Stacy in Bloom | 8: I Get Weak

[luxken27]

Title: Stacy in Bloom
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon (Season 5 – 1988)
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: With her sister and best friend halfway across the world, who else is there for Stacy to turn to…but Ryan? When the consequences of their actions become clear, the two must decide if pursuing each other is worth breaking up the band.
Mega-meta resource thread: http://luxken27.livejournal.com/137711.html

Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5873801/8/

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter - not only did I get to sail my ship a little bit (and oh, what fun it is to write a pairing you really care about!), but I also advanced the story a great deal, in ways that might not be noticeable until future chapters are released. There's a lot going on here, beyond the obvious...but even on the surface, things are moving pretty fast.

There's only one reference this week, to the title song (and, again, one of Stacy's better solo efforts IMO):

Watch on YouTube

from season five, episode twelve, "The Frog Prince." Its funny that she basically sings it as an ode to herself in the episode, LOL - I tried to restore the lyrics' original meaning here ;)

It was kind of a shock to read back through the chapter and realize how much of it is "original" material, with no real explicit throwbacks to the canon. Yeah, the characteristics are still there - Ryan being a nerd, Stacy a fashion plate - but a lot of the flourishes are my own creation, trying to round out the characters a little and make everything feel authentic and plausible. #1 on my list of squee-worthy feedback is hearing I've nailed or enhanced my characterizations, so when I get to the point where I'm proud of something myself (as I am my own worst critic), its a nice, warm feeling :)

I don't have that feeling very often, sad to say.

Other small notes - obviously, I am milking the "bloom" reference for all its worth, vis a vis flowers...as well as the overall meaning. This is a fic about Stacy coming into her own, more than anything else. (Ryan, too, but to a lesser extent.) How does one grow and change over the course of a year, especially in the wake of so many monumental events? As I close in on the end (in my plotting stage - I'm still quite far away from that in terms of actual writing), I realize how much I apparently enjoy exploring this theme. I did it with Kagome in Memento Mori, and Sango in Fragments. Hmmm...