First you kill us with Singularity, then with chapter 6 of Stormbringer!... (tbc this is a compliment!!!! I loved both so much!!)
I haven't read a fic that felt as heavy as Stormbringer in a while, I adore how numb but also raw and painful Yuwei's POV feels, and goooooooodssssssss. I didn't expect it to go down the way it did neither did Yongshi rip but oh if it wasn't glorious!
I also feel like it plays off Singularity well, even if these are two entirely separate AUs/relationships. Especially fun to mull them over because it's the one glimpse we have into Xiao Yongshi before becoming X, and him offering Queen a handkerchief and him snapping his fingers after the fight was over seem to come from the same place, despite being different in context (smt-smt, X dissociating through life and trying to keep up the semblance of normalcy when nothing will ever be normal for him anymore/how a civilian helping a hero after the fight is Different than another hero swooping in, regardless of intentions).
Liu Yuweiiiiiiiiii I am so sorry. Also Mickey's everything is so good! And I loved Nice's desperation (he needs at least some heroes to be heroes or he will *finger guns*) and Dragon Boy's... meltdown? Yeah it definitely was. And the parallels between her and Dragon Boy ;(((
Smile being alive does make me happy! Though I can't help but wonder how things would have unfolded if Smile Incident happened exactly as in canon, with no Queen intervention.
Also wanted to say Ahu and Xinya and Yongshi's hesitant found family situation is really compelling! And how Yuwei was able to relate to her and potentially find the right (??) words for her? Their conversation is something I keep coming back to, even though the card reading scene was also so good.
OH MY LORD ANON THANK YOU SO SO MUCH this ask healed something in me I swear hshs I totally get it's a compliment, don't worry, killing you with angst was a part of the intention
Rip X indeed, my brother will go collecting coins from the streets to pay for that apologies bouquet, doubt that Commission breaking in his house would be understanding enough to keep his bank account open until he buys one
Thank you incredibly for speaking so much about Queen in Stormbringer, and singularity as well - I understand why part of people read it for X, but what a blessing it is to have someone appreciate the way I tried to give justice to Queen's character. Stormbringer indeed is a rollercoaster running down faster and faster since chapter one, it just doesn't become obvious till some point due to both Queen and X trying to chew on that small piece of normal life they can steal from the world
"X dissociating through life and trying to keep up the semblance of normalcy when nothing will ever be normal for him anymore/how a civilian helping a hero after the fight is Different than another hero swooping in, regardless of intentions" no but the way you understand, I'm on my knees. Yup!! Aside of X's dissociation issues, their main conflict in Stormbringer arises exactly from his conscious attempt to distance himself from everything connected to heroics and the life he was pushed into against his will. He consciously doesn't try to understand Queen, despite her directly warning him a few times and taking her measures to protect him. The problem is, Queen is absolutely correct to note that they all, partly or not, are present in this system against their will (handshake to Mickey). They all are suffering one way or another, and X's "if I don't see it doesn't exist" was doomed to break with explosions - especially since he crossed paths with the people whom he unwillingly started to care about
I'll die on my hill of Queen and Dragon Boy being parallels to each other, like come on, they're literally two sides of the same coin. That damn ice 💔 Should have seen my face when I built the narrative in Stormbringer around Queen drowning under the ice and breaking it eventually, only to see live Dragon Boy's episode where he basically does the same
XINYA IS MY BABY I love her endlessly, and being able to write her with X from the side of their relationship rarely explored by the fandom (and not explored at all by creators for now) made me shaking from the joy. X's choice of non-intervention affects lives just as his intervention would have had. Xinya's side, especially with her words in Stormbringer about X's understanding of "fate" being only an excuse for not trying to change things, kind of reflects the more realistic stance on the whole Queen's "breaking destiny, ignoring the concept of fate itself" and X's fatalism. And yesss Queen absolutely relates to her - I see her as the exact type of traumatized person who, upon growing up, tries to change things for other people in the place she once was in
Thank you so so so much for your ask, you have no idea how much joy it brought me 🫂 I hope you'll love Stormbringer's final, other QueenX work I plan to work on, and maybe the one I'm planning to post today. Thank you once again!
