X-Men recs week three: movieverse
Here's Week Three of my recs from sequentialcrack: X-Men movieverse!
Title: Children's Crusade
Author:
penknife
Fandom: X-Men movieverse
Characters/Pairings: Charles, Scott, Bobby
Length: 3700 words
Warnings: None
Spoilers: X2
With all the running around in costumes fighting each other, it's easy to forget that the X-Men are, in fact, teachers. There's an entire school to be run, children in danger to be found, timetables and counselling and sanctuary. This fic is about that process, with Charles and Scott as teachers and protectors, making the difficult decision about which of the many mutant children most need their help. The relationship between Scott and Charles is beautifully and quietly drawn here, showing the great trust and respect between them as they work, and all the complex factors that go into running such a unique and desperately needed school.
Their choices - sometimes made out of expediency rather than necessity or kindness - lead them to Bobby Drake, and the way that the X-Men also stand apart from "human" society is shown most adeptly. While Charles is absolutely doing what he does to help Bobby and to bring him into mutant society where his abilities will be valued, not scorned, Charles tends to overlook ethical concerns to do with humans just as much as Magneto does, though with less killing. It's a subtle reminder of Charles' very real power and how very much that ability has shaped the "mutant problem" over the decades.
***
Title: Blessed is the Match Consumed
Author:
cygnaut
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Characters/Pairings: Erik, Jean, Ororo
Length: 20000 words
Warnings: Author chooses not to use warnings
Spoilers: X-Men: First Class
Erik and Charles stay together after the events in Cuba and start a school for young mutants, beginning the long fight for mutant rights. Everything is finally working out - until a faction of the government kidnaps and imprisons everyone at the school, isolating them from each other. This story is from Erik's POV, and he immediately drops into survival mode, ready to sneak, fight and argue his way free from this new prison at all costs. His well-practiced methods are starting to work, to unnerve the guards - until two of the young students, Jean and Ororo, are thrown into his cell with him and he is suddenly responsible for their lives as well as his own. Suddenly Erik is in the position that his parents once were, unable to go all out to escape because there's something more important than his own life. The captivity of Jean, Ororo and Erik is all the more terrifying through Erik's eyes, having experienced such captivity before. Jean and Ororo rely on him and he grows into his role as carer and teacher of the two little girls - two powerful little girls.
The denouement - involving a character usually disliked in fandom - is very powerful and there are no easy solutions or comfort for anyone involved. A complex and difficult fic that raises many questions for which the characters - and reader - may have no good answer.
***
Title: Storm Breaking
Author:
anenko
Fandom: X-Men movieverse, post-X2
Characters/Pairings: Storm/Mystique
Length: 1000 words
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None
Ororo is brave, honest and dedicated to the X-Men's cause. She teaches, she fights, she works for a better world and never has a moment's doubt. Or so she tells herself. This poetic fic shows Ororo's dark night of the soul, coaxed and prodded by Mystique into asking all the questions she had refused to ask, into thinking about herself and her own needs and desires, and her own place in the world. Expecting to find strength, Ororo finds anger; expecting to find certainty, she finds longing.
This fic made sense out of Ororo's characterisation in X2 for me - someone who is a calm, confident role-model for the students, but who can turn and talk to Kurt about hatred and fear. Mystique is a cool and dangerous catalyst and for all Ororo knows that she has her own agenda, the two may have more in common than they think.
***
Title: Diamagnetism
Author:
cherryfeather
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Characters/Pairings: Erik/Charles, Alex, Raven, Hank, Sean
Length: 2700 words
Warnings: None
Spoilers: X-Men: First Class
One of the things I loved about X-Men: First Class was the training montage, seeing people work out what their powers could do and taking joy in that. They've got superpowers! That's awesome! This is not the case for all the X-Men, of course, but for most of the characters in this particular movie, understanding and developing their powers is not just work - it's fun. This story really captures the heady, delightful feel of that montage, showing Erik learning a new application of his powers when he falls and manages to miss the ground. Everything is possible, and this fic leaves me smiling every time.
***
Title: Stage Left
Author:
Sixthlight
Fandom:X-Men: First Class/Phantom of the Opera
Characters/Pairings: Moira/Charles/Erik, Irene/Raven, Emma/Sebastian
Length: 60,000 words
Warnings: None
Spoilers: X-Men: First Class, Phantom of the Opera
Yes, it's a fusion between X-Men: First Class and Phantom of the Opera. And it's awesome! The POV character is Moira MacTaggert, a Scottish soprano determined to make her own way in the world. Her childhood friends Charles and Raven, both with special powers, mean that Moira is at least a little bit prepared for the world's strangest opera house and the world's strangest stage crew and performers - but even so, she's not putting up with someone sneaking around behind her mirror late at night promising to be her singing tutor.
This is a madcap romp - the author acknowledges the delightful debt to Terry Pratchett - and at the same time absolutely satisfying in terms of character, plot, and sexy threesomes, not to mention period-appropriate independent women. This is a perfect example of the epic fun that can be had with a cracky premise, a fine grasp of character, and real determination for a good, old-fashioned happy ending.
***
Enjoy! The last week will be rarer movieverse characters. sequentialcrack will soon be looking for reccers for March, so if you have at least 4 recs in any comics fandom, please consider signing up.
This entry was originally posted at http://lilacsigil.dreamwidth.org/78387.html - comments are welcome at either location.
Title: Children's Crusade
Author:
penknife
Fandom: X-Men movieverse
Characters/Pairings: Charles, Scott, Bobby
Length: 3700 words
Warnings: None
Spoilers: X2
With all the running around in costumes fighting each other, it's easy to forget that the X-Men are, in fact, teachers. There's an entire school to be run, children in danger to be found, timetables and counselling and sanctuary. This fic is about that process, with Charles and Scott as teachers and protectors, making the difficult decision about which of the many mutant children most need their help. The relationship between Scott and Charles is beautifully and quietly drawn here, showing the great trust and respect between them as they work, and all the complex factors that go into running such a unique and desperately needed school.
Their choices - sometimes made out of expediency rather than necessity or kindness - lead them to Bobby Drake, and the way that the X-Men also stand apart from "human" society is shown most adeptly. While Charles is absolutely doing what he does to help Bobby and to bring him into mutant society where his abilities will be valued, not scorned, Charles tends to overlook ethical concerns to do with humans just as much as Magneto does, though with less killing. It's a subtle reminder of Charles' very real power and how very much that ability has shaped the "mutant problem" over the decades.
***
Title: Blessed is the Match Consumed
Author:
cygnaut
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Characters/Pairings: Erik, Jean, Ororo
Length: 20000 words
Warnings: Author chooses not to use warnings
Spoilers: X-Men: First Class
Erik and Charles stay together after the events in Cuba and start a school for young mutants, beginning the long fight for mutant rights. Everything is finally working out - until a faction of the government kidnaps and imprisons everyone at the school, isolating them from each other. This story is from Erik's POV, and he immediately drops into survival mode, ready to sneak, fight and argue his way free from this new prison at all costs. His well-practiced methods are starting to work, to unnerve the guards - until two of the young students, Jean and Ororo, are thrown into his cell with him and he is suddenly responsible for their lives as well as his own. Suddenly Erik is in the position that his parents once were, unable to go all out to escape because there's something more important than his own life. The captivity of Jean, Ororo and Erik is all the more terrifying through Erik's eyes, having experienced such captivity before. Jean and Ororo rely on him and he grows into his role as carer and teacher of the two little girls - two powerful little girls.
The denouement - involving a character usually disliked in fandom - is very powerful and there are no easy solutions or comfort for anyone involved. A complex and difficult fic that raises many questions for which the characters - and reader - may have no good answer.
***
Title: Storm Breaking
Author:
anenko
Fandom: X-Men movieverse, post-X2
Characters/Pairings: Storm/Mystique
Length: 1000 words
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None
Ororo is brave, honest and dedicated to the X-Men's cause. She teaches, she fights, she works for a better world and never has a moment's doubt. Or so she tells herself. This poetic fic shows Ororo's dark night of the soul, coaxed and prodded by Mystique into asking all the questions she had refused to ask, into thinking about herself and her own needs and desires, and her own place in the world. Expecting to find strength, Ororo finds anger; expecting to find certainty, she finds longing.
This fic made sense out of Ororo's characterisation in X2 for me - someone who is a calm, confident role-model for the students, but who can turn and talk to Kurt about hatred and fear. Mystique is a cool and dangerous catalyst and for all Ororo knows that she has her own agenda, the two may have more in common than they think.
***
Title: Diamagnetism
Author:
cherryfeather
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Characters/Pairings: Erik/Charles, Alex, Raven, Hank, Sean
Length: 2700 words
Warnings: None
Spoilers: X-Men: First Class
One of the things I loved about X-Men: First Class was the training montage, seeing people work out what their powers could do and taking joy in that. They've got superpowers! That's awesome! This is not the case for all the X-Men, of course, but for most of the characters in this particular movie, understanding and developing their powers is not just work - it's fun. This story really captures the heady, delightful feel of that montage, showing Erik learning a new application of his powers when he falls and manages to miss the ground. Everything is possible, and this fic leaves me smiling every time.
***
Title: Stage Left
Author:
Sixthlight
Fandom:X-Men: First Class/Phantom of the Opera
Characters/Pairings: Moira/Charles/Erik, Irene/Raven, Emma/Sebastian
Length: 60,000 words
Warnings: None
Spoilers: X-Men: First Class, Phantom of the Opera
Yes, it's a fusion between X-Men: First Class and Phantom of the Opera. And it's awesome! The POV character is Moira MacTaggert, a Scottish soprano determined to make her own way in the world. Her childhood friends Charles and Raven, both with special powers, mean that Moira is at least a little bit prepared for the world's strangest opera house and the world's strangest stage crew and performers - but even so, she's not putting up with someone sneaking around behind her mirror late at night promising to be her singing tutor.
This is a madcap romp - the author acknowledges the delightful debt to Terry Pratchett - and at the same time absolutely satisfying in terms of character, plot, and sexy threesomes, not to mention period-appropriate independent women. This is a perfect example of the epic fun that can be had with a cracky premise, a fine grasp of character, and real determination for a good, old-fashioned happy ending.
***
Enjoy! The last week will be rarer movieverse characters. sequentialcrack will soon be looking for reccers for March, so if you have at least 4 recs in any comics fandom, please consider signing up.
This entry was originally posted at http://lilacsigil.dreamwidth.org/78387.html - comments are welcome at either location.