#arcane rarepair week

[eddawrites]

Jayvik this, Viktor x reader that, but have you considered...

SEVIKTOR

*puts on a tinfoil hat* See, he’s literally in her cards here...

But let me explain the 200 IQ logic behind this seemingly random crackship.

I think we’re all anticipating Viktor’s inevitable return to Zaun and what sort of development that will bring to his character. Will he continue his research in order to help himself as well as other Zaunites? Will he take a villainous turn, perhaps following in Singed’s footsteps of using more morally questionable methods of achieving progress? 

Some of us already suspect what the direction in which his story is going to evolve, but the specifics are still an unknown. Could he finally engage in politics - something that he’s been avoiding up to this point - and join the movement to emancipate Zaun? If so, a certain newly appointed crime boss/freedom fighter could certainly use his expertise.

Sevika is a strong, street-smart, no-nonsense lady who’s not afraid to speak her mind and use any means necessary to achieve Zaun’s independence. What’s more, with Jinx on the run and Silco dead, Sevika is in the market for a full-time tinkerer to provide advanced technology for her cause, and possibly even a figurehead. And in a show so focused on drawing parallels between various characters as Arcane, what better way to foil Piltover’s political power couple Mel & Jayce than with yet another girlboss-scientist duo, this one bent on bringing freedom and progress to Zaun. 

Sevika is very much a kingmaker to Zaun and there can be little doubt that Silco owes a large part of his powerbase to her hard work, similarly to how Mel is the power behind the throne up in Piltover... except that Sevika murders people with her hands (even though I’m pretty sure Mel can as well) rather than her words alone. But even though Sevika is a certified badass, we do see her having a softer, caring side, too, like when she gives parenting advice to Silco. And after Finn’s antics, we do know that she could appreciate having a man with actual brains on her side. Moreover, hers and Viktor’s disabilities could provide strong bonding material for the two - nothing says romance quite like tinkering and upgrading your cool prosthetic limbs together.

Also, I just think they look cute together and that’s as good an argument as any.

#arcane #viktor #sevika #sevika x viktor #seviktor #arcane rarepair week #200 IQ crackshipping #bringing my seviktor agenda to tumblr at last #fandom do your thing

[inkshine]

Did @arcane-rarepairs disappear? I’ve never been super into shipping, but that blog was so fun and had so much creative stuff!

#Arcane #arcane rarepairs #Arcane rarepair week

[moonsdancer]

"...him..."

#mel medarda #jayce talis #meljay #arcanedaily #arcane rarepair week #i've done plenty of 'wow jayce is about as subtle as a bull in a china shop' in how he looks at her #so having a giggle about mel #who is really hilarious in just these scenes at the fundraiser #like from rolling her eyes at amara and not wanting to socialise to gazing at jayce's dumb face on a blimp #to checking him out w/zero subtlety and then staring at his mouth. GIRL GET UP! #i love them

[dannidorina]

✨For meljayvik truthers!✨

#meljayvik #jayvikmel #jaymelvik #arcane #arcane rarepair week

[lapis-orchid]

Please welcome Ava “Avita” Talis to the MelJay family! Her name means “life, voice” which I liked given Jayce and Mel’s names. Jayce plays lullabies with his guitar. Mel had the hardest time since she wasn’t sure she’d be a good mom bc of her childhood but there’s plenty of love and support in this family. She loves reading to Ava and taking her to the art museum.

I was already planning to do a MelJay baby but with the Post-Canon prompt for @arcane-rarepairs it was perfect timing! :)

#lapis doodles #meljay baby #meljay #jayce talis #mel medarda #arcane rarepair week #post canon prompt #jayce arcane #mel arcane #ava talis #I hope to draw more of them! #Ximena babysits all the time lol

[hextechery]

Let the ashes fly [Mel/Viktor]

Teens and up, 3.3k

At some point, they had become adults.

Piltover politics didn’t allow tenderness for its adults. Not for a foreign girl.

My final piece for @arcane-rarepairs! Features pre-canon-going-into-canon Melvik and angst and Heimerdinger being oblivious to his own words and actions. My heart is so incredibly tender for these two. If you’re feeling up for it, you can read it here on AO3, along with the previous two parts of this little “series”. It’s been a pleasure!

#arcane rarepair week #melvik #i'm hnnnng i love them so much #will definitely write more of them! #i mean i have wips as we speak #arcane #mine #mel medarda #viktor arcane

[ravenkinnie]

right i was just casually scrolling as one does, and bam:

thanks for the ptsd lol

I had to really think whats the worst way imagine dragins could appear in this show again and well. i can't think of anything worse, unless they gang bang heimerdinger instead

#asks #arcane rarepair week here comes my concept

[zkyfall]

Probably my Magnum Opus tbh, play it here!

It won’t make bad photoshops but it WILL spit out random prompts for combinations of all the adult characters I could think of plus a few from LoL that I think are neat. In case you’re bored or needed some inspiration for  @arcane-rarepair-week​ ‘s rare pair week , starting the 21st ✨👏 ​!

🤖🐺 Ahhhh 😭 I’m having way too much fun with this so I hope this can spark some joy for you too! Retweet with your favorite prompt (Most are SFW but some of the prompts are a little spicy!)

#Arcane #arcane fandom #idk what to even tag this #arcane shitpost #singed #ambessa #arcane prompts

[dreamcrow]

greetings, tales of arcadia enjoyers >:)

ever since wizards dropped in summer of 2020, people have pondered the timeless question: why primeval wizard antagonist...hot? despite tireless efforts from our top wizardologists, answers still elude us. (in our defense, it's thirsty work out here in the rarepair wastes.) puzzled by the lack of attention to this problem, a few of us enterprising weirdos have decided to encourage our fellow blorbo enjoyers in the act of fannish creation. 

to that end: i'm very pleased to announce ordershipping week 2022! a week(ish)-long, unmoderated appreciation event for fans of the arcane order, smoochin, and perhaps even...dare i say...the arcane order, smoochin >:3c

» what's allowed?

this event showcases and celebrates fanworks centered on ships involving one or more members of the arcane order (nari, bellroc, and skrael). any combination, any permutation, any rating. we just think the horrible wizards should kiss, maybe! since this is only our first year, we'll be running the event for one calendar week (october 23-29), plus a bonus day (october 30) and a final roundup (october 31). 

this year's organizing prompts are:

october 23: the more things change...

october 24: classic trope 

october 25: date night

october 26: art/music

october 27: missing scene

october 28: alternate universe

october 29: ...the more things stay the same

fill as few or many of the prompts as you like; we're open to fanworks of any kind—fic, art, graphic edits/manips, amvs...if you can archive it on ao3, it counts! our only rule is to follow common tagging and warning courtesy, especially for suggestive content. ღゝ◡╹)ノ

» how to participate:

reblog this post and spread the word! (and maybe check out who's here already...?)

when you're ready to post, tag your fills with #ordershippingweek2022. track that tag on tumblr for updates, reminders, and day-of-prompt posts; i'll also use it on ao3, and for the final roundup.

support your fellow fans with comments/reblogs! whether you've been on this little rowboat from the start or are just curious, we're a tiny group, we need all the support we can get. 😂

questions? @dreamcrow | ･ω･)b

good luck with your fills; we hope to see you on the 23rd! ❤️💙💚

#tales of arcadia #toa wizards #the arcane order #ordershippingweek2022 #ordershippers...please interact #bellroc #skrael #nari #no idea how tumblr tags work any more so if you're interested or otherwise amenable: reblogs are much appreciated lol

[eddawrites]

Arcane Rarepair Week prompt: First Meetings & Post-Canon

An excerpt for @arcane-rarepair-week from a Sevika x Viktor fic that I unfortunately haven't been able to finish yet due to life interfering and keeping me from doing important things that actually matter - like writing this fic.

Many thanks to @dontbotherwiththepronunciation for beta-ing. ——————————————

The first time she came by was a mere courtesy call. She scanned her surroundings, taking in the multitude of tables littered with rumpled papers, some of them sticking from the overstuffed drawers, another stack shoved unceremoniously under the leg of an exceptionally wobbly desk—most of them branded with the House Talis seal, she noticed. The rest of the clutter comprised of a leaking fountain pen and a short stub of a pencil, a banged up ruler, some scrap metal, hand-me-down lab equipment, a stained brass samovar, and inexplicably... an empty pickle jar?

“I could arrange something more… homely.” Sevika had said, looking around.

There wasn’t much by way of furniture in his little lair either. A pair of rickety chairs, an aged wooden closet where he kept his laser arm—the Hexclaw, he called it—tucked away, though calling it a closet would be generous, in reality it was hardly more than a couple of planks nailed together; a trunk with a rusted lock that held his few personal possessions, and in a secluded corner, an uncomfortable-looking, narrow bed with a metal frame that was all creaky old springs and chipped paint, a set of moth-eaten blankets and pillows lying atop of an old, musty mattress. Certainly a downgrade from the living standards he’d grown used to topside, she thought, wondering what could have possibly led him to return to Zaun, much less lodge in this dank pit of a building.

Eventually, one piece after another, she will replace his shabby furniture with something more dignified. Find a proper armoire—as the topsider peddler she bought it off of had called it—with doors that actually shut, and shelves that did not bend. She’ll get rid of that desk which wobbled with the slightest shift of weight. Add an armchair and a sofa with worn velvet upholstery, but seat cushions so soft you’d think you could drown in them. Most importantly, she’ll procure a bed that’s just a little wider, a little kinder to his back.

“I prefer to have my research at an arm’s reach. But… thank you, Sevika.” he replied politely. “You have been very accommodating.”

That was the first time he’d heard her laugh. A hearty guffaw resounding from deep within her chest, punctuated by a snort that he found oddly endearing. The joke had been wholly unintended on his part but he partook in her merriment all the same, infectious as the warm, smokey sound of her laughter was. Even at the risk of knocking his own wind out of his lungs.

“Any friend of Singed is a friend of mine.” she said, examining him with her eyes, black as void. “He’s vouched for you.”

“Singed?” he questioned, a small smirk playing on his lips. “A little on the nose, don’t you think?”

“Wasn’t my idea.”

His acute, yellow eyes flittered to the metal prosthetic that hung heavy at her side, then back to her face, peering at her with such intensity that she could’ve sworn he were reading her mind.

“Of course not,” he conceded at last. “You seem above such japes.”

Sevika decided then that she preferred him to the doctor.

***

Truth be told, Viktor was a heaven-sent. After Renni cut ties in the aftermath of her son’s death, and Smeech decided to follow her suit not long after, Sevika was in the market for a tinkerer. She was no slouch herself, but her mechanical skills were a far cry from someone like Jinx.

Ah, Jinx. Frankly, she was relieved by her disappearance. The girl was a whizz, but unstable. She had her reasons, of course, as many in the undercity did, and Sevika wasn’t in the habit of judging people by their quirks—her own colourful crew stood as proof of that. But Jinx was prone to self-sabotage as often as not and presented a liability Sevika was all too happy to replace.

Viktor, though, seemed to still be on the fun side of insane. It might’ve been his resume that had caught her attention, but it was the charm that kept her coming back.

Sometimes she even brings him treats. Brain fuel, she calls it, liquorice candies and chocolate-coated marzipan, pretzels and poppy seed cake. A pot of hot tea, or coffee that tasted like dirt to his topside-spoiled taste buds. Other times it would be a bowl of soup or fried rice. She tried to brush it off, pretend like it wasn’t a big deal to play caretaker to a mad scientist readily given to negligence.

“Here’s your payment.” she would say.

And he would resist, of course. “I didn’t ask for compensation.”

“You say you don’t need money, but you still need to eat.”

And if it was something sweet, he would retort: “These aren’t exactly nutritious.”

“It’s for eating, ain’t it?” she would insist. “Eat.”

And then she would plant herself in the ratty old armchair and watch him feed himself with slow, deliberate motions as if every single morsel exhausted him.

After all, it wasn’t unlike what she used to do for her old man returning piss drunk from his mine shift, late at night. She would take off his shoes, remove the soiled clothes and clean him with a washcloth before hauling him off to bed. In the morning, she would force hot broth down his throat, make sure he drank something other than spirits; that his clothes and sheets were clean, that he didn’t stink like a brewery.

Viktor was a cakewalk in comparison.

He doesn’t challenge it. There is a comfort to her visits. A periodicity—tangible proof of passage of time in the lightless room where a minute might be over in sixty seconds or drag for six thousand more.

The one time he did, he had told her, prosaic as ever: “I don’t need a caretaker.”

“No, you don’t.” she admitted. “You’re more than able. But you’ve got that machine of yours drip-feeding you that crap all day, every day. And I know what it does to your body. It makes you forget your limits, and things like hunger and exhaustion and even pain stop existing for as long as the effect lasts. But all of those things are still there, buried under that high. So consider my visits a reminder.” The other part of her motivation remained unspoken.

There was a logic to her words that he couldn’t counter.

#arcane #sevika #viktor #sevika x viktor #seviktor #arcane rarepair week #edda actually writes

[not-poignant]

Just curious since it's been a while since the last time but will you be writing any fic for characters or properties that are not your own in the near future?

You can just call it fanfic! :D :D

I'd like to, but I frankly haven't been hugely into any fandoms for a couple of years. Or the fandoms I've really gotten into have pretty much no fanfiction attached (and hell, I've even written some fics for those), and the fandom experience is very different to how it used to be.

But honestly even outside of the fandom experience changing, I just haven't loved a show or anything enough to want to fic for it more than anything else. I really really miss writing fanfiction, but there's been nothing that's really captured my attention for more than a few weeks, and that's not enough to sustain like, writing a longfic like I used to. Some of that is probably the fact that TV etc. is now released all at once instead of week by week a lot of the time. But some of it is also just that...like, while I enjoy a lot of things, I don't feel like ficcing for it.

I came close with Arcane, but the pairing I like had almost no fics (and only like two short porny fics - nothing wrong with that!) and I get, frankly, tired of writing rarepairs. And again, I didn't actually love Arcane, I thought it was very pretty, I disliked a lot of the characters, and it's hard to kind of rev yourself up for one side pairing in that situation.

Likewise I am still curious about writing an old Bull/Cullen fic idea, but it's very old, the fandom is very quiet, it's still a rarepair, and it's hard to commit two years of my life to something I might end up abandoning.

I really miss being deep deep into a fandom, frankly. It's not like I stopped watching TV or movies, or stopped playing video games. But nothing's really spoken to me. Television has either become more excessively grimdark, or more wholesome, and none of it really has what used to hook me in, in the past. It's actually something I've kind of been grieving. Even these days I struggle to find fanfiction written recently that I really love compared to older fics in my bookmarks. It's like... it all has disclaimers for antis, or caveats, or it's weirdly wholesome and pure (fine if you like it, but don't advertise it as whump/angst/hurt/comfort/darkfic), or it's excessively dark to the point of just being a tragedy, etc.

I know there are still really good fandom spaces. If I was still in Mo Dao Zu Shi fandom things might be different, but I felt edged out of that fandom by The Untamed folks kind of taking it over and not separate-tagging their fics, which was just a 'oh I have ideas! Oh...actually never mind' experience.

But yeah I'm just... I mean it sucks. I love writing fanfiction, but the last thing I wrote was last year and it wasn't very long. I thought about returning to the Hades fandom, but again, I just didn't have a very...intense fandom experience, the kind of thing that really revs you up and excites you to write fanfiction! Fandom without community is lonely, and while I don't go as deep into fandoms as others, I still...like some of it?

This is a very navel gazing way of saying 'something will have to change in the media landscape, or in the world around me, or maybe even in me' to make fanfic a 'near' possibility. I have no actual plans to commit to any fanfic in the future, I'm just more excited about things like Underline the Black, which honestly has ALL the tropes I love in fandom, and struggle to find (same with a lot of the other things I write). I consider a lot of my original writing to be an homage to fandom and the fanfiction serial style, but yeah in terms of the literal fanfic, damn, I really miss being hooked on a TV show or a movie or a game and the pandemic has kind of killed that part of me, and so has the shenanigans of antis changing the general fandom climate (if you're putting in disclaimers in your fics just for the sake of antis please fucking stop), and the way TV releases now, and the empty sense of endlessness re: Marvel movies and shows, and just...I don't know.

It's sad and I hate it and I wish it wasn't that way, but it has been this way for a lot of the pandemic and I don't know if/when it will come back. I hope it does. I miss it so much. Meeting new people through writing fanfiction was one of my favourite things, I have friends from different fandoms still, and just... *sighs*

Oof. I'm very sad now. Tl;dr - No, I don't have any plans to write fanfiction in the near future, and it sucks.

#asks and answers #personal #pia on fanfiction #idk what to say really #frankly many 'oldschool fanfiction writers' that i know #are no longer writing fanfiction #at least not like they used to #i think we've all been hit hard for a lot of reasons #including lack of general positive feedback #the rise of antis #the pandemic (writing for free and for fun when you're disabled and your life is falling apart is actually not always fun) #idk everyone has their own personal reasons #but i can think of like 10 authors off the top of my head #who i love #whose works i've bookmarked #who all used to be very fandom active #who *all* stopped writing fanfic about 1-3 years ago #and just haven't picked it up again since

[moonsdancer]

This is a good question @fleursdusang. I've done a lot of thinking about this with the other eight or so MelJay shippers I communicate with on Discord 😭 , and we'd long ago agreed that MelJay is an ironic rare-pair. But more on that below.

@arcane-rarepair-week has done a great write-up of what "constitutes" a rare pair in fandom, and they've broken it down here: (they do include MelJay on their list). Fandom Wiktionary describes it as:

A ship that generally receives little attention from fans and has few associated fanworks.

Ultimately, a ship is a rare pair based on output / engagement and not whether it's canon or not. Generally, the most "fair" metric to use is ao3 (although in some cases, it becomes apparent looking at fanart, or fan discourse, and other creative outputs what's what). MelJay has the unique 'distinction' of being one of the least supported / celebrated / whatever canon ships in maybe the history of any fandom. I ran the numbers, and it's pretty dire, just a quick summary from Sunday when I did this exercise to ask:

Is MelJay a "rare pair"?

based on ao3, only -

There were 8568 fanworks dedicated to Arcane on ao3. Of those fanworks, in terms of popularty by tag (including explicitly romantic and ships defined by '&' which are sometimes still romantic but not always), MelJay doesn't even appear in the top ten or fifteen.

Filtering out some of the "&" pairings allowed MelJay to edge its way in at about no. 9 or 10 with 213 stories.

Of those 213 stories: 116 were JayVik stories that weren't about MelJay. A good majority were often about breaking MelJay up or killing off Mel or whatever other narrative device in order to tell a story about JayVik. 74 of those are Violyn stories that tag MelJay despite it not being a factor in said story (I assume they do so because it's a canon ship, so folks just toss it in there). 51 of those were MelJayVik stories.

Once you filter those out, we come to 56 overall stories tagged MelJay. Of those 56, roughly 17 were actually about viktor with someone i.e. viktor / you or viktor / reader or viktor / original character. we can, if we're generous, pretend that about a third of those are as much about meljay as they are about viktor and whoever else, but even that would be a bit of a lie.

Once you filter those out, we were left with about 46 stories. And even in those, a quick review of the content showed some of them weren't even about MelJay.

A weird and non-self-aggrandizing fact that was pointed out to me today - just stating it to show the reality of things - I've written 15 of those stories, so that's about a third of stories, that are explicitly and materially in terms of the content about Mel Medarda and Jayce Talis in a relationship of some kind, were written by one person. That's weird, for the only confirmed, together, onscreen, canon romantic ship - but that's the reality.

ANYWAY.

The above rambling answer to your comment from this post is really my way of just reflecting on all this for my own reasons and opening the discussion which we'll all probably only have in an honest way in a few years across fandom about this and not to rant at you in anyway. Because the treatment of / reception / backlash (in many ways especially in the first few months) to MelJay is a bit weird. That's the word I'll use so I don't use different words that piss folks off.

This was a bit of a Ted Talk, sorry! 😂✨

ETA: Because someone did mention this, I know the '&' tag is generally used for platonic or familial relationships. But I notice people in a lot of cases in this fandom use it interchangeably with the bigger ships. May not always be the case. But either way, the situation for MelJay is dire. And those '&' ships don't really detract from that conclusion.

#meljay #arcane #rare pair #mel medarda #jayce talis #arcane meta #i suppose #or arcane fandom meta #fleurdusang

[dannidorina]

I want to celebrate my last essay getting turned in by quickly making a late arcane rarepair week post (BC I MISSED IT??) but instead I'm waiting for Tylenol to kick in with my heating pad and cursing the fact I was born with a uterus

#shut up Danni #tw// #menstruation #I'm glad this didn't hit when I was working on the essays #but this isn't much better

[space-blue]

Celebrating a new landmark!

Yep, finally blazed past 1k followers on this blog!

Woohoo!! Let's do something to celebrate! I'm going to do a more complex (yet simpler) poll than last time :

Please follow this link to cast your vote!

It's a google form that lets you pick a PoV character in 3 fandoms (Arcane, Star Wars and Elden Ring), and then among a selection of word prompts. Pick at least one character and one prompt.

I'll write the top character PoV for the top prompt!

You're welcome to vote in all fandoms, just bear in mind that I'll write the character with the most votes regardless of fandom, so if you really want one over the others, then be careful and pick your blorbo only.

I'm not open to ship suggestions. I reserve the right to keep it gen or go rarepair or any ship or dynamic I like. I'm planning on staring out my window until a fic idea hits and roll with that! I'm not setting word goals or limits either. If you want to see something more specific from me, well, I'll let you in on a secret.. (I'm working on opening some slots for fic commissions, so keep an eye out)

I'll leave this poll open for up to a week. Vote away! Ask questions in comments or send me ask, I'm here for you as always! Thank you for following my weird ramblings, I love y'all.

#1k celebration #1k followers #thanks y'all #fanfic #fanart #arcane #elden ring #star wars #blog event #poll #I'll reblog this several times sorry in advance for the spam

[meljayweek]

Hey everyone! Our MelJay AU week is coming up at the end of this month, Aug 28 - Sep 4 (eight days). There is a Twitter account @MelJayEvents. 😁

It can be an au that’s set within the series (Ex: canon except there’s vampires), canon divergence, or just a good ol’ alternate universe entirely. Prompts can be fulfilled through art, writing, moodboards, cosplay, playlists, edited screenshots, etc.

Oh and you can combine prompts from either list! (Ex: vampire enemies to lovers au, artist soulmate au where people get hit with the image of their soulmate at 18 and either commission someone to draw them or they draw them themselves, but the image is only in their minds for the next 24 hours).

I’ll be checking the tags #meljayauweek, #meljay (and probably #meljayweek too just in case!) if I miss your piece please let me know and I’ll reblog it. Feel free to @ me when you’re making the post.

I’ll be checking the tags two weeks after the event! Oh and please remember this is just for Jayce/Mel event. Other characters can feature but MelJay should be the focus of the piece.

I’m going to say no to polys (ships that are Jayce/Mel and 1+ characters or reader). MelJayVik week already had their event and the @arcane-rarepair-week is coming up to cover other pairings.

If the work is just referencing past relationships either Mel or Jayce had but the main ship is MelJay, that’s fine.

Let’s have some fun!

#meljay au week #meljay #meljayce #jayce talis #mel medarda #mel arcane #jayce arcane

[hextechery]

Mistress of the lake [Mel/Jayce]

Mature, 2.6k

One summer’s day, she was waiting for him in the water.

Nordic mythology-inspired AU for @arcane-rarepair-week ft. Jayce as A Guy™ and Mel as a sjörå. You can read it here on AO3 if you’d like!

#arcane #arcane rarepair week #meljay #mine #mel medarda #jayce talis