#Azure Conditional Access

[richardmhicks]

Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access

Last week Microsoft introduced new Security Service Edge (SSE) capabilities as part of the Microsoft Entra suite of technologies. Included in these announcements, Microsoft introduced the public preview of two new secure remote access technologies – Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Microsoft Entra Private Access. The latter of these will particularly interest Microsoft Always On VPN…

[bewitched-hours]

Hello there ! first of al you are realy cool writet:D

and second of all can l have small request so l have idea fantasy!forsaken /Yan!azuretime ×lapis lazuli reader like reader is a water gem robloxian and live in water towers whit their kind and azure and two time meet whit them by accident and fall in love whit reader (reader have same traumas like lapis lazuli)

Gonna be honest, I genuinely had trouble reading this but I'll still happily do it! And thanks for the compliment! I love Steven Universe so this is gonna be a lot of fun!

Reader gets She/Her-

Being a gem was never easy.

Sure, your kind were adored for keeping this world in such great condition and bringing balance to the elements but...

Sometimes it got overwhelming.

That's why you preferred your time in the water towers you made with your fellow water gems. You could hide from the public there and relax... Usually.

Hell, you didn't even mind the occasional visitors if they were being polite but maybe that's why you ended up in a mirror.

No... Who were you kidding... You had no fault in this.

It was all the gem war that started this. A war where all of gemkind were wrapped into the chaos and had to choose between fighting and fleeing.

But you took too long to choose and ended up sealed into your gem form to be put into a mirror and show the holder whatever they want from a moment in history.

You never forgot... And you wanted out...

You've been held by many people, told to show them different points in time which forced you to relive those memories even if you weren't apart of them initially.

You figured you could finally rest when you were hidden away from prying eyes and left in darkness after a crack in your gem messed with your abilities. They finally grew tired of you not functioning and left you to rot in your own abyss...

Naturally, it was a shock to see another face again. Much less that of a regular robloxian.

You were confused at first, trying to figure out how much time had passed as they called out to someone to take a better look at your current form.

They creeped you out a bit but you'd take any chance for freedom you could get. You just had to wait and spend enough time with them to hopefully form your own sentences to communicate.

You fortunately- or unfortunately- knew you couldn't access the long-forgotten history anymore. There was no more torture but also no way to call for help because you just knew if you had called for help when you could, those who knew would've only punished you for being unruly.

"Azure! Come look at this!" Two Time called out as they held your prison of polished silver with a reflective metal framed with turtle shell and gold. Back in the times where this mirror was made, it could've sold for a lot. It gave you an odd sense of pride back then.

Another face came into view before both of them seemed to admire your little prison... If only they knew...

Regardless, you were patient. You watched whatever the mirror allowed you to see as they took you away and brought you to a small cabin by the ocean.

Although they didn't place you in a way where you could see the waves, hearing them was just as comfortable as you allowed them to inspect your gem.

"I wonder what happened..." Azure muttered.

Oh, you would've happily shown them the war that happened after robloxians got a little too greedy and decided to spark a war between gems... But alas...

"Well, we could try to get it out but it seems stuck pretty deep... It would sell better after being repaired." Two Time's words stuck to you like a needle. They didn't know you were alive but thinking of being sold was... Unpleasant...

It was over the span of the next few days where you could capture enough from them to start your plan.

It started small, grabbing their attention by butting into their conversation with a suggestion you picked up from Azure, using their own morning greetings to wish them a good morning, that stuff.

Once they actually began talking to you did things go quicker.

They'd learn fast that you can only repeat back what they've indirectly taught you and they tried to use that to figure out more about you. It wasn't too surprising but you've been able to explain you were the gem on the back of the mirror and that you needed to be freed.

You promised them you'd do anything for your freedom and they agreed to talk about your end of the deal once you were out. You couldn't thank them enough for it.

Maybe you should've never asked them in the first place. Just stay quiet and wait for another century or two. It would've been easy.

But no, you were too eager to move again.

The real story started when they finally got you out. They somehow managed to put in enough force but still be as careful as ever when they pulled you out and you were able to reform. You didn't have any pupils because your gem was still cracked so your eyes were a little more reflective.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" You practically rushed to see them up close and show them your gratitude. "I-I can finally move! I can see freely!"

You spun around and materialized your water wings to make sure your gem was still properly intact.

But you didn't forget your end of the deal.

"What can I do to show my gratitude?" You smiled softly, not realizing they had both been mesmerized by your beauty and quietly agreed on something while you had been spinning and looking at the stars.

"We want you to stay with us." Were the words that sealed your fate. Innocent at first glance and you were too overwhelmed with the feeling of freedom to really deny.

With a simple handshake, your fate was sealed and you were effectively bound to them until the day they'd die.

You could still be around the cabin and play with the water like you used to but they were patient in showing you why they wanted you to stay with them.

From the moment they laid their eyes on you, it was an obsession. They wanted to be the only ones admiring your beauty and gentle nature but they didn't want you to get scared or lose your smile.

It started with convincing you that you would be taken away and tortured if you were found out along with some convenient coincidences where strangers were being pushy with you and they stepped in to protect you... It just helped that you had a more timid nature with strangers now that you were out and vulnerable again.

Then it evolved into little affectionate gestures and convincing you they wanted to make you feel safe and comfortable even though you couldn't figure out where other gems were.

Eventually they even had you convinced that any gems spotted were crushed and turned into jewelry, which further aided in keeping you dependant on them.

It was through all that, all their work, that eventually got them to their goal when you confessed you've felt a strong draw to them and they were quick to reciprocate. It made your heart flutter and you never once considered questioning them, making their prepared excuses for nothing.

Although, you could've sworn that they'd whisper about their obsession with you whenever you dozed off... But they'd always tell you you must be hearing things...

If anyone picked up on the fact I used a mirror specifically from medieval times in this, you get a cookie (⸝⸝> ᴗ•⸝⸝)

Anything you'd like to request/ask? Check out my pinned post first and I'll be happy to write up whatever you want!

[tribbetherium]

The proliferation of coral reefs in the Middle Rodentocene, 10 million years post-establishment, has attracted many other sea life to the relative safety of its sheltering calcified structures. Numerous shrish, descended from krill, as well as bivalves, gastropods, and other varied invertebrates fill the coral reefs with teeming life, while immature, neotenic coral resembling jellyfish and anemones, fill the surrounding waters or anchor onto the accumulated coral skeletons that build up over time.

Eventually, as niches in the reef ecosystem began filling out, one aboundant resource remained untapped: the coral itself. One such species to take advantage of this bounty is the azure banded clawrral (Albacyanocaris tralalae), a small, primitive species of shrark whose rostrum and front claws, rather than forming a three-jawed snapping beak to seize smaller shrish, instead becane hard, crushing nutcracker-like instruments suited for cracking apart the hard coral exoskeleton to access the soft polyps inside as well as the algae growing on the surface of the coral. While they consume gastropods and bivalves on occasion, coral constitutes a large portion of their diet, grinding away at the hard reefs and leaving fine particulate debris in their wake: debris that wash ashore and over time pile up to form white sand beaches in tropical regions over the course of millions of years.

Males, growing larger than females in an inverse of the usual arthropod trend, are distinguished by their bold blue-and-white markings that signal to prospective mates their fitness. Their greater size is an advantage when males tussle brutally over the right to fertilize a gravid female, often seizing each other in their tripartite pseudojaws and trying to fling their opponent away or even crush and dismember their rival's claws. Unlike many crustaceans, shrarks' claws are less expendable as they play a part in feeding: and while they can regrow, it is at great metabolic cost as they cannot feed effectively until the new claw grows in. The loss of one claw still allows them to feed with some difficulty, but losing both essentially dooms them to starvation, and significant damage to the rostrum forming the upper jaw will break the exoskeleton of their cephalic segment, with invariably, instantaneously lethal results. Once fertilized, a female will carry her cluster of several hundred eggs with her until they hatch, at which point the planktonic larvae are already able to spread far and wide and fend for themselves.

While acting as regulatory trimmers of the coral and preventing it from overgrowing, the azure-banded clawrral can itself be devastating should it consume too much of its coral diet. This is mitigated by significant predation from other, larger species of shrarks that help keep their numbers in check, but in places where unfavorable conditions lead to local, small-scale declines of their oceanic predators, the clawrrals breed out of control, explode in numbers, and voraciously ravage the reef ecosystem's coral, often with devastating, long-term results. As they exhaust their food supplies, clawrral populations then starve and die off, mercifully acting as a self-control mechanism that curbs their population growth almost like a last resort, albeit with significant damage.

------

[muletia]

something, something snippet from my mer!optimus fic. your first meeting with the obsessed and delusional merman <3

He’s beautiful, unearthly. Not belonging to your world, ripped straight from fairytales and legends, teasing your brain just enough that it no longer knows whether what you glimpse from the corner of your eye is even real. Or maybe such a drastic relocation into entirely unfamiliar conditions was enough to start seeing things?

The creature is enormous, roughly the size of an orca, though you know that the tail hidden beneath the lagoon’s surface could easily stretch your estimation by another meter or two. What draws your eye is the exotic palette of colors decorating his smooth skin. Muscular arms sunken into the clean, wheat-colored sand blaze red, though the crimson is interrupted by streaks of grey that trail down his forearms to his neck, where they fan out toward a white underbelly. His head, adorned with a crest rising from the center of his forehead and extending into a long dorsal fin, suddenly bursts into a pastel navy blue that flows down his back to the massive tail—a mishmash of the entire color wheel.

A merman. A real merman.

Your jaw nearly hits the floor scattered with old leaves, but you shut your mouth just in time before a startled squeak can betray you.

Humanoid. Too humanoid. Toying with your understanding of human beauty’s uniqueness. And yet here it is, just a safe dozen or so meters ahead of you, breathing. If you squinted, he really could pass for a person.

To keep yourself from going insane and to chase off intrusive thoughts, you pinch your forearm. Ouch. You’re real. But that also means he is too, giving you one more reason to go crazy.

Unable to tear your eyes from the siren monster, you decide to examine him more closely. You focus on his face, bizarrely human, yet ancient. Nothing like the stony mugs of instinct-driven animals. You feel like deep thoughts are swirling behind that blue skin, thoughts that also brim in those enormous, azure eyes. The distance between you is small enough that you can even make out the emotions running through him.

He looks sad. Pitiful, even, if you could compare the size and glint in his eyes to a sorrowful puppy, which your brain tries and fails to reconcile with the scarred body, head, and a face bearing the marks of a long life. You know instinctively this creature has years of survival behind him, every second of existence spent fighting for access to basic needs.

Which might also mean he's well-versed in the art of hunting humans, you realize with dread. You can only guess what makes up his diet, but judging by the sharp claws on his long webbed fingers, you suspect he’s not a peaceful herbivore.

Not that you’d risk an interaction with him just to test your theories. No, you'd really like to get back home in one piece.

Great. So now you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. There’s no way you’re getting out of here without catching the siren’s attention. In fact, no matter where you go from here, there's a chance of encountering him again, and you really, really didn’t want to find out if he’s a man-eater and hungry.

You glance around, looking for a wide enough gap in the foliage for a silent escape, but you're not even given the chance to take a single step. Your shoes are nailed to the earth by...

Singing.

A siren's song.

Mournful, pleading, and so raw that you hold your breath, afraid of it interrupting his piece.

It reminds you of the whalesong you’ve heard in documentaries, but each chirp, whine, and groan is loaded with sorrow and bitterness, bombarding your heart, even if you don’t understand the lyrics. You don’t need words to grasp the melancholic message, one that cuts through interspecies barriers.

The siren doesn’t stop singing, feeding his hidden audience new verses, each as depressing as the last. Like a newly discovered song, you can’t stop listening. All your senses retreat to make room for sharper hearing. You inhale his song, fill yourself with sad sounds, experiencing his suffering as if it were your own. Even if it’s just a trick to lure a tasty human snack out of hiding.

That slightly tempers your emotional response.

Right. Of course.

Maybe he knows you’re here. Feels you. Smells your tasty human flesh and is trying to coax you into the open like someone ordering takeout.

You blink a few times, shaking off the last traces of compassion, proud of yourself for seeing through the sad facade of those puppy-blue eyes and the angsty concert. In the blink of an eye, you remember you need to get back to the beach, where you have your only chance of spotting a ship or plane in the tree-free slice of sky.

Because to your left, right by your head, a giant brown tarantula is slowly crawling along a cracked wall. So close you can see every hair on its abdomen.

You return to searching for an escape route when suddenly, you freeze.

Your entire body blue-screens, and it must have rearranged every organ inside you too, because now you can feel your heartbeat in your ass.

Oh, fuck.

“AHHHH!”

Your body reacts faster than common sense can remind you that the real predator, the one that could actually kill you, probably shouldn’t know it has company. You leap right, springing through the remains of a door straight onto the warm sand surrounding the lagoon.

Still clutching two papayas tightly to your chest, you try to stay upright on your wobbling, jelly-like legs, but it’s no use. You drop to your knees, the soft sand cushioning the pain. You know you should be running, right now, immediately. You urge your legs into action, begging silently but desperately for your own body to cooperate, but your rapid, ragged breathing drowns out your pleas.

When you realize that an immediate escape is no longer an option, all you can do is curl into the fetal position, forehead kissing the warm sand.

Hmm. Nice feeling, you think. You wouldn’t mind dying surrounded by the softness of this tropical, clean beach.

You hear nothing but the whistle of air sucked through your lips.

Nothing else.

Nothing...

You freeze.

You don’t need a mirror to know your eyes are now the size of dinner plates.

For a moment, you wonder how the hell you’re still alive. How come you don’t feel claws and teeth ripping through your flesh like a piece of paper? The agonizing pain of muscles tearing and bones shattering while you’re eaten alive, disappearing into the siren’s jaws. Bite by bite, until the last memory of your existence belongs to him.

But nothing like that happens. All your tissues remain intact; no foreign force is acting on you.

Why the hell are you still alive?

Out of stupidity or curiosity, though you suspect it's more the former, you decide to make eye contact with the predator.

Slowly, you lift your head, gradually rediscovering his form. Milky white belly, swirls of red and grey skin on his chest, and finally, his head, flanked by small, bristling navy fins.

Still beautiful. Majestic. Enormous.

But as potential prey, can you allow yourself the pleasure of such hidden compliments? You wonder if antelopes also think like this before being devoured by lions. Do they finally recognize the predator’s beauty only moments before death?

The humanoid face is turned toward you, expression frozen in comforting, familiar shock. The enormous eyes, adorned with rare white pupils, have doubled in size, and his mouth has fallen open, giving you a limited glimpse inside.

Teeth. Sharp teeth, undeniably those of a meat-eater.

For the second time that day, you feel some incomprehensible force rearranging your organs.

A flicker in the blue eye. A twitch in the human-like torso. A subtle lean in your direction pulls your heart from your ass back into place, and with it, apparently, the feeling in your legs, because suddenly, you’re ready to care about your own survival again.

You never believed those myths about time slowing down in the face of mortal danger. You thought that was a tired trope from action movies, overused to the point where you physically rolled your eyes whenever you saw it on screen.

But apparently, it’s very real.

Because there’s no other way to explain how slowly the creature’s expression morphs a few meters in front of you. His brow furrows, jaw opens and closes again and again, chewing, analyzing.

As if wondering what to do with you. If this pitiful, miniature oddity before him was even worth using as a toothpick?

To eat or not to eat? That is the question.

You don’t want to know his answer.

Your body gambles on the oldest bet known to humankind.

You go all in on running.

Faster than you've ever moved in your entire life, you bolt toward the green thicket.

You could swear that the pathetic, almost pleading howl behind you and the shifting sound of something slithering across the sand belong to the siren, but you don’t have the courage to turn your head and confirm it.

You disappear behind massive leaves, blindly trying to make your way back to the familiar beach.

And for a long while, you can still hear the lamenting wail behind you.

[jarofstyles]

Azure- Indigo 5

Helllooo my loves! Here is part 5 to indigo. It's really cute I can't lie, I'm proud of this story :')

Check out our Patreon for 100+ exclusive writings and early access to the next 3 parts of Indigo.

Series Masterlist

WC- 5.4k

-------------

Y/N had forgotten how Harry appeared to other people. 

She had been almost floating on air the rest of the weekend, a smile permanently on her face as she walked about her apartment, tending to chores and making sure to take time to look after her tattoo. She had been diligent about her research beforehand, yes, but it was even more imperative now that she kept the piece in pristine condition. 

They’d been texting frequently. Once she had gotten home, he had responded back and it simply hadn’t stopped. There were pauses, warnings from him that he had a client coming in or he was going on a run, but most of the weekend had been spent texting him, giggling at her phone, getting to know him a bit more. His texting style was a bit similar to how he spoke, a bit of dry humor sprinkled in. It seemed he was a little more bold through the phone as well, messaging her with smooth flirtation and obvious interest in her stories. He asked involved questions, checked in on her multiple times, but he wasn’t overly bearing. Y/N felt like she was being hand fed bits and pieces of the man that had always puzzled her. 

“So who’s the guy that had you pretending you’re not smiling at your phone?” Over brunch, Y/N’s friend Julia had caught on to her sneaking peeks at her phone, smiling to herself and trying to pace responses. It wouldn’t be hard for anyone to notice this. Y/N couldn’t be subtle if it could save her life. Once you got to know her, it was even more obvious that her feelings would be displayed out for anyone to see. A real heart on her sleeve type of girl. 

Y/N hadn’t wanted to bring him up initially, but the excitement to finally dish about a guy she was actually excited about seeing- even if it was only one planned date- had her mouth almost ready to burst. She didn’t want to tell anyone in their initial friend group because… because what if it didn’t work and then everyone made it super awkward? Y/N did not do good with that sort of pressure and honestly, she would most definitely cry if someone teased her for not being able to keep up with Harry. 

Julia, however? Sweet Julia was a former coworker, mostly removed from that group of friends and it was easier to dish when she hadn’t met him. 

“Well…” Y/N tucked her hair back over her shoulder, fiddling with her napkin. “It’s a guy I’ve known for a bit. He’s actually the one who did my tattoo.” Lifting her arm she motioned to the ink that her friend had previously fawned over. She had a few tattoos herself and had been impressed at how good it had turned out despite some of the detail being scabbed over. Y/N had taken a bit of the moisturizer Harry had given her out after their drinks and shown her, the whole thing. 

“Ohmygod- a tattoo artist?” Her friend’s eyes widened. “The one who did that one? You sly thing… did you get down and dirty in the studio? Oh my god, you gave it so good he had to see more of you? Y/N, you’ve been holding out on me!”

Y/N gaped, floundering for a moment before housing her friends with wide eyes. Her voice hadn’t exactly been quiet and she could feel the lava burning underneath her skin. She loved Julia, but she didn’t have a sense of volume sometimes. “Jules!” She hissed, shaking her head. “No! I didn’t- I didn’t do anything in the studio. No, he was completely and utterly professional and sweet.” There was a weird need to defend Harry’s honor. 

In reality, there was no true idea in her mind if Harry did that sort of stuff before. With how attractive he was, she was sure people attempted it but she doubted he would actually do so. Not when he had worked so hard on his shop’s reputation. He’d told her all about that when they’d gone out afterwards.

“Ok, then what the hell happened? What is his name? Let me see him, immediately.” Her expectant hand shot out, looking at her with a raised brow as Y/N chuckled at her friends' antics- and her audacity. She was lucky Y/N loved her. 

“His name is Harry.” Her voice was soft as she typed his username into the instagram search bar. “He’s a tattoo artist. I met him through our friend group. He’s a friend of Sarah’s. He did my tattoo at his own shop. He owns it himself, and he’s got a few people who work there too.” Pride bled from her voice as she pulled his profile up and handed it over. There weren't too many of him. He had a few tagged, a few photos on his own, but it was mostly his tattoo work and random things here and there. “He’s got a few awards and done a few famous people’s work. It’s so cool. He drew my tattoo up right next to me in his office, his process is so interesting.” 

The girl was chirping about him as if she was already smitten, a dreamy little smile on her lips slipping a bit as she took in Julia’s expression. “What?” 

“Nothing! Nothing- not a bad look, I promise.” Julia hurried to correct her face but she turned the phone back to Y/N. “This is him? The one in the black?” 

It was a photo of him she had seen the other night while she did her obligatory snooping in his tagged. A tight black tee shirt with the Harley Davidson logo on the chest covered his torso and tight fitting black jeans covered his bottom down to his brown boots. His arms bulged slightly as they were crossed over his body, a pint in hand as he looked at the camera. The other hand held out a middle finger over his arm, a cold scowl on his face. His piercings glimmered in the photo, an obvious flash used. It was part of Sarah’s summer photo dump, one he had commented a simple eye roll emoji for despite liking it. Y/N’s snooping was thorough. 

“Yeah… Isn’t he cute?” Y/N asked nervously. It wasn’t that she needed her friend’s acceptance. She liked Harry either way. It would just be nice to not feel a bit off guard when she had expected a squeal back from seeing him. Harry was hot, that was no question. Even if you simply spoke to him without seeing his physical appearance, it was more than obvious he was just an attractive man in general. 

“Cute isn’t the word I’d use. He’s good looking but… He’s a little scary for you, isn’t he?” 

While she knew that the question was most likely an innocent one, it raised her hackles a little bit. Sure, maybe he looked a little scary. Maybe he was intimidating to most. But that didn’t have much to do with anything. “No, I don’t think so. He’s incredibly sweet and kind. He didn’t even charge me for my tattoo and tried to venmo me back his tip but he’s… He’s a little shy.” It had been apparent to her when he had told her why he had been so silent around her. “He tells awful jokes and he’s taking me to a drive-in movie this weekend because he remembered that I liked the one they’re showing. He’s really thoughtful. I know he’s got tattoos and piercings but that doesn’t mean-”

“Woah, slow your roll, Cinnamon Bun.” Julia placed her hand over Y/N’s. “I didn’t mean anything mean by it. Not at all. I’m sure that if you’re with him, he’s a nice guy.” Her face showed guilt for working Y/N up, scooting her chair closer to her. “I just mean he seems a bit intimidating. You know that I’m used to seeing you fawn over more sporty guys, the cleaner cut ones. It was just that he’s different from the norm for you, babe.” 

Y/N’s wind sank and her sails dropped as she realized what her friend had meant. Of course it hadn’t been meant in malice, but she still worried. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to jump on you like that. I just think.. I think he’s had a lot of people assume a lot of things about him in the past and it makes me weirdly protective of him. I know I’m kind of his opposite in a lot of ways and it makes me a little insecure because I know people will definitely call it out. Your meaning isn’t bad but eventually people are going to see I don’t seem to be the normal type for him.” 

That was the truth. Y/N had seen peeks of girls he had flirted with or gone off to hook up with and they didn’t exactly look like her. Not at all. 

“Oh, babe. I’m sorry.” Julia sighed. “No. I didn’t mean it that way. If anyone has shit to say, fuck ‘em. I was just surprised. You’ve never been the bad boy aesthetic type but hey, if he’s nice to you that’s all that matters. As long as he knows you’ve got a miniature blonde friend who’s ready to attack ankles at any moment for hurting you and knows how to hide bodies… we’re all good.” 

Y/N had let it go. Julia meant well, but this was exactly why she wanted to wait a bit to let their friend group know they were… something? Seeing each other? They hadn't even gone on a date yet so it seemed to be a stretch to say dating, but whatever it was. Not until it felt steady. They’d all worry over her and warn Harry off when in reality, all he had done in the past was be anxious and let Y/N read him wrong. 

She wanted to protect him from the ribbing and the questions and let them get to know one another in a more intimate way privately. It would be something she would have to bring up to him later…. But how?

—-------------

H: Hi, gorgeous. What are you up to?

Y/N: Hi hi :) Just got done making cinnamon bread. 

H: And are you bringing me a piece of that tonight? 

H: Please say yes or I’ll probably cry. 

Y/N: Of course, crazy. What do you take me for?

H: A goddess, if you continue bringing me baked goods. 

H: But please remember that there is a snack counter there and I will be happy to buy you whatever you want from there or pick up something beforehand. 

Y/N: I really can pay for some of it myself. I feel a little bad making you pay for everything, you’ve already got the tickets. 

H: I’ve got the tickets and more. If I’m taking you out, I’m paying, sweetheart. Nonnegotiable. Your payment can be some of that bread, if it makes you feel better. 

H: I’m just happy you said yes and are giving me a chance after I’ve made an ass of myself. 

Y/N: H :( no

Y/N: You didn’t mean to make me feel bad. I internalized it and maybe you need to work on communication a bit but honestly, It’s all water under the bridge!!! I’m really really excited to go out with you. 

Harry ran his hand over his face. His wrist ached from the 6 hour session the day prior but he was more than a mess of nerves now that the time for their date was almost here. He vacuumed out his car, cleaned it, sprayed with some sort of spray, and replaced the little vent air freshener. The whole thing. His range rover wasn’t ideal for this sort of thing so he had chosen his vintage convertible. The bench seat could lay back and provide more lounging space- and that’s exactly what he had wanted. 

This had been his first dream purchase once he started making more money at his shop. As soon as he finished his car payments on the Range Rover, he had set his sights on a vintage car to cruise around in by himself during the warm nights, a good sound system having been modified in it so he could lose himself in thought while driving down the coastline. This car was his baby. Soft yellow exterior with a pinstripe detail, the smooth car appealed to him immediately. He’s spent months scouring sites and driving to look at different listings but this one had his heart immediately. There hadn’t been too much to change on it, but he had made his personalization with black and white fuzzy dice hanging off the rearview mirror, said sound system, and refreshed seats. The car had been his reward for the hard work and his endless backaches from being hunched over tattooing. 

It had been a no brainer to choose this one but he did worry about if Y/N would think he was being overly flashy. Harry had never been one to show his money off to the masses, instead choosing to invest a lot and keep everything quiet. He’d seen some friends, seen his own clients even complain about how people used them for money and with the concept being newer to him, he wanted to be responsible. He’d read too many financial horror stories on reddit to risk it. His mates guessed he made a decent amount considering how much his minimum was and how picky he was with clients, and sure he picked up the tab a lot without saying who did it, but he tried to keep himself a bit guarded with that. He hoped that if this continued with Y/N- which god, he was praying it would- she wouldn’t be upset with him keeping that a bit of a secret. 

To be honest, he was overthinking every single thing. Despite appearing cool, calm and collected in his texts, he had felt like his thoughts were running out of his head at max speed. Realistically, he knew Y/N wouldn’t have said yes if she didn’t want to. She’d have been more than justified if she had, but somehow Harry must have done something right to get the karma to have not only her forgiveness, but her affection. Even the slightest bit. 

Triple checking his outfit, he had felt silly brushing his overgrown hair out of his face but still made sure that there hadn’t been some miracle stain that showed up on his tee shirt or new rip in his pants. There wasn’t, as suspected, and he finally made himself leave the house. The car had the blankets folded in the trunk, along with the two oversized pillows he had purposely chosen despite being a bit chunky. They were straight off his bed, the best ones he had ever found. The plush purple blanket was oversized, a steal from a liquidation store he went to just to feel like he could ‘treasure hunt’ was big enough to cover the seats, and he had a few different ones for Y/N to choose from in the back. 

Was she a faux fur blanket girl? Linen? Crochet? Plush? Velveteen? Another obscure but endearing thing he wanted to carve out of her. 

The drive to her place consisted of Lana Del Rey and the top up of the car. It was obvious it was a convertible but he was trying to keep the warm breeze as a shared experience for them both tonight. The real nerves had hit outside of her stairs, his phone dipped back in his pocket once she had told him she was on her way down. His palms were sweating, a constant reminder of himself to not fuck this up playing on a neverending loop in his head. 

The world went quiet for a moment, though, once Y/N opened the door and shot him a smile so sweet that it almost hurt his own teeth. 

Every time he saw Y/N he had been in awe of her beauty, but it hit a little different now. She had dressed up for the purpose of going out with him. Her lavender colored dress with slightly puffy sleeves, casual as ever with its soft looking fabric, but seeing something like that on her was bringing it to a new level. It swished on her thighs, brushing an inch or so above her knees. Sandals were on her feet and a cream colored oversized bag that resembled one he brought to the beach was hung over her shoulder, snapping against the pavement as she descended the stairs and made her way over to him. 

“Hi!” She chirped, eyes sparkling slightly in the afternoon sun. Sunset would happen in just 30 or so minutes and he had to wonder how his brain would handle seeing her in a golden glow in his car. On a date with him. “You look really handsome, H.” 

It was so opposite what people would assume of a man with his general outward demeanor and rough around the edges appearance. His cheeks heating and having to swallow a lump in his throat to unknot so he could reply to a simple compliment, you’d never expect it. Harry liked that maybe only Y/N would be able to uncover a part of him he kept hidden to protect himself from hurt. The iron armor he kept guarding his heart seemed to melt to molten metal when she reached up to take a hug from him. She smelled so fresh, like laundry in the best way. The warm type right out of the dryer, unsullied from any possible contaminants. She smelled brand new, a start over for him. 

“You always seem to outdo yourself in how gorgeous y’look when I see you.” His guts had returned when he was hugging her, unable to see her reaction. Somehow, Harry could remain stone faced when drunk people came in demanding ink, when he’d gotten in fights at bars during that rougher period, but he couldn't control himself around a soft little doe of a girl like Y/N. 

“Thank you.” She grinned, pulling back with her eyes finding his until her attention was stolen by the car behind him. “Oh my god… Is this a new car?” 

Pride bloomed in his chest as she fawned over his car, one of his prized possessions that she was slightly bouncing on her toes as her hand ran over the hood. This was the reaction he had been hoping for. “Well, technically it’s an old one.” The joke was cracked with a smirk, making Y/N laugh and his chest feel full. 

“No shit, funny man.” Her hand pushed his bicep. “I mean, when did you get it? I’ve never seen you drive this, just your Range Rover.” 

“It’s sort of a special occasion car. Drives down the coast mostly, sometimes car meets if Niall finds one and tells me to bring it. I got it a while ago but the other car is more practical so it stays in the garage while I put the milage on the other one.” He placed a hand on the handle to open up her door, letting her take a look inside. “It’s really special to me. I try t’be careful with her.”

“Her?” Y/N rose a brow as she sat herself in the seat, wiggling around as she got comfortable. “Should I be jealous?”

Her own flirty jokes made Harry relax a tiny bit more. He wasn’t the only one feeling this, and it made him feel a whole lot better to hear it from her. “No, no. She’s got nothing on you, darling.” With a wink, he closed her door and jogged around to his side and patting himself on the back for not choking at the response he just gave. 

—---

Y/N’s own body was buzzing with nerves. Sitting in this fantastic car that she knew her grandfather would absolutely lose his head over, Hozier’s ‘Abstract’ played through the radio and her hair was fluttering around as Harry drove through the streets towards the destination. The sun was warming her cheek, hand dipping up and down as she let the wind pass through her fingers. There was some chatter but mostly a silence that Y/N found to be quite comfortable. Harry wasn’t an incredibly talkative person in general but he seemed to be a lot more open when it was just the two of them. She was enjoying this, the overall energy pretty good- a bit nervous and giggly but what first date didn’t start off like that? 

“How did you even find out about this?” Y/N turned to look at him as they waited in line to park his car and let them scan the code he had open on his phone. “Like, I didn’t even know there was a drive-in so close to us. I still feel like a newbie here sometimes but.. It was really thoughtful. I never thought I’d get to see this one on a big screen since it had come out before I could have watched it.” 

“I remembered you liked that movie we were seeing when I was scrolling down instagram. It was weird, I knew there was one but I never interacted with anything about it so… The algorithm must have helped me out.” He laughed, running his thumb over his lower lip to hide his smile a little bit. “I know people normally would say a movie on a first date would be a little eh, but we know each other a little and it’s your favorite. It’s outside, too. Anything is ten times better under the stars.”

Y/N loved that. That was true, but for someone who had been so nervous to speak to her before he was sure as hell doing a good job finding all the soft pleasure spots in her brain and stroking them. Clicking off things on her mental list she didn’t know she had. “I’m glad it did. I’m excited, especially with a car like this, it’s incredible. You did a perfect job picking this out.” Truly, he had plucked a dream scenario from her romantic underbelly and brought it up to the surface. 

“Good.” He smiled, pulling up to the person scanning their tickets. It was pay per car, so it hadn’t been too spendy, but Harry was more than going to make up for it. His relief was clearly lifted off his shoulders as she expressed her approval of his choice. He’d probably fall on down the sewer if she hated it. 

Their spot was a place in the middle and towards the back. There were only about 50 spots, and they had definitely been a bit fucked with traffic but at least they werent in a corner. Cutting the car off, he took a breath before turning to her. “We’re gonna pull the top down and uh, the bench seat flattens out. So it can be easier to stretch out.” He flexed his hand around the gearshift, watching as her face brightened. “I’ve got loads of blankets in the trunk and two pillows too. M’not trying to be suggestive but it’s easier to get comfortable.” Harry wanted to make this the most memorable date- in a good way. The knowledge of the fact he knew for a fact other guys in the group fancied her and could talk to her without seeming like an ass used to make his stomach hurt, but it was such a relief to have her with him now. She was way too sweet and understanding but he adored the fact that she had particularly chosen him to go out with. Y/N wasn’t a prize, she wasn’t an object, but he felt like he was a winner for getting to spend time with her. 

“Here-” He took his wallet out and slipped one of his cards out. “Go and get whatever you want for the movie and we can get proper food after.” The cool plastic was paced into her palm, his fingers closing her own around it so she didn’t drop it. “Whatever y’want and I mean it. They’ve got those chocolate bars y’like, I saw online. Buy the whole candy case if you want. I’ll get this fixed up and meet you over there to help carry it.” 

Y/N wasn’t going to argue, her jello like knees shaking as she walked over to the retro shack. It was unreal. Harry had seemed to put a lot of thought into every step. His mention of knowing her favorite chocolate was there and that he’d remembered it even just having heard it in a very tipsy conversation she’d had with Charlotte with Harry ‘glaring’ at her across the table. Apparently, he had just been focusing on her answer and not wishing she would drop dead. Who’d have thought? 

Rocking on her feet, Y/N looked over the menu and made her mind up pretty quickly- an absolute miracle for her- as soon as she saw the selection of drinks. Usually she wasn’t a carbonated bev type of person, but when she saw you could add little flavors into them, she was more than happy to order a sprite with strawberry flavoring. She had only been a few places where they’d done so before, so she was taking it. She went with a Root Beer for Harry and another bottle of water to split, a large popcorn and a side of the cheese sauce that she lovingly called plastic cheese like her mother always had. As much as she was tempted, she chose 3 things of candy. Sour, sweet and chocolate. The array. 

Swiping his card felt a little wrong but secretly, she was happy that he had insisted. There had been many a date where the man hadn’t even offered, or who thought buying a lackluster meal meant he should have access to her body. While she didn’t need him to pay, the gesture was what she liked. Harry had been nothing but respectful once he had actually opened his mouth to talk to her. 

Placing the lids on the drinks, she had placed them on the tray but frowned slightly at the idea of walking across the field balancing them and not dropping them. Thankfully she felt a large hand on her own as the tray had been swiftly taking into his grip. The tray that had seemed ginormous in her own hands looked small in his. 

“Told you I’d come to help. You don't need to be carrying it.” 

Again, Y/N didn’t feel like arguing as she let him lead her back to the car, his lack of clumsiness making her look twice as bad. She’d stumbled three times, the uneven terrain making it a little difficult with the dents the cars had carved into spots in the lot. Thank the sky above she had let him take it. Her mind had been on that but was taken out of thought when she saw the set up. It was so cute, Y/N almost let out a coo as she watched him place the tray on the close trunk. It had been set up like a bed, three blankets overlapping each other on top. 

“Didn’t know the kind of blanket you liked so I brought a few.” 

If he got any more adorable, Y/N would lose it. 

“You did? That’s so sweet, H.” She whispered, slipping her shoes off as he opened the door to let her get in easier. There was no way she was about to mess up the thing he had put so much thought into. Her eyes went to the plushy one, lifting that one as Harry removed his boots. “I claim this one.” 

Harry added the blanket preference to his Y/N list mentally. 

“Perfect.” He nodded. “Did you want to share or do separate ones?” 

The days were perfectly warm, but since the sun had been setting the cool night had been settling over the place. It got nippy, and Y/N was selfish and curious. “Sharing is fine.” She peeped, spreading it across her lap and holding it open for him. This would bring them closer. His thigh was near hers, sitting sprawled out as he carefully balanced the tray to sit in front of them. 

This was just… good. Harry was obviously a little nervous still, but Y/N was laughing at his jokes, she had been interested in what he had to say. It wasn’t the fake half assed listening most people did. She asked detailed follow up questions and laughed at the right times, especially when their hands met when trying to grab some popcorn as the trailers before the move began. 

They were shifting closer to one another, slowly allowing it to happen until Harry suggested laying back. The popcorn setted between them, He put a second blanket on them when he noticed her shiver slightly. Y/N was trying to figure out how to ask to cuddle with him without asking outright, but it was hard. All he was doing was being respectful but she wanted to be closer to him, wanted his arm around her and the cold to disappear. It felt like everytime they brushed that she got pleasantly flushed. 

“Y’cold still?” Harry whispered, another shiver getting his attention. He didn’t need to know it was from his hand brushing the popcorn from her thigh over the blanket. 

“Yeah, I run cold” She said softly. “Can we get closer? Body heat is a bit better.” 

Harry loved it. Her innocent expression but obviously wanting to get closer, to be held by him specifically. “I’m never going to say no to having’ you close to me, sweetheart.”

His arm was lifted and she ducked underneath, his body turning slightly on his side so she could get close and lean into him, the blankets pulled to their chins and his hand falling to her arm where he began to run his fingers over. 

Y/N wanted to squeal, but she settled for a happy little wriggle disguised as getting comfortable. He was indeed much warmer than blankets, but his fingers running over her and her cheek pressed against his shoulder with his body heat leaking through his shirt made her warm right in her stomach. His touch felt so good, comforting and exciting all at the same time. So far, this had been the best date she had ever been on and it really had just begun. 

—------

Y/N was so beautiful. 

Harry had been paying far too much attention to the girl curled up against him like a little kitten. Purring as he stroked her bare skin once his fingers had gone under the blanket for her. The screen illuminated her face as she watched her movie, his lips watching her lips as she silently recited lines and giggled at the right moments. He was learning a lot just watching her reactions. The yearning on her face during the softer romantic scenes, what things got little giggles, what made her cringe. How long her eyelashes were and how her nose curved, the tiny marks on her face he had never seen. 

This was the type of date he had always wanted to have. To go out with a girl he genuinely liked, who saw more of him than met the eye, who wanted to get to know him. Someone who could make him loosen up a bit. He’d not had any goals for this besides having her enjoy herself and hopefully grow to like him more. Enough to give him a shot of dating her. It made him realize how his past in bed hadn’t made him feel a fraction of the excitement or even pleasure that this did. Simply sitting with a girl he had a massive crush on holding onto his shirt, watching her beauty in real time. There was no feeling of rush with her. As much as he was truly attracted to her, he was happy with this. Maybe a kiss or two would throw him over the moon. Just being in this scenario felt like a dream come true.

He was sure the movie was great, but the vision in front of him was far, far more interesting to him. 

[whatyadrawin]

The Fruit After The Flesh 18+ -CHAPTER 1-

Masterlist

Approximately 2,395 words

Pairing: Thomas Hewitt(HeadCanon) x AFAB reader

This chapters Warnings: Brief mention of self harm

A/n: This is a really self indulgent fanfic, it may have some common tropes and it will get very mature so MINORS DNI. I am making this a large slow burner because I am seriously falling in love with the setting and where the story is going. It may not be 10 chapters, it will likely be more. As with my other fics, I will finish this to completion and there will be varying amounts of illustrations for each chapter. I want to push the fact that this entire universe is headcanon. Having said all this, please enjoy. Fell free to leave a like, reblog, or comment if you're comfortable. Thank you for reading, I am so happy to be able to share my work with so many people who appreciate it.

Chapter 1

“Ma’am?”

You’re awoken from a pleasant nap by the voice of the taxi driver who picked you up from the airport.

“I hate to wake ya, but this here’s the end o’ the line fer me”

Slowly you sit up, the bright light of the sun shines into the backseat as the air conditioning gently breezes past your neck. You look out the window and are met with large swathes of yellow grass, dried up from being beaten by the sun’s intensive rays; The yellow of the grass is only contrasted by the bright azure blue of the sky, riddled with bright white fluffy clouds slowly lumbering across the horizon.

“S’good thing ya have such a small amount’a luggage huh?”

The cab driver popped the trunk and got out of the car to help grab your luggage, a small satchel of essentials and a suitcase of the last remains of the clothes you had left in Manitoba. You get out of the backseat and are immediately blasted with a wave of heat that weighs the air down.

“If you walk one mile up past this here gate, you’ll find the road getting’ ya t’yer home. I reckon no one’s been out here fer years. Ahm still not sure hwhat y’gone get up to”

You grab your belongings and thank the driver; he warns you to not take your time walking due to the intensity of the weather, then he gets in the cab and slowly drives off. You start walking past the open gate and toward the home that was left to you by a family member you barely knew. When you received the call from the lawyer dealing with the will, it was like a miracle, your business was tanking and you didn’t have much left financially. Being a seamstress in the town of Rivers was not easy, there was not enough work for you and the citizens didn’t have much to give for payment. Living there was lonely, your only friend passed away in high school because the stress of bullying got too much for her; since that incident, a deep hatred for humans remained in your heart.

You thought you had no more family left until the lawyer told you about your distant relative on mom’s side who had put you as the sole receiver to a fortune and the property. The only condition for getting access to the money was to come live on the property and care for the orchard attached to it. The lawyer informed you that your relative’s orchard had supplied the town and her written wish was for you to carry on its legacy. After living in a small town for all 33 years of your life you were excited to start fresh somewhere new, what better place to do that than Fuller, Texas which is virtually a ghost town.

The dirt road kicked up dust from your steps as you made your way to the first intersection, you took the turn and headed up the hill, the old driveway was overgrown with grass; You were grateful for the trees along the path, giving you shade from the sun, each one rustling in the gentle breeze occasionally dropping a leaf that would silently fall to the ground. Once you reached the top of the hill, you saw the house that was in the pictures the lawyer sent over, it was a small one storey house shining white in the sun. There were no trees around the front of the house but small bushes with wildflowers bloomed around it, your car was parked casually in front of the home next to a large moving crate full of the stuff you packed before you flew down. Having all your belongings and car shipped down early was a smart choice.

You made your way to the home, looking for the set of keys in your bag, the door opened with a creak and a distinct smell of old wood mixed with the ghosts of thousands of meals cooked wafted around you. The inside was quaint, all the electronics were dated but the décor was simple and rustic, this home felt cozy and welcoming as the sun pushed through the curtains leaving a gentle glow on the hardwood floor of the living room. You set your things down at the entrance and went to open every window to allow the stagnated air to circulate and cool the house before nighttime. You peered into the backyard, it was small but charming, there was a large tree that provided shade to the fenced area, and a white swing bench that had a bistro table set next to it. You walked out into the yard which was fenced by a weathered white picket fence, it overlooked the entire property. You walked up to the edge of the fence and noticed some binoculars set against one of the posts, you take them and use them to look around the land.

 You see a small home at the edge of the orchard -that must be the farmhand’s home, I should go let them know I am here and introduce myself-. You look further and see a large house in the distance, it has tall pillars in front and looks deteriorated; you slowly move the binoculars around to see the rest of that home, you find a barn and spot something large moving, you spin the binocular setting to zoom in further but struggle with the focus. After a short bit of fiddling, you manage to get a clear image and see that the moving shape was a man, a huge one, the man towers over the cow he is tending to, you squint your eyes to see if you can make out any details but all you can see is his long hair and that he has a face covering of some sort. You lower the binoculars and put your hands on your hips -who was that man? Is he really that tall? Maybe I should introduce myself to the neighbors as well-.

You spend an hour unpacking clothes and necessities from the moving crate, just enough to get you settled in, the furniture in the home still has some belongings from the passed relative that you need to clean out. After looking through the fridge and cupboards, you realize you don’t have anything to eat, and there’s no way you can get a delivery all the way out here, so you decide to take your car into town to see what’s available. The drive takes you along country road 26, you see nothing for a while and are almost startled when a small building shows up in the distance. You pull up and notice it’s a gas station and grocery store - I hope they have something I can eat in here-, you park in front of the entrance and go inside.

Everything in the store looks dusty and old, you feel a sense of unease at the prospect of going hungry tonight. You head to the register and see an older woman sitting on a stool reading a newspaper, she has white hair pinned up into a bun and thick reading glasses that look old enough to be from the 70s.

“Hi there” you say quietly

“Oh, I didn’t know someone had come in. Hi hun, how can I help you?” she places the newspaper down and stands up to greet you.

“I just moved into town and I realized I have no food for tonight, is there anything in here that can tide me over?”

“Welcome to Fuller! Let’s get you something to eat dear.” She looked surprised that you would even have to ask but she was happy to lead you over to some packaged goods and canned veggies.

“These here came in a few days ago with our latest shipment, don’t let the dust in here bother you none, I just haven’t had the energy to clean the place up better”

You smile and start grabbing some boxed oatmeal and canned vegetables, with these you would be able to eat for a day or two until you could to do a big shopping trip in the next town over.

You stop grabbing items and look over at her to say

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t even introduce myself, my name is Y/N. I moved into the property with the orchard”

You are interested now, and ask “You knew her? She was a distant relative to me and I actually inherited what she had, I feel bad about it because I didn’t know her at all, but I intend to keep the orchard going since that was her dying wish”

The woman’s eyes light up and she smiles, replying “Well now there’s a welcome surprise! My name is

Luda Mae, I’m your neighbor down the bottom of the hill, we did a lot of business with the previous owner, Tilly. She was a close friend of mine”

Luda Mae kept her smile but looked away as if she was starting to tear up, she spoke in a quieter tone “She was a real good friend, she felt like a sister to me. Did you know that without her starting that orchard, my folks would have” she stopped herself and paused looking around “Well let’s just say, she saved us”

Your interest in getting to know who Tilly was had spiked, the lawyer said she was well known to locals but never expanded on that. Luda Mae continues,

“Join me and my friend for tea tomorrow, I’d love to tell you all about Tilly, and that way you can meet my family as well, it’s always nice to have a friendly neighbor. I won’t take no for an answer”

You feel a bit of anxiety creep in, meeting new people was already difficult for you and what’s worse this was in a completely new place, so far out of your comfort zone. Luda Mae takes some of the items you grabbed and brings them to the counter and bags them. You follow her and place the rest of your things on the counter and say,

“What time did you want me to stop by?”

Luda Mae hands you the food and says “Just come on by ‘round noon, I’ve lots to talk about with you, there’ll be plenty of food too so that way these groceries will last a bit longer” She gives you a wink.

“That sounds really nice actually, what do I owe you for the groceries?”

“It’s on the house hun, let that be a welcome gift” she smiles and follows with “By the way dear, be careful around that farmhand, he’s a cruel old thing. Did you move with anyone? Maybe a husband or boyfriend?”

You feel a sense of worry at the thought of being alone on a property with someone mean, let alone a man who is cruel. You reply,

“No, I don’t have anyone, it’s just me”

Luda Mae suppresses a smirk, she follows you to the exit and opens the door for you saying “We’ll keep an eye out for you then, you’ll be alright dear, he’ll get what he’s owed one day”

Those last words really sparked fear in you, was the farmhand dangerous or just mean? It might be a good idea to introduce yourself in order to find out and possibly make a connection so you don’t seem rude. You put the groceries in the trunk and get in the car, Luda Mae waves to you as you pull out and head towards home.

Once you are home and the groceries were put away, you decide to go down to the orchard to see what kind of fruit are being grown. The trees are large and densely packed with fruits of all sorts, oranges, lemons, peaches, apples, and cherries. You are suddenly startled by a large, ugly man, he reeked of body odor and wore dirty overalls.

“Who the hell’re you?” he asks rudely.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get in the way. I’m Y/N I am the new owner of this property after Tilly passed”

The man looks angry, he rolls his eyes and pushes past you saying,

“Ah thought she din’t have no family” You scrunch your nose in confusion, he continues “You best keep outta muh way”

You follow after him saying “I just wanted to introduce myself so you know who I am”

He continues walking off “Don’t care” and disappears behind another row of trees.

You feel upset, you were already weary of people because of their bad behavior, and now you have a rude, smelly man controlling the orchard that you are unsure how to get rid of. You decide to pick some fruits to bring to Luda Mae tomorrow and head back up to the house. You put the fruits you picked in a basket you found and walk back out to the yard to relax on the swing bench. -I’m going to have to get used to that asshole until I can learn how to manage this farm myself. At least I don’t have to work anymore, so I will have plenty of time to learn-.

You get up and head over to where the binoculars sat, and used them to look over at Luda Mae’s property again to see if there is a designated front door. -Why did she ask if I had brought anyone? was she asking if I was single?- The thought lingered in your mind until you saw that enormous man again, this time he was holding a chicken and watching a small group of them peck at the ground. The chicken looked so tiny in his hands, and he held it so gently, giving it soft strokes along the back of its head. You stood still watching this strange man pet a hen for what felt like an hour, his face being covered was intriguing and his wide frame was a real sight to behold even if it was from afar.

You notice the sun beginning to set and decide it’s time to get inside and get some rest, the thought of possibly seeing that strange man up close danced in your mind and excited you for tomorrow’s visit. -I hope I get to meet him-.

Next chapter-

[eemamminy-art]

🌻 😵‍💫 for Estinien

🍯⏳ for Varis! 💚💚

🌼 for a happiness headcanon

This is a little on the mental health wellness side, but I love to think of Estinien keeping a journal in his travels? Noting down interesting things that happened, or things to avoid, or things to cherish, just little things to remind himself. He's never been fond of writing reports back when he was the Azure Dragoon, but writing for himself he can make it as small or simple as he wants while still leaving a little reminder for himself. As strong as he is after all his experiences, I'm sure even he can appreciate a reminder of all the good in his life now and all that he's overcome.

And also, remembering the restaurants with the yummiest foods!!

😵 for a sickness headcanon

I want to think he's really stubborn when it comes to letting others take care of him. Whether it's actual doctors/chirurgeons/healers, Alberic, the wol, Aymeric, Alphinaud, Vrtra, whoever-- I like to think tending to him when he's sick is like trying to give oral medication to a cat 😂 Probably when he has the first sign of an illness coming on, he disappears for a while and grabs himself whatever amenities he'll need (shelter with warm blankets, access to a stove or campfire, broths and herbs that will combat the illness, probably citrus when he's traveling in warmer places too) and just hunkers down for a few days until he sleeps it off.

I have no idea what the 💫 corresponds to, I'm sorry 😭😭😭

🍯 for a food headcanon

So, I love to headcanon that as a young man despite being a prince and therefore in line to the throne, Varis had a more standard military service like the average garlean citizen would. In a position of an officer almost certainly, but still a shitty enough of a post to help him get out of Emet's hair for a while "build some character". In those conditions it was probably a diet consisting of rations and whatever similar ingredients they could cobble together in foreign lands to vaguely resemble Garlean staples, and probably none of it prepared all that well.

I'd like to think that it gave him a real appreciation and fondness for Garlean food whenever he was home!! 😄 I'm sure you already know I love projecting bits of polish things onto garlemald as well, so now I'm just picturing like, Varis absolutely destroying some kotlet schabowy whenever he would come home from a deployment gdjhskkghds

⌛for a sleep headcanon

I imagine Varis is a very light sleeper, out of both fear and necessity. Military service will do that to a person, but also he probably had a pretty rigorous schedule to uphold as a prince and later an emperor, so I doubt he had much time to rest. Can imagine him grinding his teeth at night due to stress as well.

I think it probably only gets worse after he does ascend the throne, because he is well aware of the bloodshed that got him that seat, and is always looking out for the knife aimed at his back from that moment onward. :') [insert "does he know?" meme here]

-

Talk about your muse - headcanons ask game

[hannahstales]

My little pony: Take to the skies

My concept for gen 6 is a mix between mystery and friendship.

Every one of the 12 kingdom in their world has an alicorn leading them(there's no non-pony characters besides animals). Instead of cutie marks, they have family marks. Think of them as a family crest. They can also change if they're adopted into another family, about a 50/50 chance. An alicorns family mark is invisible unless using their full power.

19 years ago the Aries kingdoms alicorn Wishing Star vanished without a trace. The next day a newborn pegasus foal without a family mark was found on the doorstep of an orphanage. 5 years later that markless pegasus, named Blessing was adopted into the Cyclone family. In the present day Blessing has been experiencing strange things, objects floating when she sings despite her not having a horn, her small wings seeming to be able to lift her higher than ever before and her strength suddenly shooting up in intensity at random times. Now Blessing must discover what is happening to her, why Wishing Star disappeared and why do they look so similar?

All the main characters have a medical condition of some kind. 2/6 are ones I made up and the other 4 are real life ones.

Blessing Cyclone is reckless, quick-thinking & protective. She has Flightless Feathers Disorder(FFD) causing her wings to stop growing when she was 5 years old. Surprise party is energetic, quick-thinking & responsible. She also has Phocomelia Syndrome, causing their left hindleg to be shorter & their right foreleg to be missing. Rosey Bloom is tidy, sensible & cool-headed. She has chimerism, causing her coat & mane to have strange color patterns such as half her mane fading to orange & the other to a soft red. Lightning Butterfly is shy, smart & clever. He has type 1 diabetes, making his immune system attack insulin-producing cells in his pancreas. Twinkle Glow is creative, quick-thinking & socially awkward. She has cataract, which places a blurry spot in her vision, specifically in her left eye. Summer Azure is confident, competitive & an oddball. She has Horn Sinking Disorder(SHD) that caused her skull to be unable to hold her horns weight, requiring it to be removed.

I've got the names for their family members down but not their designs. I've also got no name or design ideas for the other 11 kingdoms alicorns. I talked about it with my sister and she suggested the idea of each alicorn matching a part of nature, like the sun and moon. Feel free to give ideas for alicorn concepts or any part of this au!

I'm considering the concept of there being a fourth type of pony. My reasoning is the 12 kingdoms are named after star signs and there's 4 types of star signs(such as water). So each pony type could originate from 3 of the kingdoms( for example, the pegasi come from the Gemini, Libra and Aquarius kingdoms). I'm thinking kelpies for the water kingdoms!

Also if you're wondering what's going on with Blessing Cyclone and Wishing Star, the plot twist is wild. The mystery of Wishing disappearing isn't really answered but the thing going on with Blessing is shes an alicorn! Wishings biological daughter to be exact. She has alicorn magic but due to having a pegasus body, she can only fully access her magic when at full power. I'm imagining her looking like Sunny in alicorn form with the glowing horn & wings(her real wings are still there, they're just kinda the structural framing of the magic ones). With Blessings family mark, I'm stuck between it being the Star(aka alicorn) family mark or the Cyclone family mark. The Cyclone family mark would be pretty sweet with her being adopted but the Star family mark would hit hard with the plot twist.

[richardmhicks]

Azure Conditional Access Certificates with SID Information Now Available

I recently wrote about changes to certificate-based authentication affecting Always On VPN implementations. These changes were introduced by Microsoft’s security update KB5014754. When the update is installed on domain controllers and enterprise Certification Authorities (CAs), administrators can perform strong user mapping for certificates used for Active Directory authentication. However, when…

[yukisideas]

𝐗𝐮̄𝐧 𝐏𝐞́𝐢𝐤𝐚̄𝐧𝐠 : 𝐀 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐮𝐢𝐧.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

Xūn Péikāng was not born. He was made.

His existence began in the sterile, white-lit corridors of an underground laboratory, where human hands sought to mold perfection. There were no lullabies, no whispered words of love—only the low hum of machines and the murmurs of scientists who viewed him as a project rather than a child.

Two figures stood above all others: Azure and Kaisei. They were the architects of his being, his only constants in an otherwise mechanical world.

Azure was meticulous, always watching, always analyzing. He spoke in low, measured tones, his words like silk laced with steel. His affection was conditional, his praise given in carefully controlled doses, just enough to make Xūn hunger for more.

Kaisei was colder, a man of science before sentiment, his sharp gaze dissecting Xūn’s every move. If Azure whispered manipulation, Kaisei ensured there was no room for doubt. He did not sugarcoat.

He did not soothe. He shaped Xūn through control, molding his mind as carefully as his body had been designed.

Xūn never questioned them. They were his world.

One evening, as Xūn analyzed the chemical structures of a new virus, Azure entered the room, a pleased smile curving his lips. " 𝖦𝗈𝗈𝖽 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄, 𝖷𝗎̄𝗇. " he praised, voice warm yet restrained. " 𝖸𝗈𝗎'𝗋𝖾 𝗂𝗆𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀. "

Xūn’s fingers twitched around his pen, his chest tightening with something dangerously close to hope. " 𝖣𝗈𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗆𝖾𝖺𝗇 𝖨 𝖽𝗂𝖽 𝗐𝖾𝗅𝗅? "

Azure chuckled, reaching out to brush Xūn’s hair back into place. " 𝖨𝗍 𝗆𝖾𝖺𝗇𝗌 𝗒𝗈𝗎'𝗋𝖾 𝗀𝖾𝗍𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾. 𝖡𝗎𝗍 𝗉𝖾𝗋𝖿𝖾𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇— " his grip suddenly tightened, his nails pressing lightly against Xūn’s scalp, just enough to make the boy still, " —𝗂𝗌 𝖺 𝗅𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝗋𝗈𝖺𝖽, 𝗆𝗒 𝖽𝖾𝖺𝗋. "

Xūn did not flinch. He only nodded. " 𝖨 𝗎𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗇𝖽.. "

Kaisei, sitting across the lab, scoffed. " 𝖴𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗌 𝗆𝖾𝖺𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗅𝖾𝗌𝗌 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗎𝗅𝗍𝗌, " he said coolly, not even glancing up from his notes. " 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗉𝗋𝖺𝗂𝗌𝖾? 𝖤𝖺𝗋𝗇 𝗂𝗍. "

Xūn’s stomach twisted, but he merely bowed his head. " 𝖨..𝖨 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅. "

And he did. Again. And again. And again. Because failure meant silence. Failure meant a lingering look of disappointment, a moment where Azure and Kaisei’s eyes would pass over him as if he were nothing more than a flawed product.

And Xūn could not bear being nothing to them.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄

Azure and Kaisei’s love was never freely given. It was rationed like a precious resource, given only when Xūn performed exactly as expected.

When he succeeded, Azure would pat his head, murmur words of approval, and let him sit by his side. " 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗆𝖾 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗎𝖽, 𝖷𝗎̄𝗇. "

When he failed, Kaisei would take away his comforts—no books, no lab access, no contact. " 𝖣𝗂𝗌𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝗆𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖻𝖾 𝗉𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗌𝗁𝖾𝖽, " he would say. " 𝖧𝗈𝗐 𝖾𝗅𝗌𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗇? "

One night, Xūn lay curled in his cot, the chill of the lab pressing into his bones. His latest experiment had been a disaster, and he had not seen Azure or Kaisei in hours. The isolation gnawed at him, an unfamiliar ache spreading in his chest.

When the door finally creaked open, Azure stepped inside, his expression unreadable. He did not speak immediately, only letting the silence stretch until it became unbearable.

" 𝖨 𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗒, " Azure finally murmured, sitting beside Xūn’s cot. His voice was quiet, disappointed. " 𝖨 𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗁𝖺𝖽 𝗀𝗋𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝖻𝖾𝗒𝗈𝗇𝖽 𝖿𝖺𝗂𝗅𝗎𝗋𝖾. "

Xūn swallowed, his throat tight. " 𝖨—𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝖽𝗈 𝖻𝖾𝗍𝗍𝖾𝗋. "

Azure sighed, running a hand through Xūn’s hair, but the touch felt heavier than usual. " ��𝗈𝗎'𝗋𝖾 𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗅, 𝖷𝗎̄𝗇. 𝖬𝗈𝗋𝖾 𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗅 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝖾𝗅𝗌𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽. 𝖡𝗎𝗍 𝗂𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗄𝖾𝖾𝗉 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗆𝗂𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾𝗌.. " His fingers curled slightly, gripping just enough to send a message. " 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘀 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂. "

Fear. Pure, unfiltered fear slammed into Xūn chest.

Wrong about him? Impossible. Azure was never wrong. Which meant—

No.

" 𝖨 𝗐𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝖿𝖺𝗂𝗅 𝖺𝗀𝖺𝗂𝗇.. " Xūn whispered.

Azure smiled. " 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐲. "

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌

Then Shirou happened.

A contradiction. A disruption. A mistake.

Xūn met him by accident. He had been working in the lab as usual, running calculations when the door creaked open. No one should have entered uninvited, and yet—

" 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙣? "

Xūn head snapped up, his cerulean eyes narrowing at the figure leaning casually against the doorway. Black hair. Green eyes. A smirk playing on his lips, as if he had no care in the world.

" 𝖠𝗇𝖽, 𝗐𝗁𝗈 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎? " Xūn asked flatly.

" 𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗈𝗎, " stranger replied, stepping into the lab as if he belonged there. “And you?”

Xūn hesitated. No one had ever asked him who he was before.

" …𝖷𝗎̄𝗇 𝖯𝖾́𝗂𝗄𝖺̄𝗇𝗀. "

" 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗍'𝗌 𝖺 𝗆𝗈𝗎𝗍𝗁𝖿𝗎𝗅. " Shirou grinned. " 𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖼𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗒𝗈𝗎, 𝖯𝗂𝗄𝖾𝗋𝗈. "

No one had ever spoken to him like that before. As if he were just a person. As if he weren’t something created to be perfect.

Shirou kept coming back. He talked, laughed, teased, and Xūn, despite himself, began to crave it. Began to want to see him. To hear his voice. To feel something other than the cold calculations of his life.

And Azure noticed.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄.

Azure had always watched. Always controlled. And now, the cracks in his creation were beginning to show, spreading like fractures in glass—small at first, but inevitable, unstoppable.

One by one, he began to remove the pieces, careful and deliberate.

He didn’t rush, didn’t force—no, that would only drive Xūn away. Instead, he whispered, planting seeds in the dark where doubt could take root. " 𝖨𝗌 𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗈𝗎 𝖽𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗒𝗈𝗎, 𝖷𝗎̄𝗇? 𝖸𝗈𝗎'𝗏𝖾 𝖻𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗈 𝗆𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗆𝗂𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾𝗌 𝗅𝖺𝗍𝖾𝗅𝗒. "

At first, Xūn brushed it off, shaking his head with a quiet laugh. " 𝖨𝗍'𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀, " he muttered, but Azure saw the faint crease in his brow, the hesitation in his hands as he worked. It was never about forcing belief—only nudging it into existence.

And so Azure continued, his words slipping into the gaps, careful and insidious. " 𝖨 𝗁𝖾𝖺𝗋𝖽 𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗌𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝗇𝖾𝖺𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗅𝖺𝖻 𝗒𝖾𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋𝖽𝖺𝗒, " he said, voice gentle, laced with concern. " 𝖲𝗍𝗋𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾, 𝗂𝗌𝗇'𝗍 𝗂𝗍? 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖾𝗑𝗉𝖾𝗋𝗂𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝖿𝖺𝗂𝗅𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝖽𝖺𝗒? "

Xūn frowned, pausing in his work, but shook his head again. " 𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽𝗇'𝗍— " The words fell flat, unconvincing, as if even he wasn’t sure anymore.

Azure seized the moment, placing a firm yet reassuring hand on Xūn’s shoulder. His grip was warm, grounding, a silent promise that I am the one you can trust. " 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲? " he murmured, leaning in just enough that his presence felt inescapable.

Doubt flickered in Xūn’s expression, and Azure softened, letting out a quiet sigh. " 𝖨 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖼𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗁𝗂𝗆, 𝗆𝗒 𝖽𝖾𝖺𝗋.. " he said, his voice touched with regret, as if he were the one hurting. " 𝖠𝗇𝖽 𝖨 𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗁 𝗂𝗍 𝗐𝖾𝗋𝖾𝗇'𝗍 𝗍𝗋𝗎𝖾. 𝖡𝗎𝗍 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾𝗌, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁. "

It was all it took—a single crack widening into something deeper. Xūn wanted to refute it, wanted to hold onto the certainty that Shirou wouldn’t betray him. But the more he tried, the more Azure’s words twisted in his mind, turning coincidence into something sinister.

Then came the final betrayal, hidden behind the careful hands of a friend. Azure sabotaged Xūn’s work himself, ensuring that every failure came when Xūn could least afford it. And each time, he was there—offering a quiet sigh, a sympathetic look, a murmur of reassurance laced with venom.

" 𝖨 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝖾𝖿𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎'𝗏𝖾 𝗉𝗎𝗍 𝗂𝗇𝗍o this. " His voice was soft, filled with understanding. " 𝙄 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝. "

And when Xūn finally came to him, shaken, exhausted, and desperate for answers, Azure welcomed him with open arms. He made no demands, no accusations—only a sorrowful sigh and a heavy gaze, as if he were carrying the burden of the truth.

" 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙪. " he whispered, " 𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚, 𝙓𝙪̄𝙣. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙩. 𝙄 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙤. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 ? "

Xūn’s chest tightened, his mind a whirlwind of denial and sinking dread. He wanted to fight back, to prove Azure wrong, but the evidence—his failures—were undeniable. And Azure had never led him astray before.

A breath. A slow, shaking exhale.

" ...𝖶𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝖨 𝖽𝗈? " His voice was barely above a whisper, a confession of uncertainty, of surrender.

Azure’s fingers curled ever so slightly on his shoulder, his smile hidden behind a mask of quiet understanding. His voice, when it came, was almost mournful, as if he hated what he had to say.

" 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗶𝗺. " he murmured.

" 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮. "

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐍.

Seo was dying.

Xūn watched as the younger boy convulsed on the floor, his body wracked with unbearable pain. His fingers twitched, reaching out blindly—toward something, someone—but there was nothing to hold onto. His breath came in ragged, wet gasps, his body rejecting life itself as the virus did its work.

This should have been satisfying.

Xun had crafted the virus with perfection—rapid cellular breakdown, internal hemorrhaging, just enough time for the victim to realize they were dying before the end came. It was supposed to be beautiful.

Then why did it feel wrong?

Seo’s bloodshot eyes flickered toward him, filled with something that crushed Xun’s chest. It wasn’t anger, wasn’t hatred. It was confusion. Why?

" 𝖯𝗂..𝗄𝖾𝗋𝗈..? " Seo’s voice was barely a whisper, fragile, trembling. His fingers reached toward him—trusting. Still trusting.

Xūn hands curled into fists at his sides.

This was necessary. This was the price of betrayal. This was what Azure told him had to be done.

Seo shuddered violently, another choked gasp leaving his lips. The blood pooling at the corners of his mouth made every breath sound wet, weak.

And then—

Footsteps.

Rushing. Unsteady. Desperate.

" 𝙎𝙀𝙊—?! "

The moment Xūn heard Shirou’s voice, the world seemed to crack open.

Shirou had come.

A figure burst into the room like a storm, his green eyes wide with sheer panic, his breath already uneven from running.

Xūn saw the exact moment Shirou’s gaze landed on the small, crumpled form on the floor, saw the way his expression twisted into something raw, something beyond horror.

" No no—no, no, no— " Shirou fell to his knees, nearly slipping in the growing pool of blood, his hands reaching, trembling, shaking as he gathered Seo into his arms.

Seo’s head lolled weakly against his chest, his bloodstained lips parting in a barely-there smile. " …𝖡𝗋𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋.. "

Shirou exhaled a shattered breath. " 𝖸..𝖸𝗈𝗎'𝗋𝖾 𝗈𝗄𝖺𝗒. 𝖸𝗈𝗎'𝗋𝖾 𝗀𝗈𝗇𝗇𝖺 𝖻𝖾 𝗈𝗄𝖺𝗒. " His voice was frantic, desperate, trying so hard to hold onto something that was already slipping away. He pressed a hand against Seo’s cheek, his fingers stained red. " 𝖩𝗎𝗌𝗍—𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗇, 𝗈𝗄𝖺𝗒? 𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝗁𝖾𝗅𝗉, 𝖨 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗆𝗂𝗌𝖾— "

But Seo’s small hand gripped his sleeve weakly. " 𝙄𝙩...𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙨... "

Shirou’s entire body tensed, his breathing hitching. His hands were shaking so badly they could barely keep holding on. " 𝖨 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐—𝖨 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐, 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗒 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗆𝖾, 𝖺𝗅𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍? 𝖣𝗈𝗇'𝗍—𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝖼𝗅𝗈𝗌𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖾𝗒𝖾𝗌. 𝗦𝗲𝗼, 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗲. "

Seo’s eyelashes fluttered. His pupils were already unfocused, his body already losing the strength to obey. " ..'𝙢 𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙.. "

" 𝙉𝙤.. " Shirou’s voice cracked. His grip tightened. " 𝙉𝙤, 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗌𝖺𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍, 𝗒𝗈𝗎'𝗋𝖾 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗍𝗂𝗋𝖾𝖽. 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝗍𝗂𝗋𝖾𝖽. 𝖸𝗈— " His throat closed up, and his voice broke entirely as he choked out, " 𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗐𝖾𝖾𝗄 𝗍𝗈 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖿𝖺𝗏𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝖼𝖾, 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖼𝖺𝗇'𝗍 𝖻𝖺𝖼𝗄 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗇𝗈𝗐, 𝗈𝗄𝖺𝗒? 𝖮𝗄𝖺𝗒? "

Seo’s lips twitched, the ghost of a smile. " 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨.. 𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙚. "

Then his fingers slipped.

And everything stopped.

The field was silent.

Seo was gone.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓.

Shirou held onto Seo’s lifeless body, his arms wrapped tightly around him as if refusing to let go—as if his sheer desperation could bring him back. His breath hitched, his chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven gasps. His mind couldn’t—wouldn’t—process what had just happened.

Seo, his little brother—the boy who had always followed him around like a shadow, who had once clung to his sleeve like a child afraid of the world—was gone. Just like that.

For a moment, there was nothing.

Just silence.

Then, something cracked inside him.

A sound tore from Shirou’s throat—something raw, something inhuman. His entire body trembled, his head hanging low over Seo’s still form. But then, the shaking stopped.

A shift.

The air around him grew thick, suffocating. A slow, creeping darkness coiled around his body, wrapping itself around his limbs like tendrils.

His once-white aura, something faint and pure, became swallowed by something deeper. Black and green—like ink bleeding into water, like a swan losing its pristine feathers, turning into something unrecognizable.

Xūn watched, amusement flickering across his face. His cerulean eyes gleamed, the corner of his lips twitching upward. Fascinating.

He had never seen Shirou like this before. Never seen that look in his eyes—wide, dull, brimming with something raw.

Anger. Hatred.

And betrayal.

Shirou lifted his head slowly, his gaze locking onto Xūn. His pupils were blown wide, his irises an eerie shade of green that pulsed with unrestrained fury.

" ..𝐘𝐨𝐮. "

Xūn tilted his head.

Shirou’s hands clenched around Seo’s lifeless body, his nails digging into fabric. His entire being was shaking—but not from grief anymore.

It was rage.

His breath came out in shudders, his chest heaving. " 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. "

Xūn’s amusement deepened. He took a step forward, tilting his head ever so slightly. " 𝖨 𝗈𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝖽𝗂𝖽 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗇𝖾, " he said smoothly. " 𝖲𝗎𝗋𝖾𝗅𝗒.. 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗼𝘂? "

A strangled sound left Shirou’s throat, something between a laugh and a sob. He hunched forward slightly, his grip on Seo tightening for a moment before he finally—finally—let go.

Slowly, he placed his brother’s body down, carefully, almost reverently. His fingers lingered for just a second, brushing against Seo’s cold skin.

Then, without warning—

Crack.

The ground beneath them split, a violent gust of energy surging outward. The entire lab trembled, the walls groaning under the pressure of Shirou’s fury.

Xūn’s smirk widened.

Now this was interesting.

𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐒 ; 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐃

Shirou rose to his feet with slow, deliberate movements. His hands, once steady and sure, now trembled with barely contained rage. His entire body burned with an emotion so intense it felt like it would consume him whole.

The air grew heavier.

Xūn stood amidst the chaos, entirely unfazed. He watched Shirou like a researcher observing a subject—curious, intrigued. But beneath that detached amusement, there was something else. Anticipation.

Shirou’s breathing was ragged, his shoulders tense. The way he was standing now—his back straight, his expression dark—was different. This wasn’t the Shirou Xūn knew.

This was someone else.

Someone broken.

Someone dangerous.

" 𝐘..𝐘𝐨𝐮.. "Shirou rasped, voice hollow. " 𝒀𝒐𝒖—𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅—𝑺𝒆𝒐. " His words were not a question. Not an accusation. They were a fact, an undeniable truth that settled into the ruins of his mind like a disease, festering, poisoning everything.

Xūn sighed, tapping his fingers together lazily. " 𝖪𝗂𝗅𝗅𝖾𝖽 𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗇 𝗎𝗀𝗅𝗒 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽. " His tone was casual, as if they were speaking about the weather, not the body lying cold between them. " 𝖨 𝗉𝗋𝖾𝖿𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝖺𝗒.. 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲. "

The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

Shirou’s eyes flickered, his pupils dilating as something inside him snapped.

" 𝗔𝗻 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲? " His voice was soft, barely above a whisper—but it carried through the space like a sharp blade, cutting through the air between them.

Xūn’s smirk grew. " 𝖣𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗅𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝗌𝗈 𝗌𝗎𝗋𝗉𝗋𝗂𝗌𝖾𝖽, 𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗈𝗎. 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗄𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗀, 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂? " He took a slow step forward, his boots clicking softly against the cracked tiles. " 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽'𝗏𝖾 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐𝗇. 𝖠𝖿𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖺𝗅𝗅, 𝗐𝖺𝗌𝗇'𝗍 𝖨 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝖽𝗈 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲? "

Shirou’s breathing hitched. His mind replayed every moment, every memory—Xūn’s voice, his presence, his twisted words that had once sounded so reasonable. Trust me, Shirou. I’m the only one who understands. The only one who will never betray you.

But now—now Shirou saw it for what it truly was.

Manipulation. Lies.

Xūn had never been his friend.

He had been waiting for this moment.

The realization struck Shirou like a knife to the gut.

" 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝗅𝗐𝖺𝗒𝗌 𝗀𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝖽𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌, " Shirou whispered. " 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝖾𝗀𝗂𝗇𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀. "

Xūn let out a small chuckle. " 𝖮𝗁, 𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗈𝗎.. 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗆𝖾 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗌𝗈𝗋𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗏𝗂𝗅𝗅𝖺𝗂𝗇. " He placed a hand over his chest, feigning offense. " 𝖨 𝗈𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝖽𝗂𝖽 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖨 𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗨𝘀. "

Shirou’s expression twisted, a storm of emotions crashing through him. " 𝘽𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙤?! " His voice cracked, raw and full of fury. " 𝖲𝖾𝗈 𝗂𝗌 𝖽𝖾𝖺𝖽! 𝖸𝗈𝗎— " He swallowed, his fists clenching so tightly his nails dug into his palms, drawing blood. " 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗺𝗲. "

Xūn’s expression remained unchanged. " 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙚𝙩, 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. "

Shirou froze.

" 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾𝗇'𝗍 𝖺𝗍𝗍𝖺𝖼𝗄𝖾𝖽 𝗆𝖾, 𝗒𝖾𝗍. " Xūn continued, tilting his head. “Is it because you’re hesitating? " 𝖨𝗌 𝗂𝗍 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗌𝖾—𝖽𝖾𝖾𝗉 𝖽𝗈𝗐𝗇—𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗜'𝗺 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁? "

A sharp intake of breath.

" 𝗡𝗼. " Shirou growled, shaking his head. " 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌. 𝖭𝗈𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾. "

Xūn’s smirk faltered for a fraction of a second.

" 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁.. " Shirou continued, his voice lower now, dangerous. " 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩—𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙖𝙮. "

And then—

The ground exploded.

𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐋

Shirou didn’t waste another second. His entire body pulsed with power, the green and black energy swirling around him like a living force. The moment he moved, the ground beneath him shattered, his very presence warping the air.

Xūn barely had time to react before the darkness surged forward—jagged tendrils of black lightning lashing out with terrifying speed.

He twisted his fingers, summoning a wave of cerulean fire, meeting Shirou’s attack head-on. Their powers clashed in an explosion of light and shadow, shaking the very foundation of the lab. Walls cracked. The ceiling groaned under the pressure.

But Shirou didn’t stop.

More.

More.

His rage burned like an unquenchable inferno, fueled by grief, by betrayal, by the lifeless body of his brother lying behind him.

" 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙! " Shirou roared, his voice nearly lost in the chaos. Another wave of dark energy crashed toward Xūn, twisting and writhing like serpents.

Xūn merely smirked, leaping back effortlessly." 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱? 𝖨𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗐𝖾 𝗐𝖾𝗋𝖾? " His tone was taunting, yet there was an edge to it—something almost unreadable. " 𝖮𝗁, 𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗈𝗎. 𝖧𝗈𝗐 𝗇𝖺𝗂𝗏𝖾. "

With a flick of his wrist, the air around him shifted. Ice, sharp as daggers, formed in the space between them. Within seconds, the shards launched forward, each one aimed to maim, to tear, to hurt.

Shirou’s form flickered, darkness swallowing him whole before the ice could reach him.

Then—

He was behind Xūn.

Xūn barely managed to summon a barrier before an explosion of black mist engulfed him, the sheer force sending him flying across the room. He skidded to a stop, his boots scraping against the fractured floor.

For the first time, the amusement in his eyes faltered.

Shirou stood amidst the wreckage, his breathing heavy, his green eyes glowing unnaturally bright. His hands trembled—not from exhaustion, but from something deeper.

" 𝖳𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗇𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝖲𝖾𝗈.. " Shirou said suddenly, his voice eerily calm.

Xūn remained silent, waiting.

Shirou exhaled, his gaze piercing through the smoke. " 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗄 𝗆𝖾 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗍, 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂? 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙩, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. "

A slow smile curled Xūn’s lips.

" 𝘼𝙝, 𝙨𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙. "

Shirou’s chest ached.

It wasn’t just the fight. It wasn’t just the loss.

It was everything.

The memories. The trust. The quiet moments where he had believed in Xūn, where he had thought—just maybe—he had found someone who truly understood him.

And now, standing here, amidst the ruins of what they once had—Shirou realized something even worse.

Xūn had understood him.

And he had used that knowledge to destroy him.

Something inside him cracked.

Shirou reached into his pocket without thinking, fingers brushing against the cool surface of a small, worn object.

A gift.

One Xūn had given him long ago. A simple pendant, one that had meant something once.

Shirou pulled it out, staring at it for a long moment.

Then—without hesitation—he crushed it in his palm.

The sound of breaking metal rang through the air.

Xūn’s eyes flickered.

For the first time, the smirk disappeared.

He looked at the shattered remains of the pendant in Shirou’s hand, and something unreadable flashed across his face.

A moment passed. Then two.

And slowly, Xūn reached into his coat, pulling out a thin silver ring—another gift.

Shirou had given it to him years ago, telling him it was his first act of trust.

Xūn twirled it between his fingers, the metal catching the dim light.

Then—

With a flick of his hand, he let it fall to the ground.

The ring hit the cracked floor with a quiet, hollow clang.

It rolled. Once. Twice.

Then it stilled.

Silence.

Neither of them moved.

The lab burned around them, the air thick with smoke and the weight of everything left unspoken.

Finally, Shirou turned.

Without another word, without another look, he stepped over the wreckage and walked away.

Xūn didn’t stop him.

He simply watched.

And when Shirou finally disappeared into the distance, Xūn exhaled softly, lowering his gaze to the broken ring at his feet.

For the first time, he felt something he couldn’t quite name.

But it was too late.

It had always been too late.

𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍

It has been a decade.

The years had passed like a slow, agonizing eternity. Almost a decade since that day—since the lab was reduced to ruins, since the bond between Xūn and Shirou was shattered beyond repair. Since the moment Seo’s lifeless body went cold in Shirou’s trembling hands.

And yet, Xūn never looked back.

Now, he stood in the center of his new lab, a dimly lit, sterile space filled with the hum of machines. Beakers bubbled, monitors flickered with unreadable data, and the scent of chemicals hung thick in the air. Scattered papers covered the desks, each detailing his latest project—his newest creation.

He reached into the pocket of his lab coat, fingers brushing against the cold glass of a small pill bottle.

With a flick of his wrist, he popped it open and poured the contents straight into his mouth, swallowing without hesitation. No water, no second thought. The bitterness coated his tongue, but he barely noticed anymore.

Painkillers. Stimulants. A concoction of his own making.

It didn’t matter what they were. As long as they kept him functioning.

His cerulean eyes flickered toward the large containment pod in front of him—a sleek glass chamber filled with a translucent liquid. Suspended within, a figure floated in eerie stillness. Limbs motionless, hair fanned out like ink in water.

A clone.

Xūn had spent years perfecting this moment. Every spare second, every scrap of knowledge, every fragment of his shattered past was poured into this project. A perfect being, free from the failures of humanity.

The machines beeped in sync as the pod slowly began to drain, the liquid receding as the figure inside lowered to the ground. A quiet hiss filled the room as the glass split open.

And then, the clone stirred.

Lids fluttered open, revealing the eyes of the same haunting as Xūn’s. The newly formed being took its first breath, staggering slightly as it stepped forward, unsteady but alive.

Xūn tilted his head, a slow smirk forming on his lips as he observed his work.

Then, in a voice as smooth as silk, he greeted his creation.

" 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐍𝐲𝐱 𝐘𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞. "

?.. ?.. ???...

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓.

Shirou’s steps were slow, almost hesitant, as he entered the dimly lit room.

The weight of his brother’s lifeless body in his arms made each movement feel unbearable. His breath was ragged, his vision unfocused, his entire being hollow. The only sound that accompanied him was the faint, distant hum of machinery—cold, sterile, unfeeling.

Azure stood near a desk, seemingly unbothered by the sight before him. His piercing eyes observed Shirou with a quiet, knowing gaze, his hands neatly folded behind his back. The scientist did not rush forward, did not express sorrow or pity. Instead, he waited.

Shirou finally came to a stop in front of him. His knees trembled as he carefully lowered Seo’s still form onto the floor. His fingers curled against the fabric of his brother’s now-useless coat, clenching tightly as he forced the words out.

" 𝖨.. 𝖨 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽𝗇'𝗍 𝗌𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗁𝗂𝗆. " His voice cracked, raw and broken. His hands shook violently. " 𝖨 𝗍𝗋𝗂𝖾𝖽—𝖨 𝗍𝗋𝗂𝖾𝖽 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲. "

Azure exhaled softly, stepping closer. He gazed down at Seo’s unmoving body, expression unreadable. Then, with an eerie calmness, he reached out and gently placed a hand on Shirou’s head, his fingers threading through the strands of his dark hair.

Shirou flinched slightly at the touch but didn’t move away. He had nothing left—nowhere else to turn.

" 𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗜? " Azure murmured, his voice smooth, measured, almost affectionate. " 𝖥𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒 𝖻𝖾𝗀𝗂𝗇𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀... 𝗫𝘂̄𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂. "

Shirou’s breath hitched, but he said nothing.

Azure continued, his fingers pressing down ever so slightly, a cold reassurance disguised as comfort. " 𝖧𝖾 𝗁𝖺𝗌 𝖺𝗅𝗐𝖺𝗒𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝗌𝖾𝗅𝖿𝗂𝗌𝗁. 𝖠𝗅𝗐𝖺𝗒𝗌 𝗍𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝗎𝗂𝗍 𝗁𝗂𝗆𝗌𝖾𝗅𝖿. 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗀𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗁𝗂𝗆 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗍𝗋𝗎𝗌𝗍, 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗅𝗈𝗒𝖺𝗅𝗍𝗒, 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾—𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂? "

A pause. A calculated silence to let the words sink in.

“…𝙃𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. "

A tremor ran through Shirou’s body. His mind replayed the moment over and over again—Seo’s final breath, the cold stillness, the way Xūn had just stood there, indifferent, watching.

Azure knelt down slightly, keeping his hand on Shirou’s head as if soothing a grieving child. His voice dropped lower, gentle, almost hypnotic.

" 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾𝖽 𝗁𝗂𝗆, 𝖽𝗂𝖽𝗇'𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎? "

Shirou squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t answer.

" 𝖠𝗇𝖽 𝗒𝖾𝗍, 𝗁𝖾 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖼𝗁𝖾𝗋𝗂𝗌𝗁𝖾𝖽. " Azure’s lips curved slightly, his tone dipping into something even colder. " 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙? "

Shirou’s breathing grew unsteady.

Azure leaned in just a little closer, his voice a whisper now, threading into the cracks of Shirou’s broken mind.

" 𝖳𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗏𝗂𝗍𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾, 𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗈𝗎. " His fingers tightened ever so slightly. " 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗫𝘂̄𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲. 𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂. "

A suffocating silence settled in the room.

And then, the final whisper. The chilling truth that would bury itself deep into Shirou’s heart, poisoning every memory, every lingering attachment.

" 𝙏𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙚, 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙪.. 𝘿𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙢? "

a/n : oc lore :D !!

i dont proof read anymore, my head hurts.

words ; 4.4k

[darkmaga-returns]

What EDAV does:

Connects people with data faster. It does this in a few ways. EDAV:

Hosts tools that support the analytics work of over 3,500 people.

Stores data on a common platform that is accessible to CDC's data scientists and partners.

Simplifies complex data analysis steps.

Automates repeatable tasks, such as dashboard updates, freeing up staff time and resources.

Keeps data secure. Data represent people, and the privacy of people's information is critically important to CDC. EDAV is hosted on CDC's Cloud to ensure data are shared securely and that privacy is protected.

Saves time and money. EDAV services can quickly and easily scale up to meet surges in demand for data science and engineering tools, such as during a disease outbreak. The services can also scale down quickly, saving funds when demand decreases or an outbreak ends.

Trains CDC's staff on new tools. EDAV hosts a Data Academy that offers training designed to help our workforce build their data science skills, including self-paced courses in Power BI, R, Socrata, Tableau, Databricks, Azure Data Factory, and more.

Changes how CDC works. For the first time, EDAV offers CDC's experts a common set of tools that can be used for any disease or condition. It's ready to handle "big data," can bring in entirely new sources of data like social media feeds, and enables CDC's scientists to create interactive dashboards and apply technologies like artificial intelligence for deeper analysis.

[regaliasonata]

Jungle Fury Random Headcanons and Ideas

@skyland2703 @augment-techs @mo-ok @junglefurytrash went a bit crazy with this one

-Casey is the youngest of five siblings, and is the only boy in the family. He knows how to do makeup and hair.

-Due to his upbringing everyone in the house expected him to be gay, he was kind of dreading having to tell his mother and sisters but they were pretty chill about it.

-His sisters are either quintuplets or triplets and two adopted sisters depending on what you want to go with.

-Despite being the blue ranger Theo didn't develop his animal spirit until after Luen gained his. His parents seem to expect more from him as they were students in a sub school associated with the Pai Zhua.

-Theo's won a Guinness World Record award for karaoke, he claims it's in his blood to be amazing at it.

-Lily grew up within a small apartment in the city, she enjoys all the different foods that a place has to offer. Anything that's new and changing, reminds her of home.

-There's a chance that she trained with Zack and had him as a partner as she did mentioned how she used to do competitive dance competitions.

-RJ's mother passed away when he was young and he kind of blames himself for it. Despite trying to make their relationship better Finn may have blamed him all those years ago for Mrs. James's passing, just a constant reminder of her not being here.

-RJ is amongst one of the only individuals(Like Antonio) to discover the Morphin Grid on his own and is the reason the Pai Zhua has it as access.

-Sometimes just to spite Finn RJ catches fish and attaches them around the shark master's house. That way his air conditioning can smell terrible.

-Dominic flunked out of college, he was studying to become a teacher in geography.

-Casey seems more ticked off with Dominic because of the idea that he might try to go for Jarrod or RJ.

-Jarrod enjoys being around animals as his parents weren’t really around, his mother didn’t really enjoy the prospect of having a boy and his dad would either yell all the time or get pissed off about farm work not doing well so Jarrod cuddling up with a fluffy sheep or even summoning his black lion spirit to sleep next to it’s mane would soothe him.

-Despite all the troubles within the school Master Mao kinda sees Jarrod as his own son(Any of you kingdom hearts fans, cough cough Eraqus and Terra).

-Camille’s hatred of snakes was due to her mother being killed by Naja 10,000 years ago, she’s unaware of this fact but disposing of the snake rinshi felt right when it happened in the show.

-Her eyeshadow is actually a trait of her animal spirits. Animal spirits have way more depth to them as they are the shadow of one’s self, in some cases specific traits about said spirit leak into the person like physical to mental details (example: Camille’s eyeshadow, RJ’s ferocity from his wolf spirit.)

-megazords formed by animal spirits were based on specific influences centuries ago, from totems, giant sculptures like sphinx and even Animus. Some can claim that the guardians of the Pai Zhua were the first people to create earthly megazords within human history.

-mystical beasts or fictional animal like creatures such as the phoenix, azure dragon etc are somewhat rare due to a very small percent of people born with one or those entities giving access to said person. Such as the Phantom Beasts who are based on specific creatures. If Nick or Chip were to come to Pai Zhua and develop a phoenix and Garuda spirit then they’d be a powerful force.

-rinzen and zocalo energy isn’t inherently bad energy but the power is mainly associated with rinshi, the rangers have the potential to access it and even gain phantom beast modes similar to Jarrod and Camille.

-Fran’s animal spirit can range either from a black cat, owl or monkey and gives her abilities based on inner luck or focus making her quite powerful.

-Lily basically adopted Casey as her own little brother.

-Secretly Jarrod wants to pursue cooking or something based in creativity. He didn't touch a kitchen utensil for weeks after seeing kitchen nightmares and it took RJ having to throw the tapes out to get him back into cooking.

-Master Swoop can actually split himself into bat's and has the little shadows spying around the world for any threats. Its kind of creepy but very effective as he can easily have the bat's acting as kamikaze strikers to defeat monsters. Rangers on other teams don't know how threats get taken down but they don't mind, less work load.

-the Pai Zhua has more schools within the world that differentiate in some fighting styles and such. Some schools like the ninja academies try to pick up on their skills but a few of the campuses keep secret.

-Zordon tried to learn about the teachings thousands of years ago as their abilities mixing with the grid gave way for a spike in power with combat but they shunned the wizard away cause of being weary about his motives. Ninjor was welcomed in open arms via the power coins he had. This also explains why Jungle Fury was so scarce with the other teams up until megaforce.

-despite everything the Pai Zhua is nowhere near as moral as they tried to portray themsleves as. Some people can be very toxic in a few areas, Dai Shi had possessed people in the past and with each attempt they tried to have the individuals go mad and die from the experience as a way to rid themselves of the dragon. Casey and the rangers dismantled this ideology after killing the Dai Shi.

-because of her potential the academy sent scouts to try and push Fran to join the academy but RJ quickly shut that down and actually threatened a few of the higher officials because of this.

-Animal spirits talk amongst themselves when the team isn't around. Some play poker when everyone's asleep.

-because of being spirit and mythical based the JF team can handle most of the recurring threats of Zedd and Rita. Plus with their megazords not being mechanical they aren't easily disposed of.

-RJ secretly made JKP into a megazord incase there's an emergency, he met Antonio and added a shitload of symbol power and animal spirit energy to make it a powerful force.

-Lily loves a lot of 80s-90s music and loves to dress in a semi style of Y2K.

-Having no knowledge of Pokemon, Camille and Casey were sat down by Theo and Fran until they were introduced to Gen 4. Camille hacked her Platinum cartridge to get all the mythical and legendary mon events.

-RJ smokes blunts mainly to calm himself, it started as a way to escape the thought of his mother being goin and his father's disapproval.

-Tommy and Jason aren't allowed in Ocean Bluff when it comes to ranger activity because RJ's access to the grid could be useful but he likes to gatekeep and personally team wise if anything happens both him and the group wouldn't enjoy veteran rangers from the first modern team(unless it's billy) coming in and taking over operations.

-Camile and Jarrod jump monsters whenever a mission happens, forget talking, get the job done when needed.

-Casey was fired from the zoo for sleeping in the tiger cage and released all the animals into nice reservations after he was let go.

-Lily was made team leader as Casey doesn't feel too well with getting the role just for being a red ranger.

-Theo is a master at coming up with combo attacks and megazord concepts to the point that rangers like Chip and Max come to him for guidance. He's got quite the reputation in the ranger community for his witty ideas.

-Casey is on a red ranger watch list due to his sword skills, despite keeping their word Jason may have came to the city to demand some aid with their grid research and the two got into a brawl with Casey winning. Him, Jayden and Lauren are all at the top five of said list.

-RJ has dated lots of people but it usually never ends on a perfect note as they were usually relationships with people who took emotional advantage over him. Though he's in a better place within his life to try again with Casey or anyone who actually values him.

-Jarrod listens to a lot of punk music and back at the school Mao got complaints about speakers Blaring music at two in the morning.

-Cam hangs with RJ and shares ideas but he isn't allowed to tell Tommy about any of their conversations. The two may have had a thing in the past.

-Wolf rangers tend to have a powerful aura and they each meet together to talk about business, RJ has a bone themed secret landline he uses to contact them.( @sentinelofstories wolf war 👀😭)

-Due to Dai Shi the JF teams has a disdain for dragons, Serpentera count your days if you ever come back.

-Camille's rinshi form is just armor but was never accepted fully as a rinshi, she only became one to seem worthy in Dai Shi's eyes. The phantom beast hated her for many things and this was one of the reasons, thousands of years ago she murdered three previous members for nearly trying to assassinate her.

-Princess Shayla and the Wild Force rangers are on good terms with the JF team. Merrick follows RJ around like a lost puppy, Taylor spites Theo for being short, Lily tried to get Danny out of his shell. Max tries to explain modern day concepts to Camille, Alyssa and Dominic do small talk and Cole is given death glares from RJ or Jarrod because Casey has caught eyes for him.

-Casey is Gay, Lily is Bi, Theo is a straight ally, Camille and Jarrod are angry bisexuals, RJ is pan, Fran and Dom are unsure of what they are.

-It is unknown if dinosaurs can become animal spirits but Eric actively seeks out Casey to test this theory.

-Casey's favorite red ranger is TJ.

-The team watches movies each Thursday, Everyone except Lily can't handle watching Final Destination.

-it took some time but Jungle Fury had their crossover with RPM and its safe to say things were chaotic. Dillon and Jarrod pretty much had a staring contest with each other, RJ and Flynn got high for the most part, Scott kept crying tears of joy when Casey took him to see their world since it isn't destroyed, Theo wanted to throw himself out the window from hanging with Ziggy, Summer took Lily shopping and Camille was this close to murdering the twins but actually found herself warming up to them, she even went on a date with Gemma.

-Billy is on thin ice for trying to bring Zordon back and while RJ likes the dude he'd prefer that the giant head wouldn’t butt in on all of their affairs.

[cursedalthoughts]

Priority Research 7 Predictions - Eagle Union

I remember a few years ago, when I tried to do predictions for PR3 back on Twitter, I realized the Eagle Union didn't have many choices. Kearsarge wasn't a thing back then, so Seattle, Georgia and Anchorage were pretty much the only real options they had at all.

That has changed a fair bit now, with PR7 right around the corner.

USS Minnesota

Minnesota is not a good battleship.

When talking about big battleships I sometimes mention how they're "big, slow, and slumbering." In most cases, that's an exaggeration on my part. That's not the case with Minnesota.

With a top speed of 23 knots, Minnesota is one of the slowest ships of her tier, if not the slowest. That's not the only slow thing about her, as her main guns - twelve 406mm guns - have a reload of 40 seconds. You can genuinely go AFK and do things in real life while the guns reload.

Her guns, however, are a bit more accurate than average; although that is the only saving grace she has.

If she gets added to Azur Lane as a PR, she'd be of PR rarity.

USS Vermont

Vermont is a T10 copycat of Minnesota. You might think "wow, she's also terrible, right?"

Yes. She's even worse. Same top speed of 23 knots, same 40s reload on her main guns, etc, same weak side armor, same glacial turret traverse of 45s, everything is the same, just bigger.

The only difference is that her main guns are 457mm. "Does that actually matter?"

Oh boy.

Those 457mm main guns are the only thing that moves Vermont from a pretty terrible battleship, to an excellent battleship. Her main offensive tool is patience. Vermont is a persistence hunter. A good Vermont player will choose a good flank to reside in and stalk the enemy. If you're on one end of the map and the enemy Vermont gets lit up by firing her main guns on the other side of the map; only island cover will save you. 15.7k damage per AP shell, 12 AP shells, incredible accuracy; a well placed shot will detonate any enemy with a citadel.

I do not have a Vermont myself, but I have seen the trail of destruction she can leave behind. Full health battleships 25km away exploding without warning, perfectly angled cruisers taking 50k or more damage in one hit, Vermont is one of the scariest battleships to face against if the right conditions are met.

Vermont would make for an excellent DR battleship, a diametric opposite to Kearsarge.

USS Austin

A super-Atlanta, Austin has a potential sistership in the shape of Jinan - more about her here.

Austin is an excellent spammer. Being able to fire HE and SAP, there's very few targets she can't run down. However, her base reload is 7.5s, which is rather atrocious for a main gun spammer.

The saving grace of Austin is that she has access to a unique reload boost. Once activated, her reload drops down to less than 2s for a period of time; the uniqueness of this boost coming from the fact that it is unlimited. Once the reload boost has finished, it enters its cooldown, after which it can be used again without any maximum number of uses.

Austin is also really small - here's a size comparison with other T10 light cruisers made by Ch0m1n.

Austin is a fascinating little ship. Oh, also, she's surprisingly tanky despite being a light cruiser. Definitely DR material.

USS Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is simply a bigger Alaska-class. When designing the first large cruisers of the USN, one of the preliminary designs was CA2-D:

CA2-D had a total of 12 305mm main guns in triple turrets, as well as an overall larger displacement. Puerto Rico could be an interesting half-sister of the Alaska-class, of equal DR rarity.

USS Congress

Congress, much like Puerto Rico, is a discarded Alaska-class design. In particular, she seems to be a variation of the 12-Inch Gun Cruiser Study, CA2F:

(excuse the different formatting, i've been fighting with tumblr for 40 fucking minutes and i can't seem to replicate what i did above)

Congress, much like Puerto Rico, would be a PR variation of Alaska.

USS Illinois

Illinois is one of the most interesting battleships in the game. She's an Iowa hull, meaning that she shares a lot of similarities with the other 4 Iowa hulls in the game (Iowa, Missouri, Delaware and Wisconsin - Georgia and Rhode Island are a bit different). The thing that makes her unique is that she doesn't have battleship calliber guns. No, she also doesn't have 305mm guns either.

Illinois has 203mm guns. To be specific, she has 3 quadruple 203mm gun turrets that use the same guns and ammo as Des Moines.

Even if Des Moines has considerably better damage per minute and utility (Des Moines has radar and hydroacoustic search, Illinous has neither); Illinois is a battleship hull. She's the tankiest standard heavy cruiser in the game.

I can see her being a PR in Azur Lane, her gimmick being something like being the only battleship in the game that can be placed on the vanguard fleet. Also, she would only be able to equip heavy cruiser main guns. I can see Drake's or Hindenburg's guns being amazing on her already.

USS Rhode Island

Rhode Island is a jack of all trades, master of none.

A small rundown of all the gimmicks Wargaming cramped into this ship:

Quadruple 365mm guns also found on the T7 battleship Florida, which is herself a downgraded version of North Carolina. These guns have amazing HE performance but underwhelming AP damage, due to the fact that she is Tier 10.

Radar. She has radar. That means she joins the already rare club of battleships with radar. To the best of my knowledge there are only 4: Missouri, Constellation, Borodino and lastly Rhode Island.

She has the same secondary gun performance that Georgia enjoys.

She has a speed boost. Just like Georgia.

Honestly, the only two real downsides of Rhode Island are her atrocious armor and her subpar AP performance. However, she has 22 seconds of reload, and her AP can stil wreack cruisers with ease up to certain distances.

If added to AL, she would be a DR due to the sheer amount of gimmicks she has.

USS Ohio

If Vermont's horrendous 40s reload and 23kts speeds personally offend you, Ohio is an alternative worthy of consideration.

Ohio is based on the Montana hull. There is sufficient evidence to believe Montana could be a gacha UR in Azur Lane, however, Ohio is mostly made up by Wargaming.

When designing the Iowa-class, the USN briefly considered equipping them with six 457mm guns instead of nine 406mm guns. That consideration gave birth to Georgia in World of Warships, who has a slightly different hull design than the Iowa-class. Ohio takes Montana's guns and replaces them with Georgia's, giving her eight 457mm guns with Super-Heavy AP shells.

On top of that, Ohio enjoys a much improved secondary gun performance, better than Georgia's and Rhode Island's in many regards; and a full secondary gun build does not sacrifice much of her impresive main gun accuracy.

On top of that, Ohio has the same sort of heal party that Massachussetts has - it lasts for longer than average and has a shorter cooldown, meaning you can repair the ship more often for more health points.

I am tempted to say Ohio is a DR shipgirl, but considering Georgia is PR and New Jersey is UR; I think Ohio could end up being another PR shipgirl, while Montana becomes an UR. However, Montana is extremely far away, while Ohio could come at any moment.

[seogoogle1]

Navigating the Complexities of Microsoft Licensing: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction: In the realm of enterprise software solutions, Microsoft License stands as a behemoth, offering a vast array of products and services that power businesses worldwide. However, along with its extensive suite of offerings comes a complex web of licensing agreements and models that can befuddle even the most seasoned IT professionals. Understanding Microsoft licensing is crucial for organizations to ensure compliance, optimize costs, and harness the full potential of Microsoft's technologies. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the intricacies of Microsoft licensing, unraveling its various components, and offering insights to navigate this complex landscape.

Understanding Microsoft Licensing: Microsoft License offers a diverse portfolio of products catering to different business needs, ranging from operating systems like Windows, productivity suites like Microsoft 365, to advanced cloud services like Azure. Each of these products comes with its own licensing requirements, which can vary significantly depending on factors such as usage scenarios, deployment models, and organizational size.

Core Concepts of Microsoft Licensing:

Software Assurance: Software Assurance is an optional offering that provides benefits such as upgrade rights, training vouchers, and support services, offering organizations flexibility and additional value.

Volume Licensing: Microsoft offers various volume licensing programs tailored to different organizational sizes and needs, including Enterprise Agreements, Select Plus, and Microsoft Products and Services Agreements (MPSA). These programs enable organizations to procure licenses in bulk, often at discounted rates.

Subscription vs. Perpetual Licensing: Microsoft License offers both subscription-based licensing, where organizations pay a recurring fee for access to software, and perpetual licensing, where licenses are purchased outright with no expiration date. Understanding the implications of each model is crucial for organizations in making informed decisions.

Product Use Rights: Microsoft's Product Use Rights (PUR) document outlines the terms and conditions governing the use of its products, including licensing rules, restrictions, and exceptions. Familiarizing oneself with the PUR is essential for ensuring compliance.

Licensing Models for Different Products:

Windows Licensing: Windows operating system Microsoft License are available in various editions, including Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education. Understanding the licensing requirements for each edition, as well as options such as Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) for accessing virtualized Windows environments, is essential.

Office and Microsoft 365 Licensing: Microsoft offers multiple licensing plans for its Office suite and Microsoft 365, catering to different usage scenarios and user types. Organizations must choose the appropriate plan based on factors such as user needs, compliance requirements, and budget constraints.

Azure Licensing: Azure's flexible licensing model offers pay-as-you-go options, as well as various subscription and consumption-based plans. Understanding Azure's pricing and licensing models, including factors such as Reserved Instances and Hybrid Benefit, can help organizations optimize costs and maximize value.

Compliance and Optimization Strategies:

License Compliance: Ensuring compliance with Microsoft License terms is paramount for organizations to avoid legal and financial repercussions. Regular audits and license assessments can help identify areas of non-compliance and mitigate risks.

License Optimization: Optimizing Microsoft licensing involves aligning license purchases with actual usage, eliminating redundancies, and leveraging cost-saving options such as Software Asset Management (SAM) tools and licensing optimization services.

Cloud Cost Management: For organizations leveraging Microsoft's cloud services such as Azure, effectively managing cloud costs is critical. Strategies such as rightsizing virtual machines, leveraging reserved instances, and implementing cost allocation and tagging practices can help optimize cloud spending.

Conclusion: Navigating the complexities of Microsoft License requires a solid understanding of its various components, licensing models, and compliance requirements. By familiarizing themselves with Microsoft's licensing terms, leveraging the right licensing programs, and adopting optimization strategies, organizations can not only ensure compliance but also optimize costs and maximize the value derived from Microsoft's technologies. In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, staying abreast of changes in Microsoft's licensing policies and leveraging expert guidance can empower organizations to navigate this complex terrain effectively.

Website: https://microsoftlicense.com/

[innovationalofficesolution]

Executive Dashboards Reimagined in Power BI After Tableau

In today's data-driven world, executive dashboards play a critical role in strategic decision-making. While Tableau has long been a popular choice for dashboard development, many organizations are discovering the advantages of migrating to Power BI for greater flexibility, integration, and long-term scalability. With Microsoft's powerful analytics platform, executive dashboards are being completely reimagined — offering a more connected, real-time, and enterprise-friendly approach to business intelligence.

Why Executive Dashboards Need a Refresh

Traditional Tableau dashboards, while visually engaging, often require complex data preparation and additional tools for integration with Microsoft 365 services. As leadership teams increasingly demand instant access to actionable insights across departments, Tableau’s limitations in real-time interactivity and native integration with enterprise ecosystems become more noticeable.

Power BI, on the other hand, brings together seamless Microsoft integration, strong AI-assisted analytics, and advanced DAX capabilities — allowing executives to view performance metrics, forecasts, and KPIs in a single interactive canvas. This results in a truly dynamic, real-time decision support system.

Key Benefits of Power BI for Executive Dashboards

1. Seamless Integration with Microsoft Ecosystem Post-migration, executive dashboards in Power BI can connect directly with Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, and Azure. This enhances collaboration and allows decision-makers to access and share dashboards without leaving their everyday tools.

2. Enhanced Real-Time Data Access Power BI supports direct query capabilities and real-time data streaming from various enterprise sources. Executives no longer rely on static reports — they can now monitor live performance metrics and respond instantly to fluctuations in business conditions.

3. Advanced Drill-Down & Custom Filters Unlike the relatively linear filtering experience in Tableau, Power BI enables multi-level drill-down, cross-filtering, and natural language Q&A features. Executives can explore deeper insights without involving IT or BI teams every time.

4. Cost Efficiency and Licensing Flexibility Power BI’s licensing structure is more scalable for organizations. With Power BI Pro or Premium, enterprises gain access to powerful analytics features at a fraction of the cost of maintaining Tableau Server and its associated data prep tools.

Real-World Use Case: From Static to Strategic

A multinational manufacturing company recently migrated from Tableau to Power BI using a structured migration strategy. Their executive dashboards, once limited to monthly static reports, now reflect up-to-the-minute performance of each business unit, integrated with Microsoft Teams for real-time collaboration. Revenue growth, operational KPIs, and market forecasts are now part of daily decision-making.

Conclusion: Power BI Empowers the Executive Suite

Reimagining executive dashboards in Power BI transforms how leaders view data — not just as reports, but as strategic enablers. With improved interactivity, intelligent automation, and seamless integration, Power BI unlocks new possibilities for the C-suite to lead with clarity and agility.

For organizations planning a migration, rethinking dashboard design through the lens of Power BI can be a turning point in achieving enterprise-wide intelligence.

Explore more insights and migration strategies at 👉 https://tableautopowerbimigration.com/

[skillbabu]

 Logistics app development process in 2025: features, cost & roadmap to success

In 2025, real-time delivery tracking, AI, and inventory automation are no longer optional—they’re standard. Whether you're a startup or enterprise logistics firm, this guide breaks down everything you need to know to build a powerful logistics app that scales.

Why logistics is going digital

Logistics apps are solving key industry pain points like:

Lack of transparency in shipments

Poor communication between teams

Manual route planning

Inventory mismanagement

As eCommerce, global trade, and last-mile delivery continue to grow, businesses are under pressure to deliver faster, cheaper, and more accurately. That’s where digital logistics solutions step in, offering better visibility, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

Growth of logistics tech in 2025

The logistics tech market is expected to cross $80 billion by 2026, driven by automation, AI, and real-time systems. Here's what’s pushing the growth in 2025:

Surge in eCommerce & D2C businesses

On-demand delivery culture (Zomato, Blinkit, Amazon)

Rise of EV logistics fleets

Focus on sustainability and green logistics

Market trends in logistics tech

Modern logistics apps aren’t just digital,they’re intelligent. These are the top technologies shaping the future:

AI & Machine Learning: For demand forecasting, route prediction, and delivery time estimation

IoT Sensors: For temperature tracking, vehicle health, and inventory status

GPS & Real-time Tracking: Enables live shipment updates

Blockchain: Secure and tamper-proof delivery records

Cloud Platforms: Scalable storage and low-latency systems

Step-by-Step logistics app development process

Building a logistics app isn’t just about coding. Here’s a roadmap to follow:

1. Market Research

Understand your user base,fleet managers, delivery agents, vendors, or end customers. Analyze competitors like Locus, Bringg, and Onfleet.

2. Choose App Type

Decide the app model:

B2B – For logistics companies or vendors

B2C – For direct customer deliveries

Hybrid – Mix of both

3. Feature Planning

Prioritize features based on user roles (Admin, Driver, Customer). Plan for MVP first, and scale later.

4. UI/UX Design

Design a clean, intuitive interface with easy access to route info, delivery status, and real-time notifications.

5. Tech Stack Selection

Pick a modern, scalable stack. (More below.)

6. Backend + Frontend Development

Your developers will build core features: login, map integration, shipment tracking, notifications, and dashboards.

7. QA Testing

Ensure your app works across devices, network conditions, and use cases. Test GPS, offline syncing, and driver communication.

8. Launch + Ongoing Support

Once deployed, continuously monitor app performance, update features, and gather user feedback.

Must-Have logistics app features

Here are essential features for a functional and competitive logistics app:

📍 Real-Time Tracking: GPS-based live location of fleets or parcels

📦 Inventory Management: Live stock updates across warehouses

🛣 Route Optimization: AI suggests fastest, traffic-free delivery paths

📤 Push Notifications: Alert drivers/customers on updates or delays

👨‍✈️ Driver Dashboard: Track earnings, trips, delivery success rate

📋 Delivery Proof: Upload signatures, photos, or QR code scans

💬 In-App Chat/Support: Seamless communication between drivers, admins, and customers

Technology stack suggestions

Here’s a modern stack you can consider for 2025:

Frontend: Flutter (for cross-platform), React Native (for high performance)

Backend: Node.js / Django / Laravel (based on your team expertise)

Database: Firebase, MongoDB, PostgreSQL

Maps & Navigation: Google Maps API, Mapbox, OpenStreetMap

Cloud: AWS, Google Cloud, Azure

Push Notifications: Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), OneSignal

Tips to choose the right development partner

Here’s how to ensure your logistics app is built for success:

Look for experience in transportation or supply chain apps

Check portfolio and client reviews

Ask about support, updates, and scalability

Ensure they can integrate AI and real-time systems

Choose a team that understands both tech and logistics business models

Conclusion : 

Building a logistics app in 2025 is no longer just a tech project, it’s a business enabler. With real-time capabilities, optimized delivery, and enhanced transparency, a smart logistics app can drastically improve efficiency and customer experience.

Whether you’re a logistics startup, an eCommerce brand, or a delivery aggregator, now is the time to invest in digital logistics infrastructure.