#very handy that tumblr adds a read more button to mobile as soon as I learn the shortcut for it

[emry-stars-art]

tell us about the royals au!!! (im on my knees. please.)

Ohhhhh my friend you have started me on a RANT I hope you’re ready!!!

I don’t know that I’ll ever actually write it so I’m not too worried about spoilers, and the wonderful people in my dms (which are still open btw) bouncing ideas with me are always going to come up with great ideas so I’m putting WIP in big red letters, things are subject to change! But for now, some ideas. Most of what I have will be under the cut, but if you want to know more about a specific part/have any questions please I’d love to chat :D will link to the art/posts I have so far!

(In this au I’ve been referring to Neil as Nathaniel at first and then Abram (hello names as a plot device), and everyone else right now is some version of their name)

Kevin and Nathaniel were raised at Evermore castle, Kevin to be in direct competition to Riko/see which of them might claim the throne (not thought out yet), and Nathaniel as the Moriyama’s attack dog, born and raised to take his father’s place as such. The two never met in person, but Nathaniel knows and recognizes Day because of course he does, and Day knows the name Wesninski means a very, very dangerous person. Essentially the top assassin on the continent.

But as we do, Day decides he can’t/won’t handle the treatment anymore, whatever the last straw may be, and runs off to Palmetto in a kind of desperate chase of the stories his mother used to tell him when he was little. He knew she loved that kingdom. Somehow he finds Wymack - the twin’s royal advisor - or Wymack finds him, and once Wymack realizes who this kid is and has reason to believe he’s not here on Evermore business, he puts Day’s incredible talent and training as a tactician/commander to work as his pupil.

Meanwhile Nathaniel is still at Evermore, mistreated and learning from his own failures and mistakes until he’s nearly as good as his father at the family business.

I don’t know how long Nathaniel plans it, but he either plays the part for long enough or his skill is so undeniable that when the Moriyamas have plans for the Palmetto Kingdom, they send him and one other accomplished fighter to kill the king. Nathaniel goes quietly and decides he’s not coming back if he can help it.

So instead of killing the young king, Nathaniel’s panic has him turn on his partner at the very last second, stopping them just before they can get to the king. He takes them somewhere far away and does what he does best, leaving no one to report back to the Moriyamas. From then on it’s a waiting game to see how long the family will wait before they send someone after him.

Day’s followed them, and Nathaniel turns around from the body and sees this man he hasn’t seen in years, alive and safe away from Evermore. It’s as elating as it is crushing - because Day heard his partner call him by name, and there is no way Day will ever let a Wesninski walk away alive. Not if he knows what’s good for all of them.

Except Day doesn’t kill him, even when Nathaniel asks him to. (Better Day than Riko, Nathaniel knew that even when they were all stuck at Evermore). Instead, he takes Nathaniel back to the twins/Wymack, gives him a little bread, and they sit until he can pry out an explanation. (See the comic of this first meeting here.)

Day and Nathaniel spend most of their time together because Day refuses to let Nathaniel out of his or Wymack’s sight until he proves not a threat to the royal family, which proves an issue because between Andrew’s rotation of personal guards (he never gets along with them well enough that they stay/aren’t fired) Day is Andrew’s guard, which sometimes means Nathaniel is stuck a lot closer than Day would like. But after a long, long time, Day and Wymack decide Nathaniel was serious about the whole “runaway” thing and isn’t playing spy (maybe there’s some dramatic event/Nathaniel protecting a twin that convinces them or maybe it’s just a lot of little things over time). Andrew, after a rough spat with the latest guard, is again in need of a new one. Finally Day just asks “is there ANYONE you could possibly pretend to get along with that can do the job” and Andrew knows Nathaniel is dangerous he just doesn’t know exactly how or why (but oh he is curious) so maybe he just straight up says. “Wesninski.” And Day has to go “…. Fine.”

So boom. They knew each other superficially before, but now Andrew and Nathaniel are spending most of their time together and miraculously - no arguments. No spats. Day thanks the gods there’s no physical altercations (that’s probably what got the last guard fired so quick). Nathaniel is just a mystery with shady ability to tell the truth and Andrew can’t help his curiosity. Good old fashioned andreil :D

From here the timeline becomes essentially nonexistent, I have no idea when these things happen in relation to each other but so far they’re all things I like and want to include!

1) there’s plenty of games and competitions at Palmetto, we love a good tussle, and Nathaniel usually does quite well - he’s not good at playing fair, but his underhanded methods are not technically illegal and usually he can use his preferred weapon - dagger rather than sword. He does well except for the one time an opponent accidentally says/does something that was constantly said or done to Nathaniel while “training” at Evermore, and he comes back to Andrew and the tent he watched from in the beginning of a panic attack. Andrew doesn’t know anything about Nathaniel’s past at this point, but he knows a panic attack when he sees one. In trying to talk him through it, Andrew realizes that yes Nathaniel is scared of being hurt, but he’s more afraid of hurting others. Nathaniel won’t let Andrew call him by name, he flinches every time Andrew says it. After, Andrew asks what he should call him instead, and Nathaniel finally asks to be called Abram.

2) Balls! Masquerades! Abram doesn’t have many outfits, he wears the regular issued uniform to every event. Andrew will not stand for this. Abram always wears clothes that cover him fully, which is fine, Andrew can work with that. He’s still seen Abram in a tight shirt or two. So he commissions one of the most knowledgeable people in the court (we’re thinking it might be Allison, she’s a noble but she’s great with textiles/embroidery/etc) and gets Abram a new outfit. It still covers him, its still protective material, but it looks better. (Find Abram in a corset here). Andrew handles it totally normal and rational in his head when he sees Abram actually wearing it of course.

3) Day probably assumes for a little while that Andrew and Abram have got a more or less normal guard/charge relationship, even thinking it’s slightly antagonistic considering this is Andrew we’re talking about. (This doesn’t fit the timeline, but here’s a mini comic of one of Day’s misunderstandings hehe)

4) king Aaron! He became king at 18/20/whatever age we decide this universe deems old enough because he is in fact the elder twin here. I imagine their parents have both been dead and gone for at least a few years at this point. Dan is Aaron’s guard and she and Abram hit it off great as coworkers and friends. More on the uncertainty of the twins backstory later. (Drawings of Aaron and his queen Katelyn here!)

5) the angst. The Moriyamas should have heard from the Wesninski boy months ago - something somewhere went wrong. So, naturally, they go to collect their property. If they get away with it, we can imagine how it goes. What I don’t know is if the twins, Day, and Wymack know for sure he was kidnapped or if they have a little nagging in the back of their head that wonders if he’s only run away from the castle or if he’s run back to Evermore with everything he’s learned.

When he’s recovered, Day doesn’t let Andrew too close too often for a while. If Abram forgets where is for even a second too long - waking up from a nightmare, having a flashback - it’s long enough for it to be fatal to whoever might get too close to Abram. It’s already almost proved fatal for Andrew, after Abram played normal so well that Andrew let it slip - he forgot Abram was taken back to Evermore for them to finish making him into a thoughtless weapon, and they’d nearly succeed. He wakes Abram too quickly and ends up extremely lucky Abram recognizes both his voice and the way Andrew didn’t call him ‘Nathaniel’ or ‘Wesninski’. There’s really a huge amount to possibly be covered about this point so I won’t go into detail here - but if you like hurt/comfort you know where to find me 👀

6) the biggest thing we haven’t figured out is Andrew. Either he was kidnapped at a young age and only recovered in his teens, or the elder King Minyard didn’t much care for his second son. Though I’ve always liked the idea of Mr. Minyard being a good man who died shortly before the twins’ birth and their mother just couldn’t handle the grief or knowing that the twins look like him. Anyway a lot of the twins’ issues after both of their parents are dead are the advisors or other people around them that try to take advantage of their youth and inexperience for their own gain, without realizing that both Aaron and Andrew have had to grow up much too fast, each for their own reasons. They can usually see right past the tricks. It’s why they both trust Wymack so much - he’s one of the few adults that are truly there to help them, and not make decisions for them.

Im sure there’s more I missed, but this is long enough as it is lol. People have asked about the Trojans/Jean in this au, and I’d love to include them! My brain’s instinctive response is that Jeremy is some sort of high end noble/royal of a faraway kingdom, and Jean (always last to leave the nest, im so sorry baby) somehow gets over there, but I don’t have an idea of his or anyone else’s roles yet. Renee could even still have a hand in him getting there if we really want.

So I’m still writing snippets and drawing over here lol but i promise I don’t bite if you want to talk :D

[skivvysupreme]

“Heroes Never Die” - Kurt & New Directions, Kurt/Blaine

continuing my new favorite thing of throwing Kurt and Blaine into videogames... the world could always use more heroes. :)

AKA the New Directions play Overwatch, and Kurt makes a new friend AKA I, Skivvy, would very much like to be at home playing Overwatch, but I’m not off work yet

@whatstheproblembaby​ thanks for looking this over as a non-player, lol. hope it makes sense! I don’t know how many of you fellow klainers/gleeks play, but here are some references for anyone who doesn’t *know* the game and wants a little more clarification! you’ve probably seen some of these around tumblr?

the battle map: King’s Row Kurt’s team: Mercy | Pharah | Genji | Widowmaker | Tracer | D.Va enemy team: Lucio | Reinhardt | Symmetra | Torbjorn | McCree | Soldier76

part 1 of whatever? 

2000 words | read on AO3

“Kurt, I need heals!” 

“Then you shouldn’t have run in alone and then gotten stuck in an enclosed space where I can’t heal you, Sam,” Kurt sing-songs into his headset, keeping his wing-suited Mercy attached to Artie’s jet-packed Pharah as they fly around the point area they’re trying to keep control of in King’s Row. Besides the chance to get a good look at the beautiful, futuristic London panorama around them, sticking with Pharah allows Kurt a bird’s-eye view of who needs help. As Mercy, he can see Genji’s low health through the walls, Sam hiding from their enemies in a little room behind the point with a bright red and white plus symbol over him.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you’d switched characters like I asked. Don’t pick Genji if you don’t know what you’re doing,” Artie says, firing off a rocket in Sam’s general direction for no other reason than to express his bitterness.

Kurt shakes his head. Artie is obsessed with Genji, and skillfully plays Genji as his main character, but Sam had snagged him as soon as the game started and stubbornly refused to switch. 

“Like you never get hurt as Genji? I never get to practice him in matches because you always take him!” 

“I ALWAYS TAKE HIM BECAUSE HE’S MY MAIN! And you just jumped in there like an idiot--”

“I was going to knock out their Reinhardt from behind, I didn’t realize they'd gotten their Symmetra on the point, too!” Sam whines, frantically spamming the healing request button. Genji calls out over the team chat, “I need healing!”

“If you’d picked your own main instead of stealing someone else’s, you could’ve healed yourself,” Artie snaps, referring to Soldier: 76′s biotic field, a handy little bubble of healing energy that he can use on himself and his teammates. 

Ignoring Artie and his salty attitude, Sam’s Genji keeps calling out, “I need healing! I need healing! I need healing!”

Kurt presses the acknowledgement button (”Understood,” Mercy responds in her soft Swiss-German accent) and ignores the healing request. “BOYS! If you don’t shut up and focus, I’m not healing either one of you. Come on, we can win this one!”

“Can someone do something about this fucking Lucio?!” Santana snarls in frustration over the voice chat. 

Kurt turns briefly in the air to watch the enemy healer. Lucio has been a problem this entire game, deftly dodging their team’s fire and keeping his own team protected and mobile with well-timed speed and healing boosts. At the moment, he’s circling around on the point as though it’s a very small roller rink, attempting to capture it for his team, though the capture rate is slow because he’s on his own and keeps wall-riding off the point to dodge Santana’s Widowmaker. Kurt sees her sniper shots missing over and over, uncharacteristic for Santana and her main; her bullet streams come close to Lucio’s head but can’t land, and body shots are quickly made irrelevant by Lucio’s self-healing ability. Whoever’s playing him is good.

Santana swears when Widowmaker takes a couple hits from the enemy Torbjorn’s rapid-fire turret and backs off a little, Kurt quickly flying over to her for a quick healing boost before he links back up with Artie. “We’re running out of time and I can’t get him off the point, he’s too fast!”

“Where the hell is--? Oh, there she is,” Kurt mutters, hearing Tracer’s gleeful “Whee!” as Brittany speeds her towards the enemy Lucio. She blinks behind him, in front of him, behind him again, shooting all the time and maneuvering faster than Lucio can catch her. When he finally gets frustrated enough to try and push her back with a sound wave, Tracer rewinds, flipping behind him and taking him out before he can turn around. 

“Wooo!” Brittany yells, laughing before she blinks away again. “Got him, babe!”

“That’s my girl,” Santana sighs, resuming her careful attacks on the enemy Torbjorn’s and Symmetra’s arrangement of turrets.

Genji calls, “I need healing!”

The enemy Reinhardt, who Artie and Kurt have successfully kept distracted with rockets up until this point, finally turns and unleashes his special, ultimate ability. “HAMMER DOWN!!!” he shouts, throwing down said hammer and sending a burst of fiery energy rumbling through the ground to catch Tina’s D.Va and knock her off her feet as she tries to sneak up behind him.

“He solo-ulted me!” Tina wails, D.Va’s mech legs wiggling uselessly in the air like an overturned beetle as the Reinhardt marches ominously towards her. From overhead, Kurt can see D.Va’s tiny human figure flailing inside the mech suit, powerless to escape; it would be a comical sight if she weren’t about to take a Reinhardt hammer to the face. 

Genji calls, “I need healing!”

Artie and Kurt react in tandem, Artie shooting a concussive rocket to push the Reinhardt off his path and Kurt swooping down to Tina to give her a power boost in case the Reinhardt moves more aggressively than anticipated.

“Thanks!” D.Va chirps, a little thumbs-up icon appearing above her. Tina and Artie team up to take out the Reinhardt, pummeling him with shots from behind and breaking down his shield from the front until he’s finally eliminated. Tina’s D.Va turns her attention to the enemy McCree and Soldier: 76, and Artie and Kurt get back in the air to assist from above. 

Thirty seconds remain. 

“Enemy turret destroyed,” they hear Widowmaker announce in her smooth French accent, the sound merging nicely with Santana’s satisfied snickering in the background. 

“Symmetra and her turrets are out, too!” Brittany adds, activating a voice line so that Tracer calls out her cheerful, high-pitched signature: “Cheers, love! The cavalry’s here!”

Then, just as Kurt notices that the enemy Lucio, Symmetra, Torbjorn, and Reinhardt are storming back to the point way faster than they should be after dying so soon, Genji announces, “The enemy has a teleporter.” 

At Sam’s prompting, Genji also calls, “I need healing!”

“Crap - everybody go, we have to clear it out! Destroy the teleporter if you find it!” Kurt calls. The entire team moves as quickly as they can, including Sam’s Genji, who darts out of his hiding spot so that Kurt’s Mercy can finally heal him.

Then, several things happen all at once, beginning with Kurt’s least favorite words in the entire game. 

“IT’S HIGH NOON...” 

Kurt barely has time to react before the enemy McCree groans in agony, his deadly ult interrupted by a swift headshot that prevents him from taking anyone else out. 

“No the fuck it’s not,” Santana hisses as the rest of the team laughs and cheers over the voice chat. Kurt sees her Widowmaker jump down from her perch to join the team on the ground and start shooting at the enemies, who have all gathered on the point. 

Tina pops her ult, D.Va yelling, “NERF THIS!” and ejecting from her mech as it speeds towards the enemies and begins to self-destruct. 

That infuriating enemy Lucio pops his ult at the same time, jumping in the air and slamming his speaker-gun on the ground. His call of “LET’S BREAK IT DOWN!” accompanies an impenetrable shield around his entire team, protecting them so that D.Va’s exploding mech, normally a debilitating and unforgiving ult, merely pushes the enemy team away from her a little. 

“Nooo, that was perfect! That would’ve been Play of the Game!” Tina screams, D.Va immediately jumping back into her replacement mech to keep fighting. Tina’s so loud in her fury that it seems no one but Kurt notices the next horrifying announcement:

“I’VE GOT YOU IN MY SIGHTS...” 

“Shit, shit, shit!” Kurt releases his link from Artie’s Pharah, gliding out of the enemy Soldier’s eye line and away from the inevitable carnage. Soldier: 76 pops his ult, his shots landing with deadly power and accuracy on whoever he can see.

Kurt’s the only one who dodges the attack. A bright yellow, triangular icon pops up on his display, noting four teammates dead from Soldier’s ult. Then all five of his teammates are down as the enemy Reinhardt fulfills his inexplicable vendetta against Tina’s D.Va and pins her mech against a nearby wall, his teammates helping him finish her off. Kurt can see little skull icons hovering in the air where each of them fell. 

He hears his team’s rage and disappointment over the voice chat but quickly yells over them, “This is our last shot, get ready!” With three seconds remaining, his Mercy locks on to one of the death icons littering the point and swoops in, emerging from her hiding spot and shouting, “HEROES NEVER DIE!”

In a burst of yellow beams, all five teammates reappear on the point, rising from the dead to send the game into overtime. Artie’s Pharah leaps into the air and shouts, “JUSTICE RAINS FROM ABOVE!” as a barrage of rockets comes down on the enemy team, taking out three of them as the rest of the team cleans up the survivors. 

The enemy team doesn’t have enough time to get back to the point before overtime runs out. Kurt’s team recaptures the defense point, “VICTORY” appearing on the screen in huge glowing letters. The match is over. 

“Oh my GOD,” Artie yells, the whole team whooping and chattering about how close that was. Kurt breathes and presses a palm to his face. He loves being Mercy, but god, is it stressful sometimes.

The Play of the Game animation begins, and Kurt is delighted to see Mercy on screen, spreading her wings and raising her arm in her signature Resurrection move. As expected, the replay shows his game-saving, 5-person rez in the eleventh hour. 

“Kurt, that was so good!” Brittany exclaims, all of their teammates voting for Kurt as MVP in the end-game recap that shows the match’s strongest players. He even gets one of the enemy team’s players’ votes, though all the other votes go to their team’s healer, Lucio. 

Sam whistles. “Seriously saved our asses, wow...”

“Wouldn’t have been so close if we had a useful Genji...” Artie mutters. 

“Seriously, bro?”

“Get good or get over it, Sam,” cackles Tina.

Kurt says nothing. He’s with Artie on this one.

“For fuck’s sake... I’m over this for the night, see you losers tomorrow,” Santana says, she and Brittany quickly exiting the group. The others follow soon after, until Kurt is alone and pressing his fingers to his temples with his headphones resting around his neck. 

A bell rings as a little pop-up appears in the upper left corner of the TV, noting that Kurt has a friend request from Nightbird1995. His eyebrow quirks with interest. It’s the enemy Lucio. 

The accompanying message reads, GG! By that, I mean ‘great game’ instead of ‘good game.’ Or ‘glorious game!’ What an AMAZING Mercy!!! :) healer buddy?

Kurt grins. What a sweetheart, this Lucio. He accepts the request and sends back, You’re pretty good yourself! I’ll be honest, you were irritating. The mark of a great player :P

If the enemy isn’t frustrated you’re not playing hard enough lol

Agreed. Though I doubt you had as much screaming in your voice chat as I did. My friends are... a lot

Lol. Wanna team up for a few quick rounds? My friends left :(((

Kurt answers by sending an Overwatch invitation to Nightbird1995 and putting his headset back on.

“Hi, Mercy! Or shall I call you ‘Blackbird?’” Nightbird1995 asks, a buoyant tenor voice playing in Kurt’s headphones. The player’s icon is a jar of peanut butter. 

Kurt snorts at the picture, but doesn’t comment on it. “You can call me Kurt... Nightbird?” 

“Ah, no, that’s my superhero alter-ego. I’m Blaine.” 

Blaine... Hmm. “Superhero by day, skilled healer by night?”

“That’s me,” Blaine laughs. The sound is wonderful. “Actually, I can play a lot of characters, if you want to stick with healer. Or I can. I’m versatile.”

What a refreshing change from his usual play group. Kurt likes it. Kurt likes him.

“We’ll see what kind of group we get. Ready?”

“Let’s save the world!” Blaine exclaims, pulling a chuckle from Kurt as he puts them in the queue for a game. 

This ought to be interesting. 

TBC

[ds4design]

The Most Time-Saving Chrome Extensions You Haven’t Installed Yet

Think about how many hours you spend on the web every day. Since I work from home and do a lot of web-based research, plus many of my leisure activities involve being online, I can easily clock in 6–8 hours of web browsing on any given weekday. For you, 2–3 hours might be more the norm.

Still, that adds up to a lot of hours over time. Now think about how “efficient” you are when it comes to web browsing: 10 seconds to copy text to Evernote, 30 seconds to open up Dictionary.com and query a definition, a few minutes to find online coupon codes, etc. All of that adds up too.

You’d be surprised how many hours you waste every year through inefficient web browsing, which is why you need these time-saving Chrome extensions. They’ll help you reclaim those lost hours one click at a time.

1. Hide All Tabs With a Single Click

Imagine you’re slacking off at work and you’ve opened dozens of new tabs over the last half hour, but then your boss shows up and you can’t let him see. Instead of closing them all by spamming the Ctrl + W shortcut, you can just click the Panic Button icon (or press F4) and all tabs will be closed and saved as bookmarks.

And that’s the great thing about it: When the panic situation is over, you can restore all closed tabs back to the way they were. So convenient, and I’m sure you can think of many other situations when such an extension could come in handy.

Download — Panic Button (Free)

2. Automatically Find and Apply Coupon Codes

The next time you’re shopping online, whether for clothes, office equipment, gaming gear, or even just a pizza, there’s a good chance that Honey will save you a good chunk of money on your final order. Over the course of a year, it could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

It’s very simple: When you’re about to checkout, click the Honey icon and the service will automatically search the web for any applicable coupon codes, test them all to see which one results in the most savings, then automatically apply it. Way faster than doing it by hand!

Download — Honey (Free)

3. View Historical Pricing Data While Shopping

One of the downsides of shopping on Amazon is that the sticker price can be misleading. It usually shows a Was price above the Current price, making it seem like you’re getting a deal, but this is rarely the case. The Was price is just the recommended retail price when it was first released. That price could be severely outdated.

So how can you check if an Amazon price is actually a deal? Use the CamelCamelCamel website to see the item’s pricing history. If it’s below average, then yes, it’s a deal. But you can save even more time by using The Camelizer, an extension that shows this pricing history with one click.

Download — The Camelizer (Free)

4. Check Online Reviews for Trustworthiness

Fake online reviews are the scourge of the web, which is why you absolutely must learn how to spot fake reviews. But fakers are getting better, especially since manufacturers and other big brands began their own initiatives to manipulate online reviews 4 Ways Online Reviews Are Being Manipulated By Manufacturers 4 Ways Online Reviews Are Being Manipulated By Manufacturers Manufacturers and companies actually manipulate reviews in a variety of ways right here on the Internet. It's all about good press, of course. However, some ways are sketchier than others as you'll soon be able... Read More .

The good news is that there are some who are doing their best to fight this, such as ReviewMeta. This site pulls all of the reviews on a product, analyzes each one for markers that might indicate fakeness, and then uses only the genuine reviews to calculate an adjusted rating. With this extension, one click is all you need to see the “real” rating of an item.

Download — ReviewMeta (Free)

5. Save Articles to Read Offline

If there are significant chunks of time every day where you don’t have internet access, you can maximize your online time by saving articles to read later during those offline hours (such as when you’re commuting on a train or awaiting an appointment).

Instapaper is excellent for this, particularly because it has a number of features for power users. But the one feature I really like is the ability to send articles to your Kindle. The e-Ink technology used by Kindles makes for an amazing reading experience, so why not read articles with it? Your eyes will thank you. (If you don’t have one yet, check out our guide to buying the right Kindle.)

Download — Instapaper (Free)

6. Save Web Media to Evernote

You can’t go wrong with either Evernote or OneNote Evernote vs. OneNote: Which Note-Taking App Is Right for You? Evernote vs. OneNote: Which Note-Taking App Is Right for You? Evernote and OneNote are amazing note-taking apps. It's hard to pick between the two. We compared everything from interface to note organization to help you choose. What works best for you? Read More , but Evernote does have one significant advantage: the Evernote Web Clipper, which lets you “clip” (“save”) anything on the web directly to one of your Evernote notebooks by clicking one button.

This may not seem like a huge time-saver, but it’s one of those things that you have to try for yourself to really get a sense of how convenient it is. You don’t have to keep Evernote open. You don’t have to juggle multiple tabs or windows. Just browse, click, and keep browsing. Excellent for when you need to research a topic and you want to compile a bunch of data very quickly.

Download — Evernote Web Clipper (Free)

7. Mouse Over Images to Preview or Enlarge

I know this has happened to you before: either you’re browsing a page and come across a tiny image that you have to click to enlarge, or you come across a text link to an image that you need to click to view. Not only are these annoying, but they can waste valuable time.

That’s why Imagus is such a beloved extension. With it, you can just hover over an image or link and see the full-sized result right away. No need to open a new tab and wait for the image to load. It supports thousands of sites on the web and you can customize it a bit with regard to preview size, hover delay, opacity, etc.

Download — Imagus (Free)

8. Mouse Over Words for Definitions

Whether you’re learning English as a new language, combing through tons of sophisticated academic articles, or simply trying to expand your personal vocabulary, Google Dictionary is an excellent extension to have installed. With it, definitions are never more than a click away.

Even if you’re just a regular Joe Schmoe who wants to stay up-to-date on topics like world affairs, tech news, or the realm of finance, you may regularly come across articles in Fortune or Time or Harvard Law Review that stretch your word bank. It’s nice to have this extension at the ready.

Download — Google Dictionary (Free)

9. Highlight to Translate Text

The internet has done more for globalization than any other advancement in the history of technology, which is why the Google Translate extension is so fitting. Now you can read any article or segment of text even if it isn’t written in a language you personally know.

Just highlight a word or a paragraph and the extension can translate it in a pop-up window, no need to open a new tab or navigate to another page. Or if you want to translate the whole page, you can just click the Translate icon. The entire web is now at your fingertips.

Download — Google Translate (Free)

10. Never Forget Your Passwords Again

You absolutely must start using a password manager if you aren’t already You Need to Start Using a Password Manager Right Now You Need to Start Using a Password Manager Right Now By now, everyone should be using a password manager. In fact, not using a password manager put you at greater risk of being hacked! Read More . Long story short, a password manager lets you create hundreds of insanely complex passwords — a unique one for every single account you have on the web — without you needing to memorize any of them. This maximizes your security and your convenience. What’s not to love?

It also saves time. Whenever you need to log into something, the password manager handles it for you. LastPass is the most popular option (available not only on Chrome but Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Firefox, Opera, and more) but there are alternative password managers 5 Best LastPass Alternatives to Manage Your Passwords 5 Best LastPass Alternatives to Manage Your Passwords Many people consider LastPass to be the king of password managers; it's packed with features and boasts more users than any of its competitors -- but it's far from being the only option! Read More if you don’t want to use LastPass for whatever reason.

Download — LastPass (Free)

11. Check Grammar While You Type

Most browsers have built-in spell checkers, but built-in grammar checking is rare. And it’s not like grammar checkers are only useful for those who don’t have command of the English language — even the most eloquent writer makes mistakes. Grammar checkers are great for catching those mistakes.

Grammarly for Chrome automatically checks your grammar as you type, regardless of whether you’re on Facebook, Reddit, Gmail, LinkedIn, Tumblr, etc. It can also detect vague or confusing words and offer clearer alternatives. With it, your writing quality will improve overnight.

Download — Grammarly (Free)

12. Insert Emojis Anywhere

Have you bought into the emoji craze An Emoji to English Dictionary: Emoji Faces' Meaning, Explained An Emoji to English Dictionary: Emoji Faces' Meaning, Explained Confused by a text? Here are the commonly accepted meanings of popular emoji. Read More yet? These super-smileys can be found all over the web, particularly on social media, and currently play an important role in trendy web speak. You cannot be “in” if you aren’t using emojis in 2017.

The thing is, emojis are a lot easier to type on mobile devices than on computers. The good news is that Emoji Keyboard can bridge that gap for you, at least within Chrome. It supports emoji searching, copy and pasting, as well as auto-insertions.

Download — Emoji Keyboard (Free)

13. Optimize Your Reddit Experience

One of the chief complaints against Reddit — and there are many valid complaints — is its outdated and primitive interface. It’s a pain to navigate and it can take a while to get comfortable with it 9 Neat Reddit Hacks You Should Try Right Now 9 Neat Reddit Hacks You Should Try Right Now Can you make your Reddit experience even better? Of course you can – just follow these nine neat hacks! Read More . And what’s worse is that most quality-of-life features are gated behind Reddit Gold (which is basically a membership that costs $4 per month).

But all of that changes with Reddit Enhancement Suite, an extension that provides hundreds of improvements to the Reddit interface, many that save time. We’ve highlighted some of the best reasons to start using Reddit Enhancement Suite 10 Reasons Why You Need the Reddit Enhancement Suite 10 Reasons Why You Need the Reddit Enhancement Suite The Reddit Enhancement Suite is available on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Think you can live without it? Here are some of the most game-changing features that will convince you to install it pronto. Read More so check that out if you’re interested.

Download — Reddit Enhancement Suite (Free)

How Do You Save Time on Chrome?

While the above extensions will shave off a lot of wasted time, we also recommend using some of these productivity-boosting extensions 25 Chrome Extensions to Make You More Productive 25 Chrome Extensions to Make You More Productive We hear so much about productivity. How do we become more productive? What can help us be extra productive? Which tools make us the most productive? Read More , these extensions for working offline 13 Best Chrome Extensions and Apps to Work Offline 13 Best Chrome Extensions and Apps to Work Offline No Internet on the go? Don't worry, you can still have a productive day on your Chromebook or other laptop if you do a little prep work. Here's how. Read More , and of course, our absolute favorite extensions for Chrome The Best Chrome Extensions The Best Chrome Extensions A list of the best extensions for Google Chrome, including suggestions from both our readers and our writers. Read More . Don’t install all of them — even just a handful can make a huge difference.

We also recommend avoiding these Chrome extensions 10 Chrome Extensions You Should Uninstall Right Now 10 Chrome Extensions You Should Uninstall Right Now It's hard to keep track of which extensions have been caught abusing their privileges, but you should definitely uninstall these 10 as soon as possible. Read More , such as Hover Zoom (use the Imagus extension that we covered in this post instead).

If there are any other time-saving extensions you know of, please share them with us in the comments below! Any tips you have for us, we’d love to hear them.

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