Realising The Ravens Played Exy The Way Tetsuji Wanted And The Tojans The Way Kayleigh Wanted, And That’s

I NEED this interaction in an actual fantasy book

It would make my day

I don't think fantasy writers play enough with the concept of the different fantasy races having distinct ethnicities. Like imagine a group of mixed peoples, where the dwarves are all roasting each other like dwarves do, and one of them remarks that when he first saw one of the other dwarves in the group, he mistook her for a man. The other dwarves in the group blink in surprise - the closest that dwarves will go to an audible gasp of shock - and she pulls out a knife and tries to stab him.

Once the dwarves have been separated from each other and the situation has calmed, one of the humans asks another dwarf what that incident was about. Naturally a human woman would have been insulted too, but dwarves are so jovial about insulting each other, why was this matter different?

And the dwarf who was asked explains that there are things you can brutally insult another dwarf about, and there are things you simply do not touch. The dwarf-woman in question is from a completely different region of The Great Underground as the others, and her people have different norms about what kind of patterns men and women braid into their beards. The dwarf insulting her wasn't only insulting her appearance, he was being racist.

The human is surprised to learn that dwarves have different peoples, and the dwarf looks at them like at an idiot. Of course they do, they even look completely different from each other. And the human listens as the dwarf lists off various distinguishing clothing details too nuanced for a human to notice, and then how dwarves coming from different corners of the world have different physical traits, according to what kind of conditions their local stone types dictate.

The human spots a connection and goes oh! We have that too, though ours are not about rock types and tunnel air, but the weather aboveground. Humans' facial features vary by how hot, cold, arid or windy their ancestors' homelands were, and our skin tone varies by how much the sun shines in their native region.

The dwarf frowns at the last part, going "I thought you people just paint your skin and dye your hair for fun", and the human admits that yeah, we do that too, but not all the time, and not the whole skin. The dwarf asks, what of that tall woman the colour of dravite, her palms and the soles of her feet were lighter than the rest of her. Does that mean she paints herself dark to be more beautiful?

The human says no, that just happens naturally. Maybe it's because one's palms and feet aren't exposed to the sun as much, so they are paler.

The dwarf nods, still unsure whether this is actually legit or just the human habit of lying for fun, and proceeds to ask about the wild northman of their party. He is as pale as an olm, but the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet are dark. Are they painted, or naturally that way?

No, the human answers. That guy just doesn't bathe.

I hated that he was using it to defend his drinking problem

But at the same time I liked he so boldly admitted to be number 1 and most of all, to always have been

He says that the last person who tried to take it from him died. Which means that he had always been the best (which we know is true), even before Riko broke his hands

Here he clearly states things how they were: Kevin was the best striker and Riko was always trying to take this spot from him (either by using his place of power to bully him into acting like if he was second or by ultimately breaking his hand)

And I liked that he did it so naturally

Some time ago he would have never been able to say or even think something like that

Still pisses me off that he was using this to defend he could drink all he wanted (bc he already was the best and the one who tried to take it away from him died, so he is unchallenged)

If he was sober and not saying it to justify being an alcoholic it would have been a full diva slays moment

I know a lot found Kevin’s checkmate line hilarious and very diva but I have to say it wasn’t funny and Kevin depressed me in this book🥲

Exy exy exy exy exy exy exy and drinking every time he has to talk about the nest & Riko.

renee finds out about the fire and texts jean that she’s giving the foxes his new address so they can send him postcards, pictures, new things to fill their new home

kevin sends a couple of postcards, like he always used to

neil takes the absolute WORST photos of the team and sends them jean’s way. he can’t help but laugh at them, blurry, out of focus, ridiculous moments

renee keeps texting him, of course, but she’ll also send him the occasional artistic photo of the open sky, a flower in bloom

wymack sends him a terse letter telling him to contact him if jean needs anything

and then jean gets this ugly, dollar-store card that has a simple ‘fuck you, moreau’ scrawled in messy handwriting on the back, and he thinks it’s just another attack from one of the ravens or their fans until he sees the signature at the bottom: ex-brisket lungs

he frames it.

Zeus would certainly pull a stunt like that if he had Twitter

Yep. Our favorite hero, Jaiden Gray.

And even though he does this, the moment he sees Neil he cusses him out for being a disgrace to Exy, bc the day Kevin compliments Neil directly to his face is the day he dies

kevin's pro teammates will never live up to neil josten. kevin lets them know this daily.

This part got me SO MAD

And he made Jeremy answer it, like, c'mmon how terrible of a parent can you be

Yes, the kid fucked up. Yes, using drugs was a shit decision. From that to literal murder there is a huge gap.

Also, it is Jeremy, boy couldn't harm a flower. He is literally so sweet all the time. How can you not know your kid that much????

Jeremy's family make me wanna throw up

honestly i HATE trent knox bc wdym ur questioning if ur son killed somebody when the worst thing he’s ever done is do drugs and have an orgy

Neil Josten is absolutely fucking incredible narrator.

He has his priorities straight and does not pay attention to anything else.

Do we know Katelyn's surname (well now we do)? Do we know ANYTHING about her appearance? Do we know anything about the appearance of HIS MOTHER? Yeah, she was short and ... and what? And NOTHING, THAT'S IT. She was short and paranoid. I'm sure we know about his father ONLY because they were similar and Neil had a couple of breakdowns because of it.

But let him start about Andrew's fucking broad and solid shoulders-

While not being able to find a decent match for himself

Like, c'mmon Kevin, Thea???????

listen

kevin day can be the queen of the court or whatever

he can be one of the best players in the game

but his TRUE talent is unintentionally matchmaking his queer friends

It's so satisfying to know that Riko, out of all the people that were supposed to be in the perfect court, was the worst player overall (if the others played at full potential).

Like, we know for a fact he was worse than Kevin, that's explicit.

Then we have Neil, who is like... both an amazing striker AND backliner just by having trained for it for the grand total of like...2 years. He knows both roles and plays them top of the line. He is also always the fastest player on the court, and has enough endurance to play full games... he is so well rounded it's scary.

Andrew is just...out of the league when it comes to ability. He is out of any chart canonically. He just never tries -but when he does? To be able to choose how many shots he wants to let go through, to again play full games and letting only what 16 shots in out of HUNDREDS against the ravens?? He is overpowered, nora gave him depression because if he had the passion to play frfr he'd be court by like 19. No college needed.

Jean is able to be one of the best backliners while playing with broken fingers, broken/bruised ribs, being 2 years younger than everyone else, sleep deprived, tortured...the list goes on. He is still out there blowing everyone out of left field. He is big and coordinated, steady on his feet. And unmovable object. In saner and safer conditions he'll shine so hard the fans will need sunglasses. He's harder to point down as objectively better than Riko but like,, you see my point. Even if they were to be equal players he'd still win in the physique department, making him overall better.

Just. I love this.

the biggest act of love Andrew has ever done for Neil I think it’s when Neil was too much hurt to shower and he helped him. When he covered his bandages to not get them wet and he helped him out of his clothes and took his time to clean him. When he says “you’re a mess” so fondly, so caring, without being mean or without making him feel bad about it. You know what they say when two people are getting married, “in sickness and in health”, Andrew is such a great lover. The way he was consistent with his care, when Neil was hurt and when Neil was okay. I hold this pages of the kings men so close to my heart. Cause Andrew did so well, even though he went insane at the notion of losing Neil, in his craziness, he was perfect at taking care of him, at grounding him, gifting him matching armbands, cause he understands and he knows how does it feel to have scars and to not want them to be shown to others, the stares, the quiet condescending, the questions, the judging, the fake compassion. He knows it all and he never wants Neil to feel it too. When he let him stay in the shower, when he first let Neil see him so vulnerable when all the other time he couldn’t and he always wanted Neil out of the room, when he scrubbed him dry and when he wore Neil’s clothes in front of everyone, without a care in the world, when he opened the snack for him cause he couldn’t, when he prepared drinks for him at their holiday and let him chill a little bit, when he put his hand under Neil’s pillow. How I love him. How I cherish their love.