Flora Segunda: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

Flora Fyrdraaca is the scion of a once-glorious family, but since Califa lost the War and her mother banished the magical butler who kept Crackpot Hall in order, Flora has been reduced to babysitting her crazy alcoholic father and mucking out the stables (as well as performing every other unpleasant chore that needs doing). As if this weren't bad enough, she's approaching her 14th birthday, the age at which all Fyrdraacas are expected to enter military training — but Flora would much rather be a Ranger, a spy who uses magic. When she accidentally stumbles across the banished butler, she thinks restoring him will solve at least a few of these problems. It ''doesn't.''

 

* [[Action Girl]]: Califa seems to be a very militaristic society that doesn't discriminate based on gender at all, so there are a lot of these, including [[Action Mom|Flora's mother]], who's the Warlord's Commanding General.

* [[Aerith and Bob]]: Flora and [http://www.behindthename.com/name/udo-1 Udo], for example, are attested names; Idden and Reverdy, not so much. And then there's Juliet Buchanan Fyrdraaca ov Fyrdraaca, who seems to encapsulate the trope quite nicely in a single name.

* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Technology seems mostly 1800sish at best, but the youth culture is very modern (even if their rock bands do feature banjos instead of guitars and use magic for amplification).

* [[Badass]]: [[Action Mom|Buck]], [[Rebel Leader|Tiny Doom]], [[Retired Badass|Hotspur]], [[Evil Is Sexy|Lord Axacaya]], [[The Obi-Wan|Nini Mo]], [[Gentleman Thief|The Dainty Pirate]]... the list goes on and on.

* [[Bigger on the Inside]]: [[Big Labyrinthine Building|Crackpot Hall]]

* [[The Dandy]]: Both [[Long-Haired Pretty Boy|Udo]] and the [[Gentleman Thief|Dainty Pirate]]

* [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]]: Flora's father, when he's sober.

* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: [[Alcoholic Parent|Hotspur]] all the way...

* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: Hotspur again and Flora to some extent

* [[Late for School]]: How Flora begins the first book.

* [[Little Miss Snarker]]: Flora, and later (and less sympathetically) The Zu Zu

* [[Mayincatec]]: The Huitzils; mostly Aztec, though.

* [[Military Brat]]: Idden and Flora (and both their parents in their days)

* [[Narrative Profanity Filter]]: Not used much (if at all) in the first book, but practically omnipresent in the second, especially around [[Cluster F-Bomb|Tiny Doom]]. (Though one wonders why it's necessary when Califan swearing seems to consist of words like "fike" and "scit"...)

* [[Never Found the Body]]: Butcher Brakespeare (or whatever name you want to call her by). Supposedly this is because the Huitzils ate her, but...

* [[Normally I Would Be Dead Now]]: {{spoiler|Flora's dare}}

* [[People's Republic of Tyranny]]: The so-called Republic of Califa was never democratic as far as we can tell. Before the Warlord conquered it and turned it into a military dictatorship, it was under the seemingly just as oppressive control of the Pontifexa. Any truly republican origins before this have not yet been revealed by the author.

* [[Promotion to Parent]]: Flora when Buck is away -- though she's the youngest child; the one she's parenting is actually her dad. Udo also seems to be left alone with his many, many younger siblings a lot.

* [[Puppet State]]: The main characters' country, Califa, is a vassal state of the Huitzil empire, because it was pretty much that or be conquered entirely. Many people are still less than happy about it, though.