#wymack knows though

[ashestoashes7]

The foxes deserve to go to a rage room but I’ve got a sinking feeling they would manage to get kicked out

[tchutomu]

reading a book named "the sunshine court" shouldn't have made me cry so hard and loud and ugly that I couldn't even read the screen of my stupid e-reader anymore yet here we are

[dayurno]

omg reverse riko au is making me feel so ill..... please let us know if you have any more thoughts abt riko kayleigh and kevin legend.....

I DO my idea is that its around the same age kevin and riko met in canon so tetsuji kicks the bucket when riko is 7/8 and riko is (very forcibly) removed from the nest and sidelined to kayleigh as a new moriyama asset from the main branch takes over the nest. riko struggles a lot with the change because he is very young and very scared and he’s used to horrible things at tetsuji’s hand, which means that he doesn’t trust kayleigh and finds kevin entirely too weird. it’s honestly really cute because i think at this point obviously 7 year old kevin wants to befriend him but riko is such an anxious ball of anger that most of their interactions are like

baby riko: what do you WANT from me. go AWAY!!!! NOW

baby kevin: (heavy irish accent) nothing i think. do you want a bite of my sandwich?

anyway i think riko and kayleigh do get along but he never really considers her his mother or even godmother, for a long time he thinks of her as his Benefactor until the child therapy starts hitting and she becomes Aunt Kayleigh and then after a few more years he can be loosely convinced to refer to her as auntie once or twice a year. his second son syndrome never really leaves him; in the upcoming years riko struggles with the idea that he’s anything But an add-on to the days and still overworks himself to death trying to be acknowledged by kengo, but it’s leaps better just from being outside the nest and having people to look out for him

riko and kevin have some rough patches, especially during riko’s first years with the days. because kevin is an easy target and riko is afraid of kayleigh he ends up letting a lot of that anger out on kevin, though obviously at this point they are children and riko’s anger manifests in some mild bullying and name calling. i think kevin doesn’t even understand it most of the time 😭 riko has been around grown ups his entire life so his adult level insults make no sense to kevin’s seven year old mind. nevertheless after kayleigh tells him to stop picking on kevin riko does respect it (first out of fear, then later because they actually get along) and they go on to become brothers with only a slight tendency towards antagonism. riko’s jealousy of kevin is still a big part of their relationship and i think even more so when college applications roll around, and he’s even more worried when wymack comes into the picture, but it never culminates into anything as horrible as hand breaking because riko has an actual outlet and a support system :) it’s mostly a yelling match that eventually turns to getting scolded by kayleigh for acting like barbarians

[emry-stars-art]

I would love to hear about any of the sea creature stories! <3

I just read the ones about the young twins living with their dad <33 super cute!!

(AH hello!! Thanks again for the tag 🥰 since last anon asked so nicely I have started fleshing out a note I had about jellyNeil and sharkDrew, back when Neil was younger and still learning and growing!) ⤵️

8 Nov 2023 ww game

Find the mer au masterpost here 💕

Context: Andrew is taking a break from the pod to go visit Wymack, and the jellyfish was determined to come along - but it’s a couple day’s journey, and Neil’s quickly noticed that Andrew is getting tired.

Not long after, only the second time Andrew was jolted awake by his own body, Neil was saying something. He blinked his eyes open and squinted at the bright yellow and orange. Neil had gotten through its fish in very good time, and now pulled lightly at Andrew's arm with a gentle chatter. Andrew frowned.

"What?"

It tried again, and this time Andrew could pick out the words sleep and Aaron. Which sort of only made him more confused.

"What do you want? You already slept," Andrew said irritably. Neil narrowed its eyes, still asking Andrew something about sleep. Andrew opened his mouth to argue again, but then Neil drifted forward and turned to float on its back, arms held open.

Oh. It wanted Andrew to sleep, and wanted to carry him like Aaron did. Or something to that effect. Would that work? Neil was much smoother than a shark. It would be hard to hold onto.

Andrew shook his head. "No, I think you're overestimating yourself. I am not light."

Still, Neil waited expectantly. It even made a familiar but unknown motion with its hands, whistling shelf. Which was exactly where Andrew had told it they were heading. Neil was honestly starting to understand him, it seemed.

Again, Andrew narrowed his eyes at it. "You can take us to the shelf? The break in the shelf?"

Neil tried a few extra sounds before: "To the shelf." And Andrew almost stopped swimming out of pure surprise. It wasn't said like a shark would, since Neil couldn't speak, but it had replicated the sounds as best it could. Andrew supposed it would be considered a jellyfish accent, if such a thing existed.

And, well. It did now.

[odetojupiter]

i often wonder whether the reason wymack is so lenient with andrew is bc andrew reminds him so much of himself. he’s fiercely, violently protective - something wymack can understand, as he beat his dad up for hurting his mother - and andrew is honestly a lot more aligned in the giving-people-an-extra-chance-than-they-thought-they’d-get ideology than the upperclassmen are.

think, andrew only accepting the fox contract bc nicky and aaron could get their degrees as well - something that would have been years off for aaron without a scholarship, and wouldn’t have been done at all (at least, not in the states) for nicky. think, kevin getting the chance to learn to stand on his own feet, neil getting the chance to learn to stop running, both bc of andrew. even his method of getting aaron clean gives aaron the chance to do what he wants with his life - though, it obviously could’ve been handled better, i believe that andrew chose to lock aaron in the bathroom because he knew that aaron wanted to go to med school, to become a doctor, which would have become a lot more difficult if he’d had rehab on his record. even with matt, though again his methods aren’t great, andrew gives him the opportunity to get sober for good. he’s constantly giving people the chance to deal with their issues for good, not by coddling them but by forcing them to turn around and face them head on. as far as giving out extra chances at life goes, that’s a pretty solid way to get people to turn their own life around for the better.

in fact, andrew goes out of his way to tell renee that he won’t break his neck for the upperclassmen, so that renee knows she should watch their backs. he didn’t have to tell her anything, he could’ve just left them all to their own devices, but he still gave them the opportunity for safety even tho they’d already written him off completely by that point.

idk maybe this analysis is off and ppl don’t agree with me but even in the books andrew is said to be ‘collecting strays’, which is exactly what wymack does.

just - wymack and andrew are very similar, and i love their relationship to bits.

[feelingthedisaster]

random aftg headcanons

dan gets a video camara and starts filming the foxes. years later, she founds all the tapes and makes a compilation

matt gives the freshman a brooklyn 99 style introduction of everyone

kevin chews gum, like, a lot. gum 24/7. its either mint or watermelon flavoured

the foxes give wymack a "n1 coach" mug for father's day one year. he pretends he is annoyed but he uses it everyday

jean likes to draw

kevin starts getting grey hairs at like 28 (wymack's genes)

renee knows how to tatto and she is actually pretty good, but doesnt do them often.

+she gave allison a butterfly tattoo on her shoulder

later in life, aaron gets a lot of people asking him for autographs thinking he is andrew. he just says "sorry, wrong twin" except when it's a little kid asking, only then he pretends he is andrew, he even learnt his signature

cat goes full gay panic when laila calls her catalina or cata, laila knows it so she does it on purpose

even though kevin prefers and mostly plays left-handed, sometimes he will just switch hands mid-games. like, "you thought you could mark me? sorry pal" and changes hands. it drives his opponements insane. they get used to him playing right-handed, he just switches back to his left. every defense player and coach hates him for that.

king mirrors andrew and sir mirrors neil

andrew and king have staring contents. king sits in the kitchen counter and andrew has to cook but doesnt want to move her so they stare at each other for entire minutes in complete silence. (king loses and leaves on her own to the couch). this happens more often than one would think

the cats LOVE neil's lap, specially sir. neil cant sit without getting a cat on his lap almost inmediately

pt2

[wilhelminyard]

compilation of nice/sweet things the foxes said to neil because even though they're a bunch of assholes who'll insult anyone in their vicinity they all just love him so damn much (part 1) :

WYMACK :

"if your parents are a problem for you, we'll move you to south carolina early."

"foxes are foxes for a reason and they know we wouldn't sign you if you didn't qualify. that doesn't mean they know specifics. it's not my place to ask and I'm sure as hell not going to tell them."

"it's about second chances, neil. second, third, fourth, whatever, as long as you get at least one more than what anyone else wanted to give you."

"I have never, ever hit someone without provocation and I'm sure as hell not going to start with you. you hear me?"

"I'll take care of this. you take care of you."

"do you have any idea what could have happened to you between here and there? what were you thinking? you should have called me"

"any of us would have come and gotten you"

"it's not your job to take care of yourself anymore. it's your job to play, and mine and abby's job to look after you."

ANDREW :

"oh you might actually turn out to be interesting"

"you be something. kevin says you'll be a champion. four years and you'll go pro. five years and you'll be court."

"curious that a man with so much potential, who has so much fun, who could 'be something' wouldn't want any of it"

"a liar who practices occasional honesty. clever."

"are you going to tell kevin?" "don't ask me stupid questions"

"oh neil, as unpredictable as he is unreal"

"what would it take to make you stay?"

"I'll stand between you and the moriyamas"

"you gave your game to kevin. give your back to me."

KEVIN :

"neil is exactly what the foxes need right now. his inexperience is inconsequential. we went through a hundred files looking for a striker for this year, but neil is the only one we approached. we knew as soon as we saw him we needed to sign him. we're just lucky we got there before anyone else did"

"our primary concern was keeping neil safe"

"*to riko* leave him alone."

MATT :

"are you bleeding anywhere?"

"coach says [neil's] got potential. andrew says you're fast. [...] andrew bets you can outrun everyone on this team."

"seriously are you okay?"

"I'll owe you one" "you won't owe me anything"

"you be careful, okay?"

"I'm fine" "you say that a lot. I'm starting to think you don't know what it means."

"coach says stupid but I say you have balls of steel"

NICKY :

"neil, you clean up good"

"andrew is keeping you, same as he kept kevin. it means you're part of the family now. [...] family means something different with us because it has to. it's not about blood. it's not even about who we like. it's about who andrew's willing to protect."

"that makes you invaluable to andrew"

"you're one of us, which means we'll never push you further than you're willing to go"

DAN :

"are you okay?"

"coach said you hitchhiked your way back here. I'd yell at you for being stupid but coach said he handled that already"

"we didn't let him [in]. he didn't make it further than the front door."

"neil? you don't have to do this, you know"

ALLISON :

"looking fancy"

SETH :

"maybe you're not as stupid as I thought"

AARON :

(I know it surprised me too but it's probably the only compliment he gives neil throughout the entire series and they literally just met at that point)

"at least you're not going to completely drag us down. it'll take most the season to get you where we need you to be but I can see why kevin picked you"

[elene78-blog]

I have read some comments about the stress that Cat, Laila and Jeremy cause Jean by trying to find out about her situation. I've read others saying that the way Jeremy informs the group about things that Jean tells him is horrible. Sensitive information about your experiences.

They are negative opinions and I find this super interesting.

I can see a clear contrast between the way the Ravens act and the way the Trojans act here.

The Ravens were intentionally ignoring Jean's situation. We can say that they knew something was happening. They have seen Jean beaten to the extreme. They have seen him continually injured, to the point of saying that “he has fragile bones.” Regardless of whether or not they knew Jean's age when he suffered from AS, they generated rumors that could do a lot of damage. They continue to feed them now.

Let's not fool ourselves. The Ravens KNEW someone was hurting Jean to the extreme. His response was to ignore it until it was normalized. They only talked about it with the intention of fueling the torture.

In response, Jean also normalized it.

In contrast to this, we have Trojans, which react in the opposite way.

The Trojans clearly see that Jean has suffered the unspeakable. They see that Jean has great difficulty adjusting. They see that Jean has been tortured when they see his scars. Jeremy finds out some things and discreetly passes it on to his closest friends, who are also the people closest to Jean in this complicated situation. This information is kept in a closed circle, which is the Trojans. It doesn't come out of there (that we know of).

Many people criticize this act.

I think what is important here is the intention with which the Trojans and Jeremy seek this information.

The Ravens interfered to hurt and create a harmful environment. The Trojans intrude to validate Jean's pain and create an environment appropriate to his current needs.

Let's face it; Jean needs help, but he is in a very difficult situation to acquire it, especially because of his own brainwashing. People who have lived with people who want to hurt themselves will know that these people tend to hide the problem (They don't see it or they think there is no solution), and this is one of the biggest difficulties in helping them.

If you don't see there is a problem, you can't help.

If the Trojans didn't meddle, Jean's pain wouldn't be validated. The message would be very similar to that of the Ravens: “we don't care. You don't matter to us”, therefore, Jean would continue normalizing his situation.

By getting involved, you are sending another message: “I care about this situation. What you have suffered is not normal. “You matter and I want to help you, even if I don’t know how.”

Trojans do not fuel rumors. On the contrary, they want to clarify them so that Jean feels accepted (Lucas does not, but because there is an obvious sentimental conflict).

What I want to say is that, although it shocks us and we don't see it as entirely correct, Jeremy's performance is, in part, appropriate. He tries to find Jean's need and conveys it to the people closest to him (Cat and Laila, with whom he lives) so that they know that there are limits and a series of problems to deal with that Jean does not want to confront.

The goal is to “be careful” and “watch out” for a catastrophic reaction. The goal is to create a pleasant and appropriate environment that can “push” Jean to seek the help he needs.

With the little information Jean gives them, the Trojans are creating a safety net that can pick him up and propel him toward help.

Kevin, Renee, Abby and Wymack did something similar. They would not allow Jean to return to the Ravens even though that was what he wanted. They ignored his consent because they knew he was not of sound mind.

Jeremy, Cat and Laila are doing exactly the same thing. Jean may not like it (actually, I don't think Jean is against this, correct me if I'm wrong), but this is what he needs FOR NOW.

Since Jean has had great problems with consent and limits, the fact that the Trojans talk about what Jean experienced without his consent seems like an attack against him, but let's not forget that this will not always be the case. This is an exceptional circumstance.

The ultimate goal is for Jean to be able to say no and establish clear limits, developing autonomy. But right now, if given that facility, we know what would happen.

Jean would not seek help, he would continue to feed her brainwashing, he would continue to think that he deserved the worst and... most likely, one day he would end his life, without caring about Kevin's promise.

Let's not confuse talking about a person's situation discreetly to their close circle with the sole objective of HELPING and SEEKING SOLUTIONS, with generating rumors to DESTROY him.

Let us also not forget that this is a TEMPORARY situation until Jean regains his personal autonomy. The boy is brainwashed. Until this goes away, Jean needs a few very very gentle (keep that in mind, Abby) slaps of reality to wake up.

This is what Cat, Jeremy and Laila are working on in hopes that Jean will get the boost he needs ON HIMSELF.

[andriel-islife]

Even though I didn’t mention Neil’s narration is what really got me thinking about Aaron differently, it did. (Only fair to make in this post about Neil)

In the same portion of the extra content (Aaron’s portion about Randy) there are just as many different views for Neil as there are for Aaron( at least for me).

—Neil immediately feeling uncomfortable when Aaron pulled away from Randy because he could relate to the gesture. Anndd he felt a sort of fear from Randy’s response because of his past experiences. “Randy’s smile vanished and the look she gave Aaron was heavy enough to make Neil uncomfortable ten feet away. Last summer, Neil had recoiled from Wymack much the same way, so certain of being hurt for his transgressions and stupidity.” This kid never fails to remind me that he is “just a kid”. None of the events in the first three books, no matter how severe or heartwarming, wiped away the feelings he has regarding certain traumas(because this cut scene would take place in TKM).

—“Only now did Neil understand that a person could fear an older woman the same way.” Do I even have to explain this cause omg😭😭 we all know Neil is smart (setting aside his “attitude problems” and impulsive behavior) but man I DID NOT need his intelligence to pitch this in. I want to cry for him every time I read this line. He knows his fear and he recognizes this same fear in Aaron. This is one of the main quotes that got me to look at Aaron as a character on the same level as Neil and Andrew. Also “Neil’s mother had hit him and screamed at him, but she’d always been on his side. She’d always been his mother first...Neil couldn’t imagine a world where mothers weren’t actually mothers.” I DID NOT NEED THIS EITHER. Not only does this make me want to cry for Neil but also for Aaron, and Andrew, and any other fox with mother issues/trauma. I can’t fight for them but I can cry for them campaign.

—“Neil finally understood…He’d[Aaron] gotten this far in life on his own, surviving on willpower and sheer desperation.” If you read anywhere on a different point that Neil could relate to Aaron, no you didn’t. If you read anywhere on the post that I would cry, no you didn’t. BECAUSE THIS. THIS is a parallel between characters. THIS is a reason to cry. Neil TRULY seeing himself in the one teammate he dislikes. Seeing that shoving all this ‘mother’ business in Aaron’s face for months was wrong because “a person could fear an older woman the same way”😭😞 This is not okay..

[dvrcos]

more mic’d up andrew minyard when?? mic’d up AARON minyard when?? other mic’d up fox when??

Aaron Minyard Mic’d up

Hes reluctant to do it for a long fucking time

He thinks its kinda dumb

But he mostly doesn’t wanna get scolded for what his mic would pick up

Because my boy is a shit talker

He’s saying everything and anything he can to rile up the other team

He’s even trying to rile up the other foxes tbh

So when he finally agrees he makes coach promise he won’t get in trouble

He body slams the opposing striker (because if there’s one thing Aaron’s gonna do it’s put his all into a body check)

And the opposing striker is mad like visibly fuming

He’s all up in Aaron’s space, a moment away from starting a fight

And Aaron thinks it’s the funniest thing ever

He’s laughing his ass off while loudly crashing their raquets against each other

‘What you’re upset I hit you? I’m five foot nothing dude sounds like a you problem’

And he’s lucky the striker gets pulled away by his teammates cause he’s over 6 foot

And Aaron is all bark, no bite

*whispering into the mic as he walks away* ‘I’ll be honest guys, he would’ve kicked my ass but that was to good of an opportunity to pass up’

His best moments come from when he trips up a striker

*sends the striker sprawling onto their ass* ‘womp womp’

*body slams one into the wall* ‘maybe next time man’

*slams the ball out of their racquet* ‘that’s not yours cmon now’

He flirts with the opposing team but in German

Because he’s discovered that when they can’t understand what he’s saying it really gets to them

And he’ll slip in a word in English so they figure out he’s flirting

And they’re even more pissed and distracted that they mess up what would’ve been a solid play

‘What the fuck did you just say to me!?’

‘Hey, hey sorry just trying to have a nice conversation’ *winks and walks away to start up play again*

*Opposing striker, absolutely baffled and fuming*

His striker accidentally trips him up and gets past to Andrew

And Aaron doesn’t even have to look at Andrew to see the heavy bored expression he’s giving him

Aaron knows he’s probably plotting where to hide his body if he does it again

*Andrew, shaking his head in disappointment as he smacks the ball away*

*Aaron rolling onto his knees and pleading for mercy while laughing* ‘my bad, let’s just talk this out I promise it won’t happen again it was Nicky’s fault’

This happens a lot whenever they’re both on the court

Because making a joke out of Exy is one of the only ways they both actually enjoy it sometimes

And it’s something they can actually bond over

But oh god forbid if someone on the other team says something about Andrew

That’s when Aaron just looses it

Doesn’t matter if the player is ten times his size, he becomes all bite

‘Put your psycho pet brother on a leash already’

And Aaron’s helmets already off and he’s going for his gloves next

*Matt grabbing him and holding him back* ‘cmon Matt it’ll be good, he asked for it, it’ll be good’

‘No Aaron, no red cards’

‘But it’ll be fun’ *tries to throw his helmet at the other player*

He gets a yellow card for it but he proudly displays it by tucking it into the front of his jersey

‘I’m gonna frame this one coach’ he tells Wymack as he sits on the bench for his penalty

Kevin’s always the most annoyed by Aaron’s shit talking because it threatens the game and Aaron’s wellbeing

And he also gets the most riled up whenever Aaron’s turns it onto him

*Kevin storming over to Aaron after he almost gets ejected* ‘Stop saying shit that’ll get you kicked out of the game you idiot’

‘Oh cmon Day I know you like em a little feisty, I’m just trying to make you happy my Queen,’

And Kevin just smacks the top of his helmet and turns to walk away

‘I can get on my knees to apologize if you want, I know you like me on my knees’

And Kevin just has to tune him out cause Aaron won’t stop if he feeds into it

He gets really into the game sometimes though (because he’s competitive and he can’t help it)

Like he’s screaming and cheering so loud at certain points the mic is crackling

*Kevin and Neil scoring the goal that pulls them into the lead* ‘LETS FUCKING GO’

When he’s on the bench he’s the one banging on the plexi glass

He’s screaming at them to get their heads out of their asses or cheering them on even though they can’t hear him

And then he gets out of his competitive streak and he’s lowkey embarrassed

‘If that gets posted online I will never recover’ he mutters after he’s just jumped into Matt’s arms in celebration

When the foxes listen to his recording later they’re shocked by how creative Aaron gets with all of it

And they find it hilarious

And endearing

And they like that they’re getting to see a new part of Aaron as he gets more comfortable with the team

He is by far one of the most aggressive of the foxes when he’s on the court, both physically and verbally

And the fans absolutely eat it the fuck up

But Wymack doesn’t mic him up often because he is lowkey a liability because of what he says

[joejhang]

my problem with raven!neil

this may be controversial but i've actually found that i don't rlly like raven!neil fics and aus. and here is my thesis. spoilers ahead continue at ur own risk.

crucial distinction here is that i don't actually dislike the concept of "raven!neil" as an individual character concept. i think it's actually very interesting to look into the sort of person neil would be if things had been slightly different. that is, obviously, the point of au fics and headcanons. my actual problem with raven!neil is mostly when fic writers and the fandom in general put him in context and into au fics and then the problems start arising. i'm being purposefully vague but i'm gonna go into all the problems i've come across when it comes to raven!neil.

first off, and this is something i've mentioned before, i think the fandom tends to strip abuse victims (particularly the characters who got out of the nest) of literally any agency or individuality. this happened with jean, when the whole fandom seemed to collectively uwufy him as if he isn't an adult (yes he's young yes he's barely an adult but he IS and i would argue thinking of him as a child still does him no good) with massive amounts of trauma. yes, jean has a learned fear of riko and tetsuji (and coaches by extension bc of the abuse from raven coaches) but he actually doesn't harbour much fear towards anyone else? he has come to expect violent retribution/punishment and does sort of have this problem where he bares his throat for the knife (when he puts the racquet in rhemann's hands and when he expects laila to hit him back) but other than that he actually doesn't demonstrate a lot of fear or panic when engaging with others.

i think the same would go for neil. the neil in current canon quite literally has no fears that do not trace back to his father. he doesn't fear riko, tetsuji, ichirou, andrew, drake or even lola and his father's men. where he does show fear is whenever his father gets involved. he isn't afraid of riko or anything riko has to say until riko brings nathan wesninski into it. the closest thing he comes to fear for anyone else is when he flinches from wymack but i'd call that survival instinct rather than like...fear. he doesn't have much of an emotional response, just an instinctual and physical one.

we obviously have no idea how neil's fear would develop if he had grown up at the nest. i'm not sure how much of a difference it would've made, honestly. obviously, those eight years on the run heavily reinforced his fear, so i don't really know where that fear would go if he was stagnant at the nest and confirmed (?) to be safe from his father. i think one of neil's key personality traits actually is his bravery and fearlessness, so i can't really see neil ever being truly afraid of tetsuji and riko. if you want to compare jean and neil in this aspect, all i'd say is: people have different responses for trauma. neil is not jean 2.0 or vice versa. even if they were put in virtually the same environment with the same treatment, they are still different people with different personalities. thus, they respond in different ways. just like jean and kevin responded in different ways, though their situations are implied to have been very different.

besides the point of fear and object of fear, i don't actually think being afraid of ur abusers means ur a baby that should be coddled and uwufied by the fandom. it's actually completely normal and human, so i actually have no clue why the fandom decided to do this with jean.

as someone in the tags of one of my previous posts so aptly said, autonomy ≠ agency. did kevin and jean have autonomy in the nest? no. but they did have agency. stripping abuse victims of agency and personality is actually so harmful and i think it's way too normalised in fandom culture. but that's a discussion for another day. we've all heard the comparison of the fear responses in relation to andrew (fight), neil (flight), kevin (freeze) and jean (fawn). i actually think these are mostly accurate, but it doesn't do any good to simplify it so completely.

neil having to remain sedentary rather than running away and never stopping or looking back is inevitably going to alter his responses to situations. neil's knee-jerk reaction to traumatic events or news in the og trilogy is literally: go on a run. this might still be the case in the nest, but i doubt it. i've said before that i think neil is the type of person to fight back. u could argue in response to that that jean was also fierce and angry when he got to the nest but developed something akin to learned helplessness where he simply stopped fighting back as a trauma response. but again: neil and jean are not the same person. they may have similar personalities, but everyone is different. you can't boil down all the victims of a particular abusive situation into the same person. this is stripping them of agency and individuality, once again. jean learned to stop fighting back and even ask for violent punishment for "wrongdoing" but i honestly don't think neil would. again, not because he's superior or inferior to jean, he's just a different person entirely. his time at evermore in trk was effectively a trial run for the time that riko intended neil to spend there after the year ended. we don't know exactly, but it's probably safe to assume that riko tried to cram as much of the abuse that kevin and jean received over several years into those two/three weeks. i mean, neil got fucking waterboarded and handcuffed to the bed for fuck's sake. i think at some point neil does say that he bowed his head and played at subservience, but when it really came down to riko and tetsuji trying to force neil to do something he adamantly did not want to do (sign the raven's contract) he literally just refused and didn't relent even under torture. jean even said he thought riko might've killed neil for it. neil was literally ready to die rather than bend to riko's will.

obviously, things would be different with kevin and jean in the equation. i can see neil reining himself in for their sake, but this brings me to another issue i have with raven!neil. and that is the strange need to turn neil into a protector figure. i.e. a human meat shield with a martyr complex for kevin and jean. every time i sense any iteration of this in any fic or hc i literally have to stop reading. it's just so...like random to me. neil has literally not been a "protector" in canon in fact he's almost always the one being "protected" (andrew's deal to literally protect neil from his father, wymack and abby's protectiveness, etc). yes, neil has protective instincts but so does literally every human being. neil is, in my opinion, no more or less protective than anyone else. compare this to say, andrew, who is known for his role as the "protector" (beating up the guys who hurt nicky, killing aaron's mother + getting rid of his addiction, making deals w kevin + neil). i've also written another extensive essay about why neil isn't and will never be the martyr or sacrificial lamb that some ppl seem to want him to be, so i won't go into it here. just please please please read the series back and realise: neil is quite literally the opposite of a martyr. i just have no idea where the idea of neil as a martyr or protective figure came in. especially in regards to kevin and jean.

it bears noting the first time neil meets riko with kevin there. at kathy's, neil doesn't hesitate to defend kevin and clock riko's shit. but note: defending ≠ protecting. and even if you do want to call that protecting, neil's way of "protecting" has never been in a martyring, self-sacrificial, human shield way. he is almost always on the offensive (clocking riko rather than directly defending kevin, punching riko, etc etc). neil is a natural instigator, and it would be such a disservice to him to erase that characteristic of his in raven!neil fics.

there are also several times in the series where neil's offensive actions have consequences that directly impact his loved ones and other people. like the first time neil insulted riko, a man literally died. the second time, drake attacked andrew. the third, neil took a trip to hell on earth and spent three weeks at evermore. the fourth, the foxes' and other athletes' cars got trashed. there's probably more that i'm not remembering, but you get the idea. neil feels guilt but never regret for this. he literally says verbatim that he isn't sorry for what he said about riko/the ravens even after the cars get wrecked and the others seem to blame him. so while i can see neil ducking his head and submitting to prevent jean/kevin getting hurt, it's also worth noting that if neil really cared that much about consequences, he probably would've stopped openly and loudly insulting riko in public after seth was murdered the first time. neil knew, or at least had a hunch, that it was his fault. did that stop him from doing it again? hell no. it can be both a character flaw and strength, but it's also just a fact. neil does not think that much about consequence. he sort of just does what he wants when he wants. it's a part of his personality. while there's no telling what about his personality would've changed at the nest, the fact that ten years living with a mob boss serial killer and eight years on the run from said mob boss serial killer didn't seem to kill that mouth of his, idk what would.

my final point is that when the raven!neil fic has andreil in it, it turns into andrew "saving" neil from his situation. words can't explain how much i hate this take on things. especially when it usually comes out of nowhere as well. bfr, andrew is not gonna risk his life to "save" some pretty redhead that comes his way without some pre-established connection. i also just think the idea of a "saviour" in a relationship is actually insane. as someone who is consistently pissed off and triggered by imbalance in relationships, this irritates me to no end. andreil obviously are protective and care for each other. that's a known fact. but i feel like w raven!neil fics they tend to exaggerate this and make it insanely one-sided. like andrew is some superhero type figure that needs to save damsel-in-distress neil who has a penchant for out-of-character martyrdom and is trapped in a horribly abusive situation. it sounds like i'm just hyperbolising no this is actually in all of the raven!neil fics that i've read. this exact dynamic. i hate it oh my god. it's not only entirely out of character i don't even think it works for them. like this should not be what their relationship is about or based off of. this last bit might just be a personal thing but i just hate hate hate it and it feels so wrong to force andreil into this kind of a dynamic. just leave my boys alone i'm BEGGING.

the aftg fandom does have this problem that should be addressed where they tend to coddle and uwufy abuse victims (particularly kevin, neil and jean in the context of the nest) and strip them down to easily digestible stereotypes. but this literally could not be further from the truth in canon. y'all forget how actually bitchy neil, jean and kevin are as individuals. kevin's fear of riko and tetsuji is bone-deep, but that never stopped him from picking fights with the foxes and hitting back whenever they had a problem w him (the only exception being andrew, but kevin already said, he lets andrew walk him like a dog out of sort-of thanks that andrew is letting him stay at psu). jean is also sort of an asshole (affectionate) back in the og trilogy and lowk in tsc too. he has a seemingly endless supply of insults for literally everyone and literally thinks about breaking jeremy's fingers for treating him too warily. he consistently gets annoyed when the trojans are too careful with him and remember when he literally threw jeremy to the floor during practice? yeah. seriously, stop boiling down these very traumatised individuals to their fear and history of abuse and erase any other part of their personality that makes them an interesting, well-rounded individual. it's so irritating to read and have to deal with the gross misinterpretation and mischaracterisation of these very well-loved characters. they deserve better, and these things also bely some very pertinent issues within fandom culture at large that should be talked about and critiqued more. jesus this is long anyway thank you for reading.

[afurtivecake]

To me, reading about Neil in TSC is like seeing a grandchild for the first time in a while, like, "Look at you!! You've grown so much!!!"

This skittish, feral kid from the first book who looks and acts like some poorly socialized creature fished out of a dumpster who doesn't know how to have or be friends, is now out there doing his best to take care of another poorly-socialized, skittish and feral kid.

One thing about Neil is that he learns from other peoples' examples. He picks up their wording and phrasing. Like in TSC with "I have him":

(Renee says it to Neil about Jean and then later Neil says it to Wymack about Jean)

Or with the phrase, "You were amazing":

(Matt says it to Dan and Nicky says it to Neil. When Neil says it for the first time to Andrew, it almost feels out of character for him--like he's trying out a new thing he's never done before. And because it's unusual for Neil, both in the sincerity and in the wording, he hopes it's enough to let Andrew know that he wouldn't have left if he had a choice. And then later Neil says it to Dan and the team, it sounds more natural and Dan is not-so-secretly really chuffed about it.)

Like, look at him! He's LEARNING! He's learning how to people!

The clearest example of Neil's growth is him putting to use stuff he's learned from Wymack on how to care for people in distress (asking Jean what he needs, telling Jean not to blame himself for other people's choices)

Like remember when he was feeling guilty about Seth's death and Wymack was telling him in TFC that he can't blame himself for Seth's death even if it was Riko's doing because Riko was the one who "chose to cross a line", not Neil? Later Neil uses the same words to comfort Nicky who's feeling guilty about the Drake incident. Even though he doesn't fully believe it himself (he and Andrew have that whole verbal knife fight flinging blame at each other and he still feels guilty as fuck about Drake), he has learned that those are words that could help and so he gives them to Nicky. You get to see that lesson fully sink in when Neil tells Jean with absolute conviction that Grayson "strung the noose himself". Neil's saying that he's not going to feel guilty about Grayson and neither should Jean.

yea, my weird take on Neil Josten is that he makes me feel like a proud granny.

[dayurno]

twilight kevjean au

kevin is bella

jean is edward

i have not read the books nor watched the movies but something about this speaks to me

you havent consumed twilight at all this is so funny to me!!! ok!!!! who's jacob you reckon? neil? andrew? jeremy? i've been watching read throughs of the twilight books because i'm an eternally nosy person and a terrible woman and i do remember it was really funny hearing people criticize edward's unusual behavior towards bella because in the end it was just book one kandrew.... literally just that......... tch! but i agree that jean has a more soggy wet vampire look to him than andrew ever will

[kevindavidday]

i love that neil considers jean as part of the family he wants to protect. i will elaborate this time because

if you think about it, neil spent book 1 trying his best not to build a connection, book 2 trying to break down the walls ending with confirming from nicky if they were friends, and every second after that deliberately doing whatever was in his goddamn power to keep these people safe and happy. going to edens for andrew, keeping the truth from them, getting the letter back for kevin, reminding kevin that he owes jean a conversation after all that's happened, fixing the twins' relationship, spending time with them even though he knew he would leave. in his mind, what he was doing was selfish because he was going to die soon and they didn't even know it.

he doesn't die, though and he comes back with even MORE fight in him than before. he meets his uncle once and although his mother hadn't wanted him to be involved in one gang after another, he doesn't give a single flying fuck. the hatford's existence is just another resource for him, a way to hurt those who have hurt his family. stuart already killed his father, so what's it matter if there's a few more - protecting him means protecting his family. if the fbi had any clue about the power neil actually holds over the hatford's they would all willingly eat their hats tbh.

so the first thing he does when he sees his uncle again? despite knowing that ichirou is close-by? he tells him to kill proust.

hell, even the moriyama's are nothing to this man if i'm being honest. he isn't afraid of them, he knew the rarity of ichirou's visits which made him wary when he got into the car to talk about bargaining their lives and i truly do believe ichirou moriyama was fucking relieved neil didn't ask for more than that. there is that strange, dead look in his eyes that he's inherited from his father which unnerves the fuck out of everyone who doesn't know him. and when he bargained for his life and kevin's, he remembered jean too.

which is fucking insane. he spent only winter break with jean moreau, ONLY. i know there's extra days at the nest, but i'd kill to know what happened between jean and neil during that time for neil to have such unflinching loyalty towards his 'forever partner'. i want to know their conversations, i want to know what they suffered through together.

and the casual way in which jean dropped the news about grayson to neil, after hiding it away from everyone for so long. he admitted the truth to neil straight up, like of course neil should know, it's neil. jean's mind is still haywired to remember him too even though they were only together for a few weeks!!!

what is it about them?

and then the entire time otw to the diner, neil's plotting again. he's scheming. he's thinking. and he knows what to do. and its asking for local work because fuck anyone who has ever hurt his family. he literally only ever needs a fucking name, bro. 'my first memories are of people dying.' i think we can tell...

wymack saw that leadership potential and made him vice captain. god bless neil only cares about playing exy because if he had even a second more interest in crime he would've floored everyone. i can see it so clearly.

anyway, hope he takes a hit out on tetsuji moriyama next 🙏

[writerjayne]

Out-of-context thing Overheard in Fox Tower (or on campus) Pt.2

Neil: Don't let Betsy hear you say that. She's a mandatory reporter you know.

Aaron: So is Coach, so is Abby, so is every other teacher at this school!

-----------------------------------------

Dan: What, you think I can't fight them 'cause I'm a girl?

Andrew: No I don't think you can fight them because you're wearing that dress. If Matt was wearing the dress, I would say the same thing!

Matt: I would be radiant though...

-----------------------------------------

Neil: I made a mistake.

Kevin: Does it affect me?

Neil: No?

Kevin: Then suffer in silence.

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Andrew: Is something burning?

Neil: Just my love for you!

Andrew: Neil, the toaster is ON FIRE!

-----------------------------------------

Neil: I can explain!

Wymack: Can you?

Neil (desperately): If you give me 30 seconds to think of a lie!!

-----------------------------------------

Allison: Do you ever think before you speak?

Seth: Sure! I think, 'Wow, that's hilarious,' and then I say it.

-----------------------------------------

Kevin: I think I'm in love with Aaron!

Nicky: Congratulations you're officially the last to know

-----------------------------------------

Wymack (this man is so tired): did you have to stab him?

Andrew: You weren't there! You didn't hear what he said to me!

Wymack, who knows exactly where this is going: What did he say?

Andrew: 'What are you gonna do? Stab me?'

Neil: That is a fair point!

-----------------------------------------

One of the vixens: You ever feel like no one sees you?

Allison: I've got a really good body so.... No.

-----------------------------------------

Dan: Where are you going?

Renee: To commit homicide or get ice cream, I'll decide in the car

[otdiaftg]

The Raven King - Chapter Sixteen

Day: Sunday, December 31st Time: 11:55 PM EST

Neil nodded and looked at the clock. It was five 'til midnight. "Are we going to watch the ball drop? I want to make a wish." "You make wishes on shooting stars," Wymack said. "New Year's is for resolutions." "That's okay too," Neil said. Wymack dug his remote out from under a couch cushion and turned on the TV. Noise and music filled the room. Cameras panned across the crowd as a band performed on stage. Neil searched the crowd for his teammates' faces, knowing he wouldn't see them but needing to look anyway. He checked his phone, found the battery blinking critically low, and opened his messages box anyway. He didn't read them. He didn't have time and the battery wouldn't last long enough. He had enough power to compose a group message, though, so he tapped out a simple "Happy New Year" to the Foxes. Betsy had told them Andrew's phone was confiscated for the duration of his stay at Easthaven, but Neil added his number anyway and pressed SEND.

Art used with permission by Sam. Thank you so much @02511213942