personal canon: the X-Men edition
Tackling three at once. I had done something similiar a few years ago, the "My Character" meme, and so I tried to go with different versions of the characters.
My Alex (616-verse)
Ult-X Alex (my version)
(circa Saving Cain & Acts of Contrition) | Ult-X 101
1 - Alex appreciates the irony of Brooklyn exploding as the scene for up-and-coming music only after he left. But that doesn't mean he likes it. He checks the music blogs and sees all of the stuff coming out of his old neighborhood and it both boggles and frustrates him. Especially since he has no use for Lily Allen or Amy Winehouse or any of the Oasis retreads mucking about the pubs for beer money.
2 - He sometimes forgets that he's in the mutants-with-money version of the witness protection program and starts to act like this is really his life. He loves university, likes his friends, and when he's not careful, he catches himself dreaming about a life that's just a continuation of this instead of whatever less-benign reality actually awaits him.
3 - He is half-convinced that he will one day have to kill his brother.
4 - He didn't major in political science because learning from academics about what he's already seen in practice is like getting sex tips from nuns.
5 - He worries for Scott because Scott is a good person and will be betrayed by that goodness. He worries for Piotr because Piotr wants to be a good person and is not above sacrificing himself to make up for what he has done.
My Piotr (Ult-X)
Piotr (White Rabbit)
(White Rabbit)
1 - Sees Alex as a role model -- for quitting the X-Men (and making it stick), for building a life for himself and his family, for actually accepting that he cannot change the world by himself and that there are more ways to do his part than dressing up in a costume.
2 - He wishes Scott would learn the same lesson. If there's anyone who deserves to put their burden down more than Scott, Piotr hasn't met them.
3 - Didn't see the Callisto thing coming, but is forever glad that it did. She never believed him when he said that he'd fallen in love with the woman beneath the surface and not just the beautiful exterior, but so much was a lie in that time and she didn't want to believe even though it was true.
4 - A house full of children, someone sleeping on the other side of the bed every night, friends and admirers of both Piotr and Peter Nicholas... and there are still sometimes moments when he aches for what (and who) he has lost with such ferocity that he cannot breathe for the hole in his heart and soul.
5 - Piotr has grown to know the man and appreciate the depths and intelligence he hides, but Remy in charge of anything, let alone a country still makes him smile.
Dane
(From aliciam's Outsiders's Arc/Pantheon universe)
1 - Enjoys being the Summers everyone forgets is actually a Summers -- next to his sister, but she's a civilian and kind of doesn't count. Everyone else in his family is obviously trying to outdo their parents' generation with the wacky and the Guthries might as well be Summerses for all that Nate is twisted around by the swirling vortex.
2 - Still thinks his wife is the hottest babe ever and is a little afraid of when his son starts talking. Courtesy of his grandmother and mother, Aren is going to be fluent in Armenian as soon as he opens his mouth and it won't be too long before his son realizes that his father speaks it terribly.
3 - Knows that his parents are a little relieved that he joined the XSE, although they wished it had been under different circumstances. They fought because they had to, but his obligation is of a different nature and they are proud of him for it.
3b - Doesn't know how Diego would feel if he knew that he was the reason Dane gave up being a civilian. He's never asked Piotr and Callisto; it would just open up wounds that don't need to be revisited.
4 - Has a great relationship with his parents... but hasn't told them that he's already coming into his inheritance from his father. Has had it his whole life, he thinks. But it's been twenty years since Dad came back and his mother still freaks when he doesn't check in regularly and his Dad's got his own guilt and it's just not anything important enough (right now) to justify the additional stress. He's talked about it with Eva, but her powers are more in her head anyway and it's not like she'd notice.
5 - Accepts the weird looks his parents exchange when they see him with his son for what they are. If he ever treated his father differently for being gone when he was young, he doesn't remember it. His father has been there for every meaningful event in his life, from riding a bike to the still-funny condom talk ("We're Summerses, son. One accident and you wind up with time-traveling progeny with messianic complexes and the need to bring on the End of Days. Or at least that's what happens with your uncle.") to, well, any time he's ever needed his father. Including the time his mother found out he had gone out with the Logan twins.
My Alex (616-verse)
Ult-X Alex (my version)
(circa Saving Cain & Acts of Contrition) | Ult-X 101
1 - Alex appreciates the irony of Brooklyn exploding as the scene for up-and-coming music only after he left. But that doesn't mean he likes it. He checks the music blogs and sees all of the stuff coming out of his old neighborhood and it both boggles and frustrates him. Especially since he has no use for Lily Allen or Amy Winehouse or any of the Oasis retreads mucking about the pubs for beer money.
2 - He sometimes forgets that he's in the mutants-with-money version of the witness protection program and starts to act like this is really his life. He loves university, likes his friends, and when he's not careful, he catches himself dreaming about a life that's just a continuation of this instead of whatever less-benign reality actually awaits him.
3 - He is half-convinced that he will one day have to kill his brother.
4 - He didn't major in political science because learning from academics about what he's already seen in practice is like getting sex tips from nuns.
5 - He worries for Scott because Scott is a good person and will be betrayed by that goodness. He worries for Piotr because Piotr wants to be a good person and is not above sacrificing himself to make up for what he has done.
My Piotr (Ult-X)
Piotr (White Rabbit)
(White Rabbit)
1 - Sees Alex as a role model -- for quitting the X-Men (and making it stick), for building a life for himself and his family, for actually accepting that he cannot change the world by himself and that there are more ways to do his part than dressing up in a costume.
2 - He wishes Scott would learn the same lesson. If there's anyone who deserves to put their burden down more than Scott, Piotr hasn't met them.
3 - Didn't see the Callisto thing coming, but is forever glad that it did. She never believed him when he said that he'd fallen in love with the woman beneath the surface and not just the beautiful exterior, but so much was a lie in that time and she didn't want to believe even though it was true.
4 - A house full of children, someone sleeping on the other side of the bed every night, friends and admirers of both Piotr and Peter Nicholas... and there are still sometimes moments when he aches for what (and who) he has lost with such ferocity that he cannot breathe for the hole in his heart and soul.
5 - Piotr has grown to know the man and appreciate the depths and intelligence he hides, but Remy in charge of anything, let alone a country still makes him smile.
Dane
(From aliciam's Outsiders's Arc/Pantheon universe)
1 - Enjoys being the Summers everyone forgets is actually a Summers -- next to his sister, but she's a civilian and kind of doesn't count. Everyone else in his family is obviously trying to outdo their parents' generation with the wacky and the Guthries might as well be Summerses for all that Nate is twisted around by the swirling vortex.
2 - Still thinks his wife is the hottest babe ever and is a little afraid of when his son starts talking. Courtesy of his grandmother and mother, Aren is going to be fluent in Armenian as soon as he opens his mouth and it won't be too long before his son realizes that his father speaks it terribly.
3 - Knows that his parents are a little relieved that he joined the XSE, although they wished it had been under different circumstances. They fought because they had to, but his obligation is of a different nature and they are proud of him for it.
3b - Doesn't know how Diego would feel if he knew that he was the reason Dane gave up being a civilian. He's never asked Piotr and Callisto; it would just open up wounds that don't need to be revisited.
4 - Has a great relationship with his parents... but hasn't told them that he's already coming into his inheritance from his father. Has had it his whole life, he thinks. But it's been twenty years since Dad came back and his mother still freaks when he doesn't check in regularly and his Dad's got his own guilt and it's just not anything important enough (right now) to justify the additional stress. He's talked about it with Eva, but her powers are more in her head anyway and it's not like she'd notice.
5 - Accepts the weird looks his parents exchange when they see him with his son for what they are. If he ever treated his father differently for being gone when he was young, he doesn't remember it. His father has been there for every meaningful event in his life, from riding a bike to the still-funny condom talk ("We're Summerses, son. One accident and you wind up with time-traveling progeny with messianic complexes and the need to bring on the End of Days. Or at least that's what happens with your uncle.") to, well, any time he's ever needed his father. Including the time his mother found out he had gone out with the Logan twins.