#LIFE REACTION LETS GO

[mellosdrawings]

OOOOOO CAN I ASK HOW WOULD THE N2 SQUAD REACT TO EACH OF THEM DYING?

What have you unleashed?

(WARNING: Angst, allusions to death, all that fun stuff. Nothing graphic tho, don't worry)

Jamil

He shouldn’t be surprised.

Well… He isn't surprised. Jamil Viper doesn't get nice things. Not for more than a few months, anyway.

Every once in a while, life takes pity on him and throws some nice, agreeable news his way. Just enough so that he lets his guard down. Just enough so that he allows himself to think maybe things will get better. Just enough so that he can pretend he isn't chained to a fate he will never escape.

A letter to NRC, a plan that goes a little too well, a couple of upperclassmen who seem to genuinely love him for who he is and not who he pretends to be.

So of course it doesn't last. Life gives and life takes.

Kalim follows, Octavinelle gets involved, Leona and Vil-

Well…

He isn't surprised.

Jamil Viper doesn't get nice things.

Vil

They look at him like they expect something from him. Horror, anger, ugly tears maybe. Just a reaction. Anything. Anything at all.

Vil doesn't give them that. Doesn't give them an opportunity to pity him. Doesn't give them food for gossip. Doesn't give them any material to make this topic last for any longer than it has to.

He knows how it works. Someone snaps a pic of him at his lowest, someone records his voice breaking during an interview, someone catches his lips tremble for but a second, and everybody will start talking about it again. And again. And again. For as long as there is a reaction from him. For as long as the topic attracts views.

Suffering brings more views than success.

So Vil doesn't react. Doesn't say a thing. Doesn't acknowledge the topic.

Better to be a cold asshole for a few weeks than to hear about it for years.

And in the darkness of his own room, where there is no camera, no eyes, and no ears to witness his grief-

Vil cries himself to sleep.

Leona

It’s just sand.

Only sand.

For miles and miles, further than the eye can see, nothing but sand.

Ruggie had the clever foresight to send all of Savanaclaw packing when Leona got the news. They would be sand too otherwise.

Who cares.

Who fucking cares.

He could turn the whole world to sand and it wouldn't be enough.

He might as well turn his own heart into sand.

It would hurt less.

[mortellanarts]

fandom sleeping on the most toxic yuri pairing in the entire series simply because they never spoke in canon smh

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

so I watched the most recent episode of succession (oops) and the thought vaguely occured to me "oh dear how are they going to recover from this one?"

and the answer is, of course, that they won't. this is the beginning of the end. this is how they destroy each other.

anyways that's my prediction for the fandom ciao kisses hope u all have a very chill season 4 💋

[skania]

I've received a few messages asking for my thoughts about the latest OnK chapters, but I'm sorry guys, to be honest, I'm giving this manga as little thought as possible for the time being 😂

It seems to me that this handful of chapters will best be read as an ensemble. Right now the pacing is all about Aka misleading the readers just to create cliffhangers and shock value (Aqua wants to kill Kamiki! No actually, Ai wants to save him so Aqua won't kill him! Kamiki is evil! No actually, he's just misguided, Nino is evil! ACTUALLY, Nino is just misguided and Kamiki is evil! Aqua may have finally chosen to live! No actually, Aqua is still planning to die!), and personally, I feel like thinking too hard about any of it before Aka gets to the point isn't really worth it.

He will stop his shenanigans and get somewhere eventually, likely (hopefully) by the end of the volume. So in the meantime, I'm going to take it easy and just let the man get there.

[heyclickadee]

I still think it’s interesting that Tech seems to agree with Echo that they should be doing more. To some extent, anyway. He’s pragmatic when it comes to making sure the batch has the basics taken care of (like the times he points out that maybe they can’t help on a certain mission because then they can’t do a job and they won’t get paid, which is bad, because they’re broke and still need to eat), but he’s not actually opposed to being more involved.

It’s in little things. They way that Tech is the one besides Echo who voices his moral concerns about the empire right off the bat, that Echo and Tech are the two who have similar (but differently expressed) reactions to the formation of the empire; the look on Tech’s face when Rafa and Trace point out that the batch is trying to get sensitive data without knowing who the buyer is, while they’re trying to get it to someone who’s trying to help; the little knowing look and nod Echo and Tech share before Echo goes to talk to Hunter about how much good they could do using the money they might get from the Serreno heist to fight the Empire. He knows what Echo’s going to try to convince Hunter to do. Even during the argument he has with Echo in “Ruins of War” his position isn’t, “Well, we shouldn’t be helping so it doesn’t matter,” it’s, “Technically we never had the treasure we wanted to use to fight the empire, so we didn’t really lose it—at least we’re not worse off than we started.”

The main difference between them are that Echo has this incredible, undeniable drive to help as many clones as he can, for a lot of reasons, but at least partly because he’s feels a kinship with them that Tech hasn’t quite had the chance to develop (he doesn’t have the same chip on his shoulder as Crosshair starts out with, but there is still a separation there) and has a bit of survivor’s guilt due to what he was used to do on Skako Minor that Tech doesn’t have, because he didn’t go through the same thing; while Tech’s first priority is the batch. He’s often if not always the one getting them out of impossible situations, and I think he knows that. Echo has to help Rex, even if it means leaving his new family for a while; Tech maybe wants to help, but he can’t leave his family while they need him around.

(In fact—sidebar, I could actually see these two having a conversation about both of them going to help Rex at the same time and it going like, “You should come, Tech, they could use your skills,” and Tech going, “And leave Hunter, Wrecker, and Omega on their own? Have you seen them?” and coming to the conclusion that, no, they can’t both leave.)

Anyway I’m not going anywhere with this and it’s really rambly; I just think Echo and Tech are neat and that the only way you could get Tech to go help elsewhere for a bit is if he saw them safe, settled, and being able to get by without him there all the time.

[teapot-of-tyrahn]

MARTYN'S EXPRESSION GETS ME. litlerally live slug reaction.

[gojooooo]

man i love open endings. the fact that thanks to yuuji there might indeed be the next time sukuna talks about in case some idiot decides to eat a finger again. and we need fics where yuuji is that idiot

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

the x files au where everything is exactly the same except mulder takes home the child neanderthal from the jersey devil episode and raises them as his own

[squorttle-pox]

please. i need alastor with his hair up so we can see the side of his head. second set of ears or smooth flesh prairie?

[astralhope]

- I understand how you feel, Yuma... and I don't want you to accept it. -

Rank 55: Yuma Jets!!

[shima-draws]

So my roommate is also into One Piece. I’m not sure if he’s watched any of the anime, I know for sure he’s watched the live action, but earlier tonight he came upstairs and watched a few episodes with me while waiting for a food delivery, and then he got hooked, and then he sat and watched MORE episodes with me without really knowing what was going on. But it was still wildly entertaining to him, esp since I’m right in the middle of one of the (arguably) best arcs rn, and now he wants to finish the arc with me LOL. NOBODY is immune to One Piece propaganda. Or Bon-chan 🥰

[mc-critical]

1.06 / 2.09 (33)

[ineed-to-sleep]

ENDING SPOILERS FOR BG3 AHEAD

Hate that I found this scene kinda hot

[opikiquu]

(rocking back and forth in the corner of an empty room) save me white boy save me white boy save me white boy s

oh my god. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS . BOY.

[cirrus-grey]

Hey you know how I made a post a bit ago comparing Bartimaeus and Nathaniel, John and Arthur, and Venom and Eddie?

John and Arthur, you better fucking not.

[selfinflictedgunshotwound]

sorry for only saying this type of shit lately but i kinda wanna drive a car straight into a brick wall at the highest speed possible