is that the characters either fall in love or realize they were in love all along.

Huddled for Warmth: Huddling for warmth or blanket fic is a trope that is generally found in both het and slash pairing-oriented fanfiction, and occasionally in some gen Hurt/Comfort. It is mainly used in order to maneuver two characters into a First Time. The advantages of putting your OTP into a "huddling for warmth" scenario are legion. The two characters are trapped in one place with no distractions, alone, and so their attention is focused entirely on each other. The tone of the story can range from fluffy to angsty.

In Vino Veritas: In Vino Veritas, or Confessions Under The Influence, is a trope in fic (which also occurs in canon), where under the influence of drink, drugs, truth serum, truth spell or the like, one character confesses to lust or love for another character. The character whom the confession is about is usually also present in the scene/being confessed to and is often less or not under the influence. A common trope is for the confessing character to forget their confession and the other character having to deal with this new knowledge without giving themselves away.

Kidfic: Kidfic is a sub-genre of fanfic that features children in some way. This may be as children of canon characters (whether they are a part of canon or original characters), sometimes known as next generation fic, the characters themselves as children, or the characters having been de-aged.

Kiss to Save the Day: For some reason, two (or more) of the main characters must kiss to save the day or one of their friends. The impetus could be a villain, or aliens, or some sort of illness to which the only cure is a kiss.

Mind Control: Mind control is a very popular trope in fanworks (and many canons).
In slash or ship fic that uses the trope, one part of the pairing is usually under the mental control of the other -- or is unable to resist orders from anyone, such as in Ella Enchanted AUs or fusions or "obedience curse" fics -- and the other part of the pairing figures this out and either helps the mindcontrolled character resist the urge to obey or takes advantage of them.

Poker/Strip Poker: The main characters play a card game, often poker, against one another. Sometimes it starts out at a friendly game, and eventually descends into a more competitive game of strip poker, sometimes it was originally about the nakedness. Often, mind-altering substances (alcohol and/or drugs) are involved.

Presumed Dead: A fanfiction trope in which a character appears to be dead, only to return later, alive and well. Comparable to a deathfic, only non-permanent, "presumed dead" stories often dwell on the emotional hurt/comfort, and sometimes the physical as well. Sometimes these are written as fix-it fics, resurrecting a character who dies in canon. In more reality-based fandoms, the character's death usually has been faked for various reasons, or otherwise mistaken; in fantasy and scifi fandoms sometimes the dead characters actually have expired, and are resurrected with magic or technology.

Rivals to Lovers: Two characters who were originally enemies or rivals fall in love. Their rivalry could have always been a cover for more tender feelings, or they could have been genuine enemies in which forced proximity showed them a better/softer side. There may or may not be a happy ending.

Road Trip: The characters must go on a long-distance trip in close proximity. There are any number of reasons for this, including a quest, mechanical failure of their original transport, or one of the characters (e.g. Tony Stark) thinks it will be a "good idea" or "fun." This then results in shenanigans or sex or both.

Secret Child: One of the characters is secretly a parent. They may or may not have custody of the child, especially if they have a dangerous job, and they may not have known about the child previous to the story. This includes stories where Character X is actually Character Y's son or daughter. Alternately, one of the characters may get pregnant and then disappear, thinking that her partner would not want the child, or fearful that some agency will kidnap the child once it's born. This trope is especially popular with brother/sister incest pairings, where it is called 'secret incest baby' (or sekrit incest baby).

Secret Relationship: Didn't know they were dating is a trope that shows up in ship-focused fanfiction. Often both parties are oblivious to the fact that everyone around them thinks they've been dating for some time. In other fics it may be that just one party is oblivious and the other party thinks they have been dating (just not putting out yet). In angstier versions of the trope, one party may be pining for the other, especially if they're having what one party (or both) thinks or pretends is casual, emotionally detached sex while the other party (or both) is secretly in love.

Sex Pollen: Sex Pollen is a common fanfiction trope used to bring two characters together in a sexual encounter. It involves one or several characters becoming infected with a pollen of some alien or magical plant, or they might be influenced in some other way (magic, alien technology, mind control, etc.) that causes them to lose inhibitions and/or revs up libido, usually resulting in non-con sex, which may lead to dramatic guilt and misunderstandings, or a resolution of UST.

Soul Bonding: In fanfiction and sometimes canon, a soulbond is a mystic or psychic bond between (usually) two people, who feel drawn to become devoted friends, or (more often) lovers. The bond may be something that brings them together, or something that results from their being together. It is usually portrayed as unbreakable and irresistible, a force that unites two people in a unique way. A soulbond can persist after the death of one or both partners, and through numerous reincarnations. It can be very similar to soulmates, which are two (or more) people who are always meant to be together.

Telepathy: A story in which one (or more) of the characters develops the ability to read thoughts. This ability could be limited to their love interest, or it could be more general. Mindmeld is a more specific form, in which both characters can read one another's thoughts. Depending on the needs of the story, it could require a physical link, and it could be temporary. It is named after the Vulcan Mind Meld in the Star Trek universe.

Truth or Dare: The main characters, often a whole team, play a game of truth or dare, or another game in which secrets are revealed, like "Never have I ever." Usually, mind altering substances (alcohol and/or drugs) are involved, and the situation is used to get two characters to admit romantic or sexual feelings for one another.

Wingfic: Wingfic is a fanfiction genre in which one or more human characters sprouts a pair of wings. Fanfic written for a fandom in which the character canonically has wings (e.g. Good Omens) is usually not considered wingfic. However, as a response to a surge of wingfic, a Good Omens writer came up with wingless fic, wherein canonically winged characters suddenly and inexplicably lose them. Wingfic can be whimsical, but it can also be much darker in tone.

[List taken from Trope Bingo, many definitions come from there as well.]

Comments

Presumed Dead - I apologize for nothing >.> For Ava

[ex_inflamer908]

Three months earlier life had gone to hell for St John Allerdyce. Captured by an antimutant group, he had become the subject of public images of just what such groups do to mutants. Pictures of him beaten, bloodied and abused, tortured for sport and all broadcast for the "amusement" of the mutant hating populace.

The only thing was, it was all fake.

Even his death, well the images of his supposedly dead body, were broadcast with glee. Except one thing. There was no organization doing it. It was a ploy wherein he was sometimes actually hit, other times it was all faked with makeup and camera angles. All to further the mutant cause and discredit antimutant groups.

So it was that he had not said a word to Ava in three months. He was dead, after all. Except he couldn't leave it like that, couldn't let her think that. Eventually he was going to make his triumphant return, overcoming even death by way of hiding from his captures after faking his own death but he couldn't leave Ava to wait for that.

So it was, late into the wee hours, he tapped on her door.

No apologies in the least! :D /tldr

[deceptiveparadox]

To be honest, when he had never showed up for their date, she had been pissed off.

Pissed and just a little bit hurt.

They had been flirting/not-flirting and texting for at least a couple of weeks before she had agreed to go on a date with him.

Then, he just never showed up. Which, to be honest, made her want to punch him in the face.

It wasn't until a week later as she watched the news that she realized what had or must have happened. Then, Ava was pissed off for an entirely different reason. Every time she watched the news, there was some story, some image they put on of him and in various worlds of hurt. It didn't take her long until she was on her laptop, researching and talking to anyone and everyone she thought of who may know something.

No one knew a thing. Or, if they did, they weren't talking.

Then the news of his death came and she had been a mix of emotions. Obviously upset, pissed off at those who were responsible and sad, even considering how little and/or how much they knew about the other. She had always been a firm supporter of mutant and mutant rights and that didn't change.

Ava found herself missing his smug and cocky demeanor, his barely concealed innuendos and the snark they would exchange with each other.

Then that evening arrived and she was just about ready to head to bed when the knock came.

She couldn't think of a single person who would visit her at this hour and so she silently fished out the handgun she kept underneath the couch cushions, flipped off the safety and made her way over to the door - barefoot, pajama shorts and t-shirt and all.

They better have a good reason for -- potentially waking her up at this hour. Most normal people would be asleep but she wasn't quite normal. Ava leaned up and looked through the peephole - you could never be too careful.

Then she took a step backward because there was no way in hell...

No, cut that... there were a number of ways this could happened but -- she saw the death photos. Or... what seemed like the death photos.

"You better have an excellent explanation for this."

Re: No apologies in the least! :D /tldr

[ex_inflamer908]

Despite all the abuse, not to mention being dead, John looks good. Or at least like John. No marks and bruises, no signs of malnutrition and starvation. he looks much as he had the last time she had seen him, two days before their date.

Except then he had been alive and now he was days past the report of his death.

"I don't have a good explanation but I have parts of the truth," he offered. "If you'll let me in and hear them out," he added, arching a brow. He withdraws a hand from behind his back, holding a loft a bottle of whiskey. "Drinks are on me. If you'll listen. Then you can go and throw me out if you want."

[deceptiveparadox]

Ava folded her arms as she considered his words. To be honest, it had looked as though he hadn't been tortured at all when she looked out that peephole. It kind of pissed her off and at the same time made her feel a little relieved.

At the mention of drinks though, she walked toward the door, unlocked the various locked and pulled open the door before holding out her hand for the bottle of whiskey.

"I fully plan on throwing you out afterwards," she said simply - mostly because she can and she would need some sleep. And she was, if a bit, pissed off at him for looking so damn good for a fucking dead guy.

[ex_inflamer908]

He knew this wasn't going to go well, and yet the moment he had a chance, he was there on her doorstep. He hands over the bottle, smiling winsomely. "Please do. You can even kick my ass," he offers. "Whatever will make you feel better for me standing you up."

Though he honestly suspected it was more than that. He took a deep breath.

"You saw the reports, didn't you? About what I went through," he asked. "Well, what the world thinks I went through, anyway. I wanted to call you but I couldn't take the chance. Next week I'm going to return, a messiah in a way. At least some think that's what's going to happen. Can we..."

He looked around as if worried he'd be overheard. "Can we do this inside?"

[deceptiveparadox]

She took the bottle from him and gave him a look in response to his smile. "I would have either way," she said promptly before stepping back and allowing him inside.

Ava would prefer to do this somewhere that didn't require nosy neighbors or anyone over hearing them.

"It's hard to miss them when it's all over the news every time I flip on the TV," she said, wryly. "You look good for a tortured dead guy."

She waved him on inside before she shut and locked the door behind them.

[ex_inflamer908]

"Yeah well, I deserve the ass kicking," he admitted, leaning back against the closed door. It wasn't waiting to run but to offer her as much space as possible.

"Yeah, I heal well," he said, trying to make a joke. One that fell flat.

"Okay, you know the truth about me. About the journalist I was, and the things I reported on. Do you know the story about the African village I was in that caught fire? Where everyone died?"

[deceptiveparadox]

"You won't find any disagreements from here," Ava said before heading to her kitchen. She took down two glasses. "Ice," she asked.

The joke fell flat and they both knew it.

"I read about it," she said, pouring them both a drink after opening up the whiskey bottle. She read everything she could get her hands onto when it came to John -- to figure out just who and what he did.

[ex_inflamer908]

"And once you know my story, I'll hold still and you can hit me." It was more of an offer than he gave most. And more of an opening. He was a lot of things, and he won because he didn't let people blindside him.

"Okay so... Did you read about why they think it happened," he asked. "About me being a mutant," he asked, arching a brow.

[deceptiveparadox]

She handed over one of the drinks to him and brought her glass to her lips so she can take a drink of it. "Then start talking," she said as she made her way back into the kitchen for the bottle before returning to the living room and taking a seat on the couch. She settled in with her legs folded underneath her.

"It was rumored that you were, according to a few sources," she admitted, watching him closely.

[ex_inflamer908]

For his part, he didn't take a drink. Not yet. He needed to be clear headed so that he shared just what he wanted to and nothing more. It was easy talking to Ava, always had been, and he couldn't risk oversharing and risking her as much as himself.

He didn't sit down, pacing by the window. "Well, it's true. I am. I found out... When I was in Africa, there was a threat. Drug lords came in, preparing to kill us all. I didn't even know what I was. The fire's we had been cooking over flared up. I was scared, panicked even. I had faced a lot of death but this? This was it," he said, toying with the glass but not drinking.

"I woke up and the entire place was burned down. Everyone was dead. Even the families that had been helping me with my story."

[deceptiveparadox]

While he paced, Ava watched him silently then listened as he talked. She did at least promise that much. To listen and that's what she would do. Then she could kick his ass.

Her eyebrows rose a little when he admitted to being a mutant then stayed as he explained what happened in Africa. It was -- well, it wasn't pretty but things like that aren't normally pretty.

Ava blinked and sat down her glass. "Wow -- and you didn't have a burn on your body?" She figured not but still, it was hard to imagine and yet the man was standing before her.

Ava had read and heard stories of course but had never actually heard a story like that face to face before.

[ex_inflamer908]

"I never talked about it," he murmured, glancing up at her. "I claimed it was a wild fire, and people wanted to believe it. I had survived, a miracle they said, and the drug lords were dead. No one wanted to question it, and so they didn't."

He sighed, shrugging one shoulder. "The fire only hurts me when I push trying to create it. Really... really all I can do is manipulate the fire. Making it from nothing is still beyond me." Though he was better with creating it from the smallest spark.

"So... I started learning about what I was. What I learned most was that a lot of us died because of genetics, things we couldn't make happen but that nature brought to us. I tried working with those that are trying to help mutants but what they do... It's madness. It's hiding what they are."

And he'd never speak of the true work he did, but this was the open story and he could share that with her.

In Vino Veritas - For Clarkie!Eames

[tnioprorrim]

They had held Arthur for three days, expecting the usual torture and torment to work. Bound. No food or water. A small, dark room. With anyone else it might have been torture. For Arthur though it was merely saving his energy until he attacked.

An attack that came as they administered a drug to try and force him to confess. It did give him hope of one thing. It meant that Eames hadn't talked either.

Teeth and anger and the violence he so carefully kept at bay reared its ugly head though, and in the end there were four men dead, and he's ripping off the lock to Eames' cell.

"Eames? You ..." He couldn't bring himself to ask alive. "Okay? Can you hear me," he called into the darkness, trying to use the light from the main room to see the forger.

I heart these two. <3

[freebaseforger]

Three days was a long time for a human man like Eames to endure something like that but no matter what they did, he didn't snitch.

That first day wasn't bad; he kept sane enough despite their rough physical treatment to coerce him to talk.

On the second day, he could feel the hunger starting to gnaw at him and the first starting to grow a bit unbearable. A man can go days, weeks and sometimes even months on end without eating. But water? Water was a basic human need and after a few days, a person can die because they weren't given enough water to sustain them. A healthy person can live a day or two more than that but it didn't take long compared to food. Still, he had no urge to talk.

It was on that third day that he could feel the darkness starting to close in on him. Complete darkness did something to people, made them more prone to hallucinations, unstable thoughts and more likely to do things they otherwise wouldn't. Which was why, it was a popular form of torture/punishment, not only in cases like these but in old prisons and jails. And still, he didn't talk. Didn't do a thing other than endure what he had to until he could get himself free and do something about his situation.

Therefore, it was no wonder why he thought he was hallucinating when the door opened up and he heard Arthur's voice. "Bloody hell, tell me you're not a hallucination, darling..." his voice was rough for wear but there was a tone of relief to it as well - hoping that Arthur was real and actually here.

How, that could happen, he wasn't sure but the man was gorgeously cunning so he wouldn't put it past the point.

Re: I heart these two. &lt;3

[tnioprorrim]

It was real. So real and utterly wrong, but Arthur wasn't thinking straight. He couldn't yet find a way to admit how he had broken free from the room, not yet aware of what he'd been given or the effect it was having on a body as starved as his was.

"I'm really," he admitted, slipping into the room. Quiet and careful as he focused on Eames' form in the darkness. "Are you okay? Can you walk," he asked, crouching down and watching the door. "We don't have much time before they realize we've gotten lose. Do you think you can walk?"

He wasn't sure how much damage they had done to Eames, only imagining all they had done to him that he had managed to heal. There is a desperate urgency to his voice.

"I can get you out of here safely," he vowed, honest and truthful, knowing they could get out of here. That he could get them out of there.

[freebaseforger]

Clarkie breathed a soft, relieved sigh when Arthur assured him that he was real. While there was that all too possible situation where he was a hallucination that was trying to convince him he wasn't, Clarkie was going to take his word for it for now.

"Yeah - I'm alright," he said. "I'm a bit tied up though." To prove this point, he moved his arm, causing him a wince as he rattled the chains that bound him to the chair. His hands and arms hurt the most but he'd be damned if he complained about that right now. All he wanted was to get the fuck out of her and quick.

"Then help me out of here and we'll make our hasty getaway, yeah," he said, looking in the direction of Arthur's voice. He hurt all over the place but he'd survive after they got away from his hell hole.

[tnioprorrim]

"Don't move. I'll get you out of here," he assured him. Glancing back at the door before moving closer to Eames. "How much have they give you," he asked. "Are you drugged? Too weak?"

Even as he asked it, he took hold of the chains. Gathering some in both hands. He wasn't playing games here, not trying to hide anything. Not because of the drugs, but that he wasn't willing to risk Eames with going slow. Instead he jerked and twisted, tearing the chains like the kind of paper chains children made from construction paper at Christmas.

"Come on, Eames. We have to get you out of here." More than that, he knew that if he could get Eames somewhere safe, he could come here and finish them off.

[freebaseforger]

Clarkie nodded his head and sat there as he heard and sensed the point man moving in closer to him in that way a person can when they have gotten used to the dark and their other senses became more acute.

He couldn't remember how long it had been but he did remember some men coming in and injecting him with something - probably something they figured would get him to talk but it hadn't and they had left. Probably to do the same to Arthur, he figured.

"All the above," he said - drugged and weak, which wasn't surprising all things considering.

If Clarkie noticed something out of the ordinary, and chances were that he did to at least some degree, he didn't say anything. He was thankful to be free and to get the fuck out of there, if he was completely honest. "No arguments here, love," he said, slowly moving to his feet with a wince. Okay, so his legs were sore and -- bloody fuck, his whole body was tell him he was joking for even thinking about moving.

[tnioprorrim]

"I'll get you out," he vowed when Eames told him he had been drugged. Moving around him, easily slipping through the dark in a way he shouldn't have been able to do. Yet nothing seems to slow him, grasping the chain between the cuffs, glad Eames couldn't see him.

Giving a slow, steady twist, he was careful to try and not hurt Eames even as he snapped the chain.

"Eames, I need to know how much you trust me," he asked suddenly, his voice nothing more than a whisper and his mouth next to his ear. "You have no reason to but how much do you trust me?"

[freebaseforger]

On principle and through experience, Clarkie didn't trust many people. But they had made an agreement before this job that they would get each other out of tight spaces and well, Arthur could have just left him and saved himself, couldn't he have?

He made a soft sound when the cuffs came off and he could feel that sense of freedom again.

"I trust you -- more than most," he said, honestly.

[tnioprorrim]

It was why he hadn't asked him if he trusted him, but how much. Trust was earned and while he'd done nothing to lose it in the time they've known one another, he knows he's asking a lot with all they've been through and the abuse they've already endured but he needs to get Eames out of here and he can only think of one way.

"I'll explain as best I can later," he vowed.

A moment later there is a grunt, a soft sound that is wet and then he's pushing something against Eames' mouth. "Drink," he ordered, voice rough and thick.

[freebaseforger]

Clarkie's eyebrows knitted together as his nostrils flared at the smell of blood so close to his mouth. What was going on here?

"Arthur, what --," he said before it was pressed against his mouth and he was ordered to drink. He pressed his lips together for a moment and shook his head. Was he seriously ordering him to drink -- blood?

[tnioprorrim]

"Dammit, Eames. Just do it," he snarled, knowing this wasn't the easiest thing he's ever tried to do in his life. He's never admitted it to anyone, not without having to kill others in the end. Or, worse, having lost control and killed someone.

"Just... have faith in me, and then I'll tell you everything. Okay," he said, rubbing his wrist against his lips. "Dammit, just do it before it heals. Still hurts to do it."

[freebaseforger]

He glanced in Arthur's general direction and after a moment of inner debate, he ignored what his brain was telling him, and tentatively opened his mouth against the point man's wrist. At first licking a little then starting to slowly suckle at it.

Clarkie had tasted his own blood of course, once or twice through split lips when he was a boy but there was something... a little different about drinking from Arthur. Okay, not a little different -- massively different if you count the fact that he was drinking blood in the first place.

He lifted a hand to Arthur's arm so he could hold it firmly to his mouth, drinking what he could. Clarkie could feel something changing -- something happening to his body.