All of the groovy kids are doing it.

[mind_over_metal]

1K comments, first impressions/relationship meme, where the hell did all of those comments come from so quickly, etc.. Be warned that I will be asking for reverses. Also, that this might take me a while, since yesterday's internet blackout left me quite behind.

Erik, you don't count, you're getting your own essay or something.

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[needsahandjob.livejournal.com]

JULIAN :D

[mind_over_metal]

Julian is a big, big challenge for Charles. Not in a necessarily negative way and not one that he doesn't feel that he's up to! But still, a challenge. The whole "I am from the future and the future sucks" is a huge downer and mostly makes Charles feel frustrated by not really knowing what he can do to help Julian. Everything just feels so ineffective and he knows that Julian is well beyond the realm of some comforting words and inspiring phrases doing the trick. He's... pretty damn sure that Julian belongs to Erik, for all intents and purposes.

But he cares for Julian and is determined on Julian's behalf to work even harder. He'll be there for Julian, whether Julian wants him to be or not. And he has no plans on giving up on him, even if Julian ends up pushing him away, which Charles does fear that he'll do. Charles is... pretty aware of his lack of adequacy for some, thanks to recent events lololol.

And there's also the part of him that looks at Julian and sees someone else with a life-changing physical injury and wants to reach out, not just for Julian's sake but because Charles sometimes feels alone in that and wouldn't mind feeling just a little less isolated because of it. He tries to mostly suppress it because Julian is a kid and it doesn't feel fair for Charles to feel like that, but it's still there.

you have drunk a bitter wine with none to be your comfort/ you who once were left behind will be welcome at love's tables

REVERSE ME, KELLER

[needsahandjob.livejournal.com]

SO. Julian is taken from after his runs in X-23 and X-Men: Legacy, where he is basically a very unhappy and chewed on teenager. The culmination of the arc is that Julian is at his lowest point. He's almost violated his one ethical rule (X-Men do not kill), he's ignored his friends' overtures to the point that when he reaches out to them they don't even notice and he ultimately decides he doesn't need anyone or anything. Considering how dependent the babymutants were on each other beforehand, this is not portrayed as a healthy decision at all, and it has had dire consequences on Julian and his mental state. His year in camp has taught him that he can reach out to people sometimes and they won't just ignore him, and that he can withdraw and try and deal with everything that's happened and, more importantly, the people he's reached out to won't abandon him.

The last one is a big thing. Julian has been abandoned by everyone in his life that he trusted and loved. So when people reach out to him, even if he's not ready for it then, even if he rebuffs it, he notices. So when Charles reaches out to him, even if Julian is just "I don't need this", he registers it and it reminds him that he's not alone. He's not been abandoned, people are there and when he's ready to try to connect with them again, they'll be there. I mean, even in his "I don't need you :|" threads with Charles, there's information that he gives him that he doesn't give to people he doesn't trust. He's sending out mixed messages, and sometimes he's self-aware enough to know that they are mixed messages. And other times he is just NO FUCKS ARE GIVEN (but they are).

THIS SOUNDS SO DEPRESSING.

Anyway, the hands! The hands come up a lot. Julian thinks he's a mutilated freak because of them, and to his knowledge Charles is pretty much the only one who gets having lost something in a traumatic situation. Julian's situation wasn't helped by the fact that apparently everyone with any authority on Utopia is an asshole (ASK ANOLE ABOUT THE TIME MAGIK SENT HIM TO HELL BECAUSE HE ANNOYED HER), but he's lonely and scared and there's not really anything he can do or anyone who he could tell about what he's lost without it coming across as whining. So if it came up with Charles, he'd ... feel awkward because at least he can walk, but it is something he can open up about if Charles presented it.

Basically, Julian is a sarcastic bag of dicks who has been traumatised and Charles' reaching out to him matters. Even if he acts like an asshole about it, Julian notices and it affects him.

THIS MADE NO SENSE THE END.