#the disintegration loops

[nofatclips]

DLP 1.3 by William Basinski from the free TRL25 compilation

[jackleopard]

anyways everyone go listen to The Disintegration Loops

[spasmolytics]

listening to William Basinski and looking at nostalgic content feels so unreal

[mrfortunesmaggot]

Divinity from Dust: The Healing Power of the 'Disintegration Loops'

[sinceileftyoublog]

mui zyu Interview: Embracing the Chaos

mui zyu

JORDAN MAINZER

Pop experimenter mui zyu--the stage name for London-based artist Eva Liu--combines explorations of her heritage with wide-eyed, open-hearted dives into the modern world. Born in Northern Ireland to parents who were Hong Kong immigrants, Liu grew up studying more classical art before choosing to pursue film studies at university. Her first foray into recording music was as lead vocalist of alt rock trio Dama Scout; she released her debut EP as mui zyu in 2021. mui zyu's debut album, Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century reckoned with ideas of identity and lineage but also memory and perception, Liu continuing her tradition of using field and voice recordings from her family. But it was a mere year later where Liu took the biggest artistic leap.

On miu zyu's second album nothing or something to die for (Father/Daughter), Liu's themes and soundscapes expanded beyond bedroom pop, beyond her head. Fittingly, it was her first time not recording at home. With a grant from the PRS Foundation, Liu and her longtime collaborator Luciano Rossi were able to set up at Middle Farm Studios in Devon, sessions that challenged Liu to take her sound to the next level, increasing her use of vocal manipulation and pedal wizardry. Its genre aesthetics are wonderfully all over the place. Scraped, raw acoustic guitar-led love song "everything to die for" is sandwiched between whirring synth-and-drum machine jam "the mould" and the melancholic, Postal Service-esque "donna like parasites". "speak up sponge", meanwhile, is a string-laden, comparative dirge. Album closer “扮豬食老虎”, with piano, sampled vocals from Liu's family, echoing field recordings, and decaying synths, exists somewhere between Rotten Bun and William Basinski's The Disintegration Loops.

What's also special about nothing or something to die for is that Liu was able to work with like-minded artists. Miss Grit, whose work also uses fantastical, sci-fi themes to investigate identity, lends her vocals to "please be ok", a song about not being honest with yourself about your feelings in the presence of others. She and Liu harmonize, eventually over a drum machine beat, only to be subsumed by faster tempos and distortion, as if to remind themselves it's important to let it all out in the beginning, else you're drowned out. Father/Daughter labelmate Pickle Darling features on "in the dot", providing strikingly atonal vocals to go along side warbling synths on a song that reminds us that momentary happiness is preferable to the destructive pursuit of perfection. Perhaps most meaningful to Liu, though, was getting to work with lei, e, aka Emma Lee Moss (fka Emmy the Great). Liu looked up to Moss, another Hong Kong British artist in the indie music scene, for years before getting to work with her, eventually opening for her and singing Cantonese covers with her at the Hackney Chinese Community Centre in London. For their first proper original song collaboration, mui zyu and lei, e take us on a sonic odyssey, adding to the album's canvas of synths, drum machines, and guitar distortion with off-kilter piano, noise, and then a quiet hum.

In September, mui zyu released nothing or something to die for (Cantonese tasting menu), 5 songs from the album translated into Cantonese. It was an opportunity for Liu to work with not only Moss but her father, for hours over the phone, on translating the lyrics. The specific songs picked are a perfect encapsulation of mui zyu's current diverse sensibilities; if you wanted to get a sense for who she is as an artist, ironically, I'd tell you to start there. Most exciting is that mui zyu remains unpredictable, the type of artist who could go in one of many different directions and will probably pick the least expected route.

Last year, I spoke with Liu over Zoom about her songwriting process and picking collaborators on nothing or something to die for, as well as how film inspires her music. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

nothing or something to die for cover art

Since I Left You: Now that nothing or something to die for has been out for a while, has your relationship with the music changed because you've gotten outside reception?

Eva Liu: I don't think it's changed. I finished the album [in October 2023]. We got it to a place where I was really happy with it. I haven't said goodbye to it, [but] once it's out of your control, you let it do its thing.

SILY: With the addition of videos, the album has a whole visual identity. It almost seems like nothing or something to die for is more than an album, like a conceptual world.

EL: Because [my] first [record] had a concept that arrived naturally, I didn't want this album to has as much of a concept. But it has definitely formed its own little world naturally. In a way, it's looking outwards as opposed to inwards like the first album. There wasn't a narrative I was building--the songs just go well together. Putting it together was kind of chaotic, and the album is about embracing chaos, so it seems like that was meandering throughout it.

SILY: Did you study film?

EL: I studied Film Studies at university. It wasn't practical or about making a film, but it was about film theory, kind of like [what Art History is to art.] I actually didn't want to go to uni, but I didn't know what to do. I love film, so that's why I chose [to study Film Studies.]

SILY: You've certainly mentioned a lot of direct filmic inspirations on some of these songs. How do you connect the film world to the music world? How do those inspirations, like 2001: A Space Odyssey on "satan marriage" or Blue Velvet on "sparky", come about?

EL: I don't really write with film in mind. I do have a sort of vision with the songs, and having been so influenced by film in the past, I am inspired a lot by images and art and how [movies are made.] Sometimes, if I want to capture a certain feeling in a song or video, I'll reference certain pieces of work that I love. But I'm not wanting to write about film, if that makes sense. It's just something that helps me creatively.

SILY: The folks you collaborated with on this record are everyone from those you looked up to in the past to your peers and a Father/Daughter labelmate. How did you choose your list of collaborators, and what does it mean to you to have this group in particular on the record?

EL: lei, e was someone I looked up to in my journey with music and identified with, having not seen many artists who are from Hong Kong or Hong Kong British, especially in the indie scene. I loved her music, and she was definitely a role model for me. I had reached out [three] years ago on the off chance she wanted to collaborate, and we've done a few things together since. [pauses] Oh, that's funny, she just texted me. [laughs] We ended up doing shows together and events at the Hackney Chinese Community Centre here in London, on Cantonese translations for songs, and a whole bunch of other stuff. She's become a very dear friend of mine. I really wanted to work with her on [an original] song, which is why she was one of the people I wanted on this album. She's got such a nice voice as well.

Miss Grit is someone I met [two years ago.] I loved their guitar playing. We just got chatting, and it was great to collaborate. These artists, I didn't directly pursue them to work with, but when I was writing this album, there would be some songs I had in mind for collaboration, and certain artists made sense for what I felt the song needed. Pickle Darling, we're on the same label, and I love their whole sound and delivery.

SILY: Did the lyrics or the concepts come before the instrumentation?

EL: Usually, in my music, the instrumentation comes first and lyrics after. I sort of tend to write based on a feeling and how that feels on an instrument. I'm actually not very good with words in general. I find it easier to translate what I'm trying to create with music as opposed to words.

SILY: Throughout the record, there's such an interplay between what you're saying and what the song's about, and the way the songs are constructed. You play a lot with tempo, and I feel like it's somewhere between thrilling and disorienting. It's a very effective contrast to the songs. Was that intentional?

EL: There's definitely a relationship. The music is based on a certain feeling or message I'm trying to portray, and the words come together and arrive gradually. Sometimes, they come to me much quicker than others. It takes a bit more time with lyrics [for me.]

SILY: Is the title "telephone congee" named after the term that suggests it should take the length of a phone call to cook congee?

EL: It's actually to do with the length of time you're on the phone, if you're talking too long, you're boiling congee. My mom and aunt would be on the phone for ages, and my dad would be like, "You're talking so much, it's like telephone congee." It's quite colloquial, but it means you're on the phone too much.

SILY: Are the two "telephone congee" interludes plus the final track, "扮豬食老虎", all sampled vocals from your family?

EL: That's my mom speaking Cantonese. She was also on the first album as well. I need to stop getting my family to do stuff. [laughs]

SILY: They've been on everything, right?

EL: Yeah. Even the first EP. My niece and nephew were on [a record], and my dad was on the first record. It's been a nice way for me to do something with them. They're quite far away. My parents are in Hong Kong, and my sister and brother are spread out. Growing up, music wasn't that encouraged. [My parents] encouraged piano lessons and to learn classical music, but not as a career. They must have gotten around to the idea that music is more than a hobby. It's kind of like letting them in to my world, having them send me voice notes or sing on stuff.

SILY: Do they know the voice notes they send are going to be used on your music?

EL: They do, but sometimes, my mom will send me a voice note, and I'll ask, "Can I put this on a song?" and she won't really know what it's for.

SILY: Can you tell me about the album art?

EL: The album art was done by a friend who calls herself Waffle Burger. She's a great artist, a painter. She does these incredible apocalyptic paintings that have this kind of eerie but cute element to them. I felt like that's how my music feels like at times. I like things that are juxtaposing. I actually bought one of her small paintings. We were chatting more when we were working on this album, and I thought of her to do it, and she was receptive. We discussed what sort of vibe it would be, and I picked out things I liked in her work. Her understanding on the album was translated into this strange cave with these creatures. I didn't ask her to, but my cat's in it, in the little picture frame.

SILY: Are you the type of artist always writing songs, or do you have to set aside time to do it?

EL: I wish I could be someone who's just constantly creating, but I'm someone who has to set aside time to focus on it. I noodle on guitar quite a bit, but when it comes to writing, I have to set aside time.

SILY: Is there anything you've been listening to, watching, or reading lately that's caught your attention?

EL: Recently, I've been listening to a lot of Sun Ra and Xiu Xiu. I went to see MaXXXine at the cinema. I enjoyed that; that was fun. Me and my friends have been watching a lot of horror movies. I watched Scanners and loved it and re-watched The Wicker Man, one of my favorite films--the 1973 version, not the Nicolas Cage one. I watched some interesting horror films my friend was keen on seeing, like Paranormal Activity 2--my friends were having a [marathon], and I joined for the 2nd. It's not something I normally watch. I think they watched all 7? I didn't even know there were 7 Paranormal Activity [films.] I've been listening to The Blindboy Podcast.

Tour dates

2/24: El Cid, Los Angeles, CA

2/27: Public Records, Brooklyn, NY

3/1: Wavelength Winter Festival, Toronto, Canada

3/29, Far East Film Festival. Udine, Italy

[funkiestmerman]

nothing hits quite like staring at the ceiling to dlp 1.1

[sphoricuslistens]

I’ve hit The Disintegration Loops in my quest to clean out my Spotify library, and I’ve only just remembered how hard they are to listen to. Not in a “they’re bad” type of way, more of a “my mind is fading” sort of way. And that they’re just hard to listen to, particularly III and IV, with all their fading into and out of reality.

[bigchumpus]

Can you tell I'm incredibly normal :D

[madbard]

[kply-industries]

[nofatclips]

DLP 4 by William Basinski from the album The Disintegration Loops III

[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...

[vellichorsdesire]

LIFE HAS BEEN EXHAUSTTINGG SOO SORRY i wish i was online more often genuinely… i miss posting on here a lot i miss a lot of you guys

[completeoveranalysis]

[6]

UM EXCUSE ME?!

UNPROMPTED?!?

[andrewseo]

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