Fanfic / This And That

Artwork by chonky_cat6. Used with permission.

Powder: W-What are you…? Are you even human?
Angela: If I was, our paths would not have crossed like this.

This And That is an Arcane and Library of Ruina crossover by DoctorXIII and AhmedMootaz.

After causing the explosion that killed her adoptive family and being left behind by her older sister, Powder finds herself teleported across the world of Runeterra and within the Library, encountering Angela just after the end of the White Nights and Dark Days and her usurpation of the Seed of Light.

Taking in the lost and broken Zaunite, both Angela's and Powder's worlds converge, and the journey that they take is altered as a result.

The story can also be found on FanFiction.Net: here, Archive of Our Own: here, and SpaceBattles.com: here.

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This And That provides examples of:

• Adaptational Intelligence: In Arcane canon, Powder's tinkering only involved engineering. Here, she has also been taught to have scientific knowledge in physics, chemistry, and biology.
• Armor-Piercing Question: During an argument between them, Yesod questions whether or not she's fine with Angela's way of obtaining the One True Book no matter how much blood is shed, Powder replies with her own query that leads to a lowkey Heroic BSoD:
  Powder: Well…you did a whole bunch of stuff while you were at L Corp to get where you wanted to be, right? Are your hands so clean from your time there?
  • Yesod then responds with the following, which leads Powder to legitimately question Angela's motivations for the first time:
  Yesod: ...No, my hands are not bloodless. I am man enough to admit that at this point and accept that fact, and no matter what happens next, for good or for ill, those actions I have taken in the name of my goal will always be a part of me. Will you be able to do the same if Angela’s ways prove to be too bloody of a road for you to walk?
• Baby Of The Bunch: Powder was seventeen when she obtained the position of Patron Librarian of Psychology, making her by far the youngest of the group.^note  Roland is 33, Malkuth, Yesod, Netzach, Hod, Tiphereth, Gebura, Chesed, Hokma, Binah are all over ten thousand years old due to the Time Loop they were subjected to, while Angela is the equivalent of a million years old due to being designed to perceive time 100 times slower.
• Badass in a Nice Suit:
  • Powder's Patron Librarian outfit is a perfectly tailored blue and pink suit, though she complains that it makes her look like a topsider from Piltover.
  • Roland as per canon, since the dress code for a Fixer practically requires it.
  • Both Suho and Bob also qualify, as their uniforms match their respective Patron.
• Big Brother Mentor: Angela has become this to Powder over the years.
• Big Sister Instinct: Their time together has made Angela grow very attached to Powder, actually going out of her way to make her stay in the Library as comfortable and safe as possible.
  • Gerbura, as per canon, when it comes to the younger of the Patron Librarians. This comes in full force when Powder, who is without question the youngest of the Patron Librarians, decides to take on Zena by herself and would have interfered if it wasn't for the fact that she had to deal with Baral while already exhausted.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: While wallowing over Powder's fate, Vi prays that she is able to send some sign of sort to let her know where to find her long lost little sister. It was at that very moment that the Library landed on the bridge connecting Piltover and Zaun.
• Break the Haughty: Zena was fully confident in her ability to handle Powder, crossing over into total arrogance. Then she gets tied up by the E.G.O. card Red Eyes and can only rage helplessly against her bonds as Powder goes on to stop Luda from ejecting the Library into the Outskirts.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Powder and Angela have developed this kind of dynamic over the years.
  • Powder also plays the Boke to Suho's Tsukkomi. The narrative lampshades this through Salvador, who views their interactions as the most entertaining show he's ever seen.
• Broken Bird: Powder, considering that fact this fic takes place right after the end of Act I of Arcane, has been shown to be in an very emotionally and mentally vulnerable place when she first arrives at the Library, even having a total meltdown when Angela first talks to her.
  • Angela also counts, though she is much better at hiding her pain, sorrow, and trauma thanks to having much more time to properly develop a mask as a coping method and to learn how to handle her emotions.
• Canon Foreigner: Bob, Roland's first Assistant Librarian, is a completely original character to the story.
• Canon Welding: Suho, the previous Information Team Department Head of L.Corp from Wonder Lab, is brought Back from the Dead as Powder's first Assistant Librarian.
• Clingy Child: Despite Angela stating that she values her personal space, Powder tends to attach herself to Angela whenever she's in a big mood, best shown in "From The Mind, To The Heart". This is something that continues well into her teenage years, though Angela is shown to be comfortable enough with this well enough.
• Cooldown Hug: After Powder confesses her Dark and Troubled Past, Angela simply allows her to hold her as she cries her eyes out.
• Death Is Cheap: At least, for the Librarians and their Assistants within the Library itself.
• Despair Event Horizon: Roland has very much crossed this after the death of Angelica and their unborn child. When Iori first finds him, he's a complete mess wasting away with nothing to live for.
• Evil Mentor: Well, more like "Ambiguously Evil Mentor". Nevertheless, Iori has effectively gone out of her way to have Roland be taken under her wing for a secret agenda of hers, encouraging his desire for revenge throughout their time together. Dialogue between her and Roland outright states he isn't the first Fixer she had acted as an mentor towards.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Powder, once she officially begins taking up her Patron Librarian duties, makes the choice to switch from her well-known twintails and into a more professional looking French braid.
• Fusion Fic: The setup of this fic has the City itself be apart of the world of Runeterra, with the Outskirts acting as a sort of buffer zone that separates the continent from the rest of the setting.
• The Glomp: Powder gives Angela the hug of a lifetime and refuses to let go anytime soon right after the latter grants her a whole room to do her tinkering in.
  Angela: Alright, alright, the point is made. Definitely clingy though.
  Powder: You can keep saying things like that and I still won't let go.
• Heroic B So D: Powder has a severe panic attack after surviving the Abnormality she accidentally released from the book, only managing to calm down from it with the presence of One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds.
  • She has another one in Chapter 5, upon realzing that she's back in Piltover and Zaun.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Twice over in the same battle: Suho gets herself killed buying Powder enough time to perform the final blow - though she gets better - while Salvador and Suho pull off a Leeroy Jenkins to buy Philip enough time to escape - they do not get better.
• Hidden Depths: Angela is able to understand and even relate to the various mental episodes Powder has to deal with, teaching her mental exercise and habits to keep her mind stable and under control. When Powder asked why, Angela all but says that she went through similar problems during her time at L Corp. and had to learn how to cope with them by herself to avoid completely losing her mind.
• Hypocrite: When Yesod calls out Powder for judging the kind of person he is without even knowing him, Powder sardonically points out that's what he's been doing since the beginning of their conversation.
• Incoming Ham: Powder makes her presence known to the Head agents and the Patron Librians duking it out in an suitably bombastic and showy way
  Powder: And not a moment too soon, the one and only hero of the day… HAS ARRIVED!
• Inelegant Blubbering: Powder absolutely breaks down crying when Angela accidentally reminds her of how she arrived at the Library. Angela, not knowing what else to do, tries to comfort her with a head pet.
• I've Come Too Far: Discussed between Iori and Roland right before she sends him to the Library.
• I Shall Taunt You: Zena is in full-on Evil Gloating mode during her bout with Powder.
• The Jinx: Powder's worst fear is being this towards Angela like she was towards her family in the past, as it resulted in the deaths of the adoptive father and brothers and being (seemingly) abandoned by Vi.
• The Klutz: Malkuth outright refers to herself as this, showing a bit of frustration that she's still so uncoordinated after all of this time.
• La Résistance: Powder is honestly surprised to learn that Malkuth is the one who led the rebellion against Angela's usurpation of the Light. Malkuth, for her part, is a bit offended at this assumption.
• Likes Older Women: When Roland refers to Iori as an "honest hag", she angrily points out that he was married to a woman six years his senior.
• Mad Scientist: Powder seems to have grown into a heroic example by the time she became a Floor Librarian.
  Powder (to Suho): Who said science had to be boring? Besides, I'm sure it'll be fine. Just keep a fire extinguisher nearby.
• Manipulative Bitch: Iori is very clearly playing upon Roland's desire for revenge for what happened to Angelica and their unborn child. That fact that Roland knows this but still goes along with whatever Iori is doing proves how good she is at it.
• "Not So Different" Remark: The reason why Angela doesn't just throw out Powder to the streets of the City and takes her under her care: the look on her face while she broke down was the same one she often wore during her time at the Lobotomy Corporation.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Powder, when she accidentally unleashes the Burrowing Heaven from its book.
  • Yuna expresses quite the Not So Stoic moment when Powder decides to properly debut Fishbones in the final stretch of the fight.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Thanks to her creator, Angela is stated to be an expert in various areas of science, so much so that not only was she able to help Powder improve upon her already impressive engineering skills, but also taught her physics, chemistry, and biology over the years.
• Outside-Context Problem: The Library to Piltover and Zaun as a whole. From the very moment it arrived, Marcus notes that the very aura it gives off makes it clear that it isn't made of any technology or magic known to either of the two cities or even Runeterra as a whole.
• Precision F-Strike: The first sentence Angela ever said to Powder contained this.
  Angela: ...Who the fuck are you?
• Pet the Dog: After hearing Powder's past and troubles straight from her, Angela later gifts her a whole room for tinkering, her passion in life.
• Point of Divergence: On both ends of the crossover:
  • Instead of just one Hextech Crystal, Powder managed to grab two from the heist. This leads to the one that she didn't use as a bomb to teleport her from Zaun and to the City, leading to her arrival in the Library and meeting Angela.
  • The war with the Sephirot took longer than canon, leading to Angela losing nearly all of the Light she stole during the White Nights and Dark Days, delaying the opening of the Library beyond nine months.
• Practically Joker: Word of God states that Powder's Patron Librarian outfit is basically the same as the Joker's in The Dark Knight, but with pink and blue replacing the purple and green.
• Psychotic Smirk: Angela lets out a positively vindictive and spiteful Sideways Smile when she recounts her sabotage of her creator's plan at the moment of its completion.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The Head's agents are successful at getting the Library ejected from the City...however, interference from the Hextech crystal Powder has teleported everyone outside the purview of the Head, being unable to track them in the process.
• Replacement Goldfish: By the time of the second time skip, Angela has effectively replaced Vi as her older sister in Powder's eyes.
• Sailor Earth: In "The Door To Greatness" sidestory, Powder is made the Patron Librarian of Psychology, a Floor that didn't exist in canon.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: How Iori managed to get Roland put under her care with permission from various members and represents from the Wings after his infamous killing spree following the death of the Pianist; she called upon many age-old debts and connections to have the Head publically excuse him for his actions. Though Iori mentioned that she burned a lot of bridges doing so.
• Servile Snarker: Bob is just as sardonic and sarcastic as Roland, and isn't afraid to show it in front of his face. Suho also shows shades of this, given how much Brutal Honesty she's willing to dish out to Powder no matter the situation.
• Shout-Out: In the "From The Mind, To The Heart" sidestory, Angela's inner thoughts mention tv shows she watches with Powder that are sponsored by the Wings, which include: Teenage Mutant Liu Fixers and Stars of The City Vs. The Forces Of The Head.
• Spanner in the Works: The Head's plans to eject the Library into the Outskirts was going just as well as canon right up until Powder pulls a Big Damn Heroes moment.
• The Stations of the Canon: "The Silence In The Tear" sidestory features Roland's and Angela first meeting occurring just as it does in the video game.
• Stress Vomit: Powder completely empties the contents of her stomach after surviving her encounter with the Burrowing Heaven.
• Switching P.O.V.:
  • The majority of "The Silence In The Tear" is from Iori's main perspective.
  • A good chunk of "Jinxed Ordeals" takes place from Phillip and the Dawn Office's perspective.
• Time Abyss: Powder is absolutely thrown off when Angela reveals that she's been forced to carry out her creator's script for a million years.
• Time Skip:
• Chapter Three takes place seven years after Chapter Two.
  • The sidestory "From The Mind, To The Heart" takes place about a year after Angela and Powder's first meeting.
  • "The Door To Greatness" sidestory takes place six years after the previous sidestory.
• Took a Level in Badass: Powder has become a very deadly combatant by the beginning of "The Door To Greatness", to the point that Angela deems her skilled enough to become a Patron Librarian.
• Underestimating Badassery: Zena is a full on Smug Super who knows for a fact that there are very, very few in the City who can take on her on, let alone actually defeat her. Powder is also aware of this fact and hasn't been fighting to defeat Zena, but to dispatch her long enough to interrupt Luda's teleportation process.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Due to seeing Angela as her Only Friend at this point and due to the circumstances of her relationship with her family in the past, Powder desperately wants Angela's trust and approval and to let her be more involved in her plans to obtain the One True Book.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 3 has the entire Library, including the agents sent by the Head to expulse it into the Outskirts, gets teleported somewhere in Runeterra due to the Hextech crystal that brought Powder into the Library in the first place, with the Head unable to get into contact with any of their agents.
  • Chapter 4 shows the location where the Library has landed: Piltover and Zaun.
• What the Hell Are You?: Powder asks Angela this during their first interaction.
• The Worf Effect: Salvador, who is a veteran of the Smoke War, leads the Dawn Office team, a high standard Associate Office which has decades of experience in the Fixer business. Them being defeated by Powder on her Floor showcases how far she's come since she first appeared in the Library.
• You Are Not Alone: Angela helps Powder get through her panic attack in Chapter 5 by assuring her that she won't be alone in dealing with her past now.