Mutatis Mutandis

Summary: "When I grow up, I will be an explorer." - Charles Xavier, age 7

It was hard not to be a little irked at Erik's ease with the people here, when much of the initial investigation depended on Charles's ability to filter information from minds. He was the one who sat for days at a time on a bench on the sterile platform of the new central Metro station, a clipboard balanced on his knee for authenticity. He had drifted gently through the minds of thousands of commuters, hunting purposefully for the memory trail of a single idea-shape: the instinctive "not-me" reaction of the human mind exposed to an alien concept (metallic, acid fear-taste, panic, horror and fascination). He had improved his accent, developed a craving for salted fish, and inadvertently learned some unpleasant things about living in the new Soviet republic. And Erik, who had not wanted to come here, had led him, migraine-blind, back to the hotel, and fed him whiskey and aspirin until he fell asleep.

Charles and Erik go hunting for mutants behind the Iron Curtain. Mysterious and lyrical, and I love the way their arguments don't quite go the way you might expect given what happens later on.

Sirena

Summary: Mystique takes many skins and speaks with many voices.

A wife that loved her husband. Of all the things Mystique expected when she donned Kelly's skin, that was something she'd never thought about. She'd anticipated what she thought was the typical political marriage--public appearances, chaste affection for the cameras only, separate lives, perhaps a tense exchange or two in private. She hadn't expected the slow melting Sharon was capable of.

She watched herself in the mirror. The Senator smiled, pulled his wife into an embrace, his hand cradling the back of her neck. One simple twist of her hand, she thought, and slid her fingers down, resting them under the collar of Sharon's blouse. The skin there was pale and soft and the beginning of wrinkles, of fleshy folds, were developing.

After X1, Mystique is stuck living the life of Senator Robert Kelly, and there are unexpected things she might learn there. A quiet tragedy that draws some intelligent parallels between relationships I'd never thought to compare.

Skinless

Summary: Rogue finds obsession in dreams with a man thirty years gone.

It was autumn, in New York, in an empty street. Although their minds supplied the smell and fear and people to fill an entire concentration camp, somehow they always left New York empty. It was their place, if only in dreams.

She was still facing away when the arm slid around her waist, fingers splayed on her waist. They fit, somehow, her head just under his chin. They fit like they belonged.

It was strange to feel the progression of relaxation as it crept through her body, releasing tension from muscles she'd hardly known were coiled. In sleep, she thought, she should at least be relaxed. But she never was until these moments, when she was cradled like something precious in the empty New York of thirty years past.

Rogue is obsessed with Magneto's memories, but not for the reasons everyone assumes. Hauntingly beautiful, this is a unique take on Rogue's emotional future after X1.

Splinter Me Filter

Summary: Mystique tempts. Ororo doubts.

Rain gleams against Mystique's skin and scales. She does not move forward, and does not retreat. She looks upon the evidence of Storm's grief, unblinking.

Mystique says:

Such anger. Such power.

You could make a difference, Ororo Munroe. You could help us change the world.

Ororo's anger pounds against the street. Her helplessness makes the trees creak, and groan, and shake their branches at the sky.

Mystique tries to court Ororo away from the X-Men. Personal, political and poetical.

Storm Breaking

Summary: Remy and Logan are both full of surprises.

When Logan returned, she was busy laughing with Remy.

He strode up to them while they sat on the couch in the rec room. "How are you, kid?"

"Logan!" She had been surprised. Surprised to see him standing there, looking so familiar and so foreign. Surprised at herself for not knowing quite what to do. "I'm fine," she said, answering his question. Pleasantries, she thought. Right. "How are you?"

"Good." He snorted and shook his head. "Good enough."

A tense, suspenseful piece that mixes X-Men adventure with an exploration of how Rogue's relationship with Remy LeBeau might play out in the presence of Logan. Twisty and exciting.

Stroke of Luck

Summary: "Remy didn’t have the luxury of fooling himself that way."

He didn't bother to contemplate how the hell Logan had found him here, out in the middle of a swamp, in a tar-paper shack with no electricity, and running water that only ran when someone worked the pump handle. Logan was just like that.

Come to think of it, Remy would have been more surprised if Logan *hadn't* shown up.

"Did Rogue send you to come get me?" Stupid question, but he asked it because he was sick of watching Logan watch the ice melt in his glass of whiskey. Ice didn't last long in Louisiana, especially in the middle of July.

"Yeah. I told her you'd come back on your own, but ..." Logan shrugged. "You know."

Remy and Rogue have a complicated relationship, and one of the complications is Logan. Gambit has his own particular way of dealing with the problem. I love the imagery in this, and the way Rogue is very much present despite her physical absence.

Sweat

Summary: Lessons in unlikely places.

"First I thought the walls were melting," Scott said. "Then I thought the wallpaper was pulsating. I was pretty sure it was sending me messages in Morse code. And through it all I thought Wolverine was singing show tunes in the main hall. Tap-dancing, too. The scariest thing was that he wasn't half bad."

"Go to hell, One-Eye," Logan said, entering the rec room with a beer.

"You're an ingrate, Wolverine," Warren scolded. "Here Scott is telling you that your mysterious past may well contain a stint in musical theater, and are you appreciative?"

Scott is sick, and his friends are less than sympathetic to his plight. Seldom has food poisoning turned out to be this hilarious.

A Teaching Moment

Summary: Bobby is having issues with John's lighter.

“What the hell are you doing? Trying to burn the school down?” Bobby's voice is dry and raspy, and he snaps more from exhaustion than real concern. He hopes.

“Relax.” St. John’s voice sounds wide-awake, and Bobby honestly does not want to think about what St. John’s doing that alert at this hour. Or yeah, he really does, but not now. No, definitely not now. Later, in the shower, with soap, would a much better time.

“Relax this,” and he doesn’t even have to try hard. Doesn’t really have to try at all. Just one small breath and --

“You froze my fire. I can’t believe you froze my fucking fire.”

“Believe it.”

John won't stop playing with his lighter. Bobby can't stop staring at Johnny - or freezing their bedroom by accident. Wackiness ensues. Bobby and John are such boys in this story, and it's funny and sweet and sexy.

(While he doesn't appear anywhere in this series, I can never read it without imagining that the Professor is sitting in his office overhearing Bobby's thoughts through all this and facepalming in an epic fashion. I think this is probably just me, though.)

Freeze Out

Applying Heat

Liquify

Melt

Flux

Mercury Rising

Summary: Jean and Scott learn just how fragile the world can be.

You know, a miscarriage--the loss of a child in which no one is to blame--can kill a woman's soul.

Jean knows.

She knows the thin line a woman walks, the one between hating and loving herself, remembering and letting go, guilt and absolution. Jean has tucked it all inside of her, folded the shadow of the burgeoning mass of cells deep within her psyche as a flower pulls its petals in at night.

I love the language and the structure of this story. It offers a painful insight into Jean and Scott as they try to put their lives and their relationship back together.

Thinner

I like the energy the background adds to this fun cartoon of Toad.


T.O.A.D. by ~Batteria on deviantART