Days of Becoming: Chapter 20

[talktooloose]

Title: Days of Becoming, Chapter 20 - “Friends Like These, Part 2”
Author: Talktooloose
'Verse: X-Men movieverse
Warnings: Swearing, sexual talk, not following the damn agenda!
Beta: lux_apollo. Thank you for making room for this fic in your busy life. And thanks for a bear in the woods.
Disclaimers: Marvel and 20th Century own the X-Men but we make them share, like the good kindergarten teachers we are.

Series Summary: This novel focuses mainly on the paths Iceman and Pyro take on their way to adulthood and how they discover and deal with their love for each other. It is a novel about what Joni Mitchell calls "the dream's malfunction" and how we can learn to make our own dreams when our heroes fail us. Other X characters (including ones from comicverse and elsewhere) and OC's play prominent roles and the action begins before X1, continues through the events of X2 and X3 and concludes in the aftermath of that movie.

Previously in Days of Becoming: Andi Murakami abandoned the original direction of her psychology PhD and began studying the lives of mutant youth with Charles Xavier as her advisor. The Professor also became John's writing teacher, much to Bobby's delight. He began to believe that John was at the mansion to stay and was on a good life path. Meanwhile in Boston, Mike was determined not to let his parents stop him in joining the battle for mutant rights. Together with Jubilee, he set in motion a plan to invite mutant students to their high school's upcoming Christmas dance.

I LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. Please use the comments link at the end of the chapter to bring you back here or drop me email to talktooloose CAT toothdemon FRAUGHT net. That oughta fool the spambots for now.

Here's the chapter!

Here's the DOB homepage for earlier chapters!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

Warnings: (...), not following the damn agenda!
LMAO! Poor Scott! Nobody cares about the agenda.

It was funny that Ororo was watching a vid about Mike. Bobby could have seen it and would have been all "Hey, that's my friend."

Also, yay for John getting his moment of fame! ^_^

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Ahh, but moments of fame are clearly double-edged swords!

Yes, if Bobby had seen Mike's video, he could save him a lot of trouble...

Thanks for reading.

[lux-apollo.livejournal.com]

It's up!

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Make sure it doesn't poop in your eye!

I may surreptitiously change "Sweeney" to "Gonzalves" when no-one is looking. And give her great hair.

[lux-apollo.livejournal.com]

You spoil me.

[nexusofcrisis.livejournal.com]

Ahhh,things heating up for your characters and their world.
I've grown strangely attached to Haddad and Jubes in this. Well fleshed and cleverly written. Believable. Kind of afraid for poor Mike's future, but we'll see.
It's nice to see some Jones in a serious body of work. Kind of an understated character, but in a society as wired as ours, he would probably have to potential to be one of the most powerful mutants in the country. Cool to see him used that way. Again, good stuff.
Really, I could heap praise on you for hours, but I think you get the point. This is really, really good stuff.

Keep on.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree with your assessment of Jones' importance. He's one of the characters I could keep expanding if I had all the time in the world (and the readers had all the patience). In fact, I have an idea for a Jones-Doug one-shot after DOB (not Jones/Doug, btw).

We will hit a Mike/Jubes climax next chapter and they totally steal the show from the main characters. I had never intended for that to happen, but sometimes the words just come out how they have to.

[brokenwings1129.livejournal.com]

You are truly an amazing storyteller. It's hard for me to go back and watch the original X-Men and not see the mythos you've carefully woven around it. Each character is so delightfully yours, while at the same time staying true to their movieverse--and sometimes comicverse--counterparts.

I know you will, but do keep writing. I await your chapters happily. It's such a welcome spot on my friends page.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

What lovely things you say! My approach to writing this fandom is to look at what the movies give us and try to put my preconceptions aside. For instance, I don't think about comicverse Scott; I write what I saw onscreen. Hopefully, that means it works in the universe well and is surprising at the same time.

Thanks for reading.

[nat-dimension.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I read half of this chapter and then had to leave for a pointless chemistry lesson before I could finish and review it. Still, totally worth the wait. Awesome chapter, although the confrontation between Mike and the Friends of Humanity makes it clear that trouble is ahead. Looking forward to the next part.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Thanks. lux_apollo just reminded me that I can make the FoH people as nuts as I like. They're fanatics. That's not a good thing for Mike...

[mandlebars.livejournal.com]

you're a big bag of awesome!

Scott's mistrust rears his ugly head I was waiting for it at some point. I hope it doesn't turn Forge away. And John! Writing! As usual dude 100% awesomeness, although it did feel like filler in parts I must say, it's still awesome xo

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm curious to know what felt like filler.

From my POV, I don't ever write filler. I put a scene there because I think it's necessary. Now, it's entirely possible that I'm wrong with some of those choices. I think having this "unlimited" canvas does allow me to be less self-critical and self-editing than I could be.

I think Scott's reaction to Forge is entirely justified. Xavier is definitely taking a chance; he needs the blackbird and other gizmos and he's gambling. Scott would rather err on the side of security for the mansion's inhabitants. I think Forge is honest, btw; he's not a character who has ulterior motives. He just likes to build cool stuff.

[mandlebars.livejournal.com]

I it dunno felt choppy and didn't flow right in places.

[asm613.livejournal.com]

Revolution. Ororo vs Scott. Scott vs everybody. Mike against principal, bigots, FoH. Jean against black uniforms (not costumes).Jones rebelling against school authority by posting John's poem in Times Square-that was cool. Mike risks losing Jubilee by telling her about the school for mutants. I thought Forge was from the future_how could he not know which side is morally questionable. I'm with Scott_would not allow someone who worked/works with/for Magneto on the inside. If he told them about the psi masking tech he built for Magneto, what's to stop him from telling Magneto what he's built for them. Charles should have taken the info from his mind. Does look like you're setting Mike up for a fall. He's now a target for everybody who wants to strike out at mutants and those who protect/stand up for them. It would suck for him to die or get hurt. Maybe since he said that sometimes he wished he was a mutant_a mutant who has the ability to turn other people into mutants could give him the power to protect himself.Thanks for continuing to share your story with us. Another well done chapter.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Interesting... I hadn't really thought of a revolution through-line as I wrote the chapter. What can I say? I have a lot of really opinionated characters.

Actually, I don't think of Jones' actions as rebellion. He gets an idea and goes for it without feeling that there should be any restrictions in his way. I don't think he imagines that anyone has any real authority over him. Of course, he's totally miserable when you stand in his way and is probably figuring out ways to go around you next time... so maybe that is rebellion. He sort of lacks a moral center, I think.

Thanks for reading.

[mofic.livejournal.com]

Loved the chapter! I particularly enjoyed the staff meeting - great exhibit of the different personalities.

Who/what is "the Commissioner" referred to in the scene in the principal's office?

I'm intrigued by how you'll get Hank out of the picture by the time the first movie starts :-).

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Funny to "talk" to you here instead of in betaland!

I loved writing the board meeting. When I started, I had no idea of Ororo's personality as the movies don't give us much. I'm starting to understand her more and I like her!

The Commissioner would be The Commissioner of Schools. I freely confess that I didn't check to see if that's what they have in Massachusetts.

In my opinion, Hank is around in the background even during X1, even if they didn't have room for his "screen time". You will recall he is seen on a TV in X2. I think he's even going on missions with the X-Men at this stage, but naturally he is less involved than those who live in Westchester.

I have taken the idea from various fics that he underwent a secondary mutation between X2 and X3 and grew his fur. Note, in X3 he puts on his black uniform and says with chagrin that it's tighter than it used to be. In my cosmos, that means he went on missions in black uniform (which only gets approved after the most recent chapter). Why he doesn't take the obvious route and blame his secondary mutation for the weight gain, I can't say. I know I would.

[underhardlove.livejournal.com]

brilliant as always