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Did anyone else feel really weird when Nora said Raven!Andrew would be 7 and not 5 on the Perfect Court, and then start thinking how that says exactly how little Riko/the Ravens actually care about goalies to put them at the bottom of the list even though they've not found their dealers, which is especially odd given how dealer are almost entirely ignored in the series? No? Just me?

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Some random tips and trivia for anyone wanting to take a slightly more realistic look at exy and sport in their fanfics:

Long jogs are not good for sports like exy. The best you can say is they're good cardio, but most exercise they should be doing anyway is good cardio. To oversimplify: long term energy and fast action energy have different power supplies and training one doesn't really help the other. There's a reason sprinters and marathon runners are not the same people. Exy is a sport of fast bursts and in some cases long jogs can actually be detrimental to your ability to play these sports.

Dear lord, warm up and cool down. I know most of us just assume this is in there and glossed over, but if you're going into details, warm up and cool down and wear warm jackets after. Especially cool down. I know Kevin and Neil have already fucked their bodies but don't make it worse. Also, rest days. You body needs time to recover. Kevin and Jean will be lucky if they recover enough not to have any career after college given how much Tetsuji has fucked the Ravens with his training. Thea is probably in agony the entire time and she doesn't have long left playing.

Goalie's lead the defence line. If you want to throw around a defence captain type plot, it's your goalies, it's always goalies. Because they have the best view of the entire court. You dealer should control the entire team's plays, as the person who should be going from defence to offence and back (assuming they work similarly to other sports with a similar position) but the defence is always run by the goalie, and your goalies are usually really fucking loud about it.

Your division/class is actually nothing to do with your team's skill, but your school's sports program and budget. The Foxes are not a Class I team, Palmetto is a D1 school. To get this status, your school has to have a certain level of sports program, featuring a certain number of sports, sports for women, upcoming/rarer sports and certain required sports. While EAU blatantly ignores all of this as presented in canon (they seem to be D3 status, maybe D2 at best) who got their status through bribery and corruption and their coach, Palmetto, as presented in canon, clearly meets D1 school status. Your school's division also affects what kinds of scholarships they offer. Typically, only D1 schools offer full ride sports scholarships. It's most likely Palmetto was looking to fund an exy team and Wymack went to them because they're a D1 school, or they approached Wymack, unlike the Ravens who clearly don't understand how this works.

On the topic of Wymack: the ERC couldn't have had anything to do with Andrew's miracle in October. We'll get to this but the ERC is just not that powerful, and, see above point, they have nothing to do with Palmetto's status. Now, Nora actually gives us a far more likely and better reason in the EC, that she then overcomplicated in canon trying to make the ERC more powerful for no reason, especially given Kevin wasn't even with the Foxes at the time. In the scene where we see Wymack recruiting the cousins, Andrew brings up the idea that Wymack's initial four year will be on it's last year that year and he needs results or the school will decline renewing his contract and rebuild the exy program from scratch under a new coach. This is far more likely a reason for him to need Andrew's miracle. It's his final year of his contract, the school wants results, and if they drop out now with so few games won, he's done for. And given how many NCAA rules he and Abby help the Foxes break, it won't be long before the rest of the Foxes lose their scholarships too.

Four years might seem like an odd amount of time for an initial contract, and it sorta is, but one thing mentioned in TSC that's never brought up in the original trilogy is redshirting. Basically, for all you have a five year contract, you can only play four seasons. One season, you get to practice, but not play games, this is called red shirting, and in my experience and what I've heard from others, it's typically the freshman, for obvious reason, but this does bring up issues for Wymack's team design, and means Neil will have to take a year off eventually. And don't even think about how this affects the Ravens.

Speaking of Ravens, this is honestly one of the most basic NCAA rules: you cannot play professionally and play NCAA. Kevin and Riko literally cannot be playing for professional teams and be playing for the Ravens, the NCAA would boot them instantly. And, up until very recently, you also cannot be paid for your photoshoots, or using your likeness or sponsorships. To play NCAA, during the period AFTG is set, you cannot make any money as a player. Now, there's an argument that Tetsuji could probably make that Kevin and Riko didn't make money as players, but as celebrities in their own rights, but that's a very grey area. But, no, they weren't getting paid for photoshoots or interviews or sponsorships or anything like that. The only exceptions are tournament winnings, and there is a very strict cap on that, and stipends which there was a lot of debate over whether that counted as payment or not. They cannot be paid for anything related to exy because the second the NCAA makes an exception for exy, every other sport wants it too, and I'm sure some of them are mafia backed too. Mafia bribery doesn't fix everything, and if your trying to write your mafia as not a bunch of idiots, they'll know where to stop.

And then the ERC. They're just not that powerful, y'all. I get that Nora wanted to make them seem powerful, but given how Riko does most of the shit not Tetsuji, even that's pointless. So, for a start, the ERC needs specific scope. It's cool to call it the Exy Rules and Regulations Committee, but for what? Sports tend to have an overall ruling body, but they don't actually control everything. They control things like national tournaments and teams. Then you have the country's body, that controls things like the leagues, and they often have different rules that take time to catch up to each other. Different leagues within the same country can have slightly different rules. And often the NCAA also has its own rules. (To use volleyball, because that does have wildly different rules, in the NCAA liberos can serve in certain conditions, and that's about the only place in the world this rule exists). Basically, they only have control if you're competing in their tournament or affiliated. For the ERC to have such control over the Foxes, they're likely an NCAA committee, this means the ERC only has power over rule and regulations of Class I exy (oh yes, each division has their own committee), meaning they control things like gear regulations, rules on bench size, foul rules ect. Not which class the Foxes are in, not if Andrew's allowed to play with them, nothing like that. It's strictly the rules of the game. And they are the bottom of the power chart. Above them you have things like the division committee, the student athlete's committee and so many others. The ERC actually has very little power because the NCAA is a massive, slow moving, complicated bureaucracy. Even if they could drop the Foxes a division or get rid of Andrew, it would take years.

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Also like, do you ever just think about Riko and still in his Raven era Kevin trying to interact with normal teams? Like, I get that Nora says they know how to be normal and media trained, but nothing we actually see in the books backs that up with Riko. Imagine this eighteen year old called the King of Exy coming onto the US Court with like adults and pros and having to deal with them calling him out on not being perfect, or just disliking these nepo babies, because no matter how much of a celeb they are some people are just going to hate them, and nothing we see from Riko in canon says he can actually handle that. Like according to canon, they have 3 teams outside the Ravens, and like if we ignore how against NCAA rules that is, that's still kind hilarious to think about (also the time management involved is hilarious to manage 4 teams and university). Like maybe the two other teams were owned by the Moriyamas so are stocked with ye men and former Ravens? Do you think Tetsuji (who I have no idea how much he actually cares about Riko's King thing, canon is very conflicting on that) is willing to take worse players for the US Court just to satisfying Riko's ego?

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Apparently I'm in a talkative mood today ok. Today on things that everyone else probably has already realised but I have only just grasped recently: why do Ravens have cars?

Because, due to Tetsuji's blatant bribery and corruption that should have had investigations launched the second he set up at Evermore (in case you haven't seen my previous posts on this, your NCAA division/class is nothing to do with your team's skill but your school's sports program and budget and EAU, as described, if you're generous, a D2 school, while PSU is clearly a D1 school), he managed to set up Castle Evermore at a school that shouldn't have had it and therefore has no concept of how to properly oversee it. Think about how often you have Wymack referring to the school board and his bosses and why they have athlete dorms ect, to D1 schools their sports programs are a big deal and a massive portion of their appeal to students (and donors) and their budgets, so they manage them. EAU has no sports program to speak of (immediately disqualifying it from D1 status btw) and therefore no idea how to manage it and the oversight necessary (this doesn't change that the NCAA should be managing it but we'll gloss over that for now). Because of this Tetsuji was allowed to build Evermore waaaay off campus, because cults work best when you can isolate people (don't think about how the US Court manages to be at Evermore when the Ravens also never leave Evermore), thus facilitating the need for the Ravens to have cars because then you can manage their petrol to make sure no one's wandering, you can keep access to their keys, you could even get trackers and you won't have to risk them interacting with other people on (ew) public transport.

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Hang on I'm having a Kevin Defender moment. Like I know the Kevin and Jean and the Nest situation is pretty polarising for a lot of people, but I do think we're kind of too harsh on Kevin about it sometimes. Like, you it's a bit weird that was never hear of how close he and Jean were in the Nest, but then you can rationalise that by saying a lot of Kevin's really harsh recovery (the "omg what have I do let me go back I need to go back and save Jean" period) was likely done off screen pre-Neil. And then, pre-Neil goes to the Nest, Neil wasn't actually that friendly with the Monsters. Most of what we hear of Kevin and the Ravens isn't from Kevin, it's from people like Nicky and Wymack. And let's be real, Neil probably wouldn't have cared even if he had been told about Jean, the boy's mind is very focused and Jean is not one of the things it's focused on. So that can all sorta be made sense of.

But then you've got TSC and the EC and what went down. And this is framed from Jean's pov so of course he's hurt. Kevin used him as a distraction to get out of the Nest in a desperate situation and because he revealed the secret of their both knowing French, and this put Jean in a worse position. Sure, but Kevin was begging to be helped. He was being beaten within an inch of his life and bones broken and his one reason for living destroyed. And maybe I read wrong or missed something, but Jean didn't help him. He tried to fix him up after sure, but he didn't help him. And, while it's fine to say that Jean couldn't step in because then he'd be beaten, why then think that Kevin shouldn't be any less selfish? His "if you ever cared about me, distract him" (I can't remember the exact quote off the top of my head) could just have easily been "you didn't help me when he broke my hand, so do it now". Because, let's be real, the books are very clear on this, if Kevin didn't leave the Nest, he would be dead by now. Exy is his only reason for living as much as it is Riko's. Without it, he wouldn't have survived. And that's not to say Jean doesn't have the right to be bitter and hurt by Kevin's actions, (these are two hurt, abused boys, they're going to be messy and angry as much as people like Andrew are messy and angry just in a different way) but that for a fandom who loves to insist their narrators are unreliable you sure do rely on them and take their view of things as true and accurate and the right way to feel a lot. They're all right and they're all wrong. That's what happens with messy traumatised people and cults.

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#(also assuming op meant uncomfortable not comfortable or else idk what to make of that starting sentence)

Yes UNcomfortable (wow that's embarrassing, I hate how one always slips by and changes the meaning). I am very UNcomfortable with how SA is handled in fandom spaces, especially one like AFTG.

So like anyone who's ever talked to me knows that I'm really comfortable with how SA is handled in a lot of fandom spaces and AFTG is not different, so I don't talk about it that often even with how important it is in AFTG, but here's just one thought, (and obviously, this is your warning that it contains discussion of SA and the Nest):

Do Riko and Kevin even really understand consent, at least while in the Nest? Like this sorta links to my older posts now gone about how Kevin had power over Thea in the Nest, but like, Riko and Kevin are constantly described as getting whatever they want, Kevin says outright a few times no one says no to Riko, they're described as little gods, as princes, they get whatever they want and the only one who can stop them is Tetsuji, and he certainly doesn't care to unless it effects his plans for the Ravens. Do you think he sat down with them and talked with them? Do you think they got proper sex ed? Or was the extent of it don't get a girl pregnant and don't be gay, it'll impact your exy career, and that was it? The idea of someone saying no to them is a foreign concept, and within the Nest the idea of saying no to them is a foreign concept to the Ravens. Now, obviously none of this excuses anything, don't think I'm saying that, but it's just an interesting thought to me. Did that girl Riko and Kevin lost their virginity get a choice? Did she know she had a choice? Did Riko and Kevin know she had a choice? Did any of them think about it or was it as simple as Riko and Kevin asked so ofc the answer is yes why would it be no?

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So like anyone who's ever talked to me knows that I'm really uncomfortable with how SA is handled in a lot of fandom spaces and AFTG is not different, so I don't talk about it that often even with how important it is in AFTG, but here's just one thought, (and obviously, this is your warning that it contains discussion of SA and the Nest):

Do Riko and Kevin even really understand consent, at least while in the Nest? Like this sorta links to my older posts now gone about how Kevin had power over Thea in the Nest, but like, Riko and Kevin are constantly described as getting whatever they want, Kevin says outright a few times no one says no to Riko, they're described as little gods, as princes, they get whatever they want and the only one who can stop them is Tetsuji, and he certainly doesn't care to unless it effects his plans for the Ravens. Do you think he sat down with them and talked with them? Do you think they got proper sex ed? Or was the extent of it don't get a girl pregnant and don't be gay, it'll impact your exy career, and that was it? The idea of someone saying no to them is a foreign concept, and within the Nest the idea of saying no to them is a foreign concept to the Ravens. Now, obviously none of this excuses anything, don't think I'm saying that, but it's just an interesting thought to me. Did that girl Riko and Kevin lost their virginity get a choice? Did she know she had a choice? Did Riko and Kevin know she had a choice? Did any of them think about it or was it as simple as Riko and Kevin asked so ofc the answer is yes why would it be no?

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No one asked, but the Trojans definitely have their names below their numbers, small of your back area, rather than across the shoulders. It's a really common problem in sports with helmets (especially women's) that long hair is a pain to tie back under the helmet, there's really no good place to put it comfortably a lot of the time, even with some creative plaiting, so is often left to be free (eg women's ice hockey and mixed lacrosse, and also just mens lacrosse bc flow improves your game obvs, I need you all to realise all this as a fandom long hair = better player) so gets in the way of both the number and the name. So there's a trend to have the name and number further down the back rather than across the shoulders so it can be seen at all times, and the Trojans being the inclusive wonders that they are definitely do this.

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This is a really interesting discussion of it that really depends on whether you take the EC into account. Because yeah, Aaron almost definitely thinks that he only got his scholarship because Andrew is both amazing and troubled enough to need a second chance (even before everything else came out), but according to the EC, from Wymack's pov, he literally didn't want Aaron until he saw Andrew. And it really depends how Wymack does his recruiting that makes the difference between did he consider Aaron not deserving of a second chance, or did he just think Aaron wasn't good enough. Does he look at stats and then look for a backstory, or does he keep tabs on the potentially tragic cases and then add their stats. Because Aaron is, according to the EC, a top 10 backliner in the southeast (while Andrew is 1st in goalies), but Wymack says Aaron is his fifh or sixth choice (maybe seventh, somewhere around there, he's definitely not anywhere near his first pick), until he accidentally looked at the goalie page, because he didn't need a goalie that year, but he didn't want to risk another better team having him. It's this weird friction between Wymack who wants to win and Wymack who wants to attempt to help kids.

The most generous reading (possibly the one Aaron would like most) would be that Wymack saw Aaron improving once Andrew was in his life and thought he'd already got his second chance and didn't need his help anymore. But none of it changes the fact that the EC says Wymack didn't want Aaron (either on merit of skill or need for his help) until he saw Andrew and Aaron (even if warped through his own issues) knows this.

Having another day where I struggle with the balance of Wymack who wants to win (a side of Wymack fandom seems to ignore) vs Wymack who wants to give people second chances (the side most of fandom wants to exaggerate) and how Aaron angst is right when it angsts over Andrew being the only reason he got his scholarship (but also total bs). Like Aaron is one of the top 10 backliners in high school in the southeast, and still the only reason he jumped up from Wymack's "well if I'm really desperate maybe" list to his "absolutely need him" list was because Wymack accidentally flipped a page to far and noticed a Minyard was also the top goalkeeper (and quite frankly a guy with that good a grades and a top ten backliner in a district with teams the size of the Jackals, the only reason he wouldn't have other scholarships, at least from smaller teams, is because of Andrew).

Aaron was neither broken enough to warrant a second chance or good enough as a player to get Wymack's attention (which means to get Andrew, he either turned down a handful of kids he thought needed him more than Aaron, or a handful of kids he thought were just better because Andrew's that good).

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Having another day where I struggle with the balance of Wymack who wants to win (a side of Wymack fandom seems to ignore) vs Wymack who wants to give people second chances (the side most of fandom wants to exaggerate) and how Aaron angst is right when it angsts over Andrew being the only reason he got his scholarship (but also total bs). Like Aaron is one of the top 10 backliners in high school in the southeast, and still the only reason he jumped up from Wymack's "well if I'm really desperate maybe" list to his "absolutely need him" list was because Wymack accidentally flipped a page to far and noticed a Minyard was also the top goalkeeper (and quite frankly a guy with that good a grades and a top ten backliner in a district with teams the size of the Jackals, the only reason he wouldn't have other scholarships, at least from smaller teams, is because of Andrew).

Aaron was neither broken enough to warrant a second chance or good enough as a player to get Wymack's attention (which means to get Andrew, he either turned down a handful of kids he thought needed him more than Aaron, or a handful of kids he thought were just better because Andrew's that good).

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Today's WIP Wednesday, the Andrew backstory to the Raven!Neil fic where good behaviour and exy talent got Andrew released into a private boarding school for wayward youths, where he meet Jeremy and Allison.

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Lil WIP of our Mr Josten looking very warm and golden. Having another phase where I do a more painty style.

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And now I'm just thinking about a sequel from Katelyn's pov where Aaron is so relieved that she's so normal after all that shit with Josten and Katelyn internally panicking because while the Foxes are off doing their mafia nonsense the Vixens are spies saving the world a la Kim Possible.

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Talking about the Paint Me Raven!Neil au yesterday has me going through my notes and half written scenes and chapters, and maybe I will publish it. But also, I don't remember committing to this being some kind of Katelyn/Aaron/Renee fic when did that happen ok plot notes you know better than me. For reference, my plot notes also tell me Katelyn in Kim Possible.

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I just need people to know that Andreil's Mas is not a sports car, it's at best a sports sedan, and more realistically, it's an overpriced, badly designed, jerky piece of shit that Andrew would never have brought if he was half the petrol head we all like to pretend he is, and I hope every time he has to reach awkwardly around the gearing paddles for the headlights, or fight with the awkward radio controls, or has his or Neil's injuries aggravated because the gearing is awful and jolt every time you change gears because the clutch is awful, that he should have just replaced the Lexus (or bought one of the many other luxury cars in the same price range, I'd go for the Jaguar, personally) and he paid 100K for a shiny badge on an awful car that doesn't satisfy the sporty or luxury criteria very well at all.

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WIP Wednesday - Paint Me

So, there was a lot of Raven!Neil around fandom recently, like we're talking lots about it and suddenly all the fics are updating, so I thought today's WIP Wednesday I'd share something from my take on the Raven!Neil heads to the Foxes au. Although this is less a WIP and more the deleted prologue where I ran with the Andrew and Jeremy met in juvie theories and also went "what do you mean Andrew was the first to reject the Ravens? We didn't even ask Jeremy?" So, it's the Ravens try to recruit Jeremy prologue based on the Kevin trying to recruit Andrew scene from the EC. Also, Kevin and Jeremy, enemies to... whatever Kevin and Jeremy are? I'm here for total asshole teen Jeremy and his character arc to be Captain Sunshine.

“Was that really what we came all this way down here for?” 

It’s amazing Kevin’s fury is heard over all the chaos of the locker room, but he is Kevin Day, seventeen years old and full of bluster and righteous fury, so he will be heard. Nathaniel Wesninski doesn’t exactly blame him. This one – two? – was Kevin’s pick and that display during practice was abysmal. An insult to the game of exy and Kevin’s precious mother Kayleigh. Lazy, cheeky, foul play and more time spent gossiping than actually doing drills. How is this the best high school exy team in California? One of the best in the US? It’s made all the more baffling and infuriating by the fact that Nathaniel has watched them play actual games – it’s nothing like the practice they just saw.

While Nathaniel hangs back with the adoring crowd of St Cecilia’s Nightingales with his king, Riko Moriyama, Kevin has shoved his way to one of the lockers where their potential new Raven is slumped, grinning up at him. A potential Raven. What an insult. There are those chosen to be Ravens, and those not. The Master sent out a contract and you were honoured to sign it and fill out the forms. You did not send the forms back with a neon pink sticky note on top and a cheery NO THANK YOU! scrawled on it. No one said no. No one turned down the Ravens. No one ever had. So, of course, Kevin had stormed across the country from West Virginia to California, and Nathaniel and Riko had followed, to see exactly what the problem was.

The problem, Nathaniel decided within five seconds of being here, is that Jeremy Knox is obnoxious. Ob-Knox-ious, if you will.

“I’m sorry,” Knox says, his grin brilliant and wide as he sways his racquet from hand to hand between his spread, stretched out legs, “but I did tell you I wasn’t interested. You could have saved yourself so much disappointment if you’d listened when I told you that, you know.”

“We came to talk to you about your stupidity,” Kevin snaps. 

Knox blinks at him several times, as if surprised by this. Then he laughs, light and airy. “My stupidity?”

“Yes. Your stupidity is causing me a lot of hassle and I’d appreciate it if you’d see sense sooner rather than later so we can all stop wasting our time.”

Next to Knox, the Nightingales' sophomore goalkeeper reaches over and fans Knox’s face with his gloved hand. “You need a second to recover from that, captain?”

“I do,” Knox laughs, miming fainting back against his locker. “I haven’t felt this shamed since dinner last night.” Kevin opens his mouth to rage at him further but Knox holds up a finger. “A second to recover, Day, weren’t you listening?”

Rumour has it, the Nightingales have a prodigy of a goalkeeper amongst them. According to local legend, the best goalkeeper in high school exy, probably already playing at an NCAA worthy level. Even allowing for exaggerations, that’s a goalkeeper worth the Ravens’ attention. It’s enough that the Master had sent them with a second contract, to get a pre-emptive signature if they find something worth their time. However, St Cecilia's Nightingales have three goalkeepers, two juniors and a sophomore, and all three of them were useless. The sophomore is the one beside Knox, as he had been all practice. A little thing, probably Nathaniel’s size, although wider, with pale blond hair and a freckled face. While the juniors were simply useless, the sophomore goalie had spent most of his practice actually sitting in goal chatting with Knox, letting balls fly past him. Nathaniel has no idea how the coach allowed it.

A metallic slam jolts Nathaniel from his thoughts about the little goalie. Kevin’s hand has slammed to the locker just a fraction of a hair from Knox’s head. The locker room has gone quiet and Riko has straightened up from where he was leaning. Nathaniel knows why, of course. The way Riko looks at Kevin in moments like this isn’t subtle – dark, hooded eyes and his easy smile replaced with something sharper and hungrier. 

Knox turns his head, his smile having disappeared as he considers Kevin’s hand, then turns back to his face. They stare at each other for a moment, before Knox turns to his goalkeeper friend. 

“Do you think he’s flirting with me?”

“I was getting that vibe.” 

Kevin jerks back like he’s been burned. Knox turns back to him with a boyish grin, like he’s got exactly what he wanted out of the interaction. It takes a moment of Kevin grinding his teeth and working his jaw before he recalibrates and launches into another lecture.

“You should be ashamed of the way you played tonight. You are captain of an incredible team, and yet you act like you have time to sit around and gossip rather than perfect your game. I refuse to take you back with us if there’s even a risk that you’re going to play games like you practiced tonight. You have no place on the Ravens’ lineup if you’re not willing to constantly strive to be the best.”

Knox laughs, loud and obnoxious. Beside him, the goalkeeper’s blank face moves ever so slightly, the corners of his lips twitching up and the corners of his eyes crinkling. After a moment of laughter, and Kevin fuming over it, Knox grins up at him and taps his middle finger to his left cheekbone. 

“Then I suppose you have no place on the Ravens’ lineup either.”

Nathaniel’s nails dig into the flesh of his palms. How dare he? To be marked for Riko’s Perfect Court is an honour! Kevin being second to Riko is nothing to be ashamed of. Just like Nathaniel’s 3 is nothing that makes him ashamed. He is the best backliner in the game, but he knows that he can’t compare to Riko or Kevin. Kevin is the best supporting striker, while Riko s a lead striker. If Knox can’t understand that, he doesn’t deserve to wear Raven black. 

He opens his mouth to say as much, only to stop. The words catch in his throat. Suddenly, he understands what’s wrong with this scene. While most of the Nightingales are taking their time changing out, they have put their racquets away and are slowly stripping off their armour and shoes. Knox isn’t, but that could be explained by him talking with Kevin. But, the goalkeeper isn’t changing either.

“You’re going out to play again,” he says dumbly.

Riko and Kevin both jerk to stare at him. It’s the only reason he can think of for Jeremy and his goalkeeper to still be dressed for court, with their racquets and helmets still with them. They’re going back onto court once everyone’s gone.

“We are,” Knox says and stands up. “We’d be out there now, but you’re here taking up time.”

Kevin clenches his jaw, clenched fists shaking. “Why? Why would someone as good as you, with so much potential as you, refuse to live up to what you could really be? You clearly care, so why refuse us.”

“It’s quite simple,” Knox says, meeting Kevin’s eyes. He’s a good handful of inches smaller, but he stares Kevin down like he’s an equal. That will have to be dealt with when they get him to the Nest. “I don’t think I’ll enjoy playing with you.”

Kevin’s entire body goes slack. “What?”

“You wouldn’t enjoy winning?” Riko says.

Knox looks between the three of them, then sighs. “Is that all you think exy is?”

“What else is there?” Nathaniel says.

“How sad,” Knox says softly. Then he looks back at Kevin. “Come play with us. Let’s see if we can find an understanding. Perhaps you can convince me you Ravens are worth my time.”

That they’re worth Knox’s time?! 

They should refuse out of principle. Knox is clearly an arrogant son of a bitch who needs to be knocked down, crushed in the mud and taught his proper place in the world before he can be built back up as Riko and Kevin’s back up. 

“Fifteen minutes,” Kevin says, lifting his chin. “That's all I’ll need to convince you.” He turns and Nathaniel jerks straight. “Nathaniel. You’ll play with us.”

“Yes, Kevin,” Nathaniel says.

Knox smiles and gestures to his goalkeeper. “This is Andrew.”

“He’s unimportant,” Kevin replies, and turns to the Nightingales’ coach. “Can we have your court and borrow some gear, please.”

The coach flinches like she’s been struck, half the locker room does. Kevin ignores that like he hasn’t even picked up on it, but it’s fascinating to Nathaniel. What did Kevin say? He hadn’t even been particularly demanding. The coach arranges for their team to provide equipment while Knox talks quietly with his goalkeeper – Andrew. He doesn’t look at all impressed by whatever Knox is saying to him.

“I’ll buy you milkshakes after,” Knox whispers as Nathaniel changes.

Andrew looks at Knox. “The good stuff. Gelato milkshake. From Gelato Tiger.”

“Fine.”

“Deal.”

Naturally, the coach and team bend over backwards to accommodate them, and within five minutes the four of them are heading out onto the Nightingales’ gold and blue court. It’s one of the best high school courts in California, and regularly hosts other schools in the area that don’t have their own. Naturally, the rest of the Nightingales have come out onto the bleachers to watch.

“Andrew is important,” Knox says as they head onto court, Andrew already peeling off to the home goal. Kevin looks at Knox, who grins back beneath his helmet. “He’s far more important than I am. He’s going to shut you out.”

The arrogance. Some high school goalie who sat around gossiping all practice is going to shut out Kevin Day? Jeremy Knox is not just obnoxious and arrogant, but delusional as well. Do they really want someone like this on the Ravens?

They line up on court and Nathaniel looks over his shoulder at Andrew. He’s twirling his racquet absently. He catches Nathaniel’s eye and rests his racquet across his shoulder with a tilt of his head.

“I'm Nathaniel Wesninski, but I'm sure you know that,” he says, at least attempting to keep the Ravens’ public image. “Can I rely on you to have my back?”

Andrew’s face is hard to see under his helmet, but Nathaniel gets the feeling it’s still terrifyingly blank, as it has been the entire time. “Don’t get in my way.”

Nathaniel frowns at him, then shakes his head and turns back to the two strikers arranging their rules. Apparently all of the Nightingales are insufferable, arrogant pricks who need to learn their place. Kevin slams his racquet butt against the court floor, then sets himself up to come in first.

“Begin.”

He takes off without waiting and Nathaniel grips his racquet tighter, bracing for the coming impact. He trains with Kevin every day. They know each other’s moves easily. It’s what makes it so difficult to go against each other. Knox stays back, in fact he’s walking backwards away from the centre line, watching curiously as Kevin and Nathaniel dance around each other. And then Kevin breaks free and shoots for the goal.

It doesn’t light up.

The crack of Andrew sending the ball back up court rips through Nathaniel’s chest. Knox is running up court to get the ball off of a rebound from the far wall. Kevin is staring at Andrew and Nathaniel quickly whips around to face Knox. He’s fast. This is the player they came here for. Nathaniel presses forward to meet him with a grin splitting his face. Knox is fast and agile, built to dance around the opponents defence rather than take hard impacts. Their sticks slam together and Knox twists to dance around him. Nathaniel lets him take the fist one, wanting to watch him take on Andrew, and again the ball is lazily thrown up court.

Huh. So Andrew is actually probably pretty good. This must be the goalkeeper everyone talks about out here. Someone who can match the Perfect Court despite his young age. Perhaps, even if they can’t get Knox, their trip won’t be entirely wasted.

The game is fast from there. Andrew is an incredible goalkeeper. By the time their fifteen minutes is up, and Riko slams his fist against the plexiglass, it’s not a shutout, but it’s the best Nathaniel has ever seen a high school goalkeeper keep up with Kevin. With Nathaniel's help he’s only let in three goals from Kevin and one from Knox. Nathaniel turns to Riko, whose eyes are bright and fixed on Andrew. He knows. They all know. Andrew is special. Andrew is a Raven. He’s Perfect Court! And he’s so young. A shiver bolts up Nathaniel’s spine imagining what Andrew could become if they could get him to the Nest now, under their guidance, without distraction and given the Master’s training, with Nathaniel and Jean helping him. They have to have him.

“Did you have fun losing?” Kevin says.

Knox pulls off his helmet. He’s sweaty and grinning, and doesn’t seem at all bothered by the loss. “I had fun playing. And I had fun seeing Andrew play at- well, I suppose about seventy per cent.”

“He’s not even…” Nathaniel turns but Andrew is already sweeping from the court. “He wasn’t playing all out?”

“Andrew never goes all out,” Knox says, walking away. “But, playing with him, when he puts any effort in, it’s the most amazing thing. That’s the sort of thing that really makes me enjoy exy the most.”

Riko has stepped in front of Andrew to stop him. When Andrew shoves past, Riko grabs his arm and pulls him around. And everything goes to hell. Andrew shoves him back against the plexiglass and Nathaniel sprints of them, metal flashing between the pair. The coach gets to them first, hands held up in surrender and trying to talk Andrew down. Nathaniel is not so subtle. He’d left his own knife with his clothes when he changed, but he has enough practice getting his way without.

“Back off,” Nathaniel demands, shoving Andrew’s side.

Andrew barely moves. It’s like shoving a brick wall. He turns slowly and just stares back at Nathaniel, blank and cold, then makes a show of releasing Riko’s collar. “Keep your hands to yourself and we don’t have a problem.”

“You have to sign for us,” Riko says.

“Oh,”Knox laughs, jogging after Andrew. “I’ve been forgotten.”

Andrew yawns, exaggerated and loud, and walks away towards the locker room. “You promised me milkshake, captain.”

“My poor wallet,” he sighs.

“You can handle it, rich boy.”

[foxufortunes]

Starting to think some people don't know what a pipedream actually is.