#im in the trenches of my 8th reread

[theseyellowdays]

One thing I genuinely think the fandom forgets or underestimates is just how weird Neil is. Like we paint him to be this carismatic, flashy, cocky bad boy, but in reality he's stingy, skittish, balks at anything more personal then his thoughts on Exy and Cannot for the life of him socialize. Like in the Raven King, right after Seth dies, he straight up goes:

"Neil had to patch things up with [Allison] somehow, but he didn't know where to start. He'd never been good at winning people over. Someone like Allison wasn't likely to be his first success. "

Neil's spent his life living on the outskirts of "average" life. Ergo, he's cagey and flighty and so far removed from normal that even among the Foxes he'll always be a little unpredictable and odd. And you know what, good for him; we all deserve an antisocial introverted asshole to raly behind.

#bless Andrew for being able to sniff that out from the beginning #because like sure he gets better as the series progresses #and he gains more confidence #and ground to stand on #but like come on #this boy has absolutely no pop culture knowledge and probably thinks NSYNC is an acronym #for some disease #because that stuff is only needed when making connections with others #and neil was never allowed to do that #aftg #andrew minyard #neil josten #the foxhole court #the raven king #the kings men #im in the trenches of my 8th reread #and my own emotions #wish me luck #mine