#why ever ever bring predictive guesswork into it????

[pinkcadillaccas]

Just saw someone define chatgpt as the "most refined calculator" and that's literally... Not true like not to be a fan of maths or anything but sure it works fine 9/10 for arithmetic (so I've heard, never actually used it) but you're telling me that it's better than complex calculus calculators (either online or regular) designed for mathematical input with a special keyboard and designed to show you the working process because it has the actual mathematical formulas programmed in???? That's just not true!

[wobblefox]

Top AI Tools Transforming Business in 2024

The Top AI Tools That Are Changing How We Do Business in 2024

AI Tools is no longer some sci-fi fantasy—it’s here, it’s real, and it’s changing everything about how we do business. In 2024, AI is a game-changer that smart businesses can’t afford to ignore. Whether it's about speeding up your day-to-day tasks, getting a better understanding of your customers, or staying ahead of the competition, AI is where it’s at. So, let’s break down the tools that are making waves this year.

Wanna know More About Digital Marketing

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AI is reshaping customer service, making sure your clients get what they need when they need it.

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HR can be a challenge, but AI tools are taking a lot of the stress out of hiring and employee management.

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In finance, AI is making everything from accounting to forecasting easier.

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AI tools are helping companies work smarter, not harder. By handling the repetitive stuff, AI frees up your team to think bigger and focus on projects that really make a difference. It’s not just about cutting costs; it’s about giving your busi

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Of course, AI isn’t a magic wand. It comes with its own set of hurdles—like finding the right talent, protecting privacy, and getting the tech to play nice with what you already have. But if you tackle these challenges head-on, the rewards are worth it.

Bridging the Skills Gap

AI expertise is in demand, and training your team or bringing in specialists can make all the difference.

Keeping Data Safe

Data is the fuel that powers AI, so keeping it secure and compliant with regulations is a top priority.

What’s Next for AI in Business?

AI isn’t slowing down. In the coming years, we’ll see more focus on ethical AI, advancements in autonomous tech, and hyper-personalization in every industry.

Ethical AI

AI is getting fairer and more transparent, with companies pushing to remove biases and increase accountability.

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From self-driving cars to smart warehouses, autonomous AI is about to change how we move, ship, and manufacture.

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AI will get better at understanding what customers want before they even know they want it.

Final Thoughts: Make AI Work for You

In 2024, AI is a no-brainer. It’s time to embrace it, use it to streamline your processes, and start delivering experiences your customers will love. AI is here to make your business smarter, faster, and more adaptable—and if you’re ready to lean in, the future looks bright.

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 96

Getting into Konoha was even easier than it had been sixteen years ago, and stirred up all sorts of nostalgia. Obito passed by the Uchiha district out of curiosity, and couldn't help but feel resentful when he saw it was just as extravagant as ever. Even Itachi-chan hadn't been enough to contain Sasuke's ego, apparently.

Madara offered no comment on that. His opinions on the Uchiha who caroused with the Senju woman were well established.

Tobi, on the other hand, was impatient and disinterested in ruminating over how a clan of one could still manage to maintain the stuffy, oppressive compound or why he would want to. They had come to Konoha to get things done, not list reasons as to why Konoha irritated them.

He had a point, so Obito pushed him down and slid on. The simplicity of his chosen disguise had almost caused him to laugh, but it seemed to work. No one paid him any mind or recognized his Akatsuki guise with the cloak folded up over his arm, nor was anyone rude enough to try to find out why a man with what appeared to be horrific burn scars on his arm and sunglasses was wearing a genjutsu over his face. He hadn't altered his features terribly much, but it was enough to hide the massive scarring and emphasize the features that had set him apart him other Uchiha, who tended to have slimmer, effeminate builds.

His first task was one of professional interest, rather than a personal one. The news that the insufferable fossil Danzo had finally been obliging enough to die had washed over Hi No Kuni, but the news that hadn't accompanied it was more interesting. For whatever reason, the new Hokage had chosen to suppress the reports of what must have been found on his body. Perhaps she had been the one to have him killed, or else Tsunade just saw the value in keeping the Uchiha eyes she'd found on his body as a resource.

That wouldn't do. If they belonged to anyone, it was him. Danzo had been one of Madara's failed experiments, and the proof that merely inserting the genetic materials of the sage's sons into a third party would not result in a Rinnegan. But this body was one of the last descendants of the sage's younger son. In any case, he could have use for extra Sharingan… Especially cousin Shisui's.

It was a marvel that the hospital hadn't been renovated since the last time he had been here. Bakashi had never bothered, but he'd come here so many times to bring Rin lunch or drag her away from her work before she wore herself out… Obito shook the memories off like a dog shook his coat. It didn't matter anymore. This place had Rin in every tile and window, but it was only a pale echo of the girl he had loved.

Granted, all he had was guesswork for locating his prizes. But the hospital hadn't had official storage for stolen eyeballs back in the day, so he first checked the office of Tsunade's ghoulish assistant.

'Predictable,' he sighed. Still, he hurried out of the office with his prizes. He'd never known Shizune well, but she was almost certainly competent enough to check the wall safe reasonably often. Once that happened, security would be tightened in the village, although she would almost certainly suspect an inside job.

That left his more personal errand to be taken care of, with the vials carefully deposited in his personal dimensional space where no one else could touch them. It would be optimal to resolve this task within the day as well, before Konoha knew to look for him. But that might not be practical. Besides, he did not fear anyone Konoha could set on him.

Finding Aiko might be a problem, but he hadn't come this far to be stymied by such a thing, despite having no idea where she lived, trained, and what her schedule was like. Konoha was a bad place. It was also a predictable place. There was no official record of shinobi residences outside of Hokage tower. Deliveries were made to secure locations at mail centers, or through shinobi who had been thoroughly vetted and possessed near encyclopedic knowledge of where their peers could be found.

If he wanted to wait a day or so, he could bring an unaddressed letter to the mail center and see how long it took her to pick it up. But he knew something that would be faster.

Ding

"Yamanaka flower shop, how may I help you?" A pretty teenager with messy brown hair in a ponytail wiped her dirty hands on an apron and smiled up at him, still crouched by a massive flowerpot.

As it turned out, the girl was a civilian employee, and she apologized that she would have to wait until one of her shinobi coworkers came in to take care of the delivery. She flushed when Madara smoothly assured her it would be no problem. He had intended to take care of this on his own, but Obito had never been good around girls. Madara could charm, however, if he was so inclined.

As far as the girl knew, he left then. In actuality, he watched in disinterest as she abandoned her show of professionalism for a thick treatise on the properties of electricity that had been hidden behind the counter. Still, watching her read was probably less painful than being forced to endure the book himself, so Obito silently bore it. At least she read silently.

Morning turned into afternoon and early evening before his silent watch bore any fruit. The shinobi coworker unsurprisingly turned out to be a Yamanaka girl, who seemed obscenely giggly and rudely interested in why Aiko was receiving flowers. Obito scowled, but merely followed the blonde as she crossed town to a rather unimpressive building and left the arrangement on the short table outside Aiko's door.

Obito made a quick check of the surroundings, ascertained that they were alone, and flickered directly in front of the little idiot as she turned to leave, forced her to look into his eye, and ripped away her memory of the last half hour or so. Dismissively, he spun a new memory of having a headache and going for a walk before hiding again and watching her dazedly walk away.

He had let the shop girl pick the bouquet. Although if she had done her job correctly they would be an appropriate gift from a friend, he casually picked the vase up and slid sideways into Kamui to deposit them in his personal dimension. The flowers were lovely, but it would be an inappropriate gift. Aiko didn't remember that they were friends. Tobi, who had no interest at all in a supposed past life he didn't believe in, protested that they were already excellent friends. Madara was mutinously silent, having hoped that Obito would give up on this mission.

Obito wasn't an idiot. He knew that Madara didn't believe his theory. Obito was willing to concede that he might not be right either—but he could check, couldn't he? He'd have to be trash to not devote a few hours to the mystery.

Regardless of whether she was simply similar enough to make him think of Rin, or was his friend in some real way, she still had less substance than the Rin the outer Madara had promised him as a result of the Eye of the Moon Plan. Nothing could change that. One day soon, he would be with his real team again, before Rin had gotten hurt and Kakashi had gotten corrupted by the foul world that they lived in. And it would be perfect.

Madara seemed harshly amused by that. 'Boy, your new pet has no place in that world,' he pointed out. 'No matter how she reminds you of your lost love, or even your teacher before he became cold.'

Obito shook that thought off with a scowl. It would be his perfect world. He could do anything he wanted.

Besides, she quieted Tobi. Tobi had been useful as an act in the Akatsuki, but that time was coming to an end. Perhaps giving him something else to keep him occupied, like a friend, would keep Tobi out of trouble. Tobi deserved a friend. Someone sweet and kind who didn't mind that he wasn't the smartest or most mature.

'Hypocritical, to see the innocence in one of Minato's children and the other child as a tool,' Madara continued, enjoying riling Obito up when he was trying to focus. Inner Madara was aggressive like that when he didn't get his way. Of course, he usually got what he wanted.

That was different, Obito knew. Minato had made his own son into a tool. Obito hadn't been the one to make that choice. If the Fourth Hokage hadn't been so foolish and resisted him, he would have had the Kyuubi for the last sixteen years and his plan would be that much closer to fruition. Aiko wasn't as dangerous or essential. Pein was worried about her Hiraishin, but Obito did not fear that. Minato had been far more skilled with it, and he had fallen. That was proof enough of the righteousness of his plan. Besides, Obito had a superior technique. Kamui could take him anywhere that he could think of. If Pein or Zetsu could locate a jinchuuriki for him, he could travel to them just as easily as Aiko-chan did. Still, it would be better for them both if she could be coaxed into ceasing her meddling. Aiko was going to run afoul of Akatsuki quickly if she didn't refrain from attempting to save the damned.

Carefully, he avoided thinking about their differing intentions for wanting to locate jinchuuriki. He'd never wanted to hurt anyone. That wasn't his intention at all. If he didn't have the assurance that all the ills of this world could be rectified, he might not have been able to bring himself to the violence necessary to usher in a new world.

Konoha would be one of the first villages to fall, of course. Madara had been right from the beginning, although Obito hadn't seen it at the time. The village of his birth had gone far astray. They espoused heroics, but what they practiced was domination and death.

He slipped his cloak and mask on and slid the glasses into his pocket. It wouldn't do to frighten her with his disfigurement.

Obito paused.

Would it be frightening for her to be approached in her own home by a man she didn't know that well? Tobi indignantly chimed that she was his friend, that she had been nicer to him than any of the Akatsuki, but he ignored the dissent. Maintaining dominance was beginning to wear on him, but the others weren't suited for this.

Perhaps he wasn't either, if he had never thought about how a teenage girl might feel to find someone she knew only as an S class criminal in her home. Tobi was naïve, and far too certain that Aiko would be easily convinced to come play with him. But Obito wasn't an idealistic little boy like Tobi. He had been once, but Madara had fixed him.

It was crude and ham-handed, but he affixed a note to the door claiming that the hot water and heating was out. Hopefully, that would convince her to go for a walk, to talk to her landlord if nothing else. He only had to wait until she went somewhere relatively isolated but neutral to approach her. That might also be intimidating, yes, but to an extent that was unavoidable. She would never listen to what he had to say if she was distracted.

The sound of light footsteps roused him to the real world. Intent to see if the Yamanaka girl had led him astray, Obito phased into intangibility with the wall.

"Seriously?" Aiko asked under her breath, ripping the note off her door and crumpling it in one motion as she stepped inside.

It just seemed so painfully mundane to get a notice from her landlord that the hot water was out. That meant no heating as well, so the apartment was going to be frigid overnight when the temperature inevitably dropped. Pleasant.

'At least I was warned before I stepped into the shower,' Aiko counted her blessings. Despite not feeling particularly blessed at the moment. Sai was still in a bad mood with her—he seemed to know more than she'd told him about how ROOT had been coming out of the woodwork—and he'd given her more of a workout than she had planned for.

Angry sex? Pretty awesome, when he wanted to spend enough time with her to have it. Angry taijutsu practice? That was an experience she could live without. They'd fought with blunt swords for safety, which meant that she had raised welts and bruises instead of cuts. He was the better swordsman, no doubt about it. Of course, he'd trained in that discipline far longer than she had.

She peeled her gloves and extraneous clothing off and left them in the hamper, before padding off to stuff a thin robe of plain green and some soaps into a bag. She'd had an allergic reaction the last time she used the stuff provided at the bathhouse—it had sucked big time. It wasn't an experiment she was keen to relive.

It was a relatively cool night, so she found herself alone in the bath. That was fine by her—it was always so awkward to talk to strangers. After she'd actually cleaned up, she settled to soak in one of the isolated pools and just drifted for a shamefully long time, enjoying the heat.

She might have enjoyed it less if she'd realized she wasn't actually alone. Obito wasn't enjoying Aiko's bath at all, which would have provided her with cold comfort had he chosen to speak up.

'To an extent, my plan worked,' Obito mused woodenly on the other side of the fence in a tree. He had a view into the onsen if he looked—which he most certainly would not, except to make sure that he didn't miss when she left. Of course it had been his plan, so it had only worked in the backwards, contrary way that his plans tended to work.

Madara didn't see the problem. She was alone in the onsen, and he could approach her there. In fact, she was less likely to try to attack him since she wasn't armed.

Obito didn't bother responding to that bit of stupidity. Madara was asexual, but that was no excuse for failing to consider how aggressive that would seem.

'Tobi doesn't mind,' piped up the boy who had been quietest all day. He sounded unusually sly. 'Tobi thinks Aiko-chan is pretty.'

Disgusted, Obito pushed Tobi down, but he was awake now and wouldn't be silenced. Tobi had never matured beyond his mid teens, but that didn't excuse his thoughts. Shameful. Now that Tobi's teenage filth had been mentioned, Obito felt distinctly dirty even for waiting outside of the bathhouse where he could see nothing.

Ignoring Madara's growing irritation and claims that he was wasting time as well as Tobi's sullen pouting, Obito waited hours until the girl he'd been waiting for finally emerged from the steaming onsen, idly finger-combing her hair as she padded out in thin sandals.

Aiko had found getting out of the bath to be monstrously difficult, not least because the night had turned even colder and she really should have packed warmer clothing. Still shivering, she cut through a park instead of going directly home and counted that the walk would keep her warm enough. Chill or not, she thought it was nice to breathe in fresh air instead of the staleness of her apartment, which would hardly be more comfortable. She should probably crack the windows tonight, if she stayed up long enough. Come to think of it, there was a book she was dying to get to and that would keep her up for long enough…

'Too trusting,' Madara whispered disapprovingly once it became clear that Aiko wasn't going to take the safe, well-lit and populated route home. Obito disagreed. That had been one of the best things about Rin. She had been innocent, and not at all fearful, because she trusted her comrades would take care of her.

The thought soured his mood. That trust had gotten her killed at Kakashi's hands. He still couldn't begin to comprehend the senseless violence inherent in that murder, or how his friend had changed to be so cold. Kakashi had never been a warm individual, but he had shown he cared when it counted. Obito had trusted him to take care of Rin when he died. Was it lucky or a curse that he hadn't died, had lived long enough to see just how twisted his friend had become?

Kakashi couldn't be blamed, of course, but neither could he be trusted with anyone so innocent and vulnerable ever again. He'd failed again—how could he possibly be taking care of his new teammate, a girl who had a high-risk status due to her habit of inconveniencing Akatsuki, if he wasn't even present? She was easy prey. The girl didn't even know she'd been followed and watched for hours.

Still caught in moodiness, Obito noted that they were in the center of the mid-sized park (one where he had played as a child, no less) and split off two shadow clones to keep watch while he approached Aiko. Then he flash-stepped forward to cut off Aiko. In his defense, he hadn't intended to startle her.

Aiko was an adult twice over. If asked, she would swear on her soul that she was competent at her job and self-contained enough when it mattered. Definitely not a hysterical or irrational ninny, by anyone's rubric.

But Aiko jumped and screamed like an actress in a slasher film when a man in a red and black cloak literally appeared in front of her. She may or may not have also made jazz hands in what was the worst example of defensive movement ever. That part would not be going in her report.

It was one thing to get mixed up with scary, dangerous people while she was out and about doing things like intentionally getting into fights or trying to keep Naruto and other trouble-magnets safe. That at least allowed her the mercy of some mental preparation. But there was just no smooth way to transition mentally from 'going for a nice hot soak' to 'one of those bastards just dropped out of a tree like a murderous baby koala'.

Obito immediately regretted the abrupt action when she startled and threw her hands up, not least because her shriek hurt his ears. The chagrin he saw on her face mirrored the irritation he felt with himself. How stupid of him. Someone was bound to have heard that.

'Indeed,' Madara agreed scathingly, slipping lightning-quick to the surface and moving the body to cover Aiko's mouth, simultaneously preventing her from moving.

'No!' Obito protested. He hadn't wanted to scare her. It was a little late for that, however.

Her legs were bending slightly in preparation for evasive action—and then he was suddenly not present. Which was unnerving, Aiko noted, wondering if that what it was like when she used Hiraishin on other people it really wasn't funny and-

An oversized hand was clapped over her mouth, the attached arm digging into her chest. The other arm was occupied with snatching and pinning both of her wrists to her belly. She was lifted so that her back rested against a warm chest with almost contemptuous ease, feet struggling to touch ground.

She was shocked into abandoning her first fumbling attempt at a Hiraishin that fought his iron grip because the whisper that brushed across her ear was downright chipper.

The scent of a citrus shampoo was an almost surreal distraction, but the cold sensation of her wet hair against his neck kept Obito grounded enough to know that he had to say something before she fled, since stupid Madara had grabbed her. He didn't know what to say, though. He had never been good with girls. And Aiko was definitely a girl. Tobi helpfully bubbled up, pushing Madara to the side. "Hush, Aiko-chan!" he whispered. At least, it was what passed for a whisper from him. "I'm rescuing you."

Obito was grateful for the assistance, but struggled to take primacy once again, although he'd been weakened by his lack of calm reserve. He needed to stay focused and detached to stay in control.

His struggle was mirrored by Aiko's, though he couldn't see her face to know exactly how shocked she'd been to hear his voice.

'You crazy fucker,' Aiko thought disbelievingly. Really? What the hell was he doin- no. She didn't care. Aiko ripped herself out of his arms with Hiraishin (surprisingly hard when he had such a good hold on her) and flickered just far enough away to eye him warily.

She was not optimally outfitted for an altercation. But she knew that she should probably stall until reinforcements arrive instead of letting the lunatic roam unchallenged. Leaving him to his own devices in the heart of the village would be downright treasonous, actually. Aiko wasn't a helpless little genin. There would be no excuse for cowardice.

Tobi seemed to stare dumbly at his empty hands for a moment. His orange mask seemed far creepier than it had before when he slowly tilted his head to stare at her.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

Aiko was just staring at him, eyes wide enough that he could see the whites around her pupils. Obito simply breathed for a moment, registering that she had used her Hiraishin against him. Against him. Like Minato had, Minato-sensei who should have just stepped aside, why had he been so stupid, why was he in the way.

"Don't do that again," he bit out, half Madara and half angry with phantoms. "Or I'll have to make sure you can't," Madara purred, pleased by the idea of getting to do this his way.

The obvious fear and trepidation in Aiko's body language made assuming full control as difficult as Madara's influence did. This was going all wrong. That was exactly what he'd wanted to avoid. He wanted to make her calm down, make her listen, why didn't anyone ever just listen?

Tobi, sweet, helpful Tobi, popped up again to counteract the promise of violence Madara offered. "I didn't mean to frighten you! But Konoha isn't safe. That's why you're going to come with me."

Perhaps a little too honest.

She looked so small and frail that it hurt his heart, even as it steeled his reserve. Her voice was surprisingly strong, however, despite the stutter. "W-what are you talking about?" Aiko was eying him warily, as if she thought he was about to grab her again.

He would have to scold Madara for that later. It had been a mistake. This would require a gentler touch. But he wasn't sure he could keep sole dominance.

Tobi was the lesser evil. He was half-and-half, part boy and part man as he straightened to his full height and looked at the teen in front of him; with eyes that overlapped the image of Tobi's friend with Obito's. Rin had never gotten much taller than the child in front of him, but he had been much closer to her size when he'd last stood at her side.

"What do I mean?" he asked, two voices in synchronism. "Konoha is too dangerous. You'll get hurt if you stay here, you now. I wouldn't be a very good friend if I let that happen." Obito dropped off at the end, silenced by shame. Tobi had never allowed one of his friends to come to harm. Granted, Tobi'd never had friends.

He had intended the words to be soothing, but they sent Aiko's heart pounding.

'He came here for me. Not NarutoSasukeTheHokageMe.'

The thought sent more than a chill of terror wrapping around her heart. It was preposterous: why bother sneaking into Konoha just for her? Tsunade would never trade Naruto away. But he seemed to be serious.

The pulse pounding in her throat was violent enough that it was an effort to swallow and force out words. She had to keep him talking until backup came. Somehow, her voice didn't waver too obviously when she managed, "I appreciate the concern, but I think I'm fine here."

'Where the fuck are the patrol teams?'

That scream-however embarrassing-should have drawn attention. Someone should be coming to investigate, even if there wasn't a patrol team close. This was a shinobi village. Where was the good Samaritan Chuunin? …No, on second thought, she didn't want one of those. They couldn't hope to fight an Akatsuki. But an ANBU patrol team would.

'Probably why he wanted me to be quiet,' she belatedly realized the obvious. 'He doesn't want witnesses. But if he's planning on kidnapping me, why not knock me out? I had no idea he was here, and he must have been following… watching.'

Even ignoring the disturbing thought that he'd been politely waiting for her to get out of the bath, Aiko felt vaguely nauseous. Would anyone have known anything was wrong if she'd been in her apartment, like she should have been? He'd found her easily enough, and gotten into Konoha apparently unchallenged judging by the lack of village alarm. How long would it have taken anyone to know she was gone?

'That's not what I should be thinking about now,' she thought grimly. 'The same damn thing could still happen.'

Tobi-no, Madara- straightened to his full height and just looked at her for a moment. This man was far too dangerous to treat as the happy go lucky idiot she'd pretended to believe the last time they had met.

She didn't dare scream again, because this wasn't someone she wanted actively angry with her.

'Stay calm. If he turns hostile, I can always run. No matter how fast he is, I can outrun him.'

Of course, the point when she would determine that this situation was sufficiently dangerous as to outweigh her civil duty to not let him roam unchecked in Konoha was hard to determine. How dangerous was dangerous enough that she wouldn't be getting court-martialed for running?

As if in a pointed reminder of her current vulnerability, a strong breeze raced across her back, sending a more literal chill up her spine and making her reflexively hug one arm around her waist to be sure the tie on her robe stayed shut.

He heaved a heavy sigh and took one ponderously slow step forward, as if he was worried he might startle her into running.

'He might not be wrong,' Aiko thought a little hysterically. It was her duty to keep him occupied until backup arrived. But running was sounding very tempting. She couldn't be sure she could win this fight.

Obito watched impassively as the little foot that had been tilted behind Aiko, perhaps unconsciously, jolted backwards in one indecisive step, an attempt to put distance between them.

It was like watching a wild animal skitter away from a predator. He had no intention of harming her, but how could someone who reeked of blood explain that to a doe? Her slight form wavered in the wind, as if nature itself was reminding them of frail she was. How frail Rin had been. Aiko didn't seem to notice that she wrapped an arm around her torso to secure the thigh-length yukata that attempted to flutter away in the wind, focused as she was with wide eyes on whatever she was seeing on his mask.

'Poor baby.' Gently, Obito arranged his posture to be as unthreatening as possible and moved to close the distance between them so he didn't need to raise his voice to talk to her. He actually pitched it more softly when he next spoke in an attempt to keep her calm.

He didn't want her to run, after all. They both knew that she could… but shouldn't. He had been a Konoha shinobi once too. Allowing a supposed foreigner, someone openly labeled as an enemy of the state, to roam unchallenged in the heart of the village would have her publically disgraced. No one wanted to think that their soldiers would flee and leave civilians defenseless if they were outmatched. As lily white as Konoha liked to pretend to be, they would mandate that this girl attempt to stop him. A death sentence, if he had any intention of causing harm.

Luckily, he didn't. Not today at least. Perhaps he would have to if she chose to stand in his way, but that was a dark thought for another time. "Aiko-chan, have I ever lied to you? Don't you trust me?" He let just the slightest hint of hurt waver into his voice.

She seemed uncertain, torn between cataloguing their past interactions and the current situation. He pressed forward, not wanting her to convince herself that she should flee. He needed to be firm, but not aggressive.

"Tobi misses Aiko-chan," he added gently, voice twisting up, up, and up into the childish vulnerability that wouldn't intimidate her. "Can we just talk? Tobi promises not to startle Aiko-chan again."

It was hard for him to tell if she found that tack more or less persuasive, so Obito pulled himself to the forefront in a subtler imitation of Tobi's voice in an attempt to find a middle ground. "Tobi won't hurt Aiko-chan," he breathed, taking another step in. And she didn't move back. Emboldened by his success, Obito smiled under his mask.

"What do you want to talk about?" She seemed to be biting her lower lip… Rin had always done that too. He repressed the urge to stop that, to ask her to stop savaging her own flesh.

"You, of course." He let her see his hands. If he played this correctly, he might be able to find out whether she was going to be his 'pet project', as Madara had so condescendingly phrased it, or Tobi's new companion.

"Me?" Aiko's voice was just a little too high pitched to be natural.

"Yes, you," Obito agreed amiably. Or who you might have been. "From the first time I saw you, Tobi knew Aiko-chan was a good girl," he breathed. It was a struggle to keep his voice modulated on something close to one pitch. Hopefully she wouldn't notice the cracks. She only knew Tobi, after all. "Aiko-chan was nice to Tobi."

She swallowed visibly, eyes still intent on his mask. And that was odd enough. It was almost as if she was hoping to see something under the curved surface, as if staring long enough would display some truth. "Ai- I. Um. Thank you?"

'She doesn't care for you,' Madara hissed venomously, curling around the tendrils of ephemeral thought. 'Look at how she trembles. All the girl cares for is avoiding giving offense and escaping you.'

No, Obito snapped. Then he forcibly restrained his temper. He couldn't ruin this now. Not when he was so close.

He didn't manage to assert himself before Tobi excitedly bubbled up to the surface to chirp, "Tobi had fun with Aiko-chan. Can we play another game?"

That might not be the worst idea, Obito realized. If he spent some time with her to convince her that he meant no harm, Aiko would be more willing to listen when he asked her about her reincarnation. Ideally, she would come with him today regardless of what he decided. If not, however, it was no skin off his back. He could elude the clumsy hunters Konoha had to offer even within their village. They hardly knew what to look for in the first place.

"What game?" Aiko asked cautiously. "I don't have any cards with me."

"Let's play tag!"

'Tobi, no!' even as Obito cursed, Madara let out a barking laugh at the idiot.

'You knew he had no self-restraint,' he taunted in the instant that the simpleton piloting their body lurched forwards. 'You should have let me handle affairs.'

Obito resigned himself to having to hunt Aiko down again after he managed to brow-beat Tobi to the best of his ability. His resignation was premature, however, because Tobi's attempt to smother Aiko in his affection was more effective than predicted. Tobi was immature, but not slow. The internal recriminations had passed in less than the space of a breath, and Aiko was just gaining the dreamy-eyed quality that probably meant she was intending to Hiraishin away when Tobi used the body replacement jutsu with the clone that had silently flickered behind Aiko.

Aiko didn't even see the body switch. She registered that Tobi threw his arms up- and the real Tobi, who had been standing behind her, threw his arms around her in a joyous hug.

Reflexively, Madara knocked both of the others away and pulled their body into intangibility. Holding the girl as he was, Aiko was dragged along in Kamui.

She didn't even have time to try to lurch away before the world swirled. Her vision was tinted dark, but that was hardly the largest oddity. Her gut jerked left and up and her heart was really literally sinking and the world was turning strangely and then the sensation of pressure from Tobi's hug reappeared and when had that stopped? The next thing she knew was limply hanging in his grip for just a moment, and realizing that colors were all wrong, and it certainly didn't look like she was in Konoha anymore.

and everything was wrong.

Taking them into kamui had been an impulse, born from the fact that avoiding damage was usually the first thing to be done when Tobi attempted or allowed human contact. But all three of them immediately registered that something had gone wrong. Numbly, Obito nearly let Aiko fall from his grip when she immediately went limp and made a small, wounded sound.

'What did I do what's wrong how do I fix this-'

'Stop it!" Madara snapped, disgruntled about being forced down so abruptly. 'Your pet is clearly hurt by kamui.'

'Aww, you care,' Tobi crooned, unconcerned that Aiko seemed to be hyperventilating. Obito pulled them both back into the real world, at a loss for explanation.

It was a transition that he had made hundreds of times, perhaps even thousands. Obito didn't recall having a reaction like the one Aiko had just displayed to kamui, but then again, it took him to his personal dimension. Perhaps she was having a problem because she also had a space-time technique?

Aiko wasn't doing any analysis at the moment. All she knew was that horrible twisting happened again. Aiko choked out a sob before she realized that she could see green again, and the twilight sky and Konoha's buildings in the distance and breathe fresh air.

But it wasn't right. Nothing was right. Of the hundreds of seals that had been twinkling comfortably across the continent, forming a spiderweb network of connections and a three-dimensional map, there were now six lonely voices. Old seals, and seals that were in places where she hadn't wanted people to know she could touch seals into being.

TheRaikage'sDeskGaaraMeiNaruto'sKunaiKakashiYamato

None of which was in Konoha. The closest ones were posted outside of Ame. At least, she assumed so. It was hard to tell without the greater context.

Aiko heaved helplessly, tears involuntarily welling up even as she tried to curl up. It was impossible, caught as she was in Tobi's grip and she should really move somewhere, even if her options weren't good. She was left dizzy and disoriented. A sense that she had been gradually building up for years was suddenly crippled. It was like losing her sight or sense of smell—one of the critical ways she perceived the world was just gone, and her head was reeling from loss. She pressed her eyes shut and tried to still her breathing in a desperate attempt to regain some small amount of control over the situation.

It was all she could do to hold on to the two questions ringing in her head. Namely; how had he done that? What had he done to her?

Her captor was just as confused and almost as disoriented as Aiko herself. Obito had taken others into kamui before. Granted, it had never been under friendly circumstances, and most enemies gave in to panic quickly once they realized they were trapped. But the whorl that heralded his twist into his personal dimension had never actively caused any one pain before.

Whatever was happening to Aiko, it wasn't panic at being trapped. There hadn't possibly been time for that to set in. Aghast, he somehow managed to maintain the grip Tobi had gathered around her frame and moved to soothe her over the awful gasping sounds she was making.

'Sentimental drivel! Just take her and be done with it," Madara snapped, clearly at the end of his rope. 'You should have left kamui into Ame, not here. Once more won't make a difference at this point.'

He was probably right. How fragile was she? He hadn't even meant to hurt her and something had gone terribly wrong. How much worse would it be to leave her here? Guiltily, Obito adjusted her weight so that her shaking back curled against his chest and he could support her with one arm, freeing up his right hand to pet her hair.

"There, there." Gently, he smoothed a drying curl down over her shoulder.

Aiko forced her eyes open just in time to see that the Tobi she'd been talking to before wordlessly dissolved into a puff of smoke, swaying for just a moment. Which brought the vague reminder that she'd been able to function without a seal sense in past and other people did all the time, if she could just bring the scattered pieces of her thoughts together she could do something.

"I'm sorry," Obito breathed over her forehead. 'Sorry I hurt you,' he thought, 'sorry I can't do this right, I couldn't keep Rin safe and I can't even do this right'. Madara was right this time, he knew it. "It's for your own good." She would thank him later.

That sincere tone was sufficiently ominous that she struggled thoughtlessly, jerking and straining to reach the ground. But he was definitely stronger than she was, and in the better position and she couldn't think because she was blind and something she couldn't verbalize was hurting-

Obito gritted his teeth and lurched forward, barely managing to gentle her fall and let her tumble harmlessly onto the grass—and then his hands were full with a more pressing concern.

He hadn't even been paying attention to his surroundings, until the lone sentry clone was killed from behind.

Aiko was suddenly sitting with sprawled legs and a confused expression on the ground, because Tobi was darting forward to intercept the leader of what looked like the ridiculously late four man patrol team that should have been in this sector. It took a few minutes for her mind to catch up, disoriented as she was, so the fight was more flashes of movement and images than anything else. A Jackal-faced woman wielding twin swords that couldn't seem to connect with their target. Tobi dissolving in that spiral and letting a blast of fire pass through his body like he was a ghost. A familiar mask.

A familiar mask. Donkey? He was substituting for another patrol team? It happened, of course. He was probably making up hours since their team was restricted to training until they had a replacement.

She felt a rush of fondness for her irritating teammate as he flawlessly performed a body switch with a mask she couldn't identify and split into four earth clones, all of which detonated because the real man had already moved and his Jackal-faced teammate was swooping in from above—and then was tossed with pitiful ease into a tree with an unpleasant crack. She got right back up, but their fourth member had taken her place with what looked like attempts at a Jyuuken which would have been a good idea if whatever Tobi was using to fade out of physical reality was a kekkai genkai, but failed utterly when Tobi proved to be another clone.

'I've been sitting this out long enough.' She was a little dizzy, but that didn't stop her from standing- reaching for a weapon that wasn't there because she didn't take a sword to the bathhouse- and turning the movement into handseals. Chakra, she still had chakra. An area attack would inconvenience her allies, so it had to be something smaller, something close-range. And she owed Tobi an ass-kicking for whatever the hell he'd done to her.

"Stay back!" Donkey's rough voice barked.

She obeyed immediately, abandoning her attempt. This wasn't her patrol; she had never worked with this team. They must have some combination planned that she'd get in the way of.

Aiko never found out what he'd intended to do, because as soon as Tobi had registered where the harsh tone had come from, he'd-

Was that Mokuton? Impossible. But it was.

Movement stilled for one very long second, and then the arm-sized tendrils of wood that had shot right through Donkey's chest receded. He looked down, or else his neck went limp, and for the space of a single heartbeat Aiko had deluded herself into thinking he was going to be fine. His armor had protected him, or the wounds weren't that bad, and he was going to call Tobi a nasty name before hitting him again because Donkey was just cantankerous like that.

But he didn't. He felt bonelessly, knees buckling and landing not quite on his side, not quite facing up.

'That makes two teammates I've gotten killed.'

Her horror must have been written on her face, because Tobi's glance seemed to linger on her. "I didn't mean to make you sad," came the completely inappropriate reply in his lower range, even as one of the other ANBU made a horrible shrieking sound and moved to eviscerate him. Tobi side-stepped the blow without even looking away and jumped back up into his childish voice. "Tobi is sorry. Tobi will come back when Aiko-chan has had a chance to think, when the bad ANBU won't get hurt."

And then he was just gone, in what must have been shunshin influenced speed, though she didn't see the blur of disturbed air. The three man ANBU team immediately hared after him.

The wind was quiet and gentle, the moon had almost broken the horizon. It was going to be yet another perfectly beautiful night in the land of eternal summer.

Painfully, Aiko pushed herself to cross the fifteen feet separating her from the still form sprawled out on the grass, leaking life. He was just a splotch of darkness and light. So still. Her fingers were shaking when she knelt at his side in the quickly accumulating pool of hot blood and felt for a pulse on Aoto's neck. For a moment, she was sure she felt something, but it was just the trembling of her own limbs.

A medic couldn't help him now and she didn't know how to treat the body of a comrade. An enemy could be left in the dirt, or burnt. But that wasn't the same and she didn't know what to do. When she'd murdered Boar, there hadn't been much left. She didn't know what to do. So Aiko rather ungracefully sat and untied his Aoto's ridiculous donkey faced mask before pulling his head to rest on her lap.

Then she placed the mask back over his face, because the wide-eyed terror staring up at her made her start to cry.

She sat quietly, knees up to her chest, dirty feet on the edge of the waiting room chair outside Tsunade's office, and tried not to think too hard. It didn't work very well. Tobi was… that fight had been like watching some supernatural deity toy with humans. ANBU operatives were good, and that had been a full team. It hadn't mattered, because he had just chosen to not be there when they attacked. She was completely outclassed.

And he had fixated on her for some reason. Why? What the hell did he want from her?

He had seemed to genuinely think that she would go with him. Tobi had tried to persuade her, before he'd demonstrated that he could actually keep her from running.

(and did he know she still had some seals? Were they traps for her? If not, would they fray further if he did that to her again?).

Despite his act, he wasn't a simpleton. They weren't on the same side of this conflict. Either he had some reason to believe that he should be able to trump her loyalty to Konoha and Naruto, or he was just screwing with her head.

But why would he do that? What purpose could it possibly serve to try to talk her around?

She could see an explanation for wanting to take her captive. It could stop her from hounding Akatsuki. It would remove a resource from Konoha. It would provide him collateral for trading, or a possible tool to use against her teammates as a hostage.

But none of those situations required her cooperation. He'd shown that he could ensure she couldn't trust Hiraishin. Without that technique, there was no way she could even pretend to stand on even footing with Akatsuki. It wasn't her only good technique, but it was the one that made it possible for her to compete in high-level combat without taking damage. Without it… she might just be a very good Chuunin. Or Tokubetsu Jounin. She was naturally fast, but not like one of those monsters.

So why would he even care about persuading her?

It seemed to take an obscenely long time for Tsunade to be roused and the village stirred into a state of emergency lockdown. Aiko had absolutely no faith that Tobi would be caught. If he wanted to be gone, he would. He'd simply disappeared while they'd stood aghast. The ANBU team had taken up pursuit a moment later, leaving Aiko alone with a quickly cooling corpse until the next patrol had come by to see what had happened. She hadn't wanted to linger, but she could hardly leave him alone.

Poor donkey. Or Aoto, if the name he'd given them was real. He hadn't deserved to die like that.

And why had Tobi done that anyway? He had seemed to regret it, and he hadn't actually harmed anyone else. There just... it just didn't make any sense. None of it made sense. Even the way he'd talked to her had been terrifyingly inconsistent. She hadn't been able to read or predict him at all.

About four hours after the initial altercation, Tsunade finally had time to talk to her. Aiko understood why—it was more time sensitive for her to try to have the intruder caught than it was to find out what the hell he'd been doing. Judging by the tired and frustrated looks on Izumo and Kotetsu, who had been roused to run messages, he hadn't been caught.

"Uzumaki." Tsunade nodded at her when she eased the office door shut behind her. Gratefully clutching the hot coffee she'd been given, Aiko managed to murmur out something approximating a greeting. "I suppose you're here to- oh, wait." The Hokage snapped her fingers. "Were you the girl from the initial report, who was with the intruder when the first patrol team found him?"

"That'd be me," Aiko replied quietly, breathing in the steam from her drink and enjoying the heat on her face. She'd spent most of the night on an uncomfortable plastic chair in thin sandals and a drying robe, so the physical comfort was a nice change. "I don't suppose he was caught?" When Tsunade merely gave a sour look and shook her head, Aiko gave a sigh she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Depressing," she mumbled, before taking a swig of burning hot liquid.

"Kotetsu always somehow manages to make the coffee too hot and too strong," Tsunade noted at Aiko's wince. "The ineptitude of my office staff aside, I have some questions. First of all, when did you find the intruder?"

"He found me."

Judging by the surprise on Tsunade's face, she hadn't been expecting that at all.

"At 2300 or so, I was heading home from the onsen," Aiko explained monotonously, head still pounding. "I cut through the park. He must have been following me, or waiting for me. Tobi confronted-"

"Tobi?" Tsunade cut in, leaning over her desk. "You're familiar with this individual?"

Aiko nodded, digging her toe into the carpet. "Yes," she admitted. "Don't you remember- he was one of the Akatsuki I interacted with when they had me at their base."

The Hokage scowled. "Refresh my memory."

Her tone didn't leave any slack, so Aiko recounted the basics. He'd been bizarrely friendly, he was the one she'd mentioned as having a similarity to Itachi- and at that point comprehension dawned, and Tsunade waved her on.

"I didn't make the connection," Tsunade sighed, kicking her feet out. "I must have been tireder than I thought. Please continue with the night's altercation."

"It wasn't much of an altercation," Aiko began a bit doubtfully. "Actually, it was surreal. He tried to convince me to leave with him."

At that, Tsunade jerked upright and stared, wide-eyed. "He tried to recruit you?"

"I don't think so." She waved her hands palm out weakly, as if to push that notion away on the breeze. "I got the impression that this was a personal visit, and not Akatsuki business." Aiko frowned, debating the next part, but admitted, "He made it sound like he thought we were friends and he was doing me a favor. He went on about it being too dangerous for me to be in Konoha, and that you were going to get me killed. Or someone was, anyway, he wasn't too clear on that part." She gave a helpless little shrug, and took another sip of scalding coffee, just to have something to do with her hands.

Tsunade groaned. "This only raises further questions."

"Tell me about it," Aiko fidgeted, biting her lip and accidentally drawing blood. "In any case, he didn't seem to want to hurt me. Though he did manhandle me a couple of times."

"Is that the source of the scream that raised the alarm?"

Aiko flushed an ugly red. "Ah…" She swallowed her pride and admitted, "I may have shrieked when he surprised me."

She ignored the snort that garnered and valiantly soldiered on in what little she had to report that the ANBU team wouldn't necessarily have been able to provide. "It was almost as if he kept changing his mind about his objective. He didn't want to kidnap me—he wanted me to come with him willingly. But when I didn't immediately agree, he got aggressive and tried to demonstrate that he could make me come. Maybe he wanted to illustrate that he was showing restraint, or maybe he just changed his mind?"

Either way, it had been an impulsive move. If he had honestly anticipated that he would be leaving with her that night, it wouldn't have mattered. He did seem to be delusional, and might have thought he really was going to convince her. Of course, he could also have determined that he would forcibly take her and the ANBU's intervention was merely a lucky break on her part.

Tsunade looked troubled. "Obviously, this situation is concerning. We now know that this person has no trouble evading patrols, even when we're looking for him. We did discover a shocking amount of bees," and here she rolled her eyes in a way that implied there was a story here, "but no Akatsuki. He lost his ANBU tail by the Hokage mountain, of all the damned places. Unless he's still lurking about, he got out past our patrols without complications."

"That means he could do it again," Aiko finished quietly. "And will. He promised me he would come back when the ANBU wouldn't interfere."

"Clearly, he's fixated on you," Tsunade muttered. "Are you sure you have no idea why?"

Aiko shook her head and showed her palms to deny culpability. "I think he's nuts," she said helplessly. "He really seemed to think that we were friends. He claimed it was too dangerous for me to be in Konoha and implied I should be staying with him."

Tsunade looked baffled. "I've never even heard of anything like this. Tell me again about your specific interactions with him in the Akatsuki base?"

She sucked in a breath through her teeth and released it slowly, trying to remember exactly what had happened. "I went wandering down a hallway after Itachi-teme shoved me in a shower to clean my wounds and then wandered off. He didn't give me any clothes, so when I found Tobi in the kitchen, he offered to get me some of Deidara's old things. We were only alone for ten minutes or so, but he played nice the entire time. Literally- he wanted me to play children's games with him. He gave me a bad feeling, so I smiled and played along. Itachi found us, and Tobi left." Reluctantly, she added, "He did make Itachi promise that he could see me again."

"So he'd probably already fixated on you then," Tsunade concluded grimly. "Which means he's been planning on this for quite a while."

"And it's not just a passing whim." Aiko felt like she was going to be sick, and hurriedly took another sip of coffee to settle her stomach. What had she done? She didn't really know anything about him for certain, but she did know she didn't want his attention. Was the childish act real? She almost hoped so. Because the idea of some genuine lunatic who had latched on to her after she was kind to him was incrementally less terrifying than that someone cold and logical had decided they had a need for her. If Tobi really was attached, at least he wouldn't hurt her as long as he was convinced they were friends. If Tobi needed her for some plan, then she would only be safe until whatever use she had expired.

'Not that I want him interested in me at all,' she thought, feeling very small. She was in over her head and not too proud to admit it. 'Now would be an excellent time to have a conversation about sealing with Jiraiya.' He might be able to help her figure out what had happened and make sure it never happened again.

"Well, there were probably better ways to handle that," Tobi mused, hand to his chin as he slouched at the kitchen table in the Akatsuki base back in Ame. Kisame, who had been retrieving leftovers from the cold box, gave him a skeptical look. Wisely, he said nothing. That was fine, because Tobi hadn't been talking to him anyway.

'I'll say,' Obito pouted.

There had been no obvious turning point, except that Madara had been far too pushy. But Aiko-chan hadn't been terribly persuaded. He wasn't sure why. He'd even politely waited for the best time to approach her. It would have been too intimidating to approach her in her home or while she was in the onsen. The park had seemed like a nice compromise. So what had gone wrong?

'She did not find you appealing because this whole idea is flawed,' Madara grumbled. 'The girl is never going to come with you. We should have just taken her and explained later, if you absolutely must indulge this obsession.'

He had little patience for what he claimed was a pointless exercise, Obito knew. That didn't excuse his lack of effort.

'That would be wrong,' Obito argued for what had to be the tenth time. 'She'll come. I just have to make her understand. She'd be scared if I just took her.'

She was scared anyways, Tobi noted mulishly. It was for her own good, and she would be happy playing with him. She shouldn't have tried to get away from him. Obviously she wasn't cut out to be a ninja. He'd barely touched her and she'd collapsed. He was doing her a favor.

He hadn't liked that much. Aiko-chan was supposed to be his friend, and she should trust him. If mean old Madara hadn't grabbed her those times, she would have listened to what he had to say and come with him.

'She was screaming,' Madara sighed, obviously irritated. 'She had to be silenced. It was your plan that required speaking to her alone, wasn't it? As it was, we had little enough time to convince her. I fail to see how any of this was my fault. I was not the fool who killed that boy.'

Obito bristled defensively, while Tobi slid to the front and started babbling about making ice cream and whether or not Kisame-senpai would help because he seemed like a man who liked ice cream. 'He was yelling at her,' he hissed.

Madara would have rolled his eyes if he could. The girl hadn't seemed to mind that much.

That was worse, Obito argued. That meant she was used to being yelled at. Mean old Bakashi hadn't gotten any better at communication, had he?

Sasuke jolted awake. The sudden movement sent Karin, who had been standing watch, onto high alert.

"Sasuke? What's wrong?"

Her inquisitive tone actually helped bring him back to the real world enough to recognize the sensation tugging for his attention. "I think Katsuya-sama is trying to contact me," he mumbled, voice still rough with sleep. That was unusual enough that he didn't waste before time biting his thumb for the blood to call a smaller incarnation of the slug queen. She was much too important to be asked to perform something so mundane as passing messages except when it was absolutely necessary, so this must be time-sensitive.

"Sasuke-kun," she greeted in that obnoxiously high voice. He tried not to wince. It would be rude.

"You called, Katsuya-sama?"

Karin seemed to choke a little at his unusually respectful tone.

"Yes, Tsunade-chan wanted me to give you a message." One of her eye stalks wandered lazily in the opposite direction as if looking for something. "And to be sure that everything here is alright, of course. Has anything unusual happened?"

"No." He shook his head. By now, the rest of the camp was up, so they had an audience of two other Konoha teams and one from Mist.

Katsuya made a bizarre sound that somehow conveyed disappointment, even as Naruto yawned and scratching at his messy hair. "At least one Akatsuki member slipped out of Ame since you began working to hold the border." She continued over the malcontent murmurs that statement roused—they'd been paying close attention. With Karin there, no one should have been able to get by without their notice. The girl herself looked a bit queasy at that that. "More likely two members, since they travel in pairs."

"Has something happened, Katsuya-sama?" Kakashi butted in. Sasuke tried not to roll his eyes. Even when trying to be polite, Kakashi was rude.

She gave a trill that Sasuke knew meant 'yes'. "One was in Konoha tonight," the slug reluctantly shared, probably not thrilled by airing Konoha's dirty laundry with a foreign audience. Jiraiya, the last roused from sleep, idly scratched at his side while giving their closest foreign companions a completely banal look. It certainly wasn't a glare or a conventional warning, but the three Mist-nin rather hurriedly sauntered off closer to their countrymen in the next camp over.

Katsuya kept her tone confidential on the next part. "To be honest, Tsunade-chan didn't understand what he intended. Apparently, he tried to convince a girl to go with him."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Akatsuki went to Konoha to pick up chicks?" Karin finally bit out skeptically. "That seems a bit far-fetched."

Katsuya ripped in agreement. "I agree that there was probably some other purpose to his visit. Whatever he wanted from Aiko-chan, it went badly. He killed one of the ANBU who attempted to interfere, and Aiko-chan herself was very upset. He seems to have left, however."

"Was he cute?" Genma piped up inappropriately above the sound of Sasuke smacking a palm to his forehead and Naruto outright groaning that of course it was Aiko caught up in that mess. "If it was Hoshigaki, I could understand that reaction."

To be fair, Hoshigaki Kisame had a face only a mother could love, if sharks didn't eat their mothers. Still, Yamato took a moment to glare at him for the joke.

"She said he was Tobi," Katsuya shared dubiously. Her little eye stalks were wavering much more rapidly now. "Former affiliation unknown."

That was not a name anyone knew, which meant that his motivations were a complete mystery.

Sasuke was already considering the unpleasant implications of what little they knew. Akatsuki hadn't gone to Konoha on a whim or for just any hostage in general. If their errand had been about Naruto… Well, he was on the border, right outsider their country. Team seven had almost been hoping that Akatsuki would make an attempt. Obviously, going to bother Aiko hadn't been about Naruto. Katsuya said that this man had left Konoha, but that seemed unlikely. If he hadn't gotten what he wanted, why would he have gone so far away? No. He would be making another attempt. And anyone who would be ready and able to provide assistance against Akatsuki for Aiko was here.

A glance around the area displayed that Karin and Yamato, at least, had similar thoughts. He couldn't read Jiraiya or Kakashi, and Naruto was looking away.

No one else seemed to be about to say anything, so Sasuke gave a brief bow to his shishou's summons. "Thank you for your visit, Katsuya-sama. We will be on watch for this Tobi when he returns. Do you have any information on what he looks like, and what he can do?"

She seemed relieved. "Yes, actually. He was very strong. It sounds unbelievable, but Tsunade-chan seemed to believe the report that he used mokuton. More ominously, he also possessed some sort of ability to become intangible and avoid getting hit. Aiko-chan didn't have a theory as to how he did it, but she described the phenomenon as a sort of spiral." The slug seemed to give a shrug that rippled down her body. "As for a physical description, that's harder. He was wearing the Akatsuki uniform and an orange mask that covered all of his face but one eye. Aiko-chan said he was definitely a grown man, considerably taller than she was, but I'm afraid she didn't have anything more precise than that."

Yamato looked somewhere between shocked and uncomfortable even as the others glanced at him. "Another one of Orochimaru's experiments?" he asked quietly.

"I'm afraid I don't know," the slug apologized.

"I assume Aiko is alright, then?" Jiraiya cut in, looking tired and disappointed. Probably in himself, because his information networks had never hinted as to whoever this Akatsuki really was, and there must be a reason he hid his face.

Katsuya trilled unhappily. "I didn't understand what was going on," she confessed. "I didn't think any of the blood was hers, but she was very upset."

No one had ever accused slugs of being particularly tactful. Even Naruto wouldn't have phrased a report that way. The group as a whole paused to digest that rather unsettling summation, but no one pressed for answers the slug clearly didn't have.

"What's going to happen?" Sasuke cut in, more practical, though his eyes were hard as well. "Are we being called home, or are we just supposed to be aware?"

"Tsunade-chan just wants you to be careful," Katsuya advised. "And Jiraiya-kun, Tsunade-chan wants you to return home immediately."

He nodded, face serious. The old man glanced around the group, as if wondering if anyone else would ask… "Is it urgent enough for me to ask the toads for a reverse summoning?"

"I think so," Katsuya burbled.

'Then why didn't Tsunade just send Aiko to Hiraishin him there?'

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek and said nothing. They needed to break this stalemate with Akatsuki somehow. They'd been forbidden to venture into Ame for fear of massive losses, and Akatsuki couldn't launch an attack against more than one target, which would leave them vulnerable to attack at their base in Amegakure. While Akatsuki was supposedly contained in Ame, the situation had at least been stable. But if at least one of them, possibly two had been able to get past Karin's senses…

His eyes met with Naruto's in the flicker of dying campfire light, and he knew his long time teammate was thinking the same thing he was. It was time to do something stupid.

[cogniitec]

Why Digital Marketing Companies Are the Key to Industry Domination

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, businesses must go beyond traditional marketing methods to thrive. Success requires a strong online presence, targeted strategies, and the ability to adapt to ever-changing trends. This is where digital marketing companies become invaluable. They bring expertise, innovation, and data-driven approaches that can propel businesses to dominate their industries. Here’s why partnering with a digital marketing company is essential for achieving industry supremacy.

Digital Marketing Company in Coimbatore

1. Mastering the Digital Ecosystem

The digital marketing landscape is vast and complex, encompassing search engines, social media, email, content, and more. Navigating this ecosystem requires a deep understanding of platforms, algorithms, and audience behaviour.

Digital marketing companies specialize in:

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Understanding algorithm updates to optimize search rankings.

Analyzing audience data to create impactful campaigns.

Their expertise guarantees that your business stays both visible and relevant, regardless of the level of market competition.

2. Access to Cutting-Edge Tools and Technology

Digital marketing involves more than creativity; it requires powerful tools and technology for:

Data Analysis: Tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush provide insights into user behaviour and campaign performance.

Automation: Platforms like HubSpot and Mailchimp streamline email marketing, lead generation, and customer engagement.

SEO Optimization: Advanced tools help identify keywords, track rankings, and refine strategies for organic growth.

Digital marketing companies invest in these technologies, giving your business access to tools that may otherwise be cost-prohibitive.

3. Data-Driven Decision Making

In the digital world, guesswork isn’t an option. Success hinges on understanding what works and why. Digital marketing companies harness data to:

Monitor campaign performance in real-time.

Identify trends and optimize strategies accordingly.

Target specific customer segments for maximum ROI.

This data-driven approach ensures resources are allocated effectively, maximizing impact and minimizing waste.

4. Customized Strategies for Your Brand

No two businesses are the same, and digital marketing companies understand this. They craft customized strategies tailored to your brand’s goals, industry, and audience. These personalized plans may include:

SEO campaigns to improve search rankings.

Social media strategies to increase engagement and reach.

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising for immediate visibility.

Using content marketing to build thought leadership and attract organic traffic.

By addressing your unique needs, digital marketing companies help your brand stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Digital Marketing Company in Coimbatore

5. Staying Ahead of Trends and Innovations

The digital landscape evolves rapidly, with new trends, technologies, and consumer behaviours emerging constantly. Digital marketing companies maintain a competitive edge by:

Monitoring industry developments to adopt innovative practices.

Experimenting with emerging platforms like TikTok or Threads.

Leveraging AI-driven tools for predictive analytics and personalization.

Their ability to adapt ensures your business remains competitive and relevant, even in shifting markets.

6. Enhancing Brand Awareness and Authority

Building a strong online presence requires more than visibility; it involves establishing trust and authority. Digital marketing companies achieve this by:

Creating high-quality, valuable content that resonates with your audience.

Managing social media profiles to engage followers authentically.

Encouraging positive reviews and testimonials to enhance credibility.

With their help, your brand becomes a go-to resource in your industry, fostering loyalty and recognition.

7. Scaling Your Efforts Efficiently

Whether you’re a startup or an established enterprise, digital marketing companies can scale their strategies to match your business growth. They provide:

Flexibility to adjust campaigns as your goals evolve.

Expertise to handle increased demands during peak periods.

Insights to enter new markets with confidence.

This scalability ensures your marketing efforts grow alongside your business.

8. Saving Time and Resources

Marketing is time-intensive, requiring careful planning, execution, and analysis. Partnering with a digital marketing company allows you to focus on core operations while experts manage your campaigns. Benefits include:

Professional management of advertising budgets.

Streamlined processes for quicker implementation.

A dedicated team to troubleshoot and refine strategies.

Outsourcing to a digital marketing company is an investment in efficiency and effectiveness.

Digital Marketing Agency in Coimbatore

Conclusion

Digital marketing companies are more than service providers; they’re strategic partners that empower businesses to excel. From leveraging technology and data to crafting innovative strategies, they offer the tools and expertise needed to dominate your industry.

By partnering with a reputable digital marketing company, your business can achieve unparalleled growth, build lasting customer relationships, and secure a competitive edge in the digital age. The key to industry domination lies in embracing the power of digital marketing.

[investmentguide777]

Watch Your Crypto Portfolio Multiply with AI-Powered Market Analysis

As the crypto market continues its rapid evolution, Pure Vision Trader has introduced an innovative, AI-driven platform poised to deliver substantial returns to investors. With advanced AI market analysis, Pure Vision Trader guarantees users a seamless trading experience that can multiply their portfolios through precision-driven strategies and real-time market insights.

With a promise of significant portfolio growth, Pure Vision Trader caters to both novice and seasoned investors. This AI platform employs complex algorithms to capture timely market shifts, creating a trading environment that’s tailored for high returns. In an industry where accurate market predictions are crucial, Pure Vision Trader stands out by leveraging artificial intelligence to manage, analyze, and optimize trades with remarkable efficiency.

The Power of AI-Driven Market Analysis

In today’s fluctuating crypto landscape, Pure Vision Trader brings a refreshing, data-driven approach to trading. The AI-powered platform constantly monitors market trends and analyzes vast amounts of data, enabling it to make precise trading decisions that minimize risk and maximize profit potential. The accuracy and speed of Pure Vision Trader’s AI system set a new standard in crypto trading, giving users a distinct edge over manual strategies that often falter under rapid market changes.

“Our vision at Pure Vision Trader is to redefine crypto trading by incorporating advanced AI that not only adapts to market shifts but also forecasts them with unparalleled precision,” said the CEO of Pure Vision Trader. “We’ve built a platform that empowers users to maximize their portfolio growth without needing extensive market knowledge or hours of analysis.”

By analyzing global market movements in real time, Pure Vision Trader generates timely trade alerts and strategies, helping investors make the most of profitable opportunities. As the platform learns and evolves from every trade, users can experience increasing returns that keep pace with the ever-evolving digital currency market.

Guaranteed Returns for Every Investor

One of Pure Vision Trader’s most distinguishing features is its commitment to delivering high returns, regardless of market conditions. While many platforms shy away from promises in the unpredictable world of crypto, Pure Vision Trader ensures that its AI-powered algorithms are tuned to identify opportunities that guarantee strong returns. The platform’s approach to risk management and its powerful trading engine make this guarantee a reality for investors.

“The crypto market offers huge potential for growth, but it also comes with risks,” said the CEO. “With Pure Vision Trader’s intelligent risk-balancing model, our users can trade with confidence, knowing that they have a reliable AI companion working around the clock to secure their gains.”

The platform is particularly effective for new investors who want to benefit from AI-powered trading without navigating the complexities of market analysis. Pure Vision Trader is designed to cater to all levels of investors, making it easy for beginners to harness the power of AI and for experts to optimize their trading strategies.

Why AI Is the Future of Crypto Trading

With artificial intelligence reshaping multiple industries, its application in crypto trading is a game-changer. Pure Vision Trader leverages AI in an unprecedented way to provide users with consistent, data-backed trading insights. By processing millions of data points and monitoring global market trends, the platform’s AI system helps investors capture high-yield opportunities that manual trading might overlook.

For users seeking a competitive edge in crypto trading, Pure Vision Trader offers just that. The platform’s AI-based approach eliminates guesswork and reduces the emotional decisions that often lead to losses. With real-time insights and automated strategies, Pure Vision Trader empowers users to act swiftly on market opportunities.

“Our AI model is based on rigorous testing and predictive analytics, which allows it to adapt to rapid changes in market conditions,” added the CEO. “By integrating AI into trading, Pure Vision Trader ensures that users benefit from an intelligent system that’s continually improving with every trade.”

Accessible and User-Friendly Platform for All Investors

Beyond its powerful AI capabilities, Pure Vision Trader emphasizes ease of use, making it a top choice for investors of all experience levels. The platform’s intuitive interface allows users to quickly set up their trading preferences, letting the AI handle complex analyses. This user-friendly design ensures that even those new to the crypto market can navigate the platform effortlessly.

A spokesperson from Pure Vision Trader stated, “We designed our platform to be accessible and straightforward, so every user—from beginners to advanced traders—can benefit from our AI technology. The experience is seamless, allowing users to focus on their financial goals rather than market details.”

With low transaction fees and the ability to trade across multiple currencies, Pure Vision Trader keeps costs in check while maximizing user profits. The AI system also optimizes trade timing, ensuring users capture gains with minimal delays or unnecessary costs.

Start Multiplying Your Portfolio Today

For those looking to harness the power of AI-driven market analysis, Pure Vision Trader offers an unparalleled opportunity. The platform is open for new members ready to experience high returns in crypto trading with minimal effort. Potential investors can join by visiting Pure Vision Trader, where they’ll find easy-to-follow steps for getting started.

“Crypto trading is a rapidly changing arena, but with Pure Vision Trader’s AI, users can navigate it confidently and profitably,” said the CEO. “We invite investors to experience the future of trading through our platform and watch their portfolios grow.”

The promise of consistent returns through AI-powered strategies makes Pure Vision Trader the ideal platform for those seeking a reliable investment vehicle in the dynamic world of cryptocurrency. For investors aiming to maximize gains, Pure Vision Trader is the perfect partner in achieving financial growth.

[zappyhireglobal]

Question for recruiters - ever felt like interviewing is just a shot in the dark❓

With structured interviews, you can leave guesswork behind and move forward with a hiring process that’s as strategic as it is fair.

Gut Feeling ❌  Accurate Data ✔️ Structured interviews bring consistency, objectivity, and efficiency to the table by ensuring every candidate faces the same questions in the same order—just like Google does to keep their hiring razor-sharp. ⚡

Why It Matters? Studies show structured interviews boost predictive validity - meaning better matches for your roles, less bias, and, ultimately, stronger teams. 

What’s in it for you? 🔹 Clear scoring systems for unbiased evaluations. 🔹 Standardized questions for easy comparison. 🔹 Automation tools (hello, ZappyVue!) to scale and simplify the process!

🌟 Curious about how it all works? Our blog breaks down the nuts and bolts of structured interviewing!

🖱️ Read here!

[roamnook]

Ransomware strikes every few seconds, but Keeper protects you. Security is not an option; it's a necessity. Download Keeper now for peace of mind.

RoamNook Blog

Unlocking the Power of Hard Facts: How Data is Changing the World

Welcome to the RoamNook blog, where we explore the intersection of technology and data to bring you groundbreaking insights and information. In today's fast-paced world, data is the key to success. From business decisions to personal choices, data-driven insights can revolutionize the way we live and work.

Did you know that every few seconds, a person or organization falls victim to ransomware? With cyber threats on the rise, it's more important than ever to protect yourself and your digital assets. That's where RoamNook comes in.

RoamNook is an innovative technology company specializing in IT consultation, custom software development, and digital marketing. Our mission is to fuel digital growth and provide cutting-edge solutions to our clients.

The Power of Concrete Data

In today's ever-changing world, facts and data are the driving force behind progress. No longer can we rely solely on intuition or guesswork to make important decisions. Data provides objective and reliable insights that can guide us towards success.

But why is concrete data so important? Let's take a closer look:

Accuracy: Hard facts are based on quantitative data that is collected and analyzed using scientific methods. This ensures a high level of accuracy and reliability.

Objectivity: Concrete data eliminates bias and subjective opinions, allowing decision-makers to make informed choices based on hard evidence.

Trends and Patterns: By analyzing large datasets, we can identify trends and patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed. This can lead to groundbreaking discoveries and innovations.

Efficiency: Data-driven decision-making saves time and resources by focusing on what truly matters. By relying on facts, we can avoid wasted efforts and achieve better outcomes.

Real-World Applications

The applications of concrete data are vast and far-reaching. From business to healthcare, finance to education, data-driven insights have the power to transform industries and change lives. Here are just a few examples:

Business:

Optimizing supply chains to reduce costs and improve efficiency

Identifying customer preferences and tailoring marketing strategies

Predicting market trends and staying ahead of the competition

Healthcare:

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Identifying disease patterns and preventing outbreaks

Streamlining administrative processes to reduce costs

Finance:

Developing algorithms for high-frequency trading

Analyzing market data to make informed investment decisions

Reducing fraud and detecting financial crimes

Education:

Identifying student performance patterns and tailoring educational programs

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Improving student retention and graduation rates

These are just a few examples of how concrete data is changing the world. The possibilities are endless, and the impact is profound.

RoamNook: Your Partner in Data-Driven Success

At RoamNook, we understand the power of data. That's why we offer a range of innovative solutions to help you harness the potential of concrete data. From IT consultation to custom software development, we have the expertise to fuel your digital growth.

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The Future of Data: Your Role

As we move forward into the future, data will continue to shape our world. The question is, how will you harness its power? How will you leverage concrete data to drive success in your personal and professional life?

Reflect on the potential of data-driven decision-making and consider how it can benefit you. What steps can you take today to embrace the power of hard facts and fuel your own digital growth? The possibilities are endless.

Join RoamNook on this journey of discovery and transformation. Together, we can unlock the true potential of data and drive meaningful change.

Are you ready to embrace the power of data?

Visit RoamNook today to learn more and start your journey towards data-driven success!

Source: https://www.keepersecurity.com/blog/2023/02/07/how-to-secure-your-home-wifi-network/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiimOPx56mGAxW-GVkFHdpJAAoQFnoECAoQAw&usg=AOvVaw1h-9v98TXp_lHNCMfHLxK1

[scamornoreviews]

Big Data Profits Review: Is Big Data Profits Legit?

Discover how Big Data Profits by Tony leverages AI to provide accurate betting tips, making betting easier and more profitable. Learn about its features, benefits, and user experiences.

Big Data Profits by Tony harnesses the power of AI to simplify betting, offering users precise tips and a seamless experience. This review explores its innovative features and the benefits it brings to bettors.

Introduction

In the ever-evolving world of betting, staying ahead of the game requires more than just luck. It demands precise data analysis and strategic insights. Enter Big Data Profits by Tony, an AI-driven system designed to transform the betting landscape. This comprehensive review delves into how this system works, its key features, and why it's gaining traction among bettors.

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[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

kh3, khux, recoded spoilers:

ramblings about unreality, the BoP, and the journal:

ngl i'm hella late to the party and i'm still not super familiar with what ideas and theories have been made regarding khux shit, unreality shit, etc. these are thoughts i had after rewatching recoded.

i know the maleficent/book scene isn't novel, but i wanna ramble about it anyway.

a question i had when listening to some khux talk: is it agreed that MoM made unreality? bc we know he hid there, right. idk how or since when, i'm guessing it's where he originally disappeared to.

But what's our understanding of that scene in the khux finale, where MoM's telling Darkness about the fictional world, the world he couldn't even conceive? Where neither light or darkness rules?

i've only watched that scene a few times, and i'm not clear on whether MoM's talking about the fictional world as if it already exists, or something he's envisioning.

pff i can't even organize my thoughts lmao. So, my guess at this point is that MoM was envisioning/imagining this world where neither light or darkness rules (and where voices and eyes can't reach but idk what dictates THAT particular rule). By simply imagining/thinking of it, i don't think it resulted in that world becoming real. Cause i thought he said something about that idea having to be "realized", but rewatching that specific scene, he doesn’t. If anyone knows for sure if he ever mentioned something like this i’d appreciate confirmation. [EDIT: MoM does specify putting your imagining into realization in the fan translation, which is more direct/literal and often times more accurate than the official localization…🤷🏽‍♀️]

But—IF it's not enough to /just/ think of it, and you do have to literally put it into realization—. My interpretation of what that means is, you know, putting the idea into action. /Making/ it real. Manifesting it. And that can happen any number of ways. Namely, in this case, putting it on paper. In the Book.

THE BOOK, UGH. The recoded scene. I know it kinda basically confirms that the book can create worlds but again i wanna scream about it a little.

But first. So far, i have that idea. Now as for the actual sequence of events, mmm. My brain goes all over the place for that one. Bc before rewatching those scenes, the question took form of "what came first? the chicken or the egg?" bc an idea i had heard was that Verum Rex, the game, could be a documentation of what's going on in unreality. And i've been flip flopping on that.

for me it would depend on whether unreality as we see it was spawned (that's the word i use) as soon as MoM originally thought of it, and wrote it down. Bc then Verum Rex could be made in the image of that world. On the other hand, if Verum Rex is like, 'additional' realization of the /idea/, then that would mean the game came before (most/some of) the world. But i think the first option is more likely.

So MoM conceived the world --> MoM wrote about it in the Book --> the world became real --> SOMEONE made the world into a game

and that gets into my thoughts about who tf has access to unreality, at least to the extent that they can see into it and observe it, and how. and obv, square enix (in kh) made the game. and square enix is literally "the powers that be" so. kinda an obvious option. but anyway.

i covered my main points ig. so time to scream about how tf this even could happen and why. not that i have any actual answers bc how tf could a book make worlds.

recoded. GOD, RECODED. If i didn't already ramble about HOW the Book could make worlds then i'm about to.

idek where to start lmao. Maleficent. she brings up the book, after she and pete have been rescued/released from the datascape.

(And what IS the datascape exactly? WHAT does it encompass? is the datascape in recoded strictly the data made from the journal? like, could there be multiple datascapes based on different source materials, or based in different devices/computers? ????)

“Yes, considering legend has it the book can conjure, making an entire world filled with beings and powers that have yet to exist.”

So that's just there. We've seen this. So this is assuming we can take the legend as (probable) fact. I'm assuming the Book really /can/ make worlds.

this next part about fairy tales i'm including to like cover my bases and see if anyone has thoughts about it bc i have not thought too much about the concept of fairy tales in kh and what it could mean:

“Really? A book that can just make up a world? I don't know. That sounds like nothin' more than fluffy, pink, kids' fairy tale stuff. It just sounds too good to be true"

“Ah, but who’s to say a fairytale’s not true?”

So that's that about fairy tales. (omg cinderella, dreams coming true, true love's kiss, sleeping beauty, WHHHHH--)

“And I ask you, how does that differ from this world they call the ‘date escape’?”

THIS BITCH. (the quote not maleficent lol) I know that early theories and probably current one's still, suggested unreality/quadratum/other-shibuya were data worlds, or something akin to them. and i mean, yeah, i wondered too, bc of the glitchy stuff with sora’s heart station in the secret episode.

but also, like. this whole world manifested "outside" of kh's reality. like, is it even possible that it COULD be /just/ data? As in, could data just exist on it's own like that? (or is there more? if the part of unreality we see /is/ data, is it only the data aspect of a bigger whole? i've seen a theory talk about this, is why i even bring it up)

If what we see of unreality so far is data, like, does that data exist within something? does it /need/ to?

and if unreality is data, like. i feel like it'd have to be different than that data worlds we see in kh. pure guesswork, but i feel like it's /more/ than just data worlds. /Bigger/.

"how does [world created by the BoP] differ from [datascape of the journal]?" thats the thing, too. essentially, what's the difference between the Book, and the journal.

sHEESH i just rambled in my notes. it's a bunch of guesswork, and idk if i should even put it here. gimme a sec.

okay well might as well address this while i’m here. my guess is that there IS no difference. there is no difference between the BoP and fucking jiminy’s journal, ability wise. We know the BoP doesn’t actually predict the future, it was simply written in the past after the future had taken place.

inherently, there’s no difference.

the difference between their CONTENTS however. one accounts the future (that has already happened, this is kinda important imo). the other records the past.

two things they both share. 1) the events in both books already happened 2) we saw them happen. in reality.

just like the past is fixed and unchangeable, so is the future (bc it’s already happened). We know this.

so what ISNT fixed and unchangeable? if literally all of time IS?

fiction.

okay, well, duh.

this is where my ideas become pure assumptions.

my guess is that like i said, neither of these books holds any special power over the other. and if my next guess is right, then neither of these books holds any special power over literally any other book (in kh).

this has no bearing on my main points above. (did MoM not discover unreality, did he THINK of it? i think he did. did MoM write his idea in the BoP? i think he did. did writing it down result in the idea manifesting as a world? i think it did.)

the idea is that ANY book [any MEDIUM, for that matter (books, shows, movies, games)] can create worlds. THIS world (or these, that we’ve seen in the secret ending and secret episode) is just the only one we’ve been shown.

i could not tell you how. and i could not tell you why. the only guess i currently have is that fictional ideas (given a medium) create worlds bc that’s Just How Things Work in kh. like, it’s literally just the laws of physics of kh.

For SOME fucking reason, fictional worlds given a medium spawn real worlds, outside of kh. hence, unreality. (bc they’re outside of kh reality, and bc they’re Not Real. fictional)

What about the BoP and the journal then? The shit in there doesn’t manifest as a separate world because it has already manifested in reality. That’s why i was saying it was important that the future already happened. bc if you wrote about a hypothetical future, not simply recorded the future as witnessed through your time traveling eyeball, then that would therefore be fiction. even if it’s based on the real world, this hypothetical future would not consist of real world events. An AU, basically. like real world=canon, hypothetical future=noncanon (fanfiction oop) (nonfiction vs fiction)

so if you wrote your fake future shit, it would hypothetically spawn as a world in unreality. IF the idea of the creation of worlds through fictional ideas given a medium pans out lmao.

On the other hand, the power to create worlds really could be special to the BoP or MoM himself. but the reason i don’t assume that in the first place is due to his wording in his khux scene.

“If you imagine hard enough, you can make anything a reality.” (maybe it’s just phrasing. maybe only he has the power and he’s just not specifying it but 🤷🏽‍♀️)

this brings me to Pete in kh2 LMAO LEGIT i just remembered that one theory video about how the fuck pete manifested a whole ass time capsule world by WISHING for it. if all it takes is JUST IMAGINING (in the case of fictional ideas) and WISHING (in the case of real world events), that would throw this whole post out the window lmao.

if imagining ISNT enough, and you DO have to go through the step of /realizing/ your idea, by giving it a MEDIUM, then.

and the reason i stick so much to the concept of giving things MEDIUMS is bc of khux. and this is all based on the english versions of the game.

at this point i’m not even connecting random dots, i’m scribbling all over a blank page but. it reminded me of time travel. to time travel, you leave your body behind, resulting in just a heart. to restore the body, the physical form, you need two things at your destination. Someone with memories of you, and a medium.

a mental/non-physical element, and a physical one.

memories could equate to imagining. a medium to restore the physical form could equate to a medium through which to express a fictional idea. and these two things combined results in a physical manifestation. Except one process restores real people in reality, and the other process creates people/places in unreality. (bc worlds don’t time travel or do they oh god)

the likely thing is that these two things aren’t related at all, esp since i’m working with the assumption that the second process even exists.

there’s also this random google definition of the word medium as it relates to computers: “a particular form of storage for digitized information, such as magnetic tape or discs” 🤷🏽‍♀️

another random idea/question regarding the process by which we’ve seen mediums result in worlds. the journal was converted into data with mickeys fucking macbook computer/machine. and that resulted in the worlds and people written about in the journal being recreated as data, hence data worlds and data characters. (and real people can enter data too without necessarily being data themselves but that’s a random note)

would the writings in the BoP require a similar process? or any other book/medium for the matter? obviously it wouldn’t be the exact same process or it’d just result in a data world, and a fictional data world would just be a video game at that point. is writing it at all the process? i mean i already assumed it is but just thinking.

i thought maybe Verum Rex could have been the process for this world specifically. The video game could be the writing converted into data but i don’t think the time aligns. Like, Verum Rex is like the best selling game right now. and MoM conceived and potentially wrote the idea down back in the age of fairy tales. I don’t know what time shenanigans could explain that time gap.

imo the wildest part of this whole thing is just the assumption that writing down a fictional idea results in the creation of a whole ass world in a whole different plane of existence lmao. like i said, i could not guess as to why this would be the case, only that it could just be part of the physics in kh world. Action, reaction. Conception, manifestation.

if anything, this whole concept of ideas becoming worlds would just be a fourth wall thing. get an idea, put it on paper, make worlds. ofc everyone has recognized the meta-ness of all this lmao i’m here trying to rationalize it in-game.

i had more quotes i didn’t add lol, in regards to the similarities between the BoP and the journal. it’s kinda additional stuff about why i do or don’t assume the things i do. (the first maleficent quote is the biggest tho for me)

“Don’t you think it might just be worth our while to search for a connection? Perhaps there’s a link of some sort between that so-called journal of theirs and the Book of Prophecies.”

(“so-called” why this phrasing? is it that maleficent suspects the journal is more than it seems? is it just the eng dialogue or just maleficent’s speech pattern?)

at this point i’m mostly gonna copy/paste my ramblings, so it’s gonna be messier:

So clearly they’re telling us to LOOK for the connections between the journal and the book. is it for proof that the book of prophecies CAN make worlds?

and also, does it make worlds OUTSIDE of kh BECAUSE you can’t change fate? it depends on the power of the book, and what gives it that power. (if it’s a power exclusive to the BoP after all)

lmao admittedly, this can be encapsulated by stuff Spuuky said during one of his streams about how Jiminy’s journal is OP bc you could create literally anything by writing it down bc converting it into data would make it real, and able to directly affect and interact with the real world. And at that point i was like bruh it’s not the journal it’s the machine but??? LMAO ARE THEY SO DIFFERENT AFTER ALL, i hate this game

and, another random question, does stuff from unreality manifest in kh? and if it does, does it do it on its own or would someone in kh need to access unreality and carry the ideas back over to kh? i already asked this earlier, and my end assumption for now was that verum rex did NOT just leak into kh by accident, someone brought the idea over. and the reason i don’t think it was MoM is because i’m guessing MoM doesn’t work at square enix in kh (nomura is MoM theories incoming lol). And MoM is hiding in unreality (tho he seems to have been coming back to kh every so often when he sees fit, such as his intervention with xehanort).

imma leave this for now, my thumbs are RIP

[smitten-miqitten]

The Begrudging Misadventures of Era Hess and an Arrogant Ascian Ghost: Ch 3. Whatever have you done?

Ao3 Link Here

I promise the story gets more lighthearted after this.

............................................................

[......]

[....must end....]

A shadowed voice in the cold dark distance of Era's mind called out unintelligibly, strain though she might to hear it. She felt like she was drifting within herself, unable to find the purchase necessary to wake. Too vast was this space, too void of what ought to be present:Memories, feelings, dreams....  How infinitesimally small she was in the face of it all. She reached out, looking for anything at all to hold onto, anything that was hers....

"....ro. Heroooo....Era".

Era's eyes snapped open. She sat up in a panic, trying to ascertain where she was.

[See? Twas her name which did the trick], chuckled the voice of Hythlodaeus. He was sitting on a couch some ways from the bed on which she lay, looking comically large in comparison to it. Everything about the room bore decor in line with the rest of Amaurot, yet it was sized properly to her, rather than the usual denizens. The room was dim, lit by some few lamps and the gloomy light drifting in through the windows, a byproduct of the sea above. Upon the windowseat across from her lounged Hades. He was gazing at her with a look that seemed...expectant.

"And so it did! Welcome back to the waking world, hero", said Hades cheerfully, reverting to the usual moniker. "You remembered something, yes? Something small and insignificant, perhaps, but something nonetheless! Alas, you collapsed not long after", he tutted, though with none of his customary disapproval.

[Your soul was in quite a state during. I think it unwise to push too strongly, fractured as you still are], Hythlodaeus cautioned, earning a glare from Hades.

"She hasn't yet remembered anything of import, and you want her to stop?"

[I don't truly want anything, as you know. I am but a shadow. As for her condition, tis plain that her soul cannot handle overmuch of such strain in its current state], He scolded.

"Oh , don't say that. You'll only give him ideas", Era groaned, head still swimming. "Gods, it felt like an Echo vision, but without the usual distortion. As if I were living it. Really disorienting. I was tall, you were nice..."

"What? I'm not nice? After all I've done to help you and yours?" Mock offense colored his voice, a smirk on his lips. "Why, I even gave you your own room". He gestured around him.

She ignored him, as was usually the best option. "Did your lot always wear the masks? My...her hood was down because she had been alone in the room, but she still had her mask on".

"Our lot. And yes, we rarely removed them unless to sleep or bathe. Rather personal, to look fully upon one's face. Even amongst those closest to you, one would keep it on in most cases. We'd seen one another's faces, but twas still most comfortable for we two to wear masks the majority of the time. Before you ask, yes, the face I currently bear is near identical, save what changes were necessary to blend in with the populace. I have ever been a creature of habit."

"Did you...we ever end up making the larger Nu Mou?"

Hades frowned, eyes distant. "No, other matters demanded our attention. The great keening from the ground was heard not terribly long after that day, and our every waking moment was consumed with investigating the source. Mayhap that is why you remembered this and not other things. One last happy memory."

[...madness..]

[...this..madness..]

Era clutched at her head, feeling a sight ache, but it was soon to pass. Shaking it, she continued her inquiry. "In the memory, you called me a member of the Convocation. Seeing as I am not a member of your current ranks, I take it I was the fourteenth that the people here speak of. The one that left."

His face grew dark again, though Era had predicted that. "Very insightful. Indeed, you are the fourteenth. You were never replaced, so the seat remains yours to this day. Empty. And so we come to the crux of the issue, from which all the apologies you owe spring: Why. This I will not tell you, lest you ask. If you remember nothing else, I would see you remember that. Ideally before I fade for good, if you would be so kind", his own tone not kind in the slightest. The hate that laced his voice curiously did not reach his eyes, however.

Whatever it was she had done, he had clearly never forgiven her for it. Era could hazard a guess as to what it was, given the circumstances there wasn't much else it could be, but she did not think he would not accept an apology based on guesswork. Nor did she want to offer one, until she could see for herself that it was warranted.

[.....this madness..must..end...]

[My friend!] Hythlodaeus called out in alarm, for Era had started to clutch at her head once more. The pain was not fading now, rather growing worse with each passing second.

"Leave it!" Hades spat, preventing the shade from going to her side, forcing Hythlodaeus to dissipate. He could see it as well; her soul was in disarray, flaring brightly at random intervals. He cared little for the risks, however. If he could not see the resurrection of his people to fruition, if he could never truly walk the streets of Amaurot again, at least, the very least, he would have his apology.

[This madness must end, Hades!]

.....................................................................

[How is it madness?!], Hades shouted back. They were outside one of the most recently reconstructed buildings in the aftermath of the star's rescue by Zodiark's power. She had been avoiding him, avoiding all the members of the convocation, but he knew she would want to see the reconstruction progress with her own eyes and so sought her out here.

So much had been sacrificed to bring the world back from the brink that efforts to rebuild were slow at best. Til recently, she had busied herself with wandering the revived lands, recreating plants and animals to restore balance to the world's ecosystem. And to not have to see his tempered soul that so pained her to behold.

She was a pariah, welcomed only by virtue of how fervently she had fought the beasts that had laid waste to their home (from which she yet bore scars), her offer to take the place of a sacrifice on both occasions that the deed had to be done, and by the talent she wielded that had led the Convocation to reject the offers. Her refusal to once again take up her seat of office, her refusal to pay homage to Zodiark, these things alienated her from the remaining survivors. Ungrateful. Cowardly. Irresponsible. All accusations brushed past her seemingly unheard; she would not give.

And so it fell to Hades, her dearest, closest companion, to make her see reason. [It would be a fraction at the worst! A small fraction of all the life that this star will foster, in return for all those we have lost! How can you not want this?]

[Of course I want them back! I want everything back! I want you back, above all! But you are a fool to think that it will end at a small fraction, blinded by the spell Zodiark has cast on your soul. Your tempering deafens you to the reality of the situation. Zodiark will take all you have to give, til there is naught left!]

[And again you defame the very reason we may stand here to bicker! Were it not by Zodiark's grace, we would all be long dead! And you knew as much the day you abandoned your post!]

[I did not abandon it willingly. You would not see reason! There had to have been another way, if only you would have helped me find it. The source of the issue itself, if we but could have understood it, we would surely have been able to amend it. One half?! One half of everyone left?! The price was far too high!]

[There was no time! You searched and searched, and still identified no alternative! No viable way by which we might have averted the catastrophe without such loss. And you yet paint us villains]. The betrayal he felt was evident, and broke her heart to hear.

Her face softened at this accusation, the words cutting deep. Reaching for him, she said, voice breaking, [Not villains, never that, never you. Victims. Though he saved us as you claim, he yet has you in his thrall, unable to see any other way forward]. She was holding him now, voice muffled somewhat by his chest upon which her face was pressed.

[Though I miss them dearly, I know not a one would wish to see another sacrificed on their behalf. They did not save us expecting to be revived with the lives of all that came after. They wanted, as we ever have, only to protect our star. What stewards are we if we do so? What right have we to their lives? So too, then, does a parent have the right to sacrifice their children to save their friends?]

She knew her words did not reach him, could not reach him. Zodiark or no, they disagreed, plain and simple. It seemed, for the first time since meeting in childhood, that they had reached an impasse. He could only bear to look to the past, she to the future. The alternative for either was too painful to bear. She would chart a new course, and see him free of his enthrallment, and he would suffer it gladly, for eternity if need be, should it mean the return of their people.

Hades looked down at her in horror, that she would equate his goals to the sacrifice of children. Even in the final days they had not resorted to such things. Raising her face to look at him, he asked, [Is that truly what you think of me?]

[No, Hades. You are ever and always the champion of our people. You take upon yourself every burden, every guilt. That], she said with an odd, somber smile, [is how I see you. I, however, am better suited to the title of villain]. She began to pull away, but Hades held fast to her, fearing the intent behind those words.

[What do you mean by that? In what way are you the villain?], He questioned fiercely, but she merely shook her head, maintaining the odd sad smile. [My friend, do you truly think me so changed you no longer trust me enough to answer?] Hades asked quietly, fearing her response.

Shaking her head again, she replied, [No, no. Hades, you are the only person I trust. Ever have you been, and ever shall you remain, come what may. Tis Zodiark I do not trust, and until the day you are free of him I must be cautious in word and deed. For how can he not know all that you do, bound as you are?]

She reached to remove his mask, as well as her own. Looking him full in the face, she continued, [Know this, my dearest friend, you who knows me better than any other, that everything I do from here on is for your benefit and that of this star. Even should you come to curse my name, I shall never hate you for it. For it was my failure that brought all to this point, no wrongdoing of yours]

And with that, she left, whisked away by a spell she had prepared long before he had even arrived. She had meant to be found, he saw that now,  so as to say her piece. He knew then he would not see her again, no matter how thoroughly he searched, until whatever she was plotting came to fruition. His mask that she had been holding clattered to the ground, breaking the heavy silence.

[Why must you be so stubborn?] He bemoaned, throat tight and face hot, fighting back tears.

.............

And see her again he did not. By the time she had brought her plan to bear, she was no more, spent in the summoning of her great and terrible champion. Spent and split and sundered.

He watched in horror as Zodiark was struck down, and every conceivable thing was divided many times over. Reduced in all respects, the world made weaker, frail and wanting. All...except for him and two others.

How?! How was this better?! How could she have thought this the only alternative, the only way forward? And this was to be to his benefit? This... nightmare...was because of him?

[My friend...] He cried, his anguish immeasurable [whatever have you done?!]

.....................................................................

"Hades", Era croaked, coming to with tears streaming from her eyes. He was already at her side, staring at her intently. His eyes widened a little upon hearing her speak; it was the first time she'd said his true name aloud.

"Another fun trip down memory lane? You seem less weakened from this one. It would seem Hylthodaeus's assessment was incorrect."

"I remember, Hades. The sundering. But I shouldn't. She was gone, when it happened, she wouldn't have known it went wrong. I saw your memory."

"Went wrong?" His brows furrowed.

"She...she meant only to bind Zodiark, to seal him away so he could no longer feast on aether. To protect the new life from his ravenous hunger. That was what Hydelyn was supposed to do. But she had also a conflicting wish; she wanted to free you from your tempering. Sealing...wouldn't have been enough. So instead Hydelyn's power became to weaken him, and in so doing weaken his hold on your souls. But even that failed." She paused to sob, overwhelmed from sharing in the emotions of two ancient beings. "I saw the last time the two of you spoke. She chose then and there to become the villain, to carry it all on her shoulders. She never dreamed she would end up saddling you with that burden instead. She never wanted that, never wanted you to suffer!"

That was not at all what he was expecting to hear. All of this, an accident? That she could have been so foolhardy...."Now, now do you finally see why things must be put to rights? Why the rejoinings are imperative?" Hades implored, a last attempt to make her agree. But Era shook her head, as her predecessor had so long ago.

"No. Regardless of the result, her chief goal was and is still the preservation of all life upon this star. That includes its reflections, in all their faded glory. And her secondary goal is nearly complete. You are no longer tempered, are you not?" Era's breathing was still strained, but her sobbing had ceased. She was returning to herself. "Nor, I imagine, is Lahabrea. Though I can't say either she or I are thrilled with the method."

"So that's it then. You will stay your course, and we shall fade into oblivion", Hades sighed, resigned. There was no winning, it seemed, neither then nor now. Gone were the days that she heeded him.

"I won't let that happen either", Era said, eyes fiery and fierce. "I will find a way to see that you are remembered at the least, if I can do nothing else. And for that I will need someone to teach me. Happen to know any amiable, unemployed ascians?"

He stared at her, dumbfounded by her gall...and could not help but to laugh at the absurdity. She may have a new face, a new name, a new life...but she had changed not at all.

"Ah, but I've neglected the most important thing!" She exclaimed.

"Oh"?

She looked at him with the utmost sincerity in her eyes. Smiling, she reached for his hands, holding them in her own.

"I'm sorry".

[asterythm]

A is for Amour || Human Error (2)

Pairings: Eventual Logicality, eventual Prinxiety Word Count: 2.5k Chapter Summary: Though rigid schedules may have worked in his favour when it came to essays and science fairs, Logan's plans are ill-equipped to handle a living, breathing human. He finds this out the hard way. Chapter Warnings: “Implied gore mention” is all I can think of for this one. Let me know if I’ve forgotten anything, though! General Warnings: Toxic romantic relationship, abusive Deceit, low self-esteem/self-deprecation, negative thinking

<< First Chapter || Read this chapter on AO3

Logan Berry was just about ready to eat his tie.

Not in the literal sense, of course; Logan was very well aware that cloths and fabrics did not have much nutritional value to them. They’d be difficult to digest, for one, and he didn’t imagine the taste could be too appetizing either. The young man had merely been using figurative language to express irritation.

A little clarity never hurt anybody.

Perhaps it would be simpler to forget about the textile consumption and just put it this way: suffice it to say, anyone looking at Logan now would never be able to guess how excited the boy had been only thirty minutes ago.

Which was a shame, really, considering how rare it was for Logan to get excited about anything nowadays.

It was true, though — Logan had been walking on sunshine for weeks in anticipation of this moment. How could he not? Today was the day of his first-ever session in his new tutoring job; a day he’d spent long days and longer nights preparing for. Logan had even gone so far as to create and rehearse a script that contained everything he intended to say, word-for-word. Every detail he could think of, he had planned, all the way down to the exact outfit he’d wear — a freshly-ironed black polo paired with his best blue necktie was the perfect way to passively say, this young man means business. Knowing how crucial a good first impression would be to their overall success, Logan had done everything in his power to ensure that today’s session would run perfectly. It had taken every second that he could spare (and quite a few that he couldn’t), but he didn’t mind. After all, Logan had been completely convinced that all his efforts were bound to pay off in the end.

Oh, what a fool he’d been.

You see, it was only once Logan was watching this unsettlingly energetic thing come careening around the corner did he realise that in all of his careful planning, he’d forgotten to factor in one major variable: the student himself. And a single glance was all it took for Logan to realise that his mistake would cost him dearly.

Not only is he late, he’s completely out of breath. And he’s not even bothering to hide it… just look at that gaping mouth, Logan’s narrowed eyes had immediately observed. Smudged glasses, uncombed hair, grass-stained sneakers — one of which is untied, mind you — oh, and now he’s gone and sent books flying everywhere.

So much for first impressions, I suppose.

With the introduction of this new limiting factor, the future wasn’t looking too bright, to say the least. But if there was one thing that Logan’s extensive collection of award-winning science fair projects had taught him, it was to never waste time trying to control the uncontrollable. So, notebook clutched in one hand and tenaciously holding back doubts with the other, Logan had launched with great determination into the script that he’d practiced so many times before.

It took all of five minutes to grind that determination into the dust. Every single time he paused for breath, the freckled boy seated crookedly in front of him would take it as an invitation to start chattering away at a speed that would give even the most accomplished of auctioneers a run for their money. Poor Logan could hardly keep up with his student, let alone settle him down long enough to get through even the first paragraph.

Finally, he had been forced to abandon his perfectly-crafted script in favour of a much less elegant approach: a simple and to-the-point list of questions. Though it physically pained Logan to abandon the result of so many tears shed and sleepless nights passed, he’d rather finish things the “alkali way” (or, as the cool kids preferred, the “basic way”) than never finish them at all. And if he’s going to talk anyway, Logan reasoned, I might as well give him something productive to talk about. Surely then we’ll be able to stay on-topic.

No such luck. Logan’s first question got no more than a noncommittal shrug before Parker — or was it Patrick? No, he was quite certain that the boy’s name was Parker — was off again, running his mouth a mile a minute, dropping awful puns and grammatically incorrect sentences all over the previously pristine carpet. The poor librarians would have some cleaning up to do later.

Okay, so plan B didn’t work either. Nothing to worry about, though, Logan pretended to believe. I’ve still got twenty-four letters to get through.

To be fair, Plan C was really more of a coping mechanism than an actual step-by-step plan. A surprisingly effective way of releasing pent-up stress and frustration, this longtime favourite involved imagining, in vivid detail, the source of that frustration being slowly and painfully fed into a running wood chipper.

What?

Some might think this cruel. Logan preferred to call it merciful; after all, at least he was limiting his vengeance to the hypothetical realm. An added bonus was that, in the interest of ensuring the utmost accuracy, it had compelled him to familiarize himself with the inner workings of wood chippers. So really, Plan C was a win-win for all parties involved.

As you might have guessed by now, dealing with annoying people never really had been Logan’s strong suit.

Actually, make that dealing with people in general. In hindsight, signing up to work with Sandford Secondary’s peer-to-peer tutoring program had definitely not been the best idea he’d ever had, in that case. Not because he wasn’t qualified — complex formulas and sentence structure he could handle in his sleep. But teaching those same concepts to a student who apparently had no intention of listening, he most certainly could not.

Really, Logan should have known better than to believe that he could ever be successful in any job that depended so much on one’s ability to work with others. Why couldn’t he have chosen something with more facts and numbers?

Facts and numbers were predictable. They always fit neatly into categories of right or wrong, true or false, black or white. Social interaction was so much messier. With no structure, no set of rules, and no procedure to follow, the whole thing was really nothing more than haphazard guesswork, a real-life game of hangman where every wrong word brings you one pen-stroke closer to game over. Bearing all that in mind, Logan had never understood how some people could so easily waltz up to strangers and just begin “bonding” like it was nothing.

And frankly, he didn’t particularly want to understand. Why would anyone choose to while away their life building those fragile houses of cards; vocabulary cards filled with only empty words? Did no one realise that a single misplaced breath is all would take to knock everything down in an instant? Why waste time trying desperately to convince your peers that you’re worth their love, when you could instead be hard at work earning their respect? In Logan’s experience, relationships of any kind — romantic, platonic, even familial — were always sloppy at best when built on love. Respect, on the other hand… respect was real.

This attitude, by the way, was an entirely objective worldview that had nothing to do with the fact that Logan didn’t exactly have many romantic or platonic relationships to choose from. Correlation, not causation.

Besides. Not that he cared.

Taking a deep breath, Logan forced himself to focus back on the session. (That makes one of us, he couldn’t help thinking.) Speaking of empty words… Parker, or Patrick, or whatever-his-name-was, had somehow been ceaselessly talking about corn for —  Logan checked his watch — over seven minutes now. They were getting nowhere, fast.

If Logan allowed the boy to keep this up, the two of them would end up leaving the library having accomplished absolutely nothing at all. That simply would not do. His student’s attitude may not be ideal, but he’d be damned if he let his own standards slip because of it.

After taking a brief pause to collect himself and his thoughts, Logan stood abruptly, causing the freckled boy to cut himself off mid-sentence.

Slowly, deliberately, he moved to stare out the large windows framing the section of the library where the two of them were seated, so that his back was turned and his face was hidden from the other boy.

Then, voice dripping with contempt, he spoke.

“Let me make one thing clear. I am not here to make friends, and neither should you be. I am here to teach, and as of yesterday, I was under the impression that you are here to learn. However, your behaviour so far has led me to believe that perhaps I was mistaken. For once in my life, I find myself praying that I will be proven wrong.

“Now, I don’t know what kind of merry tomfoolery you were expecting from our session today, but I do know exactly what I was expecting, and exactly what I have prepared for you. And since you clearly do not seem interested in steering this session anywhere productive, I suggest that you hand the reins to me and do exactly as I instruct from here on out. I have prepared a rigid agenda for how we will be spending this time together, and I intend to follow it. I expect you to do the same. Be aware that this agenda includes absolutely no icebreakers; we can’t afford to waste any more of our valuable lesson time, especially not on childish games.

“Starting right now, you will answer my questions so I can develop a plan for what we need to accomplish, and you will answer them without distraction. When you are not answering questions, you will hold your tongue like your entire future depends on it. Because it very well might. Is that understood —” just in time, he suddenly remembered the boy’s name — “is that understood, Patton?”

The following moment of quiet, the first one since Patton had stepped foot in the library, was answer enough for Logan.

“Good. I trust this will not be a discussion that we will need to have again, then.”

With that, Logan returned to his seat, carefully scrutinizing Patton once more to see if he could spot any differences. He didn’t need to try too hard. Patton’s transformation was so drastic, it was almost…  

Unnerving. The vigor from earlier had all but disappeared — thank goodness — but with its departure came a distinct dullness to the eyes framed in those round-rimmed glasses. And where Patton had previously been nearly falling out of his seat with barely contained energy, he now slumped inwards as if the words that Logan had spoken were actually physically crushing him.

At the sight, Logan couldn’t help but feel the tiniest glimmer of guilt. Perhaps he hadn’t needed to lay the scolding on quite so heavily. What if I overdid it?

A second later, Logan remembered he didn’t care.

Excellent. This shall be ideal. The brief moment of weakness over, Logan settled back down into the library’s comfortable couch. “What are your academic strengths?” he read off his notebook.

“Uhh, I’m… nice, sometimes. I guess.”  

Logan let out a deep sigh. A wood-chipper-shaped silhouette flickered in the back of his mind.

Most likely seeing his teacher’s disapproval of the vague answer, Patton hurried to add, “I mean, I can be pretty patient when it comes to worksheets. It always takes a really long time for me to finish my homework, so I… kind of have to be, you know?”

“Hm. Is that it?”

“That’s all I can come up with right now. Um, sorry.”

“I see.” Pencil scratched across paper as Logan scribbled down (a paraphrased version of) Patton’s response. In the otherwise unbroken silence, the sound grated loudly against Logan’s ears. He hurried to finish so he could move on to the next question. “Academic weaknesses?”

This time, Patton’s answered without even a moment’s hesitation. “Focus. Organization. Time management. Anything related to math or numbers, really. I’m not good at taking risks. My work is always sloppy and hard to read. It takes me a long time to wrap my head around new concepts.” He rattled off one item after another, a strange mix of confidence and detachment, almost as if reading off an invisible script that he’d already recited — or heard recited to him — many times before.

Logan wasn’t sure what to say to that. Here was another reason he hated socialising; people always had this odd tendency to hyper-fixate on what needed to be fixed rather than what they already had going for them, a tendency that Logan couldn’t imagine was healthy or even at all helpful. There’s so much beauty mixed in with the bad, and yet you choose to ignore it all? Worst of all, these senseless “social blinkers” meant that Logan had no chance of getting an accurate idea of Patton’s actual strengths and weaknesses. There was no way that every item on that list of shortcomings that Patton had just blazed through could actually apply, right?

Logan decided not to push the question, though; experience had taught him that calling others out on their poor logic didn’t often end well. I’ll just have to figure that part out myself, I suppose. Instead, he adjusted his thick glasses, wrote down one or two items from Patton’s list of weaknesses, and read aloud the next question.

And the next, and the next. They were really tearing through the conversation now; Patton’s answers seemed to get shorter and more succinct with every second that passed. Not that Logan was complaining. In fact, he was nothing but grateful for Patton’s newfound intense focus. It seemed his brief speech had done the trick.

Sooner than expected, a quiet trill interrupted the two of them. He checked his phone to see that his alarm had gone off. The session was over.

Had it really been two hours already? It had felt like so much less than that.

Shutting off the alarm, Logan turned to face his student. “Well, that marks the end of our session. I… appreciated your cooperation, Patton. We may have gotten off to a bit of a rocky start, but your focus in the second half of the session was sufficient to convince me that we won’t have too many problems from here on out.”

This time, Patton said nothing at all, settling instead for a wordless nod.

“Next week, I will have worksheets prepared for you. In the meantime, your homework is to write me a page, single-spaced, telling me a little bit more about short-and long-term educational goals. Full sentences only, please.” Logan flipped his notebook shut. “I look forward to reading your writing for the first time,” he lied.

In response, Patton picked up his backpack and started to walk away. He only made it about three steps, though, before turning back and opening his mouth. Logan waited.

The words never came. After the briefest of pauses, Patton’s mouth closed, lips pressed firmly together, perhaps to suppress whatever he’d been wanting to say.

As watched the child disappear around the corner, a thought arose unbidden:

For some reason, Patton seemed so much smaller leaving the library than he had looked when he was entering.

***

[next chapter]

A/N: Okay. Even though it's only chapter two, I have a LOT to say. Most of this is about the fic in general rather than the chapter, so... it's LONG. I'm sorry. In the interest of not putting you to sleep, let's speed-round this.

The first chapter of AAmour was the very first thing I ever wrote for the Sanders Sides fandom. I based that chapter almost ENTIRELY on a oneshot comic by @the-pastel-peach.

Two months later, I was planning for NaNoWriMo 2018 (a challenge where authors write 50k in 30 days). Long story short, I decided that I'd like to try finishing AAmour.

I didn't.

I did hit 50k, but I only made it to chapter ten. I still want to finish this thing though, so I've decided to edit and post what I already wrote, one chapter a month, and then write the second half of AAmour during NaNoWriMo 2019.

I'm already late with this first chapter because my dumb brain decided I needed to do a complete rewrite a week before posting, but in the future I'd like to post a chapter on the first day of every month.

Almost everything after chapter one is my own work. I say "almost" because I picked @residentanchor's brain a lot during the planning phase.

So yes, I may still be writing a high school AU, but this is no longer @the-pastel-peach​'s high school AU. Besides Logan's last name (I couldn’t resist -- the pun game was too strong) and the first chapter, any similarities to their version of the AU are completely coincidental; in fact, I've barely looked at theirs because I didn't want to risk any subconscious copying.

Also heeeeyyyyyy this is my 200th post that’s pretty nifty--

I think that about covers it. Thank you so, so much for reading -- both the chapter and my ridiculously long author’s note!! See you soon, lovelies. Take care <3

General tag list: @surleytemple @starryfirefliesbloggo @icecoldparadise @lyditist @fandom-random2405 @beach-fan @ihateitwhenyourejustvague @starryeyedhomicide

AAmour tag list: @romanticsanders @thatrandomautist @thelowlysatsuma @mirror2thespirit @pokii-jonas

Let me know if you’d like to be added to or removed from either tag list!

[bbparker]

Intertwining Your Soul (Thor Odinson) Soulmate AU

Summary: Thor is shocked when a soulmate tattoo begins to form on his arm. He goes to the Avengers for help but finds her there. What will Thor do when he has to choose between his soulmate and his love, Jane?

A/N: so this isn’t my best work and there will be a part 2! Also, I would have posted this yesterday but while looking for gifs I got lost in a few imagines that popped up ahaha

Warnings: Angst, soul-tearing - bruh

Words: Too many

Part 2 || MASTERLIST

Thor didn’t know what he was expecting when he returned to East after Loki’s death. The loss of his brother shook him to the core and he knew he would never be the same. The one good thing left was her, Jane, the love of his life.

He’d heard that mortals have something known as a ‘soulmate’ which is identified by the matching tattoos. The tattoos grew from the time you receive them at age 12 to the time you find your soulmate, then growing would stop. Some never found their soulmate which results in a whole limb being covered in the tattoo. 

Some peoples soulmates die and this results in their tattoo turning white. Jane’s soulmate had died a couple years ago and it was heart-wrenching, she managed to push on and eventually, she found him, Thor. But the tattoo from her past remained, staining her bicep in a range of white patterns.

 They say that the tattoos patterns link to the soul’s foundations and may even be able to predict the two should be future together- studies have been conducted but there can only be so much looked at; most of it is guesswork.

Sitting on the couch, with Jane next to him, they continued watching the strange program with various humans in a competition to out-cook one another. Looking down, Thor took in Janes side profile. Her long lashed fanned her cheeks and a slight redness tinged her cheeks. Chocolate brown eyes watched the program eagerly before finally her head turned towards Thor, having noticed his staring.

“What?” She asked laughing slightly at the odd behaviour. A sudden feeling of dread filled Thor without reason. 

“I love you.” He said eagerly, as if this would be the last chance to do so. As if it was on a cue, Thor began so feel an uncomfortable pain in his forearm. Looking at it, there was no physical sign there was anything wrong but the dreaded feeling remained. Thor watched his forearm intensely, Jane none the wiser, returned to her show after returning the saying. 

Yet again, Thor’s arm began burning, the pain was extensive and caused him to pull away from Jane and cradle his arm to his chest. 

“Thor? What’s wrong?”

“Something is wrong with my arm.” The pain began to simmer down, but that was all but for a moment as the burning returned ten fold. Falling to his knees, Thor’s mind was in a panic, Asguardian’s don’t feel such random bodily discomforts without a just cause. 

When the torment on his arm finally began to cool, leaving a dull ache, Thor noticed Jane’s slightly teary face.  Worried, he tried to reach out for her to let her know he was just fine but she flinched away. 

“T-thor? Let me see your arm.” This confused Thor. Standing, he held his arm out and let Janes hands caress it, staring at his arm heartbrokenly. Following her gaze, Thor saw an intricate pattern of three swirls connected in the middle. 

“Ah, this is an ancient symbol, one to show the three stages of life. Typically for women but…” Thor than realised, he’d never had any form of a tattoo before and this was the cause of his pain. Jane put her hand over her mouth in shock and backed away from Thor.

“You… you have a soulmate.”

“That isn’t possible, I am no mortal.”

“Thor, we need to find out who they are, where they are. Especially why this is happening now. You’ve been to Earth so many times, why is it appearing now?” Janes voice was clearly displaying the rising hysteria within her. 

“Jane, my love, calm down.” Resting his hands gently on her forearms, he bent down to her level.

“I’ll go to my friends and we’ll find out what happening and then I shall return and we’ll eat that flat meal you like so much!” Thor laughs heartily, not so worried about a thing like a tattoo. It meant nothing to him.

As soon as he calmed his Lady Jane down, Thor sped off to the Avengers tower, looking for an explanation. This couldn’t happen, no Asgardian had ever had a soulmate tattoo in all their histories. Landing on the pavement outside the tower, Thor trudged inside.

Steve came out of the kitchen towards the large footsteps of Thor. 

“Thor! Its good to see you, I didn’t know you were back on Earth.” Grasping each other’s forearms in the usual warrior way, Thor sadly nodded. 

“Unfortunately, it is not with good news. I need to see Banner and Stark immediately.”

Steve led him straight to the lab where the men were working on locating a certain item. “Stark, Banner.” Thor greeted.

“Point-break!” “Hey Thor, what brings you to Earth?” Banner says, completely ignoring Tony.

“Well, I’ve been here a while after the death of my brother, Loki.”

“Finally!- I mean so sorry for your loss…” Tony began but shutting up when he realised it had actually taken a toll on Thor. Bruce shook his head and turned back to Thor, “so what can we do for you?” Thor showed them his arm containing the three connecting swirls that were slowly growing. 

Thor could see it actually moving within his skin and it disgusted him. 

“How do I get it off?”

“Thor…” Bruce whispered taking in the sight of the man’s arm.

 “How long have you had this?” Thor frowned. 

“Just today, why?”

Bruce shared a look with Tony. “Thor soulmate tattoos grow with you from age 12 and start off as a single black line slowly growing-“ 

“Yes, I know of this. Jane has explained this to me. What are you trying to say?”

“Thor, you’re tattoo is a day old, it shouldn’t be this big. We can see it growing as well, that’s not normal.” Frowning, Thor puts his hands on his hips. 

“What does it mean?”

“You’re Asgardian, so it could have sped it up..?” Tony finally inputs.

“No, I don’t think it’s that. I have two theories. The first is that you have never been on Earth long enough for your soul mark tattoo to develop and its just making up for lost time, or…”

“Or?”

“I mean…its been theorised that when a person’s other half is about to die or close to death, your tattoo with grow exponentially and fate will speed up your time to get you to meet earlier than intended.”

“I don’t get it.” Thor said, leaning back on a table while crossing his arms. Tony sighed, leaning on the table muttering ‘shit’ constantly while Steve just frowned and copied Thor’s stance. Bruce looked around the room before fixing his glasses and fiddling with his shirt.  

“Thor, you’re soulmate is going to die soon and they might not even know it, but you do. The fact you have a tattoo at all is amazing...”

“You know this looks familiar… I’ve seen it somewhere before…” Tony was closely inspecting the tattoo, trying to understand where he’s seen it before.

“How do we find-“

“I’m so sorry I’m late!” A lady in heels walked in a bit frazzled from rushing to get here. Not even noticing the situation, she began placing all her files on the desk and blabbering away at the silent men, not realising the situation she seemed to have stumbled into. 

“The traffic was horrific on the way up here, typical New York am I right? And then I couldn’t find a carpark, I was almost tempted to just crash and park in the lobby if it took any longer.” Walking over to her station, the genius in heels was unaware of the four super-men currently staring at her from across the room.

“I mean tony you have a lot of money, you think you could put in some more car parks under the building or something? Not all of us can fly in, ya know?” Finally placing her bag down and pulling out a file before walking over and putting it in front of Tony, she continued talking. As she did so, she weaved throughout the group, completely ignorant to the extra Avenger. 

“Also, someone scorched your parent outside the building and I swear it wasn’t me and my fire this time. Poor Jerry’s going to be so upset about his road, he works so hard…” (Y/n), in her professional long sleeved t-shirt and fitted jeans, only just noticed the silence in the unusually loud lab.

Turning around, she spotted Thor.  

“Holy shit!” Smacking Tony on the chest, (y/n) mumbled. 

“Why didn’t you tell me the best Avenger was visiting today?” She mock whispered, not taking her eyes of Thor. A round of shocked and playful hurt gasps spread around the room. Thor smirked and crossed his arms, looking down at (y/n). He couldn’t deny she was a beautiful woman, it almost appeared she didn’t belong here on Earth, rather on Asgard. 

Hand on his chest, Steve laughed, “I’m hurt (y/n) I always thought I was your favourite.”

“Oh honey, you are something else entirely.” (Y/n) gave a wink and a sultry smile causing Steve to smile, blush slightly and then look away; not wanting to be caught in her gaze. Something about the interaction irked Thor the wrong way and he didn’t like the feeling.

“Hello, Thor, God of thunder and Prince of Asgard, what brings you to this… uh, establishment?”  (Y/n) waved her hands around and stepped closer to Thor, looking into his eyes. Her eyes were seemingly taunting him and as he stared longer he saw images. Images of himself and Loki. Loki bleeding on the floor- Thor looked away quickly causing (y/n) to smirk.  

“Sorry about that.” She whispered, before taking a step back though her smirk said everything but. 

“My name is (y/n) (y/l/n) but you can call me Fuka pronounced fee-you-ka, not fooka, not full-ker and most definitely not fucker. I control heat/fire and happen to be able to see peoples worst nightmares. So, don’t stare at my eyes too long, as you just learnt, or you might be seeing your worst nightmare.” Tony smirked before she held out her hand for friendly terms. Something seemed to snap together in Tony’s mind and instantly he reached out towards the two.

 “No, wait!” But it was too late the two were shaking hands and a heat seemed to spread between the two. (Y/n) understanding instantly and smiling brighter than any of them had ever seen. Thor was just confused. 

“What just happened?” Releasing (y/n) caused a slight ache within himself that he couldn’t control. It was strange… the need to be close to her was almost dire. 

“You just sealed her fate by beginning the bond process…” Tony sighed.

They all thought of (y/n) like a sister ever since a couple months ago when she terrified a whole town by accident in the first stages of developing her powers. The Avengers stepped in and eventually calmed her down and invited her to the team. She was extremely intelligent within the field of molecular biology and technology. Now she was an Avenger and apparently now Thor’s soulmate.

“Sealed my fate? What?” Thor’s mind seemed to grip onto every word that fell from plump lips. Sensing his staring (y/n) looked to Thor and gave him a wink. Thor snapped out of his stupor and looked towards Tony for answers.

“Look at his tattoo.” She grabbed his arm, causing Thor to jolt with the electricity running from her fingertips to his arm.

“Holy shit, well, either I’m doomed or you have been on Earth longer than you usually are.” Running her hand over the vines spreading from the triple spiral, Thor gasped. This was meant to be sensual, Jane had explained that one’s soulmate touching the tattoo was a private and special affair. Yet, (y/n) had no problem touching it in front of their team members.

Both Steve and Bruce were looking away from the pair awkwardly, confirming Thor’s thoughts that this was something private. Blushing, (y/n) pulled away knowing that’s not something to be done in the presence of others. Thor kindly smiled down at her.

 Something within him was pulling him towards her, ‘it must be the soulmate bond’ he thought.

“That’s what I said (y/n), but there’s no way to tell. So we’ll have to see.” Seeing the two soulmates standing quietly taking peeks at each other, Bruce began walking over to the door. 

“C’mon lets give them room to go over some things.” 

“But this is my lab! Shouldn’t they find a room?” 

“C’mon Tony,” Steve said, pulling Tony with him. 

“Keep your clothes on kids! Make good choices!” Tony shouted as he was dragged out.

“So, you’re my soulmate?” Thor said awkwardly. 

“Yup…”

Both couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other but neither knew what to say. “May I… May I see your-“ 

“My tattoo? Yeah sure.” Rolling up her sleeve, Thor now saw the extent his tattoo was bound to grow to. The Triskelion was on her forearm, like Thor’s, but the vines and various Nordic symbols that covered her whole forearm was extent. Thor gasped, his was nothing compared to (y/n)’s.��

Walking forward, without asking, Thor held her arm delicately and brought it close to his face to inspect. He recognised quite a lot of the symbols adorning her arm. (Y/n) gasped when he ran a light finder over a certain snake symbol, and almost moaned. The soulmate tattoo was extremely sensitive to your soulmates touch, which is why it was always something done in private.

“I apologise, its just that-“ 

“It’s Loki, the god of mischiefs symbol. I know.” Looking up from her arm, Thor realised how close her face was to his. 

“I did my research, I was curious as to why my soulmate’s soul encased a lot of Norse mythology, but I can see why now.” (Y/n) breathed. Their faces slowly drifted closer, “…since you’re a Norse…god” 

Her breathes came quicker anticipating his soft lips upon his. (Y/n) closed her eyes, feeling his slight breath on her lips. So close and yet a gust of air made her eyes slam open. (Y/n) was alone in the lab… her soulmate gone without a goodbye.

——

Thor landed on Jane’s balcony, stumbling. Something within him was breaking and making him feel light headed. 

“Jane..” He whispered. 

“Jane!” Thor called for his love. Jane came stumbling out with Darcy in tow and upon seeing Thor on the ground she was quick to help. 

“Thor!” 

“Mir-mir!” Jane just looked at Darcy, “what? No time for exclusion?”

Noticing Thor’s weakened state, Jane and Darcy  grabbed an arm each and managed to move Thor to the couch. Darcy was quick to get some water and a facecloth. 

“What happened, Thor?” Jane knelt next to the couch Thor was perched on, as he was laying down and kindly brushed his hair away from his face. 

“Did you find out about your markings?” Thor only nodded, unable to look Jane in the eyes because every time he did, he saw (y/n)’s beautiful- no he wasn’t going to think about her. Thor loved Jane, damned be to the fates. 

“What did they say?”

“I met her, Jane. She was there.” Jane pulled away slightly. 

“D-did you come back to tell me you’re breaking up with me?” Thor sat up abruptly, “No, my love. You are the one I love, the fates be damned.” 

Janes smiled sadly and let tears pool. 

“Thor, you can’t. As much as I love you, it is not worth losing you.” Thor became confused, why was Jane pushing him away when he was choosing her? His greatest love?

“Thor we can deny our soulmates but we can die in the process. Just look at you, you’ve been away from her an hour and you’re nearly deteriorating. Not many people come away mentally or physically stable. It’s like tearing yourself in two-“ 

“I’ll do it! For you, for us- always.” And then he kissed her.

———

Back at the lab (y/n) still stood confused before something like a sledgehammer hit her in the chest. He was denying the bond and as he gets further away from her, the more it hurts (y/n).

“JARVIS….” (Y/n) barely called, sinking to the floor. The edges of her vision were slowly turning black.

“Hold on miss, they are on their w-“ (Y/N) blacked out.

When she woke up, (y/n) woke up screaming. The burning in her chest and arm was like someone sawing her arm and stabbing her chest simultaneously. 

“THOR!” She screamed. Various voices came through but she ignored all of them. Her body told her she was dying, her mind screamed and her powers curled around her in anger at Thor. 

“Hold her down!”

“We can’t or she might set the whole room alight!”

“Get the sedatives!”

“No! Someone find the fucking prick!”

“Tony!”

“Look what he’s doing to her!”

“What’s happening Tony, Bruce?!” A panicked Steve Rogers entered the room hearing the deafening screams from around the compound.

“Thor must have gone against his bond and, I don’t know, made contact with another female before they sealed their bond!”

“You mean he’s with Jane right now?”

The sedatives kicked in and it was like drifting in an ocean. (Y/n) felt at peace floating in her black ocean of nothingness. Here she could still think but was unaware of her own body.

How could Thor reject her? Did he know how this worked? If he denied her, if he got through this part he would live on, but there was a high chance she wouldn’t survive having her soul torn in half. 

Finally giving in, (y/n) fell into a dark abyss.

On the outside, the men suddenly stopped at the heart monitor went flat.

 “Oh no.” Tony and Bruce hurridly started up the defibrillator.

“Charging… five hundred… clear!” 

TAGS ARE NOT OPEN

[investmentguide777]

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[psychicanchortimemachine]

How Indigo. Design Testing Usability Takes The Guesswork Of Web DesignHow Indigo. Design Testing Usa

Usability is important for a website’s success, but it could be hard to nail down in early layout and improvement stages without a little assist.

It’s now not as even though the research and preparation you do for a new website won’t come up with insights on the way to build something that’s both stunning and functional. And having a rock-strong design device and designer-developer handoff will certainly assist you bring satisfactory manipulate and consistency in your web page.

However, it’s no longer always enough.

While you could make studies-sponsored assumptions about how traffic will respond in your internet site or app, it’s all theory until you get it into the palms of real users.

Today, I need to examine the procedure of usability testing: what it is, while you ought to use it and how to generate facts-backed insights while developing your website using Indigo.Design.

What Is Usability Testing?

Usability trying out is a technique used to assess how easy it is to get round a internet site or app and to complete particular tasks.

It puts the focal point on what humans do instead than gather critiques on how they like the design. In different words, usability testing allows you to gather behavioral comments to ensure the website truely does what it’s speculated to do.

To behavior a usability test, you need to place your site or app within the palms of target users. The records gathered from these exams will then help you reshape the site into something that’s streamlined and better tailored in your users’ preferred journey.

Usability Testing With Indigo.Design

You can start conducting usability assessments as early because the prototyping degree. And, really, minimum feasible merchandise are the pleasant types of websites and apps to test as it’s less expensive to iterate while you’re nonetheless in development. Plus, user remarks at this early level will preserve you from losing time building out capabilities or content that users don’t need or want. To be clear, we’re not speaking approximately soliciting opinions from stakeholders. What we want to realize is whether or no longer real users can use your internet site or app successfully.

Just maintain in mind that you want to convey a conceivable prototype to the table. That means: A prototype that’s rich sufficient to guide the usability responsibilities you’re going to check.A medium-constancy solution that strikes the proper stability among empty-shell-of-a-internet site and ready-for-launch. It might not be pretty, but it has to be interactive.

1. ADD YOUR PROTOTYPE TO INDIGO.DESIGN

Adding prototypes to

Indigo

.Design is easy. The first choice is to add a prototype out of your computer. The following record codecs are accepted: PNG,JPG,GIF,Sketch.

The second alternative is to feature the Indigo.Design plugin to Sketch and sync your prototypes to the cloud. If you’re going to apply this device to simplify handoff, this plugin is going to be a huge time saver.

Once your prototype is loaded, hover over it and click “Edit Prototype”.

If you haven’t but confirmed that every one interactions are properly installation internal Sketch, you can do that from in the Indigo. If the interactions aren’t properly set up, contend with that now. Create the hotspot on the interface at the left and then drag it to the corresponding card on the right to create an interaction.

2. CREATE A NEW USABILITY TEST

From the identical dashboard wherein

prototypes

are uploaded, you’ll begin your first usability take a look at. You can try this from considered one of places. You can hover over the prototype you need to check and create a brand new one.

The other alternative is to go to the Usability Tests tab and begin the check there. This is wherein you will in the end go to control your usability assessments and to check your take a look at results, too. Essentially, what you need to do with this tool is:

Determine which “tasks” you want to test. These should be crucial steps that get your customers to finish preferred goals (theirs and yours). For example, with this being a finance control app, I anticipate users to in general use this to create new budgets for themselves.

To create the “expected achievement direction”, you need to interact together with your prototype precisely as you’d count on and need your users to on the stay product. Walk via your internet site or app on the proper a part of the screen. When you’re done, confirm your work at the left earlier than transferring directly to create different tasks you’ll be including in the take a look at.

3. PUT THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON YOUR TEST

Creating tasks by myself won’t be enough to acquire the kind of statistics you need out of your customers.

For instance, if that is an MVP, you might want to provide an explanation for that the revel in can also sense a little tough or to provide history on the answer itself (why you’ve built it, what you’re trying to do with it) so they’re not distracted with the aid of the design. Don’t worry about your users misplacing these details of their e-mail invitation. There’s a place to encompass these notes inside the context of your usability take a look at. Go to the “Test Settings” tab:

Under “Messaging to expose participants”, this offers you the opportunity to encompass a welcome message with your check. This may be a blanket welcome statement or you may provide more context on the tasks in case you experience it’s needed. The thank-you declaration is also useful as it offers an end-cap to the check. You can both thank them for their time or you may offer them with the next steps or information on what to expect about the product (maybe there are more usability exams to come). Before I circulate on, I need to fast call your interest to the “Success Criteria” toggle at the top of this section: Test SettingWhen enabled, this setting best permits for two effects: PassFail

I’d say that you should depart this toggle set to “Off” in case you want this device to help you detect alternative paths. I’ll display you what which means in just a little bit. For now, it’s time to grab your usability take a look at link and begin sharing it with your participants. 4. REVIEW YOUR USABILITY TEST RESULTS

Your test consequences can always be found beneath your Usability Tests dashboard in Indigo.Design.

If you’re logging into the platform, you’ll discover an outline of all your take a look at results, past and present. You can get a greater in-depth take a look at your effects by means of commencing the check.

On the left, you’ll see your test outcomes by using task. They’re broken up into: Success rate: The percentage of users that took the precise steps you defined for the task.Accomplished task: The range of users that completed the task. If you didn’t enable “Success Criteria”, this result will display all customers who took the expected achievement route as properly as alternative success paths.

Avg. Time on task: The quantity of time it took customers to get through the task.

From this alone, you could tell pretty a chunk approximately the route you’ve laid before your customers and how properly-tuned it's miles to their mindsets and needs. However, the right facet of the display screen offers us a higher have a look at in which things may also have long past awry and why.

The top a part of the screen shows us the unique steps we laid down. Anywhere there’s a purple mark and various in crimson is where our test topics deviated from that course. This is much extra effective than heatmap checking out which best truly gives us a general concept of wherein the customers’ recognition is. This truely shows us that there’s some thing either incorrect with the layout of the page or possibly the content itself is poorly categorised and confusing. Let’s look a bit closer at the lowest of the display screen and the course information we need to play with: Blue circles represent predicted interactions,

Red diamonds represent sudden interactions,

Orange squares represent that the participant requested help.

This shows us what the predicted success course gave the look of and how long it took to complete on average. You can click on the stats for “Alt. Success Path” and “Failed Path” to view how matters went in your different participants.

When we allow leeway in phrases of achievement criteria, we get a chance to see the alternative fulfillment paths. This is useful for multiple reasons. First, if there are sufficient users who took the equal route and there were more of them than the ones at the success course, it might be well worth reshaping the pathway entirely. If the opportunity path is extra logical and efficient, it might make experience to dispose of the course much less traveled. Secondly, the alternative success direction together with the failed path indicates us wherein friction happens along the way. This enables us to see wherein our customers’ breaking points surely are. Not that we ever need to push our customers to the edge, but it’s top to have a experience of what varieties of interactions just don’t work. For instance, let’s say one of the buttons calls for a right-click in place of a ordinary click. I recognize this is some thing I’ve encountered in some tools and it drives me nuts due to the fact it’s almost continually unexpected and counterintuitive. I wouldn’t abandon the experience over it, however your customers might. So, via comparing the opportunity achievement direction with the failed course, you may figure out what those styles of deal-breakers are much extra easily.

LOOK A LITTLE DEEPER

I realize the numbers and pathway steps are simply important to examine however don’t forget to examine the different facts left at the back of by means of your participants. For instance, in case your customers enabled browser recording, you could “Play Video” and watch them in reality go through it. If now not, you could nevertheless use the “View course” link to watch the real steps they took (in the event that they weren’t the anticipated blue-circle steps).

This particular view is probably extra beneficial to you than video since you could music the real clicks on each static page. Not handiest do you see every a part of the website wherein they clicked, however you furthermore mght see in which order they made those clicks. And like I said before, if you could identify developments in which these alternative fulfillment paths or failed paths took your users, you could greater quickly stamp out problems in your web design. It’s only when those clicks are throughout the area or users give up on finishing any of the responsibilities which you have a real problem.

Wrapping Up

Using a design device does now not robotically imply correct usability. You want a good way to design more than simply always beautiful UIs. That’s what’s so satisfactory about the answer we’ve simply seemed at. With usability testing constructed into Indigo.Design, the focus isn’t simply on delivery pixel-best websites. Whether you intend on doing moderated or unmoderated usability testing, you currently have a device which could as it should be map your customers’ journeys and the problems they would in any other case face.

As a reputed Software Solutions Developer we have expertise in providing dedicated remote and outsourced technical resources for software services at very nominal cost. Besides experts in full stacks We also build web solutions, mobile apps and work on system integration, performance enhancement, cloud migrations and big data analytics. Don’t hesitate to

get in touch with us!

[technicallyelegantruins]

How Indigo. Design Testing Usability Takes The Guesswork Of Web DesignHow Indigo. Design Testing Usa

Usability is important for a website’s success, but it could be hard to nail down in early layout and improvement stages without a little assist.

It’s now not as even though the research and preparation you do for a new website won’t come up with insights on the way to build something that’s both stunning and functional. And having a rock-strong design device and designer-developer handoff will certainly assist you bring satisfactory manipulate and consistency in your web page.

However, it’s no longer always enough.

While you could make studies-sponsored assumptions about how traffic will respond in your internet site or app, it’s all theory until you get it into the palms of real users.

Today, I need to examine the procedure of usability testing: what it is, while you ought to use it and how to generate facts-backed insights while developing your website using Indigo.Design.

What Is Usability Testing?

Usability trying out is a technique used to assess how easy it is to get round a internet site or app and to complete particular tasks.

It puts the focal point on what humans do instead than gather critiques on how they like the design. In different words, usability testing allows you to gather behavioral comments to ensure the website truely does what it’s speculated to do.

To behavior a usability test, you need to place your site or app within the palms of target users. The records gathered from these exams will then help you reshape the site into something that’s streamlined and better tailored in your users’ preferred journey.

Usability Testing With Indigo.Design

You can start conducting usability assessments as early because the prototyping degree. And, really, minimum feasible merchandise are the pleasant types of websites and apps to test as it’s less expensive to iterate while you’re nonetheless in development. Plus, user remarks at this early level will preserve you from losing time building out capabilities or content that users don’t need or want. To be clear, we’re not speaking approximately soliciting opinions from stakeholders. What we want to realize is whether or no longer real users can use your internet site or app successfully.

Just maintain in mind that you want to convey a conceivable prototype to the table. That means: A prototype that’s rich sufficient to guide the usability responsibilities you’re going to check.A medium-constancy solution that strikes the proper stability among empty-shell-of-a-internet site and ready-for-launch. It might not be pretty, but it has to be interactive.

1. ADD YOUR PROTOTYPE TO INDIGO.DESIGN

Adding prototypes to

Indigo

.Design is easy. The first choice is to add a prototype out of your computer. The following record codecs are accepted: PNG,JPG,GIF,Sketch.

The second alternative is to feature the Indigo.Design plugin to Sketch and sync your prototypes to the cloud. If you’re going to apply this device to simplify handoff, this plugin is going to be a huge time saver.

Once your prototype is loaded, hover over it and click “Edit Prototype”.

If you haven’t but confirmed that every one interactions are properly installation internal Sketch, you can do that from in the Indigo. If the interactions aren’t properly set up, contend with that now. Create the hotspot on the interface at the left and then drag it to the corresponding card on the right to create an interaction.

2. CREATE A NEW USABILITY TEST

From the identical dashboard wherein

prototypes

are uploaded, you’ll begin your first usability take a look at. You can try this from considered one of places. You can hover over the prototype you need to check and create a brand new one.

The other alternative is to go to the Usability Tests tab and begin the check there. This is wherein you will in the end go to control your usability assessments and to check your take a look at results, too. Essentially, what you need to do with this tool is:

Determine which “tasks” you want to test. These should be crucial steps that get your customers to finish preferred goals (theirs and yours). For example, with this being a finance control app, I anticipate users to in general use this to create new budgets for themselves.

To create the “expected achievement direction”, you need to interact together with your prototype precisely as you’d count on and need your users to on the stay product. Walk via your internet site or app on the proper a part of the screen. When you’re done, confirm your work at the left earlier than transferring directly to create different tasks you’ll be including in the take a look at.

3. PUT THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON YOUR TEST

Creating tasks by myself won’t be enough to acquire the kind of statistics you need out of your customers.

For instance, if that is an MVP, you might want to provide an explanation for that the revel in can also sense a little tough or to provide history on the answer itself (why you’ve built it, what you’re trying to do with it) so they’re not distracted with the aid of the design. Don’t worry about your users misplacing these details of their e-mail invitation. There’s a place to encompass these notes inside the context of your usability take a look at. Go to the “Test Settings” tab:

Under “Messaging to expose participants”, this offers you the opportunity to encompass a welcome message with your check. This may be a blanket welcome statement or you may provide more context on the tasks in case you experience it’s needed. The thank-you declaration is also useful as it offers an end-cap to the check. You can both thank them for their time or you may offer them with the next steps or information on what to expect about the product (maybe there are more usability exams to come). Before I circulate on, I need to fast call your interest to the “Success Criteria” toggle at the top of this section: Test SettingWhen enabled, this setting best permits for two effects: PassFail

I’d say that you should depart this toggle set to “Off” in case you want this device to help you detect alternative paths. I’ll display you what which means in just a little bit. For now, it’s time to grab your usability take a look at link and begin sharing it with your participants. 4. REVIEW YOUR USABILITY TEST RESULTS

Your test consequences can always be found beneath your Usability Tests dashboard in Indigo.Design.

If you’re logging into the platform, you’ll discover an outline of all your take a look at results, past and present. You can get a greater in-depth take a look at your effects by means of commencing the check.

On the left, you’ll see your test outcomes by using task. They’re broken up into: Success rate: The percentage of users that took the precise steps you defined for the task.Accomplished task: The range of users that completed the task. If you didn’t enable “Success Criteria”, this result will display all customers who took the expected achievement route as properly as alternative success paths.

Avg. Time on task: The quantity of time it took customers to get through the task.

From this alone, you could tell pretty a chunk approximately the route you’ve laid before your customers and how properly-tuned it's miles to their mindsets and needs. However, the right facet of the display screen offers us a higher have a look at in which things may also have long past awry and why.

The top a part of the screen shows us the unique steps we laid down. Anywhere there’s a purple mark and various in crimson is where our test topics deviated from that course. This is much extra effective than heatmap checking out which best truly gives us a general concept of wherein the customers’ recognition is. This truely shows us that there’s some thing either incorrect with the layout of the page or possibly the content itself is poorly categorised and confusing. Let’s look a bit closer at the lowest of the display screen and the course information we need to play with: Blue circles represent predicted interactions,

Red diamonds represent sudden interactions,

Orange squares represent that the participant requested help.

This shows us what the predicted success course gave the look of and how long it took to complete on average. You can click on the stats for “Alt. Success Path” and “Failed Path” to view how matters went in your different participants.

When we allow leeway in phrases of achievement criteria, we get a chance to see the alternative fulfillment paths. This is useful for multiple reasons. First, if there are sufficient users who took the equal route and there were more of them than the ones at the success course, it might be well worth reshaping the pathway entirely. If the opportunity path is extra logical and efficient, it might make experience to dispose of the course much less traveled. Secondly, the alternative success direction together with the failed path indicates us wherein friction happens along the way. This enables us to see wherein our customers’ breaking points surely are. Not that we ever need to push our customers to the edge, but it’s top to have a experience of what varieties of interactions just don’t work. For instance, let’s say one of the buttons calls for a right-click in place of a ordinary click. I recognize this is some thing I’ve encountered in some tools and it drives me nuts due to the fact it’s almost continually unexpected and counterintuitive. I wouldn’t abandon the experience over it, however your customers might. So, via comparing the opportunity achievement direction with the failed course, you may figure out what those styles of deal-breakers are much extra easily.

LOOK A LITTLE DEEPER

I realize the numbers and pathway steps are simply important to examine however don’t forget to examine the different facts left at the back of by means of your participants. For instance, in case your customers enabled browser recording, you could “Play Video” and watch them in reality go through it. If now not, you could nevertheless use the “View course” link to watch the real steps they took (in the event that they weren’t the anticipated blue-circle steps).

This particular view is probably extra beneficial to you than video since you could music the real clicks on each static page. Not handiest do you see every a part of the website wherein they clicked, however you furthermore mght see in which order they made those clicks. And like I said before, if you could identify developments in which these alternative fulfillment paths or failed paths took your users, you could greater quickly stamp out problems in your web design. It’s only when those clicks are throughout the area or users give up on finishing any of the responsibilities which you have a real problem.

Wrapping Up

Using a design device does now not robotically imply correct usability. You want a good way to design more than simply always beautiful UIs. That’s what’s so satisfactory about the answer we’ve simply seemed at. With usability testing constructed into Indigo.Design, the focus isn’t simply on delivery pixel-best websites. Whether you intend on doing moderated or unmoderated usability testing, you currently have a device which could as it should be map your customers’ journeys and the problems they would in any other case face.

As a reputed Software Solutions Developer we have expertise in providing dedicated remote and outsourced technical resources for software services at very nominal cost. Besides experts in full stacks We also build web solutions, mobile apps and work on system integration, performance enhancement, cloud migrations and big data analytics. Don’t hesitate to

get in touch with us!

[nomanaliseo]

8 Reasons Why ERP Software is Important in 2021

With the global ERP software market expected to be worth $41.69 billion by the beginning of 2021, the impact of these systems is evident. While that number is impressive, those who’ve never used the software may find it difficult to understand why ERP Software is important to their business. But as globalization squeezes the market for many industries, it’s essential to seek out any and all tools to give your business a competitive edge. For many companies, this is achieved through the use of ERP.

Benefits

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is used by organizations looking to manage their business functions within a centralized and integrated system. ERP Software is commonly used by companies working within the supply chain to help keep track of all the moving parts of manufacturing and distribution. However, ERP can be utilized by a number of different industries including those in healthcare, nonprofit groups, construction and hospitality. Organization needing to manage their staff, customers and inventory can all rely on ERP Software benefits.

ERP Software stores all entered data into a single database, allowing all departments to work with the same information. Additionally, all this data can be organized, analyzed and made into reports. ERP brings together customer management, human resources, business intelligence, financial management, inventory and supply chain capabilities into one system.

Why ERP Software is Important

Enterprise resource planning software is used to manage a number of business functions, but how is it any better than other solutions? Even though ERP may have similar goals to other solutions, its unique features make it a distinctive competitor in the software market. Here are the eight reasons why the importance of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems should be considered by any organization:

1. More Money Saved

Although many vendors have introduced flexible pricing in recent years, ERP packages are still a big investment. For many, the large costs alone can make it seem unlikely that the program would end up saving your organization any money at all. But once you get past the sticker shock, it’s easier to see how ERP can provide an excellent ROI.

First, ERP unifies many of the systems that may currently be fragmented in your organization. From product development to accounts payable, your staff will be able to access all the necessary tools for their job from one centralized system.

By unifying systems, you help your staff utilize their time more efficiently. With ERP, users don’t have to hunt down a piece of information across multiple systems. With the central database, information is much easier to retrieve. Moreover, your organization saves money with ERP by eliminating the need for users to be trained on several systems. This not only reduces the amount of money spent on training but also reduces the logistical effort involved. Instead of scheduling several training sessions with several different vendors, you only need to communicate with one.

2. Improved Collaboration

The features of ERP applications can vary slightly depending on the program you are using, but generally, all systems improve collaboration in some way. As mentioned before, the centralized database is an integral part of what makes an ERP unique. With this database, you provide your company with a single source of truth to work from. This reduces any errors brought on by working with the incorrect data, further reducing costs.

Moreover, a central database reduces any hesitation or stalling during projects, since all team members have access to the company-wide data they need. Additionally, there’s no need to merge information across various systems or sources. Because all of the data is compiled, stored, shared and accessed through a single system, there is no concern about how accurate, complete or secure the data files are.

This isn’t as easy to say if perhaps your team is entering the same client information over and over again into several different systems. Without an ERP, you invite human error into your processes when it could easily be avoided.

3. Better Analytics

A central database of information also aids in improving your analytics and reporting. Since an ERP Software records and stores all the data users input, it makes for an excellent business intelligence tool. As long as your vendor provides strong functionality, ERP software makes it easier and faster for your team to generate various reports. Reports that could take days of research and compilation without an ERP takes just minutes.

Most ERP solutions provide a customizable dashboard so executives can see reports when they first log into the system. These reports may include everything from income and expense statements to custom KPIs that offer insight into certain functions. The ability to have access to these reports quickly enables you and your team to make better decisions more quickly. You no longer need to rely on your IT staff to generate the reports that you need. Lastly, reports typically come with access levels, ensuring only relevant staff see valuable company data.

4. Improved Productivity

With traditional methods, tedious tasks are completely unavoidable. Tasks like generating reports, monitoring inventory levels, timesheet tracking and processing orders have historically taken employees hours to accomplish. In addition to taking up time, these processes lower employee morale and open yourself up to human error. After the umpteenth hour of entering the same line of data into different forms, even the best staff members are bound to make a mistake.

If you choose the right solution, an ERP can automate your most tedious tasks. The database within ERP software eliminates redundant tasks such as data entry and allows the system to perform advanced calculations within minutes. This frees up your team members’ time to do more thoughtful work, increasing your ROI when it comes to labor. From this, ERP increases your organization’s productivity, efficiency and profitability.

5. Happier Customers

Managing your customers has never been so important. In our digital age, more and more people are turning to the internet to receive advice on what clothes to wear, what food to eat and how to live their lives. And with 84 percent of consumers trusting online reviews as much as they would a friend, previous customer opinions are more impactful than ever.

The best way to improve customer satisfaction is to provide client-centered goods and services. ERP provides this in a few different ways. First, most ERP are equipped with a customer relationship management (CRM) tool or can be easily integrated with one. With an ERP, your CRM has access to data across business functions.

Along with contact information, an integrated CRM can show you details such as order history and billing information. This enables your team to see your clients more holistically to gain a better understanding of their wants and needs. The increased customer visibility helps you formulate your sales strategy for improved lead generation.

6. Simplified Compliance and Risk Management

As companies grow and do business in different countries, it can be difficult to keep track of all the different regulations imposed on your business. Even local companies need to worry about various environmental, information security and human resources regulations.

Luckily, many ERP offerings are built with these regulations in mind to help you maintain compliance at every stage. Moreover, ERP software provides built-in auditing tools to assist with documenting things like chemical use and tax provisions. This makes it incredibly easy to formulate reports and send them over to the relevant governing body.

Additionally, ERP often provides tools to manage risk. This solution’s enhanced reliability and accuracy improve overall financial management since there’s less chance for errors during accounting. Forecasting tools also allow users to predict events when it comes to demand, labor and budget. With this information in hand, you can create more secure budgets, schedules and product development plans.

7. Improved Inventory Monitoring

A major challenge for growing companies is tracking and monitoring their expanding inventory levels. ERP utilizes barcoding, RFID tags and serial numbers to keep tabs on your inventory at every stage during the supply chain. These tools help you keep track of inventory levels at different warehouses, which items are in transportation and which items are on the shelves ready for consumers. The increased warehouse visibility optimizes the pick, pack and ship process greatly, removing all the guesswork.

Inventory monitoring also bolsters reporting, as tracking technologies provide more accurate numbers. Users can configure custom KPIs to see which products move the fastest — showing greater demand — and which increase carrying costs. With the greater precision provided by ERP, warehouse managers can get real-time data on their inventory to make more accurate business decisions.

8. Improved Production Planning and Resource Management

Along with managing your inventory, ERP also manages manufacturing. ERP provides insight into all manufacturing operations including the shop floor. This enables users to optimize production schedules, equipment and labor to maximize capacity.

Additionally, ERP manages your Bill of Materials (BOM) and fixed assets. With this software, users can easily create and edit BOMs along with keep track of all previous changes. Fixed asset management allows users to schedule equipment maintenance to reduce unexpected downtime, improving your profitability and supply chain relationships.

Bottom Line

The importance of ERP Software far outweighs the initial cost, time and effort involved in implementation if you choose the right solution. With enough careful research and thoughtful consideration, you’ll find ERP uses that provide all the benefits listed above painting a picture for why ERP is important to a company.