Remix recs

[springgreen]

I adore Remix. I seem to work best as a writer if I'm taking bits and pieces and mixing them all together and chucking something hopefully newish back out there; I've found I like repetition and layering and combining images. So it's naturally fun to watch other people doing the same, seeing how a story works on its own and how it works as a remix of another, seeing how a writer will take a certain image or moment from the original story and create something new and poignant and wonderful from it.

Admin notes: I started reading in reverse order, just for the heck of it. Why yes, I am one of those people whose last names start with a letter in the second half of the alphabet!

I think I've made it through all the fandoms I'm interested in; I skipped all of the Stargates and Star Treks and SPN, which is why this list is coming out so quickly.

So without further ado, remix_redux recs! Fandoms included are: Yami no Matsuei, XMM, VMars, Narnia, Heroes, HP, Buffy, Angel, and Bleach. Spoilers below the cut for Buffy S7 and X-Men 2.

• The Angled Math of Shadows (Dark Chocolate remix) (YnM, spoilers for Kyoto arc) - I love the little details in this one: Tsuzuki's dorky hat from the original, donuts in pink cardboard boxes, and Hisoka. It's quiet and delicate even when it hits the large turning points in Hisoka and Tsuzuki's relationship.
  
  Excerpt: He has never felt so painfully, intensely, gloriously sixteen before in his life.



• Twinkie Run (the Stars and Garters remix) (XMM, spoilers for X-Men 2) - I really like the original fic as well. It's Hank and Bobby and junk food after the events of XM2. I like the original because it remembers that sometimes, losing a best friend is worse than losing a romantic interest, even if (especially if?) it's a friendship of thorns. And I like the remix because it takes the healing offered in the first and extends it to a wider circle. Also, I like the Hank voice.
  
  Excerpt: "If you like Japanese, I just downloaded a copy of 'The Grudge.' Not the one with Buffy." Bobby rolls his eyes. "The original. It's a lot scarier. We can hook my laptop up to the TV down here and –" He hesitates. "Only if you want."
  
  "I can't think of anything better," I tell him sincerely. "I'll bring the Twinkies."



• Endlösung by musamea (XMM, spoilers for first movie) - I found some great original stories while trolling through the Remix stories, one of which is this. I haven't read that much XMM fic, much less Magneto fic, so I can't say what the general trend is. But I'm glad I found this one, which doesn't forget that Erik is Jewish.
  
  Excerpt: He's not sure if he's ever lived without it, if he's ever lived in a place that was his, a place that spoke to his blood and his marrow and silenced their quiet demand. No home, no history; the Wandering Jew indeed.



• Proxy (Cinco Mujeres remix) (VMars, spoilers through 2x17) - Weevil through the eyes of five women, and probably not the ones you think. I don't read much VMars fic, so I don't know if other writers address this, but I like this piece because it remembers Weevil has a family and a community outside of Neptune High.
  
  Excerpt: Nana takes her hand as they head out of the Sac-N-Pac. It's important to hold hands where there are cars. Holding hands is almost as important as avoiding Bad Influences.



• We Can Start Over (warm by the fire) (Narnia) - Lucy and Edmund after The Horse and His Boy. I suppose it could be read as Lucy/Edmund (hi fandom! don't tell me you weren't think it!), but I like it best as a story of siblings who know and like each other.
  
  Excerpt: "Lu," Edmund said, a stern look on his face. "I don't think it's very becoming of you to slip your shoes off."
  
  Lucy met his eyes; knew that he but teased her, and laughed. "You're just jealous that you hadn't thought of it first," she replied. "That's not very becoming of you, Edmund.



• Language Barrier by marksapelli (Heroes, spoilers for ... Charlie's existence?) - Charlie and Hiro! Charlie and Hiro! Uh... Charlie and Hiro! They are adorable! Really, what else do you need to know? I also liked the Charlie-voice in the remix (Somewhere, Lost in Translation (Dead Before Born remix)), though I think the remix needs a beta for the Japanese stuff (watch me feel stupid when I learn later that it was a pinch hit or something).
  
  Excerpt: Hiro's learning lots of new words from Charlie these days. He knows he needs to keep focused and save her (save the waitress, save the waffles? Hiro files that away to make Ando roll his eyes later), but it's really hard to concentrate when his brain is filled with all these cool new English words.



• Fidelius (The Naming of Things) (HP) - Harry doesn't want to be Harry Potter after the war, and only Neville knows the secret. I have to admit, even though I don't read much in HP at all, I have a little soft spot for Harry/Neville. This isn't overtly shippy, which is fine by me, but I love the connection between the two in the books and in the fic. Of course the only one who can recognize Harry in the end is the boy who never really knew who he was.
  
  Excerpt: The reasons he's given her are flimsy at best: the old Hermione wouldn't have accepted them for a moment. The fact that she's prepared to do so now, that she takes the request like an order, says everything about why Harry needs to disappear.



• A Soft Place to Land (Free Fallin' Mix) (Buffy, spoilers through "Chosen") - Giles is driving a bus full of the Scoobies and the new Slayers, and none of them can quite figure out what to do. I like the Giles-voice of this one, how the author remembers that Giles is always a part of the Scoobies, but a bit of an odd part that sticks out at times. And I love the final focus on Giles' relationship with Buffy, especially after the events of S7.
  
  Excerpt: Not the Slayer. Not his Slayer. Her own Slayer. His something. Daughter, friend, both, neither. He doesn't have a word for Buffy any more.



• The Time Around Scars (The Sisters Under the Skin Remix) (Buffy, spoilers through "Chosen") - Dawn and scars and sisterhood. I love the Buffy-Dawn relationship, and I like this little look at scars and memories and how sometimes (always), little sisters protect their big sisters too.
  
  Excerpt: "We specialize in stupid plans. If we had a motto--do you think we should have a motto? I think Xander thinks we should sometimes, but Faith always convinces him it's lame--if we had a motto, it would be, No plan too stupid for Buffy and the Slayers." Of course. Dawn isn't a slayer, and she isn't Buffy; her plans have to rely on more than brute force and the continuing goodwill of whatever powers that be to succeed.



• A Secret Between Them (And All Who Would Behold It) (Bleach, spoilers through early Arrancar arc) - Ichigo and Rukia keep sneaking off together, but everyone already knows their secret anyway. I like the Chad, Renji, Kon and Isshin (Isshin! Hee!) sections, but my favorite is Karin, who is just as grumpy and much more common-sensical than her older brother. Also, I like how the remix shifts the focus from the romance to the friendships and families in Bleach.
  
  Excerpt: If Ichi-nii wants to pretend nothing's weird (which just shows how dumb he can be when he wants to—-not like Karin didn't notice when he left his body to fly out the window. Dumbass. She'd been tempted to draw pictures on his face while he was gone.) then that's fine with Karin, or as close to "fine" as things can get these days.



• Feathers, Lightsabers, and Lead (Rendevouz, Hyperspace Remix) (Angel, spoilers through S5) - Oh. Oh wow. I think this is my favorite fic from this year's Remix, both as a stand-alone and as a remix. I love how the author managed to pull so many elements from the two original stories and combine them and turn out something so poignant. It's Fred and Wes and Illyria and what Star Wars means to the three of them, and it should be dorky (and it is) and goofy (and it is), but it's also completely heartbreaking as well.
  
  I can't even pick a line to excerpt or a favorite bit; every time I read, I am sure the part I'm currently reading is my favorite. And then I get to the next, and it's even better.

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs!

Magneto is generally Jewish, but I think there's some canon that says he's a Gypsy. (Read enough of the comics, and you will find support for the idea that anyone is anything, if only in some alternate timestream.) The opening scene in X-1 is very affecting.

There's quite a bit of Magneto/Professor X fic. Going by the movies, at least, that is arguably canon. I am pretty sure that the actors believed that they'd had a sexual relationship in the past and were playing it that way. (I also walked away from the second movie absolutely convinced that Magneto and Mystique had a sexual relationship that included her transforming into men, probably including Professor X, and I swear that was not just me being a perv.)

[springgreen.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally believe Magneto/Prof. X.

I could have sworn that he had the yellow star in the opening of X-1, but I could be making that up, and of course the movieverse is completely separate from the comicsverse. Not that the comicsverse is so coherent! Ahhhh, alternate universes.

I am now convinced that someone needs to write that Magneto/Mystique/sort-of Prof. X story ;).

Also, did you read the Star Wars fic?! It is awesome!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

What Star Wars fic?

He might have had a yellow star in the movie; I don't remember. You know, I bet you anything the Magneto/Mystique-as-Professor-X fic has already been written. Repeatedly.

[springgreen.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry, the Angel fic with Wes and Fred and Illyria that has references to Star Wars.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I regret that I can't really recommend them now, but Chris Claremont's X-Men comics were my favorite thing ever when I was an angsty teenager.

The reason it didn't seem like trashy exploitation to bring in the Holocaust was that the entire series was about being a persecuted minority. There were even mini-arcs and character arcs that mapped specifically on to various minority experiences: being an invisible minority, being a visible minority, coming out, going underground, not being able to go out with your lover in public, being out and proud, etc.

Plus, Jewish superheroine Kitty Pryde! There was a great bit where they face Dracula (um, yeah) and she holds up a cross because that's traditional, and he goes "Bwa-ha-ha, it is not the shape but faith that gives a cross power, and you do not believe in what it represents, hello, dinner!" And then he goes to bite her neck and burns his mouth on her star of David necklace!

And, of course, Magneto, whom Claremont clearly thought was Jewish though as I mentioned, other writers sometimes thought otherwise. Having, you know, been in a concentration camp always made his "let's take over the world to make it safe for mutantkind!" schemes seem completely reasonable. (Although I do question his choice to never change the name of his organization, "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants." Unless that was the mutant version of embracing an insult, like transforming queer into queer pride.)

[springgreen.livejournal.com]

Oh me too! I gobbled up the Dark Phoenix arc. Well, it was also the only compilation I could get my hands on, but still.

(Although I do question his choice to never change the name of his organization, "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants." Unless that was the mutant version of embracing an insult, like transforming queer into queer pride.)

So true!

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I picked up major slashy subtext between the Professor and Magneto and also later between Magneto and Mystique as the Professor, before I even knew slash existed, so it is definitely not just you.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the Neville/Harry one. Did not even know that pairing existed! Thanks for the rec. I know very little about HP fic, except that the fandom often frightens me, but I have a secret love of the occasional Draco/Hermione fic.

[springgreen.livejournal.com]

I, uh, have read a few pieces on them that are quiet and sad, but I don't remember what or where they were =(. I think one is about Harry and Neville in the DA and Neville learning to defend himself properly.

I also, ummmm *mumble* am fond of Snape/Hermione in a power dynamic not overtly sexual way.

[musamea.livejournal.com]

Hi, I clicked over from the link in remixers_lounge, expecting remix recs, so it was a very pleasant surprise to find that you'd linked "Endlösung"! So thank you, very much!

[springgreen.livejournal.com]

No problem, I really enjoyed it!