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Characters that are just Little Shits. Characters that are good at what they do and WILL make it everyone's problem. Characters that act like Absolute Gremlins. Characters that are so arrogant they will do stupid shit just to show off, then act like their inevitable doom was part of the plan all along. Characters that hide their inner pain under many layers of chaotic personality.

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Getting into League of Legends in 2025 is funny. I'll be looking at everything thinking that it's ancient, and I'll say "man, so sad that Riot gave up on Heartsteel. I mean, they haven't brought it back since... oh. That was less than two years ago. Huh."

But at the same time I'll be looking at Varus thinking "ah yes, he's one of the more recent Darkin champions, right? What do you mean he came out in 2012–"

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So many people who love generative AI don't have a creative bone in their body and can't imagine anyone actually enjoying the time and effort it takes to write something or draw something.

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I think the key to writing Viktor is remembering that we the audience see far more of him than any character in the show does. Including Jayce. "Emotional and super sensitive but very guarded" is the way Harry Lloyd described it, and I think that sums it up very well. The way you show that in a visual medium is by letting the audience see things that no one else does.

Viktor isn't shy or meek at all, but everything intense about him is so contained. He has an expressive face and big big feelings (like, canonically he comes to the conclusion that his problem is having too many goddamn feelings) but we get to see far more of that than he shows to anyone in his life. Seriously, go back and look at the blocking in his scenes and how often we can see his face when no one else in the scene can. Outwardly he can appear confident, calm, earnest, passionate, wryly funny--at least until he gets too sick to hide his exhaustion and pain. Meanwhile anything that might express a vulnerability, a need, is tucked away where no one can see it.

All those sneaky glances and yearning looks thrown at Jayce? Jayce doesn't see them. Usually there is no one else there either. All his interactions with the Hexcore--the frustration, fear, reckless determination; the apprehension and then triumph of running on the dock? He's alone. Crying over Sky, curled up in a ball on the floor? Alone. Everything in the astral plane--the open curiosity and wonder, the casual physical closeness with Sky's and Vander's astral bodies, the despair after Jayce rejects him? Alone. Astral Sky isn't real; she's a figment made up either by the Hexcore or by his own brain (I think either interpretation works) to make him feel less alone. I 100% believe that no one whose mind he looks into is allowed to look back at him, up until the few moments at the end where he allows Jayce to see him.

When he's angry--and he does get angry--it's a cold, still anger. Contained. He glares and his tone gets sharp but he doesn't so much as raise his voice. He doesn't shout or use big gestures. The one time we see something that might be considered an outburst (when he slams his fist on the desk and scatters his notes in frustration at trying to understand the Hexcore), he is (1) desperate and scared, (2) very clearly angry at himself, and (3) once again, alone.

A bit of a tangent but I think it fits here: this extends to his physicality with his mobility aids too. I realized that the reason "Viktor whacks people with his cane" always bumps me in fics is not just that Viktor isn't casually mean like that--although he's not. It's that when it comes to habitual, everyday movements, he never uses his cane or crutch for anything other than support. He doesn't gesture with it or use it to grab things or stick it out to stop a door from closing. (Which makes the rare instances when he does use it for something other than support really stand out.) It's not like he's hiding it, but he doesn't do anything to draw extra attention to it. He lets it fade into the background as much as possible, for as long as he's able to. Contained. It's a very specific physicality that I think says a lot about how he's trying to be perceived.

And like, to me, lover of wordless longing and isolated/self-isolating characters (which could mean nothing) all this is fucking catnip for fic material, because prose gives you such easy access to a character's interiority, and then you get to watch them hide things from other characters and deny things to themselves. (Love a character being confidently wrong in the privacy of their own head.)

When I'm writing a new pairing I am often trying to figure out, like, what's the tension? The tension on the relationship can be subtle, but if a smut scene is not popping off for me I often find it's because I haven't correctly identified the tension, or I've released it too early. Sometimes the tension is societal or interpersonal, but often (for me) it's internal. The main thing holding the characters back from uncomplicated enjoyment of each other is themselves, their own traumas or fears or insecurities.

I think something clicked for me with Medicinal where I was like, oh, the dynamic I like for them is when their natural state is to stick together like magnets, and they are constantly having to pull themselves back. Viktor doesn't shy away from Jayce's touch or his attention; he craves it and is constantly having to take that firehose of yearning and reel it back in, because he thinks Jayce doesn't feel the same way. Contain it. Yeah man that's the good shit.

P.S. I would be remiss if I didn't include the god tier example of the kind of Viktor POV I'm always striving toward, Uncover Him by spqr.

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It was fun to draw them (I'm craving Heartsteel content plz give me more)

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💫

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a semi-collab with @de-righty :'D was meant to be a warm-up thing

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I would literally die for this sad ass kid you have absolutely no idea

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*Thinks about hyperfixation* *explodes* *Thinks about hyperfixation* *explodes* *Thinks about hyperfixation* *explodes* *Thinks about hyperfixation* *explodes* *Thinks ab

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continuation of zaun trio extended universe

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YOU!

YES, YOU!

HAND ME YOUR WHOLESOME ARCANE HEADCANONS! NOW! RIGHT NOW! DO IT!

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Children of Zaun (+ two Pilties lol 🤭🤭🤭)

I have so many random headcanons for them mayhaps I'll share later

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YOU!

YES, YOU!

HAND ME YOUR WHOLESOME ARCANE HEADCANONS! NOW! RIGHT NOW! DO IT!

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Jayvik, the missing years 1\2

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"So, what are some of your interests?"

Uhh... hang on, I'll find out, let me just go through my Tumblr real quick

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Shoutout to the maned wolf, which is technically neither wolf nor fox but has its own genus called Chrysocyon! Why -

why are your legs so long?

I mean, intellectually, I understand that it’s because you live in grasslands and have evolved to be able to see over the grass, but emotionally… why? Are they?? Like that??? Surely there was a way to make your body more cohesive and proportional-looking?

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pokèmonize yourself!!!!

spin this wheel to see your pokemon type

spin this one to see how you'll look like