we'll be back later, lovies

@coldsaturn

#ngl sometimes I really miss Bethany & Marissa from TFC

who the hell

The original Marissa – before she was briefly reintroduced as a cheerleader for Neil to shoot down – was the third striker recruited to the Foxes. I didn’t want Neil & Kevin to have to carry the line through championships, so originally Marissa was recruited in the fall to start in the spring. ((There was no way they could replace Seth after the fall semester started, so they had to wait for spring)). Marissa & Nicky got on famously, as they were a lot alike, and she was hella aggressive on the court. Eventually she was vice captain for Neil.

Marissa was cut because there was just too much else going on. I was trying to shorten the books and had already torn out entire chapters of the upperclassmen. Having another character and trying to give her story justice was just too much, especially considering the timing of her entrance with everything else going on in The Raven King.

It helps that I halved the number of serious injuries incurred in TKM. For a while Andrew & Aaron were too injured to play ((thanks Riko)), then the Ravens tore Aaron’s ACL in semifinals ((Andrew didn’t seem to notice their attention. He was staring at the ceiling, one hand on his face. His fingertips drew a line out from the corner of his mouth, tracing the scar Aaron had gotten their night with Riko. He dug his fingernails in almost hard enough to draw blood. “I distinctly remember telling him to keep his fucking hands off my brother.”)), and then the Ravens broke Dan’s arm in finals & Matt got red-carded for jumping the player responsible ((sorry babes)). Marissa was a mandatory extra body on the court that let me keep the Foxes in play despite all this. Once I scaled back the violence it was easier to phase her out.

Bethany was one of Neil’s Millport teammates. She had a small role – the only face-time she had was at the beginning & end of the trilogy, but Bethany was important to Neil because she was the first person he was allowed to know after a move – because he stayed Neil, he “took” Bethany with him from Arizona to South Carolina. Neil knew he’d have to cut her out eventually but it was still a novelty, being able to keep something/someone when he moved. It was a scary bit of permanence.

Bethany & Neil had a couple phone calls throughout the series, and she served as a trigger for a few arguments ((she was the original trigger for the argument about Neil’s sexuality & she was the first person to declare herself Neil’s friend, leading Neil to question whether or not the Foxes were also his friends)). She called Neil after Seth’s death & again after everything happened with Nathan – to demand answers, to ask why, and eventually to forgive. Neil & Bethany’s reconciliation was important to me because Bethany wasn’t a Fox. She was an everyday girl from an everyday family, stable & happy & adjusted. She wasn’t in a position to understand the kinds of things the Foxes had endured and survived, and so didn’t have that ingrained sense of die-for-you mentality the Foxes are built around. But she chose to stand with Neil anyway.

Neil invited Bethany to watch the Foxes play at the NCAA championships finals. Bethany asked, Are you okay, and Neil ((of course)) said, I’m fine. But are you really, Neil? and Neil thought about the year and the Foxes and everything to come and honestly answered yes, I promise