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Kids Inc | Secrets, Bonus Scene #2: Fallout
Title: Secrets, Bonus Scene #2 - Fallout
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon divergence (Season 5)
Genre: Angst/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: A deleted scene from Secrets. Renee deals with the immediate aftermath of Ryan and Stacy’s argument.
Inspiration: “Secrets” © 2009 Ryan Tedder [One Republic]
Link(s): FF.net |LJ | DW | AO3
Boy, does it feel good to get this one off my plate! I'm basically killing two birds with one stone ~ finishing a long-languishing WIP *and* writing a giftfic I've owed for more than a year (oops?). This is a scene that's been more or less fully developed since the original oneshot was written, but for various reasons, it was pushed to the side in my workload. Considering it was the receipient's birthday, however, I figured now was as good a time as any to clean it up and post it =)
Unlike the first bonus scene for this fic, this one actually takes place within the original oneshot - it is literally a scene that was cut out, but was referred to in the original story. It is the fallout or aftermath of Ryan and Stacy's fight, when Stacy ran back to her sister in tears and sought comfort.
From the original:
The reason this scene was cut was because it was much easier to tell from Renee's point of view - which would've clashed with the original Stacy-centric telling of the story. While central of the characters' confict, it was also a scene I felt *could* be summarized, given the structure and length of the original oneshot. (I tend to be verbose in my writing, and my plot bunnies have a way of growing beyond my control most of the time :P) So I did, and left it at that; when KeB expressed interest in a couple of passages, I decided to go back and flesh them out.
She wanted to see the sisterly interaction here between Renee and Stacy - and quite frankly, I was pretty interested in exploring it myself. Renee is a pretty familiar character to me in my KI work, but she's tended to play a predictable role of Disapproving Older Sister, mostly for comedic effect =) This makes perfect sense in my headcanon, given the competitive edge to her friendship with Ryan, and the multidimensional relationship she has with Stacy in canon - they bicker, but she's also loyal and protective of her younger sister. Adding an element of romantic tension anywhere into this equation would only strengthen these bonds, in my opinion.
Here, I wanted the chance to really dig into Renee's motivations for feeling the way she does, and how she reacts to those emotions. Rather like most of my other post-series fics, I don't really consider the way I've fleshed out her character as hard-and-fast headcanon - its sort of experimental; I suppose it could even be considered alternate universe. Still, I tried to stay true to those core characteristics that the canon provides.
I was recently able to see the Season 4 "cast of thousands" episode "When Movies Were Movies" - basically, the group is trying to decide which movie to see together when they earn an unexpected afternoon off. They argue about their choices, before settling in to listen to an impromptu history lesson, as Ryan advocates for a classic film fest and goes on to tell them why it'd be the perfect compromise.
This ep provides another tiny wrinkle to Renee's characterization, as she picks the romantic movie (a "chick flick" in today's parlance) as her choice for the group outing. This was somewhat surprising to me; I've always seen Renee as more practical, a foil to Stacy's dreaminess. (For the record, Stacy wanted to see the summer beach movie - was there such a thing in 1987? LOL.) So the idea of Renee being a closet romantic was an appealing one, and definitely made the motivations I'd ascribed her in this scene much easier to write.
There's also plenty of meta in the scene itself. Renee is sitting up, trying to work on a personal short story project, but finds that she can't concentrate on it (story of my life), because she's far more concerned about her younger sister. She's concerned for a myriad of reasons - and hopefully, they make sense, in context.
She knows her sister better than anyone, and knows that sometimes her impulsiveness can get her into trouble. (She was quite the little mischief-maker as a kid, and often did things without realizing the consequences until it was too late.) Her personal opinion of her sister's romantic relationship is that it's moving too fast, but she doesn't really share that with anyone. She feels put-upon when she learns that her parents basically expect her to act as a chaperone, and resents them for it. She's disappointed that it seems like Stacy only ever comes to visit her so that she can spend time with Ryan, and that he seems to be taking up more and more of her time.
She's caught between feeling upset and disappointed over the way she and Stacy have drifted apart, and feeling a little jealous that her sister is going to experience all of these "rite-of-passage" things before she, herself, is. Here, I've basically made that relationship with Jules from S3 her only meaningful/long-term romantic relationship, hinting that it ended so badly that it put her off epic romance for good. She'd rather not reach out at all than risk being hurt so badly all over again, and she's made her peace with that decision.
Until she bares witness to this whirlwind relationship that has swept her sister away - and out of her realm of experience. I think it's pretty natural to feel jealous of a newly-minted couple, especially while they're in that stage of not being able to keep their hands off each other, even in the presence of others. Everyone wants that honeymoon stage of the romance ♥ at least for a little while, and its hard to watch someone else enjoy it when you aren't. So, there's that - and layered on top of that is Renee's inability to give her sister any guidance should she need it. Stacy is doing things that Renee never has, and has never given much thought to. I think Renee takes her role as older sister very seriously, and wants to do as much as she can to spare Stacy's feelings, but in this, there's nothing - not even an analogous situation she could potentially draw from. She has no idea what's going to happen next, plot-wise or emotions-wise.
Sort of like Janine Kishi, I think Renee would feel a little jealous of her younger sister being able to experience things before she herself does, thanks to Stacy's (or Claudia's) natural ease and interest in social relationships. I think she might feel like a bit of a failure for not getting there first and thus, not being able to 'lead by example' - or, perhaps, for unwittingly passing along incorrect information. Renee blames herself when Stacy admits that she never expected Ryan to have any sort of sexual history; Renee assumes its her own lack that gave Stacy that idea, as she and Ryan are the same age. (For the record, it's not, but it's a pretty interesting intersection of Renee's ruminations while she's alone and wondering, and of the way she handles her sister's distress.)
When Stacy does arrive, Renee pushes aside all of her own unease and feelings of failure, and offers the sympathetic ear her sister seeks. She takes on Stacy's distress as her own (which I think any empathetic person would do) and comforts her. When she realizes that Ryan is the person who's hurt Stacy, all of her sisterly instincts kick in - and her penchant for violence (culled from 4x10 "Win a Date with Renee", where she threatens to clobber Richie for his scheme) races to the fore. She doesn't just go off half-cocked, though; she definitely tries to analyze the situation and see it from all angles. She comes to understand why Ryan was upset as well, and tries to offer that perspective to her sister, who does't want to hear it. When Stacy gets upset, I think it's hard for her to control her emotions or her reactions, hence the catastrophic crying. It eventually does sink in, as the original story bears out, but right now, she just feels like Renee is criticizing her, which only upsets her more.
Renee is still dealing with all of this the next morning, when she receives (in her opinion) an unwelcome visitor at practically the crack of dawn. This was also referenced in the original fic:
Since I know that KeB enjoys Renee/Ryan snark, I had to expand on this as well =) Basically, Ryan comes over the next morning, ready to talk - calmly - and apologize for their argument, but Stacy is nowhere to be found. Renee explodes with anger when she realizes her sister is gone, and basically just lets Ryan have it. He pushes back, which only makes her angrier, and its all she can do to keep from fulfilling her threats from the night before.
This is bit more on the mean side than what I generally write for them, but I felt it was justified - Renee's righteous anger is just a byproduct of her fierce loyalty to her sister and desire to protect her from all harm (not to mention that she's the one who had to pick of the pieces the night before). She doesn't give a flying fuck why Ryan is there, only that he is, and he's the perfect target to unleash some of her frustrations on.
It's not neat or pretty, but then, human emotions rarely are. Every major player in this cut scene has complex feelings towards everyone else, and sometimes react in ways that only complicate matters. Sure, it'd be nice if one - or all - of them could be level-headed or "mature," but that'd made for pretty dull conflict resolution. I like my characters to be passionate and act accordingly - it feels much more authentic to me, as both a reader and a writer.
In posting up this final piece of this universe, I've also taken the liberty of going through the other entries and giving them a light edit. There are some tiny things that have always bothered me about both entries, so it feels good to finally have them fixed =)
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon divergence (Season 5)
Genre: Angst/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: A deleted scene from Secrets. Renee deals with the immediate aftermath of Ryan and Stacy’s argument.
Inspiration: “Secrets” © 2009 Ryan Tedder [One Republic]
Link(s): FF.net |LJ | DW | AO3
Boy, does it feel good to get this one off my plate! I'm basically killing two birds with one stone ~ finishing a long-languishing WIP *and* writing a giftfic I've owed for more than a year (oops?). This is a scene that's been more or less fully developed since the original oneshot was written, but for various reasons, it was pushed to the side in my workload. Considering it was the receipient's birthday, however, I figured now was as good a time as any to clean it up and post it =)
Unlike the first bonus scene for this fic, this one actually takes place within the original oneshot - it is literally a scene that was cut out, but was referred to in the original story. It is the fallout or aftermath of Ryan and Stacy's fight, when Stacy ran back to her sister in tears and sought comfort.
From the original:
Her entire body went weak at the sound of his voice. It had been almost a week since their fight, and she'd had plenty of time to process and digest everything that had happened in the interim. She'd fled back to her sister's room in tears that night, spilling the story out as fast as she could comprehensively tell it, needing comfort and assurance and some other way to feel, besides humiliated. Renee had complied, lending her a sympathetic ear (and not hesitating to throw in a few barbs at Ryan's expense for good measure), but at the same time, it was impossible for her to turn off her practicality.
"You know I'm not Ryan's biggest fan," Renee had said, "but as much as I hate to admit it, he was right about one thing." When Stacy had looked at her questioningly, she explained: "There's no way he could've answered your questions to your satisfaction. Would you have preferred that he lie to you instead? I think he's a jerk, yes, but the real jerk move here would've been telling you what you wanted to hear just so you'd have sex with him."
Her reasoning had definitely given Stacy pause, but after a sleepless night tossing and turning on Renee's floor, replaying the agony of that final, nasty conversation, her mind was made up – she wanted to take the first train back home to Brooklyn and wallow in her misery. She wasn't sure she could ever face him again – or if she even wanted to.
The reason this scene was cut was because it was much easier to tell from Renee's point of view - which would've clashed with the original Stacy-centric telling of the story. While central of the characters' confict, it was also a scene I felt *could* be summarized, given the structure and length of the original oneshot. (I tend to be verbose in my writing, and my plot bunnies have a way of growing beyond my control most of the time :P) So I did, and left it at that; when KeB expressed interest in a couple of passages, I decided to go back and flesh them out.
She wanted to see the sisterly interaction here between Renee and Stacy - and quite frankly, I was pretty interested in exploring it myself. Renee is a pretty familiar character to me in my KI work, but she's tended to play a predictable role of Disapproving Older Sister, mostly for comedic effect =) This makes perfect sense in my headcanon, given the competitive edge to her friendship with Ryan, and the multidimensional relationship she has with Stacy in canon - they bicker, but she's also loyal and protective of her younger sister. Adding an element of romantic tension anywhere into this equation would only strengthen these bonds, in my opinion.
Here, I wanted the chance to really dig into Renee's motivations for feeling the way she does, and how she reacts to those emotions. Rather like most of my other post-series fics, I don't really consider the way I've fleshed out her character as hard-and-fast headcanon - its sort of experimental; I suppose it could even be considered alternate universe. Still, I tried to stay true to those core characteristics that the canon provides.
I was recently able to see the Season 4 "cast of thousands" episode "When Movies Were Movies" - basically, the group is trying to decide which movie to see together when they earn an unexpected afternoon off. They argue about their choices, before settling in to listen to an impromptu history lesson, as Ryan advocates for a classic film fest and goes on to tell them why it'd be the perfect compromise.
This ep provides another tiny wrinkle to Renee's characterization, as she picks the romantic movie (a "chick flick" in today's parlance) as her choice for the group outing. This was somewhat surprising to me; I've always seen Renee as more practical, a foil to Stacy's dreaminess. (For the record, Stacy wanted to see the summer beach movie - was there such a thing in 1987? LOL.) So the idea of Renee being a closet romantic was an appealing one, and definitely made the motivations I'd ascribed her in this scene much easier to write.
There's also plenty of meta in the scene itself. Renee is sitting up, trying to work on a personal short story project, but finds that she can't concentrate on it (story of my life), because she's far more concerned about her younger sister. She's concerned for a myriad of reasons - and hopefully, they make sense, in context.
She knows her sister better than anyone, and knows that sometimes her impulsiveness can get her into trouble. (She was quite the little mischief-maker as a kid, and often did things without realizing the consequences until it was too late.) Her personal opinion of her sister's romantic relationship is that it's moving too fast, but she doesn't really share that with anyone. She feels put-upon when she learns that her parents basically expect her to act as a chaperone, and resents them for it. She's disappointed that it seems like Stacy only ever comes to visit her so that she can spend time with Ryan, and that he seems to be taking up more and more of her time.
She's caught between feeling upset and disappointed over the way she and Stacy have drifted apart, and feeling a little jealous that her sister is going to experience all of these "rite-of-passage" things before she, herself, is. Here, I've basically made that relationship with Jules from S3 her only meaningful/long-term romantic relationship, hinting that it ended so badly that it put her off epic romance for good. She'd rather not reach out at all than risk being hurt so badly all over again, and she's made her peace with that decision.
Until she bares witness to this whirlwind relationship that has swept her sister away - and out of her realm of experience. I think it's pretty natural to feel jealous of a newly-minted couple, especially while they're in that stage of not being able to keep their hands off each other, even in the presence of others. Everyone wants that honeymoon stage of the romance ♥ at least for a little while, and its hard to watch someone else enjoy it when you aren't. So, there's that - and layered on top of that is Renee's inability to give her sister any guidance should she need it. Stacy is doing things that Renee never has, and has never given much thought to. I think Renee takes her role as older sister very seriously, and wants to do as much as she can to spare Stacy's feelings, but in this, there's nothing - not even an analogous situation she could potentially draw from. She has no idea what's going to happen next, plot-wise or emotions-wise.
Sort of like Janine Kishi, I think Renee would feel a little jealous of her younger sister being able to experience things before she herself does, thanks to Stacy's (or Claudia's) natural ease and interest in social relationships. I think she might feel like a bit of a failure for not getting there first and thus, not being able to 'lead by example' - or, perhaps, for unwittingly passing along incorrect information. Renee blames herself when Stacy admits that she never expected Ryan to have any sort of sexual history; Renee assumes its her own lack that gave Stacy that idea, as she and Ryan are the same age. (For the record, it's not, but it's a pretty interesting intersection of Renee's ruminations while she's alone and wondering, and of the way she handles her sister's distress.)
When Stacy does arrive, Renee pushes aside all of her own unease and feelings of failure, and offers the sympathetic ear her sister seeks. She takes on Stacy's distress as her own (which I think any empathetic person would do) and comforts her. When she realizes that Ryan is the person who's hurt Stacy, all of her sisterly instincts kick in - and her penchant for violence (culled from 4x10 "Win a Date with Renee", where she threatens to clobber Richie for his scheme) races to the fore. She doesn't just go off half-cocked, though; she definitely tries to analyze the situation and see it from all angles. She comes to understand why Ryan was upset as well, and tries to offer that perspective to her sister, who does't want to hear it. When Stacy gets upset, I think it's hard for her to control her emotions or her reactions, hence the catastrophic crying. It eventually does sink in, as the original story bears out, but right now, she just feels like Renee is criticizing her, which only upsets her more.
Renee is still dealing with all of this the next morning, when she receives (in her opinion) an unwelcome visitor at practically the crack of dawn. This was also referenced in the original fic:
"You didn't tell Renee that you were meeting me, did you?" he asked, sliding into the seat across from her.
"Why?" she asked curiously, swallowing her disappointment that he had moved even further out of her reach.
He shot her a rueful look. "Well, the last time she saw me, she threatened to separate my head from my shoulders."
Since I know that KeB enjoys Renee/Ryan snark, I had to expand on this as well =) Basically, Ryan comes over the next morning, ready to talk - calmly - and apologize for their argument, but Stacy is nowhere to be found. Renee explodes with anger when she realizes her sister is gone, and basically just lets Ryan have it. He pushes back, which only makes her angrier, and its all she can do to keep from fulfilling her threats from the night before.
This is bit more on the mean side than what I generally write for them, but I felt it was justified - Renee's righteous anger is just a byproduct of her fierce loyalty to her sister and desire to protect her from all harm (not to mention that she's the one who had to pick of the pieces the night before). She doesn't give a flying fuck why Ryan is there, only that he is, and he's the perfect target to unleash some of her frustrations on.
It's not neat or pretty, but then, human emotions rarely are. Every major player in this cut scene has complex feelings towards everyone else, and sometimes react in ways that only complicate matters. Sure, it'd be nice if one - or all - of them could be level-headed or "mature," but that'd made for pretty dull conflict resolution. I like my characters to be passionate and act accordingly - it feels much more authentic to me, as both a reader and a writer.
In posting up this final piece of this universe, I've also taken the liberty of going through the other entries and giving them a light edit. There are some tiny things that have always bothered me about both entries, so it feels good to finally have them fixed =)