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xmenfirstkink2011-12-18 05:18 pm
starkmodistries.livejournal.com) wrote in xmenfirstkink2011-12-18 05:18 pm
Entry tags:
round 3 overflow post
This post is for Round 3 fills only. We ask that when a round hits 8500 comments, fillers begin moving their fills to this post.
Format:
SUBJECT LINE -- Round #, short description of fic (ex: "Alex/Hank, lab partners")
--- Link to the prompt
--- Text of the prompt
--- Link to the fill
OR
--- Entire text of the fill
EXAMPLE:
Prompt: http://xmen-firstkink.livejournal.com/6437.html?thread=1038472#t2038174
Charles/Erik -- Charles is a bakery owner whose most frequent customer is Erik.
Fill: http://xmen-firstkink.livejournal.com/6437.html?thread=0139482#t4502942
Charles started off the morning the same way he always did...
Re: FILL: Everyday Love in Stockholm 124/?
Another brilliant update from you has my mind spinning, emotions all over the place and anticipation for the next update through the roof.
As usual you capture the complexities of the characters, apart and together, incredibly well. I can see where they connect, where they miscommunicate, how great they can be together and how troubling their situation is. It's this wonderful mish-mash of what should be versus what is, with them clinging to moments of near perfection in the midst of so much that's wrong. Theirs is a tragic love and it leaps off the page -- your command of this verse in your writing is second to none.
I love that Erik genuinely believes, more often than not, that he's doing the right thing, by his fellow mutants and by Charles. He has compartmentalized everything, detaching Charles from all other humans and setting him up in his own separate world. Yet he can see where he's falling short and it's fascinating watching him try, in his own way (sometimes falling short, but trying nonetheless) to do something right for Charles, as if subconsciously trying to prove to himself that he's someone deserving of Charles' love. When they have the misunderstanding/fight and Erik tells Charles not to play games with him it's the second (maybe more?) time he's said that -- it reveals and reminds us of his vulnerability, hidden beneath his commanding bravado, that he's unworthy, he's been rejected before, now he's giving his heart to Charles and if Charles pushes him away...it will crush him.
That's power in Charles' court that Charles doesn't necessarily realize he has. But in conjunction with his insistence that he will always voice how he feels, that he's not into placating Erik, we're reminded of Charles' strength of mind. He's very self-aware -- locked up in a tower but he's not helpless.
With that said I adore the moment between them when Erik questions how Charles can say for certain that he believes what he's saying rather than trying to convince himself. The truth is, there's no telling. The wonderful follow up moment is when they're in bed, Erik pretends to sleep and Charles admits that he doesn't know the answer but he hopes he's still in control of his thoughts and feelings in their most genuine form. Again his strength of mind and character shine through. At the same time his own uncertainty is a call back to how fucked up the whole situation is, how it's keeping them all topsy-turvy, causing havoc for what could/should be a beautiful love story had circumstances been different.
Re: FILL: Everyday Love in Stockholm 124/?
As always, such a lovely, thoughtful comment. I'm a terrible commenter (I think a lot about stories but find it hard to articulate in comments, I'm better at discussing them) so is it weird to admit that I admire your commenting skills?
I'm so far down Erik's particular rabbit hole that I have Stockholm Syndrome myself, and one of the things I'm really convinced of is that everything Erik does is the best option he has for the situation he's in, regardless of how unhealthy it all is. It's an unhealthy situation all around, and it's not one he's manufactured himself - everything he does is to keep Charles safe. He can't let him go, because if he does Charles will die. So it's the lesser of two evils.
Erik is a man who has been burned so many times by so many people that he just cannot, cannot bring himself to trust anyone entirely, and it makes it so difficult for him because he really does love Charles, but he cannot, cannot quite convince himself that Charles won't change his mind, or leave him, or be doing what he does for some hidden motive. Every time Erik takes a step forward it's an exercise in bravery of its own kind, and then something will happen and he'll step right back quicker than anything, because he knows what happens if he's wrong.
Charles doesn't really understand that, yet. He's more concerned with making sure he himself is reacting of his own free will and not under the influence of his captivity. So they just keep missing each other. It's painful, but it's also the only way these two people the way I've written them can react to one another.