#next to jean is probably bobby and hank

[ffverr]

Summer of 69', graduated, but none of them want to go home for break so they took advantage of Xavier's tennis court.

*Intense challengers music starts playing*

Close ups!

[altoace]

✨Guess who just read X-Men: Children of the Atom (1999)?✨

Here’s some incorrect quotes for these dumb children that I adore.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

*in the Danger Room*

Bobby: Is anyone else scared?

Scott: Not really. I’ve already lived longer than I expected.

— — — — —

Jean: We call that a traumatic event!

Hank, turning to Scott: Not a “Yikes” moment!

Hank, turning to Warren: Or a “Major L”!

Hank, turning to Bobby: Or an “Ooph lmao”!

— — — — —

Warren: How much sleep did you get?

Scott: Like eight.

Warren: Hours?

Scott: Minutes.

— — — — —

Warren: Scott, I don’t know to tell you this, but you’re in love with me.

Scott: I am?

Scott:

Scott: Oh my god, I am!

Hank: What kind of confession am I witnessing?

— — — — —

Scott: Due to personal reasons, I will be sinking to the bottom of the ocean in a large metal box.

Bobby: Warren said “I love you” and you said “Thank you”, didn’t you?

Scott: The reasons are pERSONAL!

— — — — —

Jean: I can’t believe you’re training today, Scott. Why aren’t you in bed?

Scott, with his voice clearly gone: I feel fine.

Bobby: That’s what we’re going to put on his gravestone. “He felt fine”.

— — — — —

Magneto: I will spare you misguided children if you are able to answer these riddles. He who makes me doesn’t want me. He who buys me doesn’t need me. He who uses me doesn’t care. What am I?

Scott: A child!

Magneto: Jesus Christ that’s dark. Are you okay? Do you need a heart-to-heart talk about this?

— — — — —

Warren: Okay, here’s the plan. First, we set off the fire alarms—

Hank: Warren, we can’t set off an alarm if there’s no fire; we’ll get in trouble!

Warren: Okay, fine. First, we’ll start a fire—

— — — — —

Warren: Do you ever get that feeling when you look at someone and your heart skips a beat?

Scott: That’s called arrhythmia.

Warren: I get that feeling every time I see you—

Scott: You can die from that.

Warren: I know you’re smart, but can you please stop for one second?

— — — — —

Scott: What do you even see in me…?

Warren: You should sit down.

Warren: {takes out an endless list}

Scott: Wha—

Warren: Let’s begin from the first time I saw your eyes (read: glasses) glimmering while you sat next to the class’s window—

— — — — —

Hank: So Jean! Our dear friend and teammate!

Bobby: We just wanted to remind you of how much you love us!

Warren: And how boring your life would be without us!

Jean, completely done: What did you do?

— — — — —

Warren: We’re just…

Scott: Working!

Warren: Yes! We were just working…together…independently…

Jean: So. You two work without your clothes on?

— — — — —

Bobby: We could be killed!

Warren: Or worse, the professor could give us another lecture on “responsibility”!

— — — — —

Warren: I have an idea.

Jean: A good one?

Warren: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

— — — — —

Scott: Oh wow, this computer is huge.

Warren: Yeah, almost as big as my dic—

Scott: What?

Warren: —tionary…

— — — — —

Hank: What’s wrong with you?

Scott: Off the top of my head, I’d say low self-esteem, a lack of paternal affection, and a genetic predisposition for anxiety and depression.

— — — — —

Bobby: If I cut off my foot and, like, swing it at you, am I kicking you or hitting you?

Hank: You’ll most likely mentally scar me more than anything.

— — — — —

Warren: {flirts with Scott}

Scott: {flirts back}

Warren: Well, I wasn’t prepared for this outcome.

— — — — —

Xavier: What could be giving you anxiety?

Scott: Umm, let’s see. Every aspect of my life.

— — — — —

Jean: You have no idea how to show affection to anyone!

Scott: That is not true! I hugged Warren once!

Jean: That was a chokehold!

Scott: Same thing!

— — — — —

*after Xavier takes him in*

Scott: Mental health? Zero.

Scott: Am I okay? No.

Scott: Will I be okay tomorrow? Probably not.

Scott: Hotel? Trivago.

— — — — —

Warren, talking to Bobby: My sexuality is more complex, you see. It’s a spectrum.

Scott: {smiles at him from across the room}

Warren: Gay, I’m fucking gay.

— — — — —

Hank, telepathically to Jean: He’s in the kitchen again.

Warren: “Beat three eggs” in what? Hand to hand combat??

Jean: Get him out!

— — — — —

Scott: I like you how I like my emotions.

Warren: Explain?

Scott, whispering in his ear: Buried deep inside me.

— — — — —

Scott: Life keeps fucking me, and I can’t remember the safe word.

— — — — —

Bobby: {holds up rock covered in painted pride flags} Wanna throw this through a homophobe’s window?

Scott: I’m down, but heads up I might fall asleep halfway through. I’m barely awake right now.

— — — — —

Scott: There’s a tiger painted here. It’s got a fierce look on its face, as if to say, “Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here.”

Scott: Don’t worry, Mr. Tiger. Hope and I haven’t been on speaking terms for a while now.

— — — — —

Scott: Have you ever been handcuffed before?

Warren: Wait, sexually? Or by law enforcement?

— — — — —

Scott: I get really nervous when Warren compliments me. Sometimes, I really don’t know what to say.

*later*

Warren: You look beautiful today.

Scott, panicking: Happy Birthday—

— — — — —

Hank: Please, that is utter terminological inexactitude.

The rest of the o5:

Hank: {sighs} That’s bullshit, fuckers.

— — — — —

Jean: How many times do I need to tell you guys this? Pick up any trash you find and don’t leave it lying around! It’s not that hard!

Warren: There’s no need to talk about Bobby like that; he’s right here.

Bobby:

Jean and Hank: Warren, no—

Scott: Geez, Jean, you could’ve just asked me to leave and I would’ve.

Jean and Hank: SCOTT, NO—

— — — — —

Warren: You’re pretty cute when you’re nice.

Scott: What am I when I’m not nice?

Warren: Hot as fuck.

— — — — —

Warren: Hey, remember that time I accidentally walked around telling everyone I got a hentai tattoo instead of a henna tattoo?

Bobby: You mean the best day of my life?

Bobby: I recall.

[the-unspeakable-tsar]

X-Manson Annotated Chapter One

Hello, I've tried these other places. And I've tried it on here. I'm trying to find anyone who has any thoughts on this. X-Manson was a fanfiction written for the X-Men fandom in 2000 by Doctor Benway. I'm trying to uncover all of its secrets so if you can, please help me. This will be the shortest annotation page because this chapter is the shortest, i'll probably break up the next into multiple chunks. If you have any thoughts please message me, comment on, or reblog with your thoughts and I will reblog it in turn.

The she of this is Kitty Pryde. I don't know how old she's meant to be here. As of this moment, this little slice of the present. She has been on the run for ten years (probably).

The Balding Emaciated Man is #ScottSummers, one of the "Oriental" women is Betsy Braddock and the other, I cannot identify, but I speculate one is probably Jubilee or Karma. One of the other women is confirmed to be Jean Grey.

(The story Vanderbylt was sold by Xavier is true to comics Xavier. Xavier is directly descended from the Graymalkin family who are dutch in origin. Though, here Xavier's history is a mystery. That's a rhyme, so you know it's fun.

The Roster Stands at seven by Miss Grundy's count:

Charles Xavier

Logan

Bobby Drake

Hank McCoy

Scott Summers

Warren WorthingtonIII

Jean Grey

I think she is exaggerating about the nature of her being manipulated psychically by Xavier. Pay attention to the Pate Line.

Another reference to Tangiers.

(Erich, the more correct spelling of Erik. He has this name because it was written in 2000 before Magneto was given the name Max Eisenhardt. We see Tangiers again. Why was holocaust survivor Gabrielle Haller in Morocco? Cain Marko is referenced here, which is odd. Any thoughts on that?)

(Warning if you haven't read it yet, there is a description of S.A. This presents a darker version of the conception of David Haller.)

(I have no idea who Georg is, i googled his name and I was presented with Jörg Haider, former leader of the Freedom Party of Austria.)

Anti-Zionist Magneto

Worldbuilding shows how Erich Lehnsherr has changed the world by existing within it.

[roguestorm]

thanks for answering! now i’m curious to know what your x-men age headcanons are, if you don’t mind sharing

Of course! These are headcanons, and there are places in canon where they won't work super well - that's just the nature of the beast. This is also going to exclude time travel stuff and deaths and so on, since those are specific to every character.

The Originals

Scott, Warren, Hank, Bobby, and Jean are all approximately the same age, with not quite 2 years between the oldest (Hank) and the youngest (Bobby).

If we assume Scott's in the middle of that age range, he'd be 16 in X-Men #1, late 20s in X-Factor in the mid-80s, early 30s in the 90s, probably 40 by Utopia in the 2010s. Krakoa probably happens about 30 years after the founding of the X-Men, but we can say that their pod duplicate bodies are younger or age more slowly or whatever we want to say.

Charles has a truly astonishing amount of backstory, so I'm gonna say he's like mid-30s by the time he's founding the X-Men. He's a full-grown adult, 20 years older than Scott.

Alex is 4 or 5 years younger than Scott, and Lorna's probably a couple of years older than Alex.

Uncanny characters

Ororo is 5 or 6 years older than Scott. I like this because it's a significant amount at the beginning of their relationship (when Scott is early twenties and Ororo is late twenties) but basically becomes irrelevant as they go on.

Sean is old for the team. He's about 15 years older than Scott, not quite as old as Charles but definitely closer in age to Charles than anyone else on the team.

Logan is Logan.

I have no strong opinions on Kurt's age? He's probably on the younger side.

Emma is about 10 years older than Scott. I feel this in my soul.

Rogue is pretty significantly younger; she's a teenager when she joins the team. Let's say 10 years younger than Scott, although that runs into problems with the next group, since she is definitely older than Kitty.

Betsy is a pain to get an age for because she and Brian are twins who have never once been written as the same age. Brian seems to be about Scott's age and Betsy seems to be about Rogue's age, which is not how twins work. You can go with either, really.

New mutants (+ Kitty and Jubes and some others)

Kitty, Jubilee, Rahne, Doug, and Roberto are all approximately the same age.

Dani and Sam are a couple years older, and Xuan is fully 6 years older. Rachel and Rictor are approximately the same age as Dani. Piotr is famously 4 years older than Kitty.

Kitty and co are a problem because they should be about 10 years younger than Scott based on ages when they're introduced. However, comics hate aging characters up, and while Scott can plausibly be 40 at Utopia, there's no way that Kitty and Jubilee are 30 at the time.

Seriously, the ages for these characters are impossible to square with the idea that people actually age, so if you wanna make them consistently 10 years younger than Scott, you have to make Scott closer to 33 during Utopia. Which I don't personally like.

It kinda depends what you're thinking about ages for and which era you care about and so on. 15 years younger than Scott is a good starting place and then move it up or down as makes sense to you.

This is the general frame I work with and then I'll try to fit other characters into it. There is no way to make it all make sense, but I try to, and this is usually my starting place.

[positivelybeastly]

💋 [Okay their Xavier/Young Days because I feel there could be a saga of Shenanigans here]

It's probably not the kind of cross-pollination between classes that Xavier had intended, if indeed that had ever been the plan.

After the game of spin-the-bottle had died down (mostly once Carmine had been threatened that he would be the one dying down if he didn't just shut up about it), Hank had turned quiet - which, in reality, just meant he swapped his ten dollar vocabulary for a five dollar one - before suggesting that the Special Class had made him welcome, so why not have the First Class do the same for them?

They had all pretty much waved it off - that would mean hanging around Guinness World Record level buzzkill Scott Summers, to say nothing of infinitely annoying Bobby Drake, literal airhead Warren Worthington the Third, far too perfect to be true Jean Grey, and . . .

Well, yeah, Hank was fine. He didn't know how to shut up, was the opinion of the Special Class, but he was fine. He was probably just a blunt away from being okay, even.

But whatever, a repeat of what had just happened was not on their dance cards - save for Tess, oddly enough. She took him up on his offer, said it was so she could see how the other half lived, and gave Hank a spectacularly unimpressed look when he'd protested that they weren't the other half, they were all equals, they just had different -

All right, he'd stopped pretty quickly there, she looked like she might punch him.

But regardless, plans had been made. Coffee A Go Go, 3PM next Tuesday. Does that sound agreeable? Sure. Great. Excellent. Cool. Buzz off, McCoy.

Tess had been a little late, naturally. Naturally. Mostly so she could judge their reactions when she did turn up. Scott had looked annoyed, his scrawny features and predisposition to squinting and making intense eye movements making for the kind of reception that had Tess wanting to tell him to shove it. But Jean had done her best to be polite and nice, and Hank had sprung up to try and pull her chair out for her - the operative word being tried because like fuck was she letting him do that - while Bobby and Warren just sort of stared.

A girl. One who wasn't Jean.

One who was . . . kinda . . . cool?

Oh, that was just the actual worst eventuality, wasn't it? Because now Tess had to deal with Hank trying to be normal in one ear, Scott and Jean pretending that they didn't want to dip wicks in the other, and right in her face were a child (and yes, Bobby Drake was a goddamn child) and a pretty boy practically pawing at her. Bobby was the worst, actually, mostly because he kept trying - and the word was trying, almost as if his heart wasn't in it but he felt like he had to - and kept just making an idiot of himself. It was sort of charming? In an, I would put a bullet in you to help you stop your suffering, sort of way.

And then, naturally, things had gotten worse, because Hank had neglected to mention the beat poetry filling the coffee shop from the little stage in the corner.

"A dozen eggs, feel you're always scramblin', bag of macaroni, days like crazy pavin',

New pocket mirror, oh so humblin', pack of cigs, satisfy that cravin',

Shopping list of a housewife, take a look, ain't this the life - "

Tess fixed Hank with a look, and he just sort of. Pressed his lips together and pretended to drink from his coffee cup, briefly wondering if he should just tip the scalding hot liquid over himself to escape this self-made hell. Oil and water really should not mix -

"Hey, so, Tess, is it true you kissed our boy Beast here?" Warren quirks a perfectly plucked eyebrow at her, and suddenly the entire table is staring at her, except for Hank, who's just staring directly forward. Probably dissociating. She's a little envious.

"Yeah."

Bobby positively shrieks with laughter. Okay, yeah, there's definitely something going on with slushy over there, he's acting weird about this, though everyone else seems not to have noticed. She idly wonders how long it'll take. Probably too long.

"Hank?! Seriously, you kissed Hank? Naw, there's no way - what did he taste of, ink and hot air? There's no way, just no way - "

And if she's honest, it's a really dumb way to navigate her way out of the situation, but it. Kinda works? She reaches over, grabs Hank by the lapels of his dorky ass suit (all the guys in the First Class wear them, for whatever weird reason), and kisses him.

Again.

For the second time in two days.

Seriously, the fuck is their life? The fuck is their life that this has felt like the most normal part of having superpowers, kissing dorks and making Bobby Drake look like he's about to piss himself?

Eh. Could be worse, she supposes.

At least it means she gets to slap a punchdrunk looking Hank on the shoulder, tell the table that that's about all she's got time for, and leave before anyone can try to talk to her about it.

He tasted like coffee. No fucking duh, Drake. Why does everyone always think kisses let you taste people's souls and not just what they last ate or drank?

Hank thought she tasted just plain confusing.

[alyssacat013]

I’ve now watched up to episode 6 of Twin Peaks season 2 and I realized I still have like 16 episodes to go and it makes me so happy. I miss when tv shows used to have proper seasons, now the most you get is like 10 episodes. But anyway back to the show, first things is I’m glad that Audrey is now back safe and Cooper found her letter, I was getting very stressed about that. The next big thing is that now we kinda know who/what Mike and Bob are. So, Mike said he was an inhabiting spirit and that Bob was his familiar. Still not totally sure what that means like is he a ghost or some other kind of supernatural entity. Also, why is Bob doing this and why do these spirits come to earth is it just because. I guess we’ll find out in the later episodes.

Also, we got the big reveal that Bob is hiding out in the Great Northern Hotel and I guess that means he’s the one who shot Cooper but idk. It also seems like he can disguise himself and that only a few can see his true face.

Another storyline we’ve been dealing with is Josie and it seems she’s part of some crime organization or family in Hong Kong and she’s now gone back with them. I wonder what else we will see of her. That scene where Truman was repeating that he loved her and she walked away was so sad.

Also, we’ve got Donna’s storyline with Harold. I hope that somehow she’s able to get Laura’s diary from him and I’m very curious what’s in it and why she gave it to him in the first place. Also, we had some relationship drama between Donna and James, but it seems that they’ve made up now. Also, I think now that Donna’s personality change wasn’t an outside influence but maybe just some insecurity she had and that she was trying to be like Laura because I think she knows that some part of James still loves Laura. And we saw that with how he looked at Maddy sometimes because she looks like Laura. Also, sad that Maddy said she’s going, but I think something may prevent her from being able to leave. Also, I’m curious why she keeps having visions of Bob, does that mean he’s coming for her next.

We know from the first season that in Cooper’s dream I think it was that Mike said Bob was going to kill again and his victims seem to be only young women. And if Maddy looks like Laura he maybe interested in her too like he was Laura, but maybe not.

Also, we have the storyline between Shelly, Bobby, and Leo going on. I’m gonna be honest and say this is probably the storyline I like the least. It’s just not that interesting to me and doesn’t have that much connection to the main storyline. Although I do think that Leo is going to wake up and things may get interesting then but I’m worried what he’ll do to Shelly when he wakes up.

Then we have this whole thing with Jean Renault wanting revenge on Cooper and also he’s now taken Hank hostage, so I’m wondering what we’ll do with that. We also have that Nadine has woken up from her coma and now thinks she’s 18 again and back in high school, not sure where that storyline is going yet. Then we have Leland who was arrested for the murdered of Jacques and I’m not sure how accurate that whole court thing was with the judge, like is that how it works in small towns and is the judge just allowed to let Leland go free like that. Anyway, hope he doesn’t go to prison for it. Lastly we have Ben Horne and this Japanese man that wants to do business with him and again not sure where or what this storyline is about yet.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for season 2 so far, will update again after a few more episodes.

[racefortheironthrone]

One wonders how the X-Men would have turned out if Jean was put next to Jason Todd, Bucky Barnes, and Uncle Ben as "comics characters never brought back to life..." which, granted, actually would mean, "brought back decades later instead of only a few years," since the former 2 have been back for awhile.

This would change the X-line pretty substantially, a lot closer to what Claremont wanted in terms of characters having organic arcs with beginnings, middle, and ends, but with new characters coming in to fill those roles. To take the case of Jean Grey as an example, the idea was that Rachel Summers would become the next Phoenix and take on her mother’s role as the powerhouse psychic on the X-Men. (That didn’t quite happen; it took Claremont a while to figure out what he wanted to do with Rachel and in the process she got shuffled from X-Men to Excalibur by way of the Mojoverse, and instead Psylocke got shifted over from Captain Britain to the X-Men in a bit of a trans-Atlantic echange.) 

Having Jean stay dead would have more significant ripple effects, because it would probably mean that X-Factor wouldn’t happen - Jean’s body being discovered at the bottom of Jamaica Bay was a big inciting incident in the formation of X-Factor, and without Jean coming back from the dead, Scott doesn’t leave Madelyn Pryor, and you’re not going to have a team that’s just Hank, Bobby, and Warren. And if Scott doesn’t leave Madelyn Pryor, then Inferno never happens, and that’s the highwater mark of the later Claremont run that’s completely up in the air. 

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1964

The X-Men, those wacky mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel the tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 3 - 8) - by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Fantastic Four 28

The X-Men’s sophomore year basically serves as a recruitment drive for  Professor Xavier and Magneto: both our heroes and those nefarious villains try to recruit various mutants (The Blob, Namor, Unus the Untouchable), all with absolutely no success.

We also meet Magneto’s home team, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. (Later on, they would drop the ‘evil’, because why would Magneto call himself evil? He believes he’s doing the right thing.) The Brotherhood consists of:

An acrobatic toady;

A white-haired speedster whose entire personality is that he loves his sister;

A fashion victim with nebulously defined disaster powers;

A creepy, sexist illusionist, who is by far the most useful on this squad. He is literally the only reason Magneto briefly conquers a country.

i, too, enjoy towers of mashed potatoes (X-Men 4)

Magneto is fleshed out more: he still remains fabulously extra, but he develops an obsession with owning strongholds and/or land. In this year alone, he owns one island (1), one manor (1) and one asteroid (1). He also briefly takes over the nation of Santo Marco. Magneto also does some astral projection, because magnets can... do... that? (Just go with it.)

he is just so ridiculous <3 (X-Men 7)

magnetic intensity indeed. like toad and rogue, I would fall in love with magneto in a heartbeat (X-Men 5)

While the Toad’s and Mastermind’s loyalty to Magneto is never questioned, Pietro and Wanda, meanwhile, show plenty of reluctance in following the mutant despot. They even help the X-Men once or twice, but ultimately remain loyal to Magneto because he saved Wanda from an angry mob. (The mob is traditionalist rather than racist: They want to burn her because she is a witch, not because she’s a mutant. So it’s fine.) 

However, this year does mark the first appearance of anti-mutants sentiments: a crowd attacks Hank after he saves some kid from a water tower, simply because they suspect he’s a mutant. I always thought it was Claremont who introduced this theme, but apparently, he merely expanded on something Lee started. It also introduces the conflict between Xavier’s views and Magneto’s: the hippie professor believes in peaceful coexistence, the flamboyant villain in the dominance of homo superior.

they were so mean, Warren, they even took my glasses! (X-Men 8)

It’s also the first example of Professor X opening up his home to a villain in an attempt to reform them. The Blob, petty and churlish, refuses, but I have to admit I would read the fuck out of a What If? where the Blob accepts Charles’ offer.

This year also lays a lot ground for the X-Men themselves, fleshing them out. Hank becomes loquacious and smart, Warren reaches peak himbo and Bobby establishes himself as the jokester. Scott, meanwhile, becomes a lot more emo, tormented by his uncontrollable powers and his love for Jean. She also loves him, but neither of them actually does anything about it. In other character development, Jean straightens her hair.

in 2021, I aspire to have the same confidence as Warren goddamn Worthington entering a fucking room (X-Men 4)

Meanwhile, Charles is apparently also crushing hard on Miss Grey. (Which is fortunately dropped and mostly forgotten about, because ick.) That, combined with the fact that almost every male character notes how sexy either Jean or Wanda is, really does show how badly all of this aged. I haven’t really read old Fantastic Four or the Avengers, but I do hope Sue and the Wasp have a trifle more personality than this.

don’t fret, Jean, the only competition you have to worry about is Magneto (X-Men 6)

But! Charles does other weird stuff too! In a shocking display of extreme teaching methods, Professor X pretends to have lost his powers so the X-Men can prove themselves against the Brotherhood in space. Cyclops nearly dies, but despite that, Professor X graduates his X-Men! He then leaves and puts Cyclops in charge. Solid leadership skills all around.

this is just adorable (X-Men 7) 

Oh yeah, the X-Men also fight Namor and the Fantastic Four, and Iceman starts his bromance with the Human Torch. For those keeping track in the future: this is the point where the young X-Men are time-abducted for their All-New X-Men capers. (X-Men #8, to be exact.) Bobby also has an unhealthy obsession with eating icecream.

it’s 1964, do you know where your teen-age mutant hoodlums are? (X-Men 4)

Must reads: X-Men #3, the introduction of the Blob, and X-Men #4, the introduction of the Brotherhood. The rest are all variations on the same themes and... not that great. 

Didn’t you take Art History? This era is characterized by cheesy, cheesy writing and the kind of art that seems better suited to a Disney comic than a superhero epic. Stan Lee tends to overexplain everything we see in the art. Despite Kirby’s style not really being my cup of tea, he does effective work and some of his spreads are actually gorgeous. Check this out.

so… daddy longlegs is not a mutant? (X-Men 3)

Best new character: The Blob. Hear me out.  He is a different kind of villain than most of the villains introduced in this era: he is petty and small-minded, rather than megalomaniacal and dramatic, which makes for a nice change of pace. Then there’s the fact that he looks grotesque and that even the X-Men, who should know better, mock him and body-shame him. (Nice going, calling him ‘fatso’ while he probably even couldn’t lose weight if he tried, because, you know, it’s his mutant power). He is like a foil to the Thing: mean and selfish where the Thing tries to be heroic and rise above his circumstances. The Blob is an unhappy man who does unhappy things; some authors have realized that he’s more than just a fat joke: there’s something inherently cruel about his mutant power.

then again, Fred does call Jean a cute tomato, so maybe he deserves everything the X-Men throw at him (X-Men 3)

Most audacious retcon: Nobody seems to have a grasp on how strong Professor X and Marvel Girl are. One issue, Jean can toss around a crowd of women, the next, she can’t pick up Hank.  Charles seems to be just as strong as the plot demands. 

Ugliest Costume: The Scarlet Witch. Pink and red? O honey, no.

wanda, what is that headpiece (X-Men 4)

[sickstarlight]

quick more detailed fandom list for easy reference:

f!nal f@ntasy 7: comfortable writing anyone in the OG or in cr!sis c0re; not familiar enough with BC, DoC, or adv3nt childr3n

dr@gon ag3: won’t write C*llen, oghr*n or s*las (have written C as whumper and would write h/c with that basis tho). any other companions from the games I can probably write!

m@rvel:

- av3ngers: main characters from m//cu up to TWS (tony+pepper+rhodey; thor+jane+darcy; steve, buck, Sam, tasha, Clint, Bruce)

- x m3n: the o5 (Jean, Scott, Bobby, Warren, hank), charles, erik, wanda+pietro (i only write comics versions of these two not movie versions) (yes I know they’re not xm3n)

- m@rble h0rnets: im comfy writing any of the like Main Characters (tho less familiar with jessica's speech patterns i think?) (i also write both masky and hoodie as did alters bc i love me a semi-canon plurality)

im sure I have more fandoms but I can’t think of anything else that isn’t primarily kids (tho I’ll write the adults from v*ltr*n) or really minor (transistor) or REALLY specific (academy era aos mc/k1rk)

will I make a nice page next time I’m at my laptop? we’ll see

[moonbearmeliox]

X-Men Series Film Review

Welcome back to “Bren rambles about a movie/tv series.” So I just spent the past three days watching the main X-Men movies and while watching I wrote down my thoughts and what came to mind when watching the movies. Spoiler Warning(duh) for the X-Men movies. Also trigger warning because I do talk about homophobia and conversion camps.

X-Men

As the woman is talking about how mutants can be scared to revel themselve because they could be met with hostility and violence, I find this as a parellel to gay marriage and how LGBTQ+ are scared to come out because they won’t be accepted. Mutants are scared to say they’re mutants of fear of being put to death; LGBTQ+ people are scared to come out in fear of being met with violence or judgement(some places you can be put to death for being gay.

“We should decide if parents want their kids to be in school with mutants.” Sounds the same as “Do you want your child to go to the same school as a gay person? Do you want to be in the bathroom with a girl who has a dick?(in the context of conservatives who don’t want transgender people to use the bathrooms they identify with because “their genitals don’t match)”

Speaking of gay: Eric and Charles

Wolverine got anger issues

Wolverine adopting a young girl with mutant powers, how many times is this going to happen? At least twice.

Rouge really got the shortest end of the stick with the mutant gene.

Give Rouge a male love interest that will inevitably die by her hand, that’s what I’m assuming.

Jean Gray is going to be Wolverine’s love interest, calling it now

Mystique’s costume always bugs me because she’s essentially naked. Like, the directors were like “She must wear no clothes.” “That’s not practical-” “Men will eat it up. The sex appeal, yes. Because women can never have practical costume design.”

Scott looks like he’s played by the main dude in the Sonic Movie(I was right!)

Can Magneto bend the iron in people’s bodies?

“You never use your power against another mutant.” How long is that going to last?

Dad Logan is the best Logan.

The Train Splitting scene shows how powerful Magneto is but didn’t Charles tell Wolverine that Magneto can control metal. Wouldn’t Wolverine have the knowledge, “Hey using my METAL claws against a METAL bender might not be a good idea.”

Kinda figured he would want Rouge, a mutant who can literally kill someone with touch is definitely something the big bad would want.

Magento could just metal bend Charles’ wheelchair.

So Magento’s plan is to turn everyone into mutants, right?

Charles explained it more and it sounds like Terragensis from Agents of Shield with the crystals. Some come out of it with powers, others will crumble to dust.

What powers the cortex that makes it so Charles goes into a coma? Like how does the liquid get into his brain for that to happen?

Yes Jean, it is a perfect idea to put the helmet that put Charles into a coma on your head. Nothing will go wrong.

Mystique really only has like five lines in this whole movie. She really is just supposed to be eye candy.

Of course classic shapeshifter double, who’s who scene. Probably going to be resolved with Jean Gray knowing which one is the real Logan.

The fight scene isn’t that well shot but it is 2000 so

I don’t remember there being a big museum when I visited the Statue of Liberty

I doubt Mystique will stay dead.

Again they thought it would be a good idea to send Wolverine, the man with METAL CLAWS to help fight a METAL BENDER.

Nice of Magneto to put Cyclops and Jean right next to each other face to face.(Director: They’re a couple they must face each other so one can kill the other)

Yep, knew Mystique couldn’t stay dead

Why did they try and have Jean and Logan have a weird semi romance set up when Jean is dating Scott

They gave Charles a plastic wheel chair for when he visited Magneto. Ha, that’s funny.

Plastic isn’t that durable, it would be easy to break Magneto out

X2

Nightcrawler!

The fights scenes have improved, but they’re using a lot of wire rigging

Alan Cummings played NightCrawler. Knew he looked familiar.

Let’s have Wolverine follow a wolf even though wolves are wolverine's natural predators.

Watch the president be a mutant

Dad!Logan

Still painting it that Logan and Jean could possibly end up together. No thanks.

I see they didn’t change Mystique’s costume design. Is she going to say more than five lines in this movie?

Government wants to pass an act to detain and control all mutants, goes and raids a school filled with mutants, and then is SURPRISED when the mutants retaliate. “Oh we don’t want to start a war” THEN LEAVE THEM ALONE. Of course they’re not going to leave them alone because what isn’t normal scares them and must be dealt with no matter what.

Getting even more parallels between mutants and LGBTQ+. Striker wanted his son cured of the mutant gene but was ultimately upset when Charles’s school couldn’t do that. It’s similar to how when people come out to their parents, their parents send them to conversion camps to “Cure” them because they think being gay is an illness. 

Bobby don’t get horny, it will only end badly

I asked the question if Magento could bend the iron in people’s blood in the last movie. The answer is yes. Yes he can.

Bobby’s parents “Have you tried not being a mutant.” Gives more LGBTQ parreles “Have you tried being straight?” “Have you tried being your assigned gender?”

An officer shooting a white guy? Unrealistic.

Welp Bad guys and good guys team up to save Charles.

Jean and Logan kissed. Here’s my shocked face. #TeamScott.

But seriously, I hate how the main dude must have romantic interactions with the main girl. It’s never the main dude has romantic interactions with a minor(minior in the sense of not that important to the plot) girl, Storm is right there with no love interest. Pair Logan up with her, that way we aren’t running an already established romance, But nooooo, Hollywood loves to have love triangles.

Mystique changing into Jean, making out with Logan, and then changing into a bunch of different girls makes me uncomfortable.

But again, “All women who have the potential to be a love interest must kiss the main dude” now we wait for Storm to give Logan a smooch.

Female Wolverine!

Magneto had his own secret agenda? Who would have thought?

Bobby’s going to come in clutch with freezing the water

Why does Jean need to go and stop the water? Bobby has control over ice, he can stop it.

Man I really feel bad for Scott. 

But I’m miffed because it’s the classic female character dies to further male character’s development.

Oh look Jean’s alive, not surprise. Is she going to be the villain of X-men 3?

I couldn’t watch X-Men 3 because it wasn’t available on any sites but reading the wiki synopsis I was right on her being a bad guy(MY BOY SCOTT GOT MURDERED!). Upset Charles died but he was old and the mentor figure so he kinda had it coming.  On to the prequels. 

X-Men-First Class

So Charles met Mystique first. And her name is Raven. Wonder what caused their split. I just hope they weren’t romantically involved

Poor Erik, really giving him a tragic backstory

James Macavoy!

Raven and Charles call each other siblings! Oh this is going to hurt more.

Excuse me while I get distracted by Vegas women.

But also did the CIA woman plan to sneak in as a showgirl. Because who would wear lingerie under work clothes unless she planned for this(or planned to get freaky later). I mean it’s Vegas so maybe she was prepared.

Emma Frost is a telepath and can crystalize her body. Not what I was expecting with the last name Frost but I also find it odd that her two mutations don’t intersect with each other. Telepathy and crystallization have nothing in common, so the only explanation is that she got both genes from her parents. It would have to be rare since males are usually the ones to pass the gene to their kids.

Azazel. I’m guessing is Nightcrawler's dad. He and Mystique will get romantically involved and have Nightcrawler. He’ll get the blue skin from his mom but the mutant gene from his dad.

Ok I’m miffed about the costume design again. It’s London and it’s raining and they decided to have Raven and the CIA woman wear SHORTS! They’ll be freezing their asses off all so you can have some leg candy? What’s so appealing about knees? Nothing. It’s always been women’s costume designs that have to be appealing, not practical.

If Charles can’t be involved with Mystique, then he’ll have to get involved with Moira?(I don’t know if I heard her name correctly, the CIA lady). Because all male characters MUST have a romantic love interest(sarcasm)

That one CIA dude, he’s a real one.

So the dude that killed Erik’s mother, is also a mutant. 

How is Erik trending water and controlling metal? Nevermind, he’s drowning

Charles saves Erik! And thus the ship is born. “Erik, you’re not alone.”

Hank Mcoy. They zoomed in on Mystique when he was looking at her. Reading the camera angles...oh please don’t have another romantic set up.

They did the Spiderman/MJ framing with Hank upside down and Mystique very close to his face. Yep, they’re setting up a romance between them that will ultimately go nowhere because again, Mystique will do the do with Azael to get Nightcrawler.

Hank and Mystique have only known each other for like five minutes and they’re already having a picnic on top of a rocket. I hate how romance moves so fast in movies.

And Mystique was going to kiss him. Just...no

Erik, right after he walks in on Hank and Mystique’s picnic: If I looked like you, I wouldn’t change a thing. 

Are they really trying to set up a love triangle between Hank, Mystique and Erik? I know Magneto and Mystique's relationship in the first three movies is close, but that sentence just makes it sound like Erik is jealous.

“Are you sure we can’t shave your head.” “Don’t touch my hair”. I mean he’s going to lose it eventually.

I love the mutant finding montage. Especially the Wolverine cameo

My mom just informed me that the bad bad is played by Kevin Bacon so that’s what I will refer to him as since I can’t remember his name.

These recruited mutants aren’t going to last long. They’ve got the youthful team up energy, they will be the “First Class” hence the name, but we probably won’t see them again after this movie.

Charles, Erik and Moira being disappointed parents. Starting to get a family vibe that we didnt get from the last three movies.

Charles as Erik storms in: I’m sorry, I can’t leave him. They’re gay your honor.

I just realized that Frost is the second right hand woman to have no real costume. She’s just like Mystique where “she must wear the least amount of clothing possible or have no clothing at all when using her powers” I just wish it would stop.

Let’s take the right hand woman who is a telepath with us. What could go wrong?

What is Angel’s motive to go with Bacon, like I don’t get it. And the adaption dude? It’s just a turn on the dime. Nevermind it was a fakeout and one of them died. Knew they weren’t going to last long.

I feel like Chalres trying to shoot Erik as training is foreshadowing.

Training montage

SO Bacon loses Frost and now has Angle as his right hand woman? I honestly didn’t think that necessary.

Welp there goes Mystique and Hank’s relationship. He only liked her when she was in disguise.

Conflicting differences! Finally get to see Erik and Charle’’s view on humans.

Knew it! As soon as Hank dumps Mystique she goes straight to Erik. Because “She MUST be romantically involved.” Why? Why? Can’t she just...not. She doesn’t need a man.

Erik: I want to go to bed. Maybe in a few years. Ha funny.

I get Mystique going to Erik because he accepts her, unlike Hank but again, she doesn’t need to have a love interest.

Suits! But again, miffed about Mystique’s suit not being fully set up. SHE DOESN'T”T NEED TO HAVE HER CLEAVAGE TEASING IF SHE”S GOING TO BE FIGHTING!

Could Charles just stop controlling Bacon, so he can move and Erik wouldn’t have a chance to kill him.

But good cuts between Bacon and Charles.

The boyfriends are fighting!

Oh that’s how he gets parralized. I forgot about that.

Erik really does care for Charles even tho they have different viewpoints

Mystique going with Erik and having Azeal with him is setting up the perfect opportunity for Nightcrawler.

“Gentleman, this is why the CIA is no place for a woman” *Big gigantic crash* That’s what you get for being sexist.

Days of Future Past

So these machines can absorb mutant powers and transfer them to other machines. A new threat.

Oh Charles isn’t dead from being disintegrated by Dark Phoenix

Logan!

Charles confirmed Mystique was like a sister to him.

So Mystique’s dna was the cause of the Sentitnals. I understand that stopping Mystique from shooting the doctor will change that, but also if that doesn’t work they would have to kill Mystique.(which won’t happen because she’s in the next movie.

Charles tells Wolverine that he didn’t have his powers in 1973, but First Class takes place in 1962 where he definitely had his powers. So what happened to Charles that made him lose his powers?

For once the government isn’t targeting mutants

Well one dude from First Class is in this movie, but sadly I can’t remember his name. X-beam guy.

Why is Charles drunk and not parallelized?

Hank still cares for Raven. Guess the love triangle is still a thing

Oh he’s doing the equivalent of mutant heroine to get rid of his powers and walk.

Erik in gay baby jail.

Erik killed JFK?! Why?!

I feel like if Mystique is searching around the office of someone, she should still be disguised as someone so she doesn’t get caught. I get her dropping the disguise to show the audience it’s her and it builds suspense but she would draw less suspicion.

PETER! MY boy!

I love that he talks fast and that’s kinda like a teenager. I don’t know how old he actually is.

“My mom knew a guy who could do that.” They’re not even trying to be subtle here.

Slow mo Peter speed scene! Yes!

Is that all we get of Peter in this movie? I hope not.

JFK WAS A MUTANT?

So Magneto can lift a plane, a submarine, and now a baseball stadium. Why does he need a baseball stadium?

They showed a clip of Peter watching the broadcast and he’s holding a little girl. I’d like to think that’s Wanda.

Everyone’s alive. Yay!

I’ll excuse Jean being alive because time changes and all that. SCOTT! SCOTT”S ALIVE! YES!

Apocalypse

Hey Oscar Issac

Young Scott!

Young Nightcrawler!

Erik went from wanting to kill humans to being a farmer and having a wife and daughter. Still going to end up on the bad side.

Young Jean Gray! Scott and her start out rocky but we know they’re going to end up together.

Knew the wife and kid wasn’t going to last long. Always got to do something that makes Magneto the bad guy

Two birds...one arrow

For this one, I can understand Magneto’s anger

Young Storm was originally on the bad guy’s side.

Scott sees things through literal rose tinted glasses.

I love Kurt.

Scott use to be a rule breaker

At least Storm has a practical costume. 

Also if Erik really wanted to lay low, why did he choose to work at a metal factory.

Pyslocke’s costume isn’t practical. She’s got a boob and butt window. Girl there are so many places you could get stabbed.

PETER!

Charles and Erik always greet each other with old friend

So birdman gets metal armor and the girls get nothing.

Peter slow-mo! This will always be my favorite speedster scene

So the only people that can save the X-Men are Cyclops, Jean Gray, and NightCrawler. Three teenagers with no plan. They got this.

Go Charles! Fighting no matter what.

Logan!

Thankfully most of these characters can’t die.

Pyslocke  and Angel can die but the others all have plot armour

Peter didn’t tell Erik he’s his son. Why?

No not the hair! Apocalypse took Charle’s hair.

Go Peter!

No Peter!

So Charles still has the hair when he’s in Apocalypse's head. Part of me knows it won’t grow back but I hope it does.

Mind fight!

So Erik is on the good guys side until the next movie.

Mystique finally has a good costume design

Dark Phoenix

The dude they got to play Bush doesn't look like Bush

SPACE!

This mission is going to go wrong and the X-men are going to get planned. Thus leading the world going against mutants again.

They gave Scott is own eye cannon, nice

Yea absorbing a solar flare will definitely cause your powers to go way hire

Well the mission didn’t go wrong, the way i thought it would. That’s good.

Charles motives have changed

So, men, supposed gods, robots, and now we’re dealing with aliens

Charles kinda being shown as a bad guy is weird. So used to seeing him have good motives.

The aliens want Jean to use her power to take over earth. Not surprising.

Dad now is not the time to poke the super powered bear

Police always show up at the wrong time

I know Mystique can’t die. This is the prequels

But again, Stop killing female characters to further male character’s development.

Oh there’s Erik. 50 minutes in and i thought we weren’t going to see him

Jean’s got a heat signature with that solar flare so it would be easy to track her.

At least the military decided to fallback instead of shooting

And there goes humans liking mutants. This is why we can’t have nice things.

So Mystique’s death is what sets Erik on being the villain again? It’s the same as a woman losing her husband and becoming a villain for revenge. Honestly I’m tired of love revenge plots.

Guys stop fighting! You’re  friends!

Oh shit! Jean is making Charles walk. And not in the good way.

OH SHIT KURT IS KILLING PEOPLE NOW!

Dark Phoenix. A movie about family.

Legend of the Phoenix. She’ll rise from the ashes.

Bummed Peter wasn’t in this movie more

All in all, Apcolypse is my favorite X-Men movie.

[jeaniegreysummers]

phoenix three || jean, scott & erik

SUMMARY: jean uses the phoenix to bring scott back. she freaks out thinking how to explain this to the others. she finds herself on erik’s doorstep. the three plot a revolution. that’s the jist.

WHEN: the day jean brought scott back from the dead (happy valentine’s day, go visit your father in law)

TRIGGER WARNINGS: grief, death, murder mention, violence

FEATURING: scott summers, erik lehnsherr

JEAN: Emma said Jean lacked control. She said she was bitter, and immature, and that she lacked a true understanding of what was needed to preserve the lives of their people and to push them into the future. Jean agreed with most of that. She died. She missed out on years of her life, spent months in a room filled with nothing but white fire that wasn’t hot to the touch because she was the nuclear bomb in the room, and came back to a world divided and a family split. But Emma was wrong about one thing.

No one had any idea how much Jean kept control.

They would begin to understand, she knew. The truth of what occurred on the Raft would come out, and they would know what she was capable of. They would know that Jean lost it for a single fraction of a moment, and that a wave of her hand extinguished dozens of lives. They would know she allowed them to slap cuffs around her wrists so she would be brought right to the place where she could suffer, and then failed to stay in her self imposed punishment.

They would know, the second they saw Scott by her side, exactly what she did to bring him back. Everyone knew the bird was still there, everyone but Jean. Everyone knew she’d never be rid of it. Now, she knew it too. She knew it, and she still passed it on to one of the people she loved most in the world despite her best intentions to push that affection down so far she couldn’t feel it anymore.

The second Scott slipped on his shades, the moment they caught their breath, she thought about the man she’d fought against, the man she trained with down by the Hudson, the man who came for her when she didn’t even realise she wanted him to come — and Scott knew. He had to. . Jean’s hand shook as she raised it to knock on Erik’s door. Once the sound rang out, she moved back to hold onto Scott’s arm, her other hand already clasping his. The door opened, and Jean could feel the rush of energy, the low simmering threatening to boil over, as they stood.

“I did something,” she said, voice thick but strong, stronger than it had been in over two weeks. She pulled lightly on Scott’s arm, bringing him into the doorframe. “I asked for a favor, Erik, and I …”

How did she start with this? How did she even pretend to be sheepish about the consequences that were sure to follow?

“We need your help.”

ERIK: Ever since he'd realized there were other people like him, other people with gifts, Erik had been terrified of telepaths. His whole life, he'd been trying to get out from the control of others, restraining parts of himself to keep himself alive and sane. The idea of a telepath, of someone getting inside his head, influencing his thoughts, controlling his actions--that was the stuff of nightmares, compliance forced from the inside.

It'd been a relief to find himself resistant to that particular gift, though not immune--certainly not to telepaths of the calibre of Charles and Jean. He'd grown to enjoy their presence in his head, after he finally stopped throwing walls up when it became apparent that they had no desire to be in his head without permission, to do anything but understand.

The Phoenix was different. It wanted control, wanted Erik to lose his own, to yield to those dangerous whispers that had always been in his mind but that the bird amplified and twisted. It was already inside his head, and intent on keeping people he'd found a comfort in, like Charles, out. He could feel things changing, when he'd wake up in the morning, would have the distant sensation that his brain was being quietly shuffled around, searched through, edited oh so quietly.

Like the fear. He couldn't bring himself to be terribly concerned about the Phoenix, now, couldn't hold any thought like that without it slipping away like water through a sieve. Jean had said it was fine. That he'd be safe. He trusted Jean.

They were fine. Him and the bird. If he couldn't quite draw the dividing line, well. No one was asking him to. His apartment had changed, since the Raft--the curtains were drawn constantly, and where paintings had once hung, the wall space was increasingly occupied by various schematics.

The New York City power grid. The United Nations building floor plans--hand drawn on top of what was publically available, thanks to a painstaking day of using the bolts in the walls and the flow of bioelectric traffic to form an accurate mental schematic. A map of all the ways into and out of the island of Manhattan.

War was like chess. He would see that mutantkind did not squander their next move. There was a way to checkmate, and he was getting there. Slowly. Lots of pieces from the other side would be lost, but that was the game.

( They took his kids, his family, his freedom, time and time again, and they would pay in blood. )

He's got a fresh cup of tea steaming on the coffee table in front of him as he regards the images pinned to the opposite wall when the knock comes. The familiar warmth from the other side of the door, the other piece of the same stuff that runs in his veins, now, calls to him and tells him he needn't worry before he even opens it.

But then he sees her face, and concern wells. And then she's tugging something from behind the doorframe, something likewise warm and alive, and Erik feels the world tilt briefly on its axis.

Jean had brought Scott back. The Phoenix had brought Scott back. ( What else could it do? Who else, he thinks selfishly? )

Jean looks like she's worried, but Erik is stepping forward to wrap his arms around both of them in the next moment, squeezing as if he can keep them here, safe, alive, through sheer force of will.

( Can he? )

"I-- anything. You know that. Anything for you. Both of you."

SCOTT: He was alive. The word repeated in his mind over and over again, echoing with each beat of his heart. Alive, alive, alive. It sounded more and more foreign every time, made nonsensical with the repetition. It shouldn’t have felt as strange as it did. He’d done this before, after all, come back from the dead into a world that felt infinitely different than the one he’d left behind, but… this was more distinct. This fire burning in his chest, this strange power that mingled with that familiar anger… It hadn’t been here last time.

And neither had she. Coming back to a world with Jean Grey in it was much better than coming back to one without her, Scott thought. He’d prefer it this way every time, want this more than anything. His hand gripped hers like a lifeline, fingers intertwined with hers as if she was doing what gravity couldn’t and keeping his feet on the ground. He didn’t have to ask her where they were going when she lead him out the door. He didn’t know if it was their psylink, the Phoenix, or simply the fact that he knew her better than he’d ever known anyone, but he knew where they were headed. Part of him wondered if he ought to be surprised by it, but… He wasn’t. Standing outside of Erik’s door after dying in the war Magneto had always warned them was coming… It made sense.

He was quiet as Jean spoke, uncertain as he stood just out of sight. Jean wouldn’t have brought him here if she didn't want Erik to know he was alive, but Scott was still hesitant. There was a lot of explaining to do with his resurrection, a lot of things he wasn’t sure he was allowed to say. But Erik would understand. He could feel the power burning in Erik, matching that fire in his own chest. Jean had said a piece of the bird went into him, too, and that probably made Magneto one of the only two people alive who knew what was in Scott’s head now. That scared him less than he’d thought it might. . Scott ducked his head as Jean pulled him into view, looking almost sheepish at Erik’s wide eyes. Scott opened his mouth, ready to say something (and the only thing that came to mind was hi, which was, all things considered, incredibly anticlimactic), but he didn’t get the words out before Erik’s arms were around them both. Scott relaxed into his grip, feeling suddenly less tense, like something had been unwound, like a screw had been untightened allowing him to loosen up just a little. “It’s good to see you, Erik,” he offered quietly. He wanted to say more, wanted to say you were right, wanted to say I’m sorry I wasted so much time fighting you, wanted to say I understand it now, but he couldn’t quite find the words for it.

Glancing to Jean, he nodded. “They don’t know yet,” he said, and he didn’t have to say who they were. The people who’d shot him down in that park, the ones who’d gone on television to frame him as the villain of the story, the one who used his death as an inciting incident to prove just how violent mutants truly were, they didn’t know he was back. He didn’t have to say just how bad things would be when they found out. “When they do…” He trailed off, letting the implication hang. When they knew, things would get worse, for all of them.

JEAN: Growing up, Jean never had a shortage of safe places. Her parents, her siblings, her school and her best friend. Charles and Erik. Scott, when she sat down beside him on that park bench. Warren and Bobby and Hank, always pulling her from the fire when she needed it, watching her back. The older she got, though, the more experience she had with losing that stability. John and Elaine would speak to her only if she pretended to be a different person. Her sister was dead. Jean ripped her old middle school from its foundations, causing damages they were still paying for years later. Annie was hit by that car. Charles, Scott, everyone couldn’t stop Jean from falling on that battlefield, and even as she was lying in Scott’s arms bleeding out she felt entirely, achingly alone.

And Erik had left. The memory of it was still bitter, sharper in her mind than she would ever admit to. Scott knew, of course. The link between them meant that they couldn’t keep secrets if they wanted to, and they never had. Erik had left, and every day since Jean had tried to maintain the initial anger she felt at going downstairs and realising the Institute would be going on without its lifeblood.

They’d found a way to cope, her and Charles and the team they formed, but it would never be the same. Jean said she would never forgive him for that, for changing things from how they were supposed to be, for altering destiny because of his dedication to one never-ending cause.

Sometimes, though, forgiveness came from the strangest places. The fire brought Scott back from the ground, and immediately the only person Jean wanted to tell about it was the man standing in front of her now, the man putting his arms around both of them. Jean found herself buried easily between them, one hand clutching to the back of each of their shirts, breathing in the feeling and wishing that it would never end. . But things always ended. It was what you did between the beginning and the final page that mattered. She knew that now.

Scott’s voice came low beside her, and Jean turned her head only for a moment so she could wipe at her eyes with the heel of her hand. When she met Scott’s gaze through his shades, she was solid once more, or at least could appear that way.

“No one knows,” she continued, turning to meet Erik’s eyes. “I don’t know how to … We’re going to need to explain it. All of this.”

Charles would know before long. He would feel the Phoenix splitting the first time he went to search for Jean’s mind, and he was doing that more often than ever before after Scott’s death. The three of them were tied in this secret now, but there was only so long before the fire burned through the self deception like it always said it would.

She swallowed thickly, one hand going for Scott’s, the other reaching for Erik’s. “Whether Scott is alive or dead, they’re going to come for us,” Jean said. “This is what you were talking about, wasn’t it?” Erik had been claiming humans would come to fight them for years. He had a plan. Jean knew that. She knew she needed that.

ERIK: Scott and Jean were in his arms, and a bit of the world repaired itself. He wondered distantly if Scott had checked his voicemail. If he'd heard the apology that would never be enough, even now that the man is back.

It doesn't matter. Here, in this moment now, the three of them and the shared fire between them are one. They're all in the same boat, now, and Erik had meant his promise to the ghost on the other end of the phone. He would not fail again to keep his people safe. They would not fail.

Erik's hand tightened around Jean's, and his other hand wrapped around Scott's shoulder. "Yes." He'd long ago learned to prepare for the worst when it came to humans. He could say that he told them so, told the world so, but there was no point to that, now.  So instead, he smiled, and there was something angry and cold in that baring of teeth, even as warmth towards the two of them is practically shining from him.

It would be unsettling to him, too, if he could think about it. . "Let me show you. I just finished putting on a kettle."

He opened the door, released his hold on the two of them, and stepped aside to let them come in. Two metal teacups and saucers flew across the room to join his on the coffee table, the kettle lifting to fill each. At the same time, Erik melted the metal edging of the doorframe down over the door, sealing it far more securely than a deadbolt ever would.

The Phoenix made splitting his powers to focus on different tasks child's play.

"The things on the wall are for... later. We can talk about that. But we need to plan for breaking the news about Scott. About us." He settled into one of his armchairs, stretched his legs out in front of him, and waved a hand to turn down the music drifting through the apartment.

"The humans used your death to inspire fear. Your resurrection should terrify them. Mutants are holding their breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop, one way or the other. You've always been well-liked, Scott. Those who've found me too militaristic still respected you. I've been warning of war for years. You have the ground to tell them that it is here and that we must fight it."

They needed to break news about the Phoenix, too, at least to certain people, but that was going to be a far trickier conversation. Jean didn't know about the... difficultly reached equilibrium he and the bird were slowly coming to.

He didn't especially want to talk about it.

SCOTT: When he’d died, he’d died angry. Rage had flowed through him like fire through his veins, ignited at the sight of children with guns pointed in their faces, unquenchable even as the blood filled his lungs and drowned him on solid ground. The anger had not died when he had, hadn’t left him during his brief exit from the mortal plane. Scott was still angry. There was still fire in his veins, even if that fire was a little more literal than it had been when he was sputtering and wheezing in the grass, begging Logan to kill him.

The people standing with him now, they understood that fire. They understood him, maybe better than anyone else ever had. Scott had tried all his life to be like Charles, had fought to be optimistic, to believe in a resolution that would find humans and mutants living side by side in peace. He’d tried, but he’d never succeeded. Not really. Deep down, he’d always been a little too much like Erik. He’d always been a little too angry, a little too ready for a war. Nathaniel Essex had seen that. So had Jack Winters. So had Erik himself. And maybe Charles had, too. Maybe the only one who was only just now realizing the inevitability of this partnership was Scott.

His eyes darted from Jean to Erik, and the discussion of his recent death didn’t bother him the way it probably should have. It felt senseless mourning a death that had already been undone. (Or, he told himself it did. If his heart continued to pound, if his chest ached with wounds already healed, no one had to know it but Scott. He was allowed to be senseless in the privacy of his own mind.) What mattered now was what came next. That was where his focus needed to be, what he needed to keep his eyes on as they moved forward. They needed to come up with a plan. They needed to find a way to keep what had happened to Scott from happening to anyone else.

They needed to save their people. . Nodding as Erik spoke, Scott trailed behind the older man, following him into the entryway. He felt the door shift behind him, knew that Erik had locked it in the way only he could. Not long ago, that might have made him nervous. Now, it was a comfort. Erik was not his enemy --- he never had been.

His eyes settled on Erik’s, and that familiar anger burned in his chest. The people who’d killed him had used his death. They weren’t hiding what they’d done --- they wanted people to know. They wanted people to be afraid.

Scott could make people afraid, too.

That was what Erik was asking of him, he knew. And it was a good plan. Their people were already angry. Their people already wanted to fight. All they needed to do was organize them. Good people would fight where they were needed, would do what was necessary. All they had to give them was a little direction. “I’ll make a statement,” Scott said, speaking for the first time since the discussion of the plan began. “In the Bugle. They’ll publish anything that sells papers and…” He trailed off, smiling tightly. “This will sell.”

JEAN: She walked into the apartment slowly, sticking close to Scott’s side until, paradoxically, the door was bolted closed and Jean felt some of the tension loosen itself from between her shoulder blades. Logically, she knew trusting Erik was a mistake. He’d burned her once before — but did that compare, she wondered, to the hundreds of times he had the opportunity to but hadn’t. At any stage down the line, especially in the early days when they were teenagers going against a man who had refined his powers for decades, they could’ve been knocked out of commission. Jean and Scott in particular were tested by Magneto, but never significantly harmed.

Now, she couldn’t help but wonder if their faces had ever been tacked to a board like this, if that overwhelming focus from one of the most feared mutants in the world was less about tactics and more about him knowing that one day, they would arrive on his doorstep and they would be having this conversation. Was that manipulation, or foresight? At this point, Jean wasn’t even sure if she cared.

Erik moved the kettle to pour out some tea, and it was only then that Jean realised she’d never been in this place before. It didn’t feel that way, not with Scott and Erik talking, not with the easy familiarity of a cat she’d never seen jumping up onto the arm of the couch to rub its head against Jean’s hand. She scratched behind its ears, whispering, “Hi,” softly to it as Erik and Scott spoke, before turning her attention back to the board.

He said not to worry now. He said to think of it later. But Jean’s eyes narrowed nonetheless, her attention flickering from photo to schematic, piecing it together. It was easy, relatively speaking — she’d always had a special understanding with Erik, and under the fire and anger she knew she was intelligent. She also knew this was something she had to expect. . “You think telling people about us is a good idea?” Jean asked, turning from the board to look back at Erik, a frown remaining on her face. “In my experience, people don’t react particularly well. They never … they thought it made me angry. They thought it turned me into something else. We bring the flames out into the open, and we’re allowing everyone to start shooting at us instead of the enemy.” Calling them revolutionaries, doubting their sanity, thinking their emotions were taking over when they should be impartial. Jean had seen it all before, and she doubted it would be any different for Erik and Scott than it was for her.

It was selfish to be grateful for the fact she was no longer alone in this. It was selfish, but this past month had proven Jean was pretty firmly in that camp already.

Fifteen years ago, Jean finally managed to pin down why, exactly, she loved Scott Summers, why she admired him, why she wanted him to look at her more than she wanted anything else in the world. That list of reasons had only grown over the past decade, but in the beginning, one of the main reasons was that he didn’t speak unless he had something to say. He weighed up his options. He spent most of the time in the safety of his own mind, ticking things over until he was ready to put his thoughts out into the world.

When he agreed with Erik, Jean looked over at him, keeping his gaze for a long moment. Her heart was pounding loud in her chest, there was a creeping dread in her gut, but there was no other option. There was no turning back.

She lifted her hand, causing one of the cups of tea to come towards her. As soon as it was in her hand, she settled down in one of the chairs, crossing her legs as she settled back. “Glad you two are getting along,” she commented, taking a sip. “I don’t think everyone else will be so easy to convince.”

ERIK: Erik was a selfish man.

His entire life, he'd wanted only one thing: safety. For himself, for his family, for his people. He was infamous for his singular focus on his goals, and there was no denying that he would--that he had--run over the desires of those very same people he wanted to protect in that pursuit.

Charles' peace. Jean's stability. Lorna's family.

Each had been sacrificed at the altar of his own goals. And despite the pain of doing so, he didn't regret it. He was sorry for the damage caused, but he would not apologize for the things he'd done, would do them again in a heartbeat.

When he'd left, he'd hoped that Jean would come after him. He knew she shouldn't, knew that she was better off with Charles, with a man who could give her all of the attention she deserved without reserve, who could teach her how to navigate her powers in a way that Erik couldn't. He knew that she was safer in the Institute.

He also knew she wasn't content to stay inside the bubble of safety, which meant that he needed to make the requisite arrangements. His fights with the X-Men had always been carefully considered, a mental calculus of how far he could push the children, how much damage he could do without putting them in true danger but still get them to push their powers. It was manipulation, put simply.

But one day, they would be facing people who didn't hold back like he did. . And perhaps he'd hoped that on that day, they would know what side they belonged on. Who was right. Despite the reasoning, despite what had brought them there, Erik was selfishly pleased that finally, they were here in his apartment, here and safe at his side and ready to fight the war he'd seen coming for decades.

Jean got what she needed from Charles. Now was the time for Erik to give her what Charles never could.

Her question earned a wry twist to his lips. "Schätzen, they already think I'm angry. Unstable. A warmonger. Growing aware that I have the Phoenix won't make them call me anything different: but it will make the humans as afraid as they ought to have been from the beginning. You're right, it will paint a target on our backs--but we can take it, where others cannot."

Scott agreed with him, and something made Erik certain that in the aftermath of the Park, Scott would find himself agreeing with far more of Erik's ideas than he would have before. ( And if he felt grateful for that, too: well, he was a selfish man. )

Erik took a sip of his tea, watched Mischa stalk over to settle on Scott's lap with a small meow.

"The Brotherhood has had hundreds of mutants coming to the meeting places I indicated in the radio show in the time since the Park. A spike after the Raft, as well--even if the government hasn't released details about what happened, the mutants we freed have been talking about it. Sure, there will be some who refuse to wage the war for survival that has been thrust upon us, but most simply need organization. And they need to see that even those who once advocated peace have realized the futility of peace through words. They need to see that we can form a united front against a common enemy."

He glanced between Scott and Jean, raising a brow. "I'm certainly open if you have any suggestions as to other ways to ensure this united front. The X-Men trust you more than they trust me. If you talk to them..."

SCOTT: They were safe. It was an odd realization to come to, for a number of reasons. Primarily, if you had told Scott years ago that he’d one day find safety in the home of the man he’d spent the better part of his teenage years actively fighting against, there was no part of him that might have believed you. Magneto had been more concept than man back then, too big to be considered a person in any sense. Things had changed over the years. Scott hardly ever even thought of him as Magneto anymore, not even in a fight. No, more often, he was simply Erik. Erik, who Jean loved like a father. Erik, who Scott trusted with the safety of his people even when he didn’t trust him with much else. Erik, who was the only person he’d ever feel confident coming to with something like this.

It wasn’t only the person he’d found safety with who was surprising, of course. Feeling any semblance of safety after something like what had happened in Central Park was laughable. When he’d been laying in that grass, his life bleeding away into his fingertips, Scott had been sure he’d never feel safe again. Safety, he’d thought, tore out the barrel of a gun and ripped through his chest cavity. Safety bubbled up in his throat and pooled into his lungs with every beat of his heart. Safety died when he did.

But he was alive now. And maybe, maybe that safety had been resurrected with him.

And maybe it would not remain alive much longer. (Maybe he wouldn’t, either.) . Jean was right, of course. If Central Park had proven one thing, it was that the Accords had never been designed to protect people like them. The enforcers there had been willing to aim guns at children whose only crimes were anomalies in their DNA they hadn’t chosen, had killed Scott for daring to stand up for them with a flicker of too much anger in his eyes. To them, mutants were threats long before they were people. They were little more than vague concepts, ideas to be squashed. That, Scott thought, was where they had royally fucked up.

People could be killed. It was an easy thing to do, a simple goal to achieve. A bullet here, a blade there, a blunt object swung at the right angle towards a head. People were easy to kill. It was more work keeping them alive, harder to make sure they didn’t die. If the government treated the X-Men as people, they would have made their jobs far easier on themselves, but they didn’t. No, instead, they saw mutantkind as an idea. And an idea was the one thing you could never kill.

“They’ll find out eventually either way,” he pointed out, reaching down to pet Erik’s cat absently as it climbed into his lap. “You might have been able to hide it on the Raft, but now…” He trailed off, shifting in his seat. People might not question how two powerful mutants destroyed a portion of the Raft. That was the kind of thing they could explain away, the sort of thing they could easily pretend was normal. But a man returning from what had been a very public execution? That was a bit harder to smooth over with logic. Unless Scott spent the rest of his life in hiding, people would realize something was up. Those with any sort of knowledge of the Phoenix and its relationship with Jean could make the jump to the correct conclusion with little effort. . Scott’s eyes flickered up to meet Erik’s, and he shifted in his seat. “I won’t ask anyone to fight who isn’t comfortable doing so,” he said. “People who want peace can choose peace, and I’ll fight for them, too. They all deserve to make that decision for themselves. But…” He trailed off, looking to Jean and Erik and back again. “I don’t think we can avoid a fight any longer. They want a war. I don’t see a lot of options that don’t involve giving it to them.”

Talking to the X-Men wasn’t something that would be easy. Just telling them he was alive would be painful, but adding in the fact that he’d joined forces with Erik and the Brotherhood? It complicated and already complex situation. But, just like they deserved the chance to choose peace… They deserved the choice to fight, if they wanted. “I’ll try to broach the topic with some of them,” Scott said, glancing to Jean, “if you think it’s a good idea.”

JEAN: They were talking amongst themselves, and in what was a rather uncharacteristic move, Jean was sitting on the sofa in silence, a cup of tea going cold in her hands and Mischa using her as a stepping stone to move onto Scott’s lap. It was rare that she didn’t attempt to become the centre of attention, even subconsciously. It was something she’d grown used to as the youngest of the Greys, then as the girl that ripped the school from its foundations, as an Omega level telepath at fourteen, as the woman who died and died and died and kept on coming back. There was a reason she clashed so vividly with Emma, after all, why she found herself immediately falling into step with the man beside her who wanted nothing more than to fade into the shadows when he wasn’t leading an army into battle.

She always had something she needed (something she wanted) to say. Jean thought best when she was thinking out loud, even if her domain was within the minds of others, sorting through their memories and working out where they stood, what experiences they were coming from. At this point, though, Jean was just watching the two men in the room beside her and in front of her, eyes flickering between them and back to that board on the wall, and then to the cat stretching out leisurely as if they weren’t discussing war (and how would the cat know? All Mischa knew of this world was that Erik would take care of things, and that was what Jean relied on when she showed up on his doorstep, too).

Taking it all in, turning it over, finally lifting the cool cup of tea to her lips only to find that the flavor was just as potent as it would’ve been boiling. It was the first time she’d had something proper to drink in the past two weeks. Her stomach began to curl as she realised she’d barely eaten in that time, either. . She’d changed, since Scott went down in Central Park. She’d changed since Erik came to her on the Raft, since they worked together to take lives and break collars and free their people, people that Lorna (a child, Erik’s child) had ferried across the border because she refused to step down when something mattered as much as this did.

She’d changed since she was a bitter, lonely little girl desperate for a place with the X-Men, desperate to prove herself, desperate for a father who loved her for what she was instead of what she could’ve been if she just missed out on that one little gene. She’d changed since Scott first met her on that park bench.

She wasn’t sure she liked the change.

Scott shifted beside her, and although her mind was still a thousand miles away, Jean’s hand still went instinctively to his leg, resting there for a moment as if her touch would be enough to ground him in a world void of anchors, void of meaning, void of justice. Jean chewed on the corner of her lip, trying to imagine how Logan would look at her when she said Scott was back, when she told Rogue how she dipped into that power that terrified all of them purely so she could have Scott under her hand again, could feel him breathe deeply beside her in contemplation, could feel as if her feet were on ground again no matter how unstable.

It was only when the room shifted into silence (she wasn’t sure how long they must’ve stood there, both of them, looking at her and looking at each other) that Jean realised Scott asked her a question. She searched his mind and the answer came easily. Talking to the X-Men. Asking them to join her in a war. Taking what Charles said about starting a fight or ending one on her own terms because she wasn’t a child anymore and turning it into a reality. . This was when she made her choice. This was her defining moment. She had no doubt that Erik would do what he thought necessary, knew he’d been doing that all along, but Scott …

Scott was asking what she thought. One word from her and they would leave. One word from her, and the allegiance would be sealed.

She set the cup to the side, pushing herself up off the sofa, hand brushing lightly against Scott’s as she moved. Her hand went to Erik’s shoulder as he sat in one of the chairs, squeezing gently on her way past to stand in front of the board. The plans stretched out before her, and she could touch them. She could feel the electricity under the city, how it called to Erik’s blood. She knew without looking back at Scott that this was something he needed.

War was never comfortable. That explained the feeling deep down in her gut, the feeling that she’d started them all on a path they’d never get off again -- but then again, wasn’t it better than death? Wasn’t anything, anything at all, better than the expanse of darkness or bright, blinding light, better than knowing you were never coming back to make another mistake?

“We’ll talk to them,” she decided, her voice stronger now, pulling from both men’s resolve to steel her own. “They can make their own choices, but we will give them the information.” Jean turned, slowly, and with the distance from the seats she could see both Erik and Scott without turning her head. “The humans won’t get the same luxury. We can’t keep going in circles. It’s time-”

Jean took a breath, and right on cue, she felt the flames in her veins, warmth curling in the palms of her hands that tightened into fists at her sides.

“It’s time to make a change. All of us, together. And those who don’t want to fight … we’ll change things for them, too.”

[xmarksthescott]

ULTIMATE SHIP MEME @psifyre​ sent: Scott/Jean :O

General:

Rate the Ship -   Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | They Have My Fuckin Heart

How long will they last? - lol. scott/jean have been together so on and off but i do think they have the potential to last. i think they can get it right.

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - NJISDF very very fast. scott was like striking feelings on day 1.

How was their first kiss? - probably a little awkward but very sweet. they waited 2 years for it lol

Wedding:

Who proposed? - LMAO scott proposed twice but the time they actually did get married jean proposed

Who is the best man/men? - alex for best man. hank, warren, bobby, cable, etc. for groomsmen

Who is the bridesmaid(s)? - ororo, rachel, rogue, lorna

Who did the most planning? - they def did equal planning together because they’re that couple who did everything together.

Who stressed the most? - scott asdijnfkm. scott was really stressed but also just Stoked

How fancy was the ceremony? -  Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? -  at that time? definitely erik. but literally all the x-men were invited 

Sex:

Who is on top? - they’re p verse

Who is the one to instigate things? - jean usually. but sometimes scott. like 60/40 here.

How healthy is their sex life? -  Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | might try some toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - yeah they’re considerate ok 😔

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - well i guess they have rachel and nate grey.

How many children will they adopt? - does cable count because jean adopted him. 

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - scott

Who is the stricter parent? - scott

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - aijndf both. they tag team parent.

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - jean

Who is the more loved parent? - jean lowkey except cable who has a scott bias

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? jean

Who cried the most at graduation? - ashdjf jean. its jean

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - jean

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? -  jean bc scott can’t cook

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - scott....

Who does the grocery shopping? - scott

How often do they bake desserts? - they bake sometimes but they’re like gross about it where they put flour on the other person’s nose bc they think they’re cute

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - meat

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - scott!

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - jean because she knows scott hauled himself up in the study all day. time 2 air out her workaholic husband.

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidentally while cooking? - HNJAMSD SCOTT

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - jean only because she has tk and its easy. scott tries to be useful and is like “i can dust!”

Who is really against chores? - neither

Who cleans up after the pets? - scott probably

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - neither

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - scott

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - scott

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - jean. scott’s typically too impatient for leisure

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - scott

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - they have matching sweaters and are gross and go all out

What are their goals for the relationship? - to make it work this time around. be open and honest, enjoy the moment now and assume they do have tomorrow. not to put the pedal to the metal and rush everything and just enjoy each other’s company.

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - jean

Who plays the most pranks? - jean

[cyclopticblast]

Burning Down the House

The hardest part of these fights was the endurance more than anything. Running into the fire to help pull people out, trying to fight it wasn’t so hard at hour one. Not so much at hour ten, with screaming muscles, aching joints, and burning lungs all pleading for a long rest. Not so much a sprint as a marathon. 

Despite all of that, Scott was handling this all admirably well. Unsurprising. He’d always managed better when it all dialed up to 11. There was something about facing a robot several stories tall trying to murder you and your friends, or facing apocalyptic hellfire scouring the earth that was easier to manage and less unsettiling than the quiet of waiting for whatever came next. Here he was calm, steady, focused. In his element. 

Probably, that was something that bore a little bit of uneasy examination. But it was better not to look too long at any of that. It worked, and that was what mattered. Similarly, he did his best to discard the gnawing horror of seeing his own face being the one meting out that hellfire. There was enough else to focus on right now. 

Fires raged the world over. But there was no room to focus on the world, or even the country. Theirs just to protect this California hillside long enough to evacuate the towns in the path of this particular inferno. It was enough to keep them busy. How long he’d been attempting to blast firebreaks into these hillsides, he didn’t know. Between the heat, and the water from Bloodstorm and Iceman’s attempts to keep the flames at bay, the screen on his communicator had stopped working long ago. One more time to be glad that Jean was able to keep them all in telepathic rapport. 

Between a dense steaming fog hung low to the ground, the smoke of the fire, and the cloud cover from the storm above, attempts to place the sun’s position in the sky were hopeless. And then maybe not so much. Brightness peeking through the clouds. Maybe 9 AM? That didn’t seem right. And then...quickly moving towards noon? Scott’s stomach sank. Not the sun at all. ‘We’ve got incom-’ 

Even across an instant rapport, he didn’t manage to get it out before the world whirled and burned and finally came to a stop with a crash that definitely knocked something out of place on the right side of his chest, surroundings suddenly wrong when the world finally stopped spinning. He was a good deal further away from where he had been. “JUST LET IT GO. SOMETHING BETTER COMES NEXT. YOU CAN’T WIN. WE CAN’T WIN. SO IT’S OVER. THIS IS A MERCY.” 

And supposedly it would be that easy. No. It never was, but that didn’t matter. Even if they never won, it didn’t matter. The thought crossed his mind that all of this work may just have been to have to do it all over again, and with more people on the next ledge. But better that than to lay down and die. There was a general echo of agreement across the rapport, even with a few complaints of injuries. A groan of complaint from Jimmy. Let er rip. 

No one could say they didn’t give it their best efforts. But neither could they say that they’d made much impact. His blasts didn’t bother Cyclops even under the best of circumstances, which these definitely weren’t. If anything, he seemed to surge with power after the attack. A nearby tree he tried to fell toppled just fine, but it caused Cyclops little concern. A wave of the hand, and the tree was far more concern for him. Down. 

He missed what downed Bloodstorm and Angel while trying to extricate himself from the branches. Something else was definitely not Hank’s magic which seemed to have some affect for as long as it lasted. 

“ICEMAN, 6-A2!” No answer. But then….when had….? None of them could stand long against the sheer amount of force being unleashed on them. But he felt particularly guilty over missing the fact that Bobby was down...One last try to blast the ground out from under him, but then he wasn’t standing on the ground was he? 

A charge of energy building in the air. Even before he could see it, he could feel it, making his hair stand on edge and the fillings in his teeth sting. And despite himself, for one quiet moment, he closed his eyes against it. 

A long time ago, back when he’d lived in the orphanage, he used to have nightmares about fire. They were nightly affairs.He would hold onto...someone and then they’d fall away into the flame before it came for him. And then one night, he’d dreamt of a girl. And she’d told him not to be afraid of the fire. For reasons he couldn’t understand, he’d listened. It’d just felt right. Except now he was afraid of the fire again. And he didn’t want to look. 

And then across the shared rapport, a sudden outburst from Quire snapped him back to attention (like he’d had any business laying down and giving up anyways) ‘WAIT, RED, DON’-’ Scott wasn’t sure just what it was that Jean wasn’t supposed to do, but she’d paid it lt little mind, dropping the link between the lot of them and blasting Cyclops seemingly with everything she had. His brain stung with the feedback of whatever she’d done, and by the time Scott pulled himself together, both she and Cyclops were gone, bound eastward. “Jean!” No use. She was beyond the range of hearing, but it definitely gave him the motivation to climb the rest of the way out of the tree, despite the clearly wrong way something was grinding in his left shoulder and his right side. 

They couldn’t leave her to face this alone. “Bloodstorm, are you good? We need to get after them. You and me and the rest follo-” “Summers! Earth to Summers!” The last thing he needed right now. “Hold the phone, genius. You go after that thing, you’re setting yourself to be the next thing it latches onto. You ever stop to think about the names of most of the people the Phoenix has grabbed hold of?” 

“I don’t care! She needs backup. We’re not leaving her behind! So you come, or you go, but I’m going after her!” But the interruption had given him a moment to think. He wasn’t even in charge here, why was he the one calling the shots? And still the fires burned, even worse than before. A moment’s hesitation to stop him from running in, guns blazing without a thought. “We split up. The goal’s not to fight Cyclops. We don’t have that kind of firepower. Just to get Marvel Girl and get out. I...Bloodstorm. I know that you two are, and I… but....we need you here. You’re one of the only ones of us that has a chance to get these fires under control. Quentin, call for help.  Call for backup. This might go badly. Wolverine, Next batch of people you lead out of here, carry Iceman along, okay? Keep him safe?”

“Riiiiight, and you run off to the rescue. Idiot. You forget who’s the one person here who’s hosted the Phoenix Force? ” 

“Not gonna dignify that with a response.Just call for help. Angel, are you good? Can you manage both Beast  and I?”

“Always with the field names, like people don’t know who we are still.Yeah, let’s go get our girl.” 

[ohmykkel]

Some Young Scott/Jean Drabble

Scene: The mansion, when the O5 team were still a bunch of hormonal, awkward teenagers under one roof.

“Whatcha doing there, Mr. Summers?”

My eyes widened, and I let my arm fall on my desk from where I’d been propping up my elbow to cover my work. 

“N-nothing.” I felt my face flush hot as Jean came up behind me, peering over my shoulder. I tried not to make it look like I was trying too hard to hide what I’ve been scribbling away at for the past three hours at my desk.

“Yeah? Well, let’s see this ‘nothing.’ The rest of us wondered where you were at lunch. You didn’t show,” she said, moving from behind me and to the side, where she leaned against the adjacent desk with her arms folded over her chest. I stared up at her. She was wearing a cute little bandana as a headband, and her bangs just brushed her eyebrows, and her smile… Wow. “Slim?”

“Uh? Huh? No, it’s… it’s nothing. It wouldn’t interest you,” I said, pulling my gaze away and looking down at my half-covered paper. It was silly. It was nothing. 

“I’ll be the judge of that. Now, come on. What was so interesting on that page that you skipped lunch to work on it?” I saw her tilt her head out of my peripheral vision, her image warped in the curved ruby quartz that made up the side of my glasses. 

“Fine, just… Just don’t laugh,” I said, and reluctantly pulled my arm away to show her what I’d been working on, not meeting her eyes as I fiddled with my pencil in my lap. Jean pushed herself off the desk she’d been bracing herself against and leaned down to see. Her eyebrows knit together as she studied the dots and lines and terrible handwriting, her lips puckered ever so slightly, as her hair fell forward from her shoulder. 

“Is this… What is this, battle formations? Movements?” She reached out and took the paper, and when she did, she saw that it was the top paper on a stack of at least a dozen similar pages. “Whoa. You’ve been busy. But that is what all this is, right?”

“Um, yeah. I just wanna be prepared, y’know? We’ve been practicing the same three formation maneuvers in the Danger Room, and I thought we should have more. Three is a little predictable, I think. So I laid out formations. See, that’s you. MG, for Marvel Girl. Hank is B, for Beast. Bobby is I, Warren is A, and I’m C,” I explained, craning my neck up to see the paper as I pointed out each team member with my index finger. My arm brushed hers as I pulled away, and I felt my face flush again. Dammit. Keep it together, Summers. She’s just a girl. The most beautiful and amazing girl you’ve ever seen in your life. Right there. Wow.

“Huh. That’s pretty cool, actually. But, uh… you might be overdoing the whole field leader role the Professor gave you, y’know. He came up with the other formations, so I’m sure he has more in mind already. He probably just hasn’t taught us them yet,” she said, placing the paper back on top of the stack. 

“Oh.” I stared down at my lap, pencil twisting in my sweaty hands. “I guess you’re right.” There was an awkward silence, passed only by the ticking of the classroom clock. I swallowed, and winced slightly at the sound.

“I’m sure he’d love to see your formation plans, though. These look pretty well thought-out. You should show him,” Jean said quickly, as if saying the words faster now would eliminate the tense silence that had come before.

“No, no. It’s… it’s silly. I was just getting too into it, I guess,” I said, shaking my head as I leaned forward in my seat to grab the top page, starting to crumple it up when I felt my hands lock in place, as if held by some invisible force.

“No, sir. You don’t get to just throw all that away,” Jean said, chuckling softly. “You’re way too quick to put yourself down. I wasn’t kidding, Slim. You should show the Prof. He’d be impressed. I know I am.” I hesitated as the force—Jean’s TK—disappeared, and I lowered the paper, looking up at her again. When she smiled, her eyes smiled, too.

“Y-you think so? I mean, I’ve just got this from the books I’ve read and stuff. And from playing strategy games. It’s not like any of this could be as good as what Professor Xavier can cook up,” I said, waving a hand at the paper I was holding before putting it back down on the desk. Wait, she’s impressed? With me? Wow. Really?

“Sure, Slim. You’re not like… Hank-smart. But no one is Hank-smart. You’re a different kind of smart. You’re a great leader, and you’re learning a lot in a pretty short time period, in my opinion. It’s kinda cool to watch. I think you should lead us in a few of those formations in the next Danger Room sesh,” Jean said, leaning one hand on my desk as she looked down at me. She was so close to me. Her hand, so close to mine. I could feel my heart racing in my chest. She was only a few inches away. I felt like I couldn’t even speak. I felt all hot and my throat closed up. “You alright there? Maybe you should have something to eat, Summers. You did skip lunch, after all.”

“N-no, no. No. I’m good. But yeah. Totally. We should try it. Maybe run a session or two without the Professor so we can show him the formations in action, rather than just this nonsense,” I said, patting the papers in front of me and then placing my pencil neatly to the side of them, trying to ignore how close Jean was. She smelled nice. How do girls smell nice all the time? Is it like, a shampoo thing? I didn’t think she wore perfume. Did she? How could you even tell? Did girls use deodorant, too? Do girls, like, sweat like guys do?

“Well, we should do that sometime.”

“Y-yeah. We should.”

God, wow, she’s so close and she’s so gorgeous. She has freckles across her nose. And on her forehead a bit. And on her chin. That headband really frames her face nicely. Wow. She could be a model, probably. She’s so pretty.

“Anyway, I should go,” she said, jerking a thumb back towards the classroom door and smiling a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Dammit. I’d screwed something up. What did I do? What did I say? 

“Uh, okay.” Dammit!

“Don’t forget to eat something, Slim. Or else we’re gonna have to keep calling you that forever,” Jean said. This time when she smiled, making her way to the door, the smile reached her eyes. Okay, maybe it was fine?

“Right,” I said flatly, staring over my shoulder as she turned around, her back facing me as she walked out the double doors. I kept staring for a few moments, even after the doors had closed behind her. Wow.

[typical-trope]

The Great Wheelchair Contest

Summary: Jean is sick of seeing Professor Xavier run into things due to a lack of proper wheelchair design. She decides to fix it. 

A/N: This was inspired by all the informative rants the wonderful Madneto would post regarding the issue. Note: There are still issues and I know nothing about wheelchairs. It’s meant as lighthearted fun inspired by the electric blue X on the new design. This was the only way I could justify its existence. There are NO SPOILERS for Dark Phoenix unless you count the wheelchair design.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I think we should have a contest.” Jean swung her legs freely as she perched on the kitchen counter with her friends.

“What kind of contest? And get your butt off of there. That’s where food goes.” Ororo gusted an icy breeze at the exposed skin of Jean’s lower back, making the young woman squirm off the marble.

“A drawing contest. The students could design The Professor a new wheelchair.”

“Why does he need one? Is his broken?” Scott had just taken a large bite of his sandwich before he’d asked his question and half masticated food rolled around his mouth. Jean wrinkled in nose in disgust at her boyfriend even as she walked over to sit in his lap.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full. It’s disgusting. And no, it’s not broken, per se. But it’s not right.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with it.” Kurt also had a mouthful of food, which sprayed from his mouth as he gave his input.

“Seriously?” Jean asked, wide eyed as she looked at Jubilee and Ororo for support. “Are manners not a thing in this house?”

“Nope,” Jubilee state, cheeks full of bread.

“Sorry, are we bothering you, Jean?” Ororo asked around her own bite of mac and cheese.

“You know what? That’s it.” Jean stole the turkey sandwich straight from Scott’s hands and took the largest bite she could before attempting to finish her thought.

Right when Hank and the Professor entered.

“Aa ee-ahs ah oo ick ih ah ong ah ihs ai-ah oo ee uh i oo ehp mm”

“Jean Elaine Grey, what do you think you’re doing?” Silence fell over the kitchen as all eyes turned from the disgusted men and back to the chagrined young woman who was having trouble swallowing the tacky mass of food. “Really, I thought you had more class than that. Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Hank shook his head and grabbed a bag of grapes from the fridge before heading out again with the Professor in tow.

Silence reigned for another few seconds before the group burst into laughter at the expense of the red-faced young woman trying to bury head into Scott’s shoulder.

~~~~

“So you never mentioned why you wanted to have the contest. At least not in a way that was intelligible to anyone.” Scott was running his fingers through Jean’s hair as they lay on her bed staring at the ceiling.

“The wheels are completely wrong. Bobby’s been complaining loudly for weeks that the Professor’s chair was nothing like his friend Cody’s chair. And that Cody never ran into tables or walls because of steering issues. The current one is more like a hand jack in a warehouse than an actual chair, which just doesn’t make sense.” Jean sighed as she focused on making the marbles she had dancing above her spin lazily in helixes.

“So you want to have the students draw chair designs for him? What makes you think any of them will know how to make a working wheelchair? Besides, the Professor’s rich. If he wanted a new one, he could just buy it.” Scott tugged on a strand of red as he made his point.

Jean made a sound of acknowledgement as she sent the balls back into their bag on her side table. “Maybe you’re right. I just thought it’d be something fun. Besides, it’s not like the Professor could say no to a present from the students.” Scott huffed a laugh as he turned off the lamp next to him and curled around his girlfriend, ready for sleep.

~~~~~

A week later, a stack of drawings sat on Jean’s desk, varying in talent, ingenuity, complexity, and sense. “Am I too late?” A young girl Jean believed was named Kitty stood at the classroom door with a crumpled piece of paper in her hands.

“For what, sweetie?” Jean beckoned her over to her and held out her hand. The drawing was crude, but it seemed like it wouldn’t be terrible, if tweaked a little. “This is so pretty.”

“I drew a better one, but St. John grabbed it and threw it in the mud, so I had to draw it again.” Kitty had tears in her eyes as she recalled the event. Jean smoothed out the sheet and added it to the pile.

“Don’t worry, this is going to the top of the pile. It’s beautiful, Kitty.” Jean pat the girl’s head and sent her out of the room before leaning back in her chair again.

“So? Did you get any entries?” Ororo and Peter leaned against the doorframe.

“Did you do this?” Jean motioned to the pile next to her to-do box.

“We may have told them you were taking entries, and the winner would get a detention pass from you.” Peter grinned wide at her as he told her the prizes.

Jean groaned and hit her head on the desk as she sent a paperclip his way. “Well, I appreciate the effort, but I have no idea how we’re actually going to vote.”

“How about we choose the top five, then bring them to Hank and Raven to choose the finalist?” Ororo shrugged and sauntered in to look over the choices. “Is this just a box? Who drew this?” She flipped over the paper to try and find a name.

“I think it’s supposed to be a pedestal? That seems even less helpful. How does it move? It doesn’t even have wheels? Oh wait, there are instructions.”

“That’s Luke’s handwriting,” Jean pointed out as she leaned over to look at the instructions.

“Oh no. I love this. It says that Ms. Grey has to float The Professor wherever he wants to go.” Peter doubled over laughing at the thought of Jean being Xavier’s beck and call.

“Stupid,” Jean said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not that funny.”

“I agree with Peter, actually. Imagine just following behind him constantly, hand out guiding down the halls. You’d be like a body guard, but completely useless if he were actually in trouble since you’d have to drop him to protect him.”

“I can control more than one thing at a time,” Jean defended.

“While making sure he doesn’t fly into the wall while you’re looking somewhere else?” Jean’s hand-eye coordination was something she’d been trying to practice for years.

“Whatever, I like this one.” She slid a paper over of an obnoxious hovercraft in gold. “Think Hank could manage it?”

“It has to be gold?”

“That’s the x-men color! He could ride it into battle with us.” Peter obviously supported the idea.

“I thought it was implied that Jean wanted a more subdued chair so it could be an every-day thing.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Peter asked.

What ended up being in the top five was the hover-craft, a hospital chair, a sport’s chair, a chair with a spot light and horn attached to a pole that rose a foot above where the stick figure Professor X’s head was, and a chair that looked similar to his current one, though it had a far more padded back, with a drawing of the back showing a bright blue X that had arrows indicating that it lit up, and had to be the same blue as his eyes.

“I can’t believe we included the hovercraft,” Jean groaned. “I’d been joking.”

“Oh come on, you know Hank would be able to figure it out,” Scott teased as the group made their way to the lab.

“Figure what out?” Beast and Raven were just stepping out of the side hallway. The former was tugging the sleeves of his shirt down while the latter was grinning wide.

“We asked the students to submit ideas for a contest regarding The Professor’s wheelchair. You two get the final say.”

“Why is there an air horn?” Raven asked, taking the papers and flipping through them quickly.

“To get the attention of everyone if they’re in an assembly hall,” Peter casually stated.

“He’s a telepath.” Hank was not amused.

“I told you it wouldn’t get through,” Jubilee poked.

“Why do we get the final say?” Hank questioned as he spread them out on the steel table. “Shouldn’t Charles be the one choosing his chair? And why does he want a new one?”

The group all looked at each other bashfully. Kurt’s tail flicked as he scratched the back of his neck before biting the bullet. “He maybe doesn’t. But we all thought it would be fun for the students to consider ideas.”

“Jean said his current one wasn’t practical.” Ororo threw the leader under the bus with no remorse.

“I built his current one. He’s fine with it.”

“Well, but…” Jean floundered before composing herself and standing tall again. “He’s used to it. That doesn’t mean it’s the best design. Listen, this one may have some flaws, but Bobby knows his shit and Kitty probably took cues from him when drawing it. Look at the back. It’d be far more comfortable than that metal one he’s currently working with. Just consider it.”

~~~~

The students all complimented The Professor on his new chair a month later. Kitty was the proud owner of a detention pass for all of one day. The magazines that disliked Charles Xavier were quick to highlight that while the rest of the team were subjected to distasteful yellow, The Professor was set apart by the narcissistic blue. Some extreme news vloggers stated loudly that it was obvious where to aim.

Of course, most of society quickly learned who designed the frankly restricting chair and thought it was cute how he showed such support for his students’ creativity.

[x-mensirens]

Mindbender drabble if it pleases you

She was draped in Logan's bomber as the rain beat the Xavier Institute's numerous windows. The mission was over, the X-Men were reunited. But to Rogue, it still felt like unfinished business. The man's tattooed face was stained in her mind; crawling over it like spilled ink. The way he'd looked at her after Jean threw him the artifacts... It would keep her up for the next few nights, whether somebody noticed or not. She shut her eyes when lightning illuminated her skin. She hated storms like this, knowing her hair was still wet and curly from the rain, her makeup smeared.

An intrusive memory interrupts the train of thought. This happened more often, ever since she touched Jean after fall sport tryouts. Others' memories and shouting psyches were inserting themselves with alarming frequency. Still, Mesmero's eyes are stuck in her mind. They had bigger things to worry about, she would hold on to this secret for as long as she could.

It was raining when they first met. Scott was crying because he was scared. He missed his mom and dad. He missed Alex. He missed being able to open his eyes without being terrified he killed somebody. But, it was Jean Grey's face who made him feel better. Made him forget. She made his vision perfect, complimenting his red dyed eyesight like nothing else.

Jean Grey. Jean Grey. Jean Grey. Such a masterful telepath back then, Charles was hiding it from herself. She was subconsciously sending telepathic 'love me! love me!' waves (like she needed to) and pushing Scott's obvious affection from her mind's eye. It's an infuriating juxtaposition that Rogue still notices today (Scott's mine, except he's not mine and I don't care, but he belongs to me, and-) that she didn't need to touch her to know.

Her memories are like an annoying commentary to everything she hates.

"Hi, I'm Jean. Jean Grey. What's your name?"

"Rogue?" She's surprised to see the youngest New Recruit standing and watching her in the dim piano room. A cup of shaking tea in his hands. A boy capable of making endless copies of himself, she has to notice he's fearless. She's grateful he called out to her, she almost let a J roll off her tongue too fast, her thoughts drenched in the red head's psyche.

"J-Jaime?" She drawled, causing him to stare at her, curiously. For whatever reason, the scrawny kid wasn't afraid of her. And, he wasn't like Bobby (who wasn't afraid but constantly antagonized her), despite being a kid they got along really well. Rogue had never really been spoken to or treated like one, and at his age she remembers that wasn't what she wanted. Her scowl replaces her introspective look. "What are ya doin' up? Know how late it is?" He only smiles, joining the girl at the window.

"Yeah, couldn't sleep." He tries to make it seem like he isn't scared of thunderstorms. When she hugs herself, he offers the tea. "I made you some. Wolverine taught me how." Rogue half smiled and thought of the man parked at Kitty and Jean's side, in the infirmary just to be on the safe side. Scott was probably there, too. Watching each state of the monitors attached to the telepath. Kurt and Evan are resting, and she was alone.

Jaime tries not to grin too much when she accepts. "Thanks." She says after a moment, taking a dainty sip.

"I... Heard about the mission." She turned to him in surprise. She wasn't sure exactly how much would be shared with younger students. Jean's powers lingered for a while since they'd grown. She felt the professor and Hank's distinct concern and anxiety from what they'd encountered. Something wasn't quite right, she could read it on Logan's body language on the ride home. Last thing they needed was a school full of sleepless mutants. "I'm on punishment." He clarified sheepishly. Rogue tries not to encourage the behavior with a smile. "I trapped Bobby and the others in the Danger Room for making fun of me. I was sweeping the Danger Room lobby while grownups were talking."

"Makin' fun of you, huh?" Rogue inquires, now fully interested. Jaime nods as she takes a long sip.

"They always say I'm too young, I don't understand, I can't handle it." He sighs and sits on a maroon armchair. "So, I turned the Danger Room up extra high." Jaime's eyes brighten when he catches Rogue laughing. She never laughs. Only at Logan (and sometimes Scott and Bobby). He can't believe his eyes when she stifles it.

"Look, while that is funny, it was dangerous. The stuff in the Danger Room is fake, but the injuries are real. You don't want to be responsible for your friend getting hurt, do you?" The brunette shook his head. "Right. Take your punishment and don't fiddle with the Danger Room. Been there." A beat of silence passed as Rogue savored the tea, and the New Recruit savored company that wasn't condescending.

"I would've been scared." He mostly whispered when lightning flashed. Even at his angriest, the thought of facing Jubilee or Bobby or Ray as enemies made him want to pop clones. Rogue reads the look on his face and knows what he's thinking. "How... Did you and Scott do it?" She snorted, still a bit sore from the maneuvering needed that night. Her teammates gave them a run for their money.

"Easy. We had to." She answers, looking down at the mug of green tea. "They were countin' on us." Jaime can see from her body language that it had been hard on her, but they got the job done.

"You and Scott are my heroes." He declares with shut eyes. She's always known he looked up to him, but she never thought to be anyone's hero.

"Me?" She sounds disgusted.

"You touched Jean, and the control stopped!" He continues, more infatuated with her powers than fearful. He was a strange boy. She quirked an eyebrow as he watched the storm, outside. "I'm glad we have someone like you, with your powers on the team." She frowned when his expression fell. "All anyone says that mine are annoying or get in the way."

"Hey, everyone's power is useful. The professor told me that." Jaime can't believe his eyes when she placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "Ah... Used to not believe him. But, look at what you just said." The younger boy doesn't notice one of her fists clench. "All of us have a purpose, and you're gonna find yours here. For what it's worth, Jaime..." He meets tired, grey eyes. "Ah think your power is cool."

"Wow, really?" She nods, ushering him towards the kitchen. He can’t wait to throw that in the other New Recruit’s faces when they’re picking on him.

"Really. Ah'll show ya where Logan hides his ice cream, but then we gotta go to bed." He nods vigorously and follows her to the freezer, still in her soaked uniform. She's smiling, but her eyes are elsewhere.

"I'm Scott. Scott Summers..."

'Who wouldn't want powers like mine...'