#however was before long dropped for the Mac

[sleepingdead96]

Prepared for Anything Pt. 2

Part 3, MasterPost

Gotham was a terrible place to live.

It was great.

People weren’t overly friendly or familiar with people they didn’t know, meaning they paid Danny no mind. No one mentioned he had fangs. No one commented on his slightly pointed ears. And no one questioned his strange ability to ward off muggers and would be criminals without even having to speak to them. His ghost aura came in handy sometimes.

It also mean that rent was dirt cheap. Especially in Crime Alley where Danny had taken up residence. It was made even cheaper by the fact that Danny didn't need heating with his ghostly physiology. It cut a lot down on bills. Not that it really mattered much. As Ghost King, he had an abundance of funds that he wasn’t sure he could dry it up within fifty lifetimes, let alone his one. However immortal it was.

The downside was the old wiring. Leaving him here. Eating Mac and cheese out of the pot he’d been cooking up as he watched the fire flicker and smoke plume out the windows.

Now, Danny hadn’t been planning to flee his apartment, it’s not like he woulda been in any danger, but his neighbour, some guy named Jason, had gone door to door, ensuring everyone was following the fire drills that children learned in elementary school which were ultimately incredibly flawed. Who really believed that an entire school of children would stay calm and collected during an actual fire?

Jason was nowhere to be seen now, though. Danny wondered if he was okay, but that guy currently helping a family out onto a fire escape, Red Bird. . .Red Helmet or something, would probably make sure he was. He was apparently a crime lord, but a good one?. . . .

. . .

Gotham was weird.

Just as the red guy and the family reached the ground, a scream for help called from the second top floor. They sounded young. Danny looked up to see a little girl at a window and flames raging too close for her to go anywhere.

Well. . . that was concerning. Who had left such a young kid unattended? 

Red Dude was dashing out to the front of the building to get his bearings, looking for a way up. He wouldn’t be able to reach the girl using the fire escape. Danny took another bite of his Mac and Cheese, watching as the man’s grapple gun jammed.

Danny heaved a deep sigh. 

He supposed he would have to get involved.

Leaving the crowd of tenants that had huddled on the sidewalk, Danny trudged back across the street and into an alley. He went far enough that no one would see him and opened a portal. With one hand, he reached in, found purchase on his quarry, and turned away to drag the ladder out and behind him.

Danny found Trigger-Happy-Dude starting to scale the building. Danny interrupted him before he got too far.

He belatedly wondered where the fire-fighters and cops were.

“Oh, hey, look what I randomly found in that alley.”

Red Dude paused to look at him. Looked at the ladder trailing behind Danny.

“It’s a ladder.” Danny raised it slightly from his lazy hold, noting how much he felt like he was giving an infomercial right now. “Pretty long, huh? Long enough to reach that floor, I bet.” Danny added helpfully with an encouraging nod. “How fortuitous.”

The Red Dude was quick to drop down and take it from him, but stared at Danny the whole time as if was abnormally weird.

Which was rude. Danny was just abnormal, thank you very much.

“Uhh. . .good work.” Red Dude said, setting up the ladder with Danny’s help. The vigilante tested it for stability. 

Danny scoffed. As if he would purposefully tamper with it.

Which wasn’t too far-fetched in this city.

Red Dude deemed it acceptable. “Hold it steady for me, would ya?”

Danny nodded.

The man climbed up and Danny held both sides, pouting down at his pot of Mac and Cheese he’d had to set aside for the moment.

Ah, the sacrifices he makes.

Across the street, there were a multitude of cheers as Red Dude reached the little girl and settled her on his front like a backwards piggy-back hold.

Danny stepped aside when Red reached the bottom to pick his pot back up.

Sirens cut into the roar of flames above their heads and the loud call of the tenants that had lasted rather short, a few half-hearted cheers dying on the wind.

It was the middle of the night. Everyone was tired.

The mother of the little girl ran up to take her child and flagged down the first paramedic to arrive on the scene.

Danny returned his gaze to Red Dude who equally eyed him. Or at least, Danny assumed. His head was facing him.

“You’re that guy who punched out Joker.”

Danny paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. He slowly brought it the rest of the way. “How’d you know about that?”

“Cameras.” Hood tapped his helmet with a finger. “I saw RR and Robin’s video feed.”

Danny hummed, nodding along as he chewed. He wasn’t terribly concerned. Danny was just a random guy that happened to punch another random guy. It probably happened all the time in a place like Gotham. There was no need for further investigation into who Danny was. The vigilantes had probably forgotten all about him until this instant.

Red Dude looked at his pot. “That’s what you’re eating?” He said, somehow conveying judgement through the modulator.

“Yep.” Danny took another bite. After a moment of contemplation, he left the fork in his mouth to produce another from his hoodie pocket. He held it out to Red Dude. “Mac and Cheese?”

The dude leaned back slightly and his crossed arms gave the impression he was offended. “You just carry forks around in your pockets?”

Danny shrugged. “Ah, ya know, never leave home without a back-up fork.”

Red Dude considered him for another moment and Danny thought he’d decline. But then, he shrugged, his stance relaxing somewhat. “Sure.” He accepted the fork.

[milkycarnations]

HC's for the creeps aftercare after a rough night with their SO?

A rough night or a rough night? ;) Let's do both. Please keep sending stuff to my inbox I'm obsessed. For context, the sfw ones still apply in the nsfw context lol. I wanted the sfw ones to apply even in the context of just going through some tough shit.

Tim

sfw:

Makes you breakfast the next day - let's you pick. Or gets something for you if you prefer something from a cafe/restaurant/fast food chain.

You want a sausage egg McMuffin and breakfast ends in three minutes? He's gonna find a way to get you that sandwich.

He really believes in food as comfort and love, so whatever you prefer he wants to make happen.

nsfw:

Can't stop staring at you. Like, it's almost disturbing how his eyes are on you constantly.

Prefers if you don't get dressed, but if you must, would ask you to wear a long t-shirt or a slip.

In this moment, you could literally ask him to do anything for you - and he would. Use that information however you please. He just wants to pamper you.

Brian

sfw:

Won't let you go until you ask him to, even if he's lying in bed all day.

When you're genuinely bothered or upset by something, he can soften up and be really good support for whatever it is.

If cuddling for very long isn't your thing, then he's content just being near you.

nsfw:

This man is so smug.

Of course, if you're in sub drop or anything, he's going to go easy on you, but the back and forth between you doesn't really stop. He will bring up whatever happened and kind of keep that going - even if you're a bit embarrassed now that you came.

Really - he just wants to work you up all over again and keep the game going for just a little bit longer. I really do believe he's a mean dom and really does get off on humiliating you. He will remind you of everything embarrassing you did for him.

Jack

sfw:

Makes you drink a glass of water - even if you say you aren't thirsty. He knows you're dehydrated.

If you're hungry now, he'll make you a meal, but he's not opposed to waiting. He makes you what you like the most, whether that's from that restaurant you like or just Kraft mac n' cheese.

nsfw:

He knows what he's doing and he already has everything set up. He's cleaning you up with a warm towel before you can even catch your breath. He doesn't want you to get an infection, after all.

Usually spitting praises and compliments to you.

Often suggests a bath together - even though he can't fit in the tub at all.

Toby

sfw

Now is the perfect time for adventure. Wants to go on a night walk.

Just wants to go out and do things with you alone in nature - pretend to not exist to the rest of society with you.

You'll walk down the empty 2 am street and just talk about whatever's on your mind. Sit on the swings at the park and kick rocks enjoying each other's company.

nsfw:

His aftercare is horny.

He'll still be touching you in ways, or still be inside of you.

He's a biter and finds himself still giving little nibbles to your neck, but when he finally stops, he catches himself running his fingers over the love bites.

It's all fervent and reckless, but not neglectful. I don't really know how else to describe it like that. Toby loves like a teenage boy loves his first girl friend - unabashed and adventurous - even though he's an adult now.

Jeff

sfw:

He's a rock. Your rock, but still a rock. I don't imagine it's easy to get him all empathetic, but he's still there for your struggles.

Encourages more of an activity - cooking a meal together, smoking, whatever it may be.

nsfw:

I'll be honest, I think sex with him is very primal and animalistic. He's not too keen on you cleaning yourself up immediately after, so if you're cuddling he'll try to convince you to sit in it.

Obviously he won't force you, he just thinks it's hot when you get physically exerted over something. It plays into this dynamic of sneaky, taboo sex where you get off and then go along with your day pretending nothing happened. Might not be there emotionally, but again - he'll ask if you want to go out and do something.

Liu

sfw:

He definitely feels with you the most. Whatever emotions you're going through, he parrots them very easily.

A back rubber. Just constantly running his fingers over your back in gentle caresses. Wipes your tears gently, if you have any. Pokes your cheeks when you smile.

nsfw:

In regards to sex, Liu always makes you a cup of tea after. He's narrowed down your preferences (but I always like to think he'd give you unsweetened peppermint tea - unless you don't like it).

Prefers silent cuddles after sex. Usually this lasts for about half an hour (unless it's right before bed.)

Nina

sfw:

You probably fell asleep while watching movies or something. The movie is still playing when you wake up.

A moment for self-care and pampering. Pedicures, facials, and backrubs. Real stereotypical "girl" stuff - even if you aren't a girl. She wants the sleepover experience with you.

nsfw:

I imagine her aftercare for sex is very similar.

She doesn't want you to dress, but if you do, she insists you wear a cute matching robe with her and fuzzy slippers.

Lots of pillow talk - she really isn't content with just being quiet and cuddling.

[scoonsalicious]

Unwanted: Chapter 22, Untold - Pt. 1

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Fem!Reader

Summary: When your FWB relationship with your best friend Bucky Barnes turns into something more, you couldn’t be happier. That is, however, until a new Avenger sets her sights on your super soldier and he inadvertently breaks your heart. You take on a mission you might not be prepared for to put some distance between the two of you and open yourself up to past traumas. Too bad the only one who can help you heal is the one person you can no longer trust.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, alcohol consumption, strippers,

Word Count: 1.5k

Previously On...: Tony expressed his concerns about you going on this mission.

A/N: When Tony Met Pocket!

NOTE! The tag list is a fickle bitch, so I'm not really going to be dealing with it anymore. If you want to be notified when new story parts drop, please follow @scoonsaliciousupdates

Banner By: The absolutely amazing @mrsbuckybarnes1917!

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

Taglist: (Sadly, tag list is closed; Tumblr will not let me add anyone new. If you want to be notified when I update, please Follow me for Notifications!) @jmeelee @cazellen @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @blackhawkfanatic @buckybarnessimpp @hayjat @capswife @itsteambarnes @marygoddessofmischief @sebastians-love @learisa @lethallyprotected @rabbitrabbit12321 @buckybarnesandmarvel @fanfictiongirl77 @calwitch @fantasyfootballchampion @selella @jackiehollanderr @wintercrows @sashaisready @missvelvetsstuff @angelbabyyy99 @keylimebeag @maybefoxysouls @vicmc624 @j23r23 @wintercrows @crist1216 @cjand10 @pattiemac1@les-sel @dottirose @winterslove1917 @harperkenobi @ivet4 @casey1-2007 @mrsevans90 @steeph-aniie @bean-bean2000 @beanbagbitch @peachiestevie @wintrsoldrluvr @shadowzena43

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Boston, 2002

The bass inside the club was pounding, reverberating through the air and your skull as you made your way onto the floor. The day had already been unbearably long, and after your shift tonight, you still had a mountain of reading to do for your Introduction to Data Structures and Algorithms class. But, MIT courses didn’t come cheap, even at two classes a semester, and you needed every penny you could make from your shifts at Beantown Burlesque. It would make more sense, financially, to work a club closer to the college, but the idea of running into any of your classmates or, god forbid, your professors, made the extra time and money you spent commuting from Cambridge to inner Boston completely worth it. 

Not that you expected a lot of tips tonight. It would have been better if you’d been scheduled to work the stage before they sent you to the floor; you were always requested for more lap dances after the patrons had seen you work the pole. You’d just have to work your ass off to entice a couple of lonely men into the VIP booth. But that always came with the additional task of fighting off requests for additional “services.” You may have been desperate for cash, but you were quite done with having your body sold for money, thank you.

You made your way over to the bar, hoping to get some intel on tonight’s patrons so you could shoot your best shot. 

“How’s it goin’ tonight, Cherry Pie?” the bartender, Mac, asked, using the pseudonym you’d chosen for your stage name when you started at the club a year ago. 

“No complaints yet, Mac,” you said, gratefully accepting the glass of water he offered you– it was important to stay hydrated, after all, “but then again, the night is very young.”

Mac let out a gruff laugh as he wiped down a glass. “You’re too young to be so cynical, Cherr,” he said.

You shrugged. That was an understatement. “Any good prospects tonight?” you asked, leaning your elbows on the bartop.

Mac nodded his chin toward a group of young men sitting close to the stage. “That group over there’s racked up a pretty big tab so far. Think they’re from the MIT alumni conference.” That piqued your interest. Beantown Burlesque might not be the ideal place to network, but you’d honestly take whatever you could get.

“They seem decent enough?” you asked Mac.

“About as decent as any group of blokes that come here,” he offered. “But they’ve been pretty respectful so far; no one’s tried to put hands anywhere they shouldn’t.”

“Good enough for me,” you told him. With a parting wave, you sauntered over to the group, making sure to put some extra sway in your hips. As you approached, you surveyed the collection of men. They all seemed to be centering their focus on one man in particular– he was dark haired with a goatee and wearing a pair of tinted glasses and looked vaguely familiar, though you couldn’t place where you might have seen him before. You clocked his expensive loafers and custom Armani suit, and the way the others around him laughed a little too loudly at what he was saying. 

That’s the one, you thought to yourself. He had the money. If you were going to make your rent on time this month, he was the one you’d need to impress.

“You boys fancy some company tonight?” you asked once you approached the group. The man with the goatee leaned forward, a sure sign of interest, and looked at you over the lens of his glasses.

“Well, gorgeous,” he said with a smirk, “we're not ones to turn down an offer for good companionship, especially from someone as captivating as you. But let's be real, the question is whether you can keep up with us. Think you're ready for the challenge?”

Oh, this one was cocky. You could work with that. You trailed your fingertips along the tops of his shoulders as you made your way around to the table in front of him. Without breaking eye contact, you picked up the double shot of whiskey sitting there and downed the entire thing in one swig without flinching.

The other men in the group whooped and hollered at your display, but the man with the goatee just studied you with a peculiar look on his face. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” he asked.

“You can call me Cherry Pie,” you said as you began swaying your hips to the rhythm of the music coming through the speakers. 

“I didn’t ask what they call you here,” he said, leaning back as you put your hands on his shoulder and began swaying in between his legs. “I asked for your name.”

“You haven’t spent nearly enough to earn that, honey,” you said as you gyrated. 

The man laughed at that, then, reaching for his wallet, pulled out a handful of crisp, one hundred dollar bills. He gently tucked them into the waistband of your bottoms. “How’s that?”

You looked at the bills tucked into your underwear. By your guess, there was about eight hundred dollars there. You just might make rent, after all. “It’s a start,” you shrugged, beginning your tried and true lap dance routine.

One of the other men in the group let out a loud laugh. “She’s sure got your number, Stark!”

At the name, your eyes shot to the man with the goatee’s face, and it suddenly clicked for you. “Holy shit,” you breathed. “You’re Tony Stark.”

Stark smiled. “Guilty as charged, sweetheart.”

“Your company’s network security sucks ass,” you told him, the words coming out of your mouth before you could stop them.

He quirked an eyebrow at that. “Excuse me?”

Fuck. “Uh, nothing, sorry. Forget I said anything.” You put a renewed vigor back into your dance.

“Um, no.” Stark said, grasping your wrist firmly enough to encourage you to stop dancing, but gently enough to let you know he posed you no threat. “I want to hear how a stripper knows the faults of my network security.”

You blushed at that. “I, uh, may have broken in the back door and temporarily held your system hostage for ten minutes last May,” you confessed.

“That was you?” Stark exclaimed. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he sounded… impressed. “You paralyzed our entire operation!”

“Yeah… sorry about that.” Well, you could kiss any further tips goodbye, that was for sure.

“Why’d you relinquish control back to us?” he asked. “You could have held it for ransom; we would have paid whatever you asked for.”

Huh. You had never even considered doing that. “Well, um, actually, I did it as part of a final project? For my Engineering Ethics and Professionalism course at MIT?”

Stark cocked his head at you. “With Erickson?” You nodded, and Stark actually laughed. “He still a narcissistic son of a bitch?”

You chuckled and nodded. “Sexist, too. He nearly shat a brick when he had to watch a mere girl bring a Fortune 500 company to its knees.”

Stark laughed, heartily. “I’ll bet he did! What I wouldn’t have given to see his face!”

“I set up a camera to record it,” you told him. “I can make you a copy of the VHS, if you want. I needed to capture the moment for posterity.”

From there, the atmosphere and your position in the group shifted. You were no longer the entertainment. Tony (he insisted you call him that) invited you to join him as his equal, and for the next several hours, he picked your brain, testing your knowledge and asking you questions about yourself, much to the displeasure of the rest of his group. One by one, they departed, until it was just the two of you. You were having the time of your life. You figured you’d never again have the opportunity to sit back and just hang out with such an icon of the tech community, and you were going to make the most of it. Now, here you were playing a game of Never Have I Ever.

“Never have I ever sheared a sheep,” Tony said with a grin.

“Why, Mr. Stark,” you said, bringing your glass to your lips (you failed to mention that, technically, you weren’t legally old enough to drink), “you haven’t truly lived until you’ve shorn the raw wool from an unwilling ewe.”

“You’re shitting me,” Tony said, laughing.

You took the glass from your lips without drinking. “You got me,” you told him. I grew up in Dayton. Not a whole lotta opportunities for sheep shearing there.”

A mischievous glint came into Tony’s eyes. “Your shift’s got to be almost over,” he said. “What do you say, Cherry Pie? Wanna go shear a sheep?”

“(Y/N),” you told him. “My name’s (Y/N), and I would fucking love to.”

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

[galatariel]

☆ UPSCALING LOW QUALITY FOOTAGE

what i used: • 2021 macbook pro with m1 chip (390/500gb storage used she's hanging in there) • photoshop 2020 • mpv (for screencaps but this isn't needed!) • handbrake (available for linux, mac and windows here) • video source to gif

what is handbrake? basically its a software that helps you change the format of videos, such as for certain devices or screens, or in the case that we're going to utilise, quality and frame rate!

disclaimer: handbrake is super easy to use and very beginner friendly for this procedure and it can make a video go from 30fps to 60fps however it does not replace the quality of true 4k/blue/master-pro res files. in the gif below, this is the level of detail in a master pro-res file.

getting started it's easiest first to note the timestamps of the video you want to encode, and keep in mind that unless your computer is incredibly powerful, i wouldn't try to encode an hour worth of footage in one run! my laptop could handle about 30 seconds in one go before she started toasting.

using handbrake: once you've downloaded the software, open the software and it will come up with a pop up window asking you to open the video source (that is presumably saved within your folders) and go ahead and do so!

in the range section, use the drop down button to navigate to seconds and enter your timestamp. the duration on the side will show how long of the footage you're gonna encode is!

then go down to the save as, and give your footage 'to be snipped' a name. this isn't necessary but useful because if you're planning to say, encode 3 or 4 small parts of footage in one sitting, each encoding instance will overwrite the previous one. so i just call mine 'cut 1', 'cut 2' and so on.

next go to preset, and there you'll see such a wide variety of options that you can play around with, with differing qualities, frame rates, sound options, and so on. for the sake of this tutorial, i'm using 'superhq 2160p60 4k av1 surround' and i've used the drop down menu to select it! then go ahead and press start! the time taken to complete depends on the duration of footage that you sent to encode! you'll find your encoded video as an .mp4 file in your designated folder (which you can change via browse at the bottom)

what next? • if you prefer to open footage directly into photoshop (my ps can't handle it), then go for it! • if you screencap as i do, then just use mpv or whatever screencapping program you prefer to make the screencaps and open in ps in your usual manner. • you can use the timestamps to further process the video through vapoursynth to denoise, but i've yet to try that!

the results for this first set of example footage, i used footage from the be the sun concert file, which is almost 2 hours in length and 4gb in file size.

you can see the difference in the smooth frame rate of the footage, as well as the quality of the sharpening!

and to utilise the bane of gifmaking, a gose episode, notorious for dodgy pixelated frames and less hd quality in 1080p on youtube, i ran it through the same settings!

these are the exact same files, downloaded using 4k video downloader and with the same sharpening, but see how on the original file, the sharpening looks a bit more harsh and 'outlined' while it seems to sit softer on the encoded 4k version!

so i mainly use handbrake for dvd files, or not-so-hd 1080p youtube videos or videos that seem a bit clunkier but i had never tried them on a tv/film file so take a look below! i used a 1gb (so not very good quality) of a show (as compared to its 4gb files).

as i said at the start in the disclaimer, handbrake can't replicate true file quality, as you'd expect to see in a proper hd bluray/t*rrent file of a show but there's an interesting difference in the frame rate. personally it's not something i would utilise much there but its all up to individual preference on how someone prefers to have their gifs <3

this is a very basic run-through of how i used handbrake, as i haven't really explored all its features and i use this as a quick process when i'm running through seventeen dvd/dl files but i feel like it would work well on general youtube videos (such as interviews, episodes, behind the scenes) and feel free to send an ask/message for any help/clarification! <33

[fawnfictions]

helloo :'0

would you,, mayhaps consider a lil platonic thing between macaque and a gn!reader where they're just absolutely Showering the shadow monkey with affection?

stress cuddles

— macaque & gn!reader

this is so cute, he deserves the affection :(

this is kind of shitty, and i'm sorry for being absent for so long <//3 i wanted to finish this asap when i got the motivation back

;; platonic, a little angst at the start?, almost entirely fluff, swearing (mac has a potty mouth smh)

You weren't entirely certain of the events that led up to this moment—one moment, you were on your way to your favourite shadow monkey for a surprise visit. Next moment, you were standing in front of a moping mess of a scarred demon.

Macaque, with his usual attire discarded and now donning a casual outfit that included black sweatpants and a purple sweater, was sitting in a lonely corner on a bench in his dojo. The sight was pitiful, really; his clawed hands held his glum face, seemingly lost in his thoughts and in another world as he failed to register your appearance despite his exceeding sense of hearing.

With careful movements, you stepped towards his corner. At less than a few feet away, he finally snapped out of his trance as you noticed his ears twitching. His eyes darted to your form, alarmed, almost prepared to attack out of fear from his vulnerability, as the natural shadows surrounding the two of you began to grow larger, and more intimidating.

"H-Hey, Macaque—It's just me. Are you... Alright?"

His tail lashed nervously behind him, his pupils dilating as he comprehended the lack of threat. The monkey seemed to mull over the possible responses for a moment.

"Sorry, kid... I, uh, was lost in my head, then." Macaque brushed off, despite the distant look in his avoiding eyes, "What brings you 'round to my humble abode, anyways?"

You frowned at the forced grin upon his face, "You know you can talk to me, right? I can tell that something is bothering you, Mac."

He grumbled, reluctant to open up and lay out his problems on your shoulders. However, one glance into your caring eyes broke through his thin walls.

The expression on his face dropped, the corners of his mouth dropping and his brows furrowed, "Ah, geez. You're so stubborn —"

You gave a light, playful smack to his shoulder at his remark, receiving a short, yet genuine, laugh in response.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" His grin dropped, "But, uh... I was just thinking about the past. Back with Wukong, y'know?"

That was all you needed to hear, really — those few words held a lot of baggage behind them. And, although you weren't overly knowledgeable on the details of the friendship between the two simians, it didn't take a scholar to understand that they had separated on sour terms.

Despite the pain that he had caused towards the Monkey King, you did know that, in his heart, Macaque wished that nothing had changed between them.

You had opened your mouth to offer comfort after a moment of silence had passed, but you were interrupted before a single sound left, "And all this... Lady Bone Demon shit, and the Brotherhood, recently — it's stressing me out!"

His teeth were barred as his hand clenched at his head. Fortunately, you knew it wasn't aimed at you.

With a sigh, immediately catching his attention by the flickering of an ear, you opened your arms, offering your physical affections to him. With nothing but a peep, the mystic monkey pushed himself into your embrace.

His tail found itself wrapping around your leg, his claws unconsciously digging into your shirt, attempts to ground himself. He buried his face lightly into your hair, breathing in the comfort of your scent; the scent that told him that, in this moment, he wasn't alone.

While ensuring that he remained in your embrace, you manoeuvred your bodies downwards, lowering to the floor and against one of the sturdy dojo walls. It definitely wasn't one of the most comfortable places you've ever sat before; hardwood floorboards and sturdy pillars weren't exactly made with comfort in mind. However, the furry equivalent of a hot-water bottle that didn't show any signs of releasing his hold from you had taken all of your focus at the moment.

You sat in silence, a dark simian curled into your body between your legs and clutching onto your clothing with clawed hands and a tail, yet still careful enough to not damage the fabric, while you lifted a hand to gently scratch around the fur on his head. You could feel Macaque's body begin to lose its tension at your ministrations, slumping further into you.

A low sigh, barely audible, left the monkey, followed by quiet purring — you doubted that he was conscious of the noises he was making, there had been plenty of times in the past where he had shown clear embarrassment at any slip-ups he had made.

With the understanding that you may be stuck here for a while, you allowed yourself to relax a bit more. At your slight movement, furred arms pulled tighter around you before you rested your head a top of his own. With a smile on your face, you held the troubled simian in your arms as he lost his worries in your embrace.

. . .

a few hours later – bonus scene ;D

You were reluctant to open your eyes, feeling crustier than usual, following the movement you had felt practically on top of you. With barely any recollection of when, or where, you had seemingly fallen asleep, you pushed yourself to consciousness to survey your surroundings.

Immediately, you were met with a face-full of dark, messed hair. It tickled your nose, causing you to lift your head away before any sneezing escalated — you didn't want to snot-rocket into someone else's hair, after all — and tilted your head to get a better angle at the person in front of you.

Your movement, however, lead to the being's stirring and eventual awakening as your mind began registering the warm limbs wrapped around your body. It seemed that your snuggle-r was just as groggy as you were, though.

Rough murmurs left the monkey, who had begun loosening his grip on you, before he lifted his head upwards. Clear redness grew upon his face in embarrassment.

"Shit, kid — ugh, didn't mean for this to, uh —"

You rubbed at your face, tiredly smiling at him through a yawn, "It's alright, Mac. We were both tired — what time is it, anyways?"

"Uh, it's..." Macaque cleared his throat, glancing across the dojo towards a clock, "5AM, jeez..."

"And I'm still tired, it's too early to be up..."

Your eyes closed, once again, and the darkness covering your sight was met with an agreeing sigh. In a short moment, you felt your body lose the solid surface you had been connected to as the air went still, before coming into contact with a much softer one as you opened your eyes in surprise.

Macaque read the emotions displayed wildly on your face as he chuckled, "I don't want you developing back issues because you slept on the floor — now go back to sleep, kid."

A quick glance around your new surroundings showed that you had been moved to your own bedroom — using Macaque's shadow abilities, clearly. You weren't going to deny his command, though, willingly tucking yourself in under the familiar covers. The absence of a certain monkey joining you caught your attention, however.

"C'mon, Mac. You've gotta be tired too, and there's enough room in here for both of us!" You dramatically, albeit childishly, patted the empty space beside you.

"Well, can't deny that, for sure," The simian mischievously grinned at you, as you began to realise your mistakes as he crept closer to you.

You had barely been able to argue against him, before he had thrown his body beside your own, reaching his limbs across your body. Snickers left your own mouth, as you attempted to push his arm off of you, "Mac, no!"

"Kid, are you sure there's enough room in this bed for the two of us? It feels a little squishy in here..." He playfully teased you, allowing his arm to flop over onto his own chest and dragging his limbs back beside himself.

"You're purposefully taking up all the room! Move over, you monkey." You lightly pushed against him, ignoring his joking gasp of offence, before calming yourself down to fall asleep.

Macaque softly grinned at you, "Alright, alright, it's bed time."

You leaned over to lazily wrap your arms around him, practically copying his earlier position, as you nestled your head against his chest. As you almost fell immediately back to sleep, you missed the quiet purring emitting from the monkey again, and his quiet expression of gratitude as he rested his chin atop your head.

[bonesbuckleup]

Hi, random q. I saw in your tags that you swear by Scrivener for original fic. I’m still plugging away in ye olde Word and now I’m intrigued to know what about Scrivener you like so much. I’ve def heard about it but never used it, so I’m curious :)

YES I would love to tell you about my lord and savior software Scrivener. I hope you don't mind I published this long, long answer publicly.

So. The main issue I have with Word and Google Docs is that you hit a certain length/word count, and it starts to lag and load kind of jerkily. You know? Also, navigating chapter to chapter or scene to scene is awkward for me--you either have to have a whole bunch of individual documents and multiple windows open, or you have to use headers and the table of contents...which is fine for quickly finding chapters but less so for scenes within those chapters.

Messy, basically. Does not spark joy for me.

Enter Scrivener.

Now, before I evangelize a bit, I will say that Windows Scrivener and Mac Scrivener are not 100% created equal. They are both better, I think, than Word or Google docs, but the Mac version is a bit slicker and a little nicer to look at. I only say that for if you're using Windows, because if so my screencaps below won't exactly match what you see if/when you download the program.

ONWARD.

So, the #1 thing that Scrivener has over Word is that it's a one time fee, not a subscription. So while it is a little pricey (Just went and looked, $59.99 USD), it's only the one payment. All updates and such are covered and available as free downloads. I will also say that Scrivener gives you a 30 day free trial. That's not 30 consecutive days, but 30 days of use--if you only use it every other day, you'll have the trial for 60 days. They make it really easy to figure out if it's for you or not.

This is also going to feel like a lot, but there are built in tutorials and it's actually pretty intuitive, depending on how your brain works. Anyway! The basic gist of Scrivener is that it's a digital binder. You can keep all your book stuff in one place:

As you can see, there's the manuscript (aka my book), notes, research, more. Tbh, I mostly just use notes and Manuscript, but if it floats your boat, you can store maps, place names, worldbuilding, playlist links, moodboards, a whole ton of stuff, all in one menu that's easy to access and in a single window. You can organize it however itches your brain the best way.

But like I said, for me, the best is that Manuscript part, which I'm going to go into now. I use a three act structure for books (but break the big ol' middle act into two pieces because it makes my brain happy), so each act gets a folder.

When I click and expand that act, each chapter has it's own folder. However, it also shows quick-reference index cards, so I can have an at-a-glance at what's going down in each chapter. (I'm using a outline system called Save the Cat for this book, which is why all my chapters have titles like 'Catalyst', feel free to ignore those...I also have a very compact timeline, so to help me stay organized, I labeled each chapter with when it happens.)

You can do the same with each individual chapter and the scenes, where when you click on the chapter folder, each scene gets a card. If you don't type in a summary, it'll just auto-populate the start of whatever content you were writing. You can see this in the 'Copper's Candids NEW' card.

And, of course, it is writing software. When you click on the individual scene, it opens the blank document, and you can get cracking.

So. This system is nice for a few reasons. My favorite is that it makes navigating, reorganizing, and/or rewriting scenes extremely easy. It's just point and click, drag and drop. You can also open two docs in the same window at once, like this:

Which is a nice feature for several reasons--you can work on a new version of a scene with the old one pulled up next to it, or if there's something you wrote earlier or that comes later that's important to what you're working on now, you can have them both up for quick referencing.

Another slick thing is each doc has a notes section off to the right side of the screen--which is optional! I use it for future revision notes/descriptions of how I want the scene to go:

My other favorite part of Scrivener is that it makes it very easy to hoard your deleted scenes like a deranged dragon in case you want them later. My garbage looks like this:

There are SO MANY FILES hanging out in my trash, and you know what? I so rarely actually need them, but my god am I glad they're there on the rare occasion that I do. Word, again, can make it more difficult. I always had a massive 'cut' document that was longer than the actual project and again, awful to navigate. This just makes it easier.

Scrivener also makes it easy to compile the manuscript into other doc types--pdf, doc, docx, etc--for easy printing and sharing.

ANYWAY. I'm sure there are approximately 1 million other things I'm missing, but basically Scrivener takes all your book/long project bits, puts them in one centralized file, and makes it super easy to navigate. I've also found that outlining is easier, because I can just make the folders and scenes and drag them around while I noodle through the plot.

10/10, would recommend to any long-form writer. If you have any other questions, please let me know! If anyone has read this far and has a thing about Scrivener to add, please do! I love Scrivener, and a lot of my writing buddies love Scrivener, and it really kinda has revolutionized the way I write original fiction. I'm always happy to yell about how great it is.

[nekohime19]

Mini Mac #2 : How to lure the feral lil guy living in your walls a guide by Sun Wukong

Damn, I need to study for my exams but mini Mac is in my head, 😔

Sun Wukong has always been quite the odd ball. He was the type of person to follow his own rules, and sometimes expected people to understand those rules without truly revealing them in the first place. Azure Lion has often been troubled by the lil monkey nature. He was a merry lad one day, laughing at anything coming his way without truly minding them, and he was short-tempered another, fighting anyone daring enough to call him small (everyone in the brotherhood learned at their own risks what would happen if they ever mentioned their merry monkey size). It wasn't weird for the golden monkey to be doing something incomprehensible for the others, he spent the last week fighting with every inch of his life against a common pest for heaven sake, but he seemed particularly weird tonight.

Now, Sun Wukong was a lot of things but he was never quiet. No matter in which mood the brotherhood finds their littlest brother, he would always be loud about it. If he was in a foul mood he would complain about it until everyone's ears started bleeding (last week had been particularly hellish). If he was feeling joyous, he would shout praise and raise his glass of wine (the ones sitting around him knew to scout away everytime he was rowdy, drops of wine always flew beside him). He was an expressive lad, unable to keep his feelings for himself, perhaps because his emotions were too big for him alone.

As such it was quite surprising to see him so meek tonight. He was quietly staring at the night sky, absently swaying his glass of wine, head in his left hand, sighing now and then. Azure Lion shared a glance with Yellow Tusk, the elephant looked lost as well despite usually being the one able to discern their rowdy monkey’s feelings. Bull King seemed quite shocked himself, and perhaps a bit disappointed, Azure knew their biggest brother, contrary to many others, enjoyed when Sun Wukong was in a fighting spirit. Peng looked ready to spill what was in everyone's mind, as they usually did when no one dared to confront the Monkey King. Azure decided to intervene before they could, this seemed to be a delicate matter, not something someone as direct (for lack of a better word) as Peng could handle.

“Brother, is everything alright? Did you defeat the pest hiding in your home?” Asked Azure, hoping the mention of the pest would ignite the sage fighting spirit. However, contrary to what he thought, Sun Wukong slumped in defeat, letting his head fall against the table. The brotherhood shared a common worried glance when they heard Sun Wukong whine. It wasn't unusual for the sage to whine, but he never whined that way, so small and defeated. Azure worried for a second that the King may cry, something unheard and unseen till now.

“He's gone!” Whined the sage, almost as if he was some grieving maiden talking about her long lost husband.

“The pest?” Tried to clarify Azure, Bull King leaned over Peng and mumbled :

“Isn't this a good thing?”

“Don't ask me. I don't know what this madman is talking about half of the time.” Quietly scoffed the bird.

“You don't understand! It's been two days and I haven't caught a sign of him!” Wailed the golden monkey, he narrowed his gaze at his glass, as if it personally offended him for simply existing, and downed it.

“So you chased away the pest, and now you're sad about it?” Asked Azure with a raised eyebrow, this was getting weirder than usual, even for Sun Wukong.

“I don't know what to do to make him come back…” Mumbled the sage, cheeks flushed by the wine.

“Well…usually they like food. You said they stole some of your peaches, maybe try to lure them with that.” Proposed Yellow Task, trying to soothe the Monkey rather than understand the ways of his mind.

“That's right!” Laughed the golden monkey, he rose, so suddenly that his knee hit the table and spilled some of the wine. “Why didn't I think of food!!” Sun Wukong smiled at them and ran away with a skip in his step, almost tripping on some roots along the way.

“Well, at least we helped him.” Sighed Azure as he downed his own glass.

“One day he hates the pest, another he wants it back. Tomorrow he's gonna tell us he fell in love with it or something.” Snorted Peng with crossed arms, they all laughed at the absurdity of their comment, because surely Sun Wukong wasn't this insane.

Was he ?

***

Sun Wukong had never been the type to dwell on something, he usually forgot what bothered him after a few days. Yet he couldn't forget the face of the lil macaque even if he wanted to. It's been two days since he used the magical device his brothers gave him, two days since he discovered that a lil monkey lived in the walls of his mansion, two days since he was haunted by the face of the lil guy.

Sun Wukong searched everywhere in his mansion, he discovered a fancy new room almost each hour, but no trace of the gorgeous lil guy. He almost gave up when he noticed no peaches were stolen since the day he discovered the macaque's existence. Maybe the lil guy was afraid of him? He tried to appear less threatening and cooed at the holes in his walls with what he hoped was a reassuring voice (a few of his lil suns watched him with tilted heads and tried to imitate him but he shooed them away, not wanting to overwhelm the lil guy in his walls) but the macaque didn't even show the tip of his snout.

Yellow Tusk advice revived his vigor, an offering was a sign of good-will wasn't it ? Maybe he should let the lil guy take a step in his direction instead of ransacking his own house in the hope of getting at least one sight of him. The sage took one of his freshest peaches and cut it into tiny pieces with the tip of his claws, he then put the pieces in a large leaf and laid it in the middle of the living room. Sun Wukong hid behind his couch (or at least the wooden bench veiled by pillows he called a couch) and peeked over it, towards the leaf.

He stayed there for a good while, perfectly still, except for his wagging tail. This time he didn’t fall asleep, not wanting to miss anything. Something finally moved at dawn, a shadow slipping in the dark, almost unnoticeable in the house obscurity. Sun Wukong watched, entranced, as the lil guy's head got out of the leaf’s shadow. He narrowed his eyes at the pieces, sniffing the air suspiciously. The sage silenced the coos tickling his lips and looked quietly. The macaque left the shadow, the dawn's luster gliding on his fur. He carefully walked towards the leaf and leaned towards the peach pieces, he took one in his lil hands (the pieces the size of his palm) and brought it to his snout. He bit it after assuring everything was alright and sat before the leaf, munching on his piece with a swaying tail.

Sun Wukong thought this was the most adorable thing he ever saw, he accidently let a quiet purr stumble out of his lips. The macaque straightened, ears erect, the piece clutched in his arms, as if he was afraid someone would take it away.

“It's alright!” Shouted the King, he jumped on his feet and tried to appear as non-threatening as possible. “I just want to be friends.”

The lil macaque stopped hissing for a few seconds, his eyes went towards the peach pieces then towards the sage in a silent question.

“Yeah! It's for you!” Beamed the King, overjoyed he was making some progress with his roommate. Sun Wukong tried to take a step closer but the lil macaque immediately hissed, crouching on all-four. Panicking, the sage took a step back and the lil guy calmed down. “Okay, boundaries, got it.”

Sun Wukong silently watched as the lil guy ate some peach pieces, and stuffed others in his makeshift sling. He couldn't help but wonder how the other voice would sound, what his name was, if he even had one. Unable to keep his thoughts for himself, Sun Wukong opened his mouth and began to ramble.

“My name's Sun Wukong by the way. But I'm sure you already know it, I'm the Monkey King! You have a name?”

The macaque turned towards him and eyed him up and down, as if accessing whether he posed any threats or not.

“Macaque.” was the only thing the lil guy deigned to say, however it was enough for the sage to beam with unadulterated joy. His voice was nice, a bit squeaky, perhaps because of the size difference, but nice nevertheless.

“Macaque, that's your name?” Excitedly asked the King, voice rising with his excitement.

“You're loud.” Groaned Macaque, his lil ears folded on themselves.

“O-oh right, sorry.” Sheepishly apologized the King, one hand rubbing his neck. Macaque eyed him for a bit before muttering about “weird giant” and dipping in a flurry of shadows, disappearing from the room. “I guess I'll see you later.” Mumbled the sage in slight disappointment.

At least he had a name now! He told himself as he enjoyed how the name sounded on his lips.

Previous / Next

[fangirlingfromdownunder]

A Sweet Mishap - Chapter 3

Pairing - Jensen Ackles x Reader 

A/N: If you read my Christmas Advent stories then you may be familiar with this story already, however, I've been working hard to turn it into a longer fic and as such a few things have changed (hence the reposts). New chapters will commence next week. I hope you enjoy! Let me know if you want me to be added to the taglist

A Sweet Mishap Masterlist | Main Masterlist

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Jensen and I continue texting whenever we can around our busy schedules. I consider more than a few times over the weekend to throw caution to the wind and meet up with him in his hotel room or invite him to my apartment. But in the end, I manage to stay strong, stick to my convictions and better judgements regarding my safety, and text instead. Despite not having the courage to call, it feels like we’re building a connection. But even if I had the courage, he’s been pretty busy and the texts have been sporadic with replies coming in hours apart. He did say he had to work, so I just figure he’s busy with auditions or meetings and am grateful for him making the time to text amidst the chaos. 

One thing I do is Google his name to find out what he’s starred in. His biggest project appears to be a horror show called Supernatural. I consider watching it just to see, but I don’t want to get a false idea of who he is, so I decide to stay blissfully ignorant and try to get to know him for who he is as a person instead. He did say he preferred that, after all.

It’s almost dark when I finally strip off my apron and hang it on the hook in the staff room. I collect my phone and jacket from the locker and return to the dining area to leave. I check my missed notifications as I walk out. I find my mood dropping slightly when I discover there’s none from Jensen. Instead, I scroll through our last text-chain. Suddenly, I collide with something solid–or perhaps I should say, someone, causing my phone to shatter to the floor. I quickly duck down to inspect the screen, only to find it littered with cracks. I sigh and then remember the person I ran into. I look up to apologise but lose all words when I meet his emerald eyes. I just smile in shock. Even with his pulled-down baseball cap and dark sunglasses, and after a single meeting, I instantly recognise him.

“You really gotta stop running into me like this,” the man says with a laugh.

“Can I buy you a drink to make up for it?”

“As I recall, that didn’t end well. Regardless, I can’t stay long, I do have a flight to catch. I just really wanted to see you again before I left.”

“You sure you can’t stay?”

“I’m sure. Someday. Let’s just promise to stay in touch.”

“I promise. At least just let me make you something for the road.”

“You look like you’ve already finished for the day. Go rest. You look exhausted. We’ll talk later.”

“Alright. Have a safe flight.”

He pulls me in for a brief hug and then disappears out onto the street and into a dark Range Rover. I smile at the whirlwind visit and then go back to my apartment. I throw a microwave mac and cheese dinner in to cook while I shower and change into my worn-out PJs, which consist of an oversized sweater with a teddy on the front and pink, plaid flannel pants. I’m not sure how long his flight will be but by the time I sit on the couch with my cheap and unappealing dinner in my lap, over an hour has passed. Despite not knowing when he’ll see the message, I decide to text him anyway.

It was great to run into you again *literally*... I am sorry about that, I really need to watch where I’m going Have a nice flight home or wherever you’re going Text me when you get there 

Not expecting a response until later, I put your phone to sleep and flick through the TV channels. To my surprise, Supernatural is airing. I have no idea what episode or season it is, or what they’re up to, but when Jensen’s face appears on the screen I’m unable to bring myself to change the channel. Despite my initial desire to stay ignorant, I just can’t look away. I gasp and try to resist the urge to look away when his character, who you’ve gathered is called Dean, slices off someone or something’s head. But somehow he manages to make decapitation attractive. Every expression on his face keeps my eyes glued and I find myself getting even more engrossed. He tells the story so well even though I don’t really know what the full story is. His taller brother in the show is also incredibly attractive. The longer I watch, the more I find myself not caring about the plot and just enjoying the eye candy instead. Part of me feels a little guilty for looking and thinking about Jensen like that when he seems like such a nice, genuine guy in real life. And he genuinely seems interested in pursuing a friendship — or hopefully more — in the future. 

Once the episode ends I force myself to switch off the TV, clean up and go to bed; I have another early shift tomorrow. As I lay in bed, the images of Dean – or Jensen – flow through my head. Unable to sleep, Idecide to text him again.

I guess you’re still on your flight Just wanted to let you know I saw you on TV tonight Your show Supernatural was on when I was flicking through the channels Can’t say as I picked up on a lot of the plot but I can see why the paparazzi follow you Anyway, I’ll stop bombarding you now Good night

I force myself to switch my phone onto sleep mode and plug it in to charge. As I lay in bed, I relive the impromptu meeting until I finally fall asleep.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Taglist: @stoneyggirl2

[fluffypotatey]

*puts on my Professor glasses* Macky really knows EXACTLY how to talk to Wukong, let's dissect it! M: Looks like things are going smoothly. W: I say, you've been here the whole time, haven't you? M: FFM is your home, but it's also mine. W: Did you find anything? M: Still nothing, however. Now the Jade Emperor is no longer present. The Celestial Realm already gives me an unsettling feeling. M: Wukong...that kid. W: I understand. M: You have to go and talk to him. W: I know! But...he still isn't ready. M: I see. You're the one who isn't ready, yet. How did you even become a teacher! M: He has to be. We all have to be realistic. W: He's just a kid. We can't let him... M: Who says he's just a kid! Why is it him? When you chose him, did you know? W: I didn't know, I really didn't know! I just followed...a feeling. M: Are you not the least bit worried?! This child has all of your special powers, and he always runs into trouble. Have you never questioned this before? Not a single person knows where he came from. Is it not strange?! M: We still have no clue as to whoever let out Azure Lion. All your old foes returned in one swoop. Are you not even a little- W: Then what about you? You also suddenly came back. M: Argh- M: I say, someone must be manipulating us behind our backs. Especially Xiaotian. But they still haven't succeeded. W: Then tell me. What about you? M: Tell me do you want my help or not?! / W: Not long ago you were still against me! / M: I see, you're just a- / W: ...after I assume you'll teach me how to train my own disciples? ~ Xiaotian Interupts ~ M: Look. That kid has made you his idol. You're his one true hero, but you... W: But I what? M: He has to understand, he doesn't need to carry these burdens. You have to do better. You can really tell whose the chatty one in this relationship XD Wukong might be a lil annoyed, but he's tolerant. And Macky is a little playful turd as always. Where Wukong gets gloomy and concerned, Mac swaps between teasing and serious in a blink. Then things get a lot more strained and tense, but unlike their previous fights, it never escalates into violence. Never a growl, never a raised fist. They're right at the edge, and they drop it. I'm very much interested in the psychology of arguments and when it comes to people latching onto (1) thing a person says and relating it slightly off topic to avoid talking about that other thing, like Wukong is doing here. It's so cool seeing how physical they are in trying to visibly control their emotions around each other, and how they keep trying to hold themselves back from tearing in further, always pausing and halting, and switching to another thing. They're TRYING. Ugh. I think Mac was trying to give a comforting smile at the end, but it's kinda warped by the whole ~ everything else. ~ Anyhow, I like how this starts with Wukong establishing, or rather cementing to Macaque that he believes MK is a kid. And while Macaque argues against that, he did also say before that Wukong should talk to him. And they have their squabble, with Mac pushing Wukong's buttons to get him to say something, BUT the fact this gets resolved with he needs to understand he doesn't need to carry these burdens. YOU HAVE TO DO BETTER. Like of all things Mac could have chosen. He's playing right into what Wukong himself believes, that will overwrite the "MK isn't ready" thing. Because let's face it. Mac is right when he says Wukong also isn't ready for that talk yet. He's so down throughout all this, Wukong probably feels himself that he needs to be better. AND by appealing to the fact MK is a kid, without explicitly stating that, just a statement that cannot be denied, BUT is a subject that undoubtedly, even Wukong cannot avoid. Because he wants better for MK. For him to not walk down the same path as him. Macaque has basically nudged Wukong into having that talk he wanted with MK by reframing it differently from what Wukong wasn't ready for. Thoughts? Critique?

*squishes you* anon…anon, you’re telling me..that this was the actual dialogue between SWK and Macky in 5x01. that what i just read is the translated version of the Mandarin dub. correct?

ok ok cool. i’m cool. gucci. feeling fantastic lemme just

WHAT THE FUCK LMK

ok so i ranted in the tags but realized i forgot to say more things (also i was worried i’d exceed the tag limit bc that is a real thing what do you know!)

so, anon, you said Macky knows how to talk to Wukong and yeah agreed but for me it’s for of the sense of “Macky knows how to get his words under Wukong’s skin”

he knows how to let his words sink in and fester in Wukong’s mind, making him reconsider things or another to help speed up certain decisions or choices Wukong is hesitating on. and ain’t it fascinating how despite how long it’s been since either character have talked or interacted with each other, they still know the ins and outs of their behavior and thoughts.

Macky knows Wukong needs to talk to MK but is holding back. Macky after one answer from Wukong realizes that it’s Wukong who isn’t ready for that conversation and switches tactics to try and breach that mental block

Wukong, in a need to avoid the conversation, brings up the questions surrounding Macky’s reason for even being alive again because that is information neither have talked about and oh hey! Macky is avoiding that conversation too! and it’s an important one to have so he pushes for it, but Macky knows it’s being pushed to avoid their original discussion and is annoyed bc “classic Wukong, never wanting to delve too deep into topics where he’ll need to be vulnerable for” (especially when said vulnerability is with his newly re-allied ex friend Macaroni himself)

god i love them

[rebelangelwings]

Hi! Could I request a Buddie x reader fic please? She has asthma and she has a bad panic attack which triggers an asthma attack. All the whump and fluffy comfort pretty please? Maybe they have to take her into the ER because even after a neb treatment she’s still pretty wheezy...

Thank you so much for the prompt! Hope you enjoy!

Warnings: panic attack, asthma attack, needles, medical inaccuracies.

Y/n was having a shitty day. 

She couldn't find anything she needed that morning and arrived at work with messy hair and an uncoordinated outfit, for which she received some dirty looks. Her colleagues that she would be relying on were off sick, leaving everything on her shoulders. And then, come afternoon, her boss had berated her in front of the rest of the office.

Y/n had relayed her shitty day into the group chat she shared with Buck and Eddie.

Y/n: Great. Now I'm hiding in the bathroom because I don't want to cry in front of everyone and I want to be sick.

Buck: It's okay to cry in front of other people. Plus, you've only got fifteen minutes left of work and then you can get out of there. 

Eddie: Come to the station. Hen, Chim and Bobby are out on a medical call so it's only us. 

Buck: Good idea, Eds. There's Bobby's leftover mac and cheese?

Y/n: If you're sure that's okay? I'm just going to pack up then I'll leave. 

Eddie: Drive safe.

Half an hour later, y/n entered the firehouse, looking around anxiously. Sure, she had been here plenty of times before, but she still felt pathetic, fighting back her tears and looking for the people who could make her feel even slightly better. 

She didn't have to wait long as she heard her name being called, and saw the forms of Buck and Eddie descending the stairs to meet her by the station gym. 

"Hey, y/n, come here!" Buck exclaimed with his arms opened wide. 

As those solid arms held her close, that was all she needed to feel safe enough to let go. Before she even realised, she was sobbing into a sturdy chest and someone was shushing her, hands stroking her back. 

"Ah, crap, I'm sorry y/n, I didn't mean to make it worse." Buck looked guiltily towards Eddie over her head. 

"You-you d-didnt. Just h-had it bottled u-up."

Eddie stepped in, guiding her to sit on the gym bench in between the two comforting figures, "You're okay now, y/n. Just breathe." Eddie added as he realised her sobbing was becoming frantic. 

"I…I-I can-nt."

Buck looked worriedly to his partner whilst Eddie stayed calm and professional. 

"Yes you can. You can breathe, you just need to slow it down. Copy me," Eddie instructed whilst deliberately breathing evenly.

Buck caught Eddie's attention and mouthed the question of "asthma?" 

Eddie just shook his head and mouthed, "not yet" right back. 

Both first responders continued to speak soothingly to y/n, reminding her it would pass and she would be just fine. 

However, Eddie started to worry when the sobbing began transforming into wheezes and y/n's head was dropping slightly onto her chest. 

"Hey, hey, hey, y/n. Where's your inhaler? I think you could do with a few rounds." Eddie asked. He also silently instructed Buck to bring a med kit over which Buck did diligently. 

Y/n pointed to her backpack abandoned on the floor, and tried to explain, "m-mi- middle" She managed to get out as Eddie rummaged through the middle pocket. 

Buck returned seconds later with the med kit, and started unpacking the essentials. 

"Let's get her on the floor but sat up against the wall," Eddie directed to Buck as they both took an arm and sat her down, "I need you to stay upright for me okay, sweetheart? That will help keep your airways open. Let's have a go at your inhaler, alright?"

Eddie helped her hold the inhaler to her lips as her hands shook too much. She was unable to hold much of the medicine in her lungs for long as her frantic breaths continued. 

"I'm just going to listen to your chest okay, y/n?" Eddie asked permission, slotting the stethoscope earpieces in and moving the bell to her chest as she nodded consent. 

Buck was multitasking, repeating soothing words whilst clipping a pulse oximeter to her shaking finger.

Pulling the stethoscope from his ears and hanging it loosely around his neck, Eddie explained his diagnosis, "okay, sweetheart, I think you've triggered an asthma attack with your panic attack. Which is fine, we just need to get it under control, okay?"

She was shaking her head, becoming more frantic and causing a vicious cycle, "n-no h-hos-pital." She was beginning to want to close her eyes and for this horrible day to end. 

Buck noticed her drooping head, "hey, woah woah, no napping allowed. We'll do our best here, and then we'll cross whatever bridge we need to cross, okay?"

She could feel them both moving around her and her shoulders occasionally being pushed back against the wall, straightening her body. She could feel an uncomfortable squeezing around her arm as she suspected Buck was taking her blood pressure. By the tone the voices were using, she didn't think the results were desired. 

"Alright, here's the plan, y/n, we're going to try a treatment of nebulising right here, and if that doesn't cut it, we'll try a shot of hydrocortisone as a last resort before calling another ambulance to transport you to hospital."

Inside, she wanted to vomit at the thought of needles being anywhere near her, but she nodded regardless, hopeful that the nebuliser was all she would need to be righted. 

Eddie placed the plastic mask over her mouth and nose, "breathe as deeply as you can…that's it. Good job, it should be opening up your airways now. You're doing great."

Meanwhile Buck was taking another BP reading, whilst Eddie had his fingers firmly placed to her delicate wrist, eyes to his watch. 

Ten minutes went by, and whilst the hyperventilating receded for y/n Eddie and Buck were still unsatisfied with the sound of her breathing and the struggle they could detect through their stethoscopes. 

"How're you feeling, y/n?" Eddie asked, still holding her wrist. 

"Be-better, thanks."

"Feeling dizzy or nauseous?"

"D-dizzy."

"Okay, that's normal. I'd still like to administer a shot of hydrocortisone." Eddie stated as he started rifling through the med bag. 

Buck immediately noticed the change in her demeanor, not to mention the spike in her pulse that he was still monitoring. "He-Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, trying to meet her panicked eyes. 

She just shook her head and tried to move herself further away from Eddie. Eddie finally noticed, turning around with what he needed and looking to Buck for explanation who could only shrug. 

"I fe-feel better. Th-thanks."

"Would you rather wait and get it done at the hospital?" Eddie offered kindly. 

Y/n wheezed out her question, voice low and embarrassed, "wi-will they…still do it at-at the ho-hospital?"

"Almost definitely, sweetheart, sorry."

She wiped a distressed tear from her eye which nearly broke the grown men's hearts, "want you to…to do it th-then."

Buck and Eddie nodded, another silent conversation passing between them. Buck pulled her to face him, both her hands cradled in his larger, calloused ones and he began chattering away about something Jee did at the weekend. 

Eddie prepared the needle and medication and wiped the site clean on her arm, trying to ignore the way she flinched away from him and to not take it personally. 

"Sharp scratch." He warned before administering the shot. Buck felt her hands tense and her eyes squeezed shut, but other than that, she reacted well. 

Eddie was rubbing his thumb over the site, thoughtfully and commending her, "you did great. You should be feeling better soon."

Buck and Eddie continued to monitor her vitals closely for the next few minutes until the familiar sound of the ambulance could be heard pulling into the apparatus floor. 

"What's going on here?" Bobby moved quickly to the trio, closely followed by a concerned Hen and Chim. 

It was obvious to everyone how uncomfortable y/n was feeling under the attention. 

Eddie went about explaining, "asthma attack. I think we've got it under control, but mind if we borrow the Ambo?" 

Y/n startled at this and Buck was quick to explain whilst Chim helped Eddie bring around the stretcher, "hey, it's just a precaution. Everything looks to be settling but we need a doctor to confirm you're okay." He tried to provide some comfort by again squeezing her hand gently. 

"You'll both stay?" She asked once Eddie had returned. 

"Yeah, of course, y/n. We'll both stay with you at the hospital, and then we'll take you home and get you settled on the couch with a pint of that disgusting ice cream you like."

"Yep. No moving from the couch the entire weekend." 

That was exactly the kind of weekend y/n needed to make up for her epically shitty day. 

[beneathsilverstars]

you could. probably think if some characters are texture eaters and if so which textures they would prefer or what reactions they'd have over disliked textures

@kimdokjafan replied

I would love to hear what you have to say about the party's food preferences! Things like favorite food, things they dislike/won't eat

i started answering this anon and then got this reply, so i'll combine them. got really long lol, food is such a complex topic!

bonnie enjoys the multi-textured fish head, so they're probably big on texture! i think they're starting to have enough cooking experience to get put off when a texture isn't correct. like the problem isn't the texture itself but rather that rice should not be like that, they overcooked it, yuck, ugh! they would probably make a new batch if possible. however, they're also used to eating what you have because it's all you have — sometimes the nice neighbor drops off her shitty mac n cheese and it's better than nothing, or you mix up salt and sugar for today's bread but you're almost out of flour — so they'll try to come up with a new use for the fucked-up batch where the weird texture works better, or just eat it themself. unpleasant, but better than serving it to someone else or wasting it! as for what they enjoy the most: lots of different textures mixed together, like a salad or deluxe burrito. and chewy things!

we know bonnie's favorite foods are pineapple, rice, and samosas. i'd say they love sweet things as most kids do, but they're really starting to prefer a little more complexity to their sweet treats, like the tart acidity of pineapple. rice is a great favorite bc it's a comforting plain staple, but it can also be used in such a variety of dishes, as the entire base or to add texture! bonnie likes spicy, sour, etc... bring on the flavor! honestly i don't think there's many ingredients they don't like, it's more often a case of that flavor doesn't go there, why would you do that??? maybe they haven't grown into bitter vegetables yet.

siffrin also likes the fish head, so they really enjoy a fun texture, and they like trying new foods as they travel — but when they don't like something they hate it. but they also hate to raise a fuss! so if they're eating with other people, they'll try to just eat around the offending element without making it too obvious that's what they're doing, and then claim they're just not that hungry. if they're by themself, they'll spit it out and rinse out their mouth and eat something crunchy. they don't like tomatoes, which is convenient bc they also don't like when sandwich bread gets soggy at all. they don't like mushrooms or caramalized onion. they enjoy super crunchy things and a nice thick soup!

we know malanga fritters are presumably his favorite. i think he likes mashed potatoes too. fish, of course, and hearty stews. he loves clam chowder! he used to be a big sweet pastries fan, but post-canon he pivots to fruity sweetness bc he can't stand caramel-marshmallow-candy sweetness anymore, and even fruit's on thin ice. most of his disliked foods are about the texture, not the taste. but he's also really sensitive to associations - if he coincidentally gets sick after eating something, eats something badly seasoned, etc, it'll put him off of that taste for a while even if he doesn't remember why.

iirc isabeau wasn't into the fish head. he likes simpler and more predictable foods! he gets yucked out by overripe fruits, but luckily it's usually pretty easy to tell if a fruit will be good. if he does accidentally bite into a bad one, he makes a face and swallows it as quickly as possible, and asks if anyone else wants the rest before he donates it to the local wildlife. he likes fluffy breads and nuts! he's the kind of guy to pack a stack of pb&js and an apple for lunch every day, just buying a different flavor of jam each time he runs out. he doesn't like anything too spicy or bitter! probably a cheese fiend too.

mirabelle isn't super particular about textures, but she is pickier about tastes; she doesn't like a couple common vegetables, like green beans and cooked carrots, and a couple common sauces, like mustard and marinara. she doesn't like nuts, but sometimes eats them anyway because they're so popular in dormont's house for some reason and she gets tired of refusing to eat them, and now she sorta hates them even more but also will absentmindedly stand there munching on them? in general if she doesn't like a food she's served she'll still try to eat enough to be polite, but sometimes can't manage it. some foods she loves are honey, olives, and apple pie. she does love plums too, but it's less that they're objectively her favorite taste and more that they're her thing. it's fun having a thing!

odile likes delicate textures like flaky pastries and watermelon, and doesn't like purely glop-based foods like oatmeal, though it's tolerable with a crunchy topping. she really enjoys a good meat, like a nice herby steak or buttery pork belly. she doesn't dislike sweets, but she doesn't indulge in them in often; when she does, she prefers lemony desserts or bitter chocolate. she finds most foods tolerable at least, and especially likes sharp flavors, like vinegar and vodka!

[marvelobsessed134]

Teenagers in love (Tommy Lee x Fem!Reader)

Summary: You are head over heels for your boyfriend, however your parents don’t approve of him.

Tooth rotting fluff for y’all! You and Tommy are both eighteen in this and he’s about to drop out while you’re about to graduate.

So engrossed in your activity, you barely heard the knocks on your window. You furrowed you brows, you’re on the second floor! What could it be? And when you pulled back your curtains, you smiled seeing Tommy standing on the lower roof of your house right above the porch. You opened your window quietly, not wanting to wake up your parents.

“Tommy!” You hissed with a smile, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you.” He said with a shit eating grin. You laughed before grabbing a jacket and some shoes before carefully stepping outside your window. The boy held your hand as he helped you get onto the ground. You’re just in pajama pants and a long sleeved shirt with a black sweatshirt over it.

You giggled as he wrapped an arms around your shoulders and the two of you walked own the sidewalk into the night. The only things lighting up the streets were the yellow street lights, and some people’s windows that were illuminated by their lights.

“Where are we going?” You asked.

The brunette shrugged, “Anywhere. I just wanted to see you.” And he kissed you on the lips. You blushed as you kissed back.

“Maybe we can go get pancakes?” You asked.

He smiled for a bit before his eyes widened in realization, “Shit! I forgot my wallet.”

You laughed and pulled yours out of the pocket of your sweatshirt. “I brought it just in case we decided on something like this.” And he nodded.

The two of you made it to the diner and ordered blueberry pancakes and soda. “I missed this so much. It sucks I always have to sneak out to see you anywhere besides school.” You sighed as you stabbed the pancakes with your fork.

Tommy put his hand over yours and gave you the most sincere smile ever it made your heart melt. “Hey, you’ll be graduating in a few weeks and I’m dropping out to focus on my band.” He said.

“Graduation is only in a few weeks why not graduate? I’m sure your parents would be happy.” You said.

“I don’t have the grades.” Yeah…he was notorious for skipping classes, not doing homework and if he did he’d get it in late or lose it because it’s a little stupid. And getting into fights and general trouble.

You shrugged, “Fair enough.” Silver Springs by Fleetwood Mac started to play, and you got excited because it was one of your favorite songs. The diner was empty besides the waitresses and cooks who were hanging out back. So, you pulled your boyfriend up out of the booth and wrapped your arms loosely around his neck while his went to your waist. The two of you danced to the song, softly humming it. It was in this moment that Tommy knew he was going to spend the rest of his life with you. You were just so perfect, you were everything he wanted in a woman.

Sometimes he wondered why someone like you was dating a guy like him. What really did he bring to the table? Sure, he was in a band but it wasn’t guaranteed to kick off and be his career. The drummer was interrupted by your thoughts when you pressed your lips against his. “I love you, Tommy. So much I can’t even put it into words.” You whispered.

“I love you too, Y/n.”

[humorisstoredinthetits]

The Heathers + Veronica go on a Road Trip

Gee don't you just love when you write out a whole long ass post only for your computer to freeze and you lose all of your writing

So this will probably be worse than my original draft, but either way this is still going to be the longest thing I've ever posted to this site

But anyway, y'all really seemed to like the Comic Con one I wrote which why, that was one of the least inspired and generic ones that I did and I had no real ideas for the actual Comic Con part, but what I did have ideas for was the trip part, so I decided to expand upon it with this

Veronica, Duke and Mac are all stressed tf out

It's not that they don't love their jobs, they do, but it gets monotonous after a while

After a while of her gfs coming home downtrodden and low-energy, Chandler starts to notice

She realizes that she needs to do something about it, and eventually settles on organizing a get-away for the four of them

They talk it over and try to decide where they would want to go

They immediately rule out any high-paced vacations, like Disney World, as well as anything that would take them out of the country, as it would be too much work to get all of their passports in order and all of that

Eventually Mac brings up that her Dad has a beach house in California that they could ask to use for a week

They agree that it sounds like a good, relaxing time, and they start making preparations

The first thing they need to get settled is their pets

It starts off easy enough, Veronica's parents are more than happy to take JFK for the week

After a little bit of discussion, Martha, Betty and JD agree to take in Munchkin the Rabbit and Cornelius the Snake

Neither Martha nor Betty were too happy about the snake, but JD thinks they're neat and says that he'll keep it in his room so they don't have to be near it

The problem comes with Heather the cat

Heather is a very needy, loud, and aggressive cat, just like the person she's named after, and neither Veronica's parents nor her friends are willing to deal with it

JD especially did not want Heather in his home, the last time they had to take care of the cat she tried to eat his hamster, Slushie

So, they are forced to find a 'pet hotel' where they can drop her off

The hotel is none too happy to deal with this cat who will most definitely cause issues, so Chandler has to slide them some extra cash to get them to cooperate

After they get that settled, they start looking into flights

However, once they mention planes, Chandler goes oh hell no and adamantly refused to fly

The others try and fail to convince her to change her mind, but it is futile and an impasse is reached

Eventually Mac suggests that they drive, which none of the others are too keen on, but she adds that they could make a road trip out of it and visit different places

This grabs their attention, and they start figuring out all the different kinds of places they would want to go on their way

Veronica suggests different historical monuments like Mt. Rushmore

Mac would like to see some national parks and just be out in nature, seeing all the different kinds of wildlife

Plus after going to Disney World she really really wants to go to Disneyland, even if they only go for a day

Duke wants to see some weird roadside attractions

She saw a youtube video once about some of them and she wants to go see them in person, she just thinks they are just hilarious

Chandler doesn't really care what they do as long as her gfs are happy, she knows she is being an inconvenience with not wanting to fly, but she was terrified when they flew to Disney World and she just can't go through that again

They leave it to Veronica to plan a route, and here's what she came up with

From Sherwood they'll drive to St. Louis, visit the Gateway Arch, spend the night, then drive to

Kansas to see Wheat Jesus, before going to Nebraska and seeing the 15 ft. fork and pasta and Lighthouse in the Middle of the US, before spending the night in Omaha

From there, they'll drive to Carhenge, before heading to Mt. Rushmore and visit it and the surrounding area and stay the night

They'll then drive to the Wall Drug Store Inc., before they'll go to Yellowstone and camp there, before seeing the Car with 2 Front Ends

From there they'll drive down to the Grand Canyon and spend the night in the hotel (Chandler refused to sleep in the Desert)

'What if theres rattlesnakes? or Scorpions? or Coyotes?'

'I'll just become friends with them'

'Mac, honey, I love you, but I don't think scorpions are capable of the concept of friendship'

'You just haven't tried hard enough'

From there they'll go to the Hoover Dam, before getting to California and heading to San Diego Zoo, where they will spend the day

They'll drive overnight to Disneyland, where they will spend the day

After they'll head to the Redwood Forest National Park, before going to San Fransisco to go over the Golden Gate Bridge and visiting Alcatraz

After all of that they will finally get to the Beach House, where they decided to spend an additional week due to how long it would take to get there

(This path might be nonsensical, but its not meant to be sensical, this is a Tumblr post, not an actual trip)

With the plans changing drastically, they had to change their preparations

Veronica's parents and friends were more than ok with watching their pets for longer

JD was especially happy to hang out with Cornelius more, like he said he just thinks snakes are cool

But the pet hotel was really upset they had to watch Heather for longer

They almost canceled the reservation, but Chandler used her Heather TM powers and told the receptionist that they were going to keep the reservation and if Heather was injured, died, went missing, or anything preventable happened, she would make it her personal mission to make sure their business closed and that every single employee involved would never work at any business better than McDonalds for the rest of their sad, miserable lives

With the business thoroughly terrified, the reservation was secure

Next came the matter of work

Chandler was obviously a housewife, and so she didn't have to get off, she just asked Martha, Betty and JD to come clean, get the mail and most importantly maintain the lawn, and of course she would compensate them for their time

Veronica was self-employed, so she also didn't need to talk to her boss

'Ms. Sawyer please, I really need this break, I've been working so hard'

'No way Veronica, you are just so amazing and great, we cannot afford to lose you for a whole month'

'But I really need to go, who will make sure my gfs don't do something stupid'

'Veronica why are you talking to yourself'

Mac worked for her Dad, so she just had to ask him, which of course he agreed to

The problem came with Duke's job

Duke worked for a legal clinic that works to get abused children away from abusive households, and she was damn good at it

That was the main issue, she was just too valuable to be gone for a whole month

She begged and pleaded but they refused to give her the time off

After talking it over with her gfs, she decided to go with the tried and true Heather way and made a threat

She realized that if she was too valuable to let go on vacation, she was also too valuable to let quit, so she told her bosses that she would do whatever work she could while on the trip, but she was going on the trip, or she would quit

Thankfully for her they decided to give her the time off, but they would be sending her the paperwork while they covered her clients

That posed a problem, because they were planning on taking Duke's Jeep, and she refuses to let anyone else drive

But she also realizes that she can't drive, enjoy the trip, do her work and rest, so she had to cut one of them out

She goes 'I don't need sleep imma bad bitch' and decides to just work while the rest sleep

Upon telling her gfs this they gave her a look and told her that under no circumstances would she be allowed to forgo sleep for work and that if she tried, they would tie her to the bed

Duke said 'That's kinky' and Chandler gave her a bap on the head

**Line Break**

After much arguing she acquiesced and agreed that she would only drive for half of it and would do the work while the others drove

With all the bs settled, they moved on to preperation

They needed to get a few things, so they headed to Target

Chandler fucking loves Target, she is such a basic white bitch

They head into the store, grabbing a cart, and before anyone can say anything Mac grabs Duke and puts her in the kiddie seat

Duke starts screaming to let her out while Veronica dies laughing

After she calms down she runs to the Pokemon card section and comes back 5 minutes later with 5 different boxes and a handful of tins and blister packs

'You have a problem Veronica'

'Shut up Heather I don't have a problem you have a problem'

'We all have many problems, but yours is a whole addiction'

While her other gfs argue, Mac runs to the squishmallow section and grabs some before running back and putting them in the cart

Veronica starts arguing how Mac and her squishmallows aren't an addiction but her pokemon cards are, and Duke chimes in that she wants out of the cart

While they argue Chandler decides to just grab another cart and leave her immature girlfriends to be childish

She heads for the medical section, grabbing first aid kits, band aids, every single kind of general cream, pill or medicine that she could conceive of needing

She then heads for the camping section, getting a tent, sleeping bags, flashlights, rope, a knife, emergency flares, compasses, a dozen different other survival gadgets and about 20 cans of bug spray

It's around this time her gfs meet up with her and upon seeing all of the crap, they try to convince her that it's not needed

However, Chandler is a worrier and argues that its just in case

She does agree to put some of the bug spray back

They then head to get snacks

They get;

Chandler - Sun Chips (The Green ones), Nature Valley Bars (Also the Green Ones), Smartfood Popcorn, Red Vines, Strawberry Pop Tarts and who can forget Corn Nuts

After they finished at Target Chandler made them drive to Costco to get a industrial size box of Corn Nuts

Duke - Fruit Gushers, Barbecue Lays, Synder's Mini Pretzels, Nutter Butters, White Chocolate Kit-Kats, Fudge Stripes, Cosmic Brownies

Mac - Goldfish (The Rainbow Ones), Regular Lays, Golden Oreos, Trail Mix, Honey Buns, Cookies & Cream Pocky, Peanut M&Ms

Veronica - Salt and Vinegar Lays, Sour Patch Kids, Airheads X-treme, Sour Cream & Onion Pringles, Hot Cheetos, Scooby-Doo Gummies

She'll only eat the Scooby-Doo ones, one time they were out so Chandler had to get some other ones and Veronica refused to even touch them

She also just likes the weirdest food, it scares her gfs sometimes, like who actually likes Salt and Vinegar Chips

Once they're done with snacks they finish up by heading to the Swimming Aisle, Mac's Dad's house also has a pool

They decide to all get those obnoxiously large pool floats

Chandler gets one of those that have a cover on the top, Duke gets the Alligator, Mac googled and found a Lapras one online so she ordered it and Veronica gets the tank one that shoots water

Upon seeing that Duke reaches to the largest water gun she can from where she is still stuck in the cart, which causes Mac to also grab one

Chandler thinks its super childish but also, rather reluctantly, grabs one as well

They spend a few more days packing enough clothes for a month long vacation (They had a long talk with Chandler that they wouldn't be able to bring enough clothes to wear something different each day and when they were done she looked like she was having a Vietnam flashback)

Veronica finalizes their route while Chandler books all of the hotels they would need and gets their Disneyland tickets

** Line Break**

Finally, at long last, the day of the trip arrived

For once Veronica didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to make her gfs drinks, they could barely sleep with how excited they were

And of course this is where they run into their first problem

They bought too much crap, so much that even Duke's jeep can't hold it all, so obviously they're gonna have to leave some stuff behind

First to go is the Industrial Sized Box of Corn Nuts

'Like seriously Heather you cannot possibly eat all of those Corn Nuts over the course of the trip'

'Watch me bitch'

They try to take the emergency stuff but Chandler puts her foot down, saying they're going to be driving through the wilderness, going to national parks, and staying at the beach house which is in a remote area, if they get stuck or something happens they probably won't have service to call for help

No one is willing to budge on anything else, so eventually they decide to just put some stuff in the backseat and whoever is there is just gonna have to deal with it

They leave and start heading to St. Louis

Duke drives, Chandler is riding shotgun, Veronica and Mac are in the back

After about an hour the novelty wears off, Chandler is being her usual backseat driver self, Mac is trying and failing to fall asleep and is getting agitated that Duke is driving so bumpy, and Veronica is playing Pokemon Violet on her Switch and getting her ass kicked by Iono over and over again so she's getting agitated

This makes Duke more and more angry until eventually she pulls into the parking lot of a Best Buy, storms into the store, and comes back with 4 pairs of noise-canceling headphones

She gives one to each of her gfs and tells them that they're gonna put these on and shut up before she turns around and that she is not dealing with this for the entire trip

That shuts them right up

No one talks until they stop at a McDonalds right outside St. Louis to get lunch, but even then their conversations are straightforward and short

They arrive at their hotel, put their stuff down (They had each packed a quick overnight bag with the things they would need like toothbrushes, change of clothes, meds, stuff like that), and Duke decides to apologize for how she acted earlier

Her gfs accepted her apology and admitted that they could have been more considerate of her

They came to the agreement that Chandler would keep her opinions about Duke's driving to herself, Mac and Veronica wouldn't outwardly express their frustration with things, and Duke would do the same with her frustrations about them

With that potentially trip-ending fight avoided, they head to the Gateway Arch

Chandler is bored bc ewwww learning and absolutely refuses to go up the elevator to the top, despite the pleading of her gfs

They go up and have a good time, looking over the city and into the Mississipi River below, while Chandler waits impatiently for them to get down so they can go to the hotel and relax

Eventually they come down and they head back, getting to bed early so they can leave early

Then they start heading to Kansas and Wheat Jesus

Chandler takes this part, Duke sits in the back with Veronica, Mac riding in the front

Nothing happens bc they're going through Kansas, the only thing there is a bunch of corn and weird ass religious signs

'Oh look guys this sign says we're going to hell for being gay'

'We know Heather, this is the 5th sign in the past half hour that's said that'

'Hell is gonna be fuckin lit, a bunch of lesbians with whips and chains and shit, its like a BDSM party that never ends'

'Shut up Veronica'

They eventually make a game out of it, which ever one of them can find the weirdest sign before they reach the hotel gets to be the one who can shower first

After sitting in the Jeep for hours upon end, they are kinda sweaty and are ready to shower, so it becomes a competition

Even Duke, who has her headphones in and is relentlessly typing away at her laptop, takes a break and participates

Obviously Chandler's ego will not let her lose, so she looks and looks until she sees one that says "You can't hold hands with God if you're 'mass debating'" (I'm not gonna use the actual word, but you get the idea of what it said)

They then reach Wheat Jesus, which is a billboard with a picture of Jesus in a field of wheat

Duke just thinks that its so stupid, even compared to the homophobic ones that they've passed

They take a quick picture and head back on the road

They head to Nebraska, which is more of the same

They eventually reach the Fork, which is another ridiculous thing that Duke finds stupidly funny

She manages to climb to the top while her gfs yell at her to get down, but she's able to get a good pic of her before a cop comes over and yells at them

After that they head to the lighthouse

Why is there a lighthouse in the middle of the Great Plains? Nobody knows

Chandler initially refuses to climb it bc 'it was so high up' but eventually she overcomes her fear

They get to the top, and are excited to see the view

They see grass, corn, wheat, and more weird ass billboards

They take a pic and agree that the Midwest fucking sucks

They head into Omaha, check into their hotel, and Chandler bolts to the shower, not forgetting that she won their little game earlier

They sleep and the next day they start towards South Dakota

Duke takes the wheel again, with Veronica finally getting to sit in the front

They head to Carhenge, which is just Stonehenge made out of cars

This time her gfs keep an eye on the gremlin so she won't climb things again

Chandler found all of these things kinda boring, but Duke is having fun exploring the attractions and buying a souvenir from each of them

Mac was also taking pictures of everything they've done, which she says she needs to make a scrapbook when they get back

Once they're done they start heading to Mt. Rushmore

Everyone is starting to get pretty bored

They've been driving for like 3 days now and they're running out of things to keep themselves entertained

And with boredom, there comes agitation, and they all too well remember what happened a few days ago when they all got pissed at each other

To lighten the mood they try to think of something fun they can do together

Duke suggests a movie but none of them can agree on which one, which only makes them angrier, same thing when she suggests putting on some music

Eventually Veronica googles 'things to do when you're bored' and comes across Prank Calls

They think its kinda childish but who are they kidding they aren't very mature people

After a bit of discussion they decide to call JD with the story being that Chandler is upset with her gfs and wants to elope with him

They know that he would never in a million years do that so that's why they agreed

They can barely contain their giggling while Chandler calls him

'Oh JD its horrible, my gfs are such immature children, I need a real man'

'Chandler'

'And look at you, such a strong man, I know you would treat me right'

'Heather are you drunk'

'Why don't we just run away, you and me, we'll move to Montana or some shit and have a big beautiful family'

' I would rather stick my dick into a slushie, impregnate it, and raise our hybrid slush-human children before I would ever consider having a family with you'

The rest can't handle it anymore and start bursting out laughing

JD realizes that this was a prank call and threatens to keep Cornelius forever

Duke shouts noooooooo and he hangs up

That keeps their spirits up until they reach Mt. Rushmore

**Line Break**

Once they get to Mt. Rushmore they check in to their room before heading to the monument itself

There's plenty to do, but first they all go to the mountain, take a few pictures, and just look at it

Before doing anything else they head to the gift shop where they pick up a few various things like magnets, a postcard, a bobblehead set for Veronica (She just thinks its funny) before Mac lays eyes on it

It's a 4 pack with a wig of each of the presidents along with a hat for Lincoln and glasses and a mustache for Roosevelt

She shows her gfs and says they have to get this and take a picture with them wearing these

For once Chandler doesn't have a stick in her ass and agrees to do it, but only if she gets to be Washington

Veronica is Lincoln bc she's the tallest

Mac is Roosevelt bc she loves animals and that leaves Duke as Jefferson, which she isn't thrilled about, saying that he sucks

She eventually sucks it up and puts on the wig

They stand in front of the mountain and get someone to take a picture of the 4 of them, standing in front of the corresponding president

Mac is really really excited about that picture, she says it's gonna look amazing in the scrapbook

They bring the wigs back to the room before heading to the Museum

Its actually a fairly interesting museum, going over the history of the architect, why the four presidents that were chosen were chosen, and even a bit about the Native American tribes that lived there

They take a Presidential Trail Loop, which isn't very long but gives them a good view of everything

Mac even gets some pictures of the wildlife which she is overjoyed about

As it gets dark they walk the The Avenue of Flags which Veronica is freaking out over

She's also a history buff so this whole experience has been just so fascinating for her

She is really into vexillology and loves identifying all the different flags and even discovering some she's never seen before

Finally, they go around the time of year they do the Evening Lighting Ceremony, where they light up the faces of the Presidents after watching a short film about the men whose faces were immortalized in stone on this mountain

Eventually they call it a night and head to the room

When they wake up and head out Veronica is actually kinda sad to leave

She is the one driving with Mac in the front and the other two in the back

But she quickly cheers up when they reach the Wall Drug Store Inc.

Its basically a Midwest Buccees

They have plenty of picture opportunities, including with a fake Mt. Rushmore that Mac puts right next to the big one in the scrapbook, and a Jurassic Park rip-off with a T-Rex Chasing them

They do a bit of shopping, Chandler even finding some boots that are up to her impossibly high standards for clothes

Then they go to the restaurant

They have Buffalo Burgers there

Both Chandler and Mac refuse to try, but Duke and Veronica say why the hell not and order them

They actually end up liking it a lot, its kinda earthy but also sweet, which is not what they were expecting from meat

They get some homemade donuts too, which are also amazing

From there they head to Yellowstone, where instead of spending the night in a hotel, they planned on camping

Before they got there, they stopped at a Walmart (there was no nearby Target, much to Chandler's horror) to get some hotdogs and buns to cook that night

Camping required moving everything out of the back to get to the tent, medical supplies, emergency supplies, and sleeping bags, moving it all back in, and bringing all of that with them to the designated camping spot

By the time they finish all of that they are sweaty and exhausted, expect for Mac who kept in good physical shape even after graduating and finishing cheerleading

They quickly get to work setting up the tent, only to realize that none of them know how to do this

They have the instructions, but something gets lost between Duke reading it out and the other 3 following what she's saying

It takes a good 2 hours before they have a tent that doesn't fall down after 5 seconds

Once they finally get that done with, they try to start a fire

Keyword Try

They try using the fire starter that Chandler bought, it doesn't work, they try using glass to redirect sunlight, doesn't work, they even try rubbing sticks together

They are all getting super frustrated and worse, they're starving

Duke gets the idea to do all three things at once to try and start the fire

Chandler says that that's stupid, if one didn't work why would all at the same time work

But while she's yapping Mac grabs the sticks and Veronica grabs the glass

Somehow it actually works and they manage to start a fire and Chandler is just done with everything and decides to go sit in the tent and cool off

Eventually she goes out to cook the hot dogs and despite the fact she's cooking them in the middle of the woods they actually turn out decent

Once they've eaten they decide to walk around and see the nature

Yellowstone is beautiful, they just walk around, not saying a word, enjoying the serenity of nature

Mac takes the occasional picture of waterfalls or the hot springs, but besides that the only sound heard is the crunch of leaves or rocks beneath their feet

Eventually they reach the hot springs

Duke leans over to feel the heat better

And she almost falls in

She is only saved at the last second by Mac grabbing her

After that they decide to go back to camp

On the way Mac keeps a look out for wildlife

She sees buffalo, coyotes, deer, mountain goats and even a marmot

It takes all of Mac's willpower not to run up and start hugging the marmot, she can't help it they're just big fat prairie dogs

When they get back to camp they see a bear foraging around in their food

Chandler screams at the sight of it which causes the bear to notice them and start growling and swiping its claws towards them

Everyone is freaking out, they're trying to figure out how to get to their bags bc maybe they could use the bug spray to spray in its eyes until it runs away or maybe use the flare or knife

Everyone is freaking out, expect for Mac

She walks straight up to the bear, slaps it, and says 'GO AWAY' in the loudest voice she can manage

The bear just looks ashamed and slowly trods away

Her gfs are just stunned and don't say a word

They get set up for the night, getting their sleeping bags out and getting marshmallows to make smores

As they are eating they start to notice something

There are a lot of bugs

Thankfully this is something they are actually prepared for as Chandler goes into the tent and hands each of her gfs a can of bug spray

Once they spray a bit and the bugs either leave or die it's actually kinda nice

As they are eating their smores Duke suggests they tell scary stories

She says that she'll start

The story she tells is so dark and gruesome that by the time she's finished both Chandler and Veronica are shaking and Mac is hugging Chandler tight and on the verge of tears

She pretty much killed the mood with that so they put out the fire and went to bed

When they get up in the morning none of them have gotten more than a hour's sleep each

They are all exhausted and their backs hurt and want nothing more than to sleep in a real bed

But they know they have to keep moving on if they wanna stay on schedule

They quickly pack up and head out of Yellowstone

Duke drives with Veronica in the front and Chandler and Mac in the back

**Line Break**

Chandler tells Veronica that if she ever suggests going camping again she will leave her stranded in the woods

Then Veronica says that if she ever suggests it to put her in a mental institution

They eventually reach the Car with Two Front Ends

Its another silly roadside attraction which is exactly like it sounds, a car with two front ends

They take some pictures before heading back to start the drive to the Grand Canyon

They are all exhausted, they've got no real sleep and have only eaten fast food

So they decide to alter their plans a little, instead of doing the Grand Canyon today they'll relax in the room before doing it tomorrow

To do this they would have to skip the Hoover Dam, which no one is sad about but Duke

'Heather why do you even want to go there, its just a dam?'

'I know why she wants to go'

'Shut up Veronica'

'She wants to make dam jokes'

'.... Like from the Percy Jackson books?'

'Yeah'

'I should've expected that'

They get to the resort at the Canyon and rush to take a shower and relax

Of course Chandler being the princess she is insists on going first

She takes so long that the other three get fed up, go in the shower and drag her out, before deciding to just say screw it and take one together so they don't have to wait any longer

When they get out they decide to just all get in bed and cuddle while watching TV

Before that they also decide to turn the AC down to the lowest setting it can go

They pass out pretty much immediately

When they get up they quickly load their things back into the car before heading to the Canyon itself

They visit the Visitor's Center, where they watch some introductory videos and look around the exhibits

They then go to the gift shop and pick up some souvenirs

Duke spots some cowboy hats and gets an idea

She runs up behind each of her gfs and places a hat in their color on each of their heads

Chandler thinks its stupid (big surprise there) but the others like it so they get the hats

She's thankful for the hats when they start going down the trail, because the sun is blazing down on them and it is really fucking hot

They're taking a trail down to the bottom where they are gonna go whitewater rafting in the Colorado River

The entire way down Chandler is petrified that she's gonna fall or they're gonna run into a rattlesnake or something

She's so happy when they reach the bottom that she could cry

After a quick tutorial the four of them get into their raft

You would think after years of being friends, then gfs, and being a part of a clique they would be able to work together on this simple task

You would be wrong

Chandler and Mac are sitting in the front and Duke and Veronica in the back

Chandler is barking orders to everyone while Duke is telling her that she's doing it wrong and so they all start yelling at each other

The instructor is paddling over to them trying to tell them what to do but none of them can hear her over their own shouting

Eventually their raft hits a rock and it flips over

Thankfully they are all strong swimmers and so are able to get to the shore quickly and without being injured

The water was actually pretty cold so none of them were too upset

They eventually made the way back up, stopping at several spots to get different views of everything

They then get back in the car, cranking up the AC before heading to San Diego

Mac drives here, Chandler in the front and the other two in the back

They're getting closer and closer to their destination, and with that they're getting more antsy

Even with the frequent stops they've been driving for days and they just want to be there already

Veronica spent like 2 hours trying to convince Chandler to try playing Pokemon with her and Mac, but she refuses bc she has a stick in her ass and hates fun

At least that's what Veronica claims is the problem

She tries appealing to her ego, saying that the whole point of the game is about becoming better than everyone else, but to no avail

The drive to San Diego feels like an eternity, but once they see the Pacific on the horizon they realize that it was all worth it

They reach the hotel and sleep, before waking up and heading to the zoo

Mac is like a very excited child, she's running around the place and just beaming

They paid for a VIP tour, so they had a personal guide taking them around the zoo

They even got to go up close and personal with some of the animals

They let them feed the giraffes, elephants, monkeys, capybaras, penguins and so much more

Most of the animals were really chill and even let Mac hug them, which just made her so happy

When the tour was over Mac said that they were coming back one day and doing this again and was crying happy tears

They stop at the gift shop and of course she picks up a bunch of plushes

They have no room in the Jeep but that hasn't stopped them from buying stuff before

From here they head to Disneyland

They stay at the Disneyland Hotel, which is so fucking cool

It's a hotel that has a bunch of Disney history, so they spend some time looking around that the exhibits

They even have this giant wall full of old Disney merch, which they take a minute to look around and find all of the cool stuff

They then head to Downtown Disney to do some shopping

They buy some of the usual stuff, pins, plushies, a few shirts and various knick knacks

Duke buys a few more lightsabers, justifying it by saying they were on sale

They have to pull Veronica out of the Lego store before she buys the UCS Millenium Falcon

They get to bed early, because in the morning they have to deal with Drill Srgt. McNamara

She wakes up before them and yells at them to hurry hurry hurry

She does not stop they are all ready and the second they are she grabs their hands and drags them to the park enterance

They have to get done with both Disneyland and California Adventure, and if they are gonna do everything they have to hurry

Since they are staying on-property, they are able to get in 30 min early, and Mac drags them to Tommorowland and is able to get everything done there

Everything goes fine until the Nemo Submarine ride, its dark and cramped and Chandler is not a fan of it

She screams like a little bitch whenever the angler fish jumpscares them

By the time the park opens fully they are in line for the Matterhorn

The Matterhorn is one of the most bumpy rides, and by the time they get off their backs are killing them

People start flooding in to the park and wait times are going up, so Mac drags them from one part of the part to another, doing whatever has the shortest line

They go from Small World to Smuggler's Run to Jungle Cruise to Rodger Rabbit to Haunted Mansion, you get the idea

By the time they stop for lunch everyone is exhausted, except for Mac, who seems annoyed they had to stop

They've gotten about 3/4ths of the park done, and they still have California Adventure to do

They try asking Mac is they can slow down but she just laughs and says that if they slow down they won't get everything done

Veronica tries telling her that they could always come back, its not like they couldn't afford it or that their work wouldn't let them but she doesn't wanna hear it

However she does agree that she'll take the next leg of driving so they can rest while they head to Redwood National Park

That sounds like a fair compromise to them so they keep heading out

They quickly wrap up Disneyland and head to California Adventure

There less rides there, so they can afford to go a little bit slower

** Line Break **

On the Little Mermaid Dark Ride, they had to cram themselves into a single clam which was super uncomfortable but it was worth it when they got to the 'Kiss the Girl' scene and they all kissed each other

They head to the Spider-man ride, which requires the rider to shoot webs by making the Spider-man web shooter gesture and moving it back and forth

Their hands were cramping so badly when they got off

Duke won and was gloating which obviously pissed off Chandler, which causes her to drag her to the Toy Story ride to get revenge

Chandler does end up winning that round, so she declares that they are even

Eventually they finish all the rides and decide to get dinner

They go to Flo's Cafe in Cars Land, where they see the best menu item ever

Its the Ka-Cheeseburger, like Lightning McQueen's catchphrase Ka-Chow

They all think that it is just the funniest thing ever, so they all get one, plus a Piston Cup cup

Once they finish their dinner (it was just alright) they head back to Disneyland to watch Fantasmic! and finish up shopping

They head to bed, pack up, and head on the road

Mac drives while the others sleep, exhausted by the previous day's events

She wakes them up once they reach the forest

The main reason they came was because they filmed Endor there in Return of the Jedi, so after walking around the trail for a few hours, admiring the giant trees, they find the exact spot they filmed some scenes in the movie and take pictures, using the lightsabers that Duke bought at Disneyland as props

After they finish up (and of course grabbing some souvenirs) they head back towards San Fransisco

They drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, which isn't anything special besides the fact that it is the Golden Gate Bridge

Compared to everything else they've seen and done over the trip a random Bridge is probably the least interesting

They then do the final thing of the road trip, which is going tour Alcatraz

They get on the ferry and start the tour

Its actually pretty interesting, even Chandler finds it entertaining

After the tour is over they have a little while to look around on their own

They go to some of the cells and start taking pictures

They pass by a random cell and Duke decides to play a prank

She nudges Chandler and says that she saw something weird in that cell over there

Chandler goes to take a look and Duke closes the door behind her

Upon realizing that she was trapped she starts screaming at Duke to let her out while Duke just laughs her ass off

'You've been a bad bad girl Heather, and now its time for your punishment'

'DUKE THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR SEXY TIMES LET ME OUT'

'Only if you say the magic wordddd'

'Please?'

'Noooo, you know what it is'

'I'm not saying that'

'Say it or you're staying in there'

'....Duke is the most goregous, most sexy, smartest, prettiest Heather there is'

'And?'

'and she is much better than me at Toy Story Mania'

After that incident they take the ferry back and start the final leg to the journey, to the beach house

They actually have to circle back towards Los Angeles as the beach house is farther south, but eventually they arrive at the house

Its rather isolated, the nearest house is a few miles away

It's on the seafront, with a spacious beach area in the front of it

It's a two-story modern-styled house, complete with a pool, game room, and movie room with a 98in TV

They quickly unloaded everything, before driving out to Target to grab food to make for the next two weeks, before

Their first day at the house they spend in bed

The past week of constant travel and doing things has exhausted them beyond belief, more than they ever thought possible

Chandler doesn't even feel like cooking, they just DoorDash Chinese food

Once they've rested and can feel their feet again, they start doing things

Their days go generally like this;

They sleep in until around 9ish

While her gfs shower, Veronica makes their coffee/tea, and after they are done Veronica takes her shower

They put on their bikinis and head down to the beach

Chandler generally doesn't go in the water, she spends most of her time catching up on some reading and sunbathing

Duke and Veronica picked up some Boogie Boards when they went to Target, and take some time trying to surf

Trying is the key word there, they aren't very good at it, but they have fun with it

Mac alternates between swimming and building sand castles

She spent a lot of the ride watching Youtube videos on people building them, and she was inspired

She also collects sea shells to put in her scrapbook

Around lunch time they'll go back inside while Chandler cooks

She's been trying some new recipes and while they aren't all hitters, she's having fun trying new things out

After that they'll take a nap before doing something in the afternoon

Sometimes they'll take a dip in the pool, which has a slide

Duke will wait at the top of the slide until someone on the float passes by, and then she'll quickly slide down and land on top of them

Other times they'll get out the water guns and start shooting each other

If they don't go to the pool they might head to the game room

They have a bunch of board games

They play some Trivial Pursuit, which Veronica wins handily, or Monopoly, which they end up having to abandon because Chandler and Duke are getting competitive again

They also have some video games

As soon as she sees Mario Party Veronica grabs it and hides it somewhere upstairs

They are not having a repeat of the Mario Party Incident

They play Jackbox Party, which causes Duke to laugh so hard that her sides start to cramp

If not games, then they go to the movie room and watch some movies

Mac's dad has both a large collection of DVDs and a bunch of streaming services, so they have essentially unlimited options

There's a pull-out couch that they use to lay down on, and they cuddle while watching things

At night they'll get some wine and go sit on the beach, just watching the sunset and enjoying each other's company , before calling it a night

They stay this way for two weeks, just relaxing without a care in the world, until the day comes that they need to pack up and go

It takes forever to get everything to fit, bc they bought just so much crap

They manage to get it all to fit, but whoever is in the backseat is gonna need to sit on someone else's lap

Its illegal but who cares

As they're finishing up Mac says that she's gonna go take a quick walk on the beach

She comes back 5 min later upset, saying that she dropped one of her earrings

Her gfs rush to come help her

Mac suggests that they dig through the sand to try and find it

While they are digging Duke finds something

Its not Mac's earring, its a small chest

Confused, she opens it, only to see 4 smaller boxes, one red, one yellow, one green and one blue

The three of them look at Mac, who is struggling not to smile, as she hands Chandler the red box, Veronica the blue box, and Duke the green box, before grabbing the yellow box herself

She tells them about how her life has been changed because of them, and how its improved in every conceivable way

She further says that without them, she doesn't know where or even who she would be, and that she wouldn't want to be anyone else than who she is right now, and that she has them to thank for it

She then says that she cannot see a life without them, and that she doesn't even want to imagine it and thats why she wants to make it permanent

** Line Break**

After she says this she gets down on her knee and tells them to open their boxes, revealing a ring in each one

Each ring is ornate, containing Heather flowers and roses with a diamond at the center, obviously in each of their respective colors

She then asks the question;

"Will you marry me?"

They're all crying, and they all pull each other into a group hug before saying that they will

So they leave the beach house, a ring on each of their fingers

They get home, and Mac gets started on the scrapbook of their trip

She works day and night in-between work and spending time with her fiancees

Eventually she gets to the last page, with a picture of the four of them on the beach, and another picture of their rings

She writes the word 'girlfriends' next to it, before grabbing a red sharpie, x-ing it out, and writing another word before circling it in green

The word is Wives

The final word count of this is somewhere around 25k words, so jesus christ I wrote a lot

If you read all of this you are awesome and I hope you enjoyed this

[amenders93]

Rocky Busts In

While Molly and Frizzle were beginning to have the time of their life, Rocky, Ginger and the gang were still outside, staring at the barbed-wire fence that surrounded Fun-Land Farms. Our Island Queen Ginger thought long and hard about what to do. She knew they can do it but all they needed was a clever plan. Our Island King Rocky is raring to go; his plan was simple - he's going to go in there and BUST MOLLY OUT! As per usual, Bunty was skeptical about this, asking Rocky how he plans to do just that. The young rooster just replies by simply going in and busting out his daughter. Bunty scoffed at this plan or as she puts it as "just saying what you wish would happen".

Mac then gives in her input on what that "plan" as well. At this point, even I couldn't follow that input with her thick Scottish accent. But as I figured it out, she's saying that you need to think things through before you do them. However, we all know our Rocky is more of a doer than a thinker. Rocky still can't understand what Mac says sometimes, but yet it's better than in the first film though. However he does comment that whatever Mac said was negative to him. That's when Ginger takes over, showing that she still understands her best friend and assistant, even with that thick accent of hers. Our spunky hen states that they need more details since they only get one shot at this. Hence they need to make sure that every move they make is carefully thought through.

However, while Ginger was explaining things to Mac, Bunty and Babs, Rocky wasn't really listening. He was sitting on the end of a young sapling that was being tied down by Fowler, carrying a long branch to take along with him. When Ginger sees what her husband is up to, she wonders what on earth is he up to. Rocky tells his wife that sometimes you've just got to take a leap of faith. Our brave rooster turns to his older rooster friend to ready the launch; our old sausage gives a salute. At Rocky's command, Fowler released the tree and it shoots the young rooster upwards before Ginger could even stop her husband. Typical of men, right girls? Always rushing into things without thinking.

This launch took Rocky back to his Lone-Free Ranger days of shooting out of a cannon. As the others watched from the ground, he whizzed though the air towards the farm. This could actually work! But then Rocky's feet caught the barbed wire at the top of the fence. He dropped his long branch and tumbled forward, slamming face first into the fence. It was electric! OUCH! A very shocked Rocky was blown forwards onto the ground. Immediately, cameras swiveled round and focused on him. Before our island king knew it, a hatch opened up and mechanical moles holding dart guns popped up. Suddenly, they began to shoot at him. DOUBLE OUCH!! Rocky hopped around to avoid the darts, running for the moat and grabbed his dropped branch on the way, thinking he would pole vault over the water. Unfortunately, the branch was nowhere near long enough to reach the other bank and he only got halfway across the water.

As Rocky slid down the branch, a little group of ducks came swimming towards him. But these were no ordinary ducks though; these were robot ducks with glowing laser eyes. The robot ducks shone red dots on Rocky's body, confusing him until.... they blew him up. TRIPLE OUCH!!! Now Rocky was sailing through the air again and then he landed on the wall of the main building. Exhausted, he looked back at the gang, who were watching him from the other side of the fence and seeing every little bit of his painful entry. You could probably guess that Ginger was the most concerned. After all, this was the rooster she loved with all her heart getting hurt, all just to rescue their beloved child. Rocky gave them all a feeble thumbs-up, then fell backwards. A metal hatch opened up, sucked our island king up and snapped shut. QUARUPLE OUCH!!!! But on the bright side though, at least Rocky is inside. Everyone still watched on with Babs commenting that it went well. Ginger does a face palm at this. My thoughts exactly, Ginger.

After Rocky's experience, the gang realized that breaking into the farm was going to be a difficult and dangerous operation. Mac, also looking on the bright side, told everyone that thanks to Rocky, now at least they've got the details. Ginger thought this was true but they're going to need some backup. Our island queen thought really hard about this one. Who could help them? They needed someone crafty, someone cunning, someone who was good at sneaking around and finding out stuff. And we all know who we're thinking of.

Even though Ginger wanted to think of a clever plan that has been carefully thought through to get inside Fun-Lan Farms to rescue Molly, Rocky had another idea in mind - simply just go in there and bust her out. This determined father is willing to go through anything to rescue his beloved daughter. Even if it meant getting electrocuted by an electric fence, being shot at by camera-driven, gun-toting moles, getting blown up by laser-guided, exploding ducks and sucked inside a trash chute. But on the bright side though, he found a way inside and even better, he gave Ginger and the rest of the gang all the details they need of the building's layout and its security strategies. And now all they need is some backup. Let's just hope that Ginger's plan is a lot more clever than Rocky's plan was.

[compusever]

Hi there! Bit of a weird question, and I’m not sure if this is the right blog for this, but… best laptop for privacy? I’m going to go to uni in a year and my parents have said that they’re going to buy me a laptop, which is awesome, except— I don’t know which one to chose? I’ve never had a laptop before but I try to take being private online as seriously as I can, and so I don’t really care… well, like, I do care that the laptop has good storage and works and stuff, but I care mostly about how private it is. Which one supports adding privacy-related stuff the best? Which one steals your data the least? I… am actually not sure what kind of questions I should be asking, since… again, never had a laptop before, and I don’t know what about its make makes it private (other than like general online privacy practices across all devices), so I was just wondering if you had any recommendations for me? Tldr: don’t care about fancy features, just want a laptop that more or less works, but would love privacy to be the main focus. This can sort of come at the expense of convenience - I don’t care it if’s harder to set up, use, etc., so long as I can connect to the internet with it.

So the hardware is pretty agnostic on this, the place where privacy is going to become an issue is in the software.

Windows loves to track you and send your data back to homebase; Apple is a walled garden that doesn't let people get deep into configurations; linux is intimidating for a lot of people.

Your actual best bet on privacy would be to get a laptop with no OS and install a linux distro on it, but it sounds like that's probably not something that's terribly approachable for you. So in that case I'd recommend getting a Windows laptop (mac prices aren't worth it) and going through this list to change the settings to ensure better privacy.

HOWEVER please note that you should be getting a laptop with a full OS. Windows has an option for "windows 11s" or "windows 10s" and first off you should be going with 11 at this point but second that "s" means that there are pretty strict limitations on what you can do as a user in terms of configuration and installation.

If you are willing to pay a bit more for Windows 11 Pro instead of windows 11 Home, the pro license cuts off some of the more annoying tracking that Windows does automatically, but I'd say you're better off simply getting the home license and really digging into the settings and getting to know it and setting it up for yourself.

BUT if it's at all possible, honestly I'd say get a bare metal laptop (that means it's just the hardware, no software, you need to install an operating system before you do anything) and install linux. HOWEVER keep in mind that there are some significant downsides to using linux as a student, mostly that you'll likely run into software at some point that you won't be able to install. Also if you're not already pretty good with computers it can be difficult to keep a linux machine running (but very easy to make it private; that's the tradeoff - you can make it more secure more easily, but you really have to know how to fix your own computer if something goes wrong.)

For your situation, again, I think a Windows 11 Home laptop with the settings adjusted is your best bet.

Absolutely positively don't get a chromebook (you've got no control of the settings on a chromebook and the thing is made to feed information to google) and don't get a mac (you can get better specs on a PC at a lower cost).

For an idea of budget on this, I'd say you can probably get something from Dell, Lenovo, or HP for around $650-1000 dollars that's got decent specs (12th gen or newer i5 processor, 16gb RAM, 512GB SSD) and maybe something more like $500-800 from acer, asus, or samsung. Whatever computer you end up getting, you should get the added drop protection warranty because that means the manufacturer will fix your laptop if you drop it, something that is a bigger deal for college students than most people (because of your environment you're more likely to end up with drop damage than a lot of people AND because you're a college student you probably won't be able to afford to fix or replace the computer)

Good luck!

[everydayyoulovemeless]

World On Fire ↠ MacCready x Reader

➼ Word Count » 0.7k ➼ Warnings » None ➼ Summary » Sole takes MacCready to the roof of a building to watch the sunrise.

“Hey uh, why’er we all the way up here again?” Mac asked as the two of you neared the top of the faded city building.

You shrugged, glancing back at the sniper, “Just wanted to see the Commonwealth from higher up, I guess.”

The dark Boston sky swallowed most things into its deep ink-colored void, although nowadays you could spot a few more stars starting to peek out from behind the dreaded curtains from the years of declining light pollution. Most of the scavers here would disagree with the idea that the Commonwealth was just as beautiful as it was before the war, but there was something so sorrowfully charming about the collapsed city that still somehow managed to stand before you.

"Are you sure it's safe being this high? I think I feel the floors swaying."

"Stop moaning, we're not even that high up yet." You retorted playfully, slowing to walk beside your companion.

"I'm just saying, maybe there's a reason we haven't found anything hostile yet." He spoke, gripping his rifle in his hands in case anything decided to jump out at the two of you as you went.

You were desperate to keep him in step behind you, however, he was right, the stairs threatened to cave inward at every step either of you took and the walls almost didn't exist. There was hardly anything holding this building up, but you didn't want that to stop you. Glancing up through the holes in the floors above you, you could spot a glimpse of the moon. Its pale features shone down through the cracks of the crumbling tower, beckoning both of you upward, and who were you to deny it?

You took in a deep breath once the two of you finally made it to the top, the harsh wind slashing at your lungs as you did so. Staring out at the murky ocean water and the heavily damaged roads made you feel reborn. You were staring out into a world you've seen so many times before and yet none of it was familiar. Sometimes you forgot that this place used to be your home. Every aspect of the city seemed to have shifted in some way after the bombs dropped.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? The Commonwealth."

MacCready moved to stand next to you, taking a moment to gaze out at the sight before replying, "Gonna be honest with you, boss, I don't see it." He pulled out a broken cigarette, lighting it before continuing, "I just see a bunch of suffering people."

"I guess so." You muttered out, crouching down to sit on the ground, dangling your feet off the edge as you looked out. "But people suffer in every timeline."

"Careful on the edge there," MacCready warned, coming up to sit cross-legged next to you. "We didn't really come all the way up here to look at this place, did we? We could've done this on the ground."

You nudged him with your shoulder when you saw the glowing orange start to drain into the black sky, "But look!"

The sun rose slowly, illuminating more and more as it moved. That was another familiarity that bleed in from the pre-war world. A thing that anyone, anywhere, at any time could recognize. It glared down at the buildings, casting their long shadows across the ruined town, positioned in such a way where it felt like everything here belonged—that it wasn't all a huge mistake from the past.

"Watching that wouldn't be the same on the ground." MacCready rolled his eyes at your statement, a faint smile making its way onto his face.

The world might’ve been on fire, but as long as Mac was a part of it, you wouldn't have had it any other way. You felt his body stiffen as you placed your head on his shoulder. Exhaling lightly, you stared out at the chaotic scenes that played out below you. The regular occurrences of the Boston Commons were frightening but familiar, and you almost found yourself appreciating the consistencies of the area every day. It was getting harder and harder to find, and this world was slowly becoming more like a home.