#html mark tag

[snakegirllovehandles]

I drove for meals on wheels again today, after a long stretch when I couldn't because my car had a severe oil leak.

It's nice to be doing that again.

🙞-------------------------------------------🙜

I went to an estate sale on the way back from the meals on wheels office.

I'm feeling kind of strange, thinking about all the things I learned about the person who's estate it was just by seeing the stuff that was for sale.

She was a musician. Played jazz saxophone. She had lots of costume jewelry. She had a dog. In her last years she was bed bound or nearly so. She was born in the 30s, judging by the photograph I saw. And she had either grandchildren or nieces & nephews.

And, I think, she lived alone.

There's a strange feeling that I have, thinking about these things. The passage of time. Death, the end of connection between people. It's like sadness, but it's also like, reflection. Wistfulness, the barest hint of what it's like to watch a tragic play.

Finality, nostalgia, and a smidge of melancholy.

The old world blues.

[sofiadragon]

img src="thing you uploaded to imgur" width="50-99%" /

The < and > make it work so don't forget those, but this is how to add the width code in. I have a commenter who has an image of the kudos button they use when commenting on one of my stories.

I don't know who needs to hear this

But if you go into the comments section on AO3

And type

Then replace image url (keep the " marks) with the url of a picture

You can leave fan art in the comments of a fic

[argumate]

The company now legally known as “THAT COMPANY WHOSE NAME USED TO CONTAIN HTML SCRIPT TAGS LTD” was set up by a British software engineer, who says he did it purely because he thought it would be “a fun playful name” for his consulting business.

The original name of the company was ““><SCRIPT SRC=HTTPS://MJT.XSS.HT> LTD”. By beginning the name with a quotation mark and chevron, any site which failed to properly handle the HTML code would have mistakenly thought the company name was blank, and then loaded and executed a script from the site XSS Hunter, which helps developers find cross-site scripting errors.

[stocious]

how to spot stolen/uncredited gifs + how to work the search function

there's been a lot of talk about not stealing gifs and not supporting people who do, but it might not be easy to spot shady posts for everyone. so i made this little guide with things i personally look out for. at the end there's also a guide on how to work the search function. i hope this will help out there on the wild tumblrmachine!

the gif has a watermark that doesn't match the poster and there's no "gif by @[username]" under the gif. please note that a lot of people don't watermark their gifs at all, but this is one of the biggest give aways to a gif being stolen and reuploaded.

the gif doesn't stretch across the entire post. very seldom does a gif maker go through the entire process of making a gif and not making it cover the entire post space. in the example below, the gif was most likely a part of a set, as a second gif would fit perfectly right next to the one posted.

"theme posts" with gifs of different sizes and/or quality. in the examples below, "mickey smiling" has gifs of different sizes and no "gif by" credit under either of them. "theme posts" can still be made with proper credit to the gif maker, like "road trip" to the right.

new posters and no "my gifs" tag. if you're unsure if the gif is stolen or not, click the top of the post and go the blog and look at the tags attached to the post. if someone made the gif themselves, there's usually a "my gifs" or a similiar tag under the post. this might be a good thing to do if someone is new to the space has started posting gifs. this is not 100% foolproof method, but it can help you give an idea if the gif is stolen or not.

so how do i work the search function? how do i get the gifs i want?

good question! in the example of "mickey smiling", try searching for just that - "mickey milkovich smile" and you should get some good results. in the case of grabbing a specific gif from a specific post, i'll try to make a guide down below. if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

first, find a post you want to use a gif from. we're gonna use this set from @heymacy.

open the post you wanna use and copy the url to it. then make a new post and hit the gif search button. paste the url and it should find you the first gif of the set. click the gif and tumblr brings you back to your post with the gif and the "gif by heymacy" at the bottom.

but say you want the last image in the set. we're gonna use a tiny bit of html but don't fret.

first, do the previous step i just explained above.

click the cog wheel at the top right corner, scroll down and choose "text editor - html". go back to your post and it should be a whole bunch of text instead of an image.

search the text for "img scr" and then delete everything between the two quotation marks following that, it starts with https and ends with gifv.

go back to the post with the gif set and right click the gif you want (in this case the last one of the set), and choose "copy image link" and paste it between the quotation marks where you deleted stuff before. make sure not to delete any quotation marks and that your new link placed between them!

please note: you might get an error message from tumblr that the post contains unsupported html, just ignore that.

then click the cog wheel again, and change the editor back to "rich text". you're new image should be there, with proper credit!

bam, you're done! i'm also including a video below of me doing these steps so you can follow along. sorry my os is in swedish, but the thing i right click on is just "copy image link" as stated above.

here's a more in depth guide to this method, but it can be a little confusing if you're not used to working in html.

as you add more images and text to your post, the amount of text after you change to the html editor will increase. it might be hard to find the exact gif you want to change, but play around with it and try it out. the more you use the method, it'll be easier to work with.

thank you for coming to my ted talk, i hope this helps! 🫂

[batcavescolony]

Guide to Archive Of Our Own, aka Ao3.

How to make an ao3 account

How to tag

How to make a direct link to a filtered version of a tag/how to put ao3 on your home screen

How to change ao3s colors

How to find fics and how to use filters

'I wish ao3 would let me...'

'I wish ao3 would let me...' p2

'I wish ao3 would let me...' p3

'I wish ao3 would let me...' Ask (kudos)

Ao3 TOS update

Work around for searching 'Mark for Later' fics

Question for anonymous co-creator

Other helpful guides (not by me):

Ao3 HTML/Coding References by @amphibianauthor

(Editing as added, if you have anything you wanna know ask, If you'd like me to add a link to your guide just ask)

[sasheneskywalker]

useful resources for fanfic writers and readers

AO3 Floating Comment Box A script to create a floating comment box at the bottom of the page for works on AO3.

Floaty Review Box To review fics on AO3 as you read.

FanFictionDownloader (FFDL) A little tool to download your favorite stories from different websites to your local computer or eBook-reader.

FicLab FicLab is a browser addon that allows you to download fanfiction and original stories directly from supported websites in a number of different ebook formats, including ePub, Kindle and PDF.

Comment Builder The @/longlivefeedback comment builder is a tool created to help fanfiction readers respond to stories and communicate with authors.

ao3 savior Hide specified works on AO3

AO3: Kudosed and seen history Highlight or hide works you kudosed/marked as seen.

AO3 Additional Filter Tools Adds additional filters to the AO3 filter sidebar on works listings, including creator, hits, kudos, comments and bookmarks.

AO3 Works List CSV Bookmarklet Lets you download the contents of a works listing as a CSV.

Hide Empty Paragraphs Hide empty paragraph tags from a work.

AO3 Statistics CSV Bookmarklet Lets you download your AO3 statistics as a CSV.

Fic Trackers A tool to keep track of your fics!

AO3 Automagic App Exchange requests summary eyeball searing on AO3? No problem. View an exchange that's already been scraped, or scrape a new one!

Google Docs script to handle issues when copying from a doc into AO3 A script for Google Drive that will take your finished work and convert all basic formatting into HTML for you.

AO3: Hidden search operators cheatsheet

Shortening long tag fields skin by Xparrot Puts all tag fields on the Show Works page over a certain length into a scrollbox.

Reversi skin by AO3 AO3 dark mode.

ByLine skin by Branch Breaks warnings, relationships, characters, and freeform tags into separate groups.

AO3 Work Skins/Tutorials

A Complete Guide to 'Limited HTML' on AO3

CSS code scripts for Ao3

How to Mimic Social Media in an AO3 Work

Works Skins

[every-moment-a-different-sound]

AO3 comment gifs- muppet version!

DBDA comment gifs: part 1, part 2, part3

General comment gifs: part 1

Have you read any good fics on AO3 recently and wanted to comment, but didn’t know what to say?

Have some gifs!

Just paste the HTML below (including the <>) into the comment box in AO3, and when you click submit it’ll add the gif to the comment!

There’s also an empty HTML tag at the bottom of the post if you have other gifs you’d like to add to your AO3 comments :)

For Kermit flailing, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/DpB9NBjny7jF1pd0yt2/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611128mazq9c3sy266a57baeq087hmymlo8i656570s&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Gif of kermit flailing" />

For Kermit nervous, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/FcTdv3xQKhCIE/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e476mhrpfhqi44s8lwm5hjnuq995qrm9og8qz3u5bjn&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Gif of Kermit worried" />

For Kermit so excited for this, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Lr3UeH9tYu3qJtsSUg/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611w496rwaraeiyxatj1lr45nx1m5di1njitrj2gbkn&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Kermit: SO excited for this" />

For Beaker sad meeping, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/p1FMSGnOdgno4/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47fyn7g6pcqj0aih2vs9clea3z9pxje14i7rh176n3&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Beaker from The Muppets: frantic meeping" />

For Bert and Ernie popcprn, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/njxkENt8FXreAt5TIT/giphy.gif?cid=790b76112hme5w5k6wgwsixen5enu16pow76fvv7un7bdwrs&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Bert and Ernie from The Muppets sat in a cinema. Ernie is eating popcorn." />

For Herbert Birdsfoot retreating into tube, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/nIpflbSulJKjzv4wPO/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47m82nfj1cc2zd5m96zz2bgfed1n5vg3g4lfbnxa03&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Herbert Birdsfoot from Sesame Street retreating into tube" />

For Miss Piggy moi is listening, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/zbuzzKriQyAvC5qckP/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47qiu476jsy9i56kd63vk4mtyb1svyt803nb3ej72k&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Miss Piggy: Moi is listening" />

For Kermit and Christian Bale nodding, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/kdl4eQGkPBv68/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47j2tkh4cqwbqy93uhk86fkhbqpwkx3hr169jp3my2&ep=v1_gifs_related&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Kermit the Frog and Christian Bale nodding to each other" />

For Beaker sad meep, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/1IVA26ovnIMk9ZwG0k/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47equ8j52aozxcb6ql3ygi805ydxz491youjdu04rz&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Beaker from The Muppets: sad meep" />

For Bert looking up from book, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/fnl7WmVTgdS8pRQSLM/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47qsrvj6vvti2f9fs1fumdkg6bp5r04tj6o664yzdd&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Bert from The Muppets looking up from a book" />

For Elmo fire, paste:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/1n4iuWZFnTeN6qvdpD/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47z6wy5sd202ye5sugylvqe5wourubiicmilaj08ge&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" alt="Elmo with fire background" />

How to add other gifs to comments:

If you want to put a different gif in the comments, paste this tag and replace the [link to gif here] with the link for the gif and add a description in the quotation marks for the alt text:

<img src="[link to gif here]" alt="" />

[simulationprincess]

Hi beautiful simmers!

Here are some compiled links of amazing skin overlays and details that add so much depth and realism to your sims. I showcased them in my video above!

CC LINKS:

Deedee Sims Tattoos: https://deedee-sims.tumblr.com/tagged/dl%20tattoos

PlatinumAspiration Tattoos: https://platinumaspiration.tumblr.com/tagged/tattoo%20overlays

Stretch mark Overlays: https://platinumaspiration.tumblr.com/post/670920535314759680/stretch-mark-overlays/amp

Body hair (scroll down to InkyFish Male Body Hair): https://rikkulidea.livejournal.com/60850.html?

3D lashes: https://applewatersugar.tumblr.com/post/733998978634547200/3d-eyelashes-eu-cu

Big thank you to @deedee-sims @platinumaspiration @applewatersugar and all other creators involved 🫶🏾

[boinin]

sorry i couldn't find out how to ask on your other blog.

that book binding you posted is gorgeous btw !!

I noticed that in one of the photos you included the disclaimer that you also edited it. I just had a question about how you formatted the text.

one of my biggest gripes with AO3 is text formatting (i often feel like i'm reading a legal document vs a novel/story) . Did you change how it is formatted on AO3 compared to printed?

I feel like i'm in the 0.5% that hate AO3 formatting but i thought i might as well ask in case you have any tips for that. >,>

(also how do you decide on the page size, do you just choose a standard size for all your projects? or do you vary it depending on what you are binding?)

thanks so much for taking the time to answer and for sharing your projects :) !!!!!!!!!!!

hey anon! I have asks turned off for the sideblog, but happy to answer here. Thanks very much!

I'm taking this opportunity to info-dump and link a lot of resources. I think they're useful for people new to either typesetting or bookbinding, but not all are directly related to your queries. That said, hope this is of use!

one of my biggest gripes with AO3 is text formatting (i often feel like i'm reading a legal document vs a novel/story) . Did you change how it is formatted on AO3 compared to printed?

I do a fair bit of editing when I'm binding a fic; typesetting is often the longest part of the process. Your mileage will vary depending on your experience with using word processor software, particularly the paragraph style and page style settings. Another factor is how simple/complicated you want your typeset to look. Replicating a published novel in format is difficult but learnable for a complete beginner.

I'm not equipped to give a full tutorial on how to typeset, but I'll point you towards some useful resources for ficbinding then talk about my own process.

ArmouredSuperHeavy has a tutorial on how to make Ao3's HTML downloads into a printable book in Microsoft Word. I use LibreOffice Writer myself, so this adaptation of the same tutorial is what I follow. Both are very helpful to reference as you're learning the typesetting ropes.

Personally, I don't mess around with HTML. I find it easiest to start by doing a Ctrl+A copy of the Entire Work fic view on Ao3 then pasting that into my word processor. This video tutorial by Beautifully Bound runs through how to do this in Microsoft Word using an AO3 fic as an example, including the associated steps needed to make the fic look novel-like. This is probably the best tutorial to address your gripe with AO3 formatting. Other than that, I'd recommend looking into videos or tutorials about typesetting novels for print. Same idea, and you may get more hits than searching for fanbind/ficbind typesetting tutorials.

More under the cut! Once I start yapping, it's hard to shut me up 🤷‍♀️

As a point of comparison, here's one of my fics on Ao3 and the corresponding typeset side by side:

Beautifully Bound explains this in far better detail than I will, but off the top of my head, the steps involved:

making a new document and setting the default page size to whatever size I want the book's pages to be (A5 or A6 usually). You can also set the margins at this point, taking account of your printer settings.

CTRL+A and copying the entire work's text on AO3 then pasting it into the document.

removing all hyperlinks and AO3 frontmatter, things like the author tags, summary, notes, etc as well as any website text that got copied over alongside the fic.

(optional) running a spell check and ensuring grammar usage is consistent. For me that's substituting em dashes for hyphens between clauses, enforcing curly double quotation marks for dialogue, etc. LibreOffice Writer automates a lot of this with customisable settings, via Tools -> Auto-Correct. Here's also where to make sure character names are all spelled right, convert the text to or from US to UK English, etc.

picking out fonts for the body text, headers, page numbers, etc. This is where you'll want to use paragraph style settings. Page style settings also comes in clutch if, for example, you'd like different headers on alternating pages. I like having the author on the right, the fic title on the left.

setting the body text first line indent to whatever makes sense visually). This in particular helps make the fic feel more like a novel. You can also play around with line spacing and space between paragraphs at this stage. For this A6 typeset, I had a 0.75cm first line indent, 1.15 line spacing, and 0.15 spacing between paragraphs.

(optional) formatting the first line of the work to use small capitals and to add a drop caps to the first letter of the first word. Again, this is a convention in publishing which add a novel-like feeling to a printed fanwork.

Inserting page numbers, adding images, coming up with how I wanted the "copyright" page to look—optional for the most part, but these are details that make a fic appear more like a novel.

For multi-chapter works, there's extra work in formatting chapter titles as headings so that they're referenced correctly in the automatic table of contents word processors can generate.

Once you have a typeset you're happy with, and if you're considering printing and binding it as a book, then you'll need to look into how to create and print signatures. Personally, this is something I had to actually try (and mess up a bunch of times) before I got to grips with it. Understanding how both your printer and your PDF reader work, particularly printer margins and booklet print settings, is key.

I won't go into as much detail on this, but if it's something you have an interest in, I'd recommend starting with DAS Bookbinding's tutorial. DAS has tutorials for everything bookbinding related so when in doubt, check his channel! Plenty of other YouTubers also have good videos on making signatures.

This resource is extremely useful once you've got your head around how to print signatures manually, so here's a link for anyone in that space: GitHub Bookbinding Imposer. Essentially, this does the signature creation for you, removing the need for booklet print settings in your PDF reader.

also how do you decide on the page size, do you just choose a standard size for all your projects? or do you vary it depending on what you are binding?

I have access to both A4 and A5 sized paper and my printer can handle printing on either size. In bookbinding, normally two pages are printed per side of the paper (which are then folded in half as part of a signature). That is, when I print on A4 paper, it's to make an A5 sized book. Printing on A5 paper will yield an A6 sized book.

Before I begin typesetting, I'll usually know what paper I plan to use, so the typeset will be one size down from the paper. So far, I've made softcover pamphlets at A6 size and casebound books in A5. No real method of choice for me, it's whatever I feel most suits the project.

---

If you made it this far anon, thanks for reading! Here's links to a few general resources if bookbinding is something you'd like to explore more:

DAS Bookbinding (YouTube, bookbinding in all forms)

Sea Lemon DIY (YouTube, bookbinding and other crafts)

bitter melon bindery (YouTube, bookbinding, particularly beginner friendly!)

Jess Less (YouTube, demonstrations of fanbinding and re-binding existing novels)

Papercraft Panda (blog, lots of detailed tutorial on bookbinding)

Renegade Bookbinding Guild (collective and website, loads of fanbinding-specific resources from their members and they have a helpful Discord).

[theshipsong]

i have opinions about how we fanfiction for the internet, and i don't mean literary or aesthetic ones: i mean your experience of writing it!

this is just my markdown manifesto again:

there is no reason to tangle with google or microsoft for writing copy that will ultimately be rendered as HTML on ao3 and tumblr!! rich text editors are slow as hell on desktop and mobile, both in performance and how much time you waste formatting, which takes your hands from the keyboard whether physical or touchscreen. most users end up redoing that formatting entirely in their destination site's embedded rich text editor and inevitably miss things anyway!! google docs and microsoft word and their ilk were made for printed documents no matter how much they try to mutate to stay relevant—i'm side-eying google's "paste markdown" here, nevermind gemini and copilot!

commonmark markdown is quick and easy to learn. enable markdown on tumblr and all you have to do to is copy and paste (only on desktop, unfortunately). if you don't bother with headers or dividers, the most you have to do afterwards is add a "read more" cut. ao3 is less perfect; you might have to ctrl+R formatting marks for the plain text editor and annoyingly add forward slashes to end tags, but there's still explicit fidelity to the formatting you defined while writing that the clipboard cannot lose. yes, i know "paste with formatting" exists, but it's not a problem for me because I live like this. in markdown, your writing isn't tied to any website or service; it's really yours.

that said, you still need a markdown editor, and there are several:

obsidian.md (windows/android/mac/iOS/linux): i used this for more than three years for grad school and writing. i still use its android app since i sync my notes with a git repo instead of the cloud. without paying for obsidian sync, you can keep your vault in your desktop icloud or google drive folder so you can access it from your phone. it's a great way to learn a version of markdown and get comfortable with just how lightweight and portable your drafts can be. this is a good fit if you've ever used and liked notion and want to focus on words

@ellipsus-writes (web app in open beta; no mobile app yet but the mobile site is functional): they don't market themselves as a markdown editor and clearly aim to replicate a gdocs/word-like, mouse-dependent formatting experience, but they support markdown! if you feel trapped by google because of file sync and being able to share docs privately, this is one of your best bets. i haven't tried this, but i think exporting your work from ellipsus as a .md file and then pasting it into tumblr is Great option

i haven't tried these extensively/recently but know they're out there:

simplenote (android/iOS/windows/macOS/linux): i used this forever ago and it looks like it's grown a lot!

bear (macOS/iOS only)

and another thing is: i think it's nice to use different programs for different parts of life. i use google docs for work and yes, using their awful markdown support, but it still makes a difference to write my fanfiction somewhere else (in the terminal, because i'm the most annoying person alive)!! compartmentalize beyond different accounts, don't let the bastards get you down

also i'm not gooning for a brand here i personally use neovim

[android-anthology-hub]

A Robot and a Girl - Part 1

I've been working a lot on polishing things up for this series, including doing a full rewrite of all three chapters of the first story in this series.

So let's start things off with a bang.

You'll also be able to read this over on Fiction Press, and Tapas.

Edit: Unfortunately, because Tumblr has somehow become even more broken, posts with certain images can't register in their tags! And Tumblr removed the ability to have line breaks without having to code them in HTML by hand a long time ago. So, unfortunately, the Tumblr version of all of these stories are going to be without those linebreaks! Which sucks! THANKS STAFF!

The stylus shifted about in D'Anna's grip as she trailed along the pages of her notebook. Her knuckles stood out against her dark skin, gold-alloy joints smoothly shifting with every curve and line. She followed along the edges of the coat in her memory. The image lay over the page before her eyes, like a digital ghost.

It had been difficult to get it out of the tower security systems. Tanu had tried to piece it together as best they could. Lines of loose code bled into the image of the man, roughing up the edges of his coat. 

But still, she sketched them in. A little flourish of her own. She kept her focus on the notebook in her hands-

The light panels overhead flickered, and the trams rumbled down the center of the corridor. The door beside her opened and shut as people moved past along the side of the transport lane.

-and the security door across the way.

Every flash and tone of the signal light ran ahead of the next wave of sound as it crashed through the corridors like a current. Passengers rode past on the transport lanes. Cargo runners raced somewhere over their heads. And people gathered at the lane crossings. The rumble of the trams faded down the corridor, the crossing gates opened, and the crowd rushed away. The signal flashed again as another wave gathered-

D'Anna glanced back and forth from her sketch to the crowd. 

-the cargo runners racing by-

There he was. Stepping right into the crowd as the lights changed-

-and the crossing gates opened. D'Anna watched as the man approached the door across the corridor. Circuits silently whirred to life in her eyes, tracking the man as he unlocked the door - scratching down the code as he punched it in - and slipped inside.

It looked like the info she'd gotten from Tanu was right on the mark-

She brushed her thumb over a name she'd written on the same page, Rosi.

She'd made a promise, and she planned to keep it…

She tucked everything away, the gates sliding shut behind her as she crossed to the other side.

-now she just had to stay on him.

D’Anna’s breath turned to fog in the cold air of the hall as she trailed her mark.

The man tugged his coat tighter against the cold, the steam of his breath glowing in the cold lighting of the panels overhead. Dark green spread across his shoulders, a stark contrast to the pale gray that wrapped his arms and waist. It wasn’t too uncommon to see on an engineer’s coat… But she could see a white synth-silk scarf poking out over his collar.

That kind of fabric wasn’t cheap. Hardly something she’d see on an engineer this far down in the city. He was owned, whether he admitted it or not. That scarf was as much a collar as a comfort, paid for by his patron. But who paid him didn’t matter-

Another door slid open with a click, the engineer more focused on pulling his data card from the lock and tucking it away than on the hall. D’Anna followed close behind him as he stepped through.

Too close. Dammit, she was too close!

The door failed to close when it should have, the engineer’s heel grinding to a halt on the concrete floor.

She had to be quick. Think of something…

D’Anna tucked her hands away in her pockets as he turned, quickly speaking up, “I’m sorry, sir. I would have announced myself sooner, but my employer prefers discretion.”

-what mattered was the job.

With a cautious frown, he looked her up and down, nervously adjusting his scarf.

If he knew she was lying, he didn’t show it. He was too twitchy for her liking…

He kept glancing at her wrap-tunic, eyeing the synth-silk with a thoughtful tug of his scarf.

Sometimes it paid to keep a few of her old things.

His voice was low and ragged, “What sort of work, ma’am?”

He waved a hand over a sensor by the door, shop tables lining the wall next to him lighting up all at once. The light was just as cold as the hall, old metal arches casting shadows along the curved ceiling of the narrow shop. A pair of mech tables formed an island in the center of the room, their mechanical arms and cables neatly folded away.

It seemed innocent enough, a mechanics shop like any other. And yet, it felt wrong. It was too clean and put together, almost like a showroom. What was it hiding?

He chuckled as he looked back at her, waving to the selection of parts that sat neatly on his table, “We can work with whatever you might need: Mechanical, Cybernetic, even Mechatronic.”

Every piece had its place like he was proud of his work. He probably was. But it wasn’t good enough. Come on. If he could just show her where he could be keeping them…

“A mech,” she said, earning a pause from the man as he looked at her more carefully. “It’s my employer’s understanding that you’re in supply.”

The engineer frowned in thought as he picked an eye from the table, the gold-alloy iris shining under the light as he turned back to her. She stared at the eye as he rolled it in his hands, thankful for her tinted glasses.

“Well, that depends,” he started, slowly turning his back. He tossed the eye behind him, inquiring over his shoulder, “What model?”

D’Anna caught it on reflex, her joints glinting in the shop lights. She did her best to ignore the gleam in his eye and the self-satisfied smile on his face. He was getting a little too curious…

“An RC-N unit,” she said, keeping her voice gentle as she set the eye back in its place on the table.

“Workhorse,” he mused. “Now why is an expensive android like you coming here? And all for a mech that’s easy to order anywhere?”

“As I said, my employer prefers discretion,” D’Anna said with a frown. “And a workhorse isn’t the only model they’re looking to get, even if you’d have to reset their cores.”

She was pushing him, but if he took the bait…

He hummed thoughtfully, striding over to the far end of the wall as he spoke, “Very well, miss…?”

“AT-S-039,” D’Anna lied, earning a chuckle from the man.

“Tower staff, hmm?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I see why your employer would wanna keep things quiet,” he said, eyeing her over his shoulder as he rummaged for his tools. “Folks up in the towers have reputations to uphold.”

“Yes, they do,” D’Anna said, her eyes scanning around the shop as she approached a tool chest embedded into the opposite wall.

“Well-” the engineer said as he came up behind her, core resetter in hand, thumb waiting on the trigger. “-you’re in luck, ma’am. I came into an RC-N unit recently.”

She heard the tell-tale click and crackle of electricity, spinning around in time to block the prongs of the resetter with her hand. Lightning arced from the three metal prongs, surging up through her arm, and into her shoulder as it threw her back. She slammed into the drawers behind her, shoulder screaming from the impact. She clutched at her arm, limp and numb from the jolt. Her hand was smoking…

“Took the shock to your arm and not your body. You’re pretty quick,” he hummed, giving the resetter another crackling click as he loomed over her. “Now, why are you here?”

She groaned as she tried to flex her fingers, “Looking for someone…”

D’Anna cried out as she slammed her arm into the drawers, shocking some sensation back into the limb.

The engineer just shook his head with a ragged chuckle, “No one else here but us. Not that it matters.”

Sparks arced across the triple prongs as he lunged for her.

One good jolt, and she’d be out like a light. She’d have to be quick.

She jabbed him in the arm - alloyed knuckles slamming into muscle - and sent the tool clattering to the floor. She surged up from her place on the ground. Her burned hand ached as another punch to the button of his chin sent him stumbling back into the mech table, head rattling.

“You…!” he sputtered, leaning against the table as his head spun.

She closed the gap in a single lunge, stepping like a boxer as she hooked an arm under his ribs. With her whole weight, she yanked him up and drove him back down onto the floor. She hauled him up by shirt and scarf, her joints whirring as she held him tight. He grabbed her wrist as he tried to stand, his feet scrambling against the floor. But she wouldn’t budge.

“You’ve got a storage space somewhere, don’t you, sir. Somewhere out of sight,” she kept her voice a soft-spoken threat, knocking his footing with a firm shake that ripped his collar.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the engineer snapped, looking back at the tool chest embedded in the wall.

“It’s behind there, isn’t it, sir?”

She shook a yes from him before she threw him onto the floor again. She grabbed his collar and dragged him back over to the worktable, harshly propping him against its leg.

She yanked off his scarf, the man groaning as she tied his hands to the table, “W-Wait. Wait!”

“Don’t worry sir,” she dismissed him with a shake of her head. “I’m sure you’ll get yourself out in an hour-”

-maybe three, if she was being honest. But now-

D’Anna sighed and rose to her feet, her eyes scanning over the walls and floor as she approached the tool chest.

-she had a door to find.

She frowned at the wall as she looked it over, muttering under her breath, “Now, how do you open…?”

She could see the way the tool chest moved, her eyes picking up the grooves it left behind.

But she couldn’t find the lock…

She closed her eyes as she ran her hands along the sides of the chest, focusing on the contacts in her palms. As her hand trailed halfway down, she felt it, a gentle signal pinging against her palm.

“Data lock,” she hummed, feeling out the interface. She looked back at the man, still struggling against his scarf as she spoke, “Your card’s the key, isn’t it, sir.”

It wasn’t a question.

His data card wasn’t hard to find. No one’s was really…

She paused as she pulled it from his pocket, a softer green than his coat. But it was the emblem etched into the plastic circuits that caught her eye. A white oval with two flattened sides, three diamonds cut out along its center. 

She knew it well.

“Mr. Archer,” she said with a frown, curling her hands into a fist. “Now why is he funding a chop shop?”

“Wouldn’t know,” the engineer coughed, trying to get the wind back in his lungs.

“Yeah, you do,” she said, rolling her eyes as she walked away.

“Who are you?” he asked, staring at her as she looked back.

“I don’t really know myself, sir…”

[archie-sunshine]

TEEHEE my AO3 is just SadVibez but I always post about my fics on Tumblr too, so I'll be sure to tag you too!! I've got like 4 D-Pax fics in the mind (two inspired by your scrumptious art 🫶)

Also I'm not actually sure how to emblem pictures on AO3! I can probably figure it out with a tutorial. Mark my words, I'm trying to finish it this week but I'm playing a dangerous game of "do I finish my smut D-Pax or TFOne angst Optimus?" 😭

Im pretty sure you can add them in if you input your text via rich text instead of html!!

and yayy!!! Im super excited to read them!

[o2studies]

༻`` 7 + 8 Feb 24 — Wednesday & Thursday

100 days of productivity 38 + 39/100

Had my chemistry class test today. I already know I got 2 questions wrong but they had small marks. I really hope I do well because I studied for this a lot (9hrs 40 in January and 7hrs 30 in February so far) and at GCSE's I was a straight A/A* student but my class tests so far have been B's, C's and D's which Im really not happy with, and honestly, I'm worried about that.

I did overcome some of those burnout and lazy feelings to study and do homework though so I'm very happy about that. Also about exercising and pushing myself in it 💪 And, while I didn't get up at 5:30 today, I did get up at about 6:15 which is very good progress from about the strat of the year (since which it has been getting progressively worse).

TSJ update:

I think I figured out a layout for the article entries

I'm playing about with the navigation and links and I'm scrapping using html

I invited one of my website devs and updated both of them on the website status

I'm figuring out the tag system

Also I joined a 5 artists 1 palette challenge in December and this was my piece for it: (I'm so so proud of it!!!!)

[happy-kiss-appreciation-week]

Happy Kiss Appreciation Bingo: Bingo Card Instructions

The 25th has finally arrived! So, as promised, here is the post on how to get your bingo card for the Bingo Challenge that will be taking place in April!

This is the bingo card generator we will be using. As you can see, the site itself has pretty clear instructions: make a comma-separated list of prompts, pick your card's size, then hit generate.

For the prompts we will use for our event, here are all the prompts we have for each category:

Characters:

Kyotaro, Ryoma, Nanao, Taishi, Ichiro, Ata, Maasa, Taiju, Furanui, Karurusu,

Types of Kisses:

Platonic Kiss, First kiss, Hand kiss, French kiss, Goodbye kiss, Goodnight kiss, Greeting kiss, Kiss to Shut Them Up, Forehead kiss, Cheek kiss, Accidental kiss, Kiss it better, Angry kiss, Sleepy Kiss, Drunk kiss, Jealous kiss, Quick peck, Secret kiss,

Things That Make You Happy:

Video Games, Cooking Together, Morning Cuddles, Gift Giving, First Date, Dancing, Make-up, Food/cooking, Sweets, Junk Food, First Snow, Rain, Thunderstorms, Sunshine, Laughing, Pets, Making a Friend, Hanging with Friends, New Hobby, Music, Stargazing, The Beach, Amusement Park, Going on a Walk, Exercise, Reading Books, Sleeping, Helping Others, Bubble Bath, A Crush, Sunset/Sunrise, Scenery/Nature, Parties, Stuffed Animal, Holidays, Vacation, Hugs, Favourite TV Show, Success, Seeing partner in the morning,

General Prompts:

Crossover, Soulmate AU, Hanahaki AU, Jealousy, Love confessions, Artist & Muse AU, Mutual Pining, Unrequited Love, Only One Bed, Secret Identity, Caring when sick, Canon Divergence/What Ifs, Dreams, Love Triangle/Square, Time Travel, Stuck Together, Bodyswap, Aliens, Honyala Land, Hurt/Comfort, The Dice Game, Team Building, Matchmaking, Transformations, Magical Boy Shenanigans, College/University AU, Royalty AU, Coffeeshop AU, Superhero AU, Witch/Wizard AU, Flower Shop AU, Mermaid/Siren AU, Musicians AU, Celebrity AU, Monster/Creature AU, Fantasy AU, Fairytale AU, Roleswap AU, Fusion AU, Sport/Athlete AU, Roommates,

Kink Prompts:

Omegaverse, Lingerie, Oral, Roleplay, Chastity cage, Collars, BDSM, Virginity loss, Breeding, Praise Kink, Somnophilia, Costumes, Three(or more)some, Spanking, Thigh fucking, Sex Toys, Masturbation, Hair pulling, Semi-public sex, Exhibitionism & Voyeurism, Possessiveness, Marking, In the Shower/Bath, Fuck or die, Drunk sex, Aphrodisiacs, 69, Bondage, Orgasm denial, Begging, Service top, Non-con/Dubcon, Body worship,

Other:

Rarepair, popular ship, platonic ship, polyship, """problematic""" ship, minor characters,

-------

Remember that, if you want, you are free to opt-out of any prompt category or even specific prompts. Do whatever you think will be the most fun for you.

You are free to pick whatever size you want for your card as well. Yes, even a 1x1 size, if you believe that is all you will be able to handle for this event.

You can "re-roll" your card as many times as you want until you are satisfied with one. Either take a screenshot of it or copy the html code. Then post your card somewhere (doesn't really matter where, just needs to be somewhere you can link back to once you post your work(s)).

(While card posts won't be reblogged, do still feel free to tag them with the 'Happy Kiss Appreciation Bingo 2024' tag if you wish!)

After that, off you go to making your fanworks! Be they fanart, fanfic, gifs, edits, cosplay, videos, whatever you wish! And make as many or as few works as you want! A single fanwork can count as a fill for more than one square on the card.

Posting will mainly happen throughout the whole month of April, but you are still free to post stuff for the challenge after that as well. On Tumblr, post your stuff with the 'Happy Kiss Appreciation Bingo 2024' tag (or @ this blog since sometimes Tumblr decides to be Tumblr). And like last year, there will be an AO3 collection that will be made closer to the date of the event.

So here we go! If you still have any questions, feel free to send an ask! Looking forward to see what everyone makes in a few months!

[theresonly1u]

i’ve noticed that ao3 does this odd thing sometimes where fics that read a certain word count on my working doc (i.e., 2,000 exactly) will show up with more words when published or drafted on ao3 (i.e., 2,012).

i figured since there’s a word limit on this challenge i’d ask if you or anybody participating knows what’s up and if there’s a way to avoid it haha. i was able to trim down a few words on my fic thankfully but i’m curious why/how the archive is coming up with that discrepancy. (and it doesn’t appear to be from the notes or anything!)

Oh yeah, that's our wiggle-room rule. AO3 & Google Docs (and possibly other word processors, though I'm less familiar with those) count some punctuation as well as HTML tags differently in their word counts 🫠 So a work might be within the word count on Google Docs and then AO3 decides all your en dashes are words and suddenly you're over the limit.

My rule of thumb is just do your level best and if you're a couple words over, it's fine since I figure it's more likely than not just AO3 deciding a punctuation mark is a word.

Thank you for asking!

[thelordofgifs]

Silm fandom! Have a PSA. Hate the piped tags on AO3? Would much rather read a fic tagged Fingon/Maedhros than one tagged Fingon | Findekáno/Maedhros | Maitimo? Have I got the userscript for you! Look how neat and readable my AO3 silm character tags look now:

What is a userscript?

Good question! The small sibling, who is a computer geek, did not know about these when I mentioned them, so I have to conclude I have stumbled upon some secret hidden wisdom here. In short, a userscript is a (free) program written in JavaScript that modifies the web pages you visit. They're very safe, and imo an essential part of customising your web browsing experience to your liking!

How do I install userscripts?

I might make a separate post about mobile browsers because I'm tired. But on desktop, you first want to get a browser extension that allows you to manage your userscripts. I like Tampermonkey, which works with most major browsers.

Okay, how do I get rid of the piped tags?

Once you've installed the userscript manager of your choice, you want to go to the userscript Ao3 De-Piped Tags on Greasy Fork and click the big green "install" button. For most userscripts, that's it! For this one, we need to take a couple of tiny extra steps:

Go to your Tampermonkey dashboard (you can find this by clicking on "browser extensions" and then "Tampermonkey". Unfortunately I don't know how other userscript managers work, so if you didn't choose Tampermonkey you'll have to play around a little.)

Click the "Ao3 De-Piped Tags" script on your Tampermonkey dashboard.

This should bring you to the "Editor" page, and a bunch of scary-looking code in JavaScript. Don't panic, I have no idea what any of this does and I still managed to do the necessary fiddling! The block you want looks like this:

//SCRIPT SETTINGS// const sideToDisplay = 'right'; //left OR right, for character tags with one pipe (two names) const partToDisplay = 'right'; // left OR right OR central, for character tags with two pipes (three names) const tagsOnFicPage = 0; //0 to disable, 1 to enable

4. All you want to do now is change the first line so that it reads

const sideToDisplay = 'left'; //left OR right, for character tags with one pipe (two names)

so that the tag "Maedhros | Maitimo" displays as "Maedhros" instead. If you're a Quenya freak (affectionate) who would prefer all the tags display characters' Quenya names instead of Sindarin ones, skip this step.

5. If you'd also like this change to show on the fic page itself, not just the AO3 search results page, change the third line of the code block to read

const tagsOnFicPage = 1; //0 to disable, 1 to enable

6. Save your changes to the file, refresh your AO3 page, and marvel!

I hate this and want to get rid of it.

No problem, you can turn off the userscipt or completely uninstall it from the Tampermonkey dashboard!

I want to display some names with the left part of the piped tag and others with the right part, is that possible?

Unfortunately not :( This also applies if you're in other fandoms (I hear The Witcher fandom is one such?) which uses piped tags where you want to use the right side of the tag.

Can anyone else see the changes I've made?

No! The userscript applies to your own browsing experience only, so you aren't messing with how anyone else's fics display when you use it.

This is magic, got any other cool userscripts for AO3?

Loads, most of them much easier to use than this one! Here are some links:

Put your "marked for later" button on the AO3 homepage

Add HTML formatting options to the AO3 comment box

Set your default posting language to English

Fix the bug where copy-pasting from Google Docs to AO3 puts spaces around all your italics

And here's a list of many more to peruse!

Cool, how do I get this to work on a mobile browser?

Yeah my laundry's finished now so I'm not typing all that out. Maybe tomorrow.