Kevin Would Not - Could Not - Defend Himself Against Riko. Years Of Abuse And Torture Beat Into Him That

aaron watching andrew be forced to take a medication that will alter his mental state.

aaron seeing all andrew's nervous tics before he takes the first pill. aaron seeing how scared andrew is.

aaron sitting outside the bathroom door while andrew gets sick after trying to get off his meds the first time. when andrew finally comes out into the hall and sees aaron, he just walks right past him. "withdraw sucks doesn't it?" aaron says. "don't talk to me," andrew says back and aaron can't help but hate how tired and defeated andrew sounds.

🌀”I have a bit of an attitude problem” 🌀5/6 Foxhole Court overlays.

Featuring the scene from chapter 13 with the Kathy Ferdinand show and Riko meeting!

Inspired by this quote:

“Ah, forgive my bad manners,” Kathy said to Neil. “I didn’t forget you over there, I just got distracted. Let’s get the pair of you introduced, though I’m not sure either one of you needs an introduction by now. Riko, Neil. Neil, Riko. Kevin’s past and present or should I say past and future?”

[…]

“I will ask you only once to tone down the animosity”

“I can’t,” Neil said. “I have a bit of an attitude problem.”

Only one overlay left to go! Though I must admit I think this is one of my favourites, especially with Andrew in the front row!

Jean, Kevin and Neil are all obsessed with Exy, but all three couldn't be any more different.

Kevin looks at Exy as his birth given right. His mother created the sport. He probably held a stick, before he lernt how to walk. Little Kevin and Riko probably watched Exy games instead of shows for kids.

Kevin lived and breathed Exy since he could remember. It is his whole life, there is no way he could imagine living without it. It's not his hobby, it's not his passion, Exy is who he is. Without it he is nothing, he is worthless. He is outraged every time someone does something wrong on the court or doesn't care as much as he does, because it is personal for him. He takes disrespect on Exy as a direct disrespect on him.

He never chose this life, it chose him and he would crumble without it.

Jean plays to survive. He plays, because that is what is expected of him. Playing is his only worth, his only purpose, his only value. Without it he would be treated even worse than he already was and he knows it.

So he plays. He plays so he can have a moment to breathe, a moment for himself. If he can focus on the game, or the practice he can forget about the abuse. He can burry himself in at least one thing he is good at.

Exy doesn't, of course, come without consequences. He makes mistakes and he is punished and the cycle of violence continues. Exy is his curse, if he stoped there would be a chance that he would get a thing he so desperately wishes for.

Death.

But he plays. He plays, because he made a promise to Kevin. he plays, because he is too scared to find out what would happen if he didn't. He plays, because disobedience was beaten (and so much worse) out of him.

He never chose to play, it was forced onto him and even though he wouldn't accept it, a life without Exy would be his salvation.

Neil plays to live. He spent his whole life on crumbs, just surviving, looking over his shoulder and doing everything to see another day. He was in a rush, never stoping at one place for too long, never having someone or something that he chose for himself.

Until Exy, until the Foxes. He chose to play, despite knowing how dangerous it was for him. He played despite every survival instincts telling him to run.

Exy is like breathing to Neil. He loves it with every fiber of his being. He doesn't care if he gets hurt or killed, he just wants to play.

One more game, one more month, one more year, just one more.

Finding Exy again was the best decision he had ever made. It brought him his family, it brought him purpose, it brought him life.

He chose it himself and he would rather die, than let it be ripped away from him.

They are all Exy junkies, but none of them get the other. They think they do, but their obsessions are so fundamentally different, they never could.

I genuinely love Neil's "I'm fine" bit so much because in his fucked up mind, he actually is fine. To him, a broken nose or smth is miles better than having to jump out of a moving car because the alternative is getting killed. And it takes so long for him to realise that even the Foxes don't have that kind of filter.

Andrew and Neil definitely cuddle, BUT i am a firm believer of two things, 1) their go-to is just Andrew lying on top of Neil like a weighted blanket (never the other way around though) and 2) andrew never like wraps his arms around neil to the point of holding him in place/restricting his movement or even putting them in positions that could make that a possibility even on accident

Actually obsessed with the trojans (specifically Jeremy) calling out the weird ass language Jean and Kevin use. Like no it’s weird that Kevin casually talks about Jean submitting. It’s weird that a grown ass man insisted on being referred to as ‘the master’ by his team. Like we get used to it with the foxes bc they just talk Like That, but to any normal person it’s jarring as hell.

Like to me it really points out how everything, down to how the ravens talk, was a means of control and manipulation and how it’s so indicative of a the abusive culture of the nest

I wanna see more andreil "arguments" that's just them being petty assholes to each other. andrew calls neil an idiot on a plane one time and neil tells him "we are 32,000 feet in the air"

Andrew is the favorite uncle. Not just for Aaron and Nicky’s kids but all the foxes kids are just obsessed with uncle Andrew.

None of the foxes understand why except for Neil. But that only because Neil is there when Andrew gets up at three am to answer a phone call from their sobbing niece, who admits for the first time out loud that maybe she isn’t a boy and “is that okay uncle Andrew”. Or when Kevin’s kid shows up at there house after getting in an argument with her dad and Andrew lets her rage and rant until it doesn’t seem like the end of the world anymore, then walks her home (hc: they live pretty close for a while cause their on the same team). Or when nobody can get Aaron’s twins to stop crying but as soon as Andrew is given a turn at trying to calm the babies they stop immediately.

The kids all love Andrew he’s the first one they go to with their issues, he’s the first one they run too when all the foxes are together, he’s the first one that they come out too if they’re queer(Nicky is so mad when his kid comes out to Andrew before him)

He’s just a really good uncle.

"omg those are the exy monsters they're so scary"

you mean nicky? with a mortgage, husband and two kids?

neil? canonically a math nerd who enjoys cross country?

aaron? the pre-med student dating a cheerleader?

kevin? worlds first almond-mom-history-nerd?

andrew? the boundary respecting ice cream addict?

like yeah ok they've killed people but like also they have a cheese drawer so just calm down, be respectful, and don't start punching people - you'll be fine.

(The Raven King, ch.14)

This one line lives in my head rent-free. Neil may be antagonistic, but he never hated Aaron. He wanted him to be happy from the beginning.