It's Giving, Mixed Signals.

Vander and The Beast's psyche

it’s terminal i fear

it’s been almost half a year of utter brainrot for these two mad & tragic geniuses….& they’ll forever have a chokehold on my heart…

some arcane pirate au sketches

Sorry but It's actually so annoying how much people downplay the crucial role piltover's corrupt council games played in derailing jayce/viktor's work and pretty much putting shackles around their lives. The council is directly responsible for and directly FUNDING so much of the misery that happens in this show, before the story has even started. Before Powder ever finds the gemstone. They single-handedly doom half of the region to death.

Just during the show: Jayce wanted to create magic to aid and uplift the common people, the council wanted trade route instant teleportators to make themselves richer.

Jayce & Viktor wanted to work on technology to help miners and steelworkers and artisans who are trying to survive in the industrial hellscape of piltover and zaun; the council wants it shelved for another 20 years. (yes, heimer is part of the corrupt council - no matter how much his image is laundered by the fandom.)

They are inept and self-serving leaders, elected by themselves and their blood inheritances, utterly obsessed with ultimate profit. You can really see how parasitic their relationship is to the people at the beggining of act 1. Jayce is a token nameless life, so disposable to them that they were going to burn down all of his research and throw out all of his titles, making him not just a lower-house vassal but an EXILE, and the only reason why that doesn't happen is because they realize how much money they can suck out of his work.

This applies to Viktor too. See the way that Heimerdinger tells him over and over again that no other paths can be taken, he has 'fulfilled his purpose' and he should be content to die. See how Mel looks at Viktor like a bug she wants to squash under her palm when he rejects the idea of making weapons for council. See how they speak over him and only address Jayce, as if he's worth less than nothing.

You are only as valuable as the profit you're willing to create. You are a problem that has to be dealt with as soon as you refuse their orders. They have the power to ruin your life, and if they find an excuse, they will. This is a direct threat pointed at Jayce & Viktor during ACT2, when Jayce is pressured into becoming one of them to protect 'the bottom line profit' and, personally speaking, to avoid that ire being redirected towards Viktor. He's pushed into compliance and told a target has been painted on his back.

Arcane jayvik are doomed in big part not for wanting to do harm, but being forced to exist under the beck and call of billionaire leeches. They are both immigrants. They are both struggling to get a degree and keep themselves afloat and they want to help people so goddamn much but they have to keep postponing their dreams to serve uncaring masters. I really wish there was more fan content focused on these very real bonds of understanding and solidarity between them.

When Viktor says 'Jayce will understand' that's not a fluke; he's lived in this environment for years. He knows Jayce is being pushed down the same way that he is and that deep down they've been kept captive by the exact same people. When Jayce agrees that Viktor should do whatever he needs to do to keep himself alive, he means that from the heart.

I fucking adore Jayce okay.

He's kind and caring. He doesn't use his size to intimidate folks even tho he's massive. He's quick to encourage, quick to seek and give comfort. He's so soft and sweet. Genuinely being loved by him would be a blessing.

He's also a big fucking nerd. He's terrified of letting those he loves down. He's earnest, sincere, and a bit naive. He has a bit of an ego and hero complex. He takes his responsibility seriously. He's smart, loyal, and hard working. Personally I find it hot as fuck he got those muscles from manual labor lol.

He's all those things, he's also fucking insane.

He's obsessive.

The reaction he had to Viktor coming out of the hexgoop was not in any way normal.

He was completely uncomfortablely chill with a fucking rock being embedded in his arm.

Pulled a 'babe this isn't you' with a literal god and it worked.

Insane

I fucking love him so much what a dork.

I think people who consider aromanticism as "basically straight" underestimate how noticeable absence can be to those around you.

Whether you're a kid in school with classmates who won't take "no one" as an answer to who you have a crush on or an adult whose coworkers have picked up on the fact that you've never mentioned a romantic partner; after enough time, a lack or insufficient amount of romantic interest will raise the antennae of friends, family, coworkers, etc... They will notice and they will speculate and they will ask.

It is impossible to meet the societal bar for straightness through inaction.

Everything Goes As Planned, a JayVik fancomic!

Read from right to left <-

You know how it is widely recognized that when Jayce is in the AU, his journey there mirrors Viktors? The damage to his leg, starving and having to climb his way from the bottom to the top of piltover in a broken body?

Well I just realised that Viktors time in the commune sort of mirrors Jayces time as a councilor. Not exactly of course but I think it is interesting how Jayce gains power in S1, while Viktor loses his, but then it is reversed in S2 with Jayce losing everything and Viktor becoming powerful (physically and as the leader of the commune). So just like Jayce becomes the man of progress, because it is what Piltover needs, Viktor becomes a healer, because it's what the Undercity needs.

I also like how Salos presence kind of emphasizes this transfer of power - switching from the council with Jayce in S1 to being in the commune with Viktor in S2. So yes, you could say they are two "sides" of the same coin - but I think it's more like they are both each side of that coin, at different times. (There is also something to be said about Skys presence in S2, when you look at it from this lense, but I have not fully formed my thoughts regarding this yet and will save it for another post)

some more jayvik!!