nora tweets that make me feel fucking insane: exhibit a
which brings me to this scene:
jean resorting to this type of blunt, nonverbal communication is so similar to andrew too,,
Since we all know by now that I had that MCR phase.
My killjoy name was Technicolor Violence.
Thank you and goodnight.
alright roll call for danger day, sound off in the tags what y'all's killjoy names were i know you all chose one at one point or another
this scene made me so violently ill that I literally threw up and ended up sobbing to my partner for hours. it's so impressively done. Nora was sick for this. I love it so much. I've never seen this articulated so well.
Either i missed the posts talking about this scene or we moved on way too fast from it. Like what the FUCK Nora????? The broken sentences? Jean's desperate thoughts in between lines? Thinking he asked for what he got even though he couldn't say no???? The confession that he wasn't allowed to say no bursting out of Jean without meaning to, because inside of him he knows, he knows he didn't deserve what happened to him. All these years keeping these feelings inside of him and now he can't keep them buried any longer
A small comic about Palestine I created to appeal to more passive family and friends
Anyways if you have the money I urge you to donate to Ibraheem Hadi, a Palestinian who contacted me and whom I promised to highlight in relation to this comic:
Otherwise there is always a need for eSims to keep Gazans connected
lil doodle dump but it's just my winter AU
I'M REALLY GLAD SOMEONE FINALLY SAID THIS because. Ok. Let me yap for a second.
Mentions of NSFW will be in this post! Nothing explicit, but do consider yourself warned!
I need to emphasize that the "yes or no" lines are very tightly connected to the "tell me no" scene! Neil wasn't mentally stable enough to say yes, and Andrew told him to say no, and he didn't. That didn't make it a yes; it meant Neil was idling too much to care enough to say no. See the line right after that:
"I won't be like them. I won't let you be me."
I used to (~2021) see this line mentioned often around AFTG spaces but haven't as much recently. It's also a line that tears me to shreds every time I read it because holy shit. As I see it, Andrew is referring to Drake – and maybe others? – as the "them" and himself as... a victim. He doesn't say it outright, and I doubt he ever would, but it's as close as he can get to saying, "I'm not going to push this because I refuse to break your boundaries like mine were broken before."
Now, besides how painful that line is. Andrew asks permission before he initiates something new if Neil hasn't given an explicit sign that it's okay. The "yes or no" isn't for every touch, nor should it be. They established already what can and can't be touched, and they don't need to ask again. They also established that they're both capable of shutting it down if they need to (see: Andrew throwing Neil off during their first kiss when he realized it went too far).
There are three instances of a "yes or no" between Andrew and Neil in The King's Men:
1. Their second kiss, in chapter ten – Neil asks Andrew where he's allowed to touch him, and Andrew says he's still waiting for a yes or no that he actually believes. Neil says yes, and they kiss.
2. Their third kiss and first time going past that, in chapter eleven – besides it being their first time doing anything sexual, this was also the first time Andrew fully initiated it. Neil approached him in chapter ten; here, Andrew flicked a can tab at him and then asked.
3. When Andrew gave Neil a blowjob, in chapter fifteen – again, asking when it's a new thing. This scene is also important because Neil responds with "it's always 'yes' with you," and Andrew instantly shuts him down.
The "it's always 'yes' with you" line is also super important because of how quickly Andrew shuts it down. He knows it's not always yes, and he refuses to tie Neil to an "always" that would essentially take away his ability to revoke consent. Even if Neil trusts him enough to be willing to let him go further, there are still times he would say no, and Andrew knows it.
But they don't ask for every touch. By the end of TKM, they don't ask for kissing, biting, or undressing. They ask when it's new territory, when a boundary is being pushed at or questioned.
It's worth noting also that Andrew also didn't ask permission to touch himself while around Neil, even though that was technically new. I assume this is because it was Andrew on himself without directly involving Neil, therefore not really forcing him into anything. There was also already a firm "yes" in that scene, and they tend to take a "yes" as continous until that specific encounter ends or someone says no. (Hence, the "yes" to a kiss continuing to a handjob in TKM chapter 11.)
There are far more examples of them touching, kissing, etc. without asking, but every time they ask, it's Andrew asking for something new.
(Also, Neil asks permission to touch Andrew, but he never asks that specific "yes or no" phrase that is so overused; that's all Andrew.)
can i be so real with y'all
i understand that "yes or no" is like a huge andreil thing in fics, but i get so tired of them asking yes or no every other sentence. i think they say it like twice in the book like most of the time they do touch each other without explicitly asking
anyway
obviously write what you want this isn't meant as criticism i just think it's overused
Onions and Garlic 2
OiI on canvas
so, so deeply stuck on Andrew and Jean outside during the interview.
Andrew immediately understanding what the "history" between Jean and Grayson was
Jean promising that Grayson didn't hurt Neil because that wouldn't have been appropriate for him, and Andrew countering by asking why he implied it'd be appropriate for someone else
Andrew's "Enlighten me" to Jean's "You of all people shouldn't have to ask"
Andrew understanding the neck bandage immediately, just as Jean understood the armbands
Andrew asking if Neil killed Grayson and being completely unsurprised when Jean gave him the answer, because he already knows where Neil stands on that matter
It hurt so bad. But it was probably one of my favorite scenes in all of TGR.
That silent mutual understanding, where neither of them wanted to talk about what happened but they knew the other understood, even if they didn't like each other
Catharsis in the most brutal way. Burns on the way down but feels good anyway
I want more Andrew & Jean scenes NOW
while I'm aftg posting I wanna say some Jean angst
Jean was so horrified by Neil's monologue of insults to Riko because he knew what'd happen to him if Riko was genuinely hurt or upset by it
Jean knew Riko wouldn't take that shit, and I'm not sure if he was scared for Neil or for himself, but regardless, he knew the fallout would get somebody hurt, and he was horrified of that
the Neil rant is discussed a lot, but. Jean's terror afterward now that we know what happened between him and Riko is. agonizing.
I want to write a whole Riko analysis about how he's obviously a massive piece of shit but is also a genuinely nuanced character who spent his entire life in fight mode. I could talk about this for ages. I hate Riko as much as everyone else but goddamn TSC contextualizes every little first trilogy Ravens scene into developing a whole new meaning
idk thinking about how sometimes you have to show up for people you aren't that close to, because sometimes you're just the person who's there. sometimes you invite a new friend to a party and end up having to sit with them through a panic attack. sometimes you run into an acquaintance on their worst day and they need to talk about what happened. sometimes someone is crying in a stairwell and you're the only one around to ask if they're okay. and none of this is "trauma dumping" or whatever the fuck it's just being there for people because you're the one in the room with them.
he/him | 18+ (another) autistic compsci major artist / writer sometimes. ttrpg enjoyer. musician who can't write songs.
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