#soz nicki

[mqstermindswift]

@what-about-wendy we’re literally coquette queens 🎀‼️🤪

[imsorryimlate]

mikey and nicky (1976), dir. elaine may // captain newman, m.d. — leo rosten (1961)

[hopelesscalico]

ok HI 2, 12, 16, 20, 22, 25, 31 for the ocs one

2. do you have a personal favorite among your ocs?

if i answered literally any answer besides aurelia jane cervantes. i would be lying. she is my babydarling + the sweet angel of my writing and i will have other oc phases but i will always come back 2 her. my girl. 4eva

12. name an oc that isn’t yours but you like a lot

ZOEY!!!! SWEET TRANSSEXUAL ALIEN JESUS created by @rin0a :) and pyrite my ugly weirdy from @minecraftpissblock and ruby ooby zooby created by @kittyfight and of course blackjack from @grasslandbutch OH AND ALSO SHOUTOUT TO ALL THE M8B GUYS BY ERIE @ribombeee they r my dear friends

16. which one of your ocs would be the best at biology?

joan is more of a chemistry girl but by way of being a huge science buff i think she still takes the cake

20. do any of your ocs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like)?

a couple of them!! i would be remiss not to mention aurelia who despite not being any good at singing loves it so much that she has a special stat bonus when doing karaoke. (she has a really high pitched girly voice and an affinity for pop music) ire can sing and is actually quite good at it (he has kind of a mid-pitch lilted songbird voice and likes singing like… very traditional hymnal choir music) and also there’s thistle who likes singing (she has a higher southern accent and likes indie hippie crunchy folk) some other honorary mentions who don’t have a notable interest in singing but sing from time to time/are good at it: lily, lucien, felicity, cupid

22. is there any oc of yours people tend to mischaracterize? if yes, how?

NICKI. i feel like they r the oc who i hav the most difficulty articulating in full to other people for some reason… idk it’s something abt them. they have a weird moral ambiguity and contradictory personality thing going on that is hard to explain

25. the OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?)

i think overall the oc who i’m most similar to (besides ollie who is my literal fursona) is probably jimmy…. we both have mental problems and like weird fashion and hav very similar sillyguy genders ❤️

31. pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really)

OH YAY i actually hav a good answer for this one. c1c4d4 actually has a canonical tumblr blog under the username “superevilrobogirl” and she has a very intricate like black and neon green bug themed blog theme that she made herself and she reblogs funnygirl posts and furry art

[angry-kid-with-no-money]

Okay soo I’m procrastinating like five other things I should be doing right now- mostly school work- but I’ve been having many thoughts about a grishaverse/aftg crossover au and I needed to get them all out so

Tada

mandatory spoiler warning for shadow and bone trilogy

-Neil as Alina, obviously. Non-negotiable. He would be the overpowered MC if there was magic in aftg and we all know it

-obviously in the books, alina does not have a family that we know of, but in my little au, Nathan works for the Ravka gov and Mary gives up Neil bc she can tell he’s gonna be a powerful grisha I guess? I don’t care that that’s not really a thing, it is now

-anyway- Andrew is Mal. I’ve talked extensively about how similar I think Mal and Andrew are as characters, especially in the way that they are both so protective over the people they care about, to the point of being self-sacrificial but they cannot cope with someone doing the same for them, in fact both of them get angry with their significant others for attempting to ‘save’ them. I also think for both of them, this behaviour stems from seeing themselves as less than the people around the, we see it more obviously with Mal but I think Andrew is the same

-so in this au Andrew and neil are childhood friends, they grow up together in the orphanage and stuff. I haven’t thought much about fitting aaron and nicky into this so they may just be not related in the au tbh

-the two of them join the second army as we know- Andrew as a tracker and Neil as a junior cartographer- and during an attempted crossing of the fold, neil’s summoner powers reveal themselves

-in the books, prior to using her powers, alina is described as pale, sallow, sickly-looking, generally unattractive, and we discover that this sick appearance is caused by her suppressing her powers. Anyway, I think that prior to using his powers, neil has very dull blue eyes and his hair is more brown than auburn but afterwards we get the bright blue eyes and auburn hair Andrew is obsessed with

-the darkling is kevin btw- originally I had him as Ichirou but wrote myself into a whole I couldn’t get out of so evil kevin it is

-ichirou is Vasily, and riko is nikolai, the king is kengo and annoyingly in aftg riko’s mother is not named so we’re sticking with Tatiana

-back to kevin- I debated between abi and Kaleigh for a while but I’m gonna go with Kaleigh as Baghra just because I love her and I get more creative freedom with her personality. Wymack is ilya so he’s dead, soz

-we also get the absolute joy of Andrew, kevin, riko, and Ichirou fighting over neil despite neil being madly in love with Andrew and not even realising it

-even though alina was somewhat reckless about the amplifiers she was still wary of the risks and such, I think neil would be far more reckless, I don’t think he would has hesitated as much to kill the stag or the water serpent and instead the issue would be kevin’s men being closer behind them than they’d thought and catching up at the last second

-I don’t think anything would have slowed neil down once he’d set his sights on the goal of collect all three amplifiers and destroy the fold, he would have been non stop going and dragging Andrew along with him, up until he realises he has to kill Andrew at which point everything comes to a crashing halt

-neil would be much less willing to believe it, he would be convinced Andrew had made a mistake and there was still a firebird out there somewhere, just denying it and denying it and denying it until he physically can’t anymore, and once he’d accepted Andrew was the amplifiers he’d be helplessly looking for other ways that didn’t involve him dying up until the last second. Even then, I think Andrew would be doing the majority of the work towards neil killing him.

-the last battle of siege and storm would just be neil in a haze of rage and grief, absolutely merciless because Andrew was always the voice of reason, the one to stop him from going too far, but he can’t anymore because andrews Dead

-I think the aftermath, where neil finds out that andrew’s been brought back to life would a haze as well. He doesn’t quite believe it’s real but also it has to be because he doesn’t know what he’d do with himself if it wasn’t. it’s neil’s idea to fake his death, not to protect his egacy but to keep Andrew safe, to start again somewhere knew

-if you thought they were codependent and attached at the hip in aftg, it is nothing compared to how they act post andrew’s resurrection

-yeah, sometimes neil misses his power, missing the feeling of being invincible, but he’d rather never have that again then even risk losing andrew’s presence by his side

-I still have not read rule of wolves/king of scars so pls don’t talk to me abt that

-I will maybe add more in the future, especially of the middle of the trilogy because I mostly just hit the beginning and end

[tara-the-star]

Nicky , Allison and Laila for the ask game :3

OKAY okay yes i love all of them

kin allison (yeah. you learn smth new everyday)

kiss laila(i'm actually in love with her. bet she has a kayleigh day shrine btw)

kill nicky (soz bbg)

ask game!

[willkimurashat]

Because I am an avid ATLA and TLOK fan and because it’s been trending on tumblr today, here’s a LITG crossover absolutely no one asked for but I did anyway lol (soz I’ve no idea if it’s been done before 👀)

Water Tribe

Element of change. Adaptability, sense of community and love.

Benders

S1: Erikah, Jake, Jen, Levi

S2: Hannah, Noah

S3: Genevieve, Nicky

S4: Hazeem, Oliver, Thabi

S5: Dana, Lulu

Non-benders

S1: Cherry (she’s tear-bending)

S2: Elijah, Graham, Ibrahim

S3: Miki, Ciaran

S4: James, Tom

S5: Eddie, Johnny

Fire Nation

Element of power. Desire, will, energy, drive to achieve what they want.

Benders

S1: Allegra

S2: Hope, Lottie, Lucas

S3: Camilo, Harry

S4: Cora, Valentina, Youcef

S5: Arlo, Suresh

Non-benders

S1: Lucy, Mason

S2: Marisol, Blake, Kassam, Elisa

S3: Lily, Rafi

S4: Dylan, Juliet, Lexi

S5: Gabi, Meera

Earth Kingdom

Element of substance. Diversity, strength, persistence, endurance.

Benders

S1: Talia, Reese

S2: Gary, Henrik, Shannon

S3: AJ, Tai

S4: Angie, Bruno, Najuma

S5: Alfie, Finn

Non-benders

S1: Miles, Jasper

S2: Jakub, Arjun, Carl, Jo

S3: Bill, Elladine, Seb

S4: Kobi

S5: Kat, Nicolas, Pete

Air Nomads

Element of freedom. Detached from worldly concerns, peaceful, free.

Benders

S1: Rohan, Tim

S2: Bobby, Priya, Rocco, Chelsea, Felix

S3: Yasmin, Iona

S4: Kelly, Will, Tiffany

[racingliners]

F1 Re-Watch 2022: Round 17 - Singapore

My joy of joys that we’re on Singapore, hands down one of my all time fave tracks, I love it so much. Even if it hasn’t always loved me back (no we do not discuss Singapore 2017 in this house).

Anyway, I once again remember nothing, literally nothing. My head is very empty. Apart from having a vague awareness of Perez winning??? (And Seb’s unbelievably stunning black and rainbow helmet) So, let’s jump right in!

Do I mainly love Singapore bc the Marina Bay circuit is very pretty? Maybe, you can’t judge me

I find it very wild I didn’t watch Singapore highlights last year though, considering it’s one of my favourite races, that was either very dumb on my part, or I was Going Through Stuff™️

Anyway, intro done, circuit shots preeeeeeeeeetty

IT RAINED BEFORE THE RACE?!

oh god I’m having 2017 flashbacks

“it is greasy and it is slippy” nope, no, I don’t want

f u c k 🥲

right, let’s see if I survive finding out the starting grid

Seb in P13, I will take it

“The most successful driver in Singapore” you’re damn right he is THAT’S MY BOY

LEWIS P3 HELL YEAH

oh. Leclerc pole. So he doesn’t win then?

it’s sparkly gold helmet is very pretty though

“We saw Ted Kravitz slipping and sliding on the grid” The things he sacrifices for F1

[Formation Lap]: welp the track is still damp, everyone is on inters and there’s a fair amount of spray coming off them

ughhhhhhhhh

the wide city/circuit shots are still gorgeous though. The Singapore GP may occasional be messy but boy she is beautiful.

“Number 350, let’s make it a special one” I hope that doesn’t age too poorly

also DAMN Fernando save some race starts for the rest of us?

“Let’s keep our fingers crossed we don’t get a repeat of 2017″ SHUT UP CROFTY I DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT

[Start/Lap 1]: ew Verstappen took the lead at the start

but no carnage!!!! F1 taketh away and F1 giveth

wait it was PEREZ???? HOW????

It is indeed Perez I am very unobservant, soz

SEB INTO P8!!!! THAT’S MY LION OF SINGAPORE

[Lap 2]: A clean first lap??? around Singapore??? I am SHOCKED

No don’t show Verstappen talk more about Seb

anyway helmet watch: rainbow helmet (sparkly version). ily Lewis

oof Ferrari was a tractor in the second part of the start. yikes.

[Lap 3]: Lewis wanted to start on the full wets???? Bestie no. Bono talk some sense into your man pls.

[Lap 4]: anyway he’s in P4 still gotta take those positives

[Lap 5]: Verstappen under a second behind Seb. nein danke.

No one is allowed to overstake Seb at Singapore it’s in the regs.

[Lap 6]: “They’re [Seb and Verstappen] three seconds slower than the leaders” we know the AMR22 was a tractor, I don’t need reminding.

“Vettel gaining a bit on Pierre Gasly” Seb I love you SO MUCH

[Lap 7]: Death, taxes, and Kevin getting a black and orange flag at the start of a race

Seb onboard FINALLY

I said it already but his helmet for this race was STUNNING

Noooo Zhou’s stopped and Nicky has a puncture. Bother.

Oh, they collided. BOYS 😭

[Lap 8]: Aaaaaaaand full safety car. Death, taxes, and there being at least one safety car the Singapore Grand Prix.

Nicky DNF 😔

[Lap 9]: oh not a replay of Russell and Bottas violence vzsdjvzbah

fellas

“No one’s been lapped, no one needs to unlap themselves” Crofty I swear I will pay you to stop mentioning a certain race I do not want reminded about

[Lap 10]: Safety car in at the end of the lap. I’m slightly stressed.

[Lap 11]: A CLEAN RESTART. I AM ASTOUNDED.

Does... does everyone have their braincells??? at the same time??? amazing

ew Verstappen passed Seb

also stop talking about title permutations I don’t want to know.

Livery watch: There’s pink accents on the McLaren instead of the light blue??? You know what I dig it

[Lap 12]: Verstappen behind Alonso? *grabs popcorn*

oh Lewis didn’t want full wets the beef was over a new or used set of inters. Thank goodness. Bono can come talk some sense into me instead.

[Lap 13]: Anyway, Alonso v Verstappen watch. It’s like a simmering pot.

Lewis within a second of Sainz? Seb six tenths behind Gasly? Let’s get it lads.

[Lap 14]: “The straight line speed of the Red Bull is faster than the straight line speed of the Alpine” Really Crofty??? You don’t say... /s

[Lap 16]: I hate to say it but... nothing much is happening my friends 😭

It seems like the track is starting to properly dry out since drivers are being asked to look for puddles to cool the tyres, but it’s obviously nowhere near slicks territory yet

Marina Bay Street Circuit 🤝 my hair: taking forever to dry 

[Lap 17]: Oh!!! I see a hint of a dry line!!

and yet, in other places we still have small puddles

[Lap 18]: Oh no Russell is behind Bottas, boys please, don’t be violent.

[Lap 19]: Oh to be a Ferrari mechanic, sweeping water out of the pitbox

Verstappen is still behind Alonso. Fernando is powered on spite alone I feel.

“It’s a really cautious race” Yeah, at least the track is pretty though

[Lap 20]: Almost third distance klaxon!!!!

maybe I’m very biased but I do love watching the cars drive round Singapore, it is hands down the best street circuit on the calendar. Every street track wishes it was Marina Bay.

“It’ll be a brave person who switches to slicks” *cuts to the Merc garage prepping tyres* oh no

“Whenever Perez has led more than 15 laps of a race he’s gone on to win it” oh that is a fun fact actually

[Lap 21]: Alonso DNF. The pre-start team radio did age like milk.

VSC, are we gonna get a pitstop shuffle?

oof the engine just died on the spot. yikes.

eesh Yuki nearly ended up in the wall

[Lap 22]: Russell pits 👀👀👀👀👀

HE’S ON SLICKS

ohhhhhhh boy, inch resting

“That’s brave at the moment” This is the one time I will agree with Verstappen. You may note the date and time.

cut to Shov on the pitwall trying to look unbothered

“No grip” pretends to be shocked

[Lap 24]: ooh Lewis closing the gap to Sainz

OH Lance is up to P9!!!! Please let us have double AM points.

no rain anywhere on the radar thank goodness.

[Lap 25]: “We are not event at half race distance” ...I know

[Lap 26]: Yellow flag sector two???

Noooo Alex in the wall

oh okay he’s back driving he just doesn’t have a front wing

VSC 2 electric boogaloo

oh no the Ferrari mechanics are standing by the tyres.

phew no one pitted.

Alex DNF 😭

OH SHIT this is his first race after his whole hospital fiasco, jeez louise

[Lap 27]: VSC ended, I’m starting to see more of a dry line before turn 8

[Lap 28]: Oh I didn’t even notice Sainz being 15 secs behind Leclerc. yikes.

and Ocon is vibing in the run off?? Also a bit smoky.

Oh. Alpine went poof. 

VSC 3!! Give it up for VSC 3!!

[Lap 29]: yikes you can see the oil the Alpine is leaking as it gets rolled back. That was not a happy Renault engine.

Down to 15 runners. 

Bono sighting!!!!! 

[Lap 30]: Lewis do not overtake under the VSC pls.

aaaaaaand VSC ended let’s zoom

or not the track is still not dry enough for slicks

oh not a replay of Norris and Verstappen nearly crashing at the restart.

cut to displeased McLaren mechanics.

[Lap 31]: Seb still in P8, an unbothered king

wait have we even had DRS this race???? I don’t recall seeing a graphic for it

Livery watch: The RBR livery is so dull I want to cry. Bring back the glossy metallic blue PLEASE

[Lap 32]: Please tell Ted how much I love his long winded analogies

also HALF RACE DISTANCE KLAXON!!!

its_been_84_years.gif

and we have indeed not had any DRS, cheers Brundle

[Lap 33]: LEWIS NO

Oh thank fuck he’s gotten going again but SHIT

argh his front wing is damaged.

meanwhile Russell fastest sector 2. It may be slicks time.

The duality of Mercedes AMG F1.

[Lap 34]: Lewis’ front wing is starting to fall apart, Gasly has pitted for slicks. We are going from 0 to 100 VERY FAST

Yeah Russell fastest sector 1 it’s slicks time

Everybody do the PIT STOP SHUFFLE *70′s Disco music starts blaring*

Leclerc, Yuki, Bottas, Kevin, Lewis and Seb have pitted.

half a second Seb sighting I’ll take it

[Lap 36]: And Perez pits

Sainz too, I’m guessing Norris, Verstappen, Lance and Dan aren’t far behind.

Yellow flag sector 2. 

YUKI NO

WE’VE HIT 100 AND I DON’T LIKE IT

Safety Car 2 - Electric Boogaloo

huh McLaren are the only cars to not have pitted.

...until now, mechanics in the pitlane 

[Lap 37]: “I’m always here for you Crofty” oh Ted

“Don’t sweat it Lewis, we’re still in it mate” oh 🥺

seriously where do I get an emotional support Bono?

So, everyone is on the mediums apart from Dan and Bottas who are on softs, inch resting

[Lap 38]: Bernd Maylander for Driver of the Day

oh and we’re back with the 2hr countdown (37-ish mins left). I’m going to try very hard to keep track of the lap count, unlike what I did with Monaco.

(my apologies in advance if the liveblog goes to pot from here)

okay so Ferrari think a long safety car as opposed to a red flag to fix the barriers.

[Lap 39]: no don’t show sad Yuki 😭

oh Safety Car ending, alright then

“Respect the distance with the safety car” yes now is not the time for crimes Checo

[Lap 40]: Mostly clean restart thus far 

Wait when did Lance get up to P7????

anyway Seb still P8

VERSTAPPEN STRAIGHT DOWN THE RUN OFF WHAT

Anyway AM P6 and P7 now, double points pls

[Lap 41]: oh no Perez got noted for a Safety Car infringement

I SAID NOW WASN’T THE TIME FOR CRIMES FFS

And Russell has a rear puncture. Zero braincells found anywhere post-restart

Russell on Mick violence? fuck off

[Lap 42]: ANYWAY, Charles is catching Perez???

👀

Noooooo Mick’s going slowly now

[Lap 43]: Oh Charles and Perez are very close

Thankfully Mick just pitted and is still in the race

...Perez has an engine issue????

DRS Enabled 👀👀👀

alrightly then

aw Seb’s in 7th and Lewis in 8th, the mates that race together stay together

[Lap 44]: I find it very wild that we only have 14 cars left this race has certainly been SOMETHING

[Lap 45]: and we’re seemingly at 75% race distance, huzzah!!

meanwhile Charles is hunting Perez for sport at this point they’re SO CLOSE

gap still under a second

[Lap 46]: I feel like playing jaws music over this battle would be more fitting

lol I just realised we have the two Ferraris, both McLarens, and Lance and Seb in sequence. Something something Noah’s arc

Fastest sector 1 Charles, come onnnnnn

gap 6 tenths!!!

[Lap 47]: Oh there’s a definite dry line on the track now. It’s about bloody time.

20 mins left, and we are at full points distance!

[Lap 48]: Charles is painfully close to Perez at this point

Physically I’m in the living room, mentally I’m cursing RBR’s straight line speed.

cut to a somewhat stressed Ferrari pitwall

hmph Charles’ gap is suddenly 1.4 seconds. I should not have gotten my hopes up.

[Lap 49]: “Mick Schumacher will continue to drive like it’s the race of his life” AS HE SHOULD stfu Russell

“If they’re going to put a penalty on they should do it during the race” You run on the assumption that race control and the stewards have a braincell between them. They don’t.

[Lap 50]: oh of course Perez is getting investigated after the race. ffs.

[Lap 51]: Don’t have Horner talking over Lewis and Bono. RUDE.

[Lap 52]: 10 mins left, will Perez get a five second gap? Just when you thought the race had reached it’s drama quota.

oh Merc pitting Russell to steal the fastest lap off Perez. This is why I hate the “you only get the FL point of you’re in the Top 10″ bullshit bc???? The fastest lap is the fastest lap wherever you finish get over yourselves FIA and let whoever gets it have a point it is not that hard.

[Lap 53]: Verstappen following Lewis who’s following Seb. *yells*

AND YET there’s still damp patches on the track. madness.

[Lap 54]: Seb just drag Lewis away pleeeease

ngl this three car battle is a bit spicy

[Lap 55]: Just a handful of tenths between them. damn.

Lance in front of all of them, unbothered

[Lap 56]: 2 mins left.

Oh how I’ve missed watching Lewis and Seb race

aaaaand Lewis went wide and Verstappen got through. It was fun while it lasted 😭

[Lap 57]: Perez has pulled a 5 second gap over Leclerc. ffs.

The clock hit zero. Are we done??? Do we have an extra lap??? What I do know is that I’m sure my lap count is off.

“Vettel is defending brilliantly here” INJECT IT!!!!

[Final Lap]: Verstappen got past Seb. Rude, he broke the team by team formation.

And I was right, Perez did win! Charles P2, Sainz P3.

But most importantly DOUBLE ASTON POINTS!!!!! TEAM GREEEEEEEEN!!!!!!!

WELL. That was a race. Honestly it felt like two different races in one. Everything after the second (??) safety car was somewhat insane. Though everything before that? ehhhh. Though I’m not surprised that 2022 managed to give us a partially dull Singapore GP.

Solid 7 front wings out of 10. Next race - Japan!

[luminarai]

claim: nicky is too kindhearted to ever be mean or hold a grudge

fact: nicky is very kindhearted but also extremely competent at compartmentalizing his emotions and utilizing them at carefully chosen moments for maximum shade results

[evermore118]

Illicit Affairs is really the soundtrack for modern AUs where Nicky is a priest like whole heartedly

[bambi-marquez]

did I jinx it? perhaps :(

[nickireadstfc]

The Raven King, Chapter 9 – Spooky Scary Bonding Times Send Shivers Down Your Spine

In which the monsters go costume shopping, Neil forces everyone to have Fun Squad Hangs, we learn Things™ about Matt and I start to realize Andrew cares about 24601% more than he’s trying to show.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The Raven King.

Finally, the much needed breather chapter is here – it’s Halloween!

Our monster squad takes this as an opportunity to go hang out at everyone’s favourite Fun Drugs Party joint, commonly known as Eden’s Twilight. Before they can go, though, Nicky makes me relate to him yet again by doing something I’ve been doing for years – pressuring all my friends into Halloween costumes.

(And carnival, and cosplay, in my case.)

           “You wouldn’t trust me to pick out your costume, would you? I’d probably make you a French maid or something.”

Except you’ve kind of picked out outfits for him in the past, for y’all’s club adventures, and you always picked clothes you thought he looked super hot in?

So basically, what this is trying to tell us is that Nicky has a drag kink.

Nice.

           An animatronics raven flapped its wings and cawed at Neil as he approached. He pushed it to the back of the shelf and moved a glittery Styrofoam skull in front of it.

Bahahaha. This is such a tiny detail, but I love it.

You can never escape the ravens, Neil. N E V E R.

           “People don’t really wear these, do they?” Neil asked and (…) pulled the next one off the rack. It was a milk carton with a cutout for the wearer’s face and a bold “Have you seen me?” printed beneath it.

           “Oh, that’s perfect, Neil,” Andrew said. Neil sent him a dirty look.

PLEASE TELL ME THERE IS FANART OF THIS. I am in tears.

And next: Neil, my boy, my dude, my son – does this.

           “We should invite the others to come with us,” Neil said.

FUCK. YEAH.

Neil starting to bring the team together!!! Everyone slowly bonding and becoming friends!!!!!! It’s the fuck happening!!!!!

I am so, so beyond here for this, have I mentioned that already?

           “We need them,” Neil said, keeping his eyes on Andrew. “Talent alone won’t get us to semifinals. (…) You have to stop breaking this team in half.”

YOU TELL EM, MA BOY.

           “I’m not asking you to be their friend,” Neil said. “I’m asking you to give an inch.”

           “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile,” Aaron said.

           “You really think they’re strong enough to take a mile from Andrew? You think he’d let them?”

My dude has a point.

My dude has all the points, in fact.

GET YOUR ASSES TOGETHER EVERYONE, ALRIGHT.

Nicky, however, raises the fair argument of how they treated Matt last year, yet when Neil asks how exactly they treated Matt last year, Andrew tells him to ask the dude in question – and also agrees to let the rest of the Foxes join their Halloween extravaganza, which surprises everyone so much it ends the conversation.

Well. Best to tell Dan and the squad the good news immediately, no?

           Dan stepped out into the hall with [Neil] and pulled the door closed behind her. (…) “We’ve got a visitor. He came by a little while ago looking for Andrew.

          (…) This is Officer Higgins of the Oakland PD.”

Weeeeeeell shit. I knew that dubios phonecall thing was going to come around again.

           Neil heard the doorknob creak in warning as Andrew twisted it further than it was meant to go. It was a startling giveaway considering Andrew’s wide smile and the breezy tone of his voice.

           “Oh, I must be imagining things. Pig Higgins, you are a very, very long way from home.”

I knew it. That whole affair stinks. Andrew is not nearly as cool and chill about this whole situation as he pretends to be.

What is happening, I’m so intrigued by this.

           “We were looking at the wrong person, weren’t we? (…) The other kids won’t speak up. They don’t trust me that much. You’re all I’ve got.”

           That got Andrew’s attention. “Kids? Kids, plural. You only mentioned one last time, Pig. How many has she had?”

She? We were talking about one of his foster fathers last time – but Higgins said they looked in the wrong place.

A foster mother, then? And a fair amount of child abuse, as it seems. Once a-fucking-gain.

           “How many kids, Pig?”

           “Six, since you,” Higgins said.

Six instances of child abuse, then, probably seven including Andrew.

Hell to the fucking no. Andrew, you stubborn shit, help those kids.

Also, apparently the foster mom’s name is Drake. Probably a family name. Will keep that in mind.

After that conversation, Higgins leaves again before we can get any more interesting information. Ughhhh. Why must there be suspense, I need to know now.

           “Why are the police looking for you?”

           Andrew tilted his body towards her and smiled into her face. “I’m in no trouble, oh captain my captain.”

Alright, first he references Les Misérables and now Dead Poets’ Society – Andrew, stop being a goddamn nerd. <3

Neil then goes to do what he came to do in the first place, which is informing the squad of their incredibly luck of getting to hang out with the monsters on Halloween.

It goes about as expected – meaning, everyone’s mind as blown.

           “How the hell did you talk Andrew into this?” Dan asked, staring at Neil.

           “I asked,” Neil said.

Genius. Amazing. How has nobody had this idea before.

           “He implied you were the harder party to convince,” Neil said.

Oh, yeah.

MATT BACKSTORY TIME, BABES.

Let me sum this up for you. Matt’s dad – asshole extraordinaire – got him into drugs, as he wanted his son to fit in with the rich kid party scene in New York. Matt tried getting clean, but was a wreck when he arrived at PSU, hiding from any party people who might tempt him again by camping out on the girls’ couch – which, might I add, is an adorable picture, no matter how angsty.

Andrew ‘King of Unorthodox Helping Methods’ Minyard saw how fucked up Matt was and promptly gave him speedballs INSERT WIKIPEDIA HERE, which are about one of the most fucked-up drugs you can have (it’s cocaine and heroin together and it kills people on the regular. Fun!). But plot twist! Turns out Andrew had done everything with Mommy Boyd’s permission and his plan succeeded in bringing Matt into rehab and back into a normal life.

I have………… so many questions. Also, respect for Andrew. Also, what the fuck??

Also, MATT MY SON LET ME PROTECT YOU WHAT THE HELL. <333

           “I don’t know if they’ve talked to you about Aaron’s history, but you understand Andrew’s, don’t you? He’s not allowed to fight his addiction. Watching Matt struggle was very hard on them both.” (…)

          Andrew said they’d picked up the [cracker dust] habit for Aaron’s sake. (…) Chances were cracker dust was a paltry substitute. Watch Matt crumble under temptation would have wrecked hell on Aaron’s own sobriety.

          Neil was starting to rethink how apathetic Andrew was about Aaron’s life.

Are you telling me Andrew got them all into cracker dust just to protect Aaron while he worked on getting Matt clean?

And you’re telling me Andrew doesn’t care about anyone or anything?

Bull-fucking-shit.

Andrew, you seriously have so many problems and you are so problematic like 80% of the time but dude – I love you.

           “What’d you guys get [for costumes], so we don’t double up on anything?”

           “I’ll ask. I’m hoping Nicky was joking,” Neil said, getting to his feet. (…)

           It turned out Nicky wasn’t joking, but at least a zombie cowboy was better than a milk carton or a cow.

NEIL THE ZOMBIE COWBOY.

Again, please tell me there is fanart of this. I NEED IT.

And before you know it – it’s Fun Bonding Party time!

Apparently, ‘party’ means a few hours of the most awkward social interaction ever – Aaron refusing to talk to anyone except his family, Andrew being annoyingly energetic and rude, and Nicky trying to make up for his asshole cousins by talking So Damn Much – but you know, it’s a start.

           Kevin shifted in his seat enough to pull his hand in his pocket. The rattle of pills against plastic was so soft Neil might not have noticed it if not for Andrew’s reaction. (…)

           “Don’t make me hurt you,” Andrew said. “I don’t want blood in my ice cream.”

Ah yes, thanks, I had momentarily forgotten how EXTRA Andrew is.

Kevin also finally solves the question of why he has Andrew’s pills when Andrew off his meds – it ensures Andrew won’t take them in the first flash of withdrawal. Alright. I would have expected some bigger explanation for some reason? Idk. Maybe there’s more here, maybe I’m just seeing things.

Onwards to more fun things – Betsy makes a surprise reappearance via text!

           “Just Bee!” Andrew said. “Bee being stupid. Bee being, ha. Look.”

           Andrew tossed Nicky his phone. Nicky took one look at the screen, laughed, and reached across Aaron to show Neil the phone. (…) It was a grainy picture of Betsy Dobson wearing a bee costume.

What level of PRECIOUS. I love this woman.

It turns out Andrew and Betsy are texting BFFs, which is something I absolutely did not see coming.

Apparently, Andrew likes her considerably more than Neil does.

           “Andrew goes through shrinks like he’s trying to break a world record only he knows about. She’s his eighth one at least.”

           “Thirteenth,” Andrew said. “She made sure to ask me if I was superstitious.”

Uhmmm precious.

           “Some insane number. But when Andrew waltzed ut of her office at the end of his first session with her she was right on his heels and completely unfazed. Pretty impressive, right?”

           “No,” Neil said.

           Nicky sighed. “Eat your ice cream, jerk.”

Eat your ice cream and learn to start appreciating Bee Dobson for the gift to Foxkind that she is, jerk.

Time for a change in scenery – from Fun Ice Cream Times to Fun Club Times!

Seriously, this club does not get any less suspicious to me. I resent every time they go there. That first night has me pretty much scarred for life and I wasn’t even the one who was drugged and kiss-raped. How Neil is so ‘meh’ about going there again all the time is beyond me.

Then again, ‘meh’ just about describes Neil’s attitude towards most things that aren’t Exy or survival. So there’s that.

When they arrive, Dan – understandably – raises the question of whether or not it’s safe to let Andrew be clean for a night, to which Nicky has to say some things.

           “Trust me, you’d know if he was clean. It’s, uh… (…) it’s unmistakable. You’ll see next summer whether you want to or not. He’s off his program in May and should finish rehab by the time we start June practices.”

This is the point where I wonder how long the AFTG books will stretch, time-wise. The first book started in May and ended in August, the second started in August and we’re now – halfway through the book – in November. If we keep up this pace, TRK should be finished around January/February and TKM should end just in June – meaning we will see Andrew off his meds probably?

HECK YES.

10 bucks says Andrew has to come off them for some reason earlier anyways. Don’t ask why. It just feels like it should happen, for suspense reasons or something.

And once everyone is settled in the club, most of them go dancing, having fun, doing normal people stuff – except for our favourite antisocial ‘Help I don’t know how to human’ dudes, who once more engage in an unexpected heart-to-heart.

           “I’ve never been in a position where I could get to know people,” [Neil said.] “I know I have to let them in if we’re going to make it through the season, but it’d be easier if they were just names and faces. How have you stayed disconnected for so long?”

           “They’re not interesting enough to keep my attention.”

Yeah, hi, this is Nicki speaking, is FUCKING BULLSHIT there, I’d like to call them?

Seriously. As if.

           “What about Renee?”

           “What about her?”

           “She’s not interesting?”

           “She’s useful.”

           “That’s it?”

           “You expected a different answer?”

Is Neil trying to slowly find out whether Andrew like-likes Renee or not because that may be a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Also, “she’s useful” for fuck’s sake, stop blowing holes in my platonic goalie BFFs ship.

           “Yes? No? It should be – it is – irrelevant, but…” (…)

           “Sometimes you’re interesting enough to keep around. Other times you’re so astoundingly stupid I can barely stand the sight of you.”

I’m interpreting that statement as either:

1) I’m gay, you fuckwit (most likely)

2) I’m interested in you, you fuckwit (probably not likely at this point in the story, not yet)

3) I’m ace and could really give less fucks about this whole dating shit, you fuckwit (an enjoyable headcanon, but unlikely as we know that Andreil is #endgame)

           Neil scowled at him. “Forget it. I’ll ask Renee.”

           “You’ll have to stop avoiding her first.”

Yes, please do.  Preferably immediately, next chapter, get on it, chop chop.

I need more Renee content always.

           [Neil] went alone to the railing overlooking the dance floor. (…) He had to trust that they were all there, safe and having fun. He was content to watch and imagine.

           Lonely, too, but there was nothing he could do about that.

Except for, y’know……… Making friends…….. Having them teach you healthy social relationships…….. A wild concept, I know, but just consider it………….

Deep sigh.

If you like what I do here and you want to help me continue writing, please consider buying me a coffee! Thank you so much <3

[brakingpoint]

give me your hot f1 driver thoughts then too pls? xx <3

beautiful men god tier: lewis, daniel, pierre

hot but not quite god tier: charles (soz)

not my normal physical type but good lord i still would tier: max, seb

objectively a decent looking lad but makes me feel absolutely nothing tier: carlos, mick, antonio

would not normally say i'm attracted to them but i know that if we were at uni predrinks together i would develop a weird attachment to them over the course of the night and end up trying to pull them by the time we get into the club tier: george, nicky, lando

"aww bless" tier: esteban

oh god wait have i had daddy issues this whole time tier: kimi

i just hear radio static when i look at them. net zero pussy response tier: fernando, valtteri, yuki, checo, lance

no amount of money or alcohol could sway me tier: mazepin

[raceweek]

soz why we dont like latifi? genuinely asking bc im a bit clueless about these things?😅

i personally don’t dislike the bloke at all, i only added the anti tags bc i felt as tho anyone who supported him wouldn’t want to see it and could filter it:) - my post was just to say that the reaction to george outqualifying nicky by seconds and tenths was wow mr saturday the things he can pull out of the car are amazing but when it’s alex it’s been like well it’s to be expected that he’ll beat nicky like. okay. interesting

[andtheywerecocaptains]

kaysanova + yesterday

kayla!!!! i don’t know if this is what you wanted so i apologise in advance. i have jumped on the disk horse in the fandom recently lmao and this is my humble pov!!! plus i don’t seem to be able to write oneshots, soz

***

“20 years Nicky, really?”

Andy was not going to let it go and Nicky was already sick of it. They’d spoken about it, the decision had been made, Booker was behind them (physically, at least, but Nicky wasn’t sure about the scars he’d left) and he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Joe had been awfully quiet since they had left the pub. He was sat in the back seat of the car with Nicky, Andy was driving and Nile was in the passenger seat.

He was looking out the car window, chin resting on his fist and forehead slightly crinkled. Nicky could tell he was thinking about something, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Clearly, it had something to do with what had just happened with Booker over the past couple of days, he knew that much. Nicky wished he could read his mind and perhaps give him a little relief, lift the weight he could distinctively see on his shoulders, like a giant boulder pushing him down.

Nicky moved his hand on the seat and gently poked Joe’s legs with a finger. Joe’s arm moved almost automatically and he intertwined his fingers with Nicky’s, but nothing else happened. His husband didn’t shift in the seat, didn’t look at him, didn’t say a word. That touch meant ‘we’ll talk about it later’, though, and Nicky decided to just wait, caressing Joe’s hand with his thumb.

-

“20 years Nicky, really?”

Nicky almost wished it had been Andy again. Not Joe, standing in front of him, arms crossed against his chest and a little furrow in between his eyebrows. If anything, Nicky had greatly appreciated Joe waiting for the privacy of their room to bring this up. This was not a discussion they could’ve had in front of Andy and Nile, certainly not after everything that had happened, certainly not with Andy settling into the first hours of her newfound mortality.

“I thought it would've been enough of a lesson.” Nicky replied, looking down at his own hands. He was sat on the edge of the bed, whilst Joe kept pacing the room. He was used to doing that when dealing with particularly pressing thoughts.

Nicky heard Joe’s footsteps stop abruptly the moment he’d finished talking, so he looked up and met his husband’s gaze.

Did he say something wrong?

“A lesson?”

He’d said something wrong.

“A lesson is what you teach a child that has stolen candies from the cupboard.”

Joe did not get angry easily. He was the most loving human being Nicky had met in his life and was so in synch with his own emotions that he always managed to find a different outlet to express what he was feeling. He knew there was no need to shout or argue when something could be simply talked about. 

The fact that he was apparently seething with rage in that moment, therefore, had caused Nicky to straighten his back and sit up. Why was he so angry? Wasn’t Booker his brother? Did he not want him back sooner rather than later?

“I thought you’d want him to come back-...”

“I want him gone for as long as possible.” Joe interrupted him, putting his hands on his hips.

Nicky frowned, still not understanding completely. What was he missing?

“But that’s why I did not fight it. The majority of you wanted 100 years, so I agreed.”

“But you still think 20 years would’ve been better.”

“It doesn’t matter what I think now, Joe.”

“It does to me!” Joe exclaimed, eyebrows now lifted in what looked more like pain than rage. His eyes had filled up with tears and Nicky was taken aback once more.

“Joe, please, I am going to need to you to explain.”

1000 years had passed and the both of them had learned that clear communication was the simplest and most efficient way to get through disagreements like that one - or simply to get through everyday life altogether.

Joe covered his face with his hands and stood there for a few seconds, maybe trying to find the right words, as he always did. He always had the upper hand because words just came to him naturally, even during moments like this.

“It matters to me because 20 years is not enough for me to elaborate what he forced us to go through!”

Joe moved quickly towards Nicky, fell on his knees and grabbed Nicky’s legs, looking at him for a few seconds. His eyes were sparkling and Nicky would’ve loved the sight usually, but the sparkle was caused by tears this time and all Nicky wanted to do was reach inside Joe’s chest and take out all the pain with his bare hands.

“I had to watch you lay on that van’s floor not knowing if you’d wake up, I had to stay strapped to that table in Merrick’s lab looking at you being stabbed with needles, pieces of you being cut up and put into test tubes...”

Joe’s face twisted into a grimace and he put his head down, forehead against Nicky’s knees. Nicky’s hands went to Joe’s wrists quickly, he squeezed them to make him feel his presence. He was starting to understand, but had to let Joe finish. 

“God, Nicky, I had to watch you get shot and had to crawl to your lifeless body, your head was in a puddle of blood, it took you too long to come back to me...”

Nicky knew he’d not been out for that long, but he could absolutely see it from Joe’s perspective. They had just found out about Andy and Nicky could only imagine how much those few seconds had stretched in Joe’s head when he was waiting for him to start breathing again.

“Joe...”

“I had to hope every single bullet you took was not going to be the last one, and all of this could’ve been avoided, it could’ve been avoided if only he hadn’t-...”

“Joe.”

Nicky’s voice had been firmer that time. He put his hands on Joe’s cheeks and forced his face upwards, so that he could look at him. Joe’s eyelids trembled, but he looked at Nicky nonetheless.

“Joe, it’s over. That was yesterday. I am fine now. I am here.”

Nicky understood. Joe was going to need some time to come down from the high his emotions had took him on. Perhaps he was going to eventually see Nicky’s side, but Nicky was certainly seeing Joe’s side now. 

He rested his forehead against Joe’s and listened to him take a deep shaky breath.

The reason Joe had not agreed with his proposition of the 20 years was that he was deeply hurt. Booker was supposed to be part of the family and instead he’d betrayed them in the most horrible way, but Joe was the one that was hurting the most. And not because his emotions were way stronger than Andy’s of Nicky’s emotions: him and Booker were like siblings and everything that had happened must have felt like a shotgun wound to Joe’s chest.

He wasn’t angry. He was in pain.

Joe remained quiet for the next few breaths. They were breathing together: it was their own way of calming each other down. He then lifted his hands and cupped Nicky’s face, mirroring what Nicky was already doing.

“It was yesterday. You are here.” Joe whispered, and his lips against Nicky's shut the lid on that argument. 

It was over, it was yesterday, they could heal now.

[skullcaidd]

I think the stuff with Betsy is the weakest part of aftg by far. Like a lot of the stuff people complain about from the books as being co-signed by the narrative ex: bad behavior amongst the foxes, the ableism and other problematic attitudes characters hold etc. imo the narrative is fairly aware and critical of, but with Betsy I genuinely think we’re supposed to see her as this great therapist AND the mother Andrew deserves and it bother me lol.

gonna be honest it’s pretty early and i may be misunderstanding this but yeah

i don’t really like betsy all that much; therapists annoy the shit out of me and i just don’t like the way she acts because mainly to me she’s just boring, so i agree that she’s definitely a weak point of aftg

Because it’s like you said, we’re set to see her as a good character from the get-go because of nicky saying she’s great, abby doing the same i think, and the other foxes (even andrew, who is pretty hostile at the beginning of the series) liking her

and again, it’s like you said, we’re supposed to see her as a great therapist when we admittedly don’t see that? i haven’t read the series in a while so i may be missing something but honestly all we read is neil’s non-compliance towards her

BUT (sorry lots of thoughts here) then again, there’s kind of two ways to look at betsy. you can focus on neil or you can focus on andrew

because one thing about aftg is that sakavic hasn’t presented andrew as the ‘unfixable bad boy’. he has actually found someone who is helping him and it’s pretty important. i guess betsy is portrayed so strongly as this great therapist and mother-figure character because sakavic is trying to tell us that basically you can get help and it is pretty cool to see that because generally i feel if it were written differently, neil would have had to force andrew to go to therapy and that’s…not something i’d like to see because it’s important for us to learn that andrew sought that help out

i kind of just went on some tangent soz but i think that generally relates to what you were saying

send me your unpopular aftg opinions

[thinkingaboutmalta]

Swearing in "The Old Guard" (and one bonus fact)

The last time I watched The Old Guard, I made note of every time a character swore, and what words they used. For Science and Procrastination, I guess. I don’t have a tumblr, but I felt like sharing my findings anyway.

I broke it down into one column for each of the immortals and grouped everyone else together. For swear words, I went with “Fuck” and variants (e.g. fucking, motherfucker); “Shit” and variants (e.g. shitty, bullshit); (God)damn(it);  “Jesus (Christ)”; “ass(hole)”; and “other.” 

There are a total of 48 instances of swearing; 34 of those are by the immortals.

Further, the swearing in the film can be grouped into roughly three categories: emphatic swearing, social swearing, and hurtful or offensive swearing. Don’t quote me on this, this is based on some paper I read like five years ago. But anyway, this isn’t Serious Linguistics™, this is an close reading of a movie so…. anyway. Emphatic swearing is when you get hurt, or when you want to add weight to your words. Most of the swearing in The Old Guard falls under this category – when getting stabbed, when something goes wrong, when they’re done with the world, etc. Social swearing signals that you are with people you feel very comfortable or relaxed around; you all know one another, are comfortable with one another, and don’t care about social customs. In a way, this is also a way to show the people you’re with that you care about them, even when the situation itself is strained or stressful. Hurtful or offensive swearing, finally, is mostly self-explanatory: swearing directed at another person to make them feel bad and/or show them how much you hate them. These are rather rare in the film – so when they are used, you know they mean business. 

Andy

Andy swears the most of any character, 16 times in total. She uses "fuck” (and variants) 7 times, “shit” 5 times, and all other categories once each. (The only other character to use “fuck” is Dizzy, who says “Fuck me” when Nile reveals she has no scar.) Andy uses “motherfuck(er)” three times, twice when referring to Merrick (mood). Andy is also the only immortal to use “Jesus.” She is also quite sweary at Booker after he is hit by the grenade; she even tells him “welcome back, asshole.” It is clearly not meant to be hurtful, as she smiles when she says it and Booker laughs in response. (Which I imagine must really hurt when your stomach is blown to pieces?) Basically, she makes full use of swearing and all its, well, uses. 

Nile

Nile is the second-sweariest character, swearing 9 times. Her most common word is “shit,” using it 5 times. She uses swear words from all categories except “fuck” and “jesus (christ)” at least once. She is also the only immortal to use “hell.” In addition, Nile is responsible for one of the two instances of the word “bitch,” saying “son of a bitch” after shooting herself in the foot to prove to Copley she’s immortal. The only other time “bitch” is used is by Merrick, during the final confrontation.

There’s something else about Nile’s swearing that’s interesting. Nile doesn’t swear until after Andy kidnaps her; to be precise, she doesn’t swear until she is out of her uniform. It is certainly understandable that Nile would swear more in the high-stress situation she finds herself in; she is killed, kidnapped, and told she’s immortal all in the span of like, 24 hours. In this light, it looks like leaving (escaping?) the army, she is set free, even if this means unravelling a little first.

Joe

Joe swears 6 times — I have included his “Santa Maria, madre di dio” in the hotel since, as far as I understand, it would be considered highly blasphemous in Islam. Additionally, he uses “shit” twice, and “pissed off,” “goddammit,” and "asshole” one time each: After the ambush in South Sudan, he says he’s “very pissed off;” he mutters “shit” and goddammit" after Merrick stabs him; and he calls Merrick an “asshole” and Booker a “selfish piece of shit.”

It’s quite telling that these are the only two people Joe insults this way. He insults the guard in the van by calling him “a child” and “an infant,” but he doesn’t swear. During his van speech, he is — paradoxically — in control. Furthermore, Joe isn’t angry, not really. The speech is also not about or for the guards, it’s about and for Nicky. So let’s get back to the one time Joe is really angry. That’s when he learns of Booker’s betrayal. He shouts and strains against his bonds. He is never that outwardly angry at any other point — not after the ambush, not in the van, not when Merrick stabs him — not even at Keane after he shot Nicky (though I imagine this would be very different if Nicky had not come back)! Everything else that happens to Joe or his loved ones is, on the grand scheme of things, not worthy of his anger. He and his loved ones survive everything that happens to them during the movie. But Booker’s betrayal is different. As the saying goes, “you aren’t that angry at someone you don’t care about.” Excuse me, if you need me, I’ll be over here, crying.

Booker

Surprisingly, at least for me, Booker only swears three times. He uses “shit” twice (once in French, “merde”) and also the French swear word “putain”. He says “shit” when discovering that Andy is no longer immortal, and the other two times he swears are when he drops his booze in the post-credits scene. Interestingly, emphatic swearing is the only kind Booker uses. He doesn’t swear to be hurtful. But he doesn’t partake in the easy-going social swearing either, not even in response to other characters doing it. For instance, when Andy jokingly tells him being blown up is “an improvement,” he only laughs, and doesn’t respond with something along the lines of “fuck you, too,” which tbh I kind of expected when I first watched the film [and I think he actually does in the comic?? I only read it once and don’t have it on hand, soz]. This underlines how much he feels separated from the rest of the group. Excuse me, if you need me, I’ll be over here, crying.

Nicky

Unsurprisingly, Nicky never swears. He prefers to glare glarily and make cryptic threats.

Quynh

Quynh has all but five lines and none of them include swearing.

Other

I’d like to draw special attention to the word “bitch,” as it is used in a hurtful manner only once, and by the villain. At this point, Merrick is already defeated; his entire private army has been wiped out and he is alone in his penthouse, facing both Andy and Nile. He has a gun on them, but he is far from being the one in control of the situation; he rambles and swears (dare I say) uncontrollably. Andy and Nile, meanwhile, remain perfectly calm, and don’t even talk to Merrick; the only thing they say is Andy asking Nile if she speaks Russian. And then, of course, they kill him. The insult is ineffective, and only shows just how deeply the villain has lost, and that Andy and Nile are strong and confident enough to not let it hurt them.

Tl;dr: The Old Guard is a movie that’s chock-full of small details that further characterisation, and its use of swearing is no different. In The Old Guard, the way a character swears (or does not swear) reflects their personality, state of mind, and even offers insight into their relationships with one another. Swearing is used not exactly sparingly, but deliberately. 

Bonus round: Andy calling Nile “kid”

Andy doesn’t call Nile “kid” that much; only three times in total, and all are before she knows Nile’s first name. Once she is told Nile’s name, she does not call Nile “kid” again. Furthermore, Andy doesn’t ask Nile’s name until after the plane fight. Which has another interesting detail: In that fight, Nile makes Andy lose her balance. No other opponent in the whole film manages this (in a fair fight, that is). I think it was in this moment, in which Nile Freeman made Andromache “forgot more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn” the Scythian lose her footing, that Andy started to care about Nile beyond her being “the new one.” That look when Andy spits out a tooth? That look says “Oh, I like you!” I think this is the moment that Nile gains Andy’s full respect

Thank you for coming to my rambly TEDtalk and allowing me to overanalyse something that isn’t the subject of my thesis.

(Also, I now have a headcanon that Nicky only swore, like, three times in his entire life. One of those was when Joe blue-shelled him in Mario Kart.)