#It's not an ACTUAL complaint but you know

[mikkeneko]

This kind of rhymes to me with a thing I encountered in the last WoW expansion, which sat oddly with me at the time but I've had difficulty articulating why.

The main plot of Dragonflight involved the leaders of the five Flights -- long established characters in the lore, NPCs we know and have been working with for years -- returning to the Dragon Isles to resume their ancestral kingdom there. That ancestral kingdom, it turns out, has been inhabited for the last few hundred years by a race of dragonfolk who have been maintaining and running the place the whole time; they are now expected to gracefully give way to the returning kings and renounce any independence and sovereignty.

Pretty predictably, not all of the dragonfolk feel especially gracious about that; some break off into rebel factions which you then have to deal with in the game. But there's one quest you can do with the Queen of Dragons about halfway through. You can bring word to her that you've been talking to some of the dragonfolk and they have some grievances with the new leadership. Alextrasza will then… offer you a quest where she runs around after you while you go around talking to the people who have been complaining, and offer commentary on what she thinks of their complaints.

And you'll get a lot of lines like "Wow, that's a concern I never thought about" or "I never saw it from their perspective before" or "Thank you for enlightening me about this issue. I guess I have a lot of work to do to be a good leader for these people"

And then the quest ends and, as far as I know, this is never spoken of again.

And I guess it just felt… really… lip service? Alextrasza is one of the Big Goods, so of course the game wants you to think well of her; she's also an absolute monarch and a fuckoff huge dragon who will eat as many people as she feels necessary to protect the good of the world. Having her act like an office manager who's opening a complaints box so that she doesn't get dinged by HR felt… extremely dissonant. What did this quest actually do, aside from look right out the screen at the player and say "Don't worry! Alextrasza isn't one of those BAD queens! Look at how much she CARES about her subordinates! You don't have to feel bad about supporting tyranny, we'd never do that!!!"

This was the most sharply dissonant moments in Dragonflight but not by any means the only ones; sanitized, smiley-painted moments where the game seems to turn to the audiences and say "Don't worry! We'd never ask you to be party to a bad thing in our fictional world!"

So yeah, to borrow a line from the OP: not to be a "political correctness has poisoned media" grifter on main, but wow, the padding of sharp edges to pacify players who apparently never want to be exposed to even a fictionalized moral injury sure does hobble the storytelling.

I got a party banter between Bellara and Taash about how the Lords of Fortune steal elven artifacts. And then Taash clarifies later that they have a Dalish expert on the team so they can check to make sure the Lords don't sell something culturally important and instead return it to the elves.

Like. I get it. You want the Lords to be fun swashbuckler Disney pirates and Robin Hoods instead of actual pirates who steal and plunder. Because we're only now in Western society realizing that stealing from indigenous groups is, uh, bad. But like. Writing really uninteresting factions for your "dark" fantasy (tho lbr Dragon Age hasn't been dark fantasy since DA2) isn't gonna solve real-world neo-colonialism, ya know? The Lords not stealing priceless elven artifacts and returning them to the elves doesn't signal to me that the Lords are total rascally good guys, it signals to me that BioWare itself is trying really hard to seem morally conscious. "See? We know stealing from other cultures is bad!!!"

And man. Not to be a "political correctness has poisoned media" grifter on main (tbh it's less political correctness itself and more the commodification of real-world activism) but I couldn't help but imagine how this convo would've played out in earlier games, potentially even Inquisition.

You could've so EASILY made this interesting while giving the Lords and Taash and Bellara a lot more depth, while also making it clear that stealing from indigenous groups is wrong.

Just have the Lords, yeah, actually sell those artifacts. But also establish that the Lords take in and help elves from all walks of life. That they free slaves, or collaborate with alienages. Then you could have Taash defend the practice by saying to Bellara that little orphaned elf kids being sold as slaves probably don't give a flying fuck about some artifacts they're never gonna see, but the money from selling those artifacts goes to buying them food. And have Bellara fire back that preserving elven culture is also part of its survival, and that there are Dalish clans that would be willing to pay for them or offer something in return. Or have her say that the Lords are doing charity for the sake of recruitment rather than actual altruism. And then Taash responds that those high and mighty Dalish elves don't do shit to help abandoned city elves, just because those aren't part of their correct elven subculture, and they care more about reclaiming old glory than helping the people that exist here and now.

Then you could have side missions or at least codex entries that describe maybe some Lord recruit being conflicted about what they're doing. Maybe a few of them are collaborating to hijack a deal or steal back an artifact. Have implications that some high-ranking Lords are, in fact, using those artifacts for their own gain, despite claiming otherwise. Have some Lords genuinely trying to help, and believing that gold and trinkets don't matter as much as people's lives, so they sell them in exchange for safety for refugees or slaves or some other helpless group.

But no. Instead it's "hey do you steal from my people?" "nah lmao we have a cultural advisor don't even worry about it" "oh wow so cool and woke of you!" And then that's it. No need for any further discussion. No conflict and no complexity. No bad actors and moral quandaries.

Weh.

[dragonanon]

Shameless Satan x Reader headcanons because I am a whore- 😩

- As much as everyone would probably assume he’s into “meek wittle UwU princesses” he can dominate with ease, Satan in fact prefers a little spitfire who won’t hesitate to fight back

- You won’t just lay down and take his BS, and it’s part of what drew him to you to begin with. He was probably raging about some stupid shit in the courtroom, and you (probably a desk clerk or something there at the time) got sick of it and yelled back at him “Oh stfu you big red fucker!” And he was so taken aback that someone had the balls to yell back at him that he was left speechless and mildly aroused

- Calls you things like “little flame”, “spitfire”, “dove”, and his “treasure”

- Knows that the sheer size difference between you two flusters you to no end, and he’s a goddamn menace about it. Making short jokes, holding things out of reach, and randomly picking you up just so he can hear you squeak in surprise. Getting cursed out by you is worth it so long as he gets to see that precious look on your face

- Aside from Yogirt, you’re really the only one who can get Satan to calm down when he’s angry and you have a much easier time doing so than Yogirt does. All you have to do is scratch his chin and croon at him, and the big bastard just melts into your touch

- Purrs SO GODDAMN LOUD but insists that he doesn’t. The lying bastard, he sounds like a tractor engine on steroids. He gets SUPER pissy if anyone besides you comments on it

- SO fucking full of himself, mans REALLY thinks he’s above Lucifer and deserves to be regarded as such smh. Your love and affection only further strokes his overinflated ego, as does any compliments and praise you give him. Mf actually grows BIGGER in multiple ways lol the more his ego is stroked

- This man is a cowboy/rancher and I will take NO criticism because I’m right. He’s got THOUSANDS of cows, and lots of horses too

- When he’s not in the courtroom, he’s working on his ranch. Probably has hundreds, if not thousands, of Demons he employs as farm hands to help with all the work, but there are some things only he can do and TBH he likes the physical activity of the work and it’s a free show for you lol

- He gave you a little chicken coop so you can keep a little flock of chickens. You LOVE your chickens, and your personal fav is a tiny rooster you named “Marshmallow”, and he looks like a more demonic version of this lol

- Says he’s not jealous of Marshmallow, but he TOTALLY is. He gets all pouty and grumbly when you pick up the tiny rooster and coo over him, because dammit you should be cuddling and cooing over HIM! Not that stupid bird!

- Has a big, fancy, mansion on his ranch that he lives in with you. In true dragon fashion, he unironically sleeps on a mountain of gold and other treasures lol. How he doesn’t have back pain is a mystery, but you get to sleep on his tiddies so you have no complaints lol

- Runs SO fucking hot! You’ll never need to pay for heating again, let alone HAVE an actual heating system, because this mf puts out heat like an industrial incinerator. It’s FANTASTIC during the winter because he’s so warm you can just cozy up to him and be in bliss, but in the summer it’s fucking agony and you can’t escape it because he gets upsetti spaghetti if you don’t sleep and cuddle with him

- Would prefer you to NOT be in the courtroom with him. He says it’s because you distract him, but in reality it’s because he doesn’t want you to have to see him explode with rage and live up to his title as the embodiment of wrath. He actually tries REALLY hard to keep that part of himself away from you, because even though he’ll die before ever admitting it, a TINY part of him is terrified that he’ll end up hurting you during one of his outbursts

- If for some reason you HAVE to be there, he has a special little balcony set up for you that’s not only a safe distance away from any potential danger, but ALSO has a magic force field protecting it (that part is a secret tho because if you knew about it, you’d yell at him for thinking you’re weak enough to need protection lmfao)

- If anyone so much as blinks at you wrong, he beats the shit out of them. The ONLY reason he doesn’t kill them is because he knows you’ll yell at him like “Dammit Satan, again?! I can’t go anywhere with you!”

- Yogirt 100% uses his love for you to get him to chill. “I know you’re feeling some pretty big feelings right now, but think of (Y/N)~ She loves you and would be so sad to see you this angry~”

- It’s funny because he and Satan both know damn well that you wouldn’t be sad, rather you’d be yelling at him to knock that shit off lmao

- The entire courtroom once got to hear you sit him the fuck down because he got a little TOO spicy in the courtroom one day, and didn’t believe Yogirt he he not-so-subtly threatened to call you. Sure enough, he pulled out his phone and called you on speaker phone, and everyone got to spend 30 minutes listening to you rip this mf a new one while the mighty king of wrath sat there like a sad puppy and occasionally mumbling something like “I know…I’m sorry treasure, I’ll do better.” (No one is allowed to comment on it or else he’ll get VERY angry about it. Plenty of memes have been made about it tho much to his chagrin)

[cuntressgoingdigital]

abby knows how god awful you are at taking care of yourself. fortunately, she learned that just a little bit of help and subtle coercion will force you through your nighttime routine.

(aka bedtime domesticity with abby)

free palestine! click this link for more info

at night when you’re already cozied up under layers of blankets, eyes glued to your phone, she pulls you out of bed and gives you a piggyback ride to the bathroom to force you into your nighttime routine. to start, she carefully undresses you while telling you how beautiful you are and how happy she is after coming home to see her beloved. her days were long and stressful. she absolutely hated coming home late at night, only being able to hold your attention for an hour or two before sleep took over. 

“did you have a good day, baby? i missed you.” 

she’d keep you talking about your day and any other musings to keep you from begging to go back and reclaim your imprinted spot on your shared mattress. 

you lean back against her in the shower, feigning exhaustion so she can hold you up. in reality it was an excuse to feel the warmth of her skin against yours. 

“my poor baby. so, so tired.” her tone would almost sound patronizing if you hadn’t known her mannerisms. “you need me to do it for you?”

you’d nod and she would. the question was superfluous. the answer was always the same. she’d start by gently washing your face with a really expensive specialty cleanser she bought for you on nora’s recommendation. then, she’d use a combination of a washcloth and her hands to wash your body. she ran her hands along your collarbones to your shoulders, slowly moving downwards to your waist and hips. she knelt down in front of you, holding your thighs up one by one, making sure she scrubbed every inch of your body. 

while down on her knees, she couldn’t help but place a few kisses against your hips and thighs. abby always had to resist the urge to bury her face in your cunt right then and there. 

right now, she had a mission. 

these moments were mostly for you. she was a morning shower type of gal, but had no problem making sure you were taken care of, even if you didn’t want to.

after the shower she would take her time toweling you off, taking in your body like it was the first time she’d ever seen you unclothed. every time was the first time to her. she couldn’t get enough of you. 

the two of you would do the rest of your identical skincare routine together, a ritual she imposed as a ruse to get you to actually use the products you begged her to buy for you. while she brushed her teeth, you would undo her braid and carefully detangle her hair. 

at the end of the night she’d carry you right back to your spot in your dark room, pulling out a pair of pajamas for you. they never matched, something that bothered you for a while, but quickly got over knowing she would never hear out your complaints. sure, you could get your own pajamas, but it was more fun putting her to work. abby slept in the same thing every night, just a pair of boxer briefs. 

she was always the last to fall asleep, waiting to see your chest rise and fall in that familiar soft rhythm. until you did, she’d lay and watch your scroll on tik tok. abby refused to download any social media app, so you had to bookmark the videos to show to her at bedtime. the two of you softly giggled together shrouded in darkness.

abby glanced at the time, sitting up in bed to leer down at you. "don't you have to be up early tomorrow?"

"buuuuut, i'm staying up to hangout with you." you whined back.

it took a few moments for abby's face to soften with a defeated sigh "and tomorrow you'll wake up complaining about how sleepy you are."

"maybe." you reluctantly conceded. "but, what if i love you so much and want to sit and talk to you all night?"

"what if i love you more and i'll make you coffee while we talk in the morning?"

"fineeee."

wrote this at like 11pm while laying on my bathroom floor trying to convince myself to take off my makeup. love domestic abby #needthat !!

[drewsfilms]

ও introducing [ foodie! reader ] x drew starkey

ʚ 🍧 🐚 🎀 🥞 🌸 🐾 🥯 ɞ

✫ foodie! reader that, during walks in the city centers, stops at cafés just to "try their cheddar fries", which is actually only an excuse to feed Drew and feel his lips and tongue on and around her fingers.

✫ foodie! reader that tries at least three diferent ice-cream spots everytime her and Drew are on vacantion. Even though Drew complaints about the overpriced, exagerrated aromas, he loves seeing reader licking the sweet cream off the cone, knowing he'll taste the flavor on her lips afterwards. 🍨

✫foodie! reader that always looks up new places to eat while being on plane with Drew.

✫ foodie! reader that loves pasta and after she tries all the kinds, she begs Drew to give her his hoodie so paparazzi and media won't call her pregnant.

✫ foodie! reader that always posts food pictures on her Instagram.

✫ foodie! reader that always says "I need to stop eating so much..." when she is sad and Drew gets mad and they cuddle and he reminds her how incredibly much he loves her and then they order burgers and binge watch Outer Banks.

★ tell me your thoughts in the comments. you can request a certain reader and I will make a similar post with each of your requests. ♡♡♡

[spanktony]

SUNDAY MORNINGS - huh yunjin

summary: a sunday morning with your girlfriend.

words: 1.1k+

warnings: established!relationship, kissing, fake dutch ovening yunjin lmao, gn!reader

notes: first time writing for yunjin so plz request for more. i also need to make a masterlist ik ik

navigation. request.

sunday mornings were always peaceful, it was the only days both you and yunjin’s schedules collided. the only days where you could wake up and the space next to you be warm.

letting out a soft yawn, you stretch your legs under the blankets, careful not to disturb her. turning your head, you catch a glimpse of yunjin’s serene face, her lashes resting delicately against her cheeks as she slept. her arm was draped over your waist, as if even in her dreams, she didn’t want to let you go.

the morning light spilled softly into the room, highlighting the stray strands of her messy hair and the faint curve of her lips. you couldn’t help but smile, your heart swelling at the sight of her so peaceful and close.

you don’t know how long you were staring until a loud ringing jolted you from the quiet moment. your phone, buzzing insistently on the nightstand, shattered the peaceful stillness of the room. yunjin stirred beside you, her brows furrowing as a soft groan escaped her lips.

you quickly grabbed the phone, silencing the intrusive noise with a few swipes. setting it back down, you glanced at yunjin, who was already peeking up at you through sleepy eyes.

“sorry,” you whispered, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face.

she shook her head with a small smile and tightened her arm around your waist. “it’s okay,” she murmured, her voice soft and laced with sleep.

“you were snoring,” you teased, a playful smirk tugging at your lips.

yunjin’s eyes narrowed as she let out a soft gasp, feigning offense. “i do not snore!”

“you do,” you insisted, biting back a laugh. “it’s kind of cute, though.”

“cute?” she huffed, her cheeks tinting a faint pink as she buried her face back into your shoulder. “you’re lucky i love you, or i’d kick you out of bed.”

you laughed softly, wrapping your arms around her as she grumbled into your skin.

“have you heard of a dutch oven?” you mumbled, slowly slipping away from your girlfriend’s grasps. her eyebrows furrow in response, and it looks like she’s digging in the back of her mind to figure out what you meant.

you can't help but chuckle at her confused expression.

“a dutch oven?” she repeated, her voice muffled against your shoulder. “is that some kind of cooking technique?”

you shake your head, still smiling. “no, it’s... well, it’s when you trap someone under the blankets and—”

her eyes widen in realization, and she pulls back to give you a mock glare. “you wouldn’t dare!”

“wouldn’t i?” you tease, inching closer to the edge of the bed, plotting your playful attack.

yunjin’s laughter bubbles up, brightening the room even more than the morning light. “you’re terrible!”

“that’s rude to say!” you joke, feigning seriousness as you inch closer to her, the blankets shifting ominously.

yunjin squints at you, her mock glare transforming into a playful smirk. “you wouldn’t. you love me too much.”

“that’s debatable,” you tease, wiggling your eyebrows as you make an exaggerated motion of lifting the blankets.

her gasp is dramatic, but her laughter spills out uncontrollably. “no! please!” she cries, trying to wiggle away, but you’re faster.

in one swift move, you trap the both of you under the blankets, the muffled giggles and exaggerated complaints, and the unmistakable sound of your fake fart noises.

“ew! stop!” yunjin shrieks, her voice high-pitched as she dissolves into laughter. “you’re so gross!”

you release the blankets, letting them fall back down as you laugh at the girl under you. “i wasn’t actually farting!”

yunjin’s hand doesn’t move from blocking her nostrils, her face scrunched up in a way that only makes her look even cuter.

plopping back down next to her, you let out a tired sigh content with the warmth and peace.

yunjin moves her arm to rest on your stomach, a comfortable silence settling between the two of you. you turn your head to look at her, the soft curve of her lips, her eyes locked with yours.

it felt right. everything about her felt right. the two of you lay like that for a while, just enjoying the peace, the soft sounds of the other breathing. your fingers find their way to her hair, brushing the soft strands from her face. her eyes flutter shut at the contact, her head moving closer to your hand.

after a moment, yunjin speaks up. her voice is barely a whisper, as if afraid that speaking louder would break the perfect moment.

“i would kiss you but morning breath.” snickering, you reach over towards your nightstand, trying not to leave her embrace as you grab a pack of mints. your hands knock over your keys and probably a few other items you placed on there the night before.

yunjin's soft laugh is enough for you to keep rummaging until you find what you were looking for.

finally, you pull out the small pack of mints, holding it up triumphantly. wiggling your eyebrows, you shake the pack gently.

yunjin raises an eyebrow, her lips twitching into a playful smile. “you’re really prepared for everything, huh?”

“yep,” you reply, popping one into your mouth before offering the pack to her. she takes one, sitting up slightly as she does, her hair falling messily around her shoulders.

after a moment of dramatic chewing, she leans closer, her lips brushing yours softly. the kiss is gentle, warm, and unhurried, a perfect match for the lazy sunday morning.

before you pull apart, she begins to chase your lips, as if trying to draw out the kiss. you can't help but laugh, leaning back, your lips stretching into a grin.

yunjin pouts, her brows furrowing in mock frustration as you lean away. “hey,” she grumbles.

“hm?” you reply with a smirk, reaching up to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “i gave you one kiss, and now you’re greedy.”

she huffs, crossing her arms but unable to hide the smile creeping onto her lips. “can you blame me?” she asks, tilting her head slightly.

you laugh, shaking your head as you lean back down beside her. “fine, come here,” you say, pulling her close again. she doesn’t hesitate, wrapping her arms around you and pressing another quick, playful kiss to your lips.

“see?” she whispers against your mouth. “not greedy. just appreciative.”

the two of you dissolve into quiet laughter, her head falling back to rest against your shoulder. you can feel the steady rise and fall of her breathing as the peaceful silence returns, broken only by the faint rustling of the blankets.

[frogchiro]

Omg I love college au, frat Leon sure is whining because Reader seems to give more attention to Heisenberg and Chris has to put up with Leon's complaints but also ends up jealous, he needs to fuck her before that old man does it :((((

I imagine this to take place around the time where Chris would start to sniff around you at first when he realized that Leon's 'dumb crush' may not be so dumb or fleeting as Chris thought.

He literally had to start putting headphones on because he couldn't listen to his friend's whining about you anymore; don't get him wrong, Leon is his best bro but god fucking damnit how long will he have to listen to this incessant buzz about how you ignore him, how you sneer down at him whenever he tries to invite you over or how you shoot down any attempt at getting close to you because you apparently start to whine that he stinks of 'boys, AXE and a fratparty the next morning', like what is your damn problem?

Ofc Chris, the ever helpful friend, tried to get Leon to forget you, hook him up with some chick and have him forget about this weird schoolboy crush thing he has going on but gets literally, physically stopped in his tracks when that chick complains to him the next day that Leon didn't even show up to their 'date'. This is where Chris knows he has to investigate, especially sine Leon was complaining lately about some 'old ass asshole' that apparently took up all your time and you reciporated it.

Long story short now Chris is frustrated, angrily tugging his fat cock to the upskirt pics Luis took a while ago, muttering angrily about 'that stupid old fuck' who is sniffing around you all the time and the worst part being that you're not chasing him away like you do with Chris and the other fratbros :((

Ofc Chris being...not the sharpest, he doesn't realize that a lot of Heisenberg's appeal lay with the fact that he has his shit together and he's actually adulting unlike Chris who wakes up at 1pm on a good day, late for almost all of his classes, hungover like hell and some chick still laying half naked in his bed before he kicks her out and grabs the jar of peanut butter and a energy drink for a 'nice breakfast that will surely put him back on his feet' ://

[lemotmo]

You can tell it's her job 😅. I love it! And yes please god give this to us. I love the idea with the Tommy question.

Q. I guess Ryan and Oliver just aren't going to do joint interviews anymore?

A. This shouldn't feel like a complaint but this kind of feels like a complaint and I have no idea why anyone would be complaining about this after two interviews. For me mixing up the interview teams is further proof that Buddie is indeed coming. There's no need to jointly push them to the foreground now when they're going to be the focal point once the Buddie stuff kicks off. There's no need to overuse them right now (I understand that there's no such thing as too much of them, but for some of the other fans there is ☺️). Once that happens there will be joint interviews and most likely a photoshoot, possibly more than one. You can see the fire puns coming already, lol -'Bringing the Heat: 911's Oliver Stark and Ryan Guzman and the Art of the Television Slow Burn', haha. Keeping those joint interviews for that point is the right call, and again, for me at least, it's another sign that Buddie is the plan. The problem with several of the current interviews is not the pairings. It's the people conducting the interview. Obviously they cannot control what writer within an organization will get the interview, but they can request one who actually watches the show. And they should start doing that because you can see Oliver mentally check out of these interviews the minute he realizes he's talking to someone who doesn't really know anything about the actual show. The difference between an Oliver interview when he's talking to someone who is obviously a fan and consistent viewer, think the Pink News interview, is night and day compared to the interviews when he realizes he's talking to someone who really couldn't care less. They're not going to put a stop to the Tommy question at this time because the Eddie/Buddie stuff will erase that from the narrative once it's official, but I would have Oliver, politely, and he can be very polite, turn that question back onto the interviewer. I would have him ask them what scene or scenes specifically made them feel that way about Tommy and his relationship with Buck. The Tommy questions would stop at that point because there are no canon scenes to justify him being their 'favorite' Buck relationship. They like him because he's a man and none of them will want to admit that. That's how I would instruct him to answer that question going forward. His polite, canned answer isn't enough for some of these people. He's allowed to put them on the spot a bit about it. He doesn't because he doesn't want to talk about it, and I absolutely understand that, but he has the right to push back a little against the made up narrative, and I would have him do that. It would put a stop to the question for the most part. It was obvious to anyone paying any attention at all to the show what was going to happen with Tommy. He was a clear plot device from day one. I would even allow Oliver to use that term. Yes, he will always have been Buck's first, but he was still a plot device. Anyway, anon, this response got away from me a bit, sorry about that. Basically though no joint interviews at this time is the right call because they will basically get their own PR campaign when the build up becomes official.

Thank you Nonny! Much appreciated!

We got a lot of joint interviews (with lots of Buddie mentions) at the beginning of season 7 and it was lovely, but I'd rather have no joint interviews for a while as they develop the Buddie storyline onscreen, than them doing interviews and spoiling half of the storyline. Because they would have such a hard time keeping it all to themselves. 🤣🤣🤣

Anyway, everyone should read Ali's answer and relax already. We're fine. We're right on track. Final Buddie destination is in sight. 🤗

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[lillotte17]

Okay, I’ve done 2 play throughs and I’m well into my 3rd, so I feel like my review of the game can be (mostly) fair and not as emotionally driven as it was when I finished the first time. (this is very long >_>)

I want to start with the good things!

The game is beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. I was not crazy about the stylistic change of the graphics from DAI at first, but once I started playing, I really loved it. The maps are huge and unique. I find something new every time. I love all the little puzzles and sneaky little side quests you can find. I the little sneaky cameos of items and songs from other games.

I love the mechanics of being able to use companions’ special abilities when they are not in your party. I still wish we got 3 people in our party instead of just 2 for balance reasons, but otherwise I find the fighting really engaging and dynamic.

I love that they brought back specific banter spots, shortened the time between when the next banter triggers AND allowed for recovery of the conversation if it got interrupted by something. Thank you for my LIFE. Waiting for certain banters to trigger in DAI was awful lmao.

I really appreciated the effort they put into the CC, allowing for greater body type differences and the various gender options. Long hair, curly hair, please and thank! The CC took some getting used to, but once I got the hang of it, it’s fun just to build characters, lol.

I really liked the easy upgrades and enchantments for your armors, and I LOVED being able to wear whatever the best armor was, but have a different armor visible. Great call, team! Do that for always and ever. The only qualm I had was that I would have liked to be able to change the colors on some of the outfits, but really, there was such a good variety, this is a very minor complaint.

In terms of storyline, my favorite quest was the Blood of Arlathan, and I also liked the final push at the end through Minrathous. Big surprise that the things I liked best was actually getting to fight with Solas on my team again, lol. But those where also the times where it really felt like everything was on the table, you know? Weisshaupt was a strong contender, too. That quest was so fasted paced, it made it a little hard to appreciate just how much was going on around you. But asking your local assassin to stab a god-cloud is never not funny, so that one gets good points, too.

Overall, the gameplay is really strong. The rollout was really smooth. I didn’t really encounter any bugs, except for one time I managed to change all the subtitles to French? But I think that might have been a user error. If I was just here for a generic fantasy game, this would get 10/10. It’s fun to play and it’s pretty. You can stab stuff, and throw magic around, and there are dragons.

However…

The storyline and the pacing was a mess. Which is honestly baffling from a BioWare game. I am not saying this with spite or hatred, because I know that EA tried to kill this game repeatedly, so it’s kind of amazing that we got anything at all, BUT it’s still frustrating, because…I can SEE IT. I can SEE all the pieces of a REALLY good story. An AMAZING story. The story I WANTED to play!!! And it’s like…it all got put together wrong.

The nearly nonexistent romances are honestly the worst offenders here. Even if they wanted to keep the rating down to make it more accessible to a wider audience, there is no reason why I should only have ONE opportunity to kiss my love interest over the course of an 80+ hour game. SOLAVELLAN had more unique romance scenes and kisses than you get with Lucanis and he DUMPS your character before coming back to steal your hand. Not to mention the fact that it is possible for your LI to die before you ever get to actually say you love them or anything. Davrin was my first romance. At the end of Tearstone Island like…I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t feeling my PCs grief that her boyfriend whom she had kissed exactly one time was dead. I was PISSED. I don’t think I have ever been so mad about a writing choice, and I am a certified Tragedy Enjoyer. It didn’t even feel like a good tragic blow, because they didn’t take the time to build up the romance before killing him. And Rook hardly gets a second to mourn afterwards, so it was just kind of a nothingburger that made me feel like I wasted all the time I had spent playing for it. (I went back and changed it so he lived but jfc)

Speaking of killing characters: Varric. It was a mistake. I know what they were going for. I see what they were trying to do. But it was a mistake. First of all, they relied way too much on the idea that the player has played the other games, in the sense that the story just opens with Rook already with Varric, who they have known for over a year, and then they turn around and nerf him in the first act. There’s no time to establish how Rook feels about Varric, or how they feel about this quest they’ve been on for so long, you just get thrown into it without preamble. And then, Varric is just kind of… there. He’s Rook’s cheerleader, but he almost never has any real advice, and you almost never get to have a discussion with him. Which means, when you find out what happened to him later, the emotional blow is relying almost entirely on your attachment to Varric from previous games instead of the game you are currently playing.

Also, I figured out he was dead pretty early on, so the reveal had almost no impact, and felt a bit ham-fisted, if I’m being honest.

The second reason it was a mistake is that…it just felt like an excuse to make the player hate Solas. Like, it honestly feels like that is the only reason they did it. Which seems so unnecessary? The man is responsible for the fucking blight and the death of the titans and is currently trying to tear the Veil down, and you think that’s not ENOUGH motivation for the PC to want to give him the middle finger???

Which brings us to: Solas. I love this man. I love Solavellan. I love his story. I love THEIR story. But…if I had played this game first, I don’t think I would have cared about redeeming him. All of the companions tell stories about second chances and redemption and being able to change your nature, and I KNOW that was supposed to be in reference to Solas, I know it was but… It just felt like they did almost nothing to SHOW you how much he was trying to do the right thing every time he fucked up. How badly he wanted to be a hero and a protector, and someone giving wisdom instead of orders. When we saw his regrets and talked about them with the team, I really thought it was going to be relevant later. I thought it would come up in conversation with Solas, and depending on how you talked to him about the things you saw, you could slowly guide him towards choosing a better path at the end. I thought it would all be on Rook, and their choice to take a chance to try and redeem him or not. But in the end, it didn’t matter. It only unlocked Mythal. She was the only thing that made a difference. Not Rook. Not your Inquisitor. Not any of the other choices you made in the entire game or the one that preceded it. Don’t get me wrong, I am SO grateful they squeezed a Solavellan ending in there for us, really and truly. But the fact that he was so in love with her during DAI that he was about to give up everything without her even asking, and he’s so torn up about her during Trespasser that he can hardly let her close to him because just being in proximity to her makes him want to stop everything and stay with her, and then when she shows up at the end of Veilguard and asks him to stop…he pauses for even less time to consider the option than when ROOK asks. And then Mythal holds more sway with him by like 1000%. Just. Felt very much like a downgrade. (Also I wanted a hug. He needed a fucking hug and my Lavellan would have hugged the Bad Choices right out of him)

There are other things. Dwarves getting sidelined again. Slavery in Tevinter barely being touched on. The weird idea of the Crows being a good option for orphans with nowhere to go. The SUPER uncomfortable end of Bellara’s quest where a non-elf Rook can have an opinion on what she should do with the history of her people. But those are kind of like…small potatoes. Typical BioWare story flubs tbh.

I know, my complaints are much longer than my praises, but I really do like playing the game. Really and truly. It is a good game, and I am eternally grateful that they got it to us at all. I just…wish we could have gotten the story I think they wanted to tell us, instead of what we ended up with. But as they say: That’s what Fanfic is for. <3

[m0remor1]

Who’s Birthday Are It???

Logan Howlett x FtM!Reader

NOTES: FINALLY i’m posting my first oneshot! i’m crazy new to this but i really wanted to post something Wolverine related considering i never shut up about him…,.,,… hope yall enjoy!!

WC: 1,668 words

TAGS: hurt/comfort, Comic!Logan (I def used some of his Origins’ backstory though el oh el), established “friendship”, ALMOST make-out scene, no smut, reader is basically the same height as Logan, really slight description of violence, a little unserious and silly

October 12th.

It used to be a somewhat fun occasion back when Logan was still Jimmy the sickly little Victorian boy. His family was well off enough to afford him gifts and heaps of food that he could barely stomach while showering him in attention he wasn’t all that present for. Could’ve been out of pity or something, but there’s no way of him knowing that now.

The earliest memory of his birthday that stuck after taking three rounds of adamantium between the eyes was Sabretooth hunting him down. The biting cold of bum-fuck nowhere, Canada, the actual biting and tearing of flesh, the hours of endless beatdowns that left Logan in a heap while his torn flesh weaved together layer by layer.

What’s even worse is that the rat bastard made this a tradition.

And considering Logan’s as old as dirt, there’s only so many birthday punchies he can endure from a bloodthirsty maniac before he starts to loathe it. He does his best to block the day out of his mind, ducking the other X-Men to avoid any pointless—and frankly annoying—birthday wishes from them. It’s almost impressive how absent he manages to be on his own birthday.

Cut to what feels like his billionth ‘special day’—he’s shacked up in a seedy dive bar nursing what’s now half a bottle of Jack’s while awaiting his inevitable crashout with his feline freak of a nemesis. His leg is bouncing off the stool, his hand is clenched hard around the glass he’s refilled countless times, and his muscles are tensed in preparation.

You, however, didn’t seem to get the memo.

Well—you did. You’re just politely ignoring it. A completely inconspicuous excess of cash magically found its way to your pockets after a couple battles with anti-mutant thugs, and you’d been hanging off Logan’s shoulder long enough to take note of his favorite brands.

And thank fuck you garnered as much money as you did, because the man’s tastes were almost disgustingly expensive.

And now, here you were with a small box held behind your back while you finally found the bar Logan was brooding in. Took a good couple hours to track em’ down, but a win is a win regardless.

“…You know I ain’t celebratin’. Get lost, bub.” Logan pipes up the moment he catches your scent sneaking closer, a scowl pinning itself to the burned in plasma screen bolted to a high point on the bar.

“Oh come on—you’re not even takin’ gifts? I had to study for this, man.” You huffed in complaint, hovering over the stool next to him.

And before Logan can press you to leave, the box you held behind your back slides into view and thuds softly against the wood counter. It earns a side eye from the older man, a glimpse of shock chipping away at his stoned mask just a teenie bit at the sight of the box’s logo.

“Bribin’ me with a couple smokes ain’t gettin’ you anywh—“ The minute Logan unlatches the box and opens it, he’s met with the sight of a FULL box. Stacked to the brim with tightly wrapped cigars that held the brand’s shiny sticker. He gives you a fully stunned look, almost slack jawed as he quickly shut it and cursed under his breath.

“…I’d make a real shit cop.” He mutters as he taps the worn leather of the seat cushion beside him in a silent demand to take a seat.

And you’re SAT. It’s almost comical how fast you scurry into the seat. You’re lucky it’s bolted to the floor, or else you would have conked your head on the grimy hardwood real hard. There’s a beat of silence as Logan takes a cigar from the top of the box and almost glares at it in an attempt to spot something wrong. But he finds nothing. Shit—they don’t even smell off. He extends a claw halfway to snip off the ends, reaching into his pocket for a lighter.

FINALLY you get to show off again.

You bring a hand to stop him, fishing through your own pocket to fish out the second half of your gift.

“Hollon—“ You whip out a silver zippo lighter. “Ta-da!”

…

“How empty is your wallet right now?” Logan questions, taking the lighter from you and scanning each detail of the silver embossments on it.

“…I think a moth or three is in it right now.” You jest, watching as he drags a finger over the detailing.

There’s a traditional Japanese-style dragon curled on the front, the silver metal darkened in the crevices to look grungy. The rest of it is black, save for the engraving on the side. The letters of his name are straight and jagged, each shiny silver line meant to look like a claw had scratched it in. He’s almost mad at how much he likes it, because it means he has to admit that one—he really is an art nerd, and two—he’s getting soft. His stomach twists a little, but not in the ‘there’s perilous danger incoming and everyone’s gonna die’ way. More in the ‘this stupid kissboy’s worming his way further into his good graces’ kinda way. And he doesn’t know what to do with it.

“This is dumb, y’know. Ain’t a reason for a lighter t’be this extra.” He grumbles as he gives it another shift between his fingers.

“I mean—f’you don’t like it I can jus’—“ You reach for it, but Logan snatches it away before you can even graze it. “Aht—Back off. Yer gonna have t’pry this from my cold dead hands in 200 years.”

He hunches over the lighter slightly, clinking it open and striking the little wheel a couple times before it came to life while you stifle a giggle. The cigar eventually starts to glow a faint red at the tip, and Logan drags in a hefty breath that he holds. It takes a moment before the smoke billows from his lips, and something in you lurches with glee at the sight of said smoke framing his bearded face. His blue eyes dart to you, watching with a raised brow as you pretend to look anywhere else but him. And poor soul—instead of catching on to what were probably some FREAK nasty thoughts—he thinks you want to bum a puff of his cigar. His hand tilts to offer it over, but you shake your head.

“M’good. I’d probably cough up a lung or two.” You don’t wanna admit you hate smoking in general.

Because if we’re being honest, it’s kind of a lie. Sure—if you walked past strangers you’d cough like you had pneumonia to make em feel a little guilty. But with a scent that didn’t make you want to dry heave and a lethally handsome face behind it, you could only bring yourself to pretend that the cigars were too strong for you.

But this… this old man has to go and insist.

“…Could always shotgun it.” It’s aggravating how fast you wanted to blurt out an okay. “Wouldn’t mind sharin’ my gift a lil.”

This little bastard knows what he’s doing. He HAS to, considering there’s a ghost of a smirk on his face at the sight of your shock. You clear your throat behind a clenched hand, trying to play nonchalant and failing horribly.

“I mean—yeah, sure. Whatever, I guess...” You can’t even look at him properly it’s that embarrassing.

Your face runs hot when you lean a little closer, eyes squeezed shut as if you’re ready to get punched or something.

“Good god—relax, bub. Y’look like I’m handin’ you a pipe bomb.” Logan leans in too, but his free hand grabs at your collar and pulls you even closer.

Words are failing you fast, leaving whatever retort you could come up with in the dust before you even thought about the first word. Your eyes peek open, watching his chest puff as he took another drag off the cigar and held it. He lets the smoke die out a little before dragging a calloused hand up the front of your jacket and to the junction between your neck and shoulder.

His large palm presses against the side of your neck, the pad of his thumb swiping across your plush bottom lip and earning a breathy sigh from you. When his hand moves to your jaw to keep your head still, you shiver at the slightly rough drag of his worn fingertips against your skin. Your stomach is doing gymnastics and the both of you can probably hear the drumming of your heart against your ribs. Your hands find purchase on his thighs to keep you upright while you’re leaned forward, and you thank whoever’s up there for giving you an excuse to do so. You part your lips as he gets in your face, blowing the sheered out smoke into your mouth and maintaining crazy amounts of eye contact while you inhale it.

Hands clench at his muscled thighs in a bid to keep you grounded, but it’s mostly just because you’re trying to resist closing the non-existent gap between you two. However, before you can even think of kissing him, your lungs start to burn and you turn away to cough and sputter as transparent smoke puffs out of your mouth.

“Y’ain’t supposed ta breathe it in like a shitty cigarette. Yer supposed to taste it.” Logan can’t help a snicker as he pats your back while you hack up the smoke in your lungs.

“Gee… thanks, you little—“ Whatever expletive you had for him gets lost in another coughing fit, complete with a little wheeze that finally seemed to help clear you up.

You glare over at the other man next to you, but your anger feels unfounded when you catch him almost full on grinning. Sure—it was kind of at your expense��but you got him to smile. On what’s usually the worst day of his year, no less.

…Man—you’re really great at this whole birthday thing.

[itmeansiris]

The Solar System Legacy Challenge: Errands Gen 1 pt.88

Wednesday afternoon, the Gratz were in the supermarket picking up last-minute items for Harvestfest. The week began with a tragedy, but everyone agreed, including Kiersten, that gathering for the family-oriented holiday was what they all needed. Even if it only provided a small distraction for the kids.

Kason and Mercury sat the triplets down the evening of the fire to explain what happened to Rufus. Venus and Ishtar immediately asked if they could check on Tucker. Tucker stayed over that night, and returned home the next morning to visit the hospital with his mom and little brother. The duo plus M and Beckett had done their best to keep his mind occupied, but from time to time he would excuse himself and they would hear him sobbing softly in the bathroom.

M: How is Rufus?

She asked quietly.

Kason: They were able to stop the Epidural bleed. The decompression surgery worked but he’s on a ventilator. The smoke inhalation was bad, he still needs assistance breathing.

M: Did you see Kiersten while you were there?

His expression was solemn.

Kason: I saw her speaking to Rufus's doctor in the hallway, but when she saw me she took off. Okay, everyone out of the cart.

Triplets: Aww man, come on dad!

The kids vocalized their complaints but climbed out. Kason had been to the hospital multiple times since Rufus was admitted, but he wasn't sure if his presence was welcomed.

Aphrodite: Can I have a snack, Dad?

Kason: Sure, find something for everyone and get something for Zoh and Malachi. Take your brother with you!

He called out to her as she took off before he could finish. Ishtar ran after her.

Ishtar: Don't worry Dad, I'll catch up!

They watched to make sure he reached her before M turned her attention back to Kason while pushing the cart.

M: I know what you're thinking, but don't. She's scared and stressed out. It's a sensitive situation and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

Kason: I can see it in her eyes whenever she actually looks at me, she blames me and who am I to argue with that? I'm the one that sent them both down there. She’ll probably never speak to me ever again. Maybe you should go over there again and make sure she’s okay. I'm sure it's just me she's avoiding.

It had been two days since the fire and the situation had grown more tense. When Kason arrived at the hospital and Rufus was suddenly wheeled away for the emergency surgery, Kiersten broke down and revealed she was expecting. The sweet moment was ruined and made worse by the fact that she hadn't gotten to tell Rufus first and now wasn't sure If she would ever get the chance to.

M: She dyed her hair the same shade as Rufus. It has me kind of worried, that seems like such a drastic change overnight. I'll take Mom with me and make sure she's still coming over for Harvestfest tomorrow.

Kason: I wouldn't mind skipping it for once.

M: I’m sorry my love. Between your mom and now Rufus, Harvestfest continues to fall lower and lower on your list of favorite holidays.

Kason raked a hand through his hair while sighing heavily. He rolled back his shoulders and straightened his spine trying to look less defeated than he felt.

Kason: No, I’m sorry M. Your right, I just have a lot on my mind, but I'll try and be more present. It's our holiday too.

He pulled her close and she welcomed his touch trying to soothe some of his unease, but she could feel the tension in his muscles. He was wand so tight she was worried he would eventually break under the pressure.

Kason: I just can't shake the feeling that Paris was behind the fire. That servo was in good condition. It needed minor repairs and an updated code. If she supposedly didn't touch anything, what the hell happened in there?

He had been bouncing that question around since he'd arrived at the hospital. The first night it was all he talked about. The fire marshall and police assured him they would do a thorough investigation, and Greg had the security team ready to scour the surveillance footage from Servo Hold 2 once they were allowed to access the servers. They were located in the basement where the fire had started. Though they hadn't suffered any damage, no one was allowed down there for the time being.

M: Have you heard anything from the marshalls?

Kason: They haven't finished their investigation yet. They are still assessing the structural damage before anyone is allowed back in the area. Once that’s clear they will start checking for faulty wiring and foul play.

M: Well at least no one else was hurt, and with the cameras, if she did have anything to do with it, there’s no way she won’t get caught. Have you heard anything from her since you fired her?

Kason: No. Greg had the tech department deactivate her logins, email, and access to the building. We're mailing her final check to the last address we have on file, but no one has seen or heard from her since her little episode.

His tone held hope that it was the end of Paris but his brow was creased with concern. M just wanted him to relax, he’d been on autopilot and he was bound to run out of gas if he continued like this.

M: One less thing for you to be worried about. Let's finish the grocery shopping, pick up Tucker and Malachi on the way home, and just try and enjoy the night. You've had a stressful 48 hours my love.

They resumed the shopping putting an end to the heavy discussion, trying to enjoy the rest of the family errand.

Kason: I'll go grab paper towel.

He veered off into an aisle, Dite and Ishtar followed closely behind him, leaving M and Venus with the cart. Venus tugged on the sleeve of her mom’s jacket.

Venus: Mom, can we make snores after dinner? They're Tucker's favorite.

M smiled warmly. It was soul-stirring to see Venus caring for her friend, considering her normally spoiled attitude. The pair had grown close since she started school, even though Tucker was a year older and a grade above.

M: That sounds like a plan. We have graham crackers at home so let’s get chocolate and marshmallows before your dad comes back.

They left the cart and went to quickly collect the short list of ingredients. Venus went straight for the marshmallows while M turned to locate the chocolate when she found the sale sign for s’mores kits

M: V don’t get the marshmallows. They have kits tha-

Previous Next

Beginning

Sidebar: Kiersten showed up with her hair that color. Her hair is normally a very light brown, and I didn't want to shoot it over after editing her hair color. Honestly, it was the least of my worries, considering what she's going through, and people dye their hair in stressful situations, so it seemed fitting.

Poses: Don't ever touch me" by Elen shine CC: The vase in the last photo is from @elen-shine "Dont ever touch me" pose pack Budgie Foods store stuff Shopping decor sims (StarryxLazy) Build: Srslysims Greenfield Grocery by @srslysims

[ghoulfuckersincorporated]

Sugar Daddy!Cooper Howard is sort of a menace when it comes to sneakily getting what he wants. There's a certain level of access you have to the means of getting your way when you're famous and wealthy, so, while he isn't intolerant to being told no, it's not his favorite thing, particularly when he's being prevented from sharing his generosity with you the way he wants to. The fact that you accepting that generosity often happens to come with the added bonus of making you more agreeable to doing what he wants is pure coincidence...if you believe what he says about it.

In particular, he likes to have more than a little say in your wardrobe. He'll fill your entire closet with new clothes just for the excuse to pick out what you wear, right down to the shoes and accessories. He takes your personal style heavily into consideration, so you won't find anything you wouldn't have picked out yourself...save for the occasional piece that shows a bit more leg or cleavage than you'd usually choose (as well as plenty of heels that you will be wearing to bed regardless of whether you ever really wear them out). He can't help himself; it's just so fun to have his own personal doll to dress up. Also loves to drag you out to go "window" shopping, which invariably turns to real shopping, complete with you modeling clothes worth more than you make in a month for him and him trying his best to not drag you back into the dressing room.

Your grocery budget had to be carefully managed before he came along, so you grew quite used to convenience foods and whatever simple dishes were easiest (and cheapest) to prepare. He quickly filled your fridge and pantry with staples when you began to see one another, fretting at you for not eating "real food", but he also knows you sometimes find cooking arduous after a long day. Because of that, he loves to dress you up and take you out to fancy dinners, multi-course, candlelit affairs where he makes you try dishes you've never seen before. When you're too tired to go out, he'll surprise you with takeout, or he'll come to your place and cook for you using ingredients you could never afford on your own. He only really knows how to make a handful of dishes himself, but he's pretty good at them. Plus, the view of him working in the kitchen with his sleeves rolled up is quite alluring.

His biggest challenge in getting his way comes in the form of trying to get you into a better living arrangements; he's not a dick, but he's not impressed by your apartment or the area it's in. Pretty rapidly he begins making little "jokes" and remarks about how you should consider letting him move you to a better place. When you tell him you'd already considered moving, but can't really afford to pay any more in rent, he looks at you like you've sprouted a second head. Obviously he would be paying the rent. Don't be silly. You should be saving your own money, or spending it on what you want. When you're skittish at the idea of him paying such a significant bill of yours on top of all of his, he offers to just let you move in with him instead. That better? He could pay to get you out of your lease and have movers at your place within the week...

Don't bother asking him how much anything he gives you costs, as he won't tell you. If you ever manage to figure it out, any complaints will fall on deaf ears. Actually, don't watch his pockets, period; so much of his self-image and sense of masculinity is tied up in being a "proper provider" for his family, so any voiced concerns about how much money he has, even after his personal wealth takes a pretty big hit post-divorce, really dig at him the wrong way. He's open enough about his financials as a committed partner, insofar as you know his bills get paid on time and he isn't living off of debt or anything, so one of the few ways you can get him somewhat reliably annoyed with you is to question if he can afford something, or stress about "your part" of things. Can't you just let him take care of you? You worry too much.

It's just good luck that spoiling you often gets your motor running, ready to cuddle up close and smother him in kisses (or more) out of excitement and gratitude once you become more accustomed to being pampered. He'd never spend money on you just to get you to put out, he insists. But your enthusiasm towards his largesse certainly doesn't hurt anything. Who doesn't feel more affectionate, physically and otherwise, when they're well seen to? There's no shame in enjoying that, (or the fact that he has somewhat lopsided influence over your decisions) he tells himself.

The Ghoul is used to getting his way almost purely through force and intimidation these days, which is great for dealing with Brotherhood agents and raiders and settlers with wild hairs up their asses, but not so great for trying to actually endear himself to anyone. And god, does he want that with you after he meets you. The shock of his attraction to you bowls him over pretty badly, and he has to take quite a while to sit with it before deciding how to proceed.

However, when he opens up the smallest bit and tries to get back in touch with Cooper Howard, ladykiller, he finds that he's humiliatingly rusty and impatient for you to start to open up to him in kind. Unfortunately, he's almost forgotten how to actually treat people decently, so he has to dig himself out of quite the pit from how big of an asshole he's been to you previously, reactively even more unpleasant than usual, intimidated by his feelings.

Eventually, he remembers that spending money on people usually helps and also doesn't require any emotional vulnerability.

You're a bit put off by it at first, thinking he's essentially trying to bribe you into forgetting how awful he's been to you before (and it's true, he is), your walls up high despite still generally accepting his offerings. It's for the best. He gets pissy and pushy if you repeatedly, blatantly refuse his gifts or gestures, which directly counteracts the desired affect of the action to begin with, but hey, he's got a long way to go before he's a ladykiller again...

He can't take you to luxury boutiques and spend all afternoon watching you try things on for him like he'd like, but he can keep a sharp eye out for especially intact clothing when the two of you are rummaging around whatever bombed-out ruins you find yourself in, occasionally pulling only-slightly-faded dresses and delicate slips from the rubble. He carries these little gifts himself so you're not burdened by having to keep track of them. He can also buy you new armor and take in the view as you sit in your undies by the fire or curled up on the floor maintaining it. Incredibly tarnished jewelry is fairly easy to find, depending on where you look, and he has nothing but time to polish and tweak things while you sleep. Who doesn't like a shiny bauble, even if they don't have the same sort of value they once did? One day, he finds an especially nice ring and tucks it away for the future, only pulling it out to fiddle with when he's sure he's alone. You never know what may happen.

Nice restaurants are exceedingly rare anymore, basically extinct (and most of the ones that do exist don't allow ghouls, not that he would feel he belonged in a place like that, anyway), but he can still spare you the ass jerky and buy you the best quality food he can get his hands on: fresh, un-disesased brahmin meat (a shockingly rare and pricey grocery item in the post-war world and one of the more desirable sources of animal protein), relatively radiation-free vegetables, the sweetest, juiciest fruits. It makes him happy to know that you're getting adequate nutrition, and he more than enjoys getting to watch you eat what he gives you. This is especially true of anything sticky or juicy; he'll blatantly withhold these things until he can sit and properly take in the show, his gaze rather blatantly revealing his thoughts.

Instead of making you sleep on the bare desert ground, or huddle around a tiny fire in whatever shack he's chosen to rest in for the night, he'll often shell out for a room when the option presents itself, especially so if the place has access to water. A lot of the time he has to give you the caps and send you inside to pay for the room yourself, as many places won't rent to ghouls. It's far from how he'd prefer to do things, but he considers the indignity he suffers a small price to pay to see you so carefree for a bit. Sometimes you'll even wear one of the dresses he's scrounged up for you when the mood is right. He's not surprised by it; he knows how much you like to feel clean, how happy it makes you, and the relaxation granted from staying somewhere safe is unparalleled. The fact that he gets to peek in on you bathing when he comes around to "check on you" is icing on the cake. Eventually, you start to give him intentional little peeks at your body when he does, and the physical relationship between you really starts to bloom from that point on.

Initially, he uses gifts and generous gestures to get you to see that he might not be a complete monster, though he has trouble adjusting his other behaviors as quickly as he adjusts his spending habits. Overall, gifts from him are much less a "let me grease the wheels for the future so I can ultimately get what I want" sort of thing and more of a "I'm sorry for how I am, I hope overcompensating in other areas fixes it" sort of thing. He's more than willing to put in the hard, painful work that he knows he needs to be better on other levels, though he's agonizingly aware that the progress on that front is slow. Don't question his commitment to changing for the better for you, however.

He really wants to give you that ring.

[the-nagakenny-archives]

I’ve had to block a few people lately over certain posts not sitting well with people and I get the feeling they were new, so I’m going to be upfront about this again XD

I’m part of the hypnosis fetish community and have been for over a decade (actually getting close to 15 years now, jeez q-q). I’m one of Those People who saw The Jungle Book at a young age and it irreparably affected my brain—one difference I do have is that when I was mature enough to realize what the weird feelings I was having meant, I eventually grew out of Kaa because I realized it wasn’t really him that I liked, but the hypnosis/coiling itself, and so I wanted to explore the themes with characters and settings of my own. Thus, over time, Kenny was created as an avatar for my creative expression in that area. He doesn’t have any real deep lore or backstory (any that I posted here was just me attempting to make him slightly more interesting), he’s just here for a good time—the definition of a “good time” being whatever hypno-y situation I want to draw him in.

Now there have been times when he’s leaked into more “normie” communities—thankfully he’s never gone viral, I think I would die of embarrassment if that ever were to happen—because I’ve drawn him with characters from popular IPs or in recognizable art styles. When that’s happened I’ll sometimes get people coming in being confused and upset because they don’t understand what this is all about, and while I’m self-aware enough to know where they’re coming from with their complaints, I have to block them for the good of my own mental health (and probably theirs too, they don’t have to see posts that upset them from me anymore LOL).

Part of me does wish I had made Kenny part of something bigger and more digestible for people to enjoy—my childhood dream was to be a Disney animator, and while that’s out the window now, I could have still tried to make something independently. But I guess I’m just content now with doing whatever makes me happy with him—which is why you’ve all been seeing this darker, more menacing version of him lately (that actually belongs to a story that I can hopefully flesh out more). If you’re here for that, awesome, hope you continue to stay and enjoy it. ;v;

[08melancholie]

I'm writing a Micah fic and I'm not satisfied with how I write him 💀 you have any tips?

This is a great question, and I can definitely find a few tips you can go off of that I usually memorise before I go ahead and write him. So first; lets section it off into five parts.

1. Micah's usual nature.

2. Behaviour I.—In camp.

3. Behaviour II.—Missions/outings.

4. Behaviour III. —Valu(able)s.

5. Language/the actual writing.

I'll go through every section and give you my tips and information that fits. Hopefully this helps your writing!

Most important highlighted/summarised in colour of section<3

1. Micah's usual nature.

First, let's break down Micah's character; he presents himself in a very cold, closed-off manner. He isn't that much of a helpful character, nor is he very social. In fact, Micah seems very asocial to me. You'll rarely find him socialising with camp members if he's sober, the only exception being when he drinks, where you'll find around 3-4 camp interactions (Javier, John, Bill, Arthur,...) in the game. He might come up to Arthur for a normal conversation a few times, but they mostly end in mockery or some sort of self-gain. You won't find Micah doing (re)quests for people, seeing as he's very focused on himself—excluding errands for Dutch since he's his boss. While on the topic of his nature in camp, lets continue this in "2. Behaviour I.—In camp".

2. Behaviour I.—In camp.

If he's actually found talking to fellow camp members that aren't Dutch, Micah enjoys antagonising any and all characters in the game. He throws crude comments and jokes people's way in his free time—which he clearly has a lot of, considering he doesn't ever do chores in camp, as confirmed in an interaction with Arthur where Micah says he "buys the clothes, not washes them". He also looks for ways to get under people's skin a lot. As for the women, there's quite a few interactions of him catcalling and harassing them, plain simple. He doesn't seem to care about being called a creep for it by Arthur either, as thats just entertainment for him.

3. Behaviour II.—Missions/outings.

Micah is very confident in how he works. He knows he's a great shot and one of Dutch's best gunmen, that much is sure to me. If he's doing better than Arthur, for example in "A Short Walk in a Pretty Town", he'll comment on it, saying "You're getting sloppy, Morgan." to him if he fails to get all four people in the gun store. You need to write him as such; keep his confidence in his abilities, and his subtle blood-thirst as well. Micah is much ruthless and somewhat of a brute, not to forget unforgiving and uncaring of his victims; killing Maddy, Norman's wife for.. little to no reason, as far as we know, or the little girl when you play as John later on in the game and are told so by Cleet in Strawberry. While on topic of Strawberry; massacring an entire town over two guns—another point that emphasises his self-worth. He killed and had Arthur kill off an entire town, despite much protest and complaints from Arthur about this choice. And yet he still didn't think much of that choice of action, laughing about it to Arthur after they stopped getting chased. Again—uncaring, ruthless, self-centred.

4. Behaviour III.—Valu(able)s.

This part is mostly useful for the start of a fic, since valu(able)s can change by the end of the story, and especially if you're writing a fix-it fic. We'll start with valuables, since Micah's are very simple; he values two things in his life over everything; his two custom-made DAs (Double Action revolvers) and his horse Baylock. We know he cares a lot about his guns, from the fact that he risked shooting up an entire town just to get them back when it would have been very simple to buy another set—this can be used to write an unhealthy attachment, or show vulnerability with risk of losing said weapons. Baylock is also pretty self-explanatory; he cares a lot about that horse, and IMO, he sees it as its best friend. With that, there's also one more thing that tethers between valuables and values; he doesn't want a future like many, a wife or family and stable life—those are mostly out of interest to Micah. His most important wish, at least Chapter 1—Chapter 6, is the future he wants for himself—a strong gang; "five to six strong men",as he says. This is his main goal in the game, and it'll be very valuable to him at the start. Then, come the values, and like many in 1899, he'll be very old-school; he wouldn't want women in his ideal vision of a gang, obviously. Micah sees them as beneath him and as too weak for the life—which is much obvious in the game... If you're writing a fanfic with F!Reader that's got the attitude of Sadie, I wouldn't instant make him jump for that type of woman. Micah expresses he's more into feminine women anyhow, so that's also important to remember when writing Micah/Reader fics.

5. Language/the actual writing.

Now, the way Micah speaks. He's very obviously and shamelessly open about how he talks—like I mentioned in the second section with the women; he'll openly harass them, uncaring of being reprimanded by Arthur for it. He's very vulgar and direct, so you won't see him hold back too often. Can't forget this part, of course—Micah has an accent like many characters, and I like to emphasise that by changing up the way some things are spelled; "you" turns into "'ya", "and" into "an'" and such, little changes that let the reader know how they should be reading the words said by the character, especially good if someone doesn't yet know who Micah is and your fic is their first impression, they can immediately assume an accent.

As a tip here, I'm gonna try and put a few grammatical details I usually keep in mind when writing my texts.

Verbs I.: if it ends in "-ing", leave out the 'g' and add an ' at the end.

For example: "Well, safe to say she's changin' her ways."

Verbs II.: If they don't end with "-ing", like with words that aren't in the present for example (and irregular verbs), I look for ways to change them which I then memorise for the future.

For example I.: "It just burns a little, 's all." —> "is"

For example II.: "She's just wen' and gone!" —> "went"

"You, you're, your": The change here is very obvious, and the only warning I have is for for using "you're" and "your"; the change is the same, so if you have both in one sentence, only change one.

For example I.: "But he said 'ya didn't like the gift?"

For example II.: "How?! I know yer supposed to be gone!"

For example III.: "You know yer left shoelace is undone?"

These are a few of my tips, and I'm hoping that they'll be helpful to you—and anyone else that is looking to write Micah. Thank you for the lovely ask, and as always, good luck! <3

friend wanted to be tagged: @angel-w1ngsss

[peachhcs]

catching you up → social media post

hughes!sister x will smith au (samy + will)

a few posts from samy, will, and mack after the san jose trip!

all pics are from instagram, pinterest, or tumblr. as u guys know i love doing these kinds of posts, so i decided to compile one about samy's recent trip to san jose and just some recents lately :)

au masterlist

samyhughes lotsss of complaints that will wasn’t in my last post, so i made sure to include him! thanks for having me in sj <3

view all comments

hannahduke my beautiful amazing roommate u look so stunning wow

| samyhughes i love youuu

user1 WOW she’s so stunning omg

user2 WANT that dress

user3 this is so adorable

edwards.73 good stuff hughesy

| samyhughes 😌😌

markestapa ooh how aesthetically pleasing

| samyhughes i really tried this time 🙌

jackhughes sooo like when u coming to nj?? been to the west coast twice now and not to the east coast 😔

| samyhughes dawg u really typed that while i’m sitting right next to u 😒

| jackhughes doesn’t make my comment any less valid tho

lhughes_06 rowdy’s got a point when u coming to nj??!?

| samyhughes when u invite me🤨

user4 i love their relationship it’s so cutie

teddystiga_ …still not enough will. he deserves more than 2 photos 💔

| samyhughes i guess nothing i do is good enough

jameshagens_4 4+4 =8

| samyhughes who taught u that??🤨

| jameshagens_4 myself

mackcelebrini where is my feature?? i spent like 93.4% of the weekend with u

| samyhughes sorry mack🥲

beckettsennecke_ soo good seeing u this weekend!

| samyhughes right back at ya beck :)

_quinnhughes west coast but no visit to van 😕

| samyhughes next time i’ll make pencil u into my schedule

user5 i wanna be her so bad omg

user6 mack and beckett’s comments are so cute aww

ryan.leno_4 justice for will he deserves more photos

| samyhughes so the whole post should just be will ig

michaelhagens_11 run it to boston soon?

| samyhughes omw!

zeevbuium28 @_willsmith2 u pulled fr

| _willsmith2 i totally did😍

kayleighdocherty_ wow so gorg samy!!!

| samyhughes by bae😍😍

gabeperreault44 glad u finally included will this time

| samyhughes glad u approve

aram_minnetian MY MAN MADE THE CUT🙌🙌

| samyhughes won’t make that mistake again

julianne_gelinas soo hot wow wanna be u

| samyhughes i wanna be u actually

drewf2 can u bring us to sj next time?

| samyhughes for sure for sure

rutgermcgroarty yuh san jose!

| samyhughes yuh!

olivianmorriss sooo pretty samy obsessed with u

| samyhughes omg i’m obsessed w u girl

user7 aww the hockey gfs in the comments r so cutie

user8 these genes popped off fr phew

danielle_minnetian HOTTTTTT

| samyhughes 😻😻😻

samanthaminnetian my name twin is so gorg

| samyhughes no ur gorg sam

graceccsmith aww love these samy!

| samyhughes miss u grace🥲

nick_moldenhauer wow good views pic 4

| samyhughes ikrrrr

_willsmith2 loveeeed getting to see u this weekend i wanna do it all over again ❤️

_willsmith2 i already miss u fuck

| samyhughes i miss u sm babe ❤️❤️ wish we could hang out forever

_willsmith2 sj you’ve been really good to me so far

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gabeperreault44 FIRST AGAIN

gabeperreault44 miss u buddy

gabeperreault44 holy shit pic 4?!

gabeperreault44 this is insane contract posting if it is wow

| _willsmith2 i see ur keeping up with the 4 comments in a row

| _willsmith2 what? just some things that’s been really good recently ☺️

ryan.leno_4 oh my god i don’t have words actually

ryan.leno_4 ur insane for this smitty

| _willsmith2 insane for what?

user1 they are the hottest couple and they know it too

user2 will smith posting more revealing pics of his gf each post was not on my bingo card but i am here for it

user3 he’s so real for this u know hell yeah. he’s gotta make sure everyone knows who’s girl is his😌

user4 honestly i’d take this kind of man over anything else

mackcelebrini WOO featured!!!! also ur so whipped wow

| _willsmith2 wouldn’t ever forget u mack😍

drewf2 i respect it honestly

rutgermcgroarty now THIS is the kind of contract posting i like to see

| _willsmith2 mhmm

zeevbuium28 will i stood up and applauded for u

| _willsmith2 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

jameshagen_4 no one’s commenting about ur last pic abt ur first nhl goals so i will u killed it smitty🙌

| _willsmith2 wow thanks james i appreciate it

michaelhagens_11 good shit

aram_minnetian yupppp and i’d show it off too tbh

danielle_minnetian @samyhughes u won

| julianne_gelinas deadass wow

| samyhughes ☺️☺️

eamonpowell_ congrats on the nhl goals!!!

| _willsmith2 thanks e!!

user5 i loveee seeing everyone comment about something different

user6 whooo trained him this well wow he’s the only hockey bf i know who really loves his gf

jackhughes first of all crazy set of photos second of all congrats on those nhl goals bud

| _willsmith2 thank ya j hughes

lhughes_06 everything we ever talked about went out the window

| _willsmith2 i’m sorry luke🥲

thombordeleau_ ur crazy w-2 but i appreciate the pics

| _willsmith2 always providing

eklund_72 tell me again how one can achieve this?

| _willsmith2 honestly idk just be friends with her for years

fabianzetterlund love ya w2

| _willsmith2 back at ya

tofff73 i already have no words. maybe we need to work on the media training again 🤨

| _willsmith2 apologizes ty😔

samyhughes wow i love you

samyhughes obsessed with everything about you

| _willsmith2 i’m in love with you and obsessed with every part of you too

jacob_fowler24 applauding u smitty

| _willsmith2 thank u fowler 🙏

hannahduke wow she trained u so well omg

| julianne_gelinas i've been sayinggg this how does she do it??

| samanthaminnetian deadass tho like..how did she train him this good??

| samyhughes i wish i had an answer he lowkey does this all on his own..

| hannahduke yeah u totally won then

mackcelebrini sj recents

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eklund_72 wow i'm honored to be featured on the 1st overall draft pick's instagram

| mackcelebrini ofc eklund

beckettsennecke_ superrr tough celly

| mackcelebrini thanks sennecke

thombordeleau_ yeahhh he bad 🔥

| mackcelebrini 🔥

user1 aww smitty is in all of these pics

user2 the fact that all of these have will in them is adorable they're so baby

fabianzetterlund good times

| mackcelebrini 100%

tofff73 great season so far celly

| mackcelebrini thanks toff means a lot coming from u

gabeperreault44 i think we should unite forces and be samy's competition for will's attention

| mackcelebrini i'm actually so glad u said that bc i 100% agree

| samyhughes HEY

ryan.leno_4 hell yeah celebrini congrats on the season so far

| mackcelebrini thanks leno

lhughes_06 lookng gooddd

| mackcelebrini 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

jackhughes threads are awesome

| mackcelebrini wow what a compliment from THE jack hughes

user3 these friendships are so adorable omg

user4 i keep saying how badly i want to be a part of their friend group

hannahduke so cool macklin celebrini the 1st overall pick of the 2024 draft!

| mackcelebrini thanks hannah duke the younger sister of dylan duke and twin to tyler duke!

| tyler___duke crazy pull

samyhughes wow ur so cool macklin!

| mackcelebrini thanks samy!

rutgermcgroarty @samyhughes u got some competition girl..

| samyhughes i see..

| mackcelebrini yeah take that i get to see will 24/7

_willsmith2 wow so honored to be featured all 3 times

_willsmith2 as much as i love the support my girlfriend is and always will be my #1 but you are a very close 2nd

| mackcelebrini damn that hurts after everything i've done for u...

[championofthefade]

Thinking about Veilguard sometimes really makes me start picking it apart.

Yes, I did like it for what it is. But as someone who played the three games for the first time this year, I found it disheartening at times.

Long story short for those who rather not read my rambling: I liked Veilguard, but there are parts that just don't feel right and that everything we've done in Thedas the last three games were all for naught. (I'm yapping about my complaints, might make a more positive post later)

It's a mixed bag, really.

While I liked the gameplay, there are things that just don't rub me the right way.

The first immediate example is how the (only, in my opinion) major choice we are presented with is choosing Treviso and Minrathous. We have the choice to harden the other companions in spirit, but the only ones that actually are affected are Lucanis and Neve.

While I have done both paths, I can't say that one is a better choice over the other. Shadow Dragons are decimated if you choose Treviso, Treviso is blighted if you choose Minrathous. I think that it's fair that Lucanis doesn't want to romance Rook if you choose Minrathous, because he wants to save his city from dying. He trusted you to follow through, while Neve expects that you won't since she's a cynic. Which makes sense why she's willing to still romance you if you choose to save Treviso, although it'll be a bit more challenging to, because you were presented with an impossible choice. I don't mind that he ends up with Neve, even if the romance for all the companions kinda fall flat if you think about it too much.

Another thing is Taash. Their identity is important to their story, but having Rook (us the player) choose how to deal with their cultural crisis doesn't make sense and makes me not want to repeat those quests. Why is there no option to embrace both the Qun and being Rivani? Why am I the one choosing how Taash chooses to express themselves? Relating back to the city choices, Lucanis and Neve both choose their hardened options with Illario (getting jail) and Aelia (being given to the Threads). With Taash, the choices are a little less clear to me. I think we shouldn't be able to dictate one's cultural choices.

One of the worst choices that we have to make as Rook is Harding vs Davrin. Thinking about the amount of people who are saving Davrin just for Assan is actually crazy to me. I love Davrin, but he's reminding me of what happened to Wyll in BG3, and it's not a fun time. (I can barely pick up BG3 for various reasons and this is one of them.) I'm glad Bioware doesn't pander to the fans that are loud, because I don't have to worry about everyone's favorite white boy getting more content than the only black companion (saying this as a white person myself). I will always save Davrin because he is a compelling character even without Assan. I love the feather-brain but I feel like I want to know Davrin more than his mythical son.

I hate that we only got three world state choices, two of which don't really matter since it's more flavor text. It doesn't matter if we disbanded or merged into the Chantry, we don't see the consequences of those actions. It doesn't matter if your Inquisitor wants to Stop Solas at All Costs, because apparently they feel responsible for Solas being... Well, Solas. And our romances, outside of Solavellan, were reduced to a codex entry and sidelined.

Yes, Solas is important, and yes, I expected his romance to be given more light. I'm in the camp of people who feared that was going to be the case. And it was.

Yes, I agree that him getting a Good Ending with his vhenan is one of the better endings, but his friendship one and facing his fear of dying alone is also important. I liked playing a Rook that tricked him, I liked playing a Rook that chose to fight him as well. I'm glad we have at least those aspects that we can control.

As someone who has romanced Lucanis and Neve so far, I wish there were more little cutscenes, and not just for Lucanis. I'm just okay with how things are, even if they're a bit empty in comparison to what we could've had. That being said, I think that there's always room for improvement to have a more fulfilling resolution to the romance in the game the devs claimed was the most romantic. I wish there was more, I wish that there had been more to support that claim. I want to feel closer to these companions, and I am sure that I will as time goes on. But as it stands, for now after sitting with the game for nearly a month (11/29), I wish we had gotten more.

I would like to say that it really doesn't feel like the most romantic compared to the other three games. (Blackwall's "heart laid bare", Dorian's "you're dreadfully dull and I hate you", Josephine's letter of "let me make a promise to you here. I dream you will say yes", Zevran's "I'll storm the Black City for you, never doubt it", Anders' "ten years, a hundred years from now, someone like me will love someone like you, and there will be no templars to tear them apart", just to name the few that feel more romantic than what we're sitting with for Veilguard romances. And one of them is a codex entry.)

I hate that we have to learn through missives that the South is gone, save for Skyhold. I hate that we had no power to help the South, and that the last three games were all for naught. It's upsetting to know that Ferelden is gone. RIP Orlais, you slayed too close to the sun. Kirkwall being empty is a scary thought, but it's gone too.

It makes me wonder where HOF is. Did they ever find a cure? Are they even alive? What about a Hawke that didn't get left in the Fade? You mean to tell me that they wouldn't be out there in the frontlines doing something? You mean to tell me that they're sitting on their asses?

Varric dying is something else entirely, but it's just gut wrenching that we don't even get to mourn him. A second playthrough was mindbogglingly eye-opening. Harding was mourning when you check on her in her little room. Neve reminisces about how Varric brought her onto the job and she wishes that she didn't take it. They were mourning while Rook probably looked like they were in the denial stage of grief. What killed me inside was the fact I caught it the first time when Bellara name dropped Varric like she didn't know he was there. That's when I started thinking maybe he was gone, but I didn't want to believe it. I had to step away from my computer when the reveal happened because I was devastated.

We don't get to see just how the team made the fake lyrium dagger, or how they even managed to find Rook in the first place. We don't get to see the love interest's reaction, only the aftermath where they are still registering that Rook is there. We don't even get an explanation on how those things were possible. To create a perfect lyrium replica and locate someone in the Fade? Knowing that we could've had a mission to save whoever was left in the Fade hurts. RIP to those left in the Fade.

The secret ending is just... Bewildering to say the least. What do you mean that there's an even bigger force that has been controlling the narrative from Across the Sea? What do you mean these incredibly well written villains had no agency in their choices and were being used to orchestrate whatever the hell the Executors wanted?

Again, what do you mean that all that we've been through in Thedas just doesn't matter anymore?

[rolandkaros]

some thoughts on doping

people (fans, players, etc.) who complain about special treatment for top players need to deep the fact that the qualms they have with the way that jannik and iga's cases were treated are barely related to the actual cases at hand and more to do with the fact that they believe others have been hard done by harsher treatment. which is an important complaint to verbalize, but directing that frustration at the players you believe are getting "special treatment" is part of what allows that unfairness to continue, because nobody is calling out the root of the problem which comes directly from the organizations in charge of actually managing these cases.

inevitably world #1s will have the money, resources, team, etc. to find the source of the positive test, to justify themselves, to prove their innocence, etc. and while i completely understand the frustration that not everyone has those resources i also don't believe there's any reason for somebody to not use such resources if they have them at their disposal.

so yes, i think it's fair to push for more player support within the realm of doping, but acting as though jannik or iga have done something wrong for utilizing the tools they had is kind of comical to me.

and there's the other side of the coin, wherein these people truly believe these associations are actively covering for guilty players. which brings me to another important point that a complete disbelief in the integrity of the system does absolutely nothing unless it is acted upon. which is to say, if you truly believe that jannik and iga were guilty of doping and the "special treatment" you mention is implying that the atp or wta or itia or wada covered for them, that is a very serious accusation which undermines the integrity of the sport of tennis as a whole. that may sound melodramatic, but i truly think that if you believe these associations are corrupt when it comes to doping (as proposals of "special treatment" in the case of guilt would suggest), i believe you are obligated to advocate against it in a much more substantial way than posting about it on social media. it would be concerning to me if people truly had zero trust for the integrity of organizations like wada and the itia, but continued to consume the sport without raising a question...until a player they don't like gets a positive test.

in all honestly, i don't like how either of the cases were handled. i have problems with both. but i also know that in both cases, they were cleared with no significant fault or negligence as the final verdict (i know wada stepped in with jannik but that's still up in the air so for now i'm disregarding that). i have no reason (or desire) to believe either of them intentionally doped. i do think the main reason they were able to "wrap-up" their cases as quickly and efficiently as they did was due in part to their statuses as top level players. but i don't believe that the verdict was subjectively dependent on it. and i can disagree with how the cases were handled, AND i can say that i think all players deserve better treatment in these processes, AND i can still maintain that i trust the verdict of both cases.

shifting focus slightly, i do think there's a reality where organizations like the atp and wta are self-serving. and it sounds really harsh and unsympathetic, but it also makes sense. the atp and wta have responsibilities as associations to promote tennis, to protect it not only as a sport but also as a brand. the atp spent the entire first half of this year basically promoting jannik as the second coming of christ: obviously they're going to shit their pants when they find out about a positive doping test. it's in their best interest to do everything they can to preserve their own image, to only release such information if they had been completely sure of his guilt. and likewise, it was in their best interest to keep that information quiet even once his innocence was ruled. i'll say myself: it didn't feel right to me that it was kept quiet as long as it was. i do think that, once a case has been handled, it should still be released as public information. but i understand why the atp didn't want to release the information, and i understand why they might not care as much if it was someone ranked outside the top 100 or someone who's never won a tour-level tournament. like i said, it sounds harsh and unsympathetic, but that's business. i don't think it's just but i do think it makes sense.

iga getting a split ban is another example of this. granted, i don't know exactly who decides how punishments are implemented, so it's possible that the wta had no involvement this, but i don't think it was coincidental that the split ban allowed her to play at the finals and bjkc. it makes sense for the wta as a brand and an organization to advocate for her to be able to play those events. [VERY IMPORTANT EDIT: not going to delete what i already said for the sake of transparency, but i've been told that this actually was completely coincidental. a player can return to tour after a provisional suspension as soon as they submit an appeal. so iga was suspended, submitted the appeal, returned to play the finals & bjkc, and then was given a one month ban. the provisional suspension also counted towards the ban.] equally, it makes sense for them to release a statement supporting her, even though they are meant to be unbiased.

so it's not fair. it's not just. but it's not a problem with the integrity of the players, it's a problem with whole procedure. but i think too many people are quick to jump at players like iga and jannik, who yes, got off pretty easy, over something which ultimately has very little to do with them. they showcase the symptoms of underlying problems, but they are not the cause of those problems themselves. and people who rush to blame them need to either evaluate the true source and target of that anger, or they need to have a very real conversation about their trust in organizations such as wada and the itia which truly are meant to be just and fair, without awarding that same trust to organizations like the atp and wta whose concerns are far less objective.