Jean And Elodie :(

foxes🦊

(Tfc)

Dan: Welcome, fellow idiots

Neil: Hi, Dan

Dan: No, no, not you, you're not an idiot

Neil: You underestimate me

Or you’re a dog and I’m your man

I think my favourite element of the writing in aftg is how Riko's downfall is utterly, entirely, beautifully self-inflicted.

Riko is power hungry, a glory seeker, jealous, cruel, vindictive and unable to share the spotlight. His worst actions and features come back to haunt him over and over in a way that is *incredibly* satisfying from a readers' perspective.

-Riko breaks Kevin's hand. Kevin leaves to become one of the foxes' best players, training them into a team worthy of finals and bringing them to victory with the game's final point

-Riko moves the Ravens to the southern district, placing his team directly in the path of the team that will eventually beat him

-Riko terrorises Kevin on the Kathy Ferdinand show, angering Neil into taking a stand against him (...which causes Andrew to re-evaluate Neil's worth, which leads to their deal, which leads to Neil staying with the Foxes...and so on)

-Riko kills Seth, who becomes a driving force for members of the team, particularly Alison, to beat the Ravens

-Riko setting Drake on Andrew further angers the Foxes and motivates them to beat him; Aaron in particular.

-This also results in Andrew sobering up sooner than he otherwise would have, arguably making him a stronger player and helping the Foxes reach finals

-Kidnapping Neil over Christmas break and forcing him to play as a backliner gives Neil an intensive course in Raven teamwork, drills, etc. Which Neil then teaches to the Foxes.

-Oh, and my favourite. They force Neil to play as a backliner against Riko. The very move which Neil then uses to block Riko from scoring in the final. Fantastic. Ten out of (jos)ten.

-Incidentally, beating the shit out of Neil and putting him in a different position causes the Ravens to vastly misunderstand/underestimate how Neil's abilities as a player have developed

-Forcing Neil into his natural appearance and helping his father find him leads to the most unifying moment for the Foxes of the entire series; the Foxes rally around Neil, and finally become one functioning, dedicated unit.

-and god, just when it seems like it couldn't get any better; Riko destroys Jean, taking one of his team's best players off the court before the match can even begin

Riko set almost every moment of his team's defeat into motion months before their match even began; the consequences of his cruelty not only weaken the ravens but fashion an opposing team which is stronger, more unified, and more determined than ever to beat Riko.

And it doesn't end with the match; Riko attempts to kill Neil, serving Ichirou all the justification he needs to dispose of his brother on a silver platter.

Riko Moriyama's fate is self-inflicted from start to finish, in the most deeply satisfying way possible.

i'm rereading tfc right and i'm at the part where neil leaves his duffel bag in the dorm and i'm just confused why he didn't take out all the clothes and then take the bag with the binder to the store?? i know he said that he wouldn't be able to handle taking everything so why didn't he just leave the other stuff?? and be like yeah i needed something to carry my new stuff with.

my son who deserves to have a man bun if he wants

time to draw the aftg girlies

Andrew is proof that Nora Sakavic is a brilliant writer

I will probably make more posts about this because it is something I feel so strongly about. I have seen SO many people wishing we'd had Andrew's POV but I am so glad we didn't. As a writer, I am ashamed at how long it took me to understand the GENIUS of Andrew's character. When writing a story, there are precisely THREE ways to relay what your characters are thinking and feeling to the reader: 1. Dialogue 2. Internal Monologue 3. Descriptions of Expression/Body Language And you need to do all three really well to make it real, natural, and believable. You have to trust your reader to understand what you're trying to say without outright saying it. This task is made all the more difficult when you don't have #2, the internal monologue. Secondary characters are ONLY understood through what they say and what emotions they show on their face and in their body language. To write a character that BARELY speaks and is INFAMOUS for having an expressionless face is the greatest show of RESTRAINT I have ever seen in a writer and it worked SO beautifully. The number of times we desperately want to know what Andrew is thinking and feeling and I BET Sakavic was twice as desperate to show us, to tell us straight out "ANDREW IS INFATUATED!" But she didn't. She stuck so perfectly to Andrew's character and GAVE US NOTHING and TRUSTED us to read between the lines to find truth. That's not even to mention the entire time Andrew was on his meds. As a writer, we want nothing more than for our readers to KNOW our characters the way we do. I can only imagine how infuriating (but also delightfully challenging) it was for Sakavic to write Andrew knowing most of what he was doing and saying was because of the meds and his promises. I could scream this from the rooftops. Sakavic deserves so much praise for this alone. I won't EVEN get into Neil's character and the relationship dynamics between every single character and every other character too. Andrew is literary genius, imo.

Was going to spend this afternoon finally formatting TGR's file for release, but I am at New Address and all of my project files are at Old Address still. So is my final batch of pre-release fun facts. Guess we're winging it from what useless details I remember:

-TGR ended at 24 chapters, 12-12 split iirc -Took about 7 restarts over way too many months to finally lock in a first chapter I could move forward with. The original Chapter One now happens later. -Found the most perfect song for Jeremy but can't post it yet. Sent it to four friends at like 3am the other day because I needed them to agree with me ('twas unanimous) -This time 'round I *think* I only have 2 reference pics to share, but will wait a week or more to post 'em. Maybe when I update the tags on that last song (last two songs? Idk) -My notes for 3 are about 16pages long so far, so I will probably have to kms at some point this year to avoid actually writing it all out. On the bright side, 3 has had a title & an ending since last summer so I don't have to worry about those two points at least

why does no one mention how deeply neil loved andrew before they accepted their relationship? neil thought that andrew just wanted to be with someone, to feel people's warmth, to kiss someone, and maybe to sleep with someone. neil believed he was just someone for andrew. however, neil agreed to spend his holiday with riko solely to keep andrew safe, without a second thought. he was ready to do anything for andrew, but at the same time, he thought that if he died, andrew would feel nothing about it. he believed that andrew did not love him. but neil did love andrew.