#arcane the daughters and sons of Zaun

[insane-arcane]

How does this story have no comments like wow :0

The Before and the After

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A/N: Had angst on the brain. Be ready

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"Like that daddy?" You question as you crack the eggs in the good bowl like he had shown you too. Vander chuckled and made sure to catch the egg shells you were about to drop before they fell into the cake mixture. Placing the broken pieces on the counter to later put in the garbage he wiped at his hands taking in the sweet smell from the batter. Oh well crunchy cake was never a bad thing. He's sure the extra sugar you snuck in would cover the taste, besides you had waited long enough for the others and thanks to them being late you were impatient. He honestly didn't blame you. Wasn't often you got cake.

In fact it was only once a year on a very special day.

Sighing at the mess you'd both made he handed you a large spoon to mix it all together. You carefully stand on the stool so your a little taller than the counted and begin to mix with a concentrated look on your face. He hums at your work before assessing the damage. The counter had become a mess of scattered ingredients and your clothes and apron would need a good washing. You were covered in flour among other things but you were insistent on helping. Since your uncle's weren't here to distract you while he baked he gave in knowing the cost. Scooping up some of the once ingredients he plops them into the trash since they were unusable now. You claimed you were finally old enough to join him and you really wanted to prove that by making your cake almost by yourself.

He couldn't say no too your cute face.

"Like this dad?" You question snapping him back to watch you carefully. You were squashing the ingredients and mixing them like you'd seen him do a hundred times. As he grabs a towel and begins the cleaning process he swipes a bit of the batter.

"Perfect cupcake." He teases you as he tastes it and you smile happy. Looking at the likely stained counter he paused seeing little piles of different ingredients he'd have to wipe away.

Still mixing he gets a sneaky grin before he dots his finger in one of the sugar piles you'd made while pouring. Whistling innocently you look up at him confused before he smears some on the tip of your nose.

"Dad that's for the cake!" You complain and he laughs before kissing it off.

"I think we're well past that point." He hums looking at the messy counter before he leans down to nuzzle you. You giggle as his beard lightly tickles your face and a puff of white comes off you from all the flour you'd gotten on yourself. "Besides it's for you because your just so sweet. Sometimes papa just wants to eat you, your sweeter than the sugar." He states before picking you up and making eating noises as he pretend eats you.

"No papa no!" You wail before thinking fast. Reaching behind you and thunking him with the mixing spoon he drops you in surprise. As you land with an oooof on the kitchen floor, batter runs down his face in a drippy pattern. You look up at him from your place on the floor trying to stop your giggles at his surprised face. Glancing at the sink water seeing his reflection he begins laughing with you. You grab your dad a clean towel to wipe his face off and he keeps laughing as he takes it.

"You two are so sweet it's almost disgusting." Someone states from the doorway making you pause. Turning to look you were right.

"UNCLE SILCO!" Running towards him you jump into his open arms sending a cloud of flour everywhere. Picking you up and holding you close despite the mess he chuckles as your disheveled form and the war zone the kitchen had become. Pushing your hair back he kisses your forehead happy to see his favorite child. Butter, sugar, and flour touch his lips making him chuckle as he pulls away.

Your father wasn't kidding, you really were your own pastry.

"Hello ankle biter. What mischief are you making today?" He questions playfully, already knowing the answer as he nuzzles into you. He looks to Vander with a slight eyebrow raise. Your father shrugs at him before he opens the wood stove checking on the fire, it was ready he just had to out the batter in a pan. You don't see focusing on Silco instead of the cake for now. Letting out some giggles as he teases you, you smile gently pushing his sharp face away as he keeps nuzzling you.

"Cake!" You state excited and your uncle smiles down at you, his raven hair framing his thin face as his sea green blue eyes stare at you and than look up at your father who shrugs sliding the tin into the oven. So this bomb going off in his bars kitchen was Vanders version of a cake and not some kind of food war? Must be one hell of a cake. Though he supposed without him and Benzo there he fell pray to your puppy dog eyes.

"Cake? Why are you making cake?" Silco questions playfully and you gasp as your tiny fists clutch his vest in disbelief. A hand goes through your hair and he hums with a small smirk. You really did take after him when it came to dramatics, perhaps your father was right in calling the revolutionist a bad influence. The look of betrayal on your face almost makes Silco stop his teasing but you were too cute all shocked and wide mouthed as you stared at him. He wished he could take a picture and keep you young and small forever. But alas you were growing as all children do. Much too quickly in his opinion. As all children in Zaun did.

"No you can't forget what day it is!" You complain and Silco makes a dramatic face as he leans against the wall and puts his hand to his head feigning ignorance. You cling to him as he leans back and he peaks an eye open to see your displeased face. Chuckling light heartedly he adjusts on the cool wall as you cross your arms and pout supported by his arm holding you up.

You always were a ray of sunshine in the pits they called Zaun, even when you were upset or pouty. You deserved the world.

"Oh heavens. What did I forget? Is it someone's birthday? Is our little munchkin getting older? No I won't allow it, you must be small forever." He states getting up only to sqeeze you close as if to shrink you. Squealing in delight that he remembered the day before trying to squirm out of his arms he smiles stopping the silly game. He peppers your face in kisses instead glad your in such a good mood. You deserved to always be happy and always be smiling especially on your birthday.

"Stop stop!" You whine and he finally does when Vander gives him a look. Not noticing you see something behind Silcos back clipped to his bag. Your eyes widen in excitement realizing it was likely a gift for your big day. "Did you bring me something?" You question vibrating in his arms. Silcos sly smile made you squeal as he always had the best gifts.

"(Y/N) that's rude to ask." Your father chides and your face goes red before you hide in Silcos vest resting in the soft and nice smelling fabric.

"You did though? Right?" You try to whisper and Vander lets out a loud groan as Silco winks at him. Peaking at your uncle he winks at you too making you giggle quietly.

"Silco your corrupting my child again. Either put on an apron and help me with this mess or get out of here. No free cake for you Mr. Late." He teases and you laugh as your dad takes you from Silco throwing you into the air before he catches you. Squealing as your thrown towards the kitchens ceiling again, Silco rolls his eyes placing his bag down before he puts on an extra apron hanging from the wall.

"Your the boss cake face." Silco responds coyly and your dad glares at him before letting out a little smile, some batter still stuck on his face from your earlier assault. Silco snorts in response to Vanders childish ways. He looks at the floor that'd need mopping before glancing back at Vander as he ties the apron. "Benzo will be here soon, he sent me ahead but I got a little side tracked with a job. He's getting something from his shop. Our mission went long." He explains averting his eyes from you before bending down towards his bag. "So cake face what are we doing?" Silco pushes the tease and you giggle as your dad rolls his eyes.

"I'll show you cake face." Vander threatens but before he can do anything he has a face full of flour as you run and hide behind Silco. Silco chuckles and and unbuckles the thing attached to his pack before standing infront of you to shield you.

"It looks like they won brother. It's only fair after such a tactful victory they get one of their presents early and you clean while we go play victorious." He states and you jump up and down at the idea as Vander rolls his eyes again.

"Ahhh. Traitor." He states towards the both of you as he swats his arm and turns towards the gigantic mess. "Would've been more fair with Benzo, two against two." Vander murmers making you chuckle before you turn towards Silco eyeing his closed fist.

He holds both hands up and scooting closer he loosens his grip revealing what's inside his hold. A shiny black case with a sapphire on the top catches your attention. Reaching out to touch the gift the case is soft velvet. You almost feel bad touching such a material with messy hands but Silco urges the item closer when you go to pull away. As Vander glares at him Silco shrugs before seperating his hands opening the case. Your eyes widen at your first weapon.

A small yet large in your hands silver dagger. Something you'd surely grow into. It had a gold tipped blade and a black wrapped leather handle with a pearl bottom. It looked as expensive as the case, maybe more so and as you held it, it felt heavy in a good way. Was it really for you? Touching the sharp edge Vander frowned at the intricate but dangerous gift.

"To cut the cake." Silco explains or maybe defends as he squeezes your shoulders looking up at Vander with begging eyes. You nod agreeing with your uncle as you hold the treasure close excited for the cake to bake so you could try it out. Vander didn't seem happy but regardless of his feelings he never took the gift away.

~~~

Startling awake from your dream the memories of cake and laughter and small presents drifted away. You paused as your head spun and neck creaked from falling asleep sitting up. Groaning before having a coughing fit your hand rubbed your throat to soothe the soreness. You guessed your birthday always brought back tough memories but this sickness whatever it was, wasn't helping. Ruminating on that moment from years ago, remembering the loss of your uncle you push it away.

"Powder... powder can you get me some water? Maybe with lemon? They should be back soon." Blinking trying to clear your vision you had a faint ringing in your ears. Looking up when you didn't get a response from the her you realize your all alone and the little blue haired girl was nowhere to be seen. Reaching for your dagger just incase their was danger you were on your own. Pushing yourself off the couch with unsteady feet going towards her bed you stop noticing the sheets were empty and all her monkey bombs and inventions were gone.

"Fuck." You curse before stumbling towards the stairs.

Running out of the bar searching for her the smog of the streets didn't help your senses. Hacking as you rushed through back alleys with dull lights but pulsing noises you head where you knew they were. Your heartbeat pounded in your head and your footsteps echoed around you bouncing around your skull. Continuing to where you needed to be you tripped down the back streets of Zaun. Legs wobbling from the strain of running when you felt the way you felt you heaved in the nights cold and smog filled air. Just your luck to get sick on your birthday when your friends needed you most.

Vi was so gonna give you an earful when she learned Powder escaped your watch and Vander probabaly wouldn't be happy either. Bending over to catch your breath you wheezed as your hands gripped your knees and you closed your eyes. Coughing you slowly stand again, holding your trusted dagger incase you needed to use it. Throwing all those thoughts to the side you push yourself off the grimy wall behind you and get closer to where Violet said your father was being held. Where the others should be if they weren't home.

Stopping you taste the metallic air feeling something different. Eyes widening even with your bad nose you can smell the smoke.

Getting a burst of adrenaline you rush forward despite the dizziness and run out onto the peir. Ash and water mix under your feet as your boots splash through the sickening puddles. You smelled it before you saw it and when you saw it, your sickness wasn't the only thing that made you want to vomit.

"DAD! DADDDDDD!" You cough as the sour air burns your agitated throat but you can't stop calling for him. For any of them. They had to be around here somewhere. They had to have gotten out. Feeling your world shatter you don't see anyone. God where were they? Where were they?

This was your fault, your fault. You should've gone with them, you should've been there too. How could you let them leave without you? Feeling tears prick your eyes you sway on the wooden pier as the building goes up in flames. How could you not watch Powder closer? How could you let them do this? "VIOLET! CLAGGOR! MYLO! POWDER!" Tears streak down your face as you watch the building burn unable to do anything to stop the fire. Embers fly through the air like orange flickering stars and burn your skin as they land on you. Ash coats your hair and fills your lungs as you stare at where they should be. Frantic you turn every which way despite your blurring vision searching for anyone. Your friends, your family!

You were supposed to watch Powder keep her safe with you until everyone else got back. But you were sick, you closed your eyes for a second. Just a second!!! "POWDER! VANDER!" How could this happen? Who would do this? Screeching louder, screaming into the endless night, the heat of the fire and thickness of the smoke could be felt from where you were standing.

Running towards the flames with shaky but determined legs, long and slender arms wrap around your waist stopping you from rushing into the unstable building. You sob screaming bloody murder through your sore throat as you claw at their hands dagger knicking them, as you desperately reach for the building. Tears streak down your soot stained face and you begin coughing violently from both the atmosphere and your sickness as you continue to struggle with all you have. You tried to stab them with your dagger but a familiar hand held your hand back keeping you from cutting yourself or them. Your eyes widened in panic as your recognized the person holding you back. After all they gave you the knife in the first place.

"Shhhh... Shhhhh." He coos and you wish he was in that building burning with them. "It's alright. I have you now. I have you now." He keeps soothing and you want to kill him. You want to kill him. This is his fault. He did this. He DID this. You wished he'd died that day like Vander told you he had. You wished he was dead.

Turning you try and stab him again, try to hurt him a fraction of the way he's hurt you. By leaving. By betraying you and dad. By doing this! He takes the gift he once gave you away and you'd find that ironic if you weren't on the verge of a full mental breakdown.

You scratch at him reaching for your dagger before you decide you want nothing from him and begin to pound your fists against his chest instead. Screams of rage rip out of your sore throat like a rapid animal as you mourn the loss of everything and everyone you'd ever loved. It begins to rain and you can't tell what's tears and what's sky as you continue to try and rip him apart.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM!" You screech fighting against Silco as the flames raise higher burning the building and all that were inside to the ground. He simply hums softly pulling you tightly into his chest as you continue to weakly fight him. His fingers go through your tangled hair as they once did so long ago and your so overcome by the emotions flooding through you, you don't know what to do. You wanted your dad, you needed your dad. But Vander was gone.

As you cough and cry and choke on your words he keeps you to his vest facing away from the carnage, caring you to him despite your struggles. You remember him holding you like this as a child. You remember your laughter as he kissed your forehead after a bad day and shared a private joke with you. Your smile as he told crazy stories about him and your dad at dinner. The way he made you happy despite the hard times you were all going through. The sparkling blue green of his passionate eyes. But he betrayed you, he betrayed your father. He burned every bridge he had with your family and he became the monster your father wanted to protect you and the Undercity from.

Your fist fruitlessly pounds against his chest again but as he tucks you under his chin holding you close your knees give out as you lean into his grip sobbing. The air is so heavy with the smell of smoke and you taste ash on your tongue as it sticks to your wet hair and skin. The tears don't stop as you become soaked and the cries from you hold all your pain.

They're gone. Your families gone.

"I hate you..." You mumble voice breaking and cracking as you force your face further into his vest to make all the bad things go away. He simply continues to hum seeming unphased at your pitiful state and scathing comments.

Vander. Benzo. Powder. Mylo. Claggor. Violet. They were all gone. Everything. Everyone. Gone.

"... That's alright... because no matter what I love you." He whispers quietly as he keeps you close. Except for your screams and sobs and the background noise of the collapsing building as the fire burns brighter and higher it's quiet in Zaun. Just another silent tragedy that'd go unnoticed by Piltover and other Zaunites in the Undercity. "I'll take care of you now." He promises as he soothes your hair and kisses your forehead and you just fall against him wondering how it all went so wrong. How he could do this to you, today of all days. How you lost everything on a day that was supposed to be happy. You wish you'd taken that knife when he gifted it to you all those years ago and plunged it into him rather than the cake.

"I hate you." You repeat and he gives you the dagger casing but not the dagger itself.

You had given it to him that day, the day he died. He wouldn't take your dagger to the battle so you gave him the case to bring him good luck. Clutching it close just to have something familiar near, the velvet is worn and well loved.

"I know." He says softly as his blue and red eye stares at the blazing fire. He takes off his coat wrapping your shivering body into it and pulling you close as he goes to lead you away from this nightmare. "But someday you won't."

[peapeapeapa]

On model Arcane redesigns for an AU

Didn’t redesign Vi she’s just there because 🤷🏻

[goddessofroyalty]

Both my partner and I like the head canon that people in Zaun don't have surnames. Partially because it gives us a chance to play around with the stories of when various groups throughout history that culturally didn't have surnames are forced to and the names they came up with. And Sky Young kind of fits with that historical precedent.

Anyway in the Zaun Family AU Silco is forced to provide a surname for him (and by extension his family) when he takes the Representative role.

He picks Zaun. Because if they're going to force him to put one down on every piece of paperwork he has to fill out he's going to make them look at the true name of the undercity whenever they look at it.

[halyasgirl]

Something I find really interesting in Arcane is what is and is not normalized among the setting and characters, especially Silco.

In 1x08 "Oil and Water" Jayce and Vi raid one of Silco's Shimmer manufacturing plants, which Jayce is rightfully horrified to find staffed with child laborers who are caught in the crossfire. To Piltovan, and probably audience eyes, this is barbaric and a moral event horizon for a villain who would use children this way.

But none of the Zaunites are horrified, or even fazed. Even Vi, who loathes Silco and certainly wouldn't hesitate to blame him, sees nothing amiss. Child labor, even criminal child labor, is not considered a failing in Zaun. Vander and Benzo lovingly raised their children, but involved them in their burglary and fencing. What other life skills could they offer them? There do not appear to be any schools in Zaun and any economy is grey at best. It’s a neglectful parent who leaves their child alone on the streets of Zaun. As sick as it is, these children were comparatively privileged. Renni’s son was the child of a Chembaroness, and when Renni finds his body, she blames Silco not for placing him in harm's way, but for refusing to avenge him. And her rage brings to light the massive double standard Silco holds with parenting Jinx.

Silco is unusual among Zaunite parents in that he doesn’t use his child for any sort of work. The only "labor" Jinx does for Silco is nursing and in-house graphic design, and any involvement she has in his operation is at her own behest. Albeit in a very twisted way, it’s traits that could make Silco a “good” parent that draw confusion and resentment in Zaun. He takes note of his daughter’s interests and gets her the resources to explore them. He goes out of his way to nurture the talents she chooses and tries to guide her to a path he thinks will be fulfilling. And when she struggles, he puts her first, before business, politics, or even others’ well-being and safety.

Many things about Silco make him a typical Zaunite man. He employs child labor. He wears makeup. He’s disabled from some aspect of hard living with few resources. He chain-smokes in self-destructive defiance of every other toxin in his environment. He hates Piltover.

But for all his hatred, Silco dresses Piltovan, in sharp clothes lacking Zaun’s asymmetry motif. He’s unusual not for wearing makeup or being disabled, but for using makeup to try and hide his disfigurement, his Zaunite asymmetry. And his treatment of people, good and bad, is very Piltovan in Zaunite eyes. 

[xetlynn]

REQUESTED

Arcane Imagines- Vander Headcannons

X Piltover reader Headcannons

[arcane] [main page]

When you were a young adult you wandered into the undercity after a fight with your ex boyfriend, finding Vander’s bar and going in since you didn’t have anywhere else to go at the time. Vander, Felicia and Silco were alone there. They stared at you at first so you turned around to leave but Vander welcomed you in. 

Felicia and Silco were weary of you at first. Vander seemed to click with you instantly. Even though you were from the uppercity you seemed to have been through a lot yourself. 

After that night you kept going to see Vander. Talking for hours on end. 

It took some time but you got close with Felicia and Silco as well. 

As you got closer with Vander though, feelings grew and you two were inseparable. You guys started dating 6 months after meeting. He wanted to wait since you had just gotten out of something rough before you met him. You understood and just enjoyed his presence in the beginning. 

A couple months later you decided to move to Zaun, it seemed idiotic to your family but it was more of a home than Piltover ever was to you. You lived with your boyfriend behind the Last Drop. 

When Felicia had Vi and Powder you and Vander were watching them whenever Felicia and her husband ever needed it. Creating a close bond with the two girls. 

You and Vander had a small wedding, the girls as your flower girls. Felicia, her husband, and Benzo were there and that was it. Silco didn’t show due to Vander and him getting into heated arguments deciding to go different ways. 

When the couple passed away Vander and you had taken the girls in, along with Claggor and Mylo after they were orphaned as well. 

You and Vander ran the bar together while also being full time parents. It was a lot of work but so worth it to the both of you. Loving those kids with your whole hearts. 

And when they pulled their stunt in the uppercity it devastated you. Especially because they felt like they had to do that to help Vander and you. 

You reprimanded the children as Vander spoke with Vi who was the head of the operation. You explained to them how that is not okay. And not to worry about adult things since Vander and you had it handled. 

When Vi went to turn herself in and Vander locked her up going to turn himself in, you pleaded with him not to. Not wanting to lose anyone in the situation. Begging that there has to be another way. You and him argued and you stayed home with the children. You went to the bathroom for not even five minutes to cry and when you came out the children were after their father figure. 

When you got there you were too late, the place engulfed in flames. Vi was taken by enforcers, locked up. Powder was gone and you found your husband’s body along with your two sons. 

You were devastated. You lost everything. You lost your lover/best friend. Your children. You found out that Benzo was even killed. When you found that you, you took Ekko in. 

It was hard in the beginning. But you built something amazing with Ekko. The Fireflies. 

<3 Time Skip <3

Finding out Powder was with Silco hurt you beyond belief. You couldn’t believe an old friend didn’t even have the decency that your daughter was alive. You hoped she was alive since you never found her body that night. But she’s not even Powder anymore. 

And when Vi came out of prison, Ekko bumped into her. Attacking her, not knowing if she was working for Silco as well. After that he brought her to see you. The both of you share a huge embrace. Both sobbing, clinging onto one another. 

As time passed and Jinx attacked the Piltover Council. Zaun went deeper into a bad state as Piltover got stricter with the people in the undercity. 

Jinx was wanted. People dyed their hair blue in honor of the girl who defied against the Uppercity. She was nowhere to be found though.

The tree sanctuary was running strong but the tree they depend on was getting sick. Ekko and Heimerdinger decided to figure it out with Jayce’s help. 

You went out some time after that and bumped into Vi along with some large guy. Vi’s hair was now black. The large guy, Loris, explained everything that happened. You were shocked that Vi tried to kill her own sister. You helped Loris with taking care of Vi. She was a mess. 

One day you went home from one of her fights with her and Jinx was in her room. You had to calm Vi down so the two of you could hear her out. 

When she said Vander was alive your heart sank into your stomach. You went with the girls, even meeting Isha. Isha loved you, making you carry her in the tunnels. 

When Vi and Jinx fought you just watched, knowing they needed it out of their systems. Isha went to stop Vi, ending up getting hit. You observed how caring Jinx was with the tiny one. 

Moments later though a beast attacked you and Vi. Jinx was pleading for you to not hurt him. He was Vander. 

Your eyes locked with his mid fight before he attacked you and he immediately stopped his movements. “[Name]?” He turned to Vi as well. “Violet.” He spoke. 

The two of you embracing him in a hug. Vi told Jinx to join and then you waved to Isha as well. Savoring every moment. 

[withercrown]

The worst thing about the reductive argument about whether Vander and Silco are "brothers" is that everyone involved misrepresents what that word actually means, and as a historian I have had enough.

"Brothers" is not meant to evoke either actual brothers (they are just simply not brothers, either by blood or adoption) or brothers-in-arms (this is a militaristic concept which is not appropriate imo).

The kind of 'brotherhood' they share is specifically revolutionary/national brotherhood.

The French flavoring of the show—everything from the graffiti to the architecture of Piltover (it's just Paris, guys) to the revolutionary imagery—is one of the things I love most about Arcane. Fortiche is a French studio. They wove their own history and culture into their work.

What's the single most famous phrase associated with the French Revolution?

"Liberté, égalité, fraternité".

This motto was popularized by Robespierre in a speech he gave in 1790. It encapsulated the spirit of the French Revolution so completely that it became institutionalized as the national motto of France to this day. The concept of brotherhood in an explicitly French revolutionary setting is not ambiguous and we are not going to pretend that it is.

"Men of all countries are brothers, he who oppresses one nation declares himself the enemy of all." -Maximilien Robespierre, speech delivered April 24, 1793

During the Revolutionary period, it was the feeling of belonging to a common struggle among the people of France, all together, united as brothers, by their beliefs and their nationality: This struggle was led internally in France against the absolute monarchy, which had to be toppled. Source: France Diplomacy, Liberty – Equality – Fraternity

We have got to start thinking about why the creators might want to emphasize the revolutionary brotherhood between Silco and Vander so strongly. Fraternité was arguably the most actively dangerous part of the triad:

Fraternité was sometimes styled as “fraternité ou la mort” — “brotherhood or death.” This “you’re with us or you’re against us” mentality, cloaked in the ideals of freedom and enlightenment, would go on to fuel one of the bloodiest episodes in France’s history: the Reign of Terror. Source: Liberté, égalité, fraternité: French Political History and THE PLAGUE

Fraternity is not a toothless concept. This isn't about picking a brother and a sister and maybe a mommy and a daddy. This led directly to the beheading of the King and Queen of France and their son, and to a political slaughter severe enough to be named the Reign of Terror by historians. 30,000 people died, 17,000 by execution. These guys were not messing around. Again: this is France's (and Haiti's) motto today. You can go to France right now and see this all over their buildings and monuments.

Vander and Silco diverged on this point. When they speak to one another, they use the past tense. You were my brother. They no longer see each other as being part of the same vision. They no longer interpret brotherhood in a way that includes one another.

Fraternité ou la mort is practically a thesis statement for Silco's character. He lives and dies on his sense of brotherhood—and in fact, choosing his daughter over Zaun and his sense of revolutionary brotherhood directly and almost immediately results in his death.

(Not so incidentally, in making the choice of Jinx over Zaun, he refers to Vander as brother again, as their visions have finally come back into alignment.)

(they're both still wrong tho)

It's not enough to say they were brothers-in-arms. It's also not textually supported to say they were siblings. Their relationship to one another was defined through their commitment to Zaun, and their relationship with the fraternity promised by that dream.

I think there is a broad scope for valid interpretations of their relationship, btw—from revolutionary brothers to best friends to boyfriends. I am just so tired of seeing the same points repeated ad nauseam about the word 'brother' when it isn't really ambiguous at all what was intended, and learning that information is just France 101.

[noxturnalmoth]

What Could Have Been Masterlist

Summary: Silco, the Eye of Zaun, the Industrialist, was first and foremost a son of Zaun who wanted his motherland free. After an altercation in which his adopted daughter shot him in a fit of rage, he is left dying while the world goes on without him. His life's work and ideals soon trampled to nothing as his memory fades from the world. But what if he was saved?

Warnings: Violence, spoilers for Arcane season 2

Fix it fic following Canon! Silco x Reader who saves him from imminent death

Chapter 1: Alive

Chapter 2: Alone

Chapter 3: From Ruins

Chapter 4: Rebirth

Chapter 5: Children of Zaun

Chapter 6: Catharsis and Ruination

Chapter 7:

Chapter 8:

Extras:

Silco Masterlist: here

Arcane Masterlist: here

Navigation: here

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Hello I'm back again at how Arcane ironically continues the cycle of violence that it says it wants to end at the end of S2. It's unsurprising, but just like general Western sentiment, Arcane also perpetuates the idea of This violence must stop - therefore the oppressed must stop rising up, through not just its treatment of Zaunite characters but also through the way the writers just handwaved away the issues of classism and oppression facing Piltover-Zaun.

They also continue the tradition of giving antagonists very valid points as they rise up against their oppression, and then they take it an extra step so they can villainize the oppressed and go like "hey actually look at their monstrous actions therefore they're all BAD and their points are invalid and these dangerous revolutions need to be put down." While I will give that Arcane certainly does give more nuance than standard Western media, it still ultimately falls into this same trap.

Like:

Enforcers killed Jinx/Powder's parents, but at the very end of the day she and Vi get no apology for their parent's death but she's the one who's apologizing to an enforcer for attacking the Councilors responsible for leading the oppression of Zaun

The shot of a Jinxer knocking away an enforcer's hand and then seeing that same enforcer helping an old lady and then feeling bad - like, oh no, this person who's part of a force that's been actively killing your people actually helps old ladies, actually everything is okay now

Renni, whose motivation was to avenge her son, is framed in a monstrous light while Jayce, who literally killed her child (a child!) does not even get a single second of introspection as he faces a grieving mother (Is there anything as undoing as a daughter/child? seems not to apply to Renni at all I guess)

The Zaunite characters that achieve any level of "peace" at the end with any part of Piltover are: - Vi, who gets together with an enforcer who literally gassed her city, and gets not a single moment of conflict past her initial apprehension at joining the enforcers and some jabs from Jinx that she brushes off. I do allow though that her getting together with Cait has been set due to game lore since a very, very long time. - Sevika, who is tokenized and placed on a hostile council - Jinx, who literally exiles herself and fakes her death - I'm not even going to count Viktor under this category given how Cosmic Horror Machine Herald completely does not relate to the themes of classism (but therein lies another problem, how Arcane did not address the systemic barriers that led him to this!)

Was Cait wrong for mourning over her mother? No, absolutely not. Was it understandable that she was extremely distraught, and wanted what she thought was justice? Yes, it was. Was it okay that she gassed civilians and then thought exactly zero (0) thoughts about how she was hurting innocents was it okay that she led a team to brutally continue the oppression of Zaun? No, it really fucking wasn't.

Overall, Arcane sustains the status quo; in doing so, it continues supporting a system that perpetuates violence against the working class, a system in which the marginalized must bend the knee to achieve a surface level of "peace".

[arcaneweaving]

I'm so fascinated by sevika as a character because she's so tragic, and so unique in many ways. she's an arcane OC, she's not part of the league of legends, but also, she seems not to have any internal motivation for her actions. she's not a character that any memorial is built to. she's not the voice of the people, nor is she their figurehead. her choices, viewed in and of themselves, often seem pointless or contradictory: she (one can only assume) was involved in the initial revolt of Zaun against Piltover, then betrays Vander once peace has been established. she accuses him of being weak for not warring against Piltover, then helps Silco terrorize and weaken Zaun with shimmer for years. She hates Jinx, then she saves her. She hates the council, then she joins it. The only interpretation in which her choices make any sense is that Sevika acts only in the interest of Zaun's greater good. She is, fundamentally, a martyr for her nation.

her choices (misguided or not) are borne of a near-total, self-sacrificing loyalty to her nation, the nation of Zaun. at each turn, Sevika's makes the choice that she thinks will further the cause of Zaun's sovereignty. Sevika is not so concerned with "Sevika" as an individual with wants, needs, or personhood. her impetus is that of-- as her name suggests-- a servant to a cause bigger than herself.

Sevika chooses Silco over Vander because Vander has (even in the name of peace) inhibited Zaun by allying the Underground with Piltover. She sacrifices her arm to save Silco because she believes that he is capable of unifying the Underground into Zaun once more-- she believes he could lead Zaun to battle, by whatever means necessary, even if it means creating soldiers of addicts. She conspires to keep Vi away from Jinx because Zaun needs its loose cannon in the fight against Piltover. The morality which others in the show are beholden to is not part of Sevika's motivation because the ego of personhood is not part of Sevika's motivation. She's not interpersonally loyal (she is loyal to Zaun's citizens: "We don't hand over our people"), she isn't above killing children, she's not a mother or a sister or a daughter. She is utilitarian. She's a revolutionary.

Ironically, this is why Sevika is not compelling enough to convince Zaun to rise from the ashes. After all she has sacrificed-- her body, her spirit, her peace-- when she tries to unify Zaun on her own, they refuse to hear her. The raised consciousness of a comrade seems distant and cold to a hungry son or scared mother. The comrade is impersonal, and so therefore unpersuasive. "It's no secret we got history. Blood spilled on all sides. But we grew up on the same streets, ate the same scraps. Like it or not, we're in this together. Enforcers raiding our homes, Noxians down our throats, innocents getting carted off to Stillwater. We gotta choose right now whether we're gonna throw in the towel or make a stand together." She gives the most radical political speech of the show, but she is no orator. Sevika's motive supersedes individualism. She says, "Not as Firelights, or Jinxers, or washed up goons. As Zaunites!"

The crowd's response to this call to arms is, "We wanna see Jinx!" They want a person, not an ideal, to rally behind. Despite this, Sevika doesn't indulge her ego. She does not want to be a hero, or a figurehead. She does not want to be praised. In fact, when she realizes that Jinx is the symbol that the people have chosen, she takes great pains to brace Jinx for the role, to ensure that Jinx-- alive or dead-- shows up for Zaun.

In the end, when Sevika joins the council, she again sacrifices a fundamental part of herself for the greater good of Zaun. She is lonely and out of place and hated there, but she takes the seat because Zaun needs her to. She may be seen as a traitor to the Zaunite cause. The council is the last place on earth that Sevika belongs-- but she goes there. To the end, she is a servant to Zaun.

[specialagentartemis]

I like digging into the worldbuilding implications of settings where some people have surnames and some people don’t (or at least don’t seem to). And Piltover and Zaun (as portrayed in Arcane at least) present one of the classic applications of it.

We see only a limited number of people who are given surnames—Caitlyn Kiramman, Jayce Talis, Mel Medarda. Cecil Heimerdinger. Probably Sheriff Grayson and several of the councilmembers. And then the characters that don’t—Vi, Powder, Ekko, Viktor, Silco, Vander, Sevika. A pattern emerges.

Especially as early on it’s made clear that Jayce belongs to House Talis, a family of skilled toolmakers and craftspeople, it seems like surnames mean you belong to a House, a lineage, an established and recognized family organization of hereditary power, position, or trades. You have something worth inheriting, something worth keeping in the family, something recognized. Belonging to a House may not necessarily mean you’re somebody important, but it means you’re somebody.

And it seems to be mostly a Piltovan thing. (Though not all residents of Piltover seem to belong to a House—Sherriff Marcus is never given a surname—but all the characters with surnames do seem to be from Piltover.) in Zaun, Vi and Jinx hardly have anything respectable to inherit. Viktor has no family members with social clout to call on, Ekko has no recognized lineage to trace. They don’t have surnames. They don’t need them.

In situations with a city like Zaun with lots of people with no surnames, though, you tend to need to clarify who you are and who you’re talking about anyway, and you frequently see matro/patronymic names become established—X son of Y, A daughter of Z. It’s not really a last name and doesn’t function like one, it’s more like a clarifier. Or a claim to who you are. (The image of Vi introducing herself as Violet Vandersdaughter gave me an attack of emotions. Okay, continue.) In the boiling-over tension between Zaun and Piltover, I can especially imagine it being a point of spiteful pride for Zaunites. Who your parents are, where you came from. Yeah, I’m Ekko Innasson, and you can’t make me be anything else.

(Jinx is no longer Powder Vandersdaughter, though. She’s just Jinx. Everyone knows who she is. She doesn’t need anything else.)

Which makes the apparent surname Grayson, for a woman who is Piltover’s Sheriff, interesting this context. It suggests to me that Sheriff Grayson is from a new House, that House Grayson was elevated and established only a generation or two ago. A matro/patronym became an inherited surname. And Sheriff Marcus is desperately trying to handle this shit to try to prove himself and to get his family established and elevated into a House as well for his daughter to be part of this class.

[theapollochronicles]

Arcane Imagines

Vi/Violet — The Fist of The Undercity

BANDIT — vi x vanders!daughter!reader

I Learned From You — vi x middle!sister!reader x jinx

Caitlyn Kiramman — The Sheriff of Piltover

World Gone Mad — caitlyn kiramman x female!zaunite!reader

Big Jet Plane — caitlyn kiramman x female!zaunite!reader

Heart to Heart — modern!au caitlyn kiramman x female!reader (Pt.1 - Pt.2 - possibly more?)

Powder/Jinx — The Zaun Royalty

Disease — jinx x silcos!daughter!reader

Taking What’s Not Yours — jinx x female!vastaya!reader

I Learned From You — jinx x middle!sister!reader x vi

Blue — jinx x black!male!reader

Viktor — The Machine Herald

Jayce Talis — The Defender of Tomorrow

Mel Medarda — The Wolf

Silco — The Eye of Zaun

Daddy Dearest — silco x vastaya!adopted!daughter!reader

Broken Bones — silco x biological!son!reader

Eat Your Young — silco x gn!vastaya!reader

Sevika — The Eye’s Left Hand

Ekko — The Boy Savior

[oreo-oro-orero]

An Arcane Domestic AU prompt I thought up😭

Ekko: "Hello?"

Jyace: "Yes is this Mr. Ekko?"

Ekko: "Yes it is."

Principle: "This is Principle Talis from Piltover School For Gifted Young, you might remember in regards to our discussion about your son and daughter and their behavior in class."

Ekko: "Yeah I do, what's up."

Jayce: "Well you see after another incident I decided to call your Wife instead of you because I figured you already had enough on your plate as it is. It was in regards to your kids getting into another fight and as of now your wife is held up in my office with your kids after having headbutted the mother of the kids your's got into a fight with and she has incapacitated most of school security."

Ekko: "alright I'm on my way"

Jayce: "Oh well I've already called over the local enforcer unit and the she-"

Ekko: "That's not gonna help, if anything that'll probably make it worse an...hold on I'm getting another call"

Caitlyn: "Ekko are you there?"

Ekko: "Yep, I would assume you've gotten the news"

Caitlyn: "Yes I have and apparently Vi, has come up to the school as well, punched the father in the face and referred to the school council as "little bitches I believe she's held up in the room with Jinx as well."

Ekko: "Yep I figured, well I'm...hold on I'm getting another call."

Jinx: "Hey Baby!"

Ekko: "Hey Honey."

Jinx: "Can you believe these fucking Pilties, first they call me after our kids got through kicking the shit out of some stuck up brats and not the parents are trying to us to court. It's not our fault that bitches kids can't throw hands!"

Ekko: "The audacity of them I'm sure, how our are little Firelights doing?"

Jinx: "Oh they're doing fine! Say hello to daddy babies!"

*kids say hello*

Vi: "Is that little man?!"

Jinx: "Yeah it is!"

Ekko: "Hey Vi, hold Caitlyn's on the other end."

Caitlyn: "Hey sweetie."

Vi: "Cupcake! Can you believe these assholes, The-"

Caitlyn: "I know I heard Jinx's recounting of the situation, speaking of which, hello Jinx"

Jinx: "....Caitlyn."

Ekko: "we're both on our way so you too try to physically harm any more people until we get there okay?"

Jinx: "No promises! And Ekko you know you didn't have to ask if the kids we're safe. I would never let-"

Ekko: "I know, honestly I don't know why I asked that. I mean why wouldn't our kids be safe when they have the most craziest and cutest girl in all of Piltover and Zaun watching over them"

*Jinx blushes hard*

Jinx: "You're playing a dangerous game here Little Man, you know how I get when you talk like that."

Ekko: "Maybe I'm doing it on purpose"

Jayce: "Um you guys do know I can hear all of this right"

....Line disconnects

[alex-the-bringer-of-chaos]

Zaunites - my Arcane hcs

Benzo (he/any).

Cis man, Unlabeled aroace and Europic.

Ekko's adopted father. Powder/Jinx's father-in-law. A shop owner in Zaun.

Claggor (he/him).

Cis man, Achillean and Ambiamorous.

Vander's adopted son. Mylo, Powder/Jinx and Vi's adopted brother. Used to be a thief, now an inventor of Zaun.

Ekko (he/they) - the Boy Who Shattered Time.

Nonbinary boy, Queer greyrose and Amatopunk.

In a monogamous relationship with Powder/Jinx. In a qpr with Scar.

Benzo adopted child. Silco and Vander's son-in-law. Claggor, Mylo and Vi's sibling-in-law. Isha's caretaker/adopted brother-in-law. Inventor, Heimerdinger's pupil, and leader of the Firelights (a vigilante group that fights for a better life for all, taking in orphans).

Felicia (she/they).

Cis woman, Heteromari and Divisuamorous (Monogamous and Polyplatonic).

Was dating Connol. Was in a polyqplatonic relationship (pqpr) with Silco and Vander.

Powder/Jinx and Vi's mother. Was a revolutionary, fighting alongside her Connol, Silco and Vander against the enforcers for Zaun's freedom, where she and her partner met their demise.

Gert (they/them).

Genderfluid, Novosexual and Gamyflux.

Part of the Chem Sisters, playing shows all over Zaun.

Madam Margot (she/they).

Genderfae, Omni aro and Agamous.

Owner of Vyx (prostitution enterprise, that might be illicit).

Mylo (he/him).

Cis man, Polysexual and Ambiamoros.

Has a crush on Gert.

Vander's adopted son. Claggor, Powder/Jinx and Vi's adopted brother. Used to be a thief, now works as a locksmith.

Powder/Jinx (she/they/shark/rar) - the Loose Cannon.

Nonbinary transfem, Bi demiaro aceflux and Relationship anarchist.

In a monogamous relationship with Ekko.

Connol and Felicia's daughter. Vi's sibling. Silco and Vander's adopted daughter. Claggor and Mylo's adopted sibling. Isha's caretaker/adopted sister. Cait's sibling-in-law. Vigilante (member of the firelights) and inventor. Heimerdinger's student and Ekko's lab partner. Struggles with hallucinations in situations of extreme stress. Plans on getting blue cloud/smokes and pink bullets tattoos on the right side of shaer upper body.

Scar (he/fang).

Genderqueer, Omni cupiorose and Europic.

In a qpr with Ekko.

Has an unnamed infant daughter. Firelights' second in command.

Councilor Sevika (she/he/they).

Faesari, Lesbian lovequeer and Lovepunk.

In a pqpr with Mel and Shoola. In a simulship with Silco and Vander.

Isha's adoptive guardian. Piltover's councilor representing the people of Zaun, teaching people how to physically fight others alongside Vi. Previously fought alongside Silco and Vander against the enforcers for an independent Zaun, losing her arm in an explosion when protecting Silco.

Silco (he/him).

Demiboy, Pan demiaro and Mesoamorous.

In a monogamous relationship with Vander. In a simulship with Sevika. Was in qpr with Felicia.

Claggor, Mylo, Powder/Jinx and Vi's adopted father. An inventor, helping Zaun grow. After the fight against the enforcers in the bridge, where Vander stabbed him after Felicia was killed by enforcers, thinking he had killed her, causing them to part ways. They, however, made up their differences thanks to the letter Vander wrote.

Sky Young (she/mi).

Cis woman, Straight noetirose and Monogamous

In a simulship with Viktor. Had an unrequited crush on Viktor.

Jayce and Viktor's research assistant, wants to help as many people as possible to live a better life.

Vander (he/him) - the Uncaged Wrath of Zaun.

Cis man, Omnisexual and Monopoly - no preference.

In a monogamous relationship with Silco. In a simulship with Grayson. Was in a qpr with Felicia.

Claggor, Mylo, Powder/Jinx and Vi's adopted father. The barkeeper and owner of The Last Drop. Has a scar he got when he betrayed Silco on the bridge, a hound of the underground tattoo, and a tattoo of the bridge between the two cities, all on his right arm.

Viktor (he/they/it/moon/star) - the Herald of the Arcane.

Boyflux, Gay noeti demirose and Polyamitis.

In a polyamorous relationship with Jayce and Mel (delamour with Jayce, in a qpr with Mel). In a simulship with Sky.

Heimerdinger's former research assistant, now a scientist and engineer working alongside Jayce, creating new ways to better the health of the zaunites.

Enforcer Violet "Vi" (she/they/he) - the Piltover Enforcer.

Bigender (agender woman), Lesbian (canon) greyrose and Monogamous.

Dating Cait.

Connol and Felicia's daughter. Powder/Jinx's sibling. Silco and Vander's adopted daughter. Claggor and Mylo's adopted sibling. Piltover's enforcer, teaching people how to physically fight others, alongside Sevika. Got badly hurt on when she and her sibling went to steal Jayce's apartment, getting sent to Piltover's hospital and meeting Cait there. Has his nickname tattooed under her eye, with a scar on it, as well as the backside of their torso fully tattooed.

Other hcs

Noxians

Piltovans

[j-a-n-e--d-o-e]

Arcane Characters if they were Demi-gods

Zaun edition

Ekko - son of Elpis/Champion of Hestia. I know this kid is brilliant and a genius, but you dont have to be a son of Hephaestus or Athena to be smart. Elpis is the goddess of hope and Hestia, the goddess of Hearth and Home. At his core, Ekko is all about community, and his primary goal seems to be restoring Zaun's hope and providing his people with a safe and happy home.

Jinx - daughter of Janus. Again, like with Ekko, you dont need to be a child of a 'smart god' to be clever. Janus is the god of Duality, Transitions, Endings... among other things, and I feel that suits Powder/Jinx well. Hephaestus seemed too easy, and Dionysus too on the nose

Vi - daughter of Ares. Kinda obvious but Vi is a fighter, she's been through the worse but come out the other side still kicking and ready to take a swing.

Vander - son of Zeus. A king in all but name, Vander protects and rules the people of Zaun.

Silco - son of Nike. I was tempted to chose Nemesis but ultimately didn't because whilst Silco wants vengeance on topside it isnt the priority, 'Winning' Zauns independence is. Silco will do anything to ensure his revolution is victorious.

Sevika - daughter of Aphrodite Areia. Sevika is driven by her Love and Loyalty to Zaun, I feel strongly that she fits perfectly within Aphrodite Areias domains of war and civil order. Love and War are 2 sides of the same coin and often indistinguishable. Sevika encapsulates this.

Viktor - Son of Hephaestus. This boy is so Hephaestus coded it isn't even funny. When he was born, his father questioned if his limp was some kind of joke on him from the Fates. Brutally intelligent, but easily loses perspective when fueled by curiosity/a desire to see a project through.

Singed - Son of Athena/Champion of Mania. Once his mothers favourite and the most intelligent of her children, Singed fell down a very dark path following his daughters death. Mania offered him power as her champion, and he accepted despite the calamity they'd cause together as it brought him 1 step further to towards his goal of resurrecting his daughter.

[halyasgirl]

Thinking of a decidedly non-fixit Arcane AU where Silco and Vander both live, but now have to navigate negotiations with Piltover for the nation of Zaun, and the fallout in their families.

Eight years ago, when Marcus spirited Vi away to rot in prison, unbeknownst to anyone he managed to take a just-barely-alive Vander, too. Vander remains Marcus’ best-kept secret, but after Silco and Jinx are arrested, he’s yanked from the bowels of Stillwater and reinstalled as leader of the newly declared nation of Zaun.

Reeling from his change of circumstance and the paths his family has taken during his imprisonment, Vander must now navigate the aftermath of the very different plans Vi and Silco have laid for an independent Zaun. 

But after five months of negotiations, all Zaunite prisoners are released from Piltovan prisons, and Vander and Vi must confront their siblings, and grapple with the base violence necessary for change. Takes place at the end of an alternate Act III.

Vander survived like Vi did, but Vi does not realize this at the time. She spends her entire time in Stillwater believing he died of his injuries.

Shimmer did allow him to survive, but he remains Vander rather than Warwick the robot-zombie-werewolf/living embodiment of the Hound of the Underground he will almost certainly be in canon.

The plot of Arcane proceeds pretty much normally. Caitlyn does not initially learn of Vander, as he wasn’t involved in the incident with Silco’s henchman. Few Piltovans know about Vander, and prior to Jayce and Mel’s initiative, even fewer care enough about Zaun to bother with him. After Caitlyn and Vi address the Council, Marcus’ dealings are discovered, and the idea of Zaunite independence is floated, some rusty gears start turning, but Jayce isn’t privy to this and still attempts to negotiate with Silco.

Silco still spirals when offered independence at the price of his daughter, and still monologues to Vander[‘s statue] about it. However, word of the terms, and Silco’s refusal of them, somehow gets out to the other Chembarons, and then to Zaun at large.

Fortunately, this manages to head off Jinx’s tea party of horrors.

Unfortunately, this leads to a (very understandably) enraged mob of Zaunites willing to drag both father and daughter to the bridge of Piltover for the price of one, and/or stone them in the streets.

Silco has precious few moments to assure Jinx he’d never forsake her. When the mob comes for them, he tells her to go and tries to cover her escape, but Jinx refuses to be separated from him. The mob washes over them.

Jinx, as she always does, fights like a woman possessed. Silco may be rusty, but he is and will always be a son of Zaun, and he is scrappy. When a man cuts off one of Jinx’s braids and starts tearing at her clothes, Silco stabs him to death with his own knife. But when the first stone is thrown, at the foot of the Bridge, all he can do is throw his scrawny body over hers in a desperate attempt to shield her.

Meanwhile, Cassandra Kirammen has just seen fit to reveal Vander’s survival to Caitlyn, who races to tell Vi (who is in Zaun hunting Sevika).

Vi is nearly overcome with joy at his survival and the prospect of rebuilding Zaun with a stable adult, and almost as pleased when they hear an angry mob has come for Silco. However, her joy turns to horror when she realizes Powder is with him, and Jinx is just as much a target of the mob as Silco is.

Vi races over the rooftops in the mob’s wake trying to reach her sister. She’s horrified to see a dead man, stabbed and trampled and still clutching a bright blue braid.

The mob surrounds Silco and Jinx at the Bridge, hurling stones. They are dispersed by a warning shot from Cassandra Kiramman, backed by a squad of Enforcers. The first thing Silco sees, when he’s able to lift his head, is a Piltovan gun pointed at him and his daughter.

Vi arrives at the rooftops overlooking the scene to hear Cassandra Kiramman tell them that Violet was right, their own people did turn on them. The anguish in Jinx’s cry as she buries her face in Silco’s chest and he tries to comfort her will haunt Vi for years. For a moment, Silco sees Vi above them, and the accusation and rage on his face as he holds his battered, traumatized daughter is chilling.

Cassandra then drops the bombshell than not only has Vander survived, he’s now poised to become the new leader of Zaun (provided cooperation with the Council). Cue Silco breakdown.

Vi watches the Enforcers arrest Silco and Jinx as Zaun processes this news. Having all but traded places with her sister after all these years, her reunion with Vander takes a bittersweet cast as she, Vander, and Ekko set about rebuilding Zaun and dismantling Silco’s Shimmer empire.

The chembarons put up a fight, but not as much as they might’ve, at least openly. Sevika managed to avoid the mob and she quickly emerges as one of the voices Vander knows he’ll have to negotiate with. Ekko and especially Vi are not happy with this, but the fact remains that Zaun is sorely lacking in any remaining competent leadership who’s been in the Lanes for the past 8 years and is even remotely trusted by the people.

Meanwhile, Silco and Jinx have had near-simultaneous breakdowns with the reveal that Vander is alive, Vi “betrayed” them to Piltover, and both of them are now working with Topside for the independence Silco’s (allegedly) been working for for the past 8 years. Convinced more than ever that everyone else betrays them, they become, if possible, even more codependent.

They are separated during intake (Jinx’s other braid is cut so she's not lopsided), and their frantic reunion in the canteen attracts attention, and some crude suggestions that Jinx should find herself a younger man. Silco, disgusted, says she’s his daughter.

Silco has failed to stand up to Piltover, failed to keep power in Zaun, and now apparently failed to kill Vander. His single-minded devotion to Jinx is all that stands between him and a complete breakdown, but his power to protect his child is severely limited in prison; in Zaun he was a king, here he’s just a sump-rat. And he’s fading.

Like the mutant fish that prowl the waters, Silco is adapted to the chemicals and pollutants in Zaun, and when cut off from the Shimmer, like a fish out of water, he gets very sick, very quickly.

Silco and Jinx see each other at meals and outdoor hour (no effort is made to separate men and women), but otherwise prisoners are left to rot. Neither engage with any other prisoners, even their henchmen. But Silco gets weaker, and as the months turn colder, he becomes too sick to leave his cell. When he doesn’t show at the canteen, Jinx takes it upon herself to go to him. She locates his cell and sneaks in at night (with some lockpicking help from Mylo’s ghost?). She can evade the guards, but she tells Silco they’re more concerned about keeping prisoners in Stillwater than what they do in there. Silco is more concerned about the implications of who might be able to get into his teenage daughter’s cell.

Silco is not doing well. Guards bring food to his cell, but don’t bother to see if he eats it. He can’t keep it down, and he’s becoming too weak to try. He tries to give it to Jinx, telling her not to waste it. It’s the only thing he can do for her.

He’s dying, and despite his attempts to reassure Jinx she’ll be alright, he’s terrified at the thought of leaving her alone. Jinx is determined to keep him alive though.

She makes it to his cell every night, rumors be damned. When he becomes too weak to eat, she feeds him, doing everything she can to keep him fed, keep him warm, keep him breathing through the night. Fluid fills his lungs, leaving him in a state of constant drowning. He lapses into delirium, raving about Marcus and Vander and Vi, about Piltover and Shimmer and the nation of Zaun. Eventually, he can barely keep down water, and all Jinx can do for him is draw sharks on the walls and ceiling of his cell, to guard him when he’s trapped in nightmares he can’t wake from (she gets it.)

After five months of negotiations (~December?), Vander and Vi secure the release of all Zaunite prisoners from Piltovan prisons. What to do with them presents a challenge, as Zaun has no criminal justice system and next-to-no legitimate economy. Many of the prisoners are petty criminals by Piltovan standards, but ordinary citizens caught by Topside in Zaun. Then there are prisoners like Silco and Jinx, considered personae non gratae even (or especially) in Zaun. No one knows what to do with them, but it’s agreed they should face Zaunite justice.

Piltover knows that “Zaunite justice” could involve another mob, but they don’t care enough to object. Vi and Vander also know this, and care very much.

Vi is still in denial that Powder/Jinx is hated as much or more than Silco.

The prisoner transfer comes with little warning in the bowels of Stillwater, as the guards round up all the “sump-rat” prisoners one morning and send them to the Bridge, where the leaders of Zaun have assembled.

Vi is overcome with relief when she sees Powder among the released prisoners, but Jinx can’t find Silco.

He’s at the end of the crowd. As per the agreement, Piltover will release prisoners at the bridge, but he must cross it himself, and he’s barely able to walk. When he tries he immediately slips on the icy ground and doesn’t get up. Guards are laughing, Jinx is becoming frantic, and Sevika senses danger. 

Lying face-up on the bridge, Silco looks up at the flag of the new nation of Zaun and almost gives in. And then he hears Jinx screaming his name.

Silco can’t walk and Jinx can’t carry him. But she won’t allow anyone near, and Vander and Vi just agitate her more. Sevika finally steps forward to carry him to a van that will take him and Jinx back to Zaun.

Sevika takes a moment to assess their condition before making the executive decision to drug Jinx unconscious and carry Silco into the Last Drop

 Vander takes one look at him and calls for a doctor. When it becomes clear that Singed expects him to die and is a little too enthusiastic at the prospect of dissecting his eye, Caitlyn offers her father’s services as a doctor and escorts him to Zaun.

Vi stays at Powder’s bedside. When Jinx wakes asking for Silco, Vi tries to assure her she’ll never have to see him again, only for Jinx to punch her in the face and rush to Silco’s bedside calling for her father.

The first thing she sees is Vander standing over him, and she wrenches him away with strength that shouldn’t be possible. When Vander comes face to face with his youngest daughter after 8 years he can’t help but flinch.

Powder was the kindest of his children, the sweetest, gentlest, always trying to please. Jinx looks at him with rage and fear and accusation and betrayal and hate. She looks at him with Silco’s eyes, the last time he saw him.

Then she has him on the ground, too fast for him to react, going for his knife as Vi and Sevika try to separate them. Jinx and Vi briefly square off to defend their fathers, before Silco stirs.

Tobias Kiramman arrives to find the leader of Zaun battered and brooding, Caitlyn comforting a tearful Vi (who’s sporting a black eye), and Silco and Jinx reuniting for the first time in an independent Zaun. Both are weeping. It would be touching, if they weren’t who they were.

He recognizes Singed as a disgraced former doctor turned serial killer, and is concerned by the Zaunites’ unsurprised reactions. He’s the only doctor in Zaun, and the good ones wouldn’t come to the Undercity if they had any choice.

He’s also disturbed by the condition Silco’s in. It should have been obvious he was ill, but it’s clear he received no medical care in prison.

When Vander slashed his face open, chemicals in the water leached into the wound, formed crystals in his flesh, in the back of his eye. His eye’s turned black, the flesh of his cheek underneath caved in and rotted away. What was in that water? Singed would love to find out! Some phenol maybe. Shimmer kept infection at bay, but now…

He’s so weak Tobias warns Vander he may not live, but Vander tells him he will, because Silco’s a survivor, for better or worse.

Silco and Jinx’s move back in the Last Drop goes about as well as Sevika expects. They put Jinx in Powder’s old room, leading to disturbing, violent meltdowns that Vi and Vander are unprepared to deal with, while Silco’s health crashes several times in one night.

Vander concedes that it’s unsustainable and, on Sevika’s suggestion, eventually puts Jinx with Silco over Vi’s objections, as he’s the only one who can halfway calm her during meltdowns and she's the only one with experience with his healthcare.

Jinx has become Silco’s sole motivation to go on, and their dynamics subtly reverse. Clinginess and insecurity are traits readily associated with Jinx, but not obviously with Silco. Jinx has always been dependent on Silco, but in Stillwater and after she cared for him. This wasn’t to pump up her feelings of importance, or even a child’s desperation to avoid losing another parental figure; Jinx sincerely cared for her father out of concern. When he tells her she saved his life, she tells him children can take care of parents when they grow up. 

The threat to their relationship was never Vander. Vi is another story, but Silco is Jinx’s father, not him.

Vander is unwilling to ask anyone else to care for Silco, and whatever Jinx can’t do Vander does himself. Silco alternates between vicious cruelty and such obvious physical and mental agony it’s impossible to fake, and he can swing unpredictably from one to another. He doesn’t need to accuse Vander; he knows.

Silco’s necessarily feeling overwhelmed and emotional after learning of Vander’s survival and Zaun gaining independence. He’d finally understood and and even forgiven Vander when he believed him to be dead, but the reality of confronting him alive is very different.

Vander: Sweeps in to gain independence and claim leadership of Zaun after 8 years in solitary confinement 🙌

Silco: half-carried out by his teenage daughter after 5 months in prison

Yeah, Silco doesn’t like that.

On one night, Vander freezes outside Silco’s door, listening to his brother curse Marcus and his deception, writhing and crying in pain from the wounds Vander gave him as Jinx tries to soothe him by describing how she killed Marcus in graphic detail, and offering to kill his 5-year old daughter. He curses Vander too, and Vander flinches when he hears Powder offer to kill him as well, if it would make him feel better. But even wracked with pain, Silco realizes how dangerous this could be and that he needs to be the adult in this situation. He declines, and tells Jinx to be absolutely sure he’s lucid before carrying out any hit jobs he issues. 

On another night, Vander finds Silco passed out covered in vomit and carries him to the bathroom to clean him up; as he puts him in the tub Silco comes to and panics at the combination of Vander and water, struggling violently enough to injure Vander and himself. Vander in frustration finally asks if he would burden Jinx with all of his care, and Silco begrudgingly surrenders. When Vander makes him admit he hasn’t kept any food down all day, he brings him new food to eat and watches him eat it. Silco tries to tell him not to waste it and give it to Jinx, but Vander snaps at him that it’s not a waste.

They begin to speak, a little, about their children. What to do with Jinx? Redeem her as Powder or prosecute her as Jinx? Silco credits Jinx’s theft of the Hex gem and threat to Piltover for Zaunite independence, the base violence necessary for change. She’s perfect, he tells Vander, a true daughter of Zaun. She’s done what we never could.

Vander’s learned a lot about the things Jinx has done, what Powder’s turned into. He can’t tell if Silco is truly that blind to her faults or if he’s in denial. When he presses Silco about what role he played in making Jinx, Silco riles, but not at the accusation he corrupted her. He genuinely believes that becoming Jinx was the only way to heal Powder from the pain of betrayal, something he knows well.

He tells Vander that after Vander tried to kill him, he returned to the mines, through paths even Vander never knew. He stumbled for days (though he admits he might have been hallucinating, as there are things in the mines that can make you “see things”) before he came to an underground clearing filled with impossible flowers sustained by a mysterious glowing fluid. He collapsed there, and it was there Singed found him. Singed asked him if he wanted to live, and Silco tells Vander he wanted revenge.

Vander’s heard enough and turns to go, but Silco becomes more agitated, snarling at Vander not to turn away from him, to look at him. But to Vander’s surprise, he doesn’t seem motivated by anger or possessiveness or a disagreement in ideology; he’s terrified for what will happen to Jinx if they try to force her to become Powder again, reduced to begging Vander not to do that to her.

When news comes that Piltover has officially recognized the nation of Zaun, most of the surviving adults of the rebellion generation are overwhelmed with emotion at the news. Silco breaks down as Jinx comforts him and Vi finds Vander weeping in the Last Drop and goes to him. Caitlyn spies Sevika crying quietly in a back room and slips away before she sees.

Silco and Vander have achieved everything they once wanted with the nation of Zaun, but they cannot share this victory together, not now. The truth they are unwilling to concede is that Zaun’s independence took both Silco and Jinx’s “base violence necessary for change,” and Vander and Vi’s diplomacy and compromise with Piltover. They need to be united, as they once were, as they always planned to be, if they are to move forward. But they won’t. They can’t. Not anymore.

Vander was never meant to be the diplomat. Silco was supposed to be the clever one, the negotiator, who wove his way through a trail of paperwork and legalese, who’d gain the respect of the Pilties once Vander was done cowing them from the Undercity. It takes more than a revolution to build a nation. Vander needs his brother now.

But that’s just it, isn’t it? Silco’s there, he’s right there, down the hall, on the other side of the door! But his brother is gone.

On top of that, wanting Silco dead is one of the few things that unite most in Zaun (and Vi and Ekko aren’t inclined to deny them). Vander insists he will stand trial once he’s strong enough to stand, but many would prefer a quicker end to justice. Fear of Jinx is all that stands between Silco and a very easy death.

Sevika: You’re welcome to try. It’s just a matter of how many of you Jinx will take with her.

Vander is between a rock and a very hard place. One night, Silco wakes to Vander crying silently over him, but gives no indication that he’s awake. Silco and Jinx are monsters, but they are monsters of Vander’s own making. It is not possible for Vander to pursue justice for Zaun without betraying his brother and his daughter, again.

Silco gradually becomes aware that a significant factor in independence negotiations was the return of the Hextech gem to Piltover, and it hasn’t been returned yet, because Vander and Vi can’t find it in the Undercity. When Jinx confides that she hid it before the mob took her and knows its location, for the first time since Stillwater, Silco has some hope.

 For better or worse, Silco is back in the game. He starts to pull himself together. His hair’s grown out, hanging unevenly to his jaw, clipped back with Jinx’s sparkly barrettes. He's lost so much weight his dress shirts no longer fit, so he wears them wrapped around, held in place with a belt that needed a new hole worked into it, and what look like pinstriped pajama bottoms. Tobias Kiramman hears one Zaunite comment that “at least he’s dressing normally now.”

At one point he also watches in horror as Silco, barely strong enough to walk, lights up a cigarette. When Dr. Kiramman protests, citing his lungs, Silco coolly asks Jinx to open a window, allowing a haze of greenish smog to enter. As Tobias chokes and coughs, the two Zaunites remain impassive, and three glowing eyes stare at him through the haze.

Sevika also pays Silco a visit. She denies being a traitor, as she worked for Zaun, not Silco, but tells him she wasn’t the one who exposed his deal with Piltover to the Chembarons and to Zaun (That was Renni, and I honestly can’t blame her). She also tells him he looks like shit, but more like himself than he has in years.

Silco’s plan is to use knowledge of the Hex gem as a bargaining chip. Not to avoid prosecution, he knows that’s impossible, but his goal is to get a sentence that’s survivable rather than being left to rot in Stillwater, with a guard bribable enough to allow Jinx visits (and potentially explore other means of leverage).

He also seeks to shield Jinx from prosecution, taking all blame for her crimes however implausible. Everyone in Zaun knows it’s a lie, but Silco’s hoping that apathy will save them rather than ignorance. 

Ironically enough, his and Vi’s goals are completely aligned, had they ever considered coordinating their assertions that Jinx was blameless and acting solely on Silco’s orders.

However, all his plans fall to nothing when, on trial by the leaders of Piltover and Zaun, Jinx lives up to her name, threatening them with Hextech weaponry in a bid to protect Silco. Sevika later finds him crumpled in a corner, helpless and out of options to save his daughter or himself.

(This family is so doomed by the narrative).

[paperclipcrowne]

Keep seeing comments being mad about Singed of all people getting his happy ending, but honestly, I thought it was perfect

Because so much of the conflicts of Arcane come from the characters’ own convictions, desires, wants, and needs clashing with their morals or their other convictions, desires, wants and needs; their inner conflict

Vi couldn’t choose between Caitlyn and Jinx and also her desire to help the Undercity

Caitlyn the entirety of Season 2 struggled with her want of revenge against Jinx versus her own morals

Jayce struggles with choosing which conviction the entirety of Arcane, does he wanna help the people with Hextech or help the people paying him first, does he want to participate in politics does he not, does he want to spend his time with Mel or Viktor (Well, until the end where he knows what he wants)

Jinx didn’t know whether to choose Silco or Vi, and that decision wasn’t even made by her

Viktor’s want to help people eventually clashed and was destroyed by his own inner hatred of his disability

Ekko wanted to kill Jinx but couldn’t because he saw Powder and he loved Powder

Vander’s wanting to protect Zaun clashed with wanting to protect his kids

Mel wanted to make her mother proud but also wanted nothing to do with her, wanted to keep her mother alive but wanted her city to be safe and out of her hands

Ambessa had to choose between her son and her daughter, whom she both loved

And etc etc, you get the point

But Singed doesn’t have this problem

The entire show, everything he’s done been for one thing: save his daughter

He doesn’t care about anything else, so of course he wins, he’s not “tied down” like the other characters! He doesn’t get in his own way so he gets what he wants done.

And I think this way he’s lost himself, because any of these characters with only one of these wants, not regretting letting it go, is not the same character, whoever Singed was before is completely lose and the only glimpse we get is his love for his daughter