#while doing this meljay reply

[allpossibilitiesold]

i've just been thinking about how in addition to the you know, snapped leg, fucked up ribs, bruises and cuts, the rash from the anomaly in a in a few palaces he probably also fucked up his hands to an extent. at least some surface level cuts if not deeper. at least a few burns on on his hands or along his wrists from you know. literally tearing apart his hammer and then having to turn it into his leg brace which had to involve fire and all the force he had left

[ahumanintraining]

rhythm is an act of god

can a man of science believe in something as improbable as true love? — meljay. nsfw. praise and workship kink-ish. (ao3 link)

For a so-called man of science, Jayce has always been drawn to the divine.

Ever since that cloaked mage saved his mother and him from the raging blizzard and cold winter frost, Jayce was left with visions of the sky above and the universe beyond, outlined in archaic symbols he could barely decipher. He was haunted with the dreams of glowing runes, seeking magic with a fixated voracity disguised as scientific research. He obsessed over the crystal blue rune he was gifted and wore at the pulse of his wrist like it was the only thing giving him purpose and life.

He always denied this of himself. He long realized that his childhood story doesn’t receive approval among colleagues and professors. Even his mother frowns when he recounts what happened — even while it all happened to her and saved her life. In entrance interviews to the Academy, Jayce always lied about his research interests, spouting some impassionate answer about improving his family’s toolmaking capabilities or contributing to Piltover’s legacy, when in reality, he was chasing visions of the “impossible.”

But everything changed that night — the night that Viktor and him stabilized the crystal. They floated in the air, as if gravity didn’t exist. They proved that magic and the Arcane are natural phenomena as any other, and that they exist between the molecules and matter that science is limited within. Such is gravity that brings the apple back to the earth, such is also the rune that defies time and space as they know it.

And so that night, the impossible became the inevitable.

The question was never how but when.

The same also applies to attraction and affection. The subtle gazes and averted eyes when they shared the room. The electric tension in the air when they attempted for small talk, stilted words and held tongues. He never imagined that a Councilor — much less the illustrious Mel Medarda — would take interest in a mere scholar like him.

But perhaps like Hextech, this was also inevitable, no matter how seemingly improbable.

Now, she is before him, looking down at him with all the poise and grace of royalty, all at the same time bare and undone before him. Her pupils are so wide they swallow her eyes and the golden freckles on her cheeks twinkle like constellations in the sky. A lurid pearl of spit hangs from her bitten-swollen lips, and she breathes heavily, her chest glistening with the slightest layer of sweat. The soft white moonlight casts long shadows over her, yet spares him a generous view of her inner thighs, shimmering streaks of where his tongue painted over her.

As always, she remains luminous. Golden like the sun even in the dead of night.

“How was that?” he rasps, voice rough with disuse. He can still taste her on his lips. She is smeared all over his mouth, the night air cooling over his lips.

She gifts him a quiet laugh. “That was so good, Jayce,” she tells him, tracing the underside of his jaw with her thumb. “So good. Incredible.”

He smiles, his chest thrumming with delight as he leans into her caress. He has always been eager to please, beguiled by even the most casual of affirmations and compliments, but somehow pleasing her feels like what he is meant to do. Whatever she wants of him, she can have — especially since he desperately wants to give.

“You want more,” he says. It’s not a question.

“Yes,” she replies, nodding her head. “Please.”

“Good.” He stands to his feet and leans over her body, taking a hold of her shoulders and slotting himself between her legs. “Because I’m going to fuck you really good now.”

She gasps then, feeling him hard, teasing at her opening and lubricated with her arousal and his spit. He feels her take his shaft, guiding him inside. He follows through, and she takes him easily in a single thrust.

“Oh! Jayce!” she cries out, as he pushes into her. She envelopes him completely — his body in her open embrace, his cock in her tight cunt.

This feels exactly where he needs to be, exactly where he wants to be.

“Easy does it,” he coos into her ear. He starts a slow and steady rhythm, hearing her moans soften as she stretches to his girth. After just a few thrusts, he can go deeper, harder and she takes him each time with satisfied whines.

Soon they are one, grinding against each other and seeking the next climax. He kisses her sloppily, teeth crashing into hers and bruising her lips. His body moves on its own, faster and more forceful — fueled by her begging for her. She angles her hips up into him, the shift in position making them both groan in delight.

This is perfect — mathematical, even — how his body fits inside her hips while flush against her, how his hand covers her breasts as he thumbs her nipple, how his hips slap the back of her thighs to make such a resonant sound.

“Jayce!” she mewls, accentuating his lunges with breathy sighs. “Oh Janna, fuck me!”

Hearing her cry out to the spirit amuses him a little. He never imagined her a believer of anything. She never talked to him of religion or of the elementals and gods. She always quipped with him about objectivity rather than optimism and seemed much too practical to practice any form of devotion. He always thought of her an atheist, like him. Funny how in the thralls of pleasure the truth of everything comes out.

Not that he is a believer himself; only his toughest critics say he is one of magic. But magic isn’t a religion — in fact, it can be harnessed by hand, steel, and stone. Magic is nothing more than extension of science, he’s proven.

Mel’s moans grow louder, her breath tickling the shell of his ear as she cries out his name. She grows desperate and impatient, pawing at his back and digging her nails into his skin. He cradles her shoulders, bracing her under his body weight as he sinks deep inside her.

Everything he gives to her, she returns in equal pleasure; every action, an equal and opposite reaction. Fucking her feels as good as solving for the final variable, feels as right as balancing an equation — yet he knows there is more to how good this feels than just anatomy, more to how good she is to him than just simply science.

This passion they share. This desire for knowledge and advancement between their minds. This rhythm between their bodies.

This is fate.

“Fuck. Mel,” he grunts, as the familiar sensation of release overcomes him. He wants so much for this moment between them to last longer, but he is already at the edge and as she whines that she’s coming and as she begs for him to finish and as her body is so pliable and as her cunt is so good — he can do nothing to stop.

Perhaps his mind is blurry as pleasure courses through him, but he thinks that as she calls out his name, her eyes flash with white light and golden rays ribbon over her arms and legs. He thinks he sees the sun and stars in her, and he thinks he’s induced something supernatural.

She is divine, he realizes then. She is his goddess, and this is worshipping her — ravishing her, rendering her uninhibited. This is his act of faith: He will fuck her so good that she will lose control and let go of the self-criticism and feelings of inadequacy hanging over her. He will service her until she is separated from the confines of her mind and make her believe that, yes, she deserves to be undone as so.

“Ah! Jayce!” she cries as she orgasms. She vibrates, her legs quivering as her eyes roll back. She takes every last thrust as he spills into her, holding him tight against her.

For a moment, he worries then: If she is truly divine, he wonders if he flies too close to the sun — a man with wax wings. This is too good to be true, after all. He lies next to a beautiful and powerful woman that matches him for mind and spirit, trusts in his ambition to harness the Arcane, adores him for who he is and not just for who he can be.

But then, she comes to, her breathing slowing as her eyes refocus to look at him. She smiles at him, and he realizes — no, he is not Icarus. He will not melt in the face of her sun. He is the earth, that which flourishes green under her warm radiance. He is the sky, the vast sea of blue that covers the earth, and she is the most luminous part of him.

Perhaps this is what true love feels like — if there is such a thing.

And if a man of science can so steadfastly believe in magic, then he certainly can believe in something just as improbable, can’t he?

Yes, he thinks he can.

[literaryspinster]

What is your issue with Melvika? Not trying to be rude, just curious.

I honestly didn’t think my feelings about that ship were out there like that. I made one somewhat negative post about them without tagging it, and I might have said some other stuff in replies to other threads, but nothing that I believed would cement me in the public opinion as a M*lvika anti. But I’ll try to answer this the best I can without pissing people off, because I know there are folks in the fandom who ship them as well as Meljay.

For the record, my policy is usually to ship and let ship, unless there is some weird pedo stuff going on, but M*lvika feels like a different scenario as SO many of the shippers really really hate Jayce (or pretend to hate him while wanting him to be with their favorite character), and I really don’t. So after a while it feels less about genuinely liking a ship and more about shipping it out of spite. “Jayce doesn’t deserve Mel, where is S*vika?” Is such a common sentiment that it just feels disingenuous at times. Of course I am not accusing all M*lvika shippers of being this way, I don’t think that’s the case at all. But I have noticed a pattern.

Also, and I know this might make some hackles raise, but I don’t particularly like S*vika. Her character design is a banger of course, but that’s really the most positive opinion I have about her. I’ve heard it said that her loyalty to Silco is part of why she’s so beloved, but that just isn’t a plus for me, as I also don’t really like S*lco (sorry). Sevika jumping in front of a bullet for him just didn’t endear me to her character, nor did any of her actions after that.

And lastly, I don’t see a relationship with S*vika benefitting Mel in any significant way. It might be considered hot for two very visually striking women to get it on, but what does that do for Mel’s story?

If the idea is for Mel to interact with someone from Zaun, I’m all for that, but I don’t think those interactions need to be romantic. I’m more interested in seeing her have a platonic relationship with Ekko or Vi, and possibly forming a deeper friendship with Viktor.

S*vika is currently at odds with nearly every character on the show, so Mel being with her only stands to isolate her further. At the end of the day, I see S*vika as a villain, and I don’t see Mel as one, possibly a controversial opinion as they both have their reasons for being the way they are, and S*vika most likely did not have the same opportunities as Mel (but then again, neither did Ekko) but that’s where I stand.

I know parts of the fandom see Mel as being villainous and therefore see her getting along swimmingly with the villains, I’ve also seen them ship her with S*lco and/or wish for her to make up with her mother and fight alongside her. All of these hypothetical scenarios just feel like terrible deals for Mel.

This is of course, just my opinion, I know that shipping is meant to be fun and not everyone who ships them needs it to actually happen on the show. I understand that others may see things in S*vika and her potential relationship with Mel that I just don’t see, but that’s my answer to why I personally am not onboard with the ship.

[itsbeenliketenyearsitsprettywild]

on tag responses and reply trains or: "click the readmore for my analysis of the the (mostly) Greek love terms that sum up jayvik and jaymel and also at some point i forget how to shut the fuck up and turn this into what might as well be a thesis paper on jaymel as a duo and How Mel Is Dedicated To Jayce Her Own Way"

starting from op @aurieeeeeenyx's tags that got me thinking:

#you mightve guessed that ive been listening to the hadestown soundtrack again recently#but anyways. jayce going back over and over and failing in timeline after timeline in the hopes that maybe this time. maybe just this once#he'll succeed and get his partner back#viktor putting the whole of his faith and trust in jayce that jayce will come back for him even though he fails again and again#but still viktor cannot imagine not believing in jayce one more time#the way the entire universe hangs in the balance of their bond oh man#i feel like jayvik is beyond categorization they're like the peak of classical romance which is not necessarily kisses and dating etc#but like the purest form of intimacy and affection. or something#i should write a fic abt this#anyways . idk . im a big fan of meljayvik so mel fits in here SOMEWHERE i just havent figured it out yet#if you made it to the bottom of this wall of tags here's a pie 🥧

(the last tag isn't exactly relevant, but hey. free pie 🥧) my response in the replies (with a few spelling edits):

moreso than calling what Jayce and Viktor have 'classical romance' (as such a phrase feel like it could be confused with the Romantic movement in the arts, which doesn't have much to do with love directly), I feel like it would almost be more accurate to describe it using the ancient (and a just few more modern) Greek terms for love. They already exist as a way to delineate the many types of love that can exist either combined or singular that can be part of a relationship between two people. (there's like eight or nine different Greek/Greek-derived words to categorize love at this point depending on who you ask, feel free to look 'em up yourself - there are six ancient Greek ones in there too. the Greeks have been dissecting love for a *very* long time) Of the types of love exhibited between Jayce and Viktor specifically, I think what you're getting at is that it's a bond which involves this incredibly beautiful blend of philia and agape, with a bit of mutual meraki as well. In actual English - their bond is made of deep personal affection on a mental/personality level (philia literally translates to 'soul connection') which isn't hurt by their shared love of creating/inventing new technology together. All of this being further boosted by the fact that they would anything for each other, even if it means damning themselves or other reallities in the process. I'd love to go into meljay as contrast, in large part because their relationship feels pretty unique in terms of what we see in media, but there's only so many characters allowed in a reply lol. feel free to ping me if you want me to put the rest of the deets on this or another post, though (and clarify you want it on a reblog instead of a reply if that's the case, as i default to replies otherwise)!

op's reply:

actually it's funny you say this because the romantic movement in the arts is pretty much what i had in mind just because of the like...aesthetic? i feel like it comes with a certain mood of sublime beauty and some mix of nature/humanity/passion/nostalgia while being both subdued and Not, which the jayvik finale sort of embodies to me if that makes sense (but then again i'm not an art connoisseur so i could be spouting total bullshit) i do agree with your analysis of their bond in the framework of greek terms for love and think that funnily enough it goes back to the orpheus and eurydice thing again (arcane when i come for you and your greek tragedies WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU--) sooo i guess i'll have to do some more research on that and i'd love to hear about your thoughts on meljay! if you feel comfortable i think a reblog might help more people see it (in which case you might need to put my notes and/or your comment as context to this admittedly very short post) but i don't mind either way :D

And, since the notes and comments have been placed, time to continue (I've been using this website for reference and been extrapolating best i can, but I'm no expert on the subject so feel free to correct me on it)

I honestly find JayMel really interesting to analyze from this perspective, because I feel like media doesn't show many relationships with this unique blend of loves, and especially not presented in a way where it's actually given some weight and value to both people within it. So, to start:

This list is very, very long, so let me this for the sake of everyone's sanity...

TL; DR - While Jaymel absolutely involves sexual attraction between the two of them (and is sometimes connected to these more casual, playful moments between the duo), those aren't nearly all the facets of their love. Some of the other types include: how they both enjoy working on Hextech (from the angles of technology and politics respectively), even if they sometimes have to make deals and do things with it they personally don't like; the surprisingly tentative yet compelling nature of their friendship together; the practical ways they (read; mostly Mel) are willing to help and support each other on a much more functional level, and how that in turn plays a very large part in letting them further emotionally connect with one another and deepen their bonds as people.

First (and most obviously), Mel and Jayce's dynamic obviously has a fair amount of eros in it. Eros can best be described as 'sexual love' or 'physical desire for each other' - the kind of love most people (largely allosexuals) assume are a part of "romantic" relationships by default, though one doesn't have to be a couple to act upon mutual eros. Either way, it's absolutely a part of their dynamic that deserves to mentioned and recognized - pretty sure none of us are going to forget the Sextech scene any time soon, and all. But that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their dynamic.

In a fair few scenes where eros between them is evident, there's also pretty obviously some ludus going on. Ludus is one of the more modern categorizations love types, and describes 'playful love' - something more casual or carefree, no strings inherently attached, but a noted expression of affection all the same. You know that forge scene in season 1, where Mel sarcastically calls Jayce's smithing 'a delicate art' and she watches him sexily hammer out some metal, or at the end of that same scene, where she leans into him seductively... only to smack him in the tiddies with his own forge bolt and adds the one-liner, "Hold onto your nuts?" That absolutely reads as ludus following up on the eros within their dynamic. After all, ludus is the kind of love found in booty calls and one night stands, but could also just be enjoying a night out drinking with your pals. Which makes jaymel really interesting, considering the fact that it's also steeped in the opposite type of love....

....Which, in all honestly, I feel like I'll only be able to talk about once I've described meraki. You see, this and the next type of love seem pretty deeply entwined with one another when it comes to my categorizing and understanding of jaymel, but it feels like this is the one best needed to help describe the context of the other. Now, meraki one of the terms coined after the ancient Greeks, being a modern word that most people who don't speak Greek down know about. Essentially (and i could be wrong about the best term to use - but honestly i legitimately feel like this a type of love that shapes them, and don't know a better word to use), meraki is the love of creation, the love one pours into the act of making art or writing poetry or skillfully setting a table - or, best as i can sum all that up, a love of your work/what you do. And, lest we forget, the thing that brought them (alongside Viktor, though he's not the focus of this post) together is... well, Hextech. It's just that the work Jayce and Mel happen to be doing in relation to creating Hextech happen to be quite different in nature. Nonetheless they're both quite necessary for its creation to come to fruition. For Jayce, this 'love of creation' he has for hextech is quite literal - he's one of the two geniuses who invents, designs and very directly builds machines and technology that utilize Hextech within them, and it's obviously from the get go that he loves the idea of it so much that he dedicated his life to it (something something what that means in terms of what he said in the finale-). Mel, meanwhile, also loves Hextech and how she goes about creating it - but, in her case, she creates far less literally than how Jayce and Viktor do, though still plenty important. Because, for all the boys physically create the technology, it wouldn't be able to have nearly as much of an impact as it does if there wasn't someone politically advocating for its use and working for it to become societally integral. For all Viktor and Jayce may love making their gadgets and gizmos that utilize it, she's the one who loves it enough to build it up as A Brand and help get Jayce into top enough form that Hextech can even have its own seat on the council (no matter how much she regrets that decision almost immediately afterwards. But, it's this difference in terms of how they precisely they go about creating Hextech that can lead to a divide in how much they enjoy particular parts of shaping that leads to struggle in staying dedicated to specific parts of the process, which really comes down to their comfort with....

Pragma, or 'practical/dedicated love'. Pragma is the final love term coined after the time of Ancient Greece, and essentially acts as the complete opposite of ludus. While ludus is all about fun and in-the-moment playfulness, pragma is the love shown by doing what needs to be done to keep things functional, even if said actions are not particularly fun or enjoyable themselves. It's not the same thing as agape/'sacrificial' love, because it's not a case of being willing to throw everything just to keep this one person happy. These things are being done because they have to be done to make sure everything stays okay, not because the thing they love comes before absolutely anything else. Though it might seem boring (or maybe even selfish, if you compare it to agape in particular), it's a huge part of all kinds of relationships you can find between people, and says as much about nature of a dynamic as anything else. But, as stated, this type of love between Jayce and Mel is seen very specifically when it comes to their mutual love for Hextech and less directly for each other. In making Hextech and allowing it to flourish as a technology, steps have to be taken to ensure sponsors and investments, so that they never lose access to the resources required to continue working on it. As such, deals have to be cut and made, as seen in the concert scene, and continuing to make sure Jayce and Viktor's projects are properly funded is something they have to do over and over again just to keep things moving. In this sense, the main difference between the two of them in this context is the nuance of their meraki - for all they both enjoy creating Hextech in some way, the types of work they enjoy dedicating themselves to contrast quite a bit. For Jayce, politics and lobbying for funding are only a small part of what he does for Hextech - and not what he gravitate towards naturally, charismatic as he can be. To him, his love of is for the literal process - the one that Viktor both enjoy creating as a team moreso than they'll ever enjoy doing it alone. Meanwhile politicking and dedication to Hextech's social and financial success (which is where a lot of the pragma comes to the forefront) is what Mel enjoys doing - alone if necessary, but preferably with one of the creators of Hextech at her side, to have another hand on deck and a more direct face to associate with it. As such, it *does* make its own kind of sense that the duo (jayvik) whose meraki is almost identical have an time easier time bonding personality-wise (tho i do think Mel and Vik would have an easier time of it- *shoves my melvik-in-the-polycule headcanons in a box for later*), in comparison to the fascinatingly tentative nature of Jayce and Mel's....

Philia, or 'soul connection'. For all it sounds like a term for soulmates or such, what it really just means is that two people get along well with each other when it comes to general socializing and interaction. This is the type of love that underpins deep friendships, but also romantic couples that go beyond just being sexually compatible (or queerplatonic couples - sadly, the terms for love never developed in such a way to make it *easy* to differentiate aspec couples from other kinds of dynamics, but we work with what we got), or even just coworker who get along pretty well. And it's here in particular that I find jaymel compelling as we see them in the show, because, for all we see them work together well on Hextech and be playful with each other and Do The Fuck, their philia seems... surprisingly awkward, or at least not nearly as natural as it is for jayvik (or how i headcanon it would be for melvik). To be clear: you're allowed to headcanon jaymel as more naturally friendly than this, like how many people like to extrapolate jayvik out to include some level of eros (which, once again, not disparaging, just noting as not being shown in Arcane directly). But in terms of what we actually see in the show... jaymel has a bit of a hard time with getting close on an emotional level. Which i honestly really appreciate; the show doesn't invalidate the love that is there simply due to this fact, after all. All the other parts of their relationship exist and are recognized in the narrative while still letting the philia between them not come as naturally as everything else. People's personalities may end up with them clashing fairly often, but they can still be close anyways. (well, as long as they work at it - but I'll segue into that subcategory in a little bit.) And because of this, they're able to take a very fun option: showing some of these moments of tension or awkwardness between them, and letting us as the audience watch how the two navigate and end up resolving these moments. Though some of these moments do end up getting interrupted by a third party, which can end up impacting how these moments of tension end up getting resolved. (I'm looking at you, Viktor, for how you interrupted that moment between jaymel and instigated the season 2 council room fight. go to ur eldritch jesus shame corner /lh/j) Speaking of reaction: Mel and Jayce each have distinct ways of expressing emotional distress (at least most of the time - Mel lets herself get a lot more angry with her mother than she would otherwise). For Jayce, his reactions are what he's infamous for in fandom - impulsively jumping into action based on his current feelings without considering what consequences. (read: almost always not what he wanted.) Meanwhile, Mel tends to withdraw into herself and act more emotionally unaffected than she actually is - for example, how her reaction to Jayce leaving in the middle of the night after Sextech is to... well, paint, and respond relatively neutrally up until Jayce justifies his actions. But it's in resolving of these conflicts that the two of them are able to start building up their philia and comfort with each other (beyond their mutual focus on hextech or sex) into a deeper level of companionship. The reason why their philia is able to end up further developing is due to the active usage of...

Pragma, not within the framework of Hextech. You see, Hextech-focused pragma can quite often lead to added tension between them instead of anything getting resolved, as seen when Mel gets Jayce voted onto the council without asking him first. In comparison, many of the moments of pragma between them that aren't focused on Hextech itself often lead to to bonding moments between the two of them as individuals. (Which makes sense as talking about work, even if you like doing it, doesn't tend to lead to much personal emotional intimacy.) Alongside that, there's one other thing that differentiates these moments of pragma from those focused on Hextech directly: in those situations where willingly taking action leads to them getting closer, it's almost always Mel who takes the initiative. For Jayce, the vulnerability he shows to her is never from a place of willingly dropped guard or conscious intent, but instead due to being absolutely overwhelmed by his emotions. As such, it's Mel who consistently dedicates herself to their relationship by reacting in ways that only really serve to benefit or support Jayce, such as: -> accepting her suddenly-given role as emotional after the discovery Viktor is dying -> voting Heimerdinger out of the council on Jayce's inferred behest -> comforting Jayce over said vote that he pushed through -> stalling while he's supposed to be leading the council so he has time to find Viktor -> implicitly supporting Jayce's decision to bring Viktor back from at least the brink of death, if not death itself, at the beginning of season 2 Even past the ones I listed, there's so many moments Mel has which speak to her own brand of love for Jayce, especially in season 1. Times where she very much chooses to act in favor of his interests, even though it in no way benefits her, can be readily pointed to as cases of pragma. For all they might not be big and noticeable, they help keep the dynamic functional and healthy. Though, that's not to say Jayce doesn't have a moment of pragma outside of working on Hextech. Though, unless I'm missing something, it is just. A singular moment for him. Which is after his implicit apology for the argument the two had in the council room before the Viktor fight in season 2. After the apology, Mel goes on to open up to him about how she unlocked her abilities as a mage, that he comforts her by saying that Mel could never be just a passenger in her body - this is a moment that, while it does nothing to help him personally, still speaks to him caring about Mel. But... that's pretty much we only case we have of him directly engaging in pragma in relation to Mel. (...But then again, we see a lot of him and his active cases of pragma in those situations in season 1 focused on Hextech in particular, so in that regard it evens out if you consider pragma a whole without those specific contexts in mind. But I digress.)

There's potentially one other type of love i was tempted to add to all this, but this post has gotten very, very long, so i think I leave it here. If you somehow got this far down: holy shit what the fuck (impressed). For the sake of the sane people. I think I'll be putting my TL;DR at the top of the list.

oh yeah also jayvik are extremely orpheus and eurydice coded i don't make the rules