#Powder and Jinx are unreliable narrators

[lbulldesigns]

THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR.

Powder slammed her bedroom door shut behind her as she stormed into her bedroom, the various models, robots, and the cases holding her treasured fossils, crystals, and shells on the nearby shelf rattled from the force.

The noise of her siblings and “friends” downstairs stilled as they heard the slam echo throughout the house, but nobody made a move to investigate the sound.

“They would have to actually give a shit about you to do that,” the voice, in her head, sneered nastily at Powder.

The girl brushed it off this time as she went over to her computer to boot it up. As she logged in, breathing deeply to slow down the breakdown that she could feel building up, she could hear the sound of the front door banging shut. Powder stood up from her computer and went over to her window looking out over the street.

Outside she watched as her stepbrothers and sister piled into their cars with their respective girlfriends. With Ekko and Zeri entering Vi’s stupid, four-door, red pickup. All on their way to their couples-only day out at Piltover’s newly opened theme park.

The very one she had been begging her siblings to go to with her for the past three weeks, the one they had all been full of excuses about on how they might not be able to go, the one that Caitlyn “Bitchface” Kirraman had got everyone tickets for. Everyone but her.

Vi had explained how they had just got so worked up in their excitement at the idea of a day-long double-double date at a theme park, that they didn't think that Powder would even want to go.

“Yeah, because when someone doesn’t want to go somewhere they tend to beg to go for three weeks,” and even though the voice was nothing but a figment of Powder’s imagination, she could almost see it roll its eyes at the audacity from her sister.

“We thought you might be uncomfortable,” Vi had lamely stated, whilst rubbing the back of her neck, something she tends to do when she’s struggling to come up with a plausible lie. Powder knew her sister well enough to know that she was just making excuses, so that her picture perfect girlfriend wouldn’t look bad.

Staring down at the street, she watched as the cars pulled out of the driveway, for a split second she thought Ekko might have been looking up at her from the car, with something she wished could be regret on his behalf, but scoffed at the thought.

“Why would he feel regret? It’s not like he’s cheating on you,” the voice sneered, but she could swear she also heard a note of melancholy in its disembodied tone “he only ignored and avoided you, so that he could get his rocks off with Tits McGee.”

Powder took a deep, shaky breath through her nose, her fists clenching at the unbidden reminder.

Ekko, and Zeri in retrospect, have used any excuse they could to avoid spending time with her as of late, too busy with homework, too busy with the community centre they volunteer at with their families, too busy with their other friends who find Powder too weird to be around because she like sharks, and robots, and- “blah blah blah.. Insert reason here. Does anyone really need a reason to hate you?”

She feels stupid now for agonising over why for the past month, and making excuses on their behalf when the truth was there in her face this whole time.

They had abandoned her, just like everyone else seems to be doing lately.

They had gotten bored of constantly reassuring her that they liked being around her, had gotten sick of listening to her woes, and got tired of her being too “childish” as Zeri had been claiming more and more lately. Powder had chalked those comments from her “bestie” as her just playing around. But that, clearly, was not the case.

She had developed a massive crush on Ekko recently and had tried to stuff down the feelings as best she could. Ultimately she couldn’t deny it anymore, she had hoped to tell him at some point, once she had worked up the courage.

She had told nobody.

Nobody, but Zeri.

“Backstabber,” the voice bitterly and crudely spat.

She hadn’t even told Vi, but considering how more and more consistently hot and cold her sister had become towards her as of late that was, sadly, unsurprising

When Ekko had started pulling back from her, she had feared that Zeri had let something slip but the green haired girl had promised up and down that she hadn’t breathed a word to him, and Powder had trusted her because Zeri had always been reliable and honest.

When Zeri had insisted that she was working on a community services project with Ekko because her parents and Benzo had volunteered their time, and would use the opportunity to gauge whether there was a chance he would return Powder’s sentiments, the blue haired teen had trusted her friend.

When she saw all the hugs, and touches, and easygoing smiles between the two, she had swallowed that ugly, ugly, jealousy clawing its way up her throat from the very depths, back down and cursed herself for being such a horrible person to think badly of her friend.

And when Vi had announced they were going on a couples day out and had invited HER friends, POWDER’S FRIENDS!, she wanted to believe that Vi had simply misinterpreted things between the two.

But the guilty looks on Zeri and Ekko’s faces coupled with the looks Mylo and Claggor had exchanged like they were waiting for her to Jinx Out, a term Mylo had been proud to coin whenever Powder would have a breakdown or tantrum.

“I like to think of it as not taking anyone's shit,” muttered the voice, petulantly.

Powder had to face the truth, once and for all. No matter how crippling lonely it was.

Ekko didn’t return her sentiments, Zeri couldn’t be trusted, and everyone just didn’t want her around, and none of them had any problem with ripping her heart out and stomping all over it.

“And Caitlyn’s a bitch. Knew she had it out for you,” Powder hated when the voice was smug.

She had wanted to rage right there and then in that entryway, in front of her siblings girlfriends, she wanted to slap the smirk off that bitches face that she was trying to poorly hide by pursing her lips and looking at the floor to hell how it would make her sister feel, she wanted to rip out Zeri’s hair and call her a traitor, and she had even wanted to kick Milo in his shin despite the fact he hadn’t done anything wrong… This time.

The voice, only she could hear, was screaming what Powder wished she had the guts to scream, she wanted to call every single one of them out and curse them to kingdom come. But, ultimately, Powder had just felt numb to it all.

Why bother? They’ll just brush it off as another temper tantrum, and, really, do they even care if they hurt her anymore? If they ever did.

Rather than losing her shit, rather than crying in front of them all, rather than exposing her fragile heart anymore than they had already been trusted to and still chose to tapdance all over.

Powder had simply chosen to turn around and go back upstairs, ignoring Vi’s pathetic attempts to “apologise” with her classic “I’ll make it up to you later Pow Pow, I promise” that she never truly ever bothers to keep.

“She’ll come back later all puppy eyed, promising that she never meant to hurt you and she feels soooooooooooooo sad for making you sad. And try to make it up to you with a promise to watch all those shark documentaries that you've watched thousands of times while you spew out any and all shark, and fish facts you know, and because you’re just happy to have any kind of company, you’ll forgive her and then after a few days of undivided attention towards you she’ll go right back to ignoring you for Princess Pretty Pilty and the cycle will begin again,” The voice angrily huffed, Powder could almost hear the sound of it tapping its foot against her hardwood floor in utter frustration.

Powder grabs two fistfuls of her shoulder length hair, pulling until it hurts, hoping the pain will stave off the incoming migraine she could feel scratching at the tippy top of her skull.

Releasing her hair, distantly acknowledging the stands of azure strands clinging to her fingers, she tudges back over to her computer and sits down in her desk chair, idly moving the mouse to wake the screen from its slumber, but only stared at the screen in front of her as she tried to remember why she bothered turning the damn thing on to begin with.

“Probably because this is the procedure whenever you get fucked over. You boot up the computer, beg Little Man to play a few hours of Minecraft with you whilst you sob about how unfair everything is, then feel all warm and fuzzy when he listens and tells you you're amazing and he’s lucky to have you in his life. And then you can forget your worries because even if the others shun you at least you’ll always have Ekko,” The voice recounts for her, the bitterness and borderline disdain that has been present up till then absent, as something dangerously close to being sympathetic bleeds through its tone.

She could almost feel its presence standing beside her, barely touching her bare shoulder, as if to subconsciously comfort her.

And just how pathetic do you have to be when your imaginary frenemy even feels bad for you?

That’s when a sound mixed between a wet sob and incredulous laugh rips its way out Powder’s throat, the action opening the floodgates, and the sixteen year old finds herself sliding from her chair and curled up in the floor, her arms wrapped around her midsection in a desperate attempt to hold in all her sorrows at the unfairness of it all, and wailed into the floor.

It just wasn’t fair.

“If only you weren’t starved for their love,” the voice unhelpfully supplied.

Suddenly, Powder stopped crying, breathing deeply. Her forehead touching the wooden floor.

“Powder”

Slowly the girl pushed herself to her feet, her eyes staring blankly at the floor.

“Poooooowder”

She sits down in the chair, her arms draped limply over the armrest. Lazily she pushes her chair around, until she is facing the large mirror leaning against the corner by her bedroom window.

“POWDER!”

“I’m tired”

“What?”

But Powder doesn’t answer. She closes her eyes and when they open again it isn’t her.

Jinx looks over at the mirror across from her, contemplating the image of the girl lying on the floor, facing away from her where a reflection should be.

Jinx stands up from the chair and takes the few short steps over to the mirror. So that she’s standing in front of it.

Jinx stares down at Powder as she mopes on the other side of the reflection. She scrunches her nose and lifts a finger up to the surface of the looking glass, daintily tapping the tip of her pointer against the smooth surface.

Tap tap tap…

But Powder doesn’t stir.

“Seriously?” Speaking felt really, really, really weird.

Powder still doesn’t stir.

Jinx blinks and Powder is gone. Staring back at her was Powder’s visage.

Short, and skinny, with shoulder length blue hair, with freckles sprinkled across a slightly crooked nose. Courtesy of Vi and her bitch mittens.

She wore a pair of pink overalls over a sleeveless, purple tank top.

Jinx looked exactly like sweet, vulnerable Powder.

However instead of brilliant blue, innocent eyes.

Bright, magenta ones stared back at her.

Jinx huffed out a small laugh.

Well that’s gonna take some explaining.

[wingedshadowfan]

i think a lot of you guys don't realize jinx is an "unreliable character" (like an unreliable narrator but she's not a narrator lol) and everything she says needs to be taken with a grain of salt bcuz she's insane! that's the cool thing abt her!

it's why she gave isha a makeover and told her she didn't get to do much of this with vi cuz she was more into punching things, but powder was into making bombs.

it's why she worked for silco and killed firelights but then gave vi shit for "turning bluebelly".

it's why she killed caitlyn's mother, and many others before that, and said vi was sided up with "the enforces who killed mum and dad".

it's why she was upset at vi for "gassing zaun" but gassed piltover right after.

it's why she watched vi fight in the pit, even bet on her, and then acted like vi'd been kicking her feet and chilling on tipside the entire time.

it's why she acted like a hero but refused to go to a single sevika rally after being practically begged to and only busted those zaunites out of prison for isha.

so when ppl say that jinx gagged vi during their argument, or that she was right and made good points, i think we need to remember what actually happened in the show. jinx is extremely chaotic, inconsistent, and willing to go a long way to prove herself and motivate her choices.

[alkelkha]

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐄𝐓. chapter three

relationship — jinx/powder x fem!blk coded reader

contents&warnings! : wc: 2.7k | post season 2 | lower-case indented | fluff | angst and i'm not comforting you this ch | lowkey unreliable narrator (jinx) | sexual tension if you squint | swapping spit with candy | beach episode | reader is implied to have big boobs | author attempt to write bpd splitting | reader and jinx get into an argument | not everything is sunshine and rainbows, friendship takes work and patience | not beta read | yes i am making this up along i go | PLEASE GIVE ME IDEAS FOR FUTURE CHAPTERS |

❛❛ OF COURSE, WE'RE FRIENDS ❜❜

WEEK ONE

after the two of you ran until the sunset it was awkward from there. jinx felt guilty— which she knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help it. she practically begged you to be her friend and now chickening out like a pussy every time you get close.

she didn’t know how to be a friend. what does she do? give you hugs? scary!

you on the other hand?

you got comfortable immediately, going to the shop every day, hanging out with her rambling, and asking questions on her latest projects. jinx tried doing the same but there was this twisty turny feeling in her stomach when she tried. she was scared of how you would react.

she wants this. she wants your friendship, she needs it.

maybe it was because she finally cared what someone thought of her. someone that wasn’t silco or vi or isha.

she had to be vulnerable. 

fortunately, you didn't have any of it. you were the type of person to confront the problems ahead. communication was important to you which jinx hated, but appreciated simultaneously. it was beyond uncomfortable. at least it told her how much you valued this friendship between the two of you. you were willing to work things out.

“what does this device do?” your hand ran over the contraption, and with one move, you were covered in glitter. you slowly turned to jinx, looking at her with a deadpan, “don’t laugh—“

jinx nearly falls off her seat from laughing.  

this was painfully new to jinx. being called a ‘friend’, calling someone else her ‘friend’ was treading on unknown territory.

the way bubbles that formed in her heart the day she said yes burst every time you smiled at her as she ranted. that was sweeter than any candy you've given her.

you listen to her when she talks. you laugh at her dumb jokes. you walk with her around the plaza. you stay with her while she works on one of her (harmless) gadgets when you don’t have work. 

she was starting to understand the hype around having a friend. who knew sharing meals with someone made food taste even better? having a friend meant she could talk for hours on end and be met with a voice that wasn’t tearing her down.

is she doing it right? maybe. she isn’t sure herself.

grabbing a cloth, you wiped down your face. it didn’t help much. powder’s laughter wasn’t any help either. 

“you’re helping me clean that up, sprinkles.” powder tosses you a broom with a grin on her lips.

WEEK TWO

stalking your friend is totally normal. there’s nothing wrong in making sure your friend gets to work safely, especially when there’s a gang after her. besides, is it really stalking if she’s hiding in plain sight? she just so happened to blend in with the colorful scenery of flosnum. much like herself, flosnum loves colors.

pink and orange powder that you can get from kicking plot plants. beautifully painted murals. colorful homes. it was a colorblast.

and just like the good friend she is, she knows your schedule by heart!

you wake up around seven am, ready for the day at about eight-thirty, do a bunch of random stuff after that, and show up at her house or shop at eleven am to hang out. on weekends and wednesdays, you work the afternoon shift. mondays and fridays are your days off. the rest you work at night.

you can't blame her for it, she has no idea what she would do if you got hurt. she’s finally settling down, and that took 10 mental breakdowns.

sometimes, while following you, she'll get distracted and end up at the ice cream truck. after trying out all the poor old man could offer, cotton candy became her favorite.

what was she doing again? oh yeah!

your work was demanding, which is odd because she’s been at bars. hell, she grew up at one. she knew what they were like, and it certainly wasn't supposed to be what you were doing. she had never seen a bartender work so hard. powder was pretty sure the job wasn’t supposed to be this intense. 

SEVEN CHIMES was just like its home flosnum with a mature air. paper lanterns that would illuminate a variety of colors and shadows of white stars on the ceiling some days. weekends it would be packed and that was one of those days. 

you were exactly the same while you worked. the customers loved you. even if they were drunk, the only type of handsy they would get is an arm swing around your shoulder. 

your coworker, stella is what you called her, kept your eyes on you a bit too long. stella’s eyes trailed your body up and down before meeting powder’s.

they locked eyes. 

with a smirk, stella broke the contact eye.

.

.

.

okay, what the fuck was the smirk about?

powder slumps down in her seat from the corner of the bar. she already knew she wasn’t going to like her. who the hell did that girl think she was? does she want to fight? because powder will! feeling her eyes twitch she looked down to slip on her pink fuzzy drink.

“baby blue?”

jinx's eyes shot up to the voice. it was you! in all your glory, the blue light hitting your pretty dark skin, wearing that smile the same way you wore the stupid bronze turtle necklace around your neck. pretty.

after she was done checking you out a frog got fixed in her throat. she's been caught. wait! it’s not the end of the world yet. she could just brush it off as a simple visit! perfect plan.

“why did you tell me you were here?” you sit down on the opposite side of the table as her. “stella told me 'a certain blue-haired girl' had been 'keeping her eyes on me.'”

ohhhh, so that’s why she smirked.

snitch.

“just wanted a drink.” powder shrugs and keeps sipping down her drink. 

“you could’ve said hi, ya know? now i feel bad for you sitting here all alone.” you frown.

“you say that like i’m going type of loner!” powder scoffs. you raise an eyebrow as if you’re saying ‘are you not?’.

she furrows her brows, “i am not!” she defended herself.

“i never said—“

“you were going to!” 

you leaned back and sighed. that struck something in jinx. she’s got you annoyed.

shit.

now you were probably thinking of breaking it off with her and never seeing her face again. she should’ve known. she shouldn’t have gotten attached. “I’m sorry—“

“come on blue,” you interrupt her, getting out of your seat. “my shift just ended, and i’m starving!” you take her cold hand in your warm one, pulling her out of the bar.

WEEK THREE

blue was mysterious— was.

this girl bounced off walls. no filter. talks back to old mean people who gave you a hard time. she had to be constantly doing something or doing nothing. no in-between. you adapted to it.

she's unlike anyone you’ve ever met. 

the shop you gave her? now her hideout. she completely renovated it in her own style. remember that broken illuminating sign? now the sign had no words it was a…

monkey?

you think it was. you saw it often in her work. you’re guessing it was her signature. 

you liked moments like this. standing behind her, brushing her short hair mindlessly. her hair grew really fast, it was almost to her shoulders now.

jinx tinkered on the glitter bomb that exploded in your face three weeks ago. her tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth in concentration.

it was odd. her hair. not that it was bad, she somehow pulled it off amazingly, but you can’t help but think that this was a recent cut. “why did you cut your hair this way?” you asked.

she pauses her work and looks up, leaning back in her chair to get a better look at you. “what, don’t like it?” your heart jumped at the sight of her.

she was so cute. wide pink eyes, blue eyeshadow, dark lipstick, and glitter stains on her face. 

“no, just curious,” you spoke softly. powder’s eyes trail away from you as she thinks about whether she should answer your question.

in the meantime, you noticed some dark grease on the corner of her mouth. it was nagging at you, she was dangerously close to eating it if she were to lick her lips.

taking your thumb you lick it and then wipe it off of her. the action caused her to scrunch up her face a bit but she didn’t pull away. “it was a weakness.” she answered your question, “my hair was wayyy too long, practically dragged it on the ground.” she shrugged still looking up at you. 

“plus, i needed some change.” jinx made her hand into a gun and slowly raised it up to you, “pow.” she pretended to shoot you. 

“shooting me now?” your voice amused, raising a brow at her.

“you should’ve dodged it,” she shrugs, looking back down to her work. she set it down on the workbench and spun her chair around, “now you’re dead,” she got up from her seat to get another tool. "sucker."

“i thought you liked me!” you grumble, her back was now turned to you. 

“just a little.” she plays into it and turns around. 

her eyes widened to see you point a sucker to her head, with a smirk on your face, “now, you’re dead.”

“oh, so that’s how you wanna play, princess?” she puts her hand on her hip.

“you started it, cutie.” you unwrap the sucker, placing it in your mouth.

she narrows her eyes at you with a frown. a cute frown. you could tell she wasn’t really angry. she takes the sucker out of your mouth and places it in hers. 

your breath hitched. this should not be affecting you the way it is. the heat that coursed through your body went straight up to your face. jinx leaning closer didn’t help, you could envision her tongue swirling around the candy.

oh fuck.

WEEK FOUR

the warm softly grainy sand slipped between jinx’s toes as she stood barefoot on the beach. the beach was bustling. children darting around, teenagers around playing volleyball, and locals dancing to the music that filled the air.

she sits down on the blanket you placed down. “you’ve gotten tanner, blue.” you say as you just finished applying sunscreen on yourself.

she didn’t even know what sunscreen was until she crashlanded her. “you used to be a ghost, now look at you.” she wasn’t tan, she was still pretty fair, but she wasn’t as white as a ghost the first time she got here.

you sat on your legs in front of her with your hand lathered up with sunscreen. you slowly approached her giving her the time to pull away. she didn’t. you applied the sunscreen on her tattooed arms.

jinx didn't need you to do this. she could’ve done it herself, but your touch was nice…

also because of the view it was giving her. “now, where have you been hiding these bazongas!?”

"I've had these the whole time" you deadpan at her, get up and crawl away to the other side of the blanket.

"never out in the open like this!" she bursts out laughing at your reaction. “wait, wait! come back, pretty lady!” she grabs onto your wrist, pulling you closer. 

she was terrifyingly strong for someone so thin. “you’re no better than a man!” you yelp but don’t pull away (not that you could). 

“can a girl appreciate some beauty?” she huffs, wrapping her arms around your waist and pulling your back to her chest. “not my fault they’re right in front of me.” she pokes at them. jinx bit her lip to contain her laughter.

the clear blue water shimmered in the sun like it was a jewel. jinx clung onto your back, arms around your neck, and legs wrapped around your waist. fun fact! jinx can’t swim. “you’re such a baby.” you giggle, she puts her cheek on yours.

the both of you spent the time in the ocean teaching her how to swim or trying to kill each other by splash wars (you almost went blind because of her).

it was sunset. the both of you laid down on the blanket under you, looking up into the now pink sky. powder held onto your hand and you gladly held it with the same intensity.

“i like this, toots.” she turns her head to you but you don’t seem to notice. your eyes were fixated on the sky, you hand slightly loosened your grip.

your face drops into an annoyed expression, “i like this too.” foolishly you let out a tired sigh.

jinx's mind swirls.

she lying to you! she doesn’t mean it, do you see the way she replied? you’re such an idiot for trusting her. she’s probably only hanging out with you out of pity.

jinx shook her head, “you sure? you don’t sound like you did.” her voice offended.

you finally looked back at her. “sorry, baby blue. i’m just tired—“

she scoffs. “tired? tired of me? i thought we were having fun!” she sat up.

taken aback by her reaction you quickly backtracked what you said. you didn’t want to make this any worse. you got up to level with her, “no, no. of course not tired of you. i love hanging out with you, baby blue.” with that you seemed to get through to her, her face relaxed.

she’s tired of you. she’s tired of you. she’s tired of you. she’s tired of you. she’s tired of you. she’s tired of you. she’s tired of you. she’s tired of you.

jinx’s jaw clenches. why would you be tired of her? that doesn’t make sense! she’s made sure you had fun this whole time. yeah, at the beginning of your friendship, she chickened out a bit but you forgave her. yeah, she would pull stupid pranks but you love them. so why would you be so rude?

she looked into your warm eyes. “you’re lying to me!” she rips her hand away from yours. why are you lying to her? jinx’s eyebrows furrowed, jaw tensed and her forehead held creases.

“i’m sorry, blue. i just got stressed—“

“if you were stressed why would you come here in the first place? if you’re not having fun just say so, you didn’t have to fake it and lead me on the whole day.” she stood up and you did the same.

“what?” like an idiot, you laugh at the situation happening right now. “i never said all of that. honey, if you let me finish my sentence you would understand.”

now she’s laughing at you, she’s not even trying to hide it!

“shut up!” jinx shouts and you quickly pipe down. her breath came out in heavy pants. hands trembling over her ears. her mind was in overdrive. she was thinking about everything. about how you hate her. about how this was doomed from the start.

she should’ve known, no way someone would actually want a genuine connection with her. it’s not like you could ever understand her.

she points her finger out accusingly, “you think this is a laughing matter? you think i’m a joke!” 

your voice got caught up in your throat. this was insane. she was insane. she was just making up things on the spot to play the victim. you suck in a breath and shake your head. “what’s wrong with you?”

those words left like a gunshot to her heart. 

told ya.

jinx. 

not that you had to work hard to get to this point. wasn’t like she liked you to begin with.

hot, frustrated tears welled up in her eyes, her nails dug into the palm of her hand, letting blood drop freely onto the blanket under the two of you. an uncomfortable silence hung in the air, thick and stifling.

her glare at you intensified, a flicker in her pink eyes of… betrayal? a step back, followed by another, soon, she left you alone on the beach.

this was a mistake.

TAGLIST: @millie2point0 @powderbomb-jinxed @velvetinkbym

[daretolovemyrambling]

ARCANE: unreliable narrators (Silco and Vander focused) PART 1

I haven't really been in this tag/fandom before the season 2 finale, but can we talk about how both Vander and Silco are unreliable narrators? Especially when it comes to their flashback scenes?

I don't get why i've seen so many take the flashbacks we got in the show at face value. The show makes clear time and time again that when we get a flashback from the point of view of a single character, they are an unreliable narrator.

some examples of other characters:

on the left: biased/not the reality (character's memory/pov) vs on the right: unbiased/reality (our, the viewers, pov)

I'm going to use video clips and transcripts of the memories because I can't just gif like 5 minutes of scenes. Since you can only have one video per post, I will have to post this in several parts.

Let's start with Warwick's memories from 2x5:

We see that the memory of Warwick in episode 2x5 is all over the place, memories from the past 15-20 years come flooding back in bits and pieces. 

In the first moment of this scene we see Warwick running through the mines, then we see Singed who has experimented on him, we see the Monkey Toy aggressively banging it's cymbals against each other, then we see a younger looking Silco about to swing something at an enforcer, for a split second the Monkey's face replaces Silco's, we see that it was a bottle bomb and set that enforcer on fire.

I think this represents Silco's almost obsessive nature when it came to their fight for Zaun's freedom, the Monkey overwhelms you with it's loud noise the same way Silco likely overwhelmed Vander with his ruthless actions.

the next scene, Silco looks horrified at Vander and we cut to Vander drowning Silco, then back to the moment Vander (and likely Silco) discover Felicia's lifeless body. 

We see a moment of Vander punching an enforcer with his gauntlets from 1x1, cut to the Monkey's face again, then we see Warwick's perspective of the prison fight with the enforcers in 2x4 (we see him choke one of them out with his claws) and slashing several more of them brutally.

Finally, we cut back to the mines were he hallucinates a toddler-aged Powder crying her little eyes out (it looks like something that actually happened. I think this might be a moment shortly after he takes in the girls. Powder looks like she just woke up from a nightmare, her body language is shy and scared). He softly wipes the tears away with his left hand (same hand he used to choke Silco and an enforcer just a few moments earlier) 

Powder's face turns into Jinx and then pre-teen Powder and we follow Powder's lifeless gaze to Felicia dancing at the Jukebox, before finally, Vander images a Silco shortly after the murder attempt, this Silco is still dripping wet from the lake (and he uses his signature glass) but smiles at Vander invitingly (likely a moment that actually happend but was warped by the many nightmares Vander likely had about what he did).

The idea that Silco escalated the Bridge Riot and thus caused the death of many Zaunites, including Felicia and Connol, is definitely supported by this short memory, but it's *not* the only way you can read the scene. Vander's memories are evidently completely scrambled, he is remembering the worst moments of his life all at once.

It's just as valid to say that Silco was not there during the Bridge Scene in season 1 episode 1 as to say that he was!

That is what makes unreliable narrators so interesting, we can make assumptions to what happend, but if we don't get an unbiased view at a scene, we don't know for sure if it happend the way the narrator imagined it.

Examples where we have unbiased flashbacks would be flashbacks like Mel's childhood in 1x8 and the Bar scene with Felicia in 2x5. In these scenes we don't follow the pov of one character, of course information is still omitted from us to an extend, but we can make our own assumption instead of seeing the biased/narrow pov of a single character.

[limegreenbunny]

"You changed too."

My first honest reaction to this statement of Jinx's during the mad tea party was: "Uh, no she didn't."

While at a surface level Jinx often seems like an unreliable narrator, I've found more and more that there are deep undercurrents of truth to her statements that reveal something surprising; that she is at her core a profoundly perceptive individual, perhaps more so than any other character. 

Now, if that statement of Jinx's is correct, how exactly did Vi change? 

Teenage Vi is a far healthier and in many ways far stronger person than adult Vi. She is more confident while also being more calculated and careful, she's less impulsive and aggressive, and more emotionally open. These changes are subtle, but they're there. Her staredown with Deckard has much more calculation and purpose behind it than her rematch with Sevika, for example. Her interactions with Powder leave room for her sister's healthy growth into someone who is also strong (if different from her sister). Vi seems to be saying to Powder "I'll protect you as long as you need while you figure out who you are."

What happened?

The night of the tragedy Vi  broke Powder's perception of herself, but she also broke her own. Instead of the caring and protective older sister she saw herself as, she became a monster, fulfilling the worst nightmares of the little sister she loves. 

In prison Vi attached herself to the idea of redemption as a means of survival. The idea of getting back to her sister to reverse the wrong she did becomes her only lifeline as she endured horrific abuse from the prison guards. While I think the writers gloss over her trauma too much, we as the audience can understand how broken she must realistically be. 

Two deep needs become the only reality for Vi, the need to prove she's not a monster, and the need for love and care. 

This is the core of her change. These two needs come to define her completely.

In Caitlyn Vi finds someone who she can protect AND receive care and protection from. While Vi's desire to get back to Powder is too deeply ingrained to simply be erased, this creates an undeniable draw towards Caitlyn, who, it's worth noting is the focus of the camera as Jinx declares that Vi has changed.

Powder/Jinx on the other hand is no longer able to give Vi the thing she wants most, a redemption by being her little sister's savior. We can see that where Vi used to be the biggest supporter of her sister's growth, she is now incapable of accepting the growth and changes that happened in (and because of) her absence. Jinx cannot give Vi the thing she so desperately wants, only Powder can do that.

And Jinx recognizes this. In her moment of clarity after killing Silco she can see the truth. Underneath her warped perception of Caitlyn as a demon lies the truth that Vi is drawn to Caitlyn, because Cait can fulfill Vi's needs in ways that Jinx cannot.

Vi has changed. Before she was always the one making things ok, giving protection and care. But now she's the one in need, and her desperate desire to fight for Powder (an impossible fight in itself) must contend with her desperate desire for affection and love.

***

Thank you for reading, I've got two more essays on Vi in the works so I guess this is becoming a series! These essays are meant to analyze the character of Vi as she presented to us by the end of Arcane season 1. A big part of the reason I'm doing this is for my own rewrite of season 2 since I believe the story went awry of the themes and arcs set up in season 1.

Here's the first essay if you missed it: Vi and the Final Nail in the Coffin of her Sisterhood with Jinx

It deals more with Vi's perspective on how the tea party scene means the end of her relationship with Jinx, while this one is more about the Caitlyn factor.

[ao3feed-arcane]

Timebomb Week 2025

by soulbugz Timebomb week 2025 hosted by @timebombhive on twitter!! Only doing 5/8 days including: Musicians/Band AU Academic Rivals Domestic/Home Life Enemies with Benefits Valentine’s Day Words: 9371, Chapters: 1/5, Language: English Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M Characters: Jinx (League of Legends), Vi (League of Legends), Ekko (League of Legends), Claggor (Arcane: League of Legends), Mylo (Arcane: League of Legends), Caitlyn (League of Legends), Vander (League of Legends), Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Isha (Arcane: League of Legends) Relationships: Ekko/Jinx (League of Legends), Isha (Arcane: League of Legends) & Jinx (League of Legends), Ekko (League of Legends) & Isha (Arcane: League of Legends) & Jinx (League of Legends), Isha (Arcane: League of Legends) & Jinx (League of Legends) & Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends) Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Rivals to Lovers, why is that not a tag, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - High School, First Kiss, Jinx Goes by Powder (League of Legends), Jinx Loves Ekko (League of Legends), Ekko Loves Jinx (League of Legends), Jinx Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Mutual Pining, Unreliable Narrator, because Jinx is an unreliable narrator duh, love her tho, Timebomb - Freeform, Light Angst, Teen Romance, Fluff, First Love, Smut, Enemies With Benefits, now what isn’t that a tag either, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Domestic Bliss, Jinx is Isha's Parent (Arcane: League of Legends), Mute Isha (Arcane: League of Legends), Ekko is Isha's Parent (Arcane: League of Legends), Jinx is a Menace (League of Legends), Adorable Isha (Arcane: League of Legends), Soft Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Aunt Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Good Parent Vander (League of Legends), Mentioned Vander (League of Legends), Good Parent Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Mentioned Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Caitlyn and Vi are in Love (League of Legends), caitvi are more background tho, These tags are not in order read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/HqF4klB

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“Vi is looking for Powder. If she choses her over Cait, she’d be doing it for Powder, not for Jinx.” HUH????? So Jinx secretly wanted Vi to refuse to kill Cait to get her powder back which then would help jinx prove to Vi how she doesn’t actually want Jinx to return to being powder that much? But she dreamt of Vi murdering powder and putting Cait there. I thought her desire to see Cait die in Vi’s hands was to prove her fears and Sevika’s words wrong once and for all.

What I meant is that when Jinx asks Vi to chose, she is offering to "give back Powder — IF YOU SHOOT CAIT" vs. "Have me remain Jinx — IF I HAVE TO SHOOT CAIT MYSELF".

Or at least this is how I understood the set up. This being because Jinx doesn't expect Vi to be here looking for her truly. She is looking for "Powder" for her "little sister". But in truth she wanted Vi to love her as she is. And in the end she admits it. She's Jinx.

So Jinx probably wanted Vi to kill Cait, but was clearly deceiving herself (as Silco points out). Her definition of "Powder" that she'd be giving Vi would never hold even a full day before her "Jinx tendencies" would put Vi off.

There's many layers of unreliable narration in this show, and in this scene in particular. Everyone says one thing, wants another, refuses to acknowledge yet another, etc.

Except Cait. Cait just wants to survive and maybe kill or capture Jinx. Not much going on with her as far as we know.

I thought her desire to see Cait die in Vi’s hands was to prove her fears and Sevika’s words wrong once and for all.

Yes. I think we have the same understanding. She wants Vi to prove she can chose her, over Cait. But she also knows Vi wants Powder, hence why she pretends she could "get Powder back".

Jinx is never saying "the choice is Jinx or Jinx, but in one case you kill Cait and in the other I kill her, I'm just Jinx, you have to put up with that."

Deep down I think she knows it, but she's twisting herself around/deluding herself and not being quite rational or realistic.

[lbulldesigns]

AITAH For accusing my former best friend of trying to break up my relationship, and promptly ending our thirteen-year long friendship?

Posted 18th of May, 2021

I (18 M) need some outside opinions.

Background information. I have been best friends with Pow (18 F) since we were six, I first met her when my Godfather Benny introduced me to his best friend's newly adopted daughters. Both girls had been in the foster system for nearly a year after their parents died, and were lucky enough to get adopted out by their Godfather Van after he was able to track them down and prove to the courts and children's services that he was a safe option.

At first, I was a little intimidated by the older sister, we'll call her Daisy (she's named after a flower and I don't think she'll appreciate me using her real name) because she seemed angry at everyone but quickly put on a friendlier face when she saw how nervous I was.

When I saw Pow, I felt an instant attraction to her (not romantically, I was just interested in how pretty her blue hair was) and ended up spending our first encounter trying to get her to open up and talk to me. She was traumatized by the past year and had turned silent as a result. I felt so proud when I finally got her to smile and giggle, we became thick as thieves afterward, she was my best friend.

We shared everything together, our interest in academics, such as art, mathematics, video games, dancing, robotics, computers, and later DND.

There were some things we did separately. Pow competed in gymnastics, and I would take part in skateboarding competitions. And without fail always came to each other's thing to show our support.

Pow had some difficulties with her older brother Lo (fake name), he constantly took his frustrations out on her and everyone pretty much gave up on him ever getting a clue and stopping. So, we all tried to get Pow to stand up for herself, we figured if she stood up to her "bully" then he would learn to back off. However, Pow was a shy one and never spoke up for herself. As a result, she was hesitant around others and had difficulty making any friends outside of myself.

This became more apparent once we got to high school. We had a few classes away from each other and in these classes, I made some new friends, from there I got convinced to join the basketball team when some of my new friends told me it could help with my college perspectives. In lieu I convinced Pow to try out for the cheerleading squad, as per my new friends' advice, I made it onto the basketball team but Pow didn't make it onto the squad which I was surprised by because she's a pretty decent dancer.

Because I was on the basketball team, I wasn't able to participate in most of the same clubs as Pow and ended up moving on from these interests to focus more on my future, which is understandable because I can't spend every day playing make-believe anymore.

Pow was set in her ways however and seemed to want to continue playing make-believe and seemed determined to hate my new friends. She constantly avoided them and would rather sit alone during lunch than hang around me when they were around, she would always get a sour look on her face whenever they were around me (which was a lot of the time) and would decline invitations to hang out with them, she made no effort to get to know them properly and this hurt. But I still persisted with our friendship because, despite everything, I do care for her.

And then I met my now GF Kara (not her real name), Kara is sweet and funny, she writes me poems and little love notes with cute little love hearts and takes her academic future seriously. She has been trying to convince me that my friendship with Pow is toxic and understands why I couldn't just end the friendship but says that I wouldn't be the bad guy if I did.

I would get uncomfortable whenever she brought this up, but more and more recently I began to see things from Kara's perspective, albeit guiltily. I brought up my concerns with Daisy and her GF, and they were convinced that Pow is probably a bit possessive considering their own problems with her. Pow hates Cat (the GF) and even made her cry after Cat made an offhanded comment about law enforcement that seemed to trigger her. Daisy promised to speak to Pow about everything after everything between them had cooled down, she and Daisy got into a massive blowup about making Cat cry, something that Cat was feeling seriously guilty about.

So, when, three days after Kara and I decided to become official, Pow pulled me aside during lunch and confessed that she "loved me" and didn't want to just be friends anymore. I lost it.

I actually shouted at her in the middle of the lunch crowd and shamed her in front of the whole school. I called her a "possessive psychopath" who can't let anyone be happy, she pretended to look confused and asked what I was talking about, and I reminded her I was in a relationship as in I have a girlfriend. She managed to conjure up some tears and said that she didn't know, but I wasn't falling for it. I flat out, told her that I was done with her and this "friendship" and left her standing there.

At the time I couldn't feel anything but angry, and vindicated. My friends were laughing and joking about the situation, and Kara was super cuddly with me and kept asking me if I was okay and saying that I didn't do anything that wasn't due.

But now I'm questioning myself, with the anger cooled off. All I can see is Pow's sad doe-eyed look and the sound of the rest of the school snickering at her. She didn't turn up for classes for the rest of the day, and on my way home I heard a group of girls sl** shaming her.

Zer, my one new friend that Pow actually gets along with, called me an AH, and she thought I was a better person than that, and that she was now reconsidering her friendship with me.

So, Reddit. AITAH for ending a toxic relationship?

(This is a fanfic, please read tags)

[ao3feed-arcane]

This Haunting is Hereditary

by miglior_nemica “Do you love me—or are you hungry?” Surprised by the question, Powder's heart skipped a beat. [...] “Isn't that the same thing?” Words: 2254, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/M Characters: Ekko (League of Legends), Jinx (League of Legends) Relationships: Ekko/Jinx (League of Legends) Additional Tags: Jinx Goes by Powder (League of Legends), Grief/Mourning, Mentioned Vi (League of Legends), Mentioned Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Unreliable Narrator read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/HokpYni

[ao3feed-arcane]

Not Worth The Mention

by pandasintherain When one child's death sets the world on fire, one must take the opportunity to shape what rises from its ashes. Set in Ekko's alternate universe, this fic spans ten years and is about Vander and Silco's fight for the Undercity, Powder dealing with the loss of her sister, Jayce and Viktor revolutionizing the future of energy, and everyone being generally a lot happier than they are in the main universe. How exactly did this world become the way it was? Here's the 60k word answer (COMPLETE, but being uploaded in parts) Words: 3725, Chapters: 1/10, Language: English Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M, M/M Characters: Powder from s02e07 AU (Arcane: League of Legends), Vander (League of Legends), Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Jayce (League of Legends), Viktor (League of Legends), Caitlyn (League of Legends), Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Mel Medarda Relationships: Ekko (League of Legends)/Powder from s02e07 AU (Arcane: League of Legends), Jayce/Viktor (League of Legends), Silco (Arcane: League of Legends)/Vander (League of Legends), Silco (Arcane: League of Legends) & Vander (League of Legends), Powder from s02e07 AU (Arcane: League of Legends) & Vi (League of Legends), Claggor & Mylo & Powder from s02e07 AU (Arcane: League of Legends), Powder from s02e07 AU & Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Powder from s02e07 AU (Arcane: League of Legends) & Vander (League of Legends) Additional Tags: no beta we die like isha, one lesbian dies, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, fluff but it's lowkey sad, Unreliable Narrator, Jinx Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Jinx Goes by Powder (League of Legends), everyone in this show needs therapy and i'll give it to them, Mental Health Issues, Ableist Language read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/yiD3ah1

[ao3feed-arcane]

My Heart in an Hourglass

by EkkosNumberOneGlazer Following the end of the war, Ekko is left with a gaping hole in his heart--one that only one person could ever fill... if she's still out there, that is. Words: 19178, Chapters: 7/?, Language: English Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: F/M Characters: Ekko (League of Legends), Jinx (League of Legends), Powder from s02e07 AU (Arcane: League of Legends), Scar (Arcane: League of Legends), Vi (League of Legends), Caitlyn (League of Legends), Jericho (Arcane: League of Legends) Relationships: Ekko/Jinx (League of Legends), Ekko & Jinx (League of Legends) Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Angst, light fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, Developing Developed Relationships, POV Alternating, Alternate Universe but also main timeline, It makes sense I swear, depictions of trauma, Ekko Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Jinx Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Jinx is a Little Shit (League of Legends), Minor Obsessive Behavior, Unreliable Narrator, Fever Dreams, slowish burn, Pining, CaitVi exists for a chapter I guess, Bathing/Washing, usage of an alternate timeline to foil the main characters, Awkward Conversations, Inevitable smut read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/fxHjlCe

[ao3feed-arcane]

Where would I be without you?

by ijustbethinkin "You gave us the tip. We went on that job because of you." - basically how i think arcane would've went had vi, jayce & caitlyn died in that explosion (s2 ep7 brain rot) (random updates) Words: 858, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021), League of Legends Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Categories: F/M Characters: Ekko (League of Legends), Jinx (League of Legends), Mylo (Arcane: League of Legends), Claggor (Arcane: League of Legends), Vi (League of Legends), Vander (League of Legends), Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Benzo (Arcane: League of Legends), Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Piltover Council (Arcane: League of Legends) Relationships: Ekko/Jinx (League of Legends), Ekko & Jinx (League of Legends), Jinx & Vi (League of Legends), Claggor (Arcane) & Ekko & Jinx (League of Legends) & Mylo (Arcane) & Vi (League of Legends), Silco (Arcane: League of Legends) & Vander (League of Legends), Benzo (Arcane: League of Legends) & Ekko (League of Legends), Benzo (Arcane: League of Legends) & Vander (League of Legends) Additional Tags: Powder Doesn't Become Jinx (Arcane: League of Legends), Angst, Jinx Goes by Powder (League of Legends), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caring Ekko (League of Legends), Young Caitlyn (League of Legends), Mentioned Viktor (League of Legends), Mentioned Jayce (League of Legends), Mentioned Caitlyn (League of Legends), Fluff and Angst, Sad and Happy, Sad and Sweet, Bittersweet, Happy Ending, Ekko Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Jinx Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Young Jinx (League of Legends), Young Ekko (League of Legends), Jinx Has PTSD (League of Legends), Sad Jinx (League of Legends), Hurt Jinx (League of Legends), Jinx Needs Therapy (League of Legends), Good Sibling Mylo (Arcane: League of Legends), we love mylo ok, Mylo Lives (Arcane: League of Legends), Claggor Lives (Arcane: League of Legends), Vander Lives (League of Legends), Protective Vander (League of Legends), Good Parent Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Soft Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Unresolved Sexual Tension, itll be a one shot probably, Not Beta Read, Ekko-centric (League of Legends), Jinx Has Issues (League of Legends), Jinx-centric (League of Legends), Mylo Being an Asshole (Arcane: League of Legends), bc hes a boy, Good Sibling Claggor (Arcane: League of Legends), No Smut, Might be a bit ooc, hey thats my shoulder, Slow Romance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Friends to Lovers, Childhood Friends, they lowkey have a falling out but its ok, Unreliable Narrator, mostly powder's pov, Tags May Change read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/hVR7saT

[ao3feed-arcane]

Id Rather You Not Be Here (For What Could Be My Final Form)

by cyrusapeiro In all timelines and all possibilities where they are together, the world is saved – how could it not be? There is something so all-consuming about the guarantee of a future, let alone the future that is wanted. There is something so heartbreaking about being loved. What of the timelines where they aren’t together? Is the world still safe, or is it overgrown with something inhuman and opalescent, every colour and yet no eyes to bear witness? What of those timelines? What of the timelines where they don’t meet at all? Words: 3468, Chapters: 2/?, Language: English Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Categories: M/M Characters: Jayce (League of Legends), Viktor (League of Legends), Caitlyn (League of Legends), Mel Medarda, Vi (League of Legends), Jinx (League of Legends), Ekko (League of Legends), Claggor (Arcane: League of Legends), Mylo (Arcane: League of Legends), The Hexcore (Arcane: League of Legends) Relationships: Jayce/Viktor (League of Legends), Caitlyn & Jayce (League of Legends), Jayce (League of Legends) & Mel Medarda, Claggor (Arcane) & Ekko & Jinx (League of Legends) & Mylo (Arcane) & Vi (League of Legends) Additional Tags: Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Jinx Goes by Powder (League of Legends), Jayce Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Viktor Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Viktor becoming the Machine Herald (League of Legends), is it still jayvik if they never meet?, Unreliable Narrator, ...but like they just dont like jayce talis, narrator is kind of the hexcore, it's complicated - Freeform, My First AO3 Post, HEED THE WARNINGS THERES A REASON THEY NEVER MEET, this is a pathetic excuse for worldbuilding mb read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/lC09m3D

[ao3feed-arcane]

Learn Your Worth

by GrammarThyEnemy (Punctuation_my_archnemesis) Jinx ends up in the peaceful alternate universe where she meets the Other Ekko and many others Or “Oh…” she breaths. “This is the Other Universe.” That must make sense to Ekko because his eyes widen and although he doesn’t move back again she can see a layer of wariness ripple over him. Now she can see how open he was being with her because it all shuts down neatly, and he’s not being unfriendly as much as she can now see how much he trusts Powder. Her Ekko had told her about this. He’d draped his coat around her, she'd asked him about that machine he’d made and he’d looked at her long and hard before he’d replied, wetting his lips. “You helped me make it.” Words: 4358, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Series: Part 2 of S2 Episode 7 Arcane Universe Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen Characters: Ekko (League of Legends), Jinx (League of Legends), Powder from s02e07 AU (Arcane: League of Legends), Vi (League of Legends), Vander (League of Legends), Benzo (Arcane: League of Legends), Claggor (Arcane: League of Legends), Mylo (Arcane: League of Legends), Caitlyn (League of Legends), Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Isha (Arcane: League of Legends), Viktor (League of Legends) Relationships: Ekko/Jinx (League of Legends), Ekko & Jinx (League of Legends), Ekko & Vi (League of Legends), Jinx & Vi (League of Legends), Ekko (League of Legends)/Powder from s02e07 AU (Arcane: League of Legends), Isha (Arcane: League of Legends) & Jinx (League of Legends), Isha (Arcane: League of Legends) & Jinx (League of Legends) & Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends), Jinx & Vander & Vi (League of Legends) Additional Tags: Ekko Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Protective Ekko (League of Legends), Jinx Needs a Hug (League of Legends), Jinx Needs Therapy (League of Legends), Jinx Has Issues (League of Legends), POV Jinx (League of Legends), POV Ekko (League of Legends), Good Parent Vander (League of Legends), Good Sibling Vi (League of Legends), Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unreliable Narrator read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/LPwBvWT

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It's fine to agree to disagree!

Babette imo is portrayed as a hypocrite : People smoke shimmer in her brothel. She benefits from shimmer.

She also lies to Vi by omission. Like hell she doesn't know about Jinx lol She's just pushing the hot potato on Sevika.

I think my issue with your points is that the people are unreliable narrators, all of them. Babette is vague and clearly not being honest about the situation. Bear in mind we see her on the street in Act I, and now she's the madame of this fancy club? It's never explained, but there's enough hints there that she also progressed a lot socially.

Then your "flooding the streets" and "Ruining people's lives" are words you're taking right out of Ekko's mouth. Ekko, who hates Silco personally, who leads the one gang that fights him, and led young people to their death against Jinx and other goons. Ekko, who keeps Powder painted huge on his wall of dead people in very tasteless manner.

He's not perfect, he's also biased. I'm sure he knows full well and first hand that shimmer ruined lives, and most likely made his community out of people who survived this.

Silco speaks of uplifting the chembarons, and how awful life used to be, and does his gas stunt.

But we are *shown* visually that Zaun is richer. We're meant to see "things have changed under Silco" and people just have more money now.

We're also *shown* Shimmer having positive effect. And shown people with tumours because of it and addicted. But we see far more Zaunites going about their day than living in that camp. And none of them helped by Piltover, anyway.

We're shown conflicting things, and characters on each side of the divide have very biased opinions on it. You're simply choosing to accept what Ekko says as the truth of Zaun's situation and Silco's action.

That's a perfectly fair reading. Personally I can't really reconcile the many people having fun with shimmer, and Vi using it as a miracle cure, with the depiction of Silco as a 101 evil drug lord benefiting from people's misery. It doesn't line up with what I'm shown, regardless of what the characters tell me.

My personal headcanon for a long time has been that the addicts depicted are victims of the early batches of shimmer, the ones that induced transformation, like in Deckard and Vander.

We see several shimmer users in the show in act II and III, cue Sevika in particular, who have no transformation at all.

So imo it's simply a case of Silco who was with his project in ruins, Vander out of the way, and a power vacuum in Zaun. He had to step in quick, and started selling whatever was left of his stock of shimmer after the explosion. Then Singed recovered, and managed to engineer a much softer version of shimmer, that will give you a boost (again, see Sevika) but won't alter your body to the point of giving you tumours.

I think this is visually aided by the fact that when Silco uses the addicts against Vi, he's handing them shimmer in the old school vials, to be drunk. Meanwhile most of the shimmer we see in act II and III is actually smoked. Even the guys in the suits are depicted being "flooded in" by pink smoke.

Only two people use injection : Silco and Viktor. Which also leads me to believe that Silco isn't using normal street drug shimmer, but the pinker, medicinal "strain" that Singed hands out to Viktor.

Is it morally right? No. Nothing is in this show. Nothing and no one, and the show runners definitely muddied the waters on purpose on top of it.

Ah Vander...

I'm still cracking up over this one line!

Vander has seen Silco turn a teen into a monster who killed 5 armed enforcers, the sheriff and then Benzo, got knocked out and dragged here, heard Silco's passionate speech, and he still seems to think that Silco could possibly be satisfied with just killing him.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, VANDER??

What have you done to Silco, that you believe that he might stop everything he's got going and call it quits after killing you?

The more I look at this sentence and the more it feels like Vander has this sort of... self important perception of who he is, or what he means to Silco.

Vander betrays a massive lack of understanding for Silco's dreams and passions, which is sort of heartbreaking, and feeds my perception of a young Vander who was always more in on it for himself than for ideals or true beliefs.

Vander would settle for personal revenge. Vander understands revenge more than anything else, because even after Silco's speech, he *still* believes that deep down it's all this is really about.

It hints at a young Vander who was full of rage and violence, but devoid of ideals. Silco thought he'd shared his dream with him, but he only gave him a direction to channel his anger, a conduit for his violence. Vander, I think, never really cared for a free Zaun, or never believed in it. That probably made betraying Silco that much easier, back then.

Silco asks him if he's forgotten, and he hasn't. He simply never really believed.