C. Elisa: Possession

Mmm. Storm is one of those characters I can't -- quite -- feel, even
in terms of movieverse, but this story does a good job of laying her
down for me. Storm and her religion, and her essential alien-ness,
and her utter confidence that she is exactly who she should be.

This was wonderful, and the ending was great.

*

Pearl-o: seeing through the spaces

Eee! Happy birthday to me! God, I loved this. Pyro and all his
choices and needs and, yes, adolescent idiocy. Bad touch!Magneto
is a new favorite of mine, man. Mm.

*

tiffany rawlins: long time gone

Ooooh, *lovely*. This was a sharp and beautiful little piece, harsh
and believable and rife with possibilities.

Charles and Erik, in the time before.

Mm.

*

Sarah T.: dragonflies draw flame

Fucking *A*. Brilliant look inside John's head post X2, killer lines
all over the place, harsh and sharp and real and *real*. He's a
teenaged boy, you know?

Nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is, and too smart for his
own comfort.

Mmm. Lovely.

*

shalott: Untitled Xavier/Magneto/Mystique Series

Duuuude. This was just fucking *hot*. The voices weren't
necessarily the ones I would use, but the emotions were
dead on. These just keep getting better -- and hotter.

Read and learn.

Serial Karma: William Tell

Mmm. Just a short little... no, I can't call this a tease, because it's
everything I needed from a story like this. But it teases just the
same, just the right way.

What Bobby wants and points that are moot.

*

Jane St Clair: Always Hungry

Rar. Just... yeah. Perfect mellow Pyro voice, in the calm between
the storms we *know* are there.

Memory and regret and he's still such a *kid*.

Except for the ways he isn't.

*

Mary: Still-waking sleep

I could live without the grey-on-grey site design, but it's easy enough
to get around, especially for this. John and all his symbols, and all
he is. Perfectly lovely, and mild, and in character.

Mm.

*

Andraste: Ten Thousand Candles

Oh, this was marvelous. Charles is, after all, only a man, and some
things should not be glossed over.

This was wonderful.

*

C. Elisa: These Aren't the Droids

Hee! This was fabulous fun, and a perfect explanation of just how
Xavier would deal with certain issues post-X2.

*

Sarah T.: Custom Cannot Stale

Oh, how I *loved* this. I mean, chances are I'd be coming in my pants
if Sarah T. had written some random PCR about, like, STRYKER, but
as it is, she's written a lovely little tale of romance and practicality
featuring some of my favorite characters. I actually read this *while
I was on vacation* I was so thrilled. And it was worth it. *g*
 
 

Pearl-o: Every Second Wednesday (The Concentration Remix)

Okay, confession. This is the first one of the remixes that really made
me want to go back and read the original (which I'm about to do).
Well, okay, other than Molly's, and wanting to reread my own work...
so doesn't count.

What does count is that this story *rocks*. Just... the pure Marie
straight shot that I love to get. Dark, angry, and full of contrary
wishes and just plain contrariness and mmm. Do I love that slash
by proxy.

You'd think I'd be tired of it by now, but I'm really just not. Yeah,
there's a lot of stories about Marie's head-company, but frankly?
There just aren't too many that actually *stay* in the mind. This
is one of them. Mmm.

*

Jenn: Every Second Wednesday

Mmm, this had an entirely different feel. Part of that is that having
read the remix first, I can see... perhaps the seams? Or perhaps
just the places where Pearl-o nailed up her scaffolding.

Part of it is that this story is just generally less *bleak* than the other.
It has a wider focus, a focus that strays a bit beyond Marie's purview
to take in the world outside the study. There's a bit of melody to
go along with that pounding, ominous bass line.

And I have no idea which version I like better. *snerk*

*

C. Elisa: Conjugal Visit

Ahaha! This was a lovely little thing. Perhaps a bit sweeter than
I'd like, but still perfectly believable.

Charles, Erik. Banter.

*

Jenn: Jus Ad Bellum

Well, you know, I'm a *sucker* for a great AU. I mean, what could be better
than taking characters, making sure they're fully realized, making sure their
*universe* is fully realized, and then twisting everything out of true until you're
forced to question everything you thought you knew about them?

Let's face it, when it's done well, an AU can be a pure virtuoso performance,
transcending traditional canon, making it something *more* than itself,
making the reader appreciate things they'd normally take for granted.

And Jus Ad Bellum? Does exactly that and then some.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I couldn't tear my eyes away. I've stayed
up all *fucking* night to read this thing, watching Rogue lose herself as
only someone... well, only someone *human* could when faced with the
kind of universe Jenn presents.

The fact is, it takes a strong mind, a strong sense of self and a *powerful*
sense of where your moral compass lies to stand up to the kind of all-too-
plausible (and wonderfully horrific) cognitive dissonance Jenn creates,
and even then...

Well, Jenn doesn't shy away from letting us see just what a world like that
would do to Rogue -- even an older, wiser, stronger Rogue.

I loved this. I just... loved it. Period, the end.

I would've phrased a few things differently here and there, but then my Rogue
is a lot different than Jenn's, so... YMMV.

Read. READ, damn you.

*

Basingstoke: Kissable Fanatic, Unhinged Minim Artists

Well, Jesus. Toad slash. It's Toad slash and I bloody fucking love it.
Why? Because it's *Bas*, and she took Ray Park's incredibly
underused Toad and gave him life, history, pathos, blood, piss, come,
and shit.

JESUS.

All that and a fucking brilliant look at aging punks and queers. Have
a couple of quotes:

Anagram woke up with a hangover and an excruciating need to piss.
There was a body against his back and something long, soft, and
sticky draped across his neck and shoulder.

Anagram shifted. The person behind him groaned and clutched his
t-shirt--and the thing on his neck twitched.

No way he could sleep through that. He opened his eyes.

Tubular, translucent, green. Soft. Sticky. Felt like hardened jelly.
Gelatin shots? That wasn't like him...

He turned his head enough to see who was behind him.

Toad. And--tongue. Toad's tongue. That green thing was Toad's
tongue.

He had the feeling this wasn't going to be his day.

And:

Well. Empty pizza box. Ruined sheets. Thighs raw from peroxide.
Four of the bagels were gone from the bag he'd gotten. And he'd just
been paid a visit by the mutant Gestapo.

Time for some whiskey.

~

God, I *love* it when the same old universes are viewed through new
eyes.

Gemma: Torque

Two men, in the dark. Alone and together alone. Twist and bend
and... break?

Maybe so. Maybe. There are some loves that never die, and this
is one of them. Gemma lays it out beautifully, just in case you were
*blind* and somehow managed to miss it in the movie itself.

Connection, if only for a moment, and these are the men I know and love
and hate and ache for in equal measure. So much history. So much to
treasure and regret. And even, perhaps, a little hope.

And oh, oh, Unheimlich.

Sometimes love doesn't matter. Well, we'd already figured that
out when it came to Erik and Charles, right? But... the *whys* of it.

Goes deeper than politics. Much deeper. Thing is? Both of these
guys are deeply, deeply attached not only to their view of the world, but
to their view of *themselves*. When they were much too young, they
decided who they were, who they *had* to be, and they've let
nothing change that.

Stuff of tragedy, there.

Of course, I'm also right there with Mystique and Goldsman, wanting
Daddy to be pleased because Daddy's so damned *cool*...

*

Kat/Bishclone: Seventeen

Have you had your scream today?

No?

Then read this. Another writer who knows just how to punch you in the
face with her words, and damn, this is a killer. A *killer*. An entirely
different Jean, but... you know, I'm almost sure it's canon *somewhere*
that Jean was screwed up when she first joined the X-Men, so whatever.

My only problem is that the narrative 'voice' felt OOC, but I could forgive
for beauty like this. Oh, yes.

Kat: The Box Room

Pointed here by Jenn. Yet another Kat who brings the pain and makes it count.

A different Jean, she calls it, and yes, it is, and already that's bringing a whole
lot of images to your mind, I bet. Evil!Jean, perhaps? Or Slutty!Jean, or some
other horror of anti-Jeanitude that anyone who has survived movieverse fic
for any length of time has been forced to deal with.

Well... no.

And no. A different Jean. But we see how she got there. Every step of the way.

Bare feet, broken glass, and a highly plausible AU that's guaranteed to beat
the ever-loving shit out of you by the end. Wow. What a ride.

And then there's Juniper. Or Molly. Juniper. Jun. *I* like
Juniper because it suits her, cute little innocent berry
bleeding out purest everything. We loves her. I've casually
recced her all over the place before, but now I figure it's
time to make it official.

"Defensive Lines"

Watching the movie, I knew there was going to be acres of
trees cut down for Rogue/Logan fic by gasping teenaged girls,
and I was right. But! This is a good one. Slow and sad and easy
going down, fully in character for a young woman going through
life just outside of things, with all the tiny, shocking thrills
life still contrives to bring.

Good, good stuff.

*

Elizabeth: Penumbra

Scott/Logan rarely does much for me, but this one... Beautifully
crafted, heartbreaking and atmospheric. Here's a chance to get to know
the Cyclops behind all the rules and stiffness. Still a good man, but
perhaps a little lonely.

He wants to be known, held, seen... and she manages to convey all this
without turning Scott into a weepy 12 year old girl, which most people
can't. I can't decide if this story is sad or not, but I know it was
*good*.

A few little flaws here and there, but overall a soft, compelling read.

Beautiful.

Oh! Oh! And also this:

The Magic of Belief

Unflinching, wrenching Logan/Rogue, complete with the obvious solution
to the whole touching thing. This is a Logan I can believe in utterly,
rough edges and all. He believes in himself in a way that's in no way
Afterschool Special. Confident, rough, and in need.

Just slightly clueless, in that endearing little het-bear way. Can
I just say *rarrr*? I love the way this was handled, beginning to end.
I've fallen hard for Elizabeth, read every single story on her
otherfic page, and for damned good reason. She's clearly been around
for a while, but she's *definitely* one to watch.

While you're there, don't forget to check out her Spike/Buffy
stuff -- especially Achilles Heel. I'm a damned hard sell on that pairing,
but when it's Elizabeth -- I'm buying.

*

Oh, and then there's Jane St. Clair. I've loved her since X-Files,
when she took my poor little Jeff and gave him a chance to tell
his side of things. Along with a good bit of Krycekian emotional
torture. Sometimes it's hard to believe I left all that behind... but
anyway, this isn't about her XF fic.

Jane has abruptly become prolific (and oh please oh please let her
stay that way), and has provided us with not one, not two, but
three different wonderful stories.

"Fragile Bodies of Touch and Taste," and a young Erik
and Charles. It's odd. I'm *psyched* that the movie has gotten
people writing this slash pair, but I never would've figured that
more than a few people on the fringes would do it. Gotta love the
universality of beauty. But I was talking about the story.

I don't know how to describe it... so many of these stories have
them already Professor X and Magneto, no matter that it's actually
years to come before they get there... and more than that, this story
just has a beautiful humanity to it.

A sweetness, a little thread of mutuality through all the walls and
careful, resented gifts of vulnerability.

And through it all, simple hunger. *Guh*.

*

Molly: Paradigm Shift

What precisely does Logan win when he wins Jean? This story takes a good,
long look at the way things could be, and never flinches. Great work from
Molly as usual, though the POV shifts were a little hard to follow first time
around. This one will stay with you.

*

Blues. Jane St Clair takes the wonderful gift of having two, separate X-verse
canons and uses it with great skill and beauty. Beast and Bobby, recovering
a little from the real world. Slow and sexy and bittersweet, with a touch or
two of humor just to make it perfect. Read this. Write me *more* of this.

All of the Animals

Oh, Lord, this is just one red raw fuck of a threesome, hitting
absolutely everywhere. Heart, mind, and *CENSORED*.
Everybody gets what they want *and* everyone stays in
character.

Look especially for those teenaged Scott reminiscences, because
they're just plain *good*.

Here they are, people with sexualities, personalities, alt realities
in their own head. Three dimensional adults with needs that can't
quite be said out loud, but when you have a telepath... who needs
to?

Just repressed enough to darken it, make it a little frightening,
and *oh* so dark.

*

Molly: Counting Backwards

There is a lot of fic out there focusing on Rogue's powers, and
the voices in her head, but this is the first one I've found to
look at the phenomenon all the way down to the dirty little whys.
It's also a love story. And a redemption story. And a going
home story.

And it all just comes together into one gorgeous whole. Lovely
stuff, complete with surprises. *Good* Molly. She's another one
that slips under the radar far, *far* too often, and I'm hoping
to change that. Her stories are usually sleepers, mild in color
and quiet.

Her stories just don't *leave*.