You Think Tilda Ever Slipped Her Pills Into Aaron's Food When He Was Just A Kid To Get Him To Finally

Gennerally ppl say "they desearve each other" as an offense, but with Jeremy and Jean I can confidentely say that they desearve each other and mean it in the vest way possible

They are so caring and loving towards each other, I cant 😭

Thinking about Jeremy watching Jean watch his exy matches and finding the way Jean makes his own commentary endearing. Spending more time watching Jean than watching the actual match. Thinking about Jeremy fighting back a smile whenever Jean makes a grumbly comment about something because he finds it charming now that he's gotten to know him better. Thinking about Jeremy taking eight flights of stairs with Jean because he knows Jean doesn't like elevators. Thinking about the million and one little things that Jeremy does to show that he cares about Jean, and still being surprised when Jean wants to protect him and stand by him.

Neil I-need-to-live-obscurely-so-I’m-never-ever-found-otherwise-I’ll-be-killed Josten:

*taps a microphone* “to all the mobs currently out for my life: this is my address, social security number, and schedule of all the times I’ll be home alone without protection.”

Andrew, who just promised to keep him alive:

Azula in the Spirit Temple proves Azula is ready for a "redemption arc"

Was just rereading Azula in the Spirit Temple again last night, you know, as one does, and I was struck by the function Mai and Ty Lee serve throughout the narrative. Over and over, they serve to remind her that what she's seeing isn't real, even if what she's seeing is really nice and enjoyable. (There's definitely at least a hint at both Ty Zula and Maizula but I think at this point Repressed Lesbian Azula isn't so much subtext or text as a giant neon sign across everything Azula has ever done.)

However, as the comic progresses, both Ty Lee and Mai get harsher and harsher about delivering their reality check-ins. Azula of course is someone who at this point in time is going to be a seasoned pro at not taking reality at face value, anyway, though the spirit says something to the effect of, "Why not get lost in a dream if it's pleasant?" multiple times to her (a pretty good indicator early on to the reader that this is not a spirit to be trusted, particularly around Azula, and whatever reason it got called to her, it was not ultimately to offer redemption). Anyway, the turning point for when Mai and Ty Lee's check-ins go from mean to downright hostile occurs in the following two panels.

This is after Azula and Ty Lee are talking about "the old days" which, according to the Ty Lee Subconscious mouthpiece were stressful and anxiety inducing (like, literally S2 of the show) to which Azula verbally counters that they all "loved it" although she does note that then Mai had to go and "ruin it" for a "stupid boy" (emphasis hers, she doubles down on this and says, "stupid Zuzu" as well). How super duper straight of you to say, Azula. We're all buying it. Then Subconscious Mouthpiece Ty Lee says, "Maybe you should get help?" and that specifically is what sets Azula to attacking her.

So of course it's not the phrasing here that's harsh or over the top but the suggestion itself. It's notable that Azula's mind puts it in Ty Lee's mouth and not Mai’s (we'll get to that in a bit). But Azula has at this point been running from help and instead fomenting domestic terrorism for years for her own twisted and convoluted reasons and not because most of the comics are shit. And she's a noted liar. Of course, she's not the liar the show builds her up to be, or the liar she herself brags about being. We don't actually see Azula lie all that often in the show and when we do, there's usually a pretty decent explanation (like she's overthrowing an enemy city).

It's important to note that Zuko is being ridiculous in his flashback in Zuko Alone - that's my favorite episode but eight years olds developmentally cannot control when they lie or often even distinguish that they've done so (ten year olds can usually distinguish when they're lying better, but not by much). Zuko at ten and 16 gets a pass because he knows nothing about child development and I'm sure his little mantra didn't spontaneously generate; I suspect Iroh or Ursa handed it to him at some point. But we as viewers know better and cannot take, "Azula always lies," as any kind of proof of anything beyond the abusive nature of both of their childhoods. And given that the nature of these "lies" at the time probably mostly consisted of either ways to avoid punishment, or things she legitimately didn't even do but nobody believed, I think eight year old Azula gets a pass at the time. I had a childhood that was in many ways similar to Azula's. It creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the people around you decide you're lying all the time, you're like, "OK, bet."

But that really gets to why Ty Lee's words are so harsh in these panels. Because when you grow up like that, as Azula has, the person you end up lying to the most is yourself. And she's still not ready to face that even by the end of the comic. She's aware she needs help, but it's too scary to reach out for it when in reality nobody is there for her and she's all alone, by her own doing (another thing the comic drives home).

In fact, Azula's subconscious chooses to drive that fact home through Mai. And Subconscious Mai is a lot less nice in her phrasing than Subconscious Ty Lee. I don't think that's an accident. Irl, Azula probably looked to Mai as a gauge for when she was going too far. "Oh, Mai wouldn't go in the slurry... well, okay, fair. I can see by looking at Ty Lee that that was pretty disgusting... And she got stuck in it by that Water peasant anyway, so it was pointless too." "I hated that stupid bear too." Etc etc. Essentially, she could trust Mai to call her on her bs. Which is what Mai did at the Boiling Rock, and Azula's subconscious knows it (but who's our princess best at lying to? Say it with me! Herself!).

And there's nobody she hates more than herself, either. (Actually, given Mai and Ty Lee's roles in this comic I think it's pretty clear that at least on a subconscious level, Azula really wants to make amends with them, which hurts, because... they don't.) The whole thing made me really just want to give her a hug. She needs one. I've been there.

I'm curious to see if she'll make an appearance in Ashes of the Academy. I actually think, given what was presented in Azula in the Spirit Temple, that she wants to change and grow into a better, more healthy person. Obviously that's going to look very different from Zuko's arc. Villain to antihero is not the same arc as antihero to hero. I think she's ready now to start walking that path, though, if she is approached by the right person. (Ty Lee or Mai.) Mai seems to be the more likely of the two to be willing just in terms of how their relationship has always been, how she currently feels about Azula, and given that she's prominent in the upcoming comic. Fingers crossed for some good material!

*Said with a heavy French accent

Riko spent his free time obsessing over Kevin

Nora confirmed he watched the first time Kevin had sex(he chose the girl) and the first time he had sex with Thea (absolutely not weird at all)

The other way he spent his free time was torturing Jean and also obsessing with him, to the point he noticed Jean liked man just bc of the way he looked at Kevin (I mean, why are you looking so much at the both of them???)

When Neil was in Evermore, part of the torture included cuffing him shirtless to Kevin's old bed (dude, wtf????)

Riko got mad with the idea of having a queer on his Perfect Court, but somebody should have told this kid the call was coming from inside the house all along

“I will not have queers on my court”

The court in question:

Andrew - gay

Neil - has a gay boyfriend

Jean - bisexual disaster

Jeremy - very gay

Kevin - suppressed sexuality to the point of dissociation

Riko - insane internalized homophobia

Like, how did they think that the same Kevin that got white as a ghost when he saw Riko at Kathy's program would serve this amount of cunt to Riko???

My poor boy took almost two years to be brave enough to cover that pathetic face tattoo, he definitely wouldnt be running around recruiting runaway backliners just to provoke Riko

I think that this mostly serves as a way to show how egocentric Riko was, and how this mentality would also contaminate others around him. Riko knew Kevin was f-ing scared of him, and he clearly had a lot of fun on the Kathy's show and banquets making Kevin feel afraid. But he just couldnt accept Kevin was his own person and would do things bc he wanted/believed they were right. So if he recruited Nathaniel off course it was on porpuose only to taunt him, bc off course he is the center of the world and all Kevin's actions must be related to him

Actually hilarious to me that Riko & co. thought that Kevin went out and recruited Neil Josten aka Nathaniel Wesninski aka The Butcher's son ON PURPOSE

They really thought my guy went "you took my hand? Well I'm taking your runaway backliner who's been missing for the past eight years." And that he went and did it BY HIMSELF in FOUR MONTHS

I know Kevin is and has always been That Bitch™, but he could never dream to serve the amount of cunt Riko thought him capable of when he first got the lab results back from Kathy's show. No wonder they were so mad lol

Yeah Mary, your boy did listen to you

He didnt got close to girls....but with a certain boy....

thinking about how Neil let Andrew do every single one of these things to him without noticing just because Andrew’s a boy and Mary was heteronormative

pt.51: Seth’s Q&A!! <pt.50

much to unpack. the suitcase ought to be incinerated

tags for the homies ❤️ @andrewsleftarmband @blurryhour @you-know-i-get-itt @notexactlythatgirl @longspacerat @tessasilverswan @minyard-05 @carbon-dated-gal @bisexualchaosdemon @stormiiflies @watercoloureyes01 @vampire-overlord @iron-sides @azure-wing @buffalo-fox @ohgodnotagainplease @pink-hydrangea @jaywalkerss @ohmynoggin-blog @cosmic-marauder @min-getoutofmy-yard @plazybones @disastersappho @leestars13 @the-witch-forever-lives @minyardsss @post-historical-posts @andabuttonnose @hidinginmyhands @aftg4l @allfor-thegames @kaleidoskuls @inafieldofstarflowers @snowcoming @mooniism @jeanmoreausautismstickers @prometheusthedragon @graveyardviolence @bustedleftshoe @beatrix33 @aftg-bs @yes-i-exist-shutup @milktemproom @all-for-exy @moon-over-ruined-castle @oneandonlystarshine @dragonslayer26806

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.