matches to paper dolls (x-men, charles/erik

[stardust_rain]

 

title: Matches to Paper Dolls

source: X-Men 1-3, X-Men: First Class

music: Dessa - Matches to Paper Dolls

pairing: Charles/Erik

password: matches

warnings: some fast cuts, canon-typical violence

notes: I made this ages ago, and it’s been sitting on my laptop collecting dust for a while. I’m posting this before the newest movie plays all kinds of merry hell with the continuity of this timeline. 


 

 

tried sweet talk, tried dynamite, but I sleepwalk back to the battle site.

stream on vimeo | download: 101 MB | 55 MB 

 

I changed the locks
But your key, your key's still working
You can't train a moth, I guess
Uh, each beast gets her burden
So we circle this old flame
Too much at stake but too late to change
My nerves are shot, my reserves exhausted
It's a tired plot but we bought it
Now we're lost
Between love and cholera
Saccharine read, such a sentimental novel
Give you cavities if it doesn't drive you to the bottle
As for me, I'll take another kerosene if you got it
Something harder, look, like a moth you see
And I still get chills when you talk to me
But the years pass by now in twos and threes
These thrills ain't as cheap as they used to be

If you're asking
I can't say no
Just one more chapter
Our book won't close
And I know it's madness
To play these odds
It's like giving matches
To paper, to paper dolls

(I know it's madness, I know
I know it's madness, I know
I know it's mad)

Uh, tried sweet talk, tried dynamite
But I sleepwalk back to the battle site
Fight fire with fire but the fire won't fight
We just fly these circles like tired kites
And you flash some fang
And I bat my lashes
And we're back again
No end to this game with matches
We've been lovers and strangers and friends who get angry
Made mistakes and amends and brief moments of magic
We forgive and forget and give in to attraction
This whole thing depends on amnesia and magnets
And I'd be leaving for good, I'd be looking for better
But I got this broken habit I keep gluing back together
The fever, the fire, the feathers
The fever defies measure
And good sense won't venture where the moth will go

If you're asking
I can't say no
Just one more chapter
Our book won't close
And I know it's madness
To play these odds
It's like giving matches
To paper, to paper dolls

(Just like, just like...
Just like, just like...
Just like giving matches to paper dolls
Just like, just like...
Just like, just like...
Just like giving matches to paper dolls)

If you're asking
I can't say no
Just one more chapter
Our book won't close
And I know it's madness
To play these odds
It's like giving matches
To paper, to paper dolls

 

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Comments

[some_stars]

this is fantastic!! This song has been my Charles/Erik theme song since XMFC came out and now there's a vid of it and it's so good oh gosh. i love how fluid your cutting is, how it melts the past and the present together.

[stardust_rain]

Thank you so much! This has been my ULTIMATE Charles/Erik song since I heard it.

[rivkat]

I enjoyed this a lot! I liked the lyric matches (no pun intended) especially the lock/key and amnesia bits.

[stardust_rain]

Thank you! That part was the first thing that came to me.

[sasha_feather]

Downloading this great vid! Great song choice!!

[stardust_rain]

Thank you!

[kuwdora]

augh all the feels, alllllll the charles/erik feels.

great song choice, lovely editing.

[stardust_rain]

Thank you so much! I didn't know I still had feels for them two years down the line, BUT IT TURNS OUT I STILL DO.

[aislynn]

Ooo, that was great! I loved the seamless merging of past and present, beautifully done! Downloading (the large file ;) ) to keep. :D ♥♥♥

[stardust_rain]

oh gosh, thank you so much!

[(Anonymous)]

Just wanted to say how much I love this vid - the song works so well with the push-pull relationship Charles and Erik have...and I love the use of the school and the anti-mutant sentiment for 'between love and cholera' :)

[stardust_rain]

thank you! that was one of my favourite parts to edit as well.

[tehlime]

Holy hell, this is AMAZING. The beginning spiraling motion of the clips, counterbalanced with the ending zoom out and overlays, are just perfect. What really did me in was the chess metaphor, interlacing them playing (while young and old) with the global world impact. It made me flail at my screen. The timing of everything in this is just so sharp and on point. Basically, this is just so good! You did a really, really amazing job with this vid!

[stardust_rain]

(god i'm so late, i'm so sorry, i thought I replied to you but apparently I didnt?)

Thank you so much! I know the chess metaphor is used in so SO many Charles/Erik vids, but I wanted to use it a metaphor for the battling ideals and the friction of their relationship, as a way of linking their personal, intimate relationship and their relationship with the mutant world. I'm so glad it worked for you!

[garrideb]

I was looking up Charles/Erik vids to watch in preparation for DoFP, and I'm glad I found this one. It's very beautiful and does a wonderful job with the scope of their relationship! Also, it's the first time I've heard this song, although I've heard a couple other songs by this artist.

[stardust_rain]

thank you! Dessa is amazing, and I hope she gets used a lot in vids.

[kuwdora]

brilliant song choice, another one for the Dessa vid collection, yesssssssssssss. so there is a lot of great things about this vid: the lyrical interpretations is just fucking stellar and brilliant. clever, surprising, and wonderful! (I still get chills when you talk to me//when Charles has Sabertooth(?) closing his fist around Erik's neck, aahhh) and that this vid is able to carry the weight of both the emotional attachment they have to one another while still highlighting their philosophical differences and the consequences of their actions without missing a beat is amazing. the pacing is wonderful and a lot of the visual parallels are really interesting and inspired (missiles/angry crowd on the street, the actual chessboard/the battle sequence...so many others) but really the one I think my favorite is the falling coin to the trigger of the gun, what a great way to play upon visual objects!

this is a really great vid, I enjoyed this a lot!

[stardust_rain]

ahhh, thank you so much, and thank you for the vid rec!

The 'still get chills when you talk to me' is one of earliest ideas I had for this vid, and a lot of clips worked around it. I worked a lot with metaphor and visual cues and didn't have a beta, so I didn't know what worked and what didn't, and I'm so glad it did!

[green_grrl]

We've been lovers and strangers and friends who get angry
Made mistakes and amends and brief moments of magic
We forgive and forget and give in to attraction
This whole thing depends on amnesia and magnets

Oh my god, YES! Beautifully, beautifully selected and edited.

[stardust_rain]

thank you so much! I know the song's been done many, many times, but the lyrics really stood out to me, particularly that part.

[kiki_miserychic]

I've had this saved on my computer and can't believe I didn't comment to say how wonderful it is.

[stardust_rain]

ahahahaha, thank you!

[sol_se]

This is so awesome. I love it!

[dariaw]

So amazing and heartbreaking in all the best ways

[sqbr]

This is glorious.

[out_there]

That is absolutely perfect for those two. I loved it so much.