#fuck riko moriyama btw

[hmmm-shesucks]

Guys, I couldn't care less about Riko Moriyama, but fuck, his death burns me alive. That was probably the first time in years he’d been in the same room as his big brother, and instead of getting the reunion he’d probably always hoped for, he got shot in the fucking head. His last memories were of being betrayed by his brother. That shit fucked me up, and it continues to fuck me up any time I think about it. I hold no sympathy for Riko Moriyama as a person, and I fully believe he got what he deserved. However, as a big sister who is fully aware of the power I hold over my younger siblings, the devastation Riko must have felt breaks me.

[catboygretzky]

Exyblr Dashboard Simulator based on what I personally see on sportsblr:

10/?

🏳️‍🌈 gay4stickball follow

People truly underestimate exyblr's ability to create a whole ass human out of nothing. you give us their place of origin, their position, their size, and maybe one fact about their life and BOOM a whole ass human.

🧜‍♀️ sapphicexy

Why is this so truuuuuuue 😭

🌞 blonde-jeremy-knox

jean moreau? im pretty sure no one has ever even heard him SPEAK but we know:

he's french. he's tall. he's a backliner. he doesn't talk to the press. he's perfect court but transferred from EAU to USC (which is literally the hugest change possible)

bing bang BOOM he is bitchy but quiet (probably raises his eyebrow in disdain a lot), a sturdy presence that is a little unsure of his place in the world but hides it behind bitchy comments who always strives to be better on and off the court.

💃fox-me-up follow

and he's gay

🌞 blonde-jeremy-knox

and he's gay

678 notes

🧚 goalie-stan

call me matt boyd the way i look at dan wilds like she hung the moon and stars

#god......Dan please.....end my suffering......

109 notes

👸🏻 kevindazed follow

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#it ain't happening sweetheart SHE'S NEVER GONNA TOP YOU

243 notes

🙈 ittybittyminny follow

do you ever want to squidge someone's cheeks SO BAD but you know they'd murder you for even thinking it

🦚 dilf-wymack

is this about andrew minyard

🙈 ittybittyminny follow

isn't everything

#just assume everything i say is about andrew minyard

1,002 notes

✍️ exy-fic-rec

icarus once flew

Fandom: Exy RPF

Pairing: Kevin Day/Andrew Minyard

Rating: E

Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Friends With Benefits

Word count: 59k

Summary: He'd done this before with teammates, and it hadn't affected anything; there was no reason this should be any different, so it wasn't different. But here on the bathroom floor, hugging his knees to his chest, Kevin could admit to himself that it was different than anything he'd done with teammates in the past.

It was different, because none of those teammates were Andrew.

#kevin day #andrew minyard #0203 #kandrew #psu #palmetto #psu foxes #explicit #exy rpf #fic rec #explicit #friends with benefits #angst #hurt/comfort

201 notes

🐋 sexyexy

ran into jeremy knox on campus and that girl was literally bouncing on his toes, what the fuck kinda -

#hated it btw #way too depressed for her rn

25 notes

🤳 badexyimagines

Imaaaaagine....... it's your first date with riko moriyama. He takes you to red lobster, you're allergic to lobster but he orders it for you anyway. You die

#exy #imagine #riko moriyama #esu #once again this is a JOKE

56 notes

[foxstens]

awww come on! defend him! why do you think kevin is not a coward?? 🙏 he totally is btw 😉

okay i'll bite, just because you asked nicely.

i still don't understand what exactly about his behavior would make you or anyone think he's a coward. in the trilogy we see him from neil's perspective, who is biased and has this tendency to disregard his own well-being - something the other characters point out repeatedly as not a good thing.

by comparison kevin's reactions to what's happening are a bit more normal. he grew up in a cult, watched neil's father cut up a man into pieces for defying the moriyamas when he was a child, who knows what else riko and tetsuji did to ensure he's afraid of the family in general and not just the two of them.

and like, kevin knows a lot. he spent years with never more than a room between him and riko, he probably knows almost as much as riko about the family business. which means, he understands what they're capable of and he understands what they'll do to him and everyone he cares about if they deem him a threat. being afraid of and doing whatever you can to avoid pain and death is not a bad thing? most people would do the same in his situation.

the books say riko is working with scraps and still has an incredible amount of power, we see exactly what the consequences of neil running his mouth are. why would kevin want to make things even worse, especially since riko is to him as neil's father is to neil. we don't really see neil mouthing off to his father even when he's sure he's going to die, because he's fucking terrified of the man!!!

i also don't think we can really compare their attitudes for multiple reasons. they're different people, and neil can afford not to be afraid of riko because he's seen worse, he also doesn't seem to fully comprehend how far riko is willing to go. but kevin spent a decade in the nest, he grew up under their tyranny and he was punished who knows how every time he dared speak up against them.

neil also spends most of the trilogy resigned that he's going to die soon so he's willing to gamble with his own well-being. kevin on the other hand, he has hope. he has a father and a new team and a chance at recovering his career, aka the one thing he's been raised to care about. not wanting to gamble all that doesn't make him a coward.

and like, what exactly do you want from him? we see him standing up to riko as soon as they're backstage on kathy's show. he tells neil to run even if he knows it'll cost them the season. he lies to andrew for months, twice, despite knowing how andrew will react.

if you think he's a coward just because he doesn't fist fight riko at the first available opportunity, idk what to tell you.

btw how come nobody calls jean a coward, for, you know, having the same mindset as kevin in the first book. don't even get me started how from jean's perspective kevin is insane for saying he's never been skiing and covering up his tattoo

[kevindavidday]

okay okay some of my thoughts: the bridge specifically!!! “you called me again, drunk in your benz, driving home under the influence, you scared me to death but i‘m wasting my breath“ i‘m thinking… riko who somehow got kevin‘s phone number after he left the ravens, and kevin grips his phone so tightly that he thinks he hears it crack, some part of him still wants to make riko stop driving cause he‘s drunk and he could kill himself, but there‘s also pure panic because “how did he find me?“

and at some point the connection just. stops and there‘s tears running down kevin‘s cheeks, he can‘t breathe, he‘s scared that riko will find him, he‘s shaking, he‘s alone and he knows he‘ll always be

good lawd these ravens...'he's alone and he knows he'll always be' and riko moriyamas ghost will haunt the narrative of his life till he chooses to move on

riko moriyama would be such an inspo for toxic bitches everywhere btw like playing on your attachment towards him...knowing kevin will care if he dies...ugh...fucking asshole i can't believe this

love the idea of riko drunk calling kevin to jumpscare him solely because i get so happy when kevin day is filled with life threatening dread (he's my favorite character ever)

[achenetype]

content warning: graphic violence, drug and alcohol use, slight dubcon if you squint, death, a lot of death actually, vomiting, eating disorders, riko-typical abuse, riko is his own warning, the ravens kind of all love and fuck each other because who else will, self-harm mentions, explicit sex, thoughts of suicide, the riko/reader/kevin situationship is so intense (here's the playlist, btw) , graphic descriptions of injury/surgery, ravens-typical cult/grooming behavior

thinking about the ravens again. this team of athletes bred to be the best of the best, the bloodiest of the bloodiest. the fierce competition for the top spots (and by extension proximity to riko). i know parties in the nest go fucking CRAZY, like i know there’s someone on the team who always has drugs or alcohol and sometimes this well oiled machine of a team likes to lose its shit.

imagining being a walk-on, freshman year. you’d committed to edgar allan university for their pre-medical program, been offered the best scholarship offer of your life, and in your first biology class this boy with sharp cheekbones and a sharper tongue sits down next to you. he asks you for a pencil, which you give him, and he introduces himself as riko moriyama. over the next few weeks, riko convinces you to come to tryouts for the school’s exy team, and because you’re a little starstruck at the thought that riko fucking moriyama wants you anywhere, you agree.

you hadn’t played exy since your sophomore year of high school, but you’re strong. you can run fast. you’re not afraid to fight dirty. the ravens sign you only minutes after you bruise your knuckles punching the mouth guard out of another freshman’s teeth. you hadn’t even gotten settled into your dorm, so moving out and moving into the nest was no big deal.

riko wants every raven to know every other raven, wants to have a network of sleeper cells through the whole school. your team has players from every major, every background. rich kids, poor kids, every ethnicity you could think of. the ravens are all-encompassing. they’re family. they’re everything. you get paired with someone, a sophomore with an easy smile and skin just a shade darker than yours, and you feel amazing for the first time since leaving your hometown.

the first party happens after you win a match against a school from new york city. it’s in the basement of the nest, this long, catacomb-like chamber that the ravens have turned into their own personal den of sin. you barely register a drink being shoved into your hand before your pair partner is dragging you through a sea of people in black and red to a small table in a back corner. he gestures to the powder cut into neat lines on a silver tray, squeezing your hand, and murmurs, “go on.”

the coke burns your nose like you’d inhaled water, but sharper. worse. from across the table, riko grins at you. his hair hangs messily around his face, loose and curly, and you want to lean into his sparkling space and kiss him, but his partner is right there, their arms linked together and his head resting on riko’s shoulder, and the hivemind has been doing its job—everyone knows that riko and kevin are a thing, are exclusive. you don’t stand a chance, especially not as a freshie walk-on.

your partner claps you on the shoulder and whoops. the music is loud enough to drown out what he says, but something shifts in the air. you’re one of them now. one of us. you drink until your vision goes fuzzy and the pounding of your head matches the bass of the music.

you wake up for practice feeling like shit. it shows.

you’re sloppy, aching and hungover, hungry and tired. it’s unacceptable. really, you deserve it when riko slaps you across the face in the middle of the court and sends you back to your dorm. you deserve it when you open the door and see him standing there, see the knife in his hand. you deserve whatever he carves into your back, even though it feels like he’s peeling your skin off. maybe he is. you’d let him do it anyway, would beg for his fingertips to unsheathe you from the body you spent so long trying to hate and hurt and perfect into something unattainable.

you throw up for the first time in months that night. it becomes a habit. eating in the nest is something that one has to dance around carefully. the running joke is that there are two types of ravens: the anorexics, and the bulimics. starve or puke. the result is the same: lean, hollow things that break when you throw them at each other. riko invites you to smoke with him and kevin and jean, the french boy with silver bands around his neat rows of locs, and you pass a pack of american spirit cigarettes between the four of you until you’re dizzy and nic-sick.

you think kevin doesn’t like you that much.

you think it until he drags you into the showers one day after practice and kisses you, mean, like he’s got something to prove and you’re the only person he cares about proving it to. you should have known something wasn’t right, because the press of riko’s body behind you makes you jump out of your skin. he’s got one hand on your neck, turning you to kiss him while kevin mouths at your jaw and collarbones, and one hand under the sleeve of your jersey, tracing over the uniform lines that cover your arm.

he asks you what you use. “box cutter,” you say breathlessly. “i take apart razors or pencil sharpeners when it’s not sharp enough.” you’re not sure why you tell him so easily, or why kevin drops to his knees and licks a stripe up your forearm, his tongue rolling over both your scars and riko’s fingers.

the second party happens a day later. it’s not technically a raven party—it’s a sigma pi frat party, but every sigma pi brother is also a raven, so it’s basically the same thing. you get tipsy, hit a few people’s weed.

you can’t remember when the last time you saw your pair partner was. god, you must be drunk. he was in your room….not today, not yesterday. maybe a few days ago. a week. before practice.

you realize that he didn’t come back with you in the same moment that you realize you’re going to puke.

in the bathroom, you lay on the cold tile and think about what else you’d forgotten, or just been told not to notice. you knew you weren’t the only member of the team to get beaten after a bad play. you remember rubbing ice over jean’s bruises, watching victoria swallow a small white pill dry after meeting riko for a debrief.

you wonder how many layers of makeup are hiding bruises in this house. you think you’d kill yourself if you had to count. you think you might kill yourself anyway.

(no, you won’t. you have no reason to. you’re untouchable. you have good grades. you have family. you have the ravens. you wouldn’t throw that away by cutting too deep or emptying your drug stash into your mouth.)

someone decides to play spin the bottle and kevin’s hand closes around your wrist, drags you into the circle with him and riko and jean, and a junior whose name is something with an m, manuel or martin or mickey. a few other people take spots—victoria, a freshman like you, but she was recruited from a private school in connecticut—alexei, a sophomore backliner whose english was about as good as his passes—a pair of seniors who give you an up-and-down glance as they sit.

you can feel their eyes resting on kevin’s hand clasped around your arm, jean’s shoulder brushing yours. they could burn a hole through you and into the ground with how hard they stare when riko taps your thigh, signaling you to spin the empty wine bottle first.

it lands on jean and the two of you swap spit for around five seconds before he pulls away. you smile at him. he doesn’t return it. something dark and sick curls up in your chest. you think you might puke again, or at least cough up whatever rot has taken root inside of you.

jean spins, kisses victoria, and retreats to find another drink. victoria makes out with alexei for what seems like a frankly embarrassing amount of time. alexei spins, tripping over his words as he does so, and ends up drooling into manuel’s mouth.

manuel’s spin lands on kevin, who accepts a kiss on the cheek before nudging the bottle with his foot so that it points at riko.

watching the two of them feels like watching a pair of animals try to eat each other alive. kevin swings one leg over riko’s lap and riko very unsubtly rolls his hips, leaning in to kiss kevin fast and sharp and hungry.

you’re so hungry. the alcohol swaying like liquid nitrogen in your stomach has done nothing to make you feel full, make you feel satisfied. you just feel empty and sick.

it gets worse when kevin snakes one hand up to yank riko’s hair, moving from kissing his mouth to sucking bruises into his exposed neck. riko tips his head back and laughs. as kevin matches riko’s rhythm, riko reaches around and spins the bottle, one decisive movement

the neck of it points to you. you feel your face heat up. riko inclines his head towards you in silent invitation.

this is a test, you think through the buzz of weed and alcohol.

you take a deep breath and turn to your left, and riko’s lips against yours feel like lightning. you can feel kevin still mouthing at riko’s neck next to you, the movement of his hips stuttering as riko thumbs over your cheek and lets his tongue slide against yours. “cmere,” he murmurs. “stop holding back.”

you’re not sure what makes you bold enough to catch his lip between your teeth and bite, but the little gasp that comes from riko is indication that you’ve done something right. you kiss him deeper, messier, spit slicking both of your mouths before pulling away.

there’s blood dripping from riko’s lips and you’re satisfied in a sick, wobbling way. kevin separates his face from the crook of riko’s neck to stare at you.

silent invitation. silent test. everything the ravens do is unspoken. you’d think the entire team had some kind of telepathy.

you end up pressed between them. you’re dizzy—the world sways in time with riko’s hand on your thigh, kevin’s mouth between his legs. everything slows to a crystallizing point. riko laughs as he guides you and kevin together, watching the two of you kiss, watching the desperate movement of the two of you against each other.

riko laughs and it sounds like bells. riko laughs and everything is perfect. the bass of whatever song is playing is pounding in your ears, muffled by the door that you're not sure if anyone locked.

when you wake up the next morning, you feel dead. you wish you were when you roll over and see kevin and riko in bed next to you, fitting together like perfect puzzle pieces.

you decide to go for a run before your morning practice, tugging on your shoes and jacket quietly so that neither of them wake up. your feet thud against the pavement as you turn around one corner of the school.

your legs burn. the hickeys on your thighs and chest burn with them, dull flickers of pain that remind you with every breath of riko’s mouth and kevin’s hands.

you’re early to practice that day. and the day after that. you climb the ranks, taking #10 and then #8 and finally, finally, settling on #6. you're second-string, which means you get to play almost every game because red cards are beautiful and impermanent and fold in half like the hinge of a door opening. you are real. you are exactly where you are meant to be.

winter break comes and the ravens are taking a team trip to the southern exy banquet. raise morale, get closer. all that. you lie to your parents and say you’re road tripping with your friends, which isn’t technically false, but it’s not true either. you fall asleep on the bus, your head resting on kevin’s shoulder.

it’s the safest you feel for a long time.

"team trip" turns out to be a rather misleading way to say "working our athletes until they pass out or die." you scream the first time someone collapses during sprints. you cover your mouth with your hand when a forty-pound weight caves in someone's chest and you can see the splinters of their ribs. as a pre-medical student, you end up treating those who survive.

by the time kevin comes to you, shaking and mute with his hand cradled close to his chest, you don't flinch. you memorize the position of the bones: carpals, metacarpals, phalanges. you memorize the look on kevin's face when you walk him to the hotel room of another team's coach after rearranging the bones and tendons of his hand to make the damage look half unintentional.

you memorize the lie riko tells you to tell everyone else. skiing accident. too fast. accident. accident. not on purpose. accident, meaning no one's fault, meaning avoidable, meaning, meaning, meaning.

(when kevin is gone and the rest of the team is on the bus back to west virginia, riko tells you the truth. he tells you between kisses that he didn't ask for but you give anyways. he tells you if you breathe a word i'll fucking kill you in low, guttural japanese, the language you'd been learning to talk only to him and kevin.

you nod, and quietly tell him nani mo iimasen. you won't say a thing.)

[nightphans]

kevin is...alone.

first, he had riko. his partner in life. his ‘brother’. despite the abuse, kevin still clung to him.

next, he had andrew. andrew his protector, andrew who wouldn’t hurt him. until he did, ultimately choosing neil over kevin. neil was andrew’s ‘something to live for’, so he didn’t blame him, but it still stung.

so now, kevin was alone. kevin had never been alone before, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. it meant he didn’t have anyone to be hide behind, to be second best too. maybe that was for the better, maybe it meant kevin could finally rise to the top and be the best of the best.

but he was still afraid. so, so afraid.

[thisisnotourlasthunt]

On the Moriyamas....

They might be one of the most dangerous mafia families out there, but the Moriyamas are so interesting and intriguing. 

Here are some of the things I constantly think about this family: 

There are no women mentioned in that family.

Like, Ichirou’s and Riko’s mom is never mentioned. 

Is she alive? Is she dead? Did they kill her for having a second child?

What would have happened if Ichirou was a girl? Would he have been given away? Would he be in power? Would he have been given to Tetsuji and therefore Riko would have been in the main family?

What would have happened if Riko was to be born first? Would it had been the same course of events?

Idk about you, but I visualize Ichirou as a tall, handsome, formal-looking, muscular asian guy, who wears tight clothes but look good at doing it.

I also believe he is queer.

And I lowkey ship him with Stuart (For this I thank Ao3, especially the story ‘The New Normal’ by @justadreamfox).

Idk why, but I also believe that Ichirou is a good dude, maybe he will not express it so much, but I do believe he checks on Neil, Kevin, and Jean every now and then.

Like, watching their games, especially the olympics, and celebrating with Stuart when the US court wins and sending at least Neil a card (or even maybe a small gift) that says ‘Congrats’.

Idk, I like Ichirou and I need more information of him, he is the only Moriyama I can stan.

I mean, he let Neil, Kevin and Jean free, they just have to pay him 80% of what they earn by going pro and (if I’m not wrong) it is said that pro players are paid with 7 digit amounts a year sooooo...

Lets say they are paid $1,000,000

The 80% is $800,000

Meaning they still earn about $200,000 (I might be wrong btw)

Which is still A LOT

If someone told me that I’d be free after suffering for like 20 years of my life and I just have to give 80% of what I earn and what I do at the end is that, believe me I don’t fucking care and have it. Also the fact that my partner also went pro meaning not only we have that amount of money but more! 

This ended up being me talking about Ichirou and how much I like him and I’m NOT sorry.

[kevinexyqueen]

An fanfic where Neil starded working for the Hatfords after his mom died but he is already dating Andrew and join the foxes anyway

so, andrew and neil meet in juvie when neil was like 14

he stayed there for 3 or 4months while his mother worked some things out

and there he bonded with andrew, told him some trues (he was 14 he was not thar good at keeping secrets yet) , they make a deal, a lot of drama etc etc

and then he has to break out from the place and andrew is like

" i'm going with you"

"no, you're not"

"yes, i am"

andrew can be fucking stubborn so yeah he goes with neil

(he already knows about aaron is a way to put more distance between them)

mary is pissed off, but andrew knows to much and she was not about to kill him

and she sees the way that andrew protect neil so in the end andrew stays with them

is not like someone will put real effort in looking for a foster kid

so she shows andrew how to use a knife (I think she didn't stop teaching neil, is a too valuable habilit)

and also a gun, and i have a headcanon that Andrew is just awful with it, and neil loves to make fun of him

anyway, they protect each other, kill some people, fall in love, learns russian, spar together, normal teenager stuffs

mary does not know, andrew doesn't like her but he doesn't kill her because he knows she is the only reason neil is still alive

they started dating after a year since they meet, so neil was 15 and andrew 16

idk neils/nathaniels age makes me confuse

also, andrew convinces neil to play exy without she knowing

(btw i forgot to mention neil was stefan when thet meet and alex when seattle happens)

and well like a just said Seattle happens

and after that neil can't just keep running, he won't be responsible for Andrew death as well

sooo, yep he calls stuart

Stuart tells them all the moriyamas bullshit, etc etc

they go to the FBI, neils is officially neil abraam josten, Andrew becames andrew minyard etc

after that andrew goes to live with aaron and Neil goes to england, it was safer that way for both of them

STUART KILLS NATHAN/LOLA YEAHH

continuing, they keep dating, long distance and all, andrew goes to england every month at least and do little jobs for neil's family

neil only do some translation works and he is pretty good at making deals (the irony) so he deals with a lot of other mobs family's and is like a lot people think he should become head of the family but that's a long history

anyway, all the canon shit with Andrew happens the same way, Tilda, Nicky, he turning down the ravens and he join the foxes

but he has some Hatford people watching over him so he doesn't beat all those man alone and doesn't take his meds (just needs to see a therapist for a couple of years)

even with all the Mafia shit neil still plays exy and he is better than he is in canon since he have been practicing with andrew for a few years (and also he spars with andrew so hr is a wayyyy better fighter and he also uses the knifes cause of andrew insistence and again all the mafia shit)

anyway, the Hatfords know about them but Andrew's family/the foxes (same thing, no?) doesn't

they come with a plan to take down the moriyamas and i have that in my head but don't know how to explain

but neils deals with a lot of mafia family's right? so like if the moriyamas kill him the Hatfords and idk the chinese as well will take revenge, and the moriyamas would loose since they are dealing with a war in japan and kengo is in hospital, nathan is dead etc etc

so, too much trouble to kill neil, so neil makes a peace offer with ichirou that while he is in the eau he won't kill him or the other foxes

so like, if rikos touches them he will be carving his own grave, and thats the whole point, cause Kevin's hand proven that riko's doesn't have any self control so the fucking plan is making riko angry

and we all know how good neil is at this, andrew is not happy

so yeah, neil needs to join some exy team and of course he will join the foxes because his bf right

NOW EVERYONE FINDING OUT ABOUT NEIL

because like, they are together for years, and not as much hurt as they are in canon, they didn't feel the need to tell anyone but they also doesn't care to hide and yes they hold hand in public and things like this

now neil only come on the same day the upperclassmen return cause there was no need for him to come early

so, like a hour before the reunion in the lounge andrew is like hey everybody in the car now or you're walking

and everyone is like ???? especially when andrew makes kevin go in the backseat

and he goes to the airport and nobody understands nothing, until neil comes

and he just completely ignores everyone im the backseat (yes even Kevin) and looks at andrew >that way< and andrew is a man in love, so he leans and gives neil a quick kiss and neil smiles at him and with a fucking soft voice says "hey baby"

andrew did not blush

anyway they started driving and andrew has his hand on neils leg and aaron, nicky and kevin are just fucking shook, they have no reaction at all, no words nothing because WTF

so when neils turns and says "hey guys, i'm neil" and is meet with three shocked faces staring at him he is trying so hard not to laugh and just goes "are you all okay"

nicky's is the first to recover and well... nicky... "ANDREW, WTF, YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND, WHY DIDN'T U TOLD US, WHAT ABOUT REENE, WHAT"

andrew ignores him and turns on the radio, neil lights a cigarette and they start talking in russian

aaron doesn't say a word

anyway, neils fly was a little late so they're the last ones at the stadium

so when they enter the lounge and andrew is waking with some scary dude (because yeah neil can be pretty and scary) and when they sit in the sofa with thights to shoulders touching everyone is like what the fucking hell

aaron and nicky find some other place to sit, neil does some remark and they start talking in russian and yeah they don't know if they should ignore or no

until dan breaks the spell by asking since when andrew speaking russian and andrew just look at her completely bored until neil answers her

after that wymack (which as always is so fucking done) asks if they have some more languages to show off or if they could start

they both deadpan "yes there is" but are ignored

anyway during the reunion some try to ask questions but wymack stops them and neil and andrew just glare at the person and that's enough to make they shut up

until Aaron makes some shitty remark about both of them in german and neil goes to protective mood and roast aaron in the same language

nicky has to stop aaron from punching Neil (and andrew won the bet he made with Stuart about someone trying to punch neil before neil punches someone

and again wymack is so done

and then they break the news about the ravens coming south

which andrew and neil already know because Hatfords

andrew is still pissed off at kevin

and then neils says (on purpose) something about the moriyamas and everyone is staring at him like????

and the he just smile a little >that smile< and says "you really don't remember me kevin"

he wasn't wearing contacts or anything like that so Kevin's recognizes him

it's caos

but i'm to tired to keep writing sorry

[luci-cunt]

@foxerice you said Old Guard AFtG au and I blacked out alksdjf;laskjdf

ok so first off--yes all the Foxes are immortal, yes Wymack is one of the older bastards--not quite Andy levels yet but he’s getting up there

I had two ways this could go in my head, see you’ve got way #1: aka Rice your idea which was that everyone’s going after Neil but ok--just hear me out

What if they’re going after.... kevin?

LIKE OK LISTEN!!!!!!! Neil and Andrew get the Nicky and Joe story, it works great, they killed each other for weeks (years? decades? idk) before realizing “Ok, some shit’s up and your dumb face keeps popping up” and then eventually they get together blah blah it’s GREAT

(oh and tiny idea: what if Aaron is, rather than Andrew’s twin actually Andrew’ great-great-great-great-great grand-nephew? and also completely mortal? idk what you call it but it’s my self-indulgent au so I get to make canon and Andrew had a sister or some shit because we all know Andrew ain’t the one making babies--ANYWYAS)

OK BUT: the Moriyama’s are a high techy facility like Merrick corp or whatever that bitches company was called except they actually MANAGED to get one of the immortals (T-T my boy Jean) AND figured out how to replicate the shit and they are going to test it on Riko and Kevin but Riko gets jealous so he fucks Kevin up (idk throws him off a building or something) tyring to make him an unreliable test subject. Sorry rat boy, but they decide to test it on Kevin BECAUSE he’s almost dead--it works, he becomes immortal, the others all start catching dreams and he’s losing his shit poor baby

Of course he immediately starts being treated like a lab rat and Riko’s like, idk semi-banished or some shit so Kev’s all alone when Andrew and Neil bust the fuck in and break his ass out

In my head Wymack is like, the Andy of the team but not quite as beaten down? Anyways he’s trying to get his two teams to work together (the upperclassman + Andrew and Neil) but Andrew and Neil prefer to just do their own solo missions. 

And by Andrew and Neil I mean Neil’s chill with the upperclassmen but Andrew ain’t about to trust these bitches with nothing. 

(also in my head: I feel like something must have happened to Neil that was like, Quyin levels of fucked and then Andrew realized “oh fuck tehre are worse things than death” and now he trusts exactly one person and he’s got 1897098796 names)

Anyways there would be some shenaniganary like the fact that Andrew is telling Aaron they’re twins and not the fact taht he’s Aaron’s great-great-great-great-great-great uncle. 

Also I have this cool idea that at some point Aaron and Andrew swap so that when the yam-bitches attack they shoot Aaron (in the leg or something non fatal) which then makes them assume that Andrew isn’t immortal so that later on when he pretends to get captured to like, idk rescue someone, he can play dead and then bounce back like a bad bitch. 

Anyways the whole thing would just be a giant game of keep-away as the Foxes try their damndest to keep Kevin from getting recaptured but Kev’s also a little bitch because bb boy is a scientist and hell BENT on studying himself and the other immortals and will NOT STOP GEEKING out about the fact that he’s surrounded by immortals sadlkfj;alsdjf he just wants to know everything about them--how they grew up what life’s been like, why they regenerate, why they don’t die, why they do sometimes die, why why why--no stop I’ll shut up just don’t put your sock in my mouth again please--

idk I can’t write this au out for real I just akjdf;lajsdf;lkajsd fhave thoughts(tm)

btw if someone does write this au or an au like it PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU TAG ME SO I CAN READ IT

[hmmm-shesucks]

I like to think, and by like I mean absolutely despise, that when Andrew choked Kevin, Kevin didn't fight back, not because he thought he deserved it, but because that wasn't the first time he'd been violently choked and he learned a long time ago that fighting back only made it worst.

[allforthecourtt]

The foxes as shit i pulled in third year university

it’s that time of year again! yet another follow up to the foxes as shit i pulled in high school, in first year uni, during my summer job, and in my second year uni

Nicky Hemmick: my ta asked me what i was writing my research paper on and i just shrugged, said “something sexy” and wandered away (it was about sexual control in occupied states)

Neil Josten: fell down a flight of stairs at school because i was rushing. someone who saw was like “oh my god are you okay???” i literally sat up, said “i dont have time for this” and then got up and walked away

Andrew Minyard: was doing donuts in a campus parking lot after a snowstorm and got into an active car chase with a campus police car and won.

Aaron Minyard: was really hopped up on cold meds during a 16 hour shift and my boss looked at me and asked me how i was and i looked her dead in the eyes and said “imma be straight im real fuckin sick my dude”

Allison Reynolds: kept one of my uni’s parking ticket envelopes, put it under my wiper with a note inside that said “give me a ticket, i dare you” because i didnt want to pay for parking (it worked btw)

Renee Walker: saw a physical manifestation of a ghost at work, literally looked at it through squinted eyes for like a minute, said “alright” and then went the fuck back to what i was doing

Matt Boyd: played sims 4 in a lecture because i didnt feel like paying attention.  the prof noticed.  did i stop playing sims? no.  no i did not.

Dan Wilds: looked my professor dead in their eyes and said “im illiterate” when they handed me a book to use as a resource for a paper

Kevin Day: didn’t remember the historic term for drunkenness (inebriety) so on my exam i just wrote “fun”... my prof gave me 100% on the exam

Riko Moriyama: was having a full on mental breakdown and was crying as i walked across campus to class (like kim k c. 2011 sobbing) i walked past a campus tour group and didnt even bother to look like i wasnt crying because i’m a bitch who likes subjecting the next generation to harsh realities

Seth Gordon: sneezed in a small lecture and the prof turned to me and said “seriously?”

Wymack: texted one of my profs to ask if we were still going to meet when she was 20 minutes late.  Received a response that simply read “well shit. i’m not making that.”

Jeremy Knox: made a point in seminar and me TA goes “does anyone have anything they’d like to add to that?” one kid legit looks at me, nods and deadass says “retweet”

Jean Moreau: quit my job i’d had for 2 years that i hated and on my last day turned to my boss said “well it’s been real” threw a peace sign and walked out the fucking door

[septemaria]

my thoughts on the all for the game series [spoilers ahead!]

so i actually finished the first book a while ago and then decided i was never going to go near the series again (i lied) but then i saw how cheap the books were on kindles so i picked up the series again! this post is going to be extremely text heavy and divided into three sections (one for each book)

i. the foxhole court

i’m not gonna lie, this book was my most disliked out of the whole series but i do have to say that it did capture my attention right away

there were so many unanswered mysteries at first (how did neil know kevin from childhood? who was neil’s father? why are aaron and andrew so loathing of each other?)

so honestly when matt, allison, renee, and dan were introduced i was literally ‘wow i love them so much if anything happened to any of them i’d kill everyone in this room and then myself’ but tbh that’s me with all of them at this point

i really hated the first time they went to columbia, i think it was my first real impression of andrew and honestly i wanted to push the monsters down a manhole

the whole televised interview part with kevin, neil, and riko was really intense and i wanted to backhand riko so hard gosh

seth just? died? i was really confused at first but he wasn’t really introduced and i guess his death came right after he was introduced but damn that got dark quickly

when andrew started to protect neil i liked him a bit more but we all know that he protected neil bc he likes him not because of kevin

ii. the raven king

the foxes are finally! freaking! cooperating! this took way too long ngl

every time neil trashtalks the ravens/moriyamas two years get added onto my lifespan

neil just kinda knocked kevin and aaron down from their personal ranks inside of the monsters and honestly? iconiqué

the whole drake scene during thanksgiving was kind of disgusting and uncomfortable for me so i just kinda skimmed through it and kept going so we’re not gonna talk a lot about that here

neil legitimately told riko to shut the fuck up and then later proceeded to hit riko i love my disaster son

and the foxes began climbing their way to championships and i actually hate sports but if exy was a real sport i would 12/10 watch it

iii. the king’s men

okay i just actually finished reading this book so you’re gonna get an actual review because i actually remember it lol

so the team is seeing through neil’s bullshit now and i just wanted neil to tell them the truth so bad

that whole christmas break section (did this happen in the second or third book? who knows) was so infuriating for me because i actually wanted to kick riko in the nose

so andrew and neil 👀 the sexual tension was getting way too much for me i just needed them to kiss

btw i like andrew now his character arc is the kind of arc i aspire my grades to have

the whole counting down texts neil kept getting were giving me anxiety because we KNEW that it had something to do with his father ugh

yeah anyways i literally screamed when lola started burning and cutting neil up okay i’m so upset

nathan sr. is actually such an asshole i can’t believe he only got two years in jail

i don’t even know how stuart hatford knew neil was in trouble but thank god he saved neil

neil! finally! told! the! team! i was so happy and they were so supportive i love my fox family

i don’t know when the team caught on to andrew/neil but that one remark aaron made to neil was not okay (you know the one i’m talking about)

okay neil striking a deal with ichirou was really unexpected but oh well i guess

we only got a glimpse towards jeremy but i would die for him he’s so sweet

kevin got his two tattoo coverup that’s my boy right there i’m so proud

the foxes! beat! the ravens! that will be the only time i will ever get excited about sports

andrew was not afraid to come at riko for even thinking of hurting his boyfriend and i gasped so hard at that scene like goddamn

coach tetsuji being fired and then ichirou murdering riko was. something. i was literally s h o o k and i was like? oh my god?

now for my thoughts on the series as a whole

so this series had a lot of triggering content and it was way darker than i expected and that was kind of a turn off but the way nora writes is really smooth and fun to read, the content was super interesting and capturing

the book is extremely plot heavy and even now i still have a difficult time remembering key events or even just significant internal drama that happened

it did bother me that the canonically asian characters were all villains or gangsters/mafia members, it put a negative light on the canon asians in the series as a whole

i did really like the way nora portrayed neil’s relationship with his mother, with her being abusive but neil still loving her, i think she did a really realistic portrayal of what that’s like

consent was a big part of this series and it makes me so happy that this is actually being shown in books nowadays

i kind of wanted more of kevin? we were shown his backstory and we had a vague idea of underneath kevin’s hard exterior there was something more and i feel like he had so much potential than being a character that was off to the side 

and while we’re at that, we know most of the team’s backstories but i think it’d be really cool to get shortstories on them growing up or being recruited to the team (matt, allison, renee, dan, nicky)

are we going to get more of the characters? i didn’t think i would fall in love with the characters and the series this much but boy was i wrong

[humongousvoidbear]

Imagine Andrew as a teacher

(bear with me I gotta get this out of my head) 

-Okay so he doesn’t go continue to play exy 

-But becomes a criminology teacher at Palmetto (cos Nora said that was his major) 

-With glasses and all that shit. His students have a love/hate relation with him. To put it mildly, he’s a complete ass but I love him 

-also Professor Minyard

-And mostly after the first class itself the students realise this- You do not talk when he’s talking or giving a lecture unless you want a perfectly aimed chalk thrown at your head or a “Get the fuck out or shut the fuck up you choose Avery” shouted your way 

-And you do not dare to make fun of his height. He will fucking annihilate you. “You think I’m smol small Johnson, have you seen your dick?“ 

-And yes he remembers your name and grade that fucker with his eidetic memory 

-And his students are terrified of him but have a lot of respect for this teacher who doesn’t look like an exy fan but occasionally shows up in jerseys or sweatshirts with "Josten” written at the back 

-So. One day this student has some work and goes to Andrew’s tiny office Imagine his shock and awe when he sees Neil Josten, Olympic winner, exy champion in all his glory sitting on Andrew’s chair with his feet crossed on the table 

-“You’re not Andrew.”, Neil says. 

-“I had some questions for mid-” And Andrew enters. 

-He stops when he sees Neil “Feet off my table. Now.” the disrespect ffs Neil  And the student’s just like do?? you?? know?? who?? that?? is??

-And the student looks over at Neil who btw still has his feet on the table and the student thinks “Does he have a death wish?” Neil breaks the silence and says 

-“I thought I’d surprise you.”       

“Leave”, comes the reply 

-And for a moment they both only have eyes for each other, leaving the poor sophomore highly uncomfortable 

 -And then thankfully, before he/she becomes a murder witness, Neil takes his legs off the table and smiles. Neil Josten smiles. This was the man who ripped Riko Moriyama apart. Who fought tooth and nail to get to where he was. Who’s mouth has gotten him into trouble more times than he could count. He fucking smiles. 

-And Neil walks past Andrew, almost brushing his shoulder while leaving and Andrew grips his forearm

-And everything but the two of them melts away. Nothing else fucking matters as if it ever did in the first place 

-And for a second, a fucking fraction of a second, Andrew’s expression shifts 

-And the student is in shock cos obvs Andrew teaches like he does everything else. With stone cold apathy and a tiny bit of disgust but still fucking brilliant. 

-And then Andrew says, “I’ll see you at home.” And then the student notices the “Minyard” on Neil’s sweater (Renee gave it to Andrew as a birthday present when she learned to knit and Neil wears it all the damn time) and understanding seeps into place. Neil leaves after a bit more staring. 

-And Andrew looks at his student and quirks an eyebrow.  

-By the next day the whole school knows that their criminology teacher is dating Neil Josten. 

-After that my poor baby Andrew has to keep repeating in the first class of every freshman year “If you want to be killed in your sleep or want to fail this class, try asking for an autograph. Oh and get used to death threats, you are going to major in fucking criminology after all.”

[ourneverendingpossibilities]

Love your blog btw! :) Could I pls request a scenario where the boys get jealous seeing their crush or s/o talking to another fellow classmate who is too close for comfort? Kasamatsu, Izuki, Himuro, Midorima and Takao. Thank you!

Thank you very much C: Of course I can write jealous boys! Such cuties!

Himuro: For the most part, Himuro is calm and collected. He’s a charmer when it comes to the ladies, and makes friends easily with the men.. But when the new guy, a player, starts to make a move on you, he slowly feels his face turn into a frown. Granted, you’re not his.. YET, but he still looks out for you, keeping a poker face whenever others were around to keep his true emotions hidden. 

He easily walks over, placing a hand on your shoulder and gives him a fake smile, but his eyes speak volumes.

“Touch her, you’ll regret it.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but me and ____ have somewhere to be..”

He knows you’re feeling grateful, because he was able to sense the uneasiness coming from you, and guides you towards the gym, where he knows it’s safe. 

He’s startled when you hug him, gripping the back of his shirt as you bury your face in his chest.

“Thank you Himuro-kun.. He wouldn’t stop...”

He feels his eyes soften, and he rubs your head, giving you that special smile which makes your heart race in your chest.

“You don’t have to thank me ___-chan.. I’ll always come running.”

Izuki: “____-chan! What’s wrong?”

You open your mouth, wanting to express your discomfort about the new basketball player on the team, but finds the words dying in your throat.  Izuki, who has excellent perception, can tell something’s off, so he easily loops his arm around your shoulder, sending the newbie a glare, before walking you to a secluded part of the gym. 

He bends in front of you, rubbing your leg as he watches you closely, noticing your body is visibly calming down from the uneasiness. You tried once more to think of the words to say, but just shake your head, giving him a soft smile.

“It’s fine now Shu-chan.. He was just starting to ask some... personal questions..”

He moves to stand, but your hand stops him, and he looks at you with wide eyes, 

“Please don’t cause a scene... If you have to, make him do more training than necessary..  But I don’t want this to escalate..”

He sighs, but nods his head, lightly pecking your cheek before going to Hyuga, explaining what happened. Riko, who overheard, did her job as coach, and made all the newbies do triple the amount, as well as the regulars, to make the point get across..  

Picking on girls is wrong.

Kasamatsu; He notices it across the courtyard, and feels his jaw clench. He’d heard about the bad-boy of Kaijou, how he hits on women only to dump them when he’s finished.There’s evident fury in his eyes that makes Moriyama pause,  and he follows his line of sight, feeling his breath hitch.

No one fucks with Kasamatsu, but this boy clearly didn’t understand, because there he was, flirting with you, and holding your face in his hand.  For the most part, it looks like you’re fighting back, eyes hardened from the inappropriate touches that made your boyfriend oh, so very proud. But there was insane jealousy eating at him because NO one should be touching you like that.

Moriyama follows quickly behind, watching as Kasamatsu rips you away from him, placing you behind his back as he stands in the middle. He doesn’t want this to turn into a blood-bath, so he casually takes the playboy, mentioning something about lots of models at the mall, which easily gets rid of him.

You don’t have much time to react, because Kasamatsu has your arm, dragging you to a secluded back lane behind the school where he pins you against the wall, inspecting every inch of your body. You feel a hint of irritation take over your body, because you know how insecure he can be, but you want him to know everything’s fine. 

“I’m not fragile you know....” you mutter, watching his eyes harden, “I can take care of myself.”

He grits his teeth, knowing you’d react like this, but he didn’t care... You were HIS. You were dating HIM.  It’s only natural he’d be defensive over you..  Even if you weren’t dating, you were one of the only girls he’s comfortable with.. He doesn’t want to lose that.

“If you thought I’d go with that idiot, you’re dumber than Kise.” 

He doesn’t like how that sounds, so rather than speak, he crushes his mouth to yours, cupping your cheeks as if to wipe his germs off your face. The kiss doesn’t last long, because you’re out in public, but when he pulls back, his face is red, and he makes a grunt when he picks up your things, grabbing your hand in his.

“....Let’s go...”

You only roll your eyes, but smile at his affection, squeezing his hand in understanding. He was still awkward with explaining his feelings, but his actions made up for it, and seeing your boyfriend jealous was something you adored.

Midorima: He’s never liked when other men flocked to you. It was shocking you’d chosen him over Kise in Teiko, and therefore felt special when you told him you were going to Shutoku with him. So when he saw the man, who was worse than Takao, flirt with you, he can only get defensive.

He catches your attention and somehow you manage to escape, quickly running towards him. Although there’s people watching, he hesitantly holds a hand out for you, and feels relieved when you take it, giving him that smile. It seemed to wipe away any nervous thoughts he had, though he had half a mind to cast the other man a knowing glare.

In the background, he could hear Takao laughing, and silently vowed he would hit him in the head with a basketball.. 

... He hit him before he even stepped inside.

Takao: He’s always been good at hiding his negative emotions from you. He was sharp as a hawk, so it was only natural you could never tell what he was thinking. But when it came to jealousy, he was the worst at it, mostly because he hardly experienced the sickening emotion. 

But he wanted to be the one to see that smile, to hear that laugh, even if it was forced.. Wait..

Forced?

He took another look, narrowing his blue hues in pure concentration. That’s when he noticed everything. The shifting of your legs, the way your fingers twitched beside you. Your bottom lip was between your teeth, and you were avoiding eye contact.. 

Oh....

He did what he felt was right, and immediately approached you, pulling you against his chest as he stared the man down, all laughter dying in his eyes.

“____-chan had somewhere she needs to be.. If you’ll excuse us...”

He feels you visibly relax, linking your fingers with his as he walks you away from the flirt. The further you went, the faster your tension disappeared, replaced with relief and happiness. You look up at him, noticing he was still a bit tense, so you stand on your toes, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek.

“Thank you Kazu-kun.. He wouldn’t leave me alone..”

He feels his cheeks burn, but when he stares back at you, he immediately smiles,  all tension rolling from his shoulders with ease. He presses a soft kiss to your forehead, before looking out the window.

“You don’t have to thank me.. I’ll always come swooping in to save you!”

Your blush and light smack made him laugh, and he knew you’d returned to normal. That was all he needed to feel better.

[robincross]

if u take prompts: do u have any thoughts on raven!neil?

The first night of Nathaniel’s trial, Mart Hatford fails to get Nathaniel out without being seen and is executed in front of him by the Butcher. “this is what happens when you try and run Nathaniel” (he has nightmares of this and loud, sharp sounds tend to set this memory off, the sound of the cleaver hitting the floor)

Neil as a Wesninski, would have bought some form(not much tbh) form of safety in the way that he  wouldn’t get the worst of the treatment like Jean would(since jean was  simply debt repayment. And nathaniel wouldn’t be given to riko as some sort of toy.) the butcher’s son would be of value somewhere between kevin and jean(nearer to kevin).

Did this mean neil was untouchable(of course not). Did riko still try to break him? (of course he did) Did he succeed? (no.) Does he come close to it? (always, it’s pure spite that keeps him from doing so. It’s the memory of his mother death.)

Also, whatever hopes he had of his new ‘friends’, mainly riko, goes at the window because the asshole says something like, ‘what a stupid woman, she thought she could take you away from us?” full of grief and anger and all caution aside, Nathaniel fucking lunges at riko to beat the shit out of him. He gets some good hits in but he’s punished bc he laid a hand on riko. (he later learns that the man his father butchered was an assassination attempt on riko. Nathaniel hates the man for failing (based on extra content))

He’s allowed to continue his trial when he heals(kevin visits him to try and give him some advice  but he wants none of that). The day of the trial he focuses all his energy on not letting Riko score. (Nathaniel is fast but he needs to be faster cue his obsession with needing to run and being faster than anyone) He passes his trial.

(maybe if he and his mother had been faster at sneaking away, maybe, maybe she would still be alive. Faster.) it’s the thought in the back of his head.

“I wanted to beat him at his own game.” His views shift a little closer to renee’s and andrew’s. It’s not in knives that he wants to beat riko in, it’s exy. But, it’s rather  hard to do that when you’re both on the same team. Hmmm…

He hates riko. He hates he moriyamas. He hates his father. He’s     terrified of his father (and nothing can come close to it, not the master   nor riko. Not when he watched his father splits a man into. Not when he   saw him kill his mother.) He can’t figure out his feelings towards kevin yet. He wants to hate him to because he’s close to riko. But not when he reaches out to defend him, to put himself between riko and nathaniel.  (kevin’s ingrained fear of riko isn’t instant and happens over the course of the years as does riko’s cruelty. I mean riko has always been a grade A asshole, it’s like a positive exponential growth curve over the years, but his jealousy of kevin definitely feeds into it a lot).

Kevin sympathizes with neil because he knows what it’s like to lose a mother.

Nathaniel later learns that kevin’s mother died in a car crash. He can’t help but think of hisown mother and wonders if in fact, it was just an accident. It keeps gnawing at him. Given sometime(maybe a few years), Nathaniel uses this to try and incite Kevin when he sees him giving into riko too easily. ‘the moriyama’s killed your mother, Kevin. Everything is too convenient, don’t you see?”

“stop it. they wouldn’t.”  “just like they would never kill mine, right?”

Shit really hits the fan between kevin and nathaniel when nathaniel finds out whose kevin real father. Because in nathaniel’s eyes this is kevin’s out. He has a father. He can get away from the  moriyama’s. “if  you really think they killed my mother, what do you think they will do to him?” it’s the first real insight that nathaniel is starting to get to     kevin. But he can never quite seem to completely reach him.

Exy is still his lifeline. It’s the one thing he is willing to live for bc this boy still has nothing. But, he has Kevin and Jean and that has to count for something, right? Exy. Kevin. Jean. So, why does he still feel like nothing?

Nathaniel and jean are very close. Jean comes sometime after neil does. And jean is so angry and it reminds neil of himself. More than once Nathaniel has put himself  between riko and jean. More than once he has paid the price. When Jean officially joins the ravens, he has double practice with his own raven partner on the  field and with Nathaniel since they are meant to be partnered in the future. Also, Nathaniel is number 3 and jean is 4.

More on jean: jean was fucking angry when his family just dropped him off at the evermore. (I’m basing this off the jean extra content btw) He hates riko, kevin, and neil, everyone. Neil understood his anger and it takes him a while before he’s able to earn jean’s trust. A little longer to earn Kevin’s. (with neil at his side, it takes longer for riko to break jean down bc jean just needs someone by his side telling him not to give in to this asshole)

Still the instigator, but he knows how to pick his battles better especially with riko and the master. Calculating the punishment and is it worth it. (his mouth still gets away from him though)

Nathaniel survives day to day(different form the manner he survived on the run) but he still bears scars, lots and lots of scars from riko’s knives and from lola’s lessons, from the master’s beatings. He still knows pain better than anyone should.

Eventually, when he finally  transfers to the Foxes, his name would be Abram (since ‘neil’ would mean  nothing to since he never ran, but abram would)

‘I don’t want to be Nathaniel anymore.’ ‘it doesn’t suit you anyways.’ ‘Abram. Call me abram.’

[c-valentino]

What do you think of Riko as a character inside the books? (no HCs) / Any fave HCs you want to share? / Any pairings/ships you like with him? / fic recs? / art recs? / Kevin&Riko - do they have/had feelings for each other? / Thoughts on his finale scene? / Did you read Nora's extra content? // tag other bloggers you think have something interesting to say about him! (maybe someone we don't know yet??) #Thoughts on Riko Moriyama

What do you think of Riko as a character inside the books? (no HCs) From a writer’s point of view? He’s a fucking tragedy. (and no, I don’t mean the pieces of background story we did get on him, that’s been said and discussed before) He’s kind of the worst villain a story can have - and here is why: 

Riko is ‘one’ of the book’s antagonists, and to quote my German lit. teacher: “Antagonists act while heroes react.” - meaning it is often a villain who initiates any kind of dramatic change in a story. That said, why is Riko Moriyama a bad example of a villain? A good villain needs a plausible background story. The reader needs to actually understand what happened to the character in order to make him into what he is today. A good villain started out as an ‘ordinary’ person, same as a hero. Both undergo a series of events to turn them into what they are. If not enough depth and character development is put into a story the character becomes lifeless, doesn’t spark any kind of interest within the reader and (in this case) the villain becomes a ‘plot device’ - meaning someone who does evil things to create scenes that show more light on the main character and his reactions. (Neil has to suffer through some pretty over the top and kinda unexplained abuse from Riko in order to add to the tragedy and heroic survival in his character’s development). [unexplained meaning: Riko could just have done a million other things to him - it wouldn’t make much of a difference. As long as it fits the excessive violent behavior category it would have worked plot wise. There is no explanation why he is using knives (other than that it fits the whole scar theme of the books (Kevin, Andrew, Neil, Jean… all of them have scars)) … ] Or, to be very harsh here and I know it’s not quite THAT bad, think of those silly cartoons, Road Runner and Coyote - you know the coyote will do any kinds of destructive things, you don’t know why, it’s just his role, he’s a plot device. 

Of course there are ways to create a great villain without spending many pages on his background story. Take Makishima Shogo e.g. (PsychoPass season one), we know next to nothing about his background, yet he is one of my favorite antagonists. His character feels real because there are enough little aspects about him that add depth: he likes to read books (physical copies because ebooks lack character), he likes to quote from those books to drive his point home, he likes to dip his sweets into tea… - non of that makes him better/worse at changing/destroying society, but it gives us an idea of who the man behind that criminal mastermind is. 

Sadly, we only get the smallest glimpses of Riko. Overall his name is being mentioned 595 times in the trilogy, but we encounter him only a few times. Most of his actions happen behind the scenes. He’s also the best kind of HC goldmine you can find. Wasted potential makes for great fan content because there is so much left to explore (no matter if the author had to cut all the information out or cba to come up with anything to begin with. The fields of imagination are endless my friends!) Or, as Nora explained: “I wanted a stronger antagonist, so I kept giving him more power–and then I tore a chunk of it away in the final draft out of necessity. He had more presence in the second-to-last draft, just as Neil’s father did, but I had to delete entire chunks to balance the story out…” Basically all the information we have on Riko comes from Nora’s extra content (his whole backstory is in there). If you read it his character starts to make sense, becomes interesting and worth exploring. But it is what it is. You can’t really blame the readers for hating Riko Moriyama when they pick up the books for the first time. He is a shadow of a character in there. And let’s be honest, the extra content “doesn’t count” in many reader’s opinion. If it’s not in the books it didn’t happen! (true to some degree, but I’m not a purist. I research and dig for those extra pieces of information. I’d rather have four books with all the information on the side characters in there, I don’t need a sequel.)  So, conclusion: If you hate Riko Moriyama, consider reading Nora’s extra content and give him another shot. He is quite interesting.

Any fave HCs you want to share?oh geez…. endless supply of those • Young Riko wide-eyed on his first trip outside of the Nest (supervised &!! unsupervised) like… the things he wants to see/eat/try/buy, (with Kevin by his side/the whole team/on his own/some Moriyama bodyguard), him buying ice cream (wow that’s sweet), fast food (not rly his thing, too greasy), clothes (ripped jeans, t-shirts, that amazing black coat he sees on his way back, a hat - because all he has are workout clothes, Exy gear and suits)• Riko doing promo/commercial stuff for the Ravens, playing nice for the staff on set, but wishing some of them a very painful death because they are so fake… (kinda used that one before) • Riko doing drugs/alcohol for the first time (can’t hold his liquor even though Kevin seems to have no problems in that department, and oh, it pisses him off - gets a huge backlash from his uncle afterwards for being an embarrassment to the family name) (drugs are something he can’t really get to terms with. He likes the feeling they give him (at least some of them) but he absolutely hates the aftermath, remembering how they made him open up, bringing him close to losing control…(ravens are against doping btw) • Endless scenes of Riko/Kevin making out… Young Kevin getting curious at some point and the only one around for him to ask is Riko, Riko being so angry that something has to give and sadly that’s Kevin, both of them being hyped after their first official game(win) and making out on Kevin’s bed, both of them getting drunk at the victory celebration and Riko dragging Kevin off to somewhere that’s dangerously public and oh, Kevin, be quiet dammit… 

•Kevin is like an octopus while being asleep and Riko can’t stand it, it’s too warm, too sweaty, too heavy, too close…. - that’s why they make out on Kevin’s bed and he leaves afterwards. But there are times he wishes he could just go over there while Kevin is asleep. He does one night, when Kevin has been drinking with the older ravens… he has covered his ass and Kevin is gonna pay for it later… gets into bed behind Kevin and prays he won’t wake up…• Riko not admitting that there is more than Exy in his head sometimes… he likes psychology, astronomy, he’s good at math too and maybe physics would be interesting if the teacher wouldn’t be such a boring moron who takes ages to come to the point… but he can’t tell anyone because all he’s meant to be is the heir of Exy, and rly, what’s the point anyway? Chances are he won’t survive the end of his Exy career… • He likes music and some company gave them these awesome noise cancelling headphones. He likes them but only uses them when he is alone because he needs to hear the people around him…  • He’s an awesome dancer with remarkable body control, and so is Kevin, as they both find out on their first (and last) night at a club…

Any pairings/ships you like with him? Both Riko/Kevin & Kevin/Riko work just fine for me. I’ve written (Raven!)Neil/Riko/Kevin before, and if you put some work and thought into a well crafted AU setting even Riko/(raven!)Andrew works. - If it has to be straight… my best bet would be Allison - she has enough of an attitude to stand her ground.

fic recs?let me give you a few but it rly deserves a full list at some pointwhat if i did by MadHatterNO7 - Kevin/RikoNever More by biffes - Kevin/Riko Kevin/Riko/Jeanignominy by Saul - Kandreil but I still like Riko in this one… baptism by Saul can’t go wrong with Saul aka @unkinglythose are only the ones I can name on the spot…

art recs? Well, there is @shihoran , of course, she’s been posting daily. hers is maybe the sweetest Riko I’ve ever seen (nothing like I imagine him but gorgeous art!) I know @foxesrefuge is working on some stuff (since I’ve seen a glimpse of it! ha! no spoilers though) http://berry-muffin.tumblr.com/post/154991766150/insp-and-a-bonus-because-fuck-riko-moriyama    http://llstarcasterll.tumblr.com/post/157091722582 http://schwarzbrot.tumblr.com/image/138611768689 http://ziegenkind.tumblr.com/post/147315366365/here-you-go-nonnyand…. srsly, we need more Riko art!

Kevin&Riko - do they have/had feelings for each other? According to Nora’s extra content ‘yes’ they had feelings for each other. And I’m not talking the platonic kind of feelings. We’re talking the conflicted ‘adoptive’ brother/romance kind of stuff. Inside the books? Yes, I believe they have a nice textbook example of love/hate relationship to the very end. Riko can’t get over Kevin, even keeps his room untouched (as Neil tells us) and I could write you another two pages about that first interview scene. You can’t just ‘hate’ someone for no reason. Hate is a very personal feeling and it needs some kind of obsession behind it. Kevin tells us that he knows how it is to be with Riko. He also tells us that Riko wasn’t always like the way he is now. He’s gotten worse. You hear the Foxes call Riko a bastard, crazy… yet Kevin usually doesn’t outright insult Riko. Does he love him after what Riko has done to him? Probably not! Did he get rid of all his feelings from the time they grew up and learned to love Exy together? Unlikely.  

Thoughts on his finale scene? ¬_¬ you had to… I don’t like it. But that’s my personal (emotionally clouded) opinion. It works as a scene because it is fast paced and written in an almost detached way - like such an experience would be, I imagine. Hard to take in, slow to process, very overwhelming, scattered, scrambled brains and all. The scene itself makes me nearly choke on the tension and displayed/withheld emotions.

Did you read Nora’s extra content? Oh yes! Such an inspiration. I’d love to get my hands on some of the earlier drafts… *cough*moreKandreil/moreRiko*cough*

// tag other bloggers you think have something interesting to say about him! (maybe someone we don’t know yet??) #Thoughts on Riko Moriyama - Already did! :D