#stretch mcfadden

The thing about Billie is that she’s got two conflicting sides to her, a warm & sociable side and a less pleasant reactive side. This makes her relationships to the McFaddens very fun for me to write, her duality is fun to play with.

She and Stretch absolutely dislike each other, but it’s a bit more nuanced than just simple dislike. Stretch fundamentally lacks respect for Billie. When she first came to the manor he found her attractive, and that was pretty much the extent of their interactions. When she became a ghost herself though and began challenging him in scaring, his tune started to change. Stretch sees Billie as someone young & not worth taking seriously, while simultaneously being threatened by her. Billie isn’t afraid to challenge him like the rest of the manor often is, that intimidates Stretch. Likewise, Billie doesn’t respect Stretch either but in a less intense way. She’s always seen him as a creepy old man that’s too big for his metaphorical britches, and that’s the perception of him that sticks for a while. As much as she hates to admit it, he does get under her skin quite a bit. He triggers her temper worse than anything else, and knowing Stretch he’s probably intentionally doing it. There is potential for their relationship to improve, and where Stinkie is concerned they’re both cordial for his sake. There’s even been occasions where Billie has been able to laugh and joke with Stretch just as she can with the other two trio members, but the status quo always returns when they both remember what strong personalities they both have. Simply put, they clash. Heavily.

Billie and Stinkie are romantically involved, but it did take a while for them to get to that point. At first, Stinkie didn’t recognize what he was feeling for her to be romantic. He doesn’t strike me as a particularly romantic guy, he does flirt with women but it’s very clear he’s mostly physically attracted to them and not actually serious with his feelings. All he knew is this girl intrigued him, and Stinkie follows his curiosity. Unlike his brothers, he’s observant enough for such things. Anywho, it’s not until at least 3 years after the movie’s events that Stinkie finally charmed Billie, and it was definitely worth the wait. The two are very similar to one another, that’s part of why they work so well as a team. The other reason is because of what is different between them. What Billie often has is what Stinkie lacks in himself, and vice versa. Stinkie is naturally comedic, Billie’s humor is more dry. Billie is very sociable, Stinkie is less so. Stinkie’s more masculine, Billie is more feminine. And so on, and so forth. They’re just as much on the same page at any given moment as they are constantly surprising each other. It gives them something familiar that they each can latch onto while also keeping their relationship fresh over the many years.