Idylls of the Cat

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Fanfiction
Title: Idylls of the Cat
Author(s): Luba Kmetyk
Date(s): 1995-
Length: 29 + stories of various lengths.
Genre(s): Het, Gen, Femslash, Smut
Fandom(s): Excalibur, X-Men
Relationship(s):
External Links: Idylls of the Cat at Fonts of Wisdom

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Started in 1995, "Idylls of the Cat" is a sprawling series of stories looking at a variety of interpretations of the relationship between Kitty Pryde and Pete Wisdom, from Marvel Comics' Excalibur series in the 1990s.

I started this series soon after Excalibur #92 (Pete vs Pete), and have made no effort to keep this within more recent Marvel continuity. In particular, I am ignoring the whole Onslaught/Dark Xavier mess, and Dark Beast, also. Xavier in this story may be dark, but it's his own fault; I don't accept Onslaught as an excuse for Xavier to act like a jerk. I'm treating Logan as basically normal, I just don't feel up to writing feral Wolverine. I'm also ignoring Betsy and the Crimson Whatever. And I've also ignored a lot of little things Ellis has done with Pryde and Wisdom since then, not because I don't accept them (I revere Ellis as gospel), but because it would involve too much minor revision.

 [1]

"Idylls" is a loosely-plotted series that is mostly Kitty Pryde and Pete Wisdom, and the others' reaction to Kitty's new relationship. Most of the stories in the series are not action or adventure, they're mainly sex and/or conversations and range in ratings from G to a hard R-rating. Bondage play is a popular theme in the erotic stories and there are also a number of stories exploring darker, non-consensual themes.

In Luba's own words again:

I've loved Kitty as a character ever since she first appeared, long before Ellis or Pete -- as a female nerd/geek physicist/engineer who got out of the slums on scholarships back in the dark ages when 'girls didn't do things like that', how could I not?


And I like Kitty with Pete because Ellis finally let her grow up, and get past her teenage insecurities, and have a good relationship -- and get out into the world, and find out *not* everyone 'hates and fears mutants'. Contrary to what Marvel may think, I really don't like to see characters and titles trapped in amber, repeating over and over the exact same plots and characterizations -- and mistakes! -- as in the past ten or twenty years. I prefer to see positive growth and character development.

I started *writing* (as opposed to just reading and lurking) when Ellis left, just part of my usual pattern of starting fanfic when the original source dries up for whatever reason. And I'm still doing it because the characters still have something to say to me, especially Pete (and most especially to the X-Men -- he's the perfect 'outside view' of them)

 [2]

The series was very popular and won a number of CBFFA Awards, including being inducted into the Fanfic Hall of Fame in 2000. Unfortunately a number of later stories planned for the series are marked as incomplete on the archive.

Idylls of the Cat

In narrative order, the stories are:

  • The Day After the Night Before (Pryde&Wisdom;) Waking up together their first day as a couple, Kitty and Pete discover they will each need to make compromises in order to live with each other's somewhat different lifestyles, and whether it will be worth it. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual m/f sex
  • Vigil (Excalibur) Set during the latter part of Excalibur #92 -- Pete Wisdom is in recovery after being attacked by Colossus. While Kitty Pryde keeps vigil by his bedside, waiting for him to wake up, all her Excalibur team-mates take turns stopping by to visit, and chat.
  • Vigilance (Excalibur) After Pete Wisdom wakes up in the Muir Island infirmary, Kitty has to explain who attacked him-- and why his attacker is now his teammate. Incomplete
  • Pulling their Fat out of the Fire (Excalibur/Hellblazer) I didn't like the Onslaught crossover in Excalibur #100 (a waste of good pages that could have been put to better use), so here's an alternative ending to Excalibur #100 with the crossover I would have liked to see -- With a demon loose in London, Excalibur could use some expert help, and they get it in the form of Pete Wisdom's old pub mate, John Constantine.[3]
  • Time Goes By (Excalibur) Set sometime between Excalibur #101 and #102 -- Even though Ellis brought Alistair Stuart back to Excalibur, we never did get to see his reaction to a grown-up Kitty. So here's a conversation between Kitty and Alistair, before he leaves again.
  • Bearing Tidings of Joy (Excalibur/Storm) Set sometime after the Storm miniseries -- Ellis never did show Storm telling Colossus she found his brother Mikhail alive in another dimension, so here's that particular conversation.
  • You Can't Go Home Again (Excalibur/X-Men) Most of Excalibur come to Westchester for a visit with the X-men, which gives Kitty a chance to introduce Pete to her old friends. Unfortunately, Wisdom and the X-men mix about as well as oil and water. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual m/f sex and bondage games
  • Close Encounters of the Lethal Kind (Excalibur/X-Men/DV8/Hellblazer) As Excalibur's visit to the X-men continues, everyone encourages Colossus to get over Kitty and get on with his life, and he goes out with a girl he's just met. Meanwhile, as some of the X-men start accepting Wisdom, he gets blindsided by a problem worse than any supervillain -- money. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual m/f sex and bondage, nonconsensual f/m sex and bondage
  • Skeletons in the Closet of Memories (Excalibur/X-Men) The visit begun in You Can't Go Home Again and continued in Close Encounters of the Lethal Kind concludes with a number of conversations and meetings as concerns old and new continue to surface -- and several relationships are permanently changed. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual m/f sex, implied consensual f/f sex
  • Warning: Good Habits May Be Hazardous to Your Love Life (Excalibur) Kitty's been worried about Pete's smoking and drinking and other bad habits, and finally gets him to promise to reform. Now, she can just relax and enjoy being with her lover -- or maybe not...
  • What God Has Joined Together (Pryde&Wisdom/X-Files) The Uncreated whom Kitty encountered in Black Air's Dream Nails base escaped, and are carrying on their anti-god campaign by killing religious staff and destroying religious facilities, on both sides of the Atlantic. As Pete and Kitty try to hunt them down, they run into two well-known FBI agents investigating the same incidents.
  • Drugs, Spies and Videotape (Pryde&Wisdom/Puck/Rocky & Bullwinkle) Pete Wisdom gets an overseas call from his old friend Eugene Judd (Puck of Canada's Alpha Flight). Seems like a relative of Puck's is being blackmailed, and Puck wants help trapping the blackmailers. Incomplete
  • All Nice and Gift-Wrapped (Pryde&Wisdom) Pete and Kitty celebrate their first anniversary together in their own unique way. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual f/m sex and bondage games
  • Strawberry Shortcake (Pryde&Wisdom) After Kitty praises Rahne's strawberry shortcake, Pete decides to prove he can make one better... R for mature themes -- explicit consensual m/f sex
  • Getting the Chair (Pryde&Wisdom) Pete buys Kitty a special gift to celebrate the start of her computer consulting business, and gets thanked appropriately. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual f/m sex and bondage games
  • Turning the Tables (Pryde&Wisdom) Kitty comes up with her own surprise for Pete's 30th birthday. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual f/m sex and bondage games
  • Some Enchanted Evening (Kurt/Amanda) Pete and Kitty aren't the only denizens of Muir enjoying a good sex life -- even if Kurt *is* too much of a gentleman to brag. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual m/f sex
  • Consenting Adults (Betsy/Logan/Jubilee) Betsy is determined to have a baby so, after Warren refuses to co-operate, she asks Logan to help her -- to a jealous Jubilee's chagrin. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual m/f sex
  • Behind Closed Doors (Brian/Meggan/Betsy) A pregnant Betsy moving back into Braddock manor doesn't cramp Brian's and Meggan's *private* lifestyle at all. R for mature themes -- explicit consensual m/f sex
  • A Slice of Life, with Demon Garnish (Pryde&Wisdom/Hellblazer Pete and Kitty try to settle into their new life as a family, with its traditional -- and some highly non-traditional -- highs and lows.)

Dark Idylls

Luba also wrote a number of variant series about Kitty and Pete, exploring the darker side of human nature, which she called either Dark Reflections or the Dark Idylls. These were further sorted by the "darkened" character.

Dark Pete

A series in which Pete Wisdom betrays Excalibur to Black Air, leading to their capture, torture and some deaths.

  • Dark Reflections (Excalibur/Black Air) What if -- Pete Wisdom had never joined Excalibur, Excalibur had been defeated by Black Air and the Hellfire Club, and Shadowcat had found herself captured and given to Wisdom to break? R for explicit nonconsensual m/f and m/m sex, torture and bondage; consensual m/f sex and bondage
  • Pale Reflections of Home (X-Men/Excalibur/Black Air) Shadowcat and Pete Wisdom have escaped and reached the X-mansion, looking for help to rescue her remaining Excalibur teammates from Black Air. But the new arrivals discover the X-Men have major problems of their own, even as the former Black Air agent is immediately imprisoned as one of the enemy for his treatment of Kitty. Incomplete.

Dark Colossus

Dark Kitty

Dark Raab

  • With Friends Like These... (Pryde&Wisdom/Gen-X/X-Men) What if all of Raab's Excalibur issues really happened? A despondent Pete Wisdom has left Muir Island and Excalibur, but a determined woman from his past drags him back out of the gutter where he seems determined to drink himself to death.

Dark Alistaire

  • SysOps co-written with Jacob Milnestein (Alt-Pryde&Wisdom) What if my favorite characters lived in a world without mutants or superheroes or supervillains? Could they still meet -- and how? Incomplete

Dark Realities

  • Sheol (Alt-Kitty) What if Kitty Pryde *did* marry Peter Rasputin? And what if he tried to make his living as an artist, but wasn't *quite* as successful as the X-Men always expected he'd be?
  • Siberia (Alt-Colossus) - Peter Rasputin seeks advice from his friend Ororo at the same time Kitty is talking with Logan.

Stories by others

While "Idylls" was predominantly Luba's work, she would sometimes consider certain stories by others set in the same universe as officially part of it.

  • I'm Here by Suzene C (Excalibur/Hellblazer/Black Air) In an official scene between Dark Reflections and Pale Reflections of Home, John Constantine has freed Amanda's ghost, and Amanda promptly goes looking for Kurt, and for revenge. R for mature themes, semi-explicit nonconsensual m/f sex, torture and bondage.

Awards

CBFFAs

  • 1998 - Best Excalibur Fic
  • 1999 - Best Series
  • 2000 - Fanfic Hall of Fame

Reviews and Recommendations

IMHO

Crack Van

Others

Luba Kmetyk has made it her mission to keep Pryde and Wisdom together, and she's accomplished that with intriguing storylines, steamy subplots ;-), and a sure hand.

 [4]

References

  1. ^ Author's Notes for "Mating Rites", Fonts of Wisdom
  2. ^ In My Humble Opinion #14, SCOTCH AND WRITERS: A Retrospective of the Works of Luba Kmetyk
  3. ^ According to Luba's notes at the end of the fic, this was the first story she ever posted online.
  4. ^ "itty bitty page o'praise" Comicfic.net, KayJay
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