orion

i see YOU

THIS SEXY ASS FISH PINS HIS EARS AGAINST HIS HEAD WHEN HE'S:

ASHAMED

DEFEATED

Tense...? (I'll elaborate at the end)

Probably more tbh

AND LET ME TELL YOU WHY 🗣❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️

In this scene, Steb has his ears pinned back. His ears naturally rest pointing outward from his head. In the second scene, it looks like he's holding them back, but if you look closer in the first one, they're actually just resting flat against his head.

I see a lot of people saying that it's probably due to him being sad about Maddie's betrayal, but I feel like that's a little too vague. YES, he's most likely sad that his buddy stabbed him in the back, but I feel like it's more a shame kind of thing.

IN THE GIF BELOW, you'll see what I'm talking about. He looks over at Caitlyn, but after giving her a small glance, he looks back down, seeming to show some kind of shame or defeat. (Maybe even hopelessness?) There doesn't appear to be an out in their situation, and Steb knows that. I suppose he COULD be ashamed that he had trusted Maddie, but I feel like it's mainly just the defeat from the battle.

Ears flat against his head:

Ears usual resting position:

You can see his whole ear in the kneeling scene, and it's clear that he's not touching it. His ears just naturally pin back during some situations.

Not only that, but there are multiple scenes where you can see his ears twich. (I picked scenes from the same episode since it's easier to see here.)

↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑

(In these two, you can see both his ear AND scale frills twitch)

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

(You gotta look closely for this one) ↑↑↑

But this is where my third bullet point comes in, as well as why I'm kind of iffy on it. During the fight with the shimmer guys, Steb almost gets FUCKING SPLIT IN HALF, but Loris comes in clutch and sheilds Steb.

While Steb is curled up for the impact, he pins his ears against his head, as you can see here.

I feel like him being "Scared" isn't exactly the reason why he pinned his ears against his head. During the whole fighting scene, you can tell he is QUITE terrified, but he didn't have his ears pinned back until the scene above. I feel like it's less terror and more tension. He tensed up and curled on himself due to him expecting impact, causing him to pin his ears back.