The Problems With Commitments and Hiatuses

So...I said a really long time ago (last year at some point, I think) that I needed to review both Not Myself and 500 Miles before I went to to review Adrift in a Room of Mirrors by Princess Alexandria. Well... life happened, I fell off the blogging bandwagon, and I'm honestly not in any sort of mood to finish my reviews *cough* summaries *cough* of 500 Miles. I'm not even in the mood to finish re-reading it just for me... But anyway, I still highly recommend you go and read the rest of it. It's awesome. I enjoyed it. I just have to be in the right mindset to read it.

That said, I am going to go ahead and review some, not all, of Adrift in a Room of Mirrors. I'm going to start with the prologue and jump around with the rest. Jumping just a tad off-topic, Adrift in a Room of Mirrors is really better enjoyed if you know a few things about the various universes Christy (yup, there's a connection to the other two fics and she's it) travels to. That said, I'm going to be completely leaving out of my reviews the True Blood and Star Trek: Voyager sections. I've never had any interest in these series *cough* Lies *cough* and so I don't feel I can properly speak about the fanfictions pertaining to them. I have been reading and for the most part enjoying these sections, but... my reviews of them essentially end there.

Henceforth, I will be writing a simple acronym (ARM) for Adrift in a Room of Mirrors because the stories contained within have their own titles and I'm sure I'll get tired of typing it out... Just a heads-up for later.

Adrift in a Room of Mirrors: Prologue - Princess Alexandria

     This essentially lays out the how and why of the story. Ms. Christy Taylor, not the same as in Not Myself and 500 Miles but a very similar version, has gotten herself into some trouble with the X-Men. Instead of stay in that universe and cause more trouble for herself and her loved ones, Christy has decided to jump ship and start new elsewhere. With the aid of Annie (see Not Myself) and Doug Ramsey, Christy is able to hop through Scythe (see 500 Miles) with some degree of, well, good luck.
     As I told Princess Alexandria in my initial review: I can't wait to see what happens next. Doug having a new and slightly more interesting power and that Christy could end up somewhere fairly nice for her was awesome. Her mostly blind jumping in 500 Miles got tedious after a while. Anyway, this chapter was a great first chapter and gives a nice introduction/re-introduction to Christy.

ARM: Not so Black and White (Once Upon a Time) - Princess Alexandria

     This chapter appeared in my inbox yesterday and I'd for some reason forgotten I was even reading Adrift in a Room of Mirrors. Imagine my surprise when I ended up there instead of in a chapter of Against the Moon. I quickly realized my mistake and settled in to giggle at Christy... which I do often.

     Another mistake I made was mistaking Henry for his grandfather... That was embarrassing. Henry is not Prince Charming and his castle is definitely NOT in story-book land. Christy lands in front of Henry, at his castle, in the Once Upon a Time Universe. Their little exchange amused me greatly and I'm wondering how Christy is going to cope so out of her element...

     But anyway... I really enjoyed the start to this story. If the earlier chapters and previous fanfictions are any indication, Christy's time in Storybrooke will be awesome. Christy did remind me a bit of Emma (not Emma Frost) but that's okay considering how similar they are in temperament once you think about it.

Housekeeping

As usual, the links to the fanfictions reviewed are in the headings of their respective review. Although Adrift in a Room of Mirrors is posted all as one story, I've linked to the beginning of the story-lines reviewed. Also, Alexandria's fanfiction.net page is linked in three places, for your convenience.

Love ya, Jessie.

500 Miles, Hellfire 2: Parts 1-5 Reviewed

Happy New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Apocalypse! (Not that I actually believe in that, mind)

Sorry... couldn't resist the Pinkie Pie...

But anyway, welcome to 2012, and hopefully a full year of blogs from me. To start us off this year, I have another 500 Miles review! It's the first 5 chapter of Hellfire 2. And yes, I am trying to cut down on the summary... which tends to get super-detailed. So... here we go!

500 Miles - Hellfire 2, Parts 1-5  by Princess Alexandria

     We pick up with Raven's story immediately after Demise has left Raven's body. It's slightly disconcerting that Raven doesn't trust Mystique at this point, because Demise clearly did. However, it does make all sorts of sense considering what Raven has been through. Raven starts her "witness protection" thing as a bartender in New Orleans, Louisiana. Doesn't last too long, only the first chapter. And it was probably a good thing Raven ran into Logan on her way out of town instead of one of the other X-Men who came with him. He understands her need to be away from the X-Men without much explanation on her part and lets her go on her way.

     I really love Mystique's more careful interaction with Raven this next time around as Raven's switching identities. This chunk of chapters reveals that this Marvel Universe is crossed-over with the CSI universe... which I didn't notice the first time through.

     We meet Lois, who runs the Kitten Ranch borthel Raven now works in; and Drahke and Jewel, two of the prostitutes that Raven interact with on a regular basis. Personally, I love Drahke. She kind of reminds me of Mystique... confortable and teasing Mystique... and we find out that Drahke is a Mutant who can breathe fire. There's also some interaction with a teenaged boy named Terrance, who lives near Raven. His father's an asshole and mistreats his son... mostly because Terrance is gay.

     It's revealed that Drahke works for Lady Heather (of CSI fame) at her BDSM club. Raven gets some lessons in what the Dom-Sub relationship should be like over the course of her painting both Drahke and Lady Heather.

     Timeline-wise, we're around the time Mystique is working for X-Factor, which we find out on a hint from Irene. Also, Men in Black apparently just opened in theaters. This puts us around 1997, if we're following our world's timeline. Did you notice I have an obsession with timelines?

     The chunk of chapters ends with Raven leaving town, taking a newly Mutated Terrance with her. there's some time that's gone by between their original move to California and the end of the chapter... Raven had a little bout with alcohol and drugs... and a suicide attempt around a Christmas somewhere in there. Irene has passed away by the end of this chapter, which made me cry. And Raven has followed Mystique, with help from Irene, onto a cruise ship in order to comfort the grieving shifter.

Character Spolight: Lady Heather!

     Didn't think I'd be doing another of these, did ya? Well, Lady Heather is possibly my favorite recurring character from CSI so... yeah...

     Lady Heather is a professional dominatrix who runs an S&M club. She originally appears in Season 2 of CSI (the Las Vegas one) when a murder occured at the club. She and Grissom are attracted to each other and she and Catherine have a talk about their daughters. Heather later appears in Seasons 3, 6, 7, 9, and 11. Her character evolves over these time periods, moving in response to her daughter, Zoe, and later, her granddaughter, Allison.

     Somewhere along the line, Heather gives up her club and ends up as a sex therapist. And... that's all they wrote. Delving too much into her character would spoil things, so I'm not going there. Suffice to say, in 500 Miles, Heather helps Raven in several ways, least of which coming to terms with what happened to her in the Hellfire Club and getting herself back.

Housekeeping

As usual, the links to various important sources are in the section headers. Links to previous chapter reviews are on the "Reviewed" page accessed through the header. For those reading this on the Blogger site, this header is on the main website... or you can attempt to use the link bubble-rotating-thingy in the sidebar. I highly roccomend that you read 500 Miles and everything else I've reviewed or am reviewing. Alexandria has some new chapters to Adrift in a Room of Mirrors up and new Twilight fanfiction called Tossing Stones up.

Over the break, I've been busy watching lots of Stargate, Dollhouse, and cross-stitching ornaments... which didn't get done... I've also done some art that will have shown up on my DeviantArt page. I hope to return to regular posts now that the holidays are over.

Love ya, Jessie.

500 Miles, Hellfire 1: Chapters 6-8 Review

Just got back from Target, with my sister. Got more stuff for my Mom... again. Everytime I go to Target, I find more stuff for my mom. And it's cheap. But there's a lot of it. There seems to be a bit of a problem here...

500 Miles, Hellfire 1: Chapters 6-8 by Princess Alexandria

     When we last left our perilous heroine, Demise was being rescued from the Hellfire Club by the X-Men. At this point, it's safe to say that Demise is completely disillusioned with Charles Xavier. Not only did he know full well Raven/Desmise was at the Hellfire Club, but he waited at least a week to send anyone to rescue her. I'd be disillusioned, too. In fact, I was. And this was before I'd read the Deadly Genesis trade, where the X-Men find out that Xavier's been messing with their heads for years.

     At some point during the last chapter chunk, Demise and Raven have figured out how to switch who's in control of Raven's body... which I'd forgotten. Demise discovers Raven's artistic talent and is a bit jealous.

     We get a little taste of Xavier erasing memories after Demise tells Kitty what happened to her and Raven. This is later revealed to have happened a lot. Apparently, Xavier's been erasing random bits from people's memories whenever he thinks Raven's told them too much. Demis confronts Xavier about what he did to Tessa and Raven, and also a bit about the memory wiping. This unsettled Xavier, but he doesn't stop being a manipulative bastard. He reminds me of religious nuts using God to back up their actions. Except, Xavier's only got his "grand plan" to back up his actions. This really, really pissed me off. It still pisses me off. I hate people who pervert their religion or ideals to get what they want.

     Demise strikes up a little conversation with Rogue, which is helped along a little by Destiny/Irene Adler's precognative powers. After shoving a box of pictures, sent by Sebastian Shaw, into Xavier's lap, Demise and Rogue slip off to Christmas dinner at Mystique and Irene's. Raven finally decides she's had enough of Xavier's nonsense and quits the X-Men... after giving Xavier a good yelling at. We get Raven's side of her and Tessa's past as she and Demise pick up various things from the hidey-hole Xavier had housed them in.

     Raven and Demise try a hit on Shaw, with help from Mystique and Irene. However, this fails miserably because Raven had forgotten that Tessa would be there. This then leads to some conspiring with Mystique and Irene over Raven leaving the X-Mension altogether. They succeed and go to live with Mystique and Irene for a while. This section started me off on my love-affair with Destiny. Alexandria paints her as such a strong, amusing, gentle woman. I really do love this portrayal and wish she hadn't died in the comics.

     There's an interesting discussion about Emma Frost and the paths Destiny sees for her. Demise wants Emma to have the best future possible, but that can't happen without the devastating death of the Hellions. It's really a no-win situation as far as both paths Destiny sees have to get worse before either can get better.

     Raven attempts to get Tessa to come with her into the special "witness protection" thingy Irene and Mystique are setting up for her. Tessa refuses, leaving Raven devastated. And then Demise leaves the very next day.

     These chapters are really an emotional roller coaster for both Raven and Demise. Demise gets more attached to Raven than to any of her other doubles. Raven leans more on Demise than is really advisable, especially as she knows Demise has to leave. Tessa's refusal to leave with Raven hits a nerve with Demise, especially since she seems to dedicated to bringing down Shaw Xavier's way. It's really heartbreaking to see that Xavier would purposefully leave someone with no one. And it is all Xavier's fault. Every bit. But I'm not going to rant about that...

Housekeeping

This was supposed to go up yesterday, but my working on my little sister's Christmas present distracted me. Until I get that done, I may be sporradic with my posts... and what I post about. As always, the link to the fanfiction and the author's page are in the mini-header.

Love ya, Jessie.

500 Miles, Hellfire 1: Chapters 1-5 Review

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn't get trampled on Black Friday. I was on the computer all day Thursday and then did yard work Friday, so no shopping for me. On the bright side, I started back into 500 Miles and here's what I have for you:

500 Miles, Hellfire 1 by Princess Alexandria

     We're back with Demise again and she ends up inside an X-Man named Raven. Raven was, at the point in which Demise ends up taking over, infiltrating the Hellfire Club... or attempting to, at any rate. She's caught by Emma Frost (at the time, The White Queen) and Tessa (known more recently in the Marvel Universe as Sage), Sebastian Shaw's Personal Assistant.

     I got a good way into the first chapter of Hellfire, rereading-wise, and stalled. I really, really tried to reread it, really I did. However, knowing what goes on during these chapters puts a gigantic dent in the rereading process. It's very well written, it's a good idea to read it the first time through -- which I did -- and it's a very good idea to keep an open mind while doing so.

     The Hellfire Club and what goes on behind the scenes are never really looked at too closely in the comics. Alexandria makes the not-so-nice leap (hop, actually) into the BDSM realm of Hellfire back-room dealings. Seeing as it is cannon within the 616-Universe that the Hellfire Club does have some strip-club-ness goings on (see the Deadly Genesis arc/trade to see what I'm talking about), the hop to full-blown S&M parties isn't a stretch by any means.

     that said, this is the part I'm skipping. Basically, Demise and Raven get thrown into this during the Hellfire Club's Christmas parties. At some point, Selene gets a hold of Demise and Raven, and Emma Frost is able to pull Demise out of Raven's mind but is unable to protect Raven like this. Raven is raped by Selene and Selene's cronies before the X-Men finally show up to rescue Raven. (How's that for not rereading this part?) And that calls an end to chapter 5.

     Also during this part, we find out about Raven and Tessa's time at Xavier's away from the other X-Men. They're trained as spies, kept away from the X-Men, and then used as leverage against each other. That's how Tessa explains her reasons for staying at the Hellfire Club despite all the things that were going on. Xavier keeping Raven, and eventually putting her on an X-Man team, were used as blackmail to keep Tessa in line.

     All of this is burned indelibly on my mind, probably why I can remember so much detail after all this time. These first five chapters of Hellfire had me cringing this time. I had to take frequent breaks from reading even the first chapter. Again, it's because of the material and not the actual writing. Seriously, if you're reading 500 Miles for the first time, read through these chapters. Keep in mind that these chapters are NOT meant for children. And hey, if you decide you can't take it, I've given you the chapter where it stops being all... S&M-y.

     Alexandria, because I know you'll read this:   I did like it the first time.

That's all I've got tonight. Sorry this is taking so long, but like I said in the review... well, you read it so... there you are.

Love ya, Jessie.

500 Miles, Complications 2

I'm back from the weekend, and hopefully I'll actually make sense as I type up my notes on this next section of 500 Miles chapters. I've been cross-stitching some ornaments for my little sister, so that's been taking up a lot of time in the last few days.

500 Miles, Complications 2 by Princess Alexandria

     This section's Christy does not have a nickname/codename, so she's just Christy. This version of Christy has an adverse reaction to having been taken over by Demise. She has a hard time coping initially and it does not help that Miss Astrid Bloom has decided to continue acting like a bitchy jealous girlfriend. As it turns out, Christy discovers that Demise has apparently left behind some sort of mental imprint, mainly expressed in the form of Psychology knowledge. Christy's perturbed by this and at the thought of what else Demise may have inadvertently left behind. Interesting little side note: Bright Eyes having problems with flying has carried over into Complications Christy. Well... it's more of a shared trait, but there you are.

     After Christy leaves Emma Frost and Astrid, Alexandria has sub-divided the chapters into time-line sections. So we're now at 9 months after New York. Michelle's being a right bitch to Christy. Did I mention how much I hate this woman? There's a small discussion on parallels between Nazi's and the Anti-Mutant movement. Michelle is revealed to be a bit of a bigot. BIG SURPRISE.

     1 year after New York: Christy finds Michelle and Michelle's lover in her bed. Michelle is summarily thrown out. A short time later, Christy calls Steven (one of Demise's tutor-ees) looking for Emma. The pair get talking about business and end up starting one together.

     6 years after New York: Nothing much happened at the two-year mark so we're just skipping over it here. The name of Christy, Steven, and this guy named Phil's business is revealed to be called Altered Realities. During this chunk of chapter, Emma and Christy seem to be invading each others' dreams. Christy uses "dream" Emma as a sounding board, since Emma just seems to be sitting around doing nothing. Marvel Universe time-line-wise, we're about the time Emma places herself in a coma to cope with losing her Hellions. Only, Christy doesn't know that. After one of their dream conversations, Christy is attacked by someone she fired and gets incredibly worried about it. The night of the attack, Emma reveals that she's waking up and Christy feels incredibly alone after that.

     7 years after New York: Christy has become famous due to an interview she gave. She and Emma are reunited at a conference, which was quite interesting. Christy starts to reveal information about Emma's life that she technically shouldn't have known. She and Emma explore this and the reason Christy retains some of Demise's knowledge. Emma had forgotten pretty much everything that went on in her head during her coma-time, and so gets that out of Christy's head. A few months after the conference... or was it weeks? ... Christy isinvited to visit Emma's school and gets to mean Generation X. This part's actually quite funny because Jubilee is trying to get information about Emma out of Christy. This plan, of course, dies a horribly funny death. Emma and Christy explore more about Demise's left-behind knowledge and how Emma's powers work in relation to Christy's.

     8 years after New York: Moira McTaggert dies and Sean Cassidy leaves Emma's school. Christy is invited to fill the gap he leaves and does. She and Emma later have a conversation about who gets to go to Mutant School and who doesn't. I quite liked this discussion because it always seems like those with basically useless powers get left out of the X-Men universe. Also, it brings to light that Charles Xavier may be poaching those with "useful" or "powerful" powers for the X-Men. It's not right and I very much hate it.

     Then, of course, we get a development in another Emma/Christy couple. It was sweet, but very protracted, which was cool.

Housekeeping

     Okay so... I had a look at the website stats over the weekend and I saw that there was something called a bounce-rate. I have no idea what that is, but if it is what I think it is, then Webs in being annoying. I've got a secondary blog-site on Blogger, which you can find HERE. It's basically this, without the rest of the website.

     This next hunk of chapters for 500 miles is... interesting. I haven't reread certain parts of it since... probably never. I did read them to begin with, but they make me somewhat uncomfortable. I'm going to have a go at rereading them this time, but it might take me longer than usual... just a warning.

     Last thing, remember that the links to the chapters reviewed and author's page are in the section headings.

Love ya, Jessie.

500 Miles, Complications 1

Okay, first off, I really, really love comments. I wish I had some comments. Like, here, on the actual blog. And yes, I'm begging, because I love you. Also, a big thank you to those who contacted me letting me know you read the long reviews. I love you more than everyone else... Joking... I'm joking... but seriously, thank you. Now on to the review!

500 Miles, Complications I by Princess Alexandria

     And we're back to following Demise around! Yay! This time, Demise lands in New York, but it's a New York around the time when Emma Frost is 18, in college, and anti-mutant hysteria is just starting up. Demise also lands in the body of her 21 year old counterpart, who is on vacation with her then-partner Michelle. Demise, needless to say, is not happy about this. Turns out, Michelle had cheated on and left Demise prior to Demise actually becoming Demise... if that makes any sense... Demise and Christy also have no contact with Emma and therefore have to bascially leave Michelle in order to find Emma.

     During the getting away from Michelle part and the finding Emma part, we get the internal turmoil Demise still feels over the way her relationship with Michelle went. We also get some more hints of Mystique's influence on Demise.

     After finding the teen-Emma, Demise has to sit around and recharge her powers. During which time, we get to see exactly how Demise would act when drugged... which is kind of funny, but mostly heartbreaking. While drunk and drugged, Demise divulges to the teenage-Emma just how much she loves and misses her Emma. And then there's the Emma character development! Well, not so much of development, really, but pre-Hellfire Club and whatnot. It's basically the beginnings of teacher-Emma. She's caring and holds her own in regards to taking care of the drunk and drugged Demise... which I loved.

     After the drinking and drugs incident, Demise ends up tutoring some of the students in Philosophy and realises how much she misses teaching. There's also a bit of time-travel-y stuff in how Demise has decided to write some notebooks for Complications-Christy and for Emma on their doubles lives. Things like avoiding the death of the Hellions and what Michelle ends up doing to Christy. Emma, of course, vows to not read hers, preferring to live her life the way she wants to live it -- showing off that unshakable stubbornness in the process.

     Near the end of our brief time with Demise, we get a bit of one of my favorite things about her: her protectiveness/vindictiveness. She plants drugs and gay porn on a guy who was harassing Emma. It's a small thing, but it's awesome to see. And again, something I completely forgot about until I was reading it. I thought the porn was a nice touch.

Astrid Bloom

     So, this post's unknown character-person is Miss Astrid Bloom, who we met in this chapter, but I didn't mention... partially because I don't like her and partially because she isn't really that important in the long-run... Oops ... that's kind of a spoiler...

     Anyway, Astrid was a college friend of Emma Frost's. She taught Emma the ins and outs of telepathy while at the same time trying to manipulate Emma. Astrid's main goal was to turn Emma against males and non-mutants... which, if you ask me, is a big pile of lesbian subtext. Emma basically gets a big hunk of Astrid's telepathic knowledge from being trapped, by Astrid, in Astrid's head. Good going there, chicka. Emma came out the more powerful of the two, especially with the gained-knowledge, and left Astrid comatose. See, not so much of a spoiler, after all.

Housekeeping

     Just a reminder that the links to the first chapter of the section, author's profile, and character Wiki page are the section headings. The color is not there for pretty-ness. Also, you may have noticed I went a bit emoticon crazy today... yeah... I'm in a mood.

Love ya, Jessie.

500 Miles, Ruins 2

Hey, look, I read chapters for you guys. I hope you appreciate it.

500 Miles, Ruins 2 by Princess Alexandria
     Okay so, this bit picks up directly after Prologue Christy has run off to Scythe. We get to know Bright Eyes-Christy (hence-forth referred to as Bright Eyes in order to negate confusion) through these next three chapters. We also follow the trial of Kevin Ford/Wither... not actually in detail, but it's an excuse to point out some things about Bright Eyes and about Emma and Scott's relationship.
     Kevin's trial, for those who don't know, happened because when Kevin's powers manifested, he accidently killed his father. In the main 616-universe, Kevin was taken by the FBI and the Hellions tried to go and break him out of "jail" or wherever they had him. In the Ruins universe, Kevin is taken by the FBI, leaving Emma very displeased and Scott basically telling her off for having a different opinion than he does. Scott's on the side of "we'll be more accepted once they see us obeying the law" and Emma's on the side of "that's bullshit, Humans are going to hate us no matter what we do and bringing a kid who couldn't control his power up on charges is crap." We're also introduced to Evangeline "Vange" Whedon, Kevin's attorney, who I'll be detailing a bit later.
     Bright Eyes learns about her powers during this trip to Georgia for Kevin's trial (which Scott declined to attend. I only mention this because it's important). With Emma's help, she discovers why she's been needing more "death energy" lately. Bright Eyes mutates slower than Prologue Christy or Not Myself Christy did, seeing as she didn't have a planet explode around her. So basically, we get some insight as to how Christy's powers would have developed more naturally.
     We also get a more natural/slower progression of the Emma/Christy relationship. I had fun reading this again, especially as Scott basically gets what should have been coming to him in the main universe. I got absolutely giddy rereading the bits that covered Scott's leaving the school, mainly because I'd forgotten about it. These chapters very much highlight how wrong Scott and Emma are for each other.
     There's also a point brought up, by Bright Eyes, about the students. This is touched upon in the main comics, but it's one of those things that sticks in my craw and makes me go: "Yup. That's actually something I would have to change." The point is that having the kids at Xavier's Institute on squads doesn't really make a lot of sense. If you're supposed to be a SCHOOL first and foremost, shouldn't you NOT be training the kids to be superheroes? The kids aren't going to have their squads outside of the school, so teaching them to rely on that squad is ridiculous. In my opinion, Xavier's Institute needs to adopt a more Hogwarts style of splitting kids up rather than the squad system.

Evangeline "Vange" Whedon
     And now to a new section that may or may not get continued... a profile section. If you're like me and not completely versed in who everyone in the Marvel Universe is, then you were probably in the dark about who this "Vange" person was. Looking her up on Wikipedia by the name "Vange" didn't help. However, later in the chapters, we find out her entire name, which made things a lot easier.
     Vange is one of those minor characters who kind of serves a greater purpose in the grand scheme of things. She's a lawyer and a member of the Mutant Rights Coalition who was fired from her job immediately upon being outed as a Mutant. Her power is to shapeshift into a gigantic red dragon upon coming into contact with blood... or voluntarily.
     Vange does not appear to have worked on Kevin's case in the main 616-universe, but did in the Ruins universe.

Housekeeping Stuff
     In the course of writing this blog post, especially when referring to Christy, I've decided that the Prologue Christy will not be referred to as "Demise" seeing as that is her codename and none of the other Christy's adopt "Demise" in 500 Miles. Probably should have figured that out sooner, but there you are. If I refer to Christy as Christy, I'm probably talking about all the different versions collectively... probably. And as usual, the section headings contain links to the fanfiction and author's pages... and Vange's Wiki page.

Love ya, Jessie.

PS: For those of you not reading the main blog, I've added a new Journal Post to my Gaiaonline Journal. Link on the main website.

500 Miles, Ruins 1... and Possibly some other stuff

500 Miles, Ruins 1 by Princess Alexandria

     The very first chunk of chapters for 500 Miles takes place in an alternate 616-universe. Timeline-wise, it's directly after, possibly during, when Xorn turns out to be Magneto who decides to destroy Manhattan on a whim. This means that Jean Grey/Summers is dead... again... and Emma Frost is in a relationship with Scott Summers.

     Things start off with Christy from the Prologue landing inside herself from this particular universe, who was on vacation. We get a display of just how twisted Christy can be and just how heroic when she fends off some Mutant-hating jerks and then saves Phobe Cuckoo's life. And then Christy wakes up in the X-Mansion's infirmary and has to explain to the X-Men who she is and why she's there. Predictably, this leads to lots of raised eyebrows and me disliking some people right off the bat. Christy takes a job-ish sort of position as Emma's Personal Assistant while recharging her "batteries" and figuring out how to separate from her alter-self. We end this section with Christy separating and calling Scythe into being and then leaving.

     My overall feeling I came away with after these chapters was Scott Summers hatred. He's soooo not right for Emma and she shouldn't even be trying to build a relationship with him. The note I jotted down goes like this: Scott really annoys me to begin with and his interruptions of telepathic converstaions does not help with that image. (End note) I also had problems with how he treated Emma, not just in the sense of having been with telepaths for most of his adult life, but also in how he just sort of decides to shirk in his responsibilities. Christy was right in thinking that, as co-headmaster, Scott should be doing some of the work instead of running the X-Men and standing around chatting.

     The next section of chapters: Ruins 2, will focus on Christy's alter-ego from the "Ruins" universe. That review will probably be more than just this summary and Scott-bashing... probably. But really, at this point, there's not much to say about Christy from the Prologue... who I will now be referring to as Prologue-Christy, to make things easier. She's secure in who she is and who she is isn't properly explained yet anyway... not much to comment on.

The Other Stuff Section!

I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival yesterday. I had loads of fun. I also got a new unicorn necklace/charm. And today I'm really sore from all the walking around and bag-holding. But that's all I've got for you today.

Love ya, Jessie.

500 Miles, Prologue Review

I may possibly have forgotten *cough - decided not to - cough* write an entry for yesterday. Thank you, Season Six of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. I do enjoy being depressed watching you... but on the bright side, I did manage to re-read the Prologue of Princess Alexandria's 500 Miles... and the first batch of paragraphs of Ruins 1 (the actual first chapter), before I decided I was too restless to actually read more at that point in time. This conclusion was reached after I re-read the same paragraph three times and still couldn't get the jist of what was going on. I will try harder next time. Meanwhile... here's a review of the Prologue:

500 Miles, Prologue by Princess Alexandria
     It is very important that you go and read Not Myself before you begin this story. That's pretty much what the summary of 500 Miles states. The author's note, states that Princess Alexandria keeps Christy Taylor chained to her desk. I found this amusing for several reasons: 1) I'm not telling you until further into my review series of 500 Miles, and 2) I love Christy. I may have mentioned point 2 earlier during the Not Myself review.
     As well as reading Not Myself, you should also note before beginning this story that this version of Christy and Ms. Emma Frost are in a completely different universe than the Christy and Emma from Not Myself. I didn't actually realise this until I was a good way into the story my first time through. They do act awfully similar and so it's a bit confusing when Christy starts mentioning things that don't have anything to do with the previous story... 500 Miles is not a continuation of Not Myself.
     The Prologue is very well written, as is usual with Alexandria's stories. There is mention of Christy having named her portal-y whirlwind power, which she didn't do in Not Myself. I thought that calling it Scythe worked quite well. And that she refers to Scythe more as a living entity than an object is interesting. I mention this before anything else because, well, this chapter throws you directly into a chaotic situation after a nice, soft lead-in.
     The Prologue starts with Christy prematurely waking Emma up by thinking too loudly about how much she loves her. The scene is very cute and slightly amusing. We then cut to the intrepid pair going out to a little sea-side house for a little vacation. And that's when things get chaotic. While out for a walk, Christy and Emma get ambushed by assassins and Christy has to use Scythe to protect Emma and herself after Emma gets shot. At this point in the story, it was unclear as to why exactly Emma was the target of an assassination, but that'll be explained much later on in the story. But basically, Christy ends up getting pulled into Scythe and out of the universe she calls home.
     And there you have the premise of the story. Christy and her undying, unshakeable love for Emma Frost and her journey to get back to her Emma. It kind of reminds me of Daniel Jackson of Stargate SG-1 and his search for Sha're across a single universe... but that's something completely different so forget I typed that...

That's pretty much it from me today, I am going to be rereading 500 Miles as often as possible. Also, I'm going to the Texas Renaissance Festival this weekend, so there might be a weekend blog post about that... but don't hold me to it. As usual, links to the fanfiction and author's pages are in the header leading the review. For 500 Miles, I'll be linking to the first chapter of the section I've reviewed, to avoid any confusion...

Love ya, Jessie.

PS: For those of you who aren't using the Plieades website, I've added a couple of Gaiaonline Avatars to that Journal. Links on the Link Page of the Plieades website.