#our ekko will eventually find his jinx again

[melina-mellow]

"Ekko would have never loved Jinx, as much as he did Powder"

See this is where you're wrong.

He loves her.

It didn't matter if she was Jinx or Powder...he never stopped loving her...no matter how many times he tried to convince himself otherwise.

No matter how many times they were on opposite sides.

Even though he gave up on her....

He would always love her.

[questionablecuttlefish]

Okay Fine Let's Talk Timebomb and Season Two.

I do want to talk about this because I have a Lot of thoughts and feelings and it has been building up and building up, not only based on what's happening in other social spaces, but what people keep bringing into mine despite my best efforts to avoid it.

This isn't any kind of hatepost, I don't think I could hate Ekko or the ship if I tried, I just want to explain my very mixed feelings about the whole thing.

My likely-to-be-very unpopular take on Season Two's Timebomb romance is that it left me feeling uneasy and uncomfortable.

Not with what was in the show itself, I feel like that was perfect. Powder and Ekko sold me completely. They made me feel things. I even liked how Ekko and Jinx's story ended. I think it was beautiful, poignant, perfect...

...until.

'The Discourse' since, the way the fan culture has exploded around it, and particularly some of the creators' commentary on it, has made me sour on the whole thing.

It feels like I'm suddenly part of an increasingly small subset of people who saw what they did with S2 Timebomb and applied our media literacy to what was on our screens and got something very different to what the fandom consensus seems to be.

For context, I semi-shipped TB before this. Though I've always been Team Lightcannon, I had a lot of respect for timebomb, I understood it, I had read a few very good fics, I was just in the space of "Jinx has hurt Ekko too much for him to ever fully forgive her for murdering his friends, they might come to an understanding, and there will always be a silent undercurrent of love beneath the hurt, they may fight together on the same side again someday, but whatever bond they had as kids is broken and they can't go back, and both know it."

I respected, and still do, people who shipped them romantically, but I've always seen them as a broken childhood friendship being a much more interesting dynamic, and being hot for each other lessening that to an extent and not really adding anything to it.

All of his interactions with Jinx in season one are violent; she murders five Firelights point-blank in front of him in her intro scene, and Ekko reacts particularly upset to the pink-haired girl, Eve or Eva, whom Jinx shoots in the back. It's clear this isn't even the first time she's fought them. We don't know how many of Ekko's found family she's put on the Memorial Wall or how close he was with any of them.

Ekko is clearly convinced that "Powder" is gone, and the person who replaced her is a cold-blooded killer who can't be reasoned with. Leading to the Bridge confrontation, and this:

This is the first time Ekko catches a glimpse of "Powder", yes, but more importantly, this is the first moment he recognizes Jinx's humanity. He's hurting her, killing her, and he can't do it.

....and she knows he can't do it.

So, to save him the weight, she pulls a grenade, with the intent to kill them both, foreshadowing quite neatly where Ekko/Jinx (but not Ekko/Powder) is going to go in S2.

Fast forwarding from Season One here, Ekko disappears for 2/3rds of the second season, completely offscreen.

When we catch up with him he's woken up in the S2E7 AU; the Powder Timeline.

Here's where I start to get a little confused by the fandom take. Because, you know, I've seen enough Star Trek and Stargate and Supernatural and Batman the Animated Series and Quantum Leap to know exactly what this is.

This is the 'bottle episode', this is the 'Perfect World' trope, where the protagonists find themselves in an alternate universe - or trapped in a dream - or they've died or think they've died and this is their 'heaven' - where they have everything they ever wanted.

This is familiar storytelling and E2 follows a familiar pattern, the protagonist struggles to adapt to the surreal new circumstances, they are seduced by the illusion, particularly falling in love with someone in the Perfect World, but eventually, they start noticing something incongruous - something isn't quite right - (In this case, it's Vi's death, and Powder holding back her genius and hiding her grief to be support girl for others) - that reveals the Perfect World to be not as perfect as it seems.

And the hero has to choose to go home, because he realizes that this isn't real, it doesn't belong to him, he doesn't belong here.

Which is exactly what happens with Ekko in E7.

Which brings is to AU!Powder and Jinx.

And here's where I really start to struggle with the seeming consensus that the romance between Ekko/Powder automatically leads to Ekko/Jinx, like you can just transfer the one to the other.

I'm sorry, fam, I thought my basic media literacy was telling me that this girl:

Is not the same person as this girl:

....and I am not getting into any debate about "Jinx" vs "Powder" as identities within our current Jinx. I'm talking about Powder in the E7 AU.

AU!Powder is literally a different human being.

She may have been the same person up until the explosion in Jayce's laboratory, but from that fork in the timeline, she becomes a FUNDAMENTALLY different person to Jinx, shaped by different experiences, different relationships, different life events.

Powder's physicality with Ekko, as you can see in those GIFs, the casual intimacy, the clear affection, the way she touches him, looks at him, her awareness of him in her space, is so utterly opposite to the way Jinx interacts with him that if anything, it nailed home to me how savagely absent this kind of feeling is from his relationship with Jinx.

Powder loves Ekko. She leans on him, snuggles into him, touches his hands, dances with him, kisses him.

Jinx cares so little about him she barely makes eye contact and would casually kill him without blinking.

And I thought that was the point.

I really thought that was the whole point of E7. Being in the perfect world, getting his perfect love story with his perfect Powder, the girl Jinx could have been, but can never be, drove home for Ekko that his feelings for Jinx, both romantic and resentful, were tangled up in his illusions of "Powder", and it took living those illusions as a physical reality for Ekko to see his mistake.

To be true to himself, and true to her, Ekko had to let that go and go home.

To face his world's Jinx, and be there for her in her darkest moment, even if it meant giving up the love he'd found with Powder, a love that belonged to a different Ekko, for someone who could never love him back.

To me that was Ekko's most heroic moment, an act of selfless sacrifice. But that's what it was - a sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Season Two Jinx is not aware of any of this. The last time she saw Ekko was on the bridge where she nearly killed him, and for all we know she might have thought she succeeded.

She never talks about, thinks about, refers to, or even has scribble-nightmares about Ekko, not even once.

Season Two Jinx is, instead, having a love story of her own.

And Isha was and is a PUZZLE to me. Because she's more plot device than character, she isn't necessary except as a way to give Jinx a villain-to-hero arc and a way to reconnect to her humanity.

But she could have been Ekko.

If they really, really wanted us to have Timebomb Canon, instead of confining the entire arc to a bottle episode in an alternate timeline with a literally, physically different girl, they could easily have given all of Isha's considerable screentime to an Ekko and Jinx romance.

I'm sure Amanda Overton would have been on board with that. But that's not what we got. It's almost like reading two different fix-it-fanfics for the same character, put into the same show and running in parallel.

I'm not crazy, this is what's happening for Ekko in s2;

While this is happening for Jinx at the same time.

But Jinx's love story, too, ends with a tragic sacrifice.

And here's where the two stories finally intersect.

When Jinx is in her darkest moment, her absolute rock bottom, Ekko comes back into her life, a miracle, impossible, a Boy Savior.

But she's still ready to kill him.

Because she didn't dance with Ekko. She didn't invent a time machine with him. She didn't sit and watch the city lights with him and share a tender kiss and a heartfelt gift.

That was Powder.

Jinx and Ekko are resuming right where they left off on the bridge, right back to "I pull this pin and we both blow up".

They've both loved and lost, but their stories are absolutely unknown to each other. Ekko Doesn't Know About Isha. Jinx Doesn't Know About Powder.

It's only when Jinx (a genius, a reminder here) sees monkeys of her own design inside the Z-drive - recognizes her own handiwork, but knows SHE didn't make those - that, I think, sheer curiosity stirs her out of her darkness.

She has to know what that was about. She hesitates, just long enough for Ekko to speak. And, though offscreen, he tells her his story, and maybe she tells him hers.

And it's enough, just enough, to set Jinx back on her Redemption Arc, to become the hero Isha always saw in her.

Maybe even the hero Vi and Ekko saw in her, too. Her new costume is full of references to all of the people in her life who never gave up on her.

(side note, the yellow stars and crowns puzzle me, though - they're quite prominent, but who are THEY for? Isha? Maybe? Yellow isn't a color associated with anyone in Jinx's life, but that crown's identical to the one she scribbled on Demacia in Fortiche's map, is... this a very subtle future Lightcannon tease? Nah. I'm not that crazy.)

I mean her costume is also almost literally both a Fishbones and a Fiddlesticks cosplay, with her hair as Fiddle's tongue, so take from that what you will.

It's clear Jinx and Ekko war painted each other for the battle, but the Firelights are also similarly painted up, and (with Linke even confirming this) there really wasn't time to develop anything else, guys.

And I am, honestly, fundamentally angry at anyone who would suggest that, even if she'd been in any space to want it, our boy Ekko, one of the most genuinely good men in recent fiction let alone in Arcane, would take advantage of a girl he just talked out of suicide.

Moving on. During the battle, Ekko is knocked out and lying not far from Jinx. She doesn't even look at him, she leaps up to defend Vi instead.

And that's their final interaction on the show.

Instead of returning to Ekko, Jinx chooses one final act of sacrifice.

Ekko's final shot of the show is this.

He's sitting, alone, burning a mourning paper, where he sat with AU!Powder - where he and AU!Powder kissed - a place that has no significance to himself and Jinx, whatsoever.

It's little wonder who he's thinking about here, and which name he's burning on that paper. The girl he truly loved and lost.

For all he knows, Jinx is dead. But it's not only her he's mourning.

Or maybe he does know, or suspect, she's alive.

But either way, he's making one final act of sacrifice, too, with that paper burning into the breeze.

He's letting her go.

He's choosing his own story.

He's staying where he belongs.

Jinx may have become a symbol of the revolution, but it's Ekko who is, and always will be, the true hero of Zaun.

And this is Jinx's final shot.

Because let's face it, we all know she's on that airship.

She's "breaking the cycle". She's "walking away". She knows that Jinx has left too many scars on the people she still loves - on Vi, on Ekko, on the cities of Piltover and Zaun - for her to pick up the pieces.

She knows that if she's going to find out what "Jinx" might stand for now, she has to go very far away from everything and everyone. She has to leave it all behind and find something new.

Maybe even someone new?

And ultimately, that's why I feel the Timebomb we got was perfect, they shouldn't touch it, they shouldn't try to force it to be "Endgame", not because it couldn't have worked, but because that's the opposite of the story they told.

For the rest of my analysis, lol, this got a bit long but i have FEELINGS.

Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't buy Jinx and Ekko as a love story if they had actually told that love story. But they didn't. It had no screen time. They have less interactions in S2, maybe even in both seasons added up, than Vi and Loris. Let that sink in a bit.

We know it's Amanda's favorite ship, so she may have intended more, and may even actually give us all more at some point, but please, dear god, let's stop pretending they fucked or kissed or even held hands offscreen.

That's honestly a bit insulting to both of these characters, to insist hell or high water that this very important milestone in their relationship happened, but they just didn't even bother to depict it. That an entire love story (because it would be a whole one, remember, Ekko and Powder had a romance but Jinx did not experience any of that, she and Ekko are back at Square One) would just be cut for time.

They both deserve better than that.

Let's stop pretending there was some grand, horny, Forever Love story with 60 minutes of cut footage, all of it timebomb content, somehow left on the cutting room floor of an animated show where every single frame has to be deliberately hand painted.

Because if in some insane universe they had written, storyboarded, voice acted and animated an entire 60 minute additional timebomb storyline and then cut it from the show, that would itself be a searing indictment of the quality of the storytelling in that imagined arc, but that's not what happened. Anyone who knows how filmmaking works would shoot this one down, and the showrunners already have, so let's leave it behind.

I know Timebomb blew up hard, and I get it, but what we got on the screen is not confirmation that there is any relationship at all between Ekko and Current Timeline Jinx. If anything, Ekko and Powder's beautiful romance only highlighted the tragic 'never to be' of Ekko and Jinx.

And it's absolutely fine to look at the art book, look at the creator comments, and imagine what could have been. Draw the fan art, write the fanfic, imagine the what-ifs and the fix-its, those are all beautiful and valid expressions and deserve their space.

But don't go insisting it's "the canon" and going after the shippers of other ships for these characters as "not canon" or somehow offensive for existing, especially toward one particular ship that, yes, has been around much longer than timebomb, is uncool.

I think this is mostly people who are New From Arcane, it's Baby's First Ship and they don't know how to share space. The timebomb fans I knew pre-season two didn't do this, at least not often enough for me to notice or care.

But I'll just say to them, if a Timebomb follow up happens and they actually tell a good love story for Ekko and Jinx, I will accept it. Grudgingly, because I think Lux/Jinx is an untold, untapped story full of incredible character dynamics that would complete Jinx's story in ways that as much as I love Ekko, he's too tied to her past, he can't.

But I love Ekko, and I love Jinx, and I will accept it.

But I'll also say to them, if the followup doesn't eventuate, if things take a turn they don't expect, if Jinx's airship is heading for Demacia, maybe they'll have to experience just a taste of what it's been like for Lightcannon fans for ten long years.

And maybe that's healthy. Maybe that's okay. Maybe our endgames don't need to be 'canon' to have value and that's a lesson we should learn.

Maybe there's a new Light on her horizon, and that's okay too. Maybe Ekko won't be alone forever. Don't forget - until Arcane - his story had nothing to do with Jinx, and there was a whole lot of it.

More with the Firelights, maybe bring in the original Lost Children of Zaun from his old stories, his inventions, his parents, all could yet be in his future. Who knows? He might find a way back to AU!Powder - or she might rebuild what they worked on together, and come to him, no matter what butterfly effects that could set in motion...

But if Jinx is heading for a Light on her horizon, maybe Ekko might Explore some of his possibilities. Find a new Spark of connection. Just saying. Jinx isn't his only ship, either 😌

And it is okay for people to move on, and let go. Maybe, for two characters whose themes are letting go of the past, living in the moment, redefining their identities, and moving on, that's what their story should be.

[bitchface24-7]

Could you do part 2 of Yanderes Viktor and Jayce, please... What would it be like if the reader chose one of the boys to follow?

(Maybe you could do what it would be like for each route, for Yanderes Jayce and Viktor)

THE CHOICE IS NO LONGER YOURS PT 2 - VIKTOR X READER | JAYCE X READER

synopsis: you couldn't choose who to side with, so they decided for you. Here are the routes if you went with either Viktor or Jayce. Hopefully, everything goes well…

warnings: yandere V + J, possession, obsession, suggestiveness, angst, Grammarly is my beta

genre: m/f or m/m

p.s. this is pt2 to “It’s time to choose…” but I wanted to name it something different that still applies to the first fic. Thisll be under pt1 in my masterlist. Hope y'all enjoy our boys being unhinged for us!

PART 1

VIKTOR X READER

You don't know who to choose, so they choose for you.

Viktor takes one of your hands and leads you out the lab as you look back and see an enraged Jayce watching you two. His jaw is clenched and his fists are shaking at his side.

Viktor just continues to walk, ignoring everything around him but you. He ignored the people in the academy, the people out and about in Piltover, and walks down to Zaun.

He heals Huck, he becomes a well-known miracle, a desperate plea many have prayed for. He heals the land, builds a forge, and a commune. He becomes a messiah. He becomes the Herald.

And you're right there by his side. You're his. His right hand, his partner, his heart. Everyone knows not to mess with you. You're essentially royalty to the commune.

You help Viktor keep his humanity, your very presence fights back against the arcane. The arcane whispers to Viktor to be rid of you, he’ll never listen to it.

You're his and his alone, nothing will change his mind.

He cares for you, loves you, and worships you. He's unbelievably perfect. Sometimes you miss Jayce, and you tell Viktor. He always grimaces and looks upset, but he admits the same.

Vi, Jinx, Isha, and Vander show up for some healing, it almost works. Then everything kind of goes wrong. You fight, you live, your life continues on.

The two of you are quite happy at the commune, until Jayce shows up to kill Viktor.

You won't let that happen.

He's yours, and you're his.

JAYCE X READER

You don't know who to choose, so they choose for you.

Jayce's arm wraps around your waist as Viktor leaves solemnly. You ache to reach out and grab him, force him to stay; but Jayce's grip on you is too tight.

The two of you are despondent as you watch Viktor’s frame exits into the darkness of the unknown.

The two of you have work to do.

You aimlessly search and research into the arcane. You try your best to find the answers you are desperately seeking.

You don't find it.

Then you go on a wild goose chase with Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger, getting touched by the arcane, and you all split up.

Ekko and Heimerdinger are no where to be found as you and Jayce are transported to a post-apocalyptic version of Piltover.

Its horrifying, terrifying. The humanoid monsters, the wasteland that was once the city of progress. You're not sure how it happened, everything was happening to fast for you to process anything; but you both fall into a cave of a canyon. Two massive rock walls surrounding you, and the only way to escape is up.

Jayce cushioned your fall, and his hammer broke his leg. You try your best to care for him, but there aren’t many supplies you can use.

The two of you get extremely close. Huddling for warmth alongside the fire, tending to his leg and helping him destroy his hammer to make a brace, carving on the wall as you feel like you’re losing your mind, crying together.

Eventually the two of you slowly climb the rocks, helping each other out to the best of your abilities. The two of come across a stone figure that looks eerily familiar, and a mage that shares a face with a man you thought you’d never see again.

He tells you that in all timelines, and all possibilities, only we could show him this. And that we must stop him.

We must kill him.

The stone figure gives Jayce a modified version of his hammer, and you’re sent back to your timeline.

Your bond is intrinsic, unshakeable. But the two of you hesitate to harm Viktor. He’s changed, but he’s still your partner.

You’ll stick by Jayce no matter what, but you can’t be there when he kills Viktor. You almost lost Jayce and freaked out, you don’t know what you’ll do if you see a friend die.

But you’re Jayce’s rock, his pillar, his shield. You’ll be there to pick the broken pieces up.

He’s yours, and you’re his.

Jayce’s is longer accidentally. I did just post about herald Viktor x reader and I guess my brain went “i don’t think many people want to read the same thing twice.” So yeah… hope y’all enjoyed this pt2!! ❤️❤️

[modernmessydisaster]

Pre-Arcane S2 Act 3 Thoughts

Here I am again! Here are my predictions for Act 3! Just making them quick since I had a very very long day!

Was gonna post this yesterday, but I fell asleep! So posting it on the morning of!

EP 7 or EP 8

This has to be the episode about what happened to Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger! Hopefully, it will be a split focus on Jayce & Ekko.

Jayce, in the future, seeing the horrors of Viktor's cult. Surviving and finding a way back or someone/something sent him back. Maybe it was Viktor? Or what was left of Viktor after being possessed by the Void/Hexcore? Maybe future Viktor was the one to ask Jayce to kill him. (Not my ship, but love the doomed yaoi they are)

Ekko & Heimerdinger are in the past, maybe they see the Rune Wars? ( I do not know the game lore) or they could be in the future with Jayce but at different locations, but I doubt it.

Maybe a few glimpses of Mel & the Black Rose? Maybe the apocalyptic future involves Noxus & Black Rose?

Episode ending with Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger going back to the present. Maybe even Jayce's POV of EP 6

(Almost forgot, I wanna say alternate realities? Dictator Jayce possessing Our Jayce!? Since ya know the Multiverse is all the rage these days)

■■■

EP 8

This is the episode of the aftermath of Ep 6. Beginning with Vi & Caitlyn, probably another time skip? Vi & Cait repairing their relationship. There are probably still some fights, but they eventually make up.

BUT, they got alot on their plate. Jayce is not OK. Ambessa has made her base in Zaun? And is planning an attack on Piltover. Probably even tried to get Jayce on her side, that did not work. (Dictator Jayce, lol imagine)

Maybe even Jinx's fate, as in Vi telling Cait that killing Jinx won't bring back her mother. That Jinx isn't the monster Cait has made her out to be. CAITVI SEX!? :D

The effects of Ambessa using Zaun as a base. The people of Zaun losing hope in Jinx, she's even more absent. And with Noxus soldiers everywhere, they are quickly losing hope. UNTIL FINALLY, they listen to Sevika. She rallies the people of Zaun not to fight for a person, Vander, Silco, or Jinx but for themselves! Revolutionary Leader Sevika! Maybe wearing Silco's jacket?

The episode ending with Jinx. How she's taken over the Last Drop and how cold & dead it has become. We see Jinx at her lowest, the return of the hallucinations. Them bigger & louder. Maybe she's even wearing Slico's jacket, old or young. Still hoping for Supportive Slico Hallucination!

Jinx is on the brink of ending it all, Vi probably tried talking to her about helping the fight against Ambessa, probably Sevika too. Which Jinx rejected. (Maybe that's why Sevika tries again to rally the people by herself again) Jinx probably has planned to burn down the Last Drop and herself with it. But either Silco or Isha hallucination stops her. IDK, how Jinx gets out of her grief, maybe Vi? Remembering Isha wanted her to be a hero, maybe thinking dying as one is the best way. MAYBE EKKO BRINGS HER OUT OF IT?

Either way, Jinx does her makeover, cutting her hair, new outfit. She gets ready to fight one last time. Burning down the Last Drop and saying she'll meet them soon (Silco & Isha)

□□□

EP 8

The big fight! All the storyline together! Jinx & Sevika with the people of Zaun. Cait & Vi with the Enforcers. Ekko and his fireflies.

As we saw in the trailer, Noxus soldiers injected with Shimmer and probably Vander's Blood? Either way, our heros win!

Honestly, I don't know how this is going to go. Just that Jinx doesn't die, again. She hates that she can't die, maybe Janna even appears to Jinx in a vision? Either way, Jinx finds a reason to live again but decides she's done with Zaun & Piltover and says bye to Vi & Ekko jumping through her own made HexPortal.

Jayce & Viktor having a fight, probably a conversation between Viktor & Heimerdinger? Either way, Jayce & Viktor fight inside their lab and destroy everything. We get flashbacks to when they were younger, working together on projects. When they were still friends & partners.

Maybe even Viktor also leaves Piltover & Zaun?

IDK IDK

□□□

Quick thoughts that I wasn't sure where to put:

Vander/Warwick is alive but being used by Singed to juice up the Noxus Soldiers. Probably more Warwick than Vander, Vi & Jinx think he's dead.

A new council for Piltover & Zaun, Cait, Vi, Ekko, Sevika, Heimerdinger? As possible chairs

Mel is back in EP 7 or 8, again. She awakened her powers. I'm still on that she's Death Champion or something similar. Also her & Jayce kinda break up or not?

Ambessa dying, the Black Rose did it. It's probably during the last battle. Mel also leaves, going to Noxus and becoming the head of her family, Medarda Clan. Planning her own battle against them.

Singed going back go Zaun and curing Orianna? Making her into the champion we see in League?

ONE LAST JINX & VIKTOR MEETING, saw a theory of Jinx helping cocoon Viktor, and probably not but I CAN DREAM

Jayce meeting the mage who saved him as a child again, Ryze? Viktor? Maybe Jayce himself!?

Maybe ship confirmations? Ekko/Jinx? Jayce/Viktor? Truthfully, I don't care for either but hey it would be a win for their fans, and we need any win in these dark times

Ok that's it, I can't wait anymore. I gotta go watch Act 3 now! Ahhhhhh, me after I watch Act 3:

PLEASE LET JINX BE OK, SHES MY FAV SO SHE HAS TO HAVE SOMEWHAT OF A HAPPY ENDING

THE SAME FOR VIKTOR

[idkwhatimdoingbutslay]

ARCANE REWATCH LETS GO: ACT I

(Note rambles up ahead)

Some of the greatest sibling representation I’ve seen. These kids are amazing. With just a few lines, everything just clicks. Their circumstances, their position between each other, the dynamics. Just something about it all works so well. 

I LOVE how sunlight looks in this show GOSH

And the colour blue immediately standing out is great foreshadowing. You see it already in the cold opening with Powder’s hair and then again and again with her hair AND the hex crystals. 

Jayce having those hex crystals just sitting around this guy 😭

How were all of these enforcers so slow. I’m surprised there were no citizens trying to get in on the fun but also not at all. Living in their own bubble with the dutiful enforcers as protectors and heroes. 

I love how movement looks in this show. So fluid. 

I miss you Claggor and Mylo :(

“Trouble finds you” me when fate in Arcane :((((

GET ‘EMMMMMM

Fortiche x Saliva and Blood they could never make me hate you

THE SCOREEEE DAMNNNN. You don’t notice it until it’s super obvious, the only way a score should be. 

Where the gang got beat up is so abandoned. Considering how Piltover is built, I wonder who lives there

A nail bomb is still insane. 

To think I really thought on my first watch that they’d dive in to get the bag back :(

JINX FIRST MENTION

WHO TOLD WHAT WAS DOWN HEREEEE COME ALONG IF YOU WANTED A PEAKKKK

Wow remember when Vi’s self regulation was kind of good?

I LOVE the design of the Undercity. Its rough, mishmash landscape coated in green in comparison to the sunlight and blues and golds of Topside. 

HEYYY BABETTE

VANDER!

omg the ponytail on huck :(to think where it ends up)

Why is this man Australian 😭

Vander really had ride or dies ……

Vander you’re a father!!!!!!!!!

Vander aligning himself with Vi :( they are soooo riddled with guilt omg

The way the colour blue is used in this show is perfect. Blue is supposed to be a sign of life, full of beauty, but it’s so foreboding. 

BABY EKKO HEYYY KINGGGG

Claggor they robbed me of you 

What did Grayson even see in Marcus, I don’t understand? I don’t care how much of an obligation her felt for Piltover, it’s so obviously built on his disdain for the Undercity

Grayson and Vander are NOT in the same boat. Stop trynna do that

Blue is back in Silco’s lair

Wow his intro is perfection

BABY CAITLYN

What was Jayce even getting in the Undercity ??

Wouldn’t mind a little more on Jayce’s backstory tbh 

The fact that Jayce has a confirmed hyper fixation of rocks is great. 

Never ever get catch me skipping this intro!!!!

Oh do I love a good conundrum! Stfu Heimerdogger 😭

Richest person in Piltover but the poorest Medarda……….. Capitalism and elitism is one hell of a drug

KIRAMMANS!!!!! I love that Caitlyn is even involved in the conversation with her parents regarding Jayce and that her input is valued. Her parents knew how smart she was, but eventually it stopped being very beneficial to Cass. Her smarts put her and their system in danger. 

Tobias calling Cass darling 🤭🤭🤭

Hi Sevika ✊🏾

I love the councilor’s designs I really do :( you’d think that Cassandra is the most boring looking, but there’s something so classic about her look. 

The way the councilors are judge, jury and executioner 

“If we condone this, what’s next” this mentally in Act I is soooo frustrating. 

I don’t completely hate Heimerdinger’s view on magic cuz he’s objectively right, but, again, the council is wayyyy too concerned about protecting their little bubble. What is REAL progress? Can we sacrifice real progress for comfort? No, not at all. And so much power is ALREADY in the wrong hands. Him and his peers’ hands. 

Piltover is way too quick in condemnation I have no idea how they function like that

The spit that comes out when Silco says “Power” during his speech to Deckard… I hate this show 😭

Not me feeling sorry for Jayce. Rip. 

The our love scene is so…….. like this song should NOT BE HERE

“You’ve got a good heart” speech. KILL ME

“I’m guessing that’s for me” Grayson says about Vi……. Yeah I hate that. Vi isn’t cargo or product she’s a suffering child

Vander and Vi are wayyyyyyy to similar I hate their screwed up, self sacrificial, altruism in these awful circumstances 

The way people just…. Die in this show. Such a heavy consequence and there isn’t even anything crazy dramatic about it all. Benzo and Grayson are just gone… No coming back. But Grayson’s death is still baffling to me. All Topside seems to ever want is condemnation and yet their sheriff dies and there doesn’t seem to be a massive uproar? We need to see what happens during the time jump :(((((

Now look what you’ve done Marcus 😭 All for what? Marcus get a grip challenge

Jayce and Viktor are at it!!!!! Her kings!!!!!!

Silco saying he doesn’t want to win in the war, he just wants to scare Piltover and earn respect. Like come on, this isn’t about anybody else but himself and his own gain! It was not about the Undercity being able to thrive, it was about the Undercity functioning under his control without Topside interference. He wanted to replace topside, not dismantle the system. The writing for him is very good

Need to understand the different regions of both Topside and the Undercity

Damn does this show know how to age characters. 

Shimmer is such a stupid name 😭 Hextech isn’t all that good either

MEL JAYCE AND VIKTOR ULTIMATE TRIO

“Land of progress, equality, innovation” EAT MY CHEEKS! Jayce’s naivety I don’t entirely hate but damn is it frustrating. 

Og fight between big tattoo guy and Vi ����🏾

Wow I HATE this episode. The insane foreboding feeling is just so overwhelming like I’m actually going to be sick

Claggor and Mylo are so similar to Silco and Vander I think. 

A little confused on how deckard kind just went back to normal after taking shimmer. How does the body bounce back like that? Especially in its unstable form?

The way everything is just going right, I HATEEEEEE THIS SHOWWWW

Learning to love the Hextech plot line, it’s very fun with some great character dynamics on all sides. It’s a good way to represent Topside while still completely contrasting what we are all too aware of in regards to the Undercity. 

Wonder how the power of the Hextech exploded Sevika’s harm and everyone else’s limbs were fine, and Clag and Mylo were killed indirectly

Where did the rest of the crystals end up going? Just out of use? Because Powder seemed to have a decent amount and I don’t think they were all used at the canary? Unless I’m wrong 

Wow this episode is awful

Silco literally stabbing Vander in the back. I feel like a lot of the Silco metaphors were very in the nose lol. Like the cat and mouse

Vander choosing to save Vi over killing silco for good :(

“Vi it worked” AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

“You did this?” AHABAJANAKAKSOENWJWKDKWLWKDIIE

“I only wanted to help” IM GONNA SISNSIDNJSNSJEND

Marcus you are NOT the hero here do NOT piss me off

Powder is so needy it hurts. Meeting silco in desperation and tragedy and soon relishing in it. Isn’t that nice. 

I CAN SEE THE TEAR IN MY FATHERS FACE BEFORE IT FALLS OUT!!!!!!!

Goodbye makes me so emotional :(((((

[hellafuckedup666]

Le pire, c’est toi et moi: the alternate story of Jinx & Ekko.

Standing face to face on the bridge between our two worlds. Could the affection there once was overcome the rage that keeps growing between us? Or are we doomed to forget the friendship that we used to have and fight to the death?

Well at least until one of us has no choice but to concede and take care of their wounds.

Ekko left Jinx for dead on that bridge. He couldn’t - wouldn’t - acknowledge Powder anymore.

There is this theory - that Ekko needed to be sent to an alternate world where Powder never left, because he had to grow in order to save his own reality. He had to come to the realization that Jinx was a product of pain and trauma and that in different circumstances, she never would’ve been born.

And yet, he still assumed that Powder could never have become anything else but Jinx, even in this Zaun paradise where she never needed her as a shield.

They are the same and the most different. Two entities, one body.

Ekko saw this reality as a lie, but Heimerdinger showed him the beauty of the world they found themselves in. Just because it isn’t their world, it doesn’t make it any less true.

He found his friend again. Slowly but surely, he learned how to trust her and to separate her from the woman he knew in his world. He knew he had to get back eventually, but he understood Heimerdinger’s point of view a little bit more everyday.

And he saw Powder again. For who she is. Without the hatred and the assumptions. Without the tarnished relationship they cultivated throughout the years. This was redemption, this was a chance to go back to the start - something most people never get to do.

He remembered why he loved her. He remembered what they used to be as children. Jinx became smaller and smaller.

He took his love for Powder back to his world, knowing fully the woman waiting for him had suffered an entirely different fate. But this time, he couldn’t see Jinx.

He could only see Powder. He let go of his anger to try and save the person he knows she is. He gave her the second chance she never thought she would get. He chose to let go of her flaws to find the good in her.

So she could see it too.

My Jinx was created from trauma too. She pushed her true self deep down, thinking it was the only way she could stop the pain. I’ve never hurt anyone like she did, but isn’t this all just about the mask we believe is required to survive?

This alternate Powder is all I’ve ever been and in a world where Hextech is a thing, I wish you could’ve gotten the chance to see that.

I hope you would’ve chosen to save me. To see me. To let go of the past, of the fight on the bridge, of the chaos that is our relationship.

All I would’ve asked is for you to have an open enough mind to hear me out and let me show you the best version of me.

And to grow like Ekko. To let go of assumptions like Ekko.

To be my Ekko.

But Hextech isn’t a thing and a fresh start isn’t something I believe we’ll ever get. And god knows, you are not Ekko.

It’s okay. I know you’ll never give me this second chance. Just understand I’m not giving it to you either. Because where was Ekko when Jinx was slowly taking over?

You gave up on me before even trying. You beat me up and left me for dead on that bridge. And unlike Jinx, I didn’t deserve any of it.

But I do hope you’ll feel the loss of Powder one day. I hope you’ll take a minute to remember her while you stare at the fire you started, illuminating the night sky.

Before letting go of her memory.

[dee-at-the-last-drop]

Arcane Characters and their musical history + music taste

is this in the canon universe or an au? idk. maybe a bit of both <3

this is my first hc post, so have mercy on me! i have no idea if i’m formatting this correctly. this feels like a thought dump. you can also tell that i was an orchestra kid middle-high school and that i’m extremely partial to jazz :P

Caitlyn

• definitely had the classic piano + violin upbringing combo

• teen Caitlyn going ham at the violin? yeah. she was definitely first chair and everything

• her musical history is partly why Caitlyn’s posture is impeccable

• but truth be told…. our favorite enforcer has an affinity to the bass guitar

• which is HOT. (especially to a certain pink-haired someone)

• can sight read complicated bass lines and practices up in her room a lot, the amp blasting

• isn’t picky with her music taste but is nostalgic for pieces she learned growing up and a bit of jazz

• if she’s feeling particularly pine-y over a certain pinkette she’d pull out the yearning indie pop i’d feel

• i want to say she went through the dodie in her primary years -> hozier in her secondary years-adulthood pipeline but maybe that’s me projecting a little LMAOO

Jinx

• learns music very easily, could play any instrument she wanted to tbh

• but is surprisingly kin to the piano and violin, and silco has her playing music in The Last Drop occasionally

• i love the idea of Jinx practicing piano, brows knitted in concentration, and Silco watching her from the door frame practice and master a piece like the dad he is (definitely brags to Sevika about Jinx’s musicality afterwards)

• Jinx memorizing children’s tunes to annoy Sevika (and maybe heal her inner child a little) and all of Silco’s favorites to make him proud (though he always is, regardless)

• is so. SO good at her bowing and picking (in relation to the violin). it might sound chaotic at times but Jinx’s pizzicato + staccato are always so clean

• in terms of general music taste, i see Jinx as a hyperpop girl but i‘m interested to see what other people think

• also indulges in very dramatic classical music- both listening AND playing, i know Jinx puts all of her emotion into the music she plays

• p!atd/fob/tøp phase HAD to have happened at some point

Ekko

• local percussionist icon… everyone knows that Ekko knows how to make a good beat

• he’d tinker around and create his own instruments- better with every invention

• it’s giving rubber band guitar kid but 10x better

• got into drumming as a teenager and spray painted some cool (and slightly angsty) patterns onto his drum set

• also can definitely dance… not as related but…

• can play the viola as well and he played duets with jinx/powder growing up on the streets

• always thought that jinx was so impressive with her playing skills n he definitely tried to impress her with his own music

• this boy could/can VIBRATO!!! and he definitely smiles when he’s really into the music he’s playing too- you can see the joy written across his face

• he doesn’t play viola much anymore as an adult, not unless some of the Zaun children convince him to perform and play for them

• Ekko totally bonded with Jinx and their love for hyperpop when they were younger

• i feel like he’d generally listen to a lot of hype workout music, hip hop, and punk rock/alt rock

Vi

• Vi never really had the chance to play any music, nor did she really have an interest in playing growing up

• but I’m thinking of her finding Vander’s old guitar in a storage room one day and being determined to play it

• she’s embarrassed to ask Vander for help and it definitely takes a bit of time but Vi eventually masters Blackbird (by the Beatles) with Vander teaching her

• Vi is amazed that her hands could create sounds so lovely, and falls in love with the guitar- although she never really gets to learn many songs before she’s sent to prison

• But with the help of Caitlyn, Vi is able to start practicing again (she only remembers Blackbird, thinks it’s a bit embarrassing) ((Caitlyn thinks it’s cute))

• onto music taste: this girl is mainly all workout music i’m sorry…. but there’s probably a bunch of alt pop like chase atlantic and the neighborhood. also- doja cat.

• can I say she still listens to the Beatles sometimes because it reminds her of Vander and her old family <3 (idk why my brain is INSISTENT on it being the Beatles but)

• thinks that boy bands are the funniest thing ever. secretly jams out to a couple of their many of their love songs due to a certain Kiramann. accidentally becomes a 1D stan because of it

Mel

• was drawn to the cello from the very first time she watched an orchestral performance

• definitely vented out her emotions through playing music as a teen

• understands music theory really well and can play any tempo you give her

• would bring a small spray bottle for her rock stop (this is SO niche i’m so sorry i’m a cello player)

• first cello. top of the orchestra hierarchy in class

• Mel rarely has time to play anymore, but she gets extremely nostalgic listening to the cello and still uses it as a form of escapism when extremely stres.

• her music taste is. the Jazz in the Background playlist on spotify

• secret lover of ariana grande, taylor swift, and katy perry

• jayce walks into Mel humming California Girls once and almost loses his shit before remembering she’d murder him if he laughed outright at her

Viktor

• always wished he could be in an orchestra but never did

• studied music theory !!!!! and adored a violin that Heimerdinger gifted him when he entered the academy

• I also feel like Viktor has piano hands and definitely knows his way around one

• composes most of the music he plays but also loves indulging himself in improv

• music is a very personal thing for Viktor so he rarely performs/shares his music with others

• Viktor can SING. but you’d never know and he’s never tell you.

• his passion for music is second only to his passion for science and innovation

• Viktor also seems like a jazz listener to me…. and mitski. and other Sad Gay™ music

• creature w/ orchestra by half•alive is the most viktor song on the planet. go listen to it rn

Jayce

• trumpet kid (god i don’t know anything about band or band kids but)

• if he was in orchestra, he’d be THAT violin (derogatory)

• despite his big head, Jayce really is quite talented at the instruments he hones his skills on

• would be a very enthusiastic section leader

• front of the marching band, framed all of his band photos from “the glory days”

• Paramore boy. Ricky Montgomery. Imagine Dragons. very random music taste. closeted Lil Nas X fan (only Viktor and Mel know)

• I have a song for him as well. Vienna by Billy Joel <3

[mystic-orb88]

Arcane Season 2 Wish and Prediction Lists:

Wishes (Some of these are unlikely, I know. But that's what AUs and Art prompts are for, right?):

Warwick. Vander. Transformation. Need I say more?

Jinx and Machine Herald Viktor to meet/interact.

Caitlyn and Vi to be partners (Both kinds).

Vi to not wear that hideous outfit in L.O.L..

CAIT NEEDS A MORE PRACTICAL OUTFIT!!

I WANT TO SEE ZIGGS AND JINX!! Maybe a cameo, at least?

Machine Herald Vik. Like, I want to see him majestically put that mask on his face, like Darth Vader. And glance at The Hexclaw and go 'Hmmmm... DING!! Ideaaaaa!! Imma just attach this or something like it to my shoulder.'.

Heimerdinger being an adorable fluffy Yoda Boomer and learning to use Ekko's Hoverboard, because he has to be cool and gangsta now.

Silco being resurrected (I had a cool dream 'bout that. Might AU-ify that idea).

Silco and Mini Jinx Flashback between the timeskip of Season One.

Jinx wearing Silco's coat and being sad and short.

Ghost Silco being the voice in Jinx's head that helps shape her into the Jinx from L.O.L..

Jinx talking to Fishbones. Just a lil'.

Predictions:

Vi will be called upon by Piltover, and they'll be like 'Yo, sorry we were completely disregarding Zaun's situation before, but, uh, we're a little up the creek now with half the council gone and all, so, well- We were wondering if you'd consider our requested, offered, respectful suggestion of becoming our Head Enforcer? You'll be placed as a front line worker, obviously. If so, great!! Welcome to the ranks!! If not, then we demandingly insistently order you to mandatorily order you to. Unless, of course, you want to see the cell in Stillwater with your name on it again, for a reallll, loong time. No? Ah isn't that that the great thing about life?? We all get a fair choice!!'

Then Cait's like, 'C'mon, for your sister. We can look for her together.' and Vi's like 'HAhA, nON. Too danger for you, Cupcake' and Cait eventually manages to persuade her but that's why they end up being like, 'If you're an Enforcer now, then whoever goes comes back in a box' or whatever.

Okay, I mentioned this in someone else's post a while ago, but what if Singed turns Silco into Twitched? Just because he's poisoned, poisonous rat man. And also, because, apparently, Singed likes turning random people into furries.

Mel dies, Cassandra doesn't- I don't see a reason for her death, AND she's in Cait's story in L.O.L., Jayce and Viktor can't die, but the rest of The Council does.

Who's Singed's daughter?? *cough* Orianna *cough*.

What happens to Poro?? Didn't HeimerYoda leave them? I bet they find a huge colony of Poros and start conquering Runeterra.