#Elora/Mel is so true

[idkwhatimdoingbutslay]

Random commentary tags they are important

CAITLYN KIRAMMAN I FREAKING LOVE YOU YOURE SO KIND AND WHOLESOME AND YOURE TRYING YOUR BEST

VI I LOVE YOU TOO SO MUCH SO SO SO MUCH YOURE TOUGH AND STRONG BUT ALSO HURTING SO BAD AND YOURE TRYING YOUR BEST

YOU GUYS ARE SO PERFECT*** AND WONDERFUL AND INTENSE AND SOLID AS INDIVIDUALS AND TOGETHER

*** not literally but like kinda

[melmedarda]

Can't stop thinking about the thoughts Mel must have had after waking up to an empty bed. She had just laid her heart bare, given her body to Jayce and to wake up the next morning alone?

When he returns to her, she tells him there's a lot he doesn't know about her. She'd shared such an intimate part of her the night before, but she doesn't want Jayce to feel like he knows her. Because if he thinks he knows her, he must have not considered her worthy of staying for. She likely thought that he had gotten what he wanted from her and cast her off.

And why should Mel think this? A woman who is so wealthy, so beautiful, so accomplished and powerful? Because her mother had seen her and cast her off. Her family had disowned her because she was not good enough in their estimation. So all those twelve years that she's been in exile, and her mother has not visited her or called her back to her side, Mel likely thought she was not good enough. All those twelve years, she was just a girl trying hard enough to be.

And then Jayce comes, bares his heart to her as well. Lets her see him in his weakness, in his uncertainty. Shows her how much he values her, wants her around, how highly he holds her opinion. Even when he knows. Perhaps, because he knows her heart. Values it and the compassion she holds within her. And she finally feels good enough.

Only for her mother to come, and tell her it's time to come back home, to be at her side. Only after her brother is dead. When there is no other choice. So yes, of course Mel chooses Jayce, Piltover, and the legacy of peace they've begun to forge. Her family disowned her. Now, she disowns them too.

[mollysunder]

We're not talking about how Mel's going to Noxus in a far worse position than when she left. Elora revealed to Mel that Ambessa lost many of their family's holdings and assets, which was hinted to be the doing of the Black Rose. So her family as a whole have lost considerable standing since she's been gone. Where once Mel called herself "the poorest Medarda", that may no longer be true, but that's no consolation prize because Mel's own wealth has likely been diminished. Mel's greatest investment, hextech, is over. Mel's still a rich woman, but she's bleeding resources when she's about to enter a pool of sharks. It isn't great.

[gemstonerose]

Arcane Noxus series but Jayce and Viktor are haunting the narrative in more ways than one. First in the very typical way that characters haunt the narrative. But then in an interesting way, through Mel.

She sees them, literally, everywhere. Two figures talking in the corner take their forms. She walks into her room and Jayce is sitting on her bed with his back to her. She goes to see the bright minds of Noxus working and sees Viktor among them, tinkering with something in back.

Let’s take it a step further and she’s literally hearing their voices. Every decision she needs to make has either one of them talking to her. Giving her their thoughts and answering her questions. Mel and Viktor knew each other before Jayce came along so it would be cool to get a glimpse of what their relationship looked like. How they interacted with each other.

Let’s go another step further and say that Ambessa and Elora are there as well. Elora is a more quiet presents while Ambessa is situational. Pressure from all those around her starts becoming a bit too suffocating for Mel and her mother is there, trying to bring her down a different path. She resists it, she’s not going to be like that. But Ambessa is also there when Mel needs to be reminded of who she is.

Back to the guys. On rare occasions Viktor is there he’s in his Herald form. She knows it’s him due to his voice, even as distorted as it is. Even if it doesn’t sound like the Viktor she once knew. It’s a warning when he shows up like this and Mel needs to figure out why quickly to stomp it out fast. Piltover is a cautionary tale, but no one will know its true depths like her. If the Herald is still there when she leaves she knows the threat still exists. Knows she needs to be alert. If Viktor leaves out that door with her she knows she’s succeeded.

The ghost of the past haunt Mel in more ways than one. Are the Jayce and Viktor she see real? Is this them trying to reach out to her from the Arcane or wherever they are? Are they just figments of her imagination? Who knows. Mel certainly doesn’t. But she doesn’t mind it too much. Why? Because there is comfort in their presence. Because she knows a piece of them will always remain with her and if this is how that piece will form then so be it.

[zinepunk]

Some random thoughts about arcane s2 act2 before I forget:

I need to know wtf Jayce saw to make him do that

It’s tragic yaoi time fr 😔

Also WHERE are Ekko and Heimerdinger???

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like the end of episode 6 feels like a “this is what could have happened if things went how they were going to” vision from Viktor? Wouldn’t be shocked if episode 7 began with a jump back in time, like a reset button sort of thing. But also that would feel like cheating

Everyone who predicted Warwick was Vander was so fucking right, a million points to you guys

Totally not as pressing as the other stuff but I love that Vi’s cage fighting makeup covers her tattoo. Super symbolic of her loss of self

CaitVi shippers this whole season: we’re so over… WE’RE SO BACK… wait we’re so over… LETS GO WE’RE FUCKING BACK

The black rose thing (especially how Elora was killed) was so unexpectedly brutal?? Like being constricted by thorny ropes until you explode?

And Mel bashing the head of an illusion that looks like her brother against a wall until it dies? Wtf???

This whole act was so much more violent than past ones, I feel like they stepped it up a bunch and I kind of love it

Kind of want to make a post listing all the brutal deaths this act bc every time I was like :0

ALSO I LOVE ISHA! MY BABY! HER NEW HAIR AWWEE

But like damn I hope she’s ok :(

There were honestly so many “too good to be true” undertones to this act. Good things kept happening and I was like I dunno… can’t trust it.

[namelessprayers]

mel medarda is flesh and blood born of the sun, light melded into the intricate fabric of her being like both a magnet and repellent to all of existence; but mel medarda, the glow of progress instilled in her every breathe, sits upon a throne of bones and ashes amongst a council of fools. so she is contradictory, both perfection and flaw, and viktor would gladly pick her brain in the name of progress if she wasn't half the marketing of their city in its glorious evolution.

there is a secret in her artful words. there is a message in her quiet empathy and unshakeable distrust. although it is true that the world is full of sensitive and isolated people, all broken by the thousands, viktor would never guess that such kindred pieces of pain would be found in an individual so elevated beyond himself. he thinks that perfection must escape this universe and the next; for if mel medarda cannot find what she is searching for in a world that seems to bend and kneel at her coy decrees, then what can viktor possible hope to achieve as a dead man walking?

======

foxes and wolves, those aligned and those opposed, good until proven bad and bad until proven good.

viktor, nameless and unacknowledged.

he strays in the shadows, and mel always wonders if he knows how it feels to be touched by the light, if he even knows that he is allowed to walk into it willingly. she does not pity him because he does not pity her. they are not pitiful creatures, and sometimes, it is strange that they are able to recognize even that much in each other.

then the medarda visits unwelcome, the one mel heeds as mother in the way only a lonely daughter could. viktor has been dying from the start, and mel feels some part of jayce die too (and somewhere within she is being strung along in that silent shroud of death).

it is always cold in beds with restless sleepers. it is always cold wherever mel goes, and she wonders if viktor is cold now that he is on the brink of dying. it is a contrived, pointless thought.

she is still cold when the roses take her, black and shriveled and sporting thorns that feel like ice injected straight through her blood.

elora must be cold now. this kino, not her brother, is cold to touch. mel medarda briefly hopes that it will be warm when she returns, but piltover runs cold in both the people and the land.

she knows this because caitlyn kiramman ran cold. she knows this because her mother touched the city and stole its softest light. she knows this because jayce talis ran warm, but he was also tainted by the allure of progress and the man who mel now understands to have always been cold even while alive.

mel stops hoping for warmth and stops asking if it is cold even in the darkest places where the light isn't a blinding force of destruction.

======

to understand is separate from feeling. viktor understands the cold, but he no longer feels it. viktor understands jayce talis, but he no longer knows the feeling that sits between them. viktor understands the arcane, but he cannot feel it the way that mel medarda does in every fiber of her being. these are the last of the unprecedented revelations he has before everything in his comprehension unravels by the light of his glorious hubris.

perfection does not exist. mel medarda was always proof of that, and viktor thinks he ignored the sign in light of his own imperfect feeling. he could not burn to death before the sun because he was already burning from the start, like a star, trudging through its eternal cycle of death and rebirth. it must be another error of the universe that two people with so much in common were linked by a fragile strand of one man and a contradictory means of dreaming; progress, pursuit, and the ruins of a city that aimed to grasp it.

======

the ocean is cold. the ship is cold. it does not matter where, it is cold.

mel medarda imagines the city left behind is still cold, and she imagines that where she is going will be cold.

yet, her hands are warm and her eyes burn without tears. the imprint of magic, the swell of the arcane, is true light. she thinks of jayce talis, gone like the stars that die, but will inevitably come back. she knows that after all, viktor was a light of his own, perished like the moon.

neither stars nor moon ever care for the sun. they'll leave, abandon the universe, and mel will remain because otherwise it will all burn with her.

mel's mother always wanted too much, and now, mel is everything; fox, wolf, aligned and opposing, both good and bad until otherwise.

======

a blanket more light than warmth. a journey more ends than beginning. a golden tattoo more protection than aesthetic. the scientist, the martyr; the victor, the loser; the lady, the same. viktor has failed to do good. there is nothing more to be retrieved, no greatness to be salvaged in the wake of his failure. they all take the same road, drifting away from the wreck, across the expanse of the cosmos or to the shores of another cold nation. but he knows that he has lost without exception. viktor has no ability to lose again, and for that, he apologizes for the first and last time to mel medarda.

[cl-0v3r]

What if Mel took her mothers side as to know what her true plans are? What if Mel "foxed" her way in to know why, who, how, everything? What if Mel doesn't KNOW what she is, or at least what "blessed" blood she has running in her veins, but something happens that leaves her questioning??

What if she didn't even know her gold was actually "armor" and thats when she decided she needed to jab more information?

What would Ambessas reaction be towards this information? If this is a sudden change, will she have doubts? (Probably), will she accept this flip of character? Is she the one that initiated this change after the problems happening finally got to her daughter?

What if Ambessa kept denying telling her the truth for the sake of protecting her, which could lead them to truly part and become enemies? Which means Mel would be further from finding the truth, so instead, she agrees to go back to Noxus with Ambessa, so she could find not only ways to take her mother down (as in break her course of plans set for everything in the timeline) but also to gain knowledge over everything related about THEM (including kino) ??

We don't know if Mel is aware of her abilities or not yet, so if she didn't, is she willing to go that far to know? Would she go to that extent to strengthen herself against her mothers weaknesses? To be fair, thats what Medardas do, do they not?

Im so desperate to know why Mel would wear similar to her mother, which is noxian war attire, we know Mel wants to part ways from her family, or at least part from their ideals and paths, so why would she suddenly change her course of action and head for that road?

I feel like she wouldn't do such a thing for the sake of going back, but has an intention to use it against Ambessa or against an enemy of hers/theirs.

Makes me curious too, as stretchy as this is, did she meet with Kindred??? Was she at a near-death experience like how Ambessa was?

If she's truly going back to Noxus, would she be a dictator like Ambessa?

I still HEAVILY believe that Black Rose/LeBlanc is the main enemy for the Medardas in s2, and we know that she can transform into ANYONE, right? What if that isn't even Mel, but LeBlanc? What if LeBlanc SPOKE to Mel as leverage to get to Ambessa? And Mel being probably vulnerable at that moment, allows herself to follow along?

Or, what if Mel knew about LeBlanc (in the timeline of season 2) , or has an idea of what her intentions are, and manipulates her way through, and kills two birds with one stone? LeBlanc is a master manipulator, but is Mel really that weak?

Mel, from my understanding, is not the type of character to make quick decisions and changes (like Jayce for example/non-neg). She thinks, about the present and the future, but when it comes to her family, the past always lingers in her mind, which is why it takes her so long to decide what to do. She tried endlessly to find a way around violence & war, past memories of such still haunt her, I don't think Mel would want to be a fighter, or one to accept a fight in such way.

That would be the final resort to something with no other solution. But there is always a CATCH to that.

In s1, Mel recommended the creation of hextech weaponry as an act of self defense, a final resort incase something happens, but is that REALLY just for protection against inner attacks? Elora mentioned to Mel that piltover looked vulnerable before that, do you think its ONLY their friends abroad who noticed? And immediately after she'd handed her the letter. Its safe to say Mel wasn't just preparing for Zauns bite, but the bites from outer threats. "I wanted to protect the city from people like you." Yeah, THAT was the catch, a stronger reason.

so if Mel went back to Noxus, or took Ambessas place, or just stood by her side, is it REALLY for her? Or is there some other thing affecting her descisions? Again, I don't think Mel would take off the ring, cover the painting of home with her color, go through this major character arc/development just to go sit in her mothers lap and let her caress her head because "nothing worked". That's genuinely not Mel, neither how it works ESPECIALLY in artistic fiction such as this.

Those things have SO many meanings, them being "erased" feels like poor writing, thats not what arcane does.

Mel is strong, she'd pushed and pushed and pushed so far for her ideals, her hopes and dreams, all of this is what makes her Mel. Even though she'd faced never-ending problems trying to find solutions, she still pushed herself so far. Is she willing to sacrifice herself after reaching such a point? Is the sacrifice worth it in the end? Will it benefit what she wants for her city and people? I don't think that's something she'd do UNLESS there's a catch to it that counters the effects.

To choose the Medardas path feels as if she weakened/gave up herself, shattered like glass, OR, she'd made herself stronger by being weak at the beginning, and gaining strength by the end to bend the rules, to understand the space to shift it. Which is why I don't think its permanent long-lasting decision, it's more of a "let it bleed until it stops, then bandage everything together well" sort of thing.

Mel is going suffer with her weaknesses in s2 like all of them will, that is important, but what really matters is that will she LEARN from her mistakes? Is she going to act upon said weaknesses?

They could quite literally make Mel end the Medarda problem without raising a hand if they wanted, or they could have her suffering in abseloute agony down in the basement (I hope not) 24/7, and there's still a space in between too.

Mel is probably the last heir of the Medarda clan, will she be able to break the cycle? Its all down in her hands, what is she going to do? What is she planning?

I still have so many questions, they never end, they're all ALLOVER the place, I literally can't even think straight, one minute I think of something, the other i think of something else. Its that crazy 😭

Part of me doesn't want to see Mel change, well, at least not a lot. change is very inevitable in the show and even the writers stated that in s2, the characters will be in the dark depths, but seeing the possible change of currents, drifting away from her core which made me love her so much is a little upsetting, but I will forever love her nonetheless, whatever she partakes in the future is for me to follow !!!!

Truth is, im scared, anxious, worried as all hells, all the characters are going through various changes, we already know how viktor is going to change, going against his previous dreams. Him slowly coming to an acceptance with death, only to become something that isn't even close to a living being at all. His dream to help the undercity lead him to do harsh things to them, which is unfortunately the only way he knows to help. Mel, who parallels Viktor, is she ought to fall into the same fate? Or is the parallel going to be opposite of what he has become? If he is going back to Zaun, his homeland, doing all of these things, will she go back to her own? And do something similar? Or will she stay in piltover and continue to pursue the approach of Mercy and peace?

How will this affect her relationship with others? What would Jayce think? Elora? The remaining council? Most of all, Ambessa?

I don't want all of the answers to these questions, but I just hope some of them get answered, I have high hopes for s2, i can't wait to see if anyone's theories turn out correct or close to cannon!

[hextech-arcanist]

I’ve seen everybody talking about how Caitlyn gave her seat to Sevika, but no one mentioning anything about what happened to Mel and Jayce’s seats.

Both of them newcomers rather than hereditary seats like most of the council. Both of them gone after the end of season 2 with no next of line to inherit their chairs. The other councilors probably would’ve tried to prevent their seats from being passed down, but A) half of them are dead, and B) how are you going to say no to the people who saved the entire city.

So, let’s presume the Kiramman seat -> Sevika is true. I like the headcanon and the placement fits. I’m going with it. However, it doesn’t do a lot of good. Actual Zaunite vote is great, but Caitlyn would already have been a vote in favor of Zaun. It’s a stronger and more personal voice, but they’re still 1 vs The Council.

Jayce probably would’ve given his seat to Viktor if he could have, but even if he’d managed to overcome Piltover prejudice and convince Viktor to inherit, both he and Jayce are gone. Plus, the war crimes. That leaves Caitlyn, Mel, his mother, and somewhat Ekko and Vi as the only other people he has a real connection with.

Mel is out for obvious reasons. Vi would never agree and also isn’t in a headspace where she even could. Ekko has his Firelights to lead and also hates Piltover (understandable). I mean, they convinced Sevika, so it’s not impossible but. Highly unlikely IMO.

That leaves Caitlyn and his mother.

Meanwhile, Mel’s only real connections were Jayce, Elora, and somewhat Caitlyn. Elora and Jayce are gone. If Mel played her cards right - which she is definitely capable of, it’s Mel - then she could give her seat to Caitlyn, leaving Jayce’s seat for Ximena.

In doing so, they could ensure 3 votes in favor of Zaun’s people, and could have both Caitlyn and Ximena pass their seats on to actual Zaunites. They could even the scales even without Piltover’s permission.

[oodlyenough]

arcane s2 act 1

alright might as well collect my thoughts for posterity

first and foremost: obviously the triumphant cackle i was doing the entire hexcore scene. huge W for me, personally. did it always feel like the most logical and narratively satisfying extension from s1? sure. do i trust television to do the most narratively satisfying thing? no. especially not after fandom spent years of the hiatus trying to convince me otherwise

really all the jayvik scenes were, more or less, exactly what i expected/wanted and very satisfying lmaooo. i knew jayce wouldn't give a fuck about the shimmer or unethical experiments. i win!

other stuff i liked:

in the hiatus i've now seen all of yellowjackets and it has made me fonder of ella purnell and by extension jinx, lol. i love sevika and i think their grudging alliance in the wake of silco's death is a fun direction. jinx finding a random dumpster baby and adopting them immediately, silco would be so proud lmfao

i love caitlyn's dictator arc. i have to be honest i found her disney princess schtick in s1 pretty boring, so this is finally something more flawed and dynamic for me to invest in. yes girl get worse

ambessa rules. i was a little rolling my eyes at the "wow she was pulling the strings all along" reveal, bc it was so obvious and i was sort of hoping they'd do something more interesting with her. but this show has never been subtle. either way it still seems ambessa believes she's protecting mel? so i AM curious about how that plays out

i don't know shit about the league lore around the black rose stuff and don't want to <3 knowing league lore has never improved my arcane experience. but those sequences were very cool and took me by surprise. some good body horror with elora. good luck in the nightmare labyrinth mel!

stuff i liked less:

i think the stylized music video sequences are being a little overused. maybe s1 did them as frequently and I forget? anyhow, the police brutality one really worked for me, because it's the kind of info that def needs to be montaged, and the style was cool and engaging. cassandra's funeral ... i understand why they did it but i didn't like the regular arcane models mixed with the charcoal bgs, i found it distracted me from what was meant to be the emotion of the moment. and the jinx montage i found kind of mid.

i do think the pacing feels as breakneck as ever, to its detriment. i said above the jayvik stuff all played out basically as i wanted, which is more-or-less true, but viktor just be like I Have To Go Now was a bit abrupt. i can excuse a lot of that on the basis that i don't think viktor is really himself anymore because of the hexcore -- very flat emotionally, etc. and i assume we'll see them butt heads again later in the season. but still, the hextech weapons, the nonconsensual hexcoring, etc, would've expected something a little more explosive lol

plus, then we shift from that scene to the Furby Comedy Hour and jayce and heimerdinger having like a nonreaction to each other despite how acrimoniously they parted or how emotionally charged jayce must be sleeping next to viktor's empty cocoon etc... felt whiplash-y to me. but i hate heimerdinger and ekko teaming up to begin with lmao (and ofc ekko directs his frustrations with piltover to jayce, and not the 300 year president furby he has no beef with for some reason)

this extends to vi's decision to pick up the badge, etc. stuff just happens really quick and the fact that the passage of time in the show isn't very clear doesn't really help. i can understand why riot didn't want to spend two decades making five seasons of this show, but 2 seasons will probably feel too short imo.

[thegothicchangeling]

You're Not Coming Back (Can't You Come Back?)

A look at Mel's thoughts during Blisters and Bedrock. It follows the same canon as Foxsong, my first Medarda siblings fic. Be warned, it's also angsty like Foxsong.

@dimidium-totus @bichletmepickaname @the-underrated-moon @supremesharklord @marielaure

They'd been apart so long, Mel didn't recognize his voice. But then he said those words: “Peacock princes”.

The syllables shocked Mel's system. She remembered the joke. She remembered how he used to tease her, calling her the peacock princess because of how she adorned herself, how she painted everything beautiful she saw.

Mel's breath hitched in her throat. Her brother was dead. It couldn't be. But, oh, how she missed him.

“Step into the light,” she said cautiously.

He obeyed. The sun shone on his face, and there he was: Kino Medarda. Her big brother, the one who got her through every dark night. He was right there. He was right there in front of her!

“Kino,” she gasped, and she couldn't help sobbing as she ran to him. She threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest and breathing him in.

He didn't return the embrace. It wasn't like him, but she didn't know what he'd been through. Did he even recognize her, though?

She held his face in her hands, and it was like holding her whole world. Affection was uncommon among Medardas, but Mel and Kino never cared to hide their love for each other. They used to constantly cradle each other's faces like this, although she was usually on the receiving end of the gesture.

“It's me, brother,” she said, her breath catching on emotion. “Mel.”

He promised her once, during one of her darkest hours that no matter what happened, she would always have his love.

“Mel!” Finally, a reaction. She had gotten through to him. His hands came up to cup her face, and they were the same hands that held her all those years ago, more times over than she could count. “You've grown up.”

Then he wrapped her in a tight embrace, like he used to when they were children, when she thought she would fall apart and she needed him to hold her together. In his arms she was safe. In his arms she was loved.

“I'd hoped they'd never come for you,” he said softly, emotionally, in the same voice that told her stories, sang her nursery rhymes when the nightmares wouldn't let her sleep.

“Kino!” She sobbed.

“Mel! Oh, Mel. Oh, sister.”

“I dream about you,” she whispered, as her tears soaked his chest.

“I dream about you, too,” he confessed. “I have every night since I've been here.”

He held her tight in his arms. She thought she'd never see him again! But now, here he was. Here they were together, two halves of a whole.

Mel wept for what felt like forever, and Kino let her crawl into her his lap to get as close to him as possible. It was just like when she had nightmares as a child, or when she fell apart after witnessing one of Ambessa's countless slaughters and she would run to her brother and he would rock her in his arms.

She often wondered if Ambessa loved her at all, but she never doubted Kino's love for her.

When Mel had cried herself out in Kino's embrace and there was nothing more to say about their devotion to each other, they sat against the wall together and she leaned her head on his shoulder. “There was a funeral for you in Noxus.” A funeral she didn't even get to go to.

“Oh,” Kino chuckled. “Did Mother commission a statue?”

“I held rites in Piltover.” She had, with no one but Elora and Jayce by her side. They held her hands and rubbed her back while she cried for a brother she never got to say goodbye to. She used to believe he was the only person in the world who loved her. She knew now that it wasn't true, but even so, if she had to pick one person in her life to keep with her, she would choose Kino. She would choose him every time.

“She believes you're dead.”

Kino chuckled again. “I do like to disappoint her.”

It was true, they had not had a good relationship. Kino told her in his letters that they often had explosive fights when she wasn't around. He never picked a fight with Ambessa in front of her, for fear of scaring her.

Mel realized she was tracing a pattern in the dust on the ground. When she looked down at it, she realized it was the same symbol on the wall. They were drawn in gold, and they spoke to her in a way she didn't understand. Mel stood up, fascinated by them. She pressed a stone, and another popped out above it.

Kino was impressed. “How did you know to do that?”

“I don't know.” She didn't, honestly. “It just felt…It's like some sort of puzzle.”

She looked back at him, really looked at him. How had her beloved brother, the diplomat, the peacemaker, the prince who oozed grace everywhere he went, end up in this awful place?

“Kino, what happened to you? How did you wind up here?”

“She didn't tell you?” Kino asked, surprised. The look on her face was response enough. He continued on and explained:

“After a few rounds with some dubious noble folk in Basilich, I started hearing some strange rumors about our mother. Different from the usual kind. They say, many years ago, she passed through there and fell in love.”

The idea was laughable. “That's not our mother.”

“Indeed.” He was there before she knew it, startling her as he spoke almost directly into her ear, making her jump. That wasn't like him. “But the more I inquired, the more I started believing it.” Mel listened intently. “The old travel logs, the local accounts. I should have left it alone, but…the affair led to a child.”

A child. She slid down the wall and came to rest in the floor. What the fuck was he saying? No, she knew what he was saying: she was an affair baby. “That's impossible.”

Kino crouched on one knee beside her. “It is the reason we are here.” He took her hand in both of his larger ones. “Simply put, whatever that child inherited is of terrible interest to our captors.”

Mel withdrew her hand and brought it back to her stomach, instinctively shielding her unborn child. She wanted to tell Kino she was expecting, but now wasn't the time. And…there was a part of her that was suspicious. She rose to her feet.

“Mel?”

“I'm getting us out of here.”

Golden designs danced in front of her vision. She was confused and scared, but somehow, she felt a strange confidence as she pressed more stones. Somehow, someway, Mel just knew what to do.

“Say this is some kind of sordid labyrinth. Usually there are consequences for those who fail these tests,” Kino warned. “Deadly consequences.”

“I deserve to know the truth,” she countered determinedly.

“Of course. Makes you wonder why she kept it from you, doesn't it? For all these years?”

“I'm missing something,” Mel mused.

Kino came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “A healthy sense of self preservation, I'd say.”

Kino never snuck up on her like that. He hadn't since that awful day when she was fifteen and made her first and only kill. The experience had rattled her greatly, and Kino knew to be gentle with her. That wasn't the only thing that was off.

When he realized it was her, he should have lifted her off the ground and spun her in his embrace. He should have peppered her face with kisses and cried an ocean of happy tears. He may have been a Medarda, but Mel knew he could cry. She'd seen him do plenty of that on the day she was forced to leave her home forever.

Mel wanted so, so badly to believe that it was her brother. She wanted so badly to believe that she wasn't alone, but she knew better.

She took Kino's face in her hands, and cradled it once more. She looked deep into his eyes. She wanted so, so, so badly to believe she'd been reunited with the person she loved more than anyone.

A tear ran down her cheek. “You aren't my brother.”

[pinkysberg]

Too Sweet

read on ao3

Mel Medarda x Elora (Melora)

wordcount: 1830

tags: pre-canon, domestic fluff, pining, slice of life

summary: Elora makes Mel tea.

a/n: these two are eating me alive idc if im carrying this ship alone on this app. i love them so much.

The rich honey sun pours over the Piltovan skyline, evening creeping in. The apartment supplied by the Medarda estate is filled with an herbal aroma, boiling herbs for tea and sweet milk warming. Elora awaits Mel’s return, hoping for good news about her meeting with a potential trade partner but has prepared for any outcome. 

Since arriving in Piltover, Mel’s had a string of bad luck as far as networking has gone. It’s only been a few months since they’d arrived and naturally, Piltovan nobles were not overly keen on collaborating with a small Noxian house with minimal influence. Nonetheless, Mel was relentless in her pursuit, eager to prove herself to her mother despite the way she’d been cast aside. 

Elora recalls the day Mel had come to her home in Noxus after returning from a military tour with her Mother, which was unusual. Mel was accustomed to the niceties that come with living in Mortoraa, one of the wealthier Noxian neighbourhoods. Admittedly, Elora had become accustomed to them as well over the years with the two essentially being attached at the hip, but the point stood, it was not for no reason that Mel would traverse the crowded streets of Elora’s neighbourhood and that point was only reinforced by the look on her face as Elora had opened the door to her. 

Abject misery. 

She had a hood drawn up over her head, but even still Elora could see she’d been crying. 

“Mel?” She exclaimed in surprise, she wasn’t even aware Mel had returned from Fae’lor. 

Without hesitation she pulled Elora into a crushing hug, not even giving her time to close the door behind them. Stumbling back, Elora quickly wrapped her arms around Mel and tugged her inside, clumsily slamming the door to the street.

“Oh, Elly,” she sobbed out, “she’s finally done it.” 

It didn't really need explaining as to who ‘she’ was and what ‘it’ was. Exilement had been a looming threat her mother had held over Mel’s head for years and in the late hours of the night, under the plush duvet of her bed, she’d tell Elora about how much the idea terrified her. It was when she was the most vulnerable, in the dark, under the covers, away from the scrutinizing eyes of the Medarda clan. They’d hold hands and fall asleep, admissions weighing heavy in the muggy air between them, trapped under the plush blanket together. 

Finally, Mel’s worst nightmare had come true. The very fear that she’d reaffirmed to Elora time and time again.

Once Mel’s crying had tempered somewhat, Elora pulled back to look at her. She looked unharmed aside from her tear streaked face and defeated expression. Their eyes connected and Mel could only begin to cry once more. Elora’s heart ached in her chest but equally, the simmering resentment she’d developed towards Ambessa for the way she mistreated Mel had boiled over into an all out disdain. Living in her home growing up, Elora was no stranger to a cold parent. It only made it harder to watch Mel experience it too, but at least they had each other. Crowding her into a securing hug again, Elora sighed and held her friend tightly. 

“Where is she sending you?” 

Mel sucked in a warbling breath, “Piltover.” She sobbed. 

That isn’t surprising, the Medardas had interests in Piltover, as it was a neighbouring region and sits on top of a major trade route. 

Without so much as a second thought and nothing tethering her to Noxus, Elora says, “I’m coming with you.”

And so she did, without a second thought and never looking back, Elora followed Mel to Piltover. Over land and sea, over hills and through valleys, she followed her to the City of Progress. Often, in the late nights on their travels, Mel would be brought to tears by her circumstance, only to turn to Elora and say, 

“What would I do without you?” 

Elora never doubted Mel though. She didn't need Elora by her side - she didn't follow her because she thought Mel needed her, she truly couldn't imagine anywhere in Runeterra she’d rather be than by Mel’s side. So of course, she came to Piltover. 

Their apartment was spacious but somehow still homey - Mel insisted it was theirs not simply hers alone, even if it was being paid for by her family. It was a rare solace that they weren't so heartless as to leave her without any help - only without any connection to them. And it seemed that hurt Mel just as much - if not more.

Perhaps the apartment felt homey because it smelt like tea and incense. Perhaps it was the traces of them both left all over; An accumulation of paintings done by Mel, many of which done in Elora’s own likeness (she’d said she made a good model), all the books Elora could bring from Noxus (all annotated within an inch of legibility), makeup compacts, hair pins, and fine empty tea cups litter every crevice. Yes, the space was unequivocally theirs . 

The herbs boil and Elora strains them into a teapot before pouring the sweet milk into a saucer. Setting the tea tray out on their small dining table, now all that's left to do is wait for Mel’s return in hopes that she has good news to share. 

The anticipation of good news acts as a fine cover as to why Elora is so restless as she waits, meandering around the apartment and busying herself with nothing in particular. She adjusts already straight paintings in the hallway, wipes down clean counters in the kitchen, fluffs down already fluffed pillows. But when she hears the familiar jingling of keys at the door and she scurries off to the dining room to pretend she’s just set the tea down, she knows she wouldn’t be entirely honest with herself about the matter. 

“Elora?” Calls Mel.

Her tone is bright, there isn’t an air of disappointment in her voice which feels encouraging.

“In here!” Elora calls back, throwing her voice.

She hears the familiar click of Mel’s heels coming down the hallway towards the dining room where Elora idly adjusts the teapot as if she’d just set it down. As Mel rounds the corner and steps into the door frame, Elora looks up, unable to keep the hopeful look out of her eyes as they connect with Mel’s. A smile brands her beautiful face, wide and proud. Elora doesn’t even need to be told what happened, she sees it all over Mel’s face, which quickly shifts when she notices the tea set.

“You made tea?” She interjects.

Elora laughs, exasperated. “Yes, I made tea,” she giggles, shaking her head, “but who cares about tea, what happened?!” She presses. 

Mel barely makes an attempt to conceal her expression, unable to temper the bright smile from breaking across her face. “I closed the deal.” She tries to deliver it as nonchalantly as she can manage but it's obvious that she’s excited. 

Elora squeals with returned excitement, spurring on an excited laugh from Mel in return. They skip across the dining room towards one another and fling their arms around each other in a celebratory hug. 

“I knew it! I knew you could do it!” Elora exclaims. 

The two nearly wobble into the table, giggling until Mel slaps a hand down on the table to catch them. Pulling back, she beams at Elora, pride plain as day on her face. 

“Hoskel is a downright fool, it's a miracle he hasn’t been swindled out of his council seat.” Mel remarks with a smirk. 

Elora only scoffs. It's typical of Mel to downplay her accomplishments that way. She could charm anyone into anything she wanted, fool or not. And perhaps this Hoskel was a fool, Elora hadn’t met the man, but that wasn't why he agreed to a deal with Mel Medarda. 

“You’re incredible.” She says a little too fondly but she always says things a little too fondly and Mel never seems to mind. 

She only laughs. “You say such ridiculous things.” She says as she hugs Elora again, tighter this time. 

The way Mel’s arms squeeze her sends a wave of affection threatening to drown her so finally, she withdraws. 

“The tea!” She exclaims, taking a step away from Mel. “I…I’d hoped it would be good news and we could celebrate.” She smiles sheepishly, avoiding Mel’s eyes as she looks at her with those scrutinizing, golden eyes. 

“And what if it were bad news?” She challenges. 

Elora shrugs, “what's more comforting after bad news than a cup of tea?”

Mel laughs and nudges her shoulder with her own before leaning over the tea set to make herself a cup. “I can think of a few things.” She hums. 

The statement makes Elora pause but she decidedly moves around it, letting it hang in the comfortable silence. Mel fills her tea cup about ¾ of the way full before adding a sugar cube and filling the rest with sweet milk. She liked a sweet tea, which is something Elora had always found endearing. It was something she’d never quite grown out of. They had their first cup of tea together as children, sat at the grand table in the Medarda family home. They were only ten and Kino had told Mel that she wouldn't like tea. Mel was determined to prove that she would, even if that meant it was more sugar and sweet milk than actual tea. The tea may have been too sweet, but it was tea and she liked it. She finished that first cup of tea and set it down with a triumphant smile directed Kino’s way. 

“Sit!” Mel encourages then as she stirs her tea. “I’m sure you’d love all the details?” She raises a brow.

Of course Elora wanted details, but it was less about actually knowing what happened in her meeting with the councilor, and more about simply listening to her speak. She nods and sits across from Mel and begins to prepare her own tea, less sweet than her friend’s, and listens as Mel begins to recount her day’s events. They sip tea and chat, like they always do. Once their tea is finished, Mel washes the tea set and Elora dries it before they retire to the plush couch in the parlour and Mel requests that Elora read her something.

As Elora scans her bookshelf, Mel starts a fire. They reconvene on the couch, Elora having selected a poetry book. Their limbs intertwine, a blanket is pulled up over them as they cozy up. She reads to Mel until she inevitably falls asleep on her shoulder, like she always does. With a subtle chuckle, Elora closes her book and softly shakes Mel awake. 

“Let’s go to bed.” She whispers.

“You’ll come to mine, yes?” Mel asks, her voice soft with sleep but steeped in hope.

Elora laughs, as if she ever sleeps anywhere else, and follows Mel into her bed.

[colorfulwastelandvoid]

What I thought: Arcane Wishes

P3

In my first Arcane wishes I mentioned that I thought that it would be interesting if Jayce,Mel and Elora would team up to fight Ambessa and her schemes. Here are some of the scenarios or plot points I thought would arise pertaining to Elora in particular.

I imagine Elora acting as a sort of spy for Mel. She kind of blends in to the environment (no shade, I swear! I think she’s hot too) so I can see her being able to slip in and out of Piltover and Zaun easily. I also imagine Elora being a lot more sassy,crude and underhanded than Mel.

After the council meeting discussing what next to do with Zaun;Jayce, Mel, and Elora meet in Mel’s office. Mel sends Elora to Zaun to see if she can find Jinx and the stolen Hexgem before having to send in Cait and the enforcers. As Elora is in Zaun snooping on Jinx learning of the chembarons fall out we get flashbacks of her and Mel in Noxus and how they met and grew close. This to me have two possibilities.

One is Elora comes from a smaller house in Noxus and was scouted by Kino. Kino believes that young Mel needs a companion plus he wants someone to keep tabs on her. Then she meets Ambessa and Elora acts as a spy unbeknownst to Kino for Ambessa. Mel figures it out at some point during her exile. Mel doesn’t confront her though she starts to play this game of cat and mouse with Elora as a pawn with Ambessa. Elora finds out and she snaps. Both Ambessa and Mel are tearing her in different directions. Mel calls her out on her spying then big argument. They overcome it and now they on equal footing. By the way this is a flashback that happens before the start of season 1.

Two is that Elora was some kid off the street, think kind of like Aladdin. She sneaks,somehow, into the Medarda compound. The guards catch her, Kino sees her and is impressed by her and decides to introduce her to Mel. The rest is history. Both of these backstories for Elora is stereotypical and cliche I know but I feel like there could be some nuance to it.

Back to the present, with Elora in the undercity we start to see more of the politics of Zaun. She connects it to some aspects of Noxus. We see her realize what Piltover hasn’t. They have been at war long before her and Mel even stepped on the docks here. She knows that even if she finds Jinx and Hgem it wouldn’t really matter. She starts to question whether or not to go back to Mel and Jayce and prepare them for war. She knows Mel trauma about violence but know Elora must find a way to get diplomacy to work in a situation where it is long past the stage of talking or trying to get people unaccustomed to true warfare ready for bloody conflict. Her big conflict does she follows Mel’s way of diplomacy and compassion or Ambessa’s war and sacrifice ideology.

In my vision she gets Piltover ready for war but what do yall think?

Ps this is for the people who wanted more characterization for Elora. I’m one of them. I still have more Aracne Wishes. Like I said I had 3 years to think of different scenarios so there will be more to come. Also I do not think I am better writer than the season 2 team I still liked the series. I just want to share my delusions cause some people seem to like it.Thanks for reading!

[melvika]

(House daughter anon) Sevika's three drinks in by the time Mel and co. decide to roll in. She's feeling.......not better, but more sociable.The tightness in her chest's loosened up a bit. She's done this before. Gritting her teeth and making nice with people that she doesn't know, but knows that they're judging her.

She wants a cigar like no one's business, but she also knows that she can't just smoke freely in this woman's (nice ass) house. Not house, palace. She can't smoke in these people's palace.

(The balcony's free game to smoke on though. If she's desperate enough.)

Mel's entrance does not escape Sevika at all. It also doesn't escape her that Mel looks a little lit. Looks like she's not the only one here who's putting on a show for others' benefit. Well, free entertainment for her if the princess decided to act messy in front of her company because she can't handle her alcohol.

She continues to observe her and her entourage and.......damn, for such small girls, they sure can throw back the drinks. Well,the others are. Mel hasn't really drunk anything since she came in. A guy brought her a shot and while he was throwing back his, she quickly threw her shot over her shoulder and into a nearby plant. A true actress. No wonder she's Noxus' best mediator.

Eventually,it gets too much for Sevika and she makes her escape to the balcony to have her (much-needed) cigar. Unbeknownst to her, Mel's anxiety is increasing the more she talks to her party guests and she badly wants an out. And who should suggest she get some fresh air on the nearby balcony other than Elora (who noticed Sevika making a break for that same balcony).

(I'm picturing Mel's portrait gown looking something like - (https://64.media.tumblr.com/c9ad15b8fd65bbd11ee41715b11f543b/ca8cda02fe764b11-d1/s1280x1920/f717adffeb94802078ab74edbc9a2bdeaed79a39.jpg)

And her party dress being - (https://64.media.tumblr.com/32486de699ddfb1ec8dfc2b69852a708/eaed7d25b7587f12-0d/s640x960/5206578b5907f14339ac021156613fb1bc10d369.jpg) but in gold. With her figure..........this would eat so hard.)

(This is so long, Jesus.)

wait cause i love this 🤧💕 mel throwing the shot over her shoulder kshdksks i’d do the same thing if a man handed me a drink smh (i don’t even drink but still). you’re absolutely cooking with these though. mel doesn’t really wear blue so i’m imagining this in blood red, dark green, or white mhmm 🙂‍↕️

for the party dress i can definitely see it in gold but without the fishnets

[apaise]

❝you look exhausted. will you sleep at all tonight?❞ elora @ mel

to anyone else she may have appeared the picture of victory, still garbed in the gold & perfume of the night's charity event. and yet elora knows mel well enough to pick up on the finer details -- that the cup of wine's not a reward, but a cure for a headache. while such familiarity and intimacy should unnerve her -- should push her to better steel herself -- it's some comfort to be seen by a true friend. especially after hours of rubbing elbows and humoring the most dour and idiotic of piltover's elite.

❝ not likely, no. ❞ mel answers honestly; only elora could elicit a small smile when she's been caught out. yet she could trust elora to understand her, to value her priorities too. ❝ there's still much to sort through. ❞ jayce had charmed quite the number of sponsors in one evening -- now it's just a matter of weeding out those who would become more of a hindrance than help.

❝ we're so close, elora. for once -- i can see a clear path forward. ❞ no more muddling in wonder how she could ever make something of piltover, herself. hextech would lead them all into a better era.

❝ but that doesn't mean your sleep should have to suffer. ❞ as much as she relies on her, elora had already gone above and beyond at the party alone.

[loveandlegacy]

i love this analysis! if i can add onto it a little bit to answer your question about what the purpose of the parallels is, i would say there's a lot of room for interpretation but my particular reading of it is that viktor and mel ultimately converge not with jayce as the center that cannot hold between them but with ambessa as their centerpoint.

throughout the whole show viktor and mel dance around the question of what is ethically the best way to help people maybe more than any other characters. there are other characters who also believe in helping or who are chasing ideals about how to improve the conditions for zaun specifically, but they are more certain in their undertakings. ekko doesn't waver on whether or not the firelights are doing the right thing, silco is a fervent revolutionary nationalist, sevika selects who to ally with based on her core principles about who would be the best to liberate zaun. ekko and silco particularly are at ideological odds about how cast off piltover's hold over zaun, but the show doesn't present them as counterbalancing points or even as two people who are imbricated with one another because of their beliefs. they represent two mostly unmoving worldviews.

by comparison, mel and viktor are constantly made to face the limits of their ideological positions.

in s1 act i viktor says that scientists seek to improve lives and to make the world a better place. this is kind of true in that it is one way scientists can operate but we also know that there are plenty of scientists who don't operate that way (singed) and we also know that science itself is a political undertaking regardless of how idealistic one may or may not be about it. s1 viktor wanted to make the world a better place, but his work for a long time largely fuels the class interests of the piltovan council and materially further destroys zaun. this isn't his fault for being an idealist. he is disempowered in piltover, he's disabled, he's dying, and even his dying/his attempt to avoid dying highlights a kind of politics about medical science and who gets access to it and who gets to choose what happens to their body and how it is tended to and cared for. were piltover not the extractive force that it is and had it not devastated zaun with chemical waste for years (two things only made possible by deploying technology and science!) and had it not essentially set up an obvious system of ethnic segregation, maybe viktor's condition might not have deteriorated to the point of terminal desperation. maybe sky would still be alive

this is like....at its most obvious when viktor's in his hex cocoon coma (which like in real world terms would be an actual violation of a DNR request – so again. the scientific power to arbitrate life and death is a political one) while his life's work gets co-opted to create weapons.

science is a political undertaking no matter which way you look at it

mel on the other hand believes and behaves as if the world is a political chess game that she can win if she maneuvers herself well enough and that politics can always function as the high road and higher power to all other inter/national machinations. her flashback makes this pretty clear when she repeats what kino told her, that war is a failure of (and therefore a lesser form of) statecraft. ambessa scoffs at this and at the idea of 'talking [your] way out of anything' and then later mel has to confront (again and again) that political games cannot account for everything and that she is not omniscient and even her savvy and skill can be upended by unexpected acts of guerrilla warfare. jinx bombs the council, ambessa engineers conflict, the black rose abducts elora and mel herself.

everything in the world is politics yes, but not everyone is playing the same political game and mel is limited in her ability to account for this not because she's stupid or incapable but because of her position in the world. she understands violence only as a tool used by imperialists to oppress their subjects. she has never been on the side of the power divide where she can't bargain with or outmaneuver or manipulate her opponents because the power they hold over her is immeasurable – until of course she is in that exact position. the black rose abducts and tortures her and kills elora and against her will awakens a power in her that only exists because of forces acting on her life long before she was even born.

it's actually kind of wild. in the span of like 1.5 episodes mel goes from being one of the most powerful people in piltover to a woman in a position very similar to viktor's – at the mercy of forces that shaped her life and set it in motion without her ever getting the chance to decide what she wanted for herself. however flawed her methods may or may not be, mel has worked her whole adult life to create a world where war doesn't happen and in one single revelation she learns that not only were her efforts small in the grand scheme of things but also that she herself is the very antithesis of what she wants to see in the world: a weapon.

and that's where ambessa matters! more than any other character in the story, ambessa is the embodiment of military power. national militaries are obviously an arm of power used towards political ends, and military might is often advanced by science – and in arcane's case, also magic, which is presented as a kind of science in the forms of hextech and shimmer. ambessa repeatedly evinces that she's distrustful of mages, but we also learn that she seeks to control magic to her own (presumably violent) ends. mel is her first attempt; she's born with the gift of the arcane, but ambessa correctly identifies she's not super into warfare and eventually sends her away

several years later ambessa arrives in piltover in search of magic again in the form of hextech, but what she eventually ends up getting is another mage.

in short, mel is the weapon ambessa wanted, but viktor is the weapon she got

and in this way, viktor and mel's trajectories finally intersect. mel is forced to reframe her understanding of political power and its uses and limits (and i presume this will carry through to her time in noxus), and she now has to live with the knowledge that she is (as her own voice lines put it) 'tainted by the arcane' in ways she never wanted and forced to use it to kill her own mother. viktor, meanwhile, has to come to grips at the end of the show with the fact that he gave up his ideals about science not being used violently and became the scientific weapon he said he never wanted to create in order to make the world (his idea) of a better place

A lot of people point out the visual parallels between Mel and Viktor but not enough people talk about the thematic parallels between them (also excuse the shitty screenshots).

they both grew up with mentors who ended up doing something they couldn't understand (Viktor believing death is better than sacrificing humanity, Mel believing war is bad)

and they remain haunted by that memory as an adult

they later left that mentor, Viktor on his own decision, Mel got cast out. Then they reconnected with that mentor when they are struggling with the same dilemma but their position has shifted. Again Viktor does this on his own accord and Ambessa comes to Mel

After this encounter though they realise their error and shift back to their original position

They stick to the same morals after Jinx's bomb hits but the decision was taken from them, Jayce already sacrificed Viktor's humanity, the council already decided on war

Then for the rest of season two we see them attempt to keep up their original stance but their hand is forced. (It is also interesting that Viktor is already taking away their humanity he just doesn't realize it yet, probably because he is so far from his own humanity he has forgotten what that even means)

They also both have parallels to the one they once defended as a kid

But I'm still having trouble finding what the purpose of all these parallels are. Viktor and Mel aren't very close in the narrative and they're both close to Jayce but I don't feel we see these parallels used in their relationship to him. I think the end point is that it's not Viktor's fault he became a villian in the end. Both him and Mel fought for what they thought was right and they both lost, it was only because of how others used Viktor that he was the reason so many people almost died.

[flordivina]

"I’ve never felt as seen as I do when you look at me." - Elora [leblanc]

Mel weaved her fingers through Elora's long brown hair, no longer held up in the proper form. Her weaves brushed through her fingers, as she smiled and gazed at the woman laying next to her. She propped herself up, her own hair a bit wild, like an untamed mane of a lion. Golden fingernails brushed over her cheek, tracing her throat, dancing along her collarbone and down her sternum. Every inch of the woman adored and worshipped by the noxian.

"I’ve never felt as seen as I do when you look at me." She whispered, as her hand slide back upwards and pressed against her heart. "Everyone else sees the banished noxian, the new piltovan councillor, the poorest Medarda, but not you," Mel leaned in closer, the hunger of the wolf desiring to be closer with her chosen mate. Her hand moved up to cup along the side of her neck, her nails dragging against her skin.

"You see me, through me. Elora, I cannot express how much I value that,"

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐘, 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 Accepting ♥

But spring is mine. In the heat trapped between our cupped palms, I hold every spring on earth.

—-Through Elora’s eyes, the Enchantress looked at her like a flower would look at the Sun herself & very briefly, she steals her breath as the artificial lights of the room allow her a unique glow. Framed by gold, blessed by something she cannot fully sense. Emilia wants to believe it is part of her facade, she’s the Deceiver & trues are weaved by her. She wants to believe that the tender giggle & the softening of her own gaze is no more than a mask, that the delicate fingertips treating the Medarda daughter so gingerly & so lovingly, as if she was made of glass, was nothing but a Lie.

But her heart was hungry & her soul thirsty for love, for something sweetly & emotional where she could pour into so much of the broken pieces of herself she had long forsaken to survive. & she craved the touch, she craved the closeness, she craved the charm of falling in Love again without something truly looming over her head… 

Mel wasn’t the Child she was looking for after all, her Magic shall have manifested by now, any clue shall have bloomed, shalln’t it? Her mind was impressive & sharp, an incredible politician, a fantastic councilor despite how new & her doubts, it was an honor to be by her side beyond any advisor position to any King.

“Mel.” Her name was said with care every time. Not the kind of care that the others would have because she was either a Noxian or part of the Council or a Rich Lady of the Elite, even if considered the poorest Medarda. No, Elora would say her name with the same tangible care one gives to a blossom to be pressed perfectly among a diary, preserving it for eternity. It would be said with a blush crowning her pale features & a sheepish smile. 

The Lamb that did not fear the Wolf, but was a source of comfort to the wounds of her heart. Her hands raising to cradle her features would be a caress on their own. Warm & gentle, holders of Spring, of thousands of blossoms flourishing at the flutters inside her ribcage… 

“I do not care for any of those titles, but only for you. I see you for who you are…” Her voice didn’t hesitate, nor did her expression, but her mind would make a little pause disguised as a thoughtfully sweet stare. If her features could break, this Faux Identity would cry of emotion upon words that shalln’t be said with such painful honesty.

The Lamb canting her neck for the Wolf to bite, make her bleed as much as the arrow twisting in her heart, pressing deeper into emotions long shaken——

“Even if you lacked all those things, I would still be by your side, not matter what… For you are like the Sun to me, like the first ray of Spring. Like rain to the flowers & grass, like honey to who has only know bitterness…” Oh Elora, in the intimacy of this room, she could be the outlet to the Nymph still trapped in the darkness of her. The little lost pieces of a fairytale turned gruesome history, she could briefly feel like herself… 

Like one she wasn’t growing steadily disturbed by the incoming doom, like one who wasn’t ever fighting for power, like one who wasn’t solely weaving lie after lie, scheme after scheme… But someone far more gentler, the Maiden of the Woods instead of the Matron of the Cabal.

“You mean to me more that I could be able to express with just words…”

Her hands would caress her features with genuine adoration, the words slipping past her rosy lips along with a tear that one could almost swear was shimmering an iridescent glow if not for clearly a trick of light… 

“I love you, Mel.”