#did you know Powder and Jinx's faces are animated differently?

[jiheishousha]

Watching Arcane with me must be a hell of a trip. "Listen to those defcon noises!" I enthuse during a dramatic escape scene. "Woodkid came up with them just by looking at the storyboards, they didn't expect him to send over something so cool for the interim between verses."

A meeting between two childhood friends who haven't seen each other in years and thought each other were dead. "Did you know they only get three 'fucks' per season to keep the TV-14 rating and Vi gets five of the six? That's my beautiful sump-rat for you."

The music swells, underlying the tragedy of a dying child. "Ray Chen really understood the assignment here. Viktor sprinting for the first time in his life? Sure, that's intense, but what gets the MOST intense violin solo in existence? Caitlyn standing in the shower trying to telepathically bring her girlfriend back."

Seriously. I need to freaking sew my mouth shut or I'm going to destroy the dramatic build-up of every scene in this show by being an autistic menace XD

[kaoskuantico]

Following this post

Not showing more about the alternate timeline, why it ended up so different and even looking as an utopia. Vi's death couldn't be the only thing, as far as we know, both timelines were the same until that point. It's funny they tried to make MARCUS feel sad because a Zaunite kid dying while they were robbing in a Piltover apartment. Something else should've been different in that universe to make it believable

Sky "dying" and no one talks about her until Viktor mentions her after he's brought back by Jayce in the first episode of season 2

Not showing Jinx having any dilemma about wearing an enforcer's uniform in Act II. They've could shown it, and Jinx doing it anyway because it meant saving Isha

Jinx not having as much hallucinations as season 1. Silco died because of her, everyone expected she'd be even worse. As much as I personally liked seeing her healthier in Act II, it was weird

Making Vi an alcoholic and not mentioning it again after Jinx briefly said she found Vi passed out

Focusing too much on Ekko and Powder's relationship in the alternate timeline. Again, another thing they rushed because they didn't develop it properly. I know it's LOL accurate but in Arcane they weren't that close. They should've put more focus on Benzo and maybe showing the firelights in the alternate timeline instead of their romantic relationship. This goes the same for Powder, I wanted to see more of her outside her relationship with Ekko. Considering only what we saw in both seasons of Arcane, Timebomb came out of nowhere for me, or at best, being forced.

NO ONE except Jinx calling out Vi for joining the enforcers. Sevika and Ekko would've done it, but they didn't even let them interact.

WHY Caitlyn didn't tell Vi she's sure Jinx is alive???? I know it was meant for the audience but come on, not telling Vi is weird. If they wanted to only show the audience, they've could done it through another way, not by Cait.

When Vi and Caitlyn reunited and were planning to betray Ambessa together, Caitlyn didn't hesitate to hit Vi with her gun AGAIN. Vi looked surprised, maybe because she didn't expect to be hit that hard? It would've been such a good moment to show Caitlyn's supposed remorse through her actions. You know, the "show don't tell" so many fans say. If anything, she showed she doesn't have any problem in hitting Vi with her gun right in the face, and even having the nerve to shrug it off, as if it was Vi's fault for asking for it.

As much as I liked Isha's death from an animation and soundtrack point, why did she shoot Warwick? Yes, he was aggressive but why she used her only chance to shoot at Warwick and not Ambessa? Or any other of her warriors. She was bonding with him prior to the attack, it's a bit weird she went from that to kill him, she saw how important he was to Jinx.

I'll keep updating the list

[hyperfix-wip]

Next to You

Pairing: Hobie Brown x GN!Reader/ Spider-Punk x GN!Reader

Word count: 1.3k

Author's Note: I am not sorry @the-kr8tor , @yumeaoka-chan , @pleaktale. And @rexlroze , YOU have specifically kickstarted the Loser!Hobie rabbit hole, and I have now got myself into loving these losers lmao. I'd like to thank @pinksugarscrub for beta reading for me and helping me out with this piece! Also, this piece contains some spoilers for Arcane Season 2, so don't read it if you don't want to be spoiled!

Tags: Lovestruck!Hobie, Loser!R, Nerd!R, Fluff, Spoilers for Arcane Season 2, Some Explicit Language

Hobie knew what he signed up for when he asked you out.

Despite your typically quiet personality, he knew you were passionate at heart. He knew that when he jumped through the portal to your universe and landed on your bed, only to see you bawling your eyes out over an animated show before you screamed bloody murder from his sudden arrival and fell down on the floor. He knew that when he looked around your room and saw all the posters of different shows and artists covering your walls, all your favorite books and figurines lined up on your shelves, the sketchbooks filled with all of your favorite characters in your specific art style. He knew that when his eyes landed on your pajama bottoms with some cute bison-like mascot from a show he overheard you talk about with Miles at the Spider Society. 

Even if you were scrambling off the floor, too flustered to make any coherent words to him while struggling to pause your show, he knew he liked this new side of you he discovered. And he especially knew he he was smitten with you the moment he asked you about the show you were watching, watching your eyes instantly light up before you drag him onto the bed and restart the show for him, obliviously nestling against his side while you eagerly ran your mouth about the premise of the show.

Yeah, he knew what he signed up for when he asked you out after binging the whole series with you.

Which was why he was prepared for you bawling your eyes out and smearing clear snot on his shirt while he cradled you in his arms. He gently shushed you while the end credits quietly ran in the background, running his long nimble fingers through your hair before pressing his lips against the top of your head.

“ ’s okay, lovie,” he whispered against your skin as he peppered more tender kisses, “I know, I know…”

Hiccups and sobs wracked up your body as you buried your face into his chest, your voice muffled into the cotton fabric. “It’s– It’s not fair! They were– they were together again! The writers couldn’t even let them be together for one full day?!”

Hobie quietly pulled the fluffy duvet from the end of your bed over the two of you, wrapping you into a tight embrace within the blanket and in his arms. “I know, darling, I know…”

“It’s just– it hurts so much! The fact that Isha was the one who did that, and it just paralleled with–”

“Yes, I know, luv–”

“Like, they didn’t have make Isha’s last moments an alternate version of Powder’s attempt in Season One where Powder’s plan worked–”

“I know, sweetheart–”

“And the pastel colors during the memory sequence for Isha– fuck– she basically remembers the Undercity as this bright and fun place because of Jinx, and not only did Jinx and Vi had to relive the trauma of losing Vander through Warwick again, but Jinx had to basically watch her baby sister, her inner child, and a version of herself sacrifice herself in front of her eyes…”

A hiccup wracked up your body again before fresh tears flooded your red-rimmed eyes, and Hobie wrapped his arms tighter around you while you sobbed into his chest again. “Fuck– I can’t– I don’t think I’m gonna last for the next three episodes–”

Hobie shushed you gently again while brushing his lips along your hairline, his fingers gently scratching your scalp while his other hand reached out for the cup of water he set to the side before you played the new episode. “C’mon, sit up for me, lovie,” he whispered against your forehead before carefully shifting the both of you up against the headboard. “Don’ wan’cha ta turn int’a raisin on me…”

You could only nod with a sniffle in response, blinking away the bleary tears in your eyes and snorting the clear mucus back up your red nose, before you sat up and grabbed the plastic cup from him. The moment you took a sip, the cool water instantly flooded and alleviated your raw throat, and you slowly drained the cup until it turned up empty.

A small smile curled up on Hobie’s lips as he gingerly grabbed the cup from your hands and set it back onto your nightstand. Without another thought Hobie then grabbed the hem of his shirt and peeled it off, goosebumps instantly pricking his skin as the cold air hit it, before gently pushing the shirt against your nose.

“Blow.”

You instantly obliged and blew your nose into his shirt, and he carefully pinched your nose and rubbed the snot off before tossing it across the room and on top of the pile of your dirty laundry in your hamper.

“Kobe.”

“Still don’ know who tha’ bloke is, but sure, lovie.”

A shaky chortle slipped through your lips before Hobie pulled you back into his arms and wrapped the blanket over you two again.

“Y’know, you could've gotten up to get a napkin instead of using your shirt–”

“It is too bloody cold to get out of this bed,” Hobie snickered while tucking your head underneath his chin. “Plus my shirt was already your personal snot rag, so it didn’t make a difference.”

You rolled your eyes with a sniffle before you nuzzled against his chest, and he in turn pressed his lips against your forehead again with a slight smirk. Your television gently illuminated the both of you in the dark, and you glanced up to see the blue light glinting from his piercings and his warm, dark eyes. His face softened at the sight of you, with splotchy skin and red-rimmed eyes, and he couldn't help but find you adorable in that moment. His arms pulled away in lieu of cupping your cheeks with his hands, and he gently tilted your head up to brush his lips against yours in a brief, comforting kiss. Your lips reluctantly parted from each other, with you trying to chase his lips to steal another one in vain, before he wrapped his arms around you in another tight embrace.

“...was this season as good as you hoped it would be, lovie?”

“God, yes, it’s so fucking good.”

Hobie huffed out a small chuckle while you tangled his lanky legs with yours. “Like, I can’t wait for Act Three to come out in a few days, but I also know it’s going to hurt so much watching those last episodes and have to watch the conclusion of it…”

Hobie nodded along with a tender smile as he gazed back down, his chest warming up as you started your cute little rant again. One of his hands trailed up your back and lingered on the back of your neck, gently massaging it while you continued talking.

“Like, I know there is going to be a clusterfuck of emotional damage for me at the end of this season. We still gotta see Ekko and Heimerdinger, we gotta see what’s gonna happen next for Jinx, Vi and Caitlyn, and we also have to deal with Jayce and Viktor– oh my god, that fucking scene of Jayce aiming that fucking cannon at Viktor–”

Hobie’s smile grew softer the more he listened to you, your voice still slightly raw and hoarse from the prolonged crying and your eyes glinted with the same eager light he saw that fateful day months ago, and his chest warms up just the same, his heart just as smitten with you as before.

You instantly stopped talking the moment a weight pressed down against the top of your head, and you pushed your head up to see Hobie’s eyes closed and his lips parted with shallow breaths. Your heart fluttered at the sight of the sleeping man huddled against you, his demeanor relaxed and languid as his lips curled up into a small, boyish smile, before you carefully pulled the blanket over him and pressed a gentle peck against his lips and nestled against him to join him in his slumber.

-----

Song Recommendation of the Day courtesy of @pinksugarscrub

[vole-mon-amour]

1x09, part 3.

I'm so sad for him. He would literally forgive her ANYTHING.

He's TERRIFIED at the idea of losing her. And he's so right, Vi can't bring back Powder. It was so obvious when Jinx lit a fire & Vi got a taste of what Jinx is like these days. Vi wouldn't be able to control her, nor would she be able to love her when she's like this. The problem is, it IS her nowadays. There is no Powder anymore. It's such a fucking tragedy that Silco dies.

Honestly, say it, Silco. V is into Caitlyn now way more than she is into Jinx. Actually, she's not into Jinx at all. Again, there is NO Powder. Every time Vi calls her that, I cringe. I can't stand that name, it's simply not her. Just like Silco says, "that girl does not exist anymore".

And it's only them, you see? And she's his daughter, you see? ;______; The way he loves her, help. ;___; The look he gives her. It doesn't fucking matter she kidnapped him and tied him up and gagged him, he doesn't fucking care, he only wants her and he wants her to stay with him. ;_____; All the walls around him fall apart for her sake. He's the most vulnerable with her.

"I'll never forsake you." The voice acting. The animation. I feel unwell.

Gods, he's so scared she will leave him. So confused about her dropping her gun.

He's like a caged animal when he grabs Jinx's gun. Vi only made it worse for Jinx. But yeah, just like Jinx said, it's up to Vi if she gets Jinx or Powder, and Vi's shouting and SIlco's death sealed the deal.

She really caresses behind his ear as he's bleeding out. Oh, the fucking tragedy. ;___;

"Don't cry. You're perfect." FUCK OFFFFF. The pain is real and I am feeling it. Like, no stills or gifs can truly makes you feel the same if you don't remember the tone of his voice, the feelings in his voice.

"I hope you know we had everything, When you broke me and left these pieces."

Honestly, the difference between Jinx getting Vander killed and Jinx getting Silco killed is that Vi means it and she leaves her. Yes, they were kids, full stop. She gave into those emotions, though. For the moment, she hated Jinx & she meant it. She can never love Jinx.

Jinx kills Silco? He tells her not to cry. He tells her JINX is perfect. She kills him and yet, she's his entire word. "I'll never forsake you. <...> I never would have given you to them. Not for anything." and he MEANS it. As he bleeds out while she holds his face, he tells her not to cry and that she's PERFECT.

"'Cause I, I was meant to be yours."

Yeah, they can all burn, indeed.

V is so confused because how can her sister feel all those feelings for Silco? How can she cry for him? He's a monster, he deserved to die, didn't he? Yeah, she just doesn't understand. Fuck. (breaks down) I love Silco so much.

"Even though I'm different." That's exactly the problem. Vi can't love her as she is now. Silco could. He did.

I'm going to miss him so much.

I hope she doesn't die in s2 (or turns into something that's completely unrecognizable). I really fucking hope so. ;____; And man, Silco is so beautiful. Was? Anyway.

She's alive! My girl is alive! Maybe she'll take over the undercity without Silco? "What we could've been." right when they focus on her and Silco's empty chair. Gods. I'm hurting. The song at the end is absolutely perfect and I can't stop crying.

Oh, Ekko found himself a friend. Oh, what could've been, indeed. This is such a great alliance because Ekko is somewhat a scientist himself and he's open-minded and he has nothing to gain, so he gladly shares about his experience with Heimerdinger.

The animation is incredible. And Vi still chooses Caitlyn over Jinx. Like I said she would. :(

Even Viktor looks hopeful. Season 2, "Devastating"? "No one is going to be happy after watching it"? Oh, they're going to break me.

[iemconfused]

did this for spider-verse, doing it for the other thing fighting for position of my largest hyper fixation- some, definitely not all, of my favorite arcane bits/details (once again most if not all of these have been pointed out to me by other people or i’ve seen someplace on the internet, in the interest of giving credit where credit is due. and second disclaimer bc of the nature of arcane- i know nothing about league and have no interest in changing that lmao):

- obligatory viktor keeping the gear, the first thing to be touched by hextech

- sevika staying true to “we don’t hand over our people”

- in the little arcade space some of the little flippy target things on the punching machine look like mylo, especially the dead flipped over version. pretty sure there’s even a transition that goes directly from the dead target face to mylo

- jinx’s tear stains/running mascara always looks like IV (some people say backwards vi, some people say roman numeral for 4 aka ekko’s time machine limit. love it either way)

- when viktor’s face does the splitty thing it lowkey looks like ambessa’s mask a bit?? this is just one of my personal observations and it has like no weight to it at all lol

- the scientist we see that ambessa gets to try to crack hextech can be seen in the crowd at the memorial

- i’m an interior architecture major so i have to mention the art nouveau and art deco influences in everything, the classicism motifs too

- jinx’s face having 2 different animation rigs

- the hand drawn sequences with lower fps (ekko vs jinx on the bridge, caitlyn’s mom’s funeral, isha’s memories with jinx)

- the series starting with powder humming a tune, that same tune being used in numerous places throughout, and the series ending with vi humming that same tune

- ekko wearing the same mask being the firelights leader as he used to spy through in benzo’s shop

- ekko & powder on the disc at the start of s2e7 instead of jinx & vi

- jericho’s food stall is a lot more polished and clean in s2e7, also you can see guy who handled the shipping manifest in s1e4 hanging out there

- powder’s reflection in the clock in s2e7 being jinx. absolutely vile, thank you

- tbh just all of s2e7. but ESPECIALLY powder having all of the hextech crystals and saving the entire timeline

just like with my spider-verse details list, there’s so many that i inevitably missed bc i need to go through season 1 again. but i love this show with my whole heart, and it’s clear that everyone involved in its creation does too. it just overflows with passion. i know it’s probably possible to get this kind of feeling from live action stuff, but something about being animated makes it all the clearer. i pity the people who immediately write off animation as childish and miss out on this stuff.

[hiraya-sa-dilim]

“Violet!”

It’s a long drop. There are many ways a fall could go here, but none of them involve surviving for long. Not with the thing Vander has become. Not even without.

Her sister is heavy. She’s always been. For all the strength Jinx earned in Vi’s absence, it was still not enough to easily, safely carry her family, dead or alive. Her arms strain from the burden. It’s a blur how they got here, two generations over the edge of a collapsing Hexgate facility. It doesn’t matter.

“We have to save him!” Vi shrieks. One ungloved hand in Jinx’s, the other armoured, clutching the dead weight of the creature they once called their father—not a position to be negotiating any favours. The thing that was Vander trashed and howled in Vi’s grip on its wrist, but with its other bloody arm numb and riddled in Jinx’s shrapnel, there isn’t much else it could do. For now.

Jinx’s mind whizzes with a dictionary of protests. But all that comes out of her mouth is, “He’s not coming back. It’s okay. You can let go now.” It’s a betrayal. Isn’t it? It feels like one. Her cheeks burn with tears, burn almost as hotly as her straining muscles. “Vi. Vi, look at me.”

And Jinx realizes it’s hard. Hard to choose a shifting, unpredictable, living face over that of a simple, placid corpse, even an animated one...

Vi looks. Looks at the last of her flesh and blood with their mother’s eyes.

Her arm slips from her sister’s hold.

“I’m here,” Jinx sobs. Vi looks tired, inches away from tears. Why did she have to be so damn heavy... “I’m no good, but I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Jinx stares into her sister’s soul and sees two possible futures at once: one where she ends up defeated and alone, and one drowned in infinite opportunities to screw up in unprecedented degrees all over again, a lifetime of heartbreak and failure.

And then all she sees is Vi.

“I need you, Vi. I want to fuck up, I want you to fuck up. I, I want to fix things with you for a long time.” Vi’s arm slips further. “I want us both to stay! Please! Violet!”

Vi is tired. Jinx digs blood out of Vi’s arms with her nails, now, right over the pulse of her wrist... so tired. Jinx sees it, one moment of utter resignation. Why shouldn’t Vi stay valiant to the end, sacrificing her life pursuing the honour of dead man who has never wronged her... or at least, never caused as much pain as the traitor offering to save her? Why not just die now, keep the pristine memories of Powder from hurting her ever again? Walk away from the cycle once and for all?

And then Vi’s hidden arm hisses out a cloud of steam.

There is a second of panic when the creature, in a moment of genius, hauls itself up to close its jaws on Vi’s neck... but the steel glove falls to the ground with a sigh. A resigned challenge. (Living is so tiring after all.) The bloodied thing stays in a deadlock with the ghost of their foster father’s paw.

It’s a long drop, but only for someone, or something, falling.

Vi unburdened, it surprises Jinx how it’s almost nothing hauling her up over the edge. They crash in a heap, heads spinning, breaths heaving from the rush of another moment lived. When a distant unceremonious crunch below them echoes across the flimsy platform keeping them from the fall, Vi wails and Jinx lets her.

“I killed him,” Vi gasps eventually. “I killed him.”

“You saved me,” Jinx whispers. She wonders, watching something snap in Vi’s expression, if it was the right thing to say. Then Vi is on her, sobbing and clinging like a child in need. Like Jinx is what she needs. Like she’s everything.

“You let me,” weeps Vi. “And you saved me, too. Thank you. Thank you.”

Jinx crumbles. There should be words, she reckons, whether spoken or in her head. She’s always been the ideas person, and Vi was the action one. But there is nothing to describe the relief of remembering how being free feels after so, so long. How good it is to bump foreheads together again, made better by knowing there is a difference in size and texture that never was before. How different it feels to hold Vi instead of the other way around. It has always been the other way around. Jinx never imagined it would be different. Never imagined that she could be her sister’s sister again.

Never imagined things could change for the better.

“Let’s go home, Vi. I’m hungry.”

A laugh. Then two. The first shared in a long time. “Oh, Jinx. ‘Home’? Where’s that?”

“I don’t know. We’ll find one. Or make one. Together?”

“Always with you, sis.”

[shimmerbeasts]

Things were relatively calm between Vi and Jinx, at least as calm as they could be considering Jinx was a criminal and Vi was meeting up with her without Caitlyn knowing. In her defense, Jinx always found a way to track her down, sneak up on her and be around whenever Vi went to the lanes. She wouldn't tell Caitlyn, of course, she didn't want to worry Caitlyn, considering she was stressed enough as it was. At first, it felt odd to have Jinx around whenever she came down, but as time passed, Vi grew used to her constant presence and even found herself missing her sometimes. Vi allowed her sister to drag her around by the wrist with a small smile. "What are you up to? I know that smile..." Even if Jinx was completely different than Powder once had been, she still recognized small behaviors her sister didn't let go of, like her mischievous grin whenever she was up to no good, which was plastered onto her pale face as she watched the blue haired one drag her around. "Jinx, what a-- Oh..." Vi blinked as Jinx suddenly brought her hand closer to her face, and her breath hitched once her fingers were shoved into her open mouth. The sensation was... odd. Powder herself had always been very oral when younger, so Vi was used to her sister nibbling every once in a while but this? This was far beyond anything they've ever done, this was... New, and Vi struggled to make sense of the thoughts swirling around her brain. She felt Jinx's cheek hollow as she sucked her fingers, barbed tongue brushing against thick joints as Vi watched, blue eyes wide and still trying to make sense of what was happening. She couldn't help to notice how much more predatory these new nips against her fingers seemed. It was different from Powder's gentle nibbles against her arm or sometimes her hands. Yet this felt different, and Vi still fought the images those nibbles brought back from her memory. Once Jinx let go of her hand, Vi couldn't care less about the saliva, but her mind was still working a thousand miles per minute as Jinx spoke. "They... They sure grew..." She said, blinking as she attempted to clear her thoughts. "You could've just smiled at me, you know, I would've seen them..." Vi said, cleaning her saliva-coated fingers against her pants.

With Vi returning to the Lanes once every while for missions, Jinx took the opportunities, she was given. Caitlyn might be convinced that she had Vi neatly wrapped around her fingers, but Jinx would get her sister back. All she had to do, was get rid of all that Piltie influence - from the clothing, to the perfume, to even that uptight sense of morality -, and replace it with the animalism, penetrating every corner of Zaun. After all, even if Vi did not look like it, just like Jinx, she had a Vastaya in her ancestry. For some reason, her genes just refused to show. So, Jinx just had to turn them on! Anything Singed could do, she could do better!

Of course, turning these genes on would be easier said than done. Right now, Jinx did not fully know how she was supposed to go about this. However, she was certain she would find a way! She had built Pow-Pow and Fishbones. She was a genius. So she was fairly confident that she would figure this out. Right now, getting to spend as much time as possible with Vi while slowly sinking in her claws deeper and deeper, seemed the way to go.

There was, of course, the other way, but Jinx didn't want to do that. Not yet.

Some traces of Powder were still in Jinx. Microexpressions, she never would be able to fully shake off. However, some of her traces had evolved and grown. They had changed into something new. Jinx had always been an oral-orientated person, even as Powder. From her innocent nibbles and bites to her hyper fixation upon other people's mouths. Particularly Vi's open jaws were something, Powder had been able to stare at for hours.

Working over her sister's fingers like this felt new and strange. Jinx had seen other women do these types of gestures with one another, though they had never really bitten down on each other's digits. They had been more focused on mere licking and sucking. For Jinx, that was impossible to do. She wanted to bite as much as she wanted to lick and suck, especially now that she was showing Vi how much her fangs had grown.

Her sister seemed more than a little bit puzzled when Jinx finally relinquished her hold upon her fingers. Vi seemed to struggle to process what had just happened. As she helplessly suggested that Jinx could have simply smiled at her, the Loose Canon laughed and said: "Where would have been the fun in that? That way, you can actually feel just how sharp they have become."

@playgroundmonsters cont. from here.

[leif-is-finally-awake]

I 100% see where you’re coming from here.

Silco was such a fundamental part of Jinx as a person; there is so much we don’t get to see about Silco and Jinx’s relationship (how it came to be structured the way it is, how she adapted to the new Underground and way of being raised, struggles and jobs that she was forced to run for Silco) and season 2 definitely swept that side of her pain in order to tell a completely different story.

That being said, I don’t agree that Vander didn’t care about her or the other kids.

The directors have a very hard time with balancing everything out. You can have Jinx kidnapping her sister’s situationship and battling her childhood best friend in one episode, so it means that no matter how much they WANT to explore different relationships or storylines they simply don’t have time for that.

For a long time I saw it a similar way you did, until I went back and rewatched the first season after the second. The animation studio does a phenomenal job with subtle hints at motifs or body language, but that also means that the nuance they’re adding to the story may get missed. After the scene where Felicia announces she’s having Vi, you can see all the way back to S1 Ep1 just how much Vander cares about the other kids. ESPECIALLY Powder.

Vander wasn’t a stranger then. You can see from Vi and Powder’s facial expressions that they recognize and trust him implicitly, even when they just saw him kill a guy. When he sees Felicia’s body, he knows that he has to make good on his promise. Yes, 10000% Vander and Powder don’t share the same relationship. As Jinx is to Silco, Vi is to Vander. But that’s because what it’s built off of is fundamentally different.

They’re foils of love and parental affection. The fact is that Vander, no matter how much he loved her, put an exceeding amount of responsibility on Vi because he couldn’t always be there to protect all of the kids. So who does he trust? The oldest, of course. The one who he’s seen can take people twice her size. He had already promised Felicia that he would take care of Vi, and the best way, in his eyes, is to make her a Hound of the Underground as well. He sees himself in Vi. And if he can get her to protect herself, he can get her to be his eyes on the other kids while he isn’t around. This isn’t unlike Jinx and Silco. Silco saw himself in Powder, and he thought that the best way to teach her to survive was to get rid of the part of yourself that made you weak. Fight for your place in the world, take everything you need to, and you’ll always make it in the end. All of season one built that up, and it is very disappointing to not see a more explicit fallout of that.

ESPECIALLY after Jinx kills the person who taught her to “be strong”. The directors, though, couldn’t follow through on that storyline. They couldn’t have her face all of her internal pain because they were busy trying to add to the theme of found family, reinvention, forgiveness and love. And to make that half decent, the needed to cut that part of her out. And in a way, not facing those parts of herself are the same reason she ended up sacrificing herself in the end. A very unfortunate missed opportunity, but not uncommon for the story that the writers were trying to tell.

I think season one does something similar with the relationships of the OG found family of Mylo, Claggor, and the sisters. In the scene where Vander serves Powder her drink (in Felicia’s cup, of course. And there’s a whole conversation about how Jinx takes more after Felicia than Vi does, someone who Vander loved a considerable lot) and you can see how he’s worried and wants to be there for her. But he can’t talk to her the same way he talks to Vi. And anyway there isn’t enough screen time.

This is where I’m gonna end it cause I yapped way more than I intended to lol…I’m still very down to talking abt this tho bc there are so many interesting angles. You made some really great points and I would love to hear what other takes you have. Sorry if im overly pushy in this, I get very passionate abt this show :p

OMG!!! I forgot I can actually elaborate here so...

I hate hate hate hate hate hate so much that Jinx called Vander "Dad" and I hate more that she never did it with Silco.

Since the first episode it is clear that Vi is Vander's favorite and actually his only child. Powder, Maylo and the other were just kids that he took care of. The same from Powder POV, he was just the guy who took her in.

When he mets Silco the first thing she did was hug him and he LEFT the dagger and hugs her back, he empathizes with her, became her guide, her rock, yes in a terrible way but it was there, he convinced himself that he only wanted her as a weapon but through the first season he little by little realizes that he made the mistake of loving her until the talk with Vander's statue where he says that he understands now how you can do everything for the sake of a daughter (the core idea of S1), once again letting clear that everything Vander did was for A daughter, not two, not four kids, only Vi.

So it is complicated to believe that Jinx sees him as a dad, they barely know each other while Silco see her through the worst and the best of her childhood-adolescence.

I would prefer her seeing Vi and Vander/WW from far, feeling envy because Vi had her dad back while she didn't and will never get him because SHE KILLED him, but from that culprit she feels she learns to respect and protect what her sister loves because her sister is the only person she has, but this involves a rewrite of the first half of Arcane 2 so whatever.

In conclusion, I would've like to see Jinx say "I miss you dad" or "I miss my dad" while broking into tears (ugly crying) in any moment she was remembering him.

Oc I don't think Silco and Jinx had the best and most healthy relationship, this is more about Vander wasn't Jinx dad, Silco was and we were robbed of seeing how it affected Jinx.

[fashournalist]

Amazing. Astonishing. Arcane.

I'm not even a League of Legends player or an otaku, but this show really amazed me right from the beginning until the very end. See, I've watched so many shows on Netflix since I wrote about Beyond Evil in around July, but it's only now that I'm writing about what I watched again. Not that those shows weren't great (I mean, Squid Game, Hometown Chachacha, Flower of Evil, Chicago Typewriter anyone? All excellent!), it's just that Arcane really compelled me to write.

I'm grateful to Ric for recommending this masterpiece to our team! He told me even if I had no clue about the vast universe of LoL, I would still appreciate it for the story.

And boy, I did.

I usually like short dramas so it's not overwhelming, but for this one, I'm craving for more. I wish there's still Arcane next week. I don't know when will season 2 be released. It's also exciting that there's a ton of worlds we haven't yet discovered, like the land of Noxus and Demacia. All the stories that could evolve, just wow.

I can't believe so many things happened in just nine episodes. It wasn't dragged at all, unlike other dramas that have so many fillers. The creativity and magic in the writing and production of Arcane are superb.

Each character was well-fleshed out, with believable motivation and interesting development. They weren't black and white. Each had their own strengths, weaknesses and reasons for being. No one was left behind without an explanation. We saw what happened to them all. All loose ends were resolved, while perfectly positioning the series for a season 2, or an Arcane set in a different lore. The music really matched the scenes, with all the angst and motivation each character carried. The animation is spectacular! You can really feel the emotions in their eyes, it was almost real. The traumas of Powder/Jinx and Vi could be felt even just by looking at them, or hearing the pain in their voices.

The chemistry between Vi and Caitlyn is so strong, I wish we saw their relationship develop further. At one point, I also shipped Vi with Jayce when she winked at him while they were fighting Silco's men. That was badass, as if she was saying, "nahh, fighting out monsters? This is nothing to me. I'm used to it." I repeated that scene like five times.

One of my favorite scenes is Ekko's and Jinx's fight. I was literally imagining them as kids when they were about to start, and I was moved when the next scene showed them as kids! I was like, hey I was just literally imagining that and now I see them. I'm sure I'm not alone here.

And don't get me started with the quotable quotes. Ever since the first three episodes, their lines have made a huge impact. My two most favorite lines are from Viktor and Vander (both fantastic characters)

"When you're going to change the world, don't ask for permission." - Viktor to Jayce

"You've got a good heart. Don't lose it. No matter how the world tries to break you." - Vander to Vi.

"I believe, if we can set aside our greed and arrogance, we can be one again." - Heimerdinger to the Council

Everything about this show is just top of the class. But I guess my favorite of all is the plot. The storytelling was immense and everything made sense. Nothing felt contrived. It was a balance between powerful dialogue and action. There wasn't too much exposition, making the show a great example of the "show-don't-tell" rule. I wish more shows adapted that rule.

We can also see the parallelism of the show with our current politics, of how leaders are faced with forces trying to control them as they pursue to make a real change (or pursue their selfish ambitions). We see how the best inventions aren't necessarily good or evil—it depends on the hands that will use them.

And with this, we are reminded of our responsibility in everything that lands in our hands. We could either use it for the good or for the bad, and that choice is ours to make. No matter what challenges we face, we can do our best not to lose our hearts, even when the world tries to break us—just as Vander said.

[ipromisetostaywild]

Like Elk, But Tougher - Hunting Wolves

Wolves just might be America’s most challenging big game. Spend a week chasing wolves and you may not like them, but you will respect them. Here’s what they taught me over 11 hard days of hunting—and why you should hunt one.

I heard Matt mumbling something frantic and excited. Way across the basin, a wolf had risen from its bed. Not just one wolf, but three. No, four. Holy smokes, five. All rising in sequence, stretching, urinating and doing the things wolves do.

They had been there for hours, lying in the thigh-high, snow-covered sage, completely hidden from us. Now we had wolves in our sights, all day to formulate and execute our plan, and a commanding view of their position. It looked like a slam-dunk.

An undisturbed snow patch served as chalkboard for the rudimentary map Matt and I drew. They had bedded just like elk, each facing a different direction, jacking the odds they’d smell us or see us before we could close the distance. Gauging the wind, we had to approach from the west. In short order, the plan was confirmed and we were on the stalk. Not wanting to jinx us, I hesitated to verbalize my confidence that a wolf would be wearing a tag by the end of the day.

The wind was in our favor. Twenty inches of powder silenced our approach. We scrupulously kept out of sight. Yet, when we peeked over the final crest expecting to see bedded wolves, the beds were there, but the wolves were gone. Vanished.

Wolves being wolves, they have a sixth sense. Kind of like the monarch bull that somehow escapes year after year, growing old by knowing and doing what hunters least expect.

What had been excitement was now an equal amplitude of disappointment. Five days of hard work got us to this point, and we failed to capitalize. We had only one option. Get on the fresh tracks and walk them down. Having hunted elk in this country, I knew what kind of hike lay ahead, as did Matt. At this point, it would take more than terrible terrain to soften our resolve to hang a tag on one of these ghosts.

Like trailing a big bull, wolves have a knack for choosing  the steepest of terrain. Within four hours, this pack had used near-sheer faces, ice-caked scree slopes, and speed to make stale the trail. Somewhat physically exhausted, we were completely beat down mentally.

With the day about to end, we were left with no option. We staggered back to the trailhead, hardly a word spoken. It was a familiar feeling, well known to those who track a bull for hours and miles, forced to retreat by the coming darkness and struggling for answers on how to do it better the next time. Wolf hunting is hard work. So is elk hunting. If I had hunted elk that hard for that many long days, I could have filled four or five bull tags.

I was struck by how we had just hiked 12 miles according to my GPS, on some of the most celebrated hunting grounds in Montana, and not cut a single hunter track. Only on two of these five days had we seen other wolf hunters. That’s not the case here during elk season. It had been a fine mid-December day. Where were my fellow wolf hunters, my fellow elk hunters?

Given all that was invested by so many to create and sustain a wolf season, I expected to see a lot more hunters in the field. We hunters had complained long and loud of what unmanaged wolf numbers were doing to our elk herds. Now, in the prime of wolf season, in some of the best habitat, under excellent conditions, the woods were silent.

Montana officials extended our wolf season not once but twice, allowing us to chase wolves late into February. Once it was clear hunters would not meet the state’s wolf quota, an extension became a logical choice. Yet even with two extensions, we hunters fell short of the goal by 54 animals. Ouch.

Are we that inept at hunting wolves? Are wolves just that smart? Are we still just learning how to hunt them? Or are hunters just not interested in hunting wolves?

It was dark by the time we made it to the truck. Many hours earlier, we had listened to the pre-dawn howls from elk-fed wolves on a frosty morning. My boyhood dream to hunt wolves had become a reality.

Yet those howls signified more than just realizing a dream. This hunt was part of a bigger conservation plan, with wolves having lost their “untouchable” status when Congress gave state control to Idaho and Montana eight months prior. They were now big game, and as such, should now have the vested interest of sportsmen.

To me, the long battles in both the courts and Congress became worth it now that public-land hunters like me have the chance to chase wolves, tag in hand, bearing a rifle and pack.

I am an elk hunter, an avid elk hunter. Therefore, I am a wolf hunter. Can you be one without being the other? I suppose you can, but my DNA propels me into the hills to chase all things wild: predator or prey. I need to exercise the eons-old urge to hunt, the same as our ancestors have for thousands of years.

With Congress handing Montana and Idaho the reins to manage wolves, I aim to continue as part of this cycle for many more years. In the rear view are legions of lawyers and judges, where we hope they will stay. Freed to chase wolves, I am no longer a spectator, but a player in the game. I am a hunter.

No matter your opinion on wolves, spend a week chasing them, on their turf, at their game, and you are going to respect them. You may not like them, but you will respect them.

It took three days of hunting and howling before we spotted a wolf, which was little more than flashes of fur bouncing across a sage hillside. Yet it was a true wolf encounter, verified by tracks that took us to the steep ridges that turned down into north-facing, black timber haunts.

After five days, the cold, the miles, the terrain and the doubts were wearing me down. We had logged 8- to 12-mile days, with heavy packs, across snow-covered ridges, and had only one quick glimpse of running wolves to show for our efforts.

Sitting in the bitter cold morning darkness, listening to howls from the north reminded me of my childhood growing up on the banks of the Big Fork River in northern Minnesota. I would sit listening to the January howls of wolves calling for mates in the white pine forests across the river, dreaming that someday I would get to hunt them. Someday had finally come.

Matt Clyde, my partner on this hunt, had spent his youth hunting the thick country of northwest Montana. He had shared the same childhood dream, drawn from the sounds and sightings of wolves that roamed down from Canada, long before reintroduction had begun here in southwest Montana in 1995.

It was not until after New Year’s that Matt and I could get back in hot pursuit of wolves. We shifted our focus from the elk migration corridors to winter range. I had a theory: find the elk and you will find the wolves. We were going to put it to the test.

Things started where they left off. Lots of hiking, glassing and calling. All with the same result—nothing. We found the elk, hanging tight to the winter ranges of the Madison Valley. Seeing no wolves after the first two days hunting, my theory seemed to be just that—theoretical.

It was an unusually warm morning on our eighth straight day of hunting. Matt was glued to the spotting scope, watching a herd of 12 bulls to our north. I was scanning the southern flanks of our high position. I again heard Matt’s excited rambling, deciphering only two words: black and wolf. The two best words a wolf hunter can hear.

I ran to his position anxiously waiting for my chance behind the glass. Matt dialed up the eyepiece and stepped away, giving me a clear view of a black wolf hunched 50 yards below the bulls. We took turns at the glass, offering suggestions about strategy.

Though this black wolf was on a game range and off-limits to the public this time of year, he was only a half mile from where we could hunt him. If we could close the four-mile gap, we might be able to call him out off the game range.

When we finally got to a high vantage point, we could see the ridge where the wolf had been less than an hour previous. The bulls had moved east without any wolves that we could see following them. Matt started to call, though my expectations for a reply at high noon were low. Immediately, the woods to our south echoed back with howls. I spotted a big gray wolf sitting among the sage. It responded with a moaning howl to Matt’s next call. Other unseen wolves called again.

In the drainage between us and those game range bulls, I spotted a black wolf slowly trotting across a Forest Service road about a mile away. It was moving quickly away, and ironically, toward our original position. He was now in the sanctuary provided by a couple sections of private ground off-limits to our hunting, but he was high-tailing it toward public land.

Seeing no better option, we rallied back to our original position. It looked like the best place to set the ambush. Never had I been in such a crazed effort to put myself in position for any animal. Never had I wanted to fill a tag as badly as I did that day.

After hustling back to our spot, we saw the black wolf above and across from us at 1,200 yards.

Matt howled. It howled back. I silently begged, Please, please, come this way. Matt and the wolf talked for about three minutes. Finally tired of playing games, the wolf turned and trotted farther away, disappearing in the timber.

“Please tell me that chance did not just slip through our fingers,” I told Matt. “Please tell me the wolf was just circling to get a better view.”

No such luck. Gone. Another chance down the tubes.

Once again, wolves had put the slip on us. I had reconciled that we would never fill a wolf tag. The odds seemed just too stacked in their favor. I continued in silence, keeping my thoughts to myself, not wanting to be a downer for the three days that remained to hunt wolves.

Our depressed silence was hardly changed when shots rang from the north off a private ranch where the wolf had taken refuge. Early that morning we had watched some coyote hunters ply their talents. Instinctively, we squinted across the snow fields reflecting the midday sun, hoping maybe those shots would stir something up. Not a minute had passed when we spotted something bounding our way.

It was a wolf—one as black as the ace of spades.

We had no time to set up. It was a classic fire drill. I started ranging objects along the path the wolf seemed headed. We agreed Matt would have first shot.

He set the range dials on his scope. The wolf disappeared in a small coulee, giving me time to bound a few steps up the ridge to Matt’s elevation. As the wolf emerged back on to the snow field, I got a range of 730 yards. Still too far.

In another 300 yards, the wolf would be in a deep draw that would take him from our view and worse yet, intersect the game trail that led to the dark timber where we had lost the chance on another wolf only 20 minutes earlier. No way would we let that happen.

I ranged a small tree next to the trail I thought the wolf would take. The rangefinder showed 510 yards. I told Matt to get ready for 500 yards. He set the dial.

Twenty seconds later, the wolf slowed to a walk, as if contemplating its next change in course. It was now close to the scrubby pine at 510 yards, and only 30 yards from dropping out of our view.

Having no other option to stop it, we started yelling. No specific pattern to our shouts other than to get its attention before it vanished. It worked.

The wolf stopped, looked southwest to our position and revealed most of its right side to Matt’s crosshairs. At the shot, the wolf whirled, biting at whatever had just stung it.

In seconds, the wolf disappeared from view, though it seemed headed our way, using this deep ravine to hide from our position. It emerged from the coulee, running even closer to our position, before pausing at 265 yards. That is where the story ended.

A dream of our youth was now a reality. Matt and I looked at each other in disbelief, not really knowing how to react. We both realized this was not a fantasy. Excitement and celebration took over for the next few minutes until we were able to regain our composure. We walked down to give thanks to the wolf for all he had provided, all he represented, and all that had unfolded in the last month of chasing them.

As we walked up to the wolf, it was strange. Different than when I walked up to my first bull or buck. I’m not sure how to explain it. Exciting, fulfilling, but still different in some way. Not what I expected in my youthful dreams of wolf hunting.

Lying there was a wolf—an animal that needs elk as much as I need elk. An animal that by no choice of his own was caught in a crossfire of competing political interests.

Yes, its teeth were big and sharp. It smelled of a long-dead elk carcass. Its coat was dark black, with silver flanks. Beautiful. Its long legs ended in large pads that gave it great advantage in chasing hoofed meals in deep crusty snow. It was built to chase elk in the mountains more effectively than I ever could.

It did not seem like the evil, fairy tale figure responsible for the demise of western civilization, which one might conclude by listening to the barstool stories of wolf-haters. In a lot of ways, its life seemed not too different from mine. It was born a hunter. It spent its entire life learning prey and their habitats. It needs wild places, free of roads and development. So do I. It eats elk. So do I.

My respect had grown. My attitude had changed. Chasing wolves in these mountains can do that, even to the most serious elk hunter.

As a vocal critic of how the wolf delisting process occurred, I found myself examining my earlier ideas of what was fact and what was fiction. Eleven days of hunting wolves helped me gain some clarity.

I won’t attempt to deal with all the fiction that swirls around wolves. A few facts are worth stating. Wolves are here to stay. Wolves will be managed. Wolves are an amazing big game animal, providing challenge and intrigue. No matter how many or how few wolves exist, vocal fringes will complain.

Wolf hunting will be hard work, attracting a passionate cadre of fanatics—hardcore guys like lion houndsmen and bear hunters. How hard will it be to attract more to wolf hunting? Well, last year Montana sold more than 18,000 wolf tags resulting in less than 180 wolves killed. I don’t know how many of those folks actually got out and really hunted wolves, but the result was less than 1 percent success. That makes elk hunting look like a sure thing. Then again, this was only Montana’s second fair chase wolf hunt in history.

In a strange sort of way, I am happy to share the landscape with wolves, as long as hunters are part of the plan to manage them. I am thankful for the chance to hunt them and will do so at every opportunity.

I hope you do the same. All of us—hunters, elk and even wolves—will be better off if you do.  ~ Randy Newberg (https://goo.gl/czMcmZ)

[yurimother]

Their Walls Come Crumbling Down: The Perfectly Restrained and Impactful Queer Romance of 'Arcane'

Riot Games' Arcane is easily one of the best surprises of this year. The League of Legends animated series won over fans of the original game and total newcomers like myself with its enthralling characters, phenomenal action, and downright gorgeous animation by Fortiche. A stunning combination of hand-drawn scenes with stylized CGI animation creates one of the most visually stunning pieces that rivals the likes of Your Name and Into the Spiderverse. However, what most attracted me to this epic was one of the series's central relationships.

Spoilers for Arcane season 1

While the show focuses mainly on the tragedy of Vi and Jinx/Powder's sisterhood, Caitlyn plays a crucial role in their story. At the start of Act Two, Caitlyn, an inexperienced enforcer and the daughter of an aristocrat counselor, releases a hardened Vi from the prison that held her for several years.

Their relationship starts extremely strained, as the two are polar opposites, growing up in the starkest of contrasting situations, resulting in little initial trust or love between them. However, by the season's end and after facing more than a few tense life-or-death encounters together, an evident love has blossomed between them, even if a kiss or more passionate encounter did not seal it. However, this choice is not a weakness of Arcane's representation but a sign of strength.

The evolving romance between these two unlikeliest of kindred spirits forces growth. It changes not just for them individually as characters but the entire arc of Arcane's incredible narrative as one of the story's driving forces. Against impossible odds and traumas, this queer romance marches forward, unveiling deftly in a slow yet beautiful manner that demonstrates series restraint and respect for its characters and their journeys.

Imposing threats, incompatible histories, and dangerous goals oppose Vi and Caitlyn's bond. This romance is not just an instance of opposites attracting, rather a story about two people who must overcome and accept their vast difference and priorities before forging a true partnership. Vi is a toughened orphan who grew up hungry and desperate on the stress of the undercity, Zaun. The comfortable elite of Piltover, who constantly abuse and exploit her people, are only her enemy. As she exclaims exasperatedly to her and Powder's adoptive father, "They've got plenty, while we're down here scaping together coins." However, her animosity is not limited exclusively to envy over their privilege.

Come episode two, Vi is facing direct threat from the enforcers. These are not the comedic bumbling guards that chased a band of four scrappy thieves through the upper city's streets. The enforcers of Piltover post a looming, creditable threat to her and her family. The series's second chase scene best exemplifies this increased threat. Vi, Powder, Viko, and Clagor flee from heavily armored soldiers who just moments before threw an innocent man through a wall for mere insolence, best exemplifies this increased threat. It brings Vi back to the events that orphaned her and Powder, the bloody failed revolution against Piltover, and she wants to fight back against this enemy, "We saw what they did. I grew up knowing I'm less than them, that my place is down there."

The tragic events that conclude Arcane's first act put aside Vi's conflict with the upper city. She and her family battle against the kingpin Silco to save Vander from his villainous clutches. But a cataclysmic mistake by Powder deals calamitous death to all but the sisters. Enraged, she strikes at the shattered child before storming off. However, she comes to her senses and attempts to return for Powder, only to be taken into custody, ending her final childhood moments of freedom. She spends the next several years abused and beaten by the guards, as evidenced by her blasé retort to Caitlyn's questions, "can you just send in whoever is gonna kick the shit out of me, so I can get on with my night." Thus, when the young enforcer releases her, Vi is not exactly warm to her presence.

Vi's justified prejudice and adversarial view of Piltover and the enforcer prove her most significant challenge to overcome in her eventual romance with Caitlyn. However, the latter has no such notions or animosity. Sure, Cait has some reluctance to trust a criminal who calls all enforcers "assholes," but her primary obstacle going into the team-up is one of ignorance to the plight of Zaun. This naivety is shared by much of the upper city, as evidenced by Heimerdinger's (Mick Wingert) eventual journey to the underbelly. However, it is an obstacle that she is actively working to overcome, demonstrated by Cait's exasperated lamentation about her mother, "she'd do anything to keep me from seeing the real world." It is this awareness and openness that allows her to change and grow more attached to Vi.

As the pair journies together to Zaun in search of evidence against Silco, Vi has the upper hand. Vi was born and raised in the dilapidated streets, and she revels in the switch dynamic between her and Cait, who is clearly out of her element. Vi enjoys the feeling of superiority over the enforcer from the upper city that looks down on her.

This dynamic leads to their first romantic interaction, as Vi teases the uncomfortable Cait in the brothel. Ordering her to get information by pretending to serve its patrons, saying the now-famous line, "You're hot, cupcake. So what'll it be, man or woman." This scene was also the first hint fans had that the series might contain some LGBTQ+ representation, as Vi floats the possibility of queerness at Cait while pinning her against a wall (be still my gay heart).

Soon after, Caitlyn's inclination towards women, or, if you prefer, obvious gayness, is revealed. She sits enthralled in conversation with another woman, a fact which pleases Vi, who for the first time smiles warming about Caitlyn, rather than in spite and mockery.

The relationship takes a turn at the end of Act Two as their walls come tumbling down. An injured Vi mourns her past choices and mistakes with Powder, as Cait both comforts her, unknowingly invoking the words of Vander, "you have a good heart," and confronts her about her prejudice. As Vi remarks, "you topsiders always find a way to screw us," Cait retorts. However, later in the episode, the enforcer's actions, saving Vi's life, finally turn the two entirely to the same side. Soon, Vi returns the favor and even vouches for Caitlyn to Ekko.

Finally, after experiencing the harshness of life in Zaun, seeing the sanctuary of the Firelights, and hearing the testimony of Ekko, Caitlyn's naivety is shattered. It is not just Vi's deposition that changes here. Cait openly acknowledges the misdeeds of the enforcers, "it's wrong what's been done to you." It is a sentiment and awareness she repeats in front of the council and her parents, saying, "You know what else reflects on the council? It's citizens living on the streets. Being poisoned. Having to choose between a kingpin who wants to exploit them and a government that doesn't give a shit." This scene completes her arc from the sheltered aristocrat we first met as a child to be someone who can stand as Vi's partner.

Unfortunately, even with Vi and Cait sharing new respect and understanding, their troubles are not over. One constant threat remains between them and, a danger amplified by their growing closeness, Jinx. The damaged girl's looming presence in Cait and Vi's lives plays beautifully alongside their growing relationship.

During this most heartfelt and genuine moment in the series, as Caitlyn and Vi lie next to each other on the bed, Vi opens up her last refuge and reveals to Cait her deepest secret and regret, abandoning Powder to be further fractured and twisted into the poor wretched Jinx. It is a rare moment of vulnerability, which is saying something considering the number of times Vi reaches the brink of death in the series.

The relationship also tortures Jinx. As she experiences a bittersweet reunion with the sister she thought dead, Jinx also comes to learn of her alliance with the enforcer. Unfrounetly, unlike Vi, Jinx retains her hatred of the officers and Piltover, a feeling fostered by her new father figure, Silco. This aversion, compounded with the abandonment issues Vi left her with, causes Jinx to see Cait as an evil figure, corrupting Vi and driving her away. This perception is shown through her hallucinations on the bridge and undergoing Singed treatment. Eventually, Jinx believes that Cait is the one obstacle standing between her and the past, another chance to live as Powder, Vi's beloved younger sister.

The varying histories, burdens, and goals of all three women come to a head towards the end of act three. Faced with the harsh reality of the Piltover's indifference to Zaun's plight, Vi abandons Cait. At this moment, Cait's plea to Vi is not to complete their mission or stop Silco or Jinx. Her question is simple, "what about us." Showing the actual depth of their bond and relationship with her values beyond anything else. Nevertheless, Vi walks away into the rain wistfully, saying, "oil and Water, it was never meant to be."

When we return to Cait, what follows is perhaps the series's most extraordinary scene, laced with highly impactful imagery and symbolism in its gorgeous animation and framing. As Caitlyn showers, the framing shows her body without exploitation or service but hunched over in pain and ponderance. The water collides with the ground, mirroring the rain from her divergence with Vi. It mixes with the blood seeping from the wound Jinx inflected on Caitlyn's leg, a constant reminder of the genuine danger her relationship with Vi will pose. The scene shifts to outside the council, only in reverse, as Vi talks backward towards Caitlyn, removing her hood. It is more evident than ever that Cait loves Vi and wants to return to her.

Unfortunately, the chance to go to Vi's side and burst through some doors in a dramatic storm of gayness is interrupted by Jinx, who kidnaps the leading Zaun cast for the final tea party/emotional rollercoaster showdown. As Jinx thoughts Vi, she remarks, "I paid your girlfriend a visit this morning." She, like the audience, knows of the deep connection the two share. Although, unlike all the sapphic viewers, she is not thrilled by it.

Vi pleads with Powder and Cait as the confrontation continues, attempting to save the sister she almost lost and the woman she has grown to love. Although both survive the encounter, Powder is gone, and Jinx is all that remains. "I thought maybe you could love me like you used to. Even though I'm… different. But you changed too." Indeed Vi has changed, from the angry child who once swore revolution against topside and its enforcers, to the woman who has fallen in love with one.

Cait and Vi's history and barriers to romance are staggering, as both content their respective views and baggage with each other. This struggle is why we do not get an explicit kiss or further physical confirmation of their romance (although I can easily argue the scene on Caitlyn's bed in episode eight is just that). Many queer relationships historically were left subtextual while their heterosexual counterparts were allowed more explicit romance, but that is not necessarily the case here. Jayce and Mel have their romance, but they also had the benefit of years of development together between Act One and Act Two, a period that takes place off-screen and thus renders their relationship much less satisfying or believable. And one which has a far more negligible impact on Arcane's story.

Cait and Vi have known each other for all of the few days covering Acts Two and Three. So no, they do not get to kiss, but that fact does not make their relationship any less profound and exceptionally queer. Each undergoes an immense change in the brief time they know each other. And despite their opposing beliefs and background, even though they are in constant danger from Silco and Jinx, they find love in each other. Each girl opens the other's eyes to a world, a people they never knew, and show the possibility of peace and harmony between two diametrically opposed civilizations on the brink of war.

Vi and Cait's romance and growth are some of the most crucial elements of Arcane. This evolution threatens Jinx and eventually makes her realize that her life as Powder can never return now that Vi has fallen in love. The importance and unlikeliness of Vi and Caitlyn's romance place it far above a mere relationship for service's sake. It does not need to be cheapened by a clumsy rush to kisses and hollow affection. Vi and Caitlyn are at the heart of Riot and Fortiche's masterpiece, and their romance will undoubtedly continue to blossom in season 2.