#zip code data

[zipcodesdatabase]

ZIP Plus Database Downloads: The Strategic Roadmap for Business Success

The business competition is more intense than before in the fast-paced, growing economy. The present consumer expectations are on the rise. Relying on generic address data is no longer in use as it cannot meet the needs of the present competition.  So businesses will no longer afford generic decision-making systems.

A refined and powerful tool to meet the business needs

Are you looking to abridge the inefficiencies, raise the ROI, and future-proof your business operations? It’s time to move beyond the basic ZIP Code. Start leveraging reliable ZIP Plus 4 database tools into your CRM or business system. It is well-suited for any number of applications, including in-house address verification programs. ZIP Plus 4 database turned out to be a refined and powerful resource that meet business needs and optimize operations. Incorporating this powerful ZIP Plus 4 database enables your business to leap beyond simple ZIP-level analytics.

The ZIP+4 database download tool is not just about providing cleaner addresses. It's about adding operational intelligence to enhance your business. Use ZIP Plus 4 databases and stay ahead in logistics, marketing, and customer service. It will provide a more refined and powerful resource to transform your workflows. It can also transform your normal business strategy into an extraordinary one. It is essential in modern business operations.

Precision information to optimize the CRM system

It will eliminate delivery errors with exact location-level accuracy. If you wish to reduce failed shipments and returned mail, then integrate the data downloaded from an authentic ZIP+4 database download tool. It will improve customer satisfaction through prompt, accurate service. The ZIP+4 database download tool offers precision information that can help you save costs and get a competitive advantage in this competitive business world. Use it to clean your old data and achieve optimum CRM Enrichment.

The power of hyper-detailed postal data downloaded from the ZIP+4 database can let you recognize the difference between average performance and strategic excellence. It applies to logistics optimization to customer engagement. It helps you achieve unmatched precision, improved customer service, and high-performance logistics. Industries that benefit from the ZIP+4 database download tool are:

Retail and E-commerce – for order fulfillment and shipping

Logistics and Warehousing – for precision routing

Marketing and Direct Mail Agencies – for audience targeting

Financial Services and Insurance – for risk analysis and compliance

Telecommunications – for service eligibility checks

Government Agencies and Nonprofits – for demographic research and outreach

Fully standardized and validated, Datasheer’s ZIP+4 download offers the most authentic information. It helps you ensure that the customer addresses are fully standardized and validated. They are less prone to shipping errors, extra shipping charges, and goods returns. It is appreciated where the business deals with high-volume mail, e-commerce platforms, and accomplishment services. Add it to your CRM system to attain better delivery success rates and improved customer satisfaction. You can use it to align customer service or delivery teams more efficiently.

Visit zip-codes.com to learn more about the service packages and how to implement them in your business. 

[inboundremblog]

Exploring Local Communities Through Carmel Zip Codes

Credit: Image by Republica | Pixabay

An Overview of Carmel Zip Codes and What They Offer

Imagine moving to a new city or planning a trip to an unfamiliar territory; without clear guidance, you may waste time searching for activities that match your interests. Well, the unsung heroes of geographical organization are zip codes! If you wish to explore the coastal area of the Monterey Peninsula and the beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea, break it down into manageable parts to find what you're looking for with ease and precision. Here's an in-depth look at notable Carmel zip codes and what they offer.

What Are The Carmel Zip Codes?

Carmel Village itself and its surrounding areas are predominantly within the 93921 zip code. The more remote parts, such as Carmel Highlands and Carmel Valley, are zoned under 93923 and 93924 zip codes, depending on the specific area. These Carmel zip codes mark neighborhoods and districts and showcase unique lifestyles and attractions.

Why Use Carmel Zip Codes When Exploring?

Carmel’s zip codes help visitors and residents explore the area, understand its geography, and discover what each part offers.

Pinpoint Diverse Neighborhoods Carmel zip codes represent a unique aspect of living, from the bustling charm of downtown to the quiet luxury of cliffside communities or the sun-drenched appeal of inland areas.

Tailor Experiences to Preferences Carmel zip codes can guide you to areas with attractions that match your interests. Love the beach? Focus on 93921. Prefer vineyards and open spaces? Head to 93924.

Ease Real Estate Searches Homebuyers can use Carmel zip codes to target specific lifestyles, property types, and price ranges. These codes help streamline the search for their dream home, whether they seek a coastal cottage or a sprawling valley estate.

Discover Hidden Gems Carmel zip codes often include lesser-known spots that might not appear in general guides. For instance, 93922 offers serene hiking trails and stunning ocean views less heavily marketed than downtown Carmel's attractions.

Simplify Navigation Exploring the Carmel region using zip codes makes it easier to navigate, whether you're planning a trip or relocating.

Get To Know Carmel Zip Codes

93921: Carmel-by-the-Sea’s Storybook Charm

The 93921 Carmel zip code is inseparable from charming downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. This area offers charming scenery of fairy-tale cottages, small-styled shops, and beautiful artistic galleries. Roads are easy to walk, and the neighborhood environment creates a village vibe, making it suitable for people who have retired, families, and working people.

Homes in this area range from small bungalows to multimillion-dollar estates. Dining options are abundant. Parking and home prices can be challenging, but the unique charm outweighs the drawbacks for many.

93923: Coastal Elegance of Carmel Highlands

93923 zip code covers Carmel Highlands, which is located to the south of Carmel-by-the-Sea. This area is affluent, with cliff homes and villas with breathtaking vistas of the Pacific Ocean from their balconies. Some rank among the most costly in the region and cater to luxury buyers.

Carmel Highlands appeals to those seeking tranquility and high-end living. The atmosphere is rural, the location is relatively secluded but it is only a few minutes’ drive from Carmel town proper. Places of interest include Point Lobos State Natural Reserve which offers trails as well as wildlife viewing opportunities.

93924: Carmel Valley’s Vineyards

Carmel Valley is famous for its sunny weather and wine-country vibes. Bernardus and Holman Ranch wineries are among the many that make this area a wine-lover destination. In addition to vineyards, golf courses, and equestrian properties define the area.

Homes in 93924 often have large lots, perfect for anyone seeking a quiet retreat. They are less expensive than coastal Carmel but require a longer commute to the beach and shopping centers.

93920: Big Sur’s Rugged Beauty

The 93920 zip code includes Big Sur, which is famed for its stunning topography along the edges of the ocean. Due to its aforesaid features, this region is perfect for those who are in search of solitude and stunning landscapes. Many houses rest at the cliff edges affording extraordinary views of the sea.

Big Sur is a haven for artists, nature enthusiasts, and those who crave privacy. However, living here means limited access to amenities. Residents often travel to Carmel or Monterey to shop and dine.

93940: Monterey’s Urban Convenience

93940 includes Monterey. Though not part of defined Carmel zip codes, it is definitely close. This area is ideal for those who want proximity to downtown Monterey, Cannery Row, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Homes here range from historic Victorians to modern condos, catering to various budgets. The area boasts excellent schools, parks, and family-friendly activities. Monterey’s vibrant cultural scene and stunning bay views make it a desirable destination.

93950: Pacific Grove’s Coastal Retreat

The 93950 zip code covers Pacific Grove, located just north of Carmel. This charming seaside community features historic homes, coastal trails, and a laid-back lifestyle.

The Lovers Point Park and Asilomar State Beach are favorite spots for outdoor activities. Homes here are more affordable than those with Carmel zip codes, attracting families, retirees, and first-time buyers.

93953: Exclusive Pebble Beach Living

Pebble Beach is an internationally renowned community. This area is synonymous with prestige and is known for its luxury estates and world-class golf courses. Residents enjoy gated privacy, stunning ocean views, and access to the famous 17-mile Drive.

Pebble Beach is perfect for golf enthusiasts and affluent buyers looking for exclusivity. The area’s top-tier schools and peaceful surroundings also attract families. With high property values and HOA fees, living here requires a significant financial commitment. However, for those who can afford it, Pebble Beach offers unparalleled luxury.

93955: Affordable and Accessible Seaside

Seaside is just north of Monterey. This area is one of the more affordable options near Carmel zip code addresses. It is a practical and budget-friendly option for coastal living.

It has a mix of older homes, newer developments, and some apartments. It is close to California State University Monterey Bay and Fort Ord National Monument.

Wrap Up

Carmel’s zip codes offer distinct lifestyles, from rugged beauty to unparalleled luxury. Whether you prioritize affordability, exclusivity, or proximity to nature, the Monterey Peninsula has something for everyone. Understanding what each zip code offers can help you find the perfect fit for your needs.

Visit https://heinrichbrooksher.com/zip-code-map/ to explore the unique neighborhoods defined by Carmel zip codes and find your perfect coastal home today.

Explore the stunning coastal neighborhoods, lifestyles, and attractions with our complete Carmel zip code guide!

[datascraping001]

Google Search Results Data Scraping

Google Search Results Data Scraping

Harness the Power of Information with Google Search Results Data Scraping Services by DataScrapingServices.com. In the digital age, information is king. For businesses, researchers, and marketing professionals, the ability to access and analyze data from Google search results can be a game-changer. However, manually sifting through search results to gather relevant data is not only time-consuming but also inefficient. DataScrapingServices.com offers cutting-edge Google Search Results Data Scraping services, enabling you to efficiently extract valuable information and transform it into actionable insights.

The vast amount of information available through Google search results can provide invaluable insights into market trends, competitor activities, customer behavior, and more. Whether you need data for SEO analysis, market research, or competitive intelligence, DataScrapingServices.com offers comprehensive data scraping services tailored to meet your specific needs. Our advanced scraping technology ensures you get accurate and up-to-date data, helping you stay ahead in your industry.

List of Data Fields

Our Google Search Results Data Scraping services can extract a wide range of data fields, ensuring you have all the information you need:

-Business Name: The name of the business or entity featured in the search result.

- URL: The web address of the search result.

- Website: The primary website of the business or entity.

- Phone Number: Contact phone number of the business.

- Email Address: Contact email address of the business.

 - Physical Address: The street address, city, state, and ZIP code of the business.

- Business Hours: Business operating hours

- Ratings and Reviews: Customer ratings and reviews for the business.

- Google Maps Link: Link to the business’s location on Google Maps.

- Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook

These data fields provide a comprehensive overview of the information available from Google search results, enabling businesses to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions.

Benefits of Google Search Results Data Scraping

1. Enhanced SEO Strategy

Understanding how your website ranks for specific keywords and phrases is crucial for effective SEO. Our data scraping services provide detailed insights into your current rankings, allowing you to identify opportunities for optimization and stay ahead of your competitors.

2. Competitive Analysis

Track your competitors’ online presence and strategies by analyzing their rankings, backlinks, and domain authority. This information helps you understand their strengths and weaknesses, enabling you to adjust your strategies accordingly.

3. Market Research

Access to comprehensive search result data allows you to identify trends, preferences, and behavior patterns in your target market. This information is invaluable for product development, marketing campaigns, and business strategy planning.

4. Content Development

By analyzing top-performing content in search results, you can gain insights into what types of content resonate with your audience. This helps you create more effective and engaging content that drives traffic and conversions.

5. Efficiency and Accuracy

Our automated scraping services ensure you get accurate and up-to-date data quickly, saving you time and resources.

Best Google Data Scraping Services

Scraping Google Business Reviews

Extract Restaurant Data From Google Maps

Google My Business Data Scraping

Google Shopping Products Scraping

Google News Extraction Services

Scrape Data From Google Maps

Google News Headline Extraction   

Google Maps Data Scraping Services

Google Map Businesses Data Scraping

Google Business Reviews Extraction

Best Google Search Results Data Scraping Services in USA

Dallas, Portland, Los Angeles, Virginia Beach, Fort Wichita, Nashville, Long Beach, Raleigh, Boston, Austin, San Antonio, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Orlando, San Diego, Houston, Worth, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Columbus, Kansas City, Sacramento, San Francisco, Omaha, Honolulu, Washington, Colorado, Chicago, Arlington, Denver, El Paso, Miami, Louisville, Albuquerque, Tulsa, Springs, Bakersfield, Milwaukee, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Jose, Tucson and New York.

Conclusion

In today’s data-driven world, having access to detailed and accurate information from Google search results can give your business a significant edge. DataScrapingServices.com offers professional Google Search Results Data Scraping services designed to meet your unique needs. Whether you’re looking to enhance your SEO strategy, conduct market research, or gain competitive intelligence, our services provide the comprehensive data you need to succeed. Contact us at info@datascrapingservices.com today to learn how our data scraping solutions can transform your business strategy and drive growth.

Website: Datascrapingservices.com

Email: info@datascrapingservices.com

[odinsblog]

The website says it will help the viewer register to vote. But once a user clicks “Register to Vote,” the experience he or she will have can be very different, depending on where they live.

If a user lives in a state that is not considered competitive in the presidential election, like California or Wyoming for example, they'll be prompted to enter their email addresses and ZIP code and then directed quickly to a voter registration page for their state, or back to the original sign-up section.

But for users who enter a ZIP code that indicates they live in a battleground state, like Pennsylvania or Georgia, the process is very different.

Rather than be directed to their state’s voter registration page, they instead are directed to a highly detailed personal information form, prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age.

If they agree to submit all that, the system still does not steer them to a voter registration page. Instead, it shows them a “thank you” page.

So that person who wanted help registering to vote? In the end, they got no help at all registering. But they did hand over priceless personal data to a political operation.

Specifically, a political action committee created by Tesla

CEO Elon Musk, one aimed at giving the Republican presidential nominee Trump an advantage in his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic nominee.

“I have created a PAC, or a super PAC ... the America PAC,” Musk said in a recent interview.

(continue reading)

[pupsmailbox]

ROBOT ID PACK

NAMES ︰ aerobot.　agatha.　ai.　alan.　alethea.　alexia.　algernon.　alistair.　alpha.　amaryllis.　ambrose.　androbot.　androic.　andromeda.　angelica.　antenna.　arabella.　araminta.　arcade.　auto.　automaton.　axel.　axis.　badnik.　bionel.　bolt.　byte.　care.　celline.　cello.　chip.　chipique.　clank.　cloniste.　clonoid.　cobot.　codelle.　cole.　curiosity.　cy.　cyber.　cybette.　cybion.　cypher.　data.　dell.　della.　delpha.　delta.　digi.　dot.　droid.　droidess.　droidis.　dronette.　echo.　elektra.　euna.　eva.　eve.　fritz.　giga.　gizmo.　glitch.　grey.　gynoid.　helix.　holo.　holodir.　hydra.　ida.　jet.　kaput.　kinect.　krudzu.　linion.　mac.　mace.　machibella.　machina.　mal.　malware.　mation.　mech.　mecha.　mechael.　mechan．ace.　metal.　metalia.　metalish.　micro.　motherboard.　motor.　nano.　neo.　nucleus.　nyquist.　orbit.　parallel.　pip.　pixel.　prime.　primus.　proto.　quantum.　radar.　radius.　ram.　ray.　reflect.　reflectette.　robo.　robonaut.　rusty.　satellite.　scrappy.　selsyn.　sentiex.　servo.　shard.　siri.　solar.　sonar.　spark.　sparkie.　sparky.　sputnik.　steele.　sterling.　stochastic.　synchro.　synie.　synthett.　talus.　terra.　tin.　tink.　tobor.　ultramarine.　ultron.　unimate.　unit.　virus.　waldo.　zip.

PRONOUNS︰ ai/ai.　algo/algorithm.　android/android.　app/app.　auto/auto.　auto/automated.　auto/automaton.　axis/axi.　beep/boop.　bio/bionic.　bio/bioplastic.　blast/blast.　bo/bot.　bolt/bolt.　bot/bot.　buffer/buffer.　byte/byte.　cell/cell.　chaos/chaos.　chi/chip.　click/click.　clo/clone.　code/code.　coil/recoil.　command/command.　compute/computer.　core/core.　cyb/cyborg.　cyber/cyber.　data/data.　dev/device.　device/device.　dig/digital.　digi/digital.　droi/droid.　droid/droid.　e/exe.　electric/electric.　entry/entries.　exo/exoskeleton.　gear/gear.　gli/glitch.　glitch/glitch.　hack/hack.　ho/holo.　holo/holo.　hologram/hologram.　in/install.　intra/intranet.　link/link.　machi/machine.　mal/malfunction.　mal/malware.　mech/mech.　mecha/mechanical.　mechanic/mechanic.　metal/metal.　metro/metro.　motor/motor.　neo/neo.　neon/neon.　nuclear/nuclear.　propeller/propeller.　radar/radar.　retro/retro.　robo/robo.　robo/robot.　robot/robot.　rubber/rubber.　satellite/satellite.　sca/scan.　shard/shard.　shine/shiny.　signal/signal.　solar/solar.　steel/steel.　stem/stem.　swi/switch.　syn/synth.　syn/synthetic.　tech/tech.　techno/techno.　test/test.　text/text.　turing/turing.　vi/viru.　web/site.　web/web.　whirr/whirr.　wi/wifi.　wire/wire.　wired/wired.　⚙️/⚙️.　🔧/🔧.　🔩/🔩.　🛠//🛠.　🤖/🤖.

[ratbastardz]

BLOCKY 90s COMPUTER – NPT / ID PACK — ★

System names: The Error Codes, The Windows, The Personal Computer, The Hard Drive, The Glitches, The Cursor Collective, Screen Death, Core Dump, Fatal System Error, Hardware Reset, The Computer Collective, The Dialup System, The Internet, Collective Digitality

Names: Cirrus, Colossus, Sia, Athena, Raven, Ditz, Crash, Syntax, Static, Glitch, Error, Digital, Digi, Pixel, Exe, Megabyte, Terabyte, Gigabyte, Byte, PC, Com, Cube, Cubic, Cubix, Internet, Net, Data, Cyber, Google, Alexa, Siri, Linux, Mac, Apple, Cloud

Pronouns: they/them, it/its, zero/zeros, one/ones, 0101/1010s, voi/void, glitch/glitchs, error/errors, block/blocks, bluescreen/bluescreens, byte/bytes, tech/techs, windows/windows, 365/365s, PC/PCs, mouse/mouses, computer/computers, data/datas, tech/techs, tech/technical, internet/internet, net/nets, web/webs, disc/discs, .exe/.exes, exe/exes, 404/404s, ctrl/ctrl, shift/shifts, alt/alts, del/dels, caplock/caplocks, .com/.coms, .org/.orgs, .net/.nets, hack/hacks, HTML/HTMLs, JPEG/JPEGs, PNG/PNGs, ZIP/ZIPs, key/keys, hardware/hardwares, software/softwares, RAM/RAMs, 🌐/🌐s, 🔌/🔌s, 📀/📀s, 💽/💽s, 💾/💾s, 🖱️/🖱️s, ⌨️/⌨️s, 🖥️/🖥️s, 💿/💿s, 🖨️/🖨️s, 🔈/🔈s, 🔉/🔉s, 🔊/🔊s, 🔇/🔇s, 🖲️/🖲️s, 🛜/🛜s, 📁/📁s, 📂/📂s, 🗃️/🗃️s

Titles: The windows shutdown, The task manager, It who controls the cursor, It who cannot backup your information, It who has 1GB of brain space, It who runs games, It who whirrs when powered on, It who needs a cord, It who feeds on electricity and laughter, It who makes others smile, It who glitches, It who is disconnected, It who processes, The blue screen of death, It who is completely digital, It who has infinite functions, It who is limitless, The sentient computer

Labels: ancianaldern, computypen, robotthing, glitchlexic, techbodiment, aiwarix, cyberthing, bytegender, virtulonogia, techthing, Y10Kglitchic, technarian, phostechial, oldwebcitian, techrobai presentations, mechakeyboardic, keyboardsoundic, HTMLgender, hackgender, guy.exeic, genderprogram, gendercodex, errowebic, webot, webicoded, edgywebaesic, compuvior, compuvesil, computerredacted, computergender, computerkin, computergender², comphonum, codestelic, virtualexic, digitalexic, glitchsilly, 🌐💾emojic, virtualthing, webirus, webcorething, digiminalwebic, computergender³, webcoric, abstratechgender, techrobai, gendersoftware, gendervirtual, genderhacker, artificial intelligence, glitchgender, androidgender, youareanidiotvirusic

System roles: database, techie

Requested by: anon

[roksik-dnd]

For everyone who asked: a dialogue parser for BG3 alongside with the parsed dialogue for the newest patch. The parser is not mine, but its creator a) is amazing, b) wished to stay anonymous, and c) uploaded the parser to github - any future versions will be uploaded there first!

UPD: The parser was updated!! Now all the lines are parsed, AND there are new features like audio and dialogue tree visualisation. See below!

Patch 7 dialogue is uploaded!

If you don't want to touch the parser and just want the dialogues, make sure to download the whole "BG3 ... (1.6)" folder and keep the "styles" folder within: it is needed for the html files functionality (hide/show certain types of information as per the menu at the top, jumps when you click on [jump], color for better readability, etc). See the image below for what it should look like. The formatting was borrowed from TORcommunity with their blessing.

If you want to run the parser yourself instead of downloading my parsed files, it's easy:

run bg3dialogreader.exe, OPEN any .pak file inside of your game's '\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\Data' folder,

select your language

press ‘LOAD’, it'll create a database file with all the tags, flags, etc.

Once that is done, press ‘EXPORT all dialogs to html’, and give it a minute or two to finish.

Find the parser dialogue in ‘Dialogs’ folder. If you move the folder elsewhere, move the ‘styles’ folder as well! It contains the styles you need for the color coding and functionality to keep working!

New features:

Once you've created the database (after step three above), you can also preview the dialogue trees inside of the parser and extract only what you need:

You can also listen to the correspinding audio files by clicking the line in the right window. But to do that, as the parser tells you, you need to download and put the filed from vgmstream-win64.zip inside of the parser's main folder (restart the parser after).

You can CONVERT the bg3 dialogue to the format that the Divinity Original Sin 2's Editor understands. That way, you can view the dialogues as trees! Unlike the html files, the trees don't show ALL the relevant information, but it's much easier to orient yourself in.

To get that, you DO need to have bought and installed Larian's previous game, Divinity Original Sin 2. It comes with a tool called 'The Divinity Engine 2'. Here you can read about how to unstall and lauch it. Once you have it, you need to load/create a project. We're trying to get to the point where the tool allows you to open the Dialog Editor. Then you can Open any bg3 dialogue file you want. And in case you want it, here's an in-depth Dialog Editor tutorial. But if you simply want to know how to open the Editor, here's the gist:

Update: In order to see the names of the speakers (up to ten), you can put the _merged.lsf file inside of the "\Divinity Original Sin 2\DefEd\Data\Public\[your project's name here]\RootTemplates\_merged.lsf" file path.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions! Please let me know if you modify the parser, I'd be curious to know what you added, and will possibly add it to the google drive.

[sflow-er]

A few notes on Linda's salary and the Erikssons' financial situation

I looked into this topic when @crownedwille brought it up in some tags a while ago. I abandoned it because I didn't think it would be that interesting after all, but the discussion started by @mydignityisinflames on @young-royals-confessions inspired me to finish the draft.

I was going to copy and paste it all in a reblog, but it got too long so... Here it is as a separate meta post!

Linda's job

As of S2, we know for sure that Linda is a registered nurse (sjuksköterska). This means she's completed a three-year (180 credit) higher education programme in nursing. We don't know if she's completed a specialist nurse's programme on top of that, but it isn't required to work at the youth clinic (ungdomsmottagningen or UMO).

Youth clinics are public clinics for people aged 12 to 22, primarily providing services related to sexual and mental health. Nurses there examine patients and take samples for lab testing etc., but they also counsel and reassure young people who come to them with concerns. (This explains why Carmen's post-S1 interview with the PRP actually gave me the impression that Linda was a youth counsellor instead.)

Anyway, Linda herself confirms in S3 that she works at the UMO. Both the Swedish CC and the subs have her telling Simon to be glad she doesn't make him "go" there every week for drug testing - but if you listen to her words, she actually says come in (komma in). This indicates that she works there.

Linda's monthly income and how it compares

We can estimate Linda's salary quite confidently by looking at relevant statistics from 2020 and 2021 when the show is set.

As a registered nurse working at a youth clinic, Linda is employed in the public sector. More specifically, by the municipality.

As of S3, we also know she is working in the region that is called Östra Mellansverige (Eastern Central Sweden) in the statistical data. Bjärstad's location was kept vague for a long time, but the letter that Simon received in S3 included their address. Bjärstad's post/zip code was written as 58581 - a made-up code that puts them in the Linköping area. The closest real-world equivalent (58580, Ljungsbro) is just northwest of Linköping itself.

Here are the most relevant stats on monthly income (before taxes):

The average monthly income in Sweden was SEK 36,100 in 2020 and SEK 37,100 in 2021.

For non-specialist registered nurses employed in the municipal sector, specifically in Östra Mellansverige, average monthly income was SEK 38,300 in 2020 and SEK 40,000 in 2021. Their average base salary in this region (without any additions for evening/night shifts, weekends, experience etc.) was SEK 37,000 / 38,500.

In other words, Linda's monthly income should be pretty close to the national average. Maybe even slightly higher based on region, even though she may not work in the evenings or weekends as the UMO may not be open.

In a survey conducted in 2022, a household with children was considered low income if two parents' combined monthly income before taxes was less than SEK 42,000, or if a single parent's monthly income before taxes was less than SEK 29,500.

So, the Erikssons are not low income by definition. This fits the impression we get from their house, as well as details such as Sara having learned how to ride before Hillerska.

However, it is also clear from the show that they cannot necessarily afford larger surprise expenses such as Simon's tutoring. That makes sense when Linda is paying for everything herself. Her income may be slightly above the national average, but it falls between the numbers considered low income for a single-parent vs. two-parent household.

I guess we could call them a medium-income household, but towards the lower end.

About the house

It was indirectly revealed in S3 that Micke was the one who moved out when he and Linda separated. That's the only way Simon can have lived in their current house for fourteen years (i.e. since 2006/2007):

Back in S1, when Sara said Linda should have left Micke when everything started, Simon protested that they wouldn't have had anywhere to live. This sounds like Linda was still financially dependent on Micke when the kids were small. It was probably Micke who originally bought or rented the house for his family (although the property, mortgage and/or lease could have still been in both their names).

Linda and Micke's assets will have been split 50:50 at the time of their divorce. If the house was bought rather than rented, she likely had to take out a new mortgage to buy him out. Mortgages in Sweden typically have very long payment terms, so it's likely there was still quite a bit left to pay, and the value of the property had increased in the meantime.

If the house is a rental, the rent will have gone up over the years. Based on a quick look at places for rent in Linköping, many terraced house units of that size currently cost SEK 11,000 to 18,000 per month. We don't know what the rent would have been in 2020/2021, but we can assume it would have taken a pretty big chunk of Linda's single income.

Anyway, it is a nice house. Especially if it's a rental, paying for it does put a strain on the Erikssons' finances, even though they aren't struggling as such.

About Hillerska

I had not meant to include this at all, but as there was some confusion on the confessions blog, it should be noted that Linda doesn't have to pay for Simon and Sara to attend Hillerska. Even private schools in Sweden haven't been allowed to charge tuition fees since 2014. They do charge very high boarding fees, but that's why Sara got a grant to board in S2. So in principle, Hillerska shouldn't be more expensive than Marieberg, although it is possible that school outings may cost a bit more and there may also be other more or less voluntary extra costs (e.g. private tutoring or equipment for extracurriculars).

If you want to read more about the boarding school fees, you can check out this post.

About Simon's summer jobs

I don't think Simon's lines here are meant to be taken as in, "Simon has to contribute to the family economy" or "Simon has to pay for all his own stuff." Linda keeps her children clothed, buys the things they need for their hobbies and presents for their birthdays (e.g. Sara's jodhpurs), and based on her phone call in S3, is even planning to take them abroad to see family.

The key here is the line about Wille and the other rich kids getting everything they want for free, including designer clothes or spontaneous trips to New York. Simon is simply saying he and Ayub need to make some money of their own to do activities and buy things they don't strictly need but want.

Simon and Ayub have been applying for summer jobs hos kommunen, with the municipality. These jobs are only offered for part of the summer (typically three weeks) because the municipality has a limited number of positions available and they want to employ as many applicants as possible. The duties usually involve helping out at municipal services and facilities, e.g. preschools, care facilities for the elderly, facilities for sports and leisure, museums, public parks, and so on. The municipality may also support local businesses and non-profitable associations in offering some positions as well.

Some examples by age:

14-year-olds: simple duties, e.g. mowing lawns or distributing newspapers; reasonable hourly wage SEK 50–80

15 to 16-year-olds: more complex duties mainly in the municipal sector, e.g. working with children, in leisure activities or with the elderly; reasonable hourly wage SEK 80–100

17 to 18-year-olds: increasingly complex duties and more opportunities to find work in the private sector, e.g. cashier work, customer service, simple administrative tasks, hospitality industry; reasonable hourly wage SEK 100–140

I wonder what kind of summer jobs Simon, Sara and Ayub have been doing (and Rosh too, other than the football camp). When outlining my post-S1 summer fic, I had imagined Simon applied to work with children while Sara chose park/garden maintenance because she found it calming after the stormy spring, but that was a long time ago (and the details never even made it into the fic).

__

Anyway, I think that was all the stuff I meant to cover! As always, I may well be wrong about something, and further discussion is very welcome.

[trainsinanime]

The darkly ironic thing is that if you are worried about the recent news that someone scraped Ao3 for AI research, then you're probably vastly underestimating the scale of the problem. It's way worse than you think.

For the record, a couple of days ago, someone posted a "dataset for AI research" on reddit, which was simply all publicly accessible works on Ao3, downloaded and zipped. This is good, in a way, because that ZIP file is blatantly illegal, and the OTW managed to get it taken down (though it's since been reuploaded elsewhere).

However, the big AI companies, like OpenAI, xAI, Meta and so on, as well as many you've never heard of, all probably had no interest in this ZIP file to begin with. That was only ever of interest to small-scale researchers. These companies probably already have all that data, received by scraping it themselves.

A lot of internet traffic at the moment is just AI companies sucking up whatever they can get. Wikipedia reports that about a third of all visitors are probably AI bots (and they use enormous amounts of bandwidth). A number of sites hosting software source code estimate that more than 90% of all traffic to their sites may be AI bots. It's all a bit fuzzy since most AI crawlers don't identify themselves as such, and pretend to be normal users.

The OTW hasn't released any similar data as far as I am aware, but my guess would be that Ao3 is being continuously crawled by all sorts of AI companies at every moment of the day. If you have a fanfic on Ao3, and it isn't locked to logged-in users only, then it's already going to be part of several AI training data sets. Only unlike this reddit guy, we'll never know for sure, because these AI training data sets won't be released to the public. Only the resulting AI models, or the chat bots that use these models, and whether that's illegal is… I dunno. Nobody knows. The US Supreme Court will probably answer that in 5-10 years time. Fun.

The solution I've seen from a lot of people is to lock their fics. That will, at best, only work for new fics and updates, it's not going to remove anything that e.g. OpenAI already knows.

And, of course, it assumes that these bots can't be logged in. Are they? I have no way of knowing. But if I didn't have a soul and ran an AI company, I might consider ordering a few interns to make a couple dozen to hundreds of Ao3 accounts. It costs nothing but time due to the queue system, and gets me another couple of million words probably.

In other words: I cannot guarantee that locked works are safe. Maybe, maybe not.

Also, I don't think there's a sure way to know whether any given work is included in the dataset or not. I suppose if ChatGPT can give you an accurate summary when you ask, then it's very likely to be in, but that's by no means a guarantee either way.

What to do? Honestly, I don't know. We can hope for AI companies to go bankrupt and fail, and I'm sure a lot of them will over the next five years, but probably not all of them. The answer will likely have to be political and on an international stage, which is not an easy terrain to find solutions for, well, anything.

Ultimately it's a personal decision. For myself, I think the joy I get from writing and having others read what I've written outweighs the risks, so my stories remain unlocked (and my blog posts as well, this very text will make its way into various data sets before too long, count on it). I can totally understand if others make other choices, though. It's all a mess.

Sorry to start, middle and end this on a downer, but I think it's important to be realistic here. We can't demand useful solutions for this from our politicians if we don't understand the problems.

[zipcodesdatabase]

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Are you interested in finding out how zip codes can work for your business? Call Datasheer,LLC today at 1-800-425-1169! They help you get more information about the US ZIP Code Database and how you use it to achieve your business target.

[inboundremblog]

The Zip Codes of Tennessee: Music, History, and Nature

Credit: Image by The Polzel Group | Source

Understanding the System of Zip Codes of Tennessee

Tennessee is one of the many states in the southeast region of the United States of America. It is known for its music, its big and nice cities and of course, stunning landscapes. Like many other states, the zip codes of Tennessee correspond to various areas and districts. Every zip code has a story behind it; it can consist of a downtown area, suburban homes, and vast farmlands.

This guide will describe the various Tennessee zip codes, focusing on their relative locations and distinctive features.

Zip codes are area codes that the United States Postal Service (U.S.P.S.) uses to quickly identify specific areas where mail will be delivered.

Tennessee zip codes start from 37, 38, or 39 and show a position hearing its place in the national zip code system. Such codes have functions in day-to-day practical life and assist in recognizing and differentiating between several areas of the state.

Major Metropolitan Areas

Nashville (37201-37250)

Zip codes of Tennessee range from 37201 to 37250, and Tennessee has many fantastic cities, among which the capital city is Nashville. The home of country music, Nashville also features site attractions that include great eating and drinking points and landmarks. Key neighborhoods include:

Downtown (37201, 37203): The Nashville tour guides encompass the Ryman Auditorium bridge-stone Arena and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

East Nashville (37206): An artsy district focusing on elaborate outlets and appealing to the creative spiritually, with non-routine eating places.

Green Hills (37215): A luxurious district of Nashville with upper-class shopping, such as The Mall at Green Hills, and impressive houses.

Memphis (38101-38197)

Memphis has a musical and numerical history, especially in zip codes 38101 to 38197. This city in the United States of America is situated on the Mississippi River, with significant historical landmarks and traditions.

The city on the Mississippi River has essential cultural and historical landmarks and fantastic sites and attractions.

Midtown (38104): Unanimously considered for its cobblestone streets full of adorable historic houses, flamboyant arts culture, and the famous Memphis Zoo.

Germantown (38138, 38139): A peaceful residential town with good schools, parks, and everything a family may need daily.

Knoxville (37901-37998)

Knoxville is near the Great Smoky Mountains, and the zip codes available in this city range from 37901 to 37998. This city is known for its outdoor activities, cultural festivals, and the University of Tennessee.

Outdoor recreation, annual celebrations, and the University of Tennessee are related to this city.

Downtown (37902): It has the Market Square, Tennessee Theater, and a museum of art in Knoxville.

West Knoxville (37919, 37922): This area boasts well-established shopping malls, such as West Town Mall, and numerous parks and recreational places.

North Knoxville (37917): A color-drenched region with bright streets developed with renovated houses and attractive shops, cafes, and restaurants.

Regional Highlights

Chattanooga (37401-37450)

Chattanooga is a beautiful city with zip codes 37401 and 37450. Key attractions and neighborhoods include. Below are some of the key attractions and catchy neighborhoods to visit:

Downtown (37402, 37403): Tennessee Aquarium, the famous walking bridge, popularly known as the Walnut Street bridge and The Hunter Museum of American Art.

Northshore (37405): A place with numerous shops, restaurants, and cafes with water frontage parks.

East Brainerd (37421): This suburban area houses shopping malls like Hamilton Place Mall and other family-oriented institutions.

Clarksville (37040-37044)

Suited explicitly for bottled gas activity, Clarksville, neighboring the Kentucky border, encompasses zip codes 37040 through 37044. This city is known for its military presence and historical sites.

From what one can see, this city looks entirely military, and there are many attractions of archeological interest here:

Downtown (37040): This section illustrates the Customs House Museum, existing constructions, building arts, and emerging cultural scenes.

Sango (37043): A suburb with a recent formation, beautiful scenery of parklands, and education facilities.

Fort Campbell (37042): Serving a population near the famous Fort Campbell-based military, the company has the chance to access the larger population and social services.

Murfreesboro (37127-37130)

Murfreesboro is a city in Nashville's metropolitan area with zip codes 37127, 37129, and 3713. This rapidly growing city is known for its historic significance and modern amenities.

It attracts people owing to its history and facilities provided for the contemporary population.

Downtown (37130): It boasts Middle Tennessee State University, a well-known university, Cannonsburgh Village, one of the oldest towns in the state, and an active town square.

Blackman (37128): Neighborhood for new residential, child care centers, schools, I.G.A., and new shopping cart.

North Murfreesboro (37129): These neighborhoods are well-endowed with beautiful views of parks, golf courses, and family-based neighborhoods.

Rural and Suburban Areas

Franklin (37064-37069)

Franklin is a beautiful city with a historical background in zip codes 37064-37069. Known for its charming yet lively downtown and historic sites. Famous for lovely downtown and historic points of interest:

Cool Springs (37067): Provides excellent locations for all merchandising and shopping needs. Retail shops, boutiques, specialty shops, and larger, better-quality retail stores can do well here since the area is alive with people.

Johnson City

Johnson City is located in the northeastern part of the state and has zip codes 37601, 37614, and 37615. This city is known for its outdoor activities and vibrant arts scene.

It is generally an excellent place for those who like different types and levels of physical activity and for creative individuals.

Boones Creek (37615): Stretching suburban area with numerous residential buildings, schools, schools, and parks.

South Johnson City (37604): Home of the East Tennessee State University and James H. Quillen VA Medical Centre.

Maryville (37801-37804)

Maryville occupies a central position as a gateway town for the Great Smoky Mountains, and the city corresponds with postal codes 37801, 37802, 37803, and 37804.

The city is known for its outdoor recreation and family-friendly atmosphere. This city is all about the sunshine stretched across the landscapes and the friendly company of families.

Downtown Maryville (37801): Shows the capitol theater, shops in the area, and events in the community.

Alcoa (37804): A competitor city with an operational airport, other industrial-based areas, and residential areas.

Conclusion

Tennessee's codes are another exciting way of understanding counties in various areas of the state. Every city is unique, though they share general features; some are lively cities like Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville, whereas others are beautiful places such as Chattanooga, Clarksville, and Murfreesboro.

So, no matter what area you wander from the central historic city to your Tennessee suburbs, the Tennessee zip code accurately represents the state's way of life.

Ready to learn more? Visit our website at https://livingthenashvillelife.com/zip-code-map/ for comprehensive information.

[zipquips]

i've also totally lost the plot on going to bed on time

god it's only day two of class and i feel so so so so very behind

[mlqueen89]

Six | Stakes

I want to know  Everything about you that I've had to dream about  Every single almost that we've been dancing around  I want to know  Who we are when we can stop pretending we're just friends  Let's go to those places that we've never been 

The Way I Wanna by Max McNown 

pairing: jake “hangman” seresin / ofc (top gun: maverick) 

rating: 18+ (minors dni) 

warnings/triggers: 🔥smut in overall series, p in v sex, fingering (lmk if i missed any!)    

word count: 8,518

summary: ellie realizes that she needs to swallow her pride as the stakes are upped in a significant way. 

A/N: i think i have some of the best readers on all of tumblr, if not all of the internet. so, since you’ve been so patient with me and i've been torturing you with all the sexual tension... 

my biggest apologies for leaving you guys hanging! lots of illness and #toughlifeshit going on, but all is looking up.

for those of you looking forward to the glen powell/f!writer oc fic "i can do it with a broken heart," my lovely betas and i are cooking up the launch.

there are a few tag requests that don’t have tumblr usernames attached in the tag form. If you requested a tag and you don’t see yourself tagged, let me know and I'll tag you right away and add you to the tag doc! 

allons-y! 

❥ playlist ♡ masterlist ♡ taglist ♡ glossary of terms ♡ previous chapter ♡ next chapter ❥ 

The data was in the red again.  

Angry, relentless, it seeped across Ellie’s screen in jagged lines and pulsing errors. When she closed her eyes, to sleep, to blink, under the spray of a hot shower, she could see it still, just behind the quiet in her mind, burned into her retinas. 

Error. 

Failure. 

Danger Ellie Rigby, danger. 

Was it irrational to think that numbers could taunt her? Because it sure felt like they were. 

She’d been at this for hours—no, days. It was days, now. Days that bled together with routine and numbers that didn’t act the way they were supposed to. 

A symphony of chaos orchestrated by Jake fucking Seresin. 

Pulling flight data, filtering telemetry, layering Jake’s flight logs over top of every other pilot’s log in the system, from testing and from mission training (because why stop with just Rooster and Teak) always resulted in the same findings.  

Jake’s data showed the same maneuvers. 

Same wind shear. 

Same altitude drops. 

Same variables, same route, same conditions. 

But his data didn’t bend like Rooster’s or dip like Teak’s. It broke. Every. Damn. Time. 

She muttered fuck and I'm going to murder him under her breath, dragging the cursor through the heatmaps, watching his flight path curve and zip, carve through her projections and predicted variables like a scalpel through paper. A hot knife through butter. 

It didn’t make sense. Nothing she wrote could predict him. Nothing she coded could contain him. 

No matter how often she adjusted the parameters, no matter how often she read his data and shifted her tech to catch him where he’d dodged, the same red numbers filled her screen. 

It was as if he studied her data sets during pre-flight briefings and quickly noted how they could be shattered until they were unrecognizable. She was almost certain he did, she could practically see it, his eyes, mischievous and fucking twinkling, catching hers as he strode past her toward the tarmac.  

Not even the Anti-Seresin protocol she coded after that first test flight disaster made her feel better when it popped up on her screen. Instead, it made her something that teetered between frustrated and livid.  

If the time constraints weren’t impossibly tight to present something functional, stable and reliable, she might have been impressed. Might have been. 

If it’s not ready... Mav had mentioned, again, just the other day as he dragged her out of the office to get some fresh air and a coffee, almost prying her rigid fingers from the edge of her desk ...we can defer to next quarter.  

It took every ounce of patience she had left to keep her hand from crushing the disposable cup in her grip, to keep her gait even as they walked. She responded as she had before: No, it’s ready.  

Deferring now felt like admitting that she wasn’t cut out for this, and by birth, she knew in her goddamned bones, she was. Even if she didn’t like acknowledging it, she was Rick Neven’s daughter, a top class, damn good Top Gun pilot. Raised on the shoulders of quasi-uncles like Iceman and Mav, Wolfman and Slider. That meant something. 

It had to. 

She leaned in closer to the screen, as if proximity might change what she was seeing before she leaned back in a huff, combing a hand through her hair. 

Nothing held him. 

Not her algorithms.  

Not the predictive modeling.  

Not even the black box diagnostics that she’d demanded access to from the higher ups.  

He was effectively a ghost in the system. Untouchable. Untraceable. Un-fucking-reasonable. 

And yet, all of it would have been easier to deal with if he wasn’t also (unfortunately) the last person she wanted to or should have been thinking about late at night. 

It would have been so much simpler if she didn’t remember the sound he made as he finally gave her what she was begging for and pushed inside her, a low groan against the shell of her ear. It would have been less complicated if she didn’t still dream about his fingers in her hair and the scrape of his teeth against the hard edge of her collarbone. 

She couldn’t fucking think straight anymore.  

It was as if when he was undoing her, with his mouth, with his hands, with the way he moved inside of her like he knew what would set her alight, he’d quietly rewired her brain. Remapped neural pathways until they all led back to him. His smell, his taste, the sound of his voice and the way it hit deep parts of her, so her mind thrummed like a tuning fork. 

Sometimes, more so now after the night she left him at the Hard Deck a week ago, there was very little between her and the overwhelming need to satisfy herself. In a bathroom stall, in the quiet of her office, after hours with the door locked, biting hard into her bottom lip as she came with the thought of him on her mind. 

Nothing ever quite satisfied that need for him though. The pinch of desire still lingering just out of reach, building until she next had to ease the pressure of it. 

Every time, on the come down, she pushed away the suffocating thought that she’d never remembered a time when she’d felt like this. Simultaneously smoldering and yet, burning. 

“You wanted me?” 

Her spine straightened sharply, his voice hitting her like heat. It was something she felt in her stomach. A flop. A flush of liquid warmth that pooled a little lower than her bellybutton. 

She didn’t hear the knock if there had been one. Just that familiar drawl curling through the air, low and casual, laced with something just beneath the surface.  

Ellie looked up fast, heart kicking against her ribs. Across the room, Jake stood in the doorway, tall, golden, and infuriating—his flight suit still on, the zipper tugged halfway down like if was nothing, like he didn’t know what that did to her.  

Except he did—he had to. The night they’d met, when he’d looked at her over the rim of his beer, the same easy confidence in the way he presented himself, the same suit clinging to his body like a second skin. 

She gave a curt little nod toward the chair opposite her desk. Her mouth was dry, and she swallowed hard, hoping the thick, hardwood between them would be enough of a buffer. Enough distance so he couldn’t hear the erratic beating of her traitorous heart as loudly as she could. 

When he stepped into the room, he shut the door softly behind him and moved toward the chair. He didn’t sit, instead choosing to hover near it, hands planted on his hips, a trademark smirk exposing dimples. 

“You still chasing my numbers?” he asked, eyes flickering to the screen in front of her. 

“Depends, are you still screwing mine up?” She shot back easily, second nature, but her voice didn’t quite carry the edge that she’d meant it to. 

“Told you I don’t play by the rules, Ace.” 

Admittedly, it was to be expected. Rules and Jake Seresin never did play nicely.  

If she ever had to determine who amongst them had been body snatched, the first sign she’d look for was a version of Jake that toed the line and didn’t fall back into his usual penchant for getting under her skin. No pun intended. 

He smirked, but there was something else in his eyes. Something darker. Pupils blown wide, eclipsing his beautiful green eyes with something hungry. And when his gaze dropped to her mouth, lingered, she felt her stomach flip. 

“Maybe your system just can’t keep up with me.” He continued, his voice dipping lower still. 

Her pulse stuttered. She looked away—only to find herself looking down. Below the waist, his flight suit clung to the shape of him, already hard and her mind betrayed her.  

Flashes. The way he took her apart without hesitation. The filthy things he’d whispered in her ear like promises of what was to come as she writhed beneath him.  

Hands dragging her hips to the edge of the bed. His mouth tasting her like he was starving.  

The way he looked up at her as she looked down, gripping the headboard and rocking against his mouth, greedy for the next crushing, shuddering wave of orgasm he pulled from her.  

The hot weight of him stretching her open, filling her when she’d begged, desperate, for the kind of release only his cock could provide. 

It was the memory of a night she’d tried to bury in mountains of logic and equation. Tried to shrink into boxes with labels and cautions. Yet, it managed to crawl back up every day when she saw him, every moment he smirked at her with that shared knowledge. It brought back with it the feelings and the swift, intense ache of needing him, a body no grave could hold down. 

She wanted him again. God, she fucking wanted him.  

“You’ve been thinking about it too,” she said then, breaking the silence. It had meant to be a question, but it came out as a fact, low and raw. 

“Every damn night.” The gravelly sound of his voice was all she needed to hear. He never lied to her. 

Then, between them, it was as if something snapped. 

Ellie stood and stepped around the desk, and he stepped forward to meet her there, hands sliding to her hips. She didn’t stop him. Couldn’t anymore. His touch burned through the thin slip of her shirt, and he kissed her, tongue already in her mouth, like they picked up where they had left off. 

Yet, it wasn’t clumsy or rushed. It was a rhythm—one she remembered just as she knew to breathe. Without instruction, he knew where she wanted him to touch her, how to make her gasp into him without guidance. Responding to her thoughts as they passed through her mind. 

His mouth moved to her neck, his hand under her shirt, deftly undoing her bra before he palmed her breast, pinched her nipple sharply until a muted moan parted her lips and her knees threatened to give way. She could feel his smirk against her skin as she clutched his shoulders, holding herself upright.  

He didn’t even need to be inside of her, she thought, she’d come just like this, gripping him as the world melted away while he nipped and sucked where the hickey he’d left that first night had been. If he wanted to mark her, reclaim her as his, she’d let him. 

She stumbled slightly as he pressed her backward until she hit the edge of the desk, breath ragged as he lifted her up onto it like she weighed nothing. She hit the desk with a soft gasp, papers fluttering to the floor, test results and calibration logs scattering like leaves as her hands swept back to brace herself. 

She wasn’t in complete control of her words when they started to come out, unedited, spilling, “You remember—” she began, already breathless, her chest heaving as she tried to find the next word. 

Jake’s voice came out rough, hazy. “I remember every sound you made. Every time you said my name, like you couldn’t help yourself. Begging me to—” 

He was working the button on her jeans now, one handed, as he reached up around the back of her neck and pulled her toward him, his lips crashing to hers like a diver surfacing for air. The button released and he dragged her pants off sharply, pulling her closer to him with the motion. 

Ellie broke the seal of their lips first, tipping her head back a gasp moving through her as his fingers dipped beneath the waistband of her panties and found her clit, swollen, pulsing. She instinctively clenched around nothing as his thumb brushed her, slick. She watched, entranced as he swallowed thickly, she’d come for him, as many times as he let her. 

“Jesus,” he said it like he had to hold himself back, like the part of him that wanted this to last and the part of him that wanted to fuck her, warred. “You’re still so fucking wet for me...” it came out as a growl, primal. 

“Don’t stop,” she begged, rocking against his hand as he slipped two fingers inside of her, his thumb still moving in lazy circles, just behind the first orgasm waiting to fall out of her. 

Where Jake didn’t like to follow rules, he followed instruction well.  

He didn’t stop.  

Fingers working her just right, like he knew her body better than she did. Like he owned it.  

She was already so close, and he knew it, so when she arched against his hand, the papers still beneath her crinkling and stuck to her skin, he slowed, moving up her body dragging her shirt up to pinch her hard nipple between his teeth. 

“Jake—” she breathed, her brow scrunched. 

Ellie whined as he pulled his fingers out with an obscene, slick sound. When she propped herself up on her elbows, her hand trailing down to fill to void of pleasure, Ellie watched as he pulled the flight suit down, leaving only a white undershirt and his dark blue tented boxers.  

In the light of her office, taking him in, she could see the patch of material dampened with pre-cum. Something in her spiked, her fingers picking up speed as she chased the edge of her ending. 

“Not yet,” he huffed out a breath, his eyes glazed and wild all at once, grabbing her wrist, prying it away. He bent to kiss her clit carefully, reverently, the slightest flick of his tongue and the smallest bit of suction when he came away almost sending her off the cliff face into a freefall. 

Her legs roped around his waist in response as he straightened, holding him to her.  

She was wet and needy and already so close she was shaking from the anticipation of it. It was like muscle memory—he knew her. Knew exactly how to unravel her. 

His eyes caught hers, his hand carefully pulling himself out, the tip already slick with his want. His eyes didn’t leave hers as he stepped closer and dragged the tip of his cock through the mess between her legs. The bump of him on her clit had her hips moving forward, chasing it as a moan escaped her lips. In her ears, she could hear the wetness of herself, could feel her empty cunt clenching around nothing. 

“Jake—” his name was breathy on her lips, a whispered prayer, “—please.” 

Her legs tightened around his lower back, trying to pull him forward closer as he slid himself down toward her opening and he hissed something that sounded at once close and far away. 

“Fuck, Ellie—” He breathed out her name and once it fell from his lips, she wanted to hear him say it again. He spoke her name like he was trying to center himself, trying to regain control of a situation he himself definitely didn’t have control over. 

Ash in the wind. 

“I’m never going to get enough of you,” he groaned, resting his tip just at her entrance. When he pressed forward, pushed into her, the gasp that tore from her was involuntary. She swore she saw fucking stars as her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she closed them into darkness. 

Then—nothing. 

She jolted upright. 

Ellie's skin was slick with sweat, sheets twisted around her thighs, skin flushed and pulsing with the echo of a climax that hadn’t really happened. 

Dark room. Her bed. Alone. No Jake. No desk. No hands. No mouth. Not one inch of his cock inside of her. 

She withdrew the hand between her legs, the wet heat pulsing, aching and unsatisfied. The glow of her phone on her nightstand a beacon in the still darkness: 3:41 AM. 

Her head fell back against her pillow with a loud groan. 

Fuck. 

Fuck. 

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

Ellie threw off the headset, the clatter as it hit her laptop and then the floor almost inaudible over the loud groan that fell from her lips. 

Today’s test flights had been a disaster.  

Just like the test flights from Monday and Tuesday. 

Just like every test flight since the first when Hangman had dismantled her tech without a care in the world. 

When she screwed her eyes shut a headache thrummed steady, just out of the reach of the Tylenol she’d popped an hour ago. Mashing the heels of her palms into her eyelids, she pressed until starbursts of white erupted in the blackness. 

Maybe she had a tumor. 

It was the only logical explanation, right? 

Maybe her dreams about Jake in the night and the way they clung to the very corners of her thoughts in the day was her body telling her there was a foreign mass lodged in a cortex. She made a mental note to do some spotty research on where she could get a CAT scan in a half-assed attempt to troubleshoot, likely ending with one Google search before being forgotten. 

Until her brain reminded her during the night by way of a (reoccurring) fantasy where Jake, hands placed firmly on her hips, bent her over a pool table and fucked her, wet panties pushed aside haphazardly because he couldn’t waste another second not being inside of her. 

Wash, rinse, repeat. 

She was in the middle of typing “sex dreams and constant headaches correlation to brain tumors” into a new tab when a gradient of blue and white filled her phone screen and Mav’s name flashed, bold and white. 

When she answered, she was flushed, embarrassed as though he had the faintest idea of what she’d just searched, raw dogging it in a non-incognito browser. 

“Mav?” 

On the other end of the line, there was a bluster of air, a scream of a jet ripping down a runway, the unmistakable sound of it taking to the sky. “We’ve got a problem.” 

The problem, as Mav delicately explained, was “monumental”—the Mount Everest of hurdles. It was to their project what the iceberg was to the Titanic: catastrophic and unavoidable. Not enough lifeboats. Women and children first. 

Ellie only half appreciated the candor as she watched Mav pace the length of the P-51 Mustang, a WWII era relic he always seemed to be fixing up, sitting in a hangar he’d somehow managed to hijack for personal use.  

She was sure there was a metaphor mixed in there, for how it looked perfect to her but whenever she asked Mav, it always seemed to need one difficult to find piece or another. Always a work in progress. Never complete. 

“Stark is demanding answers.” He huffed, paused. Paced some more. Kicked a loose nut he came across in his path. Ellie listened to it ting and clatter off something else metallic, lost. “Didn’t say why, but it can’t be a coincidence that some of the Admirals are sitting down with the Office of Naval Research end of next week.” 

Fuck. 

How many 'fuck' moments could she have in one day? 

Her count was already up to three, before 11 AM. 

“Okay.” Ellie stepped up to the table of blueprints, drummed her fingers on top of Mav’s flight helmet sitting on a side table, absently. 

The Office of Naval Research meeting was next week. Stark sitting down with her now meant, she hoped, that the Rear Admiral hadn’t completely given up on the tech’s potential. 

The single word response earned Ellie a hands-on-hip eyebrow raised look from Mav as he stopped pacing. “Oh, you have those answers then?” 

“Depends on the questions she asks.” Ellie could feel her pulse pounding in her ears, magnifying the headache exponentially. “When?” 

When was the hour of their greatest need? When was the march to the gallows? Prayers, prayers, sorrows, sorrows. 

Mav huffed a laugh before he glanced down at his watch. “Now.” 

The conference room was colder than Ellie expected, the air conditioning hummed softly in the background, the shades drawn across the large picture window at her back.  

The ominous feel of doom did not escape her, creeping up the back of her neck as she fought back a shiver. The walls were bare except for the Navy insignia hanging behind Rear Admiral Stark, who sat at the head of the table, expression unreadable. The small, beige timer she’d wound and set on the table, front and centre, ticked away: seven minutes. 

Ellie sat across from her, back straight, hands folded in her lap to keep from fidgeting. Mav was beside her, silent—for now, his posture a bit more relaxed than Ellie’s rigid one, but she could see the seriousness in the straight line of his mouth, the hard furrow of his brow. 

When Ellie had appeared, Mav at her side, RADM Stark had granted him a seat at the table, despite the way her lips pursed as if she’d sucked on a lemon. He’d been granted permission to sit in on the firm condition he “kept his mouth shut”, a fact Ellie could tell he clearly wasn’t happy about.  

Rear Admiral Stark exhaled, fingers drumming against the table for only a moment before she broke the silence. “Let’s not waste time, Ms. Rigby.” She nodded at the ticking timer before she leaned forward, her hand waving over the spread of papers Ellie had provided. Her eyes didn’t shift down to the reports, the meticulously gathered documentation, charts and data. “With the meeting coming with Navel Research and the Secretary of Navy, the test results your tech are putting up aren’t where they need to be.” 

Ellie nodded, forcing herself to hold the woman’s gaze. “I’m aware, ma’am. But I can assure you, they are improving. We’ve been within two percent of the projected margin for the last three simulations. If we then adjust for environmental factors, the success rate is—” 

“I don’t want excuses,” Stark interrupted smoothly, her gaze sharp and unrelenting. “You’ve had weeks. You have some of the best pilots in the world at your disposal. And yet, somehow, we’re looking at numbers that still don’t meet expectations.” 

Ellie swallowed, pulse drumming at the base of her throat. “I understand, ma’am. We’re working on recalibrating the—” 

Stark cut her off with a sharp look, her long finger tapping the paper closest to her. “Ms. Rigby, woman to woman—” her gaze didn’t slip to Maverick once, “—don’t bullshit me and I won’t bullshit you. I’m not interested in projections; I’m interested in results. The results aren’t good enough. Does sixty percent truly look like progress to you? You want me to sit in front of that stuffy old bastard Quigley and tell him as much?” 

Ellie’s mouth pressed into a thin line. She could feel Mav shift beside her. She didn’t need to look at him to feel the energy rolling off him. As agreed, he hadn’t spoken outside of professional pleasantries, but she could feel the barely restrained tension pooling in his aura as he silently fought for his life to hold back the words surely backing up in his mind, just on the tip of his tongue, like a jammed printer. 

Part of her wanted to reach under the table to grip his arm, tell him to relax, that she had this under control, but she wasn’t sure she believed that herself. 

“Moreover, do you think pilots are going to be okay flying with tech that gives them a forty percent chance of being scattered over the ocean or enemy territory?” 

“No, ma’am. But—” 

Stark held up a hand again. She leaned back in her chair, assessing Ellie for a long, drawn-out moment, the silence only filled in by the ticking of the air conditioning and the timer. Ellie didn’t shift, didn’t shrink under the weight of it.  

“Do you have any idea what this project is to me, Ms. Rigby?” she sighed, voice even but tinged with the weight of her position as she glanced at the timer ticking away. “It’s my last vote for funding approval. My final act on paper before I turn in my stars in the spring. I have given the Navy everything, sacrificed and borne the weight that comes with my rank. I won’t go out on a sour note. I won’t attach my name to a failure.” 

Stark let it breathe, let it sink in, watching Ellie with a measured look. Then, as if on an afterthought, she exhaled deeply, shifting slightly in her seat. 

Of all things Ellie had expected, it was a dressing-down. But it wasn’t until the Rear Admiral’s lips curled into something resembling a smile, nostalgic, that Ellie realized she may have underestimated just how hard this meeting was going to hit. 

“I know you know what the Navy takes from a person.” Stark’s voice was even, neutral. “Your father was one hell of a pilot. Not one person can question that. But make no mistake, that doesn’t mean I’ll cut you any slack. If this doesn’t work, I back the pulling of the plug. And when I walk away, I walk away clean.” 

Ellie stiffened. Her hands slipping off the table and clenching into fists in her lap before she forced them flat again, her fingers still trembling, clammy. Of course. She should have seen it coming. 

Stark’s gaze flickered over her reaction, assessing, as if she were waiting for Ellie to break—waiting for some sign she’d struck a nerve. 

Ellie made sure to give her nothing. 

“I wouldn’t expect you to, ma’am,” Ellie said, tone steady, even if her stomach was twisting itself into knots. 

Mav shifted beside her, the first movement he’d made in minutes. Ellie didn’t look at him. She didn’t need to. She knew the expression he’d be wearing. The barely restrained frustration on her behalf as his mouth opened and snapped shut again just as quickly.  

Mav had always let her fight her own battles; she was sure he knew better than to step in now. 

“Then tell me, ten words or less, why I shouldn’t recommend Research pull funding and scrap this right now.” 

Ellie inhaled sharply, Stark’s words a kick to her stomach. “Because it’s not going to fail.” 

Stark sat back, skeptical. “I wanted to back a woman in the field. Thought it was time for a shift, time to show that women could lead the future of aviation tech, plant the seed for after I’m gone.” She exhaled slowly. “Maybe that was a mistake.” 

Ellie stiffened. “No, ma’am. It wasn’t.” 

“Good,” Stark said simply, then leaned forward again, folding her hands atop Ellie’s reports. “The Secretary is meeting end of next week to go over our funding. If you can’t prove to me that this program is worth the resources the Navy is putting into it, I will recommend we pull the plug. And I don’t care whose daughter you are.” 

Ellie nodded once, firm. “Understood.” 

Stark studied her for another beat, as if trying to decide whether she believed in Ellie’s resolve. 

Finally, she gave a curt nod, seemingly decided. “You have one week. If I don’t see substantial improvement by the time the Secretary marches his short ass onto this base, it’s done.” 

Ellie inhaled slowly, measured. One week wasn’t much time. Frankly, it wasn’t nearly enough. But it was better than nothing. One week was better than having her funding pulled today, here and now. 

“Thank you, ma’am.” 

Stark glanced at Maverick then, just for a second. “Captain Mitchell,” she acknowledged before rising from her seat, straightening out her uniform. “You’re both dismissed.” 

Ellie stood, reflecting Mav’s formality at her side, but she didn’t relax until Stark left the room, the door clicking shut behind her. 

Only then did she exhale, her shoulders sagging. 

Mav allowed a hand to scrub his face before he let out a long breath, a single word evacuating him on it. “Jesus.” 

Ellie forced her hands to stay still on the table, even though every nerve in her body was screaming at her to move. To act. To do something. Plan. 

Instead, she turned her eyes to Mav, “well, I think that went super well, don’t you?” The dry smile that pushed up the corners of her lips didn’t reach her eyes. 

Mav just shook his head. “You okay?” 

Ellie nodded, because what else was there to say? She didn’t need Stark to cut her any slack, in fact, she preferred it that way. As it was, she’d be picking the thorn of Hollywood’s legacy out of her side until the week was over. 

“What’s our next move?” Mav was already starting for the door, motioning for Ellie to follow. 

Ellie swallowed, squaring her shoulders. “We prove her wrong.” 

“Sounds like you have a plan.” 

Ellie chewed her lip for only a moment. “I might have one.” 

Ellie hadn’t told Mav exactly what her plan was, only that she had one.  

The fact that this was her only plan at the moment wasn’t something she had wanted to divulge, because this plan in particular may just come back to bite her. 

Ellie leaned against the concrete wall outside the locker rooms, hugging her tablet to her chest. When she’d reached the end of the hall, she waited, timing it just right—most of the pilots had already filtered out after mission training, and she just needed a few minutes to firmly swallow her pride and get a moment alone with Jake. 

Coyote strolled past her, chatting animatedly with Fanboy, giving her a tight nod. 

Fanboy, however, slowed as he took her in, assessing—his eyes flicking quickly to the tablet she hugged and then to the way she shifted from one foot to the other. His head tilted slightly, the beginnings of a smile curling the edges of his mouth. 

“Rigby!” Fanboy held out his fist. 

Ellie hesitated, then tapped her knuckles against his. It was enough to make him grin while Coyote rolled his eyes. “Garcia.” 

“You coming out tonight?” Fanboy shifted the flight gear bag on his shoulder, lifting it higher. 

The look of confusion on Ellie’s face must have been enough, he didn’t miss a beat. “Hard Deck. A bunch of us are going.”  

“Oh.” It took her a moment to force a nonchalant shrug. “Maybe.” 

Fanboy nodded, but the look of mischief that crossed his face told her he could see past her attempt at indifference. “You should. You always look like you could use a drink.” 

Coyote scoffed. “Jesus, Fanboy. Drag her, why don’t you. Just say she looks stressed and get it over with.” 

“C’mon man,” Fanboy groaned. “What I’m saying is kick back. Relax a bit.” 

Ellie shifted her weight, her eyes flickering to the locker room door as it swung open and a few more pilots–Harvard and Fritz–slipped out.  

It would have been fair to say she wasn’t entirely focused.  

“Yeah. I mean, maybe?” 

Fanboy looked triumphant, providing a quick, almost reflexive double thumbs up as Coyote grabbed the strap of the bag slung over the Wizzo’s shoulder and tugged. 

As they walked away, Ellie could have sworn Coyote murmured something to Fanboy that sounded a lot like ‘why are you so goddamn weird, dude?’ 

Her face was already in her phone, pulling up her browser where her last search stared back at her, the results mocking her: 

Reddit – r/AmITheAsshole - Thinking about fucking my co-worker – AITA? 

Can Frequent headaches and vivid dreams be a sign of a brain tumor? - WebMD 

Tumors & Sleep Disturbances: When Should You See a Doctor? – Mayo Clinic 

Headaches and Sex: Could It Be a Neurological Disorder? – VeryWell Health 

Urban Dictionary: “Brain Tumor Horny” 

Ellie’s scoffed, but her thumb hovered over the first result. 

Thinking about fucking my co-worker – AITA? – Posted in r/AmITheAsshole 

The absurdity of it almost made her laugh. Almost. 

If it weren’t for the pounding in her skull and the realization that this was, in fact, her reality, she would have. Laughed, that is. 

Instead, she found herself very seriously debating on whether or not to tap into the rabbit hole and ask Alice. 

The sound of the locker room door swinging open and slamming shut barely registered in the background. She heard the boots on the floor moving in the opposite direction, followed by a laugh that sounded like Yale or Payback. When she glanced up, she saw them disappear around the corner at the far end of the hall. 

She returned to the glow of the phone for only the briefest of moments when a voice, too close for comfort, cut through her focus. 

“Didn’t take you for a Reddit girl.” 

Ellie jolted. The phone nearly slipped from her grip as she jammed the lock button and dragged her eyes up, stuffing the device into her pocket. 

Teak. 

Of course it was fucking Teak. 

He, like the presence of a rash of questionable origin, always showed up at the worst possible times. 

“Didn’t take you for a Reddit girl,” He repeated as if Ellie hadn’t heard him. She hated the way his eyes traveled from her hip where she tucked her phone away, back up to her eyes, slowly, measured. 

“And I didn’t take you for someone who sneaks up to read over shoulders.” 

Teak clicked his tongue, shrugged. “Didn’t have to sneak. You were pretty distracted.” 

The breath that left Ellie was sharp, fighting against the urge to let him know how annoying and pretentious and pig-headed she thought he was. 

Instead, she watched as he shifted, a hand combing through his short, still damp hair before he used it to brace against the wall beside her, head tilted like he was about to deliver the sagest of wisdom. If a tree falls in the forest. 

“You know, it must feel fucking terrible,” he mused, and Ellie didn’t miss that his tone dripped with mock sympathy. “Being just... bad at the one thing you’re telling everyone you’re good at.” 

Her grip on the tablet tightened. She didn’t blink.  

If being a prick was an Olympic event, Nathan Hughes would take the podium. Medal in every event. 10 out of a possible 10 asshole points across the board. 

It took her a half second to recover.  

“It’s funny you should mention that.” Her voice was smooth, schooled. “I was about to say the same thing to you. I’m glad you brought it up.” 

Teak’s expression, shit-eating, faltered for the briefest of moments, before he recovered. But Ellie had seen it. 

“If you want to talk about failures, we can,” she continued, her voice level. She barely restrained the sing-song lilt hanging just off stage as she tapped on the screen in her arms. “I have your individual test results right here. Won’t be able to cover it all, of course. But I’d be happy to give you the abridged version.” 

Teak’s jaw ticked. Tightened. Relaxed. When his grin returned, it was razor sharp instead of easygoing, fun. “You’re awful cute when you’re defensive, Rigby.” 

If looks could kill, Teak would have spontaneously combusted. Reduced to a cancerous ash. 

“So, what’s the deal?”  

He glanced over his shoulder at the locker room door before his gaze was back on her.  

“You lookin’ to corner Seresin? Plan to share some of those search results with him?” His blue eyes flicked toward her hip again, the shape of her phone in her pocket. She wondered if the way his tongue swiped his bottom lip was intentional, his gaze lingering longer than she would have liked. “Or were you hoping to find another pilot?” 

He let the insinuation hang between them, watching her, waiting. She felt like a fish in a tank. Teak tapping a finger against the thick walls beside a sign that told him not to. No flash photography. No tapping. 

I’d rather eat broken glass. 

I’d rather listen to Fanboy explain the plot of every single Fast & Furious movie in excruciating detail, complete with Vin Diesel impressions. 

I’d rather spend the next five years in a sensory deprivation tank. 

I’d rather let Rooster give a masterclass, step-by-step breakdown of his skincare routine, including optimal moustache grooming techniques and his thoughts on the benefits of double cleansing while properly incorporating retinol. 

She’d have to workshop her comebacks. 

“Careful, Hughes. Sounds like you’re dangerously close to the neighbourhood of jealousy.” 

Teak didn’t waver, but she saw the moment his eyes sharpened.  

“Nah,” he drawled, lazy, assured. “I think I’ll let Hangman take the ‘L’ on this one. I like my women a little more—” 

Stupid. 

Compliant. 

Broken. 

When he moved, his fingers reaching out to brush the strand of hair that had fallen across her vision, Ellie had already reflexively taken a step back. Oil to his water. If her reaction bothered him, he didn’t show it, instead, his fingers curled back before his hand dropped. 

When the locker room door squealed open, it shook Ellie out of survival mode for just long enough. When she tilted her head past Teak’s shoulder, a pilot, bag slung over his shoulder, glasses held in his grip, stepped into the hallway. 

Bob. 

Relief flooded her, flushing out the cold pit in her stomach. 

Thank fuck for Bob. She’d owe him a beer. Or twenty. She’d never been happier to see him. 

When he placed the glasses on his face, lenses wiped clean on the hem of his tan uniform shirt, Ellie watched his expression shift from easy to something more guarded when he saw her and then Teak, still braced on the wall, too close. 

The door snapped shut before he spoke. 

“Hey Rigby.” His tone was cautious, his gaze cutting to her, his eyes locked on hers as if to say, blink twice if you need help.  

He pushed the glasses up on his nose. “Everything... good?” 

Ellie didn’t hesitate. Didn’t allow Teak, who had already turned and opened his mouth, to speak for her. She imagined he’d tell Bob everything was great. Nothing for him to be concerned about. 

The scorpion ferrying across the river on a frog’s back. If Teak spoke first, he’d smooth this over. Shoo Bob away. 

“Where’s Seresin?” 

Bob blinked as her abrupt tone settled between them. If he picked up on it, he responded anyway. “Still in there. He’s always the last one out.” Bob motioned to his hair with an eyeroll. 

Perfect. 

Great. 

Private conversation. Away from Teak. 

Ellie pushed off the wall, ignoring the knowing look Teak shot her as she brushed past him and smiled at Bob. 

Right now, Teak and whatever it was that he thought of her was a backburner item. 

The heat of the locker room, thick with steam and the scent of soap hanging in the air, hit her hard as the heavy door swung shut behind her. 

The staccato rhythm of her heels clicking on the damp tiled floor was punctuated by the slam of a locker. 

When she rounded the corner, her fingers a white-knuckled grip on her tablet, it didn’t take long to spot Jake.  

Standing near his open locker, towel slung low on his hips, droplets of water still clinging to his skin.  

He was rubbing another towel through his hair, oblivious to her presence, the deep cut of his muscles on full display, the ‘v’ of his abs disappearing behind the hem of the cotton at his waist. The dog tags on his bare chest caught the dim light overhead as he dried his hair, and Ellie felt the weight of her shifting thoughts before she could stop them. 

Jake, behind her.  

One hand gripped tight on her hip, fingers digging into her soft curve, bitingly painful and firm in a way that sent pulses of pleasure rippling straight to her core. 

Dog tags dragging across her bare back as he leaned forward to sink his teeth into her side, nipping and teasing as he guided himself to her aching, waiting— 

No. Nope. 

Clearing her throat, Ellie knocked on the locker closest to her.  

The last thing she needed to do was watch him take off the only thing wrapped around his waist with her standing there.  

She repeated it to herself until she was convinced it was the last thing she wanted. 

Jake turned, one brow arching as he took her in, his eyes sweeping her from head to toe. His smirk was slow, knowing. “Rigby.” 

She ignored the way her pulse kicked up at the sound of her name in his mouth. The way it rolled off his tongue, light, airy. 

“I need you,” she started, quickly adding an addendum when she noticed how his eyebrow quirked, “your... help.” 

The word weighed a metric ton. The vowels and consonants tasted bitter and acrid on the way out. 

This was her reality now: asking Jake Seresin for help. Her Hail Mary in the dying seconds of the half. Or was it quarter? 

“Well,” he paused for a moment, tossing the towel he’d been drying his hair with to the bench, “this wasn’t on my bingo card for the month.” 

“Don’t start.” She warned, her eyes reflexively rolling. 

“Start what?” Jake’s hands were in the air now, submissive, nonthreatening, but his lips were already curved into the beginnings of a smirk. “Just... I think I might be hearing things. Sometimes the Gs, they mess with your head...” 

She tried to ignore the way his muscles moved beneath his skin as he shrugged, tugging at his ear as if it were waterlogged. 

Ellie huffed out a sigh, pulled from deep in the core of her being.  

Why had she thought this was going to be easy? Why had she thought Jake would have let her get away with asking him for help without a mild ribbing?  

Working past the pride lodged in her throat, actively fighting the part of her brain urging her to turn right around and walk out of here, Ellie forced herself to stay. “I need your help.” 

Nope, saying it didn’t get easier the second time around. 

Jake blinked, hands finding his hips as he assessed her, his tongue pushing against the inside of his cheek. 

Was he—? Did he just flex? Ellie’s eyes flicked to his chest for a fraction of a second and she knew he’d seen it. 

“Are you going to say something, or—?” Ellie’s hands flew up before they fell again. 

“Just really didn’t see this coming...” he feigned shock, sucking his lip in, biting down. 

Ellie let out a strangled groan.  

She was going to leave here and tell Mav that her plan had backfired and then she’d take it to the grave of her career as RADM Stark threw a handful of dirt onto the casket. 

Here Lies Eleanor Amelia Rigby Neven’s potential.  

Foolish enough to ask Jake “Hangman” Seresin for help in her hour of greatest need. 

The obituary would request hope and prayer for the career of other women in aviation technology in lieu of flowers. 

“Don’t make me regret this, Seresin.” 

He grinned but, to her surprise, didn’t push. Instead, he stepped in beside her in a fluid motion, his shoulder nearly brushing hers as he tilted his head to get a better look at the screen.  

From the corner of her eye, heart beating erratically at the base of her throat, Ellie watched as his expression shifted, the teasing edge in his eyes giving way to something sharper, more focused. 

“Alright,” Jake nodded once toward the tablet in her hand, “show me what you’ve got.” 

Ellie hesitated for a moment before swiping, pulling up the parameters she’d been tweaking earlier.  

She paused to flex her fingers mid-swipe, the clean, masculine scent of his soap clinging to his skin enveloping her. The awareness of him, his shoulder brushing hers, jarred her concentration, a kite whipping in the wind of a tornado. 

He smelled like that stupid candle she’d been conned into buying years ago at the Irvine Spectrum Center Yankee Candle.  

Mountain Cabin? Or maybe it was Mountain Lodge?  

Tumblr says it’s what the perfect boyfriend smells like! Like, remember that scene in the Avengers movie where Captain America just like, rips apart the log— the sales associate had slipped into a tangent as Ellie carefully placed an overpriced glass jar full of scented wax into her basket. 

Now, she wondered whether or not she still had it, packed away somewhere. 

By the time she found her way back to her winding train of thought, remembered what her voice was again, Ellie had to clear her throat. 

“The system’s good,” she admitted, nudging the data sets around on the screen. “But it’s rigid. It doesn’t account for pilot instinct, for the way you—” she stopped herself for a half beat, “—for the way some pilots push beyond textbook expectations.” 

Jake’s gaze shifted, glanced at her, lips twitching. She heard the teasing edge in his voice and didn’t need to look up to know the twinkle was back in his green eyes. “See, was that so hard to say?” 

He was enjoying this far too much. Smug jerk. 

And yet, Ellie couldn’t help but shake her head, trying to hide a smirk of her own. 

“Excruciating.” 

And yet, she didn’t want to crush up broken pieces of lightbulb and add it to her morning smoothie instead of sharing space with him.  

She didn’t want to listen to Rooster talk about niacinamide as the alternative to being in Jake’s orbit. 

The laugh that rumbled in his chest, a genuine, almost surprised sound, made Ellie’s stomach flutter. Caused her skin to prickle as she fought the shiver edging up her spine. 

She’d have to add another symptom to her ongoing research (Google search) on tumors, because she definitely didn’t want to unpack that right now. 

“Alright, let’s start here,” Jake reached across her, his finger hovering over a spike in the telemetry readings just before a telltale stream of data indicated a system overload redline. “You’re focusing too much on the failsafes—they’re throttling responsiveness.” 

He swiped up, his fingers brushing hers as he manipulated the screen and pointed out another less-than-ideal reading. “See, it’s here too.” 

Ellie frowned, but as he pointed out another, third data spike, explaining where she needed more flexibility, she saw it—saw the gaps she hadn’t considered, the places where the tech needed to adapt instead of restrict, open up instead of close down. 

How had she missed that? 

If it had been difficult for her before, to insinuate that Jake’s flying skills were above average, stellar, if she were being completely honest, her next words weren’t any easier.  

“Fine. Can you show me how you’d fix it, if you were me?” 

When she looked up from the data streams on the screen, Ellie swore she saw Jake’s focus flick up from her lips to her eyes. 

“Yeah, I could.” 

He shifted beside her and Ellie’s thoughts drifted back to the stupid candle, which she’d (embarrassingly) bought three of. Perfect boyfriend, Mountain Lodge. She hadn’t even burned the thing, just opened the lid and huffed it before squirreling it away again. 

“Hard Deck, then? Tonight?” 

At least then she could disguise meeting with him as coincidence. They’d both been invited by Fanboy, part of the “bunch of us” collective, she’d say. 

Jake was already shaking his head, even before she’d finished. 

“Nah. Got a better place in mind.” 

“Where?” She was frowning, her brow scrunched together. 

“I’ll text you the address.” 

Ellie was about to remind him that she hadn’t given him her number, but he was already moving. She felt the coolness of the air in the space he created between them and Ellie stepped forward almost reflexively, chasing the warmth of his presence. 

She watched the bands of muscle in his arms, a magpie distracted by a shiny coin, as he reached into his locker and pulled out his phone. In a moment, it was in her hand, the screen opened to a blank contact card. She punched in her contact information and handed it back. 

“See you later, Rigby.” 

As she turned to leave, Jake grabbed the hem of his towel, tugging it until it fell away, everywhere except for where his hand hovered, just over.... 

Ellie caught the movement in her periphery, but she kept her eyes forward. 

“I’m still here,” she pointed out, pausing near the corner of the bank of lockers. 

Jake hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t stop, moving behind the open door of his locker and depositing the phone on the upper shelf.  

Ellie swallowed tightly. She was certain—certain—that he could have waited until she left, but he hadn’t. He wasn’t in a rush to cover up or dismiss her. If anything, it felt deliberate. An almost wordless invitation: you can stay if you want to. 

She clenched her jaw and forced herself to look away.  

“Text me,” she waved her hand dismissive, and without waiting for a response, she strode out the door, her pulse hammering in her throat, the small, steamy room suddenly short of oxygen and far too hot. 

Behind her, as the locker room door swung shut, Ellie swore she could hear Jake chuckle. 

Hours later, back in her office, Ellie was pouring over the data sets Jake had been pointing out, making quick notes on the data spikes when her phone buzzed against the desk. A new message from an unknown number stared back at her when she flipped it over.  

Hope you’re hungry. 

Below the text was an address. She frowned as she pulled up the map app and punched it in. When the location popped up, she groaned, scrubbing a hand over her face.  

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” 

a/n: i am pumped for the next chapter. the tides are changing for ellie/jake. anyone want to take any guesses as to where jake suggests he and ellie meet?

also, the mountain lodge candle theory is real. no, as a canadian, i have not been able to find one. 😫

if you love this series, reblog, comment, like!

tags:  @hookslove1592 @mrsevans90 @avengersfan25 @jbennsquared @dempy

@obsessed-fan-alert @djs8891 @lunatygerqueen @khouse712 @alipap3

@yuckosworld @marvelouslyme96 @luckyladycreator2 @lovelylndskies @cardi-bre91

@whatislovevavy @qutequeersstuff @tgmreader @writergirl28 @literal-tv-menace

@queenslandlover-93 @fantasyfootballchampion @marrianena @dizzybee03 @justjess2025

@malindacath @b8211na

taglist if you want to be added/removed!

[imaginebetterfutures]

Useful (not AI) Tools for Writing

For years I've been compiling a list of useful tools for writing (fiction and non-fiction) and I thought it might be fun to share it.

What am I missing? What do you use and love? I'd love to keep building this list!

Historical Research

General plug: Librarians!!! They want to help you.

Search for words/signs in Brooklyn

Encyclopedia of Hair

Underwear, a history

Newspapers.com

Historical (and modern) meeting minutes

Find a grave

Political TV Ad archive

Oral Histories

Columbia

National Archives

MoMA

Archives of American Art

The Oral History Review

Words

Wordnik

Dictionary of American Regional English

Scrivener built in name generator

Lose the very

Scene Setting / Images

Animals & Plants by geolocation (also good for general scene setting)

Flickr world map

Past weather by zip code

Google Maps streetview / Google Earth

General Inspiration

Oblique Strategies

Worldbuilding

Tarot decks (my personal favorite is this one)

The Thing from the Future

The Picture Game

Misc

Data is Plural -- a newsletter full of interesting datasets

[pupsmailbox]

TECHNOLOGY ID PACK

NAMES︰ admin. ajax. alexa. am. atari. audio. auto. bailey. binary. blank. blu. blue. bluesse. browser. browsette. bug. byte. cache. calware. chip. circe. click. clicker. clickie. clicky. cloud. coda. code. codette. codie. cody. computette. crypt. cursor. cy. cyber. cybernet. cybernetica. cyberweb. cypher. cypherre. data. dell. digi. digitalia. digitelle. digitesse. disc. dot. electronica. electronique. emoticon. emoticonnie. fax. file. gig. gizmo. glitch. glitche. glitchesse. glitchette. graphique. hacker. hal. halware. hijack. index. informationne. intelligette. internette. interweb. java. javascript. juno. key. link. linuxe. lotus. lovebytes. mac. mal. malakai. malware. malwaria. memorette. memorie. meta. mic. micah. mickey. morphe. mouse. mousette. myspace. nano. neo. net. netette. nett. netty. paige. pascal. payton. peyton. pixel. programatha. programette. programme. pulse. reboot. rom. router. ruby. sam. sammy. screene. screenette. sean. shock. solitaire. spy. static. stutter. talia. tap. tecca. tech. techette. tessa. tetris. trojan. troubleshoot. ts. user. vir. virus. virusse. volt. vyrus. webbe. wheatley. whirr. widget. will. wirehead. wiresse. zap. zett. zetta. zip.

PRONOUNS︰ ai/ai. alt/alt. anti/antivirus. arc/archive. audio/audio. bat/battery. beep/beep. beep/boop. bit/bit. bit/byte. blue/blue. board/board. bright/bright. brow/browser. browser/browser. brr/brr. bu/bug. bug/bug. buzz/buzz. byt/byte. byte/byte. c/cpu. charge/charger. cir/circuit. cli/click. click/clack. click/click. click/scroll. co/code. code/code. color/color. com/com. com/computer. comp/computer. compute/computer. computer/computer. cor/corrupt. corrupt/corrupt. CPU/CPU. crash/crash. cre/creeper. crtl/crtl. cy/cyber. cyb/cyber. cyber/cyber. da/data. data/data. delete/delete. di/disk. dig/digital. digi/digi. digi/digital. digital/digital. dra/drag. e/exe. electronic/electronic. enter/enter. er/error. err/error. error/error. exe/exe. fi/file. file/file. gi/gif. gli/glitch. glit/glitch. glitch/glitch. graphic/graphic. hac/hacker. hack/hack. hard/hardware. head/phone. hij/hijacker. ho/home. info/info. information/information. int/internet. intelligent/intelligence. intelligent/intelligent. inter/net. internet/internet. it/it. jpg/jpg. key/board. key/cap. key/key. key/keyboard. key/keylogger. lag/lag. lap/laptop. ligh/light. linux/linux. load/load. log/login. main/mainframe. mal/malware. me/media. memory/memorie. mon/monitor. mou/mouse. nano/nano. net/net. net/network. org/org. over/overwrite. page/page. pix/pix. pix/pixel. pixel/pixel. plu/plug. png/png. pop/popup. port/port. pow/power. pro/program. program/program. ram/ram. ran/ransom. reboot/reboot. reload/reload. res/restore. ret/retro. route/router. sca/scan. scr/scroll. scre/screen. scre/screencap. scree/screen. screen/screen. scri/script. script/script. sentient/sentience. shift/shift. site/site. skip/skip. soft/software. spa/spam. space/space. spy/spyware. stop/stop. te/tech. tech/nology. tech/tech. technology/technology. tou/touchpad. txt/txt. typ/type. upload/upload. user/user. vi/viru. vi/virus. vir/virtual. web/page. web/web. whir/whir. wi/wire. win/dow. win/window. wire/wire. wire/wired. zip/zip . ⌨ . ☣ . ⚙ . ⚠ . 🎞 . 🎨 . 🎭 . 🎮 . 🎵 . 👀 . 👁 . 💔 . 💡 . 💢 . 💣 . 💳 . 💵 . 💻 . 💽 . 💾 . 💿 . 📀 . 📱 . 🔇 . 🔈 . 🔉 . 🔊 . 🔋 . 🔌 . 🔎 . 🖥 . 🖱 . 🗡 . 🗯 . 🛠 . 🧿 .