Accusations

Disclaimer: Claire belongs to me, Misty belongs to Shygal16, and she is letting me borrow her for this piece.  Please don't use either without permission.

Accusations

The X-men sat at a table in front of the room, waiting for the conference to begin.  They chatted amongst themselves as they eyed up the roomful of people armed with notepads, pencils and opinions.

Rogue stretched her arms out in front of her, "How long do ya think this is gonna take?  My soaps are on right now and Ah simple gotta know what is gonna happen with Carly and Sonny."

"Gawd," Jubilee rolled her eyes, "how can you watch soap operas? Don't you get enough of that crap with what we do for a living?"

Rogue looked indignant, "Sugar, General hospital is not crap, it's a well crafted drama."

Logan, who was sitting next to Jubilee snorted, "Wish we could get some of those well crafted writers. Maybe then we wouldn't have to put up with all the crap we do."

"What are you complaining about?" Scott muttered, "People don't portray you as the anal retentive dickweed."

Jean simply smiled and patted Scott's arm, knowing that recent story lines had taken a toll on him.

Everyone in the room turned to the woman standing at the front podium as she cleared her throat. 

"Excuse me, if everyone is ready we can begin.  First we will allow the X-men," she gestured towards the table, "to have their say, and then we will have a question and answer session."

She nodded towards Storm, who stood up to begin the conference.

"Thank you, now as you all know you have been called her today so we may discuss the use of our person's in your writings.  Each person in this room has at one time or another casted us in their story. Now generally we do not have problem with that, however there are some instances where we have to draw the line."

Storm turned and nodded to Hank McCoy who stood up with a nervous smile.

"Thanks. Now I generally don't have that many complaints, mostly because I am usually only a supporting character," there was a hint of insult in the statement. "However I do have to question the over active use of Twinkies where I am involved.  Do the writers here realize that I have gained 20 lbs. since this fascination with the snack cake came to the forefront? Not to mention the toothaches and dental decay, so I have to ask for the writers to slow down on the sugar, thank you."  He nodded to the people in the audience who were writing furiously into their tablets.

Rogue stood up next, placing her hands on the table, "Ok folks, Ah usually think of mahself as a good natured gal, however there is something that has to stop!  Lately Ah see myself portrayed as a weepy damsel in distress who can't seem to get ovah her failed relationship with the swamprat.  I would just like to make it clear that contrary to popular belief Remy and Ah have actually managed to remain friends, regardless of the problems we have had in the past.  So please, stop turnin me into a pansy!" She sat down with a huff, crossing her arms in front of her.

With a smile Remy stood up next, emitting a sigh from every female in the room.  "Tank you chere, Remy tinks dat you nailed dat right on da head.  Now Remy knows dat he is a lady's man, and he enjoys the fact dat the ladies like 'em, however he does need time ta sleep and he sure would appreciate it if da writers would slow down on the relationship kicks.  Remy been wit so many women so quickly it be hard to keep'em straight, and none of the wonderful ladies deserve dat.  So in da future da only ting dat Remy asks is dat you give da relationship time to develop, deux chapters simply isn't enough to build the lasting relationship on, non?"

"Gumbo, two years isn't enough for ya," Jubilee muttered, emitting a laugh from the crowd and a dirty look from the Cajun.

She stood up, smiling at him as he sat down. "Ok folks, I have a major beef.  When are you people gonna decide how old I really am?  I mean, do you know how hard it is to establish an identity when your 22 in one story and 15 in the next?" She pointed her finger at all of the guilty writers in the crowd.

 "Another thing that has been rubbing me the wrong way for a long time is my relationships with Logan!  Is Wolvie my father figure or my lover!  Make up your minds folks, cause it can't be both ways, that's just weird!" Her arms were waving above her head.

"And one more thing, lay of the pregnant stories will ya?  Geez, ya make me sound like some stupid fluzzie that that sleeps with the first thing that comes her way. I've survived the Phalanx for gods sakes, I think I can manage birth control."  She turned to glare at Logan when he growled. "Oh grow up Wolvie, you know it's true." She sat in her chair and began whispering furiously with him.

"I don't know if I'm old enough, that's part of the problem remember!" the crowd heard her say.

"Er, thank you, now I'm going allow the writers to ask some questions in return, please, one at a time, and wait to be called on."

The writers in the crowd leaned forward in their seats as they waited for their turn to ask their questions.

"Um, thanks, this is actually directed to the X-men as a team. How do you feel about having two genre's, movie-verse and comic-verse now being written?"

"That is a good question," Storm spoke up, "As you can imagine some of the team has resentments about being left out of the movie, however it also gives the characters that are less frequently used to shine through. Although it is at times hard to move from one set of facts to another I do believe that for all purposes the writers are taking their responsibilities responsibly."

Another writer stood up, "This is actually for the characters that the writers have made.  How do you deal with the accusations that you are no better than the shallow Mary Sue's that sometimes sneak into the fanfiction world?

Some of the X-men cringed at the question, realizing that this was a sore point for some of their teammates.

Claire, who had sat on the end of the table next to Misty, leaned towards her mike.

"Actually I have quite a few things to say to those people, however Charlie made me promise to behave myself.  All I can say is that of course we are not going to be as well known and as well developed as my teammates.  For one, most of us have only been around for a couple of stories, and that isn't nearly enough time to fully develop our characters."

"Yeah," Misty spoke up, "I mean for a long time I was 'Skin's girlfriend', but in reality I was much more than that, the readers just didn't know that."

Claire nodded in agreement, "When I first showed up I admit that I was slightly confused as to what I was supposed to be doing.  I didn't have a defined character bio, and no real ties to anyone in the stories, but as time has passed a little, I have started to find a niche within the team."  Misty nodded in agreement to Claire's statement.

"How has the rest of the team reacted to the addition of new team members by the writers?"

Logan leaned forward this time, "well it all depends on what those characters are, often times you writers throw someone in as a simple way of progressing the plot. We're not stupid, we know what's going on, but in other cases," he jerked his hand towards Claire, "they are a more permanent part of the story. For instance when Claire first showed up I didn't know how in the hell to react to her, but we have found comfortable ground that we can both work on."

"Yeah," Claire chimed in, "I mean obviously it isn't easy being ripped from the warm confines of your creators mind and thrown into the harsh unforgiving world of fanfics, but you cope.  When that happens there is an awkward period of adjustment for everyone as we all feel each other out.  I mean, I had a slight advantage as my creator knew what the X-men were like, so I had some ingrained idea of what to expect; but the as for me? The X-men were going in blind to that one, they had no way of knowing what I was like."

"It's kinda like Misty," Jubilee said, "it's like one day there was this girl who had a relationship with Espinosa, at first it makes your head spin, but then you get to know her and realize that she is a good friend and a cool person."  Misty smiled at Jubilee, who rolled her eyes and smiled.

"So can the readers expect to see more of you?"

Claire and Misty looked at each other, "Well we certainly hope so." They said in unison.

"I mean, unless the writers get sick of us I can see us sticking along for the long run."

"Yeah," Claire continued. "I mean, sure there are some people who don't like us, but that's true for everyone at this table.  The only thing I can say is if you don't like us, then don't read about us."

"Besides," Misty continued, "I really don't think that anyone should be knocking anyone else's character. I know that personally my creator had a reason for creating me and she does her best to give me substance and make me a good person, which is more than can be said for some of the established Marvel characters.  Just because we aren't in the mainstream books doesn't mean that we aren't any good ya know?"

Storm stood up and looked at the speaker, "I think that pretty much establishes our stance on the situation, now you'll have to excuse us, we have an appointment for a fight scene and we really must be going.

"Of course," the speaker said, "writers, if you will give the X-men a few moments to exit the building, there is going to be refreshments served in the room across the hall.

"Refreshments?" Jubilee said, "I want some refreshments."

Logan shook his head and put his hand on her shoulder directing her towards the back door, "kid, we escaped an encounter with the fanfiction writers unscathed.  Count yur blessings and let's go."

END