#I wasn't a part of it until you literally instigated it

[dreamingofimpalas]

I absoluely love the fact that somehow I'm now supposedly a spy

A spy (you heard me read it correctly)

For something I wasn't even initially a part of until someone opened their mouth and made me a part of it

Like you have no idea how funny that is to me 😂

A portion of the Loki fandom officially lost it and I'm all here for it but

[lingeriae]

you catching an attitude w your best friend!connie after seeing him posted up on a girls instagram? whewwww...

warnings - flufff, connie has nip piercing, mention of readers pum pum but there is no sex! kissing, ass slapping, connie literally says he's gonna have sex with the reader, jealousy, toxic connie if you squint a lil, cursing, reader is female,not proofread, raeder and connie are aged up to 21+

It's a wednesday night when you're scrolling through tiktok with connie on facetime, your laid on your tummy with your feet swinging behind you, thighs being squished by the pink thigh high socks you had on. you giggle at a tiktok your friend scent you moving to reply but pausing to roll your eyes at the deep voice that came from your phone speakers.

"What got you giggling like that?" his voice is raspy due to all the screaming and hollering he was doing while on the game with ony, he glances at you for a second before dragging his eyes back to his computer screen cussing said man for some unknown reason. "why this fool wont stay outta my business." you mutter showing the top half of your face so he wouldn't see the grin on your glossed lips as you watched how he side-eyed you.

Your phone vibrated as you got a notification from instagram, your brows drew together at the message immediately clicking it.

big cocky deja 👅

girlll....

shared @sasha's story

i be instigating or is that baldie???

aint yall talkin??

Lashes fluttering as you blinked at the picture, slowly sitting up as you clicked on the story zooming in lips slowly parting in disbelief. "What's wrong?" the sound of his voice sudddenly reminded you he was on the call, quickly clicking on to the call you rubbed your lips together with drawn eyebrows suddenly becoming irritated with his prescence as you felt your lashes get wet. "Who the fuck is Sasha?" you asked with a steady voice, pushing up your lips impatiently as you waited from his to answer the question.

Connie paused his game at your question, eye brows furrowing as he turned to look at you. He bit his lips as he looked at you, noting the irritation your face with a shake of his head he turned back to the game. "Don't wory bout it." Your face twisted at his words staring at his side profile for a minute before sucking your teeth not carying if he could note how upset you were.

"Alright, bro, bye." not giving him the chance to answer you hang up deciding to go on 'sasha's page to stalk her itching to find out who she is, and what relation she has to connie. Mid scrolling you pause at a picture of her kissing connie's cheek, it was posted a few months back but it still made you feel a pit in your stomach and made you gnaw at your lips while tears ran down your cheeks. Connie was messaging your phone non-stop, telling you to stop playing and answer his messages, trying to explain shit between him and the sasha girl, but you didn't bother reading any replying with a simple thumbs-up emoji and muting him.

You thought about how silly you were being seeing as how you and Connie weren't even together, but it felt like you were. Always together and if you weren't you'd alway be on the phone, always telling each other shit, always sharing tender touches and meaningful glances at eachother - fuck he even called you 'his girl' infront of his homeboys, didn't that mean you were together? although, he didn't ask so that technically didn't mean you were but you weren't seeing nobody and he reassured you that he wasn't either, was that just a lie?

Sniffing you clicked off of sasha's profile, leaving your phone on the bed as you got up to use the bathroom. Looking at your puffy eyed expression you sucked you teeth mad at yourself for crying over some boy, you gently washed your face with cool water before using a towel to wipe away the water and applying baby oil to your plump lips, the sudden knocking on your door had your eyebrows furrowing until you realized who it could be. The thought alone caused an annoy sigh to leave your lips, and for you to feign ignorance to the fluttering at you stomach at what would happen.

Taking your time to walk at the door, stopping at mirror on the wall to fix your appearance and unbuttoning your snoopy pajama top to show a little of your cleavage, a gold necklace with the inital 'c' glistening against the pretty brown skin of your supple breast, you turned to look at the shorts bending over to shake your ass a little but quickly standing up as Connie's knocking grew louder.

Rolling your eyes you walked up to the door, pulling it open to reveal Connie. Your pussy did a thump thump as you took him in, a black tank top you're sure he just slipped on in a hurry, his nipples along with his nipple piercings pushing against the material of it and grey sweatpants. His hands were shoved in the pocket on his sweatpants as his eyes roamed your body slightly pausing on your thighs that spilled through the material of your socs, jaw clenching as he finally met your eyes with an eyebrow raised.

Leaning against your door you look him up and down before looking at your coks clad feet, fidgeting as you felt his gaxe pierce into you. "Whatchu want Connie? It's late."

He quinted his eyes at you letting out a sarcastic laugh with his tongue poking his inner cheek, "You too good to look at me, or sum?"

Cocking out your hips with your arms crossed over your chest, you shook your head before rolling your eyes at him moving to shut the door while muttering "I aint got time for this." softly under your breath. Your breath hitched as Connie held unto the door, pushing it open and walking inside before shutting it behind him leaning against the door and refusing to break eye-contact with you.

Scoffing you turn your back to him before walking to your room, an extra sway in your hips as you feel him walking closely behind you, eyes on the fat that spilled out of the material of your shorts hearing him cuss under his breath as he almost hit a wall from not staring caused a small smile to pulll at your lips. falling unto your bed with a huff you glared at him. You hated the fact that he looked so good, his muscle atraining againt the material of his tank top as he crossed his arms looking down at you, dick straining against his sweatpants, your mouth almost watering at the sight had you looking away.

"What's your problem?" laughing with a shake of your head you pointed a finger towards your chest. "Me? I don't got a problem, cause im not supposed to worry about it right? tuh fuck you take me for."

Connie groans running a hand down his face mumbling something in spanish under his breath, fueling your anger. After he disregards your question he comes into your house acting as if you were the problem, when he was out there laid up with other girls. You stand up from the spot on your bed smacking your lips together as you snatched your phone from it's position on your bed, walking past him making sure not to touch him as you made your way to the kitchen. His mouth parted at your attitude, hot on your trail as you began mumbling some shit under your breath.

"Don't even know why I fucking bother, aint like you my man anyway-" you inhaled deeply as connie pressed himself behind you, mouth running dry as you felt all the muscle beneath his tank top and his dick against your ass hands shoved into his pockets as he watched you take a water bottle out of the fridge with shaky hands, trying your best to ignore his presence behind you.

"Whatchu mumbling? Say it again so I can hear you." The vibration from his worth runs throughout your body and straight to your pussy, your back straightens as you close the fridge spinning around to through him a weak glare that quickly flattered as he looked down at you through his lashes, his eyes almost seeming dark. Your legs shook as he licked his lips the action not going unnoticed by him, you took a deep breath before unlocking your phone, shoving it into his face a second later refusing to meet his eyes.

His honey coloured eyes dragged from your face to your phone, taling it from you to look at what you were shovwing him properly, his lips parting to release a huff that sounded too close to a laugh had your eyes dragging from the floor to meet his, shivering a bit as they were already on you. Raising a brow at you connie licked his lips, "You jealous, ma?" giving him a blank look you tried snatching your phone out of his hand only for him to move it back, your chest now pressed against his. Biting your lips as you feel his nipple piercing rub agains your nipples, you try not to let a whimper escape you at the groan he lets out and the look on his face, bottom lip tucked between his teeth with a pink blush across his face and a look of lust in his eyes. You shiver as he removes the hand he has in his pocket, bringing it to rest on your back to keep you against him.

He rubs his nose against yours before resting his forehead against yours gently squeezing your hips, he kisses your lips twice transferring the baby oil you placed on them earlier t his lips, and you allow him savouring the taste of them like you have many times before. "Sasha's this girl I used to talk to," he says after a minute, letting out a breath through his nose at the way you tense beneath his touch and try to move away before he's pulling you back against him placing your phone on the counter so that he can hold your face. You look at him with your lips folded, hurt evident in your expression which caused him to sigh softly and kiss your cheeks. "We weren't together cause I found out she was messing round with some guy. I haven't talked to her since, and I wouldn't have known she posted that shit cause I blocked her."

eyes watering, the tips of your figer brush aginst the thread of his sweat pants as you play with the strings watching the way you twirl it around your finger, sniffing you slowly look up at him rubbing your lips together. "You promise?" humming he kisses you again, leaning back wiping under your eyes.

"Promise baby." you pull him down to kiss you again, parting your lips to give him access and sighing into his mouth as his hands slip under your snoppy pajama top. He leans back again pecking your lips and resting his forehead against yours with closed eyes, you feel his hands move from your face to your hips inching towards your ass before he gives it a squeeze laughing as you hiss at him and try to remove his hands.

"Looked too good not to," He says leaning down to kiss you again, " gonna fuck the shit outta you for giving me so much attitude." the sound of a smack sounds through the air as connie slaps your ass, rubbing it after and laughing at your whines.

"Connie! Don't do that shit it hurts!"

[sweetbottletops]

"Alone? Will you be okay?" Koga is a delicate soft marshmallow on the best of days and Aya knows it.

What could go wrong?

Ch. 93

When you're not used to being part of the main plot lines in school it can be easy to just not concern yourself with them at all. You get a non-combatant label and can slip in and out without too much worry.

"Yahaha" "Stop that!" Perhaps not everyone in the room agrees with what is going on? Tabling that until later.

Accidental MC arrives at the scene of the crime.

Of course it was the Maths book. The most untrustworthy of subjects.

"You must be pretty smart writing a whole song in English."

"I bet she used machine translation though. Just look!"

Scanlator later changed that to: "I ran it through a translator. Just look!"

I've seen some people speculate Koga isn't the most reliable with her reactions. So I attempted to look at these lines from at least a more neutral toned angle.

At the most generous that first comment might be neutral in tone (setting aside the whole violation of privacy part...the guy is literally waving her property around) but the MTL line is meant to put her down.

I'm going with negative for both regardless of Koga being potentially unreliable in some of her reactions. And tbh once you've been violated like this any reaction outweighs intent to me. And the intent is sus.

"Hey, is this a love song!?" (They have rewritten the lyrics out in Japanese on the blackboard... not sure why it wasn't translated by the scanlator because Japanese readers were meat to get hints from it, but there are legible phrases there if you use google translate...keeping in mind the kids might have done a bad translation from English to Japanese themselves....)

"You should just give it up." (Was that towards Koga's music or a third party towards the guy waving her stuff around? Unclear.) Scanlator changed it to "Hey man, stop it!" which made it clearer they were talking about the instigator.

"You mean the one in that video was really Koga-san?"

"She gives off a totally different vibe though."

When someone (strangers even) question your abilities, appearance, personality, and motivations like that it can only be negative. And putting it up on the chalkboard and waving it in her face makes it a whole classroom problem.

I'm not convinced there are 100% shitheads in the room, but unless someone steps up next chapter then you all get to be in the shithead bin as well. That's how it works. The Gyaru + Pretty Boy alliance wouldn't be silent for this so let's see if anyone else separates themselves from the mob.

Last week I had been thinking the worst that would come from this was maybe her being volunteered for some school event against her will or having someone find out about her muse since it was likely a love song, but this is exponentially worse.

And I'm not sure I like her side of the relationship getting exposed via poorly translated lyrics on the blackboard. Sure, it's going to advance things quicker, but at what cost?

Kind, green Aya-eyes cutting through all of the black ink that took over the last three pages.

I'm not sure if someone already in the room will come to their senses and put a stop to things, if Koga will finally have her say to those mean faces that's been lurking through her entire school career, if Aya will come back in time to show the extent of her own gap, or if Aya will come back and Koga will just be missing... and force her to realize some things from the evidence left behind.

We know that Aya didn't understand the English lyrics to the song Koga wrote and sang for her earlier. It's been a comment from her lurking in the background the whole time.

Koga might have technically already confessed then. If this is the same song and it's a love song then the translation on the blackboard should be enough to clue Aya in.

As an aside... Are we in the final stretch? I feel like volume 3 should end around chapter 110-ish right? If that's the case and it's the end (no inside info here, just speculation) there isn't a ton of time for relationship and wrapping up the Joe/Kanna/America/Family mystery. But it's also a little hard for me to anticipate a volume 4 since they are almost finished with their final year in school which should be a natural resolution point for most of the drama.

We will see how it is paced next week I guess.

[katsuthelittlekitten]

Idea of dear @lmn23op tysm 💕 Hope you like it 😊

Maybe having a professor be smitten by Larissa but said professor isn't good with words. So she'll appear as if she's not interested. So confessions will be made by action or lingering touches.

✨ ̲W̲a̲̲y̲ ̲t̲̲o̲ ̲s̲̲h̲̲y̲ ̲f̲̲o̲̲r̲ ̲t̲̲h̲a̲̲t̲ ✨

Obsessed, yes we'll that was definitely the word to describe your feeling for Larissa Weems because let's be honest, saying you were in love with her was just not enough.

Everytime you were in her presence or just close to her, you looses yourself completely and started freaking out when she addresses you. It was literally like if god wanted you to look like a fool in front of the only person you cared about.

Her voice was so soft, so perfect and you just was getting lost in her deep blue eyes that makes you think about the deep ocean each time. Larissa Weems was just to perfect and you couldn't muster the strength to tell her how you felt.

It wasn't like you haven't tried before, that you did. Perhaps tree or four time already. Yet all of them ended up with you babbling incoherently in front of the women, and your face blushing like a tomato. What a shame really. After all, you were one of Nevermore teacher and normally being able to talk like a grown up human was a qualification needed to be one. Yet it seems like every time you wanted to talk to the blonde it ended up unsuccessful.

That's why at some point you changed your tactic, hoping it would be more successful than the other.

This time, you tried to show her in actions instead of just trying to tell her your feelings with words. After all you always were a tactile person and touch was something you were comfortable with.

So you tried more and more to sit asside of her in meetings and sometimes brush your body with hers or delicately touch her hand like it was a mistake in some occasions. You still was quite shy and overwhelm by her closeness but honestly it was going pretty well compared to the talking...

The most surprising part thought, was the discovery of Larissa not minding them at all. In fact, she quite looked like she liked this new side of your relationship and you were delighted to see her smiled at you more and even sometime instigate the touch. Those occasions were making your stomach flip and butterfly start a waltz in you.

After a little while of executing your plans in the moments you could find yourself in the blonde compagnie. You start finding them not enough, so you started to write short anonym love message that you attached to flowed you bought for her. Then you asked the flower delivery guy to ship them in her office.

It was cliche yes but since writing was much easier that talking in your case, you found it a good alternative. The only sad part about this stratagem, was the fact you wouldn't be able to see her face when she received the flower of read the message.

It made you sad to be fair, after all you were convinced that the principal would have been a sight and you could only imagine the surprise and the happiness on her face.

You'll have to wait until and hope she talks about it you supposed.

Yet, you didn't.

Because the next morning, you received a email on your laptop asking you to meet her in her office. You felt your heart hammering in your chest and you stopped breathing for a moment.

Did the flower guy turn you over ? I mean she couldn't be summoning you for fun could she...

Anyhow, even if you were absolutely terrified and expecting the worst you found the courage in you to walk to her office in time and knock on the door. The other side of it, you heard Larissa's perfect voice asking you to come in and you didn't wait for a second demand to do so.

You then entered and walked to her desk stopping yourself in front of it, your head falling to the ground and your fingers played with nervously.

That's when Larissa's eyes fell on you and she smiled delicately.

Not that you saw anyway since you were way to concerned about it all to look in her eyes.

The tall blonde after over a minute of observing you, stood up from behind her desk and took the poem you had written in between her fingers. Then, with her cheeks becoming a little bit pink, Larissa walked around her desk and ended up just asside of you, taking your chin with her free hands delicately.

Darling look at me please.

A shaky breath left your lips at her command before you raised your eyes to hers obediently.

The women you loved so much in front of you smiled at that, before delicately caressing your face with her fingers.

I received a letter this morning that was accompanied with my favorite flowers.

The beautiful poem wasn't signed sadly. I've been thinking about who this mysterious sender could be all morning and honestly at first I wasn't sure. But then, I looked at the hand writing and found that it looked quite alike one of my favorite teacher...

That was it, you were screwed she knew you were the one that wrote it and you couldn't help thinking that you might get fired for that. Then, there was a part of her word that flashed back in your thoughts.

Favorite teacher...

After reading that, I allowed myself to have some hope...that maybe my feelings could be reciprocated... y/n. Did you send it to me...

You were completely stunned, you had no words and you didn't know what to do. Did she just say reciprocate feelings... was she implying that she had feelings for you. No it couldn't be real right? But... at the same time she was quite clear about her words.

Your lips were half open and you stood dumbfounded in front of the poor Larissa that seemed to start worrying she might have been wrong about the person that wrote the poem.

You wanted to answer her, you really did but when you found the courage to do so and confess, the only thing that came out of your mouth was...

I euuuu I'm...humm I mhh... and then you started blushing in pure shame, hiding your face with your hands.

Larissa at first looked at you with surprise, then when she realised how dumb you were in her presence she just giggle and bit her bottom lip. Her eyes were still on you and she couldn't help but feel special to be able to make you fell like that.

Awn darling, it's ok don't be shy I'm not mad I promesse. I actually think it's quite...adorable.

You heard her words and her little giggle and then let your hands fall down a little just to allow your eyes to look at her for an instant. Then, when you saw how full of love her look was when observing you, they fell down completely and you blush even more.

You didn't wished to speak again after that, not feeling like making yourself look like a fool again. So you went with what you knew best and brought yourself closer to the blonde. Then, you took her hand in yours and kissed the top lovingly while looking Larissa directly in the eyes. Then you continued up her wrist and arms before you layed a last kiss to her cheek.

This time it was the tall blonde's time to blush and she sent a loving smiled your way, making your heart tighten in your chest.

So it really was you sweetheart...

You nod at her statement with a loving smile on your lips tightening your hand on hers.

Happiness flood on the tall women's face when she realised her feeling were reciprocated and she lowered herself at your level a smirk on her lips. She waited for you to do the next step and you did, crashing your lips on hers without a second thought.

You moaned in the kiss, your hand tangling in her hair that was loose today.

Larissa on end, sight happily before picking you up in her arm and hugging you to her. She layed multitude of kisses to your face, making you giggle and wrap your arms around her neck happily.

I love you Larissa sayed to you with a last kiss to your cheek before you whispered it back to her with a timid voice.

I love you to.

Finally.

You said it.

Without stuttering! Well, now that you had made the move that was so hard to do maybe things would be different when you tell her next time. Because their was no way this kiss was the last.

[gothcatgirlfriend]

undertale yellow spoilers!

spoilers for the end of undertale yellow's no mercy route, neutral route, and major parts of pacifist. please do not read if you do not wish to be spoiled. you have been warned.

i apologize for any possible inaccuracies. i tried to be as accurate as possible by rewatching cutscenes, but there's always a chance i got things wrong. it also might be a bit rambly because i wrote them as messages. still, i have a lot of thoughts on this decision undertale yellow made, which i'd like to believe i backed with solid evidence. and in the end, it is only my opinion. i'd just like to have my point of view seen.

so, in regards to martlet and undertale yellow's no mercy route:

i think martlet is the perfect choice as no mercy's last stand, actually.

in undertale, it's sans, and yeah, he shows that he's menacing no matter what route you're on, but for the most part he comes off as a goofy slacker with some mysteries.

it's the fact that the player drives him to the state where he has to do something, because they're on a killing spree with nobody spared, literally. and he reveals that he's actually been working hard on all the time anomaly shenanigans behind the scenes that make sans such a good character to be the last defense between the player and asgore (until flowey kills him, and then the player kills flowey, and then chara kills the player...)

with undertale yellow, martlet is a very optimistic and genuine person. she's a bit of an airhead, but she still tries her best as a member of the royal guard. all the other major bosses fight clover in pacifist for reasons such as mistaking clover for the blue soul believing to be tracked down by them and defending themselves (dalv), blaming clover for their ruined relationships and believing that bringing in their soul themselves will repair their reputation (starlo), and of course, requiring clover's soul in a last-ditch effort to save their daughter from being at death's door (ceroba).

martlet is literally going by protocol. she's following the rules to the letter, and gets confused when clover refuses to attack, not even doing so herself before she gets to the part where she's allowed to. and the part where clover insults her behavior as a royal guard is where she falters and decides to spare clover, because it's true. her best isn't enough for them. the royal guard is under asgore's rule to take human's souls for monsterkind, but that isn't enough for her to finish the job.

this is where you keep in mind martlet and chujin's conversation that clover sees in the no mercy route. her mentor, that she admired and was close to, is extremely cautious of humans due to the incident with the blue soul. but even after knowing the damage they can cause, she has hope that not all of them are bad, as she'll say in no mercy herself.

so that's why in no mercy, when clover is delivering their twisted sense of justice and killing every monster they can, she knows she has to stop them. in the first encounter, after she realizes clover is the culprit, she tosses the guide book and puts everything she's got into the fight. but that, just as well, isn't enough. she has to retreat because they're too powerful, even though clover could continue their rampage. but still, after almost dying to them, she tries to convince them to end the violence because she wants to believe that they have an ounce of sympathy for their victims.

if no mercy is aborted, when clover meets her on the roof, she throws away the determination serum she picked up from the lab just like in regular neutral. because she sees that, at least in one instance, they didn't choose murder. and that's good enough for her. that's all it takes, even if flowey goes in for the kill and martlet blames clover. she only goes so far to do so in her dying moments, and because flowey purposefully hid in the shadows, so how would she know it wasn't them?

when no mercy is fully initiated, she doesn't even instigate the combat; clover does. they're so trigger-happy that they waste no time. and at that point she has to use the last weapon monsterkind has to prevent clover from reaching asgore. she waited until the last moment, hoping clover would change their mind. but when there's no hope for them, she harnesses that determination to become the most powerful monster in the underground, the zenith of monsterkind. she'll wield the determination to deliver justice unto clover.

even if it kills her.

[dragonmarquise]

Everyone keeps talking Abt all the crews and stuff, but like, I never see any content for futurism! Sure there wasn't a lot of stuff for them since they were like, a really small part of the plot, but it would still be awesome to see content for them!!!! So I come bearing a question, do you have hcs for futurism?

Ooo, I have a few for FUTURISM! Not as extensive as my stuff for Devil Theory and DOT EXE, but still. :>

(I know some people kinda debate writing it as FUTURISM vs. Futurism, I'm gonna personally keep all caps but I also understand most people probably don't care either way lol)

Also feel free to send in asks about the other crews/characters too! I might not have a lot for each character though. I also have a general list of LGBT+ headcanons for all the BRC characters, if that interests you! Granted, it's probably not as extensive as some other people's lists.

Anyways, gonna put this under a Read More, it won't get nearly as long as the other two headcanon sets, but it'll be long enough that I'll feel bad about posting this without one. ^^;

I like giving all the crew members themed names, and for FUTURISM I went with computer-related terms! Some of them more obscure than others. So for the members (besides DJ Cyber of course):

Jazz (Related to the Chorus/Jazz version of JavaOS)

Quantum (i.e. quantum computing)

Veronica (an old search engine)

Nyx (The name of a prototype Amiga chipset, though also Greek personification of the night!)

I have a personal idea that after the events of the game, one member from each of the major crews end up joining BRC, basically representing the unlockable characters in the post game. In this case, Nyx is the one who joins BRC (and in my mind she's the default Spring palette in the game), so let's start with her!

Bi, currently dating one of the Eclipse ladies (inspired by this very good fan art btw :D )

All of the FUTURISM gals have amazing skills both with computers and as writers. Nyx ends up being one of two Designated IT Person for BRC, the other being Cueball.

Her and Cueball get into little prank wars, mostly instigated by Cueball for the hell of it. Her opinion of him ranges from genuine respect for his own computer skills to Chump Lord Supreme. Depends on her mood (and how much Cueball has recently pissed her off before asking her about it, lol)

As for the rest of BRC: "Well, they're still kinda chumps, but I guess they're my chumps now, y'know?"

Not afraid to be snarky, even to authority figures (DJ Cyber included)

Now for Jazz (Summer palette):

Is actually a guy who crossdresses! Does drag shows on the weekends too. :D

She is personally not very picky about pronouns, but most people default to referring to Jazz with she/her while in her writer outfit or as her drag persona (she goes by Jazz for both anyways), and he/him when he's not dressed up. But again, not very picky either way.

"I'm just saying, when the cops try to chase me down, they're gonna be looking for a blonde woman, not a guy with dark hair and stubble. Literally, one time I ran around a corner and managed to take off my wig and mask, then just covered up my top with a hoodie I had. Same pants and shoes, but they didn't even notice!"

Truthfully the crossdressing thing was genuinely just for fun, not to mention pretty comfortable while going around doing writer stuff. It wasn't until a while later that she realized it would make for a great disguise as a writer. :P

Nyx and Jazz are basically Besties and will be more than happy to smacktalk about their respective crews behind everyone's backs, lol

Now Quantum (Winter palette):

Runs an underground (kinda literally) server farm for local web hosting, chat sites, and forums. Anyone remember forums? Man, the good ol' days...

Has a hand in a lot of open source freeware projects. Hates companies like Adobe, Apple, Google, and Microsoft with a passion. Big Linux nerd btw, she will talk you ear off about the pros and cons of different distros if you let her.

Actually on that note, if you're not talking to her while she's out and about as a writer, or otherwise talking to her about computer stuff, she's fairly introverted! Especially if you try to talk to her in person instead of via text/chat/email/etc, she's basically more talkative online.

Also very good at sneaking around. Though not really as like spying or anything like that, she just prefers to not get in people's way or annoy them. Unfortunately she has scared DJ Cyber more than once by sneaking up on him by accident, lol

Wears contacts as a writer, but otherwise wears glasses normally. Has been considering getting prescription heavy-duty goggles for her writer activities, so that she doesn't have to bother with the contacts anymore.

And finally Veronica (Autumn palette):

She is genuinely a jerk. Nyx can be snarky sometimes, but not in an overly mean way. Veronica will be more than happy to be nasty to someone if she thinks they deserve it, even if they really don't.

Always looks down on pretty much any other writer outside of FUTURISM. She's still convinced Felix cheated to get his reputation, especially the whole "did it with no boostpack" thing.

Most people would probably consider her a stereotypical Karen ngl :u

So yeah, she's basically That One Teammate Nobody Likes. Veronica is only still in the crew because her skills are second only to DJ Cyber himself. Hell, he really doesn't like her attitude, but can't find a replacement for her in terms of skills. (He's begged Vinyl to formally join FUTURISM in the past, but she always declined, preferring to keep being a freelance writer. And now that she's part of BRC, she's definitely not an option for replacing Veronica, lmao)

She had a crush on Faux, but these days refuses to admit it was ever a thing.

That's about all I got I think! Hope you enjoy these. :>

Small bonus, specific track from the game that I associate with FUTURISM the most: Funk Express!

[chaos-and-recover]

I asked my mom and my cousin is 33. I thought she was older. So here's a thing you should know about my cousin. She was dating my biodad and she suspected but had no real evidence. She literally called CPS and tried to have me taken away in revenge. My dad made mom get a paternity test and it showed negative for me but not my two much older siblings but they chose to stay with mom. My biodad killed himself because my cousin dumped him. It wasn't until I was 10 my mom told me who was my biodad.

As for the wedding, we were all very drunk this is true, so I can't judge her too harshly for that, but she is a hypocrite because the whole reason it got heated was because she found out I was drinking and told my mom she was a bad mom for letting me drink underage. As if she didn't literally ask my mom to buy her alcohol when she was also underage. She comes to funerals and weddings only because there are two cousins she's close with but they've blocked everyone else when she asked them to.

Okay hang on, the timeline here is getting me like

Was she dating your bio dad when your mom cheated with him? Because uhhhh. If you're 17 and she's 33 now then she was 15/16 when that part happened, so how old was your bio dad? Or your mom?

Also it's not your cousin's fault that your bio dad killed himself, ESPECIALLY if he cheated on her. And ESPECIALLY X2 if she was a minor (EVEN MORE IF HE WAS NOT). It's never your responsibility to stay with someone so they don't hurt themselves, and threatening that is a manipulation tactic.

If the timeline that I'm gathering is:

-cousin is dating your biodad, possibly an adult while she's a teenager -mom cheats on her husband with your biodad -cousin and biodad break up -biodad commits suicide

Then it sounds to me like that might all be the root of the issue -- do you think maybe your mom instigated all this vitriol toward your cousin because she was hurt by all that? It's sounding more and more like she IS a scapegoat and your mom might, unfortunately, be the one behind it all.

From what I've seen the only thing your cousin has done wrong here was call CPS out of vengeance, that's fucked, but it is absolutely insane for your entire family to dogpile on her for it and to try to sue her because they went to a wedding they weren't invited to AND to try and fight a Do Not Contact order. I think going NC with this cousin is the best outcome here, honestly.

I'd also say maybe therapy because it does sound like you've been put in the middle and are struggling with all of this, but I know that's expensive and can be really hard to access as a minor without parents knowing.

[grapementos]

absquatulate

(v.) to leave without saying goodbye.

aged up monoma x gn y/n

a/n: i've never written for monoma before, so.. i'm gonna be kinda careful with his characterization. this is extremely toxic omg please proceed with caution.

shinso's part here.

cw: accusations of cheating, entertaining the idea of cheating, arguing, crying, descriptions of a toxic relationship, shouting.

even during arguments, monoma couldn't set the theatrics aside. he insisted on making something out of (literally) nothing. that's not to say you belittled his concerns or complaints--of course not; you always took his feelings into account, but sometimes it just felt like he wanted to argue.

of course, you weren't blameless in the mess your relationship was turning into. you enabled and sometimes even instigated his behavior at times.

however, you both stayed. regardless of the frequent petty arguments, the desire to leave and seek out love elsewhere never once crossed your mind.

until today.

today, he pushed too far. his desire to push you to your breaking point and completely unravel the ugliest parts of you had never been so prominent until now.

“oh, i bet the great bakugo katsuki was there, wasn’t he? you’ve always fancied class those in class a, even back in high school.”

you couldn’t believe your ears. his words, what he was implying, was just feeding a flame that was ready to indiscriminately scorch everyone in the nearest vicinity.

you had simply been recalling a run-in you'd had with some old classmates at the grocery store to monoma when he blew the entire conversation out of proportion. you should've known he'd react badly to the mention of the graduates of class a; he was still irked by their success, despite being a top twenty hero himself.

initially, you'd just tried to change the topic, insisting that you were hungry and still hadn't put the groceries away. he was having none of that, however, and insisted on you giving every detail of your interaction with the heroes.

and that's how you wound up getting accused of being infatuated with one bakugo katsuki. as angered as you were by the idea, you couldn't suppress the itch under your skin, wanting to make him hurt as much as you did at his accusation.

"he was there, actually. we had a nice conversation." your lips quirked up into a knowing smile as you sauntered into the kitchen, busying yourself with the bags sitting on the counter.

"please. as if that brute has changed since high school. d'you just exchange profanities the entire time? hm?" he followed behind you, gaze burning holes into the back of your head.

"we certainly exchanged something." your voice was sickeningly sweet, eyes flickering with something dangerous.

his face darkened, grip on the edge of the counter tightening, "sounds interesting. do share the details of what must have been a devilish experience."

you hummed in agreement, putting some groceries away in the cupboards, "indeed it was, but obscurity is much more riveting than blatancy, don't you think? especially for these rather explicit details you're asking for."

he was in front of you within seconds, eyes absolutely burning.

"glad to know the idea of cheating on me is funny to you."

you scoffed, bumping your shoulder against his as you walked past him, "you're the one who accused me of something i didn't do. i just ran with it."

"i was joking. you blew it out of proportion." he accused, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

you shook your head, whipping around to face him, "neito, don't even go there. you always do this."

"do what? joke? i'm sorry, i wasn't aware you had no sense of humor." he curled his lip, eyes narrowing.

"no, god. you know what you do. you make a big deal out of everything and then get mad when i finally say what you want." you jerked your finger at his chest accusingly.

he pushed away your hand, leaning his face closer to yours, "i have no idea what you're on about, babe. just sounds to me like you enjoy arguing."

your jaw dropped nearly to the floor, blood boiling, "you enjoy arguing! don't turn this on me!"

"whoa, now we're yelling? alright, i can yell!" his voice rose, though it sounded far more amused than yours, "let's yell! since we can't be adults and use our words!"

your eyes stung as he mocked you, what you could only describe as humiliation washing over you like cold water, "you're an asshole." you whispered, clenching your fists, "forget this. i'm—i'm done."

he watched as you walked past him, face going ghostly white at your words, "right, y/n, that's not funny."

when he was met with silence, he all but sprinted into your shared bedroom, able to do little but watch as you shoved clothes into a suitcase.

"y/n, i'm sorry. i took it too far, okay? it's my fault, okay?" he pleaded, grabbing your wrist.

you yanked your arm away, shooting him a sharp glance over your shoulder, "don't touch me."

he flinched away, completely foreign to rejection of any form, "y/n.."

when your suitcase was full to the brim, you zipped it up and set it on the floor, rolling it out of the room, "i'll get more stuff later."

"y/n, you can't just leave!" he sputtered, following behind you, "please, just talk to me! i'll do anything,"

"talk?" you demanded, looking back at him over your shoulder, "every time we talk, you have to twist it to make me the bad guy. i'm not giving you the chance to do that again. it's over, monoma."

true to your word, you walked out and didn’t look back once.

—

the healing process was lengthy and still ongoing. years of counseling had helped you keep a safe, sane mindset through what was one of the most difficult times of your life.

however, it also helped you realize that monoma wasn’t the only one at fault when it came to the toxicity of the relationship. you played a big role as well, even if you were blind to it at the time.

the thought pained you, especially when it plagued your mind most days, despite your numerous attempts to just be free from the past. you thought about him most days, unable to keep yourself from wondering if he moved on.

you hated yourself for it, but a significant part of you couldn't stomach the idea of him being with someone else. the years worth of unraveling each other to the ugliest, realest parts of each other, yet still having so much love to offer--it wasn't easy to forget.

forgetting wasn't even a possibility, if your constant yearning to be in his arms again was anything to go by. you resisted even coming into contact with him, however, considering you had no way of knowing if he'd undergone self-improvement since your last tragic encounter.

your desire to reconcile wasn't as strong as the absolute need to not be hurt again. putting yourself in a compromising situation was completely out of the question--you'd promised yourself that much.

that thought was at the forefront of your brain when you had a cliche encounter-with-your-ex-at-the-cafe-you'd-always-go-to-together. you'd simply been trying to walk out with your coffee, but upon turning around, you came face to face with none other than neito monoma.

"oh! y/n, i didn't expect to see you here. how are you?" he stammered out, eyes wide at the sight of you.

you nearly dropped your coffee, blood running cold at the sight of him, "i'm doing well. how have you been?"

thanking whoever was listening for allowing your voice to come out steady, you shifted on your feet, hands starting to tremble.

"just fine. busy, you know." he chuckled, looking back over his shoulder and then to your again, "wanna sit? catch up a little?"

you opened your mouth to reject his offer, ready to spew some excuse, but he beat you to it, adding a quiet 'please?' that you just couldn't deny.

that's how you found yourself sitting across from monoma, both sipping your beverages awkwardly under the soft lighting under the surprisingly barren cafe.

"so.. how's life? anything new?"

you shook your head, "not much. just taking things day by day, you know?"

"yeah, i get that." he looked off in the distance in thought, "i got a new place. i like it quite a bit."

conversation flowed steadily after that, the both of you sharing new details of your lives.

however, as more time passed, you found yourself unable to keep acting like nothing was wrong. the elephant in the room was growing and growing and god, you were suffocating.

"i'm sorry." you blurted, disregarding the fact that he was mid-sentence, "god, i'm really sorry.'

he stopped, frowning, "sorry for what?"

you dug your nails into your palms, lowering your head, "i'm sorry for everything. for leaving like that. for not talking anything out. and," you stammered, unable to meet his gaze, "i'm sorry for blaming everything on you."

his eyes softened after a moment, a smile gracing his lips, "y/n, leaving was the best thing you could've done. we both realized our mistakes and bettered ourselves because, let's admit it, we brought out the worst in each other."

your heart sank as you met his eyes, yours beginning to sting, "of course, yeah--you're right."

"although," he reached across the table, offering his hand, "if you're willing, i'd love to try again now that we've made our mistakes."

you just stared wide-eyed at his hand, then up to his eyes, trying to make a clear-headed decision, "slowly. very, very slowly." you confirmed, eyes narrowing.

"of course. we can proceed with the utmost of caution." he promised, "i promise."

you smiled down at his hand, slowly slipping your own into it, "sounds good, neito."

i would've clocked him in the face, js. reblogs are appreciated!

[mc-critical]

your analysis of selim? i think he's hated way more than he deserves. hating him for valid reasons is fine but telling that he's gonna be such a bad sultan is really stupid [and especially because only now do they bring out history & say selim was bad which is historically inaccurate as well]. out of all of suleyman's sons, it was only mustafa who was loved by all & talented [show only cuz apparently mehmet was also extremely talented & selim wasn't a bad sultan] enough for the throne. bayezid was extremely hotheaded and you can't tell me that a prince who can't control his emotions, especially in front of state officials, will be a good sultan. everyone tells selim was extremely selfish & the instigator of all their fights, when they were younger & older. siblings are always like that?? mustafa obviously wasn't like that because he was way older than mehmet, mihrimah, selim, bayezid & cihangir to get into stupid fights w/ them. mehmet & mihrimah had frequent & annoying arguments because they were closer in age. selim & bayezid had frequent fights because they were closer in age. this is a thing with many siblings; the elder provoking the younger & the younger disrespecting the elder. why do people point out their sibling fights as evidence for selim's personality? i feel sorry for bayezid as a kid but i feel less remorse for him as he's older. i don't say he deserves execution, especially at the hands of his own father, but he did rebel against his father's order & then proceeded to flee to another empire; like, the punishment for that is execution, what did he expect after rebelling? i feel extremely sorry for all his sons though, they didn't deserve this fate when they were just victims of their father's rebellion. also, unpopular opinion but bayezid is lowkey overrated pls don't cancel me i love him but he's annoying at times like all characters & no one really acknowledges it back to selim, he was honestly very underrated. he was really slandered in the series and he didn't have any real support w/ him until nurbanu & sokollu. although hurrem did vouch for him to go to manisa, it was literally only because he was 'peaceful' [we can read that as untalented as well] and no harm would reach him because he wasn't a threat [i actually really liked this plan of hurrem's, tough & clever; only if she was actually supported in this]. even mihrimah, till the end, is quite unfair to him. he had a problem w/ alcohol & people telling him to just stop? like, it doesn't work that way? people have to suffer so much in order to stop their addictions & they're actually restricted from their addictions; selim was a prince, no one around him could restrict him [his parents could but they weren't w/ him in his provinces]. he did become politically active w/ nurbanu's growing ambitions & he took smarter, more cunning & dirtier measures than bayezid to win the throne. the battle for the throne was bloody; resorting to honour like mustafa did was obviously not the best decision & people insult selim for being cunning enough [or being influenced by cunning people] to win the throne. let's also keep in mind that selim didn't even have much of an interest for the throne until manisa & nurbanu. i also like his relationship w/ nurbanu. it paralleled suleyman & hurrem's w/ the concubine arcs but selim did end up being monogamous to her in the show. their chemistry was fantastic [props to engin & merve for their acting] and although i don't really enjoy the 'a woman makes a man strong & influences him in everything; good or evil' kind of take, i did enjoy their relationship [he also sometimes looked at her like she was this ethereal type miracle, appropriately so w/ her courage]. i like what the show did w/ bayezid's execution a lot, the whole scene was such a wonderful cinematic experience; the music, bayezid's agonizing screams, his sons falling one by one, selim crying because he didn't want it to end up this way, bayezid falling & his screams ceasing, selim's heartbroken face because he was always a soft person & he always loved bayezid;

ahh, what a scene, so much love for it. anyway, that's just my opinion; i think he's hated way more than he deserves, especially in comparison to other characters & he's actually one of my most favourite characters from s4 [but i honestly love all characters w/ their good & bad, mc has many complex characters & i live for it]. what do you think about selim? sorry if you got annoyed at the long ask, i can get really heated when talking about selim [especially in reference to his historical figure], hope you don't mind if❤ [if it is annoying i'll stop it]

(okay, I'll talk strictly about the show, since I don't feel like delving deep into historical waters. There is still stuff we don't know for sure and I do want to keep the line between show and history in my head, except for the similar themes.)

While he isn't particularly my favorite character, I appreciate MC Selim and he is a very interesting subject when it comes to analyzing him. I'm actually amazed with what the show did with him in the span of a season (and something, counting some S02B and S03B moments) - he was one of the most fleshed out characters in S04 and we could get a clear picture as to why he does what he does.

Some people consider his debut to be an insult, for it immediately showed some of his weaknesses, putting him in a bad light right out of the gate. But all I can see in this debut is a showcase of his predicament of the prince no one sees as a capable heir of the throne. It’s as if he sleeps with women and drinks as a coping mechanism he’s delved into, with Mihrimah having to do effort to snap him out of it. The Selim we see in the beginning of S04 is a hopeless person. He doesn’t have dreams and ambitions, it’s as if he’s a already a lost cause and he has no one to truly support him. Even Hürrem wanted to send him to Manisa not because she deemed him as worthy, but to use him as a shield in order to deceive her enemies and protect the actual favorite. That may seem like a clever plan, but in actuality, it failed spectacularly - not only did her enemies not get confused for a second and didn’t attack Selim at all, but she forgot to tell Bayezid why she did it and made Selim confused to the point of demotivation, because none of his brothers were truly happy with this decision and they were all opposing it, directly and indirectly. And while he may not show it that much, because of his more composed and pragmatic nature, Selim is sensitive to the opinions of his brothers and the people around him and their prevailing disapproval may be a part of why he became so different than the rest. It’s like no one wanted to get to know him.

Nurbanu’s entrance in Selim’s life is very cathartic in this aspect, for she actually worked with him and gave him the needed motivation and ambition to fight, awaking sides of him that were dormant for a long time. And yes, I do think that Selim’s pragmatism is something he always had, if the whole arrow incident in S03B where he sabotaged Bayezid’s arrow, which caused him to lose is any indication. 

{I don’t think that the quarrels Selim and Bayezid had when they were little are so much indicators of Selim’s personality as they are foreshadowing of their future conflict. Right, these quarrels are normal for siblings and Mehmet and Mihrimah also fought like that (heck, even little Mehmet and Mustafa had a fight once in S01 and that fight was used as the conflict of the remainder of that one episode), but they weren’t as frequent as the ones of Selim and Bayezid. I don’t know, it’s just the atmosphere of these scenes was different and hinted at something more. It could be because we know the historical events and we could see every tiniest bit of early sibling rivalry between them as build-up, but still, I always felt there just was something else. Like the whole arrow incident I mentioned, a presumably harmless little situation gains a whole other meaning later on. It sets up neatly Süleiman’s opinions of both of them (his reaction to apparent disobedience and the making of a scene by someone he doesn’t expect to, by which I mean Bayezid), Hürrem’s retroactive ignorance of a possible bigger enmity and the roots of the whole conflict. It’s not Selim deciding to sabotage Bayezid’s performance as a last resort, maybe knowing that he surely won’t do better than his brother (doing a pretty typical ,,prank’’ for a little, naughty kid) that is exemplary of his cunning later, it’s his validation and him getting away with it that eventually becomes it, just like how he ends up getting away with stuff in the next season. Selim definetly isn’t the instigator of all the fights, especially because Bayezid, thanks to his more impulsive nature, is much more likely to start a fight in the first place and contrasts to Selim’s overall better composure. Provokations among them were mutual and both were consistently throwing darts at each other, one after another. Their conflict is a very nuanced issue: while people try to play right and wrong, both sides were at fault one way or another. The conflict between them is mostly caused by insensitivity, favoritism and ignorance and the desperation of both to try to prove themselves to their parents and win their support, at the end of the day. Why did they always calm down in front of their mother? Not only because of their joint respect for her, but also because of these same attempts to earn her support. Even Bayezid, who obviously had to be sure of her support, wasn’t completely certain of it after Hurrem turned it on Selim for a while. Selim, on the other hand, obviously never felt her support, it’s like something was missing right from the start. Combine that with their completely opposing personalities and the whole system encouraging competition for the throne and there you have the inevitable ultimate conclusion. That’s why I also love the set-up, the pay-off and the aftermath of Bayezid’s execution. It may be historically inaccurate that Selim, not Süleiman, executed Bayezid, but when you think about it, it was the most logical thing that could’ve happened, ending their conflict with a heart-wrenching bow. I love the scene of the execution itself, too - the action, the dialogue, the direction, the character moments, the themes... I don’t know whether Selim loved Bayezid by that point, per say, after all they went through, but it was clear that he knew that he had to do it, that it couldn’t have ended any other way, but he was broken over it. He was aware that it was, ultimately, a sin, which would continue haunting him. He couldn’t catch a break afterwards, he couldn’t stop. All was solved, but at what cost?}

I love his dynamic with Nurbanu - they balanced each other off so well, their chemistry was amazing, such a power couple. Nurbanu’s biggest contribution is hiding some of his flaws and mobilizing him to fight. Her cold pragmatism ,,grounds’’ Selim’s softer side, she’s there to always remind him of the stakes of the game and to shut off the last ounces of his vulnerabilities after Hurrem died. He sure is influenced by her, but that doesn’t mean that he blindly takes her word for everything - he is always ready to call her out when necessary and assure her that there are lines she shouldn’t cross. Despite of her pleas, he kept having affairs with other women (that is honestly a trend with all the men of the show, but still..), he got mad at her after what happened to Huricihan and most notably, after he found out that she possibly stole his mother’s ring. A part of why their dynamic works so well is precisely this strenght of character and their awesome compatibility. 

I have heard affirmations that Selim doesn’t care about Mustafa, which... simply isn’t true? While they have the least scenes together and Selim is the one that considers him most as a rival and his most dangerous competitor for the throne (which would explain his startled reaction after Musti saved him from the janissary), it’s precisely Mustafa’s death that is the turning point of his character arc. He was upping his game slowly but surely and before then, but he didn’t do much in terms of attacks. Neither Selim, nor Nurbanu once considered attacking Mustafa, the supposed biggest danger to them, which I find respectable and admirable. The bomb with the death drops and then every hope about a fair game is abandoned. Selim gets the realization that being honorable won’t work. The only way to win is bend the system and play dirty. There’s no time for sitting around or looking nice. And even though Nurbanu realized this, too, as well as Selim, Nurbanu was always more inclined to act this way than him and now the righteousness of her methods were only getting confirmed. It was Selim that had to reach this end. Discovering that he is no longer allowed to show any kind of weakness. Every chance that appears on the horizon, he’ll take it. That brings him to his first true dirty plan - the trap he set through the fake Mustafa rebellion.

Speaking of which, the worst deed of Selim’s for me is connected to that rebellion. I know I may be very biased in this regard, since it affects my personal favorite character and isn’t as recalled as others, but I hated when, in Selim and Sokollu’s attempts to wash their hands from the pulled off stunt, Sokollu, his man, told SS that Mahidevran was giving money to the rebellion. Okay, it’s not said outright whether is this directly tied to Selim or it was something Sokollu himself came up with out of desperation or something (though it was hinted that both thought something through in a scene where both were saying that they should come clean out of this all somehow) and it’s not outrightly confirmed whether Mahidevran gave the money or not (I highly doubt she did it; not only because it would destroy her whole S04 arc and she would become, well... MCK Gulbahar, but also because after the messenger told her of her alleged blame in E129, her eyes widened in surprise.), but all it does is be the only explicit case where Selim indeed looks bad, for his proposal to return Mahidevran in the castle doesn’t seem to stem from genuine guilt and remorse, but rather a late and empty attempt to placate his own conscience. Oh, not to mention (for the upteenth time, sorry in advance) how the scene back in E58 where Hurrem tells Mahidevran that her kids will be there taking care for her when she’s alone, which was treated as some big foreshadowing in the show, as well, by both the voice of the S02B narrative and the fandom alike, loses its value even more with that framing, because Selim and Sokollu themselves brought her to this state in the first place!!! Despite it making sense anyway, it’s still such a disservice to Selim as a person both inside and outside of the writing. 

One aspect of Selim’s pragmatism I find most interesting is his ability to turn his enemies into allies, knowing exactly how to amass them and get them on his side, be it through giving them more money and promising them the world. These alliances are all opportunistic in nature and may not be as loyal as those of Mustafa’s or of Mustafa’s people (like Atmaca) with Bayezid, but I think Selim knows this and wants to keep them steady enough for the common goal. As for what kind of a padisah he’ll be.... I believe that state matters would be the least of his concerns, since he was shown to not care so much about them, compared to his other brothers (but then again, the show itself doesn’t put the political capability of the princes at center stage - their personal virtues are always the determining factor of what makes a good padisah and what doesn’t, more of a psychological outlook, if you will.) and he perhaps won’t plan as many campaigns or conquer as many territories, maybe he won’t be that successful at all, but his cunning would bring him advantage in front of his people, he will be at least a bit careful of who he’s choosing and won’t simply lose it in front of everyone, compared to Bayezid’s impulsive temper.

[I love Bayezid as a character, but the shadier aspects of his personality sure tend to be overlooked. While his anger is directed mainly at Selim and Suleiman, it often reaches such extremes to the point it becomes destructive and affects everyone. He doesn’t deserve his execution at all and most of his actions stem from a very sympathetic place, given how SS never truly gave him a chance and he went on the inevitable path, because he, just like Selim, realized that honor won’t work in this war, but took the opposite approach from Mustafa, direct rebellion. And predictably, both approaches didn’t work since Bayezid, too, was taken advantage of. While he didn’t get justice, the lead-up to his execution is a character arc of his and there are many reasons and events linking it all together and showing us why it took place the way it did.]

Selim’s dynamic with Suleiman is proof of how you can be presumably favored, but you have to work to get there. The reasons Suleiman favored him are very telling and sad and we see that he also doesn’t favor him because of any and all capabilities he may have, but because of his self-imposed distorted view of loyalty Selim has to do a lot to preserve, actually. He constantly has to make it so it looks like he’s loyal and obedient and doesn’t work behind his back. He doesn’t get the fullest appreciation from his father, as well, and I certainly feel it impacts him, in a way.

I agree that Mihrimah could be unfair to Selim. They weren’t that close and she had this open preference to Bayezid. Most annoyingly is when, in their confrontation in E139, which highlights even more their parallel sins, Mihrimah doesn’t seem to face that sin of hers when Selim calls her out on it. She has a reason to deeply resent him after what he did to Bayezid, but was offended when he reminded her of the crime she also committed. More solidarity on that front would be a bit better, at least a hint of like recognizing like even for a moment. (but maybe then her scene with Mahidevran later wouldn’t be as impactful? Huh.)

And lastly, about his drinking - Nurbanu tried to restrict him, but it’s true that such habits aren’t easy to give up on, especially knowing how his drinking is a coping mechanism as much as it is something he enjoys. He knows he shouldn’t do it, he’s told he shouldn’t do it, but he can’t help it. He doesn’t drink when he’s planning or scheming, but he keeps on doing it more and more with every problematic action of his. It’s an attempt to supress his otherwise strong conscience to the max, seeing how after his brother’s execution he apparently always took a drink when he was alone at night, fighting an inner conflict with himself. I don’t think there was a way he could stop doing it permanently in the show. It was a part of who he was, unfortunately or not. 

[ysabelmystic]

please tell us about the weird shit you did at 13

Thank you :)

-I exclusively wore Angry Birds t-shirts with the exception on one Perry The Platypus shirt that was too big for me.

-I wore sweaters 24-7 even if the temperature got into the 90s because the air felt Spicy. I also chewed on the sweater sleeves. And my hands.

-I developed an anxiety around eating anything other than peanut butter crackers and powdered sugar donuts while on school grounds.

-My friend's mom started growing jalapenos and packed them (raw) in her lunch. I ate them consistently to prove that I was a badass. No one challenged me or anything. I just did that. I had PE after lunch. Things didn't turn out well.

-I once hid a grasshopper in a girl's locker because the girls on my row kept talking about cup sizes and boys and that was boring. I thought this would spice things up. It did.

-I wore training bras until I was 14 because I didn't want boobs. When questioned/teased I felt like I had to respond like I was upset so I'd end up saying things like "I'll have you know my mother/grandma is a D/DD cup! My time will come!"

-I had a rivalry with a friend over another friend because we were both vying for the attention of another girl in our PE class that eventually led to us kicking the shit out of each other during Tae Bo (which we did as part of our dance unit for some fucking reason). In hindsight, she was gay. I'm gay now. But at the time, I was religious and instigated a debate on gay marriage because I thought that was a fucking good idea.

-On that note, I wrote romantic, even intimate fiction that wasn't gay because they were "just friends". I know everyone in my class saw it because I was fucking blind and wrote in font size 18.

-I bought a trilby because I thought that I was cool and uncringe enough to same it's reputation from the nice-guy bronies.

-I went through a phase where I wore rainbow knee-high socks and key chains on my belt loops almost every day.

-I refused to listen to pop music because I wasn't like other girls. Instead, I listened to anything that equated to "Irish" from Celtic Woman to Dropkick Murphys. I also bragged about having an Irish heritage and had a full on breakdown when I found out I did not, and that my mom wouldn't let me dye my hair red.

-I rubbed milk and lemon-juice on my skin so I would get paler. When I got a tan over the summer before 8th grade I went into a literal mourning period.

-I performed a skit/comedy routine about the story of Esther in my church youth group. No one asked for this. I was called on to answer a question, stood up, and did that for some fucking reason. No one was impressed. Except me. I was deeply impressed with myself.

-The Karen haircut

-During the peak of the One Direction obsession I bought a poster and picked a member (Niall?) to have a crush on. I didn't know anything else about the band except for 3 songs total, so if someone brought it up I would just say, "I have a crush on Niall" and then vanish.

-I made wearing Converse my whole personality and had a rivalry with wearers of Vans. Which was pretty bold for someone who only wore low-tops.

-I was too scared to ask to use the restroom so I didn't really drink water at school at all. I also didn't drink water in the morning (or eat) because it made me feel sick.

-I wasn't allowed to swear so I spoke like Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. Favorite choice was "gosh dang dernit", specifically, with a "cowboy" accent.

Middle school was fun.

[babylooneytoonz]

Warnings : Reader takes it a bit far this chapter // Bucky is sort of not much of an ass?

COFFEE STAINS - MASTERLIST

Things seemed to have died down between you and Bucky altogether, ever since he had been assigned a classified mission to go to and you hadn't seen him in over two weeks, which was a news that was told to you by Wanda. This was a good thing; a good time for you to clear your head and maybe, stop having to deal with his obnoxious ass loitering all over the Stark Towers, like it was him that owned this place and not Stark.

Today was your final training; what Tony refered to as certification training, and it was your today's performance that was going to decide if you were ready to finally be sent to your own missions or not.

You looked at yourself in the mirror as you fixed your contact lenses into your eyes, sighing softly to yourself as you placed the glasses by the bedside table. You then walked out of your room, scratching the back of your head as you made your way towards the training room, five minutes before you had been asked to assemble there by Steve.

You almost did a double take when you stepped into the training room, although you weren't late, you saw that Sam, Wanda, Vision, Clint and of course, James Buchanan Barnes were all already there, and all the heads turned towards you when you entered. You didn't know this was going to be an entire team thing; a sudden nervousness started bubbling in the pool of your stomach.

Steve, and Tony were standing with their arms crossed over their chests, and Steve nodded in acknowledgement when you fixed yourself next to Bucky, as he was the one in the extreme end. You felt his eyes on you as you walked past him, and a faint fragrance of elon and musk invaded your nostrils, and you took a slow breath, just to breathe a waft of it once again, unconsciously.

"Well, all of us know this drill, except Y/N," Steve turned towards you briefly and then towards the rest of the team, before Tony's grin caught your eye, "It's Junior, Cap."

"Tony, this is serious, please."

Tony nodded, quickly masking his grin away, clearing his throat.

"For you Y/N, the agenda is– " Steve took a deep breath, before speaking again, "you are six, and each one of you will be put into a team, there will be two teams. You will be put into a simulation, there will be simulated villains trying to stop you from trying to reach your goal."

"And your goal will be to diffuse the fake bomb, mind you there is just one bomb, and only one team will get to diffuse it, whichever finds it first. There is no winner but it's all about your performance. And for you Y/N, this counts as your test, and once you clear this, Steve will sign you off to your first individual mission," Tony mumbled.

This was a big thing, this was an opportunity, and you wanted to do nothing else but prove yourself. You weren't just anybody, you could fight side by side with the Avengers and be their equal.

"This challenge is not just about fighting the villains, but it will also test your tactical skills. Being an Avenger means encountering the most severe scenarios, and diffusing bombs is one of the most common ones," Steve chimed in.

"Finally, the teams. Clint, and Buck, the two of you take charge of either of the teams, Clint, you take Y/N, and Sam, while Wanda and Vision go with Buck. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Cap." Everyone chortled, and you nodded your head.

Soon, the simulation was upon you, the team went through a door, behind which, the walls were neon blue. You all had your handguns drawn out, except Clint, who was using his arrow. You could see Barnes, he was a few yards ahead of you, smoke bellowing through the barrel of his gun, as he had already taken a hit. Your competitive side pounced upon you, and you squeezed yourself to the front while Clint was busy aiming his arrow towards one of the simulations, that was making its way towards you. You were fast, and even faster as you jumped down, and slid across the floor, right through under one of the simulation villain's feet, and then you shot it twisting your body by the waist, the simulation vanishing into thin air.

By the next fifteen minutes, you had already eliminated atleast seven simulation villains, having earned a pat on your back from Clint, and a wolf whistle from Sam, something that didn't seem to fare so well with Bucky, for the some reason; but you didn't know that. You didn't realize that Bucky seemed to be a little distracted, and he kept glaring at Sam Wilson, from time to time. However, he wasn't even aware he was doing it.

Bucky had taken down atleast twelve villains by now, but they just kept creeping out, again and again, not even giving him the time to reload his gun, it was like a full fledged zombie invasion, but so far, he was killing it. Finally, he spotted a small red beep, underneath what looked like a ceramic slab, but he realized that you had spotted it too, at the exact same time. His eyes narrowed at you, a low throaty growl erupting animalistically from the back of his throat as he sprung to his legs, now sprinting towards it, in full speed.

You screamed due to the adrenaline pumping through your veins, and darted after him, now trailing just a few steps away from him. You had to stop him, that was your lock, and only you were allowed to be a key to it.

Finally, when you realized that he was closer to the bomb than you were to it, you lunged at his back, instead of the simulation villains, causing him to get disbalanced and fall face first against the cold floor with you falling after him; but your fall being saved when your face hit his sturdy back. It still hurt though, and felt like your nose had cracked.

He suddenly rolled over, his mechanics being much faster than yours and this caused you to come crashing to the floor now, with the back of your head hitting hard against the floor, causing you to groan in pain.

By this time, the red buzzers had sounded, which meant that the simulation was over; but this also meant that you had failed. The bomb was still not diffused.

Barnes was laying next to you on the floor, but you knew it deep inside that he was pissed, and hell, he was pissed, for the next minute, he sat upright, and leant over you, with his bulky frame shadowing you, his face hovering above yours. He almost brought his metallic palm to your throat, ready to grab your neck, but for some reason, he didn't touch you, but only kept glaring at you, with a slow, distilled rage, the kind of a rage that was more dangerous, for this kind of rage often grew into something much more disastrous.

"Do it, why did you stop?" You grunted through pursed lips, hissing at him.

He just looked at your outburst, his eyes cold and emotionless, a flash of his previous self having come out from the little antic that you had played. You knew he was wrestling for control, and he actually was, but you were so hell bent on poking him again and again, just because you had come this close and failed, you didn't seem to care if you brought out the man that he had buried long time back.

"You are a fucking nutcase."

He literally spat in your direction, and stood up, just when the door opened and Steve and Tony stepped in, their eyes on Bucky, and then down at you.

"And you're a ticking timebomb." You hit him back with your words, ignoring the intruders when Steve finally spoke.

"I want the two of you in the meeting room, now." Steve pointed towards Bucky, his face strict, without a trace of a smile on it.

Bucky glared at you once again, and his palms clenched visibly against his side, his shoulders stiff as he started following Steve, and you followed after him, ignoring how the rest of the team was staring at you; some of them having a deep frown over their faces.

You reached the meeting room, Steve was hunched over the table, his palms resting on the surface of it, his eyes narrowed towards Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, who was seated on a chair in front of him, leaning back against the backrest. When you entered, Bucky's eyes met yours, and his nostrils flared in reflex.

"Y/N, take a seat. It's time the two of you sorted whatever this thing is going on, between the two of you. This is clearly starting to affect your performance, and I cannot have it affecting our missions."

"I understand, Steve," you mumbled taking your seat next to Barnes, your cheeks burning from the inside.

"So, what happened?" Steve asked, lowering himself on a seat opposite to you, your eyes fixed on him. You could see Bucky's head turn towards you from the corner of your eye, so you sighed, your fingers toying aimlessly with each other. "Well, I - I saw that Sergeant Barnes was closer to the bomb, and I thought–"

"You thought you will beat him, so you can succeed. Now, the first rule of being an Avenger, can you guess what it is?"

You bit down on your lip, swallowing the lump forming in your throat, and shook your head.

"It's teamwork."

You nodded.

Steve appeared to be contemplating; you could see that his palm was resting against the table and he was tapping it with his fingers , against the surface. He finally freed out a deep breath, and looked at you, "You are being suspended from your first mission, where we were planning to send you to Hungary tomorrow, you have been suspended until for the next two weeks."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

You should have been angry, that you were suspended from going to your first solo mission, and Bucky was let go, without nothing; but you didn't. Instead, a part of you was feeling guilty, for you hadn't really been in the right this time. Yes, you were eyeing the prize, but that didn't excuse the way you chose to win it. You let your personal battle with Barnes cloud over your senses, which ruined today for you. You were also feeling guilty, for you did notice that Bucky was trying hard to control his rage, so he didn't end up hurting you, but you just kept on instigating him; again and again.

You spent all afternoon thinking about it, and finally, you stepped out of the Stark Towers, because you really needed to unwind. The first thing you did was buy yourself a few dresses, to fill up the emptiness in your closet, and while you were at it, you purchased a soft, plush sports fit tank top, a white one, the one that you had ruined for Barnes on your first day. You sat outside in your favourite table in a cafe and had a sandwich with a giant iced tea, before you went back to your place, giving yourself the pep talk that no matter what happened, you were going to apologize to Bucky today, for what happened during the simulation.

The floor the two of you shared, and Sam, whos apartment was towards your left, the first one in the hallway, was quiet. You checked with Friday on your way up in the elevator, if Sergeant Barnes was in the gym.

"Sergeant Barnes is at his apartment, Miss Y/N," The AI informed you.

Finally, the elevator pinged open, and you stepped out, still clutching the neatly wrapped packet that you were going to give him, as a peace offering and tell him that you didn't wish to fight anymore. Although you were nervous, your cheeks were flushed, and you could feel your heart rate accelerate every time you tried to bring your palm up to knock, you deadpanned when you heard Friday's voice go off inside, and she betrayed you, even before you could muster the courage to do it yourself.

"Sergeant Barnes, Miss Y/N wishes to see you."

You fluttered your eyes shut, and took a deep breath, listening to someone unlock the door on the other end. You were preparing in your mind, were you just going to say 'Hi Bucky', or just look at him at a loss for words, you had no idea. The door was pulled open, and your mouth parted, but words lodged themselves to your throat when you saw him.

He was dressed; his hair slicked back and gelled, his jeans hung loosely from his hips, and he was wearing a printed half t-shirt, his metal arm visible. He was, however, not alone. The woman you had seen with him a few days back, hung to him, and his flesh arm was wrapped around her waist. You could see that she was giggling into his ears and your grip just tightened against the gift that you held in your hand, but just shuffled it back, behind you, so he couldn't see it now.

"Well?" He raised an eyebrow.

He looked at you, as though he was getting impatient, but your mind fused up, and you didn't know what to say.

"I don't have all day, you see, we have a movie date we need to get to, if you don't mind."

The ice in his voice was like needles that went right through you, puncturing your insides. You had never really let his words affect you before; but something in the way he spoke the words today made you flinch internally, and bite back on your tongue to refrain from saying something nasty.

"I just wanted to ask you to keep the voices low, I am in my apartment trying to get a fucking sleep, but you two seem to forget that you are not the only one on this floor."

He just smirked at you, the corner of his lips jutted upwards as though he was amused, but he nodded, inkling the woman closer to him, "Aren't you sure you just aren't being a little whiney because you have no one to share your apartment with?"

"Barnes, I thought the two of you had a date at the theater, why don't the two of you just fuck off?"

"Whatever." Bucky moved past you, and the two of them walked off, leaving you to stand on his door, fuming internally.

Five minutes later, you were literally striding into the recreation room in full swing. Steve and Sam were standing by the oven, and Wanda and Vision were lounging on the couch. Your steps caused the two men by the oven to snap their heads in your direction, startled to see you all worked up, walking towards Wanda.

"Wanda, the man you were talking about, the one you wanted to set me up on a date with, is he available right now? I am in a need of a good date."

(So, what did you guys think? 💚)

Permanent Bucky Barnes Taglist:

@really-dont-forget-it

@thepeakygurl

@all-art-is-quite-useless

@baumarvel

@janajjj

@chipilerendi

@nyotamalfoy

Want to be added to my taglist? Please fill up a form on this link. 💗

[redwineconversation]

Thank you for your explanation about the whole relationship breakdown between Bouhaddi and Lyon! I really like this team and your explanations and opinions are very helpful in understanding all the history and why behind everything. Sometimes hard to became a late fan and understand how everything is laid out and why certain things are happening. Any thoughts on why Maro was having a shitty season last year and it seems to be continuing into this year? I know she was part of the wheeling and dealing with Aulus, but I feel like all of that was instigated by Bouhaddi. Maro doesn’t strike me as a demanding/cocky player, which seems to be what ultimately bit Bouhaddi in the ass

I think pretty much every player bar maybe the kids - Carpenter, Macario, and Damaris - were suffering from extreme mental exhaustion / burnout. Lyon's success rate, and expectations that come with it, was just so high that it was always going to take a toll on the players - mentally and physically. To have to perform at those standards, week after week, month after month, year after year - eventually it gets to you. Everyone breaks eventually under that kind of pressure. Lyon players just handled it longer than most.

So I think there was just this massive burnout, and Lyon didn't really get the opportunity to just breathe. Lyon played really well in August 2020, when they basically had the Coupe de France and UWCL Final 8 games, but people forget they literally went straight from winning the UWCL league to a week later having to start D1.

And Lyon was just gassed from that point on, and the pressure of the past five years in particular just got to them. The massive injuries list did nothing to help the moral of the team because Hegerberg and MBock were dead until further notice, half the midfield was hovering between life and death, and the chemistry just wasn't there. This team relies so much on innate chemistry - and I use that term deliberately - that when something happens to disrupt it, it throws them off. Sometimes they have the mental strength to fight back, because I really cannot emphasize how much this team hates losing, but during the 2020-2021 season, Lyon was just legitimately too tired to haul themselves over the finish line.

[Speaking of hatred of losing - I have never seen Henry or Macario that mad during a post-game interview, which does make me feel a tad more confident about next week's game]

I said before that Marozsan is an emotional player in that she is sensitive. The lack of chemistry, which she can sense, disrupts her game because she can feel the hesitation in giving her the pass, and that gets in her head and she makes mistakes because of it. She was never a fast player, so I think when Lyon plays a high press with very quick passing, she can't keep up with it (see: Lyon's first half against Juve). Her lack of pace is disruptive when they are trying to launch counterattacks at breakneck speed and she is wandering up the field with the speed of a drunk lumberjack.

When she's on, her passing is fantastic. But a mixture of burnout and self-doubt is affecting her performance. I don't know if it's just a question of time, if the kids and her just need a bit of time to work things out, or if the kids are looking for confirmation bias. Give it a couple of years and I think Damaris' passing will be other worldly. Bacha and Macario are so comfortable taking set pieces that the idea of Marozsan taking them seems absurd.

Tl:dr - Marozsan was just gassed and now the kids are feeling good about themselves, both of which affect her performance.

[tjay-writes]

~BuckyXElina~

-Part 2-

I quietly looked through the window. The stars were twinkling silently. Bucky was sleeping beside me.

It has been two weeks since we moved into our new apartment. And from then, he puts a pillow in between us before he goes to sleep because he wants to make sure that he doesn't end up accidentally hitting my growing belly. He also puts one on my other side. They are good precautions but, honestly, somewhat ridiculous at the same time.

I could start to hear him groaning slowly. He was having his nightmares again. I winced quietly, while pushing myself up and removed the dividing pillow between us.

" Hey.. Buck I'm right here..." I kept on saying the same thing until he woke up, sweating profusely.

He raised his head instantly and was breathing heavily. Once he saw my face, he lay down and counted under his breath until he relaxed.

" Are you alright? "

" Yeah... I guess... It's just that I had a nightmare after a long time... "

He suddenly jolted up. " Wait, are you hurt?! Did I hit you or something? ”

" No, no .. You didn't even move .. It's alright.. Go to sleep.", I said reassuringly, " I'm right here. "

*****

The next morning by the time I woke up, Bucky was already up by then. I refreshed myself and went to the kitchen to see Bucky rummaging with something in the fridge.

His slightly long hair was tied back. He was wearing his favourite brown t-shirt and was..smiling. I involuntarily smiled and walked up to him. He had a bowl in his hand. It was a bowl full of plums.

" Good morning. " He planted a kiss on my cheeks and sat at the dinner table.

" Did you just take my plums? " I asked, trying to keep my head cool.

" Well yeah.. You weren't going to eat them anyway. “

" I don’t remember telling you that. Those are my plums Bucky. Give them to me. You can literally eat anything from the fridge but, not this. I want it for my breakfast. " I was suddenly on the verge of an angry breakdown.

He had already put a plum in his mouth and innocently replied, " Come on.. I love plums.. you know that. I can share with you. "

I would've ran towards the bowl if I wasn't pregnant. Still, I almost did.

He swiftly got up with the bowl and winked, instigating me even more. " You want to have it? You need it get it then.."

For the next three minutes we chased each other around the round dinner table. I actually walked a little fast, didn’t really ran. Bucky was eating the last few plums left and was actually grinning.

" You are not going to eat another one James Barnes. I’m going to break your head! Also, don’t you have work?! " I snarled at him.

“ Hill said Fury didn’t need me to come in today..” He raised his eyebrows and sprinted away from me.

I don't know how I was managing to walk so fast with that big a tummy but, I was surely doing a good job. I was almost going to catch him but, I felt a sudden dizziness and something kicked me... from the inside.

I grabbed my stomach in surprise and yelped. That almost gave Bucky a heart attack though. He quickly held me and made me sit on the sofa.

" What happened? Are you okay? Damn it...I’m sorry... I shouldn't have annoyed you so much and made you walk that fast. I'm so sorry .. I'm -"

" Wait, wait.. yes, it is your fault for not giving me my plums, but calm down. I am just having one of my mood swings and I'm okay..trust me.. For a moment I just felt like someone was running a roller coaster in my head..."

Before Bucky could go back to thinking about the tumour again, I quickly added, " And one of our babies kicked! I'm betting it's Lily... and that she will end up playing soccer or something... ”

Although he was still frowning, he half-smiled at hearing this. He looked slightly nervous when he reached for my abdomen, but I nodded him on and he slowly placed his hand on it.

It seemed like magic. The babies kicked this time. All of them.

" Woah! “ Bucky chuckled, “ That’s the first time they did that right?!”

" Yeah! " I nodded with a full smile.

“ I bet they are all gonna be into soccer! “

“ I think so too. “ I laughed and observed his face, glowing with pure happiness. I realized how rare that moment was and a slight pang of pain ran through me. I realized how the first time I actually fell for him was when I saw him this happy for the first time, playing with Steve’s kids. I realized that I was just falling in love with him again and again. And every time, it was getting deeper than before.

[elizabethrobertajones]

Hey Lizzy, do you think Michael was a bigger bad guy in Season 5 than Lucifer? Everything that was happening could have been prevented by Michael, if only he decided that The Apocalypse was not worth it. To me, Michael could've "walked off the chessboard" and stopped Lucifer's evil plans without needing to fight. Lucifer wasn't the one above reasoning, Michael was. What do you think?

I absolutely agree that he was the bigger bad guy… I hadn’t thought about his motivations so much because he seems impossible to reason with that I can’t imagine he’d actually have walked off the chessboard in any version of this, but he was the one kept at arms length and represented through the most slimy intermediary of Zachariah, who is probably the most easily-despised character on the show ever, and that’s just his underling as a taster to his personality. :P

The narrative played with it in a lot of ways - Lucifer you’d EXPECT to be the worst because of the name, although I think he was doing truly evil things with truly evil methods all year, and all their previous trauma and all the mytharc related death sources back to him through the whole show, e.g. Azazel working on his orders. 

I think Michael represents the unfeeling establishment in a lot of ways - that there wasn’t really an option to him of walking off and not doing the thing and that fate was sealed by the fact Lucifer had already done a whole lot of awful… In 2x13 he’s described as “The fighter of demons. Holy force against evil.” and in a lot of ways he’s paralleled to Dean in roles and family dynamic, but in a really bad way. He represents the part of Dean that could be taken to the extreme to kill his brother if he was ~too evil~ and whether we’re sympathetic to Sam or Lucifer on this matter, Michael is not because he has the most absolute, black and white view on evil ever, the same thing that Dean was being taught to set aside in season 2 when this comparison was first made and the arc about him being a killer or not was first floated. Dean does have compassion and when Cain asks him about it later he says he didn’t kill Sam because you never give up on family, ever. 

Michael seemed to have one purpose only and that was to do what God said up to and including killing his brother if he had to (although I suspect it was really more like striking him down and throwing him in the cage because of the whole Mark business, when you look back on it with retcons >.>) and the way he’s represented in the narrative, as the mystery person running Heaven we only know through his underlings - that is, a mindless army of angels and a middle management of snivelling brown-nosers in suits whose primary character trait is being petty - doesn’t reflect well on his compassion. We can deduce just from Cas’s programming and comments on archangels etc that Michael is so absolute and black and white, and since he’s been running Heaven, he is the root cause of what makes it everything that it is, especially as God’s absence is so heavily emphasised. 

When it came to the storytelling in season 5, they showed us Lucifer in the first episode, and just a warning that Dean was Michael’s vessel, so in the first episode Dean is the one with the big burden, and though we might be able to guess Sam has the same thing coming because the Lucifer thing has been so tied to him, we see Lucifer get his standby vessel so he can go literally raise Hell for a while, and he fucks around playing the pantomime villain. In 5x04 the manipulation is coming from MICHAEL’S camp, showing us Lucifer as the villain who wins and the angels are all gone and can’t do anything about it, but Zach is the bad guy of the episode and it’s part of the manipulation on DEAN and the weight put on his shoulders. They’re USING Lucifer as the ~wooo scary~ bad guy to convince Dean. 

Michael only gets a few minutes of actual screentime and only 1 appearance before the showdown, and I think holding back on his appearance made him far more the threat. Lucifer didn’t NEED Sam to fuck shit up because he was already causing huge earthquakes and gearing up to wipe cities off the map. He had Death tethered; the damage he was causing was already very real and he could have kept going and going and Sam saying yes was a way to slow that down as much as to have the big old showdown. Finding out about the rings and using them was again something they could have done without Michael - in the end all he was was bait to draw Lucifer out because Lucifer wouldn’t face him until he had a vessel strong enough he was sure he could win the fight. The THREAT of Michael is that he JUST wants to fight Lucifer and go for another round of the true story of Supernatural - the Cain and Abel/Michael Lucifer/God Amara fight that Sam and Dean are the lightning rods for. The actual THREAT in the show, really, is never that the entire planet will get blown up or whatever - if Sam n Dean die good but that happens, oh well, sad but noble ending. The darkest, worst way it goes is Dean kills Sam, bending to the endless pressure of the narrative which they inhabit, in a universe engineered in a duality between siblings with a creator/destroyer dynamic. 

And Michael was the instigator there, the example of the Dean/God/Cain side of things that would destroy the sibling for being bad or dark or in need of saving from themselves or to save others from them or whatever. The real damage, the real threat in the narrative, is Dean killing Sam, and has been since season 2 in the sense that it’s just put out there that he might one day have to do it if it comes down to “kill him or save him” which is the same problem all the other versions of their story had until they hopefully broke the cycle by ~the river ends at the source~ing God and Amara. 

Once Michael had possessed Adam and Dean had overcome this huge burden and the story switches all gears to Sam’s redemption arc and giving them a way to defeat Lucifer if Sam will sacrifice himself (and so nothing like Dean’s enormous personal arc of resisting everything Michael stands for and his so-called destiny to give into it knowing it will almost certainly be how he ends up killing his brother because 5x04 and he also believes that they “keep each other human” so as soon as he leaves Sam unattended he’ll somehow end up possessed probably :P), the fact that there had been choice there (in the sense that Dean has historically always overcome destiny and always had the philosophy against it in a different way to Sam that reflects how they won in 5x22 the entire show) is totally different for Sam and Lucifer. Lucifer as the obvious villain cavorting around has to be stopped and Sam has his own reckoning with him that NEEDS to happen and it’s been framed the entire time as something that has to happen via Sam being possessed - Michael is still out there now and with Dean not involved he suddenly has no power to STOP Michael from fighting and killing Lucifer (Cas seems certain he’d win and I listen to Cas and also this makes sense in the narrative and NOW we know Michael had that cruel lance so thanks season 12 once more for proving me right :P). 

So the threat going into 5x22 is not that Lucifer will kill Michael and Adam, because that’s boring, and then go do the apocalypse, because that’s impersonal to the characters especially if Dean’s dead so we don’t even have Endverse versions of them to assume are out there, but that Michael will kill Lucifer and Sam, because that’s PERSONAL, so again he is the thing that they’re swinging against, the REASON they need a no-kill ending because SAM is involved and will get hurt (by Michael), and boxing Lucifer (and Sam) away is the plan to stop  him because Michael can’t be reasoned with, so the only option is to take Lucifer off the playing field entirely so Michael can’t go after him - for the sake of the planet but also for the sake of not killing Sam. Because the Cain and Abel model says Michael will kill his brother and Michael thinks Lucifer is evil and must be stopped and as a representation of the worst mindset of Dean programmed by John (that Dean has been resisting all along since 2x01 when John did this to him in the same way God did it to Michael) that’s just what he has to do.

I mean the other side is always valid as a threat and something to be concerned about/care about, and for the characters weighs on them all the time as a thing they need to worry about, but the stories are powered by what’s PERSONAL and why them and not literally anyone… Adam here helpfully representing “literally anyone” :P The 3rd brother they just can’t afford to care about as much. Because we’re supposed to care about Sam so much more, and we know Michael is so absolutely unreasonable (not that I seriously trust Lucifer to have lain up arms but the point was I think to prove to us and for Lucifer needling Michael into it that he WOULD kill him and couldn’t forgive him for what he was/what he’d done), the threat is all absolutely coming from Michael, to the point he’s the one Cas “hey assbutt”s away for a few minutes because they hope there’s a chance to get Sam back to do the ring thing but Michael is not going to give Dean the chance to talk to Lucifer/Sam to try a peaceful solution. He HAS to fight and therefore he is the conflict in that scene.

So I think from the start of the season the conflict is presented first and foremost as Dean resisting Michael, Michael is built up as a totally unreasonable villain way before he ever says anything, representing destiny and the worst version of the cosmic sibling story, and then once Dean has resisted his part, Michael switches to the overall part of the story that causes the conflict, as the backdrop to what Sam is fighting for when he overcomes Lucifer, and why it’s so urgent not just to stop Lucifer but the WHY and WHEN of the fight and for their own PERSONAL stories it’s important that Michael is there to fail to kill Lucifer and to be resisted. His inability to let go is why he ends up going into the cage, pointlessly, leading to the instability in Heaven - although ultimately a better, more peaceful, hands-off Heaven once his influence is pretty much all gone. 

Also it’s a crying shame they never brought him back, but he’s just too HUGE. If he comes back it will be a storyline that pretty much has to end the show because he was such an impossible villain to have on the stage, that he *only* showed up in a flashback, where history disarmed him from acting, as a ball of light to possess Adam, off-screen, and in 5x22 to say his bit and be locked away. And, I think, why they have emphasised he’s broken now, in case they do bring him back, because if they think Lucifer is too huge an element to reasonably have running around in the story, Michael would bring it crashing to its knees at full power. Raphael wanting to restart the apocalypse was bad enough for the world… But they CAN bring Lucifer back and have him run around like a pantomime villain, and they can find ways to restrain him and suck all the terror out of him and turn him into a caricature. Michael was so absolute and unwavering and absolutely needle point to a purpose, I’m not sure what they’d do with him. I mean bringing in that lance was amazing, and underlined that Michael only had one purpose, and how utterly powerful and awful he is - seeing his power destroying Cas like that but knowing it was meant for Lucifer… I mean, THAT is the scary character who stays hidden in the shadows the entire length of the show, in the way where Lucifer managed for like 2 seasons before he was like HI I’M HERE PAY ATTENTION TO ME, which then became his role but in larger text every subsequent time they’ve dragged him back out, and as loud as that gets, it proportionately diminishes him as a character >.> Horror works best when you don’t know the adversary or they’re so utterly incomprehensibly *something* that you don’t know how to deal with them…

… except I think that’s the problem the writers might have with Michael too :P