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{{work}}
[[File:Unfamiliar_3156.jpg|frame]]
There are many ''[[The Familiar of Zero|Familiar
▲{{quote| ''"I've been called a killer, a terrorist, a monster. I am all these things."''}}
Started in the wake of [[The Hill of Swords]] on the [[Spacebattles.com|SpaceBattles Fanfiction Forum]], '''''[
▲There are many ''[[Zero no Tsukaima]]'' fics where Louise summons a different person at the beginning of the story, providing dynamics parallel to or wildly disparate from those in canon. In very few of those stories, though, is the summoned being an unstoppable, betentacled monstrosity fresh from (literally) chewing his way through most of the U.S. Marine Corps.
▲Started in the wake of [[The Hill of Swords]] on the SpaceBattles Fanfiction Forum, ''[http://forums.spacebattles.com/showthread.php?t=197517 Unfamiliar]'', by Cpl_Facehugger, is a crossover between ''[[Zero no Tsukaima]]'' and ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'', where Louise summons Alex. It's actually less unfair than the premise sounds (no [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|Mercer Attacks Everyone Dies]], for example).
Yes, seriously.
See ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'' and ''[[
▲See ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'' and ''[[Zero no Tsukaima]]'' for the tropes of those respective universes.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Abusive Parents]]: Initial impressions of Louise's mother Karin were like this. It turns out that things are more complex than that.
* [[All Just a Dream]]: {{spoiler|The night she summoned Alex, Louise woke in the middle of the night to see Alex in [[Blob Monster]] form, who tells her she's having a nightmare. [[Subverted Trope|Some time later, he admits the truth of it]].}}
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* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: King Albrecht Wales, who takes positively ridiculous amounts of punishment. {{spoiler|Hinted that he's not fully human.}}
** {{spoiler|Henrietta}}, showing that one can be the most Badass person in the realm without being a [[One-Man Army]]
{{quote|
* [[Badass]]: Alex all the way.
* [[Badass Boast]]:
{{quote|
** Another one:
{{quote|
** A third:
{{quote|
** Henrietta, of all people, to [[One-Man Army|Karin]].
{{quote|
'''Henrietta''': "That must change. Justice is the word of law, not the perverse whimsy of men like Lord Mott. And change it will. My mother will not be queen forever.
'''Henrietta''': "Then, I will no longer have to hide in the shadows and sign minor reforms in her name. When that day comes, you will have two options. You can support me and secure the Vallière family's future... Or you can obstruct me, and I will grind you to dust underneath my heel." }}
* [[Barehanded Blade Block]]: By Alex, of course.
* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]: Louise wanted a powerful familiar. {{spoiler|What she got was a walking supervirus}}. Oh yeah.
{{quote|
** [[Cursed with Awesome|Not that it's a very bad thing.]]
* [[Berserk Button]]: Okay, Alex, as in canon, has more of a Berserk ''Switchboard'', but of importance to the story is his insistence that you never treat people like things. You can insult them, hate them, kill them, whatever, but you acknowledge them as ''people who can think'', just like you, not tools to be used or toys to be played with or animals to be caged, even if they're peasants and you're a noble. It doesn't just apply to him, either, though he reacts violently to Mott calling him Louise's "pet".
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* [[Call Back]]: Several regarding the events of ''Prototype''.
* [[Cargo Cult]]: In a way. {{spoiler|They are a bunch of descendants of the Blackwatch group that got stranded that are continuing the mission and protecting the base.}} Also they lampshaded it a bit.
{{quote|
* [[Cargo Ship]]: {{spoiler|In-universe, Alex shows a bit too much affection for the Javelin.}}
** And just like the [[Doom (Comic Book)|Doomguy]], {{spoiler|he ditches the Javelin when he stumbles upon a stocked Blackwatch base, complete with helicopter gunship}}.
* [[The Chessmaster]]: {{spoiler|Henrietta}} is playing a long game. Time will tell if she becomes a full [[Magnificent Bastard]]; she's too ambiguous to be a [[Guile Hero]] by chapter 9.
* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: The big reason behind why Alex can't use magic, despite having consumed several mages.
{{quote|
Nothing.
Probably because he'd not expected anything to happen. He had dozens of scientific degrees telling him that it was impossible after all. }}
** Also counter-used by Alex twice.
{{quote|
--
"This base is powered on electricity, and that won't change just because you deny it." }}
* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]: {{spoiler|Dark Derflinger.}}
{{quote|
* {{spoiler|[[Cool Airship]]: Alex gets a helicopter in the Blackwatch station.}}
* [[Cruel Mercy]]: {{spoiler|Foquet/Matilda}} is spared, but will be watched closely by Alex from then on. One slip and Alex will go after her.
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* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: {{spoiler|Guiche, Montmorency, Kirche, and Tabitha all gang up on Mercer. Mercer takes them out in less than a minute.}}
** {{spoiler|Alex}} still has a hard time with {{spoiler|Kirche's flame spell}}, though. It became a war of endurance.
*** If by a hard time, you mean walking it off in a few seconds and replying that he "survived the heat of a newborn sun", sure.
** {{spoiler|The duel between Mott and Mercer ends the same way. But this time with Mercer killing him slowly.}}
** According to [[Word of God]], this will be averted in the [[Hold the Line]] scene in the original story, when Saito holds off the army of 70,000 men.
* [[Dangerous Deserter]]: There are some who have turned to piracy and taken a warship with them. {{spoiler|Except they aren't.}}
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: A lot. Where do we start? How about... Alex only being summoned in a second, half-crazed attempt? {{spoiler|Henrietta}} being a firm practitioner of [[Good Is Not Nice]]?
* [[Dating Catwoman]]: Jean Colbert and {{spoiler|Longueville/Foquet}}. Mainly because Colbert is such an [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man|unbeliavable nice, cuddling considerate guy]]... [[Retired Badass|who is]] [[Eating the Eye Candy|very well]] packed that {{spoiler|[[Broken Bird|Foquet had]] become very possesive of him and [[Devoted to You|him]] [[Flirting Under Fire|of]] [[Heartbroken Badass|her]] }}.
* {{spoiler|[[Dead Little Sister]]: In this continuity, Dana never came out of her coma and eventually passed away; Alex is therefore left with no emotional ties to his old world and a vacancy for a young adopted sibling to alternately protect with his life and unintentionally horrify.}}
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Both Alex and Louise show the traits.
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* [[Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life]]: Alex, now that he has nothing connecting him to his old life, which is why he chose to follow Louise.
* [[Dirty Old Man]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Old Osmond knows he is]], though in his own words:
{{quote|
* [[Drama-Preserving Handicap]]: Alex's semi-functional conscience. Both ways.
* [[The Dreaded]]: The viral monsters created by Redlight and Blacklight are scary in their own right, but after six thousand years they have become apocalyptic monsters of legend. {{spoiler|Siesta's}} reaction when she realizes that Alex is ZEUS says it all.
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* [[Even Evil Has Standards|Even Heroic Sociopaths Have Standards]]: Louise notes that Alex's kills, while incredibly brutal and bloody, are also very quick. Mott prefers to draw out the suffering of his victims and break their wills along with their bodies.
** Kirche also mentions that Germania, which likes to think of itself as sexually liberal, banned the book ''A Thousand and One Albion Nights'', which Mott drew from, as being too depraved.
{{quote|
** In terms of actual ''villains'', {{spoiler|Wardes}} prefers to avoid unnecessary civilian casualties - he's insistent on any deaths he causes being meaningful. Note, however, that he has an extremely broad definition of 'meaningful'.
* [[Evil Sounds Deep]]: {{spoiler|The leader of the cultists maintaining the Blackwatch base}} has a "low and sinister" voice.
* [[Feel No Pain]]: When Louise first tries whipping Alex. She's extremely sore at the end of the session, and he is far from fazed.
* [[Finagle's Law]]: Mercer grumbling to himself as he glides towards an enemy airship.
{{quote|
* [[First-Name Basis]]: Louise eventually changes to this for Alex.
** {{spoiler|Kirche deigns to use Louise's first name when trying to calm her}} after Mott's death, but reverts shortly afterwards.
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* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Remember, Alex has eaten doctors.
* [[Glasgow Grin]]: When Kirche meets Alex she assumes he's human and in the same breath insults Louise. There are some tearing noises and…
{{quote|
* [[Going Native]]: {{spoiler|The Blackwatch soldiers in Halkeginia.}}
* [[Gollum Made Me Do It]]: {{spoiler|Louise}} is developing one.
* [[Gonna Need More Trope]]: In response to {{spoiler|Foquet animating part of a mountain}}.
{{quote|
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: A more positive view of the current portrayal of {{spoiler|Henrietta}}.
* [[Hidden Depths]]: {{spoiler|Kirche}} showing a suspicious amount of knowledge about violence.
** Also what appears to be Karin's heavy hand towards parenting is something else entirely.
* [[High-Class Glass]]: {{spoiler|Wales'}} majordomo has one, complete with it dropping out when surprised.
* [[Horrible Judge of Character]]: {{spoiler|Alex about Wardes}}, not helped by the latter being a smooth operator.
** Also, {{spoiler|Louise about Henrietta}} some degree. Entrusting [[Manipulative Bitch|her]] with all your secrets is not a great move, especially {{spoiler|when her first thought is how to use those secrets to remove a potential threat to the throne and the Valiere family.}} It did have the upside of {{spoiler|[[Oblivious Guilt Slinging|guilt-tripping her]]}}, though.
* [[Horror Hunger]]: Not that horrific to him, but Alex has to actively rein in his urge to feed. [[Word of God]] states that this Alex did not have a civilian all-you-can-eat buffet during the game's events.
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** Foquet says the same {{spoiler|about Wales}}, not to the man directly though.
* [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]]: Mott tries to use this against Alex. As it's ''Alex fucking Mercer'', it doesn't take. {{spoiler|Louise, on the other hand, takes it badly.}}
* [[Iron Lady]]: {{spoiler|Henrietta}}. Karin of the "Heavy Wind" is one of the strongest and most feared warriors in the land, her name told in awed whispers and her mere presence making even [[Retired Badass|Colbert]] sweat in fright. When she confronts {{spoiler|Henrietta}} thinking she was [[Berserk Button|using her daughter]] as blackmail material, she not [[Fascinating Eyebrow|only was]] unamused, but completely derailed her opinion and called [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|out her nonsense]] while drinking tea.
* [[Irony]]: Kirche saying "Tabitha! I need your brain!"
** Look at the first [[Mythology Gag]] below. Louise tells Alex that she would have stopped before causing permanent damage.
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* [[Kid with the Leash]]: Although Louise doesn't have anything like complete control over Alex, he'll defer to her if she asks nicely. And he makes it clear that he must be treated as a partner, not a servant or a pet, if Louise wants him following any of her orders. Then again, if she ''does'' ask nicely, there's pretty much nothing he won't actually do for her.
* [[Knight Templar Big Brother]]: In a spiritual sense, Alex. {{spoiler|Justified considering what happened to Dana.}}
* [[Lack of Empathy]]: Probably the strongest thematic in the story. Just like in the original work, the Lack of Empathy is what can and did create some of the greatest brutalities in the world. And this goes not only for obvious monsters like Mott and the King of Albion, it goes for even the main and secondary characters: Louise and Karin's view of commoners, Siesta's view of nobles, and Mercer's view on humans in general. As stated by Mercer;
{{quote|
** Mercer in particular has instinctive [[Lack of Empathy]] due to his viral nature, and tries even harder to fight it. He also encourages Louise to avert it.
* [[Land Mine Goes Click]]: {{spoiler|Under Louise's foot.}}
* [[Lolicon]]: {{spoiler|Derflinger}} keeps accusing Wardes of this. When the latter sees her for the first time in years, and delights that [[She
{{quote|
"For the last time, {{spoiler|sword}}, I do not like children!" }}
* [[Lonely
{{quote|
* [[Loophole Abuse]]:
{{quote|
"Of course it isn't! Keeping human beings as chattel? Horrible. Absolutely horrible," Mott replied. "I'd never condone such a thing."
"So what do you call this," Louise gestured towards the three servants. Her voice came out as a low growl. "If not slavery?"
"These aren't people. They're trained dogs." Mott replied. "You can't enslave an animal. You can only tame it." }}
** Note: This is him actually believing it. The man went off the deep end a ''long'' time ago.
* [[Mad Bomber]]: Alex. For him, the bigger the explosion, the better. He even provides the quote for [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]] below. It's justified by him having consumed several pyromaniac soldiers.
{{quote|
* [[Mama Bear]]: Deconstructed. Karin loves her daughters very much and wants to protect them above all else... so she ended pushing each one [[Training
* [[Manipulative Bitch]]: {{spoiler|Henrietta}}
* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: {{spoiler|Henrietta}} is the real power behind the throne.
* [[Mentor Ship]]:
{{quote|
* [[Metaphorgotten]]:
{{quote|
* [[Money Spider]]:
{{quote|
* [[Moral Myopia]]: {{spoiler|Siesta accuses Louise of this. Henrietta poses a similar question to Karin, though the readers have noted that ''Henrietta herself'' is guilty too.}}
** The difference with {{spoiler|Henrietta}} is that her ruthlessness is with people ''[[Deadly Decadent Court|in the game]]'', while Karin was content enough to let [[Complete Monster|Mott]] act scot free as long it suited her goals. She was not amused by this.
* [[Morality Pet]]: {{spoiler|Louise takes Dana's place in this regard. Alex's memories of Dana sometimes keep him honest...ish.}}
* [[Mugging the Monster]]: A bunch of bandits see Louise and her "servant" walking alone at night down a blind alley, and think they'll be easy prey. They are disabused of this notion thoroughly when Louise' "servant" makes [[I'm a Humanitarian|easy prey]] of ''them''.
* [[Mundane Utility]]: When Alex tries to explain electricity by likening it to lightning magic, Montmorency is outraged by the thought of using it for light and likens that to using a fireball for toe-warming.
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* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: {{spoiler|Louise}} after Alex kills Mott.
** {{spoiler|She's}} still recoiling from that one.
* [[My Friends and Zoidberg]]:
{{quote|
* [[Mythology Gag]]: "Imagine you came upon a scene where a woman was beating a man with a bullwhip. Imagine you saw her cackling like an insane harpy, imagine you saw the whip tearing long bloody strips from the man's back... Imagine you saw him begging for mercy."
** "Louise thought she felt a slight tug in the back of her mind as she passed a particular shop, one with a bronze sign in the shape of a sword."
** "Louise recognized its make, it was a form of training harness, used for training hunting dogs. Enchanted with wind magic, it was able to give a powerful shock on command.<br />But seeing a human being in it made Louise feel ill. She couldn't imagine anyone who would put a person in something like that. She didn't ''want'' to imagine anyone who would put a person in something like that."
* [[Name's the Same]]:
{{quote|
"What does a Germanian township famous for its crab apples have to do with such things?" Cattleya asked, now thoroughly confused. }}
* [[Necessarily Evil]]: How Louise and Alex interpret {{spoiler|Blackwatch's}} motives. The fact that the group recognizes their evil and does it for a tenuously good purpose is perceived as what keeps them from Mott's level of depravity.
** Brutally mocked by {{spoiler|Henrietta}} to Karin, stating simply that there is no excuse for ''knowing'' what Lord Mott did and still protect him to advance [[For Great Justice|her schedule]].
{{quote|
* [[Never Say "Die"]]:
{{quote|
* [[No Social Skills]]: Alex hasn't improved in this regard since the game. He does not, for instance, see any problem with walking up to a pair of arguing sisters, lifting one off the ground, and threatening her with death unless she makes nice with his mage. It says something that this is actually a step ''up'' from where he started.
** When Louise {{spoiler|starts to fall apart, thinking she's becoming a monster, he's completely unable to do much more than watch in frustration. He didn't even notice Louise was freaking out until Cattleya pointed it out to him.}}
** He also doesn't see anything wrong with {{spoiler|reassuring Louise with a hand on the shoulder after she commands him to kill Mott... while the hand was still a claw, covered in gore, and he was feeding on Mott's severed head with his free hand.}} Granted, he doesn't understand human behavior, but what's commonplace to him is often Nightmare Fuel.
* [[Not So Different]]: Louise realizes this after she learns Alex's true nature and compares his own struggle with himself to her desire to prove she isn't just "zero".
{{quote|
Something struggling against itself, wanting something new for itself...She laughed. A perverse sense of irony indeed. }}
* [[OOC Is Serious Business]]:
** One from Cattleya:
{{quote|
** Another from Louise:
{{quote|
The shock of that was almost enough to give even Karin pause. The very notion was stunning, like having a battalion of mage-knights wiped out by a farmer's militia. }}
* [[Oblivious Guilt Slinging]]: Louise to Henrietta.
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** By [[Word of God]], Montmorency has been upgraded to Triangle class {{spoiler|after the events of Chapter 7, where [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|she overcomes her limits to save a life]].}}
* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]]: With Alex as the familiar, some things obviously have to be changed if it's not to be a curbstomp fest.
* [[Precision F-Strike]]: Provided by Siesta.
{{quote|
* [[Protectorate]]: Alex's - along with every other familiar's - purpose is to protect the mage he's bound to, and thus far he's shown very willing to threaten and/or murder anything that looks at Louise funny.
* [[Puff of Logic]]: [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] by Alex.
{{quote|
* [[Ragnarok Proofing]]: Justified for the {{spoiler|six thousand-year-old Blackwatch base}} by the preservation spells cast on it long ago and {{spoiler|the cult of Blackwatch descendants maintaining the place.}}
* [[The Reveal]]: {{spoiler|Derflinger the [[Evil Weapon]] in Wardes's hands.}}
** {{spoiler|Siesta's ancestors were Blackwatch.}}
* [[Sentry Gun]]
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** "[[Warhammer
** "That's heresy! That's – that's why, that's extra heretical!"
** "[[Friedrich Nietzsche|Gaze not too long at the abyss]] [[He Who Fights Monsters|lest the abyss gaze back at you]]."
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** Albion airships are referred to as [[Honor Harrington|ships of the wall.]]
* [[Slasher Smile]]:
{{quote|
** And when Agnes confronts {{spoiler|Colbert}}
{{quote|
* [[The Stations of the Canon]]: Does a good job of mangling this to make the plot more interesting. Louise only summons Alex {{spoiler|after the formal class}}, the duel arc involves Guiche, {{spoiler|Kirche, Tabitha, and Montmorency trying to kill him for being a plaguebearer while using Louise as bait,}} etc.
* [[Straw Misogynist]]: Averted. While a lot of villains may look like this (Mott, the King of Albion, and {{spoiler|Wardes}}), it immediately shows that they are horrible people to ''anybody'' [[Lack of Empathy|weaker than them]] and ready to exploit them for their own end and pleasure. What the King did to [[Room 101|his prisoner]] [[Nightmare Fuel|must be read to be believed]].
* [[Squee]]: Alex, {{spoiler|when he finds the Blackwatch armory.}}
* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]: Done to Colbert, Kirche, and Karin by Alex.
* [[Super Soldier]]: {{spoiler|1=The various nations of the ZnT-verse are gearing themselves up with elite forces using Blackwatch biotechnology. [[Sarcasm Mode|Naturally, this can only end well.]]}}
* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]:
{{quote|
What her handmaiden didn't say was more informative than what she did. Mott clearly wasn't a good ruler. }}
** Inverted later when Kirche notes a suspicious ''lack'' of denial {{spoiler|by Alex about being the plague-spreader}}.
* [[Sympathy for the Devil]]: Louise notes similarities between Alex and {{spoiler|Foquet}}.
* [[Training
{{quote|
* [[Tastes Like Chicken]]: Alex says this about Orcs.
* [[This Is Reality]]:
{{quote|
She almost expected some hideous and reptilian voice to call out "I am," but that only happened in clichéd stories. }}
* [[This Is Unforgivable!]]: Alex and Louise both say this nearly verbatim when they see what Mott's been up to.
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* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]: Used to explain how {{spoiler|Blackwatch}} was summoned by the Founder six thousand years before Alex was.
** {{spoiler|Moreover, Blackwatch from several years after [[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]] happened.}}
* [[2-D Space]]:
{{quote|
* [[Uncanny Valley]]: Karin's reaction to Tabitha.
* [[Up to Eleven]]: The duel with Guiche {{spoiler|is turned into a four-on-one battle}}, Foquet {{spoiler|is a Square-class mage}}, the Staff of Destruction {{spoiler|is an FGM-149 Javelin missile launcher rather than a LAW}} etc.
* [[Violence Is the Only Option]]: {{spoiler|Averted when Louise manages to talk down the cultists tasked with maintaining the Blackwatch base.}}
* [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]:
{{quote|
* [[Voice of the Legion]]: Alex does this at least twice. One of those being {{spoiler|reciting Blackwatch's [[Badass Creed]].}}
* [[Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?|Who Names Their Kid Duke]]: Louise's father.
* [[Word of God]]: Cpl_Facehugger has provided some in-depth analysis of how this version of ZnT came to be, including history, technology, personal history, military doctrine, the works. He's [[Shown Their Work|shown his work]] quite extensively.
* [[You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!]]: Foquet realizing that Louise is a Void Mage.
{{quote|
* [[Younger Than They Look]]:
{{quote|
{{spoiler|'''Alex'''}}: {{spoiler|"About six weeks, give or take."}} }}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Unfamiliar]]▼
[[Category:Fanfic]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Crossover Fanfic]]
[[Category:Fan Works of the 2010s]]
[[Category:The Familiar of Zero/Fan Works]]
[[Category:Prototype (video game)/Fan Works]]
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