#AND MEL (ofc)

[arcanegifs]

Here are some Season 2 Arcane GIF comparisons before and after I color and sharpen them! | Season 1 Comparison GIFs

[laplaces-angel]

apparently theres a noxus spinoff in the works that involves mel and let me say that if she doesnt appear i will be killing myself,

[jaijeijayjei]

I'm starting to realize people perceive Mel with the assumption that she has bad intentions, so that's all they see in her.

The writers have said Mel was written to seem as a one-dimensional manipulator, but in reality she is a multi-layered individual with complex motivations. Rewatching her earlier scenes with that in mind brings her into a completely new light.

(justification for these interpretations under the cut)

"Mel invested in Hextech for power and influence"

Or, she invested in them because she believed in Hextech's potential to change the world for the better?

"Mel pressured Jayce to reveal his new inventions so she can cash in on the profit"

Or, she understands Heimerdinger is stuck in the past and doesn't want him to hinder Jayce's progress?

"Mel sleeps with Jayce to make him more pliable"

Or, she genuinely admires Jayce and sees a way to be free of her family's bloody legacy by working alongside him.

"Mel turns Jayce into a corrupt politician for her own gain"

Or, Mel believes protecting Hextech's interest is more important than trade laws.

"Mel wanted Hextech weapons to make Piltover more powerful"

Or, she only wanted weapons as a last resort and for self-defense.

"Mel will do anything to prove herself to her family"

Or, Mel also wants to prove that ruling with diplomacy is superior to ruling with cold pragmatism and brute force.

Yes there are times Mel acts out of self-interest and a desire for power, but those aren't her only motivations. Mel subverts the "shady corrupt politician" trope, she is not defined by it.

I believe Mel is being genuine in her conversation with Jayce in S1 E5, about wanting to give back to the world. In her argument with Jayce in S2 E8, she explains why she invested in Hextech to begin with. She saw two brilliant scientists, capable of impossible things, rallying the hearts of a nation. Mel believed in Jayce and Viktor's potential to do good. Also, she has shown the wellbeing of Piltover (and in S2, the safety of Zaunites), are more important to her than personal gain.

Jayce specifically went to her for advice, and she gave it. Doesn't this imply Jayce views her as an ally or advisor as well as an investor? He clearly values her opinions.

During Mel's whole childhood, her family and homeland tried to shape her into someone she was not- a cold, pragmatic ruler willing to do anything to maintain power. Her way of ruling was scorned by her mother as "soft spined" and foolish, but with Jayce she found someone who believed in and appreciated her. Plus she was personally affronted when he left her in bed. It's more than likely she acted out of genuine attraction and admiration.

Side note: Jayce has already shown he's alright with breaking the rules for the greater good. He illegally experimented with magic, broke into Heimer's lab, and led an unsanctioned attack. Jayce and Mel are more aligned in this way than he realizes- Mel believes securing Hextech's future is more important than breaking a few trade laws. Jayce was in a vulnerable position, with a target on his back. She could have used that against him, but didn't.

Mel is a pragmatic pacifist, even from childhood. Mel is very much anti-war because she understands how destructive it is, having grown up in Noxus.

Mel's rift from her family is an ideological one- she values leading with diplomacy is disgusted by Noxus' brutality. If she can make Piltover successful, it proves that there are better ways to rule than what Noxus insists upon. Mel has also shown her morals are more important to her than power. She turns down opportunities to elevate her position tremendously by siding with her mother or advocating for an invasion because it goes against her moral compass.

[magnusbae]

Invite him him over to your place ✔

Get your mum invite him to stay permanently ✔

Fulfill the fates will for you to meet ✔

Gift him the Nectar of Gods (and lie it's from 'everyone') ✔

Curtsy😌 ✔

We're getting him fam, the old fashioned Zagreus style 😏😏😏

[piritos03]

Mel is a bit late to the party

[kilojulietsierra]

Fun thought: I’m my head Sam must have told Jack about Mel and how she’s her favorite resident from the VA.

When Mel eventually works night shift with Jack he understands why his wife loves the new resident and is a little more encouraging to her.

Did you ask for this? No. DId I write something anyway? Yes.

It was too good to not come up with a little one shot!

~~~~~

It was in the middle of the night from Hell, the night of the Pittfest shooting, that Mel saw her for the first time.

"Sam!" Mel called out on her way out of BH with and arm full of supplies. "What are you doing here?"

Sam, who at that moment had been assiting Jack as he intubated a difficult patient, had to look around a couple times before she found the voice she faintly recognized. "Oh, Mel, hey! Are you good?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm... good. Just, nice to see you!" She nodded once and then hurried back to her zone.

"You too." Sam said, but the young doctor was already gone.

Beside her Jack had successfully intubated and stepped back, "Bag him." He watched as his wife attached the bag and waited for the nod that indicated they were good before he asked, "You know her?"

As Sam bagged the patient, breathed for him while they waited for transport to come take him to ICU, she nodded, "Kind of, yeah. She worked dayshit at the VA for a few months I think. They put her in as a secondary on nights when we were short. "Good kid. Wicked smart"

Jack gave her a nod, "We can take a red!" He called out as transpo took their previous patient, "She seemed awfully cheery this morning."

He handed his wife a pair of fresh medium gloves and took a pair of large for himself.

Sam smiled at the gesture as she gloved up, "Don't you remember what it was like to be young and excited for your new job?"

Her husband stared back at her as the next gurney pulled up, 'No." He shook his head and turned to Jesse, "What've we got?"

~~

A month had passed when Jack came home from his first shift with the med students in his rotation.

"Hey babe," Sam looked up from her spot on the couch and put a finger in her book to keep her place, "How was your night?"

He'd already showered and put on his sweats so he came around and laid on the couch, with his head in her lap. "Med students and interns switched to nights."

Sam bit her lip and fought back a smile. She rested the hand holding her book on his chest and with her free hand combed through his hair. "And?"

His chest rose and fell with a deep breath, "Long night."

Sam fought back the smile again, "Set that on the table?" She let him take the book and grinned as he flipped it over to keep her place as he set it down. Her other hand free she tested it on his bare chest, "How did they do?"

Jack took another deep breath, "Samira's a rockstar."

"Mhmm. So i've heard. Interesting how she requested a rotation on nights all the sudden."

Jack reached back to pinch her thigh, "Don't start. She is good, you've said it yourself."

"I know." Sam chuckled, she trusted her husband more than anyone in the world and would never doubt him in their marriage, but she also knew that the young doctor had gone a little starry eyed over Jack since the Pittfest incident. "How about Santos? You said she had it."

He stayed quiet for a minute, "She's got the balls, she just needs to get her attitude sorted out."

Sam stroked her hand back and forth over his chest, "And how did that go?" Sam knew her husband well enough to know that guts and motivation only got you so far in his ER. You had to be a team player, and follow orders too.

"She has to sit out anymore 'cool' cases," he made air quotes with his fingers, "She'll figure it out pretty damn fast." When he cracked a hint of a smirk that told her everything she needed to know.

"You made her run chairs all night didn't you?" Sam shook her head. "Jack…"

"She was trying to cherry pick, should've seen her face when she found out the farm kid got to do run lead on a bilateral pneumothorax while she was holding an emesis bag for a case of food poisoning."

Sam smiled as she combed her fingers through his hair, "How's Mel doing?"

He didn't answer right away. "She's smart."

She gave him a moment to expound, but when he didn't she prodded him, "But?

Jack looked up at her, "She gets flustered." He laced his fingers through hers over his chest, "Know you said you liked her, but we had some rough ones tonight by the end of the shift she was pretty emotional."

"People get emotional, you know, those of us that have them anyway." She teased and tweaked his nipple.

"Smart ass." Jack batted her hand away and sat up.

Sam bit her lip as she watched the muscles in his core flex as he sat upright and twisted so his feet were on the floor.

"C'mere." He motioned for her and smirked as she moved to straddle his lap, "Just mean she comes across as soft, easily overwhelmed."

"Because she cares." Sam defended the resident, "Open to some advise from a lowly nurse?"

Jack dropped his head back against the couch and smoothed his hands over his wife's thighs, "Only from one's that let me do inappropriate things to them after hours."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm serious."

"So am I." His face remained stoic, scowl in place. When she only scowled right back at him he gave her a smile, "Always from you."

Sam wrapped her arms around his neck, "You're on with them tomorrow right?" When he nodded she continued, "Just try and watch her tomorrow, get her on some of the tough ones, but don't watch her like… well, like you." She smirked when he swatted her on the ass lightly. "Just give her room to breath, work the problem on her own, lead her with a question if she gets a little flustered, but don't put the pressure on her like you normally would."

"Baby, we're a trauma,"

"I know," Sam interrupted him, "and I know she'll impress you, she's just…" Sam licked her lips and thought for a minute, "Just give her room to think."

Jack studied her face for a long moment and she let him.

"You trust me right?" She arched an eyebrow at him.

"WIth my life." There was no hesitation in his answer.

Sam nodded, "Give her room to work, you'll see."

After a beat Jack nodded, moved his hands up to her hips and tugged her close. "Okay. Give her room. Check." For a long moment he just held her gaze, took advantage of the calm she brought him and could almost feel his blood pressure regulate as they sat. "You eat yet?"

She shook her head, "Waited for you."

He took in her shorts and favorite hoodie, clear sign they wouldn't be leaving the house and nodded to himself as he slid his hands underneath to stroke over her back, "What sounds good?"

"You goin' to cook for me?"

"I am gonna order UberEATS for you." He gave her a grin.

"Order me my pizza from Nick's and we can talk about some of those 'inappropriate things'." She gave him a quick kiss and smiled into it when he didn't let her go right away.

~~~~~

Jack remembered that conversation the next night when EMS brought in two rollover victims, one of whom ejected from the vehicle.

"Ellis take Trauma 2 with Whitacre, King with me." He watched her eyes get wide for a moment before she followed.

It was hard for him at first. He had no trouble handing off a procedure to a student, they were here to learn and he whole heatedly believed in trial by fire. but he had a tone, a presence, he was aware of that. So, he took a step back, literally and figuratively, "What do you see Dr. King?"

The look she gave him made him skeptical, but he trusted Sam and so he gave the young doctor an encouraging nod. Then he saw it, the deep breath, the slow blink and the nod in return.

Sam had been wrong. Sort of.

Jack smirked from two steps away while Dr. King ran the trauma without one single leading question from him. At most he nodded, talked her through steps occasionally. Once they were done he gave her a smile, "Excellent work Dr. King."

The smile on her face was possibly the biggest he'd seen it yet, she nearly bounced on the balls of her feet. "Thanks!."

Bridget met them at the door to the trauma room, "We've got a teen, fell off a second story balcony, parents brought him in."

Abbot dipped his hand under the hand sanitizer and rubbed it in. "Dr. King," He took a half second and decided, 'on me." Jack couldn't help but chuckle quietly to himself when he saw her shocked expression followed by the big smile again as she hurried after him.

Nights changed after that. Santos slowly but surely developed a hint of humility and was eventually allowed back in the trauma bay, Whitacre was...Whitacre he still had some progress to make, but Mel. Mel had surprised him.

As she got more comfortable she just got better. He'd see her sometimes sneek off on her own for a few minutes and then return, but every time she came back she was on his hip ready for the next one. She soaked everything in and then could turn around and use it.

Jack found himself not just teaching her medicine, he was teaching her how to get creative, how to problem solve, how to navigate the beaucratic bullshit, how to take command and run a trauma, a code, the department. By the end of her night shift rotation that timidness had nearly disappeared, but not at the cost of her empathy.

On the last night she had even given him an order in the middle of a trauma. She hadn't really noticed until it was too late, based on the look of pure panic, but Jack had kept his face straight, handed her the instrument she had requested and allowed the barest slip of a smile.

He found her out in the ambulance bay that morning, catching her breath, humming to herself. When she saw him she immediatly perked up, "Something coming in?"

Jack shook his head, "Nope, just wanted to come check on you."

Mel looked surprised but gave him a nod and a smile, "I'm fine. Good, really. This month has been so great. I, I feel like I learned more in the last four weeks than I have all year. Thank you."

"Of course." He stuck his hands in his pockets, "Mel, I just want you to know that I may have had my reservations about you at first, but you have absolutely exceeded my expectations. You are a damned good doctor."

She looked like she might cry for a minute, "Thank you, for giving me the chance. Really, I'm so grateful."

Jack gave her a little grin. "Sam wanted me to tell you she's proud of you too. She speaks very highly of you."

Mel smiled wide, "Oh that's so sweet, I loved working with her. I, I guess I didn't know you two were related."

Jack turned to his side a little still with the grin, "We're married. Sam's my wife."

"Oh! Oh, that's so awesome, plus that makes sense. You're both so..." She made some hand motion to indicate something about him. "You know."

He gave her a strange look but nodded, kept his face relaxed, "Have you made any decisions yet, after this?"

"Umm yes and no, I'm definitly staying in emergency medicine. Just not sure where." The big, bright smile was back

"Good to hear." Jack nodded and reached into the pocket of his scrub pants and pulled out two envelopes. He ducked his head slightly to catch her eye, "These are for you."

Mel took them carefully, "What, what are these?"

Jack put his hands back in his pockets and continued to stare down the street. "Letter of recommendation, for when the time comes, I know you're not finished just yet." He glanced her way and the look on her face makes him grin, "Top one is generic, for wherever you might decide to go."

She stared at the envelopes, at the signature scrawled over the closed flaps, "What's the second one?"

Still with a grin Jack turned to face her and nodded back towards the ambulance bay and the ED behind, "For here. If you decide to stay," He caught her eye and smiled, really smiled, "Which I hope you do."

The young doctor stood with her mouth agape, the letters in her hand clutched delicately. She just kept shaking her head, like she didn't know what to say. J

ack chuckled, "In the meantime, I'd like you to consider switching to nights. If you can make the schedule work with you sister. I'd be happy to have you, we all would. I've already cleared it with the education director and admin, if you're interested."

Her only response was to wrap her arms around him so fast and so tight he barely knew what hit him, "Thank you." She squeezed him so tight Jack thought she might be shaking. "For everything, thank you so much."

After a second of hesitation Jack returned the hug, "No problem kid. It's what I'm here for." He gave a squeeze in return and then stepped back , "Now go home, get some sleep okay."

Mel nearly levitated back through the bay and Jack realized he was still smiling. He checked his watch and then pulled out his phone to call Sam. "Hey babe, yeah I'm almost done. Robby's going to be pissed." He paused in front of the doors as he saw the man in question walking towards the entrance. "Beause, I'm stealing his best resident."

~~~~~

[melmedarda]

⸻ COUNCILOR SALO (serving unparalleled levels of cunt as per usual), Arcane

[eeboor]

Odyssey au jayvik (can you tell I’ve lost my fucking mind) where Jayce finally gets back to Ithaca I mean piltover and he gets to slaughter all the suitors with his giant fucking hammer and viktor has been sewing and then unsewing That Damn Blanket this entire time

[tankuare]

Jayce Talis your level of game needs to be studied

[survivalove]

finally muted all viktor’s tags and immediately i felt a tidal wave of peace wash over me

[siriusblackdevotee]

If meljayvik wants a baby, Viktor and Mel would invent mpreg, hexpreg? so they can get Jayce preggo. The end. No I will not be persuaded otherwise.

If hextech can make Viktor a god and Mel being you know, a mage, they can rewire the male biological body

[arcanegifs]

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: 2x01 - “Heavy is the Crown”

[pup-pee]

he is the dirt under my fingernails

[jaijeijayjei]

Viktor: becomes a mage involuntarily, instantly knows how to heal people, can project his consciousness onto extremely powerful robots, ascends to godhood by the end of the series

Mel: becomes a mage, struggles against one of Viktor’s puppets and needed Jayce to help her, couldn’t have stopped Ambessa (who was going easy on her) without Caitlyn and the Black Rose, is set up to go on a training arc.

So how are ppl accusing Mel of being a Mary Sue but are fine with Viktor’s arc? To be clear I’m not trying to criticize Viktor (although I have my own gripes with his S2 arc) but it's weird to me that ppl can suspend their disbelief for his sudden power upgrade but can't for Mel.

There’s also Jayce designing and making functional Hextech weapons in a few weeks, Jinx getting superhuman abilities from Shimmer, and Ekko inventing time travel in a few days. I mean if you can accept that’s just how things happen in Arcane, I don’t think Mel getting magical powers is bad writing per se.

[mashmoshmoosh]

Trying not to think too hard about Mel missing Elora, Ambessa and Kino before I break everything around me

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

finally got back to showing my sister arcane (her fault not mine) and these are her thoughts for episode 4:

she made a face (don't know if it was disgust or concern) at jinx getting close to silco when he was in his chair (i haven't explained that it's just a no-boundaries father-daughter situation yet)

"our most famous protégé, jayce talis" "you fake bitch" (about cassandra)

she did not make any comments about anyone's post-timeskip designs nor did she seem to have any physical reaction

^okay i asked about it hours later: "jayce and viktor pretty much look the same to me" (she apparently did not notice how sunken his cheeks have become) "her hair is way too long, it's a hazard. it's a tripping hazard" (about jinx) "those are a lot of tattoos, some of them look like dirt" (about vi)

she compared the hextech gauntlets to the infinity gauntlet

"that feels targeted, heimerdinger. you know i can't chase after you so you're just gonna waddle your little bitchass away. doggy paddle pretty much" (about heimerdinger leaving after telling jayvik to wait a decade)

she's also not loving heimerdinger's pet thingy...or heimerdinger...

literally went "this ugly bitch" when he first popped up in the start of the episode

we compared cait figuring out what happened at the hexgate attack to william murdoch and her strings and evidence to omitb's murder boards (don't know if the fandoms overlap but-)

"i hope somebody kills him" (about marcus) (who's gonna tell her...)

"what progress? cause the last we saw of him, they exiled him and now i'm giving speeches. i'm that bitch" (after heimerdinger's talk with jayce)

"the only one worth my time, is him. the golden boy" "are you trying to ride the golden boy?" (her joking predictions are spot on)

she was probably one of the only people i've seen that did not think that the pink-haired firelight was vi

"respectfully professor, shut your bitchass up" (speaking for viktor to heimerdinger)

"viktor and i have just the thing" "you and viktor are dating"

"i don't like that powder's going by jinx, i don't like that at all"

ep 1 and 2 thoughts

ep 3 thoughts

ep 5 and 6 thoughts

ep 7 and 8 thoughts

finale thoughts