What began as a 'light series' has become quite the opposite. No way can I call it that in good conscience now. About how we know people; and don't. About the radical possibilities of love, against romance.


"There is nothing simpler and more human than to desire. Why, then, are our desires unavowable for us? Why is it so difficult for us to put them into words? It is so difficult, in fact, that we end up hiding them, constructing a crypt for them somewhere within ourselves, where they remain embalmed, suspended and waiting."

"Desiring," Profanations, Giorgio Agamben, trans. Jeff Fort.


"And in life, meaning is not instantaneous. Meaning is discovered in what connects, and cannot exist without development. Without a story, without an unfolding, there is no meaning. Facts, information, do not in themselves constitute meaning. Facts can be fed into a computer and become factors in a calculation. No meaning, however, comes out of computers, for when we give meaning to an event, that meaning is a response, not only to the known, but also to the unknown: meaning and mystery are inseparable, and neither can exist without the passing of time. Certainty may be instantaneous; doubt requires duration; meaning is born of the two..."

John Berger, Appearances.


Once again, by way of explanation: I profoundly disliked X3, which is why I write from it.

All chapter titles come from song lyrics, whose sources will be cited in the preceding chapter notes.

Storm's characterization is decidedly based on Halle Berry's portrayal in X3 (as opposed to X1, for example).

Outrageous liberties will be taken with the back story of any and all mutants who cross this story's path.