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Kids Inc | Oneshot: Temporary Insanity
Title: Temporary Insanity
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon divergence (Season 5)
Genre: Angst/Drama
Rating: T
Summary: Renee was not someone who admitted mistakes easily. She didn’t know how she would live with the guilt of kissing her sister’s boyfriend, but she didn’t see how she had any other choice.
Inspiration: “Temporary Insanity” © 2004 James Robertson, Christopher Ward, & Andrea Wasse [Alexz Johnson]
Link(s): FF.net | DW | AO3
LOL, talk about a story going so far off the rails it emerges as something completely different than what it started from! *facepalm* Sometimes its good to just run with the muse, though, because sometimes it leads to even better places than the original idea =)
This fic started off as a random idea whilst listening to the Instant Star season one soundtrack, trying to work on the final chapter of Fragments. I've been in an angsty mood anyway of late, because I hate it when my writing routine is disrupted, but then, moving has a tendency to turn life into chaos, so.
So, there I was, listening and humming along, and all of a sudden it hit me: this scene, of Ryan and Renee kissing passionately, and then having to come together and figure out WTF they were going to do next. The lyrics totally fed into it:
What just happened / Did you kiss me?
Cause that's a place we've never been until now
And I don't know how it's gonna be after this
Do we pretend these feelings don't exist at all
Or do we fall?
You made a move / Don't change your mind
Too much to lose, we've crossed the line
Between friends / and something more
Was it all a big mistake?
And if it was, it's much too late to undo
And I don't really want to
I'm a big sucker for the 'forbidden fruit' aspect of a relationship, and its this very notion that led me down the Sess/Kag garden path - but I don't think there's much chance of that happening in this fandom. Ryan/Stacy is my original OTP, and considering how much Stacy in Bloom wants to become a full-fledged continuum universe? I'm not likely to be abandoning them anytime soon. Nevertheless, the challenge of working with the idea of two people who aren't all that crazy about each other finding themselves in such a quagmire was too much to resist.
Originally, the idea was something like this: Renee returns from her junior year exchange program, only to learn that Ryan has pretty much swept her sister off her feet - and she Doesn't Approve. She's curious, though, and demands to have it out with him, since she doesn't think he's good enough for her baby sister (overprotective older sibling complex, and all that), but, against all odds, she finds herself drawn to him as well, and they end up sharing a kiss that neither of them expected. The crux of the story was going to be their second conversation, when they met again and discussed just how the hell they were going to break the news to Stacy.
As I sat down to work with this, however, it morphed into something a bit more manipulative and wicked. Renee's overprotective qualities were still there (and I reached back into season two for some excellent sarcastic Ryan goodness), but instead of acknowledging her own inexplicable attraction to him, the kiss would happen in the guise of an argument. It was something they'd both instantly regret, and they'd both struggle, in their own ways, to come to terms with the incident and figure out how or even if they would tell Stacy.
In my head-canon, Renee and Ryan get along fine, but she disapproves of his relationship with her sister when it starts - I've written this into Stacy in Bloom, and it's going to come into play in a big way in the next couple of chapters. I really like the idea of Renee going to bat for her sister, and good-naturedly threatening to kick some ass even from halfway around the world :P
This is a complete divergence from that world, however, and basically just me being curious about the potential way she'd react if she came home and found this established relationship already in place, one seemingly approved of by everyone in the world except her. She never had a say in it, and she's a little jealous that she's not her sister's #1 confidante anymore. This manifests itself as cold and accusatory feelings towards the person who 'stole' her sister, who just happens to be a very flirtatious friend who's older and already made a few rounds in the dating scene. I don't know how alarm bells *wouldn't* be going off in any older sibling's head about that :P
One thing I didn't want to happen - and which very well may, depending on who reads this - is that I didn't want Renee to come off as a vindictive, soulless bitch. She did something rash and she regrets it, and her concern is not merely for herself - though she immediately recognizes how badly she's botched the situation, in her own quest to send Ryan on his way. She just kinda can't take his righteous answer about never hurting Stacy, so she forces his hand - partly to shut him up, and partly to see how he'd react in the aftermath. If she creates the situation where he does something, a confession of which would only serve to put her sister in pain, how would he react? She didn't mean to get caught up in it all, but that's how it happened - life's messy, and sometimes crusades go too far.
There is some ambiguity written into their confrontational scene at Cafe Luxa, and that's purposeful - she *does* find Ryan attractive, at least subconsciously, and she's fighting that at the same time that she's fighting her own insecurity about her now-diminished place in her sister's world. However, I'm not out to make Renee into someone who's cruel and petty in her jealousy. I like her and her diva-like qualities, and even though she's been known to get snarky with the best of them, I believe her heart's in the right place - hence the ending.
This is definitely one of my favorite finished pieces for this fandom, and I think I've done a lot of things right, or at least to my own satisfaction =) It makes me excited to dive back into the world I've created for Stacy in Bloom, and its eventual sequel. I like it when my writing gives the characters a bit of depth, expected or no :P
I'll resume posting![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fandom_stocking fics tomorrow - I literally couldn't wait to share this =)
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon divergence (Season 5)
Genre: Angst/Drama
Rating: T
Summary: Renee was not someone who admitted mistakes easily. She didn’t know how she would live with the guilt of kissing her sister’s boyfriend, but she didn’t see how she had any other choice.
Inspiration: “Temporary Insanity” © 2004 James Robertson, Christopher Ward, & Andrea Wasse [Alexz Johnson]
Link(s): FF.net | DW | AO3
LOL, talk about a story going so far off the rails it emerges as something completely different than what it started from! *facepalm* Sometimes its good to just run with the muse, though, because sometimes it leads to even better places than the original idea =)
This fic started off as a random idea whilst listening to the Instant Star season one soundtrack, trying to work on the final chapter of Fragments. I've been in an angsty mood anyway of late, because I hate it when my writing routine is disrupted, but then, moving has a tendency to turn life into chaos, so.
So, there I was, listening and humming along, and all of a sudden it hit me: this scene, of Ryan and Renee kissing passionately, and then having to come together and figure out WTF they were going to do next. The lyrics totally fed into it:
Cause that's a place we've never been until now
And I don't know how it's gonna be after this
Do we pretend these feelings don't exist at all
Or do we fall?
You made a move / Don't change your mind
Too much to lose, we've crossed the line
Between friends / and something more
Was it all a big mistake?
And if it was, it's much too late to undo
And I don't really want to
I'm a big sucker for the 'forbidden fruit' aspect of a relationship, and its this very notion that led me down the Sess/Kag garden path - but I don't think there's much chance of that happening in this fandom. Ryan/Stacy is my original OTP, and considering how much Stacy in Bloom wants to become a full-fledged continuum universe? I'm not likely to be abandoning them anytime soon. Nevertheless, the challenge of working with the idea of two people who aren't all that crazy about each other finding themselves in such a quagmire was too much to resist.
Originally, the idea was something like this: Renee returns from her junior year exchange program, only to learn that Ryan has pretty much swept her sister off her feet - and she Doesn't Approve. She's curious, though, and demands to have it out with him, since she doesn't think he's good enough for her baby sister (overprotective older sibling complex, and all that), but, against all odds, she finds herself drawn to him as well, and they end up sharing a kiss that neither of them expected. The crux of the story was going to be their second conversation, when they met again and discussed just how the hell they were going to break the news to Stacy.
As I sat down to work with this, however, it morphed into something a bit more manipulative and wicked. Renee's overprotective qualities were still there (and I reached back into season two for some excellent sarcastic Ryan goodness), but instead of acknowledging her own inexplicable attraction to him, the kiss would happen in the guise of an argument. It was something they'd both instantly regret, and they'd both struggle, in their own ways, to come to terms with the incident and figure out how or even if they would tell Stacy.
In my head-canon, Renee and Ryan get along fine, but she disapproves of his relationship with her sister when it starts - I've written this into Stacy in Bloom, and it's going to come into play in a big way in the next couple of chapters. I really like the idea of Renee going to bat for her sister, and good-naturedly threatening to kick some ass even from halfway around the world :P
This is a complete divergence from that world, however, and basically just me being curious about the potential way she'd react if she came home and found this established relationship already in place, one seemingly approved of by everyone in the world except her. She never had a say in it, and she's a little jealous that she's not her sister's #1 confidante anymore. This manifests itself as cold and accusatory feelings towards the person who 'stole' her sister, who just happens to be a very flirtatious friend who's older and already made a few rounds in the dating scene. I don't know how alarm bells *wouldn't* be going off in any older sibling's head about that :P
One thing I didn't want to happen - and which very well may, depending on who reads this - is that I didn't want Renee to come off as a vindictive, soulless bitch. She did something rash and she regrets it, and her concern is not merely for herself - though she immediately recognizes how badly she's botched the situation, in her own quest to send Ryan on his way. She just kinda can't take his righteous answer about never hurting Stacy, so she forces his hand - partly to shut him up, and partly to see how he'd react in the aftermath. If she creates the situation where he does something, a confession of which would only serve to put her sister in pain, how would he react? She didn't mean to get caught up in it all, but that's how it happened - life's messy, and sometimes crusades go too far.
There is some ambiguity written into their confrontational scene at Cafe Luxa, and that's purposeful - she *does* find Ryan attractive, at least subconsciously, and she's fighting that at the same time that she's fighting her own insecurity about her now-diminished place in her sister's world. However, I'm not out to make Renee into someone who's cruel and petty in her jealousy. I like her and her diva-like qualities, and even though she's been known to get snarky with the best of them, I believe her heart's in the right place - hence the ending.
This is definitely one of my favorite finished pieces for this fandom, and I think I've done a lot of things right, or at least to my own satisfaction =) It makes me excited to dive back into the world I've created for Stacy in Bloom, and its eventual sequel. I like it when my writing gives the characters a bit of depth, expected or no :P
I'll resume posting
fandom_stocking fics tomorrow - I literally couldn't wait to share this =)
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The great thing about these squeaky clean kids shows is that conjuring up a crisis of conscience doesn't take much. Instead of having the betrayal be something big (like sexual), it can be something relatively small, something that loses its drama production values the older you get.
And, well, by the end, Renee got what she wanted, in that she finally understood just how tight knit and close the bond between them was.