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'''''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5833881/1/Mass_Vexations Mass Vexations]''''' is a [[Self Insert]] fanfic set in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' universe written by Herr Wozzeck. It concerns what happens when he winds up on the Citadel after playing the piece Vexations by Erik Satie. With a 'fuck it' attitude and ramblings that go on for some time, he sets out to help the group stop Saren and the Geth. As he goes with the group, he gets to really know them, and as he searches for a way home he forms friendships and becomes a more useful squad member than even he originally thought.
It tends to go by [[Rule of Funny]]: it recognizes that some things in there are preposterous in the first place. While there are some very serious moments throughout, a large piece of the story is played for laughs. It hangs lampshades constantly, it has more pop culture references than you can count on one hand, and it parodizes stuff. But it can be serious when it wants to be, and when it does get serious it results in some very honest emotional moments.
It's posted on both fanfiction.net and [[Deviant ART]]. [[Word of God]] has stated that it will become a full-blown trilogy of its own right. '''Mass Vexations''' 2 can be found [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6228253/1/Mass_Vexations_2 here]. Mass Vexations 3 is also out and can be found [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7309142/1/Mass_Vexations_3 here]. It also has a spin-off featuring several other characters in [http://nordronnoc.deviantart.com/gallery/36491128 Mass Vexations: Redemption], a collaborative effort with Nord Ronnoc.
=== The following tropes apply to all three parts of the Mass Vexations trilogy, in addition to the tropes found in the source material: ===▼
▲
* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: The entirety of chapter 17 is told from Tali's POV. The trope is even invoked in the chapter title.
* [[A Man Is Not a Virgin]]: Averted by Art, who had never been in a long-term relationship until he met Tali.
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* [[Ascended Extra]]: Al, who made a small cameo in the middle of the first Mass Vexations, joins the Normandy, thus becoming a supporting character.
* [[Author Avatar]]: Art, very obviously. Leads to a bit of [[Author Filibuster]] and a lot more [[Author Appeal]] when he lampshades a few things.
* [[Badass Normal]]: Art eventually becomes this. He starts out as someone who has never fired a firearm in his life, has never led anyone into combat, and lives in an age without DNA modification technology. By the time he gets to Virmire, he's able to hold his own in Shepard's squad, he leads a salarian STG unit into battle and manages to avoid extremely high casualties, and he's able to be a pretty decent Soldier class fighter, even without the modifications to his DNA. In fact, the only medical procedure he's undergone in the ME universe is surgery to correct near-sightedness, and such a surgery already exists in his home time period. Wrex lampshades his improvement at a couple of points, and then there are the two [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|CMoA's]] he racks up below. [[Took a Level
* [[Batman Gambit]]: {{spoiler|Art attempts to pull this almost on the spot to make sure he dies at Virmire. Unfortunately, Shepard goes for him instead of Ashley.}} For his failure he gets a [[What the Hell, Hero?]] speech from Shepard.
* [[Better to Die Than Be Killed]]: Art takes this approach when plotting how he'll return back to his world. His first thought? Rather than get shot down on the battlefield where someone could use medigel on him, he'll allow himself to get caught in the blast on [[Wham! Episode|Virmire]]. {{spoiler|[[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|Unfortunately...]]}}
* [[Bi the Way]]: The narration mentions that Art is bisexual. Of course, it's also being mentioned while he's being seduced by an older turian.
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* [[Black Comedy]]: A few instances pop up.
{{quote|-- "No, I'm not planning on killing myself." In the conventional sense, anyway.}}
* [[
* [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: Played with in reference to the game's Paragon/Renegade meters. Throughout the first fic, Shepard remains in full-Paragon mode. This changes in the sequel to where she is mainly Paragon with a slight Renegade streak.
* [[Brick Joke]]: {{spoiler|The Game}}. More specifically, how the krogan characters all seem to latch on to it.
* [[Brutal Honesty]]: Used on Conrad Verner when Art runs into him on Illium.
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* [[Catch Phrase]]: "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff."
** May or may not have an [[Precision F Bomb Strike|F-Bomb]] or a "Goddamn," to denote emphasis.
* [[Character Development]]: See [[Took a Level
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Aside from the many examples from the Mass Effect universe?
** The cell phone that Art holds on to ends up helping him explain himself to Tali when she presses about his past.
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** Garrus has a brief BSOD when he realises that his girlfriend, a [[Serial Killer Killer]], has become a serial killer herself. Jack, of all people, points out that she hasn't killed any innocents, and nobody gives a fuck about Blood Pack anyway.
* [[Just Friends]]: Art and Tali. Oh, dear Lord. The build-up to their pending relationship is really about as [[Unresolved Sexual Tension|un-subtle]] as it gets. Jenny is quick to point this out when she meets Art for the first time. Leads to copious amounts of both authorial and very literal [[Ship Tease]] when Tali finally joins the crew of the Normandy in the sequel. {{spoiler|Art eventually admits to himself that his feelings for Tali go far beyond friendship-- and it takes [[Poor Communication Kills|nearly losing said friendship]] for him to realize this.}}
** [[Relationship Upgrade]]: Art and Tali ''finally'' admit their feelings for each other in Chapter 23 of the
* [[Kick the Dog]]: {{spoiler|Tela Vasir kills Maelon right after Mordin spares him.}}
* [[Kick the Morality Pet]]: Shepard going Paragade in the sequel. It's especially noticeable since Art has a tendency to mentally freak out whenever Shepard partakes in any actions he knows earns her renegade points since he's so used to her being full Paragon.
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* [[MacGuffin]]: The mysterious paperweight that Art obtains at Noveria.
** [[I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin]]: Benezia gives him the odd paperweight before she completely loses herself to Sovereign's indoctrination. Subverted in that ''neither'' of them really know what they're supposed to do with it nor even what it is.
*** {{spoiler|Vigil}} manages to shed some light on the object: {{spoiler|it's a [[Priceless Paperweight]] designed by the Protheans. It was also kept in a Reaper for 50,000 years to build the ability to repel indoctrination. It's also capable of doing other things. Vigil}} doesn't really say anything more than that, however, so it's still left up to Art to figure out what else can be done with it.
*** It turns out to be {{spoiler|the housing of the spirit of an ancient Prothean diviner. See [[Talking Appliance Sidekick]] below.}}
** It also has properties that aren't revealed until the sequel: {{spoiler|it can find other objects that Art needs to carry out what he needs to so he can save the galaxy.}} It brings to mind the question of {{spoiler|what else the Protheans have planned for Art, in addition to making it clear that there is more than one [[MacGuffin]] that Art needs to find.}} It gives Art the idea that he'll need to go on a [[Fetch Quest]] while at the Collector base.
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* [[My Fist Forgives You]]: When Art goes to Wrex {{spoiler|to mend their friendship after the 'stupid fucking krogan' insult after Virmire}}, the krogan doesn't listen to him. So [[Hit Me Dammit|Art tells him to headbutt him]]. Wrex eventually does so after a brief back and forth, and then things are good between them.
** Averted in the sequel when Art reveals the truth about himself to Wrex. Oddly, they don't end up having to resort to this to sort out that problem.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Art {{spoiler|splits the salarian STG team up when he could have managed to get through the geth with the whole team together so he can force Shepard's hand and get himself to die. That fails, unfortunately.}} [[What the Hell, Hero?|Shepard calls him out on it during debriefing]] in addition to {{spoiler|his insubordination prior to Art calling up Joker.}}
* [[No Name Given]]: Art is only known by his nickname to the reader. The other characters know his full name, as some of them refer to him by his last name; however, any time his last name or full first name are used it's asterisked out.
** However if You notice that {{spoiler|Art is the first three leters of his six letter first name, some google reasearch can give you an approximation of his actual real name, Hint: look to the [[Mists Of Avalon]]}}.
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** Art outdoes this in part two with shipping Thane and Shepard. He's even more enthusiastic about it than he ever was with Kaidan and Shepard.
* [[Shout-Out]]: [[Reference Overdosed|Oh, boy.]] There are so many packed in here that your brain would start to hurt if you tried to find them all. Here is a list of the more obvious ones:
** The Shepard siblings are named [[Once Upon a Shooting Star|Al and Joc]]. Ironically, the [[Mass Effect]] canon provides just as many [[Mythology Gag
** Art gives himself the name [[Dragon Age|Zevran Aranai]] while trying to get Wrex's armor from Tonn Actus. Oddly, Art resisted the urge to ask if there was something in his apartment that needed assassinating.
*** Another shout out to [[Dragon Age]] comes up during Virmire: one of the salarian cities that Art assigns as squad names is Orzammar. He chooses Jarel [[Meaningful Name|Brosca]] to lead that team.
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* [[Spotting the Thread]]: Kaidan doesn't buy into Art's made-up backstory all that much after Feros, and he gets good at this. Fortunately for Art, Kaidan sees that he means well regardless of how much of the truth he's omitting and thus doesn't [[Pull the Thread]] on Art [[Subverted Trope|as is usual for the trope]].
** It's important to note that {{spoiler|during debriefing after Virmire, Kaidan is the first person to jump to Art's defense after Shepard's [[What the Hell, Hero?]] speech. He says he doesn't trust some of Art's information, but that he still trusts Art himself because according to Kaidan he 1) somehow knew that the events of Virmire were going to happen, and that 2) he tried to make sure that ''he'' was the one who died, not Ash. Thus, Kaidan reasons that Art only has the best interests of the crew of the Normandy in mind.}} And keep in mind, this is without Kaidan knowing that {{spoiler|Art saved his life by suggesting that Shepard keep him close to her no matter what happens}}.
* [[
* [[Supporting Protagonist]]: Art tells the story of Mass Effect from his [[Point of View|POV]] as a member of Commander Shepard's team. Art is even left behind on a few missions while Shepard advances the main story.
** Played further when he gets a loyalty mission.
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** An important thing to note is that it's actually justified at one point: Art attempts to make the events at Virmire occur as close as they did to the actual game while being in the place of Kaidan in the hope of steering Shepard's decision towards what it could be in the game so that he can get caught in the blast and get sent home. {{spoiler|It just ends up not being ''his'' decision when everything unfolds as it should and Shepard has to make her choice.}}
* [[This Is Unforgivable!]]: Art to Gavin Archer near the end of the Overlord chapter.
* [[This Loser Is You]]: Art doesn't always excell at everything. He actually has to learn how to use firearms, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|injures his instructor very unintentionally at one point]], very nearly gets his ass handed to him by an asari commando on Noveria, and is not exactly a stand-out member of Shepard's squad by any means. He doesn't get biotics, either. Probably his only advantage is that he can learn how to handle firearms quickly. That said, [[Took a Level
* [[Throw It In]]: The referral to the [[MacGuffin]] as 'the orange paperweight' throughout the fic was actually spurred after a reviewer comment referred to it as such.
* [[Took a Level
** The cincher comes even before he leads the salarians when Art stands up to a krogan who is aiming a shotgun in his face. ''After having cast his weapons to the ground''. {{spoiler|Granted, said krogan is Wrex, but still, it's incredibly brave and pretty awesome, especially when you consider that it helps to save Wrex from his [[Final Death]] before Virmire.}}
* [[Transplant]]: Happens to {{spoiler|Ashley, who ends up joining the cast of [[Spellbinding Radiance]] after she dies at Virmire.}}
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* [[Two Lines, No Waiting]]: In part three, the story splits into two narratives after {{spoiler|Shepard's arrest}}: the one follows Art and the crew of the Normandy on their typical adventures trying to unite the galaxy against the threat of the Reapers, and the other {{spoiler|follows Shepard's trial from the point of view of her defense lawyer, Will Moskas.}}
* [[Twofer Token Minority]]: Nogond'Viraliz, gay biotic quarian not from the Fleet.
* [[Unlikely Hero]]: Art, a musician with no military training, is dropped into the events of Mass Effect and becomes a member of Commander Shepard's elite team. Adapts [[Took a Level
* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: Art flies into one after {{spoiler|Shepard goes to him on Virmire.}}
** {{spoiler|Art and [[Papa Wolf|Rael'Zorah]] both fly into one when they find out what happened to Tali in Chapter 18 of the third story.}}
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* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]: As given by {{spoiler|Art when he tells the rest of the ground team after Jacob tells}}, it's more like a World Of Cardboard Lecture.
* [[Write Who You Know]]: Art, obviously, {{spoiler|but a man the author knew IRL gets transplanted into the story as well.}}
* [[You Are Not Alone]]: Tali comforts Art after {{spoiler|Virmire}} by hearing his actual backstory and giving him a long hug.
* [[You Are the Translated Foreign Word]]: Art mentions in the prologue of part 2 that when he met Shala'Raan, she referred to him as Tali's ''hesh'alan''. It slowly transforms into a [[Running Gag]] where Art gets frustrated that no quarian in the vicinity will tell him what it means.
{{quote|-- It's going to be Tali's form of ''siha'', I'm sure of it...}}
** He eventually does find out what it means: {{spoiler|Rael tells Art that it means 'captain of the soul'.}}
** Art eventually starts calling Tali a translated foreign word of his own, using [[Gratuitous Spanish|"querida"]] as his chosen word for her.
* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]: Art ends up separated from his family, friends, sense of home, and even his way of life thanks to winding up in the Mass Effect universe. A large part of the fic is subsequently spent wondering about what happened to everyone he ever knew, and wondering what could have been. A very big part of the Virmire mission is also him hoping he'll go home, too, {{spoiler|before Shepard keeps him from doing that. And then it's revealed in the sequel that even if he had died at Virmire, it wouldn't have sent Art home, as he was [[Dead All Along]] in his home universe.}}
** Part of his wondering if he'll ever see his friends again is mitigated in the sequel when {{spoiler|Sturge shows up as a character}}.
* [[Your Mom]]: Used against Zaal'Koris when they go to the Fleet. The extremely poor taste of Art's insult is lampshaded by Kasumi soon after:
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Troper Works]]
[[Category:Mass Vexations]]▼
[[Category:Fanfic]]
▲[[Category:Mass Vexations]]
[[Category:Mass Effect/Fan Works]]
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