FIC: Paideia

[musamea]

Title: Paideia
Author: musamea
Disclaimer: The X-Men belong to Marvel and affiliates. The Odyssey belongs to Homer (sort of).
Warnings/Rating: PG-13, since John has a potty mouth.
Summary: Kalos k'agathos. Scott teaching in the classroom, and out of it. Pinch-hit for renata_kedavra, who requested Scott with students (friendship, teaching, paternalistic moment,

Comments

[cassandra581]

I loved it. I had tears in my eyes at the end. This was wonderful depiction of Scott's relationship with his students and their respect of him as a leader and teacher and a man. Great job!

[musamea]

Wow, thank you! I'm so glad you liked it, and that what I was trying to show -- Scott as teacher, as foster parent, as leader of the X-Men -- came through.

[counterfeitcoin]

This is just so beautiful. This is the extraordinary (all teachers are, especially those who actually help children/young adults, fo' real) ordinary I love about Scott. You don't realize when you've had an amazing teacher until you're an adult yourself and you've got a little perspective, right? I love that he knows what to do to get John to care about math (and now I'm kind of angry at John for going to the Brotherhood). I love that kinship with Rogue that she doesn't realize yet and the way he's momentarily so lost with Kitty (I would love to see those high school pictures). I think I might possibly love part three the most, though, because that's so Scott. That's such a perfect moment. I love how you laid the complexity of Scott's feeling toward Logan/Jean's crush on Logan with the conversation with Hank

[musamea]

Oh wow. *blush* Thank you so much for the articulate feedback! Now I'm going to blather trying to answer it. :D

You don't realize when you've had an amazing teacher until you're an adult yourself and you've got a little perspective, right?

I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that, but I think that at the stage of life Scott's students are in (late teenaged years, at least the ones in this fic)... yeah, it's probably really hard for them to recognize what a great teacher he is. Especially since he's also a kind of surrogate parent for a lot of them, so he's rather taken for granted.

I see Scott as trying very, very hard with John... partly because they're similar, in a lot of ways, and Scott just wants for him to be good, you know? I'm a huge fan of Scott-Rogue friendship stories and definitely see them as two people with a lot in common. I'm glad that worked for you here. And I'm thrilled that someone liked the Homer references in Hank and Scott's conversation! I was a bit hesitant to leave that in, because I wasn't sure

[anonymous]

Oh, I loved it. From the humourous to serious (and the fitting final part; did they even hold a funeral for him? Not in any of the film I saw), this kaleidoscope of Scott showed every part of him just as I imagined. And, for the record, I love your John.

(Actually, this seems a great time to put in a big thank you for holding the ficathon, so thanks!)

[musamea]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it, especially John. He's a lot of fun to write. :D

And it's been great fun for me to hold the ficathon. I'm really glad people are enjoying it!

[cyndrarae]

This is fantastic! A perfect tribute to a perfect hero and I can't even begin to thank you enough for sharing this! So few fics out there have done such a brilliant character study of Scott. His insecurities about Logan (The 'I hear there's a suitor in Ithaca' reference is brilliant!) and his referring to the Blackbird as she are examples of how human and boyish he can be. But at the same time you've described his principles and his need to always do what's right through fantastic examples!! jeez I can't get over how brilliant this is!! Thank you so so much hon, you've made my day :)

[musamea]

Oh wow, thanks so much! *blush*

Hearing that you liked how this was structured makes me really happy. And that you thought a lot of different facets of Scott's character were on display. That was really what I was trying to do, so yay! (And hurrah for Homer love!)

[alitheiatruth]

Wonderful! I haven't read a ton of Scott fic (being fairly new to this group) but of the ones I have read, this is the best.

I agree, the movies really dropped the ball with Scott's death--he was the fricking leader! Come on. He was almost as much of a figure head as the professor. No one mourned him. So having the students hold a personal wake for him was so very appropriate.

And I loved the admitted complexity of Logan's interest in Jean. And the moral conflict of whether or not they should have been brought to the mansion at all.

"Yeah, well," Scott said aloud, to no one in particular, "It's the right thing to do."

Almost like he was convincing himself.

The whole fic was very well done. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks.

[musamea]

Thanks! And yeah, I agree completely about how poorly the movies dealt with Scott's death. The students' wake was something that came to me when I was writing another fic, and it's just become my personal canon now. I guess this is my defense-of-Scott story, right here. :)

And I loved the admitted complexity of Logan's interest in Jean. And the moral conflict of whether or not they should have been brought to the mansion at all.

I'm really glad that came through, since it always bugs me when any one person of that triangle is vilified. And I think Scott means what he says when he talks to Bobby about doing the right thing. He might hate it and sometimes wish he wasn't so bound to his own moral code, but in the end, he does what's right. Xenia, to the Greeks, was a duty owed to the gods, and not something you take lightly at all, and I think that's how Scott feels, even if he wouldn't articulate it that way.