A Brand New life (Chapter 18)

[brassebouillon]

Comments

[indigorayne]

Aww loved the Ryan/parent time and a baby bunny for little Ryan so cute :)
I'm glad you are continuing this story!

[brassebouillon]

Thanks for your comment! I'm happy you liked it!

[anne35]

Happy to see you posted. I'm going to try and do better about getting the next chapter back to you. However, the next chapter of ToF is proving to be much trickier than I had originally thought. I had thought it would be up days ago. No such luck. I'm having to re-write pretty much the entire thing. Hopefully this time next week it will be done. *crossing fingers*

[brassebouillon]

Yeah, I've finally posted it!
I keep my fingers crossed for ToF!

[beachtree]

Good to see more of this. Sometimes I think of a story, and an update appears! Okay, more often that's not the case, as with most other things, but still, this time it worked

[brassebouillon]

Thanks for your incredibly interesting comment!
In canon, Ryan was too often Seth's shadow or 'M''s white knight. That's why I try to describe him differently. I'm a huge fan of the Cohen+1 interactions, so I chose to show his relationship with his foster parents. This Ryan has never had a regular childhood, so he's enjoying every little bit of his new life with careful and loving parents.
But in this AU as in canon, it's Newport and the Newpsies are still here with their distorted values...
In canon, we didn't see that much of Seth/Sandy's moments and I regret that!

[beachtree]

Well, sadly, Ryan became a sidekick and shadow not for reasons the writers developed, such as he felt an obligation to be Seth's full-time employee as repayment, or unworthy of anything better, but because Josh wanted to make the show about himself as a teenager. since Seth was him, he had to become the star. I could have done without that as much as I could have done without "M" existing at all, other than as a supporting "Holly Fisher" type of character in the background. Even with the obvious connection between her and Dawn in terms of being selfish, manipulative, addictive, self-destructive and abusive towards others at least emotionally, was ignored. If we had to endure her three years too long, we at least could have had her villainized for the shrew she was with parallels to Dawn being emphasized

[beachtree]

You handled that moment very well and made it a dialogue, not a lecture. You had Sandy present Ryan as someone not to be taken for granted, used, or even pitied, but to be seen as a person in his own right (which I so wanted to see on the show), and to be respected. Then there was the reference to Ryan's lack of any of the experiences that Seth thought he had outgrown. What Seth considered to be embarrassing, Ryan treasured and cherished. Those things that Seth disdained were special memories now for Ryan- memories that Seth had tainted while pursuing his own agenda. Ryan's first taste would have left him hungry for more, and it was clear that Sandy and Kirsten wanted to give him that elusive gift, as well as enjoy the moments with him too.

Thanks again for this and for such a wonderful dynamic.

[brassebouillon]

Thanks for your comment! I really wanted to show that the Cohens didn't take Ryan as a charity case and a new toy for Seth. And showing Seth that all the kids aren't having a pampered and full of love life is a valuable lesson for him! In canon, with the Oliver's arc, we can see how Seth ignores that fact, even if he's always complaining that Newport is superficial and fake!

[beachtree]

Thank YOU. I'm really glad that have the Cohens acting so much more responsibly and compassionately here. I really kept hoping that one of them, most likely Sandy since Kirsten was so detached from Ryan, would have behaved this way in canon and realized how Ryan was being perceived and used and what the effect on someone who'd been mistreated his whole life was.

Ryan might not have felt he was equal in status to the Cohens in their household, but someone could have been far more proactive about being inclusive, which would have demonstrated to Ryan that he was being seen as a person and recognized for himself, not Seth's sidekick or unpaid employee, or a charity case who was either a project or needed to repay a debt.

[caligirl59]

That was just lovely,the image of a little happy Ryan being swung over the puddle was just so cute and so sad when you realise that the childhood you had wasnt everyones childhood.Thanks for the update,I loved every line.

[brassebouillon]

Thanks for commenting! I'm glad you liked it!
I think Seth is the one who has learnt something about having a great childhood compared to a lot of kids!