Fangs and Fins

Fangs & Fins is an H₂O: Just Add Water Fan Fiction. It centers around the life of Rose Collins - a quiet, cynical girl who can not get over the murder of her mother six years prior, as well as her friends and family after she meets (and quickly strikes up a relationship with) a vampire named James Wood, and the complications that then follow.

It's more of an AU fic rather than a crossover, though the series was heavily inspired by LJ Smith's works. Most of the canon characters from H₂O: Just Add Water appear in the series, and most of them have maintained the basis of their personality (even though their names and relation to each other is different - Rose (Rikki) and Lily (Emma) are sisters, James (Zane) and Ben (Nate) are half-brothers, etc. The original piece concluded on April 1st 2011.

A sequel was released on June 4th. As a major supporting character was killed off in the conclusion of the original, three more characters are being introduced in the sequel - Arianna Cromwell, who had a few appearences towards the end of season 1 and Luarel and Will Burke, who are the children of Mr. Collins's girlfriend.

*Note: given the nature of the series, please mark anything about the season 1 finale as a SPOILER. Any information taken from the season 2 character profiles should be treated as a spoiler too.

**Note 2: MASSIVE warning for season 2/sequel spoilers

It may be read here.

Tropes used in Fangs and Fins include:
  • Abandon Ship: Both Lily/Lewis and James/Rose were treated to this later on in season 1
  • Abusive Parents: Mr. Wood pretty blatantly emotionally abuses his children.
  • Action Girl: Lily is quickly becoming one.
    • Arianna
  • Actor Allusion: The kids like the series Legend of the Seeker, which Craig Horner who portrays Ash, was in.
    • Rose seems to like the band Muse, as Cariba Heine does in Real Life.
  • Adorkable: James, at least when trying to talk to girls..
  • Adult Child: Ben shows shades.
  • An Aesop: There are a couple, the biggest one being to open yourself up to new feelings.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Probably the reason for Lily's initial attraction to Ash.
    • And perhaps Rose's to Ben.
    • Averted with Constance and Minerva though.
  • All Love Is Unrequited
  • Alliterative Name: Minerva Montgomery, along with her three sisters and parents.
  • Aloof Big Brother: Ben and Constance had a tendency to see James as this.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: Most notably Ash, if you compare his H₂O: Just Add Water counterpart to his Fangs and Fins one...
    • The authors agreed that Ash was, by far, the most different from his original H₂O: Just Add Water counterpart.
      • An in-universe example: Ben is either one of the best characters in the series, if not the best, or standing in the way of James/Rose...
  • Alternate Universe Fic
  • Ambiguously Jewish: Several of the Nereids have Jewish surnames, but Léa Abel is probably the best example.
  • Ambition Is Evil: Played straight in one case (Violet) and ultimately averted in another (Ariadne).
  • Anti-Hero: Either of the Woods brothers probably qualifies.
    • Also Ash.
  • Arranged Marriage: Arianna discovers that her mother and James's father are planning one between James and herself. They are first cousins.
    • This seems to be very common between the families who have family members on the Council.
  • Ascended Extra: Charlotte was a very minor character and got a bit more page time as the series progresses. Mostly because she was hooking up with Ben.
    • Arianna Cromwell made a few appearances in the last few chapters leading up to the finale but will be promoted to the main cast during the sequel/season two.
    • Ben was more of a background character until halfway though the story when he was promoted to the main cast. Now he gets more page time than James.
  • Asshole Victim: Jewel wasn't exactly the nicest person around.
  • The Atoner: Ben
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Rose and James initially had this dynamic, however it faded quickly.
    • Given that Minerva is a Tsundere, James/Minerva would seem to qualify as a mild example.
    • Ben and Rose have a peculiar relationship.
  • Beta Couple: Lily/Lewis, Ash/Lily and Constance/Lewis, though Lily/Lewis is the most consistent example.
    • The sequel will not exactly have a Beta Couple, as the writers have stated that pagetime will be divided up pretty evenly this time around.
  • Bi the Way: Lily is probably best considered pansexual, actually.
  • Better as Friends: Lily decides this about her and Lewis.
    • This seems to be the offical verdict on James/Rose
    • Arianna/Ben
  • Betty and Veronica: Rose must pick between James (Betty) and Ben (Veronica).
    • As for James, Rose and Minerva, though you YMMV as to which is the Betty and which is the Veronica.
    • In season 1, Lewis (Betty) and Ash (Veronica) for Lily.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Constance.
    • Besides her actions in the finale, remember that Constance also persuaded Rose to help her snoop around James and Ben's things too...
    • Léa
  • Big Screwed-Up Family: All of them, basically.
  • Birds of a Feather: Ben and Rose. They're both passionate, impulsive and headstrong.
    • James and Lily. Andvery protective of the people they love, logical, thoughtful, stubborn, etc.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Kind of. Rose is strawberry blonde and would (probably) qualify as a Fiery Redhead, Minerva is something of a Brainy Brunette, but Constance was not, and Arianna is very much not a Dumb Blonde, same with both Lily and Laurel.
  • Brand X: Fangbook
  • Broken Bird: Lily and Constance are both good examples.
  • Broken Pedestal: Violet for Rose.
  • Butt Monkey: James.
    • Both of the writers have acknowledged that James is their Butt Monkey.
  • Byronic Hero: Ben.
  • Character Development: Ben has been getting a whole lot lately.
    • A lesser example is Lewis, who finally let Lily go and decided to move on.
  • Cupid Hates Odd Couples: So much.
  • Dark Secret: Several.
  • A Day in the Limelight: 2.02 - "Arianna".
    • 2.07 - "Sofia".
  • Deadpan Snarker: Several candidates.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Implied with Arianna
    • Rose.
    • And later on, Minerva
  • Dhampir: Both Arianna and Ben.
    • Also Arianna's younger sisters, Katharina and Natalia.
    • Elliot
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Rose has a tendency to overreact in regards to Lily.
    • Ben, sometimes.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Constance
  • Downer Ending: The finale.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Subverted. James often resorts to this, but he drinks blood instead.
    • Arianna and Ben, too.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: James, Ben, Minerva, Marie...
  • Embarrassing Middle Name: James's is Ayden, which Arianna describes as being "kind of girly".
  • Emotionless Girl: Rose early on.
  • Fiery Redhead: Well reddish-blonde. Rose, and Violet before her.
  • Five-Man Band:
  • Floral Theme Naming: Rose, Lily and their mother Violet.
    • If you extend it to plants - Ash and his sister, Ivy.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Constance - sanguine, Rose - choleric, Lily - melancholic, and Arianna - phlegmatic.
    • Laurel - sanguine and Minerva - melancholic.
    • Will - sanguine, Ben - choleric, James - melancholic, and Lewis - phlegmatic.
  • Freudian Trio: Rose (Id), Lewis (Ego), and Lily (Superego)
  • Friend Versus Lover: Subverted. This is what leads Lily to break up with Lewis because she thought their relationship would be weird for Rose or too hard for her to handle.
  • Fundamentally Female Cast: The Nereids. Though the dean of their school is male, and so is a Teaching Assistant who Elle uses her power on...
  • Generation Xerox: Played with. Aside from the obvious, such as Rose resembling Violet and Ben/James resembling Isaac, Rose and the brothers all possess different personalities than their parents did and Rose is no where near as crazy as Violet was, though if Isaac resembles either brother personality wise he is closer to Ben than James, meaning that Rose/Ben kind of parallels Violet/Isaac, specifically that Violet/Isaac was mostly physical, which Rose almost seems to be trying to convince herself that her connection with Ben is just physical (i.e. what occurred in 2.04...)
    • Another blatant parallel would be Ariadne/Lea vs. Arianna/Lily. They even do the forehead-touching-thing and link arms constantly. Also - Aariadne/Lea, Arianna/Lily
  • Genki Girl: Constance.
  • Girl Posse: Taylor Hawthorne and Lucy Fell serve as this for Minerva.
  • The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Rose and Lily.
  • The Heart: Arianna, Lily and Lewis.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Ben and Lewis.
  • Hidden Depths: Just about everyone.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen
  • Ice Queen: Rose, before James and Ben defrosted the hell out of her.
    • Minerva
  • Intoxication Ensues: Arianna and James in 2.02.
  • Ivy League for Everyone: Minerva wants more than anything for this trope to apply to her.
  • Jerkass: Jewel definitely crosses into this trope.
    • Also Ash
    • And Elliot
    • Mr. Wood too.
  • Jerkass Facade: Ben and how! He's easily one of the nicest people in the series.
  • Just Friends: Lily and Lewis.
    • Arianna insists that she and Ben are this too. Rose does the same.
  • Kick the Dog: Jewel, towards Constance. Like for 95% of her pagetime
    • Ben to Arianna in season 2.
  • Ladykiller in Love: Ben's a minor example.
  • Les Yay: There's already canon lesbianism, but name two female characters, any two female characters, and you can probably make a pretty good argument for it, especially if Lily or Arianna are involved.
    • There's also a ton via flashback between the Nereids, some of which is blatant and some of which is only in subtext.
  • Lipstick Lesbian: Arianna
  • Last Girl Wins: James/Minerva, Lewis/Laurel. If you want to get technical about it, Lily's relationship with Arianna actually fits First Girl Wins better harharhar.
  • Love Dodecahedron: A milder version, mostly: Season 1: Jewel wants James who is dating Rose who Ben thinks he might have feelings for. Lewis is dating Constance but still isn't over Lily who is interested in both Ash and Byron.
    • Season 2: James is frustrated that Ben kissed Rose which leads him to question his relationship with both of them, and is a big factor as to why they break up. Ben then feels guilty about possibly pursuing Rose, however James moves on quickly and starts developing feelings for Minerva. Lily thinks she may be interested in Arianna, but she thinks that Arianna may have a thing with Ben, while Lewis pursues Laurel. And James and Arianna get forced into an Arranged Marriage...
  • Love Martyr: Lewis for Lily, a lot of the time. The guy's devoted, sure, but he does a better job at parenting Rose than Lily does and enjoys the company of Ben/James/Constance. He gets absolutely nothing out of his relationship with Lily, while he got new friends and consistency out of his friendship with Rose - yet he will always take Lily's side if an argument arises.
    • To be fair though, Rose is insensitive as hell and Lily's side in arguments is generally more logical. Rose wouldn't pick Lily over James/Ben, but Lily sure would pick Rose over Lewis, which he sadly realizes.
    • Lewis also has an easier time relating to Lily, Rose is very selfish and Lily is very selfless, Lewis can align himself with her because they're personalities are similar. Lily also doesn't seem to take Lewis for granted as Rose often does.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: More like "Lily and Rose, I am your brother's father" from Mr. Collins.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Constance, kind of.
  • Nakama: Yes, it's a Love Dodecahedron, and yes, they all have issues, but the group really do care deeply about each other. Even Minerva.
  • Name's the Same: Lily Collins.
  • Neat Freak: James, according to Arianna.
  • Nice Guy: Lewis, Will, James (sometimes).
  • Not Blood Siblings: James, Ben, Rose and Lily all share a sibling, but they are not technically related themselves.
  • Odd Friendship: Ben with mostly everyone, especially Rose. To a lesser extent, Lewis and Ben.
  • One-Gender School: Arianna and Minerva's old school, Billard.
  • Only Sane Man: Most frequently Lewis.
  • The Ophelia: Constance.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different: Averted. The difference between mermaids and sirens is made very clear.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: For one thing, there are three species of them. The ones who are born - who can digest small portions of human food, drink blood, and have Elemental Powers. The ones who are born but are half-human/half-whatever can do the same. Then the ones who are made - they cannot digest human food, can't have children and don't have any powers.
  • Parental Favoritism: Subverted. Mr. Wood favors James because he is the only child who is 100% vampire, but the word "favors" should be used loosley...
    • Minerva's parents have a tendency to favor her older, successful siblings.
  • Pensieve Flashback: A big, plot-heavy one with the Nereids.
  • Platonic Life Partners: James and Arianna.
    • Ben and Arianna. Kind of.
    • Rose and Lewis
    • The direction Lily/Lewis has been heading in as of season 2.
  • Posthumous Character: Several. Lily and Rose's mother Violet, Ben's mother Anna, James' mother Ashley, and Elliot. However, it is revealed that Violet and Elliot survived.
  • Power Trio: After Constance died, James, Ben, and Arianna resolved themselves from a Four Temperament into this.
  • Promotion to Parent: Lily.
  • Put on a Bus: Jewel, Mr. Collins, Byron, Charlotte...
    • Jewel came back very briefly in the last few chapters only to be killed off
    • Mr. Collins also never made a physical appearance, therefore he was never actually Put on a Bus. He did appear in the season 1 finale, however
    • Ash wasn't in the story for a very long time.
  • Really Gets Around: Implied with Ben.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Rose and Ben are red, Lily and James are blue.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: James, Benjamin, and Isaac Wood.
    • Lampshaded with Minerva.
    • Léa is another from of Leah, who was Jacob’s first wife.
    • Also Ariadne. Several of the Nereids were named after actual Nereids as well.
  • Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Lily and Arianna stray into this.
    • Also Elisabeth and Violet.
  • Running Gag: Hugsy.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: Rose and Lily's mother and brother. But they actually both survived
  • Sacrificial Lion: Arguably Constance.
  • Second Love: James/Minerva, Lewis/Laurel, Lily/Arianna, Ben/Rose. Even Constance/Lewis
  • Ship Tease: Loads between Rose and Ben, but a particular mean one happens in the first season finale when the two kiss passionately, but are interrupted by Mr. Collins. Rose then goes back to James, inisting that the kiss was a mistake
    • Oh boy...Lewis/Lily.
    • Lily/Ash, Lily/Byron...
    • Arianna/James.
    • Arianna/Ben.
  • Sibling Rivalry: James and Ben, Jesus Christ.
    • Lily and Rose.
    • Minerva with all of her sisters except Mathilda, especially Maire...
  • Sibling Triangle: Both Wood brothers are interested in Rose.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Lily is logical and overthinks things while Rose is impulsive and sometimes underthinks things. This probably applies to James and Ben as well.
  • Triang Relations: Ben/Rose/James could be either a Type 1 or Type 10, depends on how you look at it.
  • Slap Slap Kiss: Rose and Ben. They spend the first portion of the original story hating each other, the second half full of UST, and by the sequel things are still weird between them - Rose says Ben is avoiding her, they kiss in Rose's room, etc
  • Take That: Twilight. Just Twilight.
  • Tall, Dark and Handsome: James.
  • Team Mom: Lily.
  • Troubled but Cute: Ben.
  • Two Girls and a Guy: Rose, Lily, and Lewis. But, surprisingly, while it lasted, the romantic triangle was more friendship vs. love rather than the two girls fighting over the guy.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: James, Ben, and Constance
  • The Unfavourite: Notably Ben and Constance.
    • Minerva.
    • This is averted with Arianna, even though her mother shares the same values as the Woods do...
  • Wrong Girl First: Played pretty straight with Lewis's relationship with Lily.
    • Once, again played straight with James's relationship with Rose.
  • Your Cheating Heart: Rose's kiss with Ben.
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