#Mel wanted to be diplomatic but lots of people saw that as manipulative

[bubblewater]

I do agree with how the wealthy utilize research and technology to make themselves richer and inhibiting access to innovative technologies that would improve the commonfolk’s quality of life and how that plays into the political field of innovation and implementation of new ideas

But when was Mel looking at Viktor like a bug??? I don’t think she’s ever expressed hatred for him at all.

Sorry but It's actually so annoying how much people downplay the crucial role piltover's corrupt council games played in derailing jayce/viktor's work and pretty much putting shackles around their lives. The council is directly responsible for and directly FUNDING so much of the misery that happens in this show, before the story has even started. Before Powder ever finds the gemstone. They single-handedly doom half of the region to death.

Just during the show: Jayce wanted to create magic to aid and uplift the common people, the council wanted trade route instant teleportators to make themselves richer.

Jayce & Viktor wanted to work on technology to help miners and steelworkers and artisans who are trying to survive in the industrial hellscape of piltover and zaun; the council wants it shelved for another 20 years. (yes, heimer is part of the corrupt council - no matter how much his image is laundered by the fandom.)

They are inept and self-serving leaders, elected by themselves and their blood inheritances, utterly obsessed with ultimate profit. You can really see how parasitic their relationship is to the people at the beggining of act 1. Jayce is a token nameless life, so disposable to them that they were going to burn down all of his research and throw out all of his titles, making him not just a lower-house vassal but an EXILE, and the only reason why that doesn't happen is because they realize how much money they can suck out of his work.

This applies to Viktor too. See the way that Heimerdinger tells him over and over again that no other paths can be taken, he has 'fulfilled his purpose' and he should be content to die. See how Mel looks at Viktor like a bug she wants to squash under her palm when he rejects the idea of making weapons for council. See how they speak over him and only address Jayce, as if he's worth less than nothing.

You are only as valuable as the profit you're willing to create. You are a problem that has to be dealt with as soon as you refuse their orders. They have the power to ruin your life, and if they find an excuse, they will. This is a direct threat pointed at Jayce & Viktor during ACT2, when Jayce is pressured into becoming one of them to protect 'the bottom line profit' and, personally speaking, to avoid that ire being redirected towards Viktor. He's pushed into compliance and told a target has been painted on his back.

Arcane jayvik are doomed in big part not for wanting to do harm, but being forced to exist under the beck and call of billionaire leeches. They are both immigrants. They are both struggling to get a degree and keep themselves afloat and they want to help people so goddamn much but they have to keep postponing their dreams to serve uncaring masters. I really wish there was more fan content focused on these very real bonds of understanding and solidarity between them.

When Viktor says 'Jayce will understand' that's not a fluke; he's lived in this environment for years. He knows Jayce is being pushed down the same way that he is and that deep down they've been kept captive by the exact same people. When Jayce agrees that Viktor should do whatever he needs to do to keep himself alive, he means that from the heart.

[bird-inacage]

Arcane S2 Act 1: Caitlyn's Arc (The Call of Revenge)

This is not my usual corner of tumblr, but I adore Arcane and I wanted to air out my thoughts on Act 1. There's understandably a lot of contentious commentary surrounding Caitlyn's 'villain uprising'.

As Mel points out, "she hides it admirably, but the poor girl's in so much pain". Caitlyn is by all definitions a loose cannon right now. She's clearly not in a sound nor stable state of mind. She's plagued by immense levels of grief, anger and hatred, that have her possessed and consumed. She's tried to put on a brave face but she's lashing out. She's raw. She fantasises about killing Jinx. Revenge is rarely ever rational or fair. It's emotionally charged and can often veer into madness.

During their fight with Jinx, all that comes to a head. In the heat of the moment, Caitlyn completely loses all her rationale, any dregs of compassion we knew from S1 swiftly go out the window. She must kill Jinx, no matter what. When people lose something dear, revenge can become their sole motivation, the only thing giving them purpose and a reason to keep going or to even stay alive. When a war suddenly takes away one of your loved ones, it becomes personal and very real. Up until that point, you can take a more diplomatic approach. A more idealistic stance. That is, until you've become a direct victim of the situation.

There was always a degree of sheltered naivete we saw with Caitlyn in S1, which clashed with Vi's more jaded (or grounded) sense of reality. And now Caitlyn's experiencing that for herself. Those feelings are currently at their most heightened, most potent and therefore; most dangerous. Luckily Vi had Vander to guide her when she tragically lost her parents, but there's no one to steer and influence Caitlyn when she's now at her most vulnerable and volatile.

Vi is wrapped up in the centre of said conflict and is still processing a lifetime of grief herself. Jayce is pre-occupied with Viktor. Mel has disappeared. Her mother is dead. Her father is paralysed by grief. There is no Grayson or equivalent to lead the enforcers. She doesn't have a mentor figure to consult or look to for guidance, who has her best interests at hand. "I don't know how, okay?!"

Ambessa seeks to exploit Caitlyn as a figurehead to aid her own objectives, precisely because she's in the perfect position to be easily manipulated and weaponised. "Come child", is a stark reminder that essentially Caitlyn is still a child. A child whose lost their mother and lost their way and now stands in the middle of a political hailstorm. So when Ambessa offers out her hand, it's no surprise Caitlyn takes it.

In my opinion, attempting to distill Caitlyn's actions as categorically right or wrong is a huge disservice to the complexities of the situation and the story. No one sets out to be the villain of their own narrative. We feel justified in what we do, because of who we are and what we've gone through. In our own minds, our actions make sense to us. And quite frankly, no one is immune to that.

[moonsdancer]

on power, mel and silco

I have a lot of fascination for these two as mirrors/foils of a sort, with their contrasting imagery, and colour palettes, Mel associated with light, often shown under the glare of the Sun in warm golds, bronze, and ivory while Silco tends to be a creature of the shadows, even down to his subterranean Bond villain lair in the first episodes, and his signature colours lean more towards dark crimsons, roiling olive greens, black, indigo (see: first row of GIFs). Also they both apparently love a good tipple, and we see them more than once with a glass or tumbler of liquor in hand, I RESPECT THAT (see: second row).

There’s much that could be said about it, and I think I saw a bit of commentary in the early days that was all, see how Silco and Mel are both power-hungry and manipulative, which means they’re very evil and we should all hate them, hate Mel etc. Which is an angle I don’t care about so if one’s hoping for that, this is not the post for it.

I’m mostly interested in the ways that they use power. Of all the characters in this story, Silco and Mel are probably the most fluent and adept in how power works, they want it, they know how it functions, how to build it, how to wield it to achieve one’s ends (obviously apart from Ambessa, but we’ll get to her).

But what interests me here is the ways in which they are quite similar in their approach (both are incredibly good at reading people, picking apart what makes them tick, what impulses drive them, their strengths, and weaknesses, what levers can be pushed or pulled to achieve ideal results) and just how differently they do it—

desire / fear

Where Mel appeals to desire / want, (what do you want or need, what do you aspire to, what are you greedy for, what can only I offer you or bribe you with to win your loyalty, cooperation, allyship, debt) and plays on those to position people and play the game effectively. Silco tends to use fear / intimidation, (how can I threaten or torment you into bending to my will, what can I deny you or take from you to secure obedience, loyalty, subservience, debt) (see: GIFs of Mel with Hoskel / Silco with Finn). I do think there are moments when Silco does slide along the spectrum to playing on desire even if terror is the core of how he understand power—and that makes utter sense, no, given his background. It’s part of what makes him so compelling and slippery, and effective.

Obviously, Mel was raised to use the fear / intimidation / sending a brute force message approach by Ambessa because that’s how you win wars. Like if it’s a continuum, Mel’s on one end, Ambessa’s on the other end, and Silco’s somewhere in the middle, leaning more towards Ambessa but deploying it differently because Silco’s an enterprising “industrialist” as much as he’s anything else and Ambessa is a pure warrior who meets foes with the blunt end of a weapon, while Mel is a diplomat with an investor’s sensibilities that conflict with a tender heart.

ANYWAY

This is not some comprehensive meta or anything, I just was having fun with GIFs and decided to write about it. BUT.

My kingdom for so many AU fics and scenarios. Because I deserved at least ONE scene with these two on the show. Silco as a Noxian spymaster in the Medarda court (@arcane-ish), Mel as a Zaunite chem-baron vying for a bigger slice than the rest and butting heads with Silco. Mel and Silco being allies, working from Piltover and Zaun respectively, and maximizing their different strengths and skills to win the entire game (I have about 5k of this one).