fifty frenchmen can't be wrong (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
some_stars) wrote2011-06-14 12:00 am
some_stars) wrote2011-06-14 12:00 am
The littlest rec set
XM: First Class fic recs! Just a few, because it's only been a day and I haven't even scratched the surface. And it's all Erik/Charles (or one or the other) so far because, well, it's only been a day, and the id always comes first. And I was waiting until I had a FEW more than this, but whatever, I'll just make another.
I will start with the fic that made me write multiple overly-emotional paragraphs of meta-that's-really-just-flailing-and-overshare, so we can get that out of the way:
Chessmen, zamwessell
Okay, total honesty: this is a highly qualified rec. (And actually since this post, two more parts have gone up and they're really not worth even sifting through for good parts. First three only!) Mostly this story is pretty mediocre and the writing is kind of a slog. I say "mostly" because there are a handful of moments that are just--SO RIGHT. So entirely yes that yes, including one that just knocked me flat and rewrote my brain and all my thoughts about Charles. I will go ahead and quote it because I can't stop thinking about it, like for the last 24 hours, this has been my brain's central preoccupation. Context is, of course, telepathic sex:
So that...gets at a lot of my feelings. About many things! But relevantly, about Charles in this movie. And okay, also, about a kind of character I'm drawn to who is, in some important way, terribly weak, but also very kind and compassionate and so their weakness is mostly disguised because the things they want and need are things that are Good, but eventually their emotions and needs come into conflict with being a good person, and the latter falls by the wayside instantly and effortlessly, and they don't even realize what they've become.
Which may not seem directly relevant, but--it's the need for love, the simple and unbending need to be loved and wanted that is so deep and raw and painful, and will end up causing so much damage because they're unable and also unwilling to give it up for anything. Becoming a terrible person (and no less responsible for that terribleness) because you're that alone and in that much pain.not that I have personal Issues in this regard or anything, certainly not And so this excerpt gets at a character like that, but at the moment when--there's something about the description of his thought process, trying to think of "something that could compare, finding only..." and then the way that sentence goes forward, forward and ends (well, ends in a dash, whatever). The way he offers up his own pain as a pale shadow, almost ashamed of it, nothing really, but gets lost in it and it's recognized, and touched.
no personal issues at all
So, you know. Moving on. (But damn, that's an awesome sentence. That fic has several wonderful-sounding sentences, just...not nearly enough. But they're so great when they happen. I love how it runs on with the and-and-and, until you're hitting a limit and about to get annoyed and then: "and discovered no love for him," comma, the way that SOUNDS when you say it. Ugghhh so good.)
Mutual Distraction In The Out-Of-Doors
A Versatile Length Of Chain, helens78
Amazing sex scenes, amazing kink, amazing emotion. These feel totally in character to me, but in a sort of step-to-the-left way. The exact same people through a prism that's just the tiniest bit AU, emotionally, like if a few seemingly-minor failed moments of connection had succeeded. Hard to describe but the point is: so very satisfying, so very hot. The first one especially has a fascinating back-and-forth D/s feeling, so convincing and hot.
You Told Me Again You Preferred Handsome Men, But For Me You Would Make an Exception, soda_and_capes
My feedback on this was basically "this is one of my two perfect ideal XM:FC stories, and the other is the one with the believable happy ending." So this...is not that happy ending, in any way, but it is AMAZING and everything I could hope for from this pairing and this movie. Queerness, both coded and literal; Charles being completely terrifying but still so understandable as someone Erik wants; a precise sense of period; Erik being drawn and attached and wanting but not softening or changing who he is; all the tragedy and all the FEELINGS. So basically, yes, everything.
Call Me By His Name, sinuous-curve
Aside from this I've avoided post-movie fic so far, because I have an extremely Fragile Heart and while the imminent tragedy is what draws me, I can rarely stand to immerse myself in the period after it's come to pass and all the pain is out in the open and there's no more hope. This story is completely honest about the tragedy not getting undone just because they love each other, but it also gives full space for that love to happen, an actual moment of mutually self-deceiving almost-hope before everything ends again. So it is bearable, and also perfect in every way. Almost delicate, emotionally--it feels so careful but so powerful. And then sad. Because it's a tragedy.
jouissance, hauntologie
Gunplay and D/s with Erik as sub and I am completely, entirely convinced. Not that it took much. But so in character and so hot and such a perfect distilled moment of intimacy and--it's very short but everything I want from these kinks, everything they should mean.
Try, Try Again, amazingly_me
GROUNDHOG DAY FIC. All these sentences are perfect, I want to roll them all up and swallow them. The feelings are also perfect. The groundhog day trope is perfectly done, and done so agonizingly in character--there are differences from how it usually happens, and they have to be exactly what they are because it's Erik and that's how it would happen.
Five Lessons Charles Taught (and One He Learned), kaydeefalls
Oh this is so heartbreaking, because it shows so much of the good in Charles and the good he's done, but also the solid wall of inability to understand that the good parts always run up against. And it's also a series of amazing thoughtful glances at all the kids (who I feel weird calling that since some of them are clearly older, but whatever) and Raven.
I've got like 25 more tabs open and dozens more pages of kinkmeme to read, this is seriously just the tiniest sampler, but I have Feelings and desired to share them.
I will start with the fic that made me write multiple overly-emotional paragraphs of meta-that's-really-just-flailing-and-overshare, so we can get that out of the way:
Chessmen, zamwessell
Okay, total honesty: this is a highly qualified rec. (And actually since this post, two more parts have gone up and they're really not worth even sifting through for good parts. First three only!) Mostly this story is pretty mediocre and the writing is kind of a slog. I say "mostly" because there are a handful of moments that are just--SO RIGHT. So entirely yes that yes, including one that just knocked me flat and rewrote my brain and all my thoughts about Charles. I will go ahead and quote it because I can't stop thinking about it, like for the last 24 hours, this has been my brain's central preoccupation. Context is, of course, telepathic sex:
...for the fifth or sixth time his mind asked, “Is it all right that I’m here?” and Erik answered, “God yes, go farther if you like,” and there he was in the midst of immense sadness and pain and loneliness and dark uniforms and voices full of hate, making tears start to his eyes, and then another wave of pleasure rode through him, and Erik’s mind hissed, “Give me some of yours,” and he tried to think of something that could compare, finding only an afternoon when his mother had forgotten that he was at school and he had stayed for hours waiting and had reached fearfully out to her mind and discovered no love for him, only a mild annoyed tolerance, and felt so horribly alone—and Erik hit the spot in him again and murmured, “I’m here, I’m here,” and everything in him surrendered.
So that...gets at a lot of my feelings. About many things! But relevantly, about Charles in this movie. And okay, also, about a kind of character I'm drawn to who is, in some important way, terribly weak, but also very kind and compassionate and so their weakness is mostly disguised because the things they want and need are things that are Good, but eventually their emotions and needs come into conflict with being a good person, and the latter falls by the wayside instantly and effortlessly, and they don't even realize what they've become.
Which may not seem directly relevant, but--it's the need for love, the simple and unbending need to be loved and wanted that is so deep and raw and painful, and will end up causing so much damage because they're unable and also unwilling to give it up for anything. Becoming a terrible person (and no less responsible for that terribleness) because you're that alone and in that much pain.
So, you know. Moving on. (But damn, that's an awesome sentence. That fic has several wonderful-sounding sentences, just...not nearly enough. But they're so great when they happen. I love how it runs on with the and-and-and, until you're hitting a limit and about to get annoyed and then: "and discovered no love for him," comma, the way that SOUNDS when you say it. Ugghhh so good.)
Mutual Distraction In The Out-Of-Doors
A Versatile Length Of Chain, helens78
Amazing sex scenes, amazing kink, amazing emotion. These feel totally in character to me, but in a sort of step-to-the-left way. The exact same people through a prism that's just the tiniest bit AU, emotionally, like if a few seemingly-minor failed moments of connection had succeeded. Hard to describe but the point is: so very satisfying, so very hot. The first one especially has a fascinating back-and-forth D/s feeling, so convincing and hot.
You Told Me Again You Preferred Handsome Men, But For Me You Would Make an Exception, soda_and_capes
My feedback on this was basically "this is one of my two perfect ideal XM:FC stories, and the other is the one with the believable happy ending." So this...is not that happy ending, in any way, but it is AMAZING and everything I could hope for from this pairing and this movie. Queerness, both coded and literal; Charles being completely terrifying but still so understandable as someone Erik wants; a precise sense of period; Erik being drawn and attached and wanting but not softening or changing who he is; all the tragedy and all the FEELINGS. So basically, yes, everything.
Call Me By His Name, sinuous-curve
Aside from this I've avoided post-movie fic so far, because I have an extremely Fragile Heart and while the imminent tragedy is what draws me, I can rarely stand to immerse myself in the period after it's come to pass and all the pain is out in the open and there's no more hope. This story is completely honest about the tragedy not getting undone just because they love each other, but it also gives full space for that love to happen, an actual moment of mutually self-deceiving almost-hope before everything ends again. So it is bearable, and also perfect in every way. Almost delicate, emotionally--it feels so careful but so powerful. And then sad. Because it's a tragedy.
jouissance, hauntologie
Gunplay and D/s with Erik as sub and I am completely, entirely convinced. Not that it took much. But so in character and so hot and such a perfect distilled moment of intimacy and--it's very short but everything I want from these kinks, everything they should mean.
Try, Try Again, amazingly_me
GROUNDHOG DAY FIC. All these sentences are perfect, I want to roll them all up and swallow them. The feelings are also perfect. The groundhog day trope is perfectly done, and done so agonizingly in character--there are differences from how it usually happens, and they have to be exactly what they are because it's Erik and that's how it would happen.
Five Lessons Charles Taught (and One He Learned), kaydeefalls
Oh this is so heartbreaking, because it shows so much of the good in Charles and the good he's done, but also the solid wall of inability to understand that the good parts always run up against. And it's also a series of amazing thoughtful glances at all the kids (who I feel weird calling that since some of them are clearly older, but whatever) and Raven.
I've got like 25 more tabs open and dozens more pages of kinkmeme to read, this is seriously just the tiniest sampler, but I have Feelings and desired to share them.
no subject
Aside from this I've avoided post-movie fic so far, because I have an extremely Fragile Heart and while the imminent tragedy is what draws me, I can rarely stand to immerse myself in the period after it's come to pass and all the pain is out in the open and there's no more hope. This story is completely honest about the tragedy not getting undone just because they love each other, but it also gives full space for that love to happen, an actual moment of mutually self-deceiving almost-hope before everything ends again. So it is bearable, and also perfect in every way. Almost delicate, emotionally--it feels so careful but so powerful. And then sad. Because it's a tragedy.
YES, yes, yes. A million times yes. Over and over.
*glomps the other links she hasn't recced to devour*
no subject
no subject
no subject