#i wanted to link it in my header text but it wants to try to break it if i so much as touch it

[the-meme-monarch]

i love your banner. so much. thats all

THANKS :] !! here's the post for it if you or anyone else would like to see it better

[lazyleafeon]

[ID copied from Alt text: the first photo has the text, "sketch commissions for Gaza." Next to it is a drawing of the artist drawing on their art tablet.

second photo: 4 examples of commission prices and art, modeled by Kim Dokja from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint in his demon king form. For one dollar: a rough chibi sketch. for 5 to ten dollars: a rough but more detailed sketch. there is more motion in his pose. for 10 to 15 dollars: a cleaner lined sketch with more detail given to the silhouette. for more than 15 dollars: a cleaner sketch with more attention to volume and detail in his outfit and wings. End ID]

For now up until March 10th I'm taking pay what you want sketch commissions for donations to Help Gaza Children, managed by @fairuzfan and Hussam, since from March 4th to the 10th all donations will go to families in Northern Gaza.

Their site is here where you can find more information, like their FAQ, and proof of purchases from donations they've received so far.

You can donate to Help Gaza Children's paypal here. The paypal link is also on their site.

guidelines:

To be upfront, I am a full time college student so expect a two month turnaround. I will give you an update around a month in and again at two months if I don't finish by then.

Please include a visual reference or detailed text description of the character(s) you want drawn, unless I've drawn them before and you're okay with me going with my design.

I can draw OCs, mechs, and furries.

I won't draw real people or anything nsfw.

I reserve the right to refuse a commission and may ask you to choose something else. If you want to know in advance if I'll take it, feel free to DM or send an ask.

Extra characters will be half the price as one character. Please only request up to three characters per category (ex: if you pay $35, you can get 3 characters: 1 for $15 and the other 2 for $10 each. if you pay $6 you can get 3 characters: 1 for $3 and 2 for $1.50 each)

don’t use these for commercial use. personal use (like as icons or headers, or like printing it for yourself) is okay

if you're paying in a currency other than dollars you can let me know and I'll try to adjust the pricing so you get a drawing equivalent to what you paid. I don't want people to pay the equivalent of $20 and get a rough sketch or something.

To get a commission, email me at desklamprey @ gmail.com with a screenshot of the receipt of your donation made after this post was made (3/5/24 at around 2 pm PST), and the details about your request. please censor any personal information in the receipt.

If you have any questions feel free to DM or send an ask!

[sugaredrhubarb]

A QUICK GUIDE TO AO3 CUSTOMIZATION FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT CODING

ft adding pink to everything and my secret to writing long comments

note: I originally posted this to twt but if that place burns in a fiery pit I spent too long on this for it to disappear, so I'm putting it here too :)

so many people know way more about this than I do, but this is a step-by-step walkthrough of the changes *I've* made, and hopefully it works as an introduction people can build from for whatever they'd like to do

There are a lot of images in this post! (click to enlarge)

to start, AO3 skins

site skins change how the AO3 website appears when logged in (even on mobile), mine is pink and blue!

I'll have my skin turned off throughout the post so the guides appear as they will for you

to create, edit, and view skins, go to the "skins" tab from the left-hand menu. you can also view public site skins from there or from the button in the preferences.

public site skins are made by other users. i would really encourage previewing and exploring them to become familiar with the possibilities (maybe you just want to use one of them and now you're done!)

to create your own skin

on the skins page, click "create site skin"

if you don't know CSS (same), use the wizard! clicking on the "?" will give more information about each option

I only use the colours section you'll see a link right there for hex codes I use pink as a header colour and bue for accent but lots of people change the background colour and that looks really cool!

submit

The next step is to add CSS from a public skin to your own. I use "ByLine" by Branch. this separates the tag categories and adds spacing to make them easier to read.

here is a before and after using the fic "Landslide" by @roosterbruiser as an example

to see the CSS of a skin, click the title

copy all the text below the CSS heading

in the skin creator/editor press the custom CSS option and paste all the text into the CSS box

you can have both wizard and custom CSS settings, in mine you can see the header and accent colours as well as the CSS

level up: USERSCRIPTS

userscripts are small pieces of code that modify a website. for AO3, this may involve adding shortcuts and buttons or even advanced tagging functions (computer people, I'm so sorry if this is wrong, I'm trying). I use Greasy Fork and Tampermonkey.

This is how I write long and formatted comments!

Greasy Fork is an archive of userscripts and Tampermonkey is a browser extension and userscript manager. You don't need to use these two in particular. please use your common sense when downloading anything or adding permissions to your browser.

Greasy Fork guide on installing fics

Install Tampermonkey on Chrome

there are TONS of user scripts for AO3. This is another good opportunity to explore all the possibilities. there are lots of more complicated options I haven't explored.

scripts for AO3

i use this floaty review box

and this comment formatting

EDIT: if you use chrome you might need to turn on developer mode in your chrome extension manager - you can google "tampermonkey developer mode" and it should explain that :)

to install (once you have Tampermonkey installed):

open the script you want in Greasy Fork and press install

Tampermonkey will open, press install again

clicking the Tampermonkey extension will let you toggle scripts on and off, and opening the dashboard will let you view, edit, and delete scripts

i find i can only have a few turned on at a time before they cancel each other out, but that depends on which ones you're using and someone more savvy might be able to fix that

how to use the floaty review box - write more comments!

there will now be a "floaty review box" button at the top of the work, it will open a floating text box you can move anywhere on the page. highlighting any text and pressing the insert button will paste the text with italics into the box

anything you type in the review box will appear in your comment at the bottom of the page!

if you have also installed the comment formatting script, you'll be able to highlight any text in your comment and use the new buttons above the comment box to format it

thats all ive got! Hopefully this is a good starting point to get familiar with some of the terms and basics for skins and scripts <3

if you want some inspo for how to comment on fics i made a whole fic rec list on twitter based on comments I've left, it's here. i have a masterlist of recs there mostly for darklina/reylo and similar ships.

the tag #reading with ru has cod recs and me talking about books

:)

[lxnarphase]

do you have any advice for new writers who want to start posting on tumblr?

Oh man, I'm gonna give you a list of things I wish I could've told myself when I first started posting.

Some Basic Tips:

Don't be scared to post! You'll never see growth in your followers, mutuals, and even your writing if you don't post!

Be open to asking others for help or advice if you struggle with writing. I sometimes ask some of my mutuals for help or read fanfiction to see how others write a scene. Then, I take the knowledge and write it in my own way. For example, I do well with writing dialogue but find myself always struggling with how to start the story.

Don't be afraid to post about non-writing things, too! Remember, you deserve to have fun on your account, so post what you want. You aren't a machine. You are a person!

The number of notes you get doesn't determine your worth or skill in writing. In my opinion, Tumblr has shifted a bit, making it harder for smaller writers to get likes, reblogs, or comments on their works.

But at the end of the day, in order to enjoy being a writing blog on Tumblr, you have to enjoy what you are writing and posting. Do not feel like you have to force yourself to write just for the numbers, let it happen naturally. Things will start out slow at first, as all things do, but you'll get to a point where you can barely keep up with things.

Post and Blog Formatting + Style:

Formatting is really important! Break up paragraphs, ask a friend to be a beta reader, and for longer works, go back and proofread if you have the time! It's okay if you have minor mistakes, though. I tend to miss things in my writing, and when I return a week later, I just fix them. No big deal!

Nowadays, aesthetics is HUGE for fanfiction posts and your account. Channel your creativity and style! Make your blog super pretty in your own way! It can be pink and cutesy, black and edgy, simple and clean, or colorful and cluttered! Don't have a blank blog!

PUT YOUR AGE CLEARLY SOMEWHERE! In your bio, pinned post, SOMEWHERE IT IS EASY TO SEE. I have had writing accounts follow me but no age, so I don't feel comfortable engaging with them.

You can take inspiration from other accounts (don't outright copy, though) on how they format their fanfictions. You will probably notice a lot of accounts have headers, dividers, or colored text. You can do that too, as it can catch the readers attention.

I get headers from doujins and mangas I read, websites such as Pinterest are good for cute ones, and Twitter is your go-to for more NSFW headers.

Create a tagging system to make navigating your blog easier, and have a pinned post with links to your rules/byf/masterlist/etc.

Try to put warnings in your writing. A lot of people have filters on to avoid the types of content they don't want to see, but there are the occasional people who don't put warnings in the writing post itself. It could be a simple tag or a list of themes at the beginning of the post.

An example would be a post with the tag #dubcon #tw dubcon OR putting "cw: dubcon" in the post itself before the writing itself.

This is a tag vs. in the actual post

Tagging and Reblogs

Speaking of tags, USE THE TAGGING SYSTEM! If you don't tag your post with popular fanfiction tags, it will be hard for people to find you.

Only the first twenty tags will show up in Tumblr search, including your own blog. Reblogs will not show up in tracked tags or searches.

However, don't feel bad for reblogging your own works again. Do it as many times as you want. You created something and should feel proud of it! I still reblog things from January just because.

Making Mutuals

Don't be afraid to engage with other accounts. That's how you make friends on here! But here's something important:

Be genuine. Make mutuals because you enjoy each other's work, AND both have fun talking with each other! If someone doesn't add you back as a mutual, that is okay; don't feel like they have something against you! Making mutuals shouldn't be your only goal when posting on Tumblr. Otherwise, you might tire yourself out mentally. It took me a while to make mutuals on here, but I'm glad it did it naturally instead of trying to force it.

Asks and Anons

Once you build a following, you will get the most wonderful, loving, and supportive anons in your inbox! Cherish them, respond to them, and have fun with them! Because there is a very high chance, you will also get assholes in your inbox.

I say this from the bottom of my heart but do NOT give hateful people your attention because that is what they thrive on. I still get them, but when I tell you I am at so much peace, I block and delete the messages and carry on.

If a certain message bothers me for a bit, then I just take a little break, talk to some friends about what happened, and do what helps me calm down so I don't act rashly. Don't be afraid to turn off anonymous messages for a while. This is YOUR blog, not theirs.

Don't feel pressured to answer every ask or fulfill every request. Take your time because that can burn you out! I love socializing so much, but sometimes I just pull a blank on how to respond to my asks. I always ensure my mutuals and followers know that I'm not ignoring them and just tend to go blank-brained with some asks, OR I save some of them to look at when I'm sad!

Overall, just start and DO IT FOR YOURSELF.

That's the best advice for when you want to make anything. You just have to start posting and learning and improving as you go on. Hopefully, this will sort of help. I know it's not the best list of advice, but it's just some things I would tell myself back when I first started.

If you have any other questions, I can try my best to answer them!

[canon-in-too-deep]

Free Typesetting Template

So while I try to get some designs set, I thought I'd clean up and share the template I use for typesetting!

Templates save lots of time, and let me keep 'tools' where I like 'em. Free template here on my google drive ✨.

(As with all my stuff, Personal Use Only!) This file is for Affinity Publisher ONLY. I highly recommend getting Affinity Publisher if you're doing a lot of typesets and want a high degree of control over details. It has most of the features of Indesign, and far more capabilities than Word or Google Docs. There is a learning curve at the start, but overall it is a great program for typesetting and is a one time purchase, versus a subscription like other services. Please note, this template is set for my own personal preferences, and I always adjust it according to the text I'm working on. You can make whatever changes you want to suit it to your needs; I just included the normal settings I tend to use. See below the break for template details! (How to use/notes)*

This template is sized for half letter pages.

140% Leading, 11pt Font Size (Body Text)

The baseline grid is set for these exact preferences. If using a different font size/leading, I change these to match and play with the text boxes for 'Master Body' to make them look nice.

The template has the text boxes set up for where I usually insert text, copy, and headers/footers. I usually fill these out with the relevant details, and adjust the placements and sizes as needed.

I put X down where I usually write my name/imprint. The copyright page has a lot of blank space because I like to include my personal logos on there.

The copyright page also has the Project Gutenburg info I like to include, since I mainly do public domain works from there. If I'm doing a fanfic, I'll replace this with the tags/details from the fic's AO3 page.

Main text gets copied and pasted into page 9, then flows into the rest of the pages.

The paragraph and character styles I use are all included.

Very important, after pasting in your text, go to Find and Replace, and turn all italics to 'Emphasis' character style to preserve them.

'Body Divider' is how I include dinkuses.

'Special' paragraph styles are for when texts have things like letters or songs included.

Typically, I use 'Chapter Heading' + 'Chapter Character' for chapter titles, and set a table of contents on page 7 using these settings.

You'll notice that on page 9 I have a text box that links into the Master Body pages. This is my sort of 'test' page for chapter titles. I can freely change the size and layout on this specific page. I move it around based on what design I come up with, then copy that design into my 'Master Chapter Heading' spread to apply to the rest of the chapter title pages.

At the very end of a file, I'll usually put in a colophon. This is not in the template, but it's just a blank page at the end with my stamp and notes on the size of the typeset and what fonts I used. *I don't have a fully written tutorial at this time, but I recommend joining Renegade Bindery's discord, where a lot of very talented people have shared their tutorials, and provide very helpful live answers. Edit 9/20: Tutorial post here!

[almostfoxglove]

hi hello!

i'm sure i've seen you answer something like this before, but i can't find it! :(

i'm just wondering if you have any advice or hints for how you make your moodboards or any like, headers for your fics?

i've got a free canva acc but i'm not very good and honestly, i don't really understand how to work it! hahah, i'm so technologically challenged lmao.

so really i'm just wondering if you have any tips or advice? i'd like to make a header or a board for something i'm working on, but i'm always worried about the photos i'd be using in case it's copyrighted and stuff.

thank you in advance my lovely! i hope you're having a wonderful day :)

sweet meghan hi honey!! bless you for thinking of me I'm really touched <3 I believe the post you probably saw is this one where I talked a little about my process for making moodboards in affinity photo!

I use affinity photo for all my graphics, so I'm not super familiar with canva in a tumblr graphics capacity, but here's what I've been able to sus out:

in canva, I recommend (at least at first while you figure out the basics) using their free templates! under their template search tool, which you can find in the toolbar on the left side of the screen, you can search by keyword for the type of template you want:

for example, there are so many gorgeous free moodboard templates (search link here) like these. (note: any templates with the gold crown icon cost money, just fyi!) - but I'd try searching 'banner' or 'header' or things like that too, for other styles that might work for header graphics!! but I think you could also use a lot of this style for that too <3

once you find one you like, you can click it and then select 'customize this template:

that'll open up the editor for you, and on the lefthand toolbar you can select uploads - there you can upload whatever images you want to include!! then you can drag & drop your photos into the template, like this:

then you've got something like this! elements like text and colors and backgrounds can all be edited - and you can move the photos around / adjust their size by clicking on them and then picking whatever option you please from the toolbar that appears!!

as for copyrighted images, etc. that's not really my realm of expertise (I use pinterest to find photos for my graphics which is definitely not perfect) but I generally try not to use photos that are clearly phone photos of a random person's face or body (just personally feel sorta weird about raiding their photo gallery haha) but if a photo is clearly a *photoshoot* of some kind, I go for that instead! again, that's just what I personally aim for (I'm not perfect) - trust your gut and do what works for you! <33

this is a little long (oops) but I hope it helps honey!! feel free to holler anytime if you need help with something - I'm not an expert by any means but I'm always happy to chat and help where I can <33

[neopronouns]

[if alt text is not accessible for you, every image in this post is a thin dull purple line divider with a slightly darker dull purple bow in the center, resembling a bow tie. end id.]

welcome to my blog!

i'm dexter, and you can find more information about me here. i'm 23 and i mainly use he/him, ey/em, and it/its pronouns, but any other pronouns that are not she or they are good too!

i also run @mogai-headcanons, where i made edits of folks' mogai/liom/etc. headcanons, and @neopornouns, a request blog like this one for 18+ terms, and my main blog is @pierz.

please read my dni before following me and read my general rules and blog rules/open requests before requesting!

if you're interested, you can also read my request whitelist to see what requests i'll be most excited about!

my requests are currently open! here is every request currently in my inbox. my queue currently posts 1 time at noon cst.

here's a quick list of frequently asked questions — i recommend you look through this before asking me a question, since i get a lot of asks and may ignore yours if it's answered here!

q: what program do you use to make your flags/edits and how? a: i use gimp on desktop! here's a simple flag tutorial i made and a basic flag splicing tutorial for multi-flag icons.

q: what's your header/icon? a: my icon is floofty fizzlebean from 'bugsnax' over the rikagender flag and my header is an edit i made of several bugsnax (scoopy, cinnasnail, instabug, charmallow, crystal sweetiefly, chocolant, and kwookie) in a similar format to the 'bugsnax' loading screen!

q: are you alright with requests involving [insert media]? a: if it's not in my general rules linked above, probably yes! if you're concerned for a specific reason (source content, shitty creator, etc.) please let me know in your ask; i don't know what's problematic about every piece of media!

q: i don't see my request in the inbox! can i resend it? a: yes! just resend it and let me know that you sent it previously while requests were open.

q: can i put your terms on [insert wiki] or [insert other social media site]? a: yes, as long as you credit me and do not reword my definitions, add additional definitions, etc.

q: can you tag [insert thing]? a: yes, i'll try my hardest to remember! feel free to remind me if i forget.

q: how long will it take for my request to be posted? how long will it take for you to get to my request? a: i can't definitively say, sorry! i try to make it so the queue has a month's worth or less of posts in it, but as for getting to your request, i don't really know for a number of reasons.

q: [insert post] should be tagged as eyestrain! a: thanks for letting me know! i struggle to determine what is eyestrainy a lot of the time, so i tag things as 'eyestrain' when i'm certain and 'potential eyestrain' when i'm not. if you're photosensitive, i recommend blocking both tags to be safe.

q: can i use one of your edits somewhere? a: yes, and i would strongly prefer if you credit me somewhere if you do.

q: are you alright with spam likes/reblogs? a: yes, and i appreciate your support and enthusiasm!

q: [insert nice thing] a: i cherish you so much and your ask probably will sit in my inbox forever along with all the other incredibly sweet asks i've received over the course of this blog!

q: [discourse] a: please Do Not.

lastly, here's a few resources you may find useful!

my taglist application, for if you want me to tag you in my coining posts/edits

my deviantart for flag templates and symbols

the pride-flags deviantart, which has a ton of high-res flags for mogai terms and more flag templates/symbols

my guide to finding mogai terms by name (and ensuring that you don’t name a new term after a preexisting one)

a guide to how i create names for my terms

an archive of pupyzu’s term suffixes carrd

a list of other mogai blogs i enjoy (hasn't been updated in a while, sorry!)

a beginner’s guide to request etiquette

my redbubble shop, where i’m happy to upload any other flags i’ve personally designed or edits i’ve made

[peachblossomstudy]

a guide to starting a studyblr — 

by @peachblossomstudy​

i’ve been in the studyblr community for many years now (just over four i think!), so i thought i’d make a post with all my advice for anyone lurking in the community thinking of getting more involved. of course i’m not the definitive authority on any of this, please take everything here as suggestions rather than rules!

what is a studyblr?

the term ‘studyblr’ has two meanings: (1) the tumblr community focused on studying, learning and productivity; (2) a blog about your experience as a student/with learning etc. having a studyblr is a fun way to share a love of learning with other, keep yourself accountable in school and find inspiration for notes or planner spreads.

the basics

so you’ve decided to take the plunge. where to start?

url - it’s a good idea to make your url study-themed in some way, whether it includes a variation of the word ‘study’ or references your favourite subject or something else to do with studying or productivity

theme - there are pretty much no rules about themes in the studyblr community! blogs of all themes and aesthetics can be studyblrs, though it may be easier to indicate what your blog is about with a study-related icon. alternatively, it’s quite popular to have picrews for icons to show a bit of personality.

i have made many different icon and header packs, which will be linked on my desktop theme soon!

the picrew i made my icon with is here

introduction post - start your blog with a little introduction about who you are (name or nickname, age if you feel comfortable, pronouns), what you study, any other fun information and maybe even tag some of your studyblr inspirations

content - people post lots of different types of content, including and not limited to:

pictures of their notes, planner or workspace - these are generally the most popular

advice posts made up of graphics

masterlists/masterposts based on different themes (e.g. language learning masterposts)

text-based advice posts (like this one!)

reblogs! the best way to show your love to everyone else in the community

growing your blog

now you’ve posted some content, and it’s time to explore the community a bit more. it goes without saying that growing on tumblr is more of an organic thing, and if you’re coming to studyblr purely for notes then you may want to rethink your reasons for joining the community. nevertheless, validation feels great, and so does making new friends!

try to post regularly - an active blog will always help new people find you, and regular posts will help keep followers engaged

post original content - posting something unique to you will give people a reason to follow you specifically, rather than the same reblogged posts being circulated

that being said, reblogging from others (bonus points for leaving nice messages in the tags!) is a great way to introduce them to your blog. if someone sees your url in their notes often, they’ll be more likely to have a look at your blog

don’t be afraid to interact - send someone a message, send them an ask, reply to their posts, add compliments in their tags! generally everyone in the studyblr community is super friendly and open to messaging, asks and making friends, so get stuck right in

my ask box is always open to new friends! <3

use tags - most studyblr have a tag that they track, and will usually go through and like/reblog any posts that use this tag. find out what tags your favourite blogs track and use them on your posts to help them get seen

i track (very sporadically at the moment) the tag #heypeachblossom

other

now you’ve established yourself, there are lots of other things to do on studyblr! here are some ideas:

get involved in challenges - there are many different challenges to participate in. popular ones include the 100 days of productivity challenge, and the lovely @/myhoneststudyblr has many previous studying challenges you could complete. if you’re into reading, sabrina @/bulletnotestudies and the studyblr w/ knives discord server have lots of great themed reading challenges

participate in events - over the year some blogs will run events such as secret santas or secret admirers, which are really cute and fun to do. this february i ran the @studyblrsecretvalentines​, and i’m hoping to do it again in 2023.

play ask games and tag games with your friends - this is a great way to get to know more people and have some fun!

resources

finally, here are a few useful tips/resources for the more practical side of running a studyblr

your queue is your best friend - you can run up a huge queue of reblogs to keep your blog active during busy study times

i personally use the mobile app snapseed to edit my photos for original content, and find it works really well

canva.com is a great online, free editing program - i use it to make all the graphics for my post header and advice posts

my header and icon packs (that i’ve tagged correctly) are here! i have made other packs, though they’ll have to be found through my archive, sorry

momentum is a popular desktop extension in the studyblr community

lots of people also use forest (or flora, which is free) for cute focus timers

this has turned into a bit of a monster post, but i hope if you’ve read this far that you found it useful! feel free to tag me in your introduction posts, and see you around studyblr <3

[ctinalk]

Season two isn’t (fully) real, it’s a peaceful, fragile existence

The more I rewatch the show and read different theories, the more convinced I get that S2 is some sort of elaborate dream sequence or a distraction or memory alteration attempt (Neil’s chaotic angsty ineffable husbands fanfic?). But not all of it.

(This gets kind of rambly so if you want my true hook, scroll down to the Michael Sheen Staged gif.)

Let me make this perfectly clear on the outset: I don’t think all of it is a dream, and I certainly don’t think the final 15/kiss is or is going to be discounted (and not only because there would be literal riots in the street, because there absolutely would be, but also I’m putting trust in Neil and the team wholeheartedly). I think that could actually be the domino that brings them out of it. I read somewhere recently something along the lines of “something loved can never be truly forgotten” and I think that fits my theory perfectly. I’m also making no claims (yet) as to what I think is real and what I think is “enhanced”.

Also I apparently am either too far deep or cannot work the tumblr search function with any modicum of usefulness, so please link me to the posts I’m alluding to if you think it’s the right one. I will edit them in and sincerely apologize to the brilliant minds that exist outside the confines of the search function.

Now, On with the show:

You can be in charge of the biscuits

Maggie and Nina: Look, I get that recasts happen, they change the actor playing the character because of scheduling conflicts, etc. But to cast the actor/actress that is immediately recognizable from a prior interaction (whether with the characters or the audience) is not something you see. FFS Maggie DIED in S1, and Nina was pivotal (maybe too strong a word, but enough to be memorable surely) to the storyline. It’s like someone said “Hey, they’ll work, bring em in, no I don’t care that they were in S1. It’ll be a test of how well our facade is working. If they (A&C) notice, then the gig is up and we’ll know it.”

Also why in the world is the owner of a coffee shop offering Eccles cakes to calm down, when camomile tea is right there? (Resists the urge to go off on a tangent on how Eccles cakes were used to celebrate the “Eccles wakes” at the feast of St. Mary (yes that Mary) and how that ties into the second coming plot.) Do Eccles cakes count as biscuits? Ugh another thought for another day I suppose.

It has come to my attention during writing that Shax is the same actress as Madame Tracy. I have less of an affront to this knowledge since I’m 2 months deep and countless rewatches in and only just noticed. But I’m going to pop it in this header anyway. Are you really trying to tell me that a show that apparently has demon entrances happening precisely on the 6s really didn’t think these choices out very deliberately? (Edit 3: https://www.tumblr.com/noneorother/735823422626709504/the-secret-timeline-inside-of-good-omens-season-2 JFC why can I never find the blogs when I want to insert them? It was a breakdown about how all of the demon entrances happen at a 00:00 that ends in a 6.)

Yours very faithfully, Maggie

Text to mail disconnect: There’s been a theory pop up (at the time one writing this at least (edit 2: https://www.tumblr.com/azariah-z-fell/743434274903048192/it-is-extra-weird-because-it-is-on-the-record) that Maggie actually texted Aziraphale her request to talk, and it was magically translated into a physical form, and the spelling error (that so many people are shouting DEMON at) was just an autocorrect typo. But, surely Maggie would know he doesn’t text if she knew him for several years at least. We’ve never seen either of our boys text, only call. Seems like someone doesn’t know how phones work, but wanted to get the message received? See also: currency, below.

You ever think, what’s the point?

Numerous people have pointed out the same obvious background people. There are theories about the guy in the Hawaiian shirt being the second coming or something similar. I wonder if it’s some sort of play on a badly executed attempt to make Wickber Street seem “normal” in an alternate reality, an elaborate distraction, but they have to keep using the same character models because their imagination is just slightly better than Shadwells’ (Oh gfdi how did I miss Mrs. sandwich right there). I’m not saying we haven’t done a “oh oops silly me I forgot something” but that isn’t usually done in the middle of a sidewalk. When Aziraphale is initially talking to Jim with the blanket, there’s a guy just chugging his arms outside the window, not walking. Another one in E3 when Shax show up outside the shop, a guy in an orange sweatshirt passes in the background, then passes again, and not close enough in time/area to just be the continuation of the walk. Especially in the early episodes, there are veritable conveyer belts of people, straight lines, no trying to pass, etc. I’m trying to look at the background in S1 and while there are still tons of people, the background is… livelier. People passing, shoving past, actually going places.

“I’m looking at the statue of Gabriel.” “Oh, good job?”

Aziraphale basically learns fuck-all when he makes the trip to Edinburgh. Granted, I do believe most of that was to make the Bentley “our car”, but so many things are out of character. The no drink, the over-the-top “investigation” (as awkward as he is, Aziraphale knows how to act more normally than that with humans), the background on the drive up there…

All the others were taken (random collective thoughts)

Somehow ALL the businesses on the street are different from Season 1?

A normal person would have moved out of the rain instead of just lolling there letting raid splatter their glasses, yeah? (As a person with glasses I can confirm).

“We have all the hosts of hell searching for him” cue Crowley looking around like then why the fuck are there still demons around me?

The cross disappearing from the Gabriel statue between shots.

“I’m a bit out of miracles” and “that’s not how miracles work” from the guy who got written up for too many frivolous miracles.

I have here a sixpence and a farthing There’s always money in the banana stand

The lack of (accurate?) paid transactions seems like whoever is pulling the strings has no concept of earthly money and how it’s supposed to work, just that it exists. Crowley and Aziraphale talk bluntly about poverty and know that money is needed and used in current society (“Give her the money, Angel”, Rome, Globe Theatre, 1941 magic shop, etc.). Could be a “let’s not get lost in the trivialities” thing but it does strike me as odd. Caveat: Aziraphale forgiving the rent doesn’t quite fit, but cost of the record is obscenely low.

But this does give me hope about the 3rd 1941 flashback, because they were using money accurately there, which hopefully means the flashbacks and memories aren’t being altered, just “present day”.

We’re real people

One of the overarching themes in Season 2 (and S1 now I think of it) is “stop interfering in the lives of other people”. Maggie and Nina, Job, Elspeth, the entire dance party, Warlock, the book of prophecy. It would be a shame if someone were to make sure I failed to be messing about in their own lives.

I had brothers, you don’t scare me

Something happened just before Maggie told them to “Come in here and say that to my face.” Another demonic turn potential here, but also kind of like someone’s saying “FFS get on with the plot”.

The book of love has music in it

This post https://www.tumblr.com/noneorother/731977308306636800/all-the-music-you-didnt-hear-the-good-omens (finally, one I can find!) popped up, and there’s another one that purports to have noticed that there’s music lines missing from the opening sequence (edit 1: Found it!: https://www.tumblr.com/dadesu/726651737165938688/anyone-noticed-the-missing-half-bar-in-good-omens ). Possibly Clueing us in that there’s something that’s missing elsewhere (I mean obviously, that’s the whole point of this season, is it not?).

So where do we go from here?

As much as I’d love to say “Alright so the kiss breaks the spell whoever was put over them because of ✨the power of love✨, the ruse will be revealed, and they’re not talking because they don’t have to”

I don’t know, my thoughts are just the overarching patterns I’ve noticed over many, many rewatches and probably reading a few too many magic trick theories and/or fanfics. I don’t intentionally make my theory posts open-ended, but in the end that’s the fun of it. Nothing has to be mutually exclusive (yes I’m referencing my “Is Crowley already the new Supreme Archangel” post, I think I’m allowed that much). I’m happy to be proven wrong, and probably will be.

Lots of things are wrong right now

But I will leave you with one parting thought: Crowley knows. He knows there’s furniture missing. (That’s why he keeps just tossing things everywhere, because he know it doesn’t matter.)

And he. Does not. Care. For it.

How many theories that I myself hate can I dig into?

I’m a demon, I lied:

[brekkersource]

how to use beta + trim reblogs

so! we all know about beta editor by now. for better or for worse, a lot of us are using tumblr's new beta editor, and it's likely that everyone will have no choice but to use it soon. this unfortunately means a lot of us can't use the new xkit to trim our roleplay posts. there have been a lot of posts explaining this and the benefits of xkit rewritten; this one, this one, and this one especially helped me understand what's going on. however, a lot of people still seem to be floundering around in the dark so i wanted to make a tutorial that sums up everything i've learned from other tutorials as well as my own trial and error.

if you want a step by step guide to trimming reblogs (with screenshots) as well as a brief overview of beta editor's pros and cons, keep reading.

the first step, obviously, is to switch to beta editor and install xkit rewritten. the posts linked above explain how and why so i won't go into detail here. trim reblogs is the new version of edit reblogs, and it looks like this. one of the best features is that you can use it even after posting your reply, so if something glitches or you forget to trim, you still have a chance to fix it.

once you have them, there are two different ways i've seen people use xkit rewritten to trim their posts.

1. seperate reblogs

this is, in my opinion, the best and easiest way to go about this. mun 1 makes a post, mun 2 reblogs it, and then mun 1 uses xkit rewritten to trim their original post from the thread.

however, this only works if the original post was made in beta. if you try to trim a post that was made in legacy, you get get a warning, and if you go ahead with it, it's going to glitch somehow. in my testing, my reply duplicated! which is very annoying. and despite what the warning says, repeating the trim usually does not last—even if it seems like it does at first.

2. (probably) copy and paste

this is more visually reminsicent of editable reblogs from new xkit. there might be an easier way to do this that i don't know about—if so, please let me know. the name kind of explains it all; a mun will copy and paste their partner's reply, indent it, and write their own below. then, obviously, they'll have to trim all the past reblogs of the post. this is especially good for people who like doing pretty headers or editing their partner's url to look pretty, you know what i'm talking about.

there is a glitch i have run into on my own blog a few times that i was unable to duplicate, so i've just taken a screenshot of my own blog with most of the information blanked out. if only one person if using beta, trim reblogs will still sometimes glitch and duplicate. i trimmed my reblog multiple times but every time i reloaded, my duplicated reply was back. please, please communicate with your partners. i know it's annoying and awkward but it will save everyone so much frustration. especially if you're clinging to legacy, please let your partners know so they can adjust accordingly—or consider switching to beta, even if just for that thread.

but beta is not all bad i promise

i know how frustrating this all is (i fully refused to do drafts for a few days once beta really started kicking in and new xkit stopped working for me), but i am slowly coming around to it.

tags are editable now! i cannot explain the joy i experienced when i first realized this. no more typing up a long, rambling tag only to notice a typo as soon as you've hit return. you can edit tags at any point—even when going back and editing an old post! does this mean that i have accidentally started editing a tag when i meant to move it? yes but it's worth it.

making the text small is so much easier now. no more going into html or command+option+shift! instead, it's available as an option right in between the italic and link buttons when you highlight text.

you can now edit the size and type of text very easily! this did confuse me at first when i couldn't find the indent button, but it's now in a toggle list; if you click on the regular tab when text is highlighted, there are a ton of options including indent, chat, lucille (whatever that means), bigger/biggest, and more.

however, it's not all great. but it's tumblr, what did we expect.

the most frustrating thing for me personally is that you can no longer copy and past an image link into your reply, or else the image url will be tagged on underneath it. it looks funky and isn't great if you don't want to download a million gifs. while i've just been downloading/dragging the gifs i want to use to desktop and uploading them to my reply, it's annoying to have to clean up my desktop and empty my computer's trash so i'm not wasting storage space. additionally, this does not work if the gifset is in a post rather than a page; the only option there is to copy and paste and simply put up with the image url. clicking "add image" and then pasting the image or dragging the gif from the page/post's tab into the tumblr tab and onto your reply still results in a url. if anyone has figured out a workaround for any of this please let me know; otherwise, i think we should all just agree to ignore the url if it shows up. update: thank you sm to anon for informing me of @rpclefairy's roleplay formatter! if you put the gif in their formatter, copy the source, and paste that into the post when it's in html mode, not rich text mode, the link is gone! and thanks to tumblr realizing this was annoying, if you click the little link icon that appears when you hover over an image, delete the url, and hit done so it saves, the url will be gone!

formatting is......weird now. if you make your paragraph text small and then decide to add another sentence, the new text won't be small. you'll have to edit it again. text that has been formatted (small, italic, bold, etc) will be highlighted in a very strange way when the cursor is in the formatted section. as far as i've been able to figure out, even after poking around a bit in the html, there's no way to change any of this. not to sound like a broken record here, but if you've found a way to change any of this, please let me know. otherwise i think we just have to put up with this bullshit.

there's always a chance that these things will be fixed; it is still just a beta system after all. for now, i think the best thing the community can do is communicate with partners, ask questions, and just accept that there's gonna be some weird shit going on and we're all doing our best.

if any of this changes i will update this post, but in the meantime, pls share if this helped or you want to share the word. and for the last time, if i've gotten anything wrong, just let me know and i'll update.

[uty-failgeno-au]

. . .

UNDERTALE YELLOW FAILED GENOCIDE AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

. . .

So in case you're confused, here's an explanation of what went down in this AU:

In this AU, Clover was on a genocide route. Everything was the same as the original universe... up until they fought Axis. Axis was able to kill Clover in self-defense. Now, normally this would be fine; Flowey could revive Clover, right? Unless, he didn't want to... and in this AU, he didn't. The reason will eventually be discovered in this ask blog. But basically, Martlet eventually found Axis in The Steamworks holding Clover's soul, crying (or, making bitcrushed crying sound effects because he physically couldn't really cry). Together, the two left The Steamworks. That is the story of this Alternate Universe. The details can be found out through asks.

. . .

ASK RULES

-No suggestive/inappropriate questions (you will be ignored and/or blocked)

-You may send items and use anon magic, but only to a certain amount! If your ask is ignored, assume the anon spell was too powerful or the item couldn't be received.

-Actually those are the only rules

. . .

(note from Exar: i may sometimes talk in these brackets, but usually i'll only do so if i'm talking in a post with something else, such as a post answering an ask! so if you see a text post in brackets that's me. i may also talk in the tags!)

Speaking of tags...

#ASK ANSWER - Only posts where asks are answered!

#NOT AN ASK - For the posts that don't include any asks.

#FROM EXAR - Me talking!

. . .

I've wanted to start an ask blog for a while now, but haven't really know what it should be about. Now i finally have something to make an ask blog about!

So that being said, please keep in mind this is my first time hosting an ask blog, so i may make some mistakes here and there. I'm learning. Still, i think i'm going to have a lot of fun with this!

Oh also, my apologies if any of the characters act out-of-character, i try not to do that.

About the text boxes, credits to the website i used to make them (clickable link)! It's a little tricky to figure out at first, but once i got the hang of it, it was super easy to use.

This blog is ran by me, Exar, and me alone. Here's my main blog where i post art (mostly utdr), reblog various things (mostly utdr), and just generally talk: @exar547 . Feel free to give it a follow if you're interested!

Art for the profile picture and header image of this blog are both made by me.

. . .

Okay, just wanted to clear up all that stuff up there. But other than that...

HAVE FUN ASKING!

[litriu]

Hi artists coming here from twitter! Tumblr doesn’t have a gallery function like twitter, so here’s a step by process of what you can do to make sure people can actually find your art! (Me, I’m people, I want to see your art, please god)

More under the cut!

1. MAKE AN ART TAG

Just make a specific tag to tag all of your art with, it can be “my art”, “art”, “homoerotic bible passages”, anything you want as long as you’ll remember it.

If you have a lot of posts already, you can edit a bunch at once through your ARCHIVE page, reachable through [your_url].tumblr.com/archive

2a. FEATURED TAGS

Go into your blog settings and scroll down a bit, you’ll find a section labeled “featured tags”

Input your art tag into that

now when people go to your blog in dashboard view it will be the very first suggested search!

2b. CUSTOM DIRECTORY

Go into your blog settings

Look for the “Custom Theme” section, and click “Enable Custom Theme”

Go to your tumblr page (the one that goes [your_url].tumblr.com) and click the paint palette icon.

Find a tumblr theme with a CUSTOMIZEABLE LINK DIRECTORY with the “FIND THEMES” button! It might be called “sidebar links” or just “links” in different themes.

You can find an assortment of free themes with this functionality, try them out and play with them.

Make one of those customizable links your art tag by using the link [your_url].tumblr.com/[your art tag]

You can also do this with other social media links, a link to your commission info, your portfolio, etc.!

Congrats, you’ve made your art accessible on both the dashboard and your custom blog! If you want to be extra though:

3. MAKE AN ABOUT PAGE (optional)

Scroll to the very bottom of your theme customizing options (the paint palette icon we clicked earlier) and find the “Add A Page” button.

Give that a click, and it will let you make another custom page!

Make sure you click the “Show a link to this page” switch.

In the text box next to that switch, put whatever you’d like the page to show up listed as in your blog directory. In this case, I’d title it “about” or “about me” Most themes will automatically add this page to the sidebar directory under this name, and it should show up in dashboard view too.

There will be an option for a custom URL for the page under that! In this case, you can just do [your_url].tumblr.com/about for example.

Below that will be a box for the Page Title/Header. This is optional, but put whatever you want there.

Finally is the text box! Put whatever you want in there, but I add my art tag (+specific fandom or warning tags, textpost/reblog tab, etc.), my TOS, and things like my pronouns!

Once you’re done, click save and you’re good to go!

All finished! You have now made your art super easy to find! Great job. :]

[mogai-headcanons]

[if alt text is not accessible for you, every image in this post is a thin teal line divider.]

welcome to my blog!

i'm dexter, and you can find more information about me here. i'm 23 and i mainly use he/him, ey/em, and it/its pronouns, but any other pronouns that are not she or they are good too!

i also run @neopronouns, a mogai/liom term/flag request blog, and @neopornouns, an 18+ mogai/liom term/flag request blog, and my main blog is @pierz.

please read my dni before following me and read my general rules and blog rules before requesting!

my requests are currently open for stuff from my whitelist and here is every request currently in my inbox. my queue currently posts 1 time daily at noon cst.

here's a quick list of frequently asked questions — i recommend you look through this before asking me a question, since i get a lot of asks and may ignore yours if it's answered here!

q: what program do you use to make your edits and how? a: i use gimp on desktop! here's a basic flag splicing tutorial for multi-flag icons and a video of my edit-making process (though it's only the main gimp screen, not the menus i'm using)

q: what's your header/icon? a: my header is a compilation of edits from over the course of my blog and my icon is sunburst from 'my little pony: friendship is magic' over the excemelle flag!

q: are you alright with requests involving [insert media]? a: if it's not in my general rules linked above, probably yes! if you're concerned for a specific reason (source content, shitty creator, etc.) please let me know in your ask; i don't know what's problematic about every piece of media!

q: how many characters can i send in one request? how many terms? a: as many as you want, within reason! i’ve currently managed to fit 95 characters into one post and 245 flags into one icon, and though i do like a challenge, i’d prefer that no individual icon in a request have more than 200ish flags and that you stick to 50ish characters! those are flexible numbers though.

q: i don't see my request in the inbox! can i resend it? a: yes! just resend it and let me know that you sent it previously while requests were open.

q: i forgot something in my request, want to add extra details, want to change certain details, or want to remove certain details! a: send me an ask letting me know what request is yours and what you want changed and i'll do that!

q: can you tag [insert thing]? a: yes, i'll try my hardest to remember?

q: can i use one of your edits somewhere? a: yes, and i would strongly prefer if you credit me somewhere if you do.

q: are you alright with spam likes/reblogs? a: yes, and i appreciate your support and enthusiasm!

q: [insert headcanon] that you posted goes against a canon identity! a: thank you for letting me know! i don’t want to post things that erase already existing representation. i may ask for sources to verify if i can’t find some on my own.

q: [insert headcanon] goes against [insert thing in your rules]! a: again, thank you for letting me know! i don’t always know the sources i get requests for and tend to assume that people won’t send in things that go against the rules, so i don’t usually check.

q: can i submit art for you to use for [source without canon art]? a: yes! i’m happy to use your own art or art from an artist who is alright with their work being used with credit (including picrews). a2: this also applies to the adventure zone (since i only don’t do requests for it due to problematic canon art), aus (such as homestuck bloodswaps, etc), and similar situations!

q: [insert nice thing] a: i cherish you so much and your ask probably will sit in my inbox forever along with all the other incredibly sweet asks i've received over the course of this blog!

q: [discourse] a: please Do Not.

[tombstuck-writes]

Knucklehead: Part 1, Chapter 1

Genre: Midwest Contemporary Young Adult Romance.

Word count: 27,615. Chapter 1/27.

Summary: “There was only one queer kid in town. That’s what he thought anyway, because it was him. If only his online almost-boyfriend lived nearby, things might be a little more tolerable.”

Content warnings: Graphic child abuse (it's not until part 2, and part 1 can be read stand-alone.)

Author's note:

This story is my baby! I've been writing it for almost 6 years, and it's finally seeing the light of day! A big thank you to anyone who reads it. I'll be posting one chapter every Saturday until it's done. Chapters will be under the #tombstuck-knucklehead tag, and I will also link them on the "Read Knucklehead" page on the header of my tumblr site.

Brandon Campbell got out of his car to start another shift at the grocery store. Brandon lived in Cohocton, Missouri, but the grocery store he worked at wasn’t in Cohocton, because nothing was in Cohocton. Nothing except homophobes and Baptist churches. 

And a high school. The very one that Brandon had graduated from earlier that month. He had done nothing since then except do his part-time job at the grocery store.

He went to clock in and saw a familiar face.

“Rodney, hey,” he said, a few different emotions running through his head. Rodney had been his best friend while he was still in school, and they were even on the basketball team together. But he was a year younger than Brandon.

Rodney looked up at him, nodding in greeting. “What’s up, Bran?”

“Oh, not much. Just making some money. You work here now?” He asked.

“Yeah, I just wanted to make some extra money. I’m saving to move out.” Rodney hesitated. “Um, you been pretty absent since you graduated. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, man. Sorry about that. I’ve just been hanging with Nat and she can get kinda…” He trailed off. In reality, he had been doing absolutely nothing except working and isolating himself.

“Yeah, I get it. Hey, at least you’re starting college in August, right?”

“Uhhhh, no.”

“Oh,” Rodney answered. “My bad, I assumed. Sorry.” 

“No worries, man. Anyway, we better clock in.”

He bought Rodney a coke on their lunch break to try to make up for not hanging out that month. He also received a text, from someone he wasn’t expecting.

Hey. Wanna hang out? It was from Norm, another one of Brandon’s friends from school. He had graduated at the same time as Brandon.

I’m at work. Later tonite? Brandon answered.

Hell yeah.

It was strange that Norm had texted him. Hearing from two of his old basketball friends on the same day a month after graduation was a big coincidence. He hadn’t been that close with Norm when they were in school, either. Well, close enough to have exchanged phone numbers, but still.

Norm texted Brandon his address, and after work, he headed over to Norm’s house.

He lived in Green Meadows, which was a small trailer park in Cohocton. He parked in front of Norm’s house after checking the number, then got out. A dog barked at him. He knocked on the door.

“Bran!” Norm yelled after answering the door, smiling. He looked about the same as he had a month ago. He was wearing an old Zelda t-shirt with a million holes in it, and sporting his same old mullet and septum ring. Brandon had kind of forgotten that he was attracted to Norm, but the feeling came back as he smiled at the greeting, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Hey, man. What’s up?” he said.

“Dude, I watched this movie. Come in, come in— I watched this movie where these people went on a picnic,” He walked into the house, and saw who he assumed was Norm’s mom asleep on the couch. Norm was slurring his words a bit and his gait was uneven. “And I just had this real bad hankering to just like, eat a sandwich on a blanket outside.”

“Oh, wow,” Brandon said. He didn’t really know what else to say. He remembered Norm always getting drunk after basketball games, whether they would win or not. It seemed it had become a habit now.

“Bran, you gotta have a picnic with me,” Norm insisted. 

Brandon laughed. “A picnic? I guess so. That’s so random.”

Norm was running around his kitchen gathering items to make sandwiches. “No, it’ll be amazing, seriously.”

He made two bologna sandwiches and put them in sandwich bags. He dashed messily into the living room, and grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch where his mom still slept. “Come on!”

Brandon drove them and their picnic supplies to the nearest park. The day was extremely nice, with a light breeze blowing and the sun shining, and big puffy clouds floating through the sky. Brandon guessed he was happier to be here with Norm outside on a nice day than cramped up in his room at home.

Norm seemed to deliberate on the best spot for their picnic, before finally laying the blanket out on a nice patch of grass. He plopped unceremoniously down onto the blanket and Brandon sat next to him. The blanket wasn’t very big, so they were sitting pretty close.

Brandon ate his sandwich pretty quickly because he was hungry from work, but Norm didn’t seem too interested in his. He would take a little nibble now and then but mostly he was looking at the sky. 

“Not hungry?” Brandon asked.

“Oh, nah, not really. I just had to bring it to really evoke the feeling of a picnic.” He answered. “When I drink I don’t really get that hungry. I drink too much these days. That’s why I’m getting so skinny.” He felt at his ribs, no doubt feeling the bones underneath his skin.

“Have you ever thought about quitting?” Brandon asked.

“Oh, nah. I don’t really have any other way to cope with stuff, you know?” Norm answered, looking over at Brandon and shrugging.

Norm put his sandwich back in its baggie and laid down with his head on the blanket and his legs in the grass.

“Dude, you gotta see this!” Norm said and pulled Brandon down on the ground with him. He laughed and landed next to Norm with their heads together. Norm pointed upwards. “It’s a mermaid!”

Cloud gazing, Brandon thought with a rush. I’m cloud gazing with Norm while we’re on a picnic. What has my life become?

“I see a dog, I think,” Brandon said.

“What? No that’s definitely a mermaid. And look over there! It’s a little guy running,” Norm exclaimed.

Brandon was enjoying himself, for once lately. He didn’t want their picnic to end, but eventually they mutually decided to get up and pack up the picnic blanket and Norm’s uneaten sandwich and head back to Norm’s house. 

Norm was headed up the front steps of his house, but hesitated at the door and turned around. “I had a lot of fun today, Bran. Thanks for taking me.”

That’s similar to what Natalie said to me after our first date, Brandon thought, but didn’t say. 

“Yeah, man. Me too. No sweat. We should hang out again soon.” Brandon said, smiling. Norm waved cutely and smiled brightly. Brandon waved back.

Driving home, Brandon felt at once excited and uncomfortable about the time he had just spent with Norm. On the one hand, it was his first human contact besides his parents and coworkers for 2 weeks. On the other hand, he did have a beautiful girlfriend — Natalie— and spending time with someone else he found attractive felt a bit wrong.

He wondered, though. Is Norm still thinking about me too?

_____________________________________________________

Author's Note: Thank you so much if you read this far! I truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. Please consider following the #tombstuck-knucklehead tag if you want to read next week's installment, and follow my blog for various writing-related reblogs, as well as behind the scenes stuff about my stories.

[simnostalgia]

I've recently learned how to scrape websites that require a login. This took a lot of work and seemed to have very little documentation online so I decided to go ahead and write my own tutorial on how to do it.

We're using HTTrack as I think that Cyotek does basically the same thing but it's just more complicated. Plus, I'm more familiar with HTTrack and I like the way it works.

So first thing you'll do is give your project a name. This name is what the file that stores your scrape information will be called. If you need to come back to this later, you'll find that file.

Also, be sure to pick a good file-location for your scrape. It's a pain to have to restart a scrape (even if it's not from scratch) because you ran out of room on a drive. I have a secondary drive, so I'll put my scrape data there.

Next you'll put in your WEBSITE NAME and you'll hit "SET OPTIONS..."

This is where things get a little bit complicated. So when the window pops up you'll hit 'browser ID' in the tabs menu up top. You'll see this screen.

What you're doing here is giving the program the cookies that you're using to log in. You'll need two things. You'll need your cookie and the ID of your browser. To do this you'll need to go to the website you plan to scrape and log in.

Once you're logged in press F12. You'll see a page pop up at the bottom of your screen on Firefox. I believe that for chrome it's on the side. I'll be using Firefox for this demonstration but everything is located in basically the same place so if you don't have Firefox don't worry.

So you'll need to click on some link within the website. You should see the area below be populated by items. Click on one and then click 'header' and then scroll down until  you see cookies and browser id. Just copy those and put those into the corresponding text boxes in HTTrack! Be sure to add "Cookies: " before you paste your cookie text. Also make sure you have ONE space between the colon and the cookie.

Next we're going to make two stops and make sure that we hit a few more smaller options before we add the rule set. First, we'll make a stop at LINKS and click GET NON-HTML LINKS and next we'll go and find the page where we turn on "TOLERANT REQUESTS", turn on "ACCEPT COOKIES"  and select "DO NOT FOLLOW ROBOTS.TXT"

This will make sure that you're not overloading the servers, that you're getting everything from the scrape and NOT just pages, and that you're not following the websites indexing bot rules for Googlebots. Basically you want to get the pages that the website tells Google not to index!

Okay, last section. This part is a little difficult so be sure to read carefully!

So when I first started trying to do this, I kept having an issue where I kept getting logged out. I worked for hours until I realized that it's because the scraper was clicking "log out' to scrape the information and logging itself out! I tried to exclude the link by simply adding it to an exclude list but then I realized that wasn't enough.

So instead, I decided to only download certain files.  So I'm going to show you how to do that. First I want to show you the two buttons over to the side. These will help you add rules. However, once you get good at this you'll be able to write your own by hand or copy and past a rule set that you like from a text file. That's what I did!

Here is my pre-written rule set. Basically this just tells the downloader that I want ALL images, I want any item that includes the following keyword, and the -* means that I want NOTHING ELSE. The 'attach' means that I'll get all .zip files and images that are attached since the website that I'm scraping has attachments with the word 'attach' in the URL.

It would probably be a good time to look at your website and find out what key words are important if you haven't already. You can base your rule set off of mine if you want!

WARNING: It is VERY important that you add -* at the END of the list or else it will basically ignore ALL of your rules. And anything added AFTER it will ALSO be ignored.

Good to go!

And you're scraping! I was using INSIMADULT as my test.

There are a few notes to keep in mind: This may take up to several days. You'll want to leave your computer on. Also, if you need to restart a scrape from a saved file, it still has to re-verify ALL of those links that it already downloaded. It's faster that starting from scratch but it still takes a while. It's better to just let it do it's thing all in one go.

Also, if you need to cancel a scrape but want all the data that is in the process of being added already then ONLY press cancel ONCE. If you press it twice it keeps all the temp files. Like I said, it's better to let it do its thing but if you need to stop it, only press cancel once. That way it can finish up the URLs already scanned before it closes.

[prolestariwrites]

Three To One

Fandom: Resident Evil Rating: T Characters: Jake Muller, Sherry Birkin

Summary: Sherry is nothing like any of the girls Jake has ever met before. It's too bad he has no idea what to do with that.

A/N: Just a quick oneshot because I love this couple. This is also on AO3 so if you prefer go ahead and read over there (link to my profile is in my header). If you like this please share so others can find it too! Thanks for reading!

◣──•~❉᯽❉~•──◢

Jake is just getting inside his room when his phone buzzes. “Shit,” he mumbles, his arms full of his equipment, which he quickly drops on the bed after kicking the door shut. He pulls his pack around and fishes inside the front pocket for the phone, but it quits its vibrations before he can find it.

He sighs when he finally gets a grip on it, figuring it’s another job. Whether or not it’s one he will actually do remains to be seen: he’s been out of the mercenary business since Liangshang, focusing his work now on BOWs instead of politics. The money isn’t as good, which means he can’t really afford to miss a job, so he sits heavily on the mattress as he snaps the top of the phone up.

Before he can go to his missed calls, a text message pops up. He presses his thumb to the blue square, his eyes widening when Sherry’s name appears at the top. Their last conversation fills the screen until the bottom, where her new message reads: >Call me when you get some time, okay? :D 

He clears his throat, rubbing his other palm on his thigh. A quick check confirms it was Sherry’s call he missed, and for a moment he wonders if something is wrong. But she wouldn’t have put a smile emoji at the end of a message if something was wrong, right? Jake frowns and rubs the back of his head. His experience with women does not include the kind that use emojis.

Deciding to call her back in a few minutes, he stands and starts to put his gear away. He has two more nights in the little hotel room before he needs to move on, the latest mission now complete. Jake sits at the little table and takes apart his guns, cleaning them thoroughly and trying not to think about his cell phone sitting on his bed. Every once in a while he glances over, wondering if Sherry is waiting for him. No way she is, but she wants to talk to him. What if it’s urgent?

He sets the last gun aside and walks over to the bed, looking down at the screen. It stares back blankly, stubbornly refusing to reveal the real reason Sherry called. Maybe she just wanted to check on him, although something in him doubts it. Sherry knows he can take care of himself, and he hadn’t given her the details of the pack of zombie wolves that were spotted around the mountain towns. If she had known, she probably would have insisted on sending him backup, which Jake didn’t need. What he needed was the commission from getting rid of the shitstains. 

Jake curses under his breath and goes back to his pack, finishing putting away the guns and ammo and taking stock of the rest. One of his blades was snapped in the hunt, getting stuck in a tree when he was trying to cut some branches. Other than that he is in pretty good shape, so he decides a shower is next on the agenda.

Yet he finds himself racing through his wash. Usually after killing he likes to stand under the water, turned as hot as it will go, and watch the dirt and blood circle the drain and take away whatever shit was clogging up his brain along with the grime from hunting. It was a ritual from his mercenary days, although now that he isn’t targeting humans anymore, there isn’t any guilt to sit like a hot rock in his stomach.

The ritual is put aside for a fast, lukewarm shower, and once he is clean he pulls on a pair of sweatpants and sits on the bed, barely long enough for his tall frame. His skin is damp as he lays back on the pillow and picks up his phone, taking a deep breath before dialing Sherry’s number. They’ve talked loads of times, keeping in touch in these months since China. She helped him get some contacts to start working, and in return he does some side work for the DSO, tracking sightings and sending back information on request. They usually text or email job details and some pleasantries, but he and Sherry don’t usually talk. But they have a few times, so this shouldn’t feel so nerve-wracking.

His stomach flips when she answers. “Jake, is that you?” 

Her cheery voice doesn’t set him at ease like he had hoped. “Yeah. Everything okay?”

“Absolutely. Those specs you sent last week were perfect. The higher ups are pretty pleased.” She takes a breath before asking, “Are you still in Belarus?”

Jake clears his throat. “No, actually. I’m in Romania.”

“Romania? You didn’t tell me you were heading somewhere.” She doesn’t sound hurt, just surprised, and he has an apology rising on his tongue when she continues, “That actually works out better.”

“Better?”

“Yeah. Do you have a few days you can take off? I could use your help with something.”

“Yeah! I mean—yeah.” Trying not to sound too eager, he switches the phone to the other ear. “What, uh… is it a job?”

“No,” she replies. “Well, I’ll be working, sort of. Can you meet me in Greece?”

Jake glances around. One of the things the DSO had helped with was a proper passport, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Once he gets paid he’ll have enough for a ticket. But if it’s not for a job, then what? “Want to clue me in on where we’re going?”

Sherry laughs, and heat flares on his neck. “I’m going to a conference and could use a friend. I hate going to these things by myself. I’ll send you the info, okay? It starts Tuesday.”

“A conference?”

“Most governments will have reps there. The DSO is sending a few teams and I was chosen to go. Are you in?”

He nods. “Okay. I mean, I can meet you. And uh… thanks, I guess. For thinking of me.”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun!” Sherry sounds excited, which makes him smile. “I’ll email you right now. See you in a few days!”

True to her word, Sherry sends the information for a hotel in Xanthi, and for the rest of the evening he looks up everything he can about the city. It’s on the seaside, like pretty much everywhere worth going, lots of restaurants and beaches and the usual tourist fare. The conference is at the university in town, some kind of networking thing for international organizations in the bioterrorism game. Makes sense that the DSO would have a presence there, although he doesn’t know if that’s good or bad. 

He hasn’t been to Greece, and he wonders if he’ll stick out. Jake glances over where his boots sit on the floor, his dark cargo pants slung over the chair. He doesn’t exactly have anything to wear to a conference either. With a groan he closes the laptop and sinks down, regretting agreeing to go. Bioweapons he can handle. Making nice with suits is an actual challenge.

◣──•~❉᯽❉~•──◢

The flight is cheap and blessedly short. He had to make a stop at one of his storage units to drop a lot of his gear: can’t exactly get on a plane with a grappling hook. He does check a gun just in case, feeling almost naked without it while they are in the air. 

He stands with his backpack on at the baggage claim, watching impatiently for his case. Just as he spots it he hears his name, and Jake turns to see Sherry’s blonde mop in the crowd, heading towards him. He hesitates, not knowing if he should go to her or grab the case, and ends up doing neither, frozen as he watches it roll by and around the other side.

“Jake! You made it!” she calls.

“You didn’t have to meet me.” 

He turns towards her voice when he finds himself in a tight hug. Sherry barely makes it to his chin, so she goes on tiptoe to put her arms around his neck, catching him in surprise. Jake’s eyes go wide when she leans up and plants a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

Alarm bells are blaring in his head. He puts his hand on her waist and pulls back as she sinks down on her heels. “Hey, uh…” Jake shakes his head to clear it, still feeling her soft lips and the sticky bit of her chapstick on his skin. “Hi.”

“Hi yourself.” Sherry grins up at him. “Is this all you brought?”

“No, my case—shit. Wait here.” He turns and hurries over to the turnstile, jogging a bit around to the other side when he spots his case. “Excuse me,” he mutters as he nudges his way through the other passengers, grabbing it and hauling it from the moving ramp with a thud. 

The noise snaps him out of his daze. Jake looks up to see Sherry wave, and he realizes she just kissed him. Not a real kiss or anything, but… 

He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Bioweapons are way easier than this. 

◣──•~❉᯽❉~•──◢

Jake sits half-slouched in his chair, drumming his fingers on the table as he sneaks glances at Sherry. The conference is hosting a dinner, and he’s there as Sherry’s “plus-one”, whatever that’s supposed to mean. The past two days as she’s attended meetings he’s mostly been exploring the city, unused to the lack of action and the happy crowds of tourists. Part of him itches to get back to the field, but it ended up being worth it to go to this event.

The place is nice, and even though he isn’t wearing anything fancy Sherry had assured him a black shirt and pants would be fine. She is in a dress, the first time he’s ever seen her in one, and he’d be lying if it didn’t take him by surprise. This is only the second time since their first adventure together that they’ve seen each other; the first was not long after they first went their own ways, when she met him in Germany to help get him set up as a special contractor for the DSO. It had been weird to see her again after everything they went through, almost awkward.

This time things seemed different. Sherry was genuinely happy to see him, and it put him at ease despite being around so many people. Jake had learned her original travel partner got sick, so even though he didn’t have a pass to the conference he could use the hotel room. Suited him fine anyway: sitting in a room listening to people talk sounded like torture. In the evening they’d have dinner and hang out as she told him about the people she met and he would give little stories about the residents he met in the city, swapping stories about missions and their backgrounds.

Spending time with Sherry was nice. More than nice, amazing actually. She was just so different from the women he used to know, intelligent and funny and mature despite her youthful looks. Jake was starting to dread the end of this conference and splitting up again—that is, until she showed up for dinner in that damn dress.

He can’t stop glancing over, and luckily Sherry is absorbed in the keynote speech to notice. His eyes keep falling to her neck and tracing her exposed shoulders, the little straps leading to a sweetheart neckline that makes his throat tight. It’s not that he’s never thought of Sherry that way—God knows he’s had plenty of thoughts—but she is so out of his league that having her so close, the memory of her kiss on his mouth, makes it almost impossible to sit still. 

Thank god this conference was almost over. Like dangling a sandwich in front of a starving man.

Her hair is longer now, and she tucks it behind an ear as he watches, the little hoop in her earlobe catching his eye. She is wearing some kind of cherry and jasmine perfume that smells like heaven, and when she shifts and crosses her legs, his eyes dart down to the shapely calf that leads to a pair of nude heels. 

He pushes his chair back and Sherry glances over. “You okay?” she mouths.

Jake nods. “Just need a drink,” he whispers.

She chuckles at that, her smile warm. “This isn’t the most exciting thing, I know. We’ll get something after, okay?”

Her wink makes him feel stupid for saying anything. “Yeah,” he mutters, sitting back in his chair.

The speaker finally wraps up and the emcee once more takes the stage. He announces dinner will be served shortly, but before that, “We have an award to give,” he says. “Our organization wishes to recognize those that have given exemplary service in the field of anti-bioterrorism.” 

They clap politely as he opens an envelope. “This year we recognize Sherry Birkin from the Division of Security Operations. Ms. Birkin, can you please join me up here?”

Jake looks in surprise over at Sherry, who seems just as bewildered. She turns to him with a laugh, standing as the crowd starts to clap. “I had no idea,” she says to Jake.

“Well go up there,” he huffs impatiently.

She nods and quickly stands, weaving through the tables towards the stage. Jake watches as she walks up the steps at the side, and when she arrives at the podium the emcee hands her a small plaque and guides her to the microphone. He smiles as he claps along with the others, feeling a strange sense of pride. None of these people probably have any idea how good Sherry really is but him.

“Um, thank you so much,” Sherry says once the applause dies down. “I had no idea that I would be receiving this recognition. It means a lot…”

Her voice fades as she squints into the audience. Jake frowns and turns, trying to see what she is looking at. There are figures advancing from the back of the room, and the way they move instantly sets off alarm bells just as Sherry yelps, “Everyone, quick! Run!”

Her words are barely heard as gunshots erupt. Panic breaks out as people start to scream and run, the dark figures aiming guns at the escaping attendees and pushing through the crowd. Jake moves, jumping over his chair and sliding around the table to get to the stage. A figure in black fatigues approaches with a handgun and he grabs it and yanks, pulling him off his feet. They struggle for a moment before Jake delivers a series of punches, leaving the figure groaning and unmoving on the ground.

In the corner of his eye he can see people rushing the stage, so he yanks the gun from the assailant’s hands and spins. Two people are dragging Sherry away, both with weapons, as she struggles against their grip. The rest of the room is in mayhem with chairs and tables everywhere, people still shouting as they run for the exits. No one seems to be hurt, however; is it possible this is all just to grab Sherry?

Jake aims the gun and fires at the nearest gunman, hitting him in the chest and sending him to the ground. He takes off in a sprint towards the stage and is met with two more figures, one of which he shoots and the other dispatched with a broken arm and a fist to the jaw. Sherry is gone, but there is commotion behind the curtains, so he leaps up onto the platform and bolts backstage.

There is a long, dark hallway, and he squints in the dim light. Footsteps stomp up ahead, and he hears Sherry’s voice. “Let go of me, asshole!”

“Grab her!”

Jake races ahead and a gunshot goes off. His arm explodes in pain, making him stumble and crash into the wall. He grips his bleeding bicep and looks up to see Sherry struggling with one of the men. The other is on the floor at their feet. Jake grits his teeth against the pain and steps towards them, but Sherry grabs the gun and pulls hard before going down into a crouch to trip him onto the ground. Once he is down she rips the rifle from his hands and hits him between the eyes, the body going still.

She gives him a little kick before swiping her hair out of her eyes. “Jerk,” she mutters.

“Sherry?”

Jake’s voice catches her attention. Incredibly, she smiles, as if she wasn’t nearly just kidnapped and took out two armed men, and slings the rifle over her shoulder before hurrying to him. “Jake!” she cries. “I’m so sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for?” he growls. He narrows his eyes at the two on the ground. “Who are they?”

“I don’t know yet. We gotta get out of here.” She grabs his arm and he hisses, and Sherry frowns when she pulls back her hand to find it red. “Are you hurt? Jake!”

“It’s fine. Come on, there’s gotta be an exit.”

They make their way down the hall to a room at the end, thankfully empty. They continue through the dark and empty rooms, easily slipping back into their former roles as Jake takes point and Sherry follows. More gunshots are heard on the other side of the building, and within minutes there are sirens outside and the sound of a helicopter overhead. “Guess word got out,” he says.

“Bunch of amateurs,” she mutters, and when Sherry follows her assessment with a snort, Jake can’t help but grin.

They turn a corner and run into three more. Neither waste any time as Jake takes out the first one as Sherry gets the second. The third retreats and they follow, chasing him along the hallway until he crashes through a door with an exit sign overhead.

Moments later they reach the door and once through it they find themselves in a little pathway between buildings. “Come on,” she says, and Jake follows as she jogs back towards the entrance.

There are police squads there already, the attendees mulling around the ambulances and several of the assailants being marched out in handcuffs. Police turn and start shouting orders, and Jake follows Sherry’s lead when she puts her hands up. “Sherry Birkin, DSO,” she calls.

They are briefly taken into custody and questioned, but when it’s clear that they aren’t with the group—and that Sherry might have been the target—they are given medical attention after handing over their weapons. Sherry is fine other than some bruises, but Jake sits on the back of an ambulance as a nurse gives him stitches when she finds him again.

“Had to give like a hundred statements, but they’re letting us go,” she says as she walks up. “How are you holding up?”

“Just a graze. I’ll live. They were terrible shots.”

“They were, weren’t they?” she agrees, then starts to laugh.

Jake joins her but stiffens a bit as the nurse finishes the last stitch. “Watch it,” he growls, and she shoots him a look before packing up her gear. Once she’s gone, Jake stretches his shoulder, testing how sore his arm is. 

“You good?” Sherry asks.

“I’ve had worse.” 

She steps up to take a look, and Jake swallows when her fingers pull back the ruined sleeve of his shirt so she can assess the stitches. “Not too bad,” she murmurs. “Need gauze?”

“Nah, I got it.” But he doesn’t move as her touch slides gently over his arm, the skin tender and raw under her fingertip.

When she leans in and gives a soft blow of air across the cut, he jumps. “What’re you doing?” he exclaims.

Sherry smiles. “I remember when I was growing up, my dad would take me to the park sometimes. Not often, but when he did I would always get hurt somehow.” She leans in and blows again across the wound. “One time I needed stitches, and since he was a scientist he knew how to do it. Afterwards he would blow on my skin and give a kiss to make it feel better.”

Somehow it does feel a bit better, but the closeness starts to make Jake sweat. “Yeah,” he says lamely.

She replaces the sleeve and leans up to kiss his cheek. Jake jerks back in surprise, his mouth falling open as she laughs again. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” she says.

◣──•~❉᯽❉~•──◢

It’s their final day in Greece, both having flights the next morning back to where they came from. They spend the better part of the day at the police station giving more information, and then Sherry has a video conference with the DSO. Turns out the party crashers were a group for hire after Sherry after all, although what organization was behind it remained to be seen. From what they gathered from the investigation they were paid in cash for a kidnap, and didn’t know who was behind the broker.

Sherry is a bit deflated when she gets off the call. “Looks like I’ll be grounded for a bit when I get back,” she sighs. Jake looks over from where he stands at the window, watching people walking below the hotel. “Until they find out who is after me, anyway. Probably for my stupid blood.”

She rubs her arm and Jake tries to think of something to say. He’s in the same kind of boat, carrying around antibodies he didn't ask for. Somebody at any time could decide they wanted a piece of either of them, and not for the first time he curses how unfair it all is, the two of them victims of their fathers' stupid ambitions.

But as always, Sherry takes a deep breath and puts on a smile. "Do you want a drink?" she asks. "I'm dying for a drink."

"You think that's a good idea?"

He raises his brows but Sherry nods. "Yeah. Did you find a bar during your travels?"

They end up at a little pub not far from the hotel that is thankfully small and free of tourists. They take a table and Jake orders two beers, but Sherry shakes her head. "We're in Greece, we're doing ouzo," she insists.

That makes him laugh. "You ever have it? It's pretty strong."

"I can handle it," she says. "Trust me."

The corner of his mouth goes up as he nods. "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say."

It's a great night, better than the others in Greece. It seems like there’s always a million things to share with her, and Sherry is warm and funny and laughs at his lame jokes. Jake thinks he could spend all night here, talking to her like this, but they are barely a bottle in when Sherry starts getting tipsy. "You better slow down," Jake warns her.

"No way," she huffs, pointing a finger at him before she downs another shot. "I'm totally fine."

She pours some more, sloshing a bit on her fingers. "Right," he says dryly.

"You're the one who's hurt," Sherry points out. "If anyone should be taking it easy, it's you."

Jake shakes his head. "I've had a hell of a lot worse than this. Plus this ouzo stuff is nothing."

"Right," she mimics.

"Do you have any other life or death experiences in the works before we leave tomorrow?" he asks. "Because I gotta say, you're two for three now."

Sherry snorts, nearly choking on her drink. "I swear I'm boring! I don't ever get to see that much action. Unless I'm with you."

The comment is innocent, but Jake laughs. "So I'm the only action you're getting, huh?"

Immediately he regrets the joke, his ears burning as she sits up and looks at him in shock. "Jake Muller!" she exclaims. "Are you flirting with me?"

"No," he quickly says.

"You are!" she exclaims. "You're flirting. Wow, I never would have expected it."

"I'm not flirting," he insists.

"Well why not?"

Sherry pouts and he frowns at her. "Huh?"

"You're just... so damn..." Sherry shakes her head and pours another drink, knocking it back before slamming the glass on the table. "So damn respectful."

Respectful is not a word that Jake would ever have put near his name, and he chuckles. "You're drunk."

"I am not."

"Right. And I'm not flirting. Or respectful."

Sherry gives him a slow smile, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. Jake raises his brows, wondering what she's thinking, her eyes bright and shining and her cheeks slightly pink. This is definitely the first time he's seen her inebriated, and Jake suddenly wonders if he's in over his head. "You are respectful," she murmurs. "You haven't tried to kiss me once. Why not?"

"What?"

"Why haven't you ever kissed me? Don't you want to?"

Jake huffs a laugh, rubbing his neck. "All right, I'm cutting you off."

"Hey!"

"And we should get back. It's not exactly safe out here for you."

Sherry pouts, but when he stands she lets him pull her to her feet. "I'm fine as long as I'm with you," she mumbles.

The walk back to the hotel is slower than it should be, as Sherry holds onto him to stay mostly upright. "Wow, you're not drunk at all?" she exclaims, looking up at him.

"Probably because I'm not so tiny," he replies.

"I'm not tiny. I'm tall." Sherry yawns and leans her head on his arm, wrapping both of hers around his. "I'm glad you're here. Who knows what would have happened if you weren't."

"I don't know about that," Jake replies. "You took care of those two on your own. You can kick ass better than most mercenaries."

She finds that hilarious, pressing her face into his shirt. "I do kick ass. Tell that to the DSO. I can kick anyone's ass."

They reach the hotel and Jake helps her to the elevator, and then into her room. Sherry sighs and kicks off her shoes, but doesn't bother with anything else as she slides against the mattress. "You leaving?" she mumbles into the blanket.

"Can't exactly stay here," he says.

She sits up and looks at him. There is only the light from the street outside streaming in the window, as neither had bothered with a lamp. She looks sweet and innocent like this, sitting with her hands behind her on the bed, but her gaze is anything but as she stares at him. Jake's throat goes dry as she blinks at him. "You could, you know."

"Could what?"

"Stay. Want to?"

His heart beats wildly in his chest. Of course the answer is yes, about a thousand times yes, but she's drunk and he's unprepared and Jake knows this would be a huge, colossal mistake, the best mistake of his life. He walks towards her and Sherry looks up, her hair falling back on her shoulders as her lips part.

He strokes her cheek as he makes his decision. "Next time," he says. "I promise."

Sherry opens her mouth to say something, but then she reaches up and grabs his shirt. She's stronger than he expected, and he follows her tug down until her lips seal over his. Jake freezes, letting her kiss him slowly, their mouths remaining chaste as she tilts slightly to slot against his lower lip.

Just a few seconds and then he is easing away, and Sherry sighs and lays back. "Okay," she says sleepily, rolling over. "Next time. I'm too sleepy now."

Jake swallows thickly, watching her for a minute, and when he hears her breathing even he makes a quick escape to go lay awake and curse himself the rest of the night.

◣──•~❉᯽❉~•──◢

A terrible noise wakes Sherry from a sound sleep, and it takes her a minute to realize it’s her phone. Wincing against the sunlight streaming into her room, she runs her hand along the bed until it bumps the case, and she swipes the call button and brings it to her ear without moving. “Hello?” she mumbles.

“Sherry? It’s Hannigan. You all right?”

“Yeah.” She takes a moment to assess and realize that she is all right, for the most part. “Had a bit to drink last night,” she continues. “What’s going on?”

“Your flight is moved up to this afternoon. There’s an FBI agent who is going to accompany you back to New York.”

“Great.” Sherry rolls to her side, half expecting to see Jake on the other end of the bed. Did she really ask him to stay, or was that a dream? “Anything else?”

“Nope. Have a safe flight.”

Sherry hangs up without saying goodbye and turns to lay on her back. As she studies the ceiling she runs the night before through her head, cringing at the way she flirted with Jake and insisted that he do the same. Groaning, she remembers asking him to say, demanding to know why he didn’t flirt. He had taken offense to being called respectful, and then she had kissed him? Sherry winces again as she buries her face in the pillow, her cheeks flaring with heat.

What is wrong with her? There is no way that Jake is interested; if he was, he would have made a move long ago. Plus, she is a DSO agent at a conference, not on a single’s vacation. Not to mention it would break like forty rules at the agency. Not to mention they don’t even live in the same hemisphere. Not to mention she is ninety-nine percent sure she’s not the type of girl an ex-mercenary would go for. Not to mention she invited him to a conference and almost got him killed.

Not exactly girlfriend material. They’re friends, nothing more, as long as she hasn’t ruined things. 

Probably not, knowing him; Sherry wasn’t exaggerating when she called him respectful. She hauls herself from her bed and takes a quick shower before getting dressed and packing her things. Her phone beeps with her new itinerary, and as she makes herself coffee in the room she debates on what to say to Jake.

By the time she’s ready she’s running a bit behind, so Sherry decides not to think as she wheels her suitcase behind her into the hallway. She turns to head to Jake’s room to say goodbye but is surprised to see him in the hallway as well, pulled up short with his pack on his back and carrying his case. 

“Hey,” she says.

“Hey.”

Sherry swallows and nods to his case. “You heading out?”

“Yeah. I got a job and need to catch a train. I was going to come say goodbye…”

She looks down at her own suitcase. “My flight was changed. I’m heading out now too.”

“Should we walk down together then?”

Sherry smiles in surprise and nods. “Yeah. Absolutely.”

It’s quiet on the ride down the elevator. Occasionally she glances over and up, trying to assess his mood, but Jake wears the same stoic expression he always does. He doesn’t seem mad or anything, so maybe things aren’t as weird as she had imagined they would be?

They each check out and head through the lobby to the taxi stand. Her heart is beating wildly, wondering what to say. This could be the last goodbye they have for a while, and up until this morning she had figured she’d try to make some tentative plans. That was before she threw herself at him, though.

The doorman steps out to find her a taxi when Jake turns to her. She notices the sweat on his brow as he says, “Listen, about last night—”

“No! No, that was…” Sherry laughs nervously as she waves her hand. “You were right. I cannot handle my ouzo. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. It was…” Jake gives a long sigh. “I didn’t want you to be upset.”

“I’m not! As long as you’re not?” He shakes his head and her shoulders slump in relief. “Good. Then let’s just forget about it. And don’t let me near ouzo anymore.”

He opens his mouth as a taxi pulls up, and Sherry looks over as the doorman opens the passenger side door. “This is me,” she says. “Thanks for coming… I know it wasn’t what we expected, but it was good to have company. Your company.”

Jake seems a bit bewildered, so she gives him a quick, awkward hug before turning to the car. But his hand on her arm stops her, and Sherry feels him tug her backwards until his arms fold around her and his mouth covers hers.

It’s nothing like the kiss last night: the respectful Jake who had remained still as she drunkenly tried to kiss him is gone, replaced by this Jake who knows exactly what he’s doing. His lips slide along hers as they fall open, his tongue quickly dipping inside to taste her as she gasps. She feels his palms against her lower back, his fingers spreading along her backside, and she grips his shirt to tug him closer before returning the kiss. It’s hot and passionate and leaves Sherry a bit dizzy when he dives in for round two. 

Her lips feel almost swollen when he pulls away. His expression is the same, just a bit softer, and Sherry bites her lower lip as if to remember the feeling of his on hers. 

The doorman clears his throat and Jake shoots him a look. “Relax,” he snaps before turning back to gaze at Sherry. “I meant it,” he says. “Last night. Next time, okay?”

“Yeah.” He lets her go slowly and she steps back, her throat dry and chest tight. “Next time.”

Jake gives her a smile and turns to walk down the street, and Sherry watches him go before she quickly jumps into the taxi, wracking her brain to try to remember what he promised for next time.