#because Jayce is now actually falling apart

[vierryn]

it doesn't have to be like this

it doesn't have to be like this

[spatialwave]

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

pairing: jayvik x gender neutral!reader word count: 1.9k words tags: mdni! modern au, fluff, poly relationship, reader is spoiled. a/n: happy holidays and merry christmas! so grateful for you all <3

You’d never been one to celebrate holidays, often staying home by yourself and enjoying the day off from the world. Escaping into your mind for a few days until you’d ultimately have to return to your job and regular life—but that changed when you met Jayce and Viktor. Two men who somehow swept you off your feet after swearing that you’d be on your own for a long time, at least enough to forget about the pain that came with love and heartbreak.

They changed the trajectory of your life, bringing meaning and hope back into it. Gone were the days of riding alone on the subway, earbuds blasting music on your transport home—anything to find an escape. Now, you had Jayce rambling away to you on the ride home about his newest creations at work or Viktor holding you against his side as you listened to the hustle and bustle around you, no longer wanting to shy away from it.

It was surprising how little time you adjusted to this new life; within a few months, you’d weaselled your way into their home. Tens of boxes filled their apartment until your belongings blended in, and your body tucked neatly between them in their bed so well that it felt like you’d been there for years.

You hadn’t been one to believe in fate, but they managed to change your opinion.

This was the first time in years that the holiday season felt alive—excited to cuddle on the sofa at night to watch christmas movies as the fireplace roared, your countertop full of too many sweets that you and Jayce baked, and begging your boyfriends to help you build a snowman in the park on your way home. The idea of Christmas day filled your stomach with butterflies; so many years had flown by where the only gifts you purchased were a few treats for yourself and for your closest friends.

Now, you’d filled a good portion of the closet with gifts until you finally found time to wrap them, piling them underneath the tree that they decorated while bickering about colours and placements. 

Your apartment was full of overpriced decorations you purchased, and your wallet was struggling, but it was worth it to know that Christmas morning would roll around and be perfect. You hadn’t wished for perfect in a long time.

You were surprised that you’d fallen asleep so quickly on Christmas Eve, nestled between Jayce and Viktor as they clung to you. You’d expected to toss and turn for hours, unable to rid yourself of your excitement, but soon it was morning, and you were stretched out, the sheets tangled around your limbs.

A quiet groan rumbled from your chest as you stretched your arms above your head, fingers brushing against the wooden headboard, and only realizing then that your boyfriends weren’t there with you. Your eyes fluttered open, slowly sitting up just as the scent of breakfast filled your nose—eggs, turkey bacon and pancakes, Jayce’s specialty. You flickered your gaze toward the frosted window, snow gently falling from the sky and leaving everything a soft blue hue that made you want to curl back up and sleep the day away.

However, your grumbling stomach said otherwise. You slipped out of bed slowly, yawning and digging the heels of your palms against your eyes as your bare feet padded across the floor. Drowsiness had rendered you forgetful, it seemed, because even the growing sound of the TV playing a Christmas movie hadn’t reminded you of what day it was. Too groggy and hungry to worry about anything else.

It wasn’t until you stepped into the living room, eyes landing on the Christmas tree, that you remembered. You instantly brightened, a beaming smile pulling across your lips.

“Merry Christmas!” You exclaimed, hurrying towards the sofa so you could practically throw yourself atop Viktor, who’d been so entranced watching Love Actually that he hadn’t noticed you enter the room.

“Ah,” he gasped as his arms wrapped around you, a small smile playing along his lips as he tilted his head down, looking at you while you peered up at him from your spot on his chest, “Merry Christmas, love,” he hummed, enjoying the chaste kiss you placed on his lips.

“Finally awake?” Jayce stepped out from the kitchen, a toothy smile spreading across his lips as he carried three plates of food that looked like they were going to fall at any moment. “Just at the right time. I thought I was going to have to wake you up.”

“Be careful!” You chuckled, moving to sit on the sofa at Viktor’s legs as your lover made it to the coffee table and carefully set down the food with your help. He excused himself for a quick moment, returning with three mugs of freshly brewed coffee.

Viktor yawned from beside you, now upright, as he took the coffee and indulged in a long drink—having never been much of a morning person. You leaned against his side, reaching out and pulling your plate to your lap so you could dig in.

Jayce settled himself on the floor opposite you and Viktor, looking between you both with a loving smile and bright eyes full of golds and greens. He was so in love. Then, he flickered his gaze to the Christmas tree, humming as he sipped his coffee.

You followed his eyes to the tree, excitement swirling inside as you swallowed down your food and discarded the plate back to the coffee table, “Holy shit,” you spoke, a hand flying to Viktor’s thigh, “Did you put more gifts under the tree?”

Jayce shrugged, trying to act coy with a big smirk, “I don’t know, did I?”

Viktor chuckled behind his coffee, holding the warm mug in his hands as he gestured for you to go over to the tree. “Mhm, he’s spoiling you rotten,” he sighed affectionately.

Jayce moved over to sit next to you as you nestled onto the hardwood, eyes scanning the gifts—some wrapped, some in bags. There were too many to count on both hands. You hadn’t felt this way since you were a child, eyes wide and glowing as you reached in and pushed the gifts aside until the ones you wrapped were visible.

You were excited, but your desire to see them open their gifts far outweighed your own need to see what they both spoiled you with—Viktor was just as guilty.

“I… also went a little overboard,” you said sheepishly, pulling out precisely eight gifts—four for each.

Jayce shifted away from you to make room for the gifts, his tanned cheeks burning red from excitement that mirrored your own. Meanwhile, Viktor watched you both with small smiles as he set your gifts next to him on the sofa and began to open them up with gentle tears at the wrapping. Jayce wasn’t so gentle, easily ripping away the wrapping paper and tossing it behind him to be picked up later.

You had spun around, watching them as they opened the small trinkets and items that reminded you of them—a beautiful music box for Viktor that played a familiar song from his home country and, for Jayce, a new leatherbound journal and fountain pen for everything from blueprints to midnight ideas. 

You had nestled between Viktor’s legs, your back pressed against the sofa, and he leaned forward to kiss your head gently. “You’re too kind, love. These are incredible, " he murmured into your hair.

Jayce was now lying in front of you, on his back with his head in your lap, and diving into a book you’d purchased for him. Not a pleasurable read in your eyes, but he was keen on reading educational books, so you were sure to get him one that was ‘apparently’ a key book for inventors and engineers alike. That’s what the salesperson said, at least.

“You’re welcome,” you smiled, tilting your head back to look up at Viktor.

“Jayce,” he said, frowning slightly and giving him a slight shove with his foot, “you can read later. Grab the other gifts. Please.”

“Right, sorry—,” Jayce apologized, placing his book aside and reaching over to the tree to begin passing you the gifts that were piled much too high for your comfort, “Come on, don’t be shy now. Open them up.” He urged you, noting the apprehensive look in your eyes as you stared at the mountain of presents for you.

You continued to stare, and maybe you were just too emotional of a person, but tears began to well up in your eyes. Jayce noticed this immediately, reaching forward and wiping a stray tear that had fallen down your cheek. “Hey, hey,” he murmured, and Viktor looked around at you from his spot on the couch, eyes widening at your reaction.

“Are you overwhelmed?” Viktor asked in a hushed voice, both hands moving to your shoulders and giving your muscles a relaxed massage, “It’s okay. You don’t need to cry.”

“God,” you sniffled, a laugh bubbling up through the tears, “I’m sorry, I’m okay. I promise, just—” you wiped at your eyes, looking at Jayce, “I’m just happy. The happiest I’ve been in a really long time.”

A smile spread on Jayce’s lips, and he grabbed at one of the presents. It was smaller and rectangular, “Open this one.”

You stared at him for a moment, wiping the last of your tears away with the back of your hand.

“Trust me,” he chuckled, urging it into your hands.

Your eyes settled on it, and you began to tear at the opening of the wrapping paper. You tugged it apart, and when you saw the present, you couldn’t help but scoff and let out a laugh that Viktor joined in, “You jerk!” You whined, but the smile on your lips proved that you were far from annoyed.

A box of unopened tissues was in your hands, with a note taped to it: ‘Figured you’d need this. -J’

Christmas Day was everything you’d dreamed it to be. After years and years of spending the holiday alone with nothing but takeout and movies, you finally experienced the joy that came with the holiday that you last experienced as a child.

You were rightly spoiled with gifts, surprised at the thoughtfulness of each one, including three rings from Viktor—simple gold bands for each that were meant to show your shared commitment to each other, and that box of tissues was almost used up right after. You ate good food, which Jayce only slightly burned, and filled your stomach with enough sweets you swore you wouldn’t be able to eat for an entire week. A marathon of Christmas movies played on the screen as the three of you spent hours chatting and checking out your new gifts.

Later that night, you were lying against Jayce’s chest as he relaxed back on the couch, snoring softly as the glow of the fireplace illuminated you. Your legs tangled with Viktor’s, who had just fallen asleep, his novel open on his chest and glasses barely hanging onto his nose.

Your eyes focused on the window in your view—the moon was high in the sky and clear after snowing all day. Your hand absently played with the metal band that fits perfectly over your ring finger, turning and twisting it as the day replayed in your head and the possibilities of the new year swelled your heart.

This is what it felt like to be loved—unconditionally and irrevocably.

[goddessofroyalty]

Fandom: Arcane

Pairing: Jayce/Viktor

Tags: omegaverse, future-mpreg

Still not a prompt fill (I will start on them I swear!) but I’ve been meaning to write Viktor deciding he wants to have a baby with Jayce because of scientific curiosity for a while now. So I am glad this is written.

And yes I did have an image of them both open while I was writing this to compare which features I think Viktor would prefer from which one of them.

----------------

Viktor doesn’t often get to watch Jayce work.

There is nearly always something else that can be done while Jayce creates a new casing or frame-part. Either wiring to be soldiered or a formula to continue working through. So much work to be done and never enough hours in the day.

Not this time. They had hit a point where nothing further could be done until Jayce finished forging the guard that would separate the Hextech core from the external mechanisms. So Viktor had joined him at the Talis’ Forge despite having complete faith in Jayce’s ability to do it right.

Supervising just feels more productive than merely waiting. And Viktor does enjoy watching his partner work on the rare opportunities he can allow himself to.

He will not deny that Jayce is impressive to watch when he is at work.

His shirt has been abandoned from the heat giving Viktor full view of the muscles of his partner’s broad shoulders shining from sweat and golden from the light of the furnace. The alpha’s strength on full display with each hammer fall. The profile of his face defined by the shadows cast by his features.

From the moment he met him Viktor knew Jayce was impressive, both in body and mind.

The physical part was impossible for anyone to miss. Jayce was stunning to look at, the very definition of an ideal alpha. Strong and fit but not hulking. Broad shoulders that taper into a defined waist and warm arms that it is so very easy to imagine being carried in. He is fit and healthy and seems to naturally draw the eyes of all around him.

But it was Jayce’s mind that had actually made Viktor interested in him. The ideas in his notes were genius even if Viktor had seen where they could be improved. Jayce hadn’t disappointed after they started working together. His intelligence may not be the same as Viktor’s, but the ease he could conceive and create the exact tool to fix the problem before them was inspired. Working with him was working with Viktor’s true intellectual equal.

Viktor can hardly blame the fans that fawn over his partner when Jayce makes public appearances. Anyone would want Jayce as a mate. His genetics alone ample reason before adding in his gentle kindness and sweet awkwardness.

All of it traits his hypothetical children could inherit.

Although if Viktor seriously considers the possibility of Jayce and children, then, while Jayce has many traits that would be desirable to see passed down, he is not perfect.

While Jayce’s hands are very skilled at what they do they lack the fineness and dexterity of Viktor’s own. So a child would do well to inherit from Viktor instead in that regard.

Even with his strong square jaw Jayce’s brow and eyebrows always seem to overpower his face. It would be good for a child to have one more like Viktor’s – less prominent and with a lower hairline to soften it.

While Viktor appreciates Jayce’s intelligence far more than the average person he will admit his bias in preferring that his own would be passed onto any child of theirs.

Then there are the things that matter less which way they go. Jayce’s skin may seem to glow under the golden light of his forge or the sun but Viktor’s hardly blemishes apart from a mole here or there. They both have good eyesight and neither possess a particularly outstanding eye colour. The texture of both their hairs is equal in strengths even if different.

Together they could make a glorious child.

Viktor would be remiss not to consider how difficult a pregnancy would be for him before letting his mind follow the thought any further. His body is deteriorating, he knows, and the weight of a baby on his spine would do it no favors.

Hextech hadn’t been easy either though. And it had been worth all the effort and pain and risk it took to create.

He would need only do it once to test his hypothesis.

“What are you thinking about Vik?” Jayce asks, taking off the wielding goggles as he turns around. The rest of his gear already put aside.

“I think I want a baby.”

Jayce stumbles, knocking into the table next to him. Catching himself to lean against it. The muscles in his arm bulging from the force he’s pushing down on it with.

“What?” he asks, free hand gesturing emptily. “Like generally or-“

“No, with you.” Viktor cannot say he ever thought about having a child before. His work always far too important. The idea of having one with someone else is not at all appealing. But with Jayce-

They created Hextech together as partners. The kind of child they could make together actually feels exciting in the way the early days of their partnership did. An unexplored potential that Vitktor wants to see reached.

“Right,” Jayce says, glancing at Viktor then up at the ceiling and then the floor in rapid succession. His hand comes to scratch behind his ear as he pushing himself off the table to stand fully upright. “Like now?”

“Well conception rarely is successful on the first try,” Viktor says, reaching for his cane as he stands up and walks over to Jayce. More to pace as he explains the process than anything. “And a pregnancy takes 40 weeks if it goes to full-term. So in about a year. If we start trying now.”

It is better they do it sooner than later if they are going to. How long before the deterioration of Viktor’s body makes him unable to carry a pregnancy an unknown.

“You’re serious,” Jayce says with a weak laugh.

“Of course. I would not joke about something like that.” It would be cruel to. “So do you want to or not?”

“Yes! I mean, if you want. Are you sure? It’s- You’ll- Us- A baby-“ Jayce stutters adorably. Viktor hopes their child inherits Jayce’s earnestness. “Do you want to start trying now?”

Viktor gives a hum of contemplation.

“We can install that first,” he decides, pointing to the guard that should be nearly done cooling. “But tonight, yes. If that works for you.”

“I don’t have any other plans,” Jayce jokes awkwardly and Viktor notes Jayce’s smile as another thing he hopes they inherit.

[ceaselesswatchersspecialboy]

Going back to season one, something that makes season two’s lack of character choice worse is the fact season one ends with a cultivation of choice.

It is the story’s core on full display.

Jinx’s choice between Jinx and Powder, followed by her choice to attack the council, and the council’s choice to give Zaun Independence. All of which are game changing choices that set up further conflict of choice in season two… and it’s barely followed through with. Yes, choices are still made, but they lack the same weight previously given.

In fact, season two unintentionally emphasises a lack of choice and frames it positively, the biggest example being in Jayce and Viktor, who, previously, had a relationship hinged on chance and choice. Viktor chose to take Jayce’s research from Heimerdinger and help him, saving his life in the process. He chose to break into Heimerdinger’s lab, followed by a scene where Mel chooses to let them do so. Jayce and Viktor choose to trust each other — total strangers they may be.

And the falling out of their relationship is caused by the opposing choices they make, with Jayce having to choose between science and politics, and Viktor having to choose between his morality or his own life.

So, the reveal of Viktor being the mage, who set Jayce on this course in life, and the reveal that in every universe that Viktor takes this path, only Jayce can show him the truth, feels less impactful the more you think about it, because it doesn’t work for the previously established story between them, which was rooted in social conflict. It feels like two separate plot lines for different characters.

No more is their relationship driven by choice or chance, it feels driven by fate, and if their story was always meant to end this way, the conflict and tragedy of season one is left to rot, with no real acknowledgment of what made them fall apart in the first place.

And then there’s characters like Mel too, who similarly had choices to make between Piltover and between Noxus, and she makes her choice at the end of season one, only for that to be meaningless in the end. Now, I love tragedy, but tragedy is only good when handled well, and Mel’s arc was not handled well. She makes a choice, yes, but it does not feel one of her own violation, rather it is what the narrative expects of her. Like Jayce and Viktor, her arc feels like a complete shift from the character we had set up in season one, and she suffers for this.

To simplify it:

Season two has characters make choices, but those choices are no longer important nor do they feel as though they hold any true weight overall, both due to them going against what has been established, and the lack of actual build up.

Season one built up to the character’s final choices of the season. Season two did multiple one eighties that made the goals and final choices unclear or rushed.

[avelera]

I have seen some discourse going around about how Mel never manipulated jayce. Do you agree? And what are your views considering mel?

I say this because I think that she did kind of manipulate jayce in the beginning but genuinely ended up falling for him in the end. I mean she had to genuinely care and love him if she ended up subconsciously saving him with magic.

I think that a lot of people from what I have seen were pissed at season 2 ep8 when jayce got into the argument with Mel but I thought it was quite understandable that he reacted the way he did especially after what he went through. That being said I still felt bad for mel because she literally lost everything and was ready to open up to him.

Sorry for the ramble

I think a lot of the Mel/Jayce discourse is being done in bad faith right now, mostly by people who are anti-Jayce/Viktor rather than pro Mel/Jayce for whatever reason. I would point out, that canonically Mel and Jayce are not together at the end of the show and they also canonically (in my opinion) break up. So it's fine if you just really like the ship or wish things had gone differently, but it should be acknowledged that any Mel/Jayce fic outside the brief time they're together in the show is as much an AU as any Jayvik fic where they got together earlier.

As for the manipulation, I mean yeah, it canonically happened. There shouldn't be a debate. Jayce calls her out on in it 2.08 and Mel doesn't deny it, she just gives her reasons for why she manipulated him. Ostensibly it was to help him and Hextech too but she absolutely used sex as a tool of persuasion with deliberate intent to use it for those ends, she absolutely flirted with Jayce to ingratiate herself to him, she absolutely called him an investment (though there is a slight plothole on how he knows that, it was never said in his hearing), and even if she poses it to herself as helping him she also used those persuasive power to nudge him towards Hextech weapons which he categorically did not want to make, so her own ends superseded his benefit or preference in canonical instances.

For those who deny manipulation took place, go back and watch the opera house scene in S1. She plays him like a fiddle. Indeed, the expert violinist on stage (playing an actual Stradivarius irl, btw) is symbolically depicted as Mel's counterpart, showing how expertly she is manipulating the situation, and Jayce.

Now, I think you can chart how much Mel was with Jayce for her own ends vs. affection for him by her support for Hextech weaponry. When she's pushing for it, she's using him for her own House's goals. When she drops Hextech weapons as an issue and instead supports Jayce's vision for it (in S2) that's when she's acting out of affection for him. It's tragic that her affection for him grows while his declines so sharply as a result of his ordeal and finally realizing the early manipulations (kinda like that trope where someone dates another person for a bet, then falls for them, and then the other person learns about the bet and breaks up with them, only this one without a happy reunion after).

Their relationship is tragic. It's a tragedy. And it ends tragically with them apart and us left wondering if they could have made it together under other circumstances. "What could have been?" is an overarching theme in Arcane, and it is our own choices, our own ambition and greed that get in the way of getting what we need instead of what we want. Every single character is built around these principles, with the happy endings being those who get what they need instead of what they want, and the tragic ones (like Mel) getting what they want (power, to be an official Medarda as she says in her first scene) and not what she needs, which is anyone around her to share it with. You can feel the loss but you have to also acknowledge how she ended up there and why she narratively can't earn Jayce's love after what she did at the start of the relationship.

[vi-arcanes-left-biceps]

So now that Caitlyn stans follow me is this a safe space to say I was expecting to see her be more evil....

I honestly like that she wasn't, even in her darkest she was always doubting the choices she made and questioning Ambessa, and that's very in character and truthful to who she is at the core.

But honestly I'd love to see her fumble more! I just love a good corruption arc. I would have loved to see her actively make bad decisions instead of passively condoning whatever Ambessa does. Though just being complicit with Ambessa's actions is bad enough as it is -she's allowing authoritarianism to happen under her name, and allowing the mistreatment of the undercity- I was expecting her to make some of these bad choices in Act II just as she did in Act I. However, she didn't. She probably was doubting herself from the moment she hit Vi.

This is definitely the face of someone who will be thinking about this moment for many days:

Being named Commander served to reassure her in her lowest; which I'd say it's exactly why Ambessa does it. She just betrayed her love for revenge. She has no support system that will bring her back to her senses -Vi is gone, Jayce is gone, her mother is gone, her dad is a shell of a person.

Well I'm getting carried away because I love this moment of her arc so much.

Anyway, I was expecting Act II to touch upon Caitlyn's active choices and actions as Commander and how she's dealing with the lot of feelings that come with them. What can I say, I like my characters a little more tortured!

But I like what they did with her, where being named Commander is both the peak of her corruption arc and a patch into a corrupted Caitlyn that was already starting to fall apart.

Being complicit is bad enough and serves very well to comment on her mental state and also her social status. Also, with the limited runtime they had, I think this was the best choice to make her arc work and boy, it works so perfectly. I just like to see good characters do bad things, what can I say.

Besides, It's better that they didn't take the active bad guy route because this fandom can't take a CRUMB of Caitlyn doing bad things, imagine if she was actually the actively fascist dictator they like to argue she is.

[lbulldesigns]

Wild Rune Foreshadowing Jayce, Heimendinger, and Ekko's roles in the coming episodes

I just had this sudden epiphany about the true significance of Jayce, Heimendinger, and Ekko's scene in the Wild Rune at the end of Act I.

The way that the Wild Rune distorts them is basically showing us what they are experiencing individually and foreshadowing their roles in the rest of the season.

Jayce:

We have this, honestly, really cool loop of Jayce which stands out from Heimendinger and Ekko's distortion. For one he's in tack, he isn't splintering apart or anything. Two, he looks at his previous self before facing forward which indicates that he's stuck repeating himself until we get to the end where he looks horrified at the Wild Rune and asks "what have we done" before attacking it with his hammer.

And going by how worn-out Jayce looks in Act II, his dialogue with Viktor, plus him just instantly attacking Viktor on sight. All points towards Jayce having been stuck in a time loop, and episode 6 is him finally breaking out of it.

I think the Wild Rune put him through this particular hell because it wants Jayce to fix his mistakes, but considering Jayce's habit of making decisions without fully thinking ahead (i.e. his deal with Silco, resurrecting Viktor, building the failsafe in a location that he didn't thoroughly vet first and making sure was safe) and then regretting said actions once things go wrong, the time loop could be the Wild Rune's way of forcing Jayce to make his mistakes until he either learns from them or learns to avoid them.

The glitching out we see before he shoots Viktor, going by Riot's way of showcasing mental struggles with individual characters i.e. Jinx seeing scratches and neon sketches when she has a breakdown, him splitting apart into more of himself can be a nod towards him reliving this experience again and again and again. He was prepared to talk at this point, and then he just starts shooting instead.

Heimendinger:

Now, onto Eldricheimer.

I've seen a lot of Biblically Accurate Heimendinger jokes going around, and this is mostly because of how his face splits apart and his eyes multiply.

I don't think the animators put this in just to show how disturbing the Wild Rune is, I think they wanted us to actually think of Eldrich beings when looking at him. For those who aren't well versed or know about H.P. Lovecraft's work, the Eldrich horrors in his stories share the same concept. They're creatures so ancient that looking upon them will drive you insane. They break the laws of our nature and are often hard to describe, much like biblically accurate angels who are described as having many eyes.

The reason why either of these beings are difficult to understand or describe is because they basically shoot knowledge straight into your brain, they show you the answers to the universe, but because our minds can't hold that much information, we go insane and perceive what we are experiencing as a horrific experience.

When Heimendinger is affected, his body is being held still and is facing forward. His arms are held stiffly by his side, as if he's being forced. And then his eyes splinter from his face and multiply (even on the wall behind him), with his many eyes staring outwards in wide eyed in horror.

The Wild Rune is forcing Heimendinger to look. It's forcing a person who has stayed so consistently and ignorantly blind to the point of sheer stubbornness to actually look.

Heimendinger, as we all know, doesn't take accountability for his actions. He is 200 years old, he assisted in the founding of Piltover, he lead the council throughout that time, and has basically allowed Zaun to fall so stupidly and pointlessly into destitution because he wouldn't look at what was happening in front of him. He stayed focused on his pride and joy, Piltover.

I speculate that, if we go by the theme we have so far with time distortion, that Heimendinger is being made to watch everything both past and future. This would drive a normal person insane, but Heimendinger is basically immortal therefore his mind would be able to handle the information overload; you don't live through centuries without being able to compartmentalize hundreds of years of memories.

And going by his League description, Heimendinger is a scientist that vows to understand the knowledge of the universe, both natural and magic. This is how we are going to get the unhinged Heimendinger who build mecha T-Rex's as shown in his splash art.

Ekko:

I thought that this was a pretty cool shot not gonna lie, I 100% believe that Ekko isn't dead, I mean we all understand his game counterparts history with time and there are still scenes with him that we haven't seen yet, so the revalation that his is a-okay is not that ground breaking.

But I really like where the writers and animators are going in regards to him acquiring his time manipulaton abilities for the show. Him creating a time machine because his a genius is good and all, but how much more poetic is it that he learns to master time by being taught by time itself and using both his newly acquired knowledge and his expertise in tinkering and inventing to then make the Z-Drive.

The boy who shattered time, being shattered apart.

And we all understand where his story is gonna go from here, he is going to be able to rewind time to fix things. Perhaps the Wild Rune imparted this knowledge onto him to counteract any mistakes that jayce would make, or to ensure that the best outcome would be achieved for whatever crisis (possible Void invasion) may be coming.

Or maybe it saw his wish to save Powder/Jinx from herself, but because fate has had a trajectory already outlined refuses to let him go that far back.

Perhaps the events of episode 6 are where the Wild Rune will allow this fate's story to be manipulated, like rewritting a chapter to determine a better ending to the book. There could be a chance that Jinx will play a pivitol role in the events to come, and that her dying before the upcoming battle will ensure a bad outcome... Or that could just be my own wishful thinking, I don't know.

[chronicsyd]

I’ve seen a couple people bring up “Vi could have gone to Ekko and the Firelights instead of joining Caitlyn and the Enforcers” when others mention that Vi’s “home” is where her family/loved ones are, she isn’t really loyal to Zaun Especially when it’s been run into the ground by Silco. However, there’s a couple of problems with this.

1) the way the Firelights operate doesn’t really fit Vi’s mo. The Firelights hide/observe most of the time and are strategical in how they combat Silco and his crew. Meanwhile, Vi’s a “punch first, ask questions while punching” kinda gal, she doesn’t think twice when she see’s Sevika she goes in knee first, she and Jayce go fist flying into one of Silco’s Shimmer facilities to destroy it. so it’s pretty logical to say that there’d be opposition on how shits being run between her and them.

2) But More Importantly, Vi thinks Ekko’s dead at that current point. She doesn’t see him from S1 Ep7-S2 Ep9. She sees the explosion, assumes he’s passed, and after that doesn’t see him when she goes after the Shimmer Facility, has her rematch with Sevika, and gets kidnapped by Jinx. During Act 1 of S2, the Only person left in Vi’s life Is Caitlyn, Vi feels responsible because Jinx has murdered her mom and wants to protect Caitlyn. She joins Caitlyn because Caitlyn explains to her her fears of one of them ending up dead if Jinx and Caitlyn fight 1v1 and expresses her frustration with everything falling apart at the seams, and with Caitlyn’s strike team there aren’t any civilian casualties like there Would have been from a full scale Enforcer Invasion, because with the Enforcer invasion we'd probably see a scene similar to the opening bridge scene where Vi and Powder's parents died (because Yes using the gray Is bad, but no one actually dies, Viktor’s declining health is due to a prolonged condition of constantly living with the stuff for several years). So if Vi thinks he’s dead, why would she just up and ditch Caitlyn for the Firelights when there's no one there that she gives a shit about?

Now it could be argued that Vi thought Jinx was dead to until she shows up again, but the thing with Jinx is that Vi can see she was saved with however much Shimmer Singed injected into her. The same can’t be said for Ekko, so the argument that Vi thinks he’s dead still holds up because Vi doesn’t see him after that.

This is part of an issue that I’m seeing with the fandom where they seem to forget they have more imminent knowledge than the characters do, and they’re making arguments based on Their knowledge rather than the characters. Which is pointless when you’re trying to make a character analysis because a lot of the time it falls into a personal bias because of the information that the audience has. And I'm seeing this kind of fallacy all over the place when it comes to discussing Vi and Caitlyn especially.

[thekirammanjinx]

Jayvik literally is Caitvi but worse (if you ship jayvik I really don't care. Just don't try and talk shit on caitvi. If you don't ship caitvi I also don't care but don't make shit up to "prove" your point.)

S1 jayce actively calls for a blockade to keep people from entering piltover and he's allowing the enforcers to use hostile force to keep people out. He doesn't do much listening when it comes to viktor, only trying to push his ideologies, which he tells himself are for the saftey of piltover.

He views the people of zaun as an entire grouping of dangerous criminals. He is focused on the negative while we see time and time again caitlyn focuses on the innocent people that can get caught in it.(caitlyn will say "there are innocent people down there" while jayce says "they're dangerous")

Jayce writes off viktor being from the undercity. The talk viktor and jayce had when Jayce was going to let himself fall from the building, when he thinks he's at his lowest point, but viktor is like 'yea man I've been through hell without the help of big name councilors' but nobody looks at Jayce and says "now he knows what it feels like" the same way they write off caitlyn. (No one should have their struggles written off because someone has it worse, but yall see how these parallel)

Plus the talk on the bridge. You can see how their mentalities are actively worlds apart.

Just because Caitlyn is a councilors daughter and wears the uniform people don't actually look at her character. Jayce beliefs actually aligned more with piltover superiority than caitlyn's ever did. Calling her an oppressor simply for being born in a system is crazy.

[finn-ickymentalstability]

If Isha is actually dead I will sob. This isn’t fair. We were JUST getting to be happy and now it all started falling apart because he decided to kill his ex-situationship BRO THATS NOT HOW YOU HANDLE THAT YOU JUST BROKE EVERYTHING JAYCE WTF

[oreo-oro-orero]

The Idea of a scene or chapter where Jinx has to comfort Ekko after she witnesses him having a breakdown would be heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Ekko always struck me as a person who despite looking as though he has everything together especially when it comes to the rest of the cast, he is actually hurting greatly almost to the point where it's starting to wear down on him to keep up his mask.

Ekko and Jinx have a lot of parallels but they also have a handful of differences that tie into those parallels as well. One is that while Jinx remained stagnant despite her getting older, Ekko was forced to grow up too quick to survive the harshness of Zaun, you can even make a case that the nickname "little man" is a reference to this.

The stress of leading the firelights

The stress of protecting his parents(if their still alive)

The years of anger and cynicism he's tried to control and bury down only letting it pop out in short bursts

He may even feel some guilt on how shitty things have gotten, after all he was the one who told the gang about Jayces apartment, he was the one who couldn't save Benzo or Jinx

The years of loneliness even within the Firelights

All these things eating away at his mind, trying to claw their way out and it finally happens after him and Jinx are alone.

It could be after a particularly bad Firelight mission. Ekko and Jinx are in his room and he's chewing her out about how reckless she's being. The argument spirals and soon Jinx taunts him about how perfect he is and about how he thinks he's above everyone else and finally that mask that he so carefully constructed after years falls off. It doesn't even fall off, it full on cracks and shatters into the earth. He yells "YOU DON'T THINK IM SCARED TOO!!!" this startles Jinx because this is the first time Ekko has raised his voice up to at least this volume.

Ekkos mask is truly gone at this and all these bottled up emotions are in the forefront. He starts to tell Jinx about how he's scared every time he goes into Zaun, how he's not like her and Vi and how they can jump into Zaun and fight whatever they need to get what they want. How he's always scared, always scared of something going wrong, always scared of bringing back another corpse and his perfectionist tendencies amplify this. He talks about how being the leader of the Firelights scares him, how he knows that no matter what happens if one of them dies it's his fault because he's the one who took them in, he's the one who taught them how to ride the hoverboards and use the crystal grenades, he's the one who has supposed to protect them but yet he couldn't. He didn't sign up to be a leader and he doesn't even know if it's worth it anymore or if he even wants to do this anymore.

He laughs bitterly and it's like he's talking to himself now. He mocks the nickname Jinx gave him 'Boy Savior" how ironic because he can't seem to save anyone, how he couldn't save Benzo, or VI or Jinx. Hes talking more calmly now but it's a defeated tone and this strikes at Jinx's heart, it's like a loss of light has happened within the room. Ekko says that he sometimes wishes he stayed on the bridge with Jinx, sure he would've died but at least it would be over, the pain, suffering, anger, regret, it would all be over. He says sometimes the best dreams he would have is when Jinx would finally shoot him, he points to his chest "right through here" he says. It would be a perfect ending, the naive boy being taken down by the harsh reality of the world. This is starting to scare Jinx, she has never heard him talk like this....and she doesn't like it...not one bit.

Ekko is sitting on the bed at this point slumped over his knees, "Every time I walk past a mirror or a broken window or glass, I don't see a leader, a spark of hope or even a man....all I see is a little boy still clinging onto something that left him long ago. A little boy who's still afraid of the dark, a little boy who's still afraid of monsters" he looks up at Jinx with an expression that threatens to tear her heart out of her chest. Ekko always looked tired but this was something else, he was tired of everything, of the Firelights, of Zaun, Of Piltover, of everything "all those years I've spent fighting.....was it even worth it....is it still worth it.....I'm tired Jinx....I'm so so so tired" Ekko slumped back in his seated position again "...I'm sorry for yelling at you ji-".

Before he can finish his sentence, Jinx comes and sits on his lap and wraps her arms around his head and nuzzles him into her chest. He plays with his hair a bit and whispers things like "I'm sorry"and "it's okay, it's okay, I'm here" Ekko tries to talk but Jinx shushes him and holds him tighter "just let me hold you, let me love you" and Ekko quietly sobs while clutching onto her too.

I also like the idea that Ekko has Dark Impulses but doesn't act on them. Ekko is shown to be a very capable fighter so I have no doubt he could kill someone if he wanted to, i can imagine him having to hold himself back from doing it and those impulses could be worked into his break down. He starts to describe what he's thought about doing to the chembaron and chemgang members, some of what he says even disturbs Jinx.

Thanks to @starry-nights12 for giving me the idea!

[lunarzomb]

Ok, had to boot up my 'puter to write this ramble of mine.

So, to be completley honest, when the episode ended, I felt nothing. Like not one bit sad, angry or anything. Maybe it's still because I am in denial, but I have some criticism, some praise and a theory brewing up in my head.

As far as criticism goes, one thing that I didn't liked was how the writers hadled Isha's character. She felt like a simple character that we had to feel sorry for when she died. We don't know anything else about her, other than the fact that she liked to hang out with Jinx. Unlike Mylo, for example, she has no other characteristics nor meaning to be in the show, if not to make Jinx fall back into her pit of despair. In one of schnee1's videos, he mentions all of the little characterizations that make Mylo feel like a real human begin: he is insecure, it's clear that he makes noise only for the meaning to make himself known to others because without Powder, he's the weakest character in their friend group. Maybe in three years the writers had not enough time to fully flesh out all of the characters. To be honest, I would have gladly waited another two to three years if it meant the writers could take their time.

I probably have not noticed them to be honest, but Isha felt more of a blank character to me. I probably will start to feel worse for her when some hours pass and I'll understand what it means for the characters. 😭

Next, I absolutley love the use of colour and movment in this episodes, more than last season. Every emotion, every little movment feels like it has a purpouse, which is what I will base my next pharagrap on.

Maybe it's my denial talking, but I want to believe that Isha, Viktor and Vander haven't died yet. As of right now, we don't know what happened to Heimerdinger, Ekko and Jayce. We only see Jayce visibly traumatized, sort of 'summoned' by the wild rune when Salo comes inside the hextech core (also, haven't understood what her got from there). At the very end of episode six, we get a sort of 'time freeze'. We can interpret it in two ways: a time freexe for the audience or a time freeze for the characters. If it's the first option, it may simply be a visual for us to fully understand and take in all the shit that went down in the last fifteen minutes. If it's the second, then it may mean that it's Ekko's freeze/rewind time abilty. That would mean that there is a chance of our characters living after all.

Arcane has a way of telling us what is really happening without explictly showing us. For example, in episode five, we understand that there is something wrong with Mel's brother's scene when the droplet of water that's supposed to fall downwards from the prison's cieling, instead 'falls back up', from the ground upwards (minute 23:06) . Also the very subtle way of his lexis changing, the fact that they did held a funeral in both Noxus and Piltover but he can't explain why they did have it if he wasn't dead, and so on... Maybe the freeze frame is not just a visual aspect, but something that is actually happening in the show.

I think that my theory might be proven wrong by the time saturday comes, but I still want to believe that that freeze frame might mean something.

Lastly, this is just me lashing out, but why EVERYTIME JAYCE TOUCHES SOMETHING EVERYTHING FALLS APART?!

HI HELLOO !! Okay so first off, feeling nothing and being in shock in denial, so real... I was literally not expecting what happened at ALL and I was just saying to myself over and over "No no no no no". Secondly, I think the points you brought up when you talked about the criticisms you had about how they handled Isha are valid. To me personally, I think Isha was used to further Jinx's story line. Which I know, most people would say that is lazy story telling or something like that. But honestly in my opinion how they used Isha was realistic and while the end of her character made me unbelievably sad, I don't think it was bad storytelling. But ofc, that's just my opinion. Thirdly, I 100% agree with you that they're going all out with the artwork and colors and EVERYTHING like that and I LOVE IT !!! This show is genuinely a piece of art like I'm so grateful to be able to enjoy this show that is so filled with creativity and passion and people behind it who really care about it. Fourthy, I like your theory about how the deaths that happened in ep 6 could be reversed somehow with magic. I don't think that that theory is unreasonable. One, because they haven't shown us where Ekko and Heimerdinger are yet. And two, because I genuinely have no idea how they're going to end the show off with act 3. Like, I feel like they could do anything, I have no predictions at all. Lastly,, about Jayce, I WAS JUST IN SHOCK.. like no fucking Jayce are you for real right now.... like I know that he was doing as Viktor wished of him in season 1 (to destroy the hexcore) but oh my god what horrible timing you have Jayce.

[jbk405]

Hmmmmm, "Finally Got the Name Right" started really strong, but fell apart pointlessly at the end.

The music video of the Enforcer Team was absolutely amazing at the opening, both the music itself and the animation. It also perfectly summed up what was actually going on with "The Grey", when it hadn't really been made clear last episode.

The Enforcer team was noticeably panicky and untrained in their actions, which lead back to my criticisms of the end of the first episode of the season, but then Vi pointed that out to Caitlyn and they sent them home. It makes including them at all kinda pointless, since they're introduced at the end of episode 1, skipped over in episode 2, and then dismissed in the opening to episode 3, but at least they didn't keep them around and talk about how they're an Elite Force while they're shivering and whimpering on-screen. So I was willing to call this a win and move on.

I honestly did not think we'd actually get a kiss between Vi and Caitlyn this early, I thought they'd continue to slowplay it for the whole rest of the season. But I'm ecstatic to get it now, so we can build from here for the rest of the show. I'm not sure if I think this was their first kiss or not: There was hesitancy there on both parts, and several small movements forward with pauses to reassess, but there was also no apparent surprise afterwards. Either way, the way Vi dropped her gauntlets really emphasized how big this is for her.

The Vi/Jinx and Caitlyn/Sevika fight was fascinating. Beautiful animation (as always) and complicated by the wonkiness of the magic. The complementary surrealism of Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger in the base of the hex-whatever just emphasized how everything was spinning out of control.

Jinx essentially being ready to die is tragic, but also reaches back to what I've said before about the show really emphasizing that she is a sick young woman. She is evil, and she does need to be stopped, but that doesn't change the fact that she's so hurt that she's hoping her sister is going to kill her.

But it started to all fall apart when Caitlyn turned on Vi when Vi tried to prevent her from taking the shot when that kid was in the way. I just don't believe this conflict, and it doesn't make sense. This is what they're fighting over? I would have accepted Vi realizing that she can't let Jinx die yet and stopping Caitlyn for that reason, and Caitlyn being furious at that betrayal after the death of her mother. I would have accepted Vi getting so overwhelmed that she was ready to kill this innocent kid and Cait trying to stop her, since we saw last season that Vi can get over-focused and ignore collateral damage when the she's striking back at the people that harmed her. But for it to play out this way and for Caitlyn to fall onto the (obviously racially-coded) 'you're one of them' remarks was just out of place and awkward after Vi stepped in to protect somebody else. I can't accept that this is what is leading to the breakdown of their relationship.

Then that big sequence where Ambessa is manipulating all of the Piltover nobles also doesn't make sense. I don't buy that Caitlyn can't see this. Her entire character in the first season was that she saw things. She pieced together the clues and figured out the truth on her own. And I don't mean that she should instantly deduce all of Ambessa's plans, because there's a whole lot of details that she has never seen, but it should be obvious to her that she's being manipulated. And even if you say "Sure she can tell, but she doesn't care because she's so grief stricken that she doesn't care" it's still not well-portrayed.

And during this moment where Caitlyn is getting the cheers from the crowd of people as she is essentially appointed dictator of the city, there's all these reaction shots of the three Enforcers to show how they're taking it. One is happy, and the other is kinda neutral, and there's one long, slow shot as one of them turns away in apparent shame....except we literally still do not know this guy's name. No background info, no history, nothing. Is he from the Undercity like Vi and joined in the hopes that by being a Good One he could protect the rest, and he now realizes that he was mistaken as he sees these people planning all-out war against the Undercity? Is he from Noxus and he fled to Piltover to escape their militant violence, only to see history repeating right here? WHY SHOULD WE CARE THAT HE ISN'T HAPPY HERE?

The episode was great until 30 minutes in, the just fell apart.

[bringthekaos]

I've seen it brought up in fics a few times the concept of Jayce not knowing for sure whether or not The Machine Herald's mask is just that - a mask - or if Viktor at some point between them last seeing each other sliced off his own face and replaced it with a metal plate. This, except Jayce is actually convinced that the mask is Viktor's face. So, when Viktor takes it off in their first down time "not fighting just talking" moment in a few years, he's genuinely shocked and relieved that Viktor still has a face. Viktor notices this and asks what was so surprising, Jayce explains, and Viktor (having it never even occurred to him that someone might think the mask was his actual face) writes this off as Jayce being stupid. They keep talking about whatever it is that forced them to stop going at each other's throats, and it maybe gets a little flirty. Jayce decides that to move things up a little and kind of, slyly tries to suggest Viktor should get undressed by saying something along the lines of "Ya know, that Hexclaw looks really heavy, why don't you let me help you take it off" (because there's no real reason for Jayce to think it's anything other than just a mounted weapon really). And Viktor just looks at him blankly for a beat before informing him that the Hexclaw is actually permanently fixed to his back, and Jayce is like "SO ME THINKING YOU REPLACED YOUR FACE IS STUPID, BUT THE THIRD ROBOT DEATH ARM IS COMPLETLY REASONABLE????".

Aghdaagshfsja

Holy shit this is hilarious. And it all makes sense to Viktor, like—“how did you think I move it, if it’s not wired into my nervous system?? Wish really hard??”

And Jayce is like “well excuse the fuck outta me, for not knowing how every last little part of you works, asshole. If you’d let me take you apart, I might understand better!!”

And Viktor freezes, some deep dark part of him immensely turned on by that thought, and now everything’s been derailed.

“What?! Why are you staring at me like that?” Jayce asks, completely unaware of what he just unintentionally did to Viktor.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Viktor says plainly.

“Mind what?!”

“You… taking me apart. Putting your hands inside me. Seeing what makes me tick. As long as you promise not to break anything.” Viktor says, watching hungrily as realization falls over Jayce’s face.

And it’s gruesome and weird and so beyond fucked up, but… Jayce likes that idea too.

And then they have weird freaky cyborg-human sex.

[hanukkahbingo]

!חג אורים שמח

It's the second night of Hanukkah and the second night of the Panfandom Hanukkah Bingo! We're seeing a dip in the number of submissions from last year, so I just wanted to remind everyone that these prompts can be used for fic, art, moodboards, graphics -- whatever you want to create! I know things are hard out there right now and the year has been dark, but all of your creations are lights in that darkness and it's lovely to see your interpretations of Jewish joy. Keep creating!

A Deal with the Dead by abby-gaytes | AO3 | tumblr

One could say being kind to ghosts is a Jewish value. So, when a familiar face reappears to haunt a local bakery during Hanukkah, the Ghostbusters propose a compromise.

A Very Voyager Holiday by Divinemissem13/@divinemissem13 | AO3 | tumblr

After years of throwing Voyager's holiday parties, Neelix is surprised to learn that Federation winter holiday traditions include much more than just Christmas trees and Santa Claus.

A1. Applesauce - Kate Bishop by aimmyarrowshigh/@aimmyarrowshigh | AO3 | tumblr

Yelena loves to cook, which is great, because Kate loves to eat. But…

A2. Snow - Jane Foster by aimmyarrowshigh/@aimmyarrowshigh | AO3 | tumblr

Jane wasn't supposed to live to see another Hanukkah. But a great miracle happened, and she is here.

A3. Shalom - Kaydel Ko Connix by aimmyarrowshigh/@aimmyarrowshigh | AO3 | tumblr

Basic isn't Connix's first language.

A4. Smashing Fascists - Booker le Livre by aimmyarrowshigh/@aimmyarrowshigh | AO3 | tumblr

Booker is worried that the others will see what he did as treason. A betrayal of their cause. But they've all been alive long enough to know better.

A5. Eighth Night - Joyce Byers by aimmyarrowshigh/@aimmyarrowshigh | AO3 | tumblr

Hop stops by Melvald's one slushy December morning.

Alone in the Dark (Chapter 2) by josiebelladonna/@feverinfeveroutfic | AO3 | tumblr

He found himself trapped out in the wilderness during a power outage, and his meeting with that one strange girl proved to be a stroke of fate for him. A fic that asks “what if Alex and Christine had met in another period?”

Bring on the Light: Haunted Dreidel by melbelle310/@perfectpurls | AO3 | tumblr

On night two of my Channukah series, Ace and Nancy teach their friends to play dreidel!

Eight Nights (Chapter 2) by genuineformality/@genuineformality | AO3 | tumblr

On the first night of Chanukah, Viktor lights a chanukiah for the first time in a long time. On the subsequent nights, Viktor and Jayce explore a lot of complicated feelings.

The First First Night by awlenrose | AO3 | tumblr

Survival always comes at a cost.

holiday wishes by aelisheva | AO3 | tumblr

"Asha, why do you call your grandfather Saba?" Valentino asked this as they walked to the palace to help Queen Amaya prepare this week's winter solstice festival. During it, Asha would be officially announced as the next Princess Of Rosas. Which was quite the change, but at least some other things in her life wouldn't change.

Keep a candle burning (Chapter 2) by dharmashark | AO3 | tumblr

Bucky has been sitting cross legged on the floor with Steve Rogers for three hours. He feels giddy on two donuts too many, his ribs tight and hot from laughing. But mostly he feels smug as hell: he cannot wait to tell Clint how wrong he was when said this was a terrible idea. Well, what Clint had actually said was, “Are you out of your mind? Steve, as in Steve, is going to spend Hanukkah with you, in your studio apartment?” — In which Bucky can totally, definitely last eight nights without falling for his childhood best friend. Again.

Love and Light by Hollie47/@hollie47 | AO3 | tumblr

Wanda thinks about her family and how Darcy is now apart of it.

The Opportunistic Telekinetic by abby-gaytes | AO3 | tumblr

It’s all fun and games until Talia uses her newfound telekinesis to cheat at dreidel.

Princess Asha Holiday Moodboard by aelisheva | AO3 | tumblr

Asha is in the middle of lighting candles with her Mamà and Saba when she gets the queen's message in the mail.

Spidersona Doodles by scribbling-scientist/@enby-scientist | AO3 | tumblr

K1-2 presents, H1-1 dreidel, H2-4 ugly sweaters, K2-4 Bad puns, A2-5 Chinese food, U-2 sufganyot, A2-1 Oil (Bingo! +2)

[avelera]

Jayce is Not the Bad Guy in Arcane 2.06

Ok, after being Terminally Online since Arcane S2 Act 2 dropped, I've seen every variation of how Jayce is Judas, how Jayce fumbled the twink, how Jayce fucked up a perfectly good cult with his murder hoboness and how Jayce is responsible for destroying Vi's newly reunited family. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but as a recovering English Major, I'd like to take a step back and actually analyze the text and point out that Jayce isn't responsible for 90% of the accusations being thrown at him.

Jayce killing Viktor almost certainly has more to it than it appears but no matter how you slice it, you can't both be mad for Jayce breaking his promise to Viktor and for keeping his promise to Viktor. Viktor, as one of his last lucid acts before the Hexcore took him over, asked Jayce to destroy the Hexcore even if it meant his death, Jayce has done that now. Everything Viktor has done or asked for since that time is highly suspicious and might not even be entirely Viktor, or Viktor entirely in control of himself and not being manipulated by the Hexcore pretending to be the woman it murdered.

Jayce is not responsible for the cult falling apart. Viktor was pushing his powers to the limit already and would have died soon from his efforts to heal (/ spread the Hexcore infection) to so many. If Jayce hadn't killed Viktor, the cult collapse was still imminent.

Even if Jayce hadn't shown up at the cult site, Viktor was on a collision course with a gross reminder of the weakness of the human condition through Ambessa and her goons showing up. In an alternate universe where Jayce didn't show up and merc Viktor, Ambessa still was minutes away from showing up and killing/maiming/capturing Viktor, or at least attempting to do so. Whether or not Jayce did what he did, Viktor was about to have a very bad encounter with violent humans that would shape his view of humanity.

This is all supposing that Viktor isn't actually an unknowingly malevolent force right now, which is almost certainly the case.

This is also not even mentioning the fact that holy suspension of disbelief, Batman, Viktor is 99.99% certainly not dead.

And now to quickly address Vi.

6. Jayce is not the reason that Vander was throwing up lava. It had little or nothing to do with Viktor's healing suddenly being withdrawn, because it was not complete at that point. Everyone seems to have forgotten that Singed was still in the tent, still armed with his anti-Vander blood injection.

7. At most, Jayce created the distraction by killing Viktor that made Vi and the others leave the tent, and thus leave Vander alone with Singed, whom they hadn't yet secured. Singed finished his attack on Vander when their backs were turned, hence Vander-splosion that followed.

Personally, I think Act 3 is going to address a ton of this almost immediately. And I think this is a pretty classic bait-and-switch to make Jayce look unhinged and in the wrong before we get into the reversal and the rest of the story. But the details like "It's Jayce's fault that Vander's family didn't reunite" or "Jayce is the reason Viktor is about to turn evil" are ignoring that Ambessa, Rictus, Singed and co. were on the field, about to wreak havoc, and that havoc still got wreaked with or without Jayce there. He only removed Viktor from the board, and likely only temporarily.