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The King's Men - Chapter Seventeen (19)

Day: Friday, April 26th / 27th* Time: 7:56 PM EST

Wymack has a few minutes before starting line-ups are needed on the court, so he pulls his small team close enough that they can hear him. "I suck at this pep talk thing, but Abby threatened me with gruesome death if I didn't make some sort of effort tonight. This is what I've come up with after an hour of hard brainstorming. I haven't rehearsed it yet, so you'll have to pretend it's something polished and encouraging. Deal?" He looks around at them, catching and holding each player's eyes for a moment. "I want you to close your eyes and think about why you're here tonight. Don't tell me 'revenge' because you've already gotten it just by being here tonight. "This isn't about Riko anymore," Wymack says. "This isn't about the Ravens. This is about you. This is about everything it took you to get to this point, everything it cost you, and everyone who laughed when you dared to dream of something big and bright. You're here tonight because you refused to give up and refused to give in. You're here where they all said you'd never be, and no one can say you haven't earned the right to play this game. "All eyes are on you. It's time to show them what you're made of. There's no room for doubt, no room for second guesses, no room for error. This is your night. This is your game. This is your moment. Seize it with everything you've got. Pull out all the stops and lay it all on the line. Fight because you don't know how to die quietly. Win because you don't know how to lose. This king's ruled long enough—it's time to tear his castle down."

Art used with permission by Kurra. Thank you @kurra!

*Due to the Leap Year, I have opted to highlight the day rather than the date to keep the events in occurrence to the 2007 year. I will continue to mark both days accordingly.

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The Foxes change out as quickly as they can, moods restored by their guests' enthusiasm.

Day: Friday, April 26th / 27th* Time: 7:25 PM EST

*Due to the Leap Year, I have opted to highlight the day rather than the date to keep the events in occurrence to the 2007 year. I will continue to mark both days accordingly.

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Andrew Minyard, Literature Major ("Hell hath no fury" , "Jean Valjean") getting a PhD just to piss off Aaron so they're both Dr. Minyard is just--

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ftr yallre free to hate thea, it's unrealistic to assume every reader will like every character

bc you're against the 4yr/freshman-senior gap, bc she wasn't well-presented in her scene, bc i cxld the story that would've actually given her more time to breathe, bc you don't want Kevin with a Raven, bc her no-harm-no-foul approach to a man whose first response after any tragedy is "but can you still play", cool cool cool, that's fine by me. i have hated characters for less!

we're only revisiting her now because of the persistent argument that she somehow went out of her way to fuck a 14yo or groom kevin. unsure where or how it started, but at this point I have to assume something in the EC was blindingly unclear. so let's revisit it. not a rewrite or a retcon, but a reword of what we've already talked about before, in hopes it adds a bit of overdue clarification. and then I'mma mute her name, let the conversation die, and keep on keepin' on with my plans for her. thanks, lovies <3

Theodora Muldani "Thea"

Recruited to the Ravens as one of their token women. Advised from the get-go that the master is against both her race and her sex, and that she will have work twice as hard to earn her place. Spends years fighting her way up the ranks until the master finally approves her for starting line-up. Nominates self for vice-captain her senior year (soundly rejected). Had been seeing the captain at the time, but broke things off with him when he laughed off her irritation ("of course he wouldn't pick you, you're a girl"). Spends her senior year in a casual fling with the Ravens' starting goalkeeper.

Summer practices before her 5th year, the perfect Court officially join the lineup. Sees a lot of Jean, who follows her around wanting advice and insight. Sees more of Kevin & Riko (always together, since the two never leave each other alone in a room). Knows Riko is King, but is predisposed to be annoyed with Kevin who has already made snide comments about her goalkeeper and who dispenses nonstop opinions and judgment without invitation. They spend the next several months shit-talking each other's skills until Riko gets tired of it and tells Kevin to just fuck her already. Finding out that's why Kevin has been such a wretched bitch to put up with finally makes him interesting.

Thea drops things with her goalie, but Kevin is leery of actively pursuing her long-term when it puts her under Riko's microscope. They settle for harassing each other on the court and passing notes (sometimes using Jean as the bitter go-between). Kevin fusses at her for turning down the national team; she tells him he's better than Riko is. Bit by bit they see pieces of who they are past the Ravens, his love of history and her dream of climbing Kilimanjaro. Bit by bit they see how much they both want to be the best on the court, to be unchallenged and unstoppable. They're compatible, and Thea knows it, but Kevin has years at Evermore still, has a King!brother in his line-of-sight at all times and a master who is hawking him out to the press on a regular basis.

Thea promises to cut him out when she graduates. She has the national Court calling her back and professional teams trying to sign her to their line; she has enough to keep her busy and new lineups to hone her skills against. She'll focus on her own growth and let Kevin get through Evermore's hurdles. She says "Tell me if I should come back", and Kevin says "Yes". She jokes that he should get some practice in with the ladies while she's gone so he'll be ready for her: a joking insult against his skills to rile him up, a promise she'll wait as long as it takes, and reassurance that he isn't bound to her and can pursue other people if he so desires. Thea graduates, signs with the Houston Sirens and the US Court, and goes on to earn a fearsome reputation.

Almost two years later, the news is out: Kevin has been injured in a skiing accident and has vanished. Thea breaks her promise and tries to reach him, but his number is disconnected. She tries Jean next, and Jean tells her Kevin wants nothing to do with any of them anymore. Then Kevin starts helping at an unworthy scrap of a school, and he joins their lineup like he's not ashamed to be associated with dead-last losers. The future Thea was waiting for is burning; she puts everything she has into her own career and life to try and figure out where to go from here.

And then one day Kevin opens his mouth on live TV and says "Did you know I've never been skiing?"

She can't reach Jean for an explanation. She can't even reach Riko. So Thea breaks her promise a second time, and this time she buys a ticket to South Carolina to get the answers for herself.

#I love Thea so much yall have no idea #her and the fox gals would get on so well if they didn’t have serious hate for each others teams #AFTG

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as a birthday present to myself and in celebration of getting new content for the first time in YEARS (nora i owe u my life), i'm posting the first sneak peak of Of Smoke & Bone Part II: Of Fear & Fury!

Full sneak peak under the cut.

Read the fic on AO3 here!

Of Smoke & Bone In general, Neil Josten managed to keep his two lives in balance. On the one hand, he was a nineteen year old art student in Prague with a part-time job in a mostly-normal coffee shop. On the other, he, Allison, and Renee worked for an inhuman creature, running errands in exchange for wishes. For the most part, these two lives rarely intersect. But it’s fair to say that the Foxes bring their own brand of trouble, and Neil’s two lives soon start to collide.

The first thing Dan registered when she woke up—the first thing she always registered when she woke up—was Matt’s arm wrapped around her waist and the warmth of his breath against her chest. She blinked fuzzily at the ceiling, trying to rid the awful taste in her mouth with her tongue. Despite the warmth of Matt’s arm and breath, it didn’t quite cancel out the throbbing headache that kept her just out of comfort’s reach.

She missed the days of waking up after a night of drinking without a hangover. She was only twenty-three years old but she already missed the days of her youth. Back then, she could wake up and get back to work no matter what happened the day before. Now, she had to deal with the consequences of her actions, and it sucked. She let her eyes fall closed again and it didn’t take her long to drift back into dreams.

When she woke again, it was to the vibration of her phone on her bedside table. She blinked until her eyes finally focused and tried to reach for it without waking Matt. It didn’t work, and her stomach turned at the movement. When Matt grumbled something incoherent as he rolled onto his side, she made a gentle shushing sound. Dan waited until her nausea subsided before trying to sit up. After grabbing for the phone, she wound her arm back around him to read over his shoulder. Matt’s only response was to tug at her arm until she wound it tighter around him, and he snuggled back against her chest and under the duvet. She pressed a kiss into his hair, and it still smelled like the branded gel he insisted was better than the cheaper alternatives. Matt was born into money, and there were some habits he couldn’t shake even when budgeting as a student.

She struggled to read the notification through her eyelashes since the screen was far too bright for a Sunday morning, yet even when she could read it clearly, it took several moments of fumbling through memories until she processed what the words meant.

@TheKathyFerdinand: Painter Kevin Day talks to us at @RAYLEIGHMAGAZINE about his departure from @EdgarAllanUniversity, finding his feet at @PSUoftheArts, and his first solo exhibition. Read the full interview here.

Of course. The interview.

The interview that was supposed to be Kevin’s re-debut and—what Dan had hoped—PSUA’s big introduction to the world outside of Prague. She knew better than to hope for no slip-ups, but she hadn’t anticipated Neil turning on Riko like that. Riko was the kind of man who’d let his popularity go straight to his head, and the worst part was that until she found out what he had done to Kevin, she had thought he deserved his popularity. Riko’s art was exceptional, so he had the right to be a little arrogant, she’d thought. Until Kevin came to PSUA, she’d even been glad that a man like Riko existed. She’d been thrilled that two men of colour were dominating the art scene in London like Riko and Kevin were. A part of her was still glad. Riko’s behaviour and attitude were unforgivable, but he still served as a good role model to kids that looked like him.

Right up until Dan remembered Wymack telling them about Riko’s connections with the fucking mafia.

She didn’t know what to think of that yet, and her current state of mind wasn’t the best state of mind to think about it for too long. She pushed it from her thoughts and pretended she didn’t know what she knew. It wasn’t going to solve anything in the long run, but it would have to do until she had a chance to talk to Wymack about it in more depth.

Reading Kathy’s article did wonders to refresh her memories of the interview. Dan had known that Kathy would draw attention to Neil’s cutting criticism of Riko and Edgar Allan, but her report made Riko’s icy entitlement look like he spent weekends at soup kitchens and environmentalist protests. Kathy had called Neil a spitfire in person, but the Neil she had written was more like a bomb going off, obliterating anything in its focus.

So all in all, Kathy’s interview hadn’t exactly been kind to Neil, but she had certainly paid attention to what Neil had said.

“Matt,” Dan hissed. “Matt. Wake up.”

“What?” he mumbled.

“Kathy Ferdinand posted her interview with Neil and Kevin.”

“What?”

“Here. Listen. ‘When I asked Riko Moriyama to join me in Prague for Kevin’s first solo show—not only since leaving Edgar Allan, but ever—I thought Kevin would appreciate the surprise. Yet when Riko entered from behind the scenes, so to speak, it seemed that I was the one in for a surprise. You’ll be surprised to know that last night’s exhibition was the first time Riko and Kevin had spoken since Kevin broke his hand in a skiing accident last month (you can find more details in January’s edition, Peonies Fall For Kings, available here). Yet it wasn’t the heartwarming reunion I was expecting. Instigated by Kevin’s new friend and potential collaborative partner, Neil Josten, Kevin soon revealed that he wasn’t intending on returning to Edgar Allan when his hand heals like we all presumed. Even Riko believed that Kevin was only to stay in Prague temporarily. The works on display were all paintings Kevin had made during his time here in London, but he certainly hinted at plans to start afresh. And it doesn’t seem that Riko is holding onto the past either. When questioned about his plans for the Ravens to continue recruiting in Europe, Riko told me that the Ravens hadn’t altered their schedule for Kevin’s injury and had no intention to do so in the future. Riko believes that Kevin has been left behind, but that he’s ready to welcome his brother home when Kevin is recovered once more. It seems that Kevin, however, had discussed his plans for his future with his new friends in Prague. Neil didn’t sound surprised that Riko expected Kevin to return to London, but was confident that Kevin had nothing to return to. Neil’s quick defence of Kevin reminds me of the earlier days of Riko and Kevin’s partnership, back when the media speculated that such a pairing would hold the two young artists back. It makes me wonder whether Kevin has founded a replacement art collective to rival Edgar Allan’s Ravens, and I personally cannot wait to see what comes of it.’”

“Shit,” was all Matt said.

Dan huffed a laugh. “Yeah. Shit.”

Matt rolled over to face her again and buried his face into her neck. “You need to send that to Neil,” he said between planting kisses that tickled her skin. “He’d freak.”

Dan was momentarily distracted by the roughened timber of his voice to process his words. She paused. “Oh my god that’s so funny, freak? Or, Oh my god we’re all gonna die and I’m gonna flee the country, freak?”

“Neil wouldn’t flee the country.”

“Neil would definitely flee the country.”

Matt rolled onto his back and Dan watched as he blinked up at the ceiling and waited for his vision to focus. He scrubbed the sleep from his eyes to speed it along and turned his head to look at her. He looked as awful as she felt. She’d been the one to suggest they go to The Foxhole Court for a few hours, but there was no way the Foxes wouldn’t turn ordering in into a small party. They’d put away most of two bottles of vodka even without Neil and Renee helping them. Dan hadn’t been counting but it looked like Kevin almost had one all to himself. She didn’t blame him, considering what had happened, but it reminded her too much of Matt and Seth’s own addictions for her to feel entirely at ease with it.

“Okay, yeah, he would. But only for a week,” Matt eventually said. “He’d come back.”

“Plus,” she added, tangling her socked feet with his, “we know too much.”

Matt laughed at that. “Yeah. All that blackmail material like how he takes his coffee and what his favourite colour is.”

She prodded his chest. “Hey. That took me six weeks to get out of him.”

Matt pulled her into his side. “I know. It took me seven to get him to admit he liked cats.”

Dan huffed a laugh and raised her phone to her face once again, copying the link from the article and sending it to the Foxes’ group chat. Even though Matt was right next to her, and had already made his opinion known, he still tapped out a reply.

Dan sent a link Mattata: i’m gonna print and frame that Mattata: that belongs on the wall DamnWilds: i think we need a social media channel for us DamnWilds: look at the comments DamnWilds: ever since @im fine roasted riko to shit people wanna know who we r DamnWilds: weve got everyones attention but if we play this right we can keep it DamnWilds: if we film us working and do interviews with the student mag people might root for the underdog Catty Bitch: how can you encourage @im fine to open his mouth in public? he does bad enough 1-1 im fine: I’m not that bad. Catty Bitch: sweetie do you even remember yesterday The Gay Cousin: neil might not remember it but riko sure does Mattata: neil made riko look like a stupid asshole who sells out friends on a daily basis

Matt continued tapping something on his phone even though Dan could see the three typing indicators on the group chat weren’t showing. After a second or two he sat up and shuffled to the end of the bed, reaching over to the bluetooth printer perched on the edge of the desk. After turning it on, and waiting for it to make its usual grumbles of life, Dan heard the typical squeaks of something being printed out. She watched in curiosity until Matt lifted two sheets of A4 paper with a PDF of the article.

“I’m serious,” Matt said. “This is going on the wall.”

He was referring to a stretch of wall in The Foxhole Court’s staff lounge that had been covered in photographs of the team. Some of them were official: photographs of Wymack and Abby with famous people who had somehow stumbled in since the café opened in the nineties, and photographs and snippets of articles clipped from newspapers and local magazines. The majority of the pictures, however, were taken by Dan and Seth. These were scattered everywhere and anywhere they could fit and were held up with blutack and tape. One entire corner was a clump of photos of the Foxes turned into memes.

Dan grinned. She opened her mouth to reply when her own phone started ringing. She expected it to be Allison or Renee but was surprised when Wymack’s contact was displayed. She hit the green answer button and put him on speaker.

“What’s up?” she asked.When Wymack spoke he sounded weary and she felt heavy stones lay to rest in the pit of her stomach. “Get everyone down to Court, would you? We need to talk.”

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run boy run

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he'll worm his way into your life whether you like it or not!

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Fox

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tsc sketches, I missed these books ahhh

#“haha what the fuck’ - perfect yes #tsc #the sunshine court #tsc spoilers #the sunshine court spoilers

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something something au where aaron and neil are best friends first :)

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I don’t know if you all realize how often I think about @02511213942 ‘s art and specifically the “Aaron and Neil were friends first” lol. Neil brought snacks for the study session

(I do know there’s a fic about the topic out there as well but I.. don’t read fic much so 025’s was my intro the au train of thought and I fell in love with it. Andrew’s throwback memory is their art from the above linked post and the whole thing is worth seeing again even if you’ve already seen it 😂💕)

Anyway Aaron, new counterargument: what if Neil brought Andrew a little treat tho

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I imagine the fbi agents looked up what his tshirt meant after, which brought them the need to get drunk or a rise in salary for dealing with this.

#tsc #the sunshine court spoilers #the sunshine court #tsc spoilers #Neil josten

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flyby updates: - very promising progress with regards to audiobooks & translations, but still locking a few things in. ty for your patience & sorry for the wait <3 - got the first paperback proof but the formatting was weirdly off, so made some updates and am waiting for the next proof to arrive in the mail (should be here Tuesday) - have one last round of updates for the ebooks that I haven't pushed through yet - don't remember if there was a fourth note, if I remember it I'll come back and update this post

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Reintroducing these two Trojans ❤️💛

#tsc spoilers #tsc #the sunshine court #the sunshine court spoilers #I adore this omg

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Jean: Oh when I have scars it's a problem but when HE has scars nobody minds

Jeremy: Jean he's trans

Jean: And I am French

#tsc spoilers #tsc #the sunshine court #the sunshine court spoilers #jean moreau

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Another fundraiser I trust!

He has a tumblr, and it seems he's very new to it and doesn't know how to use it properly so he ends up looking like a bot but dw he is legit. I had a long conversation with Mahmoud over DM's just to go over everything. It all checks out. Please consider donating to get his family out of Ghazzah! Additionally, his brother-in-law is special needs and cannot be taken care of in a tent!