Yo, If The Freshman Thought Neil Was Insufferable Before The Ravens Game, Then They Are So Not Prepared

Him noticing how beatifull she looked with her hair colored in purple, in a moment where his whole life had fallen a part, kinda broke my heart, not gonna lie

Maven was all "how did I lose to those idiots"; "that bitch and her mother are gonna come for Norta"; etc and then he saw Mare laughing, noticed she had colored her hair and eveything else evaporated from his head and he just thought that she looked beatifull like that

The fact is that Elara took a kind hearted child and made him into a psycopath. Maven had always been full of emotions and he took all of them one by one

I dont know if he could have been fixed (I dont think so) and of course, after all he did to Mare, they could never stand a chance, but I feel the grief of what could have been without Elara. Sometimes we could still see the little boy behind the monster and it hurts to

Favorite Maven lines?

ugh I have to read the books again but:

"The punishment she deserves. Really. Are my parties that bad?"

"I don't use my spies to track your emotions, Mare. No, my darling. I just know you better than anyone else."

"But yours is coming up, isn't it? I have no doubt we'll spend it together."

I forget the exact wording but something in his letters in Glass Sword about how Cal wasn't going to escape Mare's leash

"But if you'd like to return, and pretend you're doing it to save some nameless soldiers, then I'm happy to welcome you back."

"But I do so miss our conversations. You keep me sane, Mare."

"Jon said he couldn't see them, the dead futures. An easy lie. It let him manipulate me in a way even Samson couldn't. And when he led me to you, well, I didn't argue. How was I to know what a poison you'd be?"

"I like your hair."

"I tried, Mare."

The entirety of the bathtub scene

And that's all I can remember off the top of my head

Can we talk about the attack on the Foxes and exactly how many triggers that's going to set off?

How much do you want to bet that Lane swung for Neil's ribs first because he'd mouthed off in the interview and revealed that Jean had had broken ribs? How long until Jean puts it together and blames himself for the fact that he and Neil now share matching rib fractures from the Ravens? (Neil doesn't care. He'd do it all again).

Andrew has a broken collarbone so bad it needed surgery, and he's going to have to wear a sling for several weeks. He's immobilized and unarmed (literally if he can't wear a knife on his injured arm. A knife in the armband of his working arm would do nothing because he can't draw it with one hand). And Andrew has an immense fear of being too weak to defend himself, especially with a broken bone to make him a target.

Kevin. He's finally grown a spine and this is the first time we see him literally fight the Ravens. He throws hands in defense of his Foxes, and Neil in particular, when Kevin from a year before would never have. But he saw Andrew, his protector, his shield, the man he promised he would make Court, with a hand dangling limp and useless at his side thanks to a broken bone. How many hours did it take before they got Andrew into an x-ray and saw that it was fixable? How long did Kevin stare at Andrew's limp hand, memories of Riko and his own broken bones going through his mind?

Allison was off the court, but that's the part that's going to kill her. Only she, Renee, Nicky, and the freshmen were off the court, but the freshman don't count. Allison had to watch through plexiglass walls as her team was hurt, unable to do anything to help, and she probably thought how many times is this going to happen? How many times am I going to be sidelined while my friends are hurt? how many times will I be useless in protecting them from the Ravens? (It's been one year since Seth died. Since Allison let him go out and lost him and she's never stopped wondering if things would have gone differently if she had been there that night.)

Nicky is also stuck outside the plexiglass, watching as Andrew is the first to go down. He remembers Andrew fighting for him outside Eden's, remembers how Andrew never regretted defending Nicky even when it got him put on those hated meds. And he can't help but feel like a useless guardian because he wasn't there when Andrew was attacked at Thanksgiving (he was the reason Andrew was in that house) and he isn't there now. All he can do is watch.

The Foxes have a long road to recovery and they've definitely survived worse. But with so many old scars torn open, this year might be just as rough as the last

Neil has a talent for making Andrew having to admit exactly what he is trying to avoid

"that doesn't mean i wouldn't blow you" is an iconic confession for a lot of reasons but i love that andrew obviously picked his wording so so carefully there to avoid admitting any feelings involved and then neil's demisexual ass just totally bypasses that and he responds saying "you like me." WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT ANDREW WAS TRYING TO AVOID ADMITTING.

And the fact there is chemestry enough for him to be dating any (or all) of them

love how kevin’s top 4 favorite exy players are just two gay couples. unintentional allying

i saw someone say that cal and kilorn are like adhd + autism but which one is which???

When Kevin met with Jeremy before the Foxes vs Trojans game, Neil noticed he opened one of his rare real smiles

The other Foxes were all kinda of surprised to see Kevin like that

I need more of those interactions

i want jeremy to meet the foxes just so they can see how kevin treats and listens to him and the other foxes go “woahh kevin can be nice even tho cameras are not around???”

Girl, I NEED this so much 😭😭😭

This would literally be amazing!!

Other super cool ep: a shot of Mary telling Neil that girls are trouble, he shouldnt think about love, that it is too dangerous to fall in love....and then it cuts to him kissing Andrew for the first time

I swear, this would be so amazing

Aftg series adaptation idea:

Every episode starts with a brief flashback to Neil's life on the run/ his childhood, and at the end of it, the scene cuts to a contradicting thing he does in the present (which would be the plot of that ep).

Like, for example, "i have been running for 9 years, always hiding, staying out of sight, (bla bla u get the picture)" and then BOOM it cuts to Neil dressed up on live TV. Like ??? Yknow, and then it proceeds with the story leading up to that moment.

Or or or

Smth about how he got his scars, some dramatic montage of Neil and Mary fleeing, shots fired in the background, her prying off Neil's kevlar vest to reveal an ugly wound, and then the scene abruptly cuts to that same wound, but healed. Camera pans out, and its Neil showing Abby his scars.

DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN??

Like there are so many options:

Playing at Evermore as a kid/ ...playing at Evermore

Neil getting struck by an iron/ showing his scars to Andrew (again. Or smth else).

Lola teaching Neil how to cut things/ kidnapping scene

Nathaniel Wesninski/ Neil Josten

Etc.

Like, this way we get bits and pieces to Neil's past like how we do in the books; we're not getting totally info-dumped, but we get insight throughout the books as to who he actually is.

It also works with how strongly Neil holds onto Mary's rules, how sick/ sorry he feels whenever he breaks them, because we can actually see why she was so hell-bent on laying low; she doesn't only come off as some paranoid freak, she had reasons- (This is getting off track, Mary ily).

And then we get to experience pure whiplash as to how crazy Neil's life acctually is without him suppressing/compartmentalizing it.

Ah, a girl can dream...

happy birthday to the twins ever <3