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flyingwargle · 9 months ago

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whumptober day 29: fatigue / burnout

kenma is barely out of the bedroom after wrestling kuroo into bed when a phone goes off. he freezes, his foot across the threshold, the other against the door. the blankets shuffle behind him, limbs moving across the bed. a hand sneaks out from under the covers toward the nightstand.

faster than their cats when food is ready, kenma zooms back inside and snatches the phone, turning his back as weak fingers scrape against his back. he answers the call. “hello?”

“hello, is kuroo-san there? i need to talk to him.”

he glances down at his partner. kuroo’s glare is weak, dark circles under his eyes, barely able to lift his head off the pillow without trembling from exertion. “no,” kenma says. “kuro is dead.”

a beat. “what?”

“kitten, what are you–“

“kuro will be dead for the rest of the week,” kenma continues. “please don’t contact him until monday. have a good day.” he hangs up without another word, puts the phone on do not disturb. to add insult to injury, he slips it into his pocket, then reaches over to wrestle kuroo back in bed. “sleep. i don’t want to see you until dinner.”

“kenma–“

“no. don’t make me lock you in.”

kuroo flops back down in defeat, closing his eyes. kenma adjusts the blankets around him and steps back, listens for his breathing to deepen. when he’s satisfied, he turns to exit, a hand on the doorknob when a quiet mumble rises from the darkness. “sorry, kitten.” kenma doesn’t respond, simply closes the door behind him.

there are two cats waiting for him outside, purin and grey. he crouches to stroke them both. “sorry, you can’t go in there. kuro needs all the rest he can.” he stands, heading for the stairs, but only purin follows him. grey sits in front of the closed door, tail resting over his paws.

kenma falls onto his gaming chair and moves his mouse. the system wakes from inactivity, greeted by the work left open across his three monitors. the left shows his video editing program; the center has discord and the slew of unread messages; and the right is empty, usually covered by streaming ops, but shows his wallpaper, a selfie of him and kuroo after adopting purin and grey from the cat café.

how quickly happiness can deteriorate. kenma types a quick message to post onto his socials and server, fingers flying across his keyboard.

hi, pudding heads,

sorry for missing last night’s stream. my partner collapsed and i was in the hospital with him. once he’s feeling better, i’ll return to regular schedule. thank you for your concern, and i’ll be back soon.

reactions pour in, but kenma minimizes the window and opens his calendar to see what else needs to be rescheduled. if he’s locking kuroo at home until he’s rested, the least he can do is put work aside and care for him.

once he’s cleared the rest of his week and weekend, kenma enters the kitchen. purin jumps onto the counter to watch him pull vegetables from the fridge, gathering ingredients to make stew, an easy dish that he can make from memory. grey comes by midway, as his pot comes to a boil, and he pets him with the back of his hand. “is kuro okay?” he murmurs. grey blinks at him, jumping from the counter to leave the kitchen, head turned toward him. kenma fears the worst.

upstairs, the bedroom light is on. kenma doesn’t knock, simply pushes the door open to find kuroo kneeling in front of the closet, jackets and sweaters piled around him, as he paws through their clothes to reach the handful of bags stacked in a box. “tetsurou.”

he freezes. kenma approaches, stands behind him with his arms folded across his chest. “your workbag is downstairs, same with your laptop, phone, and planner. you’re supposed to rest.”

“kitten, you don’t understand.” kuroo’s voice is hoarse from sleep. “i can’t just not work. it’s the middle of the season, my team is–“

“your team worked you to the point of collapse. they didn’t stick around to make sure you woke up afterwards, just left you in the infirmary. i don’t think they would’ve checked on you if the janitor didn’t see you throwing up. if they can’t survive without you, they don’t deserve you.”

kuroo doesn’t respond. his shoulders slump, swaying slightly. kenma catches him, gently lowers his head onto his lap, runs his fingers through his tangled hair. “sorry,” kuroo whispers.

“don’t. you’ve always worked hard, much harder than you should. i love that about you, but not to the point that it destroys you.” kenma bows his head, presses a feather light kiss on his forehead. “you’ve made it, kuro. no one is going to take this away from you. rest, and when you’ve recovered, you’re going to have a long talk to your boss about healthy workloads and boundaries.”

“yeah. i will.” kuroo closes his eyes. “i think…i think i need more sleep. sorry.”

“not on the floor. can you stand?”

slowly, they rise and take the few steps back to the bed. kenma tucks him in again, sweeps hair out of his eyes, turns to leave. a weak hand grasps his wrist, and kenma glances over his shoulder at kuroo, who has a weak smile on his face. “i love you.”

“i know.” who else would pick him up from work, half-carry him to the taxi to the hospital, and stay overnight with him until he was well enough to leave? “i love you, too.”

kenma returns to the kitchen, turning the stove back on to restart the stew. the cats are curled on the table, neither of them moving when he pets them both, eyes filling with tears. god. he was too busy streaming to notice how overworked his partner was, never stopped to wonder if he ate when he left kenma a portion of food every day. i’m terrible at this.

he wipes his tears with his shirt sleeve, straightens to turn back to the stove. not only will kuroo have to talk to his boss, but they’ll have to talk as well, about healthy workloads and boundaries. i won’t let him down, kenma vows. i’ll care for him, just as he’s cared for me.

the stew is the first step. spending time with him is the second. they’ll figure out the third together.

inspiration: this tweet from incorrect kuroken <3

#flyingwargle original #haikyuu!!#drabble #haikyuu drabble #resolve #whumptober 2024 #kuroken #kozume kenma #kuroo tetsurou #post timeskip #purin and grey are kenma cat and kuroo cat!!#they are cats from my kuroken fic!!#self promotion in the tags hell yeah!!#go read all about cats and how to save them!!

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otterloreart · 1 year ago

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Blender: Which Buttons Do I press? (Part 1)

There are a lot of tutorials where you already need to know how to "do the basics" like "maneuver the camera." So this tutorial is focusing on the Buttons- not on the sculpt or the object, just on the buttons and shortcuts that I personally use in Blender.

Note: You will need a mouse with 3 buttons / scroll wheel for this.

Before we start, I'm going to explain which shortcuts I use in this, but, not to make myself redundant, there's a shortcut for seeing shortcuts: Press Spacebar + Shift to see all available shortcuts in each mode.

I'm using Blender 3.6 for this tutorial. I recommend you use the same. It's completely free and has a lot of great features! For this tutorial though, 3.4 will likely work as well.

Click "General" under New File.

Your screen should look like this. There are 3 default objects in the file: Camera, Cube, and Light source.

3. This bar indicates that you are in Object mode. This menu will allow you to go into other modes depending on the object you have selected.

4. Lets talk about shortcuts. You can zoom, rotate, and move the screen using buttons at the top right, but I haven't marked those because I will teach you a better way. Feel free to click them all and see what they do, but I assume you're here because you don't want to explore every button in this godforsaken program the hard way.

Below, the Left and Right buttons are marked as a reminder as well as the Middle button which is also the scroll wheel (press down to click it)

Left click: Select an Object Left click and drag: Selects multiple objects Scroll Wheel: Zoom in and out Middle Click and drag: Rotate your view Shift + Middle Click and drag: Move your view Right click: Brings up a menu that won't be relevant here. Shift + Right Click: Moves the 3D cursor. Not important for this tutorial, but I do it on accident a lot. Hit Shift + C to reset the cursor and also to reset the viewer position to see all objects at once.

Move the viewer around as practice! You're gonna need to do it a lot while modeling. If you have a keyboard with a Numpad (the calculator-looking thing on the right side, says Num at the top) you can use Numpad 1-9 to automatically adjust the view to front, left, right, backwards, and different angles. If not, test out the rotate tool at the top right which does something similar.

There's a helpful menu I use to switch between Modes (if you hit the dropdown menu where it says "Object Mode" you can do this without the shortcut); click Preferences to enable it.

Hop over to the Keymap section and check "Tab for Pie Menu"

And then close the window. No "Save" button is needed.

Now that you have the shortcut enabled, select your box with Left Click, hit Tab and Left click "Edit Mode"

And yes, this is just like the Animal Crossing tool ring:

Now that you're in Edit Mode (You can swap back anytime by hitting Tab -> Object Mode), click arrow at the top right to open a menu where you can check the "X-ray" box. You'll be able to see through your cube. As a reminder, Spacebar + Shift will show you the available shortcuts in this mode, but I'll go over the important once momentarily.

What is a 3D object made out of?

This box is made out of vertices, and each face of the cube has four vertices at each corner- a triangle with three vertices also works, but we'll stick with squares for this tutorial. Moving the vertices will change the shape of the box, like a piece of stretchy fabric over a wire frame.

From now on, I'll be calling the vertices dots, because I hate reading and typing the word vertices over and over again.

5. By all means you can fiddle with the buttons over here but I'm gonna show you the shortcuts I use and the buttons you'll actually need. Don't get intimidated by the amount of buttons. Also press the T key and the toolbar will go away!

(Seriously, though, feel free to play around in this section as much as you want to, but we'll go over the shortcuts a few at a time with examples. at the end of this section will be a summarized list.)

6. Left Click one of the dots and press the G key. You'll see below a whole bunch of additional shortcuts show up at the button. Here are the ones I use:

G key: Grab and move around the dots

R key: Rotate two or more dots*

S key: Size two or more dots*; if two dots are selected, the distance between the dots will change but the angle between them will stay the same.

*Left Click and drag to select multiple dots!

CTRL + Z to Undo edits.

When you move a dot with the G key, imagine that the dot is against a piece of glass at a fixed point ahead of your viewer. The dot will not move farther or nearer to you, but will instead move parallel to your view.

As an example, if you press Numpad 1 and view the object from the front (The -Y green circle will be at front and center in the rotate tool), the dot will only move left and right (X axis) and up and down (Z axis). It will not move farther or nearer on the Y axis by default.

Play around with the G, R, and S tools before moving on.

This little X button at the top right will turn on symmetry. You don't need to use this, but it can be useful.

Left Click and drag so that an entire face (flat square) is highlighted and then press the E key to extrude. Extruding will add another set of dots that are automatically connected to the first set.

Ctrl + R adds a loop cut. This will divide the existing faces into two and add more dots. You can also drag loops to slide them to different positions.

The 3 key (not on the Numpad) will switch your Select Mode to Face Select. This is useful for extruding. Essentially it is simply selecting all the dots at the corners of the squares.

The 1 key will switch back to Vertex Select (or Dot Select) mode and the 2 key will switch to Edge Select (the least useful of the three, to me)

Before we go wild, there are a couple of additional things to know. For the tutorial, focus on working with faces, not vertices. If you accidentally pull a single vertex, select it and press the X key to delete it.

If you want to add shapes, I recommend sticking to cubes for now. Ctrl + A will open the Add Mesh menu and you can add a cube. Feel free to have complete cubes overlap for this tutorial.

Double Left Click will select a series of dots connected in a loop, and can be helpful for selecting areas all at once.

Ctrl + B is the bevel tool, and when a loop is selected it can turn it into two.

Here is a summary of all of the Edit Mode shortcuts:

G key: Grab and move around the dots R key: Rotate two or more dots* S key: Size two or more dots* *Left Click and drag to select multiple dots Double Left Click will select a series of dots CTRL + Z to Undo E key to extrude faces Ctrl + R adds a loop of dots Ctrl + B splits one loop into two X key -> Vertices to delete dots (vertices) 1, 2, 3 keys to switch Select mode Numpad 1-9 to move viewer automatically Ctrl + A to add a shape

Go play with them. See you back here in a while.

7. I used a single cube to make this figure. It's still very blocky, but that's fine. Loop cuts created additional faces which were extruded to create arms, legs, and a neck. Definition to the face was added by selecting individual dots. Remember, Ctrl + Z (undo) is your friend!

Once satisfied with the shape you made - a boxy figure or object is fine- continue on.

8. Press Tab -> Object Mode. Turn your attention to the right hand bar and make sure the Wrench button is selected. Note the Add Modifier Button.

There are a heck of a lot of buttons here that you don't have to worry about- just select Remesh.

Change the number under Voxel Size to .05m by Left Clicking and typing it (there is a slider, but I find this causes lag). Then, apply the remesh by clicking the down arrow and selecting Apply.

Your figure should be shaped similar to before, but have a slight "graininess". If you have added multiple cubes, it will seamlessly merge them into one. The smaller the Voxel Size you put, the more dots will make up your object. However, I suggest starting with something in the .03-.06 range. We will refine this later.

Press Tab and select Sculpt Mode.

This is a mode where I actually use the tool bar for modifying my sculpt, as there are a lot of brushes . The icons show roughly what the brushes do using small icons (note on adjusting this below)

9. Observe the Radius and Strength bars, which will adjust the... well, the size and radius. Note that although the "brush" looks like a flat circle, the affected area is actually a sphere. Select a brush with Left Click and Left Click and drag on the sculpture.

10. This is the smooth tool. I have smoothed out the right side of this figure. Note that I turned off symmetry to do this, but i usually have X-axis symmetry selected.

Although I am used to the small buttons, there is a way to change them. Hover near the toolbar to Left Click + Drag so you can see the names. Hold Ctrl + Middle Mouse button and drag to resize. You will be able to make the size of the menu much larger. This goes for many of the menus in Blender.

The above arrows point to the symmetry button (Top right) and Grab brush (bottom left). The Grab brush uses the shortcut G Key.

The lines point to which tools were used for each part of the sculpt. The Draw Sharp tool was used to mark out eyes. Clay strips made the hair texture. Round cheeks were added using the Inflate tool and a nose (and buns) were added using the Blob tool. The aforementioned Smooth and Flatten tools were used judiciously to remove sharp edges.

I don't have a shortcut list for you here, but here are all the tools I use the most:

You can hold the Ctrl key while using the brush to reverse its effects. For example, if you hold the Ctrl key while using the Inflate brush, it will deflate the shape instead, creating a concave shape.

As you can see, my figure is getting a little grainy. So, we're going to remesh this model again and add more dots and therefore detail.

This time, we're putting the Voxel Size to .01m. Apply the remesh as before. Now we have more dots to work with and we're just repeating the process, smoothing, and sharpening the lines.

I was going to add a bit about how to take a photo of your sculpt, but I ran out of photo space. I will add a reblog with this information.

I came up with this little lamb character on the spot because the clay strips created a nice texture. She's by no means perfect, but she did turn out pretty cute so i might make a cleaner version later on.

#blender #blender 3.6 #blender controls #tutorial #i guess

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elkian · 7 months ago

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Been having to remove and reset my computer setup at home over and over due to family quirks and it's been making me think of how far PCs as a notion have come in a short time. My dad has been a certified Computer Nerd since the 70s and we had a Home Computer in the 90s (just late enough to have a color display and mouse) and I recommend y'all take a moment to appreciate how easy some elements of PC setup and use are now.

Because it used to be that unplugging the mouse or keyboard meant you had to turn off the entire computer, plug it back in, and restart. Same for the monitor!

Forget tabs. Tabs weren't common until the 2000s. You got WINDOWS and god help you if you wanted to do anything else AND wanted a single webcomic strip to load.

Scroll wheels on mice (and more recently, headphones) straight up did not exist for a while. More than 2 buttons on a mouse was an absurdly wild concept.

And yes, the dial-up noise was real.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and when you wanted to go to a web site you HAD to type the "www." and the ".com". Browsers didn't autocomplete or understand how to send you to something without that exact input. I think originally you had to type the "http://" part too (this was before https:// afaik). If you did not input the URL correctly, the browser would not know what you wanted. Best case, it'd go ??? at you like a baffled dog. Worst case, you'd accidentally get sent to a porn page that'd immediately inflict 800 viruses on the PC. And home computers were called that for a reason - they were shared, and your family WOULD see where you'd been. Private browser sessions are a fairly modern invention. (Some of this is still relevant, hilariously enough.)

And if you wanted to save a website you had to remember, write down, or type into a document and save the address. The concept of a "favorites" (later just called bookmarking) was a late 90s-early 2000s one iirc and it was saved to your computer desktop, not the browser itself.

Anyways, not to 'uphill in the snow both ways' your day, just thinking of how much has changed.

#elk text #im old #hooray for USB peripherals!

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yernemm · 2 years ago

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Starfield Gameplay Tips

AKA Stuff that the game doesn't do a great job at telling you about but it's good to know (no spoilers)

(I play with mouse and keyboard so I'm not sure about controller bindings for these)

Object manipulation and decoration

Grab objects without picking them up by holding E

When you picked up an object, use left and right click to rotate it

Tap shift to change the rotation axis (there's no visual indicator for this for some reason)

You can also throw a picked up object by pressing R

You can also move dropped objects around inside an outpost by entering edit mode in the build menu

When positioned in edit mode, placed objects are "stuck" down, they no longer seem to be affected by physics. This is a great way to decorate your outpost

Other cool stuff

In the inventory on the space suits screen, there's an option to automatically hide the suit in cities

Similarly, there's an option to automatically hide the helmet in breathable areas on the helmets screen

In space, hold E (with no target selected) to get up from your pilot seat and walk around your ship.

In the ship builder, double click any module to select all connected modules. This is great for moving around large chunks of the ship, but also extremely useful when you run into the problem where the game is telling you that *something* isn't connected but you have no idea what it is. Just double click the cockpit and any loose parts won't be selected.

Several cities have an "Enhance" store. This place lets you completely remake your character, including renaming, changing body type, face, etc. This only costs 500 credits so don't worry if you're not happy with how your character looks initially. You can't change your background or traits though.

Stuff the game tells you but some players missed

When in scanner mode (both on foot and in the ship) look at any objective or marker and you get the option to travel there without opening the map. This is especially nice in your ship, as you can easily fly between different planets and star systems without ever opening the star map.

In the ship, tap E to cycle your target and ESC to deselect your target. Especially useful in combat or when you wanna talk to a ship (you can hail and talk to any ship you see)

When modifying a ship, any loose items are placed in the ship's inventory so make sure to check that if you lost something (I wouldn't recommend decorating the ship's interior for this reason)

If you have multiple ships, they don't really have individual storage. All ship cargo is moved to your home ship whenever you switch ships. This can even result in ships carrying more than their max capacity when moving to a smaller ship.

There's a quick melee button

You can favorite weapons and items to assign them to your number keys

Opening your scanner shows a path to the objective on the floor

B-b-bonus tip

Your photo mode pics are in Documents/My Games/Starfield/Data/Textures/Photos

If you have other stuff that you didn't know for a while, let me know, and I might add it to the list. Hope this helps :^)

#starfield #gaming #bethesda

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16naughts · 24 days ago

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Dev Log July 11

youtube

Happy Belated 4th! Hopefully you have emerged unscathed. For the keen eyed, Crescent Roll update 1.4.0 obviously did not make it out this past week. Which is a shame, because I think our little bumper for Independence Day turned out pretty good. Oh well. This is why it was only mentioned in a dev blog post and not a Steam announcement. Fingers crossed for this Monday.

There has only ever been one singular outstanding bug in the entirety of Crescent Roll - you could not scroll down on the Cosmetics Tabs to view all of the items. This never mattered much, as equipping different Balls doesn't affect anything (yet), but this is the reason why there has only been 12 different cosmetics for each category. I've been meaning to fix it forever, but there was the bigger domino of needing an infinite way to get currency to be able to buy a bigger selection of items. Which has finally fallen with the addition of Challenge Mode, so it was time to bite the bullet.

As I've mentioned before, Crescent Roll runs on a completely custom engine. No Unity or Godot - all of it is my own hand-written JS (minus one little bit I plucked from MatterJS to handle only the Wall Collision detection, credit where due). All of the Menu stuff is technically an interactive Animation, kind of like how Flash worked, except instead of ActionScript, it's a special type of JSON schema layout closer to Godot just without the ability to inject scripts. Highly moddable, very nice to edit on the fly. I'll do a writeup at some point this year.

As part of the library, there's a special set of UI nodes that can be added to the menu that add interactivity, being "Menu", "Button", "Slider", and "Joystick". They're just animated objects with special properties to configure animations to mix between for different states. Animated Objects, in turn, can be extended with special "Control" definitions to run code specifically for them. The eyes for the character and cat are one of these.

Menus have been a significant pain to work with for the longest time, as they started out as super specialized and had to be essentially hard-coded for the game code, but have been slowly working their functionality back down into the base graphics toolkit objects as the toolkit matures and more stuff is possible in the JSON schema. However, even though that's getting simplified, since we support both Mouse/Touch and Joypad/Keyboard, there's a lot you have to do to reconcile switches between state. Menus track Active Elements when you use a controller, but don't when you touch, as it's 100% expected that multiple buttons will be able to be pressed at the same time. Dealing with this and Scrolling is a borderline nightmare, as the systems for dealing with it are completely different based on the control scheme.

If you click on the bar, it's expected that the scroll moves directly to that position. If you move the cursor out of the screen, it's expected that the item scrolls into view if not already visible. But if you can see it, it shouldn't move. The scroll also needs to be smoothed into, and the bar needs to show the position. Also the bar shouldn't show up if you can't scroll anything. The bar should move if you use the Mouse Wheel. The design expectations for the scrolling is so fractured compared to any other common UI component for the different control styles that there's really no way to make it feel natural for each without making almost entirely different systems. I haven't even added Touch yet, which should move when the area is dragged, but not activate buttons unless they are explicitly clicked. That's going to be a nightmare. But we have at least the other for now. And that only took a week. Oops.

I think I already mentioned it before, but I'm really, really stressing this for new devs: menu stuff is going to eat the vast majority of your development time. And it is so easy to screw up if you don't give enough thought to your UX ahead of time.

#16naughts #devlog #game dev blog #game development #indie games #crescent roll #Youtube

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josephkdavis · 1 month ago

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7 Game-Changing MacOS Features You Didn’t Know Existed.

Okay, real talk — how well do you really know your Mac? If you’re just sticking to the basics like opening apps and checking emails, you’re missing out on some straight-up magic Apple snuck into MacOS.

I’m talking game-changing features that’ll save you time, make your life easier, and honestly, make you wonder why you didn’t know about them before.

Here are 7 killer MacOS hacks you didn’t know existed — but you NEED to start using today.

Quick Look: Your Secret Superpower Press the spacebar to peek at files? Yeah, you probably knew that. But did you know Quick Look lets you edit PDFs, crop images, and even trim videos without opening a single app?

No joke. Select that PDF, hit spacebar, then tap the markup icon. Boom — instant edits.

Your future self will thank you.

Safari Tab Groups — Because Too Many Tabs Is a Real Problem Raise your hand if you’ve got 50 Safari tabs open right now 🙋‍♂️.

Tab Groups let you organize tabs into neat little bundles — like “Work Stuff,” “Recipes to Try,” or “Random Rabbit Holes.” Switch between groups like a boss and never lose your tabs again.

Finally, some peace in the chaos.

Trackpad Gestures That Make You Look Like a Pro Swiping three fingers to switch apps? Cool. But did you know you can swipe four fingers to glide between full-screen apps or tap three fingers to instantly look up a word?

Try them out. Your fingers will feel like they’re dancing on a magic carpet.

Universal Control — One Mouse to Rule Them All Got a Mac and an iPad? Or two Macs? Universal Control lets you use one mouse and keyboard across all your devices — drag files from iPad to Mac, move your cursor seamlessly, and feel like a productivity wizard.

It’s like your devices are reading your mind.

Focus Mode — Your New Best Friend Against Distractions Scrolling TikTok when you should be working? We’ve all been there.

Focus Mode lets you block distracting apps and people when you want to get stuff done or chill. Set it on a schedule and finally have control over your time.

Hello, productivity!

Spotlight Does WAY More Than Search Think Spotlight’s just a search bar? Think again.

Do math, convert currencies, check the weather, get quick definitions — all without opening a single app. Hit Cmd + Space and start typing.

It’s like having a mini assistant at your fingertips.

Live Text — Copy Text From ANY Picture Snap a pic of a menu, a sign, or notes? You can copy and paste text right from photos with Live Text.

No more retyping or guessing what that blurry word says.

It’s honestly like magic for your everyday hustle.

#macos #game changing

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donic01 · 1 year ago

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Comparing Trackpads and External Mice for Laptops

The conflict between trackpads and external mice has persisted in the field of portable computing. Whether you’re a student attending lectures, a professional working remotely, or a casual user enjoying multimedia content, the choice between these two input devices plays a crucial role in enhancing your overall laptop experience. In this comprehensive comparison, we’ll explore the dimensions of trackpads and external mice, seeking answers to the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions that often arise when making this decision.

Trackpad or Mouse: Which Suits Your Work Style?

The external mouse and trackpad serve different purposes. The trackpad offers a built-in, space-saving solution for on-the-go use, seamlessly integrated into laptops. On the other hand, an external mouse provides a tactile, ergonomic alternative for those who prefer a more traditional input method. Consider your work habits and personal preferences when deciding which device aligns better with your workflow.

Who Benefits from Trackpads?

– Trackpads are ideal for users who prioritize portability and enjoy a built-in solution. Frequent travellers and individuals always on the move find the convenience of a trackpad unmatched.

– However, users with specific needs, such as graphic designers and gamers, may lean towards external mice for precision and additional features.

What Sets Trackpads Apart?

– Trackpads are seamlessly integrated into laptops, offering a clean and uncluttered aesthetic. They are sensitive to gestures, allowing users to perform various actions with simple swipes and taps.

– The Lenovo 540 USB-C Wireless Mouse, featuring precise tracking and customizable buttons, offers an external alternative for those seeking enhanced functionality without compromising portability.

When Should You Opt for an External Mouse?

– External mice come into play when precision is paramount. Graphic designers, video editors, and gamers often require the pinpoint accuracy that a mouse provides.

– The Lenovo Wireless Mouse 300 and Lenovo Wireless Mouse 400, with their ergonomic designs and advanced optical sensors, cater to users who demand responsiveness and comfort during prolonged usage.

Where Does Comfort Lie?

– Trackpads are built directly into the laptop, ensuring a consistent user experience across various devices. They are suitable for users who don’t want to carry an extra accessory.

– Conversely, external prioritize ergonomic design, making them comfortable for extended use. The textured grips and customizable buttons contribute to a user-friendly experience.

Why Should You Consider an External Mouse?

– The precision offered by external mice is unmatched. Whether you’re editing a document, designing graphics, or engaging in gaming, the accuracy and responsiveness of a mouse can significantly enhance your efficiency.

– The Lenovo Wireless Mouse 300, equipped with a high-resolution sensor, offers precise tracking, making it a reliable companion for users who demand accuracy in every click.

How Do Trackpads and External Mice Impact Productivity?

– Trackpads are intuitive, allowing users to navigate through documents, web pages, and applications seamlessly. Multi-touch gestures enhance productivity by providing quick access to various functions.

– External mice, contribute to productivity with customizable buttons. Users can assign specific functions to these buttons, streamlining tasks and reducing reliance on keyboard shortcuts.

Does Sensitivity Matter in Trackpad Performance?

Sensitivity plays a crucial role in the performance of both trackpads and mice. High sensitivity on a trackpad can enable swift cursor movement, while mice with adjustable DPI (dots per inch) settings offer control over the cursor’s speed. The choice ultimately depends on personal preference and the type of tasks you frequently engage in.

Limitations of Laptop Trackpads? Advantages of Mice?

Laptop trackpads, while convenient, do have limitations. They can be less precise for detailed tasks, and prolonged use may cause discomfort. External mice, with their dedicated buttons and ergonomic designs, mitigate these limitations, offering a more versatile solution for various tasks.

READ MORE-https://donicelectronics.com/comparing-trackpads-and-external-mice-for-laptops/

#technology #electronics #computers #desktop #mouse #trackpads

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gertlushgaming · 2 years ago

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Cities: Skylines II Review (Steam)

For this Cities: Skylines II Review, we raise a city from the ground up and transform it into a thriving metropolis with the most realistic city builder ever. Push your creativity and problem-solving to build on a scale you've never experienced. With deep simulation and a living economy, this is world-building without limits.

Cities: Skylines II Review Pros:

- Decent graphics. - 56.31GB Download size. - Steam achievements. - Full controller support. - Uses the Paradox Launcher. - Graphics settings - show all resolutions, resolution, display mode, v-sync, game cursor mode, depth of field mode, global graphics preset, dynamic resolution scaling quality, anti-aliasing, clouds quality, fog quality, volumetrics quality, ambient occlusion, global illumination, reflections, depth of field quality, motion blur, shadow quality, terrain quality, water quality, level of detail, animation quality, and texture quality. - Can rebind controls for both keyboard and mouse and the controller. - Enable radio - on/off. - Interface settings - ui style (default/bright blue/dark gray orange), ui transparency, text scaling, highlight unlocked, chirpier sounds, button styles (auto detect/Xbox/PlayStation), time format, temperature unit, and other units. - City-building gameplay. - Gameplay settings - edge scrolling, day/night visuals, start paused and show/reset tutorials. - Performance options - frame rate, balance, and simulation speed. - Autosave can be turned on and off and you set how many autosave slots you use and how often it saves. - Ten starting locations - Archipelago Haven, Barrier Island, Great Highlands, Lakeland, Mountain Village, River Delta, Sweeping Plains, Twin Mountain, Waterway Pass, and Windy Fjords. Each has different themes, climate, and natural resources. - Map setup options - name, theme (European/North American), left-hand traffic, natural disasters, unlock all, unlimited money. - Tutorial options - continue, restart, and disable. - If a setting disables achievements the game tells you. - To help break you in the game gives you a checklist of basic tasks. - Button icons show on menus. - A full 3D world with 360-degree camera control. - Three game speeds and a pause time button. - The road laying is fast and simple with a drag and drop style mechanic, before you lay it down the game tells you of any terrain rises, length, cost, etc. - Bulldoze lets you select chunks of road or buildings to get rid of. - The radio is on the Hud so you can change the volume and station quickly. - There is a radio ad on and off option. - If you have played the game before you can skip a fair amount of tutorials. - Zones can be fully edited and customized from the them of them to the shapes and sizes, for example, housing can be single or family-based houses. - Paint is where you basically put a big chunk of a zone or structure in place. - You can apply to rezone the placed zones. (change the zone type). - Electricity is very important and you have to build the power stations and connect buildings together so they can be built and function. - The map colors change to help see what is connected, what is needed, or what you have too much of. - You can zoom right out or up really close to the point where you see people and cars moving. - Anything and everything you can place is adjustable like power lines can be adjusted all the way down to the hang height of the cables. - Earn exp as you place things. - Save and load when you want. - It has a lot of depth and variety. - You can and are encouraged to play the game how you want. - It's a very addictive game and is a real-time sink. Cities: Skylines II Review Cons: - A lot of reading. - There is an ad on and off option. - The controls are fine but they do take a while to get used to, I mean there is a lot going on and menus usually require button press combos etc. - It's all very daunting at first. - The game doesn't offer any pre-built scenarios. - No mod support. - Had text overlap a few times. - At times the character models looked Blocky and ugly. - Performance is a bit up and down especially when dealing with big cities. - No multiplayer modes. (more a FYI) - I still to this day have a few issues with the mechanics and the ins and outs of how some things work mostly because I feel the game doesn't explain or do a good job of helping you learn. Related Post: Alterium Shift Preview (Steam Early Access) Cities: Skylines II: Official website. Developer: Colossal Order Ltd Publisher: Paradox Interactive Store Links - Steam Read the full article

#PC #steam

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qocsuing · 2 years ago

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The Best 3D Home Design Software of 2022

The Best 3D Home Design Software of 2022 With dozens of home design programs available on the internet and in the market, it can be pretty challenging and confusing to make the right decision in choosing the one that suits you best. To help navigate all the options, we’ve compiled a list of eight popular home interior design software tools.To get more news about free 3d house design software, you can visit shine news official website. With the selections, we aim to include a variety of programs for users who range from beginners without any past experience in home design to advanced users with years of experience. But before we look at the programs, let’s go over how we narrowed down the selection. While choosing software to meet your needs, there are many important factors to keep in mind. The following are five of the most important ones, and we took them into account while making our selections:Sweet Home 3D is our first recommendation since it’s developed for users who have not worked with any home design tools before and want to give it a free try. With it, you can draw the plan of your house, add and arrange furniture on it, and view the work in 3D – touring the place from a first-person view as well as from an aerial view. Its files have their own unique extensions, SH3D, but models in other formats are also supported and can be imported, including OBJ, DAE, KMZ, 3DS. Once you’ve got a completed home design, you can save it as a PDF, PNG, MPEG4, OBJ, and more. Sweet Home 3D website has a gallery that features homes designed with this software, and you also have access to a model library for furniture, unless you want to import other designs. That said, it’s centered on basic and relatively simple home designs; it isn’t suitable for complex buildings or skyscrapers. The program lacks features such as landscape designers, and roof design is rather complicated. Unfortunately, there aren’t apps available for your smartphone, although you can buy the app from the Microsoft Store or Amazon. (The link for MacOS wasn’t working at the time of writing.)Founded in 2007, this cloud-based software is very easy to use. In addition to professional 2D and 3D floor plans, it also offers interactive realistic 3D walkthroughs of home designs with its Live 3D tool. This is a unique feature that enables the user to navigate through the designed rooms with the mouse or touchscreen. You can save your drawn floor plans in various file formats – including zip for saving all plans together – or print them. You can also draw the floor plans from uploaded blueprints or sketches in PDF, JPG, or PNG file formats. For DWG or DWX files, they have to be converted to PDF first. RoomSketcher has a large gallery of floor plans of different sizes and complexity that are classified according to the type of building: hotel, house, apartment, gym, and more. It’s even possible to edit these projects and floor plans online from any device. The program has some setbacks, though. The free educational plan doesn’t include popular features such as 3D floor plans, and even the VIP subscription is limited to saving only five different plans. The quality of generated floor plans in the Free or VIP versions is 150 dpi, which is half the quality of the Pro version (300 dpi). There’s no app for smartphones, although you can log into your account from a browser. It’s worth noting that there’ll be limited functions as compared to what you can do on your computer or tablet. The user interface is simple and easy to navigate. You can draw walls easily and fast with a few clicks while using the computer or by tapping and dragging your finger while using the tablet! Hotkeys and keyboard shortcuts are also available to speed up drawing your floor plans.

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don-dake · 2 years ago

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So I've been playing around with Cāngjié…

And I thought a post like this (similar to a post on Zhùyīn done by linghxr) may be of interest to some.

Edited: 10 Sep 2023

This post has gotten a little popular lately and on scrutinizing my own post again, I've come to the conclusion that I had made some mistakes in my given character examples.

Amended now. Namely, 「唔」 and 「龍」 have now been swapped over in the examples.

「唔」 is really the “3-parts”, and 「龍」 is indeed a “2-parts” character! Amendments are reflected in orange.

What (and who) is Cāngjié?

For those who may not know, Cāngjié is another way to input 漢字/汉字 (Hànzì — Chinese characters). It is way less popular than Pinyin (or even Zhuyin) but it still has its fans, and has a few advantages over the other two.

Cāngjié is also the name of the mythical figure in Chinese legend who is said to have been the inventor of 漢字/汉字, for which Cāngjié (the input system) was named after.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, if you think you have already acquired a good (enough) understanding of 漢字/汉字, and/or just like a new challenge.

(TL;DR at the end)

Why am I learning Cāngjié (and why you may like to, too)?

1. Mostly for fun.

Have long been intrigued by both Cāngjié and Zhùyīn, and since I finally mustered up the courage to tackle Zhùyīn not too long ago, I thought I'd finally give Cāngjié a try.

While learning Cāngjié does require more effort than learning Pinyin or Zhuyin, it can also be really fun! Inputting 漢字/汉字 with the Cāngjié method is almost like doing a jigsaw puzzle.

The euphoria derived from figuring out and piecing together the radicals that make up a word is something that learning Jyutping (Cantonese equivalent of Pinyin), Pinyin or Zhuyin can't quite match.

And while I know I'll never be as adept with Cāngjié — my knowledge of 漢字/汉字 is nowhere near good enough to ever use Cāngjié efficiently — as I do Jyutping or Pinyin (or to some extent, Zhuyin), it'll still be fun to use Cāngjié every once in a while!

2. Helps with thinking and typing in Chinese.

The upshot of relying too much on using Jyutping/Pinyin/Zhuyin is, I'd tend to think in Roman letters or ㄅㄆㄇㄈ before I'd even think about the actual 漢字/汉字.

But with Cāngjié, because it's based on knowing radicals and joining them together to form actual characters, it'll encourage thinking of 漢字/汉字 first, so I think that would help some with 漢字/汉字 memory retention.

Now you may be thinking, why not just you know, practise actually writing then? That is the tried and proven method to better remember 漢字/汉字 after all?

Yes, of course I can do that — and am doing so occasionally — but we live in a digital age now, and the probability and opportunity to type things out is much higher than actually writing stuff by hand.

The idea here is, more looking to think of and envision characters fully in my head, and trying to lessen over-reliance on Jyutping/Pinyin/Zhuyin.

And this is where I find Cāngjié can be useful, which leads to my next point…

3. Haunted by “What if” scenario.

What if there comes a day (however improbable) where I'm presented with only a Cāngjié keyboard to use for typing Chinese? It has happened with Zhùyīn for me!

That means, no Pinyin or Zhuyin keyboards, no Handwriting tools/touchscreens to write with fingers/mouse, no speech-to-text, and no option to copy-and-paste characters from somewhere else either! What then?

4. Able to type without knowing pronunciation, and with more accuracy.

Cāngjié is shape-based. Unlike Jyutping/Pinyin/Zhuyin, where you have to know what a character sounds like before you can type it out, with Cāngjié, you can type out (again assuming no Handwriting or other tools available) characters without needing to know how to pronounce them at all.

With shape-based typing, you'd also get more accurate hits in the first few 漢字/汉字 that show up, versus sound-based methods like Pinyin where for e.g., typing out “wan” will get you a whole list under the same sound and you may have to scroll through a whole lot to get the exact “wan” you need.

You can also type both Traditional and Simplified characters without having to toggle something or switch keyboards.

So how does one begin learning Cāngjié?

Install a Cāngjié keyboard.

Duh…but of course! Heh! Gboard offers one, banded under Cantonese language input (Android user here, don't know about iPhones, sorry).

There are two versions of Cāngjié that are prevalent currently. Cāngjié 3 and Cāngjié 5. Cāngjié 5 is supposed to be an improvement over version 3 but I don't find there's much; having a slightly altered version just adds to the confusion and unnecessarily complicates matters, in fact!

If you have a choice, I'd recommend selecting Cāngjié 3 as that is more supported. Some operating systems may not be too compatible with Cāngjié 5 still, for some strange reason.

You may also come across something called “Quick” (速成) aka, “Simplified Cāngjié”.

This is simply a scaled down version of Cāngjié, it's still based on Cāngjié's formula. So you still need to know how Cāngjié works in order to use “Quick” efficiently.

You'd then need a chart like this. ↓

* the 重 (Z) key doesn't really come into use. I don't really know what it's for, but it seems to be used (paired with other keystrokes) mainly to type out various punctuation marks.

There are variants out there, some having a little more, or less, radicals shown than in the above example, but I'll say the chart here is one of the more comprehensive ones I've found so far (and sufficient enough) — other charts often fail to highlight the 難 (X) key and what it corresponds to.

You don't have to memorize the chart all at once. Just always have a chart like this on hand to refer to and with enough typing practise, you'll eventually remember which key corresponds with which radicals.

Remember the rules. ↓

“1 part” character (e.g. 寫) = first 3 & last (radical).

“2 parts” character (e.g. 唔龍) = first & last, first 2 & last.

“3 parts” character (e.g. 難) = first & last, first & last, last.

e.g. 寫 ↓

With radicals 宀，丿，臼 (first 3) and 灬 (last).

Corresponding keys: 十，竹，難 and 火。

寫 → 写 ↓

With radicals 冖，卜，㇆ (first 3)，一 (last).

Corresponding keys：月，卜，尸 and 一。

e.g. 龍 ↓

With radicals 亠，月 (first & last), 卜，コ (first 2)，ヒ (last).

Corresponding keys: 卜，月，卜，尸，and 心。

龍 → 龙 ↓ (Simplified 龍 → 龙，a “1 part” character)

With radicals 丶，ナ，ヒ (first 3).

Corresponding keys: 戈，大，and 心。

e.g. 難 ↓

With radicals 廿，人 (first & last)，亻(first & last)，土 (last).

Corresponding keys: 廿，人，人 and 土。

難 → 难 ↓

With radicals ヌ (first & last)，亻(first & last)，土 (last).

Corresponding keys: 水，人，and 土。

Occasionally, you may get a character that looks like a “2 parts” but is actually a “3 parts”. ↓

e.g. 唔 ↓

With radicals 口 (first & last)，一，一 (first & last)，口 (last).

Corresponding keys: 口，一，一 and 口。

Or looks like a “1 part” but really a “3 parts”. ↓

e.g. 奪 ↓

With radicals 大 (first & last)，亻，土 (first & last)，丶 (last).

Corresponding keys: 大，人，土，and 戈。

奪 → 夺 ↓(Simplified 奪 → 夺，a “1 part” character)

With radicals 大，寸 (first 3; the 丶 is the 3rd component).

Corresponding keys: 大，木，and 戈。

But these are exceptions, and don't occur that often.

And you can start practising!

You can try out this pretty good app called 『五色學倉頡』 (learning Cāngjié with 5 colours), for practise. It's on Playstore, just search for “Cangjie Dictionary” and it should show up.

You have to pay to unlock higher levels, unfortunately. ↓

Anyway, each character comes with colour coded hints and you can opt to turn them off if you like more of a challenge. There are also hints (提示) and the chart (字根表) to refer to if you're really stuck. Also has a dictionary component (查字典) to check out the Cāngjié input for characters.

Another option would be a website called HKCards. ↓

You can use it to check the Cāngjié input for any 漢字/汉字, and there's section for practise (倉頡輸入法練習) as well. After inputting your answer with Cāngjié keys (手田水口廿卜), you can click on the “Answer” (答案) button to see how right or wrong your answers were. ↓

There are 8 characters each time, and you can just hit “Practise Again” (再做練習) to refresh for another 8 to practise with. I've yet to hit a limit.

Unfortunately, this website has lots of ads popping up. And it only supports searching in Traditional characters (Cāngjié was initially catered more for Traditional).

Or you can just try practising randomly with a Cāngjié keyboard and check for mistakes with a Cāngjié dictionary (『五色學倉頡』 app's dictionary comes in really useful here — it appears to support searching in Simplified too).

TL;DR

Cāngjié could be useful (and fun) to know if your 漢字/汉字 knowledge is already adequate, and/or you just like a new challenge.

And if watching videos is more your thing, here's a really helpful YouTube tutorial on how to use Cāngjié (has English subs)!

#Cangjie #Congkit #Cantonese #Mandarin #Jyutping #Pinyin #Zhuyin #Bopomofo #Keyboards #Traditional Characters #Chinese Language #Language #Long Post #Dake Rambles

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annakie · 2 years ago

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Got a fancy new ergonomic mechanical keyboard and I already love it like, a lot. Been using ergonomic keyboards for like 20+ years and could never go back. Been waiting a long time to find an ergonomic mechanical keyboard that A) wouldn’t break the bank and B) wasn’t like... Donna Megal’s Keyboard in that office shakeup episode of Parks and Rec.

Also ordered a keyboard switch today so that I can stop keeping two keyboards on my desk all the time, using one keyboard for work and the other for my personal computer. Been doing that since I started WFH in March 2020. I know I coulda/shoulda done that earlier but... meh. It’s worked fine til now. Now just just only WANT to type on this keyboard. :p

This one is really big, a whole extra two rows of macro keys there on the bottom picture which I have yet to really take advantage of (not sure if I can get used to having select/copy/cut/paste buttons instead of just using the control-a/x/c/v shortcuts) but I tried for a bit at work today. I also keep accidentally hitting that select button instead of escape (which is the pink key, and also they nicely sent a plain black escape key without the company’s logo on it) which has been annoying a few times today... something to get used to.

I also love that this one has a magnet in the center so you can easily keep it together or pull it apart. Currently typing this with them pulled apart slightly to see how I feel about typing like this and so far it’s not too bad, just gotta remember more that you can’t type any key with the wrong hand.

The keys are a tiny fraction of a millimeter farther apart than I’d like with my girly hands but I’m getting used to it. The keyboard has a great tactile feel otherwise, though the spacebars could use a different slant. So far, if I change anything, it’ll be the spacebars.

The dial in the middle is just a volume dial. It looks cool, and hey, it’s more accessible than clicking on the volume button on the toolbar I guess.

It’s also pre-programmed with liek 20 or more different lighting modes. I really like this pastel one I took the pictures with, but it also does your typical bright RGB just fine. Kind of thinking I might try to set my computer and mouse to fit this lighting scheme though because I like it so much.

Look, mostly I’m typing so much about this keyboard more to just type with it than having anything to say. I haven’t had much of a reason to type much all day with the work I was doing at work and then just doing some light gaming.

But yeah, the longer I type the more I think I’m going to replace these spacebars, if possible. :p

Otherwise, highly rec this keyboard if you’re looking for something ergonomic and mechanic that you can buy off the shelf. It’s still significantly more expensive than buying your typical Logitech keyboard off the shelf, but will probably last until just about forever and feels way better for typing than just about anything else you’re going to use. :D

*edit* Since people seem to like it, it’s this one: https://cloudnineergo.com/products/cloud-nine-c989m-ergonomic-keyboard. It’s available at other places where people often shop as well.

#mechanical keyboard #personal post tag thingy

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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 4 years ago

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Desperate Measures 1

Warnings: nonconsent and rape (miniseries); stalking, fear, intimidation.

This is dark!Steve Rogers and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: At first, you think it’s a joke when you get the strange messages, but when they don’t stop, you realise too late how real it all is.

Note: This was going to be a one shot but it kept going and going and going, so it’s gonna be split in 2.

Thank you. Love you guys!

Please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3

Have a piece of American dream Open up, and swallow, on your knees And say Thank you I'd like some desperate measures, please

💌

The first picture was sent on Monday. You remembered it clearly unlike most Monday mornings. It was the same boring ritual; a coffee that had long turned cold, a pen that wouldn’t write, and a computer that ran as if on dial-up.

The only bright side was that your small desk was near a window and you could look out onto the city streets, though they were hardly less miserable than your own existence. You were so high up the people were merely moving specks. You often found yourself distracted by the crowded traffic below.

You were drawn from such a distant reverie by the buzz of your phone. You kept it face down by your monitor. Despite the temptation, you limited yourself to succumbing only once an hour. You sat back and your chair creaked as it tilted beneath you. You checked the time in the corner of your screen and reached for your cell, the rubber case scuffed and scratched at the edges.

Notifications for the same emails that sat open in front of you and a few personal ones in the next bubble. Another for the game you played on the subway or when you were overly listless, several updates for your hoarded apps, and a single text.

There was no number attached to the message, only the foreboding thick font that read ‘unknown number’. You chewed on your thumb as you leaned forward on your elbow and swiped your screen up and punched in your password. The screen flashed and you hit the last notification. No words, just a file. You hit download.

You blinked as it ate your data and the image of your apartment door appeared. You glanced around and laughed to yourself. You shook your head and keyed in your response; ‘very funny, Eva.’ You hit send and set your phone back down.

Your old friend liked her jokes and you hadn’t missed her little ploy the last time she showed up at your place angry over her latest fling. You had thought she was getting a picture of the stain on the hallway carpet that looked suspiciously like blood… or feces… or a mixture of the two.

You went back to your work and switched the document you’d been picking at for most of the morning. Your job was as entertaining as watching paint dry then peel from age. When you applied for an editing position, you’d expected thrillers and melodramas. Instead, you got dry textbooks and educational guides.

You yawned and pushed through to your scheduled break. You dumped your cold coffee and headed down to the café to grab another. The coffee they kept in the office was cheap and bland. You ate your salad in the lunchroom as you watched the clock tick away. You checked your phone. No reply to that unusual text. Eva must’ve chickened out.

You scoffed and switched chats to send her usual number an ‘lol’. You tucked your phone in your pocket and punched back in before you headed back to your desk. A couple more hours and you’d be home to stew in the early week daze.

The last half of the day went quicker and your subway ride was uneventful; well, for New York. You walked home from your stop and pulled out your phone as you climbed the stairs. You slowed down and moved your feet blindly. You’d finally gotten an answer. ‘Eva?’

You opened the chat again and hit the image. It filled the screen and you squinted as you came to a stop. The stain wasn’t there. Your landlord had finally relented and had the entire hallway torn up and replaced with an even duller shade of grey. The picture had been taken since then; within the last month. The last time you’d seen Eva, you’d gone to hers.

Your chest clenched and you gulped. You hit the little icon in the corner of the conversation and hit ‘block’. You continued to your floor and neared your door. You looked down the hallway and back to your door. You tried the handle. Locked. You took a breath.

It could still be a joke. The stoner next door, Perry, had your number from when you agreed to feed his cat that one time. Maybe he was high or just trying to be funny. Still, it hadn’t come up under his name. Well, he might have changed his number since then.

You unlocked your door and scurried inside. You made sure to turn the latch and slide the chain into place. You tossed your bag beside the mat of shoes and added your flats to the pile. You dropped your phone on the coffee table and untucked your work shirt as you walked around the small living room.

Nothing was out of place, not that you truly believed whoever it was had gotten past your door. You rubbed your forehead and went to the small kitchen that looked out into the living room. You grabbed a can of sparkling lime whatever and plopped it next to your phone.

You went to your bedroom and stripped yourself of your stiff work clothes and pulled on the night shirt crumpled atop your blanket. You looked down at the thin grey cotton and reached under to unhook your bra. You flung it in the corner knowing you’d be cursing yourself when you couldn’t find it the next morning.

You flopped onto the couch and grabbed your remote. You turned on some mindless Youtube video and opened the mobile game which had taken too much of your life from you. You connected three and four and five and somewhere in between your existentialism kicked in and had you wondering at the point of it.

You closed the app before it ate all of your battery and your phone shook in your hand.

‘You didn’t tell me who Eva is.’ The message flashed over the top of the screen then disappeared. You pulled down the notification and hit it. You were certain you’d blocked the number. The other messages were gone though and ‘unknown number’ was still emblazoned across the top. You blocked the convo again and dimmed the screen.

You plugged in your phone and sprawled out across the sofa. You stared at the television, a blur and a buzz to your frantic mind.

It was dark already when you dragged yourself off the couch and heated up a microwave dinner. You ate it without tasting and your phone chimed to signal a full charge. You left it as it was on the arm of the couch and resumed your repose on the sofa. You fell asleep to the angered commentary of a gamer trying to fight a clam.

You awoke with a start. You blinked through your daze as your television showed stills of mountain and grassy fields. You sat up and grabbed your phone. You checked the time; midnight. Another message.

‘She’s the one you had coffee with last week.’ It said.

You gaped and dropped your phone. You looked around as if whoever it was would be hiding in the corner. You shook as you reached down and took the phone. You swallowed and began to type.

‘Whoever this is, this isn’t funny anymore. Cut it out.’

‘Funny?’ The response came quickly.

‘I mean it. Stop.’

‘Good night, sweetheart.’

You recoiled at the message and bit your lip to keep it from trembling. You checked your door again, the chain still in place, checked every inch of your apartment in your paranoia. Nothing. You let out a breath and took a blanket from your bed and huddled up on the couch. You turned on a playlist, not sure you’d be sleeping much that night.

💌

You weren’t sure when you fell asleep again but you rose before your alarm. You drank your coffee as the sky turned a duller shade of grey. You went through your usual morning dance and headed out the door with a bagel hanging from your mouth. You chowed down on your way to the subway. You felt your bag buzz as you stepped on the train.

You ignored it and clung to the bar as you counted the stops. You got off and stopped by the coffee shop. You ordered a black tea and headed down to your building. Your desk was as it was when you left it. The chair was tucked in and your mouse was hidden behind the keyboard. You sat and booted the laggy machine.

As you waited for it to start, you stirred around in your bag for your phone. You had another message. You dreaded opening it but the circle just kept spinning in the middle of the monitor. You hit the bubble and your phone unlocked.

You took a sharp breath as the image glared back at you. It was you, on the subway, that morning judging by the jacket, staring at the door as the photo was taken unknowingly. Your phone slipped from your grasp and you spun in your chair.

Everything was as it should be. Your co-workers looked just as dead inside as you. Your boss was boxed up in his office on a ‘conference call’. You shuddered and turned back to your desk. You burned your tongue on your tea and signed into your computer. Your phone vibrated beside your shoe and you bent to retrieve it.

‘You looked tired this morning’. The next message blipped on the screen.

You were quick to sweep the clock upward and type. ‘Who the fuck is this?’

‘Sweetheart. I don’t like that kind of language.’ The response was quick and sharp, even in text.

‘Tell me who you are? Why are you doing this?’

‘One thing at a time.’ The letters burned into your vision.

‘Who are you?’ You keyed in again. No answer.

You set the phone down and watched it. Five minutes, no buzz. You hovered your hand over your mouse and tried to focus on your monitor. Your heart was so loud in your ears, your head began to pound.

💌

When you got on the subway at the end of the day, you looked around frantically as you settled into a seat, your bag hugged to your chest. You glanced up and down the car a dozen times over as you awaited your cue. Your toe tapped anxiously and you stood so fast you were dizzy when your stop came up.

You rushed down the sidewalk, peeking over your shoulder every other step. You didn’t say anything unusual; no one following you, no one watching. You ran up to your building and unlocked the door clumsily.

You hurried up the stairs and down the hall to your apartment. The key slid in roughly and you turned it so quick, you were certain it would bend. You skirted inside and put the chain in place.

You looked down as your thin-soled boot brushed over something. A pile of flyers slipped through the slot in your absence. You picked them up and sorted through them, an envelope amidst the mess. On its face, it read ‘for my sweetheart’.

You hovered by the door, staring at the envelope. After a moment, you slung your bag down on the floor and placed the flyers on the end table by the lamp. You clicked on the light and ran your thumb along the lip. You carefully opened it and pulled out the paper inside. You unfolded it and your breath caught in your chest.

It was a sketch, quite well done, of you. You’d worn that sweater last week. You went to the park and walked around, sat by the fountain, tossed rocks into the babbling basin. They had been there, whoever it was. How long had they been watching?

And they had been at your door, close enough to slip this through the slot. You folded the drawing and shoved it back in the envelope. You stomped into the kitchen and tossed it into the bin beneath the counter. You backed up and gripped the other counter behind you. You felt a lump in your throat.

What the fuck was going on?

💌

You started going in early to work; catching the train half an hour before your usual one. You left late and changed your route between the station and your building. You entered through the back, hopping the low concrete barrier between the apartments and the backlot.

Still, it only gave you a single day of peace. No messages, no pictures; and you thought the game was over. You hoped it was. That it was just a sick joke that had finally grown tiring.

But Thursday saw another image of you just outside your work building. Friday, another of you on the subway.

The weekend was listless. You did your shopping quickly and on Sunday, you wore a loose hoodie to the laundromat. You could find nothing peculiar around you. The city was full of sketchy people but none seemed to be watching you. The hordes were still about their own lives; ignorant of those around them. You felt entirely alone, as if you were being hunted.

Monday was much the same as the last but how could it ever be dull again. You shut your phone off so you could focus on your work. When you were finally done, you dialed the toll-free number for your provider. You took a taxi home and spent two hours on the line but you got your new number and a sense of relief.

You kept your phone on, ringer on max, and nothing. You watched the screen rather than the television but it only lit up with emails and a random text from your mother. You slept in your bed that night,almost soundly.

You still kept your eye over your shoulder. Still searched out any sign of unusual interest. Perhaps you were clueless or maybe your lack of response had finally gotten through to them. Once their messages bounced back as out of service, they might have given up. They got their laughs, now you wanted peace.

It lasted until Friday.

A full week and you were certain it was over. You finished work and stopped by the liquor store for a bottle of wine on your way home. You could finally let loose. Life had gone back to its usual tedium. You browsed the reds lazily but pondered a pack of coolers instead. Your phone buzzed. You slid it from your pocket out of habit.

‘That cabernet on the top shelf is on sale. Just to your left.’ You stared at the message and backed away from the shelf. You looked around but all the other customers seemed intent on their own purchases. You gulped and blocked the unknown sender.

You left emptied-handed and ran for the train. You got home an hour later than usual. You raced up the stairs and stopped dead in front of your door. The tall gift bag looked familiar; it had been hanging in the store by the till. You neared and peered inside. The golden cap of the wine that had stood in front of you; top shelf.

You bent and flipped the little card attached to the string.

‘For you, sweetheart. Enjoy your weekend.’

You stood and grabbed the bag. You glanced up and down the halls and stormed back down the grey carpet. Your feet hammered down the stairs and you burst through the back doors. You threw the bag into the dumpster and heard the shatter. Your lip trembled as you spun and sprinted back inside.

When you reached your apartment, you called Eva. You struggled to open your dresser with one hand and started pulling out clothes and stuffing them into your neon duffle. She finally picked up.

“E-eva,” you stuttered, “can I-- Can I stay with you, please? J-just a night or two--”

“Wohoa, whoa, slow down,” she said. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t… I can’t tell you now. I’m just-- I’m freaking out and I can’t stay here.” Your voice cracked and you sniffed back tears, “I-- Please. I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I… I have plans but I can cancel,” she offered.

“No, no, I… don’t--”

“You’ll have the apartment to yourself,” she said, “I’ll just let Ray know I’ll be late.”

“What time are you supposed to--”

“Seven but it’s fine,” she assured you. “You okay?”

“I… Wait, you’re fucking around with Ray again?”

“Do you want the couch or not?” She half-kidded, “you want me to meet you there or--”

“No, no,” you whisked into your washroom and grabbed your toothbrush, “I’m coming right now.” You returned to the bedroom and shoved an armful in the bag. “Eva… thank you.”

“Stay on the phone,” she said softly. “Please… you’re scaring me.”

“Okay,” you zipped up the duffle, “yeah, I’ll stay on.”

💌

You hung up as you came up to Eva’s building. She met you at the door, a thick silence between you as you sensed what she wanted to ask you. You weren’t sure how to tell you. You weren’t sure if you could.

You pushed the door closed behind you as you entered her apartment. It was cuter than yours, a spiral staircase led to a loft above and the curtains were lace and matched the dainty pillows on the couch. You placed your bag on the floor and she turned to you.

“Just give me a moment,” you said. She didn’t need to ask.

She went to the desk in the corner of the spacious room and turned on the ring light of the round mirror. She fished through her make-up box and pulled out her eyeliner. She was already done her base and highlight. You neared and hovered just beside her desk.

“I don’t even know…” you stopped yourself and went to your bag. You pulled out the paper you’d shoved in the side pocket on your way out. “Look.”

You crossed to her again and unfolded the sketch on her desk. She glanced down from drawing a wing along her eye and lowered the pencil. She blinked and shrugged.

“Look, someone dropped this through my mail slot. No address on the envelope, just this.” You felt crazy. “And I thought it was all some joke. They were sending me pictures, of me, of my building… I blocked them but they just kept on. I even changed my number.”

She scrunched her lips and looked back to her mirror. She finished her other eye and set the pencil down.

“You call the police?” She asked calmly.

“I… the drawing is all I have. I just deleted the messages when they came because… well, I didn’t think much of it at first. Not until… There was a bottle of wine waiting for me when I came home. The very same I was looking at right before I booked it for my train,” you rubbed your cheek, “Eva, I’m not crazy. I swear.”

“I believe you,” she said, “why wouldn’t I but… there’s nothing you can do but keep a log of what happens from here on out. Screencap everything.”

“You think… you think the police would help if I did?” You asked.

“Not much. Stalking isn’t really something they take seriously. I knew this girl in college-- Well, the evidence can at least get you a restraining order… if you ever figure out who’s sending you all this,” she paused and glanced down at the drawing. “Whoever it is, they got talent.”

“I’m sure they’d be happy to hear that,” you scoffed and crossed your arms.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay here with you?”

You pondered her offer but shook your head.

“As much as I think you should send Ray along, no. I can’t ask any more of you.” You sighed and grabbed the sketch. You dragged your feet to the couch and flopped down on the cushions, “I really do appreciate it.”

“I always told you to get out of that neighbourhood,” she said as she searched her assortment of make-up, “but you know I never mind you hanging out.”

💌

You spent the night on Eva’s couch, alone. She didn’t get home until three in the morning and you waited until noon for her to wake up. When she did, her face was smeared with eyeliner and her hair a mess.

You hadn’t touched your phone since the night before. You chewed your thumb as you waited for her to emerge from the shower, restless and unsure what to do with yourself. She slammed the lid down on her coffee machine and growled as she turned and crossed her arms.

“Are you okay?” she asked sharply.

“I’m sorry,” you said as you stopped pacing. You barely remembered getting up to walk circles around the coffee table, “I just don’t know what to do.”

“Well, how about a latte?” she yawned behind her hand, “my coffee machine is fucked… again.”

“Um, maybe that’s best, get out and… distract myself,” you twiddled your fingers as your stomach ached. You hadn’t eaten anything since the day before and that was just after noon.

“We’ll get lunch,” she rubbed her forehead, “soak up the wine.”

You shook your head and said nothing. She always drank too much around Ray but you didn’t have the energy for that argument again. So you stayed quiet and watched her disappear into her bedroom.

She emerged as you zipped up your purse. You didn’t bother with your phone as you waited by the door but felt listless without the device. It was like a shield you used when you went out in the world. It kept you from eye contact or awkward conversation.

You set off and headed down the street to the pub that seamlessly shifted from brunch to ladies’ night every Saturday. You ordered breakfast tacos as you sat just inside the large floor length windows that looked out onto the shady patio. The other guest lent a sense of normalcy as they carried on their own conversations and reminded you that you were just another ant on the hill.

As you got your latte in the stemmed glass, Eva pulled out her phone and scowled at the shaking. She was so wrapped up in her texts with Ray she hadn’t even mentioned the reason for your overnighter. You were happy for it and yet, you couldn’t think of anything else.

“Jesus, I told him we were having breakfast and he’s blowing up my phone,” she huffed, “just a second.”

“Eve,” you said as she stood and slid her thumb across the screen, “our foods gonna be here--”

“I won’t be long,” she promised and lifted the speaker to her ear and turned away, “Ray, I’ll be over later, promise. I barely slept--”

Her voice trailed away as she wove between tables and pushed out onto the patio and went to the short fence to chat beyond the ears of diners. You sipped from your drink and stared down at the splintered curve of the table. You couldn’t stay with Eva forever and she was hardly any comfort in her distraction with her on-again, off-again dirt bag. Maybe, if you moved--

“There you are, sweetheart,” the low voice startled you and you sat stalk straight as a figure smoothly slid into Eva’s empty chair, “you gave me quite a scare, up and leaving without a word…”

You stared wide-eyed at the stranger across from you. Well, you knew who he was. Everyone in the city, in the country, even the world, knew Steve Rogers. He smiled at you as his blue eyes glimmered. His posture was cool and confident and it was you who felt out of place.

And you knew, it was him. The shock was not enough to fuel your denial as that feeling deep down assured you of it. That little voice that told you this was your tormentor and that you were fucked.

“I…” you breathed and blinked. You couldn’t find the words, you hardly understood the storm of emotions flowing through you. You glanced through the window as Eva threw her hand up and continued berating her phone, “it’s you?”

“I hate that it has to be this way,” he said, “you know, my work keeps me out of town so much and I just wish we had more time.”

“Wha…” you gulped and gripped the edge of the table, “why--?”

“You haven’t been answering me,” his smile fell, “I don’t like being ignored.”

Your hand shook and you kept it in your lap to hide the rising terror along your spine. You sat paralysed as he sighed and glanced around the restaurant. He tilted his head and pushed his shoulders back.

“You threw out my gift,” he said evenly, “that wasn’t very nice.”

“Go…” you uttered, “go, please--”

“Sweetheart, we’re just talking,” he took a gulp of Eva’s Americano casually, “I missed you… I miss you every day and it hurts that we have to be apart.”

Your shoulders slumped and you clutched your hands in fists on your lap. You could scream but what good would that do. He was Captain America, the first avenger, a hero.

As if your thoughts sent a banner waving, a young kid approached the table and smiled nervously as he held one of the colouring pages supplied by the restaurant in his hands.

“Um, Captain, uh, America,” the kid stuttered, “will you sign-- Will you sign my--?”

The kid smiled through tight lips and held up the colouring page. Instead, Steve chuckled and took his cap from his head and fished around in his pocket. He pulled out a sharpie and signed the brim and placed it back on the kid’s head.

“There you go,” he said.

“Thank you, Cap!” the kid almost squealed, “oh my gosh!”

“No problem,” Steve laughed and watched the kid run back to the table where his mother sat, she waved at the man across from you and mouthed a thanks. He cleared his throat and stood as he tucked away the marker, “sorry, this is why I didn’t wanna do this in public,” he gripped his hip with one hand, “but… we’ll have our time.” He slowly backed away, “I’ll text you. You’ll answer.”

He grinned one last time and strode away. He stopped before the door as he held it open for Eva and she batted her lashes at him as she gushed. You could guess at her star struck words but couldn’t make them out. He left as she finally stopped her babbling and she almost skipped over to you.

“Oh my god, did you see him?” she trilled, “I didn’t think he’d be even better looking in-person.”

“See who?” you asked dumbly as you tried to disguise your discomfort in your latte.

“Steve Rogers,” she announced, “ugh, even without your phone, you got your head in the ground.”

#steve rogers #dark steve rogers #dark!steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #fic #dark fic #dark!fic #miniseries #series #two parts #desperate measures #mcu #marvel #captain america #avengers

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anonquack · 4 years ago

Text

| And Me? |

Alex Quackity x Reader, Oneshot!

Word Count: 2262

Warnings: None! Just some curse words.

Summary: Seeing how much time you've been spending with Bad recently just doesn't sit well with Quackity, and he's going to make sure your attention is returned back to where it belongs. With him.

You had been messing around with what was coined the "Feral Boys" on a Saturday afternoon. Your takeout order was placed on your desk, neglected by the loud clicking and tapping of your keyboard. You all had been throwing around random stream ideas, which proceeded to be bashed by everyone.

"Guys," Dream groaned, frustration clear in his tone yet there was still that softness that let everyone know he wasn't actually mad, "we've been on call for 2 hours and still have no stream ideas we like."

"Maybe if Sapnap didn't complain about everything." Karl quickly quipped in, the grin that was probably plastered onto his face was visible to you even with it just being voice chat.

Sapnap clapped back just as quickly, a little more edge to his words but just the right amount of teasing too.

"Yeah? Nothing works with your schedule. We gotta fit these ideas in with your Mr. Beast-filled schedule."

Quackity let out a laugh that made you roll your eyes yet smile fondly as you finally turned to look at your food, taking a bite as the call jumped right back into their previous banter, a helpless Dream trying to regain control and get everyone to work together.

It served as background noise as you quietly ate your food, inputting or agreeing with someone here and there, your stomach grateful to finally be getting some food. You'd been too busy earlier, and now you had the chance to eat and relax on call with friends. No actual streaming or anything, but still with the burden of coming up with new and fun stream ideas.

As you took yet another bite, your gaze fell onto your phone as the screen lit up, a notification coming through. You set your food down and grabbed the device, clicking on it and smiling once you saw it was a message from Bad.

Unlike whatever mess this call was, you had scheduled to record a video with Bad, and you assumed this message was to confirm that he was now available to film. After quickly reading it, your assumptions were proven right.

"Hey, Bad just texted. I'm gonna head out. Try not to think too hard while I'm gone, okay?" You said as you grabbed ahold of your mouse again, cursor going towards the disconnect button.

There was a mix of 'Bye!' and 'You think of some too, then!' and Sapnap's backhanded remarks that told you he would indeed miss you. You smiled, about to click disconnect before he spoke up.

"Bad? What are you recording with Bad?" The question caught you off guard, not because it came from Quackity but because no one had asked.

"Oh, well, just for a youtube video.. and I promised him we'd chat since I miss him." You admitted, cursor dancing across the screen as you waited for a response, if there was to be any.

"How come we didn't get invited?" Quackity asked, voice a mix of feigned hurt and disbelief of being 'left out'.

You playfully rolled your eyes, noticing a message come in from Bad yet again asking if he could call now. "You spend enough time with Bad as it is. Get in line, right now its MY turn. Now bye!! Seriously." You chuckled, hearing the start of a protest before disconnecting from the call and moving your cursor onto Bad's chat, quickly pressing the call button and waiting to hear his sweet voice ringing through your headphones.

—

As the small ping notified everyone else in the call that you had disconnected, Quackity let out a small huff, followed by George's small laugh.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Quackity replied with a tired tone, fingers lazily typing up some email he had been procrastinating on.

"Was that jealously I smelled, Big Q?" Karl teased, letting out a laugh that was so contagious, eliciting laughs from the whole call, even Quackity couldn't help but laugh before letting out another noise of disapproval.

"No, what the fuck? It's just they didn't even contribute any ideas. Just sat and argued with us, and then left to go hang out with Bad." He reasoned, it was a half truth. It didn't bother Quackity at all that you'd been 'unproductive', he enjoyed your company so much and these past two hours had left him with a tummy ache from laughing too hard.

What he hadn't enjoyed was you dropping everything to go on a call with Bad.

It didn't actually bother him, it was part of the bit they had going on, where he was a Skeppy 2.0 and had to fight the other Skeppy copies, in this case YOU, for Bad's attention.

Right?

He could feel a migraine coming through trying to understand this new emotion settling in his chest.

Sapnap let out an amused laugh, mumbling a 'sure' but swiftly changing topics in order to not start yet another argument.

—

It had been about 4 days since the call with the 'Feral Boys' and the recording with Bad. Since then, everything had ran smoothly and you'd been extra productive, focused on getting the video edited and posted as soon as possible.

Currently, you were ringing Bad as he streamed on the server, wanting to make a quick appearance and also just bug him for a bit since you missed him.

Since it was a rather chill stream, Bad didn't fight away your affection, instead encouraging that you hop on the server and play with him for a bit. You couldn't say no to that, how could you?

Before you knew it, you were off your bed and on your chair, in front of your computer as the Minecraft loading screen lit up your facial features and Bad told chat and you about an event that took place this weekend while he was out shopping.

The hushed laughs and sweet stories being shared were soon interrupted by Bad letting out an annoyed huff. "Quackity is spamming me to let him join the call. Is that okay, Y/N?"

You nodded, letting out a hum of approval as you walked towards Bad's avatar that was currently standing still since Bad tabbed out. "Of course."

"Okay, Quackity I'm live, what do you want?" Bad warned before tabbing back onto minecraft.

"Why are you guys calling without me?" There it was, the same tone he had 4 days ago when he was 'upset' he got left out. Your eyes looked at the small message on the bottom left of the screen that let everyone know Quackity had joined the server.

"Because.. whats wrong with it?" Bad asked, confused, before happily following that up, "I was actually telling them about my trip to the store over the weekend."

"Yeah, he was," you mused, "before you rudely interrupted." You assumed he was here for a bit, the Skeppy 2.0s fighting for Bad's love and affection, bothering Bad for a bit before letting the stream go back to being a relaxing, chill stream.

"Yeah? Well I want to hear the story too. You'll tell me too, right Bad?" He returned, the joking tone in his voice confirmed your assumptions. This was a bit.

Bad let out an exasperated sigh. These bits were never planned beforehand, they just happened and unfortunately for Bad it was happening during his chill stream. "What are you two going to fight about now?"

"I have one. Why were you guys recording without me? Hm?" The chat exploded with confusion and excitement for a new video from either Bad or you, possible video ideas being thrown around in chat.

"Because." You deadpan, "If you can do it, so can I."

"That's different." He says every single syllable with precision, as if he is preaching something of upmost importance. "You two spend way too much time together now."

Bad says something to try and interfere the banter he knows is about to take place, chat is going crazy about the Skeppy 2.0s fighting for Bad's love. "So much for a chill stream." He mumbles to chat as his character watches you and Quackity hitting each other. With your fists, since it was deemed a 'fair fight' by both.

After about 3 hours, Bad decided he'd had enough and began saying goodbye to chat. There was a content smile on your lips as you made your character crouch beside Bad's, letting out a small and content "Bye chat!". Quackity had stayed the 3 hours as well, and was yelling his own goodbyes. As soon as the stream ended, Bad let out a small laugh.

"Sometimes you two are just too much." He said, the smile evident in his voice. "Do you guys enjoy bothering me that much?"

"Aw c'mon, Bad. You know we love you tons. And you know damn well you enjoy it too." Quackity teased, which earned yet another exasperated sigh from Bad.

"Okay, well I'm heading to bed.. I'm exhausted. Thank you two, for joining me tonight.. I had fun." He said softly, which automatically made a frown appear on your lips.

"Of course, Bad! I had fun too. Thanks for letting us join. I'll call you tomorrow, yeah?" You offered, to which he hummed. There was a few more goodbyes exchanged before the ping notified you both Bad was gone.

There was silence for a bit as you finally got out of the server and shut minecraft off, wanting to rest your eyes for a bit. Maybe even head to bed yourself.

"You'll call him tomorrow, huh?"

Your eyes closed and you leaned your head back against your chair.

"Bit's over, Quackity." You chuckled, not up for yet another banter about who deserved Bad's love more.

"When's the last time we called? Now it's just Bad this, Bad that."

Your eyes opened, your eyebrows furrowed as you stared at his little profile picture that had its green ring fading around it.

"What?" You said in pure disbelief.

"You heard me." He mumbled. "Video recordings, streams, calls. And me? Nothing. Not one crumb."

"What about you?" You teased, amusement growing as you realized the past 3 hours had not been about Bad, at least not entirely.

"Don't make me actually say it." He complained, which only helped make the smile on your face grow.

"Use your words, Alex. I can't read minds." You gently bit at your bottom lip in anticipation, and in poor attempt to hold back the laugh that was threatening to escape.

"Where's my calls? My recordings. You can't just randomly strip away all your attention from me and dump it on Bad."

"I didn't even do that." You protested, before letting the laugh escape your lips. "Plus, you should be greedy over Bad's attention, not mine."

"Maybe it's not for a bit, asshole? Did you think of that?" He asked sarcastically, earning a scoff from you.

"So you want my attention yet you're going to proceed to call me an asshole?"

"Yes." He breathed out.

"You didn't deny it." You hummed in slight approval. Usually he'd shy away from showing any actual clinginess or affection, and yet here he was, declaring with his whole chest that he wanted attention.

"Because I'm serious. Do you think this is a joke? Is that what I am to you?" He said dramatically, to which you shook your head.

"Of course not." You hummed before smiling at the absurdity of this conversation.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep finally catching up to you and now you were imagining things.

"So? Does this mean I'm getting daily calls, recording videos with you, and streaming together whenever? Even on the alt?"

"Now you're just asking for too much."

"It's the bare minimum you can do for treating me so poorly and neglecting your responsibilities."

"Neglecting my responsibilities?" You repeated in disbelief.

"Yes." He declared. "Ignoring me for Bad is neglecting your responsibilities. A.K.A. me."

"I wasn't ignoring you, Alex." You tried to reason, though he would not listen to any reasoning.

"Yeah, yeah. So what? Do we have a deal?"

You paused and thought about what he was asking for. It really wasn't much, and he was most likely joking, but it was very endearing to see him ask for attention so openly. Especially from you.

"Did you miss me, Alex? While I was off on calls with Bad, talking about who knows what until who knows what time.. were you missing me? Thinking about me?" There was a teasing tone to your voice, but you also genuinely wanted to know.

It was clear that it caught him offguard.

"I mean.. yeah– what do you want me to say? No, fuck you. I didn't miss you at all. That's why I'm on call with you whining and bitching about how you don't give me enough attention and I want more. Specifically from you, please."

His last few words came out more hushed than the rest, and it brought a smile onto your face.

"Okay."

"Okay-?"

"You don't have to go on.. I'll give you the attention you want so badly from me." You said, the grin on your face growing more at the sound of happiness he let out.

"I guess directly asking for stuff isn't too bad, hm? I'll have to give props to Karl later for the advice."

You raised your eyebrows in amusement. "You asked Karl for advice on how to get my attention-?"

He let out a small groan, "Let's not talk about this with anyone, yeah? Just give me my attention and shh."

You hummed, "Whatever you say, Alex."

#alex quackity #quackity #quackity x you #quackity x reader #quackity x y/n #gender neutral reader #quackity brainrot #quackity scenario #help pls #streamer #quackity headcannons #quackity imagines #jealous quackity #bad is very tired

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beyondthetemples-ooc · 3 years ago

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Oh thank Azar, it WORKED!

I have spent approximately the last twenty-four hours fretting over my laptop. When I connected to the Wifi at my new temporary residence, I forgot to mark the connection as metered. Which means it downloaded and installed a Windows update. Which my laptop historically Does Not Do Well with. I don’t know why, they just always mess something up. So I avoid them adamantly.

(I know it’s a security risk. I take measures and I’m well acquainted with cyber attacks. Social engineering doesn’t work on me because I’m even suspicious of legitimate emails/files/downloads from Verified Sources^tm.)

Anyways, this particular update made my laptop’s Volume Up bottom spazz out so badly it would act like it’s being continually pressed, which for some reason would paralyze the track pad and cursor. Couldn’t even right-click.

It made my laptop damn-near unusable.

(tl;dr I figured it out but gods, it was an ordeal.)

Luckily I’m willing to take a risk for my stories and I trust Microsoft’s built-in virus protection much more than I would have a decade ago, because I couldn’t figure out how to disable Just That One Key, but I was able to spend about three hours patiently waiting for the key to stop spazzing (because it was frequent, but intermittent), and quickly disable the keyboard when it stopped. JUST long enough that I could find a program to disable the entire keyboard, because I didn’t trust the ones I found to disable Individual Keys.

(Luckily I’m also patient enough to use point-and-click to type with the on-screen keyboard so I could search the internet for what the hell I could do next... {lP Because as a writer, a blogger who writes affluent tags, and a keyboard-shortcut aficionado, I simply could Not use a computer without keyboard access. Maybe long enough to back up my stories... but then the machine would essentially be a very expensive paperweight to me.)

But then I got desperate when I couldn’t find an “in-house” way to remap (well, disable) the key causing all these problems. A couple of websites I’ve long used and trusted had articles on little lightweight programs you can use. But I was VERY nervous about using KeyTweak to disable it, because 1.) it’s built for XP/Vista/7, and 2.) IT USES THE REGISTRY. For those who don’t know: If you fuck up the registry, you might permanently fuck your computer forever and ever and there won’t be a way to fix it because the registry runs EVERYTHING, including core OS files, mouse clicks, and... to my immense benefit, keyboard strokes.

But KeyTweak worked. Its little 32-bit registry edit seems to have worked. The computer restarted to apply it and seems to be stable. The key is disabled and the trackpad is working. Luckily I don’t mind using the volume slider to adjust the volume instead.

Whew...

#rhs personal posts #if life could just... let me REST for a day... that would be wonderful. But alas... I must clean.#At least I have today off work.#rhs computer #This is why I consider myself a minor power user. I don't have command prompt... prompt commands... memorized #and I don't trust myself to edit the registry. I don't know enough to recognize when something would potentially cause a Big Fuck Up.#But gods I was desperate and I need my laptop to be usable... at least for another three months...

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qingxintea · 4 years ago

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➼ chongyun || hiraeth

tw: mention of knives (no violence), kidnapping, explosion _______

you angled your camera to catch your face and upper body correctly and adjusted your blinds for the correct lighting. you put thin pieces of yellow and pink paper over your lamp to give off a sunset lighting sort of aesthetic in your minimalist room. your tiny cacao tree sat in the corner of your room, setting some sort of simple beach vibe.

then, you began to stream.

you watched as majority of your followers came to view as you sat in your rolly gaming chair. the greetings came rushing in and you noticed two of your friends had came along too, xingqiu and chongyun.

"hey gang, it's kingexplosionmurder here with your weekly sunday stream," you smiled and watched as comments came in asking you to notice them. beginning to select randomly, you flicked a short strand of hair behind your ear. "you have been noticed, yourlocalsugardaddy," you blessed them. and you swore you chose randomly.

on the other side of the screen, chongyun's face slightly flushed before eating his popsicle again. yes, that was his username, selected by xingqiu after the guhua heir was somehow able to trick him into selecting so. the situation must've been that he accidentally consumed some jueyun chili's, that was also xingqiu's doing.

he watched you smile as you explained your schedule for this stream, when he noticed you suddenly began laughing. it sounded genuine, he wanted to believe it was genuine, but there was a trace of disappointment in it. he observed your face, noticing you were looking at the chat box. "i agree too, scarymoose."

scarymoose: this streamer's kinda dog shit ngl 😐

by instinct, his fingers grazed over the keyboard as he analyzed the tone. this kid wasn't joking around with himself, he was really out to bring you down. he exhaled, shaking his head, wondering how you would deal in the situation.

yourlocalsugardaddy: miss karen this isn't yelp 🙄

he wasn't content with that yet, things could've gone onto more serious matters, but he knew you liked to keep your chat clean and peaceful. you went to the farther extents to keep that from happening, agreeing with rude comments yourself as a said joke, but actually have it sometimes harming you.

so chongyun tried his best to keep you happy.

redrumreaper: yo moose chill 😳

he recognized his friend xingqiu also trying to calm the situation as you just laughed it off and attempted to continue, sooner enough just beginning to ignore all his comments. some other viewers came up to your defense but in all honesty, you wanted to move on.

"s-so, i found some silk flowers outside of wangshuu inn yesterday, aren't they pretty?" you took a tiny bouquet of the said silk flowers and presented it to your viewers, holding it next to your cheek. the pink tone of the flowers matched the color of your cheeks and made for a nice picture. chongyun would've screenshotted it, but he respected your privacy.

yourlocaldumba$$: yes they're so pretty we love you 😍

13lue13erry: yes ong ong 💕 thiccer than my granny

Straw13erry: don't bring madame ping into this 💀💀

colino: are you sure it's alright to take from someone's legally owned property ?? much less from their garden

Straw13erry: u mean ur neighbors don't harvest ur flowers every day? 🙄 privilege spoke 🤚

yourlocalsugardaddy: vv pretty 😳

redrumreaper: simp 💀

you slightly choked over on your side and xingqiu calling chongyun a simp, for you. quickly clearing your throat, you regained your composure. your viewers could see that your cheeks had been dusted with a darker shade now.

13lue13erry: 👀

Straw13erry: 👀

yourlocaldumba$$: 👀

redrumreaper: 👀

sireluck: 💀

bazinga: 👀

dandelionn: 👀

poetichoe: 👀

"okay- anyways," you pushed that aside, watching the chain of 👀's coming in. you weren't too sure at what they were referring to, but just assumed that they were interested in xingqiu exposing chongyun. but, there was no way chongyun really felt like that, right? it was just a friendly compliment from what you believed. "just a tiny flex but y'all guys, i am so cracked at apex, not gonna lie. for all the new followers out there," you randomly commented. 'and to change the subject.'

"actually, you know what? fuck the schedule, let's go to trolling little eight year old kids posting selfies on instagram. due to certain reasons i'm just not gonna be blurring their usernames out, but please don't spam these people, i don't wanna be cancelled 💗" you sweetly smiled as you pulled up instagram and started streaming on your phone.

of course your sus notifications ruined it 🤡🤡

because xingqiu took advantage of the situation, sending messages to your discord. nothing mentioning your romantic life because he knew better than that, but just trolling. 'HEY GANG. ITS ME, TONY, AND TODAY WE'RE GONNA SEE IF IM FASTER THAN THIS MOUSE TRAP.' 'TURNS OUT, I AM NOT FASTER THAN THIS MOUSE TRAP.' 'AN UPDATE, IT HURTS. ALRIGHT. BYE GUYS.' you tried hard to contain your laughter, but certain giggles came out in the end, giggles that made chongyun's heart flutter.

xingqiu just kept spamming without a stop, to the point that you accidentally clicked into the notification instead of someone's username on a selfie post. so now everyone could see your group chat with xingqiu, chongyun, and a few other viewers that were actually your other friends.

13lue13erry: oh no 🤡

Straw13erry: 🗿

yourlocaldumba$$: HAHAHAHA WE'RE EXPOSED 🤡👌

just water support boy 😔: image.png

oh my god he's sending chongyun catboy edits. you made this concerning noise, glad no one really seemed to know who chongyun really was on twitch. you went back to instagram, beginning to dm a random kid, ignoring the situation that had just happened.

chongyun choked, slight heat running to his cheeks. what the fuck was xingqiu doing- how did he even get those pictures? maybe it was that one time xingqiu forced him to go to a furry con, but how did he ever get the time to photograph these? he nervously fidgeted and played with his fingers.

13lue13erry: 🤡

Straw13erry: 🤡

yourlocaldumba$$: 🤡

redrumreaper: 🤡

<— oraoraoraor

kingexplosionmurder: chav check

oraoraoraor: what

kingexplosionmurder: chav: check 😹😹

oraoraoraor: bruh

oraoraoraor: who tf are you

kingexplosionmurder: hope you like baddies cause i'm bad at everything 💗

oraoraoraor: bruh ok i'm blocking