#can't wait to actually start writing it :)))

[airenyah]

A LOOK AT STYLE'S JOURNEY | Ep 4

(Overview | Ep1+2 | Ep3 | Ep5 | Ep6 | Ep7 | Ep8 | Ep9 | Ep10 | Ep11 | Ep12)

Hiii, I'm back at it again <3

I'm not gonna write a proper introduction this time around. You know the drill. Enjoy!

(And if you're new here, feel free to check out my posts on the other episodes linked above first.)

Pronoun situation: In my first meta post I kept up with their pronoun use on a scene by scene basis. Just like in ep3, I won't do that in ep4 either because Fadel and Style consistently use the rude guu/mueng pronouns for each other throughout the entire episode without any significant pronoun changes.

To recap: Last time we saw Style, he had just been left lying on the cold hard ground with a punch to the gut after having hooked up with Fadel in a random storage room. Just like at the end of ep2, at the end of ep3 they did not part on the best of terms either.

No. 1: Blissful Dreams

Even though the hook-up ended rather painfully for Style, and even though the hook-up itself may not have been quite what Style dreamed of, it's still left quite a mark on him. So much so, that he even dreams about it that night. So much so, that this dream even affects him in real life the next morning.

"Crap," Style swears. This wasn't the plan. Style may have a bit of a problem now. And over the course of this episode we'll find out just how much of a problem Style actually has now, because the dream hasn't only affected him physically, but the reality that inspired the dream has also affected him emotionally.

No. 2: Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

The majority of the interactions Style has had with Fadel so far have ended with Fadel either forcing Style to leave (even to the point of physically dragging him away) or with Fadel abandoning Style. Even if from Style's perspective it may not seem like his actions have much of a positive effect on Fadel, I think deep down he does sense that he's managing to worm his way into Fadel's life after all. In any case, Style is not giving up no matter how many times Fadel will ditch him. However, since none of the strategies he's tried so far have seemed to really bear fruit, he now changes course again: disappear for a bit, so that he'll miss you. This strategy works exceptionally well, but Style won't know about it until about two thirds into the episode.

No. 3: Blue-Balled

Despite his resolution to stay away from Fadel to make him miss him, Style fails to hold out for long and is back rather sooner than later. As @secriden points out, Style "comes running to Fadel the second he hears about Fadel asking about him" (quoted from @secriden). Style even explicitly says that he hadn't planned on stopping by, but then "some auntie told me someone asked about me". Style has tried out a new strategy that he hasn't gone with before, learned that it actually did have some sort of affect on Fadel, and immediately rushes to confirm this for himself. Within the first 30 seconds (20 seconds, to be exact!) of Style entering the kitchen he asks Fadel twice if Fadel has missed him. It's literally the second and the fifth sentence out of his mouth when he shows up. This is important info to Style, he needs to know if Fadel has missed him and he needs to know immediately. Style has already started to develop positive feelings towards Fadel over the course of episode 3 and their little storage room fling has influenced that development even more. Style needs to know if Fadel feels the same way. In fact, he downright assumes that Fadel feels the same way: it's in the way he is so satisfied and smug when he walks through the door. Style is very happy about this.

Fadel, however, shoots him down. Style's smile fades, but I don't think it's necessarily because he's hurt or disappointed or wasn't expecting this reaction. No, Fadel has reacted like this to about 90% of the things Style has said to him the entire time they've known each other. Style backs up a bit, but the way he looks at Fadel seems curious, like he's searching for something, like there is a question on his mind. Why does he STILL keep insisting like this, why does he STILL go for rejection when evidence points to the opposite?

Reminder: Last time the two of them saw each other, Style was way out of line and Fadel ended up punching him. Style was also quite upset that Fadel would sleep with him and immediately ditch him. In their last meeting, they didn't part on the best of terms.

So Fadel claims he didn't miss Style (despite evidence saying otherwise) and that Style annoys him because he messes up Fadel's routine and Style thinks about it for a moment, contemplates what Fadel's problem could be with him this time that could make him act like that and then comes to a conclusion as to what it might be:

He lets Fadel know that he's not angry at him for what happened the night before. When Style says "I was asking for it", I'm not entirely convinced he's referring to his unserious behavior at the group meeting. I'm not sure he's actually realized that his behavior was disrespectful. After all, he was "rewarded" with sex for it. Plus, the next thing he says is: "[I]t doesn’t matter how scary you are". I think this refers to their confrontation and verbal exchange right around Fadel punching Style. I already touched on Style not being scared of Fadel in my ep 3 meta:

Fadel threatens to punch Style if he doesn't move but Style refuses to stand down even though he knows very well from personally witnessing it that Fadel is perfectly capable of punching him if he wished to. Despite that, Style is not scared of Fadel. [...] When Style says "You like me" I don't think he necessarily means it in the sense of you're in love with me or you're crushing on me. I think he [...] is making it very clear just how confident he is about Fadel not hurting him. [...] It's a counterattack to Fadel's threat.

(Bolded for emphasis)

Style was very fearless the night before, which is why I think when Style says "I was asking for it" he's referring specifically to how Fadel was threatening him and how Style put up a fight in response. He "was asking for it", because he didn't move out of Fadel's way despite Fadel making it very clear what the consequences of Style's stubbornness would be. Fadel got scary in their last meeting, and now Style tells him "[I]t doesn’t matter how scary you are, I’m hooked". While in episode 3 the "I'm not scared of you" was implicit in his actions, Style now tells him explicitly in words.

If you've read my episode 3 meta, you'll know that a running theme throughout the entire post ended up being the question of whether Style really meant all the things he said (esp the flirty things) or if it was all just empty words. Here in the kitchen? Style means every single word, every flirty sentence that he utters. In episode 3, when he bugs Fadel at the running track or when he tells Fadel that he likes and wants him right before they hook up at the end of the episode, there is such an air of loudness to his demeanor. In contrast, when Style tells Fadel "I'm hooked" and asks him what he has to do to win him over, there is much more tranquility to it. Even his voice is calmer, there is no trace of his usual dramatic flair. Style is much more grounded here compared to some of his flirting (attempts) in previous episodes.

Style is being serious when he says "[I]t doesn’t matter how scary you are, I’m hooked", he really means it. But Fadel only looks at him for a moment, squints his eyes briefly, and wordlessly directs his focus back on his herbs, signaling to Style Yeah sure whatever, I don't care, you're a burden and an inconvenience to me. This is yet another very predictable reaction and Style isn't surprised by it, but he's definitely a little annoyed now that he's still not getting through to Fadel, that Fadel still won't admit that he does want Style around and has started taking a liking to him. So Style leans closer to Fadel again and asks what it will take for Style to win him over. Again, Style is being serious about it, his usual over the top flair is missing. He isn't doing this for show, he's not playing anything up because someone else asked him to or because he'll gain something out of it. Style is asking because he genuinely wants to know for no one but himself. Style genuinely cares now.

But Fadel tells Style to fuck off. Not literally, of course (his actual words are "Get out of my face"), but "fuck off" is certainly the subtext of it. And that subtext reaches Style clear as day. Instead of following Fadel's order, he's gonna be a little shit about it now.

"Fuck", you say? Gladly. Malicious compliance with the subtext. Style walks around the table. "I know a guy like you just needs a little nudge."

Again, this time around I do think Style means all the flirty shit that he says. It's in the way his tone is much more calm and quiet and how everything he says is much more deliberate, much more calculated. It's a similar vibe to that time in the gym when he told Fadel to call him any time if he needed a spotter, which, if you've read my first meta post of this series, is a scene you'll know I've determined to be the first time Style genuinely flirts with Fadel for the purpose of flirting and not for any other motivations such as revenge. And now here in the kitchen he's also flirting for the purpose of flirting again. His words aren't just empty words.

Another way we can tell that Style genuinely wants to get into Fadel's pants right there and then is by the way he gets handsy. In episode 3 he doesn't really touch Fadel when he spouts all the sexual innuendos at him at the running track. The only time Style touches him in that scene is when he squeezes Fadel's man boob in order to emphasize the word "heart". Or in the storage room, even though he claims to want Fadel, Style doesn't touch Fadel either during that entire conversation before they get it going. In fact, the only time he touches Fadel before Fadel starts kissing him is to remove Fadel's hand from him. In contrast, the sauna scene in episode 2 showed us that when Style actually, genuinely wants to sleep with Fadel, he'll start touching Fadel in suggestive places, will even go as far as shamelessly stick his hands down Fadel's pants (or, uh, towel in that case). And even though he didn't exactly get handsy with Fadel at the work-out bench, despite my claims of this interaction being the very first time he genuinely flirts with Fadel, well... Style may have not been handsy, but he sure got kneely:

In the kitchen in episode 4 every flirty thing Style says is an attempt at getting into Fadel's pants again (Oh, how very much the storage room fling has left its mark on Style!). Style genuinely wants this, genuinely wants him. Every single one of Style's actions underlines that as well. And then Fadel actually maneuvers him onto the kitchen table. Style is elated.

At this point I want to once again take a little detour to @clemelntine's meta on each of the boys' sexual fantasies of one other and what that means for the storage room hook-up. If you remember, she writes:

No matter how much he annoys Fadel in the day to day and how much he seems to take the upperhand in those interactions, when it comes to sex he likes in the idea of letting Fadel do what he does/wants.

Not only do we see this play out in the storage room in the way Style gladly gives Fadel full control over his body, but we see this pattern continue in the kitchen. Style is very proactive in showing just how much he wants to get into Fadel's pants but the moment Fadel seemingly folds and goes along with it, Style lets Fadel put him on the kitchen table with no resistance whatsoever and eagerly awaits whatever Fadel has in store for him this time, letting Fadel have full control over the situation and his body again.

Whenever Fadel has blocked or rejected or ignored Style in this scene so far, it has not come as a surprise to Style a single time. This is what Fadel does. Style is used to it. It might annoy or disgruntle him at times, but overall he is used to it. But when Fadel drops "You won’t ever get what you want" and leaves him hanging? This time around it hits Style completely out of left field. Style was so caught up in his euphoria, that he didn't see this coming at all (unlike me, the audience, who was just sitting there going "ohh shit oh damn this is gonna be another fake-out" the moment Fadel grabbed Style's waist and turned him towards the table dfjkdf). After all, Fadel did sleep with him the night before, and so Style probably completely forgot that Fadel could dump him at any moment. In fact, he was probably confident that Fadel sleeping with him the night before and now asking about him at the market when Style failed to show up were signs that Fadel had started to develop feelings for him as well. And if Fadel has feelings for him now, then he would likely also want this, so why would Fadel ditch him? But Fadel does. Style is angry and he's hurt and he's disappointed, but Fadel's rejection hits him so much out of nowhere that I think he actually takes a while to process what has just happened and how to feel about it and how to react. Usually in situations like this, Style will put up a fight with Fadel until one of them wins, but this time around he is so stupefied that he immediately moves towards the door when Fadel shoves him towards it without firmly standing his ground and fighting Fadel about it first. Style does yell at Fadel that he won't let Fadel ditch him and when Fadel comes at him again, just for a short moment Style is about to stand his ground, but then Style shoves him away and leaves the kitchen angrily, instead of fighting him.

While I do think Style is hurt by Fadel's actions, I think anger and shock are his leading emotions here as he storms off. I think the hurt only really properly starts coming out and taking over once Style's shock has worn off and he's processed the situation.

No. 4: OnlyFans

The immediate shock of the situation has now worn off, Style has had a little time to process and now he's ready to fight again. There is still so much anger in Style, but now we can also see just how hurt he actually is. This is even more evident when we go back to episodes 1 and 2 where we've seen this whole thing play out before: Fadel humiliates Style in private and Style retaliates by humiliating Fadel in public. Fadel drags Style out of the diner by his feet in the privacy of the closed restaurant. Style yells at him in front of everyone at a busy market place in return. Fadel leaves Style hanging in the privacy of the diner kitchen whose only staff is Fadel himself. Style yells at him in front of every customer at the restaurant in return.

When Fadel drags Style out of the restaurant in episode 1, Style is of course angry and humiliated. And sure, it did hurt his pride, but it's mostly just that. Fadel, at this point, is mostly just some weird, grumpy dude to him that he has now been hired to hit on. Back then Style wasn't expecting that fake-out either, but it doesn't leave him as stunned as it did this time in the kitchen. In episode 1, he even tries to fight Fadel. He can't do much while he's being pulled along the floor, but as soon as Style is back on his feet he immediately starts raging at the door, pulling at the handles and banging at it. In the kitchen, Style is too stunned to put up a fight and actively runs away instead of fighting Fadel.

When Style yells at Fadel in the market place, while it comes from a place of revenge it's still something he does for show. His words are loud and dramatic and they're for everyone around them to hear more than they are for Fadel himself. It's all a public performance to Style. And the audience is everyone at the market. It's about making everyone see how "bad" of a guy Fadel is and it doesn't really matter whether Fadel is listening to his words or not as long as his words reach his true audience and they believe him. Style is clearly having fun yelling at Fadel while also using the chance to blow off some steam from his previous annoyances with Fadel. When Fadel yields, Style immediately lets it go and chills again.

When Style yells at Fadel at the diner, he's once again causing a scene in public, but this time his words are for Fadel to hear, not for the strangers around them. The fact that there's strangers around them is just a welcome bonus and I think in that moment Style doesn't even really care if any of them are actually listening in or not, as long as his words reach Fadel. Style's voice is sharp as a knife, sharper than we've ever heard it before, and every sentence he utters is a stab at Fadel. When Fadel hands him the apron and tells him to leave, Style agrees, but he speaks out a warning first ("But just keep in mind: Nobody gets to nail and bail me."). His fighting spirit has come back, and when Fadel launches a counterattack ("I’ll be the first"), Style does not back down this time around like he did earlier in the kitchen. It's Fadel who walks away this time and Style reminds him that he'll continue to fight him ("A guy like Style won’t back down"). It's only when he walks out of the restaurant that he turns his argument with Fadel into an actual public performance. It's only when he invites everyone at the restaurant to take pictures of him that his words are for show and for his audience to hear.

We've just watched a situation that we've seen before play out but this time around it's very different. Because this time around Fadel actually means something to Style. And this time around Style has already slept with Fadel, which also meant something to him. I'm not entirely sure Style has quite figured out what exactly it all means to him and I also don't think he's head over heels in love with Fadel yet, but he sure is starting to have many emotions. While Style was also enraged back in episode 1 after Fadel dragged him out of the diner, his anger has leveled up now because this time around, underneath all of that anger, Style is also very hurt. They were starting to make progress and Style even got to celebrate small victories along the way (Fadel making him a burger, Fadel actually sleeping with him, Fadel asking about his whereabouts). Style was starting to get somewhere with Fadel, was slowly starting to develop some feelings of his own for Fadel, and Fadel just goes and kicks down Style's sandcastle. What's more, Style has made it very clear to Fadel how he feels about getting nailed and bailed, and then Fadel just goes and does it on purpose.

Style is so angry and hurt that this time around just one public yelling isn't enough. This time he goes for a round 2.

No. 5: A Ruined Man

Style is back at the support group. This time it's not to find out more about Fadel's backstory, this time he is here because he has a message for Fadel. And this time Style's distress isn't cringe, because this time the situation is serious to him. He is seriously angry, and he is seriously hurt, and it's important to him that Fadel is fully aware of it, aware of what he's done to Style.

"When you like someone, and they only think of you as a toy, something they can break, they don’t even know how deep they have cut you."

Oh, Style. I hope you don't end up eating your own words later when Fadel finds out why exactly you were hitting on him and trying to get him to fall for you in the first place.

No. 6: Are These Systoms of Being Pregarnt?

This time Fadel is so done with Style that he drags him away in front of everyone else instead of waiting until no one is around. And Style is finally able to have somewhat of a civil conversation with Fadel again. While he is still angry at Fadel since they still haven't cleared up their quarrel, he is no longer outright yelling at him or attacking Fadel with his words like he was at the diner or in the group meeting just now. The tone of his voice is softer and also his dramatic flair is back when he goes on and on about how he might as well be pregnant. And we also learn what exactly it is that Style wants from Fadel: "You slept with me, so take responsibility for it."

I've already talked at length about why I think Style isn't one for casual, no strings attached one-night stands in my ep3 meta, and Style's words here highlight this once again. The storage room sex mattered to Style. And I don't think it mattered to him because it was a step closer to fulfilling the mission he's been sent on and a step closer to getting the car of his dreams.

If you read my ep3 meta, you'll know that I mention a couple of times that Style is developing "positive feelings" for Fadel. Phrasing it like this rather than phrasing it as "romantic feelings" or "starting to like" was a very deliberate decision. Because I don't think Style was quite there yet in episode 3. He still had many other ulterior motivations and intentions going on, be it Kant's "hit on Fadel so I can get to Bison" mission that Style gets a car out of or Style being nosy about Fadel's lore. If you remember, at the beginning of this meta when Style woke up with a boner I said Style may have a bit of a problem now. The problem is his own feelings – this whole episode hasn't been about Kant's mission or the car anymore (or about Style finding out Fadel's backstory). Instead, this whole episode we've been exploring Style's real feelings, his own desires. Style has started to care when it comes to Fadel, has started to genuinely want him. Style is starting to genuinely like Fadel now. He even lets it slip during the support group meeting:

"When you like someone, and they only think of you as a toy, something they can break, they don’t even know how deep they have cut you."

And yes, one could argue that he's been saying he likes Fadel ever since Kant set him on Fadel and that Style, in fact, has said he likes Fadel many, many times before, so this is nothing out of the ordinary. But I think this time it is in fact different. I think this time he means it. Because if it was just a lie, if those were just empty words, then Fadel dumping him in the kitchen wouldn't have hurt so much. And at this point, I think Style's hurt isn't only about being dumped in the kitchen but also about being ditched in the storage room. Style may have said he won't hold what happened back then against Fadel, but maybe deep down he does. Because the storage room sex mattered to him and at this point of the episode maybe it matters to him even more so than at the beginning of the episode or at the end of episode 3. Not to mentioned, he really doesn't like getting nailed and bailed. You slept with me, so take responsibility for it.

No. 7: I Hate the Way I Don't Hate You. Not Even a Little Bit. Not Even at All.

"You're not killing me or anything like that, right?" Style says as they're walking out of their last scene and Fadel promptly takes him out to the woods into an abandoned greenhouse. They still haven't cleared anything up between the two of them and Style is still kinda angry, which is why I think that when he says "Are we doing it outdoors? Your taste sure surprises me" he says it mostly to piss Fadel off, not because he wants to flirt or actually do it with him in that moment (oh but just you wait another few minutes 🤭🤭🤭).

Fadel once again just wordlessly walks away from Style. Instead of following him, Style stays back at the car, kinda annoyed. We don't know how long exactly Style was waiting, but either way, I think he does lowkey start to get freaked out a little. He wants to go home and starts looking for Fadel.

"I know you’re gonna kill me and hide my body in the woods." Oh Style, sweetie, no. Careful with your words. Apollo's ball of prophecy and all that. Right after that, we get yet another reference to Style not being scared of Fadel. When he enters the greenhouse, searching for Fadel while monologuing, he shouts:

But I ain't scared of you!

Fun fact, in Thai he actually phrases it as "You think I'm scared of you?":

มึงคิดว่ากูกลัวมึงหรอ [mueng - kít wâa - guu - gluua - mueng - rŏr] you - think that - I - scared (of) - you - [question word]

It is night-time, Style walks along dark aisles in search of Fadel who ran away from him and is currently nowhere to be seen, when suddenly, out of nowhere Fadel appears, shoves him into some furniture (ish) and angrily yells into his face: "Who sent you?" Oh, wait, wrong episode.

User @secriden wrote an excellent post detailing the parallels between the ep3 storage room scene and the ep4 forest scene, but I actually think that the beginning of the scene is much closer to a different scene that we saw in episode 2: the locker room scene. It's interesting because this is the third time this episode calls back to the first two episodes. It starts with the parallel of Fadel's fake-out, then we had the parallel of Style publicly humiliating Fadel, and now we have a call-back to the locker room scene, which will soon turn into a parallel of the storage room hook-up. The parallels do be paralleling this episode.

In the locker room, it was Style who dropped a "love confession": "I like you. I liked you the moment I crashed into you that night. It was love at first sight. So damn romantic. Straight out of a movie." But now in the greenhouse it's Fadel's turn. Fadel ambushes Style, shoves him against the bars and starts raging. Fadel has yelled at Style a lot over the past few episodes. He yells at Style to reprimand him, to shoot down his advances, or to tell him to piss off. When Fadel yells at Style, it's all about his feelings of disdain he has for Style. So when Fadel says "I don’t like you messing up my life. My life has been planned out. You’re disrupting it," Style sighs a little and braces himself for yet another fight against Fadel:

But then Fadel goes off-script. "I don’t like myself when I look for you on the morning jog or at the market. I don’t like waiting to see if you��d show up at my restaurant or my go-to club. You— I don’t like you being in my life and changing it."

This is a new one. Style listens intently.

Fadel continues. "I don’t like feeling like this." Style has all his focus entirely on Fadel and his words now. He squeezes his eyes just the tiniest bit. And I think this is where Style starts to figure out the core of Fadel's problem.

"I don’t like it!", Fadel yells and Style looks at him with so much resolution and with so much understanding.

And then Fadel drops: "I don’t like that I miss you."

Fun fact about the word คิดถึง [kít-tĕung]: apart from "to miss", it can also have the meaning of "to think of, to think about". So another possible interpretation and underlying meaning of this line is "I don't like that I think about you."

Something vital that I want to bring up at this point now is something that @secriden has pointed out in her meta:

It's incredibly important that Style waited at this point. Style, who talks endlessly and without thought. Style, who demands that his story and his thoughts are aired first. Style, who has been telling Fadel this lie time and time again before Fadel’s feelings made it true... Stops. Waits. Stays silent. Because Fadel had to get there himself or not at all.

And get there, Fadel did. Fadel has just spilled that he thinks about Style, that he misses him. That Style's efforts have been worth it. That Fadel has started caring the way Style has started to care. Style looks at Fadel, takes it all in.

Style finally understands Fadel's problem, finally understands why Fadel has been acting the way he's been acting.

When Style kisses Fadel, there is so much purpose, so much intent to it. Style has something to say, something important, and every single thing on his mind, every single emotion, he puts it all into that kiss. And what he has to say is:

Yes. The caption in the gif is different from the official English subtitles. Because Style literally says:

มันโอเค​นะเว้ย ที่จะมีความรักอ่�� [man - oh-keh - ná wóiie • thêe - jà - mee kwaam rák - àh] it - okay - [particle] • that - will - be in love - [particle]

And this is a distinction that is important to me personally. Phrasing it as "It's okay to be in love" is by far more specific than "It's okay to love" and I think this particular word choice hits Fadel harder as well. Fadel likes control, he likes knowing exactly what's going on at any given moment. But then Style shows up as a whirlwind in his life, bringing disorder to everything. Fadel is starting to develop feelings that he can't control and it freaks him out.

When Style kissed Fadel in the locker room it was an attack in the battle he was fighting against him. When Style kisses Fadel in the greenhouse, it's for reassurance. Style puts everything he wants to say with "It's okay to be in love" into that line. It's okay to let go. It's okay to let things take their natural course. It's okay to be in love. You're allowed to have feelings. It's not a bad thing. It's okay. It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay.

And with this we go into the parallels to the storage room scene. If you remember my ep3 meta, then you'll remember how I said that Style didn't really mean it at the time when he said he wanted Fadel right before they hook up. This time he didn't say a single word about it, but his actions show that he does want Fadel this time. Once again I'm gonna steal a thought from @clemelntine's meta:

[Style] isn't entirely giving in/passive in the situation, though. He still has a hands on Fadel holding him close/in place, and does seem to want to touch him. No matter how much he wants Fadel to service him, he isn't gonna let him do it all on his own. He too wants to explore Fadel as well.

We can really see that this time around. Unlike in the storage room, Style has his hands all over the place: on Fadel's throat, underneath Fadel's shirt, in Fadel's pants, pulling Fadel closer with his arm around Fadel's neck. What's more, there's significantly more eye contact. Fadel actually looks Style in the eye now. It's still not as much and as intense as in Style's fantasy, because they're still not quite there yet emotionally, but it's a start. They've both started to develop some actual feelings, and this time around they're also both aware of it. Of their own feelings as well as the other's feelings. Where last time they were acting purely on physical attraction, they're much more emotionally involved this time around. Emotionally they're much more on the same page this time around. And it's beautiful.

Also, I haven't seen anyone talk about this yet, but we are all aware that they show us pretty much the entire act from start to, uhhh well, finish, right? Right?? 🫣

No. 8: Be My Boyfriend

Not for the first time Style says he wants Fadel as a boyfriend. Unlike the other times though, Style actually means it this time around. His words are no longer for show, no longer a performance that will be rewarded with Kant's gratitude and his car. Style is being 100% serious about being Fadel's boyfriend. The car is more of an afterthought (and one that he will get to, because a deal is a deal, and he's been in love with the car much longer than he's had any positive feelings for Fadel for, but still. Right there in the woods, I think the car isn't really on his mind at the time).

Style means every flirty thing he says. He means it when he says "You’re mysterious and alluring. You’re quiet, but sexy as hell". If you remember, during the kitchen scene I mentioned that Style wasn't as loud in the flirty things he said, and we can really see that in the aforementioned line and also when he says "[Having a boyfriend is] great. You have someone to embrace, to love, and to…" These lines are much less loud and less performative than compared to everything that came out of his mouth in ep3 on the sports field.

By the way, I need you all to know that this exchange:

F: I’ll stick with jerking off. S: I’m sure.

Actually goes:

F: I can jerk off by myself. กูชักว่าวอยู่เองได้ [guu - chák wâao - yùu - eng - dâai] I - masturbate - be - (by) oneself/myself - be able to S: I know you can do it yourself. รู้ว่ามึงทำเองได้ [rúu wâa - mueng - tam - eng - dâai] know that - you - do - (by) oneself/yourself - be able to

And where did we get a similar exchange before? That's right. In that very scene at the sports field that I just mentioned:

F: If you want it that much, then go jerk off. ถ้าอยากมากเน��่ยก็ไปชักว่าวไป [tâa - yàak - mâak - nîia - gôr - bpai - chák wâao - bpai] if - want - much - [particle] - then - go - masturbate - go S: I know it can be done alone. รู้มันทำคนเดียวได้ [rúu - man - tam - kon diiao - dâai] know - it - do - alone - be able to

The words they say are similar, and yet these two exchanges are very different from one another. Just like in the kitchen, Style's flirting in the woods is much more grounded. It's not the same performance as it was in episode 3. And just as I said in my ep3 meta, it's when Style is being genuine that he actually reaches Fadel, not when he's putting up a show:

The inauthenticity in [Style's] insistent approach is what makes him annoying in those scenes [the running track and the market]. And it's also not what works on Fadel – it's when Style is being genuine that he actually reaches Fadel, like when he was helping him wait tables (which Fadel recognizes by rewarding him with a burger) or when Style was being playfully flirty in the sauna (which results in Fadel fantasizing about him at night).

What's interesting, though, that even though this is the very first time Fadel actually engages in Style's friendly banter and amiable conversation instead of ignoring him or yelling at him or telling him to piss off, at the beginning of the conversation Style doesn't have Fadel quite just yet. Actually, no. That's not accurate. Style is being genuine, has been genuine all episode already and so he does reach Fadel in the beginning of their conversation. Fadel is finally engaging, is finally getting involved. But then Style loses him again at a certain point. And it's specifically when he says:

But isn't it better to have someone like me with you?

Up until this very point, Fadel was mostly turned towards Style. He's smiled, he's laughed, he's rolled his eyes in amusement and he's actively taken part in Style's conversation. He's been more open with Style than he's ever been before. But now? He stares at Style for a moment, then turns away from him, closing himself off from Style again.

And it's interesting that this is happening at this specific point, because their entire conversation has mostly surrounded sex (adjacent) things and physical attraction. They literally start this conversation referencing their hook-up from right before, Style calls Fadel sexy, and then alludes that he wants to sleep with him again. And I think by the time Style says "I know you can [jerk off] by yourself. But isn’t it better to have someone like me with you?" Fadel is at a point where he's like Oh, so you only want to be my boyfriend just so you can do me again, huh? So this is all I am to you, huh?

Fadel isn't cool with that and so he starts to shut himself off from Style again. Style is rejected again. Style turns his head away from Fadel, sighs, raises his eyebrows, and I think he realizes (at least subconsciously) what Fadel is unhappy about, because the next thing he says the moment he's turned back to Fadel is:

What you said to me just now... I feel the same way.

And again, he's being sincere. His voice is calm and grounded, there's not a single trace of his dramatic antics. And that line and coupled with that sincerity has Fadel listening up again:

"Be my boyfriend," Style says and Fadel listens even more closely. "Give me a chance," Style says and Fadel looks away, laughs, and replies "You don’t even know me". Fadel's words are a challenge, but this time there is no malice, no anger, no annoyance in his voice. His voice is soft. Fadel poses a challenge, but it's not an invitation to fight. Or rather, it is an invitation to fight, but it's a very different fight from before. And Style is only happy to take up said challenge: "And what about it? I’ll learn more about you when you’re my boyfriend."

And for what he says next, I'd love to share a more literal translation with you again. In the English subs Style talks about being 100% in and it being Fadel's turn to let him in, which, yeah, it's the gist of it. However, in Thai he uses the word เปิดใจ [bpèrt jai] again, which I've already talked about in my ep3 meta because Style has used that word before during that scene where Fadel hands him the burger. The day after posting that meta, I actually asked my Thai teacher about this word in class (and nearly died in the process) because I hadn't discussed this word with a native speaker for my meta and while I had discussed this word with my Thai language learning buddy after he brought it up when I was trying to explain the German phrase "sich einlassen auf" (@ German speakers: เปิดใจ is very similar to that!), I just couldn't remember it well and wanted to double check just in case. According to my teacher, it's a word that is used to talk about opening up to something or about giving things a chance, but the literal translation is "to open one's heart" (เปิด [bpèrt] = to open / ใจ [jai] = heart, mind) and I think the series makes use of that literal meaning for a nice metaphor/image here. I think Style's choice of words is very deliberate:

I've opened my heart to you 100% already. กูเปิดใจให้มึงร้อยเปอร์เซนต์แล้วนะ [guu - bpèrt-jai - hâi - mueng - rói - bper-sen - láew - ná] I - open up (one's heart) - for, to - you - 100 - percent - already - [particle]

Only you remain. เหลือแค่มึงอ่ะ [lĕuua - kâe - mueng - àh] remain, left - only - you - [particle]

How much will you open your heart to me? จะเปิดใจให้กูมากแค่ไหน [jà - bpèrt-jai - hâi - guu - mâak kâe năi] will - open up (one's heart) - to, for - I/me - how much

Fadel, who has enclosed his heart in thick, high walls, is being asked how many doors leading up to it he is willing to open. Style subtly reminds Fadel that a relationship consists of two people, but leaves the decision of just how close Fadel will let Style get to his heart entirely up to Fadel. Because that's Fadel's choice to make.

While Style is talking, Fadel is listening intently, really taking in Style's words and contemplating them:

He's quiet for a moment after Style is done telling him You have full access to my heart now. I'm willing to give you a chance. I've done my part. The choice is on you now. Will you grant me access to your heart, too? Will you give me a chance as well?

Fadel thinks about it for a bit more, then laughs a small laugh, throws his head back, and goes "Yeah. Fine." Style is confused. Fadel then explicitly agrees to be his boyfriend. Style's eyes widen. He can't believe his ears. He has to ask for confirmation, has to make sure he really heard it right:

We're boyfriends, right? เป็นแฟนกันใช่มั้ย [bpen - faen - gan - châi mái] be - boyfriend, girlfriend - each other, together - right?

Fadel confirms. Style is absolutely over the moon and showers Fadel in kisses.

Do I think they're already in love? Not exactly. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time to look at Fadel as closely as I have been looking at Style (I need 48h days fr 😭😭) but when it comes to Style, I think even if he's not in love just yet, this is the start of something real. We saw in episode 3 that he was starting to develop positive feelings towards Fadel, was starting to genuinely have a good time hanging around Fadel, but he still had ulterior motives in the foreground of his mind. I think when he hooked up with Fadel in the storage room that kicked off something within him because, as I've made very clear in my ep3 meta, to Style sex isn't just sex. Because if it was, his journey this episode would have been going very differently. But throughout this entire episode Style has cared, he has cared so much to the point he's gotten really hurt. And his joy when Fadel agrees to be his boyfriend? That's real. And I don't think it's because he's about to receive the car of his dreams as a reward. If it was, I think Style would have been much more smug about Fadel agreeing to be his boyfriend, would have been much more self-satisfied underneath all that happiness. But Style's joy here is pure. And he doesn't brag about finally "winning" Fadel over, doesn't hold it over his head in a smug HAH, you gave in to me, I'm the one who won our battle of wills, look how cool I am sort of way. Style's joy is real, but what he's feeling is not quite love at this point. But so what if they're not in love just yet? Like Style said: They can get to know each other fall in love when they're boyfriends.

No. 8: Apollo's Ball Of Prophecy Is Real

Remember how a couple of paragraphs ago I said the car was just an afterthought, that Style would still get to? Well, he's getting to it now. He shows up at Kant's place and "When should I come and get your car?" is the first thing out of his mouth right after his hellos. Kant reminds Style of their deal and asks if Fadel has agreed to be Style's boyfriend. Style says "yes", shining brightly as the sun as he says this. And the way he shines while dropping this info to Kant makes me once again think that his happiness here is more focused on Fadel rather than the car. Style is a little smug now, but it's mostly before Kant mentions the words "Fadel" and "faen" together in one single sentence (yes, I had to go with the Thai word for boyfriend just for the alliteration lol). When Style says yes, Fadel is in fact his boyfriend now, the subtext I'm hearing is not something along the lines of Yeah, I finally got him, so where's my beloved car at, bro, we had a deal???? but what I'm hearing is more like Yes!! He is!! Can you believe!! Fadel is my BOYFRIEND!! Omg!! I did it!! Just like we'll see in the flashback to the "be my boyfriend" scene right after, there is something rather pure about Style's complete and utter joy at the thought of Fadel being his boyfriend.

Style relays the "be my boyfriend" conversation to Kant and it's only after that that Style really starts bragging: "Your best friend is a genius, isn’t he? I told you I can get anyone." And yeah, undeniably this is about the fact that he's getting a car out of it, but I also think that he would have bragged about it even if the deal with the car didn't exist. Kant and Style seem to have the sort of friendship where they always brag to each other about their love lives. We were shown this in episode 1 when Kant goes to see Style at the garage and Style immediately asks for the tea on his night with Bison, pretty much begging Kant to brag about it when Kant tries to change the topic to something else. Style would have bragged about Fadel to Kant no matter what. Besides, why wouldn't he go get the car, despite actual feelings being involved now? A deal is a deal, and if he can get the car of his dreams and the boyfriend of his dreams out of it, that's even better. Best of both worlds. Who wouldn't say no to that?

But Style's happiness gets smacked right out of him via Apollo's ball of prophecy as he learns that he should really be very careful what he jokes about. He almost spoke Fadel taking him out to the woods to kill him into existence. Fadel is a hitman. Style's panic gets the better of him. He has seen, felt on his own body even what Fadel is capable of. He doesn't like Fadel that much yet, so he's outta there before he gets to experience first hand the real depths of what Fadel can be capable of if Style gets too annoying. Car be damned. Style may be unhinged but he isn't suicidal.

Kant, however, manages to talk Style into helping him and staying with Fadel anyway. Now, you could say Style is unhinged for agreeing to help Kant instead of firmly refusing his request and getting out of this mess before it gets worse, but I think in that moment Style is genuinely afraid that Fadel WILL kill him if Style breaks up with him, breaks his heart right after Fadel has finally, finally given him closer access to it. And Style has had to work very hard for said access, so he knows very well how big that decision was for Fadel to entrust Style with just a little bit of his heart. And if Style then goes and breaks that little bit of Fadel's heart that he was given in the very next moment? That's a death sentence on Style's head right there.

And another reason why I think Style agrees to continue working for Kant's mission is that Style likes to help. I've already touched on this in my ep3 meta:

Style likes to help. We see this in the way he agrees to help his best friend by hitting on some weirdo guy (yes, of course he's also getting a car out of this deal, but I think part of the reason why he agrees to the deal is also because he genuinely wants to help Kant find love), we see this in the way he immediately takes orders from customers no questions asked in episode 2 right before he meets Bison, and we'll see this even later this episode [ep3] when he throws himself into the fight despite having no fighting skills whatsoever, just because he thinks three against one is unfair and wants to help.

Helping people is something that comes easy to Style, something he doesn't really have to think about, and so when Kant practically begs him to help Style can't do anything but agree to help Kant because not helping would go entirely against the nature of his character. Also, who could resist First's puppy eyes? Valid, absolutely valid. I, too, would fold like thin paper if First looked at me like That.

No. 9: Over Your Limit

Style is at the gym, probably in an attempt to work off some of the overwhelming emotions that Kant's reveal has left him with. What's interesting is, as @secriden noted, that Style decided to go there during daytime. From episode 2, both we, the audience, as well as Style know that Fadel likes to go to the gym at night specifically to avoid crowds. It's probably safe to assume that Style went there during the day specifically in order to avoid Fadel.

So Style sits there, lost in his memories, recontextualizing everything that happened at the greenhouse, processing Kant's news, rethinking his decision. Unfortunately for him, he's already made his choice the moment he agreed to help Kant, and so in the end Style goes Fuck it, I'm doing this.

Unexpectedly, Fadel shows up. Style hadn't been mentally prepared for that and despite his fuck it attitude just mere seconds ago (17, to be exact), his instincts kick in and he panics. Everything within him is screaming at him get away from this man, your life is in danger and so Style immediately rejects Fadel's offer for help: "I can’t do it anyway. I was pushing my limits."

Style is pushing his limits. Hitting on a guy? Sure, that's fine. Making him his boyfriend, despite said guy having walls as thick as the Great Wall of China? A little challenge, but nothing Style can't handle. But dating someone who is a professional killer, someone who is capable of taking lives and might very well be capable of taking his own boyfriend's life if need may be? That really is pushing any limit Style could ever have even as much as dreamed of. He can't do it.

But despite every instinct within Style telling him to run away, Style doesn't, because that would be suspicious and Style can't risk Fadel getting suspicious because that would seal his deathly fate even quicker. So Style hesitantly leans back and lets Fadel help him. And here at this point, I just wanna give a little shout out to Style raising his eyebrows and sighing a little after they're done, like whew, I survived that, I'm still alive, because it makes me giggle:

When Fadel alludes to wanting to have sex, Style plays dumb. Style has used this strategy before when he wanted to find out the connection between Fadel and the host club, but where in ep3 Style was playing dumb in order to gain Fadel's trust, here at the gym Style is playing dumb in order to delay having to get close to Fadel again (much less sleeping with him) while he figures out a way to get out of it. When Fadel cuddles up to him, it's the last straw. Style's panic takes over for good and he makes an escape. But then Fadel calls out to him, asking him to wait. Shit. Style's fight for his life is not yet over. Style stops, trying not to be suspicious or to do anything else that would give Fadel a motive to kill him.

Fadel walks up to him and wipes the sweat of his face. Where before Fadel's touch has recently been making Style feel good, it now feels very threatening instead. Yet, at the same time it's also a kind and caring gesture, which is something that isn't lost on Style.

Style very much notices the care in Fadel's action, but his new perspective on Fadel makes it hard for him to embrace and appreciate the kindness of it. And the kindness and care also contradicts the image of the ruthless killer Style now has in his mind of Fadel. These two contrasting aspects simply do not go together. Unable to cope, Style runs off.

The Attempt of a Conclusion

Where Style had just a little bit of a problem at the beginning of the episode, by the end of it that problem has grown much larger than he could have ever anticipated. Over the course of episode 3 we saw that Style was slowly starting to develop some positive feelings for Fadel, was slowly starting to actively enjoy hanging out around him, was starting to get curious about Fadel of his own accord and not for motives connected to the deal. Yet, the deal was still very much always there. In episode 4, however? Style might not have entirely realized it yet, but that deal is no longer relevant to him. Not showing up to the morning jogging or at the market might still have been a planned strategy in the mission Kant gave him, but that mission goes right out the window the moment he hears that Fadel had asked about him. When Style goes running to Fadel the second he is told that Fadel had asked about him when actually Style could and probably should have played his game a little longer, really letting Fadel stew, from that moment onward it's all about Style's own feelings rather than the car. And everything he does this episode is led by those feelings. Over the course of this episode we see that Style has genuinely started to like Fadel. And he had to. He had to start liking Fadel before learning about Fadel's real job. Because the higher you are, the further you fall and Style accidentally having caught feelings makes the drop down worse, for both Style, the character as well as us, the audience. Style genuinely likes Fadel now, and if that wasn't enough of a problem already, the man he likes turns out to be a professional killer.

Crap, indeed.

(Overview | Ep1+2 | Ep3 | Ep5 | Ep6 | Ep7 | Ep8 | Ep9 | Ep10 | Ep11 | Ep12)

[mbirnsings-71]

*sips my drink* God I love being a multishipper sometimes.

[crowley-exploder]

"Yea I've been rewatching supernatural" ← lie, i'm just rewatching every episode CROWLEY IS IN like a sane person would

[rmbunnie]

Another little inconsequential red hood thing and I'll admit that I'm decently biased but it irks me to see the whole "Jason can't shut up about his death/he makes his death everyone else's problem" take really frequently because he simply does not do that enough for it to be a thing in like any actual Red Hood story.

It's a thing you see sometimes in modern annuals/comics with large casts, particularly if a writer doesn't seem super confident with writing all of the characters that they're working with or if he's just a background character in this one, because with comics it's quicker to reduce a character to recognizable landmarks than to try and work out a whole new complex voice if you don't really need to, so it's tire iron, Jane Austen, Joker, and death, and it's all written out in dialogue because every character in a group event can't have their own internal monologue, but like. That's pretty much it. UTRH is the establishing event for Jason Todd post death so of course a lot of it is about his death, although it's arguably about the lack of response to his death more than his death itself, and he certainly makes it Bruce's issue but one beef doesn't make a trend. Plus if his death is anyone's issue beyond his own Bruce and Joker are like the number one guys whose issue it is. He THINKS about his death a ton in Lost Days, but it doesn't really reflect externally on any of his interactions besides with Joker, which again, that's justified and relevant beef. Teen Titans 29 is more about his place in the hero community/feeling like he was an outsider even before the bomb/Tim being the new robin than about his death, and side note, that being counted as an attempt on Tim's life also bugs me. He beat him up and then left of his own volition. That's not an assassination attempt its called a fight, albeit a sneaky and unfair one. But anyways. I can't speak on Battle for the Cowl because i haven't read it, both that and Batman and Robin 2009 don't really compel me, but it's entirely possible that's an outlier to my point seeing as I kinda sorta haven't read it and don't care to lmao. Even New 52 (although HIGHLY unpopular) and Rebirth/Dawn of DC/Whatever we're doing now Red Hood content don't really have him talking to people about it besides the occasional little quips. He might make stances that were developed because of his death other people's problem, like in the Mia Dearden Green Arrow situation with the "getting involved in other people's business" issue, but acting like he makes specifically his death everyone else's problem is ignoring all of the perfectly valid actually canon things he makes other people's problem. Most of the unpleasant traits he brings to the table are a result of his death and the sense of abandonment and betrayal that came with it, but that doesn't mean he's bringing his death into it when he acts unpleasantly any more than he's bringing his birth into it when he shows up in the first place. The consequences do not equal the event. All this to say it's irritating when people say the character is grating because he doesn't stop whining about his death when that kinda just indicates to me that they're working off fanon based on fanon based on kinda mid batman annual.

[lynzishell]

🌸Hello Friends!!!

I'm back and I've missed you all so fkin much!! I'm fully caffeinated and ready to catch up on what I've missed. 🤸🏻‍♀️💖 Life is still life-ing, but I think I'm in a good enough place to start working on story posts again. I'll probably start with updates 3x/week as I get back in the groove, but I'm hoping I'll be back to 5x/week soon! That being said - my story will resume on Monday! ✨YAY!✨

[pinkytoothlesso11]

So About Changeling Claire AU we did a While ago does Claire and NotErinque What ever his name is called in the Au are Siblings?

That is a good question. XD

And I'm actually inspired enough about that ask involving Changeling! Claire that I'm turning it into a fic loosely based on it, it's going to be called Secrets and Lies.

As for the question: Claire and NotEnrique aren't biologically related, but in the Darklands they formed a very tight sibling like bond that means NotEnrique is still placed in the Nuñez family with Strickler's interference. Claire is delighted, everyone else in team Trollhunters less so.

[blue-thief]

it's been so long since i've properly sat down to read a fic im gonna be ill /pos

[renatogpadilla]

Witch-Hunt.

Sylas was, if anything, more annoyed than surprised.

Besides that, though, he was also absolutely furious.

He paced the length of the cavern he was using as a hideout for his main force. The Illuminators finding the hideout farther out near the border had been bad enough... and now something was killing his men.

He'd known there'd be retribution, of course. But he was expecting Garen Crownguard's fancy gaggle of paladins, all rules and pomp and righteous fury. They'd be loud! They'd be obvious! And despite everything, they wouldn't strike first...

So who the FUCK was slaughtering his mages from the shadows?!?!

Not all of them were dead, sure. Some of the women and the ones on the younger side had been spared the worst, only having been knocked unconscious with bruises and concussions to show for it...

It was the grown ups who'd gotten the worst of it. Some who looked meek were savagely hurt. Alive, though. But the strong ones? The loyal ones?

They were, quite literally, ripped to shreds.

Riddled with small holes from weapons altogether unfamiliar to Demacia. Sylas didn't see the appeal of guns, personally. Anybody could point and click and kill somebody with those things! But this? When there were enough holes to make it look like the body was a crimson tapestry, moth-eaten for decades? That wasn't just point-and-click. That was someone enjoying themselves...

It had started somewhen past midday. The cave they'd picked was far enough from the previous hideout, and he mostly took his best fighters with him, so as not to endanger most of the untrained mages. The civilians needn't get involved. If they were to live in a free Demacia he couldn't have them dying in caves.

Though they'd taken some losses. And Sylas himself was still turning one particular event from that morning in his head...

Later. Focus on the now.

He didn't have much of a choice. He heard, near the entrance of the cave, faintly from here, a few muffled bangs! and what sounded like screams cut short. He'd been the cause of the second one enough times himself to recognize the sound anywhere.

Whatever was hunting him was here.

He sauntered over to the small stand he kept next to his bed (if one could call that a bed and that ramshackle wooden frame a stand) and slipped his weapons of choice on: A pair of oversized chains, too big to have been made to hold humans, made of silver, gold and Petricite.

*****

It had taken Jinx a few hours to find the cavern.

An hour later and there wouldn't have been tracks to find. This bastard was good. And to be completely fair, the forest wasn't really her stomping grounds proper. If he'd been hiding in a city, she would have gutted him by now...

She'd spent about an hour looking for the cave, and another two staking it out. If se hadn't known some of these people were Mages, and thus the kind of people Lux was so desperately fighting for, she would have just blown the whole place up, ripped everyone to ribbons and jumped Sylas like a bat outta Hell... But they were confused too. She knew that much. They needed someone to cling to and the Crown wasn't helping.

Jinx felt sick to her stomach thinking about how once upon a time it had been her on that spot. She did NOT like the parallels.

But that was the situation, so now, stealth it was.

She picked out the weaker ones first. It started with a couple teenagers she knocked out. They shouldn't be here. She hid them in the bushes.

A couple of lanky men and women in rags jumped her next. Too clumsy to be the main force. Poor devils.

She knocked them out too.

When the proper battle mages showed up, she stood at the mouth of the cave. These were different. These were fighters.

She channelled Fiddlesticks in her posture. "I know you fight because you're oppressed. I know that feeling. And I feel for you, truly I do. But following Sylas will get you killed. I have a friend who loves Mages. For her, I'll let you walk. Don't make me take that back. Walk out. I just want him. I got no beef with the rest of you."

They charged their hands, some had lightning, some had fire, some had shadows and sparks. None of them had a clue. They lunged at her, ready to blast the second they were in range.

*Sigh...*

"Wrong choice."

Pow-Pow was out of the bag before they could take another step, and in a rain of color and lead, the Mages dropped one by one...

*****

Sylas had been getting new bodies delivered to the back of the cave for about 30 minutes now and there didn't seem to be any sign of it stopping soon.

He'd opened a trap door to a passageway and let the others out. No use having them all die here. Just his best and him would suffice. The rest had to go warn the others they may have been found.

He unfurled his chains as he stood in front of the table they used for plotting attacks and leaned on it, eyes never leaving the entrance to the room, the makeshift wooden door still occasionally the source of his soldier's screams.

ONE of them has to be able to take out whatever it was that dared cross their threshold! But that's just what he told himself. The problem with his powers was that he could also sense exactly how many sources of magic there were around him at all times. And how many went out.

He knew exactly how many of his mages were alive and how many wouldn't dine with him tonight.

The second the passageway closed behind him, he lunged into action. His men took the door first. One with the power of bending the earth to his will, the other capable of making the wind attack his enemies. He'd used their powers on occasion when he'd been backed into a corner by Garen's Mageseekers. He knew how strong they were. They both turned to him.

"Let us, sir."

"You're too important to risk. We will handle this monster first."

"You are true Demacians." Said the hoarse, snake-y voice of The Unchained. "I will not leave you. You may strike first if you so desire, but I'll be right behind you."

"Then we are sure to win the day."

"You honor us, sir."

"And you honor all Mages." He loosened himself. "On your mark."

And on three, the two mages exploded out the door rushing into the fray, knowing they had the power to overcome anything with the man who would liberate Demacia behind them!

They knew nothing.

Sylas gave himself a couple of seconds before following. Let them tire it out, then swoop for the kill. Overwhelm and overpower! He counted to give and then he lunged...

He was halfway around the mouth of the corridor that led to the rest of the cave, not even 10 meters away, when he felt their Magic die out.

He stopped running. He expanded his senses harder... He felt nothing. He hadn't even heard their spells, or any gunfire for that matter.

He didn't run. Whatever it was out there had earned its audience with him...

And he sauntered out to meet it.

*****

Jinx had thought he'd be scarier.

Not that the man in front of her wasn't imposing with his long, slick black hair and goatee, pale skin and towering frame (Really, Lux? A goatee? Good thing she meant it when she said she wouldn't judge...) but she had expected the dreaded leader of the revolution to at least wear shoes. Here he was, though. Barefoot and shirtless, wearing pants that were probably made out of a potato sac, barely rags on his shoulders and bandages where his two massive chains connected to his arms. Though Jinx supposed that if his whole point of appeal was 'escaped prisoner' at least the look matched the brand.

She also thought that in a minute, it wouldn't matter.

"Those were loyal men." He growled. And it was a growl. This man's voice had anger issues.

He himself was more surprised that this twiggy rascal was the reason his forces got so ferociously decimated. She could not be older than 20! The hoodie framing her face reminded him of an old nursery rhyme. And those eyes were a sickly violet that shouted venomously into his soul. Not a lot of people could pull off blue hair, though...

"Sylas of Dregbourne, I take it."

Sylas did NOT like that voice. She sounded like a nightmare. He shouldn't underestimate this one.

"At your service." He bowed mockingly, letting the full weight of his Petricite chains hit the ground with a thud! "And you must be the woman that's been hunting my men. Tell me: Who is it that comes to the revolution's home to stand against it? By the wounds I've seen on my people, you are not Demacian... Did Garen send you, hm? Obnoxious bastard finally get tired of playing fair? I wouldn't have thought his pride would let him."

"I didn't give him a choice. As for your men, I wouldn't go out that way." She nodded towards the entrance of the cave behind her. "Though they do look better stacked, if I'm honest. Neater. Not all of them though. Some are just taking a nap. They don't all deserve what you brought upon them."

"What I brought was hope. A promise to the end of our oppression! Do you know how those that lived will mourn when they wake?! To find their brothers slain?!?!"

"You should have thought of that before you hurt Lux."

That made all his righteous fury drop immediately. He'd been trying not to think about it. "Lux..." And he didn't sound disgusted at the name, much to Jinx's nausea. "She lives, then...?"

"Seems you're not as good at finishing the job as you thought."

And then he let out a sight... A long sigh... Oh. He's relieved. "Good... Thank the gods. I was afraid that I'd..." He paused, like he was trying to collect his words. "Lux and I went our separate ways, true. But I wouldn't... She made her choice and I made mine. She'll live in a free Demacia, a true Demacia, eventually. I was afraid I'd robbed her of that. Thank you."

That almost set her off more than anything else she'd ever been through.

"You almost kill her. Her whole body was bleeding! Her whole light was dim as death! You expect me to believe-"

"I GOT JUMPED BY TEN ILLUMINATORS! I SWUNG! How was I supposed to know she'd...?!" He caught his breath back. "She'd try to save them? That she'd jump in front, all lit up and take the blow for them...?" He was getting agitated... "They died knowing what she was, by the way. And still they stood their ground. I hate to say it, but they at least went out right."

"Shame we won't be able to say the same of you."

He spun a chain and took a stance. "Straight to it then?"

"Ladies first."

He actually chuckled at that. He swung hard at the scraggly woman, and in the blink of an eye, she was gone.

*****

That was, without a shadow of a doubt, the single most satisfying knee Jinx had ever landed.

The first swing had been easy to dodge. Long, wide... but he wouldn't make that mistake again.

Still, it had been enough to get her in. And the feeling of Sylas's nose cracking under her knee at mach-whatever was gonna keep her smiling when she felt down for months on end.

Sylas wasn't just gonna take it, though.

He didn't swing the second chain. He just went for a hook and connected with her ribs, sending her barreling on the ground before she was done bouncing back from her hit. He ran at her, coiling his chain around his hand and plunging it down at her.

Jinx barely rolled out of the way and the Petricite and rock met, a soft blue mist hanging where Sylas' fist had hit. Lingering magic. She'd take note of that.

As she blinked to the side and got up to her feet, he unrolled the chain and raked it along the place his fist had hit. The glow ran up the chain, and it also started to glow, golden and blue.

This felt familiar... That bitch in the alley really had bit off his whole schtick! She had a feeling she wouldn't be getting up from getting whipped by Sylas, though.

He brought down both chains this time, smacking them in an X pattern where she had been a second ago, the marks of the weapons indenting themselves in the cave floor.

Jinx dashed in again. And her suspicions were confirmed. He did indeed learn from his mistake.

That soft blue glow lit up the spot on the ground where both chains had crossed and a soft burst of energy jetted upwards as she blinked over it. The feeling was not pleasant. It wasn't even warm magic, like Lux's glow. This was cold and bitter, like a winter chill, running itself through her system as she was flung upwards. Bastard had time that perfectly.

She felt the whip of a chain wrap around her in mid-air and her whole body get pulled faster than it had any right to, lurching back towards the ground, where Sylas had a fist ready to meet her. For a second after it connected, she couldn't have told anyone who she was or where she came from... She felt herself smash against the floor and roll off, the chain unwrapping itself to return to its master's hand.

She caught her breath. She wished she could just pull Fishbones on this bastard! Pow-Pow had to be left near the entrance. It would only slow her down... And to be fair, she HAD helped mow down the fodder! Which left her with her Chompers, Zapper and her wits.

She'd done more with less.

She rolled into a stand and weaved just in time to miss a chain hit the ground where she'd been standing with a soft boom! where the magic exploded again. Then Sylas swiped her again, and she had to duck the second one. The first one flew back at her, raking the ground and she had to push-up herself into the air not to get slapped in the face by enough solid gold to buy a house in Piltover. As soon as she hit the ground again, she limbo'd under the second chain before blinking to get herself some distance from the world's deadliest game of jump-rope.

Sylas wasn't going to give her the chance.

He made an arc with both chains behind him and put his whole body into throwing them forwards, one on each side of his adversary. Jinx barely turned to the side so she wouldn't be skewered. She saw the chains lodge themselves in the wall and smiled. He's stuck!

He was not stuck.

There was a sense of cosmic irony as Sylas pulled himself to her using the chains he'd very intentionally lodged in the wall and kneed her in the face. A sense of cosmic irony that Jinx, at this moment in time, was too pissed off to notice, but it would get her eventually.

She rolled back into the wall and had just enough time to blink sideways before the chains dislodged and hit the spot where she'd just been.

This was so annoying! If she came close, he'd blow her up and if she made space the chains would cover him... How long were those things anyway?!

Wait... How long were those things? She started getting an idea. She had to get out of the cave.

She pulled zapper out and shot the roof of the cave, hoping the blast was enough to dislodge some rock on top of her foe and got lucky for the first time today. A bunch of rubble made him block and Jinx didn't waste a second blinking back to the entrance, stepping over the two dead mages from a few moments before and gunning it to the entrance, where Pow-Pow was waiting...

*****

Sylas pushed the rubble off of himself. Bitch was crafty, he'd give her that. The super speed was a surprise. He didn't feel any magic emanating from her properly. Like it was dormant until she used her powers. He'd be more curious about that if he wasn't trying to kill her...

He followed her out of the room... She had been right. He shouldn't have gone out that way.

When Sylas cleared the first two corpses he thought nothing could surprise him about this woman anymore. He was wrong.

What followed on the way out of the cave could only be described as a museum display of violence. The bodies were everywhere. He'd had 30 battle-ready mages with him in this base. Now, it was just him and about 7 lower rank, unconscious foot soldiers, standing (or in their case, laying) in a macabre exhibition of blood and paint splatters.

He didn't know where the remains of one of his men ended and the other began. There was an arm laying in front of him, exploded from its body. Where even was its.. ? Oh. It's on the ceiling. Stuck to the ceiling, framed by a splash of red, pink and blue graffiti. He knew the red wasn't graffiti. Sylas didn't know what the fuck to think.

A bunch of his mages were indeed piled up in a mound in a corner. He could tell the bodies were riddled with bullet holes.

The smell got him the worst. He'd been in skirmishes and massacres before. But when you knew it was just your own people... He was seeing red in more ways than one.

He saw a couple of bodies twitching in the mouth of the cave. Two of the five lucky ones that hadn't met their end... One couldn't be older than sixteen.

He'd do.

Sylas saw no sign of the intruder. He risked a lean over to the boy. "Are you alright? Can you speak?" He kept looking around. Like Hell he was dropping his guard.

The boy's voice was small. Not because it was weak. He was simply too terrified to make any more noise than he absolutely had to.

"I'm sorry sir. I didn't see her coming. She took me out first. The others-"

"Listen to me." He tried to sound confident. He wasn't sure he was managing. "Don't think about the others. I'll make her pay. What's your gift, son?"

"L-lightning, sir." He answered meekly. "She ran into the woods. Took this massive weapon with her... She's too strong to be human!"

"Let me worry about that. I'll make sure she knows your strength." Sylas put a hand on the boy's chest and let his gift do the rest. He felt a slight shock as the magic left the boy's body. He himself felt stronger. Quicker. Better. Energy pulsing through his veins like electricity. The boy passed out again from the effort.

'Should be enough for one good shot.' he thought, and he ran out into the woods.

But something about all this felt familiar... Maybe it was the colors of the paint. Maybe it was the fact that her weapon was a massive gun. Sylas felt he'd heard about someone similar at some point...

*****

Jinx was waiting on a tree. She figured she'd left a decent enough trail to be followed. She was surprised Pow-Pow's weight wasn't cracking the branch she was standing on.

She caught a glimpse of the man coming closer to her. He looked perfectly fine. Like the cave-in hadn't hurt at all... That ticked her off. I dropped a cavern on you! At least have the decency to die!

He didn't seem to care much for decency, truth be told. He looked even more out of place outside the cavern, the green of the woods making his rags and golden chains stick out like a sore thumb.

He started speaking before she could line up a shot. "I think I know what I'm dealing with now!" He started. He didn't see her, but he knew she was close. "You know, when I got out of prison, I started to catch up with the world. Seeing what I'd missed in my years locked up. I heard a great deal of stories. Though mostly, I looked for stories like my own. I'd heard of the Ionians whose very land battles the invaders that dare instill themselves upon it. I'd heard of the Freljord and of Bilgewater, where freedom is earned by strength... And then I heard another story. From Piltover."

She almost had it... Stop getting between the trees!

"Real inspiring, to tell the truth! I can't say it didn't light a fire in me! The single woman with a giant gun, killing her people's oppressors... And they had the gall to call her 'Jinx'! Though I suppose that's what you were to them, was it not...?"

Of course this sleezebag knew who she was. Why not!

"Again, I'm inspired! I've been trying to do what you did here in Demacia for a while and to tell the truth, I'd started to get a little demoralized... Just my luck the Loose Cannon from Zaun shows up at my door.... If only you hadn't killed my men. I think we could have been friends, if you hadn't thrown your lot with those high born bastards..."

The barrel started spinning. No more words. Just die!

"Though of course, I can't fully blame you... Our Little Light does have a type!"

And at that last word, he turned to face her. Like he'd known where she was the whole time. He put his hands together and a bolt of lightning, more powerful than anything Zapper could produce struck the branch where she'd been crouched half a second before. The blast was enough to knock her off balance and back with the rest of the tree.

She hit the ground hard. Her world was spinning and she could barely make out the shape of Pow-Pow next to her as Sylas approached, spinning his chain around in his hand.

She got up and put a hand on the handle. The barrel spun. Good! It wasn't jammed! She lifted the minigun and aimed but he was already too close, swinging from the trees with his chains to get in quicker. She had to let go of Pow-Pow to dodge.

A chain swung towards her and the dirt burst with the explosion. She tried to circle around and blinked halfway up a tree. She jettisoned herself as fast as she could, caught Sylas mid-swing and started whaling on him on the way down. Nail bet face, fist met ribs, but the two wouldn't let up.

She used him as a landing pad and flipped back to Pow-Pow right as he retracted his chains.

Now it was Sylas's world which spun. He got up as fast as he could and whirled the chains around, he stuck one, two, three, four trees and they all came down with a thunderous slam! that shook the small critters unfortunate enough to get caught in between these two.

But he didn't hit Jinx. He barely caught a glimpse of her hiding behind one of the fallen trees when he heard the whirling of something other than his chains.

Well, shit.

He started swinging and zipping through the trees as fast as he could, the resounding blasting of light canon-fire chasing him, way too close for comfort, where the bullets missed, a splash of blue and pink and gold, felling trees and slowly but surely cutting off his routes to escape...

Eventually, as the rushing sounds of the river Serpentrion reached his ears, the Zaunite finally got lucky. Sylas felt a sharp pain in his leg, one that would have claimed it if it had struck the bone, and his careful balance among the canopy was taken from him.

He plummeted to the forest floor and tried to stand. His leg had other plans. He limped, following the sound of rushing water. He wasn't used to his enemies outranging him... Get her in the open and you have her. Just get out of the trees.

Jinx had a better idea.

"THAT'S RIGHT! CRAWL LIKE THE RAT YOU ARE!"

She pulled open the hoodie and threw as many Chompers as she could, the small bombs biting into the nearby treeline and coming so close to Sylas himself he had to roll out of the way with a busted leg in order to survive the explosion, barely getting up and limping to the sound of the river... Screw it, new plan.

"What, no speech? No taunts or witty one-liners? And you call yourself a villain!"

She dragged Pow-Pow with her to the edge of the treeline. The barrel kept spinning for the sake of both stimming and readyness...

She breached the trees. A clearing with a sheer drop into what sounded like a rushing river. Sylas was staring over the edge.

"You wouldn't make it." She said. "Maybe if your leg worked, but not like this. Not from this high."

"Maybe not, but what's life without a little risk?" He said. Barely standing up and he still had that wolfy grin on his face... Jinx was already tired of that face and she'd known the guy for about 30 minutes. Demacia would despise him!

She shot Zapper a little off the side of his face. Just a warning shot. She couldn't risk him absorbing it... But she wanted to see how he felt being the food played with for once.

"I could still take you." He trembled. He knew he couldn't. Even if his leg worked, the best he could do was maybe throw her in the river and run for his life. He hated being on the back foot!

"Heard that before. Strangely, nobody ever says it twice." Spin, spin, spin went the barrel...

Sylas nodded his head. "You really ARE everything they say about you and more..." He had to respect it. The ally she could have been! "For shame."

"Yeah, well..." She said, and she moved her hand to Pow-Pow's handle. "Don't meet your Heroes."

And she lifted the gun and fired. Sylas jumped as fast as he could.

Not fast enough.

Pow-Pow ripped a hole in his side, a spray of crimson, an agonizing scream and the sound and echo of man hitting water... And with the rush of the Serpentrion, he was gone. A brief red streak in the water the only proof he was ever there.

She didn't think he could survive that... But she had been wrong before. For once, though, she dared to hope. And if he did, he knew not to fuck with her now.

"Now, then." She told herself, finally letting herself breathe before returning. "Where did I park that horse...?"

She passed by the cave again, just to make sure her job was done. The mages she'd knocked out were gone by the time she passed through. Good. No more kinds caught in the crossfire. She rubbed the rim of the hoodie.

And the ride home was the most accomplished she'd felt in a long time...

[some-pers0n]

Every once in a while I think about the ship I've been obsessed over for close to two years now and feel like I'm ascending to another plane of reality. Like sometimes you just encounter a ship that hits every single mark and is perfect in every regard and you're left stunned how something like that can even exist

[seventh-district]

7am, eating cold leftover teriyaki stir-fry for breakfast and crying over blorbos

[chiscribbs]

Thinking of making a Donnie Clone Concept fic, would you be willing to share your list of Donnies with us??? Pretty please??

I'm currently working on putting together a "little" introduction post for all of the Donnies, which will include their mask shades + some of the nick names Leo and the others have given them (because they can't all be "Donnie," that's just too confusing). So that should be coming very, very soon!!

But, in the meantime - if you just want the list as-is, I don't mind sharing that either. Here you go! :>

Brainy/Intellectual Donnie

Curious/Inquisitive Donnie

Affectionate Donnie

Anti-Social Donnie

Reckless Donnie

Responsible/Mature Donnie

Mischievous Donnie

Protective Donnie

Anxious/Paranoid Donnie

Excitable Donnie

Obsessive/Addict Donnie

Overly-Dramatic Donnie

Ninja Donnie

Romantic Donnie

Broody/Grumpy Donnie

Argumentative/Defensive Donnie

Eager-to-Please Donnie

Creative Donnie

Lazy Donnie

Neat-Freak Donnie

Selfish/Possessive Donnie

Naïve/Gullible Donnie

Compassionate Donnie

Sarcastic/Witty Donnie

Violent/Aggressive Donnie

"Bad Feelings" Donnie [The Science Donnies™]

Mechanical Engineer Donnie

Chemist Donnie

Techy Donnie

Botanist Donnie

[meownotgood]

THAT'S 60,000 WORDS LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOO!!

[dragonspiral-tower]

legally obligated to draw my little witch as the witchy racing miku that started this saga a couple months ago

[nnnnnnnothingtoseehere]

good evening my good sir I'm here to ask you about the au you posted those drawings about 🤲🏻🤲🏻 what are you cooking up what will they get up to?

Well hello!!

This au is rapidly spiraling into something much bigger; as we speak, in face. @lepeltge and I have been brainstorming like crazy and there's so much stuff!

For the moment, I'll say it's a mythology based au! (Imagine Percy Jackson, but with Korean mythology instead of Greek/Roman.) Wooyoung is a dokkaebi (goblin), San is a gumhio (nine tailed fox), and Seonghwa is the daltokki (moon rabbit)!

I will definitely be drawing more from this au, and many different fics are being plotted as well! If you'd like to hear more lore tho, just lemme know ;)

[r04ch4ch3]

having anxiety/panic disorder sucks ass bc I really don't know if there's something seriously wrong with me physically or if I'm just crazy

[torchickentacos]

girl help i've been hit with the twentysomething curse of wanting to move to a city where nobody knows my name and where I get to feel and see and be something new✌️