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Have sex with books, Be Pregnant with knowledge and give birth to success❤️

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Ok I love this bit from the AFTG EC:

"Late that fall the Foxes head to Eden’s Twilight to celebrate a win against USC. For clarification—there are two USCs in the United States. 90% of the time everyone’s referring to the one you all read about in the books—the University of Southern California where the Trojans play. For years I insisted that USC was an imposter, because there is also a University of South Carolina. In this instance, we are definitely talking about the one in South Carolina—which happens to have its main campus in Columbia.

The Foxes show up at the club to have a good time, but halfway through the night they bump into some players from USC’s team. It’s a pretty heated interaction because both sides (save Neil & Andrew) are wasted. Kevin says something really rude, Neil’s feeling salty enough to back him up, and the argument becomes an all-out bar fight in a heartbeat."

I love that Neil isn't even wasted. He's just in a bad mood and decided he wanted problems instead of peace. He had no real stake in this fight he just shrugged and asked Kevin: "Who are we fighting?" And proceeded to turn a heated verbal argument into a full-on bar brawl.

That's Andrew's man right there.

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andreil going viral after Nicky uses that song a boy who's jacked and kiiind to make an edit of Andrew picking up Neil and throwing him over his shoulders like a potato bag to drag the idiot away from useless fight

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here's all the amazon preview pages. papa loves you

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neil josten the character that you are. auburn hair and ice blue eyes and a serial killer's smile. the capacity for both extreme cruelty and immense kindness. an honest liar, a brave runaway. someone who is born of two violent, dangerous, immoral people and desperately, desperately doesn't want to be like them (but is a little bit anyway). harsh and brutal and rough around the edges and at the same time so devoted and genuine despite it all. spent his entire life outrunning his past, cutting people loose for his own survival, and was ready to die for the people he called family. never does anything half-hearted (except maybe college, but that's actually completely valid) but throws himself into it and literally puts his life on the line all for the game. bargains for jean's safety and makes an effort to keep him alive and well despite barely knowing him at all. signed his own death warrant by staying at the foxhole court because he wanted to see kevin break free of r*ko and make it to the top (where he belongs). neil josten, who could've been so much more violent and bitter and evil, but remained true and good and would've held onto his integrity and the people he loved till the day that he died. neil josten the character that you are.

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Andrew: Don’t make me hurt you. I don’t want blood in my ice cream.

Also Andrew: Just Bee! Bee being stupid. Bee being! Ha!

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a kiss on the lips for ANYONE who has EVER unkilled Seth in their fics AND made him friends with Neil I live off of this shit it's my drug of choice

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*hits an extremely loud buzzer* aaron minyard has clinical depression

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no actually neil's funniest line is when riko says "all that time running and you never asked?" and he goes "have you MET my father???"

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An idea I love is when the Foxes become a more well-respected team in the league, Wymack starts talking to them about being “role models” and that they have all these young fans now who look up to them. And Neil is just horrified.

Then the Exy league organises this like, pre-game warm up meet and greet thing where they do some drills and games with the kids of the local teams in the area.

Everyone expects to have to keep Andrew away from the kids but he’s actually fantastic with them. He’s blunt and honest but he does try very hard and they absolutely love him.

Neil spends the entire time running away from the children and hiding behind Wymack (he tried hiding behind Andrew but Andrew was actually getting along with the little demons)

Kevin hates it but the kids LOVE him, they think it’s hilarious how grumpy and angry he gets and they keep falling over themselves laughing anytime he yells. They keep asking him to “do the grumpy voice” he starts yelling in French and they think it’s just about the funniest thing that’s ever happened.

Dan and Renee are keeping the whole thing on track, actually running through the drills and teaching the kids with endless patience. Dan has a little mini me girl who’s like 10 and the captain of her team and just wants to be Dan so bad so Dan gives her a whistle and she’s just shadowing her all day, blowing her whistle whenever Dan tries to get someone’s attention.

Aaron and Allison hang back and only very reluctantly interact with the children.

Matt is the equivalent of a climbing gym. He has about 4 children hanging off various limbs at any given time and a little 6 year old has taken up permanent residence on his shoulders.

Nicky loooves it and teaches the kids all of bad words and gets them to play pranks on Kevin- which results in Kevin yelling at him and he and the kids falling over laughing.

One child seems to be really isolated and quiet. Neil sits with this kid so Wymack will stop yelling at him to get involved. They don’t talk at all but Neil gives the kid some gum and the kid manages a little smile.

Part 2

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Shhhhh the blorbos are sleepy

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hands down the funniest scene in the king's men is when neil is like "what do i have to do to get you to play exy without actively attempting to injure people" and andrew, lazer fucking focused responds with "take off your shirt" like MY MAN. YOU ARE NOT SUBTLE

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Kinda Chunky Andrew Minyard and Long Hair Neil Josten SUPREMACY

"I can bench press you and your mother" Andrew Minyard and "I run fast enough to trigger a speedometer" Neil Josten SUPREMACY

"I'm the one who wanted cats" Andrew Minyard and "I named the cats" Neil Josten SUPREMACY

Ridiculously Broad Shoulders Andrew Minyard and Dump Truck Fat Ass Neil Josten SUPREMACY

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Aftg is really a Shakespearean tragedy. I’m learning about Titus right now and just.. Nora really checked all the boxes for a Shakespearean tragedy

Hello Anon Bestie, I've returned from war with my essay as promised! Okay, quick and dirty Betty Crocker Box recipe for a Shakespearean Tragedy (nuance and academic rigor not included):

A person with a flaw that can get em killed - spoiler: it gets em killed. (Tragic Hero + Hamartia)

Ghosts, witches, gods, oh my! (Supernatural Elements)

Good deeds go unnoticed and bad deeds go unpunished and everyone dies, hero included (Tragic Waste + Lack of Poetic Justice)

Look Anon Bestie, I took pages of notes, and I was almost going to talk about how everyone's Hamartia (Ambition, Devotion/Loyalty, Power, etc) were just functions of Love where Exy was the conduit everyone had in common. I even almost talked about the importance of how everyone's Deep Wounds had their origins in Parents (sins of the father, parental neglect and attachment, parents as one's first lesson on love). And THEN I almost talked about how neither villains nor heroes are born, they're made and the personal decision to remake one's self in the aftermath of the forge that shaped you-

But fuck all that honestly. All I care about here is the classic Tragic Hero and Tragic Waste hooplah. "The hero dies in the end" and all that.

I know what you're probably thinking, "But Tragic Waste doesn't apply to AFTG because the Tragic Hero doesn't die in the end! Neil is alive and so are all the Foxes!" I get it, I do, but here's my take. The Tragic Hero isn't Neil.

It's Nathaniel.

Which immediately brings me to my opinion on how AFTG manages to have a Supernatural Element as well. "But AFTG takes place in the real world!" stop interrupting me- listen- Neil isn't fucking real. He is not a real boy. Pinocchio in his wood state is more real than Neil is. Andrew knew Neil wasn't real from the fucking jump and was on that boy like white on rice. Nathaniel knew Neil wasn't real - how many times did he try to hold back his home grown Smart Mouth A La Attitude Problem for the sake of his store bought Meek and Mild disposition? AKA how many times did he suppress his Material because it would ruin the integrity of his Form? From page one our Tragic Hero was Nathaniel Wesninski trying to survive blah blah blah pretend to be Neil blah blah blah leave Nathaniel buried in Baltimore with his father yadda yadda roll credits- Throughout the entire first three books Neil Josten starts basically obtaining Life and haunting the narrative. He was a painting that triggered the uncanny valley, he was a statue that seemed like it was gonna reach out and touch you, he was a mask that accidentally welded itself to your face like that one movie from the mid-90s. Nathaniel is trying to beat this fake-boy back with a stick while also keeping his name but it doesn't fucking work that way. Neil wanted friends. Neil wanted Exy. Neil wanted a home. Neil wanted to stay. Nathaniel? He could have had friends and a home and Exy in another life. But Mary rewrote history and said "Put on these masks. Hide, Nathaniel. These masks will help keep you safe." And it was working tbh. But then one of them came to life. And our Tragic Hero died to make room for him.

Whoops.

There's nothing fancy about my arguement here, only that AFTG really does fulfill the Shakespearean Tragedy format, Supernatural Elements and Hero Dies and all. Anyway, here's a couple excerpts from my notes that didn't make the cut in my final essay: "The tragedy? All the villans are dead. Drake, Riko, Nathan, etc. But the ghost will forever haunt the house (flashbacks, nightmares, triggers, scars) and those who remain inheret the ruins they didn't raze (Ichiro, Exy)." "The hero dies and the villain dies but both good and evil still prevail so catharsis is bittersweet and yet that's what makes it the most realistic."

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the most fun a girl can have is finding parallels, noticing patterns, making connections, contemplating

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this is insanely Kevin coded I fear

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Aftg is so funny because Neil had so many chances to escape certain death but he just wanted to play stickball so fucking bad