grooviestguru

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nora really was like 'okay so i have 30 new characters that i could torture instead of going after the foxes again' and then in the next breath went 'but neil's ribs are looking awfully breakable right now...'

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Does anyone else think that after the foxes grappled with the "happy 19th junior" scene Allison was like "okay, are we just going to ignore the fact that Neil is actually a Capricorn and not an Aries?" Just for Nicky to nod furiously "I didn't want to be the first to say it, but damn so many things make so much sense now" and everyone else looking at them like

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🦊🧡🩳 they’re so very special to me 😭🥹

[grooviestguru]

Happy Pride Month!

Faust is back for the 5th time! If you want to use the flag of your choice as an avatar, they're under the cut. They're free to use as long as it's for personal use only.

[grooviestguru]

>>> the perfect court the foxhole court the raven king the king's men the sunshine court the golden raven the broken cage >>> the queen's game

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Kissing his collarbone scar

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Sometimes I imagine Andrew mumbling “you were supposed to be a side effect of the medication” and Neil laughing like this 🥹

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kevin day:

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LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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neil josten:

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Wymack took two teenagers who were so afraid of coaches and older men they flinched at his presence and loved them so hard they think of him as a father

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It's Neil Drawing hours

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“Neil deciding he wanted to finish his drink”

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"it's fine if you hate me"

this has been said many times before by many (very hot and smart) people but it bears saying in perhaps a different way:

if andrew had somehow, by some absolute miracle, managed to actually ask neil out--if neil had said "you like me" and andrew managed to say "yes actually i like you as a person and want to be around you"--

neil would not have fucking kissed him.

thats what it means when neil says andrew hating him is fine. its not just fine, thats--in neils own words!--an understatement. its a necessary condition for neil to move forward with a physical relationship. because neil knows hes going to die. hes not going to do that to somebody; if dan or matt or someone quote unquote normal had asked him out, he would have shut it down immediately even if the feeling was reciprocated. hes going to hurt the foxes enough by being their friend and dying; hes not going to lead someone on into thinking they could have a long term relationship. he can only pursue this thing with andrew because he believes that andrew does not care about him as a person.

theres two main cases for why neil believes this:

he completely misread the situation with andrew

he is deliberately lying to himself about it to give himself an excuse to do the thing he wants to do anyway (kiss andrew stupid)

we can argue ourselves blue in the face about which one is most plausible; i generally take the boring centrist route of "bit of both, probably." andrew is, after all, a bit of a hard person to read, and neil is, after all, a lying liar who lies.

but what "its fine if you hate me" isnt is just some weird courtship thing. its the only way a guy on death row feels comfortable kissing the boy hes falling in love with. its selfish, because hes finding a reason to do it anyway, and its selfless, because he would rather deprive himself than hurt someone. and that tension is, quite frankly, one of the most delicious things about the whole book

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The Golden Raven Spoilers!!

thinking about the raven game in tgr and how awful it is for neil and andrew on so many different levels.

for one, obviously the physical *damage* to them both. it hurts, it's infuriating, it'll get in the way of exy (neil), it'll mean someone else has to drive the maserati (andrew)

for neil, he's attacked and hurt in a way that he wasn't anticipating. sure, no doubt the foxes knew this game was going to be mean and physical and awful, but to be specifically targeted like that is something else. neil survived as long as he did by being faster, smarter, and generally avoiding injury. on the run when he was hurt, mary was there to patch him up. when she was no longer there, he found safety in staying still and hiding. he hasn't been attacked *like this* in years (christmas at the nest was expected, lola and nathan were inevitable if they got their hands on him. he knew this). what it must've felt like for him, curled on the floor and unable to move for the pain. every single survival instinct shrieking for him to get up, move, run, run, run, but he can't. but he's a fox, he's neil, he doesn't have to run, he's got his team and dadmack, and andrew. he has andrew. where is andrew?

and for andrew, the physical pain isn't new and doesn't impress him. someone taking a swing at him? try to think of something more original, loser. but neil, neil is on the floor and he isn't getting up. this is happening again like last spring, except now andrew is witnessing what is being done to neil. that won't be tolerated. and then he's in a dogpile and being hauled out by his neck. it's wymack, he knows its wymack, but it's also an older, larger man putting his hands on andrew against his will. it's hands on his body, it's grunts and breathing on his skin. and he's so angry but where is neil?

bee is going to need a raise.

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something about jean having to live under the ground in the nest for so long but the people he loves are from the sky

renee is a rainbow. kevin is a star. jeremy is the sun.