Nicky Hemmick's Sparkly Eyeliner

things i cannot and will not be normal about: AFTG, In Other Lands, Solitaire, Dungeons and Daddies, The Captive Prince Fear me.

[splishsplashyouropinionistrash]

Get to know me!

hello my loves! i’ve had this blog for almost a year now, and i just recently realized that i never introduced myself. in other words, that’s what we’re doing today lmao

Name: Aster (yes like the flower) (you may see a different name in other posts, pls Ignore That)

Pronouns: they/them

Age: 18

Sexuality: demi

AO3: killingmeslowly_24 (AFTG) and killingmesoftly_24 (Everything else)

Favorite Book: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

Strange Obsessions: flower language, mythology, catholic saints

Hobbies: reading, writing, book binding, choir, theater

Characters I Relate To: Andrew Minyard (AFTG), Tori Spring (Solitaire), Elliot Schafer (In Other Lands)

Am I Named After Anyone: not really? i did choose my name because of flower language tho, it symbolizes wisdom and joy and has ties to mental and physical health

uhhhhh…. i’m the least creative person in the world so always feel free to ask me questions!!!

[neilwearsjorts]

i want aftg in andrew’s pov but i feel like it would just be “neil neil neil neil, pipe dream, neil neil neil stupid fucking josten 420%” and then irrevocable trauma dumps out of the blue

[eh-pa-cha]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41138232/chapters/103119984

One of my pals ( @splishsplashyouropinionistrash ) wrote this Andrew POV of The Kings Men and it is so so good!!!!

[minyard-05]

love that andrew minyard has been in multiple life-threatening scenarios and yet i thoroughly believe that the only time his life has ever flashed before his eyes was when neil said "why does roland think you're tying me up"

[the-crying-bitch]

If the sun rose in the west tomorrow morning and set in the east, what time do you think you would notice?

6:00am-8:00am / As soon as I wake up

8:00am-10am / during the morning

10am-noon / by lunch time

Noon-4pm / in the afternoon

4pm-7pm / as the sun starts to set

7pm-10pm / once the sun has set

I wouldn't notice

Bald / blind / I live on Venus so this is a normal day for me

Voting ended onMar 18, 2025

[cashmerecorey]

ANDREIL

(yes & no by Natalie Wee)

“9. you still aren’t sure he isn’t a dream.” // “You are a pipe dream.”

“10. if you kiss him, you might wake up.” // “You were supposed to be a side effect of the drugs.”

“2. because he asked.” // “How can you stand me?”… Neil reached for him[.]

“No,” Andrew said and Neil’s hand froze[.] Finally, Andrew looked back at him[,] “That’s why.”

[millportisntreal]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN DAY YOU BEAUTIFUL BITCH I HOPE YOU ARE SPOILED ROTTEN TODAY

[ultimate-marysue]

Okay, I might be pulling this out of my ass but since that finals match was in Evermore that means the foxes should have been wearing their white away jerseys. Which means: the final match was a game of chess.

Not only are they wearing white, but they have first serve (Dan won the coin toss), and near the end the Foxes' king (Neil, because this is a battle between Riko and Neil) changes positions with the tower (Matt, a defenseman that towers over most people) creating the illusion of a castling.

And right there at the end, Riko attempts to kill Neil because they're in front of each other, but that's not how kings work. In the time it takes him to take that step, Andrew closes the gap and strikes. Check mate.

[inafieldofstarflowers]

ik we talk about how Neil’s an unreliable narrator in terms of leaving out details about his life & that’s true BUT it’s important to me that we acknowledge that he’s also deeply unreliable in the more traditional sense when it comes to his understanding of the people around him—it’s easy to overlook because the person Neil thinks about the most and in the most depth is Andrew, and he does understand Andrew incredibly well, so it’s easy to just trust he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to other people when that’s not necessarily true. Especially when it comes to Kevin and Aaron, who Neil has some pretty direct ideas about, but whose images in his mind are impacted respectively by Neil’s understanding of himself and his understanding of Andrew. To really understand Kevin you have to lose the idea that he only cares about Exy & is a coward for not standing up to the people who he fears will kill him for valid reasons. To understand Aaron, you have to acknowledge that Andrew’s view of events & their relationship isn’t objectively the “right” way to view it because that’s not how that works, and that, as much as Aaron didn’t understand Andrew or his motivations, Andrew didn’t underrate Aaron or his.

[eh-pa-cha]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55732273

This fic is from a TKM Andrew pov fic that is absolutely stellar!!!! The author did a little spin-off chapter (for me <3) about what if Neil HAD noticed when he pushed too hard about Cass. Because I agree with the above characterization, you could say it's a teensy bit ooc but overall, it's so perfectly andreil that once the fic is complete I'm going to print it all out, bind it, and keep it on the aftg shelf with the canon.

[tavalen]

disability advocacy went wrong when it became about inspiration porn and “differently abled” and savants. its incredible that that guy with no legs did a triathlon but your sister with no legs will not and she doesnt need prosthetics or five hour training days to deserve respect and compassion and accommodations. its incredible that that autistic guy can look at a city from a helicopter for an hour and then draw the entire detailed skyline from memory when he lands but your autistic friend cannot and they dont need to have a special Autism Power to deserve respect and compassion and accommodations. 

activism framed around “we are just as CAPABLE” means that when people genuinely are less capable they are left behind. activism framed around “we are just as WORTHY” is fundamental to radical compassion.

[bloodyminyard]

will never get over how DIFFERENT kevin is in tsc compared to the rest of aftg

neil put kevin on a pedestal at first. he was everything neil wanted to be, but he was terrifying because he was a symbol of the past. and then as time went on, neil saw him as cold, and bitchy, and a coward. but he was still Kevin Day™️. And kevin promised to teach him every night but he was still an asshole with a one track mind and a fear of riko.

but jeans pov, oh my GOD jeans pov of kevin. sure he’s resentful. he’s angry that he was left behind the first time kevin had felt pain at rikos hands when jean had been ENDURING for years, and “slit his throat on the way out”. but even then, kevin is so gentle with him. he holds his hands and grabs his face and tells jean to trust neil. he’s the beautiful boy who asked jean to teach him french in secret. he sends him post cards and brings him back magnets. he made jean promise to stay alive, because he couldn’t lose him.

both jean and neil are in awe of kevin’s prowess, but it’s so easy to see kevin as an exy obsessed douche through neil’s eyes, meanwhile you put him in front of jean and he turns so unbelievably soft.

[bloodyminyard]

bringing this back in light of my tsc reread… kevin taking jeans face in his hands and telling him to breathe… taking his hand and carefully scanning his injuries… having him make a fist to confirm that his hands are okay… stopping him from hurting himself… oh kevin

[uhfaithy]

Neil Josten you are my favourite cunt ever like that man was really on his deathbed being TORTURED and still managed to gain the confidence to call his torturer a “strung out whore” like boy give it up

[okjii]

“give Andrew Minyard a pet/plant to take care of” what do you think Kevin Day was.

[its-your-babygirl-here]

Hey sorry your boyfriend got kidnapped by his mob boss dad. Yeah when he said thank you back there he meant thanks for everything you’ve done for him, that was his goodbye because he’s going to die. No yeah he was in love with you, that’s what all the looks meant. Anyway. He’ll think of you kissing him when he’s being tortured by his father’s people as an escape. No I totally get why you might want to burn the world until you find him. Yeah yeah maybe start with choking your teammate for answers. Sorry again.

[nasirsagron]

People keep on talking how they want complex characters and they can't even handle Laurent of Vere

[high-queen-of-exy]

texts sent to Neil the first month Andrew spends away at his first pro team

[dykekarkat]

i do believe in neil's ability to cry on command, and this is not like an ugly cry it's like the most beautiful cinematic movie perfect crying ever seen. it was like the second thing mary taught him while on the run because crying children are extremely sympathetic + u gotta start the manipulating gene young. anyway i think he starts using it to run cons on the foxes during his second year. Most affected are matt and nicky (andrew is adamant that he's not affected but he almost always indulges him), least affected are dan and aaron. renee thinks its funny + allison is just extremely jealous and annoyed because he does it better than her (neil loves dunking on her w this). in my vision the first time this happens it's because the foxes bet that neil can't get the press to shut up without tearing them to shreds, and neils like ugh whatever bets are stupid but this is his Pride on the line. so he waits for someone to ask something suitably insensitive and then just bursts into gorgeous photogenic tears and the foxes are freaking out and the reporter is like oh my god im a horrible person and quits his job and then they get into the locker room and neil just. flips the switch. and everyones like ohhhhhh you bastard. you're evil. also kevin and renee are the only ones to win the bet

[saintofsacrilege]

“he should be at the club” HE WAS AT THE CLUB!! and he still paid a guy $100 to punch him in the face and knock him out, lest he reveal his traumatic backstory 😔