Prompt Post: ROUND SEVEN

[oakenshields13]

ROUND SEVEN IS CLOSED

<< ROUND SIX | ALL ROUNDS | ROUND EIGHT >>

Rules post.

Posting Guidelines.

Flat view.

Updates Post (WIPs only)

Fills Post (completed Fills only)

damalur's firstclasskink on Delicious.
Volunteers always welcome.

There is a delay on comments appearing when there is a URL in the message body. This is due to an LJ anti-spam

Comments

Searchlight [Charles/Erik, AU, TW: dehumanization, torture, homophobia, ableism] 1/4

[anonymous]

okay so this wound up not really addressing 75% of this prompt. Sorry. Hope you enjoy anyhow, OP.August 18, 1967

Re: OP here

[anonymous]

Re: sequel. Darn. Well, you more than delivered for the prompt, so I really shouldn't be so greedy!

Yeah, I guess Hank is the obvious choice in retrospect. I kind of saw his motivations as a cross between for science!!! and the collaborator who tries to rationalize his betrayal by convincing himself that he's saving people through cooperation. It's a horrible situation to begin with and I love how you left Hank's motives up to interpretation rather than clear-cut good or evil!

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[tawabids]

This has been haunting me since I read it so I came back to read it again, and wow, just as terrifying on the second round, and I figured out a lot more of the ID numbers this time. But I'm still basically speechless. Gah.

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[anonymous]

Thank you. I'm glad it was still a good read on the second go...

I'm sure the main portion of the numbering system is pretty clear (country code and a serial number), otherwise the system divides into mental, physical, or kinetic mutations. I guess this sometimes becomes a rather vague differentiation (particularly in the case of secondary mutations like Emma's) but I'm sure the most practical or obvious mutation is usually chosen for classification purposes. D:

Thanks for the comment! I love your writing, so I'm happy to have made something you enjoyed to read.

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[tawabids]

\o/ yaaay! That's exactly what I thought it all was! The only mutants whose IDs I couldn't figure out were the three who came to live at the searchlight facility with Erik, Charles and Raven - initially I assumed it was just the three boys from First Class, but then of course Hank wasn't one of them so I couldn't be sure of the third.

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[anonymous]

Not anon!

From what I guess, USA-P-00104 = Angel, USA-P-00108 = Darwin, USA-K-00068 = Havok, and USA-K-00094 = Banshee.

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[anonymous]

Writer anon here, and I sort of like leaving readers to interpret what they like, but I will say... This is almost exactly what I had in mind. Angel and Darwin's numbers are inverted, though, from what I imagined (having thought Darwin would be used in genetic testing). But there's definitely a creepier connotation in interpreting Angel's number as "better for genetics"... that Hank would be hoarding female mutants to breed more experimental subjects or the like...

So feel free to interpret however! :D

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[tawabids]

Thank you, this is really helpful! :D

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[anonymous]

I loved this! Can you or someone write in the pov of Erik or something where everything you talked about in the fic But in their words. Etc

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[anonymous]

Thank you! I'd hoped usual failure of science toward minorities would come across as a major character here, so I'm glad it worked.

I tip my hat back at you for the awesome comment. Thanks for reading!

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[pollyrepeat]

hoooo shit; like everyone else has said: the sign-off at the end gave me chills.

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[walksbyherself]

OH MY GOD.

I'm just speechless here. This was breaking my heart pretty much from the word go, and then I saw who the "author" was. 'Gutted' is the only word that comes to mind now. Might be crying a little.

This is an absolutely stunning piece and you should be so proud of it.

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[apagon]

it was already quite devastating and treating mutants as another species... but gosh, that last line was just a punch in the gut... thank you for sharing this brilliant piece...

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[pentre_katblake]

Amazing, absolutely amazing.

The epistolary format works brilliantly and wonderfully shows the dehumanization, shows how our team is viewed and treated. It pushes the reader to use imaginations since it doesn't just STATE anything, the same as it doesn't use any names and we STILL know about whom is the writer speaking. (And it is kind of awful, isn't it?)

I clapped when I saw who signed the letter. At first I thought it would be the Man in Black, but at the end of Part Two I thought, it's Hank. Oh my gosh, it's Hank. And it was and you have no idea how it thrilled me, in a wrong, wrong way. Because Hank - well, this is hypocrisy. And survival mechanism. And it is so deliciously perverse.

Re: Searchlight 4/4

[anonymous]

Because Hank - well, this is hypocrisy. And survival mechanism

I wanted it a bit vague on motivation for Hank, but... But really, in situations like this, I think it's very easy for people to become their own enemy, to do anything just to survive. I attempted (vaguely!) to foreshadow who was writing, but I'll admit to not being certain how much of Hank's voice would get through on a form letter, you know?

Thanks for the comment.