Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast is a Veronica Mars Alternate Universe Fic by emmaliza, based on the question: what if Veronica was killed instead of Lilly?

The story starts almost a year after Veronica was murdered suddenly on the Kane estate - a crime Celeste Kane was convicted of, and led to the downfall of the Kanes social standing. That was followed by Lilly releasing the Aaron Echolls sex tapes, accidentally leading to wife Lynn's suicide, Jake Kane walked out on his children, and Lilly accidentally fell pregnant, had an abortion, but had photos of her at the clinic published against her will.

Reputation ruined and self toughened, Lilly begins to realise there's more to Veronica's murder than the public story. And it's up to her to find out what really happened.

Tropes used in Compare and Contrast include:

• Accidental Murder - Aaron.
• Alternate Universe Fic
• Anti-Villain - Keith. Marcos, sort of.
• Big Damn Heroes - Lilly refers to Weevil and the PCHers as this in Chapter 2.
• Complete Monster - Aaron, Caitlin.
• Convenient Coma - Cassidy.
• Deus Angst Machina - Lilly has the worst luck ever.
• Diary - Lilly receives Veronica's in chapter 6.
• Disappeared Dad - Jake
  • Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You
• The Ditz - Caitlin. or so we thought.
• Driven to Suicide - Lynn in the backstory. Cassidy in chapter 8, although it doesn't stick.
• Engineered Public Confession - what Lilly does to Keith, to blackmail him into releasing the proof Celeste didn't kill Veronica.
• Et Tu, Brute? - Of all the things that happen to Lilly, the one that makes her cry the most is the betrayal of Caitlin.
• Evil All Along - Caitlin.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion - Averted. Lilly had one in the backstory, and is never called morally wrong for it.
• Heel Face Turn - Caitlin, though she wasn't that much of a "heel" to start with. except she was a real Heel, and still is.
• Heroic BSOD - Cassidy in chapter 8. Duncan in chapter 10.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming - Each chapter is named after an episode from Veronica Mars; eg. "Betty and Veronica"="Lilly and Veronica", "Leave It To Beaver"="Get It Back From Beaver", "Papa's Cabin"="Papa's Cabinet", etc.
• Idiot Plot - Logan, you could have avoided all this if you hadn't gone and drugged one of your best friends. To be fair, he has a precedent for it in canon.
• It's All My Fault - Lilly toward Lynn's death. Also, Logan says this word for word in regards to Veronica's rape.
• Love Dodecahedron - in the end, it becomes kind of hilarious to tally who exactly was sleeping with/dating who.
• Mama Bear - Lynn's reason for killing Veronica, was to protect Logan after all.
• Mistaken for Gay - Caitlin mentions doing this with Cassidy. And Logan. Which was more accurate than she knew.
• Mythology Gag - lots of nods to Veronica Mars canon.
• No Bisexuals - Lilly mentions in chapter 6 that Caitlin doesn't believe in bisexuals.
• Obfuscating Stupidity - Caitlin.
• Rape as Drama - Veronica was drugged and raped a week before her death, and thought Logan had done it.
• Really Gets Around - Lilly herself.
• Revenge by Proxy - Caitlin's plan to get revenge on Aaron by framing Logan for rape more or less falls under this.
• Shout-Out (Big Damn Heroes)
• Triang Relations - Lilly, Logan and Cassidy fit best as a type 8.
• Wham! Episode - Pretty much every third chapter will change EVERYTHING. First, chapter 3 with Celeste's alibi being found. Second, chapter 6 with Lilly discovering Veronica's rape. Third, chapter 9 with Caitlin uncovered as the rapist. Chapter 12 will be the Grand Finale, so...
• Woman Scorned / Yandere - Caitlin. Oh. So. Much. She even refers to herself with "hell hath no fury"!
• Would Hit a Girl - as Cassidy gets increasing crazy in chapter 8, he slaps Lilly.