“You don’t think,” Andrew said. “I told you, didn’t I? I don’t like Exy. I don’t like teams; I don’t like teamwork. I was not born and raised to be a team player. You want me to do them any good you have to narrow the playing field. When I crash the only thing I feel is me, and I will do what comes naturally.”
“Which is?”
Andrew’s smile was wide. “Fight everyone who thinks he can best me.” (x)
How Neil views Andrew playing Exy:
“They thought you’d hurt someone if you were loose on the court?“ Neil asked. Andrew didn’t answer; Neil took his silence as confirmation. He tried imagining Andrew in any other position but couldn’t see it. “I think it’s better this way, with you as the last line of defense. You let us run ourselves into the ground and clean up behind us. You play the game like you play life. That’s why you’re so good at it.” (The King’s Men, Nora Sakavic)
It’s all about perception. I think it is beautiful how Neil sees Andrew, especially given in contrast to how little Andrew sees in himself.
I fucking really love the parallels Nora presents with Andrew and Neil’s positions though. It’s so straightforward that you almost don’t give it thought until after you finish the books but it’s such a nice expression of their characters.
Neil, a striker, fastest little shit on the court. He’s darting around, getting on player’s nerves, fighting to the last breath. He’s running, just like in life, he’s always running, always desperate.
Then you have Andrew, sitting in the back of the court, watching everything from behind, overseeing this whole conglomeration of two forces butting heads. Like Neil says, he’s the last line of defense. He’s reactionary. He doesn’t engage, doesn’t fight, just shuts down any attack on his charge with blunt precision.
And then at the end, after Neil has taken all this time to develop his sense of self and his purpose in life, standing at Andrew’s side, having Andrew’s back, having his team’s back. When he needs it, he takes the position of defenseman. He shuts down Riko. He could run, but instead he uses his strengths to defend his goal beside Andrew. And sure, after the Edgar Allen game, he goes back to being a striker, but the point is, is if he needs to, he can be that shield, he can be Andrew’s defense.
Bless Nora honestly, because this was such a glaringly obvious thing that I didn’t even question it when I was reading. It was such a natural course of events. And afterwards, I’m just left breathless because GOD IT’S SO CLEVERLY WRITTEN JUST BLESS NORA MAN SHIT
Yes! And I think if you look at it that way it shows how well Neil is able to adapt. How versatile he is. How he is willing to fill roles. It is hard to peg him down. Both on the court and in life.
<
p>Where Andrew is Andrew and he stands his ground. Either the ball scores or it doesn’t. Things are very black and white for him.
Been sitting in my to-read list for a while now but wow, finished the trilogy faster than I expected.
SPOILER ALERT
I just love how Neil’s look changes gradually from dark hair brown eyes, Columbia nights, Evermore and the night with Lola. (Gosh the scene with Lola still makes me flinch)
Hope to have time (and motivation) to sketch the other foxes! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
It baffles me how some people didn’t realize that Neil has indeed killed people even before joining the Foxes.
Like, guys, when his mom died he didn’t just go “Oh, you know what could be fun to do with her body?”. He knew how to get rid of the corpse and the traces in the car so that it wouldn’t be identifiable and that his father’s people would have trouble finding them. He didn’t think that out of nowhere, he knew exactly what to do. And he did while in shock because his mom had died, which means it was ingrained enough in him that he could do it in autopilot. Also, he slept with a gun under his pillow. What, did you believe he never used it? He has a gunshot wound on himself which means he was in the middle of a fire at least once. Do you think he didn’t fire back? That he fired and always missed the mark?
Neil and Mary were on the run from a mobster and professional killer.
They did bad things that did not stop at occasional stealing and squatting in empty houses.
They did what they had to in order to survive and that does not make them monsters like Nathan was, but it doesn’t make them good people either.
Neil “hate to see you leave but love to watch you go” Josten
Nothing but My Aching Soul 