Short Line to the New World

[lilacsigil]

Title: Short Line to the New World
Recipient: likeadeuce
For: summers_fling, run by musamea
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel Comics. No profit is being made.
Warnings/Rating: PG for mild language
Summary: If it is a mutant robbing those banks, what should a teenage Scott Summers do about it?
Recipient's request: Erik Lehnsherr, required reading, mutual respect.

Comments

[likeadeuce]

Oh, this is lovely, thank you!

I love the sort of Hardy Boys' feeling of the kids playing detective -- Scott and Jean eating french fries and wearing hoodies = so cute!, and just that little moment of "what I like about you. . ." Then the stakes change at the end, with the Professor, in that way he has, making the decision for everyone. I like that Scott is unsettled by it, and that it's not really clear where Lehnsherr stands -- but closer to Xavier here, I think, than Scott. And poor Jean, the one who always gets used (assuming X3 canon applies here, I might have mumbled 'bastard' at the comment about her 'minimal telepathy').

Such a great look at the 'family' aspect of them, with a suspenseful plot to hold it together. Thanks so much!

[lilacsigil]

Oh, I'm so pleased that you liked it! Whether X3 applies is up to you, but I was certainly pretty angry at Charles for that comment, and for using Jean, yet again. Personally, I think that Charles (and Erik, here) are highly irresponsible to use teenagers as their little soldiers in such a high-stakes game, but they really do have a sense of their own specialness and never seem to wonder *whether* they should act, only *how* to act.

[jeangreyrocks]

Nice story and interesting characterization. It seems Charles has a reputation for making team decisions without consulting the team, and I love how Scott all too often respectively stands against them.

Oh, and I loved the image of this: "He trusted Mr Lehnsherr's driving...but that didn't mean that he and Jean weren't rattling around in the back seat like beans in maracas." haha. Great! Thank you!

[lilacsigil]

Thank you for reading! I think Scott has a highly developed sense of responsibility that extends a lot further than that of his mentors! (And that little driving section is borrowed from my dad's driving - he's a highly skilled driver, and thus tends to zip in and out of traffic with great confidence at high speeds - my brothers and I would rattle around just like that!)

[musamea]

Oooh, there are so many things I like about this. First and foremost, the kids-adventure sense that you get at the beginning of their first "mission." Scott and Jean (and, to an extent, Erik) really have no idea what they're getting themselves into... and by the end of the fic, you can see how this night has changed Scott.

Great little humorous moments here. The "I'll shoot him" and the fast food and "The FBI 's entire knowledge of mutants can fit into a very small section of Special Agent Fred Duncan's head." Fabulous, all around.

Thanks for writing!

[lilacsigil]

Oh, it's really the unready leading the clueless here, but we know they'll get better! I think that Scott and Erik are quite similar in their dry humour, so I'm glad that their little comments worked.

[uraniachang]

I found myself getting more and more hooked up with the idea of Charles and Erik parenting a teenage Jean and a baby Scott, and I don't even now who first drilled this idea into my head, but it really works for me.
Scott showed his potential of being a tactician in the future, as well as a his good-guy nature, and his promise of protecting Erik and Jean makes my heart swell.

[lilacsigil]

Thank you! I've seen the Charles and Erik as quasi-parents idea on and off since the first movie came out (penknife has some particularly good stories on the topic), and it's one that really feels right to me in movieverse continuity - their encounters are so terribly fraught. I'm glad you liked my version of teenage leader Scott - I'm terribly fond of him!

[rachel_martin64]

I liked this look at Scott's early relationship with Erik, and his budding leadership abilities -- how he is able to persuade Erik and Jean to go after this bank-robbing mutant.

The ending is creepy, and has a subtle but powerful message. And Erik and Scott talking about being scared of Charles. Wow.

[lilacsigil]

Thank you! I think a lot of Charles' seeming reticence is actually severe emotional self-restraint - he is determined (at a later stage, anyway) not to impose his will on others except in dire emergencies, and I wondered how he learned that, when it must have been so terribly easy just to take the path of least resistance and change people's minds.