#cant have shit in the undercity

[ssaltlicker]

Me knowing damn well why people demonize vi for one mistake while excusing everything jinx has done

[angstflavoured]

again and again, fandoms do this same shit dude. points to my very large 'you can be pissed at a characters actions and not really like them as a person and still enjoy their character without having to excuse what they're doing' sign. like I was just dealing with this shit with Curly Mouthwashing and now its the same thing with Cait Arcane.

watching the first 3 eps, she was legitimately pissing me off. its supposed to. media is supposed to make you FEEL things and convey a message. I love Caits character a lot and really enjoy her writing, but people legitimately just going 'yass get ur revenge girl, reasonable crashout' is hurting my fucking brain.

Like do you not understand that Vi's parents dying due to unreconciled oppression from enforcers is not the same thing at all as Cait's parent (the. oppressor.) being killed in rebellion ?? and Cait comparing those two things and acting like how she is now is fucking ridiculous. and her trying to mold Vi into someone 'civil' because shes 'not like those other filthy stupid undercity dwellers' is fucked up and toxic.

Does it make sense for her character? Yes! Did I enjoy the writing? YES. And I hope they don't backtrack and just magically fix things because i love the tension and the angst. But its fucking stupid and she pisses me off. That doesn't mean I 'cant handle' her character. She's just becoming an antagonist. Like oh my god, can people stop just blindly standing by every single decision a character they like does and try to excuse it all? characters being morally grey makes them interesting, don't piss me off.

[mika1683]

Thoughts about arcane finale

2. It felt a little bit rushed but I liked it

*SUICIDE MENTIONED* TW

1. Too less screentime for Sevika 😕 she takes over the undercity and from narrative point of view she is very important character and yet we didnt even see her reaction for Jinx and Isha death (and she was almost abscent for whole 3 act, I dont even think she said anything?)

3. We all agree that Javik is canon right? I'm a little sad we didnt get a direct "I love you" or a kiss because I can already see this people say "Oh I commit suicide with my bro every sunday stop making every male friendship gay". Although I really liked the subtle act of affection

4. I feel like Caits character gets wasted. She changed her whole personality way too fast and her "development" felt off (definietly the worst written main character in the show)

5. I love Mel and I'm glad she was the one to take her mother out

6. As much as I didint like Jayce in season 1, he became one of my faves in season 2

7. I dont like Jinx ending. I know there was a slim chance but I really wanted her to have happy ending. Her killing herself is just so deppresing. She was as guilty as other characters in all the shit that went down and still she paid the biggest price. Always on the run or suffering, anytime she found her happines it was taken away from her, she was just a child and was treated so unfair by world (and writers). Also I dont vibe with the "hallucination" of Silco and "breaking the circle"- the speech wasnt bad, the fact that she decided to kill herself afterwards is.

8. I hoped that Jinx character development/conclusion from all of the events will be "Jinx and Powder are both part of me and I cant escape either of them" AND NOT SUICIDE IS THE SOLUTION

[hutaotown]

act 1 had me tweakin out but act 2 feels bittersweet yk? like of course im sad over the possible??? character deaths, but everything felt necessary and like it was happening for a reason. viktors little speech about humanity really confirmed this. it seems like he realized that what he said to jayce earlier was right and killing him is what needed to happen. everything seemed like a dream and its only natural that it all comes crumbling down and tragic shit happens to the characters that only wanted the best.

ANYWAYS, back to my normal nonsense here are some less existential thoughts.

- sevika KILLED ME. like how did they make her hotter??? especially w that ugly ah haircut????

- im also becoming a jayce stan like viktor was hot ash w that long hair, but jayce??? ho mama im boutta BUST.

- vi punching isha??? like girl will always be a kid attacker smh. loving small parallels between jinx and isha tho super funsies.

- when cait knocked out vi and took her to ambessa i was so so scared UNTIL i realized that vi was tied up. like it just HIT ME bc caitlyn KNOWS that vi can get out of situations like that. i got so hype after that.

- it seems like isha will become more of a symbol than jinx. from how she showed up at the rally to what went down at the end of the season. its giving rue in the hunger games, how she is seen as the innocence in this horrible conflict.

- that undercity doctor ALWAYS pissed me off i dont even remember his name thats how much beef i have with this man.

- even with all this beef i still understand all sides and love the politically tension because its ALWAYS more complicated than right and wrong.

- MEL WHERE ARE UUUU GIRL JOIN ZAUN PLSSSSSS COME TO US.

- im SO excited for the chromakopia edits on tiktok they always hit

- i hope vi and jinx stayed chill for the rest of the season i CANT have them beefing again. also excited to see how caitlyn fits into this dynamic.

- I CANT BELIEVE I ALMOST FORGOT THE FELICIA VANDER SILCO FLASHBACK!!! i genuinely LOVED seeing their relationship and younger silco made me cry a bit :( he deserved better.

- last thing i swear but jinx ate vi up in their fight the way she was like girl we both psychotic stop crashing out over your girlfriend and lock innnn

- also im a maddie defender SUE ME

[rah-nee-yah]

ok so its been a couple hours since ive watched s2 so here are some more coherent thoughts:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH

caitlyn caitlyn caitlyn. what the fuckkk. ima be honest its real hard being a caitlyn kiramman fan rn. hitting vi with a gun even after knowing her history with the enforcers. thats actually vile dude. and dude the fact she almost hit isha. i cant rn. the fact people were shitting on marcus for shooting at a kid and cait’s done the same. im still holding out for a redemption tho. pls bro. but tbh this made her character super intriguing. excited to see her redemption over act II

ALSO IT LITERALLY JSUT OCCURRED TO ME. cassandra built vents so the undercity could be free to breathe non toxic air. caitlyn just undid all of that. god help me.

vi, jinx, ekko, isha, maddie, and loris deserve the world. love em to bits.

the voice acting dude. top fucking notch.

i love the new intro. its greek tragedy is the best way. they were so foul for having caitvi in there 😭😭

i honestly wouldve loved to see more of every character. but unfortunately thats the problem with forty minute episodes ☹️☹️ (no hate tho i know animation especially arcanes can take a LOOONG TIME)

super excited for the next two acts dude. s2 act i didnt hit as hard as s1 but damn. they still cooked.

also. mel. they cant just leave us hanging like that 😭😭 my wife returns after three years then she dips 😔😔

theres so much i wanna say on the animation but id just keep yapping till the end of time. the woodkid sequence had be clawing at the walls

the fact this is only act i…were in for a WILD ride dude

[friedrnilk]

U ASKED FOR IT HOE 😈:

Knife: 1 5 21 26 28

Yannick: 1 4 5 16 24 28

skdjfhlkdrjglkrjgklejrgkljregkl i cant. i took so long to post this my goodness

anyway :')

Knife

1. What would your Tav’s greetings be (at different levels of approval)? neutral- "What is it?" high - "Tell me." low - "What?" he is a simple quiet kind of guy so it's more about the tone and body language

5. Describe their idle animations!

the rogue coin trick animation is actually pretty good for him. i think his other could be sharpening a knife with a leather. or a lil hoe stretch to show off his sick bod

21. Describe a defining moment from their past, which makes them who they are today!

one of them would be being stolen from by other lil street rat kids in the undercity. i think it would make him very careful with his things, and also not averse to aggressive confrontation. i think that people generally avoid confrontation unless they feel they have the definite upper hand and all the facts together. but having been exposed to situations like that have made him unafraid to start some ish with someone on a hunch alone. in some ways he's just naturally like that but maybe there's a part of him that relies heavily on instinct bc he grew up in a world where the truth is never really plain

it comes to mind that he would have seen someone pass away in the undercity, maybe from disease or hunger. he would have thought, "reeses in pieces but that's never going to be me." which i feel like that informs his entire perspective. reeses in pieces to these frail body hoes but im different 26. Give us one of your Tav’s secrets!

LMAOOO his squid obsession has to take the cake but he's pretty straightforward otherwise. maybe his only "secret" is that he sometimes might be listening to someone who is close to him feigning interest and empathy but inside himself being like "this is the most boring stupid shit ever idgaf abt this stop crying"

28. Describe a smell that reminds your Tav of childhood.

hmmmmm maybe the mildewy, heavy dank of the guildhall

+ medicinal herbs. dragonborn grow very fast and reach the equivalent of 10 years old at 3 years old. knife has the urchin background; i feel like his parents died really early on and he doesn't remember them much. i think of it as - he and his parents all got sick, some kind of sickness that is more kind to children than adults. his parents died and he lived. he remembers them by that bitter green smell

Yannick

1. What would your Tav’s greetings be (at different levels of approval)?

neutral - "How may I help you?" high - "Well-met, friend. What can I help with?" low - "...Well?"

4. What would your Tav’s romance scenes look like? How many would they have?

omgggfhjkjdhfkdjh i have no idea im not really a romance person im a disgusting animal and so it would probably just be graphic lmfao there would be 3 tho bc im so traumatized by sh having ONE legitimate romance scene

5. Describe their idle animations!

he would play his bard drum. he would also have an old man "just resting my eyes" animation. like he folds his arms, closes his eyes, then seconds later he jolts and you can tell he had kinda dozed off

16. What do they do for fun, when not adventuring? What are their hobbies?

he's deffo shredding bard tunes on his lute, playing cards with other old people in taverns, or going fishing with his daughter. he's a very social and community-oriented type of guy so idt he'd have "hobbies" per se, he just does whatever the rest of his community does when they're relaxing. like old school

24. What does your Tav consider to be their own biggest character flaw?

that he sometimes feels lazy. he'd see himself as "undisciplined" in those moments. that's not his actual biggest flaw his biggest flaw is probably inflexible lawful good thinking but he just thinks that the 5 minutes he wants to linger in bed make him a bad citizen and a disgrace to his ancestors and the gods

28. Describe a smell that reminds your Tav of childhood.

the smell of open country--deep green, the smell of water, smell of shit and dirt. he would have spent time with his father and mother doing medieval peasant activities like mushroom foraging and finding bundles of sticks to make into idols and ish

[helplessavacado]

Arcane S2 Spoilers below the cut because I have some THOUGHTS

I apologize for the person I will become when this show ends because they are consuming my entire brain rn and I cannot imagine how crazy I'll be when the arcs are resolved

Calling Zaunites animals for attacking a memorial of Piltover's leaders/Caitlyn's mom... and then authorizing an attack on the Undercity's memorial for their leader/Vi's dad. A little bit of a double standard methinks. Just a tad of "it's fine when my people do it." Just a smidge. Caitlyn girl I love you as a character but the hypocrisy and privilege is POTENT and I cannot WAIT to see you get called out for it.

Also everyone was talking about how the JayVik divorce was rushed (which like, fair), but I don't see anybody talking about how Caitlyn's turnaround came out of nowhere. Like I know she wasn't on the best of terms with Ambessa in regards to continuing marshal law but that doesn't negate her quest for revenge and ending Jinx. I just??? I really hope we get a more in-depth explanation in arc 3 because that just felt too sudden. I trust the writers (rare in today's media) but that was very strange to me.

Also unless the orange-haired police officer is plot relevant in the next arc I see no point for her and Caitlyn hooking up other than to induce rage. The scream I scrumpt when that girl popped up on screen was primal because wow Caitlyn you really dumped Vi and decided to screw the Piltover version of Matilda. She wanted a yes-man with benefits and I really thought she was better than that. I am all for women's wrongs but damn.

Ekko. Where's my favorite character. YOU GAVE JAYCE BACK BUT WHERE IS EKKO???????? RIOT CAN YOU HEAR ME????? WHERE IS HE???????????? Heimerdinger is also there BUT WHERE IS EKKO

ANYWAY: JAYCE. JAYCE SHAVE THE BEARD ITS MAKING YOU EVIL. JAYCE. JAYCE WHAT DID YOU SEE IN THE ARCANE WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL WAS THAT. I CANT EVEN DEFEND YOU RIGHT NOW MY GUY. WHY DID YOU DO THAT. LET ME SEE THE VISIONS I N E E D TO UNDERSTAND.

Viktor I know you're gonna live because Duh the divorce arc isn't done yet but holy shit PLEASE backhand your ex-situationship for me

I S H A V A N D E R W H A T T H E F U C K. ISHA. WE HAD A HAPPY MOMENT WHY IS EVERYONE'S SOLUTION IN THIS FAMILY SELF-SACRIFICE VIA DEATH AND OR PERMANENT BODILY HARM???????? Sevika with her arm Jinx with the prison bust Vi with her everything Vander with his Also Everything HAVE YOU ALL PERHAPS CONSIDERED THAT A SACRIFICE COULD ALSO BE STRUGGLING THROUGH GRIEF TOGETHER?????

Ambessa. Ambessa when I catch you Ambessa. Singe what the hell my guy.

Mel honey you got this I believe in you. Kick some ass I NEED to see your badassery and new backstory because this is gonna be FUN.

[themostlesbianever]

EPISODE 8 OPINIONS AND THOUGHTS

- MEL BABY

- oh hello👀

- howd they make MEL hotter i didnt know that was possible

- OH ISNT THAT THE GIRL AMBESSA KILLED?

- oh dark shadow lady hello

- ambessa needs to calm the fuck down actually

- like aint no reason for a whole ass war be so fr rn ambessa

- SHE IS THE SECRET LOVE CHILD

- black women with gold stuff is so fuckin hot, like gold rings, gold makeup. Irs all so hot

- oh ambessa you are so hot

- singed can you leave vander alone actually, i dont think its a good idea to keep warwick going

- VIKTOR BABY COME BACK TO ME

- ambessa somehow looks softer, like her face

- hello viktor

- ew that's insanely scary viktor stop

- "in theory" NO STOP THIS IS A BAD IDEA VIKTOR STOP

- CAITLYN HI

- ISHA

- ISHA NO

- isha baby😔😔😔

- LORISSS

- jinx what

- jinx what

- HOLY SHIT MY LORD HELLO CAITLYN MESSY PONYTAIL

- YAY JINX IS ALIVE

- OH THIS IS WHERE PEOPLE THINK THEYRE GONNA FUCK

- please very aggressively make out

- oh it wasnt caits plan🙏

- shes changed because of isha, isha is gone now which means jinx is gonna not be mentally stable

- wheres my wife btw, they cant get away with not putting her in these episodes

- like shes been in two episodes? 3?

- braids are gone???

- ahw cait baby

- HELLO MEL

- why is jayce so obsessed with his hammer

- hes like "is that my gf?"

- AS IF MEL DECIDED TO SAVE YOU

- SHE DIDNT EVEN FUCKING KNOW SHE COULD SAVED ANY OF THEN YOU ASSHOLE

- jayce get rid of that fucking hammer

- robot viktor

- they JUST fixed this council room please do not fight in here

- viktor please do not🙏

- damn

- YES MEL GO ON

- oh

- is viktor fr dead now or??

- universe viktor is alive so probably no

- NO YOU MAY NOT DOCTOR

- DAMN JINX

- HELLO SILCO

- ew she had it in her mouth

- oh shes breaking her out

- ahw

- JESUS JINX LITTLE ASSHOLE

- jinx is gonna go kill herself probably vi

- hell yeah you have jayce

- GIRLFRIEND IS HERE

- HELLO BABY

- looking delicious as always

- fucking ambessa dude😠😠

- sorry this is so funny

- "topside and bottom" pans to sevika. I know shes from the undercity which us bottom but im just imagining sub sevika

-sevika baby dont walk away

- so now everyone is an enforcer?

- this lady is HOT

- hot lesbian sex time🙏

- damn vis hair has gotten long

- DAMN VI

- CAITLYN SHUT UP

- holy fuck

- damn that was good

- now its sevikas turn🙏

- SOFT AMBESSA HAS MY HEART LOOK AR HER FACE

- there is mean ambessa again😒

- AMBESSA BABY LET IT GO PLEASE STOP BEING A WAR HERO AND START BEINT A GOOD MOTHER

- im angry theyre using vander for this, he would never want this

- viktor please dont

- you actually csnt do this to me btw

- bye sky😔😔😔

- IS VANDER RESISTING????

- no😔

- fuck you ambessa

-

[agoblincat]

Arcane season two act 2… just a stream of consciousness and random thoughts as I go thru watching and rewatching the show because its now my hyperfixation so don’t mind my rant here, pointed to no one in particular as I shout into the void (also spoilers, beware)

Okayyy starting with ep 4… caitlyn!! You dawg you, I can’t believe you! I still love you and I get it, but girlll ya moved on quick (tho i dont blame you) Im gonna feel so sad for vi knowing that vi hasn’t moved on as easily…

I also love the dynamic between sevika and jinx, especially in ep 4… jinx is so just fucking funny, like unbelievably quick witted and snarky. Funny little shit she is. Sevika is RIPPED and i love how she basically rallies the undercity and cares so much for the cause

Also circling back to caitlyn moving on and vi—speaking of oh ohh my gooddd viii VI you badass hot bitch! I feel for her so hard, she reminds me so much of me when I was younger….A fighter drowning her angst and sorrows in spirits… the anger and depression and substance abuse is heavy man, I relate to Vi the most in this series in a lot of ways. i loved the pit fighter sequence in ep 5 and the sibling reunion!

Oh my god the sibling reunion, the tunnel scene was so funny and cute when they were bickering they really are siblings!

Vander is alive holy shit I felt so happy for the girls

Also Vi and Cait reunion!!! I was SOOO worried it was gonna go bad but i had faith in them and gOD it was so good.

Then the last ep 6, holy shit… the family is reunited then torn apart! Why cant we have nice things GOD this can’t end well… in conclusion….

Every single character is beautifully crafted and flawed. The fact that you can witness every single one of their perspectives to a point that there is no black and white, true hero nor villain, just all shades of grey, people living their lived experiences and being justified by their actions separately…but together, inevitably, as Viktor says, “which inspires us to our greatest good, is also the cause of our greatest evil.” Like holy FUCK this shit is deep. This show goes real deep, everything about it… the music, animation, jesus its so good. THIS SHOW IS UNREAL

Ok rant over 👌 sorry I don’t normally go unhinged like this, but this piece of media makes me Feel things and I need an outlet with likeminded who stumble upon this and feel the same

[thewistlingbadger]

Hoping on this to absolutely agree with you. Im NEVER going to shut up about the writing in this season because its genuinely so odd. Especially in comparison to season 1. Act 1 or 2 dont even COMPARE to last season's acts 1 and 2 bc we're lacking cohesiveness. Let's talk about what season 1 finale set up:

Silco is gone, there is no leader of the undercity anymore

Vi lost her sister

Jinx is going full rogue, full crazy now

War is about to fall between zaun and piltover

Now let's see what season 2 did with these:

We were briefly shown the divide in the undercity and the lack of unity. However, it's not touched upon not nearly enough and once it does what the writers desired (make jinx a figure, unite sevika isha and jinx), it's completely abandoned. The season has yet to commit to what they want to do with silco. Sometimes he's brought up and it's some really beautiful continuity (the burial and the office). But other scenes make it seem like they don't actually want to commit to exploring the true depth that Silco's absence has bc sometimes it just doesn't come up at all. The revival of Vander also seems like a complete slap to the face when it comes to this point bc we got him back so quickly and he's accomplished so much. He got the family back together and he unlocked a different version of Jinx. Last season discussed in LENGTH how silco was Jinx's dad and oh look here's vander, coming back to claim is title. ADDITIONALLY, the emphasis of silco and vander in ep5? WHY? Why are we getting this specific flashback and what does it do for the story they're trying to tell in this season? IT. DIDNT (and im saying this as a person who absolutely enjoyed it).

Oh man, FUCK. THIS POINT. Fumbled, severally. The fall out with Jinx should have lead to a lot of self reflection with vi and thus, loads of character development. But did that happen? No. Instead, we got Vi switching up on Jinx so many times. Vi goes from "we'll always be sisters" to "if you have an opening, take it" in ZERO TIME. WHY. WHY cant they spend the time to add some complexity to a character who sees a world with no greyness? If anyone needed the development, it was fucking her.

Pff. Jinx only damages piltover minimally. Only three councilors die. She spends most of the season in hiding and becomes a symbol because...huh. I actually have ZERO CLUE WHY bc she doesn't do ANYTHING to earn the people's love. She's not out there fighting with them, leading them, calling for vengeance or ANYTHING. She became a symbol bc why the hell not. I thought we were gonna see her become more like her League self, but the opposite happened. She got less violent, less unhinged. And yeah it's been nice to watch her heal and it's kinda in character but it isn't what was set up last season.

This is the greatest let down. You spent ALL. ALL of last season establishing this conflict. Just to abandon it in season 2. Jinx's first attack? Avenging silco. The chem barons? Bought by Ambessa. Jinx's second attack? A complete accident. The current piltover and zaun unrest? Due to noxian control. Why would you establish this kick ass conflict between these two cities ONLY for noxus to steal the show :((( why would you do this to us?????

I love arcane but act 3 cant save this we're in too deep. Season two is nowhere near the story quality of season one, and i have no idea why it's like this. Everything in s1 was woven together, where everything in s2 is falling apart. They've added so many things without explaining any of them and it's made people sour. No one understands the black rose bc it wasn't explained. No one understands the new hexcore shit bc IT WASN'T EXPLAINED. I cant recall being this confused in s1, can you? They need to stick to the core of this show: relationships and change. Im not sure why it's happened like this but it has. Whenever I watch s2, all i think about is this one qoute from s1

"In trying to do great, we failed to do good."

I think that in trying to make s2 a showstopper, they lost sight on what truly mattered.

season 2 has a structure problem and that makes act 1 flow naturally enough and it sets up the next acts perfectly well, but they wanted to do so much more than what they were

1. setting up

2. capable of doing in 9 episodes

had they just cut a few plot lines everything would've moved far easier. For example

1. cut the Smeech thing entirely. Sevika and Jinx don't need this to find themselves together and start a found family. That scene In Silcos office was so moving and everything I always loved about Arcane, stuff like this is what's needed. In fact move the prison break to act 1 and have them handle that together, Jinx can still make Sevika her arm, and everything could've still moved the same. It would've fit so much better and there also would've been so much more time to develop anything else with the magic system and act 2 wouldn't feel like it was overflowing with anything and everything. Isha is a character that as of in the show can be cut so easily and that's so sad because she'd be so interesting. Everything about her would've worked and SHOULD HAVE worked but she also just felt like Plot and a thing to make Jinx sad over again. Either don't do that or make Isha not a character like this???? I liked her scenes with Jinx so much and the scene with Jinx freaking out after finding out that Isha was taken to prison was genuinely so good, I'm still holding on to the hope that they didn't actually kill her

2. either cut that shit with the tree because let's be so honest that basically only happened so that Heimerdinger, Ekko and Jayce could meet, since we do NOT even really talk about the tree in act 2? that was so weird. Like either actually make it a thing or find different ways to let characters meet naturally. I dont know, the show was so good with that in season 1. And if they truly wanted the tree scene at least make it make sense and don't randomly drop it Idk.

3. I LOVE Mel she is like my favorite character but the plot with the black rose takes so much necessary time away from what we actually need to focus on. I heard they want to make different shows so they are setting this up but it just doesn't work. Mel could've so easily been integrated into the main plot line and it would've also made so much more sense at that. Though I'll just wait on act 3 before I judge too hard. (if they actually DARE to make her pregnant Istg)

4. Making Jinx that hero character for only like, what, a few seconds was so strange. I hope act 3 gets that better but that, first of all, happened mostly out of no where and a few touches to her shoulder after the prison scene was also not??? helping??? either set that up from the very start or don't do it at all. She isn't a hero, she is a tragedy and someone who needs help and room to breathe. The scenes where they tried to make that funny, in my opinion didn't land at all. She doesn't need a hero complex she needs calmness and stable relationships. Let Isha live I swear to GOD.

in fact that leads me into the next point

5. Have Vi realize she doesn't want to be an enforcerer sooner? I actually do like how rushed that part felt don't get me wrong, but if they wanted a reunion between Jinx and Vi don't randomly put it into act 2 with barely any build up. Let Jinx and Vi realize it during the fight, they kinda did do that but??? just didn't move that anywhere. it's so strange. If they had cut the Smeech stuff they could've easily used the third episode to make Jinx and Vi slowly reconcile. Which also means I think Vi would've been such a better "symbol" than Jinx. Vi and Jinx, for me, show what Zaun is made of, and Jinx is quite literally the valid pain, distrust and anger of Zaun, and she as well as Zaun desperately need healing. Like that would've been SO COOL. that's just my opinion though, so there is that.

6. If they had made Vi the symbol the conflict between Caitlyn and Vi would've felt a lot more natural as well. Like??? Also Caitlyn should've had so much more time if they wanted that switch up in the end to work. Cut the black rose stuff and that would've worked perfectly fine.

7. Now do NOT get me wrong, Ambessa's character is so interesting and I feel like exploring her is so cool but she and her plot just doesn't fit into the Piltover/Zaun thing. It makes it too big for what the show is. In fact I (and now this is just my opinion, anyone can have their own just saying lmao) would've either cut out Ambessa's character/plotline or subtly continued Ambessas drama with Mel, which would give Mel, who didn't get taken by the black rose in my version, a lot more to do and way more interesting stuff too. Again this is very much my opinion and doesn't mean anyone needs to share it, but I feel like they could've easily made Heimerdinger be the one who gets Caitlyn to where she was/is with Ambessa. It would've expanded Heimerdingers character and it would've stayed in the setting they already perfectly build up, Piltover and Zaun. Also, Heimerdinger wouldn't just feel like a random joke character anymore.

8. The Pit fight stuff could have been SO interesting and I feel had we not stayed with Viktor Christ so much which was also so weird at times, we could've gotten so much necessary insight on Vi. If we follow my idea it could've been Vi forced to be a symbol because of the person she is. The embodiment of Zauns loyalty, strength and resilience. And then the fights that will come out of that forcing Vi to face so much stuff she shouldn't etc etc (I haven't fleshed that one out yet don't come for me) and that could've ended in her pit fighting era, which should've taken at LEAST an episode and not a random montage that just gets forgotten??? for no reason at all. Really hope act 3 talks about that cause??? I feel with Vi as the leader the healing of Zaun would make so much sense, because Jinx realistically can't do that. The idea of Jinx being in that position IS interesting I just feel it wasn't established/developed enough.

9. I really really liked how from the very beginning Viktor's safe haven did not in fact feel safe. There was always a very uneasy feeling and that's what I love about the show. I was always waiting for the shoe to drop and it happened, that was amazing. Though I would've either established a lot of this way earlier on in the show or made it not so, and now walk with me here Ik its magic, unrealistic. That does sound strange but having Viktor suddenly float in space with white silver flowing hair and his dead assistent next to him was... very very out of no where. It was like a lazy show trying to get away with "yeah well it's magic so of course this works" and I hate that because even magic needs explanation and build up. So yeah. Either cut that shit out or have it established sooner. And while seeing the one person who helped Jayce as a kid did kind of help, it still wasn't enough for THIS, though again MY OPINION. Also we spent way too much time there, it was getting ridiculous. So much time could've easily been lent to stuff that actually needed it. I actually laughed out loud when Viktor started the healing process with Vander because come ON now, and I do not think they wanted me to laugh.

10. The stuff with Vander, Silco and Felicia (while cute) was unnecessary and weird. What I liked the most about Vander taking in Vi and Powder was the feeling that he didn't do it because he necessarily knew them very well but because he knew their mom was dead (that did show he and their mother did kind of know each other but so do like all the people in the lanes that is kind of established) and wanted to PROTECT. This new context sadly makes it feel like "well of course he stopped everything and took them with them and cared for them he knew them since birth, duh" when I always wanted to feel "well Vander is in his heart a good man who saw what terrible stuff this war and fighting did and then took in orphaned children because of course he would do that" if that makes sense? I feel this new thing took away so much from Vander, but again that's maybe just me.

11. So many jokes and scenes didn't land with me. The scene with Jinx trying to show Sevika her middle finger was SO GOOD and so Arcane that seeing the scene were they try to make it funny with Jinx's trousers and that enforcerer felt so out of place? Like what. That scene could have EASILY been cut and nothing would have changed at all. And that's what is the worst because there isn't one scene in season 1 that I feel could've been cut and there are so many of them in season 2.

12. Introducing Maddie in act 1 made me believe she'd be a bigger, even more of a threat to Zaun, character than she was and that's so sad. What I loved about season 1 is that every single character mattered. Even those we saw maybe once. This time around I hardly cared at all for any new character because they didn't feel like a Person anymore, they just felt like Plot. In season 1 episode 1 there is this scene, the first scene Vander gets to speak in. The only reason Huck meets the woman and the man to trait was basically so we get to know how the undercity works and establish Vander as basically its leader and protecter; The one people are loyal to etc. But it doesn't feel that way. It's something that naturally happens and every character in that scene, even the man and the woman we never see again, mattered and felt real.

yeah so those were really just my thoughts. I could very much go on but I also don't want to.

[claggorstuff]

The most unbreakable of spells... Part five ★

Its been about 10 months now, and the one thing I dreaded happened, I know its part of relationships.. but, it scared me, he scared me, he was yelling like a madman.. we'd gotten into our first REAL fight, sure there were a few little arguments that were quickly diffused.. but this was different.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! YOU JUST CALLED THE WHOLE OF THE UNDERCITY A DUMP HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE FINE?!"

"I-I thought.. I thought we were just joking around..! Cla-"

"NO! NO WE WERENT!"

"Im.. s-sor-"

"stop. STOP. you cannot be serious youre acting like I just slapped you if you cant handle YELLING then dont fucking MAKE FUN OF MY HOME!"

"I didnt mean to.. Im so so s-sorry.." I know he wouldnt hurt me but he LOOKED like he would, he knows how to intimidate someone, leaning over them and puffing his chest like a lion, eyebrows furrowed and voice booming.

I acted out of instinct, pushing him away and running.. but he didnt chase me, he wouldnt chase me, he knew I was scared and that we both needed some time.. I

I ran to the slytherin dorms to talk to my little sister and her friend powder.. his sister, I burst into her dorm and tripped over some trinkets, they were visiting vis girlfriend, caitlyn.. after all they have 3 years until they enter hogwarts with us

My sister ran up to me with a hug "y/n!"

"I missed you y/n!"

"You coulda visited sis, you know that.." I wiped my tears sniffling, she of course noticed this and hugged me again, this time silent as I rubbed her back.

"What happened..?" Powder inquired

"Me and claggor got in a fight.. its nothing really powder, dont worry.."

She suddenly ran off without a word, a wand in her hand.. "shit." I went to chase after her, she was bolting to my dorm and I had to stop to catch my breathe, I couldnt take it anymore and just sat there in tears.. why cant she ever just leave things alone? Soon a firm hand was placed on my shoulder, I looked up scared about if i'd see claggor but instead it was vander, him having to monitor powder and my sister.

"Heard what happened, you okay..?"

"NO! IM NOT!" I snapped at him, I have to admit he truly is a patient man.. he sat next to me rubbing my back and soon claggor came out, being dragged by powder, he saw my state and his eyebrows furrowed "I.. uhm... I.."

"Im sorry claggor.. Im really really sorry.." He shouldnt be the one apologising, I was the one who insulted his homeland, it isnt right to make him apologise for getting mad.

"No.. I know.. I wanted to say sorry for uh.. making you.. cry.." he sat on the other side of me and vander left us alone dragging powder out, claggor rubbed my back letting me get all the tears I had left out, gently kissing the top of my head

"Do we need time to talk..? Or do we need time to just, sit here... quietly, so that we both wind down.." he whispered into my ear

"Lets talk.. I think that'd help.." he nodded and we left to talk privately in my room about the events of today.. that wasnt as bad as I thought, was it..

End of part 5 ★

[bunbunsie]

Been thinking about how Cait is considered one of the most lawful good out of the entire 50 shades of grey morality cast.

Jayce, while considered heroic, engaging in back room dealing and..child killing. Even Vi, with her admirable shounen protagonist's heart of gold, can be callous with her words and doesnt mind a few deaths if her goals was destroyed. Heimerdinger is good but his inaction and ignorance toward The Undercity's suffering clearly doesnt help anything. Every characters have their good and bad, has done some pretty shits thing (some more than the others)

And there you have Caitlyn. Sweet, kind Caitlyn who wants to protect everyone. Who believes in justice and law, who choose to be a cop because her mentor figure, Grayson is a noble one. Who shows Vi that maybe there is one topsiders that care about the suffering of the undercity people and want to help.

But unlike Ekko (he's a golden boy!! Too good for this world), i think her goodness was borned out naivete, privilege and her shelter upbringing. She's outwordly good because the wolrd around her (safe and prosper and full) allowed her to be one, unlike Vi has to harden herself to protect her own family. Cait's mother really didnt let her see the real world, see the shady things that happened inside the room and outside the shiny surface of Piltover. Her little rebellions like joining the police or releasing Cait may sound revolutionary and daring for Cait herself, but she wont suffer from harsh punishment (like death) and honestly, it doesnt mean much in the grand scale of things

But along the story, her innocent got chipped away, bit by bit. She got shocked at the fact that Vi was beaten by jailers, her parents was killed by wardens (who she thought was a symbol of justice). She saw the awful things at the Undercity. When She turned to her mom and Jayce to help, she still think simply talking to the Council would change their mind and not even take in any other factors (like they simply didnt give a fuck about the undercity lol). Cait is your avarage good law abiding child who has utmost faith in the just, and honestly, I cant blame her. She's like a light that is too good to be true.

Anyway, i do think her naivete goodness will be blown away soon. She was ready to fire at Jinx, showed that she's willing to let her hand stain blood to protect herself and loved on (Vi). Still, she stopped at Vi's pleading. But Jinx has fired the rocket at the Council, where her mother - her safe haven whether she liked it or not- is in. The death flag is flying high.

Cait will be forced to change, and lose a little bit of goodness in her, to be replaced by anger, hatred and grudge. At Jinx, at Vi for stopping her. Maybe she will ready to do shady things, to harm thing to reach her goal. Maybe she will chase after Jinx with the intend to Kill, to revenge

Idk, i want that for her in season 2, it would make her blend in with the rest of the cast's greyness. With how the writer crews has exceed our expectation, i have faith that they will handle her arc right.

[sergeanthatredbignaturals]

Vro don’t get me started in Vander (it’s too late, the reason this response took as long as it did is bc i was literally writing out an essay about him)

I put my whole B in English Literature into this

Point one

“When people look up to you, you don’t get to be selfish”

“But whatever happens, it’s on you”

Would you stop projecting your guilt onto this kid for like five seconds oml 😭

Stop making your guilt bet problem dawg, she isn’t you, stop projecting like she is

An’ before y’all bring up Silco’s projection onto Jinx, yeah, I’m aware. My point is y’all rant and rave about Silco, and ignore that Vander does the same shit with Vi, I’m not ignoring it, im just pointing out Vander does it too

Point two

Also, can we talk about Vander’s clear favouritism real quick? He does the whole tough love thing, tells the rest of them to clear off, and then treats Vi’s wounds, and reassures her before leaving to nab one of Mylo’s things, and get Claggor to haul ass over to Benzo’s without saying anything like he did to Vi, and leaving them to patch themselves up, leaving it entirely up to Vi.

Point three

“That path, this, it’s not gonna solve your problems, it just makes more of them”

“Oh, you did put that idiot on his ass though, right?”

Telling Vi that violence doesn’t solve anything, and then minutes later making sure she beat someone’s ass. Does that not read as hypocritical to anyone else? Wtf is that gonna teach her? Violence is a-ok as long as it’s not directed at your oppressor? Obviously that’s a tad hyperbolic, but y’all see my point here, right?

Point four

“How could she be so stupid?”

“Yeah, and Vi’s one of them. Throws herself at trouble wherever she can find some”

Girl stfu, you were the exact same at her age, fuck you were the same a decade ago, don’t act like you don’t know where this is coming from. Bro is such a fuckinf hypocrite, projecting onto Vi and then having the nerve to be confused when she ends up acting like you? You’re actually taking the piss

Point five

“I’m protecting our people”

And how are you doing that? By allowing enforcers to ransack the place? By letting your people suffer further by the hands of enforcers? By doing nothing as your people are quite literally tossed around by them? Sorry, i don’t remember any part of that falling under “protection”. That’s you turning a blind eye to matters that don’t impact you directly. That’s you looking out for those close to you, and no one else. We have no idea how long this would have gone on for. The enforcers were told “Do whatever it takes. Turn the Undercity upside down if you have to. Just find them.” In all of that, the people of Zaun, your people, would be subjected to ever increasing violence by the hands of enforcers. How many more would have to die by the hands of an enforcer for you to actually step up, and actually protect your people. Your aren’t protecting your people, you’re protecting those close to you, and staying willfully ignorant to the fates that befall those you don’t know. You’re allowing this cycle of violence to continue because you’re too afraid to do what needs to be done. You don’t have the ability to do what Zaun needs anymore, and your people are starting to realise that.

Point six

“If i hadn’t, your parents would still be alive”

He clearly blames himself heavily for every that happened that day, and i cant blame him for it. I get it, i really do, but if you are so blindsided by your own trauma that you cannot do what needs to be done for the betterment of your people, then you are not fit to lead them.

Say what you will about Silco, but he was willing to do damn near anything for his peoples freedom from Piltover.

Point seven

“Without you down here, it all falls apart” -Grayson

And she’s right. These people are itching for about her chance against Piltover, you didn’t think they’ll not take you getting shoved in Stillwater for fuck knows how long incentive enough? You took away what’s basically their leader, it’s hardly a stretch to say that would be taken as an act of war. I bet he did t have a whole lot of choices, but he really didn’t think that through at all.

Overall, I put my whole autism diagnosis into this, and ended up writing three A4 pages in making this, which is more than i wrote for more English Lit essays i had to do 💀

P.S. i will have distinctly more to say when the inevitable flashbacks happen in s2

P.P.S. Go read this, it greatly inspired a hell of a lot of the points i made in this

I'm genuinely so sick of the silco hate. Yes he's a bad guy. Yes he's committed very serious crimes and is a violent person and a murder. Those are all very valid reasons to dislike a fictional character. But there are just some things people like to shit on silco for that truly aren't his fault.

Imagine if YOU were a single dad to a mentally ill teenager and at the same we're trying to manage a business, gain independence for your country, AND deal with other bullshit nonsensical problems. I'd be pissed too, I'd be stressed the fuck out too. People can't seem to push past the bad and see the truth; because all of this shit IS NOT hidden in the show it's at the forefront. Silco has a lot of shit on his plate and he has to deal with everything at the same fucking time ALONE. This guy's life is hell on the average day but during arcane? Nah my man was fighting for his life literally and figuratively.

Jinx's entire behavior can NOT be blamed on silco it genuinely cannot and it's silly to even think such a thing. I'm so sick of people trying to make him the scapegoat when it comes to her situation. "He didn't try to heal her" in the city where we know that canonically, there are no doctors? Tell me, oh wise one, where the hell silco, of all men, was going to find a therapist for his daughter and medicine for her psychosis? Like BITCH PLEASE! PLEASE! That's ridiculous.

Silco himself IS MENTALLY ILL, OF COURSE HE'S GOING TO TRY TO GIVE HER THE SAME SHITTY COPING SKILLS HE USES FOR HIMSELF! AND GENUINELY, IS HE WRONG FOR THAT? I don't believe so.

"oh he's the reason jinx was tortured-" you mean when silco held his DYING daughter in his arms and tried to save her? When he, at his old fucking age, ran all the way from the bridge to singed SINGLEHANDEDLY to get her the ONLY MEDICAL ATTENTION the undercity has? Did you truly forget that singed knocks silco out during this scene. If so, rest assured, because has silco been MENTALLY PRESENT in that scene, he would have never allowed that shit to happen. The moment he wakes up and sees that she's fucking gone and the table is bloody, he IMMEDIATELY threatens singed and asks what the fuck he did. Don't put that shit on him he had no idea.

Yes this man is a piece of shit but he's a man none the less can we cut him a fucking break PLEASE!

[kargathbladefist]

okay wait this is a really good idea hold on

S Tier:

Orgrimmar (smoke and bbq; good ventilation, probably windy in the canyons)

Darnassus (tree)

A Tier:

Gilneas (fresh muddy dead leaf smell like when it rains in autumn)

Silvermoon

Thunder Bluff (probably smoky like org but windier and more ventilated. smells like summer)

B Tier:

Exodar (wtf would a spaceship even smell like, not bad i guess so i cant put it any lower)

C Tier:

Dazar’alor (would expect the air to be fresh given it’s (lore-wise) high up in the mountains and surrounded by dense vegetation.. but the lower port half of it is probably not as nice. i feel like thered be so many crammed bodies filling the streets 24/7 coupled with dinosaurs shitting wherever they want and the smell of the harbor.  that being said i feel like the zandalari have a much better grasp on waste management and drainage systems, so it goes above the human cities)

D Tier:

Shattrath (draenor is a dead planet so i cant imagine it smelling nice)

Stinky Poo Poo Tier:

Dalaran (sewers, population density; probably smells like new york)

Stormwind City (see above. canals are probably like the hudson or charles river, youll contract something if you swim in them... horses are their racial mount so theyre probably pooping all over the place. given how many people have died in the great sea i cant imagine the harbor smelling good either.)

Boralus (see above)

Undercity Tier

Undercity

[swampgallows]

my uncle works at blizzard and i know the end of shadowlands

here is my prediction, it’s sloppy as fuck but i wanna just draft my general idea before the shit actually comes out so i can be like “CALLED IT” if i’m right lol

okay so let’s talk DREADLORDS babey. they are not demons per se but a separate race of sentient beings called the nathrezim. apparently they were discovered by sargeras when he was traversing the cosmos. they were sitting around chilling with the old gods, which is how sargeras found out about the old gods and void lords in the first place. so the history of dreadlords and the old gods/void goes way back.

there are three things that dreadlords are very good at:

1. summoning chaotic shit 2. crafting chaotic shit 3. being chaotic neutral emissaries, mostly for the burning legion. mostly.

1. dreadlords are really powerful interdimensional beings from the twisting nether. however, with the afterlives: maldraxxus cinematic it possibly implies that both the denizens of the shadowlands and the nathrezim themselves have the power to move between life and death as well as laterally across realms like the elemental plane, twisting nether, etc.

2: the dreadlords have forged the sword apocalypse and are possibly the original smiths of the helm of domination and frostmourne. we know that these artifacts are not of azeroth. the nathrezim could have smithed both the helm and frostmourne with help from the jailor and his magic. side note is the WoW canon spelling his name Jailor or Jailer? ive seen both. guess it’s one of those imposter/impostor situations.

anyway, point number 3: we have witnessed dreadlords allying themselves with several different factions, including but not limited to the scourge (sub-faction of the legion), the burning legion, the light (lothraxion), and waaaay back when... the forsaken. by sprinkling themselves throughout the cosmos they can tip the scales on several fronts toward chaos/old gods/void (yes, even lothraxion, since the Light seems to have its own agenda per Xe’ra).

newer players may not know that sylvanas once had a dreadlord ally named Varimathras. one of his click-quotes he’d say “I’m always on the winning side.” he claimed to hold no more ties to the burning legion and that he also wanted to get revenge on arthas/the lich king, and since that was sylvanas’ ultimate goal, they teamed up. he used to chill right next to her in the royal quarter, until the battle for the undercity. this was a wotlk-era event not unlike the pre-bfa “war of thorns” that followed The Wrathgate. the horde, including thrall and varok saurfang, led horde troops into the undercity to oust the mutineers from the horde. the alliance was also present, with newly-returned king varian wrynn and lady jaina proudmoore also invading to take their revenge on putress and his loyalists. 

but before all that, sylvanas could have possibly been clued in by varimathras about the jailor’s intentions all the way back in wrath. especially if she was looking for a way to defeat the “death god” lich king, varimathras would have been more than happy to tell her about death’s boss—the jailor—and the suffering arthas would undergo in the maw. (remember, shadowlands itself is not new lore. it has existed since the dawn of warcraft itself; whenever you die in game you are in the shadowlands. the spirit healers in the graveyards are in the shadowlands.)

again, this is just my speculation, but varimathras easily could have told sylvanas about the origins of the helm and frostmourne, the source of arthas/the lich king’s powers. varimathras/putress betray her (though even this has conflicts with new lore, e.g. Chronicle [my bane] saying that Sylvanas had planned the Wrathgate all along). battle for undercity happens, and varimathras is banished. 

sylvanas maybe figures ‘dont worry imma bust that shit open when i go kill arthas’. maybe she even planned to hold dominion over the scourge and wear the helm herself, taking the place bolvar has currently. but the halls of reflection & ICC happen and... she doesnt get to kill arthas, her one reason for continuing her existence.

so we get Edge of Night, which potentially planted a lot of seeds (if blizz is that clever).

VALKYR possibly trick her (i have said this before), as they are agents of the scourge/the jailor, hopefully to get sylvanas on their side to incur more death and be a secondary wave of would-be scourge (since bolvar aint doin that job and he’s not dead so they cant really get to him BUT they can travel throughout the shadowlands). either that or maybe they were planning on her becoming the new lich king and when bolvar got the hat instead they got a lil pist about it.

sylvanas is foisted into the very non-consensual position of “choose death and suffer for eternity or come back to life and Lead Your People™”. there is some OLD ASS LORE that i cannot find and maybe it’s something i misread somewhere or whatever but i was always under the impression that the Light could not save the Scourge, so anyone turned Scourge could possibly end up in the Maw on principle of being inherently irredeemable (hence the name “Forsaken”, they cannot be saved by the Light). the lore might have changed or, like i said, i might have just picked this up from somewhere and it’s wrong entirely. but if that’s the case, more Scourge = more anima dumped into the Maw disposal, which strengthens the jailor. either that or breaking sylvanas’ spirit to redirect her vengeance on Capital D Death rather than arthas himself.

basically everything sylvanas does while “alive” in azeroth pales in comparison to the eternal suffering and torment that awaits her if she is to die. so she has literally nothing to lose and can only gain by at least keeping herself alive as long as possible, no matter what wild shit she gets up to, it cant be as bad as the maw. 

ultimately i think sylvanas becomes the new jailor to satisfy both her loyalists/fans and those who want her to pay for her crimes, she is redeemed by technically stopping the maw expansion by taking over a la bolvar keeping the scourge dormant, all the symbolism of her destroying the helm of domination becomes all the more poetic and poignant along with her ‘this world is a prison and i will set us all free’ bullshit, avoids her potential fate in the maw as a prisoner by becoming the jailor itself (”better to reign in hell than serve in heaven”). PLUS then she gets placed in a limbo much like illidan fighting sargeras for potentially eternity by being dead-but-not-really as the jailor so blizzard can cameo to her or make merch of her all they want or bring her back as deus ex machina if they feel like it.

i had way more details about this shit when me n the best friends talkd about it a while back but it’s  been seemingly an eternity since then but yeah the tldr

sylvanas becomes jailor (predictabo) because varimathras spilled the beans about the funny sword and hat his buddies made purely for the bants w the old gods/void (less predictabo).

boy are they gonna make that covid vaccine soon or what i need a fuckin job

[weretoad-writer]

The Arrangement

Fictober - Day 1 Prompt: “It will be fun, trust me.” Fandom: Enderal Warnings: language

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

The shop was buried down an alley in the snarled warren of buildings which made up the Undercity’s Barracks, but Molly had been right; you couldn’t miss it. The smell of sulfur and embalming fluid, and something sickeningly floral filled the air the length of the narrow street. It might have been the only place in the Undercity that didn’t reak of shit and death. Eska couldn’t decide if this was worse. Above the door someone had painted a crude image of a potion bottle. There was no name. No one to read it. 

Eska paused at the threshold, scanning the area around the door out of habit. It took him several passes before he saw it. A small glyph scratched in the rotten wood of the frame. The Endralean cant glyph for ‘danger’ was nearly identical to the Nehrimese for ‘shelter’. A mistake he had only needed to make once. 

‘Danger’ could have meant a number of things, but he was near enough now to detect the mix of smoke and saltpeter amidst the sulfur. Not hard to imagine how this place had earned its reputation.

Inside the smell was overpowering. It burned his nose and made his eyes water. Fighting down the impulse to cough, he looked around. Sagging shelves lined the walls filled with bottles of every conceivable type and jars in which vague, unsettling shapes floated; dust covered glass glinted dully in the pale light of a crystal that hung from the ceiling. There were no open flames in sight. 

Teetering stacks of books, and tables covered with more books and more jars and tools filled most of the small space, and a spider’s web of string hung with herbs and leathery chains of dried animal parts stretched between swaybacked beams. The room was -- not exactly empty, not when it was packed to the gills, every surface, every inch of floor (excepting a few narrow paths) stacked with items or furniture, but of another person there was no sign. 

He took a cautious step forward. “Hello?”

There was a booming crack and Eska leapt back towards the doorway as the whole building shuddered, shaking a curtain of dust down from the boards overhead. The sound of jarring glass set his teeth on edge, but there was no flash of magic, no attack. From the floor several feet away a trap door burst open and black smoke billowed out. Eska took another step back, hands twitching towards his daggers. There was the sound of someone coughing and then a head emerged from the trap door, face and hair streaked with soot. 

When they noticed Eska, they froze. “Who the fuck are you?”

“...A customer.” It came out sounding like a question. 

They had fully emerged from the floor by this point and stood regarding him suspiciously. They were half a head taller than he was, wrapped in a stained leather apron with close cropped hair of indeterminate color and, currently, no eyebrows. 

“Gods fucking -- How many times do I need to say it? I don’t sell dust! You godsdamn upper city snobs all think oh, alchemist in the undercity, they must be a fucking dust mixer. Go and fuck off down the Silver Cloud like everyone else!”

Eska’s brows quirked in surprise and he held up his hands, “I’m not after drugs.”

He saw their face sour with distain as they looked him over again. “No? So what does the sunchild want?”

His hands tightened, nails biting into his palms. He should have been used to it by now. “An edge in a fight. Or a way out. An ‘oh shit’ option, really. Got anything like that?”

They considered this for a moment, then turned, disappearing behind a blind of hanging herbs and precariously stacked books. He heard glass clinking and several moments later they reemerged, three iron colored glass flasks in their hands. They set them down on the nearest table. “Flash powder. Break one of these on the ground and bang! bright enough to blind someone for few seconds and enough smoke for you to fuck off somehwere else. Just mind you shut your eyes first.”

He fished out his purse. “I’ll take them.”

“Fine.” A wolfish smirk twitched across their face. “That’ll be five hundred gold.”

“Five hundred? Blazes, I could get it cheaper in the bloody Noble’s Quarter!”

“Why don’t you then?”

Eska glared.  “Mad Molly said you were fair.”

At the beggar’s name their expression sharpened, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “How d’you know Molly?

“The fuck’s it matter?”

They crossed their arms.

“Fucking -- Fine. She’s helped me a couple times, alright? She’s been…. kind.”

“Kind?” They threw back their head with a bark of laughter. “Ain’t many folk can say that of our Molly.” 

They were silent a moment, considering him, and then they struck out a hand. “Let’s try this again, shall we? I’m Talis.”

“Eska.”

“Well, Eska, I’d say it’s a pleasure, but that remains to be seen. Now if you’re a friend of Mol’s, then maybe we can help each other.”

“How exactly?”

“You need potions. I need someone to test potions. In exchange for a discount, or course. Am I moving too fast for you?”

Eska stared at them in weary incredulity. “Last time I drank something without knowing what it did, I ended up trapped in some fucking nightmare prison. I’m really not--”

“Sounds like one hell of a bad trip!” Their expression brightened with impatient curiosity. “Could be... belladonna? Or maybe-- No. Later. You’ll have to tell me about it. Anyway! What d’you say?”

This wasn’t happening. He wasn’t actually ……..Gods, he was actually considering this. “Does this have anything to do with that explosion a minute ago?”

“What? No! That’s not nearly ready for human test subjects. No, this is something I’ve been working on for a while now. A protection from energy potion. It’s perfectly safe! You’ll just drink it and we test to see if it works.”

“Meaning you try to fry me with magic?”

“Exactly! It’ll be fun, trust me!”