#hate tagging this as politics but they made it political

[gdinthehouseee]

Bittersweet: KWON JI-YONG x READER

summary: ji-yong misses you a lot, and he finally decides to visit the one place he's been avoiding. it seems some things must be set in stone...

word count: 3311

tags: pure angst; grief, implied depression and suicide - i wanna say now this is real damn sad so if you feel it's too much please click off and prioritise yourself, do NOT feel pressured to read <33

ao3 link

"You always said I had terrible taste in movies."

Ji-yong’s voice carries a quiet chuckle as he leans back against the couch, arms crossed over his chest. The dim glow of the TV flickers across the room, casting soft shadows on the walls. You’re curled up beside him, wrapped in one of his oversized hoodies—the same one you swore you weren’t stealing, even though it had been missing from his closet for weeks.

He won’t admit it out loud, but he thinks you look ridiculously cute in his hoodie. It’s too big on you, the sleeves swallowing your hands as you reach for the popcorn, the fabric hanging loose around your frame. He should probably be annoyed that you keep stealing his clothes, but instead, he finds himself staring—at the way the collar slips just enough to reveal your collarbone, at the way you absentmindedly tug the sleeves over your fingers when you’re focused. It’s stupid, really, how something so simple makes his heart do that weird, unsteady thing in his chest.

"I never said that," you protest, nudging his leg with your foot. "I just said you have… a very specific taste."

"Right. That’s just your polite way of saying it sucks."

You don’t argue, only biting back a smile as you take another handful of popcorn. He watches the way you focus on the screen, even though he knows you’re not really paying attention to the movie. You never do. Half the time, you’re too busy commenting on the set design or the background music, pointing out details he wouldn’t have noticed.

"You know, if you hate my movie picks so much, you could just pick one yourself."

"I don’t hate them," you murmur, voice softer now, more thoughtful. "I just like watching them with you."

Ji-yong doesn’t reply right away. There’s something in the way you say it—simple, effortless, like the thought has always been there, just waiting for him to hear it. He swallows, suddenly hyper-aware of the way your fingers rest against his arm, the warmth of your body so close.

He thinks about saying something then. About how his favorite part of movie nights isn’t the film itself but the way you lean into him when you get tired, or how you always steal the blanket halfway through. He wants to tell you that it doesn’t matter what’s playing, as long as you’re here.

But instead, he just laughs. "You’re lucky I put up with your commentary."

And just like that, the moment passes. Ji-yong never realized how much he memorized about you until now.

Sitting here, watching the same old movie alone, he can still hear your voice filling the empty spaces. The way you’d hum along to the soundtrack even if you didn’t know the melody. The way you’d lean your head against his shoulder when you got sleepy, murmuring something about how his stupid movie choices made the best background noise. He almost turns to say something—some teasing remark about how you’d probably still find a way to make fun of his taste. But when he glances beside him, the seat is empty. The hoodie, the warmth, the quiet weight of you tucked into his side—it’s all gone. The air feels heavier now, like something is pressing against his chest. He lets his head fall back against the couch, staring at the ceiling, and before he can stop it, another memory rises to the surface.

"Can’t sleep again?" He asked

Your tired sigh crackled through the speaker. "Yeah… not really."

He frowned, adjusting the phone against his ear. He glanced at the time—2:47 a.m. The calls always came late, always started the same way.

"What’s on your mind?" He asked softly.

You hesitated. "Nothing, really. Everything. It’s just… I don’t know. Some nights, it feels like my brain won’t shut up. And some nights, it feels like there’s nothing there at all."

Ji-yong sat up a little, propping himself up on his elbows. "Did something happen?"

"No," you said, too quickly. "Nothing new. Just that same heavy feeling, you know? Like I’m tired, but not in a way that sleeping can fix."

He exhaled slowly. He hated when you talked like this—not because he didn’t want to hear it, but because he didn’t know how to make it better. "Then don’t sleep," he said after a moment. "Just talk. I’ll listen."

You hummed quietly, like you were trying to find the words. "Do you ever feel like… you could disappear, and the world would just keep going like nothing happened?"

Ji-yong’s grip on his phone tightened as an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. "Don’t say that."

"Sorry," you mumbled. "I just—forget it. Tell me something stupid. Distract me."

He wanted to tell you that it wasn’t nothing. That it wasn’t something to just forget. That if you disappeared, his whole world would tilt off its axis. But instead, he swallowed down the lump in his throat and played along.

"Okay. How about this—did you know octopuses have three hearts?"

There was a pause before you let out a soft laugh, and for now, that was enough.

Ji-yong blinks, pulled back into the present. His apartment feels quieter than it should. The TV is still playing, the dialogue muffled in the background, but the warmth that filled these moments before is missing.

His fingers curl into the fabric of his sleeve.

"I never told you how much I liked it," he murmurs, voice barely above a whisper. "The way you always called me at night. The way you trusted me with your thoughts."

The screen flickers in front of him, but Ji-yong doesn’t see it. His gaze is lost somewhere in the past, in all the moments he never realized were fleeting. The way you’d smile when you thought no one was watching, the way your voice softened when you spoke about things that mattered most to you, even the little quirk of your lip when you were about to tease him. He had taken all of it for granted. The laughter, the late-night talks, the warmth that filled the space between them.

Now, in the silence, he feels the weight of it all—the things he should have said but never did, the moments he let slip away, assuming there would always be more. But time doesn’t wait. The feeling of regret curls around his chest, suffocating him. If only he had told you, if only he had shown you how much you meant to him when it still mattered. He wishes he had told you then. But now, it’s too late. The space beside him is cold, the echo of your absence louder than anything the screen could show.

The apartment is too quiet. The TV hums faintly in the background, but it feels like it's just there for noise—just there to fill the silence that’s pressing against him, suffocating him.

Ji-yong rubs his face, eyes blurry from lack of sleep, and stands up slowly. He moves mechanically, as if on autopilot, because every other part of him feels frozen in place. He walks to the window, staring out at the city below, the lights flickering like stars in the distance. But the view is meaningless.

Everything is.

He can’t help but remember the nights when you were there beside him, when everything felt like it made sense. The way you’d call him, even if it was just to talk about nothing, the way your voice had comforted him, grounding him. He remembers the softness of your laugh, the way it would echo in his chest long after the call ended. He remembers the feeling of your hand, warm and sure, when you’d place it on his arm or reach out in the dark of night. But now, the silence is deafening.

It’s too late.

Ji-yong runs a hand through his hair, breathing in deep. It’s the first time he’s had to face it, the first time he’s allowed himself to feel everything that he’s been running from. The truth, the pain, the regret—it’s all too much.

He pulls out his phone, his fingers trembling as he scrolls through the messages—the ones that should have been answered, the ones that should have been sent. But all of it is still here, untouched. Every text, every missed call, a reminder of the words he never said.

He should have been there. He should have noticed. He never imagined it would come to this. And now, he’s left with nothing but memories of the person he let slip away.

Ji-yong’s hand shakes as he places the phone back down on the counter, the weight of his own guilt heavier than any silence he’s ever known. The emptiness presses down on him, unbearable, and he finally allows himself to feel the sting of tears that had stayed hidden for so long. But it's too late to fix it now.

He has to go. He pulls on his jacket, his steps slow but determined, like he’s walking toward something he doesn’t want to confront but knows he has no choice but to face. There’s a place he hasn’t visited in far too long.

His footsteps feel heavier with each step, the quiet of the world around him amplifying the weight of everything he’s been avoiding. The gray sky seems to press down on him, like it’s holding his pain in place. He’s been walking for what feels like hours, but he can’t bring himself to stop. He’s drawn to this place—this place he’s tried to forget, tried to ignore, but no matter how far he runs, it always pulls him back. He doesn’t want to be here, doesn’t want to face the truth that’s been gnawing at him from the inside out. But somehow, it feels like this is the only place he can go.

Finally, he reaches the spot.

The air is thick with the scent of the earth, the stillness around him suffocating, like the world has paused for a moment, holding its breath. His heart beats in his chest, painfully loud.

He sees the familiar silhouette of something ahead���the marker, the seemingly insignificant landmark that stands where everything shifted. It doesn’t have to say a name for him to know what it means. His throat tightens, and his pulse quickens as the realization sinks in. This is it.

He kneels slowly, the cold ground pressing against him as his fingers dig into the dirt, as if somehow, if he touches the earth, it will bring him closer to you. But it’s not enough. It will never be enough.

"I’m sorry," he whispers, his voice cracking. "I should’ve known. I should’ve seen it." His words are barely audible, lost in the emptiness around him. "I should’ve been there. I should’ve... told you..."

His breath catches in his throat, and the words he’s been holding back for so long rush out in a broken sob. "I should’ve told you that I loved you."

His head falls forward, and tears escape, mingling with the dirt beneath him. The pain in his chest is unbearable now, like the weight of his regret is crushing him from the inside out. His hands tremble as he presses them against the earth, trying to reach something he can no longer touch. He stays there for a long time, the world spinning around him, as he whispers the words he never said before. The things he should have said, the things he’ll never get the chance to say now.

One more chance. That’s all he wanted. But it’s far too late now.

Ji-yong stays kneeling, his hands gripping the cold earth beneath him as the weight of everything crashes down on him. His tears have turned into sobs, raw and uncontrollable, but still, he whispers the same words over and over, as if saying them could somehow undo the reality he’s facing.

“I’m sorry... I should’ve been there... I should’ve known...” he repeats, as if whispering these words would bring you back to him.

But the world doesn’t stop. The wind continues to rustle the leaves around him, the empty, hollow sound only serving to amplify the silence. And still, he doesn’t stop. His hands press harder against the stone, his nails scraping against it as if trying to carve through the pain.

Then, with a force that takes him completely by surprise, his gaze lands fully on the marker in front of him. At first, it’s a blur—his eyes were too full of tears to focus. But when his vision clears, it hits him like a punch to the gut. The name.

Your name.

The truth smashes into him all at once, and for the first time, he lets out a gut-wrenching scream. A scream filled with pain, with sorrow, with a guilt so deep it feels like it’s splitting him in two. His hands tremble as they reach out, clutching the stone as though it might shatter with the force of his grip.

“No... no, no, no!” His voice is strangled, broken, the words unrecognizable through his sobs. “I didn’t... I didn’t mean for this to happen...”

He falls forward, his forehead pressing against the cold stone, the only connection left to you. His entire body shakes violently as he sobs, each breath a desperate gasp. The weight of his regret, of everything he never said, is suffocating him. Once more, he can’t see. He can’t think. He can’t breathe.

“I should’ve been there...” The words are barely more than a whisper, but they’re filled with such agony that it’s as if they’ve torn through his very soul. He screams again, louder this time, his voice echoing into the emptiness, his heart breaking with the realization that it’s too late to fix anything.

It’s too late.

The words feel like a knife. There’s no going back now. No way to take back the time he wasted, the moments he lost. He’s left with nothing but his grief, his guilt, and the unbearable weight of your absence.

“I love you...” he whispers, his voice broken. If it meant he could get you back, even for just one more day, he would have traded anything. Because you were his everything. You still are his everything. His love, his home, his world: all taken away from him in the blink of an eye. 

His chest heaves as he tries to breathe, but it feels impossible. The weight of his own heartache is too much, the emptiness too vast. He presses his palms to his eyes, as if trying to push the tears back, to stop the flood that feels like it’s drowning him. But it never works. They fall anyway, each drop a reminder of all the things he will never say to you again. All the moments that will never come.

He lets out a choked sob, his voice barely a whisper as he says your name one more time, like a prayer, like a desperate plea for something he knows he can never have again. He was too late. Too late to protect you, too late to save you from everything that hurt, too late to show you the love he was too afraid to admit before. Now, with you gone, all he has are the ghosts of his regrets, haunting him in the silence. He doesn't know how to live with them, but he knows he will—because living with this pain is all he has left. He has to live for you. 

Ji-yong’s fingers twitch at the thought, his mind pulling him back to that night. The memory lingers, sharp and suffocating, like a wound that hasn’t healed. He can still feel the dread that crept into his chest when he glanced at his phone, the screen lighting up with missed calls from your number.

The calls had come in rapid succession, one after another, like a hammer striking him over and over. His stomach dropped, instinct kicking in before his brain had even caught up. He didn’t even listen to the voicemail. He didn’t need to. He knew. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

His heart raced as he dialed your number, his fingers trembling, but it just rang and rang, no answer. His mind spiraled, but his body was already moving. He didn’t even grab a jacket or his belongings, he just rushed out the door, every step feeling heavier than the last. The only thought in his mind was you. Whatever was happening, he needed to be there. He had to make sure you were okay.

The hospital was a blur when he arrived—too many flashing lights, too many voices. The sterile smell of disinfectant, the cold air that wrapped around him like a death sentence. He pushed through the doors, his breath shallow, his pulse quickening, but nothing prepared him for what he found.

Your family was there, standing in the hallway, their faces pale, their eyes empty. They didn’t need to say anything. The look in their eyes told him everything. He barely registered the nurse who spoke to him, her words muddled, drowned out by the roar in his ears.

It’s too late.

They tried to save you. That’s all he could hear. They did everything they could. But it wasn’t enough.

He collapsed in a chair, his body no longer able to hold him up. His hands shook violently, and he could feel the air around him turn to ice. He had failed you.

“I should’ve been there,” he whispered, his voice barely audible as his head dropped into his hands. He could still hear your laughter, see your smile, feel the warmth of your presence. Now, it was all gone, slipping through his fingers like sand. The calls, the hospital, the frantic rush to save you—it all felt like an endless loop, and nothing could change the truth that it was too late.

The sound of you calling his name echoed in his mind, a cruel and harsh reminder that he’d never hear that properly ever again. You must’ve been so scared in your final moments, yet the only thing on your mind as you drew your last breath was him. It had always been him. 

“I’m sorry, Ji-yong.” 

A sudden sensation stops him in his tracks. A soft breeze, warm and gentle, brushes past him, despite the stillness of the air around him. It feels like your touch, like the comfort of your presence, even though he knows you’re not there.

His breath catches, his heart skipping a beat. He spins around, looking toward the grave, expecting to see nothing but the same cold stone that has haunted him for so long.

But there’s something different this time. In the silence, there’s a memory—your laugh, the way your voice used to light up his world. He hears it, faint, almost like another echo, and his eyes widen as the tears rush back. He holds his breath, afraid that if he moves or speaks, the moment will vanish.

The world feels suspended, like time itself has decided to hold its breath. And then, in the quiet, there’s a sense of warmth that he can’t explain. It wraps around him, pulling him into something soft and familiar. It’s as though you’re still with him, as if the distance between the two of you isn’t as vast as it feels.

“Aein?” he whispers, his voice barely audible, the words trembling with a mixture of hope and pain.

For a brief second, he thinks he feels your hand on his shoulder, the warmth of your touch grounding him, and his heart swells with a fleeting sense of peace. His chest tightens with emotion as he reaches out, but when he looks around, all he finds is the empty grave—silent, still, and so final.

"You’ll always be with me, won’t you?"

taglist: @thanosscrossmain @maskedcrawford @mirahyun @riddlerloveb0t

[jaijeijayjei]

I guarantee a post like that in the Jayvik tag or Caitvi tag, even if it was respectful and had logical points, would get torn apart. If you disagree that's fine but I stand by that statement and I'm not willing to test it out on my own blog.

This is why "anti" tags exist (There's an anti meljay tag, an anti jayvik tag, etc.).

I feel that you're assuming most fans will be respectful, post in good faith, and be interested in a healthy debate instead of just arguing. But you said so yourself- this fandom especially has so much infighting. Tagging posts the way you're suggesting will only make the atmosphere more toxic than it already is.

Plus, sometimes people just post negative content about a ship because they want to express those negative feelings- not necessarily to have a discussion or share thoughtful points.

Think of this from the perspective of someone in a smaller corner of fandom. Jayvik shippers outnumber Meljay 10 to 1 (rough estimate). If Jayvik fans used the Meljay tag to air out their issues with the ship it would absolutely be flooded with anti-Meljay content which would be irritating as hell.

Imagine opening the Jayvik tag and all the posts are about "why do people see them as a couple, they're brothers," "CL confirmed it's not real," "Jayvik doesn't make sense" - of course discourse is enjoyable but its tiring to constantly see your ship get dunked on, good intentions or not.

I have no issue with people posting things in the Meljay tag that I disagree with. The reason I found this post distasteful is that it read as shipper bait. And yes that was an assumption: but tone doesn't always carry over text and we're all bound to make assumptions about posts. You yourself assumed ppl who took issue with the tagging are hating on OP (And I appreciate you apologizing for being a little harsh). The good thing about online discourse is that we can ask for clarification and at least reach an understanding (like me and that other commenter did with OP).

It's not unreasonable to assume that an ambiguously worded post like this was something that didn't belong in the Meljay tag, for reasons I already discussed.

Fandom culture has changed a lot - I have consistently seen people emphasize that not all content related to a ship should be in the ship tag, especially when anti-tags exist.

Case in point: This is a post I made about why Jayce's affection for Viktor does not mean he doesn't also love Mel, and that it's possible to ship Jayvik without hating on Meljay. I was hoping this post would reach Jayvik shippers so I tagged it as such initially:

And this is a comment I received on that post.

This commenter and I actually ended up having a polite conversation about our takes which was nice. This person wasn't going out of their way to be aggressive- they were just put off by the tagging, and because I was courteous and removed the tag they were more open to having a civil debate. Which goes back to my other point- if people tagged the way your suggesting it would NOT be conducive to a nontoxic atmosphere. I'm not saying I agree with it or like it but that's just the reality of the situation.

I have seen many other comments like this pointing out issues with tagging. So I err on the side of caution.

If you disagree that's cool - just expect that people will point out what they see as tagging issues because fandom culture has shifted.

Wait a sec Mel can sense people’s emotions and has literally had her power since before she was born so the entire time she and Jayce were having sex she could tell he wanted to fuck Viktor and was just like “mm that’s kinda hot ngl”

[bitchy-peachy]

Tw: fucking profanity.

I swear I'm so tired of shitassed racist people on tiktok using this poor girl for their agenda bs. Her own family have told these assholes to fuck off using her this way.

Also love how she "cares" so much, she misspelled her name.

Her name was Laken Riley.

Her full name was Laken Hope Riley.

She was 22 and a nursing student before a degenerate male did... Well you know. (I hate this world sm. May she forever be in peace)

While my reply might mention white men as stats of higher crimes of this nature (sorry, guys. Its true) the truth is that crimes of these nature aren't about race at all, but about some men being pieces of shit that enjoy hurting others.

This isn't even political. It's a rot we have to deal with every day that can affect everyone, regardless of age, gender, race etc. Humans can be both a wonderful and terrible creation.

Conservatives wanna make her death an anti immigration point as if all immigrants are doing this daily.

Its a man thing, stupid assholes.

And it turns out that our biggest racial majority in the US are white people therefore most of the ones committing crimes against women will be white men due to population percentages.

Immigrants are such a small percentage and even a smaller percentage is committing crimes.

Conservatives love using the fear tactic of exaggerating issues of this nature by pretending it's a massive spread-about problem.

Republican politicians also have a history of grabbing on to any minority to fear-monger people into voting for them to "protect" them from this perceived threat.

I wish they'd leave this girl and her family alone. Cos her family is suffering.

I've lost relatives in terrible circumstances and the pain never goes away, so I imagine them finding people using her to be a racist pieces of shit (and also using her as an excuse to vote for Trump. Yes I've seen shit like this! People are so disgusting) is only hurting them more.

I kept quiet on it until now not outta apathy, but outta personal experience with grief.

Leave Laken Hope Riley alone and stop using her in your internet activism crap to attack everyone that isn't in your Trump cult.

You people look like soulless assholes.

Also if you're a man and are offended by me you might want to self reflect on why my comments upset you... Because I've talked to men that are just as angry as I am and they admit there's a serious issue that other men aren't taking as seriously as they'd wish.

The only men that would be upset are men that see themselves in these criminals.

[bunnyboy-juice]

NO MORE ASSOCIATING THINGS WITH FEMMES ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE PINK!HYPERFEM FEMMES ARE GREAT AND I LOVE YOU CAMPY FEMMES WHO EMBODY PINK BUT ALSO JESUS CHRIST CAN YOU GUYS NOT GO MORE THAN ONE DAY W/O TRYING TO SHOEHORN FEMMES INTO BEING ONLY PINK UWU BABIES. I AM FEMME AS IN GRASS AS IN DIRT AS IN TREE BARK AS IN WEEDS SPROUTING THROUGH THE SIDEWALK CEMENT. FEMME AS IN GENDER NONCONFORMITY AS IN FUCK YOU MY FEMININITY IS WHAT *I* SAY IT IS. FEMME AS IN DEPTH AND DARKNESS AND WARMTH AND TERROR. FEMME AS IN CAVES. FEMME AS IN LIGHTNING. FEMME AS IN AN AMALGAMATION OF TRAITS THAT I HAVE DECIDED ARE FEMININE REGARDLESS OF WHAT SOCIETY SAYS. FUCK IS IT THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND?!???

[judesstfrancis]

it's so funny bc u have horror directors saying their artwork could never be political bc horror is just mindless entertainment but like. historically horror has always been and will always be a reflection of society's fears. which inherently IS political. it's all a commentary even if it isn't. yes even your "stupid blood and gore movie." actually especially your stupid blood and gore movie. do u know how politically charged any slasher is. scream. nightmare on elm street. friday the thirteenth yes even up to and including the one where he's in space. even the stupidest brain dead slasher u can think of. even that one.

[okawarihappylife]

i am once again thinking abt the lost potential that is hypmic.

[give-me-one-good-reason]

I think I am so goddamn funny

[bibibbon]

Mel Medarda for the character bingo?

I wanna use this post to clarify that you can send me an ask about any character in a show that I have talked about here.

I have so many thoughts about mel she is my 4th favourite character in arcane!!!

I love her as a morally grey character. Her relationship with ambessa. The tragic fact that mel is similar to her mother ambessa drives me insane. The fact that mel does love her mother after all that happened and that ambessa also loves her daughter again drives me insane. The fact that it is implied that ambessa probably saw aspects of mel in caitlyns character drives me insane.

Mel's desire for legacy to put piltover on the map and for it to be great so she could prove her mother wrong, so she could gain the attention and even love of her mother again drives me insane. You can so heavily see how mel's noxus upbringing has affected her views and outlook on life. How she views relationships to be transactional and heavily conditional drives me up the walls. You see it in the way she interacts with people in season 1, how distant she seemed in the early acts, how she isn't depicted to have a close relationship with characters even elora and her relationship heavily remind me of what silco and sevika kinda had.

There's something really interesting in how that part of her that viewed relationships as transactional could have been fully unlearned in season 2. Jayce's relationship with mel is the first on-screen relationship that mel has that we get to see her open up about things, jayce is a catalyst for mel. The more she is with him, the more she unwinds, and we see more of her, we get to see past the richest person in piltover image that she has and we see the motives that she has.

Her view of relationships being transactional is a double-edged sword for her because it is tragic from a character perspective that she doesn't get to form deep connections. In a way, her view isolates her. I also think that it's a character flaw that she has. An empath who is almost afraid to connect to the people, almost avoiding her own calling?

Mel's view ends up interwoven into her political stance, which has its good and bad. She is a social engineer. She can easily get what she wants and would poltically manipulate the situation to achieve it. Her desire and ambitious drive for legacy end up contributing to the oppression of zaun (something that she, jayce, and partially viktor, share in common)

She like jayce and viktor are all ambitious, and its through that ambition, they are able to achieve 2 major things, which are the creation of hextech and zauns independence. I was quite annoyed with how her character was handled in season 2, especially because it ditched the political plot line, which is something that mel's character thrives off. I was expecting her to fully start to contrast her mother, to form a partnership with lest and through this partnership she starts to understand her own failures as a Councillor when it comes to the undercity.

Her interaction with lest was one of my favourites because it really did call out her flaw. You had lest confornt her and say "you're using me to get to her and then what? You take what you need and hang me out to dry?"

Also, I want to comment that I absolutely love the parallels mel has with characters like ambessa, caitlyn, jayce, and viktor.

I wanted mel to connect more to the undercity, and I did point out that she could do it with lest, but she also should have had interactions with viktor. Season 1 didn't show us much of the two, but I really did like their political disagreement and how the series depicts these two as foils. Mel and viktor foils can be interpreted in multiple ways. Personally, I interpret them in these two ways:

It's a heavy parallel into the similarities that mel and viktor have in terms of upbringing. Both zaun and noxus don't allow for one to be so hopeful, for one to have a childhood, both areas thrive on one having to climb and fight for power, to survive.

Through her foil with viktor, this is another way I see her connecting to zaun, taking up her responsibilities as a Councillor and contributing to breaking the cycle, becoming a symbol of progress trying to right her wrongs as a Councillor.

Her foil with viktor is also supposed to show the dual nature of magic. I hate the interpretation that natural magic is good and that hexcore magic is bad because it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The foil is supposed to show the duality of magic. How magic can be good and bad how it can benefit the people and harm them and I see this through both mel and viktors actions (aka they both represent that equilibrium both viktor and mel do good and bad instead of it being mel's magic = good viktor's = bad)

Again, I think another interesting aspect of mel is that she isn't someone who is willing to hold power directly.

I find this aspect of her really interesting because rather than seizing the power and choosing to do what she can and want with it, she usually just has other people seize it. This goes back to her forming transactional relationships that way. I think that this type of behaviour is due to her noxus upbringing how there always used to be a power struggle so she can now avoid this by hiding behind the throne and having power behind the throne instead of claiming it.

Her speech when she was a child explains who mel is as a character and who she ends up becoming. First before mel even says anything ambessa states that for mel to be the best version of herself she must be "both the fox and the wolf" and in the end mel is indeed both the fox and the wolf. It is her becoming that,that she is able to do what's right and kill her mother. Mel is versatile and you see it exactly with the way she utilises her own mage powers, the way that shield is used to both protect but also harm and with that mel unlike any other character represents a dual nature in herself which she fully gains after killing her mother.

Now let's talk about mel's own speech. "We should paint the walls in gold, import crystal chandeliers. Advisors will enter here, but the regent will have her own secret entrance. She should have a kind fat face, clever to mould her subjects but pliable so we can mould her."

Now, this quote to me is applicable to three characters. Mel, jayce, and caitlyn, and this all occurs in different concepts.

This is applicable to mel, especially the we should paint the walls gold. Something something in the face of horror, mel tries to hide herself and, by extension, piltover and zaun by painting herself and piltover gold. Gold is the main colour for mel, piltover, and the council.

By extension, this speech also has the ability to apply to jayce and what mel wanted him to be(in the beginning, her views change, and that's so important). She builds up jayce as the veto head of the council. Jayce is charming. He was able to somehow sway the council to get a uniamious vote to kick heimerdinger out when he was just hated for tackling the corruption in the council days or even weeks prior. The man of progress funnily enough is someone who has the ability heavily influence individuals through his actions but is also someone who is heavily infulenced which is really interesting because between mel and jayce this ends up being a relationship of the two heavily changing and influencing eachother for better or for worse.

Now, (ambessa and mel parallels) this speech again applies to caitlyn. While mel heavily applies this speech to jayce, ambessa heavily applies this speech to caitlyn. Giving caitlyn power in season 2, teaching her how to fight, manipulating, and guiding caitlyn. All of this is something that ambessa does but slowly she starts to be somewhat changed by caitlyn as she sees aspects of mel in caitlyn herself it's why ambessa's right hand man says that ambessa will feel betrayed by what caitlyn has done.

I think that one of the reasons why mel is backing up caitlyn in the final fight with ambessa is to represent mel's growth as a character. This, in my opinion, is supposed to be a full circle moment for mel as she fully deviates from the path she was set on and ends up with new found understanding fighting for what's right.

Finally, mel and jayce are a tragedy. I will say it's an interesting dynamic with various nuances. They both represent very interesting things to one another. For mel, jayce is a catalyst. He is a symbol of revolution, and he is someone who changes her for better or for worse. Essentially, these two characters have very quick and intersecting paths. Season 1 they may have not had many similarities with mel sharing her past of how she is an exile from noxus, but jayce failing to connect with her even with him, almost being an exile from piltover. Season 2 has them have very direct parallels (could have been more direct had they not dropped their political plot line), with both of them experiencing horror of magic but coming out of it as two very different people. Mels own experiences cause for her to be eager to open up, I imagine that during her kidnapping arc she only had her memories to anchor her and keep her sane (ended up doing the opposite for jayce) she saw a better path but also felt saddled by the revelation of her being a mage.

Her arc with jayce was intriguing to me, especially because I interpret it as a tragedy, and I also interpret them as having broken up after this point in the show. I wanna clarify that breakups aren't always because people fall out of love, I think they still held affection and care for another. You see it in their final scene. You see, their whole reason their argument is so heated is because they held that trust and care that they both felt was betrayed by the other. I think that their paths diverged and that's normal and also I genuinely feel like jayce wouldn't have lived long anyways after coming back from that universe because I think he was dying from that infection and no one can convince me otherwise.

(I am not gonna get into their argument or the other things because I think others have covered that and I think their arcs not having the political plot line that they were supposed to have left that "investment" type of confrontation very underwhelming for both characters in term of their change and growth)

In the end, I am pissed that they dropped the politics plot line for her and that they also made her all alone. I am so sorry, but they shouldn't have killed elora, and we should have seen her form other relationships with lest and other characters. I get a huge part of her character is supposed to be a tragedy, but Gosh, did they fumble so badly.

[hermitcraftx]

just got a dm abt one of my posts and y'all please don't try and show the hermits (or any minecraft youtuber or content creator for that matter) my posts, i'm uncomfortable with it and don't want any of my posts shown to a cc. if they stumble upon it naturally that's unfortunate but i can live with it since i do maintag a lot (something i REALLY need to stop doing tbh i already know i need to make a tagging system just for my blog that wont clog results) but going out of ur way to show a cc is entirely different and something i am not comfortable with.

no hate to the person at all but even if i wasn't a little silly and weird with it sometimes i wouldn't be comfortable with it, i want my blog to be a purely fandom only space with none of the creators involved <3 please respect this

[maulfucker]

Yeah yeah jedi Maul au we've all seen him. But what about senator Maul au. Representing Dathomir, a neutral world like Mandalore that is still somewhat hostile to outsiders. Wearing fancy clothes that show a bit too much skin for the cold climate of Coruscant. Falling in hate at first sight with Padmé, the only other senator who brings a gun to the senate floor "just in case". The two of them having a weird rivalry because Maul doesn't trust the Jedi and is neutral in a lot of subjects that Padmé is a vocal defender of.

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF PRIORITY: TUCHANKA (PART 1)

Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Urdnot Wrex, and Urdnot Bakara With: Dr. Mordin Solus, Primarch Adrien Victus, Dalatrass Linron, Urdnot Wreav, and Comm. Specialist Samantha Traynor This will be the defining moment of Krogan history... Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)

[jackals-ships]

jackal callin them Mr. Ampora and Mr. Makara bc they feel Fuckin Weird using their titles as names but by GOD they're not gonna use first names. rotates them again,

[robots-are-kinda-hot]

…so. my republican mom and grandma just voted red. any americans wanna help counter their votes?

[ivalice-tifalucis]

Gosh, I know the drama about Lea Michele and Glee and then the drama surrounding Funny Girl revival which is such a hot mess. Beanie Feldstein shouldn't have gotten the job but nepo baby everyone!!!! Everyone raging over eventual Lea Michele casting is also woww especially because the Glee behind the scene problem was still quite fresh on public's minds.

After watching POTO then I also know Ramin is the male lead. Man, I keep gasping and wtf-ing watching the recap of the drama (as in the drama surrounding not the musical itself) on youtube videos and then reading through comments and threads on reddit. I feel slightly bad that people especially on reddit were gossiping everything about Funny Girl and they open every Ramin's cards there including the Rierra thingy which I honestly wanna know more and now I sort of know more but at what cost (sigh). I still have so many questions though but I don't know who to ask or even to talk about Rierra. Ugh, Amber Ardolino for fucks sake, I know she's an influencer but of all pics she could use as her pfp it's gotta be when she watched Harmony...haaa ofc. No wonder he took the Italy job, good for him. He looked so knackered.

I'm glad at least now it's over by the time I arrive to the fandom. He got booked af too, maybe thanks to this(?). Also, this is why you don't ship real person (but I already did anyway, several times hehe).

Rierra...ugh, I give up. I need someone to talk to. Please!!! What the hell is going on??? This is beyond the "shippers are crazy and things got blown out of proportion" problem because I've been in situation where I am the crazy shipper (and later realize it), I've also seen people crack shipping real people to disturbing level, I've shipped RP and saw it crumbling before my eyes too, and then I also in the position where I feel vindicated that my RP ship is real and going stronger and stronger whether it's right in my face or through something cryptical or easy to miss unless you look deeper. This is something different.

[katabay]

Do you have specific fiction authors that you like to read? What aspects of a story make you want to really dig your fingers in it? Is it horror?

I’ve got a couple! Keigo Higashino for sure. anything Naoki Urasawa does: I will be reading it. Priest (Guardian and Mo Du are all time favorites). also KJ Charles and Andrew A Smith!

ngl I don’t really have a concrete list of favorite fiction writers, I spent several days thinking about this one: like, I have favorite books for sure, but I don’t often find myself considering an author to be a favorite just because their book blew my mind. I’ve only read three of Andrew A Smith’s works, but he’s here because he gave an interview years that changed my entire approach to storytelling, and I still revisit it whenever I start editing a story.

honestly the big thing is that I like character!! I like compelling characters (extremely varied definition of compelling, it doesn’t have to be much, but it does have to have something) I like it when something goes full throttle into whatever it wants to be. I’ll watch a slow paced slice of life romance with the same amount of enthusiasm that I had for Devil Judge, and the 1vs10 beat down in Ipman takes up just as much space in my brain as the ‘let’s not see each other from now on,’ breakup in the Heirs (but for extremely different reasons lmao)

however. if I have to pick something more thematically specific: I like seeing people in power get what they have coming to them, I like explorations and confrontations of political and social injustices. kingdom is one of my favorite shows, and the horror is great, but it was the political-class-power aspect of it that solidified it as a memorable watch to me. kamen rider build did something fundamental to the circuitry of my brain. etc.

[moe-broey]

I am a normal man who is obsessed with Alfonse Fire Emblem. Come closer -- wait nevermind don't worry about it 🧍👍