Second Chances Interview #1 — Shane & Alex
Callie: Welcome to our celebration of Second Chances leading up to the premiere of its newest installment, Changes: Transitions. This is your host, Callie Solanen. Joining me today for our first interview in this limited-run series are Shane Wallace and Alex Mullner. Thank you both for joining me.
Alex: Anytime, Farmer Girl.
Shane: I’m only here because I’m contractually obligated.
Alex: Aw, it’s not that bad. Overall, this is a pretty sweet gig.
Shane: Says the kid that’s not one of Caelwynn’s favorite chew toys.
Callie: Let’s dive right into today’s questions. You’ve both been a part of Second Chances since the earliest installment of Choices. What’s the biggest difference for you between Choices and Changes?
Alex: The fact that I’m not just an asshole.
Alex: I’m going to ignore that because I know you’re hangry.
Callie: Do you need a snack? We have some back in the green room—
Shane: I don’t need a damn snack. Get on with it, Half Pint.
Callie: If you say so…. Alex, what do you mean that you’re ‘not just an asshole’?
Alex: Well, in Choices: Spring I’m mostly just there to ant— antag— piss off you and Sterling.
Shane: And a right fine good job you do of it.
Alex: By the end of Choices, I’ve made my apologies and even managed to get hired on by you, Cal. But in Transitions, we finally get some scenes from my point of view. I mean, I still fuck up pretty epically a couple of times—
Alex: —but hopefully, readers will see how I get there.
Callie: What about you, Shane?
Callie: How has your experience changed from the earliest days of Choices?
Shane: I [bleep]-ing won.
Shane: In the beginning, Caelwynn and I had an understanding of where the story would go. By the time she started posting Choices, however, she’d reneged on her end of the deal. I swear, every time I [bleep]-ing talked to her, it boiled down to her staring me dead in the eye and telling me I’d best hope she didn’t alter the deal further.
Shane: I don’t want to get into the specifics right now, but… let’s just say that I’m one of the reasons she wrote six different versions of Transitions. I refused to cooperate with her until she reinstated aspects of the original storyline.
Alex: Are you insane? Arguing with her about a storyline is how Mateo ended up yeeted into the [bleep]ing—
Callie: [cross-talk] Moving on! The two of you spend a lot of time together in Transitions. How would you describe your relationship in the fic?
Alex: Come on, man, we get along really well as Callie’s farmhands.
Shane: If by really well you mean that I keep you too busy busting your ass to run your mouth.
Alex: But it works! The cross-fit ideas you adapted to farmwork did wonders for my training. Not to mention….
Callie: ‘Not to mention…’ what?
Alex: Um, Shane, uh, really helps me to think through some pretty important shit during the course of the fic. I know you [Shane] are allergic to feeling any sort of emotion outside of irritation—
Shane: I resemble that remark.
Callie: [cross-talk] He’s a lot more sensitive than most people realize.
Alex: —but you really step into the role of mentor for me. I wouldn’t go so far as to call you a father figure, but definitely a mentor not only on the field but also in navigating my personal life. You put up with the stupidest [bleep]-ing questions. Yeah, you clap back if they’re out-of-bounds, but even then you explain why they’re out-of-bounds. That’s not something I’ve gotten a lot of in my life. I’m really, really grateful for the opportunity to work with you, both in the fic and outside of it.
[several beats of silence]
Callie: Do you need a moment, Buttercup?
Shane: …no. I just… uh. Yoba [bleep]-ing on a— Alright, fine. I, uh, enjoyed the chance to work with you, too. Gah! Get off of me!
Callie: For our listeners at home, Alex just gave him a bear hug.
Shane: Do you have any other questions, Cal? …please?
Callie: We have time for one more. Was there anything in the fic that surprised you or caught you off-guard?
Shane: …that doesn’t constitute a major spoiler?
Alex: Well, catching Sterling making out with— [thwap] Hey!
Shane: Without major spoilers, Dumbbell!
Callie: This is why we paired you two, so that you wouldn’t spoil shit.
Shane: Wait, you can say ‘shit,’ but I can’t say [bleep]? That’s bullshit.
Callie: Don’t look at me. I’m not the sound engineer.
Shane: Whatever. [sigh] Anyways, I’d say that the biggest surprise for me was everything to do with Sam.
Shane: For one, why the [bleep] does he think we’re friends?
Shane: That’s beside the point. And then there’s everything to do with his, uh, significant other. That was not a pairing I remotely expected.
Alex: How is that not a spoiler?!
Shane: Because I don’t mention who it is?
Callie: It’s called hinting without spoiling.
Alex: I think it’s just discrimination.
Callie: Shane, don’t. Be nice.
Callie: Unfortunately, that’s all we have time for today. Thank you both again for sitting down with me.
Alex: Thanks for having us on, Cal.
Shane: See you at home, doll.
Callie: And thank you to our audience for tuning in. We’ll be back tomorrow with more behind-the-scenes interviews for Changes: Transitions, opening at an Ao3 near you on June 15th!
