while i am interested by the existence and story of Amalia Day as a character, and i would love to see her explored, the belief that i hold deep in my heart is that if thea muldani got pregnant she would abort that thing
thea kevin messy public breakup a few years into their pro careers and the press obv jump on it so kevin gives a bunch of rehearsed statements on "it was best for both of us" "i still respect thea as a player and a friend" and somebody finally asks thea how she felt about it and she just goes "i didnt want him in my house"
Jean and Neil are on the same team when they turn pro, and they live together (much to their chagrin, because they'll never acknowledge the numerous advantages).
One day, while Jean is cleaning the house, he reaches into the air conditioning vent⌠and pulls out a bag containing $5,000 in cash and a loaded pistol.
Jean is so shocked that he breaks out in a cold sweat.
Andrew receives a call from Jean while he's in the car with Neil.
"Monsieur D'Artanan," Andrew says when he answers on speakerphone.
"Is your crazy boyfriend there?" Jean asks. Before either of them can reply, Jean continues in a fit of rage. "There are three pistols in my house, two sawed-off shotguns, a set of hunting knives, $200,000 in cash⌠AND 3 FUCKING GRENADES!"
Andrew stops the car and turns to Neil, very slowly.
kevin day shouldâve been an ancient greek tragic heroine and instead he got stuck in a self published 2010s contemporary sports/crime thriller⌠and he didnât even get put on the woke team so he doesnât know about estrogen or bisexuality
I wish people would not write the Nicky assaulting neil scene when they do canon rewrites bc each time it just doesn't go anywhere or ever get resolved i start to wonder why they even wrote it
Hi there,
Answer under the Read More b/c this is about Fanfic & not Canon!
I think this is a very fair point to make. Nora sort-of resolved the drugged kiss in Canon when Nicky apologized to Neil (and although Neil did not immediately accept Nickyâs apology, they did eventually become friends). I also know that a lot of readers have asked Nora over the years about Andrewâs reaction/what would happen if Andrew found out about the drugged kiss.
Obviously Andrewâs reaction would be Bad, y'all (he would not feel guilt or remorse for drugging Neil himself b/c those arenât emotions Andrew often feels or engages with & he genuinely believed Neil was a threat who needed to be investigated, however, he WOULD lash out at Nicky for his indiscretion - either violently or refuse to interact with Nicky ever again - especially b/c Nicky had PROMISED Andrew that nothing would happen at the beginning of the night when Andrew told him off for commenting on how attractive Neil looked). I think we all know Andrew's reaction would be bad (what I think readers are really asking is: why won't Nora make Andrew's bad reaction Canon). Nora as well has acknowledged that she knows Nicky is an unpopular character & that is why she doesn't talk about him very much/engage with his character often.
[I also think AFTG Fandom eventually needs to address why the 'unpopular characters' who the author receives hate for ever talking about are... all the PoC characters. Frankly, I don't think Nora's response of just Not Talking about these characters is quite the right way to go about it, but I do know that she has received a lot of hate/threats over the years in regard to a lot of aspects about AFTG, so I do understand in that sense, I just don't think... letting all the canonical PoC characters of AFTG fall to the wayside b/c they are 'unpopular' is the best course of action].
I think Nora realized she backed herself into a corner writing Neil/Nicky's scene in the first place. Having Andrew find out about the forced kiss would definitely ruin the Found Family ending/bringing all the Foxes together because Andrew absolutely would NOT be able to forgive Nicky. Therefore, the information has to remain contained between Nicky & Neil, and for the readers that can feel a little bit like an unresolved dangling thread. Sometimes Fanfics try to resolve this by having Andrew find out, and although he is upset & angry at first, eventually he & Nicky resolve their issues. I donât think Nora believes Andrew as he is characterized in Canon would ever be able to forgive Nicky or be close to him again - and I agree. Or it would take years and years and years to rebuild that trust, not just a few months. I also know some Fanfics do just banish Nicky and I think thatâs⌠sad. Itâs a sad ending.
I also understand where Nora is coming from when she said that she also doesnât think Andrew interfering (banishing, threatening, or otherwise violently harming Nicky) is the right resolution to the forced Nicky/Neil kiss. Not just in the context of the narrative & what the theme of AFTG is meant to be, but also - I think the desire for Andrew to know by some readers is so that he can have the ârightâ reaction that those readers want (fury, vengeance, etc.,) because there is a belief that Neil did not have the ârightâ reaction (he did hold a grudge, but the kiss itself wasnât specifically traumatic for Neil & eventually he forgives and becomes friends with Nicky). For some readers, Neil let Nicky off too lightly & Nicky wasnât adequately punished by the narrative for what he did to Neil.
But also, itâs not Andrewâs place to have the Right Reaction on Neilâs behalf. Inserting him into Neil & Nickyâs conflict ultimately shifts the focus from Neil & his emotions & his assault onto Andrewâs emotions & Andrewâs assaults & the idea that Andrewâs response is the ONLY valid response & the way Neil responded was WRONG. And the thing is, I 100% believe that Andrew WOULD view his own righteous anger as the ârightâ response but when handled by an inexperienced writer it can definitely come across as dismissive of Neil when the incident is⌠100% about Neil. Itâs so the writer & readers can feel vindicated, but at the expense of Neil, who is the main character, the one who was forcibly kissed. He basically becomes a prop, a âvictimâ to be rescued and educated by Andrew on how to properly respond to assault.
Moreover, the way Nora wrote Nicky in TFC - including having him be aggressively sexual & the one to forcibly kiss Neil - was also Racist. It perpetuated stereotypes of Latino men being sexually aggressive, promiscuous, dangerous and threatening to white people (particularly to âinnocentâ & âinexperiencedâ white people). Considering Nicky was also the only brown character in the Foxes it was a poor writing choice. Nora, I think, realized that and did adjust Nicky throughout TRK & TKM to be a more well-rounded character instead of just the Sexual One & also Aaronâs Bonus Chapter did try to add depth to WHY Nicky is so upfront with his sexuality and how its related to his trauma instead of the implication that This Is Just How Brown Latino Men Behave.
Therefore, I think when Fanfics just⌠have Nicky behave exactly as he did in TFC (or worse even MORE exaggerated than how he behaved in TFC) instead of incorporating Nickyâs later-series characterization & depth & what we know of his trauma, it is perpetuating a racist stereotype. I think Iâve mentioned before but, yes, while adding diversity into AFTG by making the Foxes more racially diverse can be good, itâs not enough for that racial diversity to be surface level. Moreover, itâs also important to address the racism already within the canonical novel. [I think AFTG Fandom pats itself on the back far too much for not "woobifying" the villains b/c "everyone hates Riko" and listen: an inability to see humanity or depth in Japanese people is not the Fandom Win some of y'all think it is. Especially when all the white boy characters HAVE had their negative traits, antagonisms, flaws, etc., smoothed over or justified in Fanon... also, off-topic: making Japanese the Language of Evil that all the white boys have 'trauma' regarding versus the "good" European languages: German, French, Russian... like c'mon, we need to use some of our Critical Thinking when we're writing posts b/c some of the way y'all write about Japanese people/the Japanese language, culture, food, etc., in AFTG is that it's the Evil Foreign Eastern Other that is SO SCARY to our white boys (especially Kevin & Jean) and it's like... do y'all hear yourselves when you write this shit].
Lastly, I find that Canon rewrites in general are basically just Noraâs novels with⌠very minimal differences. My (perhaps unwanted & borderline egotistical advice) to writers who want to explore a Canon rewrite: you need to engage more with the Butterfly Effect. (1) itâll make your story more interesting b/c readers will be surprised with the changes instead of being able to predict literally every single plot point b/c itâs quite literally AFTG exactly and (2) what happens in Noraâs novels does NOT make sense if there have been some drastic changes that are then not explored further. The follow-through on these changes are ESSENTIAL to your Fanfic.
If Andrew/Neil knew each other when they were kids, they are not going to treat each other like strangers like they did in TFC. If Neil was a Raven the story should not be exactly like TFC. If Andrew/Neil time-travel to the past, the story should not be identical to TFC. If Andrew/Neil get together in TRK then that should change things leading into TKM. Now, Iâm not saying EVERYTHING has to change, Fanfic is very fun for exploring how despite everything sometimes Some Things Just Stay the Same. But some changes need to be explored - youâre starting with a big question âWhat if THIS happened?â but then you need to ANSWER the question - what changes would happen? B/c if you arenât making any changes, you arenât exploring the concept deeply enough.
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