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The Dare Me Drabble Series is a series of drabbles written by Kayi Rowling in 2008. All of them are relatively short fanfictions on her (then) favorite fandom, Pet Shop of Horrors.
The series was first published in a PSoH LiveJournal community for drabbles, before being edited for Fanfiction.net in three compilations:
There was a milestone celebration of the two-hundredth drabble written, called Hanging a Lampshade, by far the most boring and unfunny drabble of the whole series. Whether or not Kayi Rowling ever reached the mark of writing three-hundred drabbles is yet unknown, as she rarely updates the FF.net collection anymore.
Tropes used in Dare Me Drabble Series include:
- Adaptation Expansion: Many plot threads without conclusion in the manga get mentioned, mostly in a horribly depressing way.
- Alliterative Title: Some of them, but "Midsummer Midnight Midair" takes the cake.
- All There in the Manual: Go read the manga, watch the anime, read the fandom's most recommended fanfics, read Kayi's author notes and her replies to comments in LiveJournal...
- Alternate Character Interpretation: Of everyone.
- Angst: The aptly-named "Angustiata" drabble, which was the very first.
- Animal Motifs: The wolf and the penguin for Vesca and D's father are notorious. The lion and other felines would be for Leon and D themselves. And then there's bats (or Valvertingers) for Alexander and D's grandfather and Norma.
- Attempted Rape
- Author Appeal: Any talk about videogames or computers or Linux or...
- Chew Toy: My God, Albert surely gets this!
- Children Are Innocent
- Christianity Is Catholic: Mostly...
- Creepy Twins: Damian and Dorian from the popular "Scheherazade" arc.
- Crossover: "Dance of Pales" has a full family of Pale Men in it.
- Crowning Moment of Funny
- Crowning Moment of Heartwarming
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Candy-related, to the sweet-toothed D. Hair-related, to his father.
- Death by Childbirth: Chris and Leon's mother in one drabble.
- Disney Animated Canon: Stealthily referenced whenever a family-friendly movie is needed for Chris or the pets to watch.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: D's father's liking for penguins is very close to being an actual fetish, which it becomes in "Damned Chinatown". Then there's also "More than a slice" and "Let me do it...".
- Dropped a Bridget On Him: "Doctorate".
- Ensemble Darkhorse: The twins Damian and Dorian, and their nephew David from "Scheherazade" got to be incredibly popular.
- Esoteric Happy Ending: Preceded by copious amounts of Mind Screw.
- Fanon: The base for 99% of the drabbles is the PSoH huge yet disperse Epileptic Tree plantations.
- Fridge Logic: "Widow's Kiss" makes no sense.
- Friend to All Living Things: Guess who in "Trapped", though Chris also deserves a mention there.
- Generation Xerox
- Gratuitous Japanese: The title of one drabble, "Reisen" (includes the kanji)
- Happily Married: Alexander and Isabelle, while they last. Everyone in "Scheherazade", even though it would still count as gay marriage and that's not legal everywhere.
- Hermaphrodite
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Leon and D, and Vesca and D's father, as often as they all get some Ho Yay.
- Ho Yay: Leon and D, Vesca and D's father, Alexander and D's grandfather, T-chan and Ten-chan...
- Humans Are Bastards: Not as often as in the original series, but it abstains from using the other trope.
- Karma Houdini: All of the Counts are notorious for this. Even D's father as a human, liable to get "judged".
- Lampshade Hanging: Literal in the two-hundredth drabble (named almost the same, even), but D's father gets to do these often.
- Letter Motif: Any child by any of the Counts will have a name starting with "D".
- Memetic Mutation: Don't ever say the word "hand puppets" to anyone who has read the "Scheherazade" arc.
- Mister Seahorse: As befits the fandom, which likes it very much. However, it only hits the effeminate Counts. The inverse was requested, and the full fanfic "Damned Chinatown" was then born...
- MMORPG: "Please, stand by" has Leon and D playing a fantasy game online.
- Mood Whiplash: "Silly Leon".
- Our Dragons Are Different: The three-headed Honlon gets her condition lampshaded once.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Oh, God, are they ever! Especial mention to the "Scheherazade" arc, though.
- Pair the Spares: The title of a drabble, in which Les Yay ensues between Norma and Jill.
- Parental Incest: D's father and his own father, once.
- Precision F-Strike: The narrative, usually.
- Purple Prose: Somehow.
- Reality Subtext: "Curfew".
- Recycled in Space: "A Little Medieval Tale" is Pet Shop of Horrors in medieval Europe. No points for guessing what "Pirate Sea" is about, though.
- Running Gag: The age of D's grandfather is a delicate topic. Watch how many times Alexander screws up in the "Scheherazade" arc.
- Seven Deadly Sins: The title and theme for one drabble, countered by a later one: "Seven Holy Virtues".
- Shotgun Wedding: The basis of two pairings in the "Scheherazade" arc.
- Shout-Out: A lot of references to Greek Mythology, especially Persephone. Then Leon mocking Sesame Street's letter themes as only he knows how to do, among many others.
- Sister Sister Incest: Honlon, once.
- Snow Means Love: Coupled with First Snow in "Snowflakes".
- Story Arc: The most famous set of drabbles, which started with "Scheherazade" (and took its name), among others. "Scheherazade" even got eleven of its "chapters" translated into the author's native language in Fanfiction.net!
- Subverted Kids Show: Not a show per se, but Goldilocks (in a drabble by the same name... kinda) gets twisted into something that involves far more bed scenes in a story within a story. It's author is a teenage/adult Chris, and it's reader is a very disgusted Leon.
- Sweet Tooth
- Tear Jerker: Several drabbles are very sad...
- Third Option Love Interest: Isabelle for Alexander. D's grandfather and Norma are surely furious those two met by chance.
- Time Travel: "Rewind and Record" changes the original ending of Pet Shop of Horrors this way.
- Triang Relations: Norma/Alexander/D's grandfather are in one, but it's unclear how it is; then Isabelle comes in... Other popular threesomes in the series are Wu Fei/D/Leon, and Albert/D's father/Vesca.
- Tropes Will Ruin Your Life: Count the titles that are also trope titles.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: Lampshaded.
- Yandere: Norma, in all her incarnations but the aptly-named drabble "Pair the Spares". And others, on and off.
- Yaoi Fangirl: Obviously Kayi Rowling herself, but she has shoehorned Jill into the role too.
- Woobie: The "kami" princess/priestess, multiple times. And Albert.
- Wrong Guy First: Whenever Rau Wu Fei ("Taizu") appears, you can be sure he'll be this for D.