#please give me vi and tobias bonding

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Jinx’s Parenting

Before I begin: I am the youngest of three, but due to my oldest sibling being rather immature my other sibling and I had to shift up the line in terms of stereo typical “oldest child, middle child, youngest child”. So I am writing this from the perspective of someone who is the youngest, but more often than not treated like the middle child. Just wanted to put things in perspective when it comes to my view on siblings. Alright? Alright.

From the beginning we know that Jinx, or Powder as she still was, could not have been raised in any worse an environment. Her childhood home was in the lowest slumps, a place where the dregs topsiders don’t want to think about go. Little is known about this time in her life. We can infer that her mother was caring, as a hallucinating Vi mistook Caitlyn for her mother in a scene where she received possibly her first gentle touch in years. As for her father, we don’t know anything.

Next there’s Vander, whose parenting of Powder we also know very little about. Vander spent most of his parenting time on Vi. Not because Vi was a problem child, at least no more than any of the others, but because she was the oldest and thus able to look after the others during the majority of the time when Vander couldn’t. Not that Vander neglected Powder, the two seem to have a little ritual that cheers Powder up and Vander quickly knows something is wrong when the ritual doesn’t work.

Vander’s parenting of Powder is best seen through Vi’s parenting of Powder. Now, right off the back, there is a problem. Vi shouldn’t have to be a mother to Powder, but with Vander running the Lanes there’s little choice in the matter. Vi is far from a perfect mentor or leader. In fact, I’m of the mind that Vi is an un-natural leader. Sure, Vi has a charisma to her, but she would rather do everything herself than involve others. This isn’t leader behavior, it’s the attitude of someone with a guilt complex a mile wide. Vander’s failure of parenting is seen in Vi’s unhealthy selflessness. There is rarely a moment in the show where Vi acts selfishly. Even her ignoring Caitlyn’s issues are all for the sake of making sure Powder is safe. She has no personal desires that she pursues to better herself, only to save Powder (and maybe get revenge on Silco for everything, but I think if keeping Powder safe meant leaving Silco alone Vi would gladly ignore him). 

And it’s Vi’s most selfish act of the series which cements this connotation of “personal care=bad things for people I love” in Vi’s mind. After watching her brothers and father die, after being badly injured, and already blaming herself for leading Mylo and Claggor into a rather-in retrospect-obvious trap; Vi is confronted with the fact that it was all Powder’s fault. Vi lashes out, hitting and cursing(jinxing) Powder for disobeying her order to stay home. When Vi sees the literal blood on her hands, Powder’s blood, she realizes she needs a moment and steps away. I think we can all agree by now that Vi was definitely not abandoning Powder. Vi needed time to herself, to process the absolute avalanche of trauma just dumped on her, but in doing so Silco got Powder. All because Vi had to take care of herself for a moment.

Back to Vi’s parenting of Powder. Vi was unfortunately the best at raising her sister. Unfortunate not because Vi wasn’t up to the task, but- again- Vi herself is a child. Vi is always encouraging of Powder, she thinks her sister is the smartest person in all of Piltover and Zaun and is more than willing to knock any heads that would deny the fact: even Powder’s. Every time Vi pushes Powder, it’s because she knows her sister can make the jump. The only time Vi benches Powder is when they are going after someone who’s capable of capturing Vander and killing Benzo along with a handful of enforcers. 

Later, when Vi meets Jinx, she is more than willing to overlook anything her sister had to do to survive. “It doesn’t matter”, they are together. It’s only when Vi sees the violence Powder-Jinx-is now capable of that she begins to hesitate. Jinx easily murdered firelights and when pushed she tried to shoot Vi herself. When Vi leaves with Caitlyn on the bridge, I don’t think it was just her wanting to save Cait, but that she was afraid to face Jinx, to accept that Powder has been replaced by this apparent monster of Silco’s design. Even at the tea party, Vi was still willing to accept Powder/Jinx for everything that she was. Vi’s selflessness would likely put up with any abuse if it meant she could stay with her sister, to make up for ‘abandoning’ her. It’s only when Caitlyn’s life is threatened, someone Vi has grown to love and appreciate, that Vi can no longer meet Jinx’s demands

Finally, lets talk about Silco.

Silco is not a good father. He is, scientifically speaking, the worst father. No one can deny Silco’s love was unconditional, but this is his greatest failure. Enabling and encouraging Jinx’s behavior is not healthy for either of them. Not only that, but Silco actively manipulates Jinx into a codependent relationship. Feeding into her paranoia until the only one Jinx believes she can love and trust is him. Silco’s encouragement of Jinx’s “inner monster” was basically him denying her the right to be Powder. And if only SIlco is able to love that monster, how could Vi’s love ever compare to his? Silco would kill for her, more than that: Silco would damn the nation of Zaun for Jinx. His own trauma makes him blind to the damage he is inflicting on Jinx, Silco’s mindset has kept Jinx stuck in her childishly violent nature. If the time had come where Jinx could act independently of Silco, leave the nest he had built for her, I think Silco would simply find a new tie to connect Jinx to him. 

I want to quickly revisit Vander, because it’s Silco’s and Vi’s experiances with him that determined how they approached Powder/Jinx. Vander held Vi accountable, so Vi was willing to accept Jinx until Jinx refused to take accountability. Silco desired respect and loyalty, so he crafted Jinx to be ever loving and loyal to him. Vander betrayed Silco, permanently scarred him. Nothing Jinx can do could change his opinion of her. It’s only the thought of Jinx loving someone else, of being loyal to another(something which could lead to another betrayal) that Silco moves to reinforce the Jinx’s need for him and his guidence.

Silco telling Jinx she's perfect, I think was his way of being kind if for a selfish reason. He wants her to remember him with as much love and fondness as possible, so Jinx will never even think of offering that same love to Vi, the reason she shot her father.