#We Are Triumphant

[akanemnon]

Sorry, Noelle... They're a little slow on the uptake.

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MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[decemberthe7th]

🤩

[secriden]

There's something so wondrously momentous about Style only saying his "I love you" now, when he realises that all the secrets he was keeping from Fadel are already laid bare.

He says this a significant time after Fadel has said his (and, in the context of the wider narrative, after Kant and Bison) and for the character we have seen as prone to glibness, exaggeration and flippancy with his words, that feels incredibly intentional.

Because this confession was the only truth Style had left to give.

Fadel is finally done playing his (poorly thought out) game, done with his (already cracking at the seams) charade, done with giving Style more opportunities to pull at his heartstrings with his earnestness lies.

Fadel is demanding the truth, and tells Style exactly what truth he wants to hear.

And the thing is, there is truth in this: Style's motivations at the start were wrapped up in a deception specifically targeting Fadel.

I know we, as a fandom, harp on about Style "doing all that for a car", but something I would like us all to revisit is what Kant actually says to Style when he first asks Style to "hit on" Fadel:

Kant: You need to help me. You know I don't usually feel this way about someone. And then shortly later, after Style refuses: Kant: Hey, hold on. (Kant grabs Style's hand.) What do I have to do to for you to help me out? Should I pay you?

(Please forgive my inability to gif and watch Style's reaction to this.) Style is visibly surprised and intrigued. Kant seems to be serious about this request, and I think Style decides to test just how important it is to Kant by asking for the one thing he knows Kant will not give up.

Just look the expressions on Style's face. We didn't have the context of knowing Style back then as well as we do now, but this is the look Style gets when he's throwing out a challenge (to Fadel), when he's trying to ferret out some new insight (from Fadel), when he wants to see how someone (Fadel) will react to whatever outlandish (provocative) thing he's said or done.

And when Kant agrees, Style even checks again if Kant is serious about going through with it -- and it's this that convinces Style of the sincerity of Kant's request.

Yes, the car was a factor, and yes Style also wanted revenge and to humble Fadel, but at the centre of Style's motivation has always been a plea for help from a friend.

In episode 1: Kant: Under one condition. You have to make him head over heels in love with you. Style: I'll do it. Not just for the car, but someone like him needs to be humbled by someone like me.

But in agreeing to help Kant, Style really was damning Fadel to play the fool because Fadel's feelings (his heart) was a commodity that Style was fully willing to play with back then.

And there are aspects of truth here too. When Kant tells Style about Fadel (and Bison) being hitmen, Style decides he's done and wants out. Kant reasons that it's more dangerous for Style to break up with Fadel now, because it would look suspicious, but crucially this isn't enough to convince Style.

So Kant, once again, makes the plea to friendship and to his need for Style specifically, and it is this that causes Style to finally cave.

But in doing so, the things that Style agrees to are:

Kant: Work with me. Help me get more information about them. Once we get that, it's done. Captain puts them in jail, and we walk free.

So while Style may not be directly working with the police, he is working with Kant who he knows is working with the police. By proxy, Style is involved with the police, but in front of the empty pool, he makes it clear to Fadel just what that involvement actually entailed:

Style: Kant asked me to take you out so you could leave him alone and he could freely investigate. Fadel: What did he get out of it? Style: I don't know! That ain't my business! All I was asked of is to take you out.

And this, too, actually is true! Since finding out, Style has literally not discovered a single thing that could be remotely useful to the police investigation:

He's found out that Fadel likes to gym at night. He's found out that Fadel uses tenderloin in his burgers. That he runs in the morning before going to the market. That he attends a grief support group.

But these were all things Kant also already knew and could have given the police if it were in any way useful for the investigation.

Even his attempts to get Fadel to confess to his "other job" (something the police also already know) were clearly in service of wanting to save Fadel and/or convince him to give up the life of crime in the hopes that Fadel wouldn't have to be sent away from Style to prison.

But the truths are tangled up in misunderstandings and Fadel's own assumptions now; and also further tainted again by Bison's own hurt over Kant's betrayal. And Fadel literally cannot see -- because his eyes are filled with tears [see: @thisautistic's gifset + my tags] (good grief, Joong, the actor you are) -- the honesty Style is bleeding from the marrow of his bones.

Because the truth is that along the way Style has also found out that Fadel is a good older brother. That Fadel is still hurting and bleeding inside because his parents were murdered. That Fadel wears his favourite bands' make up in secret because he cannot bear the thought of other's judgement. He's found out that Fadel misses Style, wants Style, and hates himself for it. That Fadel is afraid to love. That Fadel is acutely aware of his own darkness and cannot comprehend an existence that would not involve someone (Style) rejecting it. That Fadel does not believe that 100% trust is possible, but that he will get himself drunk so that he can offer Style as much vulnerability as he can physically make himself give.

Because the things that Style did find out were all the ways Fadel's heart is soft and tender and precious and worthy worthy worthy of all the love Style has to give.

And Style will stand firm on this truth because this is the only thing he has left to give Fadel.

Because Fadel knows, now, all the ways Style was unworthy of his trust, but crucially has not figured out the most important truth:

Because in all the ways that Fadel has ever known he should want, Style actually IS worthy of his trust. Style knows the truth Fadel is hiding, knows what this man is capable of, knows the danger of being in his arms, knows the likely nonexistent future Fadel has to offer him -- and wants him anyway. -- Quoted from my meta post on the "One day, I'll be your 100%" line.

And as I alluded to in the tags on @yinwaring's insightful post: Style fully embodies the belief he espouses; because even in the face of a gun to his head and Fadel threatening to kill him if he will not admit that this, too, is a lie, Style refuses to give Fadel anymore dishonesty.

And this is because Style knows that the truth matters; now more than ever.

Because Style has had days to grapple with his worry after Fadel's disappearance. Style has had a week's worth of checking the diner only to face the regret he feels about not handling things differently. Style has had to recognise the terror of thinking he had lost something he never even knew he wanted in the first place.

And while Fadel had his realisation back in episode 4, Style never had to face this until Fadel vanished from his life and left a gaping hole in the shape of the absence of Fadel's smile.

So if this is what it takes, if this is the penance that Fadel demands of him, then it is a price Style is most happy to pay.

Because Fadel does not realise is that Style, too, now knows what it means to lose a love worth fighting for.

And in the war Fadel now feels compelled to wage against Style (because, yes, that's definitely still going on), the one damning thing Fadel has failed to recognised is that his only true weapon was leaving Style behind.

Which is why Style has already won. Not because Fadel's walls have crumpled again or because they don't still have a ton of things to talk through and work out (they really, really do), but because Style has already been stripped bare (and I mean this literally, like we all recognise THAT was the reason why Dunk is only in boxer shorts in that scene, right?? Like, I know we were joking about it, but seriously, that was so very intentional and a visual representation of Style being both stripped and, most importantly, freed from the lies he felt compelled to tell Fadel) and this means he has nothing holding him back.

And Fadel can wield his gun and his words and his anger and his hurt, but Style will die on the hill of the truth that he knew and understood and chose to love Fadel anyway, and saved this last confession for when he knew he could tell Fadel the truth without any lingering deception; and when the time is right, when Fadel is finally ready, Style will be there to welcome him back with open arms and, without any hesitation, an open heart.

[cleolinda]

But when she said that, it hit me. I had a choice. I could choose. I could choose to never have to deal with this again and to not let them treat me this way anymore. So I did.

(AITA for wanting to report my doctor, who is my sister’s best friend, for telling her I'm on Vyvanse, a HIPAA violation?)

[aiberrya]

Stupid idk

[lurkamargarine]

[balloonomancerr]

[skitskatdacat63]

2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Oscar Piastri(pt. 1)

[maculategiraffe]

we were all getting ready to go to the winter wonderlights at the science center and someone had said "we need to hurry before they close" and the baby had heard that and gotten anxious and came rushing in to where my sister and I were sitting and talking and yelled "mommy! mac!* stop talking! we are gonna miss the winter wonderlights!"

and I said "you're right that we should stop talking and get up and put our coats on, but we are not going to miss the winter wonderlights. right now it is not quite six o'clock, and they don't close until eight o'clock. so that means we have more than two hours until they close. so let's go ahead and get ready to go, but don't worry that we're going to miss it, because we're not!"

and he was VERY focused on me as I said all this and then he said "how many minutes and seconds more than two hours do we have" and we calculated that as we put our coats on and you could tell it made him feel way better

*he usually calls me auntie mac but in moments of great urgency will leave off the title

[myenterpriseisparked]

There's something kinda poetic about Number One, a character that was a high ranking woman on a 60s tv show who was removed from the story because the network said "no" to a female first officer, getting the storyline she is today. The trial is an allegory for a lot of things, but seeing Number One go through what she has in canon and regain her rightful place on the bridge has a poetic resonance to it, considering the real life bts things happening over the last 60 years. Ad Astra per Aspera indeed, Ma'am.

[moonshynecybin]

new pecco documentary has an extremely confused, almost haunting tone to it. why is it 80% horror movie music and framing

[lily-onher-grave]

I’m on mobile and for the life of me can’t find photos but I am THINKING about 2004 Tonys Kristin Chenoweth Glinda looking at Elphaba defy gravity (smitten, in awe, wistful but so proud) vs Ariana Grande Glinda watching Elphaba defy gravity (fearful, worried, seconds away from sobbing)

idk man Ariana’s is so much more harrowing. She is scared! She is heartbroken! The sense of danger is so much more real in the movie both because of the chase sequences leading up to this moment and because of the very clear view we have of Glinda being grabbed and dragged away from Elphaba by guards

And you can argue that Kristin is watching Idina fly at the fucking Tony awards so of course she’s looking at her like that, but idk. Movie defying gravity has so much more uncertainty and the stakes feel so much higher and the consequences feel so much more dire and I love it so much

[v0mitbeetle]

Triumphant Wes :D

[unpopulargoose]

Mmmm I love WxWes actually I need more of them

[toppamplemousse]

there you'll stand (next to me)

ch 11 | epilogue: all at once, the rest is history

what is there to say. except, we love lestappen. we may not have gotten a podium today, but we WILL this season. (also, in this fic max wins bahrain 2024 so we're still on track for charles 2025 wdc)

thanks and enjoy!

read from beginning here

charles leclerc/max verstappen, 97k, complete, on ao3

[willyhoos]

redraw of something from the king wilson au...

sometimes a family can be an escaped convict arsonist, a creepy psychic ghost girl, and a mad scientist trapped in the shadow realm. this is not one of those times however