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prettygraceful · 3 years

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magnus & the main characters interaction count: a study

an interaction counts as magnus talking specifically to 1 main and that main character responding, or vice versa. (you know like alec does with jace/ clary/ izzy in 95% of the episodes throughout the whole series and luke/ simon in half of s1 and s3.) an interaction is NOT where magnus addresses the group in general with no one responding to him directly, or him being in the same room with all of them, but they only talk to alec or to each other.

this count starts from 2b. s1/ 2a did NOT have anywhere close to an adequate amount, but at least there wasn’t so little that it was total joke like after that. the sad truth of this is so glaringly obvious when it’s listed.

plz take note this post is about magnus/ MAIN character interaction ONLY

and obviously this count is about the 6 mains other than alec

SEASON 2B

2x11: NONE

altho clary/ jace are in the room, they only talk to alec

2x12: NONE

2x13: NONE

2x14: 1 scene with luke

2x15: NONE

altho jace/ izzy are in the room, they don’t talk to him

2x16: NONE

he was not in the episode. he also was not in some episodes in s1. luke and maia have also not been in some.

clary, jace, alec, izzy, and simon have been in every episode. just saying.

2x17: 2 scenes with luke

2x18: 1 scene with luke

2x19: NONE

altho the shadowhunters/ luke are in the room, they don’t talk to him

side note: making literally everyone be against magnus/ glaring at him/ shading him behind his back after all he’s literally done for every single one of them was… a choice. they all didn’t seem to care that he was hurting.

2x20: 1 scene with izzy

final count:

6 episodes (over half the season) with NONE

2 episodes of only 1 scene interaction

only 1 episode where he interacts throughout, yet still only with 1 other main

only 3 scenes where he gets to talk to another main without alec there

no scene where he talks to another main and alec isn’t mentioned

SEASON 3A

3x01: NONE

3X02: NONE

altho shadowhunters/ luke are in the room, they only talk to alec

3X03: 1 scene with izzy

3x04: NONE

altho clary is in room, she only talks to alec

3x05: NONE

3x06: multiple scenes with clary

3x07: NONE

altho clary/ izzy/ simon are in the room, they only talk to alec

3x08: multiple scenes with izzy

no, owl!jace saying alec would chose jace over him doesn’t count

altho luke/ simon are in the room, they only talk to alec

3x09: 1 scene with izzy

3x10: 1 scene with jace

altho should a scene of him telling the parabatai he gave up his magic for them and them not saying anything count?

final count:

5 episodes (half the season) with NONE

3 episodes of only 1 scene interaction

only 2 episodes where he interacts throughout, yet only with 1 other main

only 1 episode where he gets to talk to another main without alec there

no episodes where he talks to another main and alec isn’t mentioned

SEASON 3B

3x11: 1 scene with izzy

altho jace is in the room, he only to talks alec

3x12: NONE

altho jace/ luke are in the room, they only talk to alec

3x13: 1 scene with izzy

and 1 single line to clary, i guess

3x14: NONE

3x15: NONE

aside from 1 single line to simon, i guess

no, clary/ jace/ izzy unkindly questioning him being there doesn’t count

side note: making magnus be surrounded by a room full of racist-coded shadowhunters in s3 was… a choice. what was the point of that? it showed that apparently only laws have changed but not societal sentiment- outside of the main foursome- since s1 in their mindset towards downworlders. and then they had malec get married amongst these racists a few weeks later?? to show him being treated so disrespectfully (again in s3, so nobody’s mindset progressed outside of the 4) and be made so uncomfortable and then never have them show him any love or treat him as an equal later on (as an individual and not just as half of malec) was… a choice. a bad choice.

3x16: NONE

3x17: NONE

3x18: NONE

altho clary/ jace are in the room, they only talk to alec (and then when he’s sad over something that their 3a choices caused, they leave. in the same episode the writers have maryse say “we’re all here for you”…what a joke.)

3x19: NONE

3x20: NONE

altho izzy/ clary/ jace are in the room, they only talk to alec

3x21: NONE

aside from 1 single line to simon, i guess

no, saying only biscuit doesn’t count

3x22: NONE

altho it’s his wedding day, they don’t let jace/ izzy welcome him into the family but instead irrelevant max.

and altho it’s literally the finale, the ONLY person he gets to talk to is his rival. (side note, but lorenzo and underhill should NOT have been at the wedding after their awful treatment towards him. such two-faced people.)

final count:

10 episodes (the length of a normal half season) with NONE

2 episodes of only 1 scene interaction

0 episodes where he interacts throughout

1 scene where he get to talk to another main without alec there

in his 1 scene in 3x13, he talks to another main and alec isn’t mentioned

i think the point i’m making is obvious: the 3 white showrunners and mostly white writers almost never ever let magnus even talk to any of the other main characters. (he also goes three seasons without a single story arc with another main that lasts more than 1 episode. (no, the writers using luke as a mouthpiece to justify alec’s mistake in 2b does not count.) you know, like how alec had big long arcs with both clary and jace in s1, 2a, and 3a and izzy here and there. even maia, the most neglected character on this show, still got to regularly interact with simon and luke- 2 mains. even luke with his limited screentime, still got to regularly at least talk to literally all of the mains in all his group scenes.

and what about the 3 downworlder mains and alec?

well, altho alec and maia only had 2 scenes together, that’s still twice what magnus/ maia got, seeing as they only had the 1 scene together in 2a.

alec and luke had at least 3 scenes together in s1 that i can remember vs magnus/ luke only having 2 lines in 1x06. both duos had about equal in 2b.

in 3a alec/luke had 5 scenes together. magnus/ luke had none where they actually spoke to each other. in group scenes magnus only talked to alec.

in 3b alec/ luke had 3 scenes. magnus/ luke had none. plus luke told alec that he couldn’t go to his wedding, instead of telling magnus.

in s1 magnus/ simon had maybe 1 line. alec/ simon were interacting constantly throughout, i don’t remember how many scenes it was.

in 2a magnus/ simon had 2 episodes together. in 2b they had 1 scene but i don’t really count it since it was only to have it be literally everyone vs magnus. alec/ simon had 1 scene in 2b and none in 2a.

in 3a alec/ simon had 3 scenes interacting together. magnus/ simon had none where they actually spoke to each other.

in 3b all the fans complaining really paid off! 2 scenes in 3x15. 1 scene each in 3x17, 3x19, 3x20, and 3x21 for a grand total of 6 scenes. plus no talking- yet still in a scene together- in 1 other scene in 3x15, 3x17, 3x18, and 2 others in 3x19, for a grand total of 5, not counting the edom finale scenes. magnus/ simon only said 2 lines to each other in 3b.

not to mention alec stood next to simon in a nice two-shot in 4 separate scenes. it really reminded me of what they do with clary/ alec in group scenes. the writers don’t always give them a lot of dialogue together, but they’re sure to get that dynamic in at least visually. alec always has at least crumbs vs magnus getting nothing. where is that energy from the writers, directors, or fans with magnus and literally any main? really, where is it?

i mean, there was no reason for alec/ simon not to have scenes, but i’m so truly disappointed that this is where the fan effort was spent instead of lobbying for magnus to get to interact with even one main character other than alec, seeing as alec always already get to constantly have many, many, many duo and group scenes and big arcs with the 3 other shadowhunters. and now he gets to be more bonded with all of the main downworlders too instead of magnus with his own people. the writers are so so so wack.

also obviously magnus interacts with alec on a regular basis. the point is that’s it. malec is the main reason why i watch the show, so it matters a great deal, but when every other main is getting vastly more interactions, it’s a problem. also in nearly all of the episodes when alec has scenes with other mains- and magnus is not there- magnus is not mentioned. not so when it’s vice versa.

why not count any supporting characters you may be saying? because that’s not what i hear everyone demanding for alec or the others, is it? because he didn’t interact with raphael, his supposed son, in s1, or at all after 3x01 to the actual finale. because aside from her bringing madzie over in 3x11, catatrina and and him didn’t speak in 3b. she wasn’t even introduced until 3a (so 2 seasons w/o any friends.) they only spoke in 4 scenes total in all of s3. she was his best man, yet that’s not important enough to show on screen. ragnor was literally only 1 episode. who’s left- his jealous, bitter pathetic rival or his father who has obvious gross, creepy incestuous, jealous feelings for him. or alec’s mother, who only had scenes with him for the same reason maia/ jordan had all those scenes- to give them something to do away from the group/ main plotlines. why couldn’t magnus and maia had scenes together also or instead? and being bffs with his bf’s mom but not getting to even TALK to his parabatai, the person alec’s closest to platonically, let alone be friends, is truly beyond words. and also harry and matt are only 5 years apart (kat/ dom have more of an age difference) so i’m tired of the writers/ fans keeping alec in the playpen with his younger co-stars while magnus is separated to only older ones.

and also i just really don’t care about supporting characters. i see them as just taking screentime away from the mains, specifically the downworlder mains, who are already running on limited time. look at 3x13 when they want to do a whole heidi arc, who gets cut- magnus. or in 3x17 when they want to introduce helen and aline, i resented them right off the bat for getting twice as much screentime than magnus, a main character, in that important episode for him. throughout the whole show, whenever supporting characters are getting screentime, it always means magnus, maia, and luke are not. that’s not good.

some final thoughts, nearly every single malec fan spent the entire 9 month hiatus from 3a to 3b relentlessly saying alec needs interactions. as if he didn’t get huge bonding arcs with clary and jace in s1 and 2a and 3a. as if he doesn’t talk to and go places and do things with clary, jace, and izzy nearly every single episode, every single season since the beginning. mighty handy to not count the 3 of them when you want to cry “alec has no friends” every single day, as if he hasn’t had an enemy to friendship arc with clary 3 times in 3 seasons. as if he hasn’t had a dying, can’t live without you arc with jace 3 times in 3 seasons. as if he doesn’t hug jace twice more than magnus per half season. as if he doesn’t have izzy there to lean on and talk to. funny how siblings don’t count as friends when it’s mighty convenient that’s they’re the only mains to have siblings. i would kill, KILL, for magnus to be even talk to jace and izzy let alone be real friends, yet fans are taking their friendships with alec for granted, while simultaneously saying they’re robbed of the parabatai dynamic. that’s rich.

if alec having scenes every other ep, and melodramatic arcs every other half season, wasn’t such a guarantee the fans have learned they could count on, nobody would say that his siblings and clary don’t count. but everyone knew they could say that because we know it wouldn’t be taken away. i mean, look at the stark siblings in game of thrones. they never interacted, and the entire fandom cried about that being the most important friendships to show, but it wasn’t shown. this fandom needs to put things in perspective and stop taking the lightwoods sibs and the shadowhunters squad dyamic for granted and realize that magnus and maia don’t get even a minuscule fraction of that. also want to add that simon got plenty of constant sturdy dynamics too, with clary, jace, luke, maia, and izzy. and fans got their alec/ simon content and yet still so ungrateful. i beg the malecs to compare what magnus gets before complaining.

#shadowhuntersedit #malecedit #magnusbaneedit #aleclightwoodedit #shedit #meta

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kevintor · 4 years

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I Watch a Movie I Should Have Seen: Teen Witch

I had not heard of this movie until friends suggested it for my list of movies to watch. They especially pointed out the amazing rap moment and that’s really all I knew that I could not infer from the title.

This movie doesn’t waste time getting to the saxophone-heavy music. This is how it should be. I can’t tell you how many movies I watch that make me wait for the sax solo. And sometimes it doesn’t even come! Looking at you, The Godfather.

We’ve all had that dream where a mystery hunk in a dress shirt with rolled up, short sleeves and Cavariccis slinks towards you in the dark. Why do we have to wake up???

No matter how good you look and feel, never stand on a ledge in heels. Maybe block heels but not the ones she has on.

Louise’s little brother eats sheet cake under her bed and reads her diary, actually ripping pages out. He’s clearly a psychopath that deserves whatever magic comes his way.

Her dad is not creepy. He’s just someone who likes his daughter to wear his favorite color.

Hot guy from the dream (Brad) rocks a 5.0 Mustang and is dating the popular girl (Randa) living right across the street from Louise. Why do the important people in these movies always live so close to each other? I bet Brad went 300 feet before he had to honk that horn (not a euphemism) for Randa.

Louise’s best friend (Polly) is excessively frumpy. She has on so many layers, I don’t know how the bike could support the weight. She’s dressed like she’s arriving at Ellis Island from the old country.

Louise and Polly wear disrespectfully large trench coats most of the time. The kind I would only wear if I was trying to cut weight for a fight. I know Louise will eventually be made over into a hottie but she doesn’t really need to start in a cocoon. In She’s All That, they simply used glasses.

There’s a trio of rappers that serenade the school. I will call them The Leastie Boys.

Louise has skipped grades because she’s so smart. I get it now. If I was a younger kid amongst seniors, I’d want to hide myself under as much wool and tweed as possible.

There’s a particularly horrific scene where the diary page that her brother ripped out is accidentally handed in with her homework and the teacher reads the whole thing to the class. Between the brother, the dad, and this awful teacher, I’m not going to be surprised if there’s a clown in the sewers.

The girls’ gym uniform is.a purple leotard and that’s it. No shorts. No trench coat.

The popular girls spontaneously break into a song called “I Like Boys.” Is this a musical? She’s introducing them all to this song and they are choreographing it on the spot beautifully. I guess if you feel confident enough in that leotard, you can do anything.

It appears that the leotards are stuck to their bodies. They don’t ever take them off. They have clearly showered because they are drying their hair while still in the gym leotards.

Brad works out shirtless on the football field. He throws a football twice at a tire and never misses. They cut from the throw to the same shot of the ball traveling through the tire. “There’s no time to throw two balls through a tire! Use the same clip! We have six more hours of leotard footage to shoot!”

Quick question: If you were doing an audition for a play and your scene was a kissing one with the girl whose diary about being into you was read out loud in front of you, would you have any awkwardness in the audition? Brad doesn’t. Nothing weird about this. Does he have the memory of a goldfish?

Brad, too aroused by teenage hanky panky, almost runs over Louise on her bike. He stops the car and tries to help her by offering a ride home. Is Brad a misunderstood jock hunk? Randa makes him leave but he was really concerned. What a sweet goldfish man.

With a broken bike and no cell phones, Louise is forced to seek the help of the nearby fortune teller. The fortune teller (Madame Serena) doesn’t let her use the phone and basically robs her of the last cash she has on her.

Madame Serena notices something odd during her palm reading and asks her name again. When Louise says “Miller,” Madame Serena realizes she is a witch with powers that will come to fruition on her 16th birthday. We later learn that Madame Serena and Louise go back 100s of years with witch souls (or whatever). If you had a spiritual connection with someone named “Miller,” I think you wouldn’t miss it the first time. Maybe she should look into getting a third ear instead of a third eye.

We learn that Goldfish Brad can Fonzie a Coke out of a machine. The impressive part about this is that Cokes were only 60 cents. I want to go to there.

Louise turns 16 while her brother dry humps the table in excitement for birthday cake. Feel free to watch it. There’s other way to describe it.

Randa asks Louise if she’d like to go on a date with her cousin from out of town. This is definitely going to work out.

The cousin is an insane nerd who is acting as if he only has one night to live. He asks her if she wants to smoke weed at one point. Then once he’s all drugged up, he tries to get some loving in the car on the way home. It’s cringe-y. Thankfully Louise is gaining powers and makes him literally disappear.

Louise turns her brother into a dog. As if I didn’t hate him enough already, now he’s a talking animal. (See Hocus Pocus)

Madame Serena gives Louise a book of spells. She uses a spell to make the popular girls tell each other the truth. It starts off with calm “you’re not a good singer” insults but gets real, super fast. One points out the other’s “alkie mother.”

Louise wants to make Brad love her and it appears that the secret to casting a good spell is cayenne pepper or maybe paprika.

Brad comes over Louise’s house to work on his English paper. Louise apparently removes the hundreds of chairs from her room so they’d have to sit on the bed. How many chairs does a teenage girl typically have in her room? It’s certainly enough for each family member to barge in and immediately notice them all missing.

Louise thinks better of forcing Brad to like her and gets all the chairs out of her closet. She’s a good person deep down.

The awful teacher is back and this time, goes through Louise’s bag and shows her birth control pills to the class. How does this teacher, even in the 80s, have a job?

Louise rightfully gets revenge. She makes a voodoo doll of the teacher and makes him undress in front of the class. The principal catches him right as Louise pulls the dolls underwear down. Somehow he still has a job. Tenure is amazing.

We finally get to the Rap Off I’ve been hearing so much about. Leader of the Leasties and Polly battle it out for one verse each. Honestly, this could have gone on longer. I know there was magic behind it but Polly’s verse was fire.

Brad tells Louise that someone like him has to go out with the most popular girl in school no matter how terrible she is. Social expectations are the worst. Instead of convincing Brad that he doesn’t have to be with Randa, it would be easier to cast a spell to make yourself popular. Maybe even insanely popular.

The chunky knit sweater budget was out of control for this movie

We have a montage showing us the extent of her popularity. She gets applause when she arrives places. People follow her around. The Leastie Boys rap for her. And her wardrobe consists of so much more denim.

Brad takes her to a lookout point that they have to climb up to and she’s unfortunately too popular for sensible footwear. It’s hard to climb up a sunflower hill in heels. But you do what you have to do to wear the crown!

In this abandoned house, they take off some of their six layers of clothing. Then they make out in the dirty house like only the most popular kids in school could.

Everyone starts dressing and wearing their hair like Louise. Polly gets left out of everything. I don’t know if scenes were cut out (What could possibly be considered “not good enough” for this film?) but we never have the scene where the newly popular girl treats her best friend like garbage and has to apologize. I know Polly misses her but I bet she could just ask Louise to hang out. Anyway, Louise tries to talk to Polly and Polly makes her feel bad.

Because she is so popular, Louise has to sneak out the back of her house to avoid her adoring classmates. Brad picks her up on a side street and takes her for a drive. They go out on the river to talk as teenagers do. He asks her to the dance. She turns him down because she thinks he’s been tricked him into liking her. She wants it real.

Louise wants to undo the popularity spell and she talks Madame Serena into coming to the dance with her to help her do it. No one questions bringing a tiny, old woman as your date to the dance. Not even the teachers.

She wishes the popularity away in the middle of the dance floor. People stop looking at her but Goldfish Brad still feels the pull for regular Louise. He walks slowly towards her. They touch fingertips and roll them up so the palms touch. This happens in a lot of romantic movies. I don’t get it. It’s a good way to train yourself to high five. You learn proper hand alignment. What you want the finish to be. But it’s not romantic. Either way, they kiss and all is good.

This is a fine, late 80s teen movie. It’s essentially a knock-off Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The brother, the nerd date, and the awful teacher were unnecessary. Now that I think about it, the nerd date never reappeared. In most movies you’d have him reappear somewhere embarrassing like under a manure truck that’s about to be dumped. In this movie, he vanishes into nothingness. It’s haunting.

Also, they show that water undoes her spells in the beginning and never return to that either. I was expecting the boat to tip over when she had that moment with Brad on the river. That never happened.

And, finally, she never made up with Polly. Where’s the learned-her-lesson reunion with the best friend, awkwardly hugging through all the layers?

Minus all these loose threads, I enjoyed it. I’d even watch it again if it was on.

#teen witch #80s movies #Movie Reviews #i watch a movie i should have seen #comedy #funny #blog #robyn lively #dick sargent #80s #denim #top that

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lostinthe-pines-blog · 6 years

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Family Time pt. 3

PREFACE: This is a fluff piece about MC and Chris on a family visit to Chris’s home in Maine for AJ’s birthday. Some story-lines from the App have been altered. These events are placed between The Junior and what I can only hope will be The Senior.

NOTE: This is a fictional story based on Pixelberry’s Choices App. *Books The Freshman, The Sophomore, The Junior. I am not affiliated with Pixelberry nor do I own the rights to their characters.

“There he his” Chris’s mother beamed closing the door behind her. Ms. Powell or ‘Lily’-as MC had been asked to address her on their last visit- quickly wrapped her son in a hug. MC felt his hand leave hers as he returned his mothers hug. MC’s anxiety flourished at the loss of his touch but the sight of his happiness around his mother calmed her again.

MC loved her own mother, but in her own way. Her mother was a lawyer, a business woman and a professor. Between her three jobs she’d not had much time for a daughter. MC spent most of her upbringing around her father. The relationship between Chris and Lily was foreign to MC.

“And there she is” Lily smiled giving MC a quick hug which she already knew would not be returned. Lily adored MC and the happiness she’d brought into her son’s life. She knew there was a reason MC didn’t show physical affection back to her but Chris had instructed her not to pry about it. Lily’s affection for MC was mutual. MC respected her and trusted her, she even valued her as a human but would push the idea of her being a mother figure aside because the fear of loss was even greater.

“It’s good to see you” MC nods. “How’ve you been”

“I’ve been just wonderful, everything here is the same as before. When was the last time you visited?” Lily said trying to recall “Was it Thanksgiving?”

“Yes! And I’ve been craving those yams ever since” MC laughs.

“Where’s everyone else?” Chris says knowing he’s interrupted.

Lily turns her attention, “Kyle just got his license and is taking AJ out for her birthday dinner. You kept your arrival a secret right?”

Chris and MC had made the long trek to Maine only to surprise the light of Chris’s life, the only girl MC would ever had to compete with, his little sister; AJ. It was her twelfth birthday today and Chris had told her he’d have to miss this year for his football training.

“Of course, I even sent her an apology this morning for not being able to make it early this morning” Chris responded maniacally. “When will they be home?”

“They left about an hour ago so I can only assume they’ll be home soon.” Lily said sweetly getting up and pulling out birthday presents that had been hidden in high cabinets above the fridge.

“Where’d they go to eat?” MC asked innocently, only the moment the question left her lips she knew the answer “Wait!” she halted their responses “They’re getting lobster right? I remember, it’s tradition!” she smiled happily. Chris and Lily’s smiles confirmed that she was indeed correct. MC felt total happiness wash over her, she’d wished more than anything should could jump back in time and meet Chris’s family in their prime. “Every year someone, and just one someone would take the birthday boy.. Or girl in this case out for lobster dinner! Chris favored his mom taking him, Kyle favors…” MC pauses trying to remember all the conversations her and Chris had had about his brother. “Kyle favors, Grandpa!” she yells “And AJ favors Chris” MC goes silent realizing that is not the case this year. “Oh” she looks at him as Chris’s eyes go sad.

“I can’t take that from my brother this year, it’s his turn to be her big brother I’ll surprise her when she’s home.” As Chris finishes his response they hear the garage door opening.

“Hide!” Lily yells helping them grab their stuff as MC and Chris run up the stairs to Chris’s childhood bedroom.

“Shit! My Car!” Chris yells to his mom “She’s gonna know!”

“I asked you 5 times to park around the corner Christopher!” Lily yells back as the door opens

“Where is he, where is he, where is he!” AJ’s screams as her voice fills the house. AJ sprints around the living room checking her room first. “Not there!” she says slamming the door. She runs to the guest bathroom sliding the shower curtain open. “Nope” she pauses and realizes how foolish she was not to check his room first” AJ runs up the stairs faster than a lightning flash and comes around the corner of the hallway to his room just in time for Chris to catch her in a hug. “You liar” she laughs in the hug burying her face in his shoulder. For AJ this is the best birthday gift anyone could have given her. Adolescents and puberty are creeping into her life, mood swings and attitude. But she could never let all of that affect the way she saw her oldest brother. He was her hero, she’d written multiple elementary school projects about him and had even been teased by her peers that she was ‘in love’ with her brother. “I can’t believe you came!” she says not moving her face from his shirt.

MC can see Chris’s grin bigger than it’s been since their last visit. There’s a glisten in his eyes, tears maybe? He’d hide them before AJ looked at him again. Seeing the way he was around his little sister only made MC love him more. “I’ll leave you alone” MC mouths to Chris before heading back down the stairs to Lily and Kyle.

Kyle stands by the fridge putting leftovers inside and pulling a large cake out. His eyes are tired and face saddened, his hair is much darker than his brothers and it’s long enough to cover his eye in this moment. Kyle’s never been one to speak his feelings, something MC always wanted to relate to him on but never had the strength to talk to him about. She’s never had brothers, or siblings at all for that matter. And Kyle, Kyle always seems a little short when she comes around.

“She loves you too” MC blurts out covering her mouth quickly as her thoughts had come out verbally. Kyle looks at her with a glare “Yeah, I know she’s my sister and I just paid eighty dollars for her dinner” he says sharply slamming the fridge while still perfectly balancing the cake in his other hand. He places it down on the table and goes to get the birthday candles from the cabinet.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean-” MC says before Lily places a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“Don’t blame yourself MC, he’s always like this when Chris comes around. Just let him run his course” Lily speaks quickly and quietly walking to the kitchen to help her son look for the candles. MC looks up the staircase her eyes pleading for Chris to return. She knew she was socially codependent on him but she didn’t know how bad until now. After a few moments when Chris doesn’t return MC turns her gaze back to Kyle and Lily. Lily whispers to her son, MC can’t hear what's being said but their body language says he’s being punished for what came before.

“Do you need some help” MC asks, though it took all her courage to do so.

“Sure. Take the candles and put them in the cake. She’s 12 not that you or Chris were around for the last year to know that” he says condescendingly.

“Sure thing” MC says lightly, reaching for the candles. But in that moment she’s had enough of his attitude. Every time she come to Maine she deals with the hateful comments from the teenager in the house. “Actually, if I may ask” she says doing her best to remain calm and polite. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“I don’t hate you.” Kyle says directly

“So you hate Chris” MC spits back just as directly.

“I guess” Kyle responds in a whisper, he’s never said out loud that he hates his brother and he fears the punishment that will come if he does.

“I don’t think you do” MC continues with her polite tone “You see, I get it. Everytime I call my family they don’t ask how I am, they ask how he is. How is my star football player? When are we gonna get married? When am I bringing him home?” MC finishes and her polite tone turns to annoyance.

Kyle stands in front of her stunned, she’d hit the nail on the head. Every teacher at his school every parent of his friends constantly asked about his brother. But worst of all, every girl he’d ever liked, only liked him for his brother. His tired eyes are bigger and blue than his brothers and they stare back at MC in shock “But don’t you love him?” he asks

“Of course, he’s the greatest thing to ever happen to me, but I’ll say it outloud I wish someone would ask about me for once. I love him for all his accomplishments and his failures and I’ll love him for the rest of my life. And so will you!” MC spits Chris standing at the top the stairs listening in, but out of view from his brother. “Everytime I come here I watch you treat him disrespectfully. I know he’s great and I’m sure youve heard it a million time right?”

“Right” Kyle grunts

“But your annoyance does not warrant hatred. You know… almost the whole way here Chris told me how you went out for the baseball team last year, that you’d never shown interest in it before that but somehow you ended up the star player. He also told me that you excel in writing and English studies that you’re only going into your junior year and you’re already taking college courses in it. That you’ve expressed interest in Ivy League schools and have held the grades to accomplish it. He loves you and it’s time you start giving that love back”

MC had felt herself getting lost in her world again as she spoke resisting the urge to paint the pictures of Kyle’s success at school. She wanted to shake him and tell him that being a teenager doesn’t last forever and that every moment and emotion you feel counts. He couldn't let all of those emotions be full of jealousy and hate. And most of all he couldn’t let all of his accomplishments only be done to spite his older brother. MC pulls herself out of the moment to see a smile shown on Lily’s face, her son had been put in his place as she’d tried to do so many times before. MC turns to Chris who’s now sitting on the top step with his sister next to him covering her ears; she hated the fighting. His eyes look to MC and they are grateful. He pulls his sisters hands away from her ears and reassures her that it’s over. The tension in the room is thick, MC finds it hard to breathe as her anxiety forms again. She’d never spoke like that to her family, she’d only ever been spoken too in that way. And now she’d spoken so openly around a family who did nothing but love each other. She’d accused a member of that family and though she was right she couldn’t feel it. She breathes in and out as the seconds seem to last for minutes. She can feel her emotions taking over as her eyes glaze over.

“I’m ready for cake” AJ says stomping down the stairs and cutting the silence. She goes immediately next to Kyle. “you got me this cake right?” she asks.

Kyles eyes full of anger turn only kind when he talks to his sister “Uh, yeah.. Happy Birthday AJ” he responds trying to shake the feeling of regret. He knows what MC said is true but something in him wants to be right, he wants to feel right for treating Chris poorly. He can’t own up to his actions. “Let me just light the candles” he says staring at his hand full of candles that MC never took from him. He places them in the cake and heads to the garage for a lighter. They only have a few moments before he returns.

“Thank you MC,” Lily says instantly looking to MC. “That wasn't easy for you but thank you.” she finishes there and turns to her daughter. Her body language instantly changes the tone of the room. “So what are you gonna wish for AJ?” she asks. MC tunes out of their conversation still standing in one place. She’s been breathing in and out deeply and quietly. She’s been clasping her hands squeezing them tight pushing them off one another for minutes now. She’s on the brink of a full fledged anxiety attack. She looks up when she feels Chris grab her hands.

“Thank you” he mouths to her and kisses her forehead for a long moment. He feels her hands sweating and shaking. Though quiet he can even hear her deep breaths. “You’re okay MC” he whispers softly moving his hands from hers and wrapping them around her tightly. Chris was the only person who could pull MC out of her world once she got in it, if she was in her head no matter good or bad Chris could bring her back. She looks up at him mustering a smile. Their eyes connect and the conversations between them begin. No words being spoken but Chris suddenly understands. Her fears on a tight knit family were hard for Chris to wrap his head around but he tried for her.

“Got it” Kyle says returning with a bright smile, he’s clearly readjusted his attitude for his sister. His best birthday gift to her. He lights the candles quickly and everyone gathers around the table. They sing happy birthday all together their voices completely out of tune but it doesn’t matter to AJ she’s just happy to have everyone there.

#choices #play choices #mc x chris #the freshman fan fiction #chris powell #famtimechoicesmcc #choices fan fiction

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sneakyseokjin · 6 years

Text

Some thoughts on the Taejin fight:

Feel free to ignore me lol. This is just my interpretation and could be entirely incorrect. While Burn The Stage is an intimate look at their lives behind the scenes, we must remember that it is still edited professionally and we’ll never know anything for certain. Take everything I say with a grain of salt.

That being said, let’s jump in.

I thought it was really interesting that they showed the fight at all. Usually Kpop groups try their hardest to bury any rumors of infighting amongst the members and it’s really refreshing to see BTS break that mold and show that they are regular dudes who get mad and stressed and fight.

As to the content, it was about the performance. They genuinely care very deeply about the quality of their craft, which can be seen in both how Seokjin and Taehyung fought and in how Jimin felt upset in the beginning.

So the fight. Taehyung said that Seokjin wasn’t taking his steps fast enough, and how it hindered his ability to get to his spot on time. He was very genuinely expressing his real and valid concerns about the performance and I don’t think, at least not at first, he intended any disrespect towards his hyung in telling him so. He just really wanted to get his part right.

Seokjin didn’t take it very well. He no doubt works his ass off to deliver a good show, especially in dancing because he knows it’s his weak point. He’s never gotten too visibly upset when his dancing skills have been poked fun at but I think it does bother him, though he might not say so, especially since he is really trying so hard.

So when Taehyung said that stuff, even if the younger didn’t really mean it to be in any way rude, I think Seokjin was still a little hurt. It’s the day of the concert, they’ve had a long rehearsal, they’re tired, they’re nervous, they’re on edge, they’re all a little sensitive, and I think it hurt him to hear Taehyung’s criticism, no matter how genuinely well intended. And as we know about Seokjin, his favorite way to deal with serious situations, his defense mechanism, is humor. He chronically dislikes being sad or angry or upset, and so he’s always trying to make light of the situation. It’s just his personality and so that’s what he did. He made fun of the whole thing, he didn’t take it seriously.

That, I think, in turn hurt Taehyung. Taehyung is the second youngest in the group and has said that even Jimin, his same age friend, still coddles him and treats him like a kid. Receiving that kind of treatment is no doubt frustrating for someone as strong-minded as Tae. Not only that, Taehyung has always been a little weird, a little 4D, and he’s been made fun of for that, probably all his life. He has thoughts and input and insight that is valid and helpful, and to have it so easily dismissed by Seokjin, a hyung who has always been there for him, who has always treated him as a friend, who has always joked around with him and made him feel comfortable, must have been painful. That’s why I think he lashes out further. He’s hurt and in pain and he cries because he can’t help it. He speaks unkindly, disrespectfully, to Seokjin who in turn is hurt by his words.

Seokjin is the first to apologize though. He reaches out because he knows exactly what he did and why Taehyung is so upset. He even says so, saying that he made a joke out of Tae’s concerns and that it was childish and that he was sorry about it. Of course it doesn’t resolve the conflict then and there. The apology is brisk, maybe done due to Seokjin’s dislike for arguments, like he’s just trying to get it over with, like he’s still mad but he doesn’t want to deal with it anymore, and Taehyung is still upset because he probably knows this too, can tell that it’s not really genuine, that Seokjin doesn’t really mean it. Yet they go on, they slap on some happy faces and perform as Bangtan because they want to put on a good show for ARMY’s.

Afterwards is where it get really interesting. They all gather together to discuss the situation as a group, because they know that this is not just about Seokjin and Taehyung, that it won’t just end there if they let it fester, that there are tiny cracks that need repairing before they grow and threaten to break them all apart. That is really awe inspiring to me. They handle the whole thing with such maturity, certainly much more than I’ve ever had in an argument.

Going back to the fight, and to the issue of respect. Korea has probably the strictest social hierarchies of any east asian country, and while we as westerners may feel that age doesn’t really matter, especially such a small age gap as 3 years between Jin and Tae, it matters to them because this is the context in which they have been raised their whole lives.

That being said, Namjoon was right when he observed that Seokjin often lets things like this slide, and Seokjin says so himself as well. He says that he tries not to impose himself on them all like that, that he thinks pridefulness is good for nothing. I think this could be because Seokjin knows well how frustrating it is to be disregarded just because of age. Consider, for example, that he is the maknae of his family, and he was even born late in the year so that even among his same age friends, there is a sense that he is always being treated some type of way just because he is younger.

Seokjin has filled the role of eldest hyung very nicely considering, and he is clearly well loved among the maknae line because he is so happy-go-lucky, so willing to joke around and goof off and not scold like Namjoon or Yoongi or even at times Hobi do. I think he purposely cultivated this kind of relationship with them, not just because it’s his personality to be this way, but also because he wanted the younger members to feel like they could talk to him and be comfortable around him without the awkward, heavy weight of social convention in between them. I think this has made their friendship stronger, but I also think that in the context of the society they all grew up in, it makes it inevitable, despite how relaxed he is normally, that he will occasionally be bothered by the lapses in honorific address. Not always, but this time, the stress of a concert looming, self criticism and doubt weighing heavy, it was enough to irk him, enough to make him lash out.

They uncovered a lot as a group during this meeting. Seokjin’s jokes are too much sometimes. Taehyung is prone to being disrespectful. Seokjin gets too defensive when stressed. Taehyung can’t take a joke. They’re human.

I think you could really tell how much they love each other by the way they talked to each other after everyone left. Taehyung was still tearing up, still upset because he’d been hurt but also because he knew he hurt Seokjin as well. And Seokjin too was saddened by the whole situation, and admitted his role in the matter. He spoke openly to his dongsaeng about how he struggles sometimes, he gets depressed too despite the happy outward appearance he aims to present so that the members stay cheerful, and I think that was important for Taehyung to hear, especially because, and I hope I’m not the only one who’s noticed, he too struggles, he too has been having a hard time of it lately. That’s a really powerful lesson coming from someone you love and respect, that life isn’t happy all the time, that there are hills and valleys, that others around you struggle too, and that the best you can do sometimes is just smile to get through it, and to lean on your friends.

At the end of the day, they are brothers and they admire, care for, laugh with, and love each other no matter what. They’ll support each other through anything, even through this fight, even through their fights in the future, because that is what family and what brotherhood and what Bangtan Sonyeondan are all about.

#bts #burn the stage #ramblings #kim seokjin #kim taehyung #bangtan sonyeondan #i thought about it a lot lol

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