#i don't need to randomly switch between devices!

[piedoesnotequalpi]

It should not be this hard to change the maximum number of connected Bluetooth devices!

[dr-spectre]

PHOTO MODE SHOWCASE ANNOUCEMENT!!!

Hello everyone!!! So after the Grand Fest and seeing all the people send me incredible photos of the Idols during that time, i have came up with the idea of doing a photo mode showcase!! Where you guys will send me photos from Splatoon 3 between a certain time frame and i will showcase them and critique them! I thought it would be something fun to try and see if it's an event i wanna continue or not.

THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION!!!! THERE ARE NO PRIZES TO BE WON!!! THIS IS JUST SOMETHING FOR FUN!!!!

In the following post i will provide rules, the theme AND the time frame. (Keep in mind that the following times will be in AEST so do your own conversion.)

Now let's go over the rules so that everyone is clear on this.

RULES!

Max of three photos per user. Any higher and I'll just randomly choose from your selection or just delete your inbox message if you spam me.

When submitting your photo(s) to me via my inbox, you have agreed to me providing feedback and my honest thoughts on them. Do not get mad or upset at me for criticising your work.

Photos must be original works made by you and not stolen from anyone else. If i find out that you have stolen a photo from someone i will block you and publicly shame you for being a thief.

Photos must be taken in PHOTO MODE!! DO NOT USE THE ZR BUTTON AND HIDE THE CURSOR!!! IT MUST BE TAKEN BY OPENING THE PHOTO MODE VIA THE MINUS BUTTON!! If you use the ZR button to take a photo you will not be included in the showcase and your inbox message will be deleted.

Do NOT take a picture of your switch or your tv screen to show me your photo, send me the actual image. You can send photos captured from your switch to your phone or pc device via USB-C cable or QR code. If you take a picture of your switch or tv screen you WILL be out of the showcase.

Giving a title and description to your work is optional but highly encouraged. However if you feel like you need to explain the image then go right ahead and do so!

You MUST follow the theme given by me in some way shape or form, if i say that the theme is Wahoo World and you show me a photo of Hammerhead Bridge, you'll be out.

Photos sent to me via DM will NOT count, all photos must be sent in the inbox within the given time frame.

Do not grab an old photo you've taken a while back that so happens to match up with the theme. That is really lame dude, just don't. I wanna see your current skills. Take a photo between the given time frame.

THE THEME!

Alright, the theme of this photo mode showcase... is....

Splatsville.

You must take a photo(s) relating to Splatsville in some way, shape, or form. You can include idols and the amiibo too in your photo(s) if you so please. Inklings and Octolings from the hub can be included of course but they cannot be too intrusive. (Dont shove the camera in their faces.) Basically, capture Splatsville in your own way. You can use software to edit photos if you wish but you MUST state that you have used software to alter them.

EXAMPLES:

TIME FRAME!

Saturday, 28th of September 12AM AEST - Monday, 30th of September 12AM AEST.

Photos sent before and after this time frame will NOT count!

DO NOT SEND ME PHOTOS RIGHT AWAY!!!!!! I WON'T INCLUDE THEM!!! SEND THE PHOTOS WITHIN THE TIME FRAME!!!!

However, if you send me a photo a minute or two after then, i MAY allow it if it's good. I won't be super ultra strict.

ANYWAYS! Good luck and i can't wait to see what you guys will cook up over the weekend!!!

[thenixkat]

also the president gave shoot on sight orders for the Joker. I dont think anyone would care if a superhero murdered the Joker who's orchestrating the mass death of thousands at this very moment, Nightwing. Get off yer fucking high horse

of course the Jokerization is randomly killing/dropping villains now. We can't have this ass pull have any real long term effects

faces

they got paid. so the doctor that diagnosed the Joker with a brain tumor was playing a prank on the Joker and didnt think it would go horribly wrong

folks making deals with that fuckin brainworm that i know is usually up to some shit

ok just spread the jokerness via tainted rain, sure, whatever

you were just fleeing from Joker the other issue why are you demanding being taken to him now? Fuck it, let Harley go to the Joker so he can rape and kill her, it's what she fucking wants right now. Let her get her dipshit ass killed.

also Dr. Langstrom is that Dr. Langstrom, the werebat. In this he turns when stressed.

there's a protocol in place for getting Dr. Langstron to calm his shit when he goes werebat. They shot him with some calming drugs

meanwhile, Harley is getting cavity searched for a 3rd time apparently by an overly gleeful lady soldier, cause sexual assault is funny when its lady on lady apparently.

Oracle calls in Huntress, a hero known for killing fuckers, to do whatever she feels necessary to save Robin and clear out some jokerized villains. Just dont tell Batman

jokerized, ugh, Killer Croc called dibs on some Robin wings

Nightwing you know better than trying to reason with the fucking Joker. Also staple gun

oh hey Batman put tracking devices in the costume upgrades he gave his allies. Gotta love that paranoid big brother bs. Someday folks are gonna get tired of that shit and beat Batman's ass

like that's rude as hell also fucking boob socks on the fucking bulletproof vest is a shitty art decision

i doubt Tim-Robin got eaten that quickly and Killer Croc is still fucking hungry. Tim's a decent-sized child, with plenty of meat

again, I don't think Tim-Robin is dead. An offscreen death in a miniseries that doesnt focus on him? I dont buy it

and even if he was he'd be back sooner rather than later

also since when does a superhero need to be sanctioned? I doubt Batman can keep every hero he doesnt like/wont bow to him out of Gotham

oh so now Nightwing is ok with killing Joker. It only took the Joker killing Jason, crippling Barbra, and killing Tim too. Damn, fuck you Nightwing

The Joker has to murder and maim multiple people that Dick is close to b4 dude would consider killing him. Man, I'd be pissed off at Nightwing if I lived in this world and had folks I knew murdered and maimed and the heroes only get serious when it gets personal

yeah, these heroes should have more enemies with the common people just for that alone. 'You had teh chance to stop a terrible fucker and chose not to. Repeatedly even tho the bodies kept pilling up' also the folks in charge with stopping the prison riot are …alive after getting sucked into a gravity well. B/c gravity wells transport fuckers to a pocket dimension instead of crushing the shit out of things in this world. They've been dodging the aquatic villains and murdering one villain who's power is he gets a new power every time he dies which is extremely unethical

Oracle switched positions and wants Batman to stop Nightwing from murdering the Joker.

let him kill the Joker and get him some therapy after, yall making this more of a problem than it needs to be

No shit Tim-Robin wasnt dead. They didnt even put a whole issue between the fake out and him being back

fucking bleeding hearted saps feeling bad about killing the Joker. Couldn't be me

Batman you should have let him die. Everyone the Joker kills after this is directly on your fucking head.

yall weak ass bitches. Everyone the Joker kills after this is on you all for reviving the fucker.

the put the Joker back in prison instead of just killing him. so he can escape again at some point for more adventures. Lex Luthor is the president, its not like he has fucking morals or that the global public doesnt want the Joker dead. Just kill him

and that's the end. There's no good reason for anyone involved to not just fucking kill the Joker

the villains dont like him, the heroes should kill him for the greater good and they'd actually be justified in this one case more than anything else, the world governments should want the Joker dead. No one benefits to the Joker continuing to be alive

[arthropod-concoctions]

(AO3 - prev)

About an hour later, Grian was done checking on everyone that had ended up on Hermitcraft; and sure enough, the same thing had happened to everyone. Even the people that weren't whitelisted on the server had ended up here now. A few non-Lifers had inevitably already heard about what had happened-- Grian had wasted a lot of time convincing Zedaph that Jimmy was, in fact, Jimmy, and not Tango with some mystery illness-- but Xisuma had just logged in, and he was now on his way to ask him for advice on how to reverse the situation.

He flew into the mouth of the giant skull Xisuma made. X looked up, and waved at him.

“Hello, Scar,” he said as Grian touched down. “How are you doing?”

“I'm- well, I'm doing alright, but I'm not Scar. I'm Grian, and Scar is currently in control of my body. We all somehow switched bodies when we got out of Double Life, and... I... was hoping you had some advice on how to fix that?”

“...Huh,” Xisuma said after a long moment of silence. “I've got to be honest, I've never heard of a glitch like that.” Faintly, Grian saw some screens lighting up on the inside of his helmet. “I guess I'll go check the server logs... were you all swapped randomly?”

“No. In the server, we all had a soulbond-- someone we shared health with. Everyone got swapped with theirs.” Now, Grian was ready to admit there were probably more conventional ways to code this than via souls, which he'd done; but in his defense, learning to code normally was much harder than just using watcher methods, and sounded like a lot of effort.

“Huh,” Xisuma said again. “Strange. Well, I don't see anything here-- I can just see you all logged out, and then logged in again. Maybe I can help if I take a look at your admin logs...?”

Grian sighed. He wasn't particularly inclined to show his spaghetti code to X, but he would probably have to if he wanted to get his advice. He pulled up his chat-

And stared at the orange-and-cyan device for a few seconds as the realisation dawned on him. Scar's chat. Which had Scar's files, and none of his own. More importantly, he hadn't even been able to use his Sight earlier, which meant even if he had his code, he wouldn't be able to read most of it. The only person that could, was...

“I think I have to go talk to Scar,” he told Xisuma, and slowly turned towards the exit.

---

He found Scar swimming in a river between their two bases. He clambered out of the water as Grian touched down.

“Dude, your swimming stamina is terrible,” Scar said, panting.

“Do you even know how to dry those wings?”

“No, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. It can't be that hard,” Scar said, and he shook the wings, spraying water all over Grian; and then he winced, having stretched a muscle weirdly.

“Yeah, that isn't the way to do it,” Grian replied. “Anyways, I just talked to X, and... I have bad news.”

“Really? What's that?” Scar asked. Annoyingly, what he'd said earlier wasn't wrong; Grian's voice did sound very strange talking with an American accent.

“Well, X can't see anything wrong with us, so we have to solve the problem on our own. Now usually this would be my responsibility as admin, but because I'm you and you're me, I can't access any of my own files, so...”

Grian trailed off, and looked at Scar's expression; after a few seconds, he gasped, his smile vanished, and he staggered backwards.

“No, no, wait, I... Grian, you can't do this to me! You KNOW I can't code!” He continued walking backwards, almost falling into the river again.

“Luckily, neither can I, so you won't have to learn much. I just want to walk you through accessing the files, and I think it'll mostly be easy from there?” Grian responded.

Scar laughed-- his 'I need to talk myself out of this situation and fast' laugh, which, again, sounded very jarring coming from Grian's mouth. “I mean, there's no rush, right? Honestly, I think you're not taking advantage of the situation enough, trying to reverse it immediately. You should go visit Cub, he'll show you how to have a fun time with my body.”

Grian opened his mouth to respond, then hesitated, deciding it was probably better not to acknowledge that trainwreck of an innuendo. “Well, getting you into my code will probably not be anything close to immediate, so don't worry about that. Let's just start with... okay, do you know what a watcher is?”

“Watcher? I'm a Mandalorian watcher.”

“No- alright, that's a no. Great. Well, I'm a watcher, it's a whole thing, and it comes with a bunch of tricks that relate to coding a server-- but first of all, you need to activate your Sight.”

Grian noticed Scar slowly stepping to the side, away from him. He stuck out his cane and tripped him. Scar fell over, and Grian nearly did too- he immediately set down the cane to lean on it again. It was strange. He often saw Scar swinging the cane around as if it was a conductor's baton, but he found himself needing to lean on it increasingly more. It was probably a matter of experience, he decided.

Scar groaned, and sat up on the ground. “Fine. I need to activate my science. How do I do that?”

Grian sat down opposite him. “Close your eyes, and then look at me.”

Scar closed his eyes, then opened them again immediately. “...What?”

Grian sighed. How was he going to explain this? “Alright, it's like... you use the replay mod, right? It's kind of like that. Close your eyes, then imagine you're using replay to look at me.”

“Oh, okay, sure,” Scar said, and closed his eyes again. He sat there for a few seconds...

And then he vanished.

Uh-oh. That wasn't supposed to happen yet. “...Scar?” Grian tentatively called out. Nothing happened.

“Scar, I hope you're still around here... you weren't supposed to do that yet. Can you try and reverse that?” he continued talking into the air.

No response. Grian counted to ten, and still no response. “Oh, this is bad...” he muttered to himself. He considered his options. There weren't very many of them-

Then he heard a high-pitched yell from above him. He jumped away just in time to avoid Scar crashing down on top of him.

Grian began laughing, and couldn't stop. He sank back down onto the ground as Scar laid there, looking into the sky. “Grian,” he said, “that was horrifying!”

Grian was still laughing, and eventually his laugh morphed into a long groan. He was going to be here quite a while.

(next)

[shyficwriter]

Temporary Home: Chapter 23

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)

Summary: Rocket's plan is working brilliantly. Could you two actually be getting along? Will it last? Also, Peter decides to be mischievous, and it backfires on him spectacularly.

Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here Or click here to: Start From Beginning

Author’s Note: For my records this chapter ends on day 62 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!

Word Count: 6,076

"Seriously?? Again??"

The noise of Peter's complaints could be heard across the room from where you sat at the table, followed up by Peter stating to you that he thought your TV might be broken. Once again, it had shut off right as the show he was watching was getting good. Seemed every time he sat down to try and enjoy a show lately the screen would randomly shut off for no good reason or the volume would go wonky, and had been doing so for the past few days. The shows usually came from Netflix, so it wasn't like he'd miss any of the show when this would occur, but it was still starting to grind his nerves.

Feigning disinterest, you continue scrolling on your phone and simply answer back the same as you had the other times he'd bring up the issue to you, asking if he was sure he hadn't just leant on the controller and accidentally switched it off himself.

Peter points to the coffee table despite it not being in your range of vision, obscured by the sofa. "It's been sitting on the table the whole time! Hasn't it Kraglin?" he turned to his friend, and Kraglin nodded to confirm. "There's no way I could have turned it off by accident!"

You glance up at him with a bored look and say that it works fine for everyone else, and that perhaps the TV just doesn't like him.

"Doesn't like me?" Peter responded incredulously, rolling his eyes. "It's not alive! It doesn't have feelings to not like me with!"

With a slight sigh you stand to leave the room. "Sorry, but I really don't know what else to tell you. It works just fine for everyone else."

Peter sighed dramatically and switched the television back on, seeing it was clear that you didn't have any answers.

Shortly after exiting the room you finally allow a grin to crack your face. Of course you knew what was wrong with the TV- or more accurately- that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

You and Rocket and decided to proceed with the original plan as intended despite witnessing Gamora giving Peter a reason to knock it off with all the bad puns and crappy jokes.

That night when no one was looking Rocket installed the device he had made under the sofa where it would be unlikely to be discovered. You had been slightly apprehensive about the location in case Groot decided to go crawling around under there, but Rocket assured you that the twig child wasn't likely to find it as he had hidden it within the fabric lining of the bottom of the sofa instead of attaching it out in the open.

Before doing this he had you keep a lookout while he performed a quick calibration to link the device to your television. With a quick test of the tiny remote, one button to turn the TV on and off, and another to mute the sound, the two of you were in business.

It was decided early on that you would take turns keeping the remote to avoid Peter growing too suspicious of one person too quickly. Eventually Peter would have to catch on that someone was messing with him, and if the TV only malfunctioned when a certain someone was present, it'd be pretty hard to deny that that certain person was to blame. However, splitting the deed between the two of you would help mitigate this risk. Said risk also helped spur the decision that the two of you needed a scapegoat. If the two of you decided that whoever had the remote would only use it if a certain someone else was also in the room, it could be easy to try and pin the prank on them as a sort of double-prank if/when Peter started getting suspicious.

Naturally, the two of you decided on Kraglin almost immediately. Easy target.

So, to recap: You and Rocket took turns using the remote to turn on/off/mute the TV randomly when Peter was watching, but only if Kraglin also happened to be be present in the room. So, sometimes the TV would cut out when you were present and Rocket wasn't, sometimes it would cut off when Rocket was present but you weren't, but any time it did cut out- regardless of whoever else was in the room with Peter and the remote keeper- Kraglin was always present.

It was a good plan. It really was. At least you thought so.

You came upon Rocket in the hall and took advantage of the fact the two of you were alone to subtly let the remote exchange hands as you wordlessly walked by each other.

About fifteen minutes later Peter could be heard loudly decrying that he was giving up on trying to watch the television in favor of doing literally anything else.

You couldn't help but grin.

* * *

Over the next couple days you and Rocket had some more fun messing with Peter via the TV prank device. The two of you should really come up with a better name for it, and perhaps Rocket already had and hadn't told you, but for now you stuck with that.

You both did your best to keep the prank random while still adhering to the rules the two of you had laid out.

One particular day you and Rocket were both in the sitting room, but you had the remote. You were sat in one of the armchairs reading while Kraglin, Gamora and Mantis were sitting on the sofa watching the TV with Rocket sat on the back of the sofa doing the same.

Peter walked in and had not so much as got out the words, "Hey, what you guy's watching?" when the TV screen suddenly went black, much to the surprise of the others, aside from Rocket- who still faked it anyway. You feigned a mild surprise as well, but in reality it took all you had to keep from laughing at the look on his face.

Peter sighed and turned to walk out of the room in frustration.

You turned the TV back on.

Peter whipped back around and eyed the TV for a moment before Gamora beckoned him to come sit down. He obeyed, but kept a wary eye on the TV the entire walk to the sofa.

He sits down. Television shuts off again.

"Seriously!?" Peter complains, gesturing towards the TV as if it could answer for its crimes.

Gamora shushes him and leans over to grab the controller from the coffee table. The TV turns back on before she even reaches the remote, nearly startling her. She looks to you and you just shrug, returning to your book.

You and Rocket kept this up for a good part of the day, making the TV shut off whenever Peter would walk into the room regardless of who was watching (assuming Kraglin was in the room too, of course.) But that particular gag didn't survive much past that day because you started to feel bad when the others started to blame Peter for the TV cutting out while they were trying to watch something. After that happened you resolved to keep it more random. Rocket agreed, but said it was just because you couldn't keep the prank going if Peter stopped going in that room for fear of being yelled at.

After a few more days of successfully pulling off this prank and Peter seemingly not clueing-in that someone was messing with him you and Rocket found yourselves alone upstairs while doing the remote-trade-off, which gave you two the rare opportunity to freely discuss the prank.

"You should have seen his face! After the third time in a row I thought he was gonna throw the controller through the screen!" Rocket held his sides, trying to keep his laughter quiet.

You place the remote in your pocket for later. "Last time I had it I kept muting it at all the good parts. He made me come show him how to turn the captions on."

Rocket exhaled a laugh out his nose and looked up at you thoughtfully. "Ya know... we don't make that bad of a team."

"I guess not... better not let the others see us getting along too well," you joked.

"Yeah, or they'll start to think something's up." He pats your knee and makes to move past you to his room, intent to keep the interaction between you short for the exact reason you had just stated.

You laugh softly and shake your head as you turn to see him go before heading your own separate way. "Well, they wouldn't exactly be wrong."

You had to fight the grin attempting to plaster itself to your face the entire way down the stairs.

* * *

The only slight drawback to the success of this prank was that sometimes Peter would come bother you instead of watching TV if his friends were busy.

One such of these times you were making dinner, deciding shepherd's pie would be nice again, seeing as it seemed Yondu could apparently have small amounts of dairy without incident. You should have realized this seeing as the first time you made shepherd's pie there had been no complaints, but honestly after his first incident with the milk you had completely forgotten you had even fed him any amount of dairy before that point- let alone if he had had a reaction or not. And who could blame you? Some of your brain cells likely got fried away along with your nose hairs.

Back on topic- You were mashing away at the potatoes when Peter startled you with a gentle tweak to your ribs, which resulted in you jumping half a mile with a strangled yelp. You nearly backhanded him on reflex but caught yourself just in time and instead offered him an unamused look in exchange for his mixed expression of startled surprised and delight.

You exhale out your nose. "Was that really necessary?"

Peter grins. "No, but it was funny."

Another sigh. You turn back to mashing the potatoes. "Did you need something, or did you just come in here to pester me?"

"Do you need any help?"

"No, after I spread this over the meat it's ready for the oven."

"Then I'm just here to pester you." He pokes you in the ribs again, causing you to flinch.

Barely able to disguise the giggle in your voice you threaten, "Cut that out or I won't teach you to cook anymore."

Peter shrugs. "You're already not doing that." Poke. "You didn't invite me to be shown how to cook this one." Another poke as he nods towards the potatoes. Each poke made your arm jerk down, which was rather hindering your potato mashing abilities.

You swat at his hand before playfully pushing him back. "I wasn't thinking about it. I can show you next time if you remind me."

Peter feigns a thoughtful look. "Ah, remind you... ok." A pause, then: "Hey, Agent."

"What?"

"Remember that next time you said you'd teach me how to make this." Yet another poke, followed by two more.

"You little pest!" Fully giggling now, you smack at his hands. "You know that's not what I meant! Now cut it out before I put you in that oven instead!"

"Good luck putting me in the oven when I know your weakness." Peter grins cockily. "I'd just tickle you and be free before you even got the door open."

You roll your eyes. "Oh wow..." you begin sarcastically, "I'm a little bit ticklish. Big deal. Hardly what I'd call a weakness." You return to mashing.

Peter snorts. "Right..." To prove his point he poked you again. However, you were now expecting it, so you held back your reaction, which surprised him. He raised an eyebrow and poked you a couple more times, but after you still didn't even look up he gave up with a half-frown.

You grinned slightly. "So... if that's your choice in escape tactic, you'll be out of luck considering I'm literally trained to withstand actual torture." You glance up to give Peter an impish look, "It's the only way I'm able to deal with you all the time."

"Hey!" Peter brings a hand to his chest in mock offense. Turning up his nose dramatically he says, "Well, I don't have to take this! Good day to you!" Continuing the theatrics, Peter walks away towards the exit closest to the front door.

You merely grin and shake your head in response. The potatoes were fully mashed now and you took the bowl over to spread them over the meat. "Dinner will be ready in about 45 minutes," you call back to him.

"Ok, I'll let the others know," Peter replied on his way into the hall, dropping the dramatics.

He had made it nearly to the staircase when what you said had fully struck him, the bit about you being trained to withstand torture. He paused a moment, remembering back to that one morning when you were laying at the top of the stairs, passed out and covered in your own blood while Yondu pulled up your shirt to assess the bullet wound.

All that scarring. Old scarring.

Had that been from torture?

He glances back to the kitchen for just a moment before thinking better of it. You seemed happy enough at the moment, and it was none of his business. No sense to risk digging up dark memories.

He continued up the stairs.

* * *

The next day Peter was restless. He didn't feel like bothering with the TV because of its sudden pesky habit of malfunctioning when he wanted to watch something. He also didn't feel like reading, and if he had to play another game of UNO he was sure it'd result in him needing to explain to you why the cards had spontaneously went up in flames.

Eventually he thought he'd suggest trying to train and spar with the others to blow off some steam. He ran the idea by Kraglin and Gamora first, who agreed.

The rest of his friends all must have been just as restless as this was followed by Drax and Rocket piping up from where they had been sitting that they'd be up for it too, Drax more enthusiastically than Rocket. Yondu stood and stretched, claiming he was also in while Mantis and Groot just followed along, not wanting to be left behind if everyone else was going too.

You were sitting peacefully at the kitchen table sipping some cocoa and scrolling on your phone when the hoard of Guardians came traipsing through the kitchen heading for the back door.

You glanced up at them in surprise and Mantis cheerfully invites you to join them outside to "play sparring" before asking if you wanted to be her partner. She still didn't fully have the concept down, dear thing.

Yondu winces slightly and suggests to her that you may be better off just being a referee for now.

However, just as he feared, saying this only seemed to turn up your spite dial. You frowned and stood from the table, cocoa forgotten, telling him you were fine to join them. The others were mostly out the door now, but Gamora did briefly throw a concerned glance back toward the three of you before filing out behind Drax.

Yondu sighs. 'Here we go...' he thinks before saying, "Look, I ain't tryin' to insult ya, missy- but as ya seem to keep forgettin', yer still healin' from gettin' shot. Ya oughta know you should be takin' it easy for at least another couple weeks now."

You eye him and respond that you are just fine, your tone firm.

Yondu pinches the bridge of his nose before throwing up his hands and waking outside to meet the others, you and Mantis following behind.

It was a nice day for it. A little cool, but at least the ground was dry and the sky was clear. You were sure that wouldn't last long, so you were going to take this opportunity for outdoor physical activity while it presented, regardless if a part of you knew Yondu was right. You'd be damned before you admitted that, though.

After brief discussion about who would partner with who and who would referee the first round everyone took their places in the garden.

Kraglin, who was partnered with Yondu and Gamora, spotted you paired with Mantis and raised an eyebrow. Quietly, he managed to say, "Should she be-" before Yondu cut him off with an annoyed, "Ya can't tell her anything! She'll figure it out." Kraglin half shrugged and shook his head, but said no more. He got the picture.

Yondu had spoken loud enough for you to hear, probably meant to, too. You narrowed your eyes at him in response before deciding to ignore the comment.

Everyone took their places. You & Mantis were at one end with Peter & Drax a couple meters from you in the middle and Yondu & Gamora on the other side of them a couple meters away as well. Kraglin was reffing for Yondu & Gamora, and Rocket was more or less the ref for both you & Mantis and Drax & Peter, while Groot just watched from his place on Rocket's shoulder.

Kraglin set a timer on the SHIELD phone for a couple minutes and signaled for everyone to start.

You took your stance but quickly became confused when Mantis just... didn't. You raised an eyebrow at her. "Aren't you going to..." you gestured to everyone else. It only then occurred to you that the couple times you had reffed for them in the past while injured, you had never actually seen her participate. You had assumed she did during the times when they sparred without you, but now you started to wonder if this might actually be her first time.

Mantis's eyes widened slightly. "Oh! Yes!" She moved to what looked to be a funny fighting position, her hands balled into fists close to her chest and her legs appearing a little too stiff.

You held back a laugh. "Alright, come at me then."

With a yell that you could only describe as adorable she came at you. You ducked easily and caught her around her leg, pulling up and knocking her off balance, though you did grab her arm before she could fall to the ground. You let her go and instructed her to keep an eye and try to ensure her opponent couldn't knock her down.

She came at you again, and this time you grabbed her arm and pulled, using her momentum against her. This time she fell on her butt and you helped her up.

"Come at me again, but this time try to hold your ground, ok? Don't let me take you down."

Mantis nodded, undiscouraged by her previous falls. She came at you again. You dodged, catching her by the waist and turning her, almost a spin. Mantis giggled and after steadying herself lunged again, this time actually managing to catch your arm. She yanked and pulled you down to the ground.

You landed on your back and winced in pain as she moved to pin you. The timer went off, signaling a minute to rest right before Mantis spoke.

"Oh! Did I hurt you?" There was worry in her eyes as she brought her hands to her mouth.

You force a smile. "No- you did good. Good job." You tap her knee and she scrambles off you. In an attempt to prove you were fine you asked who was going against Rocket in the next round, assuming that the three of you would just rotate. "And um... how is that going to work... exactly?" It only just occurred to you that you had no idea how to spar a raccoon, although you didn't dare express this concern explicitly, at least not where he'd hear you. You may not have wanted to appear too friendly with him, but you weren't going to go so far as to risk getting bitten.

Rocket rolled eyes. "Same as anyone else, butt-munch." He sighed. "I'll take Mantis. You ref." Groot hopped off his shoulder as he took your place.

You didn't argue. You had never paid much attention to anyone else sparring with him the couple times you had been a referee, as you usually were partnered to watch Peter or Drax, so you took this as an opportunity to watch his fighting style.

This time Yondu set the timer and he signaled for everyone to begin.

Rocket and Mantis sparring was... amusing to say the least. It was clear that Mantis wasn't a strong fighter, but that fact probably wasn't helped by the fact that the trash panda was fast.

Rocket started out by lunging at her, which startled the poor girl. Rocket used this to his advantage and climbed up on her head. She went to reach for him, but then he just scampered down her back and with a move you couldn't quite make out, managed to knock her feet out from beneath her and sent her flat on her back without getting himself squashed in the process.

It was actually impressive.

They began again. This time Mantis lunged for Rocket but he took advantage of her outstretched arms and, much like you had before, used her own momentum to pull her down onto her knees and propel himself into sitting on her shoulders. This time he must have been feeling impish because he brought his hands around to cover her eyes.

Mantis let out a giggly, "Hey!" as she attempted to pull his hands away. When that failed she reached back for his body but then he just let himself drop to the ground and he ran around to her front while she was busy trying to find him behind her.

With her still turned around he jumped on her again giving her a good startle that caused her to fall back on her bottom, and just before she could compose herself the timer went off yet again signaling the end of the round.

During the rest period you were just thinking that you thought you could manage sparring Rocket when Peter came over with Drax. They had intended to swap either you or Mantis out for Drax to give Peter a chance to have a round with someone more his own size.

You were about to tell him to switch instead with someone from Gamora's group because there was no way Drax could be a fair match for Mantis or Rocket, but then Mantis excitedly clapped her hands and exclaimed that she loved being paired with Drax. You were surprised, but you didn't say anything. Obviously they knew something you didn't, including their group dynamic, so you allowed yourself to be swapped out for Drax and took his place in the middle where he and Peter had previously been sparring.

When the next round started again you were caught off guard by Mantis's excited squeal and you shot a glance over to see that Drax had thrown her up in the air and caught her. Unfortunately, your distracted state left you open for Peter to take you down easily.

He wrapped a foot around your ankle and pulled it out from under you and within moments had you pinned on your back, your wrists pulled up almost straight above your head. Obviously he knew what he was doing, as he hadn't fallen for the mistake of pinning your wrists near your head and therefore supporting his weight on a 90 degree angle, which could be easily toppled with the right leverage.

You still knew how to get out of this type of hold, though. You needed to shimmy yourself up to change the angle of his own arms to make it easier to use said leverage via an upward hip thrust. The shallower the angle, the easier he would fall forward.

You go to start the process of drawing yourself up, but before you can even really attempt this move you are surprised when Peter simply releases your wrists. There is next to no time to process this before his fingers are on your ribs and you throw your head back in a cackle of laughter as your arms immediately shoot down. "Ack! No- What are you doing!!? AHAHA!" You momentarily had the sinking feeling that he must have figured out you had been pranking him and this was his revenge. Had Rocket sold you out? Had you given yourself away?

Peter begins to tease you as you laugh and push at his hands. "What? I'm not doing anything... What's so funny? We're supposed to be sparring." He clicks his tongue playfully.

Ok, maybe he was just being a little shit? Maybe he was still none the wiser? Just in case, you were going to keep your mouth shut. Well- figuratively speaking that is. You were too busy laughing to actually keep it shut.

Truth be told, Peter really was none the wiser about the prank. Like the others, he also believed you shouldn't be attempting to fight too soon. He was letting it slide when you were pairing with Mantis or reffing, because you were really unlikely to overexert yourself then. However, he knew it'd only be a matter of time before you tried sparring someone more your speed. Why not try to tire you out before you hurt yourself and have a little fun while he did it? Really, this was for your own good- he was just being a good friend! Truly! At least, that would be his alibi when you'd inevitably decide to kill him, that is.

"Cut it ohout! You little pest!" This whole attack had caught you fully off-guard. If you had even somewhat saw it coming you might have been able to hold back, but you knew too well that once you started you didn't stand a chance. You cry out at Peter again. "What happened to just sparring!?" Like he had just said, you were supposed to be sparring, but here you were being tickled like a little kid in front of everyone. When even was the last time you had been pinned down and tickled like this? Gosh, it had been years.

"Whatever do you mean?" he replies teasingly. "I thought we are sparring?" He begins to dart his hands around your ribs, keeping them perpetually just out of your grasp and unable to stop him as you grapple for his wrists uselessly. Your feet kick almost just as uselessly out behind him due to the sensation as you drown in your own laughter.

A hard to describe sensation- almost warm and pleasant, seemed to radiate from his fingers tickling across your ribs, and you would have almost found this fun... if it wasn't for the embarrassment heating your face due to the fact that you were sure everyone else was likely staring at the two of you and watching Peter tickle you silly.

You weren't quite wrong.

The scene had gotten Kraglin's attention by now. From his place trying to get out of the headlock Gamora had him in he laughs and eggs Peter on. "Get her, Pete! Get her!"

Gamora glances over for a moment and fondly rolls her eyes before bringing both she and Kraglin to the ground and pinning him fully with her legs wrapped around his own, immobilizing him and forcing him to tap out.

The attention of the other group had been captured as well. Mantis was on top of Drax's shoulders covering his eyes when she heard your bright laughter ring out. It provided enough distraction that it made it extra easy for Drax to reach up and pull her off him before briefly glancing over to see Peter had you pinned and was tormenting you. A deep amused laugh barks out his own throat as he returns his attention to his sparring partner and tosses her forward, almost knocking down Rocket in the process who had been just standing there, arms crossed with an amused grin as he and Groot watched Peter reduce the "tough grumpy agent" to an absolute puddle of happy laughter.

"Tap ooout- you know you want toooo..." Peter teases in a sing-songy voice as his fingers continue to claw at your ribs.

Part of you wanted to give up the ghost right then. Gods, you could kill him, but first you had to get loose. Easier said than done when all you could really concentrate on right then was how much it tickled.

One of Peter's hands remains at your ribs while the other travels down to scratch around your belly. He's purposely avoiding the side you got shot on even though the skin should be well healed over by now- just in case.

His fingers happen upon the spot where your obliques meet your abdominal muscles and he's not disappointed at all by the ticklish screech he elicits when he scratches that spot. In fact, he even lets out a little evil chuckle and teases, "Oh, I got you now!"

Despite your loud laughter you are able to hear Yondu speak up next, his tone amused.

"Come on now, Quill, fight fair."

Peter sighs dramatically and his fingers slow to a halt. "Alright--AH!"

You wasted no time turning the tables. Without taking so much as a moment to catch your breath you grab hold of his wrists, trap his legs with your feet, and flip the two of you over- pinning Peter beneath you.

Revenge.

You barely even think about it before you dig into his stomach, taunting, "You little shit! Was it worth it? Was it?!"

Now Peter is the one laughing. He's also begging, something you had refused to do. He cries out that Yondu said to 'fight fair', and even goes so far as to call out for Yondu to make you stop when his attempts to free himself fail and you begin to dart your hands around all over his torso like he had done you, driving him insane.

Yondu pretends he can't hear him, mostly because he's the one holding the timer and he can see there's only about 20 seconds left on the clock. Quill will survive. Besides, he started it.

You dismount Peter the moment the timer goes off, feeling much better after having gotten your well-deserved revenge.

Peter rolls on his side, residual giggles pouring from his lips. "Oho god... you're ruthless! Geheheze!"

You shrug as you go to stand, brushing yourself off. "Should have thought about that before you started it."

After that you were too tired to go another round with anyone, so you volunteered to ref the next few rounds until the others tired out as well.

You tailed along the back as the others filed in, taking in the fresh air before finally entering the kitchen- just in time to hear Rocket speaking to Gamora.

"I don't know... you better watch it. She's his kind- first he's been around in a long time. I bet they fall for each other soon enough."

It didn't take a genius to know who he might be talking about. Eyes darkening, you spoke up. "I'm gonna nip that one in the bud right now, dickweed." You lock eyes with Gamora. "I have no interest whatsoever in your boyfriend. You have absolutely nothing to worry about." You look back down at Rocket. "Apologize to her right now, trash panda. We don't do that around here."

"Who you calling 'trash panda'?!" Rocket growled at you bitterly.

"You, you pint sized fecker! What you doing trying to make her all insecure for? You trying to win the award for being the world's biggest bellend?"

"Call me trash panda one more time-"

"If you so insist, trash panda, or would you prefer raccoon-"

Rocket barked and snapped at you, causing you to yelp and jerk back.

"Let's calm down a minute!" Gamora interjected, almost unheard over Yondu's loud voice suddenly breaking through the air as he entered the kitchen from the hall.

"Break it up! Ya'll had yer chance to fight outside!"

A toilet flushes and moments later Peter also enters the kitchen to find you and Rocket staring daggers at each other, wondering what the hell was going on. Your gaze was only broken when Yondu instructed Rocket to 'take a walk' and left the room with him.

Peter looked to Gamora for an explanation but she just waved him on out with a shake of her head. She'd either explain it to him later, or tell him not to worry about it.

"Agent, I appreciate your concern," Gamora spoke once Peter had vanished, "but we're used to this type of thing from him. We don't let it get to us. I'm sorry about his behavior."

You shook your head. "Not your fault. Don't apologize for him. And I mean it, you don't have anything to worry about. What he said- that's never going to happen."

Gamora nodded and said that she knew. She trusted Peter wouldn't do that either.

You nodded and the two of you sort-of awkwardly parted ways, she heading toward the sitting room and you heading up the stairs upon leaving the kitchen.

You happen to look up and see Rocket climbing towards the top of the stairs as you ascend. After a quick look behind you to ensure no one was watching you rush up the rest of the stairs.

Rocket, hearing the ominous sound of footsteps rapidly coming up from behind him, barely had time to turn before you snatched him up at the top of the stairs and threw him into your room.

Yelling in a whisper, you ask, "What the hell was that!? I thought we were cool!"

"We are!" Rocket whisper-yells back as he rights himself. "But we won't be if you keep calling me 'Trash Panda' and tossing me like a rag-doll!"

"Then what was that!?" you demanded, ignoring the bit about the name-calling and manhandling.

"Well I gotta make it convincing!"

"What?"

"You said it yourself! If they think we're getting along they'll start to suspect something!"

"That's not the way to do it! What if she had believed you?!"

"What? Scared the galaxy's deadliest assassin will kick your ass for stealing her boyfriend?" Rocket crossed his arms and grinned smugly.

You blinked. No one had mentioned that bit. "The galaxy's deadliest-? I had been concerned about her feelings- and WHAT? You- You told the galaxies deadliest assassin that I wanted her boyfriend?!? What the hell!"

Rocket chuckled. "Relax. She never listens to me anyway. You'll be fine."

You shook your head. You already knew you'd be fine since Gamora had pretty much just told you the same thing. "That's not the point. If you want to make it look like we don't get along, then pick fights with me, don't go making your friends feel bad with fake drama like that! Not cool!"

Rocket frowned and half-rolled his eyes. "You Terrans and your sentiment. Fine. No more telling Gamora you and Peter are going to run off in the sunset together and make a bunch of Terran babies."

"Rocket!"

Rocket chuckled, but it was cut off when Yondu's gruff voice spoke suddenly from behind you, making you jump.

"Thought I told you two to break it up."

You spun around to see him standing in the doorway, hands on his hips and looking quite sternly at the two of you.

"Keep your panties on, I was just leaving." Rocket snarked. He walked around you to the door, loudly muttering something about how you needed to lighten up as Yondu moved aside for him to exit.

You thought to yourself that he was perhaps a little too good at faking being a massive asshole as Yondu turned back to you, threatening loud enough for Rocket to also hear, "If the two of you can't quit fightin' I'm gonna chain ya together until you learn to get along."

You take a defensive stance, glaring at him. "You wouldn't dare."

He only glared right back, completely unfazed. With all the authority and resoluteness that came from years of being the captain of a space pirate ship he said just two words before he also left you in your room. "Try me."

You couldn't help but feel that wasn't merely a threat.

[thevindicativevordan]

On Livewire

You know Leslie is probably the most popular and well known female Superman Rogue mainly because they use her so heavily in outside media.

Which makes sense given her debut in Superman: The Animated Series, but it still kind of fascinates me. They didn't bring her into comics continuity until 2006 apparently, with Gail Simone and John Byrne (Byrne of all the creators!) being the ones to finally fold her in. Even after they brought her in, they still have never given her that much attention or focus which is a disappointment for me frankly, because Livewire is honestly fantastic in Scott McCloud and later Mark Millar's Superman Adventures runs, and I would say with complete sincerity that those two are probably her best writers. "Millar writing a female character well?" you scoff at in disbelief. I know, I was shocked too! But she's funny, clever, and a huge pain in the ass for Supes. Reading how she was used there, and rewatching her STAS incarnation recently, really made a big realization for the character hit me like a lightning bolt (couldn't resist):

She's basically an evil superpowered Lois Lane! I know I can't have been the first one to realize that, although I haven't seen anyone else actually outright state it anywhere, but c'mon it's so obvious! She's a reporter of a sorts as well thanks to being a disc jockey, her debut in STAS even has her interviewing Lois and Clark! She's got strong opinions on Superman that conflict with the general opinion about him (Lois being pro-Superman when everyone else is more hostile towards him at first, Livewire being anti-Superman when everyone else has embraced him as their hero). She's rude and abrasive, and doesn't care if her opinions offend people, which sure does remind me of Lois at her meanest.

Livewire to me is an examination of what Lois would be like if she abandoned her morals or never really had them in the first place. Leslie doesn't care about the "truth" which is the big difference between her and Lois. Lois can be headstrong, willful, and outright rude, but it's all in service of her pursuit of higher ideals. Livewire doesn't care about that, she carries about getting people to pay attention to her, and getting the recognition and wealth she believes she's owed.

What I'd Do With Livewire

It wasn't until I had that big realization about Leslie that I figured out what role she should play with regards to Clark: She should be Clark's old college ex who was the one who got him into journalism in the first place.

Clark's college years are unexplored territory narratively, typically we jump from his childhood in Smallville right into his debut in Metropolis. Now I know Clark dated Lori that mermaid back in Pre-Crisis during his college years, and while that's a fun bit of trivia, it doesn't really add anything meaningful in the same way that I think Leslie and Clark dating could. So I'd rather go with Leslie because I think she makes for a better foil for Clark and because the two of them would benefit from having a deeper connection established, plus Leslie could get fleshed out as a character more.

I like the explanation that Clark chose journalism in part because it challenges him in ways his powers can't, but in the comics they've rarely bothered to explain how he chose that field in the first place. I would have meeting Leslie at college be that big moment where he starts to figure himself out. She's assertive and confident, and Clark is attracted to that for similar reasons he's attracted to Lois. Leslie would start out as an optimist and idealist in the same way Clark is, and the two would bond and go into journalism together, with Leslie being the one who really believes in the field initially. They'd both be big believers in the duty of the press to inform and the presses ability to shape public opinion, with Clark attracted to investigative journalism and Leslie attracted more to broadcast and digital journalism. They start to date and for a moment, Clark seriously wonders if this is the one.

The big break between them comes when Clark and Leslie go on a trip around the world during their senior year of college. That trip would be where both of them learn how crappy the world is. Clark always had some idea of how bad things were because of his powers, but the trip is where he really starts to realize that there is a real need for someone of his powers to step up, and that there are hard limits to just how much he can accomplish as a member of the press. That same realization is what shatters Leslie's idealism and optimism. She loses faith in the ability to make a difference, to punch through the wall of public indifference, and as a result she gives up that dream. Instead she decides that if you can't beat them, join them: she switches instead to telling the masses what the powers that be want them to hear in exchange for money, to saying whatever the masses will give her attention and prestige for, embracing tabloid journalism that prioritizes clicks and engagement over information. Ultimately it destroys the relationship between Leslie and Clark with her viewing him as a sap and him viewing her as a sellout.

I think that origin really would help flesh out her worldview and motivation a lot more. She's a former idealist who has been broken by the world in a similar way to Poison Ivy. Leslie thus acts as a foil to Clark and Lois in that she's someone who let the world rob her of her idealism and sold out on the truth in exchange for material success. She's what Clark or Lois could've been if they took Lex's offer to work for him, and they should recognize that to some degree. Clark should have conflicting feelings for her, not romantically that relationship is dead, but in terms of sometimes he wonders if he's just wasting his life trying to fight for truth and justice. So few people seem to care about those principles, why hold on so tight to them? Why not just look out for his own self-interest the way everyone else seems to? It's the refusal to give up even when it looks pointless that makes the two of them different, and makes Clark a hero and Livewire a villain.

How I'd Like Livewire To Operate

There's a lack of imagination in how Livewire is used on the comic side as I see it.

Like most Superman Rogues the typical Superman writer doesn't seem to have a clue what to do with her beyond generic "villain" stuff, but that does a disservice to what Livewire brings to the table. Livewire does want to fry Superman to a crisp, but that's not what her daily goal is to accomplish. More importantly, she wants respect and she wants money, and the way she gets both is not by trying to rob banks, it's by leaning into her background as a media personality combined with her new powers. Unleashing electric bolts is honestly the least impressive part of her powerset in terms of her ability to manipulate anything and everything technology.

The Internet? Livewire can crash the entire thing with ease, or restrict access to portions of it. She can do the reverse and smash through firewalls and encryption like it's made of paper. Imagine Livewire shutting off the power grid or causing it to explode, secretly using your "smart" tech to record your every move, uploading ransomware to every piece of technology in Metropolis, emptying the bank accounts of anyone who annoys her, or bringing Metropolis to it's knees thanks to the "City of Tomorrow" being a test ground for the Internet of Things, so everything is connected and thus easily manipulated. Smart cars crash into each other, elevators randomly drop, trains are unable to stop and simply accelerate onward unceasingly, plans attempting to land find their instruments on the fritz, anything and everything is Livewire's to control. But terrorism, while entertaining and occasionally profitable, isn't Livewire's main focus either.

One of my favorite Superman Adventures stories with her had Livewire manipulating TV broadcast signals so that any time there was a male news reporter on screen, the signal wouldn't come through. Stuff like that, where Livewire is making life hell for people in a way that isn't immediately life-threatening is what I envision as her day to day operations, but her bread and butter is fake news. What Livewire is REALLY good at doing is manipulating the public due to her journalism background plus her powers. She can make fake videos that look totally authentic, fake articles that seem to come from credible sources, fake voice recordings, she can make anyone appear to do or say anything through the Internet, and then she can upload that to the devices of every single person in Metropolis.

You can get stories about the mayor being framed for taking bribes, local activists cast as grifters, and supposed upstanding citizens such as Lois Lane and Clark Kent appearing to take orders from criminals like Intergang on what stories to run. Basically you lean into the journalism aspect for Livewire stories where Clark and Lois have to investigate to see whether what Livewire is putting out there is fake or legit, with peoples lives and reputations at stake (including frequently their own).

And when Superman and Livewire actually do clash physically? I don't care how it gets justified, Livewire simply being that powerful, her lightning being "special", she has the ability to manipulate Superman's bioelectric field, whatever: she can hurt him. When she hits Supes with lightning, it burns. It's painful as all hell. Livewire needs to be a threat and I'd like her to be treated as a powerhouse since I don't see a reason why that shouldn't be the case. Livewire is a really cool Rogue, there's a reason she's managed to keep getting used long after the DCAU ended. I hope the comics creators start utilizing her to her full potential.

[fuckterfs-deactivated20221212]

Open letter to @youtube

Hi youtube people!

I like to watch youtube videos in 720p, on all my devices, and with any network speed.

Sadly I can't just select it and have it be my default anymore, because the geniuses at your offices have come up with a "way better" system that I can only imagine was pitched like this:

"Hey boss, I have an Idea for you: You know that handy list of available resolutions we have for each video where people can select a resolution and have it more or less be their default whenever possible?"

"Of course I do Dennis, it's a very useful and simple tool that causes no problems and is easy to use."

"Exactly! We can't just let our users have nice things, can we? How about we give them four options instead:

-"Auto (recommended)", which is enabled by default, where they have no control whatsoever and we can randomly change the resolution whenever the internet speed changes by half a percent,

-"Higher picture quality", which is like Auto but instead we will always automatically select the highest quality available even on screens that have way less pixels than the selected quality requires,

-"Data saver", which is like Auto but instead it randomly switches between 360p,240p and 144p,

-or "Advanced", which are exactly what we had before but instead it takes one more click to select your desired quality!

Also, and here's the best part, while you CAN choose to set a default quality in your settings, you can only choose between the first three options, thus making this feature incredibly useless!"

"Dennis, you're a genius! This is what humanity needs!"

Okay. Humorous jest aside, this is basically my main issue (if not the only one) with youtube right now. I don't care about the lost dislikes, I don't even care that much about the fact that comment sections tend to be more or less unmoderated.

Honestly, even the four option system would be great and awesome. WOULD BE. If it was optional.

Many people know the rule "A feature that you can't turn off is a bug." All that I'd need, all that I ask for is this:

Let us set a specific quality as a default. Let me be able to automatically watch every video in 720p. Let us set a default quality by giving us the Advanced Settings as an option there too.

Or, maybe even better, let us customize our own Auto function (maybe even named "Custom", idk).

Let me be able to say "I'd like the highest possible quality in the range 720p-240p".

Let people say "I want a quality that adapts to the network strength, but nothing below 360p" (except in cases where the original video was already 240p or 144p obviously).

It would not be witchcraft, just a sliding scale with two slidable knobs for upper and lower limit, a drop-down-menu (or maybe an icon that rotates between the possible options here) to choose between "highest possible, within selected range" (your Higher picture quality basically), "saving data, within selected range" (your data saver, basically) or "best quality that would keep the playback fluid with the current network speed, within selected range" (your Auto (recommended), basically).

Actually, even better, keep everything as it is but add the upper and lower limit, that would be enough. Just two opt-in sliding scales, one labelled "Upper limit" and one labelled "lower limit", above or below the list of quality options.

Simple and OPTIONAL. It's offering the user an easy way to control something they can control anyways, while being optional and letting people who don't understand what those numbers mean (are those the reason for the change in the first place? I can't think of any other good reason that doesn't ultimately amount to "We can't just let our users have nice things, can we?") keep their three simple options.

It's probably not hard to code either. You're one of the world's biggest software companies, you probably have some capable people who could implement this. Heck, even I could probably code it, just give me a laptop, the current code responsible for the quality selection, access to stackexchange and two weeks, I could do it for free.

I'm sure I'm not the only one annoyed by that change that happened almost a year ago, and I tried to adjust but it still annoys me, and the fact that it's relatively simple to fix this bug in many different ways is disappointing me.

To quote everyone's parents ever (though I do genuinely mean it): "I'm not mad, just disappointed"

You can ignore me, and you most likely will, but still I write this open letter to you in the hopes that you will consider it.

Sincerely,

Me