#caitvi fan kid

[schrodingerspsycho]

From the Dead - Chapter 1

Warnings - None

Word Count - 4.8k

Summary - Twelve years after the events of The Dirt Under Your Nails, Caitlyn discovers that Jinx is still alive.

Author's Note - I used names from League of Legends, but I have never played the game. I did a few brief searches on the wiki, but I don't know anything more. I wasn't going for accuracy, I was just looking for things that fit my story. Also, if you read my drabble about CaitVi's fan kid, I did change his name. Now that season two is out, I feel like this was more fitting.

“You be a good boy for mommy while I’m gone, okay?” Caitlyn said as Jaydin hugged her tighter. She felt the wetness of his tears as he buried his face in her neck, and it was a struggle not to cry herself. The last time she had to travel for work he had barely been old enough to comprehend what was happening, but he knew exactly what was going on now. After a few more moments he let go of her, only to latch onto her leg as she stood to face Vi.

“Stay safe, Cupcake,” she said as she took her hand.

“It’s only a diplomatic mission. The only thing I’ll be in danger of is overeating at the hotel breakfast buffet,” Caitlyn chuckled. “You don’t need to worry about me, love.”

“When has that ever stopped me?”

“Fair point,” Caitlyn smiled as she leaned in to kiss her wife. Then they broke apart a second later when Cleo began cooing in Vi’s arms.

“She’s saying she’ll miss you,” Vi smiled.

“Awwww, I’ll miss you too,” Caitlyn said, leaning down to cover her baby’s head with kisses. Cleo giggled with delight and tried to grab Caitlyn’s hair. “I’m going to miss all three of you.”

“We’re gonna miss you too,” Vi said sadly. Caitlyn mirrored her expression and pulled her in for a hug.

“I love you, Mama,” Jaydin said, his voice sounding just as small as he was.

“I love you too, baby,” she smiled, crouching down to ruffle his hair and kiss his forehead. He gave her a tearful smile.

“Have a good trip, Cait,” Vi said, her voice gravelly. “I love you.”

She stood up and put her hand on Vi’s cheek, and Vi eagerly leaned into it. The tears in her eyes were more poorly concealed than Caitlyn’s. “I love you too. I’ll only be gone a week, I’ll be back home before you know it.”

“I sure hope so.”

Caitlyn pulled her in for another kiss, and they lingered much longer for this one. Then the horn sounded from the caravan on the street and Caitlyn pulled away with a sigh. “The airship’s going to leave without me if I don’t go now.”

“Bye, Mama,” Jaydin sniffed, wiping his nose on his sleeve. She ruffled his hair again and kissed the three of them on their foreheads.

“I love all of you so much. I’ll see you in a week, my babies.”

“Alright, get out of here,” Vi said playfully. She took Jaydin’s hand and pulled him away slowly so Caitlyn could get her suitcase. “You gotta catch your flight, you know the others can’t do anything without you.”

“I hope that won’t be the case here,” she joked, finally walking toward the caravan. “Goodbye!”

And with a chorus of waves and goodbyes behind her, Caitlyn got in and they drove away. Some of her coworkers shared anecdotes about missing their families too, but she barely heard them. She was in work mode now, and she had more than just diplomacy on her mind. It wasn’t anything concrete, anything certain. But it was the most promising lead she’d found since she started her search. After twelve long years, she’d almost given up hope. But if the tip she got was right, then their lives would be changed forever. And she hoped with everything she had that it would be for the better.

“I need a drink.”

Already halfway through the trip and nothing was going according to plan. The trail had gone cold almost as soon as Caitlyn had begun asking questions, and the dealings with the Shuriman government had proven more difficult than she’d anticipated. It was nothing she couldn’t schmooze her way through of course, but it was stressful nonetheless.

Steb accompanied her as she found her way to a seedy bar on the outskirts of the city. If there was one bit of undercity knowledge that Vi had made sure she learned, it was where to find the cheapest drinks. She could easily afford the pricier stuff at the hotel bar, of course, and a decade ago she would have gone back with the rest of her coworkers and done just that. But the drinks always tasted better in places like this, and she had come to discover that the atmosphere did well to put her mind at ease. More at ease than the fancy hotel did, anyway.

“Is this a brainstorming drink or a distraction drink?” Steb asked.

“Distraction.” Caitlyn hardly glanced at him as she sat down and waved the bartender over. “A whiskey, please, and a dark ‘n’ stormy for him. And two of whatever your specialty cocktail is.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, you don’t have to buy my drinks?”

“I don’t know, when are you going to start letting me?”

“You’re my boss, Caitlyn. It’s unprofessional.”

“Screw professional. We were friends before I hired you, weren’t we?”

“Only because you were my boss when we were enforce-”

“Weren’t we?” Caitlyn cut him off with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. He rolled his eyes and smiled back at her.

“Yeah, we were.”

“Then here’s to two friends enjoying the wonders of the Sun Disc.” She raised her glass before downing her whiskey. “Before we have to figure out how to convince emperor Azir to agree to the new trade deal.”

“He’d be a fool not to take it. I mean it’s practically a steal! They just don’t like it because we’re changing it.”

“Exactly! But they should expect that when they trade with the City of Progress. Piltover is built on our efforts to change things for the better.”

“A distraction drink that turns into a brainstorming drink. My favorite kind,” Steb joked.

“Shut up,” Caitlyn grinned. “I don’t want to talk about work. I just want to relax and enjoy… whatever this is.” She held up the cocktail, which was bright orange and had a tentacle sticking out of it. Steb picked his up and clinked his glass against hers.

“To drinking.”

She laughed. “To drinking.”

An hour and one Vastayan cocktail courtesy of Steb later, Caitlyn was ready to head back to the hotel. Her mind was buzzing, teetering on the precipice between tipsy and drunk. So she almost didn’t register what she saw.

But that blue hair was unmistakable.

“Oh my gods,” she whispered, almost too quiet for Steb to hear. “It’s her!” She tore across the bar, nearly tripping over a few chairs as she made her way to where she was laughing with one of the other patrons. “Jinx!”

She turned around, the confusion on her face quickly turning to shock and fear. “Caitlyn?”

“It’s really you,” she gasped. “I can’t believe it, it’s really you!”

Jinx glanced around before locking eyes with Caitlyn and shaking her head. “Not here.” She grabbed her arm and began dragging her toward the door. “You paid your tab, right?”

“Yes, but… what are you-?”

“I said, not here. Come on.”

So with one final glance at Steb, she followed Jinx out into the night as she darted into the alleyway and cut her way through the town. For a moment Caitlyn was transported back to the day she’d first met her sister; it seemed neither of them were very good at making sure she was keeping up. At least the wind stinging her face was helping sober her up a bit. That and the life-altering revelation that Jinx was still alive. Thankfully Steb knew the protocol for this unlikely situation- tail her and stay out of sight.

Caitlyn had no idea where they were going. The roads had so many twists and turns, and Jinx was twisting and turning even more. She was sure they’d doubled back on themselves at least three times by now. But just as she was about to ask where they were going, she realized they’d arrived at a row of houses carved into the face of a cliff. Jinx finally slowed to a walk and made her way to the house at the end of the row. She unlocked the door and held it open for Caitlyn, who couldn’t think to do anything but walk in.

“Sorry, I would just rather have this conversation in private. Welcome!” Jinx said awkwardly. “Oh wait, give me a second. I-I wasn’t expecting to have guests.”

Caitlyn stared around in awe as Jinx hurried to clean up the various wrenches, paint brushes, and take-out containers that were strewn around the room. She had a plush purple couch and a matching armchair, and a mahogany coffee table that Caitlyn could tell wasn’t cheap. But the most eye-catching thing in the room was the mural that she had painted on the wall. She had painted her and Vi running hand in hand with matching grins on their faces. Isha was running in between them, and she appeared to be laughing as she gazed up at Jinx. Silco was above her and Vander was above Vi, both of them smiling down at the girls. Sevika and Ekko were painted next to Jinx, and she knew the two boys next to Vi had to be Mylo and Claggor. And there were two more people in between Silco and Vander, a man with brown hair and a woman with a purple braid. But they were painted much smaller and looked intentionally faded, and they had no discernible facial features. It wasn’t as realistic as Ekko’s mural at the old Firelight base, but she’d never seen a painting that looked so full of life.

“There we go! Now we can talk,” Jinx said. “You can sit down if you want. Or maybe you don’t want to sit down. I don’t know, this isn’t really how I thought this would go… but you’re here now! So, I’m, uh… I’m guessing you have questions?”

“Of course I do, I-I can’t believe you’re alive! How are you still alive?”

“Vander saved me.” Jinx shrugged and flopped down into her armchair. “He pushed me right after I pulled the pin, and I used my shimmer speed to make it to the vents.”

“Wow, that’s… that’s incredible!” Caitlyn sat on the edge of the couch cushion, and she could feel tears in the corner of her eye. “And have you just been here this whole time?”

“Well, I traveled around for a few years at first, but yeah. I decided to settle down here. It’s a nice place.”

“Why didn’t you tell Vi?” Caitlyn asked, her voice quavering as she tried not to sound accusing. “She thought you were dead this whole time! We all did!”

“I know. I-I’m sorry. But I knew it would be better that way. I needed a fresh start so that I could figure out who I was again. I needed to walk away, and Vi never would’ve let me. Not really. And it was better for her too, I mean her entire personality has been about protecting me since she was four years old. Me dying was the only way she would start living for herself. And for you.”

“That’s… actually really sweet,” Caitlyn said softly. “But it’s been twelve years. Were you ever planning on telling her?”

“Yes, of course I was! I-I still do. It’s just the thought of going back there is so hard, and then the more time passes the worse it gets. Then I started to build a life here, and that just gave me another reason not to leave. And you guys have your own lives now!” Jinx insisted, gesturing to the wedding ring on Caitlyn’s finger. “I don’t want to mess everything up again.”

“I promise you, you won’t,” Caitlyn reassured her gently. “I would never want to take you away from your life here, and neither would she. But Vi deserves to know that you’re still alive. After everything you two have been through together. You can’t imagine how much she misses you.”

“I think I probably can,” Jinx said sadly, hugging her knees to her chest. “I’ve missed her too. Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Then come back with me,” Caitlyn beseeched. “For a bit, at least. And see her again. She’ll be beyond overjoyed to see you, Jinx. She won’t hold it against you. You both deserve to have each other in your lives.”

Jinx turned away from her at that.

“And you deserve to meet your niece and nephew.”

“Wait, what? Y-you guys have kids?”

“We do,” Caitlyn smiled. “A little boy and a baby girl.” She made sure to pull her wallet out of her pocket slowly. Then she held out the pictures and Jinx sat next to her on the couch. “This is Jaydin, our oldest,” she said, pointing to the picture of him lying on Vi’s chest and waving a toy in the air. Their grins were so wide she could almost hear them laughing through the picture. Jinx took it gingerly, and she looked like she could hear it too. “He’s four years old now. And this is Cleo. She turns one in a couple of months.” She handed her the photo of Cleo too, the one of her sleeping in her crib a few months after she was born. Caitlyn had seen these pictures thousands of times, and they never failed to put a smile on her face.

“They’re beautiful,” Jinx said in awe.

“Thank you,” Caitlyn said proudly. “Jaydin would be so excited to meet you. His favorite bedtime stories are the ones Vi tells about you. You’re practically a superhero to him.”

“I bet she has to make up a lot of them,” Jinx chuckled humorlessly.

“Not as much as you’d think.”

Jinx was silent for a long moment, never taking her eyes off the pictures. Caitlyn watched her curiously as she slowly relaxed and leaned back into the couch. “Jaydin’s hair… it’s the same color as Mom’s,” she mumbled.

“Vi said the same thing,” Caitlyn nodded. “Look, I can’t tell you what to do, of course. But please, at least consider coming back with me. Here, I’ll write down the name of the hotel I’m staying in,” she said, taking out her notepad and pen. If Jinx agreed, Vi would never tease her for carrying them again. “I’ll be here for three more days. There will be a guard posted at the hotel, but I’ll let them know to look out for you. I can be in contact as much or as little as you want me to be.”

“Can I keep these?” Jinx asked after a moment, finally looking up at Caitlyn. “I-I promise I’ll give them back before you leave. It’s just… it’s nice to have something of her again.”

“Of course you can,” Caitlyn smiled. “I’m not trying to pressure you, Jinx. Well, okay, maybe just a little. But I sincerely hope you’ll come back to Zaun with me. Vi isn’t the only one who misses you. Ekko and Sevika would love to have you in their lives again too.”

“You know Sevika?”

“I do. She’s on the council, so I work with her pretty often.”

“She’s on the council?” Jinx smirked. “Good for her. I can’t think of a better person to represent Zaun.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“Things really have changed since I left, huh?”

“They have. Mostly for the better. I think you would be proud of all the progress we’ve made.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty incredible if I do say so myself. And Vi talks all the time about how much you would love it.”

“Oh. Yeah, yeah I bet she does.” Jinx stood up suddenly and walked toward the corner of the room, the photos clutched delicately in her hands. She let out a sigh that turned into a sniffle, and Caitlyn looked away respectfully.

“Well, I should get out of your hair. I don’t want to disturb you any more than I already have,” she said, leaving the note with her information on the coffee table. “Please think about it. Vi probably won’t believe me if you aren’t there with me. But there aren’t words for how happy she’ll be to find out that you’re alive.”

“I will,” Jinx said softly, turning to face her after a moment of silence. “It was, uh… it was nice to see you, Caitlyn.”

Without thinking Caitlyn hurried over to her. Jinx flinched but didn’t back away, and Caitlyn reached out to her cautiously. When she didn’t react she threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly. “I can’t say how happy I am to see you, Jinx. I always thought there was a chance you’d made it out, and I’ve never been so glad to be right about anything.”

Jinx stood frozen in shock at first, but she slowly put her arms around Caitlyn and relaxed into her touch. “I’m glad you were right too.”

“Well, I should probably head back now. I’ve got an early meeting tomorrow.”

“Right, of course,” Jinx said, stepping back and glancing away awkwardly. “Do you want me to help you find your way back to your hotel?”

“Oh no, that’s alright. I don’t want to take up any more of your time. I appreciate the offer, though.”

“Are you sure? It’s no trouble, really.”

“I’m sure. I actually enjoy finding my way around unfamiliar cities.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Vi and I love doing it whenever we travel together. We’ll just wander aimlessly, exploring the city. We’ve found some of our favorite shops and restaurants that way.”

“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds fun,” Jinx smiled. “I guess I’ll see you around, then. Good luck with… whatever you’re here for.”

“Thank you, Jinx. I’ll see you soon.”

And with a nod and an awkward wave, Caitlyn left. The sky was even darker now as she made her way to the end of the neighborhood, the cool night air carrying the sounds of the bustling city ahead.

“There you are,” Caitlyn said as Steb stepped out of an alleyway a few blocks from Jinx’s house.

“Was it really her?”

“It was,” Caitlyn grinned. “After all this time. It’s really her.”

“She sure looks different,” Steb commented.

“She does. I think the years have been good to her,” Caitlyn said softly.

“Is she going to come back with us?”

“I don’t know, she said she’d think about it. But I really hope she does.”

Caitlyn sighed as she picked up her suitcase off the ground. She and Steb had waited in the hotel lobby for as long as they could, but the airship was at the dock now. They had to go.

“Dammit,” Caitlyn lamented. “I really thought she would come.”

“Sorry, Captain.” Steb put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “But hey, at least you know she’s alive now. And once you tell Vi, you two will be back here before she can say ‘boom’.”

“That’s true,” Caitlyn said with a small smile. “She made the fatal mistake of showing me where she lives. She’ll see Vi again whether she wants to or not. But I know she does.”

“Who knows what’s going on inside her head?” Steb shrugged. “But right now we need to worry about you seeing Vi again. C’mon, Captain, the airship’s gonna leave without us.”

“Alright.” They left the hotel and headed toward the dock, the city seeming less beautiful to Caitlyn than when she’d arrived. She was once again consumed by her thoughts, this time a question. How the hell was she going to tell Vi?

“Hey! Caitlyn!” She heard a familiar voice call. “Wait up!”

“Jinx?” She turned to see Jinx running toward her, carrying a large backpack and waving eagerly. “Jinx! You’re here! Oh, I’m so glad you’re here!”

“Yeah, me too. I’m glad I caught you in time to return these,” she said, pulling Caitlyn’s pictures out of her jacket pocket. “I told you I’d give them back.”

“Oh.” Caitlyn took the pictures and hung her head in disappointment. “Thanks.”

“Of course. And thank you for letting me hold on to them. Having them for a little bit… it was nice.”

“You really won’t come back with me?” Caitlyn pleaded.

“I would if I could. But I would have to reschedule my meetings with my clients and cancel my plans, so…”

“I understand. But we’ll be back here soon. You know Vi-”

“That won’t be necessary.” 

“What?”

“I’m just messin’ with you, Piltie! Of course, I’m coming with you!” Jinx cheered. “I’ve been working my ass off to get all my appointments out of the way. I’m all yours!”

“Alright, you got me,” Caitlyn laughed, relieved. 

“Well you were so desperate for me to come along, I couldn’t not have a little fun.”

“Oh, I’m so happy! Vi will be thrilled!”

“I can’t wait to see her,” Jinx beamed. “And to meet Jaydin and Cleo! I mean, who am I to deny them the chance to meet me?”

“Good to see your sense of humor is still intact,” Caitlyn smirked. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s,” she agreed, falling into step beside Caitlyn. She waved at Steb and he nodded back at her. “And I do mean it, by the way. I’m so excited to meet your kids.”

“I’m excited for you to meet them, too,” Caitlyn smiled.

Jinx was silent as they made their way onto the airship, just giving shy smiles to everyone who looked at her and following close behind Caitlyn. Some of the other officers began whispering when they saw her, but Caitlyn shut them up with a glare.

“This is my cabin. You can stay here during the flight,” she said as she welcomed Jinx in. “It’s about a four-hour trip, but I’ll be going over things with my team for most of it. But we have attendants that can give you anything you need, and you can always come get me if you need to.”

“Thanks. Wow, this place is nice,” Jinx said as she gazed around the cabin. “I’ve never been on an airship this big.”

“Well, welcome aboard,” Caitlyn smiled. “Is there anything I can do for you before I get back to work?”

“There is one thing,” she said somberly, sitting down on the cot. “I want to apologize.”

“Oh,” Caitlyn said, taken aback. “I appreciate that, but you don’t need to-”

“Yes, I do,” Jinx insisted, staring up at Caitlyn. “Please.”

“Alright.” Caitlyn sat next to her and she took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry for kidnapping you. And I’m sorry for killing your mom. I wasn’t thinking about the pain I was causing you and your family, or any of the people that I hurt. But that’s no excuse. I was selfish and cruel, and I deserved all the hate you felt towards me. I know there’s nothing I can say or do to make up for it. I can’t bring her back. But if I could, I would do it in a heartbeat! There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that I haven’t regretted it all. And I’ve worked hard to make sure that I’m not that person anymore. I try to be better every day, I want you to know that. And I want to do whatever I can to make amends. I’m truly sorry, Caitlyn.”

“Thank you,” Caitlyn said softly. “That really means a lot.”

“I know that I don’t deserve forgiveness. Your kindness so far has been more than I would’ve hoped for. But I’m so grateful that we can be civil.”

“I’m hoping we can be more than civil,” Caitlyn smiled. “One of the many lessons I’ve learned from Vi is that the greatest thing we can do in life is find the power to forgive. I forgave you years ago, Jinx. Now all I want to do is get to know my sister-in-law.”

Jinx looked up at Caitlyn with tears in her eyes. “You… you really mean that?”

“I do.” Caitlyn held out her arms and Jinx collapsed into her, crying openly. Caitlyn rubbed her back.

“Sorry,” Jinx said sheepishly after a moment, pulling away and wiping her eyes.

“It’s alright.”

“Y’know, I think another reason I was scared to go back is because I was afraid of facing you.”

“It’s all in the past now. I’m glad we have the chance for a fresh start.”

“Yeah, me too,” Jinx grinned.

“I really do have to get to work though.”

“Oh yes, of course, go!” Jinx waved her hand toward the door insistently. “Didn’t mean to keep you. I guess I’ll see you when we get to Piltover?”

“See you then,” Caitlyn smiled.

Jinx was quiet when they left the airship, once again content to not say anything to any of the other officers. Not that any of them were talking to her. Many of them seemed afraid of her. Or at the very least afraid of Caitlyn, who was still silently daring any of them to say something about Jinx. But once the two of them were outside and on their own, Jinx’s talkative nature returned.

“I never thought I’d say this about Piltover, but it feels good to be back,” she smirked, gazing around. “Still as shiny as ever.”

“Most of the changes we’ve made are in Zaun,” Caitlyn told her. “You’ll get to see a few of them on the way there.”

“Wait, you live in Zaun?”

“Yeah. I mean Piltover and Zaun operate as one city now, but we live on the Zaun side. And don’t worry, Vi, Ekko, and Sevika have worked to make sure that all the Zaunite charms remain.”

“That’s great,” Jinx smiled. “And how has Vi been?”

“She’s been really good,” Caitlyn beamed. “She absolutely adores being a mom. I don’t think she’s ever been happier.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. She’s made for it.”

“She really is. She goes above and beyond in every way imaginable, for them and for me. And I swear sometimes when she plays with Jaydin, she has more fun than he does,” Caitlyn laughed.

“She’s got a second chance at a childhood,” Jinx smiled sadly. “Just like Isha gave me. I’m so happy for her.”

“That’s exactly what it is,” Caitlyn nodded. “And she’s making the best of it. She’s learned from all the mistakes of the past, hers and others. I think she would make all of your parents proud.”

“I’m sure she would. And what are the kids like?”

“Oh, I could go on about them for hours,” Caitlyn grinned. “But you’ll see for yourself soon enough. Cleo hasn’t said her first word yet, but she loves to talk. And she tries to grab everything she sees. She loves to copy what we’re doing, and if you make a game out of it she’ll never get bored. But don’t ever try to take a toy from her. She can scream louder than anything I’ve ever heard. And I’ve lost count of how many explosions I’ve lived through.”

“Copy that,” Jinx chuckled. “From the stories Vander told, Vi did the same thing.”

“Cleo does seem to take after her. Jaydin is a lot quieter. He’s shy around new people, but he loves to explore new places. And he’s so creative! He comes up with these elaborate backstories for all of his games, it’s incredible. And he loves to draw. Most of the artwork we have hung up is his, and we have to switch it out every couple of weeks because he’s made so many new ones. Vi says he reminds her of you in that way.”

“Yeah, that love of drawing never goes away.”

“He’s going to love drawing with you.”

“I can’t wait! They sound so amazing,” she grinned.

“They are.”

“So is Vi like a stay-at-home mom, or what? Is she still an Enforcer with you? Or a pitfighter?”

“She’s not a pitfighter anymore,” Caitlyn chuckled. “And there are no more Enforcers, actually. We worked together to dismantle the entire department and build something new. Something better. She and I are co-captains of the Preservers now. We protect all the people of Piltover and Zaun. It took a while, but most people on both sides of the bridge support our organization. Vi and I pretty much just alternate who works and who stays home with the kids.”

“Wow, that’s impressive. Definitely something Vi would come up with.”

“She always hoped you’d be proud of it.”

“Can’t wait to tell her I am.”

Their conversation faded as they crossed the bridge and Jinx’s focus turned to admiring the rebuilt city. Caitlyn stole glances at her as they walked, and pride swelled in her heart at every awed expression. But they didn’t have too far to go, and before they knew it they had arrived at the house.

“This is it,” Caitlyn said, watching Jinx carefully. “I think it’s probably best if you wait out here for a bit, so I can say hi to the kids and do what I can to prepare Vi. Is that alright?”

“Yeah, yeah that sounds good,” Jinx said without looking at her.

“It’s going to be okay. She’s your sister, after all.”

“I know, I know. I’m just… nervous.”

“You can do this, Jinx,” Caitlyn reassured her.

“Thanks,” she smiled. And with a nod, Jinx held her breath as Caitlyn slid the key into the lock.

[lettingtimepass]

WALK WITH ME

AND ALSO.......

......TELL ME YOU SEE THE VISION!!!!

[chris-in-the-headlights]

I am scared of my love for you. Not because it will ruin me, but because I will let it.

[ianthesmells]

the people genuinely complaining abt jayvik "not becoming canon" or "they didn't kiss" are insane to me. u got a shakespearian tragedy on screen and u don't feel that was enough? they need to walk out on stage and kiss so you know it's canon? is that all love is to you? a kiss? characters need to kiss so they can be canon? caitvi literally had sex on screen and it was so nothing whereas jayvik took up like half the season and got development that even made non-jayvik shippers believe in it. they literally blipped out of existence together in a fruit salad-level space scene after being in a gay ass timeloop and ur mad they didn't kiss?

[makiquas]

Its Butchtober. Bear with me for a second as I rant about children's cartoon ships, butchphobia, the conditional acceptance of butches in sapphic spaces on the basis of desirability, and feeling erased as a butch kid.

It's so funny that I realised early on as a 2000-2010s teen/kid how a lot of so called "sapphics" of social media are really, really anti butch4butch, only by interacting with certain subsets of Catradora and Appledash haters. It may be flippant to connect butchphobia with children's cartoons, but you cannot deny it is there. We finally had two canon butch4butch and masc4masc lesbian animated ships. And the fandoms decided that the best possible reaction to this is to violently hate on the ships for bullshit reasons and write up masterdocs about how the butch character actually looks better with a femme character instead (in both cases–Rarity and Glimmer, who is arguably feminine but not femme, but that's a conversation for another day, how the SPOP fandom waters down gender identities for aesthetics).

This is not just about two cartoon ships; this mindset of seeing two masc lesbians and immediately going "actually they act like bros; but this BUTCHFEMME couple has real chemistry" comes off sounding really, really bad in 2024 when you have no idea how butch identity operates, outside of depicting us as pants-wearing sexually aggressive muscular women. Butches ARE bros, even the ones who kiss each other. Camaraderie and tomboyish swagger *is* a part of their life. It's not our fault you are too fanfic trope-pilled to read these interactions are sexless friendship bantering.

It's also quite concerning, given how there are only a handful of butch4butch books in the market, and almost all of them talk about the stigmatizing of relationships between two butches/studs/masc lesbians. There are many butch lesbians who themselves face internalized butchphobia because of societal standards and expectations of being turned into the "gallant" provider of femmes. Butch and femme are not always inherently complementary, butches can be attracted to other butches, there is no "natural order" model of lesbian/sapphic attraction and your thinly veiled butchphobia is really off-putting, given you guys don't seem to extend that same rhetoric to mascfemme ships like Korrasami or Caitvi, or femme-femme ships like Harlivy.

Here, I must mention relationships like Rei and Kaoru from Oniisama E, or Jess and Lupe from A League of Their Own, who have bucket loads of chemistry but still have some vehement antis only because both the lesbians are masculine. (What's funny is the new wave of lesbian Oniisama E fans are almost all Rei/Kaoru shippers despite the show putting them into two butchfemme pairings.) Something something to be butch4butch is to be failing the tests of palatability and desirability according to conventional models of societal norms. Forever.

Again, one may have valid reasons for disliking these fictional ships (what, I genuinely don't know). But it *is* weird that you guys can watch fifty white fem4fem sapphic shows in a year and read 100+ GL with the same feminine girlish blonde and brunette/pink haired archetype and not bat an eyelid, but conjure a world of made-up "platonic" dynamics just because you read every butch4butch interaction as fundamentally platonic.

A lot of you love to throw around Stone Butch Blues as a catchphrase to educate strangers on the internet about 1950s-70s blue-collar bar culture and USA butch femme history, but how many of you actually know that within the book itself, the lead character acts prejudiced and hates on another butch for being butch4butch? How many of you know that she apologizes to her friend at the end for her hateful remarks? Fun fact: when you ostracize a butch for not fitting into your butch-femme subculture aesthetic, you're no better than lesbiphobic bigots actually.

Anyway, here are some butch4butch resources if you are a baby butch4butch and feel alienated by these kinds of weird rhetoric in online and fandom queer spaces too:

Butch4Butch romance books

My Butch4Butch books masterdoc (**being updated regularly**)

Leo Wilder's Butch4Butch writing (18+)

Butch4Butch photography archive (insta)

Boyish² Butch4Butch yuri anthology (insta)

@milsae Butch4Butch artist (tumblr/insta)

This post is made by a trans masc butch of color. Terfs, racists, biphobes and radfems kindly do not derail or interact.

[spicypepperjack]

TL;DR: Timebomb got crumbs, but deserved a full 3-course meal.

Even though I'm a Timebomb fan, I am afraid that if they do get together, it won't feel that earned. Of course, there are more important plots to resolve than Timebomb. However, the writers have shown that they can interweave romance in the greater story, and it's a pity that Timebomb was found lacking.

Caitlyn/Vi and Jayce/Viktor (JayVik may or may not be canon) had much more screentime together over the past two seasons with lots of drama, but at least there was a lot of chemistry and scenes of each duo working together. CaitVi adventured in Zaun, fought together multiple times, and even slept together (sexually or not); JayVik worked together on Hextech for years, debated about ethics of their work, and tried to cure Viktor's disabilities. Each duo had plenty of scenes to develop their relationship between the characters and to show how each relationship affected the story.

On the other hand, Jinx and Ekko literally had ONE scene together of them beating the shit outta each other, with a cute flashback of them as kids. BUT, this scene was their only scene together in BOTH season 1 and the first two acts of Season 2 (ie fifteen 40-45 min episodes). It was cool that Ekko's past feelings for Powder caused him to hesitate killing her, and that spiraled into Jinx getting resurrected via Shimmer, but we need MORE of that between them.

Like if Jinx and Ekko had more scenes together in Season 2, this relationship at least won't totally feel rushed and outta nowhere. Obviously, they're saving Jinx and Ekko scenes in the last 3 episodes of Season 2, but those scenes gotta be really convincing if they make Timebomb canon and feel kinda earned. However, I fear it may be too little too late, and I hope I'm wrong.

[oodlyenough]

more arcane s2 thoughts in no particular order. this is pretty negative. woops

Cait, Vi, Caitvi

despite being what initially got me watching to begin with caitvi just never ended up being my primary interest with this show, so going into s2 it wasn't like I had very well formulated expectations or hopes. I think if I had I would maybe feel disappointed? They had some nice moments, they got the kiss and the sex scene, they're clearly endgame, etc, and that's nice, but it also felt like their relationship was so ... never really the star of the show or focus of the story to the extent I expected it to be. Did they even get a big fight-together battle-couple moment in the last ep, I don't think so? I didn't find the resolution to their Act 1 breakup especially good, I think Caitlyn owed Vi an apology and Vi deserved to be angry for longer than ten seconds.

I generally feel across both seasons that Vi's pain and trauma is rarely given as much weight as other characters', I was pretty underwhelmed by Caitlyn's dictator arc after being extremely interested in it at the end of act 1...

I dunno. I hope their stans liked it and are satisfied getting to see them kiss and have sex and be together and I wouldn't downplay the significance of The Couple in Arcane being a lesbian couple. But I wasn't personally very compelled or moved by it.

Jinx

Like the above I'm not a Jinx academic by any means but I think if I were I would be frustrated by how cyclical her arc was in season 2. And no, having Silco show up to be like "it's a cycle" doesn't really justify the narrative interludes. Isha is a hard sell of a character for me because I don't ... generally want little kid characters around ... and I found Jinx (basically) looking straight into the camera to say "gee you are just like me, Powder, when I was a little kid, which reminds me of being Powder, is this how Silco felt, is this how Vi felt" to be hamfisted. But some of the scenes with the two of 'em and Sevika were cute ... only for Isha to die and Jinx to be depressed, again, and then come through the other side, again, and then "die", again. Like if we wanted to deal with depressed Jinx we started off s2 that way...

I've seen other posts by Jinx fans that articulate much better the ways in which she goes from the driving plot force in s1 and main autonomous actor to just kind of being wafted around by plot in season 2 so I won't repeat them. But I think they are right. I also question the way her mental illness was portrayed -- or rather wasn't... -- in season 2. Powder in the AU showing no sign of illness (despite baby Powder in the main timeline already having some of that going on, pre-Vander death)... I mean, sure, she's got a support system etc in that world, and one can argue we don't spend enough time with AU Powder to necessarily see it, but combined with the Isha stuff it just kind of felt like a weird message.

Sevika

I love Sevika, one of my faves from s1. I was so excited she seemed to get a bigger role in act 1 and then in the first ep of act 2. And then she never spoke again. What the hell man... like damn... really?????!? Not a WORD in act 3? I'm sure this was some of the stuff they trimmed to get that finale down to 50 minutes but god that sucks, so much, in ways a wordless shot of her in the council chamber can't really resolve. Which leads me to

Piltover-Zaun

I have to admit I don't think the class politics in s1 are as good as they were reported to be, so I didn't have high hopes, but MAN is Piltover going "hey we need cannon fodder <3 thanks" not... a reasonable resolution... especially after an indeterminate time of Piltover being EVEN MORE oppressive with Caitlyn enforcing martial law. It was sooooooooo ridiculous. Also, lol @ the show acting like hextech is solely responsible for the suffering of the undercity. If only Vi, Jayce and Viktor weren't around we'd have a equitable utopia. Sure Jan.

Sky

One of the most offensively written female characters I've seen in recent media. A spectacular, zero-effort failure from the writers. What a horrible decision to write this poor girl, a Black woman no less, and give her absolutely no characterization outside of an unrequited crush on a gay white man. In season 1 I could forgive most of it because a show like Arcane needs redshirts and it's just unfortunate they made this particular redshirt a young Black woman. There are so many other complex and developed women in the show, I thought, they can afford to have some minor ones who aren't.

But oh my god season 2. The ghost hallucination which they never even clarify as being "really" Sky or just being the Hexcore or just being his own imagination of guilt because neither the show nor Viktor give enough of a fuck to explain fhglakhdglh. Even posthumously she barely has any dialogue except to reference off-screen conversations with Viktor we never see them have and then die again. "No you won't" ?????? It is ridiculous that they wrote this.

[space-blue]

I still cant wrap my head around how vi eventually joined enforcers after years spent in prison and cop brutalities she experienced first hand. I’d try to rationalize it but The only logical reason i can think of is because of Cait and vi’s bias towards her that influenced her to join enforcers

I think, the issue that Arcane presents with Vi is one of archetypes.

Some fans have a tendency, even in my own posts notes, to defend and construct Vi as a real person. But she isn't. She's a fully fictional character, part of the great human art of storytelling.

I think that the issue at hand is that Vi's story as depicted in Arcane, doesn't follow very normal/standard/popular archetypes.

Her backstory is that her and her family are relentlessly harmed by cops, she spends half her teenage years in the worst prison. It would be a great backstory for someone like say, SILCO!!! Someone who goes on to hate Piltover and go to great and terrible lengths to oppose and fight them.

Transitioning her to her "game end state" is extremely hard, because her in-game status is that of a cop who polices her own people for Piltover;s sheriff. Ekko has barks that call her out for betraying Zaun. Vi used to have barks that were police brutality jokes. She has art where she's a US like donught eating cop. It's a vibe, and not a vibe that screams "I was abused by police my entire life!"

In the show we're not there yet, and we may not even go there at all (I'm of the opinion that if they make her Vander 2.0 it'll be more palatable and also provide a new skin to rack the money in with.)

But the transition is pretty brutal because they hurried to sell us on a Caitvi romance in season 1.

I think more people now are feeling iffy about Vi's actions because she goes along with the whole gassing operation, but IMO it is consistant with what we see from her in season 1. I'll explain.

I've seen the argument around that she only joins because the other option would be worse and she's basically a limiter for Cait, but no, sorry, she could argue with Cait for Zaun's protection, and be happy she decides on a smaller strike force while being horrified/opposed to the use of the Gray. She could be grateful Cait reduces her actions and still refuse to join her. She could not kiss her in the pipes while they probably both smell of mustard gas lol.

All of Vi's actions put together depict a picture so far, out of 12 episodes, and that picture just isn't very heroic or very nice. It's also very much not archetypal, so it's a lot more unpredictable. Some of her fans also have a tendency of defending her every action instead of embracing the darkness we see peeking through, which muddies the waters.

But I'm now pretty comfortable in my assessment that she's a good Vander 2.0.

She had a hard and broken childhood, ends up hardening and getting skills in prison, but not class consciousness. This isn't shocking, because Silco is taking over Zaun, and she hates that everyone seems to be working for him. Vi has zero awareness that her young self and Silco share the exact same goals (a Zaun that's not inferior to Piltover, where someone like Powder could live happy and safe).

Worse, Vi has her priorities all mixed up. The story is just complex and human. Vi is forced to raise Powder and also lead Claggor and Mylo her entire childhood. That's not great... She basically didn't get to be a child at all. Vander put a shit ton of responsibilities on her. We know from the Enemy video that she was pretty rough at times, which is a realistic depiction of a kid struggling under a lot of pressure in a rough environment. Then the sister who is so difficult to care for goes and kills the whole family seconds before they could all escape, the blow is dealt, they're separated…

And when freed, Vi has now 3 things on her mind:

-find her sister,

-kill Silco and destroy his operation/get revenge,

-and, oh wow that cop lady sure is hot!

Rescuing Zaun from Piltover is nowhere in her head. She complains about the Lanes having easily fallen to Silco, but at no point does the show hint that Vi may have greater goals of rescuing the Lanes from Silco.

Despite Vander's dying wish being "Take care of Powder", Vi's priority list is spoken right to Silco's face: She's going to find Jinx and undo what he's done to her head, but FIRST she will dismantle his business. Like, do you think Vander would be good with that agenda? lol

And don't come into my comments to argue that she's only saying this because she's facing Silco. Vi follows up by hitting Silco's factories and then wiping out the Last Drop and beating Sevika. Let's not forget name dropping her sister to the Council.

Saving Powder just ISN'T HER PRIORITY!!!

So what is her main drive? If it is "getting revenge" then the enemy of her enemy is her friend. Ekko, and Cait.

Vi going to Ekko's Firelight hideout and not becoming an instant member and not returning to them after season 1 also speaks VOLUMES about her priorities and her lack of "belonging" within Zaun.

You'd think she doesn't feel at home in the Lanes but may want to join and help the Firelights, right? They're the hope of Zaun… They're against Silco. But no. In season 2 she remains with Cait, hanging out awkwardly at her palatial home.

She goes and drinks in the street rather than seeking out the Firelights to see if they are fine or if she can help. As far as we can tell, she never saw Ekko after he took a bullet for Cait's plans and then a bomb to the face to stall Jinx!

So she just doesn't have any sense of home, any attachment to Zaun as a place or concept, despite being raised in it. She has resentment for Piltover and enforcers, but not enough to not fall for Cait and bend her principles. She cares for her family, but when it becomes complicated and difficult, she caves and changes her mind. She's also all talk about killing Jinx. She just can't, and after 2 missed opportunities, Cait is also mega fed up with it xD

Now Vi is going to go destroy her life with booze while rising and falling in the pits as a fighter. Then, from the trailers, seems like she'll get her shit together and fight Noxus.

I think in that way she's a Vander-esque character.

Rough start in life. Very angry. Prone to punch first ask later. Then, lacking guidance, they latch onto someone who is happy to give them direction (Silco/Cait). Then comes a breaking point (whatever triggered the drowning of Silco/Cait dumping Vi after the Jinx fight) and they switch to other occupations (running the Lanes/Pit fighting) and this is followed by another trigger that produces their end state as a collaborator (The bridge and adopting the girls/Whatever will happen fighting Noxus).

I think Vi can be given the space to basically gain a healthier view of Piltover (as an occupying force that can't be trusted for Zaun), while also being close to an enforcer for the good of Zaun (Vander worked with Grayson, Vi can work with Cait after Zaun becomes independent).

Vander is also a very flawed character. Lots of fans like to just see him as a sweet loving daddy, but he's a brutal killer who runs a racket business in the undercity lmao. We first meet him killing a man with his gauntlets, and the second scene he's threatening 2 people of death if they don't behave on his turf. Vander lacks the incentive that Shimmer is, so you bet your ass he was staying in power because "hound of the underground" had a gnarly reputation. Even foreigners know him by name.

He's the guy who was insane and violent enough to coldly drown his best friend with his bare hands. And let's not project any fanon here: He straight up apologises to Silco, says he's always regretted his actions, never says he was justified, and never contests Silco calling his actions a "betrayal".

Vander BETRAYED Silco, who trusted him. And Vander tells us he respected Silco, everyone did!

If we saw his arc live before us, I fucking bet it would be as swivelly and mystifying as Vi's. Poor slum kid becomes second in command to fanatical Zaun wannabe leader and revolutionary, creates the Lanes with him, then betrays him by trying to drown him with his bare hands, then takes over the business alone, hides his injuries, then leads a revolt due to some unknown inciting incident, then adopts kids, keeps running a smuggling/racket/protection business, whatever it is, while also collaborating with enforcers in secret, before being killed when his demons catch up with him???

I'm sure there's plenty of moments on such a journey that would make people scratch their heads. It's not very archetypal either.

And as a result Vi also only work if you see her outside archetypes. She's not an abused kid turned revolutionary, Silco style. Or abused kid turned freedom fighter/gang leader, Ekko style. She's not a very good sister, never was, never could be, simply from her circumstances. She's not super loyal because she has pretty weak principles. She's not driven by a strong sense of justice. She gives her word, then goes back on it. Acts strong and talks big and then buckles. And Cait can't have that, since it gets in the way of killing Jinx twice now.

Vi is mostly self interested, and driven by revenge and anger. Now that Silco is dead and revenge obtained, she's falling back on her sweetheart, and her lack of strong principles or loyalty show again, like in scenes where a bit of buttering up make her accept an enforcer badge.

I fully disagree with people who try to tell me she takes the job to protect Zaun! She takes it because she realises how much it would mean to Cait, and she has NOTHING BETTER TO DO with herself. She should be joining Ekko, at a minimum, but she isn't loyal to Zaun and isn't out there to save it. She cares about her family, but this only manifests in her being incapable to actually kill Jinx.

And like, it's OKAY!! Personally I'm okay with that.

I think Vi still has 6 episodes to gain a real, strong conviction, the way Vander did with the kids. And I'm also okay if that ends up being as a collaborator to Piltover. I would have written things differently because I think a longer and more non-romantic build up of trust and care with Cait would have been more beneficial, but I'm liking where things are going, because I've written Vi off as a good character.

She's very grey, and pitiable, but not sympathetic in her choices. A lot like Jinx, too. Jinx is just too cruel and sadistic to be sympathetic, but she's very pitiable.

And neither of the girls' flaws are their fault. They are the by-product of Zaun, of generational trauma and abject poverty and oppression. They are the fucked up women created by Piltover's fucked up rule.

As always, it's all Heimerdinger's fault, and I'm a little frustrated to see him cheapen Ekko's character with his Jar Jar humour right now.

Anyway, that's a pretty long answer, sorry lol

I'm always happy to get Meta posts, so thanks a lot. Don't hesitate to reply and elaborate.

[wingedshadowfan]

⚠️arcane s2 act ii spoilers⚠️

listen to me and listen well. i'm gonna analyze the caitvi breakup scene conflict in detail (and tell y'all why caitlyn is not the villain y'all paint her out to be)

first of all, caitlyn has every reason in the world to hate jinx and want her gone. there are more neutral reasons like the fact caitlyn is a police officer and jinx is a threat to piltover and zaun's law and order, any material property she can reach and basically everyone around her bcuz she's insane, unstable and more than capable of causing damage. then there are deeply personal reasons: jinx tried to blow up caitlyn and vi on multiple occasions, kidnapped caitlyn (god knows what she did to her before vi joined the tea party, but other fans have pointed out cait was so traumatized she went from not exhibiting any fear of jinx before to shuddering when seeing her after), tried to get vi to kill caitlyn, killed her "father" silco on accident, blew up the council, killing caitlyn's literal mother among others and causing injuries and damages. caitlyn at this point might even believe jinx is the one who organized the massacre at the statue reveal ceremony. she even acknowledges how easily jinx's actions and the trauma they've caused her have undone a lot of the work caitlyn has put with the help of vi by her side into seeing zaunites as people despite the way she was raised. all of her anger at jinx for this, for taking her mother, for all the pain she's caused, even her fear make caitlyn desparate. she starts taking more drastic measures in order to catch jinx like using more violence/threats towards innocents, which is the one thing vi tries to address with her. caitlyn promises she won't change. but she already has, as an unconscious and natural reaction to what she's experienced.

earlier, caitlyn doesn't offer vi the police badge just bcuz she's mentally stripped vi's zaunite identity from her and now sees her as a topsider and one of "the good ones" (i bet she's started to do that too, as alluded to by maddie's words abt caitlyn saying vi went after silco alone, but caitlyn does this just so she can compartmentalize better and separate her lover vi here next to her, from her mother's killer jinx who's taken so much from her in zaun), but also bcuz she needs vi's help to get through zaun and find jinx. as she's just lost someone, she badly wants to be able to keep vi close, on her squad, in her line of sight, in order to protect her and make sure nothing happens to her on the potentially deadly task of finding and eliminating jinx. (i want to add smth else here: notice how vi feels guilt for failing to keep others safe and feels responsible for protecting the people around her, so she tries to distance herself from them, like not letting powder go with the big kids, and fights short range, keeping enemies close to her and away from her allies so they can't get hurt. caitlyn does the opposite, she's a long range sharpshooter so she tries to keeps her loved ones as close to her as possible under her watchful gaze, far from her enemies.) it's never implied she wants vi to be a cop forever, or perform any such duties outside of this jinx mission. she's still at fault for not understanding what putting on the uniform would mean to vi - a betrayal of her family, her home, everything she's ever known and loved until now, which vi isn't ready for and caitlyn can't rightfully ask of her. yet vi doesn't say that to caitlyn (and continues to not say anything when their squad of misfits starts gassing up the undercity) and takes it because she sees no other way. she knows her chances alone against jinx aren't looking good.

vi can't bring herself to kill her sister (despite the fact that she's mostly gone, incredibly dangerous, unstable and could've easily killed vi and caitlyn - even accidentally, like she killed silco) and doesn't want her to die either. we can even look at what caitlyn thinks needs to be done with jinx and what vi thinks needs to be done with jinx as a cultural difference betw the two bcuz in zaun where survival is essential, family is everything, you're bound together by what you've been through and you need each other to survive so you don't just cut family off, you don't judge them harshly, leave them or turn them in, but in piltover where that's not the case, there are laws and people who serve to enforce them like caitlyn so if you're a bad person who's done bad things, there's a way for you to be dealt with. vi doesn't realize she wouldn't be able to kill jinx or let herself feel that way bcuz of the amount of guilt she harbors for "creating jinx" and the responsibility she carries for jinx's actions (smth she internalized bcuz of vander teaching her that as a leader she's responsible for whoever chooses to follow her) - again, jinx stealing the hexcore, kidnapping/torturing cait, almost killing the two of them, blowing up the council, etc. so she offers to deal with jinx herself, which caitlyn doesn't want, knowing first hand what jinx is capable of and maybe even suspecting vi's weakness before vi can - caitlyn even says that she's scared that if either of them goes after jinx alone, she'll return in a box. and instead of listening to her own feelings and telling caitlyn about them, vi again decides to "toughen it out" and pull through with it. she tries to seem stronger, more ready and certain when she tells caitlyn to take the shot, but her fear of being faced with having to kill jinx becomes even more evident in the fact she basically indirectly asks caitlyn to do it for her so she doesn't have to.

when the fight breaks out, the danger is very real. sevika can take caitlyn down easily as she's a long range shooter, not a close combat fighter. while cait's fighting tooth and nail, jinx and vi are dancing around each other the way teen girls fight compared to other fights they've had (jinx hitting with her wrists, vi stumbling, etc). they're not fighting to the death bcuz they don't want the other to die. when vi finally pins jinx, who's seemed quite normal until now btw, as if she's finally in her right mind (like smth in that mind can be salvaged), vi notably hesitates. a lot. and before she does anything or moves so caitlyn can shoot, isha jumps between vi and jinx with a gun to vi's head. and here's where i need y'all to be fucking for real. the fear and anger caitlyn must've experienced in that moment are what made her completely lose it, i bet she fully had an out of body experience. now, caitlyn isn't a great shot, she's an excellent shot. if she shoots the gun out of this kid's hand, she saves vi from her brains being blown out of her head. if she misses, worst case scenario, she takes this kid's hand out. she takes the fucking shot to save vi's life, a calculated risk even if she does it rather on reflex. we even see how the bullet flies way closer to vi than to the kid because she's self correcting potential aim errors away from the kid.

now that the kid isn't pointing a weapon in vi's face anymore, instead of pulling the kid from jinx and hauling ass so caitlyn can shoot again safely (see: bcuz she doesn't want jinx to die), vi stands up and starts telling caitlyn not to shoot, even getting in front of her. caitlyn is verbally but not really mentally responsive to her surroundings in this moment, that's how gone she is. her vision tunnels onto jinx and she tries to keep shooting until sevika pulls the lever and we exit combat. vi reasonably confronts caitlyn for shooting at a kid (after caitlyn stops hitting the wall like a woman gone), which she only does because of her fear for vi and fear of jinx (and what she might do next, or if they let her get away) because she feels betrayed, since caitlyn just told her she wouldn't change. she did changed - she became more brutal, but she'd already changed long ago, when she lost her courage, her mother, her progress and when she came to love vi.

and now it's caitlyn's turn to confront vi. vi didn't have the guts to tell her she can't kill jinx, that she can't wear the uniform, that she's not okay with gassing zaun up, and even encouraged her to shoot, so cait was under the impression that this was it. that they were going to end jinx for good. when she says "i thought you were different but you're not", of course she might mean she thought vi was "better" than other zaunites, but i think perhaps even more than that, she means she thought vi had also been changed in the same way by the trauma jinx had caused caitlyn, that she'd finally let go of her hope powder was still somewhere inside jinx and realized how truly destructive and dangerous jinx is and how that necessitates killing her. while vi is immunized against the terrors, caitlyn has never experienced anything like this in her life, which is why she doesn't understand why vi doesn't understand, why she wants jinx to live despite everything.

while vi doesn't seem to understand, she's ready to try to. she's let her guard (and gauntlets) down, she's open and attempting to talk to caitlyn who has shut off completely and refuses to even look her in the eyes (which is one of the primary ways in which caitlyn connects to people). vi tries to stop her from leaving and caitlyn strikes her, as hard as she can, purposefully hitting her in her stab wound which she helped vi recover from herself - almost as if condemning their past relationship and everything they've been through. not only does that physically bring vi, someone used to taking hits, to her knees - it completely incapacitates her and breaks her heart. she can't even follow. she's officially lost the last good thing she had, the one person who cared about her.

both of them are left feeling betrayed and hurt. some of these conflicts could've been avoided by simple communication, others were by design of who they are and where they come from.

[guiltycorp]

I feel the most upset over Mel though... realised this when i saw how my fellow fujoshis have reacted to her involvement in jayvik jdfhgfd, the Viktor parallels that i have always enjoyed and pointed out before are now treated as Yaoi Proof and nothing else. ...because well yeah they lead nowhere else this season sadly, her relevance was cannibalized by her future league iteration and by fandom's reductive approach to shipping. To me the parallels used to be interesting because Viktor and Mel in s1 were polar opposites in social standing/background & physical health and visibly disliked each other BUT they were more or less on the same page when it came to their rather centrist but ultimately pacifistic beliefs, and they both were enamored by Jayce's ambition from the second they heard him talk about magic, inserting themselves into his life immediately. Those comparisons and visual symmetry were compelling because Jayce was lowkey trying to find a way to unite the two most important people in his life (telling Mel about Viktor's importance to him, trying to get Viktor to accept his involvement in politics, having them in the room together) while technically opposing both of them ideologically by not caring that much either about applying hextech for the benefit of the Undercity or about Piltover's participation in global politics and preserving its neutral status. While initially it seemed like he had to 'choose' between them, ultimately their separate character journeys (Viktor with Hexcore and killing Sky, Jayce with Vi and killing a zaunite kid, Mel with hearing her mother's justifications of war) led them to be on the same page in the last episode of the season which was a cool twist. So logically for character growth they either needed to improve their relationships further or to have sudden conflict, right? ...but s2 ultimately went for... just getting rid of both Mel and Viktor entirely! Viktor's motivation to give himself more time to leave more of a mark on the world (and finally getting to feel good about his own efforts by focusing on the Undercity rather than working for Piltover's financial benefit) was overshadowed by Hexcore corruption and a sudden inexplicable wish to transform humanity into a hivemind, that's a different guy entirely. Mel's motivations ended up not mattering at all, the only progression was her hardening into a proper warrior, like sure yay... her vision for Piltover and her identity as a Medarda was rewritten by sudden magical powers that ultimately, yeah, also make her into a different character. She did have a brief argument with Jayce over seeing him as an 'investment' of sorts but they didn't even get to finish it and their relationship is just one big ? before Jayce fucks off to die alongside his one true partner, like all of their previous loving interactions were just a situationship they both easily moved past without even acknowledging it. Like sure yeah we got our yaoi fanservice but at the expense of female characters and previously established relationships and plotlines... And btw there's a lot to be said about the cowardly approach of the showrunners to once again centering a 'male friendship and brotherhood' while getting pissy at anyone who might interpret it as romantic at the same time, as if a canon lesbian romance is a great excuse to be saying shit like that. Also imo timebomb pairing got more actual development and emotional investment compared to CaitVi in this season despite how hollow Jinx's character felt, so there's still a vibe that a hetero ship was more interesting to the writers... while the only things they wanted from queer ships were the aesthetic and the fan engagement.

[schrodingerspsycho]

I know this is kinda weird for my first Arcane post, but I accidentally gave Vi and Caitlyn a fan kid 😅 the other day we got an order at work and I decided that Vi would like the name, and then this little drabble sprang to life and now they have a son. Idk if I’m ever gonna write any more about him, but I hope you enjoy this fluffy little drabble about them picking the name before all the trauma we’re sure to get in season two ❤️💙

Vi smiled as she walked into the bedroom. Caitlyn was sitting at the desk, still pouring over the files for their latest case even though it was their day off. Her brow was furrowed as she stared down at the many papers strewn across the desk, one of which was dangling over the edge and brushing against her bulging belly. Vi had never seen a more beautiful sight.

“Hey,” she said softly, wrapping her arms around Caitlyn’s shoulders and kissing the top of her head.

Caitlyn leaned back to look at her and grinned. “Hey, you.”

“So I was thinking about names for the baby,” Vi said, sitting back in the armchair and pulling Caitlyn’s desk chair closer. “What do you think about Zack?”

“Zack,” Caitlyn repeated, twirling her pen between her fingers. “I like it. Any particular reason for that name?”

“Not really,” Vi shrugged. “I just like it. It sounds cool.”

“It does sound very cool,” Caitlyn smiled. “Zachary Vander Kiramman. That has quite a nice ring to it.”

“Wait, why does it have to be Zachary? Why can’t we just name him Zack?”

“Well, most people who go by Zack are named Zachary. And you never know, he might end up wanting a name that sounds more professional. Plus we need something to call him so he knows he’s in trouble.”

“What? C’mon, our kid’s never gonna get in trouble! He’s going to be perfect!”

“Vi, he’s a combination of you and me. In what mad world would he be well behaved?”

“Okay, yeah, you’ve got a point there,” Vi chuckled.

“But you’re right about one thing,” Caitlyn smiled, sliding over to sit in Vi’s lap. “Our son will be perfect.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Vi agreed. She placed her hand gently against Caitlyn’s cheek and pulled her in for a kiss. Then she laid her other hand against her belly. “I already love him so much,” Vi sighed, her voice heavy with emotion. “More than I thought was possible. Is that weird?”

“Of course not, darling,” Caitlyn said, running her fingers through Vi’s hair and pressing her forehead against hers. “So do I.”

[randomnessofthehighestorder]

My ranking of Arcane S2 soundtrack

Because they outdid themselves this season…

(Spoilers ahead)

Paint the Town Blue - Ashnikko came up with such a bop for our favourite Loose Cannon and her followers. Consider me a Jinxer for life! 💙

Ma Meilleuer Ennemie - this scene was so beautiful! Ekko and Powder dancing the night away, I could feel their chemistry from the other side of the screen. Timebomb shippers, rejoice! Oh, what could’ve been…

Enemy (intro version) - the song stayed the same for the intro, but the visuals! So much symbolism! My Film Studies brain and English brain were analysing like the wind! Also this song is a classic…

Come Play - as an Arcane fan and a Stay, it made me so happy that they were gonna be featured on the soundtrack, especially when I heard it in the most epic scene in the show: Zaun entering the war against Noxus, the twin cities united against a common enemy. (Stray Kids everywhere, all around the world!)

Remember Me - the intro was so hauntingly good and the main song was so beautiful. It always makes me think of the scene it came with: Vander’s watercolour memories of life before the bridge riot, which in turn makes me cry. This show really knows how to tug on my heartstrings…

Blood Sweat and Tears - I know Ambessa was the villain of the season, but you gotta admit, her song and music video was awesome! I mean, she proved herself worthy of life in front of the Kindred and survived being shot with an arrow, while being pregnant with Mel! She truly is the Matriarch of War. (And yes, that is her official LoL champion title)

Sucker - I had Ep 2’s opening on loop because of this song, it’s so good! The scene that went with it was so good too. Jinx walking through Zaun in the aftermath of Silco’s death, avoiding the Chembaron war at all costs. Man, it really set the tone for the episode…

Heavy is the Crown - this dramatic remix of the 2024 Worlds anthem was perfect for this scene. When the strike team pulled up in the council meeting, I was like “oh shit, it’s getting serious”.

Hellfire - Caitlyn was on a path of vengeance in this scene, but the animation was so cool! The strike team really tore up the Lanes…

Renegade (We Never Run) - I have never danced so much to a fight scene, but this song made me bounce as ass was being kicked. Jinx and Sevika are so badass!

What Have They Done To Us - when the family reunited, I cried so much! What a way to end an episode. The song made it extra sad… 😭

The Line - twenty one pilots outdid themselves with this song! But the scene it came with made me shed a tear lowkey. Vander’s memories fading away in favour for Viktor’s glorious evolution…

Fantastic - CaitVi finally hooked up! True love wins! 👩‍❤️‍👩 🎉

Cocktail Molotov - Vi’s emo pit fighter era was so cool, despite the fact that this was also her post breakup era. Take note: alcohol and violence is not the best way to get over a breakup…

Rebel Heart - another Djerv Jinx anthem and it’s glorious. A perfect way to set off a rebellion, anarchy style! 🤘

To Ashes and Blood - this scene was so epic. The boys going through an Arcane mind trip, while the strike squad battle Jinx and Sevika. This was when I realised shit was getting so real… (also those chants are Shuriman. For those LoL players and loreheads, IYKYK…)

Isha’s Song - she made the ultimate sacrifice to protect her mama. Rest in Peace, Isha… 😭

Wasteland - poor Jinx. She went through it this season. It made me want to give her a hug. 🫂 Hopefully she found peace and broke the cycle…

The Beast - a metal song for such a metal character. Warwick Vs Jinx was so terrifying and so awesome at the same. There’s a reason his champion title is the Uncaged Wrath of Zaun…

I Can’t Hear It Now - RIP Cassandra Kiramman. This scene was so beautiful and sad…

Spin the Wheel - I did not know Mick Wingert could sing, but this song was so adorable! Contrasted with the flashback from the other universe, it really showed how things are different there…

These songs were amazing and such great fits for the show! I wish this show never ended so we could get more amazing music collabs along with amazing animation… if you haven’t heard the soundtrack, go listen to it!

[kr-starz]

Modern Teen CaitVi, Vi is a few years older than Jinx and Jinx is like a little puppy trying to follow her and do what she's doing all the time. Vi doesn't mind it, she actually kind of liked it and missed it when Jinx finally detached from her hip. If Jinx wasn't hanging off of Vi, she'd be hanging around Ekko.

Whenever Vi has free time, she decides to spend it at the public library where a particular academic prodigy likes to visit. Vi and Cait knew each other from Elementary school, where Cait and Vi were always managing to be around each other and soon became friends. Until Cait switched to private schools that took up a lot of her time, as she began most of her extracurriculars.

But as Vi got older, She and Cait got closer, they texted and if Cait couldn't talk then she'd be at the library studying. Vi knew that and visited her very often.

They'd bicker and Vi would distract Cait from working, she'd show her new and exciting things she's done, showing off a concert she went to recently, bragging about a game she recently won, etc. Sometimes they hang out at Vi's place, where they flirt awkwardly or just talk about their crazy different lives.

Vi is a big sports fan

Caitlyn does archery and knows how to hunt, she goes with her mother every season to hunt for deer.

Vi does wrestling and has gone to boxing lessons

Vi occasionally gets into fights with the neighborhood kids for stupid petty reasons

Vi got really excited when Cait said she was into sports, but they had very different reactions when Vi pulls up Basketball and Cait pulls out fencing

[shmlnbstrcnd]

Arcane: Season 2 Leaks Rant (Spoilers)

Arcane: Season 2 is only a few days away. I've vagueposted a bit about the leaks, but now I'll go more in depth on my opinions on the first 5 episodes. Spoiler warning:

So many unwise decisions were made writing-wise. It's like they made poor choices at almost every turn.

"Should we focus on concluding the Piltover story arc in its own show before moving on to other regions? Nah, let's bloat the story with Noxus advertising that will eat up valuable screentime and leave a lot of casual fans confused."

"Should we prioritize concluding the arcs of our main cast? Nah, let's cram the story with a multitude of side characters that take screentime away from the characters who need it most. The audience will for sure be more interested in randos like Maddie, Isha, Salo, big enforcer dude, and that sorceress lady, rather than the main characters they grew to love in Season 1."

"Should we give more screentime to other Champions who aren't even close to concluding their arcs (Viktor, Ekko, Vi , Warwick, etc.)? Nah, let's spend a lot of screentime on Jinx meandering about in her lair playing with puppets, scenes which do not drive the story forward."

"It's the final season of the show with only 9 40-minute episodes. Should we massively trim down our bloated script to make sure the important story beats have enough development time, and remove unnecessary fluff? And if not, maybe add more episodes? Nah, let's just try to cram absolutely everything in here as if we have a 20 episode season and not 9. Leave absolutely nothing on the cutting room floor."

In my opinion, this Season 2 could have been greatly improved if they had omitted all the Noxus bullshit. Seriously, shoving Ambessa and Mel's plot in here was a big mistake. Shit takes up a sizable amount of screentime, is incredibly boring, and downright confusing for casual fans who aren't familiar with League. Season 1 received a lot of praise for being extremely compelling for non-gamers, but Season 2 has gone the opposite route. It also eats up valuable screentime that could be used for the Piltover/Zaun characters and narrative. A lot of people wanted Mel to survive because they thought her story could be interesting, but now I'm thinking she should've just been killed by that damn rocket. Along with Salo and that other Councilor lady. Seriously, only 3 people being killed by Jinx's rocket is such pathetic plot armour that undercut all the tension of Season 1's finale cliffhanger. They couldn't even give her a Pentakill🙄 Salo, a terrible minor character, takes up a lot of valuable screentime too.

Also if they omitted the new characters. Maddie is unnecessary. There were more organic ways to provide conflict for Caitvi than another love interest. Isha is unnecessary. There were more organic ways to provide development for Jinx and trigger the Caitvi breakup. Why was a random new kid the reason for their breakup, and not Jinx? The dynamic and conflicts between these three ladies were so perfectly set up in Season 1. Why throw that away and add a new character to achieve something which could've been achieved with pre-existing characters we already know? So Vi was perfectly okay with a girl she knew for 3 days murdering her own sister, but a rando mute kid is where she drew the line? Lol.

Cutting down on Jinx's screentime would also help. It's not like all her scenes were doing her character any favours either. Rather than the active protagonist she used to be who drove the plot forward, she is now relegated to bouncing around, mellow and passive. She had already reached the climax of her arc in Season 1's finale. She chose to be Jinx, hell-bent on destroying Piltover. Why is she still having an identity crisis in Season 2 and suddenly reluctant to fight Piltover? Give that damn screentime to other characters. Vi barely gets any organic development. Her entire character gets reduced to being hung-up on Caitlyn and then her story with Warwick rushed to the extreme. Viktor and Ekko get absolute dust. Again, you have only NINE episodes for your FINAL season. Not 25 episodes in a 10 season show. When you have this little screentime to work with, you have to be willing to part with beloved ideas, cut down on fluff, leave plenty of shit on the cutting room floor. If they weren't willing to do that, then making only 9 episodes and 2 seasons was the wrong choice.

This is a long post but I just wanted to share my personal thoughts on what went wrong and suggestions on how it could have been improved. This is all just my opinion.

[letters-to-rosie]

Questions for fic writers. I'm curious.

21. If you wrote a “missing scene” in talk revolution to me / heir (ap)parent, what would it be?

&

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to?

hellooooooooooo~

21. If you wrote a “missing scene” in talk revolution to me / heir (ap)parent, what would it be?

my writing style involves a lot of writes and rewrites. for those fics in particular, I had a document where I just kinda threw stuff at a wall for several tens of thousands of words before I published anything lol. so we'd be less likely to get missing scenes than deleted scenes

these could include (I forgot about some of these lmao): -Ekko and Powder having sex in his car and talking about not wanting to get caught for public indecency (their sex life in general was different lmao in the old version they spent much less time as friends so they both are unsure about each other in various ways) -an earlier version of the gym scenes (chapter 39) where they were not yet dating and Powder is angsting all the time because she doesn't know what Ekko's feelings for her are -Silco making a grand charitable gesture trying to get Ekko back on page with him and Powder being extremely pissed

for heir (ap)parent, I'm lame and have to publish chapters in order, which means I don't have the next two in order done but I have a handful of other ones mostly ready to go after that lmao. but the whole format of the fic is basically missing scenes and Ekko's backstory with the Beaumonts. one thing that's missing that I really want to add in the future is about how Ekko gains the reputation he has in the city at the start of the main timeline!

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to?

COWBOY BEBOP AU! for Arcane. I came up with the idea for one and wrote a bunch of notes. I started talking about it two years ago, but the idea for a story to go along with it just evades me.

I also have a couple AUs I started but never got enough on the page to publish. one is a CaitVi modern high school mystery story; one is a Hunter x Hunter "hey look we found this kid by a dumpster now we gotta adopt him" with Leorio and Kurapika taking in a runaway Killua (overdone but I can't help myself); and another is a post-canon Fullmetal Alchemist story that would be about worker uprisings in Xing and Ling and Lan Fan dealing with all of that. with drama!

writer ask game

[toweroftickles]

Who are your favorite underrated ticklees? like characters you think should have more tickling art/fics about them?

Oh, now you’ve done it. You’ve unleashed a tangent. 😂 Buckle up, kids; this word-and-picture vomit is gonna take a while. All 30 slots gettin' used up on this one.

UNDERRATED LEES

Let’s start with Avatar. When the second movie came out I went through a bit of a phase…half the characters in it could go here. The whole Sully clan. The Na’vi are perfectly sculpted ‘lee material - their long bellies, the ribs, the feet - and NOBODY TAKES ADVANTAGE OF IT.

(Literally just think of all the tickle torture they get up to)

Moving on to anime, Studio Ghibli is packed with characters who deserve more tickle attention. My favorites have gotta be Ursula from Kiki’s Delivery Service (I really wanna see content with her, Kiki & Tombo together), Lisa from Ponyo, Fio Piccolo from Porco Rosso, and Young Kiriko from The Boy and the Heron.

(I could watch that gif of Ursula wiggling her toes for the rest of my life)

I'm also a fan of this girl Pipirika from Magi: Adventures of Sinbad. Not sure why. I don't even watch the show.

Then there’s Suki from the other Avatar. Less-popular character in a popular fandom. Crowded out by the rest of the Gaang.

Victoria and Mr. Mistoffelees from Cats 2019. SHUT UP I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK 😖

VICTORIA IS SO PRETTY AND SWEET AND PURE AND THE WAY THEY NUZZLE EACH OTHER AND THIS WHOLE MOVIE IS TICKLE-CODED

I'M NOT A FURRY

Vi and Caitlyn from Arcane/League of Legends. That show (and this pairing) is massively popular online, they are insanely hot together, so WHY is no one making tk content except me? HMMM? These bitches are ticklish as hell and they deserve this.

It’s. Not. FAIR. I am so thirsty for CaitVi content in the leadup to Season 2 the inside of my mouth looks like the Atreides family is going to set up a base camp and harvest exotic spice from the back of my uvula.

Art3mis from Ready Player One. Book Twitter has seemingly made it their life’s mission to demonize Ernest Cline and anyone who loves the novel/movie, so fan content is already a little thin on the ground as it is. But she needs to be put in a tickle machine, stat.

Ben & Gwen Tennyson. OG series; none of that reboot horsehockey. They fight and antagonize each other so much I’m genuinely surprised there was never a tickle torture moment in the show.

From the Nintendo side of things, Imma go with two underappreciated gothic sorceress baddies (Veran from Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Medusa from Kid Icarus Uprising). I'm also very fond of the various "hot ninja lady" iterations of Impa, particularly her orange-and-black ensemble from Skyward Sword.

And both Wii Fit Trainers.

Red Savarin from the obscure Tail Concerto DS game Solatorobo: Red the Hunter. Never played it; he just looks insanely ticklish to me. You know, some characters you can just tell.

Still not a furry.

Let's see now, Disney/western animation...Kida, obviously. Robin Hood & Maid Marian, especially the latter. (I love her giggle so much.) Mowgli is more childhood wish-fulfillment on my part: that insane Jungle Book tickle scene messed me up, and each time my prepubescent self rewound the VHS tape, I played a game with my mind. I kept desperately believing/wishing that this time, it would be different: Baloo would get Mowgli back, or their tickle war would resume later. No such luck. It's about him & Baloo specifically.

The 2004 iteration of Batgirl is my favorite one. Plus she's got a great laugh. XD

The Spider-Verse movies continue to be a Tumblr phenomenon, and yet I have not found a SINGLE solitary tickle post about Rio Morales. Can you imagine how adorable she would be as a lee? ❤️ ((Ticklish moms + older women in general warrant more appreciation.))

I also made this here list a while back. This community can tend to neglect characters who are canonically ticklish, perhaps because the question has been answered already.

********************

WHEW. Got all that outta my system. XD If any of you are still alive and still reading this, anybody on this list that you agree deserves more tickling fanart/fics? Any thoughts on underrated lees of your own?