#i want silco to be alive so badly

[lullabyes22-blog]

Do you think Jinx would've liked Nandi if she were still alive? 🤔

tw: stalking, manipulation

In a timeline where Nandi would've lived, I highly doubt she'd have stayed with Silco if he went the crimelord route. She'd be bitterly upset about what happened to him, and the monster it turned him into. But the ruthless methods he'd begin employing to get what he wants would horrify her, and she'd break it off with him.

(After which I can see him having difficulty letting her go, as she's one of the last remnants of his old life. Her abandonment would only deepen the betrayal trauma - albeit I doubt she'd be on speaking-terms with Vander ever again after the river fiasco went down.)

Conversely, after Vander's murder, Silco might take a shine to Powder and also use the little girl as a means to inveigle his way back into Nandi's life. Given that Nandi's specialty was literally soothing and offering palliatives to the damaged, disturbed and discombobulated, she'd have the know-how to deal with a traumatized child like Powder.

Silco would use it as an excuse to summon Nandi for 'treatments,' or drop by Janna's Temple at strange hours, or shadow her in his limo after she goes home. In this timeline, I can also see Sevika and Nandi being estranged because Sevika chose to follow Silco's cause. Nandi would have a divided heart whenever telling Silco to back off and give her space, because part of her wants badly to see Sevika, despite their differences.

Basically it'd be a deeply creepy, controlling and uncomfortable set-up.

As for whether Jinx would like Nandi - in her current persona, doubtful, because Nandi's a very soft and feminine sort of archetype that Jinx outwardly bristles at (but also secretly is fascinated by because How is softness? Why is kindness? Just lhmgfss).

In the early days, post-Cannery blast? Absolutely. She'd need a semi-tender influence given Silco's network is a literal pit of vipers (and Silco, albeit faultlessly attentive, has zero morals).

I do wonder how driven and Jinxlike she'd end up if Nandi found a way to defuse if not erase that wound, however.

Most tragic outcome: Nandi tries to take Powder away from Silco's aegis, he lashes out in a moment's blind rage, she ends up dead, and Powder is doubly traumatized. After which Sevika would kill Silco, because, "My sister?! You absolute shit."

Least tragic outcome: she becomes a steadying influence at the fringes of Jinx's life, and gives her at least one non-violent female role model to look up to. Jinx keeps trying to play cupid and get her and Silco back together - "So we can be a weird little family - and I don't have to eat Silco's cooking" - all to no avail.

That ship has sailed. But at least Bloody Sunday never happened.

.-.b

[independentzaun]

Sometimes I see stuff like this

And I just... ugh, I want some Vander and Silco so badly honestly.

The funny thing is that with my post arcane Silco... If Vander somehow turned out to be alive, and walked into the last drop Silco would honestly just be like "...look if you want to pick up the old fight again, we can. Sevika is right here, and we can do it. That said… We've both hurt each other Vander, and these days I might not agree with the choices you made but I understand them better now."

Silco kinda just: if you want to fight we can. I wont back down… but we don't HAVE to either.

[laraaevans]

Jinx and Ekko season 2 unofficial scene

Jinx: “Why did you throw my bomb away? Back on bridge?”

Ekko: “Why? You would’ve disintegrated in the blast! I… I would’ve lost you! You fucking idiot! You traumatized me back there! You were in danger! That’s why I came to your rescue! You had just smiled at me! I saw it! You tragic, beautiful thing.”

Jinx: *laughs and smiles at him genuinely again.*

Ekko: “Jinx!”

Jinx: “You thought I was in danger with Silco when we were kids, didn’t you? You probably thought I hated you and that I had changed. You weren’t wrong about the changed part. Ekko, I was the one who killed Mylo, Claggor and Vander.”

Ekko: “You—what?”

Jinx: “I killed them.”

Ekko: “No. No, that’s impossible.”

JINX: “IT HAPPENED! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO ME! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE! TO ALWAYS WANT TO HELP OTHERS BUT YOU ARE CONSTANTLY A CURSE IN THEIR LIVES! TO HAVE YOUR SISTER PUNCH YOU HARD ACROSS THE FACE, CALL YOU A JINX AND THEN WALK AWAY ONLY FOR HER TO BE ARRESTED AND LEAVE YOU THINKING SHE ABANDONED YOU AND BEFORE YOU KNOW IT YOU THINK SHE’S DEAD!”

Ekko: “Jinx…”

Jinx: “Silco found me and took me in. That’s my story. It’s all true, Ekko. You just weren’t there.”

Ekko: “When I learned you were alive and with Silco, I wanted to get you out of there so badly. You were right. I did think you were in danger. I thought he was going to manipulate you and weaponize you. In the end though, I was right. He did do that. I can tell looking at the broken murderer in front of me.”

Jinx: “Idiot. Do you know the real reason as to why I refused to join you? Do you know what accidentally killing three family members does to a person? I was horrified that I would make that horrible mistake again. I thought Vi was dead. You thought Vi was dead. I’ll let you continue this one.”

Ekko: “When I learned that you were alive, I was,”

Ekko and Jinx (in sync): “so relieved.”

Ekko: “But I was also,”

Ekko and Jinx (in sync): “terrified.”

Ekko: “Claggor, Mylo, Vander and Vi were gone. But I wasn’t alone. I had hope. Because of you.”

Jinx: “Because of you.”

Ekko and Jinx (in sync): “You were the only one I had left.”

Ekko: *Stunned at this realization*

Jinx: *Gives him a soft gaze*

Jinx: “I never joined you and the firelights because I was afraid of the past repeating itself. My biggest fear of all was the possibility of killing you. I was so scared, I didn’t even want to go near you. I couldn’t lose you, Ekko. I couldn’t! The only way that I could accomplish my goal while staying clear of my fear was to put distance between us. To let us grow up apart as two different individuals. It broke my heart to send you away.”

Ekko: “You still care about me.”

Jinx: “Was my fucking smile on the bridge a joke to you? Of course, I care! I always have! Ekko, you might’ve never saved me, but I know I saved you. I saved you from me. For the both of us. And despite all of the sacrifices we’ve had to endure, from separation, to me killing your friends, to you kidnapping Vi, to our bridge fight. In the end, the worst that I’d always feared never happened.”

Jinx: *Walks close to Ekko, tears falling from her eyes as she pulls him close to listen to his heartbeat.* “You’re here. You’re alive, you’re breathing, you’ve grown, you’ve survived. And that’s all I ever wanted.”

[divinegrey]

ENEMY / vi x f!reader

POP ROCKS & PUNCHES, part 13, the finale

series masterlist

and here we come to the end of the series. thank you to all of you for sticking around and reading this. it means a lot <3

prompt: in pain, there is freedom. in freedom, there is change. but have you really changed at all?

words: 4028

warnings: psychological and bodily trauma, extreme angst, hurt/comfort

“No, no, no, please, Rocky, get up.”

Hands sliding under your head— ow— are you lucid? Are you here? Where are you? Who’s with you? Jinx, Jinx? Yeah, that sounds right, you were with her. What were you doing? Did you forget? You never forget.

“Fuck, shit, fuck.” That’s definitely Jinx’s voice. There are hands on your face, hands on your neck— why can’t you feel your arms? Where are your legs? You hardly feel Jinx putting your arms in your lap before sliding her arms underneath you. Somehow, she holds you in her arms. Your head rolls to the side— you can’t control it, you can’t control anything— and she starts walking.

Time blurs.

You don’t know where you’re going. Wherever you end up, it’s dark. Smells like sulfuric acid with a bitterness to it that leaves your stomach churning. Pain flares in your body every other minute and you wonder if this is what the end feels like. Did Vander feel like this when he died? Mylo? Claggor? Is this what they experienced before their souls went away forever?

“Miss Jinx.” That's a new voice, rough and gritty. Who is that?

“Fix her.” Jinx’s voice is desperate. You’ve never heard her this panicked. “Whatever you did to me, do it to her.”

A pause.

Then…

“Put her on the table.”

You’re laid down on a flat surface. You think you are, at least. You’re not sure of anything at this point. Perhaps this is something that happens to everyone when they die; a feeling of floating across a river of hot water that burns in every crevice.

“She’s broken her spine. Severe paralyzation is imminent if it hasn’t already set in.”

Oh. So that’s what happened. Makes sense.

“Fuck! Fix her! Do it, fix her!” Jinx is shouting now. Oh, how badly you want to tell her that you’re okay, that you don’t regret what you did. Not one second of it.

The unknown voice replies clinically, “There may be severe complications.”

“I don’t care! If it has a chance of saving her, then fucking do it!” Click. A pistol. Jinx’s pistol. You know that noise well by now. “Fuck, please, just do it.”

Your eyes come into clarity for half a second, enough to see Jinx over you, her hand fisted in your shirt. The dirt smeared on her face is riddled with tear tracks, terror in her eyes. Her other arm holds out the shock pistol at someone else— someone out of view, and you can’t turn your head to see who it is. There isn’t a part of your body that you can move willingly and pain has become a constant, the only thing now keeping you awake.

You wonder if you closed your eyes, would they open again?

“And what of Silco?” The stranger asks, purely inquisitive.

To that, Jinx merely replies, “I can’t lose anyone else.”

…

“Fine.” The clink of glasses registers vaguely in your ears. It sounds so distant, so far away. “So be it, Jinx.”

The gun is lowered. Jinx just nods, socketing her pistol on her hip and looking down at you. Your eyes burn from being open, but you look back at Jinx, hoping she can see that you’re still alive behind them, that you’re here.

“This— this is going to hurt,” Jinx says, leaning down closer to you as her hands idly pull on some leather straps to keep your legs and arms bound to the table. Funny. You couldn’t move even if you wanted to. Her voice cracks as she says, “You’ll be okay though, yeah? You’ll be okay. I’m so sorry, Rocky, please, I’m so sorry.”

The earnesty in her voice is new. With one hand, Jinx holds your head and the tears start again, her pink eyes so dull and lifeless that you wonder if she’s alive at all. She presses her forehead to yours, her other hand holding your shirt tightly. You brace— no, you don't, you can’t even move.

Something sharp enters your neck. A pinch.

Everything burns.

It is now that your voice returns to you.

A blood-curdling shriek rips from your mouth, your throat lighting itself on fire with the intensity of the pain that rockets through your body like an atom bomb. The nerves in your body fire up with electricity, your legs and arms contracting against the straps. It’s a pain that comes rolling in waves, each bigger than the one before it. It mounts, pressure in your body exploding from behind your rib cage and making it difficult to breathe.

You stop screaming. You’re not sure when. It doesn’t matter, really, because even if you screamed, it wouldn’t get rid of the nerve-burning flames that lick through every inch of your muscles, through every fiber and strand packed inside of your skin. This is what hell must be like— brimstone and the stench of Shimmer in your nostrils. It’s pervasive.

When your head snaps forward, Jinx pushes it back down, her arm pressing against your collarbones to keep you still. Grunts and shouts slip past your mouth. Snaps and crackles of pain whip through your body like lightning. Peace doesn’t seem to be an option anymore.

“Dear friend,” Jinx chokes out, tears running down on her face. A few of them drip onto your cheeks. “Across the river. My hands are cold and bare.”

The song triggers a memory, your mind flashing to a time where you were sitting on the top bunk of Jinx— Powder back then— and Vi’s bed in the undercroft of the Last Drop. Mylo, Claggor, and Vi were arguing and playing cards, and you were braiding Powder’s unruly hair and putting her favorite clips in place to hold pieces back. You were humming the tune, and Powder was whispering the lyrics.

You were happier then.

“Dear friend across the river,” Jinx continues, her bang tickling your cheek. You want to reach up to brush it away, but another surge of pain sends your body and mind locking up in every possible way. Jinx continues, her voice cracked and broken, “I’ll take what you can spare. I ask of you a penny.”

You can’t even sing the lyrics back.

You don’t feel anything, really. No emotion takes the forefront of your mind. You could be angry because of the pain, but no. That would mean being angry at Jinx.

You could never be angry at her. Disappointed, maybe, but angry? No, she’s your little sister.

“My fortune it will be. I ask without envy.” Jinx’s grip slips and you almost shoot your head up, smacking your skull against hers (not that you want to) if it weren’t for her inhuman speed catching you at the last second. Her eyes are pleading, begging. “We raise no mighty towers, our homes are built of stone.”

Another scream from your mouth. It echoes off the metal walls of the room.

You’re tired.

“So come—” Jinx can’t even finish the line because of the tears clogging her throat. It’s okay, you want to say. You can’t. Jinx inhales shakily. “So come across the river… and find…”

She trails off.

Your vision starts going in and out, everything becoming hazy as the pain ramps up another level. It’s too much. Too much is happening. It feels like all of the bones in your spine are breaking and healing, breaking and healing, over and over and over again.

But before you’re pulled into unconsciousness, the tiniest whisper, in the form of a song, comes from your mouth; “Home.”

Jinx cries, her head falling onto your chest.

The world goes dark.

***

Do you know that feeling when you wake up feeling like you’ve been steamrolled?

Yeah, that’s pretty close to how you’re feeling.

With a rather loud and tired groan, you peel your eyes open. The room is dark, but even then, you see everything with perfectly crisp clarity that… you definitely didn’t have before. Wait, shit, what happened?

The panic runs up and you shoot out of bed. Dull pain knocks against your back and you hiss.

“Fuck,” is all you can say. You glance down at the thick blanket over you, soft underneath your hands. The texture feels— god, why does it feel like that? It’s not unpleasant, simply… strange. More intense. Slowly, you push it away and put your feet on the ground.

Where the hell are you?

This is a place you know. Piece by piece, your mind comes back together from fractured shards and you realize this is your private bunker. This is where you sleep when you’re not at your shop, or flinging guns in the streets of Zaun. How the fuck did you get here?

When you stand up, you do it with incredible speed. You twist just in time to hit the wall with your shoulder. To your surprise, a dent forms in the cracking plaster. And your shoulder? It’s completely fine. Hell, when you roll it back a few times, there’s nary a twinge. This is your shield arm— you know for a fact you get a nasty pain in your shoulder when you throw your shield wrong. This is… new.

You glance down at your hands. For a moment, they shake, until your focus comes back in full. Energy snaps and crackles through your body— you’d almost describe it as feeling twitchy if it weren’t for the fact that you’re standing completely and perfectly still. You’re hardly breathing, but you feel just fine.

Just… fine.

When you turn to face yourself in the tall mirror propped up in the corner of the room, every memory of the past few days comes crashing down on you like the wrath of a hailstorm. The tightness in your throat leaves no room for air and you almost collapse, if it weren’t for the table to your left that provides support when you grab it.

As you squeeze, the shitty, dinged-up metal warps in your hand as if it were melting. You jerk away, flickering back to the mirror.

Staring right back at you are eyes that glow a hue of neon purple. Faint webs of lilac stem from the veins visible around the eye sockets, disappearing briefly only to come back near your neck. Your skin has taken on a paler complexion, haggard and worn out. You push your shirt aside— the purple in your bloodstream goes to your back.

Where you fell and paralyzed yourself. All in prevention of Jinx blowing up the Council Chamber. Jinx—

You remember. The fog in the back of your mind reveals the memories of her carrying you— you— all the way back into Zaun like she’d done it before and laying you on a table. You recall the injection in your neck; your hand drifts to the tender spot. The only thing there is a pockmark of a scar. Where the needle must’ve been.

“Oh, god,” you exhale, squeezing your hands into fists. Jinx had been there with you every second— you’d been yelling and screaming until your throat was raw and she held you the same way you would hold her when she’d wake up from nightmares in the middle of the night.

She saved you.

You would’ve died. There’s no beating around the bush with that.

Slowly, your eyes turn to the table. A note, the edges frayed, and atop the paper, a ragged, worn-out stuffed bunny. Tears spring to your eyes and they tingle your skin, a faint burning that you realize you don’t feel very much after a few seconds. Purple droplets fall on the metal table as you take the stuffed bunny into your hands with all the care in the world. You bring it to your chest and pick up the note.

you never did anything wrong

i’m sorry

-jinx

The first part, though scratched out, you can still read. With the bunny clutched, you lean against the table, hair falling into your face.

History has a history of repeating itself, doesn’t it?

With a scoff, you straighten up. You look at yourself in the mirror, wiping away the tears in your eyes. You fold the note and slide it into the back pocket of your pants. You don’t have time to question how Jinx found your hideout— if she knows where it is, then that’s just better odds of getting back to her. You can get back to her. You will.

You’ll keep trying.

From the closet, you grab a jacket and throw it over your clothes. You rigorously check your bracers, and when you’re done, you pull up the GPS locator on your left bracer. A location pings and the corners of your mouth turn up.

You need to find your girlfriend.

***

Is she even going to want to see you like this?

You realize that with Shimmer in your veins, you’re silent. Somehow, nobody hears you coming, nobody bothers to turn your way. Your hood did an excellent job of placing a veil over your Shimmer-stained irises as you ascended the elevator from the Undercity to the top of Zaun.

You should’ve known you would find her here.

A dozen paces away, Vi stands on the edge of the building. The sky overhead is dark, smears of the sun being chased away by the darkness of the abyss and the moon shining down. Vi looks freezing— she’s shivering, wearing nothing but her pants, boots, and her sleeveless hoodie. Her arms are free of wraps. Her guard is down.

Of course, it would be down when she’s here. The rooftop from your childhood, the one with a location you never shared with anyone else. It was yours and Vi’s secret then, and it is yours and Vi’s secret now. Nothing changed about that.

You understand Jinx’s fears now. The same way she looked at you for the first time when you beheld her with the Shimmer-purple eyes must be the same look on your own face. The anxiety, the wondering of will she still accept me now that I’m like this? Now that your blood has been infused with the very thing that has the highest kill count in the Undercity? You used to bleed red, now you bleed dark purple, and you’re not the same.

You never will be. There’s no reversing what happened to you.

To your left, you push over a broken gutter pipe. The metal clangs on the ground. You restrain a hiss at the ringing that erupts in your ears, the sound heightened tenfold. Just like your vision, your hearing got better because of the Shimmer. You heard rats in the tunnels earlier and the whispering of gossip. You hated every second of it. Now, you simply hear the cadence of Vi's breathing.

“Leave me alone, Cait,” Vi says sharply, but she hardly moves a muscle at the noise. “I’m fine. Go back home.”

Caitlyn?

At least someone had been keeping an eye on her. You glance past Vi’s shoulder— the Council Chamber, for the most part, is relatively unharmed. One of the spires, however, is completely decimated. You reckon with the smarts you have that Jinx had pulled the trigger, but the targeting mechanism got thrown askew because of you.

Doesn’t matter now, does it?

You take a single step forward, but you practically stomp to make yourself heard.

“Didn’t you hear me? I don’t need another sympathy talk— I don’t need anything. I need to keep looking, they have to be out there,” Vi says insistently, the muscles in her forearms rippling as she squeezes her fists together. “They— they have to be.”

Your voice is a ghost in the wind. “I’m right here.”

Vi’s head snaps up. She turns around, the steel grey of her eyes reflecting in the street lights twinkling from below. You stay obscured in the shadows, holding an old, near-ruined bunny in your chest. But, as you drop the hood, it’s undeniable that she sees your eyes dancing in the darkness.

“Jinx?” Vi whispers, but even you hear the confusion in her voice.

Now or never. You swallow the anxiety in your throat and reveal yourself entirely. The single lamp overhead illuminates your weary frame. A pursed smile drifts to your face. “It’s me.”

She takes one step to you. Slowly, her eyes take you in. One step followed by another, then another, and then she’s running towards you, tears running down her face. Her arms sweep you into a hug, broad shoulders lifting you off the ground for a fraction of a second. She’s holding you for dear life, almost sobbing into your shoulder. You keep your hands to yourself— you don’t want to hurt her, you’re stronger than you were before. You can’t hurt her. You’ve hurt her enough.

“Oh my god, fuck.” Vi pulls away, putting her hands on your face. Her gaze searches you, thumbs softly touching the lilac veins under your eyes. She exhales once, a smile on her face, and she pulls you in for a kiss that sends every ounce of air in your lungs flying out through your nostrils. You taste the salt and the grief on her mouth and you yearn to alleviate all of the worries in her mind. You press back into her lips, just a fraction and you register how much less you feel.

Your skin has gotten thicker, both metaphorically and physically. The cold doesn’t seem to make your skin numb anymore, and kissing… the pressure isn’t the same. You hardly feel it and you have to choke back the tears in your eyes before Vi gets scared away.

“Stop fucking almost-dying on me,” Vi whispers. “Seriously, it’s getting fucking old.”

“I’m—” you swallow the lump in your throat. “I’m sorry.”

Vi pulls away, her finger on your chin forcing you to look at her. Her face softens. “No, that was— that was a really shittily timed joke. I’m just so fucking happy to see you’re okay.”

“I’m different,” you say, stating the obvious. Idly, your fingers twirl one of the bunny’s ears. You push the bunny into Vi’s chest, causing her to drop her hand to it. You hang your head, waiting, just waiting for Vi to react.

She doesn’t.

Her hands curl over the bunny and she takes it from your grip. Your hands are shaking so violently that the only cure is to tuck them under your arms, folding yourself away from Vi completely.

She looks at you. “What happened, Rocky?”

“After I pushed Jinx off the— the thing back at the warehouse, I landed on my back to absorb the fall,” you start explaining, the words rough in your mouth with a bitter taste. “She was barely hurt because of the Shimmer. I paralyzed my spine. I wasn't able to move and I couldn’t speak or talk. I could barely breathe.”

“Rocky…” Vi trails off. She has no words. You press on.

“She took me somewhere. Whatever happened to her to make her eyes change happened to me. Someone else was there, I didn’t recognize his voice.” You wipe your nose, a snotty inhale because you’re crying. “It hurt so bad, Vi, I thought I was going to die because of the fall, but the shit I got injected with hurt a thousand times more. Jinx was there for me. Through every second of it.”

Vi blinks quickly, her eyes glossy. She tilts her head at the bunny, taking in the stuffed animal and squeezing it like a stress ball. Her lips are quivering when she looks back at you.

“She sang the song to me. I blacked out again and I woke up in my bunker. She knew it where it was somehow and— and she had that,” you finish, gesturing to the stuffed bunny that Vi holds. “I don’t know how long it’s been. How much time has passed since the—” you wave your hand. “But I came to find you. First thing.”

“Three days.”

What?

Vi says firmly, “Three days, Rocky. Three days I thought you and Jinx were dead. We couldn’t find your bodies anywhere. The ramp you stood on collapsed after you jumped off with her.”

“Vi… I…”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Vi says, cupping your cheek. She wipes away the translucent purple tears on your cheeks and smiles at you. “You saved a lot of people, you know. You’re a hero. They— Caitlyn made a fucking speech about you. Even Jayce talked about you.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not, I swear!” Vi places her forehead on yours and you shut your eyes, allowing yourself a deep inhale. The scent of Vi comes into your nostrils, replacing the pervasive smell of toxic chemicals. It’s soothing. You lean your body into Vi and she wraps her arms around you again.

The air is silent.

“Why did you go after Jinx?” Vi asks softly into your ear.

“I promised I wouldn’t let you down again,” you reply a nanosecond after. It’s the truth. Isn’t that the very thing that’s been weighing you down like an anchor for so fucking long? Letting people down?

“You’ve never let me down, Rocky. Not ever.” Vi shakes her head, taking you in once more. “I love you. With everything I fucking have, okay? You’re so important to me, you've never— you’ve done so much. You never have let me down.”

She releases you from the chains wrapped around your mind. For so long, you let yourself be held down by metal that stifled you and forced guilt down your throat. But Vi, of course, Vi is the one to pull those chains apart and snap the links until they’re broken by your feet.

With that, you just nod. A little courage goes a long way; you get up on your tippy-toes and put your hands in Vi’s hair. You press a little harder than you usually would, just to chase the feeling of her kissing you again. Vi’s arms, her wonderfully strong yet soft arms wind around your waist, pulling you flush to her.

It feels like liquid gold on your lips. It feels like the sun has kissed your forehead with a blessing in the tendrils of light because of the love in your chest. Bursting at the seams, all for the woman who holds you just the way she did before.

“I love you so much it scares me,” Vi says. “So much.”

You thought, back when you first dropped down on her with a gun in your hand to her head, in the middle of your shop, that you both changed.

Have you really? You don’t think so anymore. Maybe some things did— things change eventually, they always do. But… you know that the younger you and the younger Vi would love each other the same way you do in the present. How’s that for change?

Vi starts grinning when she kisses you again and that makes you smile, so now you’ve ended up looking like fools on the rooftop where you spend your days talking and talking, going over everything you could think to talk about, all while eating the pop rocks you would steal from the candy store.

When you finally part from Vi, you lay your head on her chest. The heavy thump… thump… thump of her head in her chest does wonders to soothe your worries. You smile at the edge of the building. You might just be tired, but you almost see the young, somewhat-innocent versions of you and Vi sitting side by side on the edge. They’re both turned to look at you and Vi now. The smiles on their faces are bright, and you see their hands slide together.

Feels something like fate.

You glance at Vi, and you can tell she’s thinking about the same thing.

You meet each other halfway for another kiss. Her hands drift to your waist, and your arms move around the back of her neck.

Through hell, you both came out standing.

There’s a long way to go.

“I love you,” you whisper into her mouth, a response to what Vi said moments ago.

She smiles at you, “And I love you, Pop Rocks.”

“Oh, shut up,” you murmur, leaning into her lips.

Everything will be okay. You know it.

~~~~~

A/N: and here we are. we've reached the end. to those of you who've been here since the start, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read this fic. cheers to rocky and vi, and have a good day/night <3

[aspoonofsugar]

Could you rank the Arcane's characters from the best written to worst?

Hello anon!

I don't think there are badly written characters in Arcane to be honest. At least I have not noticed badly used characters or twists that made no sense in character arcs. Each character fulfills its role either thematically or structurally. And this is what a well written character should do to begin with.

Anyway, when it comes to the charactert that I personally find the best written, the answer is easy:

The first season’s main focus is Powder’s journey to become Jinx, so it is not really surprising that they put extra care in her.

Her evolution feels realistic, layered and she never loses her core humanity that makes her sympathetic despite her spiral.

So, in the end... why was Jinx born? Who did create her?

Jinx is Piltover and Zaun’s Tyke-Bomb. She is a child born in the middle of the two cities’ conflict and the combination of her environment with her inner fragility (powder) makes her detonate.

This is well shown in the opening scene of the series:

There we see the same effect later used to convey Jinx’s confusion and mental illness. At the same time, we see how Powder has been surrounded by loss and violence since she was a small child. It is this violence that ends up molding her.

On one hand she is clearly scared and disturbed by it:

On the other hand she is taught that she should become more violent:

Mylo: So stick with us! Take a punch or two.

Zaun tells its children that they must be strong, they must be violent if they want to survive. Vander himself has taught so to his family. So, Powder finds herself caught in this contradiction. She fears violence, but she has been conditioned into wishing to be violent.

What is more, there is an additional layer to Powder and the concept of “violence” and “strength”. For parents in Zaun, it is essential that the children are strong to survive. However, for Powder being strong becomes a necessary condition to be loved.

Powder internalizes that in order to be loved, she should be strong.

This is not surprising if one considers Powder’s early years and especially her parents’ death.

Powder and Vi’s parents choose an ideal over their own daugthers. They choose to go to war and leave their children behind:

Vander: I led us across the bridge, thinking that things could change. If I hadn’t, your parents would still be alive.

As a result, Powder learns two things about love. First of all, love is not forever. Loved ones can be stolen from you. Secondly, love is not absolute. There are some ideals that come before love, at least for some people. So, Powder does her best not to be left behind. She tries to be a part of Vi’s ideal as well. Vi wants to fight against Piltover, so Powder wants to fight against Piltover too. Vi is strong, so Powder needs to keep up.

If she does not, then she will be left behind again. And this is exactly what happens in Powder’s eyes here:

Powder: But families stick together. You said it yourself.

Vi: I know what I said...

Powder: I want to fight. I can help.

Vi: You’re not ready.

Her family leaves her to go fight a dangerous enemy. They leave her behind because she is weak. For Powder this is just a repeat of her parents leaving her and Vi.

So, as any well set-up bomb Powder clearly explodes and the consequences are devastating:

Since this moment on, the whole story is presented as Silco and Vi’s fight over Jinx/Powder’s soul. However, even if Silco and Vi may seem as opposite forces in Jinx’s life, the truth is that they are not perceived as so differnt by Jinx.

For example, Jinx cares about them because both tell her that her being “different” is not wrong:

Vi: You know, Powder, what makes you different makes you strong.

Silco: Don’t cry. You’re perfect.

Deep down, this is what Jinx is looking for. She wants someone that would love her unconditionally, even if she is “different”:

Jinx: I thought maybe you could love me like you used to. Even though I’m... different.

Yes, here Jinx is saying that she is different from her past self, but there is an additional layer to this in how she deep down perceives herself as different, odd, wrong.

What is truly tragic about it, though, is that Jinx is never unloved. Many people care about her deeply. Vander, Vi and her adoptive brothers all care about Powder. And later on Silco starts caring about her too and Ekko is shown to keep on caring for her, despite it all. However, Jinx has internalized that all the love others have for her is somehow false, or at least conditional. They will betray her, if she is not useful to them (let’s highlight this really never happens). They will choose their ideal over her, if given the chance (again, not really true). Because of this, Jinx herself keeps sabotaging her own relationships. Especially, in the second part of the series. Vi comes back for her, but she is unable to truly welcome her sister back because she starts a one-sided rivalry with Caitlyn. Silco is ready to basically give up his life dream for her sake and Jinx is too paranoid to even realize it, until it is too late.

It is fitting that by the end, she symbolically chooses Silco over Vi after having killed him. A dead person, after all, can’t betray you and his love can’t change. It is eternal. If by accident Jinx had ended up killing Vi, instead, it is highlyg probable she would have chosen Powder instead.

So, in the end... who created Jinx? The answer is Powder herself, but also... the entirety of Zaun and Piltover whose conflict has defined Powder’s life since childhood.

In a sense, Jinx is so stuck in this conflict that she can’t even think to overcome it. She keeps going back to it:

Silco: We’ll show them. We’ll show them all.

The words Jinx hears in her mind through Silco’s voice are after all just Vi’s words:

Vi: Mylo’s wrong, Powder. You’re stronger than you think. And one day... this city is gonna respect us.

They are the words of generations of people in Zaun that have basically been living in Piltover’s shadow. They have been living in juxtaposition with the richer city, a sacrifice to progress.

So, by the end, Jinx simply takes the confusion and chaos she has inside to the outside:

She does so because this is what she has been taught by her two role models (Vi and Silco). She does so, despite neither Silco nor Vi really wanting Piltover’s destruction by that point.

So, Jinx is a child caught in the conflict and as she grows up, she (together with Vi) ends up embodying this neverending conflict. As a matter of fact the two sisters’ relationship is meant to symbolically represent the two cities’ bond where one keeps living in the shadow of the other. As the story progresses, it is possible their own relationship evolves into that of the two cities’ more and more.

Thank you for the ask!

[emptymasks]

Arcane Viktor Plush?!?! And Silco to match!?! They’ll only come alive and be for sale if enough people are interested! 

There's a Twitter poll and Google form in the replies below, please answer them! if you want a direct link the info thread is linked in my carrd emptymasks (clickable link in bio and pinned post). Can’t put direct links here or of course Tumblr blocks the post.

They will be £50/$68 each. International tracked shipping is £6 / €15 / $24. I need to sell 30 of each to break even, and have to buy 100 of each as that's the minimum manufacturer's will allow. Please only vote if you will 100% buy. Pre-orders will open on Feb 21st. The Twitter poll is to vote which plushie you want, or both, and the Google form has a couple more questions and also you can enter your social media username or email if you want to be notified when pre-orders go live! They will be live on Feb 21st on my Etsy shop unless we don't get enough interest by the 20th.

The minimum I can order of these babies is 100 of each and I need to sell at least 30 roughly to break even on them. So please help share! Reblog this post, retweet my tweets about! Feel free to share and link back to these posts on other social media, in your Discords, wherever. Reblogs help to boost the post! Likes don’t. I want to get as many people on board to order these as possible, I really badly want to be able to make them.

[togetherhearted]

Howdy, Would you write Silco, Viktor, Local Cuisine Boy and [a mystery character] with a reader who has a tendency to double down. If they are found in a compromising situation/position by others, their response is "Yeah this is exactly what it looks like". If they are challenged to do something, "Sure but I bet I could do [same challenge x 100]". Basically, they are all about breaking through their own limits, making no excuses for themselves in an effort to be the best version of themselves.

Wooosh, I hope I'm not too late! Thanks for waiting, I hope I did your request right. I took the permission to change few things, hoping you don't mind!

Also,mistery character is brought to you by the randomizer, as always.

Silco,Viktor,Local Cuisine Boy and Sky with an S/O that "doubles down"

"Are you insane?!" Silco questioned you, clearly upset "They could have killed you" "But they didn't" You hissed when your partner splattered alcool on your cuts.

You frowned when Sevika pointed out to you that if you were alive it was thanks to her.

"What where you thinking?!" Silco insisted, for being such a menace to everyone he had a soft spot for few people "The chembarons were trying to get rid of you. I was just trying to prevent that!" Your partner finished to patch you up "There was no need, my dear. I can do this alone."

You beamed, slamming the paper on the table "Ah!Look at this!"The other smiled smugly, before putting his down. A perfect score.

You sat down, disbelieved. "I thought I could do better than you this time, Viktor" "Eh, that's unfortunate" God, you wanted to rip that smirk off of his face so badly "Tks, just you wait. I'll ace the next test."

Viktor looked at you, now smiling softly "You can just ask me to study with you, love" His face inched closer to playfully boop your nose with his.

...Sugar, eggs, flour, everything was here.

"Really, little lamb, you don't have to do this for me" You grabbed a bowl "Nonsense, I'll show your parents that I can prepare your favourite cookies!"

The young man sighed, passing a hand through his hair, you sure were stubborn and often for trivial stuff like this.  He couldn't fight a little smile, though; your love for him matched no one.

"At least let me help?" You almost hit him with a spoon "Absolutely no. This is a fight I must win alone" He chuckled, resting his head on your shoulder.

Sky observed your hunched figure from the door, nose in pile of papers.

She was aware how much of a hard worker you were, bitterly smiling at the thought she always fell for people who put so much effort in their work; striving to better themselves and the others, sometimes forgetting about their own health.

"Are you heading home soon? We could walk together" She mumbled, loud enough to make you hear "Yeah...I should probably go home. I'm tired" Sky's eyes sparkled as you sat up and hooked your arm with hers.

[independentzaun]

💍 Arranged Marriage AU or 🔪 Serial Killer AU for Renata and Elise?

Send one of the following emojis, and I will give you one idea (or more) for our muses to interact in this setting: Still accepting

Interesting choices!

Arranged marriage AU

So with how Elise is set up (traveling, immortal, etc) I had to think for a moment but... COMPLETE AU set somewhere other than Zaun. I'm thinking a fantasy verse, but could be a cyberpunk corporation thing or something else. The core of it is that when Elise ends up in this particular universe something goes wrong for her on arrival, and she gets hurt so badly she actually gets amnesia for a while. However she keeps her magical abilities, and between those and her willingness to help people she gets adopted into a powerful family more because "we can't let someone else have access to her and it'd be a waste to kill her" than anything else. Renata could either be part of another family, or she could be the second in command for Silco (once again) whose been working at getting access to the family Elise gets adopted into and the family believing Silco wont stop makes a deal. His trusted second in command gets married to their adopted mage. If it's Renata being part of another family honestly I think she was raised to be some kind of Warlord basically, or a security specialist who takes a very aggressive route to ensuring her charges stay safe. Maybe her family has recently received a title or some kind of promotion or whatever so they need to ensure their power base whereas the family Elise is with needs money but has land or some other resource so joining the two families together makes sense. Renata probably wouldn't be the heir to the family, but something like the "most trusted cousin or third daughter" or something like that. Known, trusted, powerful, but not going to be the top person unless something strange happens.

Serial Killer AU

Okay so there's two ideas that came to mind. One of them pretty dark with an optional real dark path. Both of them set in a modern style world.

Idea one: Elise gets hired on as a doctor somewhere, but has been loosing her compassion and seeing a repeat of a specific kind of disease or something else decides it's worth it to just start hastening people's deaths so she can examine the bodies and get a better idea of what's going on. Renata is the security person at the hospital, and ends up finding Elise at the wrong time. Elise uses her blood magic to make Renata helpless, and it basically comes down to "you can help me, ignore me, or disappear" for all intents and purposes. Obviously Renata can't just disappear so she ends up lowkey helping. Maybe reluctantly and more due to showing up at the wrong time more than once at first but she ends up helping all the same.

Idea two: Under a cut cause length and cause dark stuff.

Renata as the serial killer and she abducts Elise. Absolutely believes she kills Elise, absolutely enjoys it, absolutely is shocked when Elise the next day is just "So can I leave now?" and is alive. After that Renata starts just... experimenting on Elise. Trying to figure out what will hurt the most, but heal faster or slower. If one thing seems to make Elise more afraid than other things. How far she can push the edge to actually killing Elise without just doing something like dissolving Elise in acid or tossing her through a wood chipper cause "that'd be boring and too easy". At the same time there's also days, or even weeks of just... Renata being friendly, giving Elise food, helping her with her wounds, and the like because she does want Elise to heal fully between "sessions" and she also starts making comments that if it wasn't for Elise she'd have killed at least six other people by now so isn't it lucky Elise is there to suffer in their place?

Optional dark path: Elise gets tired of the pain and suffering and maybe gets something close to stockholm syndrome and just... offers to help Renata. Starts talking about how Renata must be lonely with no one else understanding, or helping, or accepting but Elise can help. So Renata curious to see what happens starts bringing victims down, and getting Elise to help.