#heimerdinger talking to jayce right there... i'm just thinking

[asukachii]

"Imprisonment, what a curious principle."

[linddzz]

PLEASE tell us more about Jayvik being unhealthy about each other, this needs to be talked about more for... scientific reasons (borderline toxic codependency my beloved)

They're honestly such a fun mix of being adorable silly little nerds who could have so many cute domestic scenes, but there is ALSO that Weird About Each Other vibe lurking over them like a sword of codependent damocles, and it's why I'm SO GLAD I waited to see how Season2 played out before I started writing fic with the intent to post it. Romantic, platonic, the shit they do for/because of each other is WILD no matter what flavor their love takes. You see BITS of it in Season one from Jayce when he ousts Heimerdinger, which is done entirely because Jayce believes the Hexcore can save Viktor from his terminal illness and Heimerdinger is in the way of that. Remember that before Viktor gets his prognosis, Jayce was the one proposing Hextech be shut down due to Jinx stealing a gemstone.

There's nothing that has happened to make Jayce less likely to be concerned about the possible danger of Hextech, and the moment where he asks for Hextech to be suspended shows that he's more likely to believe Heimerdinger's cautions. BUT...that goes out the window with no hesitation when he believes it could save Viktor.

And that's the main thread of their devotion to each other, the willingness to put each other before anyone and anything else, including each others wishes. Jayce is at first the most obvious one when he jumps right to breaking his promise to destroy the hexcore so he can save Viktor's life with it. Yeah, he didn't know that it killed Sky at this point, so the betrayal does not seem as dire to him as it would to Viktor at this point, BUT...considering everything else they do, I think knowing about Sky would maybe add like...thirty seconds to Jayce's decision making process. Shooting Viktor isn't just an act to save the world, though that does weigh on him. It's part of saving Viktor from himself, and only done because VIKTOR told him to. It, at first, seems like Jayce is the one with this more unhealthy devotion, where he's willing to put Viktor above everything else, including Viktor's wishes. Viktor is the one who leaves with the goal to pursue ways to actually help people, after all. He is, in that moment, able to put their dream over Jayce. BUT...this moment is Viktor's version of Jayce asking for hextech to be suspended. The snapping point for Jayce was the threat of Viktor dying, remember. (Also Viktor is ready to take Jayce back the SECOND Jayce shows back up. I would bet good money that a solid six-ish months of hearing NOTHING from Jayce spooked him right out of that assertion that their paths had fully diverged lmao) Then we get that phenomenal reveal that Viktor is knowingly dooming timelines, knowingly setting them on a path towards calamity and mutually assured destruction again and again, all with the goal of stopping himself from ending Jayce in a way that keeps their fates connected. Even if that means risking Jayce getting destroyed by him again and again when it doesn't work. And yaknow. Great story. EXCELLENT Literary Romance right there. Definitely not aspirational for real life in the slightest lmaooo

[avelera]

(Arcane Meta) I don't think anyone knew Viktor was the Herald

I've seen some presumptions that if Viktor didn't teleport away with Jayce at the end of 2.09 that he would have been brought up on charges.

And, to be sure, I think if he had been dropped off right where he was with Jayce at the top of the tower, people would have been able to put 2+2 together and figure out it was him, especially if Jayce was unconscious or otherwise unable to intervene to stop this. I also wouldn't put it past Viktor to turn himself in.

So I'm prefacing all of this by saying, for fanfic purposes, I find it completely plausible that Viktor could face consequences if he remained Piltover or he still looked like the Herald of course (I'm sort of going off the idea he wouldn't look like the Herald anymore but if he did, that of course debunks a lot of my points, which assume he's shed that appearance).

However, I think for the same reason we lament that Viktor doesn't get acknowledged as Jayce's partner or the co-founder of Hextech, that very same anonymity would be Viktor's shield when it comes to connecting him to the Herald.

Here's what people know:

1 ) Jayce Talis, Man of Progress, founder of Hextech, and at one point most powerful man in the city, who even months after resigning from his post was able to muster an army and mobilize the forces of Piltover as if it was all under his control, at one point had a scientific partner. (I only make this point about Jayce to also point out what kind of forces Viktor has on his side as far as powerful friends.)

2) Thing is, as far as we can tell, most people outside their lab don't know who Viktor is because he purposefully flees the spotlight. So right off the bat if you start with, "Y'know, Viktor, Jayce Talis's partner, the other Hextech mind??" You're going to get blank looks from someone who wasn't deeply informed on the like, corporate history of the founding of Hextech. So anyone outside the Council, including Mel and Heimerdinger, probably doesn't know who the fuck Viktor is and it's actually a bit doubtful if Salo or Hoskel knew who Viktor was even when they were in the same room with him ffs.

3) A bomb hits the Council Chamber. First of all, no one would necessarily know Viktor was there in the first place since he seemed like a last minute addition, but of those who knew, 3/8 of them are alive between Salo, Jayce, and Mel, and I doubt any of them were advertising his presence in the aftermath. So even if someone DID know about Viktor, they don't necessarily know he was blown up too.

4) If they DID know he was blown up too, they'd probably assume he's dead like most of the people in that room.

5) If they DO know he survived, which is probably limited to very close associates, like Jayce, Mel, and Caitlyn, they're APPARENTLY ok with Jayce just fucking experimenting on his partner to bring him back to life. There's no other next of kin or person with authority to intervene. I imagine since there's a lot of sketchy forbidden science involved, the circle of people who know Jayce is keeping Viktor alive through sketchy means is also by necessity pretty small.

6) Viktor up and leaves, wearing only a blanket, to wander around the undercity until he finds Huck and the Shimmer victims and starts his cult. No one, as far as we know, refers to Viktor as anything except The Herald and know one he encountered there knew him as the co-founder of Hextech, so that's another possible recognition link severed.

7) Literally, the ONE PERSON who could possibly know that Viktor the Hextech Guy and The Herald, leader of a healing cult in the undercity, are the same person is Salo. And Salo gets assimilated and then later squished, so there's no way HE'S talking.

8) At the War Council, which had only Vi, Mel, Caitlyn and Jayce in the room, all people who care for Jayce and who would probably cover for him, only Caitlyn even figured out that Viktor was somehow connected to all of this, and Jayce didn't elaborate. Mel knew that Viktor was a robot or something and that he was in the orb. Of those people, Mel then takes off from Piltover. So for word to get out that Viktor = the Machine Herald it would require Vi or Caitlyn holding enough of a grudge and deciding he deserves retribution.

Again, I'm not saying it's IMPOSSIBLE, it just requires Caitlyn caring more about bringing Viktor to justice than about caring for Jayce, which given she just let JINX go, seems unlikely given where she stands in her arc. Not impossible, but I'd need the fic to confirm for me that Caitlyn is feeling bad about letting one criminal like Jinx go just because they're the most important person of a loved one so she's for some reason decided that she's given out all her free passes and Jayce's special person needs to go down.

Likewise, Vi I can see going either way, that's assuming she's not in a depression pit of apathy after. She COULD decide that the Machine Herald is to blame for her dad getting assimilated and Jinx dying and he needs to go down. She MIGHT even be able to convince Caitlyn too. Then again, Viktor in his right mind tried to help Vander more than almost anyone, and Vi is completely familiar with the possibility that someone can have "fucked up brainwashing" in their head making them act differently than they normally would. So I think it would take Viktor's help turning himself in and Viktor insisting he deserve retribution, for Vi's need for vengeance to overwhelm her understanding of the position Jayce is in and how similar it is to the position she was so recently in with not only Jinx but ALSO Caitlyn being a person she loves who does terrible things possibly while being manipulated.

Basically, I think if Vi's in anything less than a blind rage, she could be talked down.

TL;DR Really, in a theoretical situation where Viktor and Jayce crash-land on top of the tower and have even a moment to come up with a story as to why Viktor is mysteriously there, and assuming Viktor doesn't turn himself in and insist on being punished, I'm pretty sure Viktor and Jayce could easily hide him amongst the chaos as just another victim. No one has a trail of custody as to where Viktor's been or even who he is because of his reclusiveness, no one who isn't close to Jayce knows Viktor was the Herald, and assuming Viktor doesn't look like the Herald anymore, there's pretty much nothing to link him to the Herald if he doesn't confess and insist on punishment.

Fics where Viktor gets punished are still completely plausible for all the reasons listed above BUT I'm just saying, if Viktor was at all disinterested in throwing himself on the mercy of the Piltover courts and letting them punish him, even if he crash landed right in the middle of the city, I'm pretty sure he and Jayce could get out of there with no one the wiser.

[pleaktale]

Bleaky!! I'm just a girl asking for a request for our man Ekko where in episode 3 of s2 he brought you with heimerdinger and he's trying to protect you from the hexcore 'exploding' please and thank you!! 🥺👉👈 Muah 😘 take your time!!

-katy ❤️

it took a life of it's own but after I figured out the plot it went smoooooth 🤭 I'm sorry for the long wait though! I hope it's worth it Word count: 2k Warnings: death mention, swearing, time travel (?) Tags: Ekko x firelight!Reader, mention of Y/N, no description of Reader other than hair, CW alternate universes, CW death, gender neutral Reader, CW time travel (kinda), hurt/comfort Enjoy!

Maybe coming along wasn’t the best idea.

It’s what you think about when Jayce guides the group towards the hexgate core, a big room with glass floors and lights shining everywhere, a giant ball with runes and lights and intricate patterns standing in the middle of the room. It felt like you should be afraid of it, but you put on your brave mask.

Ekko insisted you should come along, saying you were his ‘right-hand’ and ‘his engineer partner’, Heimerdinger didn’t have much of a choice and brought you with them to the lab of Piltover.

At least it was a fun adventure to get there, with Heimer thinking you guys were in a secret spy mission of sorts, doing hand signs created on the spot and rolling over ducts. You and Ekko couldn’t help but chuckle at the scenes unfolding.

Once in the lab, and with Heimerdinger making the presentations, you remember to hold in a laugh at Ekko trying to appear taller when talking to Jayce, even though he was a good amount shorter than him. Nonetheless, he was still your short king. He just wouldn’t know.

Now in front of this… thing, both you and Ekko exchange glances, you could see the worry in his eyes that quickly were replaced with determination as he tugged you by the sleeve of your shirt to tag along. Closer, in preference.

“I thought this was underground,” Ekko noticed, looking around before landing eyes on Jayce. His tone started to grow stern.

“The mesh is, this is just a fell safe as we were not sure what would happen if the gates overloaded,” he explained, making you scoff at this brilliant idea.

“So it would explode on us?” You ask back, eyebrows furrowed together as, once again, Piltover proves to not care about Zaun’s safety. At all. “Pretty wise for a scholar genius.”

“These are far from the city, it wouldn’t explode on anyone,” Jayce is immediately on defensive mode, even though, deep down, he knows this wasn’t made thinking about the others. Ekko walked closer, also getting defensive at his tone at you.

“These are our utility ducts! The ones that carry our water and guide our ventilation,” this time, Ekko was the one to confront him, taking a few steps closer.

Ekko continued with his arguments, but a shift in light caught your attention, turning around to see Heimerdinger looking at something on the ground, you also took a step closer to see what he was doing.

“Heimer? What is that?” you asked, and as the professor touched it again, something clicked.

Everything turned white, there were no floors nor walls, just a completely blank space of nothing. Well, nothing except for a massive sphere of something you couldn’t quite pinpoint. But it had the same patterns as the leaves of the tree.

“A… wild rune?” you ask, walking a little closer in awe, just to be held back by Ekko, his gloved hand keeping you from going further close.

Meanwhile, Jayce was right in front of it, almost completely mesmerized by it. Everyone in the room was, in a way, even Heimerdinger who also got close, but Ekko didn’t keep him from walking.

“Ekko…” you called, taking him out of some kind of trance as he shook his head lightly, looking back at you, his eyes wide and with slight confusion. “It’s alright,” he reassured you, or tried to, staring back at Jayce who seemed to be approaching even more the sphere.

“Jayce!” Ekko shouted, trying to get him to stop going further into touching that warping thing of organic patterns and fluid geometries, but his voice sounded like it was below water. He heard himself like some twisted and warped sound.

You feel a tingle in your spine, taking a few steps back as the sphere started to lash parts of itself as Jayce got closer, your hand reached for Ekko, but it felt like you were a ghost, touching on nothing and lacking any physical parts on you.

Panic starts to settle, and you’re frozen in place, Ekko watches as Jayce grabs ahold of his hammer, aiming it for the sphere who twisted and warped and angrily reacted to the environment, tendril-like shapes lashing and gushing out of the sphere.

You heard a faint sound that was twisted and too dense for your ears to fully comprehend, but you made out as Ekko trying to stop him.

Then the hammer went full force on it.

Jayce’s skin warped and twisted, creating shapes and geometries around him, something weirdly two dimensional, like a thin piece of paper that follows your eyes. You look back, a line of copies of you, endlessly repeating, constantly copying your every action. Like time ripples out of place and creates thousands and thousands of versions of the same moment in splashes of color and shapes.

A mismatched sound fills your ears, something familiar yet strange, you look back ahead, Ekko is staring at you with desperation in his eyes. You see Heimerdinger exploding in a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes, something akin to oil amidst water, his eyes multiplying, following the lines.

You feel out of breath, screaming for Ekko but your voice comes out like some reversed echo, warped in the chaos that’s happening in that room. You can make out a repeated “run” screamed from Ekko, who is also trying to run away from it.

He jumps in your direction, copies of him flashing around your eyes, he’s close yet far, you can’t make out the distance in this weird time space you’re locked in. You try to reach for him too, your hand doubling into a thousand others, pops of color lashing out of your skin.

Ekko makes it to you, his arms enveloping your form tightly, the first time you’ve felt weight like you’re supposed to, something unearthly heavier than it should. You both fall into some form of flooring, but it still was just a blank space, you try to make the fall easier but your head finds one of the screws in what would be the real world.

And things go from blank to black.

-

Time wraps itself around, twisting and tugging and moving in an all time high, like being tossed into some sort of infinite blender that you’ll never reach the blades. Ekko feels it on his body for a mere second, but it feels like forever.

But then it stills.

“And I…” he stops, hands holding yours, or was it you? You had a different hair, your smile seemed brighter, but still he felt unfamiliarity. He continues without even knowing he was talking.

“I think I love you,” Ekko smiles, eyes squinting from how big it is, his heart feels full, but something on the back of his mind itches. You’re almost tearing up, or was you? With a short nod, you whisper a soft ‘me too’ that almost doesn't reach his ears, your arms circling around him.

He feels full. And then it stills.

“… that day was fun, y’know?” Ekko says, eyes staring down at some flowers in a vase, above a grave. Your grave, your name beautifully displayed with carvings of fireflies and your favorite flower around it. Something’s amiss, but he can’t quite scratch that itch in the back of his mind.

“I miss you,” he whispers, feeling his eyes tear up. It felt weird, he thought he was past it on his grief. Guess not. Feeling his lungs with fresh air, Ekko leaves a shaky breath, smiling to himself despite the pain in his heart.

He feels empty. And then it stills.

“Y/N, do you accept Ekko as your spouse?” Scar says, keeping a small smile after looking towards you. Ekko swears he’d never seen you so beautiful before. Or were you? Is it you?

“I do,” you answer, smiling almost ear to ear, hands clasped together. You feel his hands get a little clammy after your reply.

“Ekko, do you accept Y/N as your spouse?” Scar continues, now looking back at Ekko, who smiles with eyes shiny from the unshed tears. You squint your eyes, waiting for his reply, your heart almost beating out of your chest despite knowing the answer.

“I do,” he replies, “absolutely do,” and then adds. He feels full seeing your smile, the way you’re also almost tearing up, despite the itch on the back of his mind. Ekko just takes you in.

He feels complete. And then it stills.

Over and over and over and over.

“Y/N! Come out! We’ll miss the opening!” Ekko calls, he feels younger, he is younger, he’s still a kid. You’re a kid too. You’re running to him, hair bouncing as you halt almost atop of him. Your hands on his arm, shaking him.

“C’mon! We can’t miss it!” You sound so happy, so full of life. Or were you?

“Stop shaking me and let’s go!” Ekko holds your wrist, running the two of you towards the bridge to watch the opening of the shops. Benzo tried to call you two to wait, but he was a bit late. Benzo. Another itch he can’t scratch.

Time stills once again.

“Hey, don’t run on the stairs!”

Your voice echoes through the tree house, watching closely on your kid. His kid too. Our kid. Ekko smiles to himself, taking his cup of coffee from the pot. “It’s the nerves, firefly, first day of school,” he says to you, sipping on his mug.

“I know! But safety-”

“-always comes first.” He continues your phrase, making you smile in amusement and annoyance. He feels his chest warm up with a chuckle.

“C’mon, loosen up a little, will you?” His arm circles your waist, pulling you closer while his mug with hot coffee is kept far from your body.

The way you roll your eyes and lean on him makes it all worth it. But that damn itch. This weird feeling.

Time doesn’t stop this time, though.

BOOM!

A groan of pain escapes his lips, his arms tightly holding onto you. His body hit something physical for once, the weird feeling was gone, the memories still there.

Despite himself, Ekko just lays there for a moment, half scared of what he’d encounter by opening his eyes. When the courage comes, he slowly shifts, feeling you first, leaning onto his elbows to get himself up. His eyes are greeted by your knocked out form, but you’re still breathing peacefully. Almost like you’re asleep.

“Hey,” he calls quietly, gently shaking you, your eyes fluttering up brings relief to his heart.

You’re still drowsy, a stinging pain on the back of your head. Sitting up, Ekko is still checking up on you, his hand gently touching your elbow. “What happened?” you ask, feeling like you’ve slept for way too long.

“I.. I’m not sure,” he replies, looking around and seeing Heimendinger on the floor and no trace of Jayce. The hexcore was dimmed, with no power coming from it. He turns back at you, seeing you scratch the back of your head.

“Are you okay?” he asks, voice gentle and low. Unlikely so.

“Yeah, I think I just hit my head when that thing.. exploded, I guess.” Sighing, you stop for a moment, sitting up on the floor with him. “Are you?”

Your question pulls him from the memories he’s still drowning himself into. He couldn’t quite tell what that was; alternate universes? Another kind of dream? Whole different dimensions? Daydream? Had he hit his head too? But it felt too real, your touch was too real, the smells were too real, the warmth of the sun on his skin were too real. But that itch on the back of his mind was also too real.

One thing he knew was that you were the constant on his equation. Despite the changes, you were his equivalent.

Taking your hand in his, fingers intertwining. A sigh leaves his lips, eyes briefly closing before looking back up to your own. A smile of relief on his face.

“I am.”

Ekko feels full. And time is back to the right place, with you.

THANK YOU FOR READINGGG <33 ngl I kinda went crazy with this one, writing the wraps of time was fun!!! ALSO THANK YOUUU @the-kr8tor for all the yap sessions about this <3

© pleaktale

[angelinthefire]

The thing with meljayvik is. Jayce really does love both Mel and Viktor.

Like the way he admires Mel and believes in her, the way he trusts her and turns to her for comfort (the way he apologizes immediately after their one fight). Mel has a very solid claim on his heart.

And obviously Viktor. They save each other's lives, their love saves the world, etc. Big cosmic love story.

The show repeatedly draws visual parallels between Mel and Viktor, but that's the thing, they're parallels -- they occupy a similar space in Jayce's mind and heart.

And they're not *really* in competition with each other either. Of course science and politics compete for Jayce's attention, principle and pragmatism, and Viktor and Mel represent those things on a grand narrative scale. But when Viktor is dying Jayce doesn't abandon Mel for him, he goes to her for companionship and comfort. And she doesn't keep Jayce to herself, she tells Jayce that the best thing he can do is spend time with Viktor. When Jayce *does* choose science over politics at the start of season 2, that doesn't change the relationship he has with Mel, they still have this very close and sweet partnership. And in the end, Jayce "dies"(?) alongside Viktor, but he never stopped loving Mel.

I don't have a source for this so take it with a grain of salt, but I saw someone say that in early drafts of the show the Mel-Jayce-Viktor relationship was a very kind of typical angel-and-devil-on-Jayce's-shoulders, which-one-is-he-going-to-choose type of thing. And there’s definite elements of that in the story. But you can also see how much the show ended up subverting that trope and giving the characters so much more depth. It's not Mel who ends up changing Jayce, he ends up bringing out a softer side in her, and rather than forcing him to reject his idealism she ends up trying to defend it ("I won't let them corrupt your dream"). It's not just that Jayce starts spending less time with Viktor (while using his political position to keep Heimerdinger from destroying the thing that might save Viktor), it's that Viktor also starts shutting himself off from Jayce as well.

What sparked this post is that I like a lot of jayvik fanart, but whenever I see fanart that builds out a broader story and world around them, I'm always like, okay but where's Mel? Or when I see a jayvik post that talks about Viktor as Jayce's one true love, it's like... nah that doesn't ring true.

Like Jayce's characterization genuinely falls apart if he's not also in love with Mel, imo. Him looking at Mel with heart-eyes, and telling her "you were always right" and "you will never be a passenger", and finally being able to relax when he rests his head in her lap, are all really important things about him. He gets into this thing with this sexy femme fatale, that's full of political intrigue, and then he’s like, I'm going to fall in love with her. And not only that, I'm going to assume that she's in this for love as well, that under her sharp exterior she's as soft and caring as I am. And then she is! And that's SUCH an important part of who Jayce is.

Because that's his approach to Viktor too. In the end, that's what it comes down to. Viktor had all this shit going on, and Jayce is like, okay, I'm just going to love you. And it works!

Jayce isn't someone who picks and chooses who he loves. For both Mel and Viktor, he loves and trusts them, and when he shows them that, it brings out the best side of them. For all of Jayce's weaknesses, that's his great redeeming quality, that he loves so genuinely, and making him choose between Mel and Viktor ruins that.

So yeah. While it's possible to just focus in on jayvik or meljay for particular purposes, I think if you zoom out and think big picture, meljayvik is the only way to go.

[arcane-ish]

@sorceressofthesky

I hope it's okay that I pull this out as the threads can have a tendency to get very long :)

Personally, I find it super hard to buy that that Silco was the one who talked Caitlyn's mom into building the ventilation systems after he took over from Vander.

Part of it is: if Silco was that good at talking to the council and getting them to do pro-Zaun things, why would he stop talking to them? Especially since season 1 shows how easily the council can be swayed into granting Zaun independence. I always read it as Silco not being interested in the council and not paying much attention to it, maybe because he has a low opinion of it. If he was already that involved with the council in the past, it just seems like big events from Jayce becoming a councilor, Heimerdinger being ousted or the Piltover reaction to the bridge massacre would be something he would show more interest in then he does.

The other part of it is that the Kiramman vents just … feel older? From the pathos of Caitlyn being handed the Kiramman key like it's a family tradition to the picture that presumably show the vents being opened. Either by a young Cassandra or by some even older ancestor. It just seems like if the vents were being built not just within Caitlyn's lifetime but also while Caitlyn is already pretty grown, it just seems like that would have come up?

The women is opening the vents together with miners in the background, evoking more the young Silco and Vander era.

And she's wearing the same or a very similar outfit to the portrait in the middle which is why people think either very young Cassandra or Cassandra's mother.

I'm not sure if I find the idea that Cassandra wouldn't know about the plight of the undercity just because a very sheltered girl like Caitlyn didn't know all that plausible. We know she is sheltered because Cassandra even ordered for her to do boring prestige guard duty rather than even encounter just crime in Piltover. So if she has never been to the undercity and the papers don't write about it, how would she know?

And while the Pilties maybe are unlikely to casually care about the plight of the Zaunites, árguably them caring if it impacts their business is well in character (there's this really cool WIP by @out-there-tmblr that is just doing a plot about how the mines dug to deep, the Gray is getting worse so miners are start refusing to work those particular shafts so the Piltie engineers are coming in to install vents that imo feels plausible in "that's what Pilties would do" way).

And again, if Silco was responsible for it, why wouldn't he show up in those pictures compared to the Kiramman woman posing with miners? (it doesn't help that modern Zaun feels like it's more about factories than about mines)

So yes, I definitely leaning towards the vents being older based on the look of the Kiramman woman. But it being done within Vander and Silco's youth I think is an interesting idea.

I personally find it generally confusing how bad the air situation is. Yes the enforcers wear masks in Act 1, but none of the locals do. Then we have the sumps. The implications are that the sumps are low and "the bad parts" right?

So a headcanon could be something like:

Silco and Vander and some of the chem barons are young => The Gray is bad.

Cassandra installs the vents => air quality gets better. Maybe sections that weren't livable before are livable now.

Silco and Vander take their mining knowledge and maybe carve a middle section, somewhere between the upper levels that are already lived in by people and maybe too expensive and the sump that is still dark and shitty to live in.

There being more air systems in Silco's time could be advances in technology or it could be the factories causing a new, different type of pollution?

(an interesting facette here is the AU where the air is clearly much better but the implication is that it's done with more plant/nature based technology rather than more chemtechy one)

[complete side note, due to the 3 years Heimer has been there my head canon for the AU is that Silco and Vander reunited over Vi's death, together they made political advacements and that after a while in Heimer arrives and gave them a boost in regards to technology]

Silco saying to the chem barons he brought them up and gave them "a taste of topside" could also be explained by

the literally moved them from the lower levels to the higher levels (either by moving them to the lanes or by making them so rich that they can live even in the areas above the Lanes, just like their meeting tower is very high up even while Silco is the one who stil lives far down) after Vander was killed because they for some reason were stuck down there

or all people that lived lower moved to the Lanes when Silco and Vander "built the lanes".

or maybe a young Silco was among the miners that convinced the Kiramann's to build the vents

Finn's line is interesting, because it doesn't sound like Silco pulled him from the mines/depths. It sounds more like he was around during Vander's time watching from the sidelines and not liking how Vander was doign things. As opposed to he lived elsewhere and was lifted up.

But he also looks a bit younger, so he has a different backstory than the others (but there's generally the problem that I think the Caitlyn files said that at least one chembaron is actually a Piltie, so wouldn't at least that guy have a different backstory than the other chem barons? so when he's giving his speech to the chem barons there's at least two people in the room to whom that speech doesn't really apply?) . After all we have the "You're too young to remember

what the undercity was before it became an "enterprise"."

So this exchange suggests:

there was a time where the Undercity was a lot more primitive and Vander does remember it but Finn is too young

but already under Vander the undercity became more like an enterprise (maybe because Vander and Silco turned the Lanes into a more smuggling/trade based economy rather than a mining/producing based one, or maybe also because of the protection money) at least in Finn's eyes, or at least he thought it had the potential to be one if run better

Another thing I find confusing is okay, so there's the region where the shimmer addicts live, right? And the implication to me was that is the bad part of Zaun? The part where the air is bad, where the lowest of the low live, that's why Jesus!Viktor goes there to make his commune.

But according to season 1, this is where Vi, Powder, Connel and Felicia lived. Ie the place where presumably all the fluffy Powder and Vi as kids memories from the Remember Me flashback take place. At first I thought maybe that place was like just a shack where maybe they just played and Felicia made the height charts, but it looks like a comparatively nice house with a staircase and ornaments?

Again, if this the shitty place of the Undercity, why would Vander and Silco's cherished friend live there when the Last Drop was available?

Benzo talks to Vander about "rounding up the collections",

Yes, just like Sevika talks about doing the same for Silco in season 2.

IMO both Silco and Vander were taking protection money. I personally think that they both can be seen as as a system of proto-taxes and it's more a question whether people got anything back from it. Maybe that's a reason why Vander seemed to be more popular with the people, if people saw it more as Vander building up infrastructure/houses for them while with Silco the money goes more towards building up factories or making weapons. (with factories likely being useful infrastructure as well, but maybe people don't see it because it's more indirect).

But that's kind of an interesting question in itself: What does Vander spend his money on? He seems to be living a well enough maybe "middle-class-y" lifestyle with his kids, but Vi certainly doesn't feel rich, hence her rants about how they have nothing compared to Pilties.

I would presume he has an income from the bar. So if he the bar money and the collection money, was is the money being spent on? Paying the guys who do the collections? Maybe they serve as guards/police against those unwanted elements that according to Jinx's season 2 line started fighting as soon as Vander was gone? But if Vander has like organized supporters, why on earth did Vi think it was a good idea to collect her kid brothers as support to spring Vander free from Silco rather than fetch whatever remaining allies Vander might have had? Or at the "guys" Benzo speaks off more like loose contractors, maybe not even particularly powerful people and people pay their taxes just out of fear of Vander?

(I have played around with the idea that maybe Vander spends the collections on more charitable things like families in need (and Silco is more the "I will build a factory that gives you employment so you can make your own money" guy) and that's why people remember him fondly. But with the whole "build the lanes" thing, maybe there's a chance that there are still building projects/they are still expanding? I think a big thing with the whole "building the lanes" in an engineering way that I just don't pictured neither Vander not Silco as that much of a construction/engineering guy, but who knows. Maybe just Zaunite ingenuity again)

[silamander]

My Arcane season two act 2 thoughts (SPOILERS)

- Not Jinx rallying an army of blue hair and prounouns.

- Diversity win, the leader of a dictatorship and a slightly prejudiced cop are lesbians and they're fucking! :D

- Idc what anyone says, they'll never make me hate Maddie, I wanna pinch her wittle cheeks.

- AND JINX IS A SHOWMAN? CAN SHE MARRY ME ALREADY???

- Jinx and Isha are adorable I can't-

- The way she went from "Get the fuck off me" to "Lemme give you a makeover" girl I adore you.

- Piltover go twenty four hours without fucking with the arcane challenge: IMPOSSIBLE

- Sevika...what have they done to you.

- And she uses quips as a coping mechanism...I need her in my bed right now.

- "I think your pants look great, babe" Silas said, out loud.

- I know damn well she only made a prosthetic finger just so she could flip people off and I love her for that.

- God, Warwick is so fuckin' cool.

- Sapphics do NOT handle break ups well. They'll literally join a fighting ring before going to therapy.

- Jinx isn't even wrong tho, she's accomplished wayyyyy more than Vi did.

- The way Singed instantly became one of my favorites in episode 5

- "If he had read this, maybe it all would've been different" I cried-

- The way I instantly went "Woo Mama" when I saw Vi's mom

- Young Silco being so sweet...I can't

- WHERE'S EKKO AND HEIMERDINGER

- Wow, Jayce is fucked up...I kinda like it

- Salo is so sweet now, Viktor really is Robo Jesus

- Oh...okay then

- I'm so proud of Viktor. He's finally living his dream of using Hextech to help the people of Zaun.

- Jinx i love you, but don't talk to Robo Jesus like that.

- Viktor don't you say it, DON'T YOU SAY IT

- ...I hate you Robo Jesus

- The way Singed walks is funny to me, I don't know why.

- Cait and Vi, always bickering like they've been married for 10 years

- Hehehehe Ambessa you fucking idiot

- WHY DIDN'T VI JUST SHOOT AMBESSA???

- "Don't touch my daughter" Chills...CHILLS I TELL YOU

- Jayce...you stupid prick

- Welp, Isha went out like a goat

- In the flashbacks, Jinx's eyes flashed blue because Isha brought Powder out...

- Whatever Jinx does after this is so justified, I don't give a damn. She just lost her daughter. She could kill every character and I'd be cheering for her.

[mm-slashing-boy]

Day three of watching Arcane. This might be my last day if I play my cards right. I might be able to watch the entirety of season two.

⚠️⚠️ SPOILERS FOR SEASON TWO BELOW ⚠️⚠️

Episode one, season two, Heavy Is the Crown. Oh, my fucking God. WHAT THE HELL?? BRUH, JINX KILLED THREE COUNCILORS AND KNOCKED OUT MY VIKTOR?? HELL NAH. NUH-UH, YOU AIN'T GETTING AWAY FROM THAT, POWDER. AND NOW THE ATTACK ON THE MEMORIAL?? It's too much, dawg. I thought Jayce was gonna die for a second, then Vi saved his ass last second. Love to see it. Was hoping Caitlyn and Violet would kiss, but alas. 😔😔

Update pt. 2; Episode two, season two, Watch It All Burn. Jinx getting emotional over not being able to kill her sister is very sad and real. AND I'VE SEEN THAT KID BEFORE! JINX "ADOPTS" THEM I'M PRETTY SURE! Viktor crawling out of that Hexcore plasma like a cocoon... Man, I love symbolism. And I love him as a God. I, too, would get down on my knees and worship him. 🤭🤭 He got that dead eyes, tired look to him that makes me giggle like a madman. AND JAYCE AND VIKTOR BREAK-UP SCENE?? NEARLY MADE ME SOB, Y'ALL.

Update pt. 3; Episode three, season two, Finally Got the Name Right. AMBESSA, YOU BASTARD. YOU TURNED CAITLYN. HOW DARE YOU?? And Cait and Vi finally got their kiss, I'm so happy. 🥰🥰 Jayce is glitching out, though. I'm getting worried about him. And Viktor. AND ISHA WAS SO INNOCENT. GIRL, YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO YOU'RE PROTECTING.

Update pt. 4; Episode four, season two, Paint the Town Blue. Jinx literally started a riot. Good for her. AND VIKTOR MENTION... BUT NO VIKTOR?? JAYCE MENTION... BUT NO JAYCE?? THEY'RE STARVING ME, GANG. And they took my girl Isha. Give her back. AND MADDIE?? I LIKE YOU, BUT WHAT THE FUCK?? YOU TOOK VIOLET'S GIRL. :[[ AND VANDER?? VANDER AT THE END??? WAS THAT HIM???? HOLY FUCKING SHIT. THEY GAVE ME MY OLD BRITISH MAN BACK!! 💛💛

Update pt. 5; Episode five, season two, Blisters and Bedrock. They turned Vi emo. I cannot believe this. Change her back. 😭😭 SILCO LOOKED SO GOOD WHEN HE WAS YOUNGER, THOUGH! (Honestly, he did in the present, too.) Jayce looks HOT as hell, loving the beard. AND VIKTOR CAN TALK THROUGH PEOPLE?? NEED HIM TO POSSESS ME LIKE THAT, MY GOD. But did you really need to kill Salo, Jayce. C'mon, man, he didn't do anything.

Update pt. 6; Episode six, season two, The Message Hidden Within the Pattern. Where do I even begin? VIKTOR LOOKS SO FUCKING HOT THAT IT'S ILLEGAL. SOMEONE RESTRAIN HIM. JAYCE, I STILL LOVE YOU, BUT WHAT IN THE EVER-LOVING FUCK DID YOU JUST DO?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, YOU BASTARD?!?! AND ISHA JUST DECIDES TO SACRIFICE HERSELF?? WHAT THE FUCK, AND WE STILL HAVE THREE EPISODES LEFT. I CANNOT HANDLE THIS (I will continue to handle this).

Update pt. 7; Episode seven, season two, Pretend Like It's the First Time. Okay, as interesting and sad as this episode was, it was definitely the most boring of them. Like, it's nice to have knowledge of what happened when Jayce, Heimerdinger, and Ekko were briefly gone, but it went on for a long while. BUT HEIMERDINGER EXPLODED?? HE PULLED A SKY??? NAHHHH, C'MON, MAN.

Update pt. 8; Episode eight, season two, Killing Is a Cycle. Mel's got powers now, which is really cool. Her skin is golden (quite literally). Cait and Vi got a pseudo sex scene, too! Yippie! AND VIKTOR IS STILL HOT AS FUCK. GODDAMN, EVEN IF HE'S BECOME AN ANTAGONIST, HE'S STILL THE BEST MAN. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

Update pt. 9; Episode nine, season two, The Dirt Under Your Nails. Well, gang, we made it through, and needless to say, I've come out broken. First of all, Maddie is a backstabbing snake and deserved to die. Can't believe they actually made me hate her. Secondly, the fight between the robot Viktor inhabited and Jayce was... weirdly sensual? I don't know how to explain it. I think it's because Viktor has that sexy-ass voice. Third of all, good to finally see Ekko use that time loop mechanism I've seen him use before in edits. Lastly, WHAT DO YOU MEAN VIKTOR, JAYCE, VANDER, AND JINX DIE?? WHAT THE FUCK??? YOU KILL OFF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS JUST LIKE THAT???? HELL NAH, I'M GONNA EXPLODE. It's okay, though, they will forever live within my AU and in fanfiction. 👍👍

Overall, 12/10 show. Was very gay, which I loved. Went in with low expectations and came out a changed man. Goes to show you don't have to be afraid of change (in this case, watching a new show), and can just keep moving on.

[lvrstrsh]

the way this song is so fitting for the three arcane ships (caitvi, jayvik, timebomb) omg?? maybe not so much caitvi but during their breakup era yes a little bit.

"you're the best thing to ever happen to me but also the worst thing to ever happen to me. on that day when i met you, maybe i would rather that it never happened to me" is SOOOOOO JAYVIK CODED I'M ACTUALLY GONNA JUMP OUT A FUCKING WINDOW JAHHSWQO. viktor saved jayce from killing himself, helped him achieve his life's goal to channel magic. alternatively, jayce helped viktor to be more than just an assistant, gave him purpose and did with hextech what viktor always wanted to do: help people. HOWEVER, them meeting ultimately led to their deaths (actually erm i refuse to believe they're dead and prefer to believe they're in some higher form of existence giving each other cosmic backshots 💜). them meeting helped bring hextech to the world which, as it happens, was the beginning of the end. the formation of the hexcore, viktor turning into robotic jesus, starting the cult, the formation of the anomaly that sent jayce to the ruined dimension (poor guy also lost his mind) so although jayce was able to fulfill his life's dream, it also was the thing that ruined him. if they never met, this all could've been avoided, which is easily seen in the dimension ekko & heimerdinger were sent to. they were best friends, equals in the sense of intellect and generally just two halves of one whole (saw someone on insta relate them to the sin²x + cos ²x = 1 formula and gen crashed the fuck out) hence, the best and worst thing to ever happen to each other.

"why does hearing your name hurt me when it hides right there in the vicinity? what kind of emotion, is it hatred or pure sweetness when i hear your name?" we all know ekko and powder were childhood friends. due to a series of unfortunate events, powder was taken under silco's care — the same person who was the cause of vander's and benzo's death (who were like father figures to ekko). powder became jinx and was working for silco, who was using shimmer to exploit his own people. as ekko grew up, all he did was work to defeat the purpose jinx was working for. imagine how much it must hurt for him to know someone who meant sm to him is doing all this to his people. her name brings bitterness, but also the sweet press of memories of simpler times. then, obviously, ekko was sent to the other dimension. saw that other dimension have everything he ever wanted (except vi ☹️). powder was still HIS powder. his life was playing out just the way he wanted. however it wasn't REAL. he got a glimpse of what could've been. in that dimension ekko and powder grew up to fall in love. imagine coming from your reality where you're enemies, and the being sent to this one where you're lovers. but you can't stay, no matter how happy it makes you. he got a taste of the sweetness that could've been. then he had to go BACK to his reality, where he saw the same girl he could've fallen in love with try to kill herself. and, afterwards, when you've basically saved the world, you're left all alone and are led to believe she's dead (uhm which she's not trust 🙏)

i don't think i have to explain the 'worst of all blessings, the best of all curses' verse in relation to both the ships because AHHHHHWJWJWJWIWIWIWJSIQIQJWIIWIWSIJQIDBCIAOJW

alright guys anyways thank u for coming to my ted talk 😁

[my-halo-is-a-little-broken]

Examples of what i had hoped they would expand on (I would have loved filler episodes or at least wish they hadn't cut so much out):

What exactly did Silco do that made Vander attack? We know it's connected to the bridge and Felica, but we never know what the reason was other than a vague, "Vander wanted to stop fighting, Silco didn't".

How did Vander and Silco make up in the au? Did Vi trigger Silco to go back to blisters and bedrock upon learning one of Felicia's kids, the very first one that created the blisters and bedrock convo, was no longer living?

Did the girls, or at least Vi, know Silco at all from the "before" times?

Was it Silco and Vander making up that led to the undercity improving? Was it something else, like Heimerdingers' influence? It couldn't have just been Hextech not being invented.

What was Vi and Jinxs bio dad like?

How did Viktor manage to make it from the Undercity and rise all the way up to being Heimerdingers assistant? I'm not saying it's impossible, but we've seen the barriers and such that make it hard for people from the Undercity to achieve great heights in Piltover.

What happened to make the Firelights even consider listening to Sevika and seeminly develop a partnership? Was it a talk? Desperation? Scar doesn't seem the type to fold easily.

Sevika's reaction to Isha, or anything from her in Act 3, really. How did she get on the council, and what was her reaction to it?

Jinx and Echo prepping for the final battle. I wanna know how they made Jinxs' dirigible(?).

Who did Ambessa fall in love with? What exactly did she steal? Was it Mel in general? Or the magic Mel ended up with?

Did Jayce end up jumping in the au, or was he just exiled? Did he and Cait blow up in the apartment explosion?

Why did Vi trust Loris so much? What was their friendship like?

Why was Loris not on the front lines or being the "shield" he's shown as?

What was with the look in Stillwater when Ambessa saw the disgused Jinx and Sevika?

Vi's pitfighting arc.

Jinx and Isha getting close.

Mel. Her time captured, getting back to Piltover, anything to do with her.

Singed creating Warwick. That was a long time to experiment on a (seemingly) lifeless body until things turned just right for it to "work".

What happened to Lest?

Does Vi know about Cait's suspicions about Jinx living? I personally don't think so, as I feel Vi wouldn't give up on trying to reunite with her. Even with Jinxs permission to be happy with Cait, Vi isn't the type to give up on her sister. She would at least want to keep in contact. You're telling me this woman survived years in Stillwater and all the other bullshit mainly for her sister, and then just decides to let her go?

How does Warwick "survive" (like being able to make blood) Isha blowing everything up with the gems, but apparently doesn't survive falling and Jinxs bomb? I know he has regeneration, but one of those is worse than the other, and yet he survives it.

Do Ekko and Vi bond more? Both of them have lost Powder/Jinx, and they're the only two left from each others childhood.

I'm sure this will eventually get covered in the other series they're planning, but it appears Orianna (is that how you spell her name? Idk, I don't play LoL) is similar to the creatures Viktor makes, so how is she "alive"?

Is Bandle City outside of timelines, or is Heimer gone from "our" timeliness forever?

[yummysake-saucegay]

Thoughts (S2 finale spoilers)

Ugh I'm still brainrotting from the finale and trying to write a Jayvik fic and there are a few things I'm wondering (btw I'm so into rambling about it anyway, please hit me up if you wanna talk about it), so what are your opinions on these:

What do you think Viktor would look like if they respawned somewhere? Somehow my headcanon is pre-Hexcore but with his disability

(Also while we're at it why do so many people think they died? What do you think? I thought them just getting sucked into the Arcane was a very un-dead ending, I don't count it unless it's really on-screen (I would count Ambessa, Isha and Heimerdinger (although I guess he respawns?) as deceased judging by the way it was depicted, and even Isha and Heimerdinger wouldn't be 100% without the context))

What are Jayce and Viktor actually wearing in the astral plane lol? It's sometimes just white and in the end scene looks like simple black clothing?

Do we know how much time passed (a few months I guess?) between ep 3 and 4? And how long was Jayce stuck in the alternate universe? How long has it been since he and Viktor said goodbye? There's probably more but that's all I can think of right now

[jayviknation]

Double post because I’m having fun formatting!

🍄funny ish going on in arcane🍄

Jayce: "So what I'm hearing right now is that ants are God."

Vi: "What?! He's not smart!"

*cuts to Jayce*

Jayce: "My ears are ringing. It's that tinititus"

Ekko: "Were you dumbfounded or just found dumb?"

Mel: "Hey Chandler?"

Jayce: "Oui"

Mel: "I love you"

Jayce: "Oui… wait"

Jayce: "Will you stop spitting everywhere?"

Vi: "I'm going to spit in all your socks."

Jinx: "This song said it was the 'Radio' version and I read it as 'Polio'."

Sevika: "Yep, Darude made this song when he had polio."

Viktor: "Hey heim, you know ant god?"

Heimerdinger: "Who???"

Viktor: "Ant. God."

Jayce wheeling out from his desk: "Please say yes"

Heimerdinger: "Oh of course, ant god? I know him well"

Jayce: "I ate spaghetti last night"

*Looks over at Viktor*

Jayce : "I didn’t think of you" (He hates spaghetti)

*Jinx making a noise*

Silco: "What is that?"

Sevika: "Jinx charging"

*Cait, Vi and Jayce talking about new Hunger Games movie*

Caitlyn: The thing is I don't even care about Snow. I'm here for Hunter Schafer, Peter Dinkl-

Vi: I love Peter Dinklage!

Viktor: Did I just hear "Peter Dinkle?"

Jayce: That's Dinklay to you.

Caitlyn: I WAS SAYING PETER DINKLAGE AND VI CUT ME OFF MID DINK!

[thewistlingbadger]

The reason why people hate Silco actually doesn't have to anything with his crimes or the way he treats others. It actually has everything to do with the way the show is structured.

If you think this sounds far fetched, I just want you to stick with me on this and read this post with an open mind bc genuinely I think it's really important. Lots of people do dislike him bc of his actions and his relationship with Jinx, but I'm going to argue those reasons aren't the main/true reasons for the silco hate. To do so, I must highlight some very important points about arcane.

1. The show is about CHANGE.

Everything in Arcane is always changing. The setting, the music genres, the designs, the styles, the storylines, the characters, their relationships- everything is constantly changing in this show. Change is what is what drives the show on every single level. Change is why Arcane makes us emotional and passionate, because as humans we dont like change, and the show is always changing at exact the right/wrong moments.

2. There's two kinds of change

For the simplicity of the argument, we're going to talk about major change and minor change. Major change will be defined as a change that COMPELETLY changes the character's identity. Minor change will be defined as a change that only changes a PART of the character's identity. In Arcane, some characters only go through minor changes, some only go through major changes, and some characters go through both during the show's course. An example of a major change would be Jinx. She starts the show was a meek, innocent, screw-up and later completely transforms to a lethal, broken person. Her character completely changes. An example of a minor change can be seen in Viktor. First he believes that the hexcore is good and can be used to save himself. By the end of season he's seen the harm it can cause and is hellbent on destroying it. This is a minor change because while he does change, he doesn't completely change. He only changes in a minor way.

3. Setting the stage

In order to measure change, you must have a starting point. You can't know how much someone or something has changed if you don't see where it started. For this reason, Arcane season 1 opened the majority of its episodes with flashback cold opens. At some point in the first season, we see all of our main characters years before the show starts. It's important to show this so the audience can better understand the characters. Viktor's running scene hits hard because we say him trying and failing to out run the toy boat as a child. Vi's hate for topside and enforcers is completely understood because we literally see them kill her parents an incite violence on her people.

4. We don't like you

Because the show focuses on change so much and because we're so exposed to it, we tend to oppose the things that DON'T change in the show. The majority of the fans side with Zaun because we've seen time and time again that they refuse to change their ways despite the harm they're causing. Marcus and Heimerdinger are two of the most unliked characters in season 1 because they don't change. Marcus starts the show as a selfish asshole cop and that's how he dies. Heimerdinger's whole thing is that he's IMMORTAL. He's literally not changing no matter how much time passes, and it's because of this that we feel for Jayce and Viktor and don't feel for Heimerdinger, even when he loses his council seat.

Okay, so we've talked about all of these now. What the hell does this has to do with Silco?

Well, lets look at what we talked about in conjunction with Silco.

Silco only really goes through one change in the show and it's a minor change. He starts the show willing to risk ANYTHING to get his Nation of Zaun and by the end he comes to the conclusion that he's no longer to willing to risk anything for Zaun. This is a pivotal change for him, but it isn't exactly a big one. Silco started the show as a violent, radical, antagonist and he dies being all three of those things. So no major changes here. And when we look into his minor change, it truly isn't that big because had Jayce asked him for anything else, literally anything else, Silco would have gave it to him. He's basically willing to do anything, minus one thing. One. singular. thing. That is so important to him.

2. Silco got a flashback scene like everyone else, but his flashback wasn't highlighting the change in Silco's character. It was highlighting the change in his relationship with Vander. In his flashback, Silco is unhinged, ragefully, and hostile in behavior as he delivers a smart monologue. This Silco is the same Silco we see later in the show, he doesn't change. He remains calculated, cunning, and heinous throughout the show. From the earliest point in his life that we see till we see his final breath.

3. The show has us programed to be opposed to those who are stagnant. Silco is stagnant. He does not change. In this regard, he's like Marcus. He's like Heimerdinger. And thus, since he's lacking change, we dislike him.

Just think about that for a moment. We literally never see Silco be anything different in the show. Even in the few moments he has were he's softer or weaker than normal, he's still the same guy. The fact that he's always been the same to us has led us to jump to conclusions about his character and his relationships based on limited evidence. We ALL assumed that the falling out between him and vander was his fault. We ALL assumed that he was this terrible guy even prior to the betrayal or vander. Because we never saw him change, we all though he couldn't change.

Isn't that a bit...sad? Like for us and for him. We genuinely have no idea who he was prior to Vander or prior to the betrayal. We all just assumed the worst from him because it was all we ever got to see. For all we know, the betrayal may have no even been his fault. For all we know, Vander could have been the fucked up one out of the two. We literally have no idea because we never see who he really was.

In a heart to heart he was with Jinx, he tells her "That day, I let a weak man die, and another was reborn." How right he was. We never get to see who this "weak man" was. Silco effectively did kill him.

[avelera]

oh yeah viktor thinking he has a safety net regarding breaking into the office is definitely true, but this attitude comes across in other situations too. and i don't think him caring so much about science and what he's doing explains it fully - it's not like jayce doesn't care about what he's doing but he's still a huge people-pleaser. you couldd say that jayce feels like he mostly already achieved his goal in s01e04 because hextech is being used, and viktor very much doesn't, but it still feels different

I think that's very astute. Jayce and Viktor are on the same page during the break-in because they're both fanatics with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

But as of 1.04, Jayce has kind of made it! His goal was always to bring Hextech to the masses and with the Hexgates, they've kinda done that! Jayce is now settled in for the marathon, not the sprint. He's strategizing so the next Hextech release will be a personal project in order to keep him and Viktor happy and engaged and begin to chip away at their dream. But Jayce always saw Hextech as a long-term innovation, something that will continue to pay dividends to society for decades to come, and even after they're gone. So what's the rush?

That is why when Viktor keeps characterizing his own swiftly approaching mortality that only has a prayer of being cured with a Hextech miracle as, "helping the undercity", Jayce doesn't get it! It goes right over his head! And I blame Viktor for that, actually!

Viktor isn't telling the complete truth when he chastises Jayce for not focusing on Hextech and their dream, "for those in need. For the undercity!" He's not talking about the undercity, he's talking about himself.

And I don't think Viktor is completely aware he's talking about himself? Or he doesn't know how to ask. He's always couched his scientific endeavors as selfless rather than selfish, they've always been about helping "other people" but of course his hope was that he'd find a cure for himself too!

And I think Jayce would have respected that! Actually, I think if Viktor had said, "Cut the crap, Jayce. I'm dying, this isn't for the undercity, it's for me. I have weeks left to live and I need a miracle and I need my partner's help so please knock it off with the bullshit politics and help me!" I think Jayce would have dropped everything to help!

Jayce just didn't understand the undercity angle because yeah, there's people in need. But there's always people in need. No offense to the undercity, some of that is definitely Jayce's privilege and blindness to their needs, but some of it is just that he's a little closer aligned with Heimerdinger than Viktor and he's thinking long term. They're chipping away at Hextech, innovations will come, but they are going to need more testing (the Hexclaw accidentally re-pairing with the gem in Jayce's hand during the presentation is actually a really bad tech flaw, speaking from a real world perspective, that absolutely would have been dangerous for consumer use!)

So yeah, long story short, yeah. Jayce's people pleasing is a part of it but it also comes down to their very different scientific visions and very different timelines. Viktor has weeks, and he's panicking, and honestly it's impacting his judgement IMO, and Jayce doesn't know that so he's still thinking in years so he and Viktor are really just constantly talking past each other.

I'd also say Viktor feels the inadequacy of not having a big innovation himself like Hextech, which I think he still sees as primarily Jayce's, but that's another story and less pressing than his imminent death.

[iminyourwallsbabe]

Back with more Mel thoughts and today I'm analyzing Meljay

(Also side note I fear this show may be becoming a special interest, I have never been this invested in anything in my life)(and also, spoilers)

So remember how my last Mel post was about how lonely and loveless her life is because of her station in life and the power dynamics that come with that? Well I was thinking about it last night and I realized just how much it bleeds into her relationship with Jayce.

Or, in other words

WHY JAYCE IS A FUCKING BOTTOM

The fandom's insistence on this doesn't come from nowhere.

So first off, let's talk about how they met. Mel saw him and I think already saw an opportunity in him. What she said to him then was a test. She uses very specific language to get a rise out of Jayce at the trial. She calls his experiments useless, she asks if it amounted to anything other than an explosion, she calls him a little boy messing with things he doesn't understand. This prompts the other councilors to speak their minds, and that later prompts him to defend his experiments. This is what Mel was looking for. He passed her test, she now sees that he has great ambition and the balls to stand by his dreams. She's the type of person to say "if you don't care about it, why should I?".

He proves himself to her again when he and Viktor get caught sneaking into Heimerdinger's lab. He is continuing his studies, this time with the knowledge that he would be exiled for this. I think what Mel begins to admire about him, based on some of the things she says about herself later, is that he doesn't care about anyone's standards and is willing to rebel against them with conviction if it's for something he really wants. Viktor is like that too if not more so (That's a post for another day). She likes that because he's so unlike everyone else she's been stuck around. They love red tape, normalcy, formalities, this that and the third. They make all their decisions based on what has been and not what could be. Notice how Mel is the only person to ask the council if they've even tried to do what Jayce was doing as they gave their opinions? All they know is that it hasn't been tried and they don't want to, so he shouldn't get to. (Heimerdinger and that robot dude did actually have valid arguments though). She fucking HATES that, like after coming from a place that demanded she just keep repeating what she saw without giving it thought, I doubt she'd ever want to hang with people like that.

So anyway right, that's how we get into the peak of the Hextech era, mostly supported by Mel. And I just wanna talk about the WAY she does this. Like I've seen people call her manipulative and honestly they're not wrong! They're not wrong at all, she plays mind games with the other councilors. Like first off, let's go back to the time period I just described. One of the first things we see her do is give another councilor a birthday gift. Salo comes up with one last minute and it doesn't get the same reception. That was a calculated move, especially when you add the context of the trial. She was already trying to lay the ground work for things to go her way. She keeps doing this through all of season one, very girlboss of her I think.

This is all represented visually. Her outfits tell the story of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Again, that could be a whole other post but in the context of Meljay, what I want to point out is that even what she wears around him is intentional. Let's go back to the first time they were ever alone together, it was after he became the poster boy for progress. And I believe this is also where she began pursuing him. She's wearing a dress that's mostly black. The wolf is out now. She starts dropping more obvious hints. It also, ironically enough, doesn't feel threatening. It looks a little more laid back than her main outfit, she seems more approachable this way. Like she wants him to trust her beyond her contributions to Hextech. It says "Hey, I'm not one of these self-important snobs, I'm more like you than you think"

She also expressed here that she thinks he could make a good leader. Something he clearly doubted when he asks her if she really believes that. He seemed surprised. Honestly, anyone in his position would be. His main goal was to bring Hextech to the world, not to be a council member or anything like that. So for him to be thrust into that role, it probably felt wrong. It felt strange to him to have this much power. She could probably sense that, so she told him what he needed to hear both visually and verbally. She used this moment to let him know he wasn't alone. I do think she genuinely meant what she said and wanted to make him comfortable, however, that doesn't make it any less calculated. She doesn't just say things, she is always intentional. I think the thought process here was that Jayce would not come to her on his own terms or think of her the way she wanted him to think of her if she continues to approach him with this untouchable, intimidating elegance. She needed to humanize herself to win his heart. Hence the dress we see her in the next time they get to be alone.

It's another mostly black dress, but the shapes, the cut, and the sleeves are a lot closer to her base outfit than the other dress was. It's something to be impressed by, but not intimidated by. It can even be argued that it was meant to be alluring. By now, Jayce understands that she is his biggest, most genuine advocate. His outfit illustrates that as well. I don't think that was something he thought about, it seems like the work of the Arcane design crew. Either way, it's genius. The suit he's wearing in this scene is worn under that big, flashy white jacket you always see him in when he gives speeches. It's a lot closer to what he was wearing when they met.

This design choice was made to once again allow Jayce to be vulnerable. With Mel, he can be that confused, scared little boy he was then. This is important because his new job keeps him from spending time with Viktor, the only other person who has any idea what he's going through. The only other person who shares his dream. Who else could he turn to? This is the hole Mel fills. She knows better than anyone how isolating power can be. She saw that he needed someone, she wanted to be that someone. Nobody did that for her when she was coming up, she didn't want him to be abandoned that way. In doing this, she also knew she was more likely to earn his affection that way. It was never a guarantee though, that's why when their hands graze, there's a bit of fear, a little hesitation on both parts. This is a risky step for both of them. For Mel, someone who was never safe enough to trust anybody, this could be the end of her. He could hold this over her head, he could take advantage of her love. She doesn't want to lose what control she has over her life. But, and she said this word for word, "Any worthwhile venture involves risk". She wouldn't do any of this if she didn't think it was worth it. For Jayce, I think he feels similarly. He knows the council is not full of pure hearted individuals, who's to say Mel isn't one of them? Who's to say she's not just playing nice to get control over his dream, his lifeblood. Hextech is everything to him, and by trusting Mel this way, he's trusting that Hextech means just as much to her as well. That she values humanity over profit or herself.

Then he says "I couldn't have done it without you." It's an acknowledgement that she's a part of this dream for a better world. It was his way of asking her to be by his side. That's her cue to just go for it, to pounce on him, if you will. That's her way of saying yes to his offer.

The kiss and the 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 scene that follows says a lot about trust and power.

First off, notice how her hand goes right for the nape of his neck? That's a very vulnerable spot. It can be damaged in so many devastating ways, and in the animal world, this is sometimes how mothers carry their young from place to place. It can be a place where your life can be so easily ripped from you, or where you can be shown the most gentle love. In this scene with them, Jayce bore his neck to her and she chose to love.

And then we get to the actual sex. The first thing Mel does is push him down and get on top of him. She touches his neck again. But then, he flips her over and presumably starts to kiss her all over her body. Let's think back to the animal metaphors that are ever so present with Mel. In the animal world, this doesn't exist. If another animal's mouth is that close to you, has that much access to where your organs and the best of your meat is, you're as good as dead. In a world where everyone is preying on you in some capacity, it's hard to even find the words to describe the level of trust it takes to allow this. And in the context of womanhood and sex, this means a lot as well. Have you ever heard people say that hookup culture isn't really for women? The power dynamics involved with sex don't allow for that to be the fun experience it's sometimes made out to be. You give it to a guy once and he may think he's entitled to you whenever. You could die because of that. You could have a baby you don't want, that could kill you too. There's so many risks and a lot of them can and have ended with a woman dying. I emphasize death so much because when it comes to Mel and Noxus, that's a big thing. Noxus is a war centric society, they're basically the Spartans of the Arcane world. So the idea of fully taking off your "armor" (in Mel's case, this would be clothes. With how strategically they're used, her looks are very much a defense mechanism. Shit, she even lets her hair out for this) and putting down your "weapons", (for Mel it would be her almost godlike persona), is an insane thing to do when you're not somewhere you're sure 100% is safe. You leave yourself open to be conquered or slain. This is true for both of them. In this act alone they could easily destroy each other. But they don't. In fact, once it's all said and done, they cuddle, and he lets her be the big spoon. And while yes, this is basic human decency, the political world tends to forget that not being an asshole is a thing you can do. So, this is quite a surprise for both of them.

It's also why Mel seems so disappointed when she wakes up alone. It's why she gets up and goes to paint a scene from her home country. She paints what looks like warships of some kind. It's a very red painting, and she's using a paint knife. Whoa a knife??? And the color red??? Wow what could that possibly mean???? Well, murder obviously, but there's more to it than that. She's sitting there wondering if it's over for her. She's contemplating what she might have to do to him if her fears are right. But then, here comes Jayce to once again bear his neck to her. At first, she's in defense mode. She won't look at him. She said "there's a lot about me you don't know" as if it's a threat. She's already ready to start that "war". You can even hear the scrape of the paint knife. Quick and harsh. Even still, Jayce bears his neck to her again. This time metaphorically. He vents to her about Viktor. She seems confused, she had this impression that she was no longer wanted, no longer valued. She even asks why he came to her with this, despite how hard she worked to make it feel as though he could. At just the slightest display that he wasn't someone to be trusted, she already burnt that bridge in her mind. Her heart just hasn't caught up yet. This is why it's even more surprising when he just plops his head in her lap and kisses her hand. She was sure this was dead. She thought her control was threatened. She couldn't have been more wrong. She realizes this, and then decides to open up to him as well. She lets him know she too, was once inadequate. I think it does give him a little bit of comfort. And I just think it's so beautiful how he immediately can't wrap his head around the idea. Mel? Of all people? Not living up to Medarda standards? Like I don't think she's perfect in his eyes, nobody is, but it's clear that he thinks very very highly of her. He's probably sitting there like "if SHE can't meet those standards they're probably fucking stupid". They don't dwell on it, she tells him he should be with Viktor since he's dying and stuff, which I also thought was sweet. It was also probably to get more time to herself so she could think. Honestly I don't think she does or says anything unintentionally unless it's unexpected collateral damage. Like when Jinx went ahead and did Piltover 9/11 immediately after she got the council to agree of Jayce's peace plan. Not something she saw coming at all and if she did she would not have let the plan pass. All of that comes from a fear of making mistakes, last time she was "wrong" she was forced from her home by her own mother.

Anyway, this post is already long as hell so I'm gonna call it here and maybe make a part 2 for season 2 if y'all want that. There's so much detail in this show it's so hard to talk about it without going on for days and days but that's what I love about it fr. So, in conclusion, Mel and Jayce are girlboss and malewife personified, and if the hex strap was canon it would definitely have been made after these two start fucking. The end ♥️

[angelinthefire]

I thought it would be fun to talk about all the musical segments in season 2 of Arcane. Here's where you can find other posts.

"Spin the Wheel"

This one's fun because of the way that it speaks to and parallels Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger.

[Verse 1] Go spin the wheel and see where it lands Join in the circus, stay for a dance, and Right when the war quiets down, ya strike up the band Keep marching on, my friends And do what you can

[Verse 2] Wait 'til your brothers and your sisters, see where you been And if you loved the journey more than the end, go ahead Just turn that hourglass around and count to ten This ain't goodbye no more Nah, it just began

[Verse 3] Go and make some mistakes, you live and you learn And where the chips fall, it's not your concern, nah Like the wind gonna breeze, the fires'll burn Just let the gears, my friend Oh, just let the gears, my friend Let 'em turn

It's a very 1960s-ish, blowin' in the wind, type of song. It's Heimerdinger specifically singing about his personal journey.

The lyrics speak of having a lot of experience, and still have a bit of his old passivity: "And where the chips fall, it's not your concern" reflects where he's at at the beginning of the episode. He's just been doing his thing in AU Zaun for a while and not too concerned about getting back.

On the other hand, right in the first verse: "Right when the war quiets down, ya strike up the band / Keep marching on, my friends / And do what you can" So the passivity is in accepting the bigger circumstances, but he's not the same old Heimerdinger in his ivory tower. He is "doing what he can", he's an active part of the community etc. He's found a kind of balance.

But of course the song isn't just about Heimerdinger. It's also about Ekko and Jayce. And the juxtaposition betweeen them is so great. Of course everyone always points out how Ekko is having a nice vacation while Jayce is experiencing The Horrors. But there's so many points of comparison.

From the beginning, Ekko and Jayce are shown to be on parallel jouneys. They're even both crossing bodies of water, or what used to be a body of water in Jayce's case.

They're both looking at the destruction caused by hextech.

They even both have hammers. Which is definitely a deliberate thing, since Ekko doesn't really need one for what he's up to. Ekko's hammer is also clearly not a Talis-brand tool.

And that is just such a brutal lyric for that shot of Jayce.

But then the juxtaposition also poses the question: what's the difference between Jayce and Ekko? What's going to keep Ekko from making the same mistakes?

Part of it is their approach to hextech. The lyrics talk about being in it for journey more than the end. Letting life go on and focusing just on what you can do.

(And just to be clear, I'm personally philosophically and politically opposed to this message. People can change the world deliberately, for the better, with the right level and kind of organization, and the correct approach. I'm a Marxist. But this post is about the show, not politics proper.)

Jayce's approach was very goal-oriented. He was not about "just letting the gears turn". He was about changing the world.

Whereas Ekko is literally pursuing hextech for the journey. He wants to use it to get home.

As well, Jayce is just dunked head-first into the ultimate - and unforseeable - consequences of his actions. Whereas Ekko starts from a context where he understands the damage and loss that hextech can bring.

And in the end, we see the arcance punishes Jayce, in a way, for being so headstrong and thinking he can master this force of nature. While Ekko, by being more limited, is literally able to put the anomaly in a jar and use it for his own purposes. He's the one who's actually able to harness the arcane.

And of course the other part of the answer to the question of what the difference is between Jayce and Ekko is provided in the sequence itself.

The difference is that Ekko has someone with perspective actually helping him, instead of trying to hold him back.