curiousmmay

[curiousmmay]

Wonder what the Guard would have done if an immortal showed up in the Americas way back in the days where no one had any clue there was anything to the west of them. Like how long would it have taken them to figure out "It doesn't seem like this person lives anywhere we've seen. So maybe there's another place out there." And then have to figure out HOW to get across the ocean to find them.

[curiousmmay]

i find it funny (in a loving way) that joe and nicky had their first fight in like a century or two and nicky is already in tears before they even start

both of them actually acting like they’re legally required to get a divorce now or something

[curiousmmay]

Joe & Nicky I The Old Guard 2 (2025)

[curiousmmay]

Nathaniel: I left instructions for everyone while I'm gone

Bartimaeus: Mine just says "BARTIMAEUS NO"

Nathaniel: I want you to apply it to every possible situation

[curiousmmay]

ladies and gents may i present you with my favorite photo of Ella Fitzgerald ft. that guy

homie was down bad, and can we blame him?

[curiousmmay]

[curiousmmay]

The Hexcore Itself Was Sick

Aka, my theory of why everything went wrong

TLDR: Because Viktor was sick (terminal illness) while creating the Hexcore, the Hexcore itself was also sick. This + absorbing, learning and adapting in the environment it was in with it's creator is why it influenced his ultimate plan without thinking about the actual consequences).

TLDR 2: The Hexcore could learn and adapt, but it only ever learned about "curing" sickness, so that's the only thing it knew how to do.

Okay so it's when Viktor coughs up/drips blood onto the hexgates that he gets the idea that hextech could effect organic matter. In turn, he creates the hexcore, which he explains (and Jayce thinks along the same lines) as being able to learn and adapt (very human traits).

Later, when we see him testing this theory on the plants, they grow extremely quickly and die almost as quickly; hinting that there is an inherent sickness to it, as well as connecting it to Viktor, who is also rapidly declining. I think, the minute he created the hexcore with the ideals that it could affect organic matter, the arcane itself took some of those parts of him (the obsession with cure, the sickness itself) and it's why it's not working the way it should; because it's creator is not fully a part of it. The hexcore would have never worked on anyone else (regardless of shimmer or not) because it's only meant to be connected to one person. Viktor, because he created it (or because he was the first to physically interact with it) was the only one who'd be able to survive.

I think, when they say it's adapting and learning, it's also listening.

Then the other person who has also had an obsession with the arcane, who also has used it to build things, create, also has this same inherit desire to heal this sickness (aka, the other person who interacts with it beyond Sky (I'll get to her in a moment) also has the same end goal with it). It listens to these two desires to keep it alive, keeps getting the fuel it needs to know it's plans (a corrupted version of what Viktor and Jayce actually desire) and even hears Jayce defend it against Heimerdinger's accusations of it being evil.

So it isn't learning that it's "corruption" isn't bad, but a good thing, a thing that can save.

Viktor then takes the adapted shimmer (which is just enough to "heal" the leg) and tries for more, with the carved runes. In enters Sky (who does not have shimmer to save herself) who "saves" Viktor, but instead of what I think would have happened (Viktor and the Hexcore becoming one the way it ends up happening) she dies, and the Hexcore uses her soul as a way to increase it's overall influence on Viktor later on.

So, when Jayce ends up using the Hexcore on Viktor anyways, it just completes the process that the Hexcore wanted all along; being back with the creator who gave it it's ideals. Given that the only things it has "learned" or even absorbed are the ideals of "healing" and "curing", and given it's new inability to not understand the extremes, it just keeps using the emotional connection (Sky, if she was just an image of Viktor's last ties to humanity/emotion) to manipulate (though the hexcore doesn't consider it manipulation, only guidance) Viktor into staying on course.

It feeds into Viktor's disappointment in Jayce for not destroying the hexcore (it overlooks this little fact because hey the hexcore got what it wanted water under the bridge and all that) and guides him to leave.

It was essentially a toxic relationship: Viktor made it with the ideas it could cure illnesses and heal, but because of the nature of the arcane, it turned those ideas up to 1000. Had the hexcore been, ya know, chill, Viktor probably would just be healing random people and going about his business rather than a cult leader with great hair and style. They keep the blanket because it's sentimental, Viktor has calmed down with his upset with Jayce because now they're on the right track to "healing" and he's also naked and that's even a little too much for a hivemind cult leader.

Add in moral support from Sky (the way the Hexcore is keeping Viktor on course) and everything is golden! ENTER JAYCE WITH HAMMER JAYCE NO WHY The only emotional connection Viktor has outside the arcane (and outside it's influence) has suddenly blasted him and pretty much rejects his plans (they had originally planned to heal people together!) what the hexcore+ Viktor thought was a good thing; heal people! So, the hexcore adapts, learns "hey, emotions = bad because they cloud judgement and cause harm" so it creates new plan: assimilation, no choices to cloud judgement, no emotions to stop them (Viktor and the Hexcore) from doing what they want.

So, it guides Viktor into letting go of his emotional support (Sky) and thus everything is right as rain! New update incoming, new adaptation: Glorious Evolution for everyone! And you get assimilated and you get assimilated and you get assimilated

WHATS THAT? EKKO WITH THE STEEL CHAIR ACCELERATION RUNE?

Bam boom the massive reintroduction to all the emotions (anger, regret, passion, love) + Jayce's "you were perfect to me/imperfections make you who you are", confession along with the fact another Viktor is the one to say "this is all wrong" basically reset Viktor into taking full control back (the Hexcore doesn't understand this but it's lost its power) and thus, they end together.

Do I think I'm right 100%? Nah. I think it's pretty open-ended as to what exactly went wrong, if it was always going to corrupt him, if Viktor's worst traits just got influenced, but I like my theory.

[curiousmmay]

Do you think Jayce just constantly feels like this entire city is gaslighting him when they look at Viktor quietly working in the background and go "Oh I bet that studious young man helps keep you in line huh Mr. Talis? ;))"

And Jayce is nearly weeping because he can NOT make anyone believe him that Viktor is an agent of chaos. He wants to grab their shoulders and scream that the first day he met this man the guy saved his life, immediately sassed his notes afterwards, then went right to "too bad your equipment is confiscated we should do crimes about it."

Jayce tries to remind Viktor of basic lab safety protocols and Viktor calls him a pussy then builds a lazer arm.

[curiousmmay]

some jayvik headcanons to pass the time and ignore the pain

There is a Viktor fan club at the academy. He is unaware. They discuss his projects, his accent, his looks. Meetings are the last Thursday of every month.

Jayce accidentally stumbled into one of the meetings. They barely played off they were talking about his partner. (He still can't find any info on the "book" they were talking about, thinking Caitlyn would be interested.) (He forgets that Victorian-looking men with accents aren't on her radar.)

Jayce also has a fan club. He is aware of it. (They have invited him to meetings). They talk about his projects, his hair, his face, his line of mugs. Their banner is one of his shirts. (He is unaware of this part.)

Viktor is also aware of the club. (He gave them the shirt.)

Jayce and Viktor both hate the cold (Jayce for the snowstorm, Viktor for his leg) so whenever it was winter they were bundled up like the kid from A Christmas Story.

Viktor mixes up metaphors. He constantly uses malaphors (unintentionally) and Jayce doesn't have it in his heart to correct him. "All the ducks are aligning" is his favorite by far.

Jayce tried learning Viktor's native language to surprise him one day. (I imagine it as a mix of Czech and Polish). He ended up saying a mix of a whole bunch of nonsense, so confidently) which made Viktor laugh himself into a coughing fit.

more under cut cause this is getting long

(Viktor couldn't look at Jayce for two days after without laughing.)

Viktor has a sweet tooth, Jayce has a savory one.

Their third year as lab partners, a section of the library caught on fire. The culprit was never found. (It was them, and they both blame the other.) (It was Viktor)

Jayce enjoys suspenseful novels. Viktor, when he can be persuaded, enjoys historical fiction.

Their mortal enemy is the student who's lab is across from theirs. Viktor hates him because he's egotistical with no real skill. Jayce hates him because he always complains they're making too much noise. Their mortal enemy is unaware he is their mortal enemy.

They have a "days without incident" chart in their lab. Incidents no longer include cuts, scrapes, bruises, small explosions, broken prototypes, because if they did it would always be at 0.

Their fifth year, the auditorium stage caught on fire. A group of first years were blamed. (It was Jayce, though Viktor thought it wasn't a big deal.)

Jayce is organized, Viktor is not. Jayce puts things in organized shelves, Viktor puts things where he knows he'll need them next. This is a point of tension for the longest time, until Mel stepped in and told them to either compromise or get two of everything.

They got two of everything.

Jayce designed Viktor's cane (after the first one broke) and his leg brace.

Viktor can play the harp. Jayce can play the piano.

Everyone believes Viktor is the one keeping Jayce under control in experiments. (as referenced in this post) No one knows besides Heimerdinger that Viktor learned lab safety in a drug den. The counsel refers to Viktor as the "sane, calm one" but only Mel and Cassandra know the truth. Both think it's funnier to not deny it.

Viktor stays at Jayce's place most often. Jayce secretly moved most of Viktor's things to his place, until officially asking him to move in.

Jayce also helped design a new back brace for Viktor. It was more comfortable, made of thick cloth, and relieved so much back pain he started crying when he tried it on. This is what got them together, because Viktor kissed him in thanks, and Jayce was like "finally!!" and started kissing him back.

Money was exchanged after the Academy/Counsel found out they became official. Shoola, Mel and Cassandra got a big payout. Heimerdinger had no idea about the bet, mostly because he thought they were already together.

This led to the fanclub war. Jayce fans vs Viktor fans, until a hero came around (Sky) and was like, why not both? (And thus, the Jayvik fan-club was born)

[curiousmmay]

Baby Tiger小脑斧, 2018, Zhelong Xu

[curiousmmay]

Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Washington, D.C., October 11, 1987

Sections 553 and 554 of Article 27 of the Maryland Code prohibited sodomy (punishable with a sentence of “not less than one year nor more than ten years”), oral sex, and “any other unnatural or perverted sexual practice with any other person.”

[curiousmmay]

Anyone else think about the moment Old Man Wizard Viktor hit his point of realizing what the fuck he actually did to Jayce and everyone else as he looked up to face the fields of dreamless solitude?

Because I woke up at fuckass o'clock this morning and sure did

(no beta no proof read no real drawn out fic and not even as fleshed as I would ideally like to I just got SAD and wanna make that everyone else's problem)

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"Do you see it Jayce? The beauty we accomplished?"

Jayce is silent, as they all are. As he has been through the eons of their work. 

"You do, don't you?" Viktor asks again. Illogical. Irrational. Overly emotional. A child's trembling hope. There's no reason to the question. He is their voice now, their drive and wonder. Jayce sees it. He can see the beautiful riot of color and tranquil, peaceful transcendence. The world wrought into paradise. Refined. Distilled. Precisely tuned in for an equilibrium of delight. Jayce can see it all, because Viktor sees it.

He wishes, suddenly, that Jayce would break away from him to smile. That he could see the dimples and the crooked teeth of Jayce's grin. 

It is foolish. Self serving. Still, Viktor finds the thread to Jayce. It is always the one closest to him, the twin light to his own in the sea of stars that is All. He pulls it slowly, smoothly, precisely. His hands are incapable of shaking and they tremble. A sensation of emotion clouds the skies as he pulls and pulls and pushes and seeks out the music of Jayce's consciousness tied in with his own.

It becomes his project for a time.

A long time.

Carefully carding through everything to find the grain of sand, the spec of stardust. Jayce. Jayce. Jayce tell me you see it. Jayce. Look at our work. Tell me you can. I know you are here I know it you must be here Jayce please please pleasepleaseplease-

It is only his own mind reflected back. At every angle. With every minutiae accounted for. He pulls every thread around him in the paradise of the world and finds himself refracted and distilled in every direction.

It takes another eon for him to search through every thread next. Repeating the process of pulling and combing and examining the connections. Of returning to that one shortest thread to retest and adjust. It's another eon of himself again and again and again and again and it's only him it's only him who can see it and where there was Jayce there's only-

It takes a fraction of a second for him to destroy it. The peace. The sweetness of the balance in the world. A single crack in the crystalline perfection of himself. Paradise torn asunder.

[curiousmmay]

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[curiousmmay]

finally found a jayvik edit with francesca by hozier!!!! it’s one of the best i’ve ever seen!!!!!