Author's Note: Okay, there's something I want to clear up! Before I get any more truck-loads of emails and such about this... (I hear you, Syna! And everyone else who wrote me with an opinion, you know who you are.)


The Lance Question
And The Brotherhood Issue

Whew, loaded subject! Don't get me wrong, folks! I don't hate the Brotherhood, and I don't hate Lance Alvers. Heck, I even like Toad--he's a funny little doofus who thinks he's way cooler than he is. I enjoy watching Pietro--I just like fast guys. (Not to mention he's played by a great voice actor from one of my favorite animes!) I loved "Survival of the Fittest" where everybody was the good guy at the end of the day.

So please, no flames from Lance fans! Lance isn't my fave X-Ev character, but I'm not trying to portray him as a complete jerk. I've gone through all the relevant Lance-characterization from various featuring episodes. I watched "The X-Impulse" where Lance and Kitty get to have their cute little intro and lots of sweetness moments. I've tried to be as accurate as possible with every person on the whole darn show.

However, since my story does not center on the Brotherhood, I sadly don't end up showing many of Lance's better moments. If he seems like a jerk now...sorry. I don't think he is--Kurt does, and we all know he's a little biased in that department. Kitty obviously thinks he's great--and if you will observe, Lance is having a good time with this date, he's behaving, and he will continue to be a perfect gentleman; just watch. I agree that Lance has a softer side, and definitely isn't evil. He's got a problem with erroneous logic at times, maybe, but that's a result of education and upbringing--he sure isn't evil.

The main reason for Lance's "jerkiness" is this: The Brotherhood and the majority of the X-Men do tend to rub each other the wrong way--Kurt and Lance being no exceptions. They will clash like putting a wet cat and a skunked dog in an enclosed space. Kurt's being something of a jerk, too--he's jealous as all heck and doubly frustrated because it's a member of the Brotherhood that Kitty's seeing. Tagging along on someone's date, whether they're going out with your enemy or not--I'd say that's jerk material! (Temporary Jerk Syndrome--it happens to the best of us.)

From my careful observations, Lance just struck me as having a little mean streak in him. And since he's got the upper hand in this silent little duel, I don't think he's above the temptation to needle Kurt a bit. (Okay, a lot.) Kurt reacts beautifully to Lance-needling--ends up being great fun to watch. Lance knows just the right buttons to push. (Everybody knows a button-pusher. I know several.) There's also a lot of "I've got the girl and you don't" going on. Guy competition, magnified by the fact that they're mutants.

And Lance is an ordinary (albeit mutant) teenage guy. I've known a lot of ordinary teenage guys in my time--and a couple that were remarkably like our dear Avalanche. They have their ups and downs, the dear fellows. Rough homes, low income, bad reps--life ain't easy for them. Just because Lance wants to be something of a jerk to Kurt does not mean that he's a jerk overall. Some of his earlier "jerkiness" (such as the "flea collar" remark about Kurt) was just trying to make Kitty laugh--and picking bad subject matter to attempt it. Oops--faux pas. (I'm sure we've all done that a time or two...or three or four...eeek...)

Everyone has their jerk-moments. If my story happens to catch Lance at his worst...I must apologize to the Lance fans. This isn't a Brotherhood fanfic; please bear with me!

If anyone feels they must email me to respond to this, please feel free--but please avoid rudeness or just plain nastiness. I don't need discouragement! There are both Kurtty and Lancitty 'shippers out there, and as we all know, I can't please all the people all the time. I can only try.

Thanks for listening to me rant.

Later!
Becky T.

tailweaver@hotmail.com

PS: The real Chapter 8 will be replacing this little thing very shortly.