#she's appeared in tsc

[darcyolsson]

I CANNOT BELIEEEEEVEEVVEEREHHENEW😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[atthemomentimintothis]

i just want kevin day to have someone (not thea) who puts him first and loves him with all their heart (not thea) in preferably a romantic way because he deserves that if he wants it (not thea)

[wikitpowers]

The sight that met her eyes in the little blue-painted room made them widen. Tavvy was in his crib, his small hands cluthing the bars, cheeky bright red from screaming. Drusilla stood in front of the crib, a sword —Angel knew where she’d gotten it—clutched in her hand; it was pointed directly at Emma. Dru’s hand was shaking enough that the point of the sword was dancing around; her braids stuck out on either side of her plump face, but the look in her Blackthorn eyes was one of steely determination: Don’t you dare touch my brother.

[aleclightofmylifewoodbane]

im finding as i reread tid i enjoy jem and tessa’s dynamic a lot more than will and tessas. i used to DETEST jessa in comparison to wessa, so this is very interesting. though jem has been a favorite now for a long time and i have LONG since stopped disliking them, i love them in fact, im just surprised that i like them MORE in my reread than will and tessa. very interesting

[kairospy]

More AFTG Twitter updates because Nora likes torturing me

- Thea will make an appearance but Nora is aware she’s universally hated… so there’s that

- Blond Jeremy

- Auburn Neil. Auburn. Not ginger

- Neil gives Andrew the first cheek kiss and the first forehead kiss (mostly because Andrew can’t reach Neil’s)

- she really likes the bond between Jean and Neil and hopes to explore that to some degree. She says their experiences laid the groundwork for an enduring friendship and they have a very special kind of intimacy

- there will be flashbacks to Jean’s abuse in TSC

- if andreil ever got married Neil would pick Matt as his best man and Andrew would pick Kevin

- Andrew still pampers Neil with gifts and clothes even after Neil learns some fashion sense

- the marriage between Mary and Nathan was arranged

- Ichirou is 24 in TKM, 25 in TSC

- Kevin likes Hamilton and Andrew knows the Le Miserables songs because he heard them once

- Kevin does indeed appear in TSC

- Renee has a few scenes in TSC

- Jeremy’s family makes an appearance in TSC

- she hopes TSC will be a standalone

- the twins got on the horses in TKM with kiddie stools

- when the newbies start bothering Neil post TKM, Matt starts checking them so hard they see stars and denies he’s being overly aggressive when he’s confronted by Wymack

[jeanmoreautemple]

Thea Muldani: a rant

I feel weird about Thea but I can’t really put into words exactly why? So I’m writing down some things I’ve thought.

I honestly didn’t think much about her before TSC, like she was okay (I wish she’d been introduced earlier tho or that she hadn’t graduated already so she was a recurrent Raven player or something).

After reading the extra content I wasn’t bothered about the age gap between her and Kevin but yes a little bit about the fact that Kevin was fourteen when they first met + the -you fuck like a virgin, maybe some practice will make you better at it- comment that Nora included. It was uuhh weird but the rest of the Kevthea story was okay, and Thea is 100% not a groomer. Plus, Nora technically deleted the extra content so in theory nothing there is canon yet.

Now in TSC we get her sole appearance in TKM from Jean’s POV, who has known her since he was fourteen (like Kevin- this is important to keep in mind). The scene starts out cute! We find out she took him under her wing and even had nicknames for him like Paris and her little duckling🥰. So the fourteen year boy that just arrived from france with broken English looked up to her, Thea was ~21 at this point.

We know Jean is going through HELL during this time:

And we also know the Moriyamas were always particularly cruel with Jean, getting more physical him than with Kevin. Even though It’s said that Riko would torture Jean and Kevin (broken hand incident) in private, hence the other Ravens not knowing the whole picture, how can a fourteen year old kid hide such pain? But apparently , as we later find out, Thea was too deep into the Evermore raven cult mindset that she didn’t find anything strange about the coach and Rikk’s behavior towards Jean.

At 15 Jean is given a number and place in the perfect court, but only at 16 joins the lineup. He gets a lot of hate, especially from the other defensemen, whom Thea works with:

Although the Ravens are know for being extremely violent training, at least in the court Thea must have noticed that the defense line were especially brutal to Jean. Or SOMETHING.

But here comes the worst part: during this same year Riko forces Jean to sleep with 5 defensemen. By the time Jean is a junior most of these have graduated which means they were 20 or older. So Thea had been playing with each of these guys for at least 2 years (except for Grayson), she knew them.

They went on to joke and talk about the whole ordeal as Jean paying for his perfect court number. Thea also being in the defense line could have heard all of this first hand, we don’t know. But It’s so widely talked about that it reaches Tetsuji and we do know Thea witnessed Jean’s punishment:

Coincidentally Thea starts a sexual and emotional relationship with Kevin this year (it’s her last too).

So here’s the part that made me dislike Thea very much. In TKM she goes to Kevin demanding answers, Kevin then brings her to Jean, who is looking like this:

It’s been three years since she graduated but she’s still wearing her Raven number in a necklace, and when she sees Jean’s state in TSC she comments how if Kevin hadn’t said anything she’d think it normal:

By now it’s clear she at 26 is still 100% brainwashed, but this next line of hers cemented it:

YOUR OLD TRICKS ?!

So let’s break that down:

1. The immigrant kid (16!) she watched over for two years from age 14 to 16 suddenly starts having sex with members of HER (23!) defense line who are all around her age and openly hate him for 5 consecutive nights and she doesn’t suspect anything?

2. Said defensemen then brag and shame Jean afterwards calling him a whore, which leads to Jean getting beaten half to dead by their coach and still nothing?

3. Years later she recalls the incident as Jean being up to his little tricks and being rightfully beaten to a pulp?!!!!

I can’t. I know she’s also a cult victim but no. It was super common for Ravens to have hate sex with each other but her being close to Kevin (and somewhat Jean) during the time Jean’s (a 16 year old!) assaults were happening and still remaining this clueless… I’m sure she must be lovable for both Kevin and Jean to respect and care for her so much but her one scene convinced me she’s way too deep into the Raven spirit and her presence around Kevin and Jean would be just so harmful.

But I have to give credit when it’s due, apparently after some hours with Kevin and 7 years later she believes her King broke Kevin’s hand:

In conclusion:

Thea is absolutely no groomer but if one takes a look at her attitude towards Jean’s sexual history when he was 16 and how her relationship with Kevin was happening simultaneously, her you fuck like a virgin, maybe some practice will make you better at it and tell me you weren’t up to your old tricks comment combo, it all makes me dislike her. Cause you’d think someone who at 22-23 was dating a boy who had just turned legal would be careful or mature enough to choose her wording better when talking about the sexual activity between a boy close in age to her own boyfriend with people around HER age, but nope. The fact that Kevin married her, has a child and lives happily ever after with her seems unbelievable to me.

PS: Her and Kevin’s (we don’t know if he believes Riko) apparent ignorance or lack of suspicion of Jean’s freshman year assault was the most hurtful part of TSC tbh (not counting Elodie). Imagine having the closest people to you misunderstand/ believe lies about such a traumatic event. I guess this is why Nora didn’t include a Andrew POV, I would have died or wanted to kill Nicky and Aaron for not looking deeper into Andrew’s attitude.

[flamebearrel]

“But Kris, if I wanted to watch Anim vs. with all the different series how should I even go about it??”

It largely depends on the topics and cast you’re interested in seeing. The show is split into three subseries as well as the occasional standalone episode/miniseries: Animator vs. Animation (the original created in 2006-7 by Alan Becker alone), Animation vs. Minecraft (the longest and most popular, shorts stemming off a standalone from 2015), and Animation vs. Education (the newest from 2023, visualizing high-level STEM concepts)

Personally, I think core AvA is required reading for anyone who has appreciation for past eras of the internet, UI, or principles and genres of animation. AvM and AvE are equal in quality but honestly you won’t appreciate them as much if you aren’t familiar with the topics they cover. Alan and his team do try to visually introduce things step by step, though, so you can at least get a general idea of what you’re looking at

Besides that, core AvA specifically follows the Hollow-Heads, hand-drawn stick figures created by the Animator, “noogai”/Alan. In particular you have The Chosen One (shortened to Chosen, Cho or TCO) and The Second Coming (aka Second, Sec, TSC or Orange). TSC is the de facto main character and the only one appearing in all three series, while TCO and the Animator are exclusive to the original.

The SticksFight squad - the four sticks originating from sticksfight.com and named after their colors - have developed distinct personalities as the main cast of AvM, but only take a collective side role in main AvA (Yellow has a slightly larger role than the others). Here’s a summary of their individual personalities so you know what to look for in their smaller appearances

Red - Impulsive and energetic, always the first to jump into action and with a soft heart for creatures and beasties. He’s a little simple when it comes to technical things, but excels with reading the people around him, then building off of their quirks. Since the rest of the group babies him a bit, he puts in extra physical work to prove he can hold his own. Red also tends to play around with new or out-of-the-box solutions - knowledge that extends to his pranks. Most ready to fight with his fists or use heavy-hitters like maces and clubs. (Good intro/focus eps: The Rediscovery, Texture Pack, Monster School, The Prank)

Blue - A mellow fellow! Blue is one with nature and focuses on farming, cooking, and potionology. Due to her pacifistic tendencies, Blue prefers to reason things out or find other solutions rather than fighting, but will throw herself into the face of danger for others. Otherwise she takes up ranged weapons like guns and bows. She’s detail- and aesthetic-oriented as well as graceful, but doesn’t often step outside what she knows. A bit of an addiction to nether wart, which is somewhere between an unusual snack and a drug. (Good intro/focus eps: Potions, The Piglin War, The Chef, Blue’s New Superpower)

Yellow - She loves more than anything to get down to the root of things, and that makes her the group’s engineer! …And a bit of a troublemaker, paying more attention to the thrill of a discovery than the consequences. Yellow tries to find fairness and justice for friend and foe alike. While they have a reliable, supportive demeanor, they’re also very peppy, excitable and tough with how they stand strong in dire situations. Often her fighting style takes place behind the scenes, using things like explosives or a command-casting staff. (Good intro/focus eps: The Roller Coaster, Command Blocks, Lucky Blocks, AvArcade Games)

Green - Originally the weakest on the team, but has since come into his own after a lot of reflex training (read: getting tossed around). Green has great adaptability to learning new techniques and getting creative, particularly with styles of music and architecture. He loves the spotlight and usually competes with the others or takes the chance to show off; however, he also cares deeply about welcoming in those he meets. Dashes and zips around all the time during battle, usually via fishing rod-grappling hook. (Good intro/focus eps: AvYouTube, Note Blocks, PvP, The Dolphin Kingdom)

If you’re just gonna watch the REQUIRED ones this is what I recommend:

AvA s1 (1-4, previously I-IV)

AvMinecraft (original)

AvYouTube

AvA s2 (5-8, previously “shorts” combining into V)

AvMath

AvA s3 (9-ongoing)

That way you get the introduction of both subseries, with how each establishes the cast/direction, as well as one standalone. I put vs. YT here since it best fits the theme imo but you could go with vs. Pokémon or vs. Arcade Games if you prefer

If you’re willing to take on AvM/the rest of the series this is pretty much the order of the timeline:

AvA s1

AvM (original)

AvYouTube

AvM shorts s1 (1-14)

AvLeague of Legends (required for an AvM character’s development)

AvM shorts s2 (15-19)

AvA s2

Other standalones (Blue’s New Superpower + vs. ___)

AvM shorts s3 (20-30)

AvE (ongoing)

AvA s3 (ongoing)

AvM shorts s4 (ongoing)

Influencer Arc (1-3 + some interactive videos on the Greenzilla4 channel)

Or just follow my playlist!!!

[constelationprize]

genuine question but how is it possible to mischaracterize thea muldani when we don't really have a characterization for her? is it referring to when people hate on her for things that didn't happen?

Thea very much does have a characterization. It might not be very extense, or even particularly good, but it does exist. What we know from her in canon is the first trilogy is that she is Kevin's girlfriend he has been ghosting for a year, who is still stuck in the Raven mindset despite having graduated, and is the best backliner in the game being the youngest Court player in history – and yet, you will still see people spinning her being mad at Kevin in the scene she appears in as literal domestic abuse; treat her like a monster for not blindly believing information that has been kept from her and that goes against the cult brainwashing she went through for five years; and constantly passing Jean over her in terms of skill even though that is at least until now canonically untrue (and if the EC is any indication will probably remain so). In the scene where she appears in TSC, we see her as being one of the few people Jean has ever had a positive relationship with, who has gone out of her way to help him when she didn't have to and clearly holds affection for him still, and yet all people boil that interaction down to is a clearly misguided remark from a woman whose entire worldview started to crumble literally ten minutes ago, and who never had a reason to take things that happened to other people in the Nest beyond any face value because, again, she was also there dealing with her own shit. I swear to God, I once saw someone say that having a nickname for Jean that annoyed him was proof that she never cared for him as a person and just let him be abused.

[1001mcdxlvii]

What we know about the sunshine court so far:

It’s a love story to Jean being alive 😭😭😭

Dual pov. Jean and Jeremy (Nora hasn’t specifically said Jeremy but there’s no way the other pov isn’t his)

The Trojans are MUCH bigger than the Foxes. They consist of 29 Trojans, 4 coaches, 3 waterboys, and 3 team nurses

Jeremy wasn’t blonde but is now????

TSC starts in March, little bit of overlap with AFTG

We will see Neil in flashbacks of the Nest

More info on Jean’s Raven partners

Kevin and Thea will appear

Catalina and Laila are part of the main cast!!

Renee will appear

And she and Jean will NOT be a couple!!

We will see Jeremy’s family

TSC should be a standalone

And it will come out in 2024!

BONUS:

[thebellekeys]

Summary: Virtual Author Talk with Cassandra Clare at San Anselmo Public Library (23/08/23)

Cassie wrote her first “novel” when she was 12 on a Mac computer, the infamous The Beautiful Cassandra that she regularly teases to us. She got into writing fiction professionally full-time after leaving her journalism job in 2006.

Finishing City of Bones took about 3-4 years because it was her first novel. Holly Black was the one who hooked her up with her first agent who then got the book published, which was a really new experience. She said that the publishing process was initially surprising to her because of how crazily long it takes to get a single book published.

Cassie acknowledges that City of Bones is starkly “different” from the rest of all her books in colour and voice, because of how experimental the novel writing process was for her. She said she thinks she’s evolved a lot as a writer since then.

She aims for psychological realism in her books even though it’s fantasy. She tries to see each character as a fully-formed person who can exist outside of the immediate plot. She creates worksheets to write her characters.

She also believes it’s necessary to let your main characters make bad mistakes – she cites Matthew as a prominent example i.e. someone highly reactive to their own mistakes. Matthew is defined by his regret and his need to fix his mistakes. She thinks Matthew is one of the most relatable characters because of this.

She’s very drawn to the found family trope because of how much she moved around as a kid – the stability and love of a found family is something she’s worked to build her whole life. She emphasizes the importance of friendship and its different forms in life.

Cassie cites Magnus as the character who turned out most differently than she had initially planned – she hadn’t originally anticipated how significant Magnus would be in the wider scheme of the series.

Doing The Last Hours was, at least a little, in response to people’s excitement about The Family Tree back in 2013.

Her advice for writing fantasy worlds is to create a flexible and expansive magic system so it can grow with you as a writer. She also emphasizes letting your favorite characters make poor decisions – your characters determine the plot and not the other way around.

Cassie strikes a balance between planning worldbuilding details beforehand and then spontaneously adding in new things in the writing process. The Scholomance is an example of something new that was added later in the TSC writing chronology.

She decided that Sword Catcher had to be in the adult publishing category because when she initially developed the characters, they just appeared as people in their twenties. With TSC, the characters had just appeared to her as teenagers then. Writing characters in these different life stages was interesting and challenging.

Sword Catcher is the first in a duology, but she’d like it to be four books if it’s successful.

Cassie has always wanted to write Shadowhunters in the Roaring ‘20s but she has no idea what the plot would possibly be.

She doesn’t read TSC fanfiction, but her husband has informed her of a popular Magnus X BTS fanfiction on AO3. She stays away from fanfiction, but she is very invested in the fanart of her works. Her favorite artist is, of course, Cassandra Jean, and she also loves Charlie Bowater.

She loves writing with Holly Black and probably would only do more Middle Grade writing with her.

She is very much anti-censorship and anti-banning books, especially because of the form it takes in the US (aka, censorsing books dealing with issues affecting the BIPOC and queer communities).

She doesn’t believe they’ll do another TMI adaptation in any form, even though she doesn’t believe the TMI books’ story was ever truly told. She hopes, one day, that TID can get made as it’s the most adaptable series in her catalogue for logistical reasons.

If she couldn’t be a fiction writer, her dream job would be a travel writer. She intensely loves traveling and making her characters travel as well.

Her favorite author of all time is Dorothy Dunnett. She thinks you should check out The Queen’s Thief by Megan Whaler Turner (I agree). And she’s currently reading Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak (I really enjoyed this one).

[cindersnows]

short essay thing i wrote in avf about plural tsc that i feel like people should see bc its so interesting to me

just to preface i highly highly doubt this is all intentional on alan+teams part due to the fact that plurality is just ,, not that well known. also im not too knowledgable on non traumagenic systems and all the stuff surrounding that so i will just be speaking from what i know from my own experience + research

so anyways. from the start of sec's life she has been kind of in a high stress situation. from the getgo she had to hide her existence from alan due to likely knowing the fate of the other living sticks he has made + the fact that she very much isnt supposed to be alive. she lets her guard down, makes friends, and then almost instantly theyre all deleted. although did and osdd1 form from long-term trauma (often accompanied by cptsd) and all of this only happened in a few minutes, at the very least this provides the basis for some sort of dissociation

theres a moment where she glitches and changes to black for a second. obviously back then this was intended to be an allusion to the fact that she's the chosen one's return, since alan+team hadn't planned ava s2 yet and tco was just regular dead atp, but its interesting to consider the sudden change in her personality. shes not even shown to be overly angry like she usually is, just a. Calm?? specifically the same calm that preceeds her beating up tdl in ava s2.

notably that moment in s2 where she unlocks her powers is like. sudden change in personality and demeanor, suddenly gaining the powers, and memory loss afterwards. even though she only really switches between two "modes" it's reminiscent of switching between two alters (while its uncommon for a system to have only two alters it's not unheard of, especially in cases of osdd-1a where theres not much distinction between personality states).

i said ava/e specifically because the aveducation videos in particular provide a very interesting insight into tsc's psyche. while alan said in his avg avma video that the series isn't canon, a few things about the series have already been retconned. avphys was originally supposed to be the last entry in the series, but with avma+avphys+avgeo's massive success and the lead animator's interest in these sort of topics i wouldn't be surprised if they continued to make more, especially considering that they're now interconnected via avgeo. phi, who appeared at the end of avma, is the protagonist of avgeo, and there's that scene at the end that teases avphys that i'll also get into in a sec because it's very interesting.

about why i think it represents tsc's psyche specifically and not just some math dimensions that tsc happens to stumble upon: in the avg avma video dj proposes the dream theory, that this is all happening in a dream during ava s3. noncanon of course but considering alan himself knows about it and ave seems to be gaining some kind of overarching arc, as well as the fact that its releasing between ava s3 episodes (which is going to focus on tsc's powers) i wouldn't be surprised if the episodes slowly grow more and more representative of her mental state as she works towards properly unlocking her powers

anyways speculation aside. avphys introduces a second second (haha). this is explained through the mechanics of time loops and whatnot, but at the same time, the hat tsc seems to know a lot more than regular tsc, having.. basically created the universe. even if our tsc can then explain this to the next tsc, hat tsc is shown to literally create the entire universe avphys takes place in (again tying back to her powers of creation) and also act much calmer and composed compared to our tsc. it seems like hat tsc is somewhat representative of the state tsc gets into when she unlocks her powers, shown both times in ava s1 and 2. shes cool and mysterious and all knowing i want her so bad

the scene at the end of avgeo is the most compelling thing for this idea (and the push that made me go "ohhhh my god multiplies her). hat tsc appears once more, this time seemingly wanting to communicate more with our tsc, but being cut short by tsc getting surprised and falling. the most interesting part to me is the imagery in this part— there's tons and tons of tsc's, all reflected, and being reflections makes them slightly different from what we see (of course light refraction will always make things appear slightly different; discolored, blurred, flipped etc). hat tsc is framed as Also a reflection despite being shown as different person/personality state.

i just got back from dinner and lost my train of thought. im not sure if this is enough for other people to consider her plural but at the very least i feel like interpreting her as such does enhance one's reading and understanding of her, as well as how you write her (for those who do).

[darcyolsson]

im now kind of sat here wondering who have the most appearances in tsc though.... like i know it's magnus and then jem at the top but who's below that??? i'm guessing alec/jace/clary?

[chewingonsneakers]

ALL FOR THE GAME IN-DEPTH CHARACTER CHEAT SHEET

@themaxbox you asked for this

[MAJOR SPOILER WARNING]

ALL FOR THE GAME:

THE FOXHOLE COURT, THE RAVEN KING, THE KING’S MEN - NEIL JOSTEN AS MC POV

THE SUNSHINE COURT, UPCOMING TSC SEQUAL - JEAN MOREAU/JEREMY KNOX AS MC SPLIT POV

~~~~~

AUTHOR - Nora Sakavik (pen name) She/Her

~~~~~

TIME PERIOD - 2006-2007

~~~~~

CHARACTERS:

Neil Abram Josten -

He/him. The narrator, from a limited 3rd person POV.

Neil is 19 years old, 18 at the beginning of the books. Neil has naturally auburn hair and chilly blue eyes, both of which were covered with black hair dye and brown colored contacts throughout the first and some of the second book. Neil is 5’3”.

Neil Josten is not his real name, at least not until he had the FBI legally changed it in book three. Neil Josten is his twenty-second name ever used.

Neil Josten’s father is a serial killer known famously as The Butcher of Baltimore, or more realistically, Nathan Wesninski. Nathan works under a large and very wealthy Japanese Yakuza gang known as the Moriyamas. Nathan is named for his method of killing, usually chopping or skinning people using a butcher’s cleaver. He also had a wife and a son; Mary Weskinski and Nathaniel Abram Weskinski. Nathan and Mary’s marriage was likely arranged. Nathaniel was born in England to Mary and Nathan, though spent the next few years in Baltimore, Maryland, so his father could relocate and hide better. Nathaniel then grew up alongside the yakuza leader’s son, Riko Moriyama, and Riko's brother Kevin Day. They played on a little league Exy team run by the Moriyamas. The Moriyamas had trained them every day to become the greatest Exy players to live, in order to gain money and control. When Nathaniel was ten, it was decided that if he couldn’t prove his athletic potential through a solo practice session in front of the Moriyamas, he would be executed. The night of his solo practice, Mary stole five million dollars from the Moriyamas and took Nathaniel to flee through hidden tunnels. They spent the following seven years bouncing through countries and identities, all throughout Europe and America, most notably Germany and some time in France. They each had multiple fake passports and identifications, new appearances each time. Nathaniel cycled through 22 different identities, including the names Alex, Stefan, Rafael, etc. But when Nathaniel was seventeen, Mary had been found and captured by Nathan. He had begun to slowly kill her before she managed to escape, but she only made it halfway across California before she bled out and died in the driver's seat of their stolen car. So Nathaniel said his goodbyes to his mother, took the duffel bag of money and supplies from the backseat, left his dead mother in the front seat, and set the car on fire with a can of gasoline and a match.

He put his mother’s bones in a backpack and buried it under the blacksand of a California beach.

Nathaniel walked along the road with his bags for the next two days and made it to Salem before he collapsed and vomited, the shock of what happened catching up to him.

While a young child still under watch of his father, Nathaniel did not lead a happy life. His father’s hideous blonde henchman, Lola, forced him to kill small animals, skin, and gut them for practice, training him to become like his father in the future, to carry on the legacy. Nathaniel, Riko, and Kevin had once found Nathan messily chopping an innocent man into hundreds of pieces of flesh right on Moriyama property.

The first book starts immediately off with “Neil Josten let his cigarette burn to the filter without taking a drag. He didn’t want the nicotine; he wanted the acrid smoke that reminded him of his mother.”, a first look into his mind as he sits on the bleachers of the Exy court of a small community college in Millport near the house he had been squatting in illegally. A man named David Wymack approaches him and tells him he’d like to recruit him for the Palmetto State Foxes Exy team. after a brief conversation, afraid of how this man knows of his existence and what it could mean, Neil attempts to run up the bleachers and into the locker room to get away from the potential danger. He is stopped by an Exy racket slamming into his stomach. Wymack catches up, once again asks to recruit him, Neil looks to the side and spots his old childhood friend Kevin Day watching him. It scares him, he is worried Kevin may recognize him all grown up under the hair dye and contacts. Being previously caught by his Millport Exy coach sleeping nights on the locker room floor, supposed evidence of abuse going on in Neil’s “home”, this is used against him to convince him to come along and join the Foxes.

More personal info abt him:

He has zero style, from life on the run. faded and mellow colors were best and he took what he could get. A running joke is how he wears raggedy jorts quite often. Neil still has millions of dollars left that he keeps in his duffel bag, which he brings absolutely everywhere and never lets out of his sight unless safely locked away. Neil has only kissed one girl before during his life on the run but upon his mother finding out, she beat him to teach him the consequences of connecting with people or falling in love. He once wore a bulletproof vest for ten days straight out of fear and only stopped wearing it because after his mother cut it off him to wash it. He used to sleep in the same bed as his mother, with a gun under each of their pillows. Neil’s favorite color is gray. Neil still remembers the names of the two boys he stood by as he watched his father kill a man, and has a binder full of information, magazine cut outs, printed interviews, and pictures of Kevin and Riko to keep tabs on them. Neil loves fruit but hates vegetables because of what was easily available during life on the run. Neil dislikes sweet foods. Neil doesn’t drink or do drugs because he doesn’t want to lose control and let slip some important information about who he really is. Neil only buys cigarettes so he can light them and hold them to smell the smoke, only actually smoking them very infrequently. He doesn't care for the nicotine. He just smells the smoke and thinks of his dead mom. Neil is covered shoulder to toe in a war zone of scars from his father and his henchmen and the Moriyamas’ workers and life on the run. Some of these include a very large road burn scar that spans from his left shoulder to right hip from when he rolled out of a moving car, a healed gunshot wound on his left shoulder, and a large burn scar on his right shoulder in the shape of an clothing iron from a time when his father lost his temper. Others include smaller or longer or thinner ones covering some of his arms and most of his legs and torso. Neil has never had a friend before. Neil doesn’t consider anyone to be like family to him besides his mother (this changes eventually as he comes to terms with how his mother was not good with him). Neil has zero social skills but in a kind of funny way. He doesn’t understand slang, is in the dark on most pop-culture, and is sort of strange to talk to. Neil is unaware of having any sort of sexual orientation; it’s never been something he's spent time thinking about before. Neil’s skin color is a couple shades tanner than the twins’. He is jersey number 10, a striker on PSU’s Exy team.

Andrew Joseph Minyard - [TW: SA, SH]

He/him. 19 years old at the beginning, 20 by the end. Andrew has short light blonde hair and hazel (almost yellowish) eyes. Andrew is 5’0”.

Andrew is identical twins with Aaron, who I will introduce afterwards. Andrew and Aaron were placed into the foster care system after birth, but after only two weeks, their mother (they had an absent and unknown biological father) felt guilty and decided to take back only one of her babies. She randomly picked and chose Aaron. So for many years of his life, Andrew was a foster child. not a happy one at that. Andrew jumped from family to family, and he only says that none of them were good homes.

When Andrew was seven years old, he was raped by a male member of his current foster family. In the third book he admits during a conversation with Neil that the reason he hates the word “please” so much is because the man who raped him, Stephen, had told him he would stop if Andrew said it, but then didn’t stop.

— "Who said 'please' that made you hate the word so much?"

Andrew gazes at him in silence for a minute. "I did… He said he would stop if I said it."

"You believed him," Neil guesses.

"I was seven," Andrew says. "I believed him.” —

We know that similar incidents happened multiple times after that from different men of his following families, (Jesse, who liked to choke Andrew so he’d be quiet. Samuel, who called him a whore and told him he liked it.) but the most noteworthy is another absolute monster named Drake Spear. Drake, who found out Andrew was ticklish and used that against him.

Drake was a member of his final foster family. He was supposed to be an older brother to Andrew. Drake was in the military, he was this big muscle-y tattooed guy who was perceived as kind and gentle by his mother and the only foster mom Andrew had ever cared about, Cass Spear. What happened is that when Andrew first joined this foster home, he was twelve years old, and Drake was away at his station. After lots of trust gained, he grew to love Cass and see her as a real mother. She was very kind to him despite his bad behavior, which made him feel loved and act out less. One spring, she told Andrew that her son was coming home. Andrew didn’t like that but he trusted Cass so he didn’t make an argument. The day Drake came home, he was kind to Andrew, giving him candy and keeping his distance. But he wasted almost no time in destroying that trust and very quickly began the abuse. almost every night, Drake snuck into Andrew’s room to take advantage of him. It became too much quite quickly, and Andrew eventually took blades to his wrists to try and make his body his own again. While living with the Spears, Andrew first learned that he had a twin brother from a cop named Hidgeons who mistook Aaron for Andrew. The cop, who was confused as to why “Andrew” was with a woman besides Cass and ended up learning about Aaron’s existence, told Aaron about Andrew and then told Cass to tell Andrew about Aaron. Aaron, wanting nothing more than to meet his brother, wrote him an excited letter asking to meet him. Andrew responded with a simple “fuck off”. What Aaron doesn’t know is that Andrew did want to meet him as well, but refused to let that happen due to sexually violent and disgusting twin fantasies Drake would tell Andrew about after he found out about Aaron. Soon meeting his breaking point, Andrew snapped and got himself caught breaking the law just so he could get into juvie and could finally be away from Drake. He was saddened by the loss of Cass, though, who he considered a true mother to him. In juvie is where he finally met Aaron, during visiting day, where his twin came to see him for the first time. Long story short, Andrew wasn’t too kind to Aaron the first time they met. After serving his sentence, Andrew finally came to live with Aaron and their mother, Tilda. This is when Andrew found out that Tilda has been beating Aaron and is a drug addict and got Aaron hooked on drugs alongside herself. Andrew’s response? To take their mother for a lovely scenic drive where he reached over, grabbed the wheel, and steered the car down a hill wrecking it with intent to kill. Tilda died. Andrew survived. He's not so sure he wanted to. But anyways, it was considered a simple accident and he wasn’t caught. So the twins get a new guardian, now living with their cousin, Nicky. Nicky buys a house in Columbia and houses them both with little money and little support from the twins. While under Nicky’s care, Andrew tries to get Aaron sober, and his method of doing this is by locking Aaron in their bathroom for eight days and sitting in front of the door the entire time, only leaving canned food inside for Aaron. Andrew tried to ignore his twin’s screaming, banging, and vomiting from withdrawals and yes, it did actually get him sober in the end. Andrew is offered a PSU Exy scholarship because of the goalkeeping talent he displayed while playing in juvie, but refuses until they eventually give Aaron and Nicky scholarships as well as a deal. Nicky got Andrew and Aaron jobs as bartenders at a club/bar joint called Eden’s Twilight, lying about their age to do so. Andrew formed a small connection with fellow bartender Roland, and started hooking up with him in the employees-only back room. However, it was technically stautuatory rape, as Andrew was only seventeen and Roland was 23. Roland knew this and he still agreed, which is why i have many words on how much i hate his guts.

Once during a shift, four guys began harassing Nicky for being gay, beating him to a pulp on the sidewalk outside. Andrew took care of the situation by beating every single one of the guys nearly to death.

This little incident got Andrew on court-ordered antipsychotics and they all quit their jobs. but he’s not psychotic. This caused some extreme side effects of the medication. So for months and months, (this is before and throughout the first two books) Andrew walks around with a big manic smile on his face. He makes dumb little comments and laughs at bad times. His strict filter is completely removed. He absolutely hates taking them, but if he’s caught off of them he will be punished by law, so he made a deal with Wymack which allows him to be off his meds for half of every game before withdrawal kicks in. He also goes off them every night to sleep, and has Kevin keep hold of them. But by the time he begins vomiting and shaking from withdrawal, he begs Kevin to give them to him. In The Raven King, during a Thanksgiving dinner with a few teammates at Nicky’s parents’ house, Andrew has another incident with Drake, who was paid by Riko to find and assault Andrew once more for his own sick reasons. As the assault occurs, Neil and Aaron, Exy racquet in hand for protection, come looking for Andrew and end up breaking down the bedroom door. Almost instantaneously, Aaron enters the room and swings, slamming Drake through the skull and bludgeoning his head in, killing him. Later, following this incident, Andrew is sent to a rehabilitation center to get clean of his improper medication, as it has prevented him from properly coping with what happened to him, instead forcing him to turn it all to smiles and empty laughter. the doctor assigned to Andrew is a lackey for Riko, paid to inflict more pain onto the blonde. Dr. Proust uses everything in his power to destroy every last bit of Andrew’s dignity. In a shocking additional bit of information from Nora herself, we learn more details, such as; drugging him to make his head fuzzy and his body weak, using ward restraints to keep Andrew defenseless with the excuse that he’s a danger to himself and others, biting the scars on his wrists till they bruised, reenacting scenes from Andrew’s own trauma from details Riko paid to dig up, and, most of all, filming every single time it happened and sending the tapes to Riko. Andrew is the one who stops Neil from running away by slamming him in the stomach with an Exy racket.

More random info: Andrew says he doesn’t really care about Exy as a sport, he says he just plays it because it’s less boring than life. This is not known to be true or untrue. Andrew is a goalie with a number 03 jersey. Andrew wears pretty much only black, from muscle tees to turtlenecks to pea coats, basically all black all the time. Supposedly black platform shoes and such. For the first two books, Andrew has never received any consensual sexual touch. Andrew looks identical to Aaron, their only visible difference to most is the black armbands Andrew wears from elbow to wrist. Exy fans think it’s just his way of distinguishing himself, but Andrew really wears them to both hide his self-harm scars and sheath knives underneath them. Andrew smokes way too many cigarettes a day. Andrew’s favorite food is ice cream. Andrew has a very high alcohol tolerance. Andrew is very afraid of heights and sits on the roof of the dorm building to “feel something”. This makes plane travel for away games very difficult for him. Andrew hates the word “misunderstanding” almost as much as he hates the word “please”. Andrew speaks fluent german. Both the twins are very pale. Andrew is an absolute god at goalkeeping. Andrew is the second most buff person on the team, behind Matt.

Aaron Michael Minyard - [TW: substance abuse]

He/him. Same age, height, and appearance as Andrew; they’re identical twins. It is explicitly stated that they look so similar that the only way people can tell them apart is by either Andrew’s black armbands or Andrew’s manic smile.

Aaron is studying to become a neurosurgeon, and takes med classes. In the first book, Aaron begins seeing a Vixen (PSU cheerleader) named Katelyn Mackenzie. When Aaron and Andrew were still living with their mother, they made a deal that they will put each other first before anything, including relationships. Aaron did not break off this deal with Andrew beginning to date Katelyn, and for this Andrew despises Katelyn. Her appearance is not stated, but a majority of the fandom agrees as a running joke that she looks quite similar to Neil, in a funny bit that the twins may have the same type, though her appearance is up to personal interpretation. Most agree that she is taller than Aaron no matter what. She is also planning to attend medical school with Aaron after they graduate PSU. Aaron loves her, and in the future (after the books take place) the author confirmed that they get married and adopt a dog, a pug named Po, but they do not have kids. His mother, Tilda, was very physically abusive towards him. When Aaron was a young teen Tilda introduced him to drugs. She’d take them in front of him, therefore encouraging him to try.

He started taking any drug he could find to get himself high, including drinking cough syrup, but his biggest addiction was to painkillers. Tilda would get angry, but not because he was doing drugs, but because he would steal her cash to pay for them, or steal some of her own. Aaron was hooked and couldn’t quit, so when Andrew killed Tilda and they both went to live with Nicky, Andrew locked Aaron in their bathroom. For days Aaron tried any means to escape, pulling drawers out and throwing them at the door, punching the walls, and was in major withdrawal pain, crying and wailing on the floor and throwing up, he was a mess. He screamed for Andrew to Please let him out, please, but Andrew couldn’t hear that word without silent spiraling into his own mind. He eventually came out the other side clean and he had stayed that way since then. He considers it the worst period of his life, although he’s secretly thankful to Andrew for getting him sober. He still takes one drug, but it’s non addictive (i know, that’s why it’s fictional). Cracker Dust is a fictional drug in powder form that a few of the Foxes take; it is sweet like sugar and gets the user high like a mild version of cocaine, but has non-addictive qualities. He drinks a lot, too. At the team’s trips to Eden's Twilight, Aaron usually gets wasted and takes cracker dust before going off to the dance floor with a couple of the others.

More random info: Aaron has intricate unique handshakes with each of the bouncers at Eden’s. Aaron is 05, a backliner on the Exy team. Aaron blames Andrew entirely for the death of Tilda, and it takes a lot to even consider forgiving him. Aaron can be frequently found in his dorm room playing video games with Nicky and/or Andrew. Aaron wears simple clothes, with the exception of nights he spends at Eden’s, where he wears black clothes, oftentimes with leather. Aaron is quietly homophobic, most likely due to the strong christian views his mother and Nicky’s parents expressed around him, but he tries to get over this in therapy and, post-canon, eventually learns to get over it almost completely. Aaron also speaks fluent German.

Nicholas Esteban Hemmick - [TW: homophobia, suicidal ideation]

He/him. Most often nicknamed “Nicky”. Nicky is 5’10” and 23 years old. He is the cousin of the Minyard twins, and his parents are Luther and Maria Hemmick. Nicky is openly gay and proud, and his boyfriend of multiple years, Erik Klose, lives in Germany. Post-canon, Nicky stops playing Exy to move to Germany and in with Erik and gets a job working alongside Erik at a business firm before getting engaged and married, and adopting a dog together. Nicky is half Mexican, with light brown skin and shaggy almost-chin-length black hair and dark brown eyes. Due to Nicky and Erik’s long distance, they have come to an agreement that they can kiss other people, but do no more than that. Luckily, they stick together in the end because they’re very in love. Nicky is also a backliner, he is number 8 on the team. Both Luther and Maria, who were strict Christians, hated him for his sexuality. They still consider him a sinner and believe he has strayed far from God. They verbally abused him because of it when he was a child, possibly physically, though it was never confirmed or denied.

He was sent to conversion camp for six months to try and cure him when he was a teenager. While in that camp he very nearly killed himself and was horribly depressed. To get away from this bad familial situation, he took exchange classes for two years in Germany and stayed in a house with a family who took in exchange students, where he then met Erik, the caring son of the family. Nicky taught Erik more English than he already knew and taught him to speak fluently, and Erik taught him better German, and after a while of pining they got together. Nicky was uncomfortable and hesitant for a while because he believed everything his parents said about his sexuality, and often would escape to the nearest church in the middle of the night to pray for forgiveness about his “sinful thoughts” until Erik came looking for him, found him in the pews, and took him home. Eventually, Nicky forgave himself as much as he could and let himself be in a relationship with Erik, and it just got better from there. But when Tilda died, Nicky dropped the entire life he had built in Germany with Erik and moved back to America to take care of the twins. He was heartbroken to leave Erik but he loved his cousins more than anything. He treated them like his own kids and worked days and nights to pay for their house and food. He continued to love his cousins despite how badly they would treat him, often getting nasty homophobic remarks from Aaron or plain silence from Andrew. Nicky is sensitive, and struggled a lot with taking care of the twins, considering Aaron’s addiction, and Andrew’s violent stubbornness.

It was especially hard when he had to try and go about his day hearing Aaron yelling and sobbing in the bathroom in pain, because deep down he knew he needed to keep Aaron in there until he got better. It got more difficult when Andrew tried to protect Nicky and ended up in court, but he had Erik to call and talk to through it all. Nicky takes cracker dust with everyone else and dances drunk with Aaron and a couple others at Eden’s sometimes. Nicky, although he doesn’t have any romantic feelings for Neil, he is physically attracted to Neil and very open about that in the first book, often stating his attraction in sometimes predatory ways. It gets to the point where he holds Neil in his sleep (Neil does not know this until he wakes up with Nicky wrapped around him), makes out with him drunk despite Neil trying to push him away and telling him to stop, and says things like “Don’t let me get too drunk tonight,” while looking at Neil’s body, to which Andrew responds by holding a knife to Nicky’s stomach. As creepy as his actions were, he later gives an honest apology and Neil easily forgives him. It doesn’t take away what he did, but he understands now that it was bad.

More personal info: Nicky and Erik made a list of the five celebrities they’d each be allowed to hook up with if ever given the chance; Kevin Day, his own teammate, is #3 on Nicky’s list. Nicky is hyper and doesn’t know how to keep a secret (unless it’s genuinely very serious). Nicky can be quite sensitive but stands up for himself in the face of homophobia, unless it’s coming from his parents, where he tries to fight it before tucking his tail between his legs. Nicky is the reason the twins learned German in school. Nicky, although he takes Exy seriously and is a very talented athlete in the game, complains constantly while having to run laps. Nicky hates being alone in silence because it gives his thoughts a chance to catch up to him. Nicky covers up his lingering symptoms of depression with smiles and hyperactivity, though it gets especially hard when he’s really missing Erik.

Kevin Day -

He/him. Kevin is coach Wymack’s son, though he is the only one of the two who knows this until halfway through the third book when he finally decides to tell Wymack. not even the coach knew he had a son. He is 20 at the start of the trilogy and 21 by the end of the third book. Kevin is a striker, jersey number 2. Kevin is 6’1”. With dark hair and green eyes, Kevin is half Irish (thanks to his mother, Kayleigh Day), and half something else (thanks to Wymack).

Kayleigh Day invented the game of Exy before having a son. Kevin grew up with his mother and lived a good life until age five, when she was killed in a staged car crash. He was taken by the Moriyamas who staged the crash and was made to live alongside Riko and Nathaniel. Wymack got Kayleigh pregnant without knowing, and they didn’t stick together for long enough for him to find out, hence why he’s unaware of the fact he has a son. Riko, having the privilege of being the true son of the Moriyamas’ boss (and actually being very very talented at the sport) was given the title of number one. Kevin became known as number two, second best player ever under Riko. Riko was absolutely brutal on Kevin despite them being the same age. When they were teenagers, Riko forcefully tattooed a small number two onto Kevin’s left cheek to match the number one he put on his own face as a self absorbed act of control.

When Kevin was nineteen, Riko, in a fit of rage, broke Kevin’s dominant left hand. Kevin then left and signed with the PSU Foxes. He got an easy scholarship to attend school and play Exy at Palmetto State due to his talent and fame. Having joined the Foxes a year before the first book, he has taught himself to be ambidextrous to more easily play after his broken hand couldn’t heal properly due to lack of medical attention. Kevin has also created a lie to tell to the public when they ask about his hand; he says “I broke it in a skiing accident”. Kevin however didn’t leave all of the Raven’s behind, and is in a long term (and long-distance) relationship with one of their players, Thea Muldani. We don’t know much about her, as she only appears once, but what we do know is that she is an African American woman, often portrayed by fandom with long braids. The author said that later in their lives after the books, they marry and have a daughter. Whether their marriage is born out of true love or simply convenience, we still don’t truly know for sure. I vote for love because i like to be optimistic.

The author once said that although Kevin and Allison are not interested in eachother, if they had to hook up with someone else on the team with would be one another.

Kevin expects a lot from the rest of the team when it comes to their abilities on court. He takes Neil to the court practice late at night (like 10pm to 2am) and Andrew will come along 90% of the time just to watch from the bleachers and maybe once in a full moon join in as goalkeeper. Kevin believes Neil will make it to US court after college, he believes in his skills and abilities.

Kevin got in good with Andrew and his lot almost immediately after coming to PSU and Andrew became his bodyguard of sorts. They have a deal; Andrew will protect him from the Moriyamas no matter what unless Kevin asks him explicitly otherwise to break the deal. Although spending years with Neil when he was Nathaniel, Kevin does not recognize Neil as he’s older and under disguise. Kevin doesn’t realize that Neil is technically Nathaniel until Riko points it out (Riko knew the whole time of course) and mocks Neil for being the butcher’s son and Kevin hears and looks at Neil again and it clicks.

More random info: In earlier drafts of the books, Kevin Day was not dating Thea, and was instead actually dating both Neil and Andrew. A good chunk of the fandom headcanons Kevin Day as a repressed bisexual. The Foxes all know Kevin is really hardest on himself, that’s why they all let him push them to their limits on the court. Kevin Day is an alcoholic, but almost no one acknowledges it and it’s quite sad. It has become almost a joke now when it’s a genuinely serious issue. He most often drinks straight vodka.

Jean Moreau - [TW: heavy abuse, SA, suicide attempt]

French. Tall.

He/him. Jean is another one of the Ravens, 19 years old. Jean was born in Marseille, France. Jean is a backliner and jersey number 3 on the Edgar Allen Ravens. The Ravens’ dorm tower is called Castle Evermore, or more commonly, the nest. With pale skin, black hair, and gray eyes, Jean stands at 6’2”-6’3”. Jean, under Kevin, is Riko’s number three, meaning that he is in the inner circle with Kevin. Jean has a small number three tattooed under his cheek similarly with Riko and Kevin. Jean grew up in Marseille with his parents, but after they failed to pay off debts to the Moriyamas, they quickly decided to give up their only son as a replacement for the money. Without a second thought they gave up Jean when he was fourteen. Jean is a great Exy player, but due to Riko’s strict ratings of people, he’s deemed less worthy than Kevin. Jean’s partner, the Raven whom he must share classes and a room with, was named Zane. Jean has been tortured so much by Riko, it’s horrifying. Under Riko's supervision, Jean has broken six fingers (three that Riko made him break himself), was pushed down the Evermore stairs four times (bashing his head open two of those times), was waterboarded ten times for Riko's enjoyment, and was sexually assaulted five times by other Ravens under Riko's orders while Riko watched and sometimes helped restrain him. Riko didn't order a sixth time because the fifth time it happened, Jean gave up and didn’t protest, so Riko didn't find it amusing anymore. Jean was never given a single day to recover from these injuries before he had to be back on the court. One of the Ravens who assaulted him, Grayson Johnson, who was over eighteen at the time, had continued to hurt Jean after the first ordered assault.

Luckily, in the third book, Renee (another one of the foxes) sneaks into the Ravens tower and takes Jean from Evermore and brings him back to PSU, where he sleeps and recovers in the guest bed of the Foxes nurse, Abby. During his stay with Abby, he considers death by overdose on sleep medication, death by burning, and death in general. He is doing awful mentally, he has convinced himself that he is nothing if he’s not with the Ravens, that it is his place. He gets help becoming less pessimistic with Renee, who stays with him often.

In The Sunshine Court, Jean moves to LA, gets a scholarship in University of Southern California, and joins the USC Trojans. He moves in with team captain Jeremy Knox’s best friends and iconic lesbian couple Catalina Alvarez and Laila Dermott, later rooming with Jeremy when he stays with them once classes begin. After struggling with living without a partner, Jeremy offers his partnership to Jean, which he gratefully accepts. Jean grows close with the girlfriends, letting himself be taught how to cook and how to ride a motorcycle. He slowly learns to build trust with new people and find beauty in his life again. The Trojans help Jean through his trauma and Jeremy teaches Jean how to live and be a human. A ship between Jean/Jeremy is close to being confirmed and 100% expected as a definite thing to happen in the next and final book, though so far it’s just been tension.

More personal facts: Jean still speaks fluent French and has an accent, but Riko hated when anyone spoke a language he couldn’t understand and punished Jean if he heard him speak french. When Riko wasn’t in the room, Jean would teach Kevin French and they would speak to each other using it. While still in the nest, Jean had a solid plan to kill himself on graduation night. This plan was stopped when he was saved by Renee. The author said that the final draft was the only draft where he didn’t go through with that plan at the end of the book. In one of the late drafts, for this idea, he would have killed himself whilst on the phone with Kevin, traumatizing him more as well. The author said that Jean harbors some romantic feelings for Renee that are reciprocated, but Renee has a heartfelt conversation with a silent Jean saying that they’re the right people, but it’s the wrong time. Jean had a crush on Kevin while in the next and thought he was beautiful. It is unconfirmed whether or not Kevin knew about this and whether or not those feelings were reciprocated. Kevin knows Jean has had a crush on Jeremy for a long time now.

Riko Moriyama -

He/him. Japanese. Black hair, brown eyes. 5’5” in height. Kevin Day's “adoptive” brother. Son of Moriyamas’ boss. A striker on the Edgar Allen Ravens, jersey number one. Riko, alongside Kevin, is nicknamed “the son of Exy”. Riko was raised by his uncle, Tetsuji, in Castle Evermore. He was raised to only focus on becoming the greatest. Riko, Kevin, and Jean would have tutors come to them to teach them just so they didn’t have to leave Evermore for school. Riko was inseparable with Kevin throughout their youth, always on camera together. Riko has the number one tattooed on his left cheek, similarly to Kevin’s two and Jean’s three. Riko used a subtle form of control where he would never leave a Raven completely alone at any time. There were always at least two people in a room. This caused Jean great stress and discomfort when he was left alone in his guest room at Abby’s. Riko, as a result of the abuse he himself endured as a child, grew up to inflict the same on the rest of his team. Riko is a narcissist with a god complex, the number on his face symbolizing his supposed greatness as the best player in the history of Exy. Riko would make the team practice until they literally dropped like flies, passing out, and not letting them take breaks no matter the extent of their inflicted injuries.

After the highly anticipated Ravens vs Foxes Exy game at the end of book three, the Foxes won after no one ever having beaten the Ravens before. After a conversation with Neil, Riko’s brother, Ichirou, decided Riko was just a complicated nuisance who didn’t have any benefit and only made things worse. So he called a meeting at Evermore tower with both Riko and Neil, and had Neil watch as he shot his own brother, Riko in the head. He then placed the gun in Riko’s hand, leaving the rest of the world to believe it was a suicide, burdening Neil with the confidential information about the real cause of his death.

One extra fact: Riko speaks fluent Japanese and taught Kevin and Jean, too.

Natalie Renee Walker - [TW: SA]

She/her. Birth name Natalie Shields, most commonly referred to as Renee, Renee stands at 5’4” with white chin length hair dyed in pastel rainbow colors at the tips. Her race is mostly unspecified though she is almost always portrayed as having pale skin. She is 24 years old in book one. She is the Foxes other goalkeeper, jersey number 09. She rarely wears makeup and when she does it’s very little. She dresses in non revealing, more conservative clothes. Aside from on the court, she is otherwise always seen wearing a delicate silver cross necklace. When Renee was ten years old, her father murdered her mother. Renee ran away and was lured into joining a street gang. She slowly proved herself and went up the ranks, because she had nowhere else to run to and devoted herself to her life in the gang. After a short matter of years, she got into a violent conflict with a fellow member of the gang who had been sexually assaulting her and other girls before her. She knew he would continue on with other girls if she didn’t stop him. She knew the man’s favored weapon was the knife, so she practiced on her own knifing skills and eventually used the learned skills to kill the man in a physical fight. Unable to hide the death of a member, the gang found out about why she murdered him, and the gang leader didn’t get angry. He actually raised her status even more and played it off to the man’s family as if he was murdered by a member of a rival gang.

One day she was caught by the police on the streets for drugs, and put in the foster care system. She was soon adopted by a kind and supportive woman named Stephanie Walker who introduced Renee to Christianity and the sport of Exy, ultimately saving Renee’s life. Playing Exy became an outlet for Renee. She quickly deemed herself a Christian. In high school, her and future Foxes teammate Dan had a long-standing rivalry due to being captains of two rival Exy teams, and continued the rivalry for a little while after being recruited to the Foxes by Wymack. They eventually decided to be civil in order to hold their ground alongside Foxes teammate Allison against the sexist men on the first Foxes team lineup. By the time book one begins, all aspects of their rivalry are long gone and they are kind with one another. Upon attending PSU, Renee decided to major in Religious Studies. Despite her calm and careful demeanor, she is actually Andrew’s best friend on the team, though Andrew would never admit that to anyone else besides her. She says that although her religion won’t allow her to see everything eye-to-eye with Andrew, she respects and understands him more than anyone (other than Neil. She stays out of fights among the Foxes other than to try and mediate and deescalate the situation. She’s often referred to as a “sweetheart” by various members of the Foxes.

More random facts: Renee and Andrew are sparring partners and will spar with each other when Andrew is upset. Renee is never seen drinking in any of the books, likely due to her religious ideals. Renee loves orchestral and classical music. Post-Canon, Renee joins the Peace Corps, where she meets fellow volunteer Emilio, whom she falls in love with and has children with, the youngest of whom having the name Patrick. There are bets among the Foxes that Andrew and Renee are seeing each other in secret, mainly fueled by their close friendship and Renee asking Andrew to the Winter Exy Banquet as friends in book two, though she makes a promise to Allison that she will never date him, even explicitly telling Neil in book one that she “doesn’t date heathens”. After getting arrested, Renee’s father was soon killed in prison.

Danielle Leigh Wilds -

She/her. Usually referred to simply as Dan, she stands at 5’4”-5’7” with brown eyes and short brown hair that never goes longer than her ears. She is African American, age 21-22, and PSU Foxes Offensive Dealer, jersey number 01. She is assistant captain of the Foxes Exy team, under Wymack. She is very passionate about the people she cares about and refuses to tolerate people talking bad about the team. She is strict on the team, but in the way that she just wants them to cooperate (not kill each other) and work their hardest. Growing up, Dan lived in a mobile home with her usually pregnant Aunt, Cathey Wilds, and her Aunt’s children. To pay off their debts and keep from being homeless, Dan purchased a fake ID in high school and worked as a stripper. Her stage name was “Hennessy” and she had such a close relationship with her fellow strippers that she still refers to them as her sisters. Cathey had many men she would take home often, and when Wymack shows up at her home to recruit her, she quickly comes to the conclusion that he is there to sleep with Cathey, before he shoots her down and tells her his true intentions. She is initially in disbelief because she had been told that women do not get recruited for Exy. She was the first woman to be on an NCAA Exy team, and for this the public despised the Foxes even more than they already had (they were considered the worst team in the league) and her misogynistic male teammates insulted her openly. But she was very talented and the rest of the team eventually fell behind her. When the cousins arrive at PSU and join the Foxes, they take Dan to Eden’s to test her loyalty and she gains their trust/respect. Dan initially does not want to join a relationship because she feels targeted by the nasty looks men give her as everyone knows of her past in sex work, but then Matt joins PSU and the Foxes, and after a long time of gaining trust and building friendship, they fell in love. They have a very healthy romantic and sexual relationship, often sharing fierce hugs and kisses on the court after successful games.

More personal facts: Dan sees Wymack as a father figure. She did not like Allison for a long time, but without realizing it, they became close friends and the three girls shared a dorm. Dan treats Renee’s bruises and cuts after sparring with Andrew. Dan admires Neil’s hard work and, post-canon, makes him the next team captain after her graduation. Post-canon, Dan and Matt marry and have children together. Dan does not have a good relationship with the cousins or Kevin, and considers Andrew to be psychotic, although treating him an equal member of the team while on the court. It isn’t until the third book when she’s able to hold a civil conversation with Nicky. But despite her dislike of them, she is rarely overly nasty to them and supports their athletic career. Dan majored in Athletic Training and minored in Coaching.

Matthew Donovan Boyd - [TW: substance abuse]

He/him. 21 years old. Most commonly referred to as Matt. Standing at 6’4”-6’5” with Black gel-spiked hair, brown eyes, and chocolatey brown skin, Matt is a PSU Backliner, jersey number 04. He’s mostly seen with the girls, but upon Neil’s arrival he starts to consider him his best friend. Matt grew up in New York and his parents, Randy and Donald, split up when he was young. Randy, his mother, is a boxer with an irregular schedule which means Matt lives only with Donald, his father, who is a doctor. With Randy’s absence, Donald falls into a dangerous party scene involving drugs and alcohol, and encourages young Matt to join in and take part with him. Because of this, Matt becomes addicted to both cocaine and heroin at a young age, but upon Randy’s return, she decides to stay for a while to rehabilitate him. She taught him how to box and play Exy as a distraction, and over this time they bonded. When Matt is recruited to the PSU Foxes, he struggles to stay clean, and Randy administers Andrew’s help in getting Matt to stay sober. This is done by Andrew, the other cousins, and Kevin, taking Matt to Eden’s and giving him Speedball (a strong drug which consists of a combination of Heroin and Cocaine which is then injected into the skin). Matt suffers greatly from the near-fatal drug and almost dies. This scared him straight, showing Matt the true danger he was in and he quit once and for all. Randy took more time off of work to help him recover during this. Matt, although not happy about how it went down, does not hold a grudge towards Andrew for this as he understands that it helped him and he would be dead without the intervention.

More personal info: Nicky thinks Matt is physically attractive. Matt is buff and built strong but his personality is friendly and he’s the teddy bear of the group. He owns a large blue truck that Neil, Renee, and Allison ride in the bed of during Summer practices. Matt majored in Business Administration. The first time Donald met Neil in the third book, he rudely suggested that Neil have plastic surgery done on his face. Matt has faded but obvious track marks on the insides of both his arms.

Allison Jamaica Reynolds - [TW: ED]

She/her. Age 21-22. Allison is a PSU Foxes Defensive Dealer, jersey number 07. Standing 5’4”-5’7”, Allison is white with long platinum blonde hair and smokey-gray eyes. She often curls her hair. She often wears elaborate makeup and her closet is entirely designer clothes. She is proud and not stingy with money. She was a former heiress to the extremely wealthy Reynolds family, who is rich from owning luxury resorts and worth billions, who cut her off after she chose Exy over the family business. She was disowned and removed from the will. Before and during the first book, Allison is in an on-again off-again relationship with teammate Seth Gordon. She loves gossip, especially revolving around romance. Allison grew up with a severe case of bulimia and was hospitalized for it as a teen. She has since fully recovered as much as possible, with Wymack’s help.

More personal info: Allison enjoys modern pop music. Nicky once called Allison a “catty bitch”. Allison’s best friend is Renee, and although a good chunk of the fandom ships them, the author confirmed that they are just close friends. Allison drives a pink convertible. Allison majored in Fashion Design and minored in Marketing. Post-canon, Allison created and owns her own line of Fashion and makes a lot of money off of it. Post-canon, Allison loves dressing Neil in nice clothes.

Bryan Seth Gordon - [TW: substance abuse, implied suicide]

He/him. Age 24. Usually only referred to as Seth. Standing at 6’-6’2”, his appearance is almost entirely unspecified. There are many different head canons on what he looks like. A fairly common one, and my own personal one, is picturing him as white with a buzzed haircut and sharp cheekbones. Seth was a striker, jersey number 06. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Seth was the fourth of seven sons to parents Bryan and Rebecca, who never married. He was named after his father. When Seth was eight years old, his father left, hence his mother switching to calling him solely by his middle name. Rebecca worked three jobs and his older siblings raised him, but were very troubled and not good replacement parents. Seth was a problem child, and began playing Exy in fifth grade. He grew very close to his fifth grade teacher Mrs. Everetts and her husband, spending many nights having dinner with them, until they moved and “abandoned” him with no warning whatsoever. Between them and his father, when he joined the Foxes, Seth always believed that Wymack was bound to leave him too. Seth is clinically depressed and struggles with drug use. At the start of the books, Seth is the only male member left from the original PSU Foxes Exy lineup. Seth dislikes everyone on the team except for his on-and-off girlfriend, Allison.

He dislikes Neil from their first meetup and refuses to talk to him until Neil scores a goal against Andrew. Seth and Allison’s relationship is not all that healthy, and they have never dated for more than a few months at a time. Their first hook-up took place before the first book, and what happened was that they had gone to a frat party off campus and a man had tried to assault Allison and she had been too drunk to react, before Seth pushed the guy off and carried Allison back to her house and laying her in bed before settling on her couch. They hooked up the day after. When they are dating, they are sweet and just fine, but during the times when they’re not, they’re nasty and insulting towards each other. When they’re fighting, Seth tends to take time away and hang out with Matt. An incident at the end of book one occurs, and Seth is killed by Riko’s doing. It is staged as a suicide by drug overdose, he’s found laying on the dorm bathroom floor choked and drowned to death with his own vomit, but the Foxes have their suspicions as to what really happened. Allison keeps his ashes in an urn and is a mess for the following couple weeks. She eventually has his urn built into the fountain in her front yard.

More personal facts: Seth hated the effect that fame has on a person and said “I’m not worth less just because I’m less talented,”. Seth was majoring in Park, Recreation, and Tourism Management. Seth hated Nicky the most for his sexuality but also despised Kevin for his fame and frequently got into physical fights with the both of them, spewing insults and slurs. Seth was disgusted by the idea of Andrew and Renee becoming a couple due to how much he hated Andrew. Seth was easily provoked, and had a bad temper. Neil assumed his mood swings are the result of drug use. Seth was one of Neil’s roommates in the dorms in book one.

Erik Klose -

He/him. Erik has short dirty blonde hair and, (in my personal opinion bc he’s very lightly described), light stubble on his face. Assumed to be around age 24. Nicky’s eventual husband. They are so in love and it's very sad how they have to be an ocean apart for so long. Erik and Nicky frequently engage in facetime sex on their laptops. Nicky calls from his room in the Columbia house after nights spent at Eden’s with the team, Erik calls from his apartment in Germany. We know this both because Nicky is very open about his sex life. Erik is mostly fluent in English but most always speaks in German unless necessary otherwise. Erik and Nicky mot of the time only speak to each other in German. Erik grew up in a Christian family and continues to love God, but he grew up with the kind of religious family that believes homosexuality isn’t unnatural or a sin. Erik helped Nicky be comfortable with his sexuality and his religion. Nicky still loves God and himself now because of Erik’s support. Erik also helped Nicky recover from his severe depression and suicidal thoughts that occurred following conversion camp.

David Vincent Wymack - [TW: substance abuse]

He/him. Wymack grew up with a violent and angry father. As an adult, he vowed to make his Exy team a safe sanctuary for troubled young adults. His trauma caused him to become a borderline alcoholic and angry, but he makes it clear in the first book that even though he likes to yell and throw things, he will never, ever, hurt anyone without being provoked. His race is unspecified but most, including me, headcanon him as Native American for various reasons. Wymack has tribal flame tattoos on both his forearms. He cares for all the Foxes more than he’d ever say out loud, he cares for them like children. He’s hurt when he learns that Kevin is his son, because he realizes that his own son was getting abused and harmed throughout his childhood (by Riko) and he had no idea and couldn’t help him. Wymack is one of the first people to catch onto Andrew’s physical attraction to Neil, but he just says “this is below my paygrade” and inwardly groans to himself. His father was an alcoholic and started the genetic train of alcoholism that still affects Wymack and Kevin. Wymack’s step father tried to kill his mother, which landed him in prison.

Abigail Marie Winfield -

She/her. Most commonly referred to as Abby. Her appearance is mostly unstated aside from a blonde mid-length ponytail. She is the Foxes Exy team nurse, and Wymack’s former assigned therapist. She is kind and sweet but confident and will not hesitate to order someone around. Abby makes Nicky stop Andrew from drinking while on his meds, but Nicky isn’t great at enforcing this. When she does her first required physical on Neil in the first book, despite reassuring Neil by saying that she’s “seen worse”, she is obviously shocked by the excessive scars on his body. During the cousins’ first year at PSU, she housed the three and Kevin at her place off-campus. The Foxes have bets that Abby and Wymack are sleeping together due to them interacting a lot, Wymack making the passcode to the court Abby’s birthdate, and other various small things. This is confirmed in book three, and they are in a romantic relationship that lasts the rest of their lives. She has motherly instincts and pretty much thinks of the Foxes as her kids.

Betsy Jo Dobson -

She/her. Commonly nicknamed “Bee” by Andrew. Commonly agreed upon that Betsy has pale brown hair that goes to her chin, and she has relatively pale skin and a pudgier build. She has laugh lines on her face and wears narrow-rimmed glasses. She is the PSU Foxes team psychiatrist and the only therapist Andrew has ever trusted. When Andrew was put on his meds, he was assigned court-ordered weekly therapy sessions. He has never trusted or liked a therapist in the past and it started that way with Bee, but after he noticed that she treated him with more humanity and was a more favorable personality to him, he started to open up and now he tells her everything. At the start of every session, she makes both Andrew and herself a mug of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. She has a collection of glass animal figurines on her laptop stand that Andrew buys for her as an apology because during their first meeting he broke the ones she had by knocking them off her laptop stand and throwing them at the wall to see how she would react and felt guilty when she stayed completely calm and didn’t get angry with him. He continues buying her more every time he finds one she doesn’t have. It’s required for everyone on the team to see her at least once a semester, though they can schedule an appointment any time. Betsy previously worked in counseling at juvenile detention centers until she got her job at PSU. In juvie, she worked mainly on suicide watch. Betsy has OCD and her office is very neat and orderly. She is close friends with both Abby and Wymack. Neil does not trust Betsy because he does not trust therapists in general. He is, however, entirely supportive of Andrew’s relationship with her and understands that he needs her sometimes.

Zane Reacher - [SA]

Zane, with an unknown age and appearance, was Jean’s partner in the nest. When you had a partner at Evermore, whether you hated them or not, it was required to share your classes and strictly on-campus dorm room with them. Zane desperately wanted to make number 4 on Riko’s perfect court, directly behind Jean. Zane, fully aware of the sexual abuse Riko was inflicting on Jean, tried to protect him from it although he could not fully stand in the way of it without violent repercussions. He quickly learned about Grayson’s perseverance, understanding why he frequently showed up to their room at night, and he despised him for it. He and Jean had an agreement where Zane would try to keep Grayson away from Jean as much as he could. However, in a turn of events, Zane made the jealously-fueled selfish decision to turn his back and keep quiet when Grayson came to their room the next time, just telling Jean to keep it down. Fell in love with Raven teammate Clarissa, despite extreme hardships when it came to romance in the Nest.

Jeremy Knox -

Jeremy Knox is 23 years old. Shaggy caramel hair, white and tan from the SoCal sun, 6’1”.

Jeremy strongly dislikes being reminded of his last name, for reasons currently unknown. Jeremy’s parents are divorced and he lives in a large house with his mother, congressman stepfather who he separates himself from as much as possible, his sister Annalise, and his older brother Brayden whom he avoids at all costs. It is implied he has another sibling, though he refuses to discuss this even in his own point of view for similar unknown reasons. He also refuses to talk about a supposed incident at his first fall Banquet for which he was the subject of many vague rumors. Jeremy is gay, and it's implied that he has only had quick hookups in the past, no genuinely romantic relationships. On the outside, Jeremy is sunshine on Earth, just a very silly guy. A very silly guy who avoids cops like the plague for more related unknown reasons. We will learn much more about his very ominous past in TSC2.

One extra fact: It is confirmed that Jeremy is a service top.

Jack & Sheena -

you may hear these names sometimes in the fandom. these are two characters only mentioned in the author’s extra content. they are future Foxes, becoming part of the team when Neil is captain. very angry, very homophobic people. always trying to get a rise out of Neil, Jack with his snarky comments and Sheena with her sharp laugh like a hyena. you won’t usually see their names ever except for in fanfiction (same as below).

Robin -

again, another future Foxes member as described by the author’s extra content. Robin had a rough childhood growing up in captivity. when she joins the Foxes she becomes an honorary part of The Monsters (see below). She becomes a close friend of Neil’s when Andrew graduates and she helps Neil feel less alone. i like to forget she exists a lot not because i don’t like her but just because i don’t have really any feelings about her existence.

The Monsters -

the group name for Andrew, Aaron, Kevin, Neil, Nicky. the ones that go to Eden’s and Columbia together.

[wikitpowers]

thank you, queen 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

i need cassandra jean to draw kit & ty like this for me please i'm begging!

[helenofblackthorns]

this is your invitation to talk about all your two theories :))) thoughts on janus? the role of the princes of hell? pleaseeee feed me

thank you for this opportunity anon, as it turns out I have far more to say on this than I thought (buckle up for a massive amount of yapping)

firstly, Janus. He's an interesting character given all we know about him, but he also feels very straightforward. At this point he is being presented as an antagonist, a very central one at that, but in the scheme of things he seems very minor. He is nowhere near the same level of threat as the other antagonistic forces that we know await us in TWP, which brings his role in things into question. Normally, a tsc antagonist has some connection to the main character(s) and there is a specific reason why they become entangled (eg. Valentine is Clary's father, Mortmain created Tessa, Malcolm needed the Blackthorns to raise Annabel etc etc). Janus as a villain however has no obvious connection to any of the twp mains, and it's the total opposite when it comes to Ash despite the fact his motivations are known. He is focused around Clary, Jace, and the other tmi mains and given what we know its hard to see why he would come into conflict with Kit, Dru or Ty. There is the parallels between him and Livvy, but this doesn't seem antagonistic to me, he just represents a possible future for her (as Magnus said in gotsm, if she does not do great things, she will do terrible things).

All this is to say I think Janus is a massive red herring and not the person we should be worrying about. I think his relevance as a antagonist is going to come from his alliance to the Seelie Queen, who's motivations we know nothing about. She has been entangling herself in matters ever since she requested their audience in City of Ashes and we do not know why. It's especially obvious she's up to something when you compare her relevance in the modern timeline to the historical one, where I don't think she mentioned at all. Some of her actions are also suspicious, such as how she went out of her way to ensure Meliorn was the faerie representative. It's a plot point that gets resolved with the reveal she's working with Sebastian, but Sebastian was dead when she did it and I doubt even she would have known Lilith was going to raise him from the dead. This implies she had different plans that she then abandoned to aid Sebastian, because he could give her something she wanted; Ash. Ash clearly holds more significance to her than simply being her child as the Seelie Queen has only ever had two children, Auraline and Ash, and they were born over 200 years apart. There is clearly intention behind this, there is something that both the Unseelie King and Sebastian have in common that the Seelie Queen wants her children to have. What her plans are, we probably won't know until twp, although there may be hints in the Better in Black short story.

Like the Seelie Queen, the Princes of Hell are also likely up to something big behind the scenes. The last time we've seen from any of them was in 2010 with tlbotw; they're entirely absent from tda. This is strange as it makes tda the only series where they do not make an appearance or play a role in the story (side note I do include Lilith as a Prince of Hell even though she's technically not). Which is extremely suspicious and it's very likely that not the case, and that it'll be revealed that they have been influencing things in twp. Thule especially is something I think they're involved in, for a number of reasons. We're told the thing that altered the timeline was a powerful demon giving Lilith the strength to kill Clary, and CC said on tumblr the demon is one who is associated with Lilith in mythology. At the time (2018) CC was very mysterious, but we know enough about the PoH now to make a very educated guess that it was Sammael. Also, it's always struck me as odd that there was such a massive passing of time between Annabel & Ash coming to Thule and Emma & Julian following them. Every other time someone has gone through the portal, time has passed more or less the same and if there was discrepancy it's very minor, nowhere near the years that Ash was in Thule for. I would not be surprised if someone (Belphegor?) manipulated the portal to ensure Ash was in Thule for a certain amount of time before Emma and Julian could interfere with anything. Why the PoH would want any of this I have no idea, except poor Ash is seemingly a pawn in their plans (again) (free him for all these evil plans hasn't he been through enough?)

There is also Lucifer, who is by far the most mysterious tsc character and we know next to nothing about him. However, in the PoH art series CJ did, it does say on Belial's page that a) he claims to have convinced Lucifer to rebel and b) he is sometimes called the "father of Lucifer." A lot of the information in these arts come from preexisting Jewish & Christian mythology and can be easily googled, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Either it's more obscure or CC made it up herself which is slightly terrifying because what does that mean. is Nate losing the title of Tessa's worst brother 137 years after his death?? ig we'll find out in 2026

[alicedash2]

Hey! How about a Shanks x reader where they are fake dating but they end up falling in love with each other but before they come to realize it they end up getting jealous when the other gets flirted with or touched for what they deem as to long and end up confessing at dinner.

Shanks x Reader! "dating"

=============

( im so tired, but i hope u like it <3 )

==============

female pronoun

not rewied

============

One day, YN was in a somewhat risky situation, her parents demanded that she start dating and get married soon, as they wanted grandchildren.

But, she wasn't always lucky with people, exclusively with men, she just wanted to focus on her studies and work, but that wasn't enough.

For her parents, she should get married and be a housewife, for them, she didn't need any more knowledge, her life was almost done

After returning from her university, her island was invaded by pirates, the infamous Redheads, she quickly went to see them, quickly, and tried to hide so that no one she knew would see her.

When she arrived at the beach, where she saw the crew scattered across the beach, when her eyes saw that man with red hair and drinking alcohol, she thought

"Perfect!"

And so, he went to him

" Hey! "

"Hmm?"

She trembled a little, gathering courage

" Can I…talk to you? "

The redhead looked at her, up and down, he gave one of his friendliest smiles.

"My name…my name is YN LN, you must be Shanks, right?"

"Ah, that's me, my crew and I just came to look for food and drink, nothing much"

"It doesn't matter to me"

"Oh?"

"…I want to make a deal with you…I can pay you whatever amount you want"

" Ooh…what would it be? "

"…you'll need to pretend to be my…boyfriend, don't ask why, I'll explain it to you later!"

"Eh?"

" …what it was? "

" A-ah…how inconvenient…why are you asking me to pretend? "

"What did I tell you not to ask why?! Just come!"

So, YN picks him up in the morning and pulls him, he wonders where she will take him, he doesn't worry much, he just gets confused, a few minutes later, they arrive, a beautiful and large house for a family of 3 people

"Dad, Mom! I'm here"

"Honey! That you're late for….dinner…" YN's motherly voice dropped when she saw the 2 meter tall man near her daughter

" I brought my boyfriend to dinner, I came to introduce him! "

YN's mother was stunned, motionless for a while, Shanks tried to protest but YN stepped on her foot

"What? What's the matter?"

"Ah…no, nothing…"

YN's mother walked away to talk to YN's father to tell him that Younkou Shanks was "dating" her daughter.

"Hey, I didn't even agree to do that!"

"Shush! I'll pay anything, just pretend to be my boyfriend!"

" Tsc… For how long? "

" Two weeks… "

" Two weeks?! Are you crazy?!"

"Be quiet! We already have a deal!"

" What?! "

Suddenly, YN's parents appeared, forcing a smile, it was noticeable that they were scared, they sat down, the food was already on the table, they were just waiting for their daughter to return from university.

"So… You can sit down"

The mother says, in a soft tone

"Ah, excuse me"

Shanks was the first to sit down, YN sat next to him so as not to cause any suspicion, YN's expression was neutral, calm, Shanks, on the other hand, was a little uncomfortable but tried not to show it.

" You…are the famous Shanks, the redhead… "

"Y-yes…"

For the first time, Shanks allowed himself to be intimidated by a civilian, who held and shook his hand, as if threatening him, and he could easily leave without giving an explanation.

" Haki…? Does she have Haki? "

The redhead thought, feeling YN's hand squeezing his

" N…it's not possible…she's just a civilian, why do I feel intimidated?"

"So… What is your purpose with my daughter, you are a Yonko, you must be very busy…I imagine what you saw in her"

"A-ah, right… I saw that…she has a very good heart, she's a good girl"

" Yes, she is…. How long have you been dating? "

"…4 months…but we hardly see each other"

"YN seems to have a specific…taste in people, and you, YN, what did you see in Shanks, after all, you seem to have a very…notable age difference"

YN raised an eyebrow and thought, she closed her eyes and gave a sweet smile

" I have no idea! "

"Eh?"

" I don't know! "

YN had no idea about Shanks' personality, the only basis she had was the few seconds of conversation before dragging him to her house

" Hey! " Thought the redhead, looking at YN in disbelief

"I really don't know what caught my attention…I think he has a good word or something"

YN shrugged, smiling, she was carefree

"Ahaha…"

YN's mother laughed lightly, then she sighed

And so the dinner took place, it was a little difficult for Shanks while YN felt more relaxed, in the end, when YN said that she would accompany Shanks to a part of the block, they quickly leave the house and walk a few meters before Shanks stops and walks away. turn to YN, with a slight frown

"Look what you've gotten me into!"

"What happened? You accepted!"

"No, I didn't accept it!"

"I can't do anything, now my parents know and they're going to tell everyone, and tomorrow you'll have to accompany me to the city dance"

During dinner, it was said that there would be a celebratory and cultural ball in the city center, and that Shanks forcefully agreed to go, but soon changed his mind when YN mentioned that there would be sake

" You are unbelievable! "

"Think on the bright side, there will be free sake tomorrow! The only thing you'll need is to just accompany me"

Shanks sighed, YN was a stubborn person

"Do you understand? Just for one week, your payment is already guaranteed"

"You didn't even mention what the payment would be"

" I have no money, so it will be sake! "

YN shrugged and smiled, Shanks didn't know how to react

" Please…. "

YN pleaded, with a gentle tone and curling her fingers

"You can take your crew tomorrow… there will be sake, meat, food in general…"

"I just don't understand…why me? There are so many people, why did you choose me"

"It's just…you seemed more…hmm…I don't know, I just felt like it would work with you, and it did"

"...Ah…!"

Shanks sighed.

"Alright, I'll go"

YN cheered, before Shanks said in a serious tone

"Only for two weeks! After that, you will go your own way and make some excuse, understand?"

Shanks spoke with a slight smile, he wouldn't hurt anyone, he could even have fun

" Yes! Thank you! " YN blushed and smiled, happy to have some peace in the relationship issue, no matter how fake it was. She kissed him on the cheek and walked back home, waving

A few days pass, the festival arrived, YN was already with Shanks, holding his right arm

"Just pretend, understand?"

"I know! Don't worry, have fun while I'm here"

YN waved and left, Shanks was quickly offered a glass of sake which he accepted without thinking twice.

The party was going on, Shanks was drinking and eating, his crew was also there, making the party more lively, Shanks got slightly drunk, but nothing serious that could hurt him or anyone

It didn't take long for Shanks to find YN, dancing with another boy, smiling and swaying, he took YN's hands and they spun around, Shanks wanted to be in his place, and so he did.

" Excuse me…"

Shanks approached, with a friendly tone

" She is my girlfriend "

" Hey? "

"Shanks!"

Shanks laughed, blushing

"Why are you going to dance with him, sweetie? If you have a boyfriend to do it with?"

Shanks pushed the man away, who ran away screaming.

"What are you doing?! You ruined everything!"

YN stamped her feet, irritated

"Now, don't be like that! I think I'm the best dancing partner you can have!"

Shanks grabbed her by the waist and brought her closer.

"What a beast you are!"

YN replied, then placed her hands on the man's shoulders and the two began to move slightly

" You are stinking! "

"I know… It's loot"

" I noticed…you're tripping over me! Are you drunk?!"

"Maybe…a little"

He laughed softly, silly, they started dancing again, even with Shanks tripping.

A few minutes pass, YN decides to rest a little, she lets Shanks rest on one of the benches near a park

"Don't leave here!"

YN said, seriously

"You don't boss me…"

Shanks muttered, frowning slightly.

" What? "

" ..Nothing no…"

YN walked away, as YN walked away Shanks grumbled

………..

As YN returned to Shanks with a glass of water, YN saw some other women teasing the man, who was trying to ignore, but it didn't take much for YN to get there, stamping her foot heavily on the ground

" get out now!"

he shouted, with his gaze darkening and with an angry expression, it's not because YN was a fake girlfriend, that he would let himself tarnish YN's image

"He's my boyfriend, what are you doing?!"

"YN, calm down!"

" no! "

Shanks tells him with a surprised look when he sees tears and YN's cheeks blush.

" Why are they here?! Why didn't you kick them out?! What did I do wrong, you can't ruin everything like that! "

YN screamed, with some tears rolling down

Shanks walked over and hugged her gently, giving her a sweet smile.

"Don't worry, YN… nothing happened, don't cry, hey..."

Shanks tried to calm the crying young girl.

and finally, in the late afternoon, YN and Shanks were sitting on a single bench, YN was still wiping her tears, YN hiccupped before starting to speak

"…I'm sorry…I shouldn't have…acted like that, now everyone will think I'm crazy"

Shanks remained silent, looking down, he felt YN stand up and sigh

" I'm sorry, I know that from the beginning you didn't want to… if you want… you can go, I don't want to… make you go through more problems"

YN walked, without saying anything else, Shanks was alone for the rest of the afternoon

A few days passed, YN returned home, the golden sun permeated a little more, it was summer, a pleasant and comfortable summer.

YN caught a glimpse of a person, whom he ignored until he heard his name being called.

"YN, hey!"

YN stopped, the velvety voice touched YN tensely and YN turned around, seeing that man with red hair, he walked slowly, looking at YN

"…I thought, and…and I would like…ah…"

he tried to speak, he sighed a little, thinking of the best way to speak

"if you want, I wouldn't mind if…we were a…a couple"

this fell on YN's head as a greater relief, Yn sighed and blushed slightly

"…I wouldn't care either…"

"…that is good"

Shanks held YN's hand, massaging it lightly.

"I know we only met recently, but…that doesn't stop us"

" I don't call! "

YN kissed him softly on the lips, catching the man off guard

"h-hey…!"

he smiled mischievously

" Apparently, I've already realized what a woman you are…"

Shanks flirted, then sealed a slightly deeper kiss, he took her by the waist and walked her home, laughing and telling jokes, being himself...he are a just a man in love