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switch · 9 months ago

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it’s that time of the year again, it’s

Switch’s List of Halloween Games

games on this list are all 10+ years old, mostly on the more obscure or niche side, and if they’re not outright horror games they have a tone or theme appropriate for the season. because of their age, many have not been re-released, but if you know what you're doing that won't stop you. obligatory disclaimer to check content warnings for all of these games if interested. screenshots distributed randomly as i didn't want this post to be any longer than it already is.

The Residents' Bad Day on the Midway (1995)

a rather free-form black comedy point-and-click game set in a creepy carnival. you can freely swap between any characters that show up onscreen, read their stream of consciousness, and get different endings (or die) with each of them. this game makes full use of the setting, storytelling format, and uniquely repulsive art style established in The Residents' Freak Show, but now with more game to actually play, including minor puzzle-solving, even if a lot of it is optional. the game runs on a relatively short timer, and is intended for multiple quick replays.

The Dark Eye (1995)

The Dark Eye comes from our old friends at Inscape (who also made Bad Day up there and the infamous Drowned God), and is best known for using grotesque-looking stop-motion clay figures for its cutscenes. it’s a point-and-click adventure game that plays through multiple nightmarish Edgar Allan Poe stories across a single framing plot. the game can be a bit obtuse mechanically to play, but is another strong pick if you want a more artistic, psychological, less cheesy tone (and paint thinner that destroys your bones) than some of these other games.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (1995)

one of the best point-and-click adventure games out there from a narrative and character standpoint, and a fantastic adaptation and expansion of the original story. the psychodrama device is something i’m a big fan of and they make full use of it. actual mechanics or methods of getting certain endings can be rather obtuse, but if you're familiar with this genre it’s par for the course, and it's such a worthwhile and cathartic experience. very strong voice acting performances all around in a genre that tends to be associated with the opposite of that. either way, I consider this one a must-play game in the genre whether you've already read the original short story or not.

GARAGE: Bad Dream Adventure (1999/2021)

a Japanese point-and-click psychological horror adventure game with a storied history, formerly widely inaccessible until 2014. GARAGE has been re-released in English on modern platforms by its original developer, something i'm very grateful for, and with new endings. GARAGE has an art style like nothing else I've ever seen before or since, with 90's 3D graphics depicting claustrophobic industrial spaces and alien-looking biomechanical characters that can be deeply uncomfortable to even look at, while the game challenges you to look past that surface. it also features some resource management and a fishing minigame! fascinating, genuine, hard to swallow, and a very strong recommendation.

Sanitarium (1998)

another very strong entry in the point-and-click adventure game genre, and it’s an isometric one this time. its puzzle design in particular is well-regarded for the genre, and its absence of any kind of game-over/softlock system unlike its more punishing genre cousins, as it really does want you to experience its whole narrative (although, it can be prone to crashing or breaking progression. save often). each level is highly and uniquely themed, though the tone is consistently more surreal than horror. the overarching story is much more cohesive and heartfelt than the initial apparent premise and setting might make you suspect.

CarnEvil (1998)

a classic, darkly comedic on-rails Arcade light gun shooter. CarnEvil is just a blast to play, set in a variety of attractions in a demonic undead carnival, with responsive gun controls, an adaptive goring system, and highly memorable enemy variety and scripted set-pieces all absolutely full of personality, all backed by fantastic sound design. power ups are dubiously balanced and the difficulty, while not blatantly unfair, becomes roughly what you’d expect for a game made to eat quarters, but you’d be playing this on an emulator, so that’s only a factor for self-imposed challenges. comes built-in with a menu to disable or enable things like various gore settings or tone down the appearance of certain enemies to your preference level. whether you’ve played a lot of arcade shooters or want to give the genre a shot, you can’t go wrong with CarnEvil. never a dull moment in this game.

Illbleed (2001)

a campy, unconventional, third-person survival horror Dreamcast entry that's gained somewhat of a cult following, you may primarily know it as "that game with the demonic sonic the hedgehog boss in it." another game set in an evil theme park, with attractions based on horror movies, but all of which feature fun and surprising spins on their premises and mechanical shakeups suited to each level. the mall and woodpuppets are my personal favorites. multiple playable characters with their own strengths and weaknesses, and NG+. the game can have a bit of a steep learning curve and somewhat obtuse mechanics, and you'll certainly want to read a guidebook (lest you commit the mistake every youtuber who plays this game ever makes and miss the horror monitor entirely), but it's quite generous with providing funds to access items and upgrades once you're past that. the unique, meticulous gameplay style of managing your stats and sweeping for traps inbetween high-risk combat encounters has been both praised and criticized.

Harvester (1996)

it's Harvester. you might have heard of it. a shocking, gory, cheesy black comedy horror point-and-click adventure game. the game infamously utterly falls apart in both mechanically and narratively its final third, but there really just is nothing else out there like the first two-thirds of Harvester, and i think that alone makes it worth playing at least once if you have the stomach for it. i’m tempted to call it a classic, but i’m still not fully sure how to regard this game. Harvester is Harvester.

Shivers (1995)

a Myst-like that surpasses all other Myst-likes, if you ask me. Shivers added just enough QoL improvements and just enough tension to the formula to be enjoyable by both people who normally like Myst games and people who might normally not. features an auto-memory for puzzle hints and the possibility of death without ever being unfair. limited item management is the main thing still applying here. light use of FMV. the varied museum settings, rich use of colors and shadows, strong soundscapes, audio cues, and fun voice performance by the recurring narrator really makes the whole thing memorable. spooky in a fun way.

The 7th Guest (1993)

Myst's CD ROM drive selling cousin, you probably won't get more pure Halloween-y than with this game's theming, haunted mansion setting, and use of FMV. the game can be a bit incoherent at times, and it's a point-and-click adventure puzzle game with heavy emphasis on its relatively challenging puzzles, which is either a good or bad thing depending on what you want. features a very fun soundtrack and fun story.

(as an aside, i've also heard the VR remake is good. haven't played it myself, but its use of FMV actors in VR is certainly praise-worthy when Myst ended up dropping that particular ball.)

Phantasmagoria (1995)

while i've never personally been a fan of this one, Phantasmagoria was objectively a landmark entry in point-and-click adventure games, in horror games, in FMV games, and in Sierra On-Line's/Roberta Williams' whole catalog. in terms of its genre, it's actually on the approachable end in terms of puzzle difficulty! it's known for its extremely over-the-top gore and violence, but it takes itself more seriously than the likes of Harvester, or it at least tries to. if you're someone who can enjoy a messy, gross, gory horror movie, you might enjoy Phantasmagoria. i can certainly respect its use of practical effects...

even people who like this game don't tend to like Phantasmagoria 2, though.

The Path (2009)

a full-on walking simulator art game that tells an overarching Red Riding Hood-themed story with almost no dialogue. multiple characters and endings to go through, and lots of collectibles, some of which do things and some don't. if you just don't like walking sims it's unlikely this would do it for you, but if you're someone who does enjoy a good walking sim, this is a classic entry. the forest is a beautiful setting to explore and the soundtrack sells the uncomfortable and somber tone well.

American McGee's Alice + Alice Madness Returns (2000/2011)

action-adventure platformers. american mcgee's alice features fantastic setpieces and level design, responsive controls yet somewhat slippery platforming, an arsenal of highly unbalanced but fun weapons, good enemy variety, a fantastic soundtrack, and a high level of challenge. alice madness returns heavily tones down the challenge and former emphasis on weapons, enemy variety, and boss battles in exchange for highly responsive platforming, a rewarding collectible system, and a deeply cathartic story. they're both games i repeatedly come back to for their own reasons. i'd recommend getting the original version of AMA and not the 2011 re-release if you can help it, but it's not a dealbreaker.

The Colonel's Bequest (1989)

another Roberta Williams classic, it's a charming and detailed murder mystery graphic adventure game that has an emphasis on discovery and characters more than puzzles. the game is split across multiple acts with various characters on schedules, and is full of conversations to eavesdrop on, clues to find, and notebook entries to fill out, or not find. there's multiple endings and multiple ways to die, and you can complete the game even with varying levels of overall notebook completion. it’s a game designed for replays, and it’s still arguably one of the most well-made and most complete games of its kind out there. it's got a good sequel in 1992's Dagger of Amon Ra, which isn't on this list purely for not feeling very Halloweeny.

you can play this one in-browser through archive org! just look for the manual for both the game and the emulator to make sure everything runs smoothly and that you don't get walled by the copy protection...

Honorable Mentions:

Troubled Souls (1994, Classic Mac OS)

troubled souls is, admittedly, ‘just’ a little ol pipe-style puzzle game, no story here like the others. yknow, it’s like pipe mania. but, it’s a highly themed, creepy-looking pipe game. plus, it's got an absolutely killer BGM loop. if you’re ever gonna play any time-killing dedicated puzzle games this October, it may as well include some Troubled Souls.

Pathologic Classic HD (2005/2015)

It's Pathologic. you've almost certainly heard of it. i hesitantly dropped Patho down to honorable mention just because it's exploded so much in popularity these past couple years compared to the others on this list, but i'm recommending Classic HD specifically because i think a lot of people these days might only play 2, but i can't overstate what a wonderful and all-around complete package Classic is. it's a challenging survival game, but i don't find it the unwinnable, hyper-obtuse, archaic, anti-game it gets hyped as. the ebb and flow of its VN-influenced storytelling format and slower, meticulous, moment-to-moment gameplay that will then spike into being utterly frantic just often enough is highly engaging, as is its stat management. look, you can use a walkthrough/hint guide if you want to not get locked out of an ending, it's fine.

Shivers 2 (1997)

another game i'm personally not a fan of, but it's well-loved by the people who do like it. it's really Shivers in name only, but it preserves the improvements made to the Myst-like formula, so you can't go wrong if you enjoy a good Myst-like. i also can't deny that the game's rock music theme, desert setting, and overall presentation has its charm.

Dark Seed (1992)

another point-and-click puzzle adventure game, most noted for its H.R. giger designs, though its tone is ultimately less horror and more subdued and genre-conventional quirky than that initial selling point might have you think. the game runs on a persistent timer, and both the puzzles and click areas can be difficult to parse, making for a game that isn't interested in not being dated and induces tension more through frustration than through actually being horror, and it doesn't do much that any of its numerous genre cousins don't do better. still, an interesting if dated game that one can get a kick out of, at least once. there's not much i can say about this one that Majuular hasn't already explained better.

Dark Seed 2 (1995)

this will explain everything.

The 11th Hour (1995)

The 7th Guest's very bad, no good, utterly tonally inexplicable, terrible sequel. only worth playing if you want to see even more cheesy FMV, more mansion, or more Stauf.

Zombieville (1997, EU)

an overly-ambitious oddball point-and-click action-ish-adventure game that went through development hell. most notable for its system wherein characters (including yourself) can turn into zombies, using the rare 'return of the living dead'-style of intelligent zombies, and also for featuring Greg Proops in one of his only video game VA roles, ever. massive disclaimer that the game is extremely buggy, unpredictable, and unfinished in many areas, even if it is possible to reach its (thematically strange...) ending with a guide. an interesting time capsule of missed potential, but unlikely to be enjoyed in any capacity unless you have a very specific kind of technical or genre curiosity.

#switch speaks #LONG POST//

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overflowchute · 3 months ago

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a lot of for profit game dev patterns are about how to maximize human attention, which isn't inherently evil on its own but i would also say isn't inherently of value either. maximizing human interest for the least effort is an interesting field but only sometimes is "good". i don't hate roguelikes, but it's a constant element of why i'm extremely wary about procgen overall. i think most procgen usage makes boring games that encourage you to interesting b/c it does smth new every tenth run

procgen and randomizers work in the same way mindlessly pressing an ai art generator does, it's addicting because you can press it and randomly get something new. they can be /fun in a unique way/ but i think making a satisfying experience using them is very difficult. ive seen several games where i thought i was going to be interested only to discover that it was focused on a procgen element that left the majority of its level design feeling like nonsense instead of bespoke, i feel too many people use it as a crutch

i think one of the problems is basically this: you have infinite bells and whistles and knobs you can use to vary things in a game. but weapons with randomly generated stats and dungeons with randomly placed blocks ultimately consolidate into many things that feel "the same". if you have to choose between weapons with random buffs and stats the randomness of the weapons is sort of transient b/c what really matters is a heuristic, perhaps as simple as "if i get a gun with better damage i switch", or "trait c is better than e is better than f". and if you're really making these decisions between large sets of things that are ultimately about the same, you might as well have just had like one or two types of gun representing each trait and had me make the decisions the exact same way

as such my opinion on procedural generation is that it is most practically used for filler between elements that matter, and has the greatest artistic value in the final product when it's really just dealing you cards from a preset assemblage of sculpted combinations. this is really interesting because if your goal is to make the randomness matter while also making it use pre-existing rooms or sets or what have you, you're going to need to make more stuff than you would experience in a single run. which means good procgen is MORE work! trading card games are fun b/c there's randomness but you're playing with carefully designed and released cards, and you know what you can draw b/c you made the deck. that's kind of a benchmark for effective randomization in a game, to me

that said i think "star of providence" is a game i had a pretty good time with. it's the only rogue-lite type game ive really deeply engaged with, although i used to play tboi too ages and ages ago. so it's not like i dislike the game style... it's just difficult to do well. i played a ton of pokemon randomizers and a lot of dungeon crawl stone soup and came to be bored with how while they do change things up, highly random nature can be relatively constraining, and if the heuristic for success doesn't change the games don't feel different run to run

and if i have to do a self-imposed challenge to keep things interesting even with randomization... well, i can also just do that when playing pokemon normally, no? so it's a tool of some value but one that i think should be used with deep consideration of its role in a game. but i mean, i've only finished like one real game of any size and i mostly ponder this sort of thing as a player rather than a creator, so feel free to take all my angles with grains of salt as always lol

#narfsopinions #narfsrandomthoughts

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16naughts · 12 hours ago

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Dev Log June 27

The Steam Sale launched yesterday, and I've been seeing a fair number of complaints about the deals not being that good any more. Which, from snooping around it seems a lot of the AAA stuff didn't really go down all that much. The smaller studio stuff though is where it's at. Current personal recommendations if you want something just a little bit off the beaten path are Have a Nice Death, Blasphemous, Dungeon Defenders, Overcooked, Vividlope, Anton Blast, and Demon Turf (okay, some of those are only like 25% off, but come on - they're like $20 to begin with at most. That's like 2 cheeseburgers at this point or half the price of a skin in something like LoL. Throw 'em a bone.) Enough using the company blog as my personal soapbox- back to dev stuff. We're currently knee-deep in adding Campaign mode, which is a bunch of little challenges back-to-back kind of WarioWare style picked randomly from the assortment of base stages with modifiers applied. Which, initial testing is proving to be quite popular. I knew we should have waited to ship with this mode, but the external pressure to have something out there was a bit too great. At least I was able to stave off having to stick out a demo and the other platforms until it was ready, so here's hoping we'll still be able to turn it around. However, we had to do a bit of iterating on the concept after we found that the entire choose-your-path thing really wasn't adding anything to the experience. Most people wouldn't be able to look at a stage name and go "oh, I know I have trouble on this one, I will need more time", so the risk-reward was kind of falling flat. Instead, we pivoted a bit, and now the challenges can't be modified but we have these coins that show up in levels instead. Most are slightly out of the way or in sub-optimal paths, so you're trading time on the fly. The number of coins that show up increases as you get farther, so more opportunities to test your greed. So far so good. Another weird issue is that, even thought the different objects were made to be able to handle multiple balls, the stages themselves weren't made with modifiers in mind. Which, I think makes it more fun. But it does mean that you have to be extra careful with which modifier gets added where. Two balls have a hard time making it through a lot of corridors. So, we shrunk them down a bit. However, that currently reduces their weight, and as such they go farther when shot from cannons. Which is a bit of a problem as they can get shot so fast in certain stages that they puncture walls and pop the bubble (which is a mechanic most people won't even hit normally). And this is actually part of the reason why we're still missing 2 sets of stages from Main Course mode - the gimmick was supposed to be shrinking/growing the ball when you hit certain fields, and some of those stages rely on the weight change. It would be very inconsistent if the Campaign Mode modifier shrinking didn't have the weight change, but the one in the regular course did. I can divulge this here due to the limited audience and this being more of an informal journal type thing rather than any kind of official announcement, but what it's looking like is that the initial version of the campaign with probably 3 sets of stages labeled as a side "Challenge Mode" will be released in the themed update sometime next week (not sure if it'll be Monday or we'll do it Friday specifically because it's the 4th and there's a couple little extras it'd be neat to sneak in). In the next couple of weeks, I want to get the total count up to at least 7 or so different sets, and then we'll be promoting this mode up to be the "main" mode of the game. Multiplayer VS gets added using it, free demo gets made, other platforms get published, mod kit gets released, badda bind, badda boom - I'll finally feel okay with charging money for this thing. Maybe even before the end of the summer. Who knows - I'm a pretty fast developer, all things considered.

#devlog #game dev blog #game development #indie games #16naughts #crescent roll

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pixeldesiregames · 12 days ago

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Back It Up, Baby: Why Bus Out Is My Latest Puzzle Game Fix

If you’ve ever tried parking in Seoul, you know chaos. But Bus Out turns that real-life madness into pure puzzle game magic—and I am obsessed. There’s something so satisfying about untangling a traffic jam when you’re not the one behind the wheel in six-inch heels. Trust me, once you start sliding buses, you won’t want to stop.

Bus Out is the kind of puzzle game that makes you feel smarter with every level. The goal is simple: move buses around a tightly packed grid until you can free the target one. But don’t let that simplicity fool you—this game escalates fast, with trickier layouts, tighter spaces, and increasingly limited moves. It’s not just about pushing things around randomly. You’ve got to plan, predict, and finesse each maneuver like you’re doing a high-stakes dance routine.

The visuals are sleek and clean—nothing flashy, but totally functional and smooth. It’s actually kind of a vibe. Everything pops with that satisfying tile-click sound that makes my brain purr. And when a level clears? Chef’s kiss. It’s like that moment when the chorus drops and the lights hit just right.

One thing I love is that Bus Out doesn’t rely on filler or fluff. There are no unnecessary distractions—just level after level of clever, compact gameplay that keeps you coming back. Some puzzle games try to dazzle you with gimmicks, but Bus Out strips it down to pure logic and control. That’s hot. Minimalist, confident, and challenging in all the right ways.

The levels ramp up at a steady pace. At first, I was breezing through like it was a catwalk. But then—bam—the game threw a nasty little grid at me with a single open space and three giant buses to wrangle. I stared at it like it owed me money. But when I finally cracked it? I felt like a genius in heels.

There’s a ton of variety in how you can approach each level, too. Some puzzle games lock you into a single solution, but Bus Out gives you room to experiment. Try different paths, test a few reckless moves, and find the one that hits. Just like styling the perfect stage outfit—you gotta try a few wild combos before finding the one that slays.

Bus Out also offers daily puzzles and streak rewards, which are perfect for those of us who love a little attention. The more you play, the more it rewards you. And the best part? No pressure to pay. You can enjoy the full experience without spending a single won. Though I wouldn’t blame you for dropping a little coin on some hints when things get tight. We all need a little help sometimes, babe.

So if you’re looking for puzzle games that deliver brain-tickling challenges without the fluff, Bus Out is calling. Grab your phone, slide into traffic, and prove you’re the queen of the road.

This diva’s already out the lot. You coming or what?

– Minji

#puzzle game #puzzle games #bus out

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perfectclematis · 2 months ago

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Line Puppy Series • Sunshine Commendation (Heartfelt - Island Brochure) Part 1

Prologue

I picked up the island brochure with an impressionist-style cover and flipped through a few pages randomly.

The contents of the brochure are mostly about the introduction of the island and a travel guide. In addition to Doggo Island where we are located, there are also recommendations for some neighboring islands, which should be prepared by the hotel for guests.

At this time, my eyes stopped on an island introduction on the second to last page. I found that the island had no name, and its introduction and travel guide are much shorter than those of the other islands.

The scenery in the promotional photo is very charming with a unique, pristine ecological environment. However, the recommendation index is only two stars.

Just as I was getting curious, I smelled a scent of fougere beside me. Charlie naturally put his arm around my shoulders and came over to look at the manual in my hand.

Charlie: What are you looking at? Me: Look at this island. It looks very mysterious, and I don’t even know what it’s called. Charlie: This is the Nameless Island.

I gave him a skeptical look, and he laughed.

Charlie: That’s the name I saw when I was planning our trip. Charlie: It is said that this island has very special natural landscapes and retains many traces of local ancient civilizations. Me: It sounds so interesting, so why is its star rating so low?

I stared at the brochure for a while, and my interest in this island grew stronger and stronger.

Charlie: Since my fiancé is so interested, I would be happy to add an island camping experience to our shared memories. Charlie: How about we go and have a look tomorrow? Me: Huh? So sudden? Charlie: Sudden? Isn’t our vacation motto to set off whenever?

Seeing the relaxed and casual smile on Charlie’s face, I quickly made up my mind.

Me: Then– Let’s go!

Facing this novel possibility, we readied ourselves to hit the road immediately. Even our movements packing up became lighter and quickly.

Charlie also swiftly and efficiently purchased a lot of camping supplies from DogCamp and made full preparations for going to the island.

Everything was ready. He and I snuggled on the sofa, planning this unexpected but much anticipated trip together.

The next day, we set off from the hotel on time. When we arrived at the port, the yacht waiting for us was swaying in the golden waves. Captain Zha took my hand and led me onto the boat.

Nameless Island is quite far from Doggo Island. Even if we set out in the morning, it would be afternoon when the yacht stopped at the shore of Nameless Island.

We got off the yacht barefoot and walked ashore, following the traces left by small crabs on the beach.

When looking from afar, the lush greenery comes into view, transforming into completely different vivid tones. The drooping coconut leaves and tall shrubs are intertwined, creating a vibrant and primitive scenery.

Looking around, the Nameless Island was very quiet without anyone else present. Occasionally, I could smell a fleeting sweet fragrance in the air, probably the scent of fruit.

An unknown emotion suddenly flashed through my heart, but it disappeared immediately. Was it because I was too excited about going camping?

Me: It seems that we are the only ones on the island right now. Charlie: Well, that’s good. No one will bother us when we do anything. We chose a place with a wide view as our home for the next few days and began to prepare for the coming night.

The place where the sea and the sky meet casts the afterglow of the setting sun. It is a big challenge to set up the tent, erect the canopy, light a bonfire, and prepare a drinking water source before the sunlight disappears completely.

Fortunately, Charlie was very skilled in outdoor living skills. He confidently took on all the physical work and only gave me some very easy tasks.

I took out the things that I would need tonight from the suitcase and placed them on the camping table. In the process, I discovered some things that were not in the scope of “camping supplies” that I had imagined.

Vases, flowers, camping lanterns… even candles, candlesticks and white china tableware.

Me: He really lives up to his title as the King of Flamboyance wherever he goes…

There was an unexpected sound behind me, and before I could react, I fell into a warm embrace.

Me: You scared me! Are you done? Charlie: No, I’m still busy. Me: Eh? Charlie: Busy hugging my fiancée.

I was amused by his silliness. Just when I wanted to tell him to go about his business, I found that the tent and canopy had been set up behind him, and the bonfire was flickering.

Me: Was it done so quickly? You are amazingly fast. Charlie: Would you like to give me a reward?

I turned around to face him, and he leaned over slightly, sandwiching me between him and the table.

I raised my head a little and our eyes met. His purple eyes were as deep as the night sky, making my heart beat faster unconsciously.

An inexplicable urge surged in my heart, and my desire to get close to him became stronger and stronger.

Me: Alright.

He leaned his face towards me as usual, signaling me to give him a kiss, but I held his face. After letting it go, I kissed him without hesitation.

He seemed a little surprised, but he reacted quickly, hugging my waist tightly, even putting some of his body weight on me.

This kiss was passionate and rapid. I was more proactive than ever before. My tongue traced his outline and was entangled in his.

We reluctantly separated until we accidentally knocked over the tableware. My body felt a little weak, but he licked the corner of his mouth calmly.

Charlie: My fiancée is so proactive today. It’s like she wants to eat me up.

A look of pleasure appeared on his face. He then buried his head in my shoulder, gently rubbing his lips against my neck.

Me: Is that no good?

He smiled next to my ear and hugged me tighter.

Charlie: What’s not good? Charlie: If you think once is not enough, we can do it a few more times.

I felt a little embarrassed and my cheeks were slightly hot, but my heart was uncontrollably filled with more joy.

Before the night fell completely, we finally completed the arrangement of the island candlelight dinner as we were busy being intimate with each other.

Under the flickering candlelight, the roasted steaks were delicately placed on the plate, exuding an enticing aroma.

Charlie sat down before me, and just as I was about to sit down opposite him, he suddenly patted his thigh lightly and raised his eyebrows at me.

Charlie: Your seat is here.

Before I could react, he pulled me over and sat me directly on his lap.

His arms were filled with a rich fragrance, so complex and tempting that I couldn't help but indulge in his embrace.

Charlie: Fiancée, I just did a lot of work, and now I’m exhausted.

He extended his hand with its pronounced knuckles in front of me, and I couldn’t help but squeeze it gently.

Me: You’re not allowed to put me down.

I seldom say this because I know he would be extremely prideful once he hears it.

I turned my head to look at Charlie beside me. The corner of his lips curled up slightly and his hand had quietly slid across my waist, holding me firmly.

Charlie: Don’t worry, I won't let you go even if you want me to.

He raised his chin in a matter-of-fact manner towards the delicious food on the table.

Charlie: I’m hungry. I want you to feed me.

I decided to spoil him today, so I picked up my knife and fork, cut a piece of steak and gently put it in his mouth. A smile flashed in his eyes, he opened his mouth slightly and took a bite with ease.

Looking at his fiery purple eyes, I found a place to lie down in his arms.

I don’t know why, but today I especially want to be closer to him and get touchier.

Maybe it’s because I know that there are only the two of us on this remote island.

After finishing my meal and cleaning up slowly. I lay back in the tent feeling a little tired, my eyelids almost unable to open.

Charlie also lay down beside me, intertwined his fingers with mine, and swayed them back and forth.

Charlie: Fiancée, there is one thing you haven’t done tonight. Me: What? Charlie: Where is my goodnight kiss?

Although I was very sleepy, my body instinctively moved closer to him.

Then he kissed me until I was dizzy again, my eyes became blurry and I couldn't even utter a complete sentence.

Me: … I can’t breathe anymore… Charlie: Punishment for your forgetfulness. Me: …What? I don’t remember making that agreement with you before. Charlie: Really? Then let’s make an agreement starting today.

We cuddled tightly in the bed. Charlie was as clingy as a large plushie, always looking for opportunities to come over and give me kisses.

He was more excessive than usual today, almost nonstop, but I inexplicably liked it.

Finally, he was tired of kissing me and just hugged me tightly. The surroundings fell into a quiet darkness, and my consciousness started to become hazy.

The waves gently hit the shore, and his low murmurs could be heard in my ears.

Charlie: Good night.

When we woke up the next day, the sun shone through the gaps in the tent, casting its soft light on Charlie and me.

We still maintained the posture of facing and hugging each other tightly as we did last night. I wanted to reach out and scratch the exposed skin on his chest, but I found that he held my hand tightly, refusing to allow even a little distance.

Because of my little movements, he hugged me tighter, closed his eyes, and started kissing and biting my shoulder.

Me: Charlie, it’s time to get up and go. Charlie: Why don’t we just not go? I want to just hold you like this… Me: No, we have spent a lot of time on the guide. We can’t waste it. Charlie: A waste is just a waste… It’s better that you stay with me and don’t go anywhere…

Having said that, he suddenly opened his eyes. A strange emotion flashed in his violet eyes, with a bit of imperceptible endurance and repression.

I blinked, and his expression instantly returned to calmness, as if the strangeness just now was just an illusion of mine.

I looked at him hesitantly, but he just sat up and shook his head, then scratched his hair casually and answered me with a smile.

Charlie: After all, with the company of my fiancée and the waves, I had many sweet dreams.

After getting up, we went together to choose clothes to wear for today, and he accurately brought the one that best suited the style of island adventuring.

When I saw his accessories today, it suddenly occurred to me that I might as well wear a pair of earrings to match his style.

So, I walked to the jewelry box with a clear purpose and started looking for it, but I couldn’t find it after searching for a long time.

Me: There’s no more…

I searched over and over for a long time, and my originally orderly search gradually began to become more messy. Anxiety and annoyance suddenly rose in my heart.

My fingers paused for a moment, and I was stunned. What happened to me?

But the irritation in my heart still spreads. I kept rummaging through the jewelry box and even wanted to pour all the jewelry on the ground to look carefully.

At this time, Charlie leaned over from behind and looked at me with concern.

Charlie: What’s wrong, fiancée?

I suppressed my somewhat depressed mood and smiled at Charlie.

Me: Nothing… I'm missing a pair of earrings.

I could feel his body temperature from behind. Charlie hugged me and stretched out his slender fingers to search carefully in the jewelry box, patiently turning over each piece of jewelry to let me identify whether it was the one I was looking for.

However, after searching for a long time, the earrings I remembered were nowhere to be found. I frowned, hooked his fingers that were still busy in the jewelry box, and shook my head at him.

Me: Oh… Never mind, I’ll just wear another pair.

Charlie stroked my fingertips and thought for a moment, then waited a bit. Then, he turned around and picked up a few flowers he brought yesterday, and picked out a pair of small pearl earrings from the jewelry box.

The hands that usually held scalpels were deftly busy among the earrings. After a while, a pair of pearl earrings decorated with flowers were handed to me.

Charlie: Can these earrings, handmade by a master, and the only one in the world, alleviate my fiancée’s worries?

I nodded, looking at his composed appearance. No matter what happened, Charlie seemed to be able to face it calmly without exception.

Many times, I have thought to myself, if only I could be like him.

Seeing that I was looking at him without saying a word, Charlie leaned over to me with a look of understanding and carefully put on the earrings for me. His movements were extremely gentle and he even rubbed my earlobes after putting on the earrings.

The tingling sensation spread along my earlobes. I couldn’t help but tilt my head slightly, and my earlobe slipped through his fingers.

He was startled for a moment, then suddenly held my hand tightly with a lot more force than usual but soon relaxed again. I was alarmed by his sudden behavior and looked at him with some concern.

Me: What’s wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell? Charlie: It’s nothing. I’m just touched by your cuteness.

Charlie showed his usual bright smile, but deep in his eyes, there seemed to be something different hidden inside.

A strange feeling washed over me, but after careful observation, I only saw his flawless smile, so I had to temporarily suppress my doubts.

After this little episode, we quickly packed our bags and set off for today’s journey– to look for wonders in the corners of the Nameless Island.

Walking in the forest, the humid fresh air hits you in the face. The branches and vines around you interweave into a green sky net, and the sunlight shines through the gaps, casting mottled spots of light.

The wind blew, and the remaining raindrop fell from the broad leaves above our heads, leaving a cool breeze on our faces from time to time. As I walked, my eyes were attracted by a huge banyan tree on the side of the road.

It still looked lush and green, but the trunk was obviously dead. A vine was tightly wrapped around it, leaving deep marks. I took out my camera and took a picture of this scene out of curiosity.

Me: Charlie, look. The inside of this tree is so magical…

Charlie: This is girdling, a unique sight in the rainforest. Charlie: Although the tree still appears to be standing upright, it has actually been hollowed out due to lack of nutrients and water.

He held my hand and continued to explore forward, telling me all kinds of wonderful knowledge about the rainforest. Among them, the Eight Wonders of the Rainforest, such as the “dripping leaf tips” and the “sky gardens,” particularly intrigued me.

Seeing my eyes sparkle, Charlie looked around while talking, and asked me to take photos every time he found a wonder. However, we didn’t see the “sky garden” until we walked out of the rainforest area.

Looking at the illustrated book of the “Eight Wonders” that was only one away from being complete, I felt uncomfortable as I had OCD. At this time, Charlie touched my head and held me in his arms.

Charlie: Don’t worry. We’ll find an opportunity to go to another rainforest next time, and I’ll accompany you then. Me: Really? Then you better remember to go with me when the time comes.

He smiled softly, then took me to sit down at the root of the tree, took out a pen and paper, and started writing. I leaned over to see that he not only wrote down the verbal agreement just now, but also emphasized that he must accompany me.

After signing his name, Charlie, in fancy handwriting, he handed me the paper and asked me to sign and date it.

Me: Letter of commitment? Why did you suddenly think of signing this? Charlie: Preventing my fiancée from defaulting on debt. Me: What’s so good about that?

I looked at him in confusion, but he shook his head and insisted on putting the pen in my hand. He then held my hand and put the pen on the signature.

He stared at the pen tip intently, and after a few seconds, when he saw that I hadn’t moved, he raised his head and looked into my eyes. He smiled, as if he was joking, but also as if he was extremely serious.

Charlie: What if my fiancée goes out with her friends and doesn’t want to go with me? Me: No way. There is no one else who is such a perfect travel companion like you, knowledgeable about the rainforest and has such a good sense of humor.

Charlie lightly raised the corners of his lips, but he still held onto the letter of commitment firmly in place, as if he would not give up until he achieved his goal.

Although I was puzzled as to why he seemed particularly insistent, I did not dwell on such a small matter and signed my name in accordance with his wishes.

After I finished signing, his eyes lit up as if he was in a good mood and started to think about future travel plans, from itinerary to food and drinks, and even the matching couple outfits.

After planning for the next year, he began to think about his travel destinations for the next five to ten years and even expressed his desire to check in here again ten years from now.

I felt happy when I saw how high his spirits were, but I also found it funny when I thought about how far in advance he planned. I couldn’t help but raise my hand and poke his cheek.

Me: Isn’t it too early to talk about traveling ten years from now? No one can predict the future!

He grabbed my hand disrupting him and looked up at me. In his burning gaze, there seemed to be an elusive shadow that made me feel a little at a loss.

Then he forced a smile, rubbed my hand with a little strength, forcefully separated my fingers, and interlocked our fingers tightly.

Under that grip, I suddenly realized that Charlie held my hand a little tighter than usual throughout the day.

Charlie: Fiancée, what do you mean by the uncertainty of the future?

His expression was extremely solemn. Although I didn’t understand why he asked such a question, I still answered him sincerely.

Me: There are many things. For example, you don’t know when your vacation will be. After all, you are too busy. Me: Or maybe we will have other places we want to go by then and won’t come here anymore. Me: It’s also possible that ten years from now, it will suddenly rain heavily, and we will have to change our itinerary. Charlie: …I see.

He seemed relieved and smiled that familiar way again.

Charlie: Don’t worry about the vacation. I’ll be there whenever my fiancée is ready to go. Charlie: As for the rest, don’t worry. Aren’t all those trips enough to prove myself as the perfect fiancé?

The doubts in my heart surged up again. His mood was not right today. It kept changing suddenly, as if he was hiding something from me.

Me: Charlie, you seem a little different today.

He was stunned for a moment, but soon a smile of sudden enlightenment appeared on his lips.

Charlie: Did you notice my cleverness today? That’s right, I changed into a pair of sunglasses for today’s trip.

It’s like this again. There must be something wrong. Watching him talking, I was almost certain.

When he didn’t want to answer questions seriously, he always liked to talk nonsense to fool me.

For a moment, I wanted to grab him by the collar, ask him what was behind the jokes, and make him tell me everything by any means necessary.

But he gently caressed my wrist, and his warmth flowed from my wrist into my heart. I quietly raised my eyes and looked into his deep eyes and was a little dazed briefly.

I know Charlie always has his own thoughts and emotions, and we will tacitly leave each other space to calm down first, then talk later.

But what on earth happened today… I took a deep breath to suppress my racing thoughts and spoke as if nothing had happened.

Me: Yes, those sunglasses really suit you!

Charlie’s eyebrows curved into a beautiful arc. He held my hand and continued to lead me forward.

But I felt the strength in his wrist tighten and loosen, as if he was constantly practicing regaining his usual control.

The plants on the island had been growing wildly for too long. Their leaves blocking out the sun, and their thick branches and roots left no room for humans to pass through.

Charlie brushes aside the branches that could scratch me, reminding me of the protruding tree roots and encouraging me to step into potentially dangerous areas first, then choose the safer and more convenient fork in the roots.

I accepted his meticulous help with aplomb. Just as I enjoyed the intimate behavior that was a little different from usual last night.

When we approached the marked point, we stopped at an intersection in the road. Charlie frowned and took out the map to look at it carefully.

His eyes wandered between the two forked roads. I looked around and saw a few brightly colored flowers growing on the vines on my side. A plan suddenly came to my mind.

He seemed so nervous today, so I thought a surprise might help him relax.

So, while he wasn’t paying attention, I quietly walked to the side, picked up the fresh flower that had just fallen to the side, and imagined what Charlie would look like wearing a wreath.

Unconsciously, I walked around behind a large tree with lush branches and leaves. The thick trunk and drooping branches intertwined together, completely blocking our views.

I carefully wove the flowers and stems together, and just as I was concentrating on the movements of my fingers, I heard Charlie calling my name.

Charlie: Fiancée!?

His voice was panicked, so I quickly responded and ran towards him. As soon as I got out from behind the tree, he suddenly pulled me into his arms, hugging me tightly.

Then he immediately pulled me out of his arms and pressed my shoulders with some force. I saw a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, and his chest was rising and falling slightly.

Charlie: Where did you go just now? Me: I went to make you a wreath.

I took out the wreath I had just strung from my arms, but I found that it had been knocked into pieces and the petals were scattered on the ground.

Me: But… it fell apart. Charlie: You should’ve asked me to come along.

His tone was more urgent than ever before. He was taken aback after he finished speaking. He then closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. When he opened his eyes again, the seriousness in his eyes was gone.

Charlie: I’ve checked. The road on the left is a dead end. Let’s try another road. Charlie continued to hold my hand and walked a little ahead of me, as if to block the dense branches for me, and as if to do more than that.

But as he walked, he suddenly stopped and turned slightly, looking back at me.

Charlie: Fiancée, are you willing to do something with me? Me: What? Charlie: Let’s hold hands a little tighter.

He untied the scarf on his hand, then put our hands together and let me scarf cover our wrists. I immediately understood what he was trying to do.

Me: Tie our wrists together? Why? Charlie: For safety reasons, this road may be a bit difficult to walk on.

As I was thinking about what he had just said, he leaned over and kissed my forehead as gently as a feather brushing across water.

Charlie: If I accidentally go astray, my fiancée can pull me back in time.

I stared at him for a while, but he looked calm, as if he was really just worried about our safety. So, I chose to let the scarf be tied around our wrists.

Our wrists were tightly pressed together, so we could easily feel each other’s pulse. He finally felt relieved when he saw that the scarf on his hand was tied very tightly.

We walked side by side. I looked at his profile, and a subtle feeling welled up in my heart. That familiar face seemed a little strange at this moment.

What happened to him today? The unanswered question made the surging emotions that I had suppressed with great difficulty surfaced again.

We walked forward for a long time. Our footsteps on the wet rocks, echoing in the silent trees, His steps were still steady, but I always felt that he was still tense.

Soon, a small cliff appeared in our sight. From a distance, the forest under the cliff was like a layer of emerald, green waves.

I wanted to step closer, to take in the picturesque view. But before I could even move, Charlie’s hand gently pulled me back. His grip wasn’t forceful, just firm enough to stop me.

Charlie: It’s better to watch from here. It’s too dangerous over there.

I looked at him, with mixed emotions arising in my heart.

There shouldn’t be any danger in just looking at the scenery. Not to mention… he himself is a person who loves adventurers more than anyone else.

Me: But how can we see the scenery below the cliff from here? Charlie: No matter how beautiful the scenery under the cliff is, it won’t be as beautiful as you.

Charlie started making those jokes again to cover up his true emotions, but it was his attempt to cover up that made me even more uneasy.

The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I became. I stared at him for a long time, but he didn’t waver at all, remaining calm. After a long time, my emotions finally burst out like a dam breaking.

Me: I don’t get what your problem is. I just want to go over there to enjoy the scenery!

As I spoke, I was about to untie the silk scarf around my wrists that was binding us tightly together, but he quickly stopped me.

However, I still insisted on untying the restraint. In fact, I could feel that he didn’t even hold onto my hand too hard. Finally, the scarf was untied by me and returned to his hand.

Then I turned around and walked towards the cliff without hesitation.

He reached out to grab me, but I firmly broke free. While struggling with him, I didn’t pay attention to the road under my feet. Suddenly, I was tripped by a small rock, lost my balance, and almost fell to the ground.

Charlie reacted very quickly. He quickly reached out and pulled me tightly into his arms.

Even though there was no chance of me hitting the ground, he still anxiously began checking every inch of my skin, desperate to see if I was hurt.

Me: …I’m fine.

But he seemed to not hear my words, frantically looking around my body, his eyes anxiously scanning every part.

Me: I said I’m fine!

I yanked my hand back with even greater force, confusion and grievance surging into a single impulse. Without a second thought, I even flung the silk scarf from his hand onto the ground.

Me: Why don’t you listen to me? I told you I wasn’t hurt!

Charlie seemed to have just reacted to me in a daze while I lost my temper.

Me: Charlie, what happened to you? Why are you acting so weird today? Me: And why don’t you want to let me see the scenery below the cliff? Me: You know I will watch from a distance. It’s not dangerous at all. The chances of anything happening are almost zero… Charlie: But what I want is that you are absolutely safe. That’s 100%, no less.

He suddenly interrupted me, his voice low and cold. I was caught off guard. My heart tightened slightly. The coldness I had even seen in him before made me feel a little overwhelmed.

Me: Even if you’re right, do you have to guarantee your 100% like this? Charlie: What if I said yes?

I couldn’t help but think of the days when I went on adventures with him in the past. Every time I faced a dangerous situation; he would give me choices instead of doing it like this.

Me: You’ve become so strange today. You don’t seem like yourself anymore…

He wanted to reach out and hold me but stopped because of what I said. His eyes showed a hint of surprise and shock.

Looking at his expression, unprecedented discomfort and regret swept over my heart.

At this moment, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky. Then, heavy rain suddenly poured down. In an instant, the whole world was shrouded in a heavy rain curtain.

The storm was raging, but it was unable to break the silence as we looked into each other’s eyes.

Charlie and I seemed to be motionless in the rain as it soaked us endlessly. Our clothes were already sticking to our skin, but neither of us moved.

Finally, he gave in first. He snapped his fingers and created a vacuum umbrella above our heads, isolating me from the heavy rain.

I didn’t know how to solve the problem in front of me for a moment and subconsciously wanted to escape from the safety he created for me, but he held my hand silently.

Compared to the cold rain, his palms were the only source of warmth at the moment. Even though we were still facing each other in silence, we could feel that the atmosphere between us had eased a little.

The clap of thunder shook me, and he instantly pulled me back into his embrace and covered my ears. When I recovered, I left his arms. He looked at me and sighed softly.

Charlie: It’s raining so heavily. It’s not safe here. Let’s take shelter first.

Looking around me, I could see that the rain was getting heavier and heavier and was indeed unsafe. At this moment, he offered me his hand. I hesitated for a moment but finally put my hand in his.

#light and night #charlie #zha li su #光与夜之恋 #查理苏

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gameinfoxtbr · 8 months ago

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Habby survivor.io Developer

Habby survivor.io Developer: Many have failed to fast past, action intense gameplay that involves players blasting or bashing numerous groups' hordes of zombies. Who are the authors of this successful title? Singapore-based Habby is the company also behind the game, as it specializes in producing fun, simple mobile games that garner players’ attention almost instantly worldwide. Today, we’ll gain some insight into the ‘Habby survivor.io Developer’ as well as other games that they’ve produced and the way they’ve built a winning formula.

Who is Habby? 🛠️

‘Habby survivor.io’ is the game studio Habby and this company has grown and turned into one of the best game studios in mobile gaming at the moment. Habby is a creation of people who want to create fun games and games you would like to build. Another such mobile game that is similar in regards to ‘Survivor.io’ is Archero which too falls under the genre of roguelite of the developer’s Habby. Clean, simple mechanics or erratic yet incredibly addictive, and a tendency to keep what’s fun about a game and just ramp up the difficulty – yes, this studio does all of that. You can learn more about the developer by visiting their official website here: Habby Official Website.

The Development of Survivor.io 🧠

"Habby survivor.io" represents Habby’s take on the zombie survival genre, but with a twist: I think the game will have roguelike elements which means it will turn out completely different each subsequent time it is played and each character has randomly generated upgrades, and obstacles. It is a basic one-handed deck of controls with fast play which would indeed be preferred for the casuals and the pros. Habby survivor.io carefully designed Survivor.io to offer: - Simple yet Engaging Gameplay: Still, with simple controls that can be mastered within the first five minutes of the gameplay, anyone can jump right into the zombie fight. But more experienced players are interested in the depth of combinations of skills and upgrades of the weapon. - Constant Updates: For example, the game frequently tends to get updated for a new content update, balancing changes, and bug fixes. Consult the UPDATED FEATURES / NEWS of Survivor.io to know about new developments. - High-Quality Graphics and Performance: While it has its gameplay style reminiscent of a mobile game, Survivor.io features clean and nice animations and graphics with no compromising on the game frame rate. You can take them online at the office location of Habby at 81 South Bridge Road, Singapore.

Habby’s Game Design Philosophy 🎮

Habby’s design philosophy, as stated in the interview, is to create as many fun games as possible, rewarding, easily portable, and also possible to play for several hours. Few things feel the same in their games, every game has elements of roguelike games to make every play unique. Striving toward the heavy viewer who may turn on the show and play for a few minutes and the gamer who sits down with a controller in hand, strategizes and plans, and spends hours unlocking every single skill or weapon they desire, for them. Survivor.io does this as well—easy controls but a great deal of detail in the skill tree and progressions. If you’re interested in more on how the game works, actually we’ve written a Survivor io Astral Forge ss Guide on how to play Survivor.io where you’ll find some useful strategies for you to be able to prolong your stay against hordes of zombies.

GameInfoX

What Makes Survivor.io So Popular? 🌟

Several factors contribute to the massive popularity of "Survivor.io", making it one of the standout mobile games on the market: - Accessible Gameplay: On the one hand anyone can pick up Survivor.io and be playing in no time! It suits all: then if you want a break for a few minutes or even otherwise if you want a type of experience. - Constant Challenges: Foes became brighter as you continued into the game, and the stages themselves began to require thinking about where you would go. That contributes to the roguelike aspects of each game session making each one unique. - Frequent Rewards: In the game, there are many of them to get the upgrade of their skills and abilities. In addition, if you don’t realize, do not overlook the Survivor.io game codes list which has various gifts, such as gems and energy. - Regular Updates and Events: Habby has made variations by adding new features, new skills, and new weapons at all times. What is more, generally players can be assured that the game will be updated quite often and more content will be added in order to prevent boredom.

GameInfoX It is ideal if you go to the Survivor io Tier List of the website called survivor.io for to see what skills and weapons fit every type of survival skill that you have.

The Success of Habby Previous Games 📈

Based on these elements of rogue-lite in a mobile game with an archery focus, Archero made Habby known before Habby survivor.io became a hit with Archero, securing the name of Habby as one of the most popular mobile game developers. As a spin-off of Archero, Survivor.io features a modern take on zombie survival gameplay, washed with Habby sheen and view mobile gamers’.

Future Updates and Community Engagement 📢

Since Habby developers talk to the players to find out if they are doing fine or if there is any feature that can help make gameplay better, there is always more being done to incorporate the features. For the game Survivor.io, the players should be ready for fresh weapons, skills, and new tasks that will be an uncompromising examination even for those players who have been playing since the beginning of the game and for the subsequent stages of the game development.

GameInfoX There will be no way of letting you miss exciting content, in-game events, and new Survivor io Codes, always check the Survivor.io latest update/News. Get in touch with the developers if you have anything to say about the game or any problems encountered while playing it at [email protected] being a company Habby values the opinions of its community to make this game better.

GameInfoX

FAQs About Survivor.io Developer ❓

Q-1 Who developed Survivor.io?Ans-1 Tadpole Studio developed Habby survivor.io Developer which Habby developed and designed a mobile game along with coming up with other popular games such as Archero.Q-2 As a part of this, Habby has developed which other games?Ans-2 Originally known for the game Archero – a roguelite action game, Habby has since progressed to a fully-fledged company. Apart from this, Archero and Survivor.io, have developed many more games but these mobile games have the main prominence.Q-3 How does Habby stand to assist Survivor.io players?Ans-3 Survivor.io is often updated, Habby patches and new content are released when they are. Besides, they provide free codes that give in-game rewards and seek feedback from the player public.Q-4 Where is Habby based?Ans-4 Habby is based in Singapore. Currently, they operate at 81 South Bridge Rd, Singapore.Q-5 When is Survivor.io updated?Ans-5 Survivor.io receives constant content updates, balance adjustments, and events from Habby. Regarding the newest patches and features of the game, please visit the Survivor io News part of this page. Conclusion: Habby Impact on Mobile Gaming 🏆 Survivor.io – Matt Habby and the rest of the team are proof that he is striving to deliver only the best mobile games. Habby had its place in the game mobile world thanks to the easy game, there is depth in the game, updates often, and has strong support from the people. But Habby is quite dedicated to making fun and addictive games, showing no intention to pause activities. Survivor.io is a game where it does say something when you have no prior experience or account and can actually apply and grow regardless or when you have one and Habby continues to develop and improve the game as well as still make it fun. Total Words: 1,100 Read the full article

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loudenemyphilosopher · 2 years ago

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Week 7 - Deztroid post-mortem

Introduction

My goal for Deztroid was to experiment with an asteroid-style game and to try out different scenes as I didn't use any scenes in my previous games.

Development Overview

I started off making this game by following the baseline tutorial, with my own chosen sprites and making minor changes to the tutorial to have it perform the way I wanted it to. After completing the tutorial I started adding different features to my game and improving what I already had. I also did some simple playtesting to see what I could improve on.

What went well

Overall I really liked the sprites that I had chosen for my game, as it made my game feel more fun to play, and the randomly generated different-sized asteroids, as they did damage based on their sizes. I also think my menu screen went well as the little spaceship was put on the main menu and would follow the cursor around.

Challenges and Obstacles

One of the challenges I faced while creating my game was how the ship moved once it reached the mouse pointer because it would spin around on the spot until the mouse was moved away again. I also struggled with the variables as this was my first time using variables. My last issue was global objects as I hadn't worked with them before.

Takeaways

My main takeaway from this game design process was learning how variables, global scenes, global objects, and buttons worked. This was a fun and educational game style to learn how to create and these skills will definitely aid me in future game design.

#post mortem

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fyeah-bangtan7 · 4 years ago

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V: “I have a desire to perfect one cool thing about myself”

As he’s being interviewed, V speaks his mind at a relaxed pace. But there was one moment where he kept on speaking without taking a breath. Look for that moment in the interview below. You listen to a lot of old music on vinyl. Has any particular artist’s music excited you since your last interview with Weverse Magazine? V: I was listening to Louis Armstrong’s music again. And I picked up some albums with a pretty jacket that’s also got a lot of really good hits on it.

How do you feel when you’re listening to those classics? V: I feel like I’m beginning to relax a bit. If I listen to a song when I’m feeling depressed and then really get thinking, the things that are frustrating me disappear, and I can feel myself becoming more peaceful. And it makes me picture things in my head. For example, some songs might make me think of seeing something in front of me while walking down the road somewhere at night when I listen to them. I think setting the mood for listeners is the most important thing. The mood will presumably be different for everyone, but for me, those songs are the ones that are good at setting a really beautiful mood in the moment.

You said that you got inspiration from artists of the past like Sammy Davis Jr. for your performance in “Dynamite.” Was there any artist who inspired you for “Butter”? V: Well, there was Billy Joel. When I shoot a music video, I think of a movie more than any one artist. And when I perform on stage, for some songs I think of the way movies like Reservoir Dogs look. For “Butter,” I watched a lot of teen movies. And musicals. After that I randomly ended up seeing a video on YouTube of some scenes from an old teen movie Johnny Depp did [which turned out to be the movie Cry-Baby]. The image I got from that was really intense. That’s the look I used in “Butter.”

“Butter” felt like a teen musical to me and now I know why. V: I did it like a teen musical, just like you say. When we shot the “Butter” music video, I really, really tried to shoot the part in the elevator so it would feel like a teen movie. Although a lot of takes were edited, so not all of it’s there. (laughs)

What kind of feeling do you get from that kind of teen movie that you find so charming? V: For me, teen movies show a youthfulness that’s appropriate for the age. I think there’s an appropriate mix of emotion, energy, and a completely different and peculiar mood that everyone necessarily experiences at that age. If you watch teen movies, they’re overflowing with energy and full of sunny emotion, but behind it all they’re not as bright as they seem. They are really bright, but the color itself almost feels like some kind of filter. They feel like they have a different filter than other movies, so I tried thinking of teen movies when we shot the music video and put on performances.

That teen movie feeling seems to be divided in two between “Butter” and “Permission to Dance.” By the looks of the thumbnails for the fancam focus videos uploaded to the BANGTANTV YouTube channel, “Butter” seems to showcase a really cool character, while “Permission to Dance” is more teenagers smiling brightly for children. V: The teen movie vibe in “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” are different from one another. We showed the sunny image people usually think of when they think of teen movies in “Permission to Dance.”

Do you think that going with the teen movie vibe influenced your vocals to be the new style that you used? In “Butter,” you still had your signature vocals but without the deep notes, giving them a new feeling. V: That’s because, when we’re given a concept, we have to come up with vocals that fit with the concept. I think my singing style matched up with the concept, so I feel relatively satisfied. There was nothing majorly difficult about actually changing the style itself, since unlike changing your voice, you only have to change your vocal technique. Having said that, even though the notes in “Butter” were high for me, I still hit them! (laughs)

I guess hitting the high notes was your assignment this time around as a vocalist. V: I’ve been working a long time to make up for my weak points. For example, I thought I was weak when it comes to high notes because I sing low parts a lot and I tend to sing in a flowing way. But I had trouble when we were recording “Dynamite” and I had to sing the high notes during the chorus. I got so mad (laughs) so I practiced a lot.

How does it feel to see the results you’re seeing with “Butter” now after all that effort? V: I’m just trying not to rest on my laurels. Like instead of savoring the feeling, I feel like I should go to bed early for everything I have to do the next day? Getting back in tiptop shape quickly is what’s important, so I haven’t really had time to bask in the joy very much. I’m just working hard at the work I had like I always do.In your

New Year’s greeting on YouTube, you said you regretted not being able to put on the show for ARMY you wanted, and that your 2021 resolution is to “follow my own pace and pattern” when you work on music. Do you think your personal pace and your professional pace are in step this year? V: No. [My professional pace is] fast, so fast. (laughs) We have a lot we have to get ready for since we’re always promoting. It can be challenging sometimes, but in a way, I think it’s also given me a good opportunity to become a little stronger.

I imagine it’s meaningful to do the work for your own songs, because you can slip into your own world. You also made “Blue & Grey” when you were having a hard time, and it consequently became a song that allowed you to empathize with many people and vice versa. Looking back now, what kind of song do you think “Blue & Grey” will be remembered as? V: I think with “Blue & Grey” I just wanted the song to let people know how I was feeling, and how we were feeling, at that time a little better. Obviously everyone was having a hard time, but I think I wanted to share those emotions with ARMY as-is, including the pains we went through in our growth process. And, to put it another way, I think I just felt like making it obvious. (laughs) I thought it was okay to be that obvious, seeing as I couldn’t put those feelings into words. I just hope people could understand how I was feeling; it’s okay if it becomes forgotten later on.

In the “BE-hind Story” interview on YouTube, you talked about the first line of “Blue & Grey”: “Where is my angel?” You explained how, when you have any kind of issue, you close your eyes and wish for your angel to come and think. Are there times when it seems like your angel understands your feelings, as you just mentioned? V: I get a ton of answers by doing it. I’m not religious, but whenever I have some kind of issue, I close my eyes and think about it. Is this right, the way I’m thinking about this, or not? They’re just yes or no questions, like, Does my outfit look good today? Instead of just worrying about what you should do, if you tackle it in the form of a question, you get a response with the answer.

I guess it could work when you’re looking for inspiration in your life, but what about for your music? In your previous Weverse Magazine interview, you said you make a note whenever you feel something. V: I write in my diary in hopes that it’ll help with writing lyrics and so I don’t forget those feelings. I do it constantly—I open up my diary whenever something comes up. I copy melodies that pop up in my mind, lyrics, and other things from my diary to my notes app temporarily, and when I’m taking a break or I get the urge to work, I open my notes and say, Let’s try this out today, and run over to the studio.

You released “Snow Flower,” featuring Peakboy by V, on Christmas Day. Is that another song you ran to the studio to work on after the feeling came to you? V: For that song, when I was drinking with some older musicians, we were talking about doing a song together, and then we were like, Well, do you think we’ll have time to do that? So we decided to do it right then since everyone was available. My mixtape was delayed, so I at least wanted to play a different song for ARMY, and I thought, since I’m a bit tipsy (laughs) I thought I should try writing something. So I made the song really quickly. In maybe three hours.

Even though you made it quickly, the composition is somewhat complex and it has the same unique atmosphere that “Blue & Grey” did. V: There’s times when I’m, like, in the zone (laughs) and can make a song all in one sitting, but when I’m not feeling it, I end up revising it more and more. And I don’t want the composition to be too obvious, so I try to change up the way the melody flows. With that kind of sharp image coming to you almost immediately, what were you imagining for that song? V: You might think “Snow Flower” is about a type of snowflake, but I was actually thinking about snow and flowers separately. I started hoping that flowers wouldn’t wither away and just keep on blooming on snowy days. But in reality, when it snowed, all the flowers were crushed, the world became blanketed in snow, and I felt like the flower buds turned into snow flowers. I wrote that song about how I felt after watching that happen.

It must be important to feel things intuitively when you’re trying to express yourself through song. V: If it sounds pretty to me: approved. (laughs)

On the other hand, as a member of BTS, you have a job where you have to deal with a packed schedule and keep various situations in mind. How does that make you feel? When you celebrated your Billboard Hot 100 win on V LIVE and the topic of your clothes came up, you joked that you wore them to give off an idol vibe. V: It’s fun. It’s fun, but I could also say it’s hard. The performances are fun. I think idols should shine in a way that’s suitable for their age, and it’s important to do lots of things for fans like ARMY. Not just performances, but also posting pictures, having conversations on social media, making content. We’re artists and idols, so we think each and every one of those things is important. That sentiment won’t change just because we’ve achieved so much success.

You recently held an impromptu event on Weverse for ARMY. V: I’m sure there’s lots of ARMY out there who are tired of not being able to see us in person. But since the only thing we can do for them is to be on stage and stuff, I was worried that we’re not doing enough for them. And I love being able to talk with ARMY so much that now it’s like a habit that I read their posts. I have a thing today. I have a test today. I’m moving today. Somehow I feel better when I hear their stories. When I end up reading things like about how ARMY are living or what kind of lives ARMY have, I can’t help but write a response, and because of that ARMY respond, so I try to become friendlier in a more fun way, too. I want us to be more than the Billboard number one Bangtanies—I want to be ARMY’s partner, their best friend, the friend who’s always by their side when we’re not on stage. It feels like business when I talk about communicating with ARMY. (laughs) I just want to talk with a close friend. I wanna talk with a close friend—that’s exactly how I feel. It’s been a long time since I could see my friend, ARMY. Usually when friends can’t see each other they keep in touch all the time. I can talk about all kinds of things like that with ARMY thanks to the Weverse platform, and because I can hear all about their lives, I think I was able to go on Weverse and hold that kind of event.

You’ve been talking about ARMY nonstop for a few minutes. I was going to ask you how you feel about ARMY, but I think you already answered the question. (laughs) V: They’re just, well, friends I would hate to lose. Friends who seriously give me strength whenever they’re around. Sometimes you find friends like that in life. It’s like that with the other members, and I have other friends who I can share my feelings with. And I have ARMY. So I can’t help but do whatever I can do to make those people smile and make them feel happy.

Well then, is there a song you’ve heard that you want to let ARMY know about? A song that shares your feelings. V: Umm, recently … “No. 1 Party Anthem” by Arctic Monkeys. When I hear that song … I get emotional, somehow. I don’t usually listen to a lot of rock music, but I can instantly feel the band’s emotions with that song. I seriously get goosebumps listening to it, and emotional, and just all kinds of feelings. It’s to the point that, as soon as I hear that song, I think about how I really want to live well.

That song really means a lot to you. V: Actually, I don’t really know what’s up with that song. I don’t even know the lyrics, but I’m quite clear on what sort of emotions the melody and the band’s performance give me.

Don’t you feel like that’s an emotion you want to express to people, as an artist? Like you don’t have to explain your messages in detail? V: I don’t know. I just want to exchange the good, and be the one to embrace the bad. So I have a desire to perfect one cool thing about myself.

So how close do you think you are right now to becoming an artist who has perfected something cool? V: I’ll say 2%. It’ll go up someday later. (laughs)

#bangtan #v #m:weverse magazine #210729

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rainyday-deer · 4 years ago

Text

I’ve been playing Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town and I have..... Thoughts™

Some light spoilers.

I can’t call it a bad game, I’m having fun, but it’s not.... Good, either.

The character customization is FANTASTIC, imo. I really like a lot of the options, and the ability to change the color of your individual eyes is pretty neat! I’ve really enjoyed the addition of being able to customize the MC in the newer games, and I’m glad it’s something they’ve kept around (even if the default MCs are rly cute too)

The addition of a moped is neat, though I’ll admit it seems... Superfluous. The horse in previous games was primarily used as a way to get around faster. I understand you have to unlock your moped, but the same goes for the horse, and with the way the game mechanics work, I have my moped back before I have the stable rebuilt, which kind of...Renders the horse moot. Why would I bother to build the stable now and waste fodder/stamina on an animal when I have a moped again?

In terms of the villagers, I can’t say I’m very attached to any of them. I’ve got a small handful that I guess I like but I’m just generally not invested in any of them or their lives.The dialogue is all very samey, and I feel like there’s little variation in what they say to me-- Which is generally a problem in most of the games, but it seems more noticeable here, and almost makes me ache for Save the Homeland’s dialogue style instead.

The voice clips are a nice touch, remind me vaguely of Magical Melody, and I’ll admit it’s a nice little touch. To be frank, the lack of visible talksprites and heart meters being hidden in notes VERY much reminds me of StH or MM, and isn’t necessarily something that bothers me (even if the camera angles get a lil wonky.)

As for how the farm works... I absolutely hate that the makers can only make one item at a time. I hate hate hate that I have several of these damn things lined up on my farm, taking up space, just so I can have the materials I need, and even then I only get ONE AT A TIME! And I need SEVERAL of these items to do anything from upgrading my tools, to expanding my house, to making clothes. In previous games, YES, you had to have certain items to do these things as well, but you (usually) didn’t need to turn ores into ingots first. Lumber was straight up logs that you cut down, and stones were actually useful. But here? HERE?

Cut the tree down. Save the logs. Put 3 logs into a maker. Get one (1) piece of lumber. Repeat ad nauseam.

By the way, there’s at least 5 different types of lumber. And grass. And you need them all for different things! And you need a lot of them for the different things!

There’s 3 mines, which are, frankly, kind of disappointing. The 3rd and largest mine is only 50 floors, and while the addition of the moles make for an... Interesting angle (and fighting off enemies isn’t new at all in certain games) it’s just... Boring. Part of the reason I enjoyed the mines so much in previous games was part of the challenge! It zapped your stamina so easily, and the further down you got, the more exciting it was! But it (personally) feels like there’s no challenge to these mines, and their low variety makes them boring. In reality, you’re only down there to get ores to shove into the ingot makers, so you can progress. (Because remember, these take more than one ore, to make just one (1) ingot!)

Your farm also has various trees and grasses growing over its 3 levels, which is all well and good. However, they crop up and grow VERY fast, including in places you don’t want them to. You have to cover spaces with flooring to stop them from popping up somewhere inconvenient, and even then, they’ll appear where you weren’t ALLOWED to place the flooring. You can’t just sickle the saplings, either. You have to mash those down with a hammer.

Your sickle is ONLY used for cutting the grass, which makes it almost useless in terms of upgrading. You cannot use it on crops, weeds, etc. Just the grass.

There’s also these blue stepping stones across your farm in various places. To my knowledge they cannot be moved or broken, and you cannot till them away, or place anything over them, resulting in wasted space, frankly.

As for the animals, it’s very... Strange? In my opinion. I’m unsure if it’s because of the mode I selected, but the livestock does not NEED to be brushed every day. Rather, when you go to take care of them, the animal will have a small speech bubble over them, indicating what they want at the moment. Your cows and goats will often have a milk icon over their head most days, and only OCCASIONALLY (in my experience) will they want to be brushed. Strangely, you don’t need to buy any tools to do so, either. You interact, they’re milked. You interact, they’re brushed. It’s all very quick, as well.

Also strangely, you have to purchase the ability to breed your chickens, rather than just putting an egg into the incubator.

As for the animal variety... I like it! The goats and the rabbits are very fun additions! And simply finding your animals (and the new varieties) randomly on your farm and then ‘taming’ them is kind of fun, but it does feel like you don’t particularly get a say in if you want to have the new animals in the first place, even if you CAN release animals via the Earth Sprites.

Which, by the way, make me miss the Harvest Sprites, very much. They’re sort of cute, I guess, but ultimately a little boring, if not helpful. Even the Spirit is... Interesting, and beautiful as she is, she’s so. Bland. You can’t really befriend her, just sort of talk to her, but it doesn’t really seem to do much.

I miss you, Harvest Goddess.........

There’s an added museum feature, very similar to animal crossing, but save for the small statues being built of animals you take photos of, it’s just another way to pad out the game, and is very unimpressive to look at.

Crop, meanwhile, are very... Eh, to me. Crops that previously used to be able to be harvested from all season, last 1-3 harvests before disappearing, and then need to be replanted--Including things like tea bushes. Thankfully, the seed makers are a maker that give you 2 seeds out of 1 item-- Though the seed bags only cover 1 tilled square, rather than 9, like in a few previous games.

Your rucksack is also limited in space-- Once again, nothing new, but very frustrating for a game that requires you to have a variety of materials on hold to make XYZ thing. The shipping bin ALSO only holds so many items, and to my knowledge cannot be upgraded. Got 25 items to ship? Sorry! You can only ship 24! Guess you have to wait until tomorrow :)

There’s also only 2 festivals per season, one of which is a mini game, while the other... Is not. It’s kind of a bummer, actually, and I don’t find myself looking forward to them at all.

It’s not all bad, though!

I do enjoy the ability to build sprinklers and let THOSE water your crops for you. It’s very time and stamina saving, and I thoroughly enjoy it.

The variety of crops and wild flowers is nice as well! You can get some crops grown wild, pop those into a seed maker, and then BOOM! You just got strawberries, or melons, or pineapples for free! Nice!

I DO like that your farm has 3 different levels, and unlocking them by fixing bridges is pretty cool, and genuinely feels like it’s been earned when you DO save up enough money (or materials) to unlock them.

The character models look pretty nice, if not a little strange at times. I feel like they can move stiffly in cutscenes, and they have very limited expressions, but they’re still nice to look at. I thoroughly enjoy the happy dance villagers do when you give them a gift they particularly like.

But...

I won’t lie to you guys, but EVERY time I pick up to play (which I’ll admit is a lot, despite my complaints), I find myself wanting to play the older games instead. Now I’ll admit a lot of the newer games could be lacking in particular areas, but there was ALWAYS a lot of enjoyment for me while playing them, so to have this absolute ACHE to dig out my ps2 or my gamecube to play Save the Homeland or Magical Melody INSTEAD is.... Kind of astounding to me.

It’s a fun game to turn your brain off and play, but I don’t think it’s deserving of the price tag-- Even with the new downloadable content on the way (that also costs money, even if you can save some with the expansion pass.). It feels oddly hollow and very... Mobile-game like to me, and while it’s not the WORST game I’ve ever played, it feels like it’s missing a lot of the charm that previous titles have had.

#Story of Seasons #pioneers of olive town #;;Harvest Moon #Moga Chatter #sos: poot #Harvest Moon

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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

Note

Remember when this half was billed as when things get serious? Yet every time things started ramping up something threw the breaks on the tension. Salem is attacking? Sits around waiting for the cane nuke. Ironwood is going to bomb mantle? Convenient defections allows him to be defeated in about a minute. Penny will self-destruct! LMAO, make her a "real-girl". Only with one episode left are people actually in any appreciable danger and the main cast aren't dealing with the sideshows.

I don’t think RWBY gets that consequences needs to both occur and influence the narrative for a significant length of time, if not the rest of the story. As you say, anon, the vast majority of our big problems have been solved both too easily and with no downsides: Salem and the whale are blown up, Ironwood is stopped, Penny is saved. This just leaves minor consequences, all of which, while fulfilling that first requirement of existing, don’t impact the story in any meaningful way:

Nora does scar herself helping Penny. I think that’s the best RWBY has managed this volume (potentially excluding the finale right now for obvious reasons), but the problem is that Nora is still precisely the same Nora after this event. Is Nora inconvenienced in any way? No, she’s able to hope right back into the fight as soon as she’s fully conscious. Has she learned anything? No, because Ren reassures her that she did everything she should have. They don’t even talk about the scars past this generic reassurance, instead focusing on how Ren was supposedly a bad friend and Nora wants space — a relationship conflict that may or may not develop further. What have these scars achieved? If they don’t change our character in any way, or change those around them, if they’re not a catalyst for something (notably, something other than giving the group an excuse to stay safe in the mansion considering the show never framed that as an excuse)... then they’re purely cosmetic filler. It’s just a more dramatic version of Nora getting a haircut like Blake and Jaune last volume. She has scars now, new character model! That’s it.

Penny becoming human. Same as everything above. Has a second near death experience and being given a human body changed Penny in any way? Doesn’t seem like it. Has it changed her battle style? No. Has it changed her goals, desires, outlook, or the challenges she faces? Again, not that we’ve seen. It’s cosmetic. Penny is precisely the same Penny she was prior to the change and I don’t mean that in a, “Penny was always herself” way, I mean it in a “Penny’s arc could be removed entirely from the story and it wouldn’t matter.”

We learn of a consequence from long ago in the form of Summer likely becoming a grimm servant of Salem. This is immediately dropped because there’s everything else to deal with.

We learn that Oscar used up a large portion of a magical weapon and automatically we don’t care because no one — characters or audience — knew that weapon existed to attach expectations to. But then this is also immediately dropped even though this is a limitation that should be a major concern of the cast.

Yang falls into a void. Everyone watching knows that she didn’t die. Maybe she’ll come out of this changed in some way... but based on everything above, it’s unlikely.

Cinder, as of the latest episode, has had the most development lately thanks to failure and consequences.

But RWBY’s main characters are incredibly static. No one has developed since Volume 6. No one has learned anything outside of objective info. Did they realize the horrible mistakes they made regarding Ozpin and learned to apologize? No, he apologized again, just as he did three volumes ago. Did they come to a better understanding of why their “We will make things perfect” mentality is dangerous? No, Ruby sat around in a mansion until the “perfect” answer came to her and she proceeded to ignore all the damage she caused in waiting around for it. Did Ren come to a better understanding of himself and help the group acknowledge their flaws? No, he was told he was wrong until he reverted to precisely who he’d been before: quiet and agreeable. Did Nora learn not to try to solve everything by hitting it really hard? No, she did precisely that, got injured, and was reassured that she could keep that up because it’s who she is. Did Yang likewise ever learn not to run into dangerous situations without thinking? No, she just repeated her actions from Volume 3, once again getting grievously injured. Have the bees made any progress in their relationship? No, they’re still at the forehead touch stage. Does Oscar have to work through anything after being physically and magically tortured for multiple episodes? No, he shrugs it off entirely and, once his aura comes back, the magicked away bruises tell the audience to forget it too. Has Oscar become a different person as the merge takes hold? Not unless we count his body language changing a little bit. The show keeps saying the merge is speeding up and that it’s this big, existential threat... but their dynamic is exactly what it was in Volume 4.

RWBY thinks of change in terms of things like, “Ren can randomly see emotions now,” not “Ren acknowledges something about their behavior and helps the group come to a better understanding of their actions, growing as people, not just fighters.” I don’t think the writers actually want the characters to change, not in any meaningful sense. Unless I’m proven incredibly wrong with Yang (here’s hoping) I suspect that our end volume crew will look exactly like they did in Volume 6, with the exception of some souped-up powers and, if we’re lucky, confirmation that sometimes they kiss their partner. That’s it. Regarding everything else, the characters will inevitably regress, or they’ll never be given the chance to develop in the first place, and that’s in large part because all of the stakes in the show now — world-wide and personal — are inevitably magicked away with the wand the show claims the characters don’t possess, but absolutely do.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #Anonymous

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meeedeee · 5 years ago

Link

Here is a list of fan-run, professional and semi-professional virtual conventions for the rest of 2020. This is not a comprehensive list, feel free to drop a link below (Name; URL; dates; type; whether the event is free or charges a fee)

https://tinyurl.com/virtual-cons

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vLyi3qcuOUZGcPKWd0PF4mTtYNlpEbgmjhQtR1sHKv8/edit

I am also posting a recent essay about the history of virtual conventions written by Claudia Rebaza with her permission

________________________________________________________

Many fan conventions aren’t being held this year but some are going virtual. Surprise – this isn’t actually new!

by Claudia Rebaza

Pandemic restrictions have meant that many events are moving to some kind of online equivalent, but fan conventions have offered online alternatives for a very long time. What’s more, conventions have only been one type of activity fans can take part in online with other fans.

Although numbers are hard to agree on, there’s little doubt that fan conventions have never been more popular. But while it’s possible to find a fan gathering in most cities (or even on the ocean!), there are still barriers that keep many people from participating. Whether it’s because of high costs, difficult travel schedules, physical disabilities, or social anxiety, many people have found themselves on the outside when it comes to fandom events. However fans have always been inventive, so the virtual convention developed decades ago. These virtual cons might mean:

an entire convention held online

live streaming of a physical gathering

activities taking place online at the same time as other fans were meeting in person

The 2000s Say Hello

Yuri Con began in 2000 not as an in-person gathering, but an online fan community. A few years later it sponsored a three-day anime and manga convention in Newark, NJ. The convention brought together fans of Yuri with panels, an academic lecture series, games, vendors and video programming. This was similar to FemSlash Con, which ran from 2012-2017.

Femslash, which is art, fiction and more involving female/female romantic pairings, was celebrated with panels for different TV shows as well as workshops for the creation of fanworks.

In the UK, VidUKon has been held since 2008. The convention focuses on the making and sharing of a style of fan videos called vidding, and features showings, panels, and workshops. People who can’t attend can still follow along with events through the use of convention memberships, which allow access to real time streaming as well as access to content after the convention ends.

But if an event isn’t online or doesn’t offer access to drop into the in-person event, there’s a third option. For example, the Starsky & Hutch fandom's Share Con began in the 1980s and is now held every other year. Like many conventions it has a mailing list and a Facebook group, but some fans also held a Virtual ShareCon from 2012-2016. The virtual con was a side event that took place at the same time as the physical gathering for people who couldn’t meet up in person. At the virtual con, members met at a community on LiveJournal, with an organizer making posts and people commenting. They watched an episode of the show together, watched fan videos together, played a trivia game, had panel discussions, and had a drawing for prizes. Attendees also contributed to the creation of a virtual goody bag with pictures of Starsky & Hutch items.

Virtual con attendees also used the opportunity to prompt one another to create fan art and fanfiction in what has become a common practice among fans – the challenge or fest.

Challenges and fests

Given that not all convention activities are free, and many a fan is having a particularly hard time economically this year, there are fan events that don’t cost a thing. They do, however, require some time and creativity. A fanworks challenge or fest, is an organized event that prompts participants to create fanworks. These events can take many forms, one of which is the “challenge” where people create fanworks to fit certain criteria, or an “exchange” where people create fanworks to order for one another. The fandom wiki Fanlore lists nearly 800 entries on fests that have been held for a wide variety of fandoms over the decades, with many more out there.

The fest is a typical option for a virtual con, so that fans who are not going to an in-person gathering can celebrate as well. In some cases people sign up ahead of time to create fiction, art, videos or other fanworks to share on an assigned day. In others, people respond randomly to prompts from the fest organizers or other participants in a more game-like activity. But in the case of a virtual con, the fest is important for both keeping people engaged, as well as producing new content that outlasts the few days during which the con is held. That way the benefits can be shared with people who couldn’t attend the virtual con due to its timing.

Sometimes virtual con events are held at the Archive of Our Own which includes a feature for fanwork collections and tools for creating specific types of fests. Some virtual convention contributions that can be found on the site include fanworks for Due South, The Closer, Shadowhunters, Game of Thrones, Highlander, and the K-pop group B.A.P.

The con on your laptop

With large public gatherings prohibited almost everywhere, many fan conventions have been cancelled or postponed, including the mega-popular San Diego Comic Con. But other organizers and fans alike are still trying to keep fan activities going. As a result some events are still being held, only online, and sometimes at no charge.

May saw Balticon 54, WisCONline/WisCON 44, Con Carolinas, and the 2020 Nebula Conference go virtual. July will see more taking place from smaller events such as CON.TXT 2020 (free) on July 24-26, to major cons like CoNZealand (WorldCon 78), host of the Hugo Awards, on July 29-August 2. Just as with the early virtual cons, these events will adapt activities to online space, and not just for panels and vendor rooms. In the past many fans have paid to shake hands with their favorite artists, writers, or actors in quick meet-and-greets, photo or autograph sessions. Some events are shifting these bookings to one-on-one video chats, where each person has a few minutes in which to spend some face time with those celebrities.

What about next year?

Researcher Dr. Naomi Jacobs published an article on virtual conventions in 2018. Discussing the future of such events, she said “I think that as the barriers between online and offline fandom become more fluid, and as technology improves, we might see new ways that conventions become digital spaces as well as physical ones. Conventions are about fans coming together to share experiences, to ‘convene’, and it is no longer the case that this has to involve a face to face meeting.”

Jacobs studied fans’ experiences at Supernatural conventions and found that, while most of them preferred meeting in person, there were various reasons why virtual attendance was important. For some fans who go to many conventions a year, attending them is a part of one’s social activities and a way of staying up to date on happenings in their community. Jacobs said, “Being part of the digital space during a convention seemed to be almost as important as being at the event, particularly because there were so many conventions each year and many people attend several, but very few could go to them all.”

For fans whose favorite part of attending a convention is meeting celebrities, a virtual con might not seem like much of an alternative. But for many fans, the principal draws of a convention might be interacting with other fans, shopping, or sharing information about their fandom interests through meet ups or attending panel discussions, all things that could be done in other ways. There are many conventions whose principal draw is activities rather than celebrity guests – although even celebrity appearances will be going virtual in some cases.

For example, one staple of conventions that has become a central part of many fans’ experience is cosplay. While you’d think that this kind of fanwork would be something missing at a virtual con, being online doesn’t have to be a barrier to sharing one’s costuming skills. A lot of cosplay experience has already gone virtual. For example, in 2015 Nicolle Lamerichs wrote about the rising popularity of cosplay music videos (CMV) which are created and shared after the event. In discussing common factors for the videos, Lamerichs notes that “the videos are usually shot at the fan convention and are also a means of preserving the performances and making them accessible to a wider audience.” The practice has developed to the point that “some CMVs are also fan works in their own right."

Is it for you?

While the virtual con may not replace the experience of an in-person gathering for the majority of fans, it does address the importance of these events for both specific fandoms as well as fans as a whole. When writer/producer Alison Zeidman wrote that comic books changed her life, the examples she gave were of personal experiences surrounding comic books, such as attending a fan convention. "At Wondercon, I was the most relaxed I’ve been in years, but it was also so incredibly creatively stimulating and inspiring. And I realized that how I felt on that exhibition floor is how I want to feel every day of my life: constantly learning, seeking out new experiences and meeting new people — whether or not they’re dressed in a custom-made Captain Marvel uniform.” Whether in-person or online, many fans share that feeling.

#convention #fan convention #fan con

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gamingpsychologist · 4 years ago

Text

Coaching

Awareness, Responsibility, Learning how to learn and to act are the three pillars of effective coaching. During coaching the coach and the client are working on building a strong foundation based on these three pillars.

Coaching doesn’t happen randomly, it is a methodical way of accompanying someone by focusing on results in attitude, knowledge and skills. The exact goals for these areas of expertise are always set with the client. Just for this sole reason it is already important to have a dialogue with the client about the fun and problems they experience at work. These can differ from person to person, as no one is the same. Therefore, the way of coaching isn’t always the same. The are generally three kinds of coaching: 1. Function-oriented coaching 2. Process-oriented coaching 3. Context-oriented coaching Function-oriented coaching When someone new joins the team they are usually focused on performing withing their assigned role, so this might mean that a new player joins and tries to prove their worth and tries to fit in within the newly set team synergy, or it might be a new analyst who tries to have an impact on the chances to win by crunching the numbers. The learning experience of the new member lies on improving. The common kinds of questions sound something like: When am I doing well? What happens if I under perform? How do I tackle the new ways of communication? What happens if there are different vision on how to play the game?

In general they all have to do with these three questions: 1. What do I have to do and how do I do that as best as possible? 2. What does this new function mean for me, and what does the organization and team expect of me? 3. How can I use my qualities to achieve this?

Process-oriented coaching The focus of process-oriented coaching lies mainly on awareness. How do you carry out your role within the team? And how are you able to develop yourself within this role? You could say that the theme is development.

When process-oriented coaching is the way that should lead to success, it usually means that some specific beliefs are standing in the way of further development. In this case you should center your attention towards getting a sense of the experienced reality and that it is your own responsibility to work on your own questions in order to realize the reality that is desired.

Context-oriented coaching Standing central in context-oriented coaching is the in individual and their environment. It happens often that questions arise that have to do with the meaning of life, and with changes within the team, organization or community. Questions like: Who or What do I need to do for others? Do I need to leave the team/org? Should I retire and focus on my personal growth? The most occurring themes are: - New perspective - Seeking new challenges - Work-life balance The core lies more often than not with “growth and flourishing” within the given context. How do I become the best version of myself and how do I get to be happy with who I am and what I do. People want to answer the question Why they do What they do.

Customize your coaching

If you’re a coach and you want to help improve your team, you need to be able to customize the way you approach coaching to suit the needs of the team and the individual. This not only means that you need to know which coaching style meets the needs, but also what the best suitable methods are. There are a lot of methods out there and a lot of books written about coaching. The ones I’ve learned: - GROW-model (Goal, Reality, Options, and Will) - Transactional analysis - Voice Dialogue - Cognitive behavioral coaching - Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) - Acceptence and commitment therapy (ACT) - Mindfullness - The systemic approach, - Motivational interviewing - Solution-oriented working If you want to know more about these methods, you can google search them or just ask me.

#psychology #coaching #gaming #esports

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justfandomwritings · 5 years ago

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She’s Got A Friend (Bucky Barnes)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 9.9k

Warnings: Fluff, Angst and nongraphic “off page” minor character deaths

Summary: Happy endings are a matter of perspective. At some point in every story, there will always be some glorious, shining moment of hope, love, redemption, success. No good story is complete without it.

And if you end the story then, if you end it on a high, you can almost forget that anything came after that.

Notes: Hospital AU for @captainscanadian 1k follower writing challenge! I have taken the “Hospital” in hospital AU rather liberally to mean a field hospital in WW2. I thought I’d try a bit of a different writing style for this. Let me know what you think.

The condolences came in the mail only a few days after the official notification arrived on her doorstep from the mouth of some general or another.

She didn’t bother to remember the man’s name, and why should she? He wouldn’t remember her brother’s, let alone hers.

It was hard to stem the tide of her anger in the face of a man so visibly faking his sympathy for her pain. It was harder still to unleash her anger on him; she pitied him almost as much as he faked pitying her. It was just before sunset, and she was his sixteenth stop of the day, with a further 5 to go before he got off that night.

She imagined that, at some point, months ago, he had cared. He had sympathized and cried with grieving widows and orphaned children. No doubt, he had written them letters and checked on their wellbeing, asked after their emotions and made sure they were well. No more. He’d grown numb to the pain his presence inflicted, and with it less sympathetic to the plight of those around him.

By the time he reached her door, by the time he said “Ma’am, we have received word that your brother’s plane was shot down over Occupied France last week. His body has been recovered from the wreckage and will be on route home at the earliest possible date,” to her, he didn’t mean the “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this news. Your brother died a hero, and if there is anything I can do to ease your pain, it would be my honor to do so in his memory,” that followed.

The nameless general had never met her brother. He called every soldier a hero when he met their families, whether it was true or not. If they asked him about how their loved one died, or if they began to cry on his shoulder, he had a practiced speech about how their son or brother or husband had died fighting, died bravely, died to save the lives of millions, died to protect them all.

(Y/n) knew all of that because, even though she didn’t remember his name, she remembered his face. They’d met before. It wasn’t the first time he’d knocked on her door. He was the same general who had come to inform her of her father’s tragic end a few months prior. The general hadn’t remembered her father’s name either, nor hers.

She didn’t bother to point out their association to the man. She thanked him for his service and left him standing on her front step as a door closed in his face.

It was easier for both of them that way.

The letter that came from her brother’s commanding officer was more heartfelt, (Y/n) assumed, but she didn’t read it.

“Ms. (Y/n), By now you have no doubt received word of your brother’s tragic end. Selfishly, I am glad that I was not the one who had to inform you. Your brother was a flying ace in my squadron and a good friend. Retrieving his body brought me to tears for far longer than my commanding officers would like me to admit…”

That was as far as she read. Her brother was dead. They had his body. She was numb to everything else, as numb as the general who showed up at her door, as numb as her brother’s corpse in the grave.

She couldn’t feel, couldn’t think, couldn’t speak.

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(Y/n) walked into the hospital the next day and handed in her resignation. She was just the next in a long line.

Dorothy had resigned the week before. Her husband had been killed in North Africa. She could no longer afford to live in New York, not that cost of living was at the front of her mind. She was moving back South with her two children, both under 5 years old, to live with her aging parents.

Vera had gotten married to a hotshot factory owner and resigned to plan her wedding. The rest of the ward had scorned her as she trotted out with her chin held high and a smirk on her face. She’d never done the work because she loved it like the rest of them, and she had no qualms about letting them all know it.

Ruth was on her way out the door in a week. She was following her husband to England where he’d be training pilots at an RAF airfield. Normally, that sort of thing wouldn’t be allowed, wives being stationed with their husbands. Ruth, however, was a pretty good mechanic and often worked on her husbands planes in her free time, and without any children to worry about, the Army was really getting two for the price of one.

Juanita’s departure had no doubt hit the hardest. With so many men dying overseas, crime on the home front had been virtually forgotten. Juanita’s son brought it back to life. Too weak to be enlisted in the army, her son had taken up work at the docks that he never would’ve been physically qualified for if not for all the men being drafted. Three weeks on the job, he was mugged by a group of drunken sailors out for their last night of freedom. He died in the hospital with his mother only a few doors down in a different wing.

The most senior nurse on staff, Juanita used to run the ward, but after her son died in the building, she couldn’t even look at the hospital anymore.

“(Y/n),” Mary sighed and scrubbed the heel of her palm into her eyes to try to wipe away the sleep. “We’re short staffed already.”

There was a begging to her tone, and any other day the pain etched across her face would’ve been enough to convince (Y/n) to stay. Mary was her friend, by some accounts her best friend.

“I know Mary, and I’m sorry. I just can’t stay here anymore. I can’t walk past my brother’s room. I can’t ride down the streets my brother and I used to play in. I can’t go in the shop he used to own. I just can’t.”

Mary swallowed hard; when she spoke the lump in her throat became more apparent with each word. “I understand that you’re in pain, but this hospital…”

“That’s just it,” (Y/n) cut her off, slipping into the seat across the desk from her friend. She’d refused to sit when she first came to see Mary, hoping to be in and out quickly, but not now. “I don’t feel anything, Mary. I can’t look at his room because I know I should be heartbroken. I can’t travel down the street because I know I should be in pain. I can’t go in his shop because I know I should be crying. But I’m not. I don’t feel hurt or worried or upset. I don’t feel anything; I’m just numb.”

“Numb?” Mary furrowed her brow. “You’re leaving because you think you should be in more pain?”

“I’m leaving because I loved my brother, because I should be feeling something, but I’m not. I feel nothing, and that scares me even more.”

“Where will you go?”

“I don’t know yet. Somewhere I will feel something.”

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Her brother had been Air Force, but her father had been Army.

She couldn’t bring herself to go to one of the Air Force’s recruiting offices. Part of her was worried she would have an emotional breakdown speaking to the men in charge. A larger part of her was worried she would feel nothing at all, a sign she was heading in the wrong direction.

The Army felt safer. She hadn’t been numb to her father’s death. She’d cried and mourned, and though the thought still overwhelmed her with sadness, she knew she would one day move on. About her brother, (Y/n) didn’t know what to think.

“What experience do you have?”

(Y/n) found herself sat in front of some captain or another responsible for organizing the Army Nursing Corps. He looked bored with her; she doubted managing a bunch of women was what he’d had in mind when he joined the war.

“I’ve worked at Wyckoff Heights Hospital on St. Nicholas in Brooklyn for eight years. I have copies of all of my reviews that show exemplary performance and no reprimands on record.”

The man took the stack of papers from her hand and began flipping through them. He stared at each of them for a long time, occasionally giving a ‘hm’ or ‘huh’ to show that he was thinking.

(Y/n) noticed after two pages that he wasn’t actually reading. His eyes weren’t moving from where they looked thoughtfully at the center of the page, and the noises of contemplation came randomly, even on pages that wouldn’t require much consideration.

(Y/n) turned away from the show to glance around the room. To the left was a door to the waiting rooms. Occasionally, when it swung open she could see the rows of shirtless men waiting for their number to be called up for evaluation. There didn’t appear to be many seats open.

She wondered, to herself, how many of them would be accepted, how many of those would make it back alive.

There were family members milling around the hall. A young woman was already weeping near the exit, and she hadn’t even been rejoined by the man she was waiting for. One of the doctors, (Y/n) assumed the portly, greying man was not one of the recruits, was trying his best to comfort her, but he didn’t seem to be having much success.

For the overwhelming number of men waiting to be evaluated and find a place in this war, there were a surprisingly few number of nurses. (Y/n) hadn’t been shown to any waiting room. There was a bench in the half she’d first entered with half a dozen or so women occupying it when she arrived. By the time her name was finally called only two more had come in behind her. The recruiters desk was in a notch in the hallway, not even its own room. The women were forced to state their credentials and make their case with no privacy to his judgments.

At least a dozen of the people milling around, including the old man and young woman by the door, could hear what was being said to her.

The man snapped her file closed with sharp flip of his wrist. “On your application, you’ve marked that you’d like to be assigned to a field hospital. I’m assuming you know nothing about the war. Field Hospitals are on the frontlines, girl.”

“I’m aware.” (Y/n) smoothly replied.

He raised an eyebrow, but none of his other features changed. (Y/n) couldn’t tell if it was condescension or confusion. “Are you now? The nurses in Field Hospitals are shot at almost as much as the soldiers. You think the Germans will spare you because you have a pretty face?”

“I don’t expect to be spared by anyone.”

His grilling was catching eyes from those milling around.

“And why would a girl like you want to find herself on the front lines?”

“I just want this war to end with as little bloodshed as possible. Helping where the men need it most seems like a good start.”

“Excuse me, ma’am.”

German.

(Y/n)’s eyes whipped around, as did many others in the hallway. There was a German here.

“My name is Dr. Erskine,” He proclaimed, more quietly this time, “I may have a job for you.”

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Erskine didn’t try to replace her father.

He offered a guiding hand out of the goodness of his heart. He offered a shoulder to cry on because he could see she hadn’t yet grieved. He offered insight, advice, from the wisdom of his own experience.

Erskine wasn’t trying to replace her father, and yet he did so many things she wished her father was there to do.

He offered her a job because he could see she wanted to find her purpose. He put her up in the barracks because he knew she needed space from her past. He accompanied her on walks at night to keep her nightmares at bay. He filled her waking hours with work when she needed distraction and took the load away when it became too much.

Erskine didn’t try to replace her father. No one could ever replace her father. He was a good substitute though. In times as dark as those, family was what she needed.

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He reminded her of her brother.

That was the first thought that came to (Y/n)’s mind when she met Steve Rogers.

Her brother was younger than her by two years, and as a child he’d always been the smaller of the pair. For most of their childhood, her brother could barely reach her shoulder. Stretching his arms as wide as he could, he’d be lucky if his reach went from (Y/n)’s wrist to wrist. Short and scrawny, he’d not caught up to his sister’s size until he was a teen, but once he’d caught up, there was no looking back.

Steve reminded her of him. The size, for one thing, was an unmistakable similarity, but there was an air to Steve, an air of familiarity that made her feel at home. Every time she looked at him, she saw her baby brother. Not the strong, handsome man he was when he died, but the fearless, young boy she wished he would’ve stayed forever.

She monitored the health of all of Erskine’s candidates in the Strategic Scientific Reserve, but she couldn’t deny she paid special attention to Steve.

They all paid special attention to Steve.

Erskine liked his sense of justice. His conscience oozed out of his every pore. No one had ever argued with Steve and been right about it. They were talking about making a superhero here, and yet there was a very real sense amongst them that Steve already had a superpower: always doing the right thing.

Peggy had an immediate fondness for him. He was determined, beyond belief, and she admired that spark in him that refused to be snuffed out. He knew, in his heart, what he believed, and he was more than willing to die for it. Peggy was too.

Only the Colonel, Chester Phillips, doubted Erskine’s decision. He paid special attention to Steve, but he did so only as a foil. He liked to compare Steve to other men in the camp, men he’d chosen for the project, rather than the one Erskine had brought on. “Brown is stronger,” or “Donalds is faster,” were common phrases in his office.

In truth, they were all stronger. They were all faster. On paper, any one of them would’ve made a better super soldier than Stever Rogers.

“That’s what Phillps does not understand,” Erskine told her one day while they worked in his lab. “It isn’t about what’s on paper. It’s about what’s in his heart.”

“So it’s going to be Steve?” (Y/n) asked.

Erskine nodded. “Do you agree?”

(Y/n) hesitated. She didn’t want to blindly agree with the accolade simply because he reminded her of her brother. She also didn’t want to naively dismiss it to save him the risk because he reminded her of her brother.

She knew Steve Rogers; she would like to think she knew him well. They were friends. Yet the more she got to know him the more she saw her brother in him. That chest cold that wouldn’t go away when her brother was eight, the fight he lost with a boy who’d made a lewd joke about her skirt, the way he’d adamantly stood up for their father’s memory as a soldier; their kind hearted mother teaching him to temper his words.

She knew Steve Rogers well, and the more she knew him the more she saw him as her brother. The more she saw him as her brother, the more she knew he had to do this. He needed to do this.

“I agree.”

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“Steve, you may as well ask her out. If you’re going to spend this much time ogling her, she at least deserves dinner out of it.”

Steve’s face turned as red as the apple she was chewing, and (Y/n) couldn’t hold in her smirk.

“I-I wasn’t…” Steve glanced over his shoulder, checking that Peggy wasn’t within earshot of (Y/n)’s ribbing.

“It’s all right, Steve. I won’t tell her, but you really should.”

Steve shook his head, definitively turning his back to Peggy. “Please, my entire life girls like that have passed me by.”

(Y/n) rested a hand on Steve’ shoulder. “Your entire life girls who look like that have passed you by, but Peggy isn’t like those girls. If you don’t ask her out, you’ll never give her a chance to prove it.”

Steve chuckled and looked off into the sky. “My friend said something like that to me about this girl, Maria, not long before he left for the front.”

“And did you listen to him?”

“No,” Steve admitted. “He was the one the girls always passed me by for.”

“Well, did he ask them out?” (Y/n) chuckled.

Steve hesitated a second before saying, “Yes.”

“Then that’s why they passed you by. Your friend sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders. You should listen to him.”

Steve gave (Y/n) a fond smile. “You remind me a lot of him. It’s easier, having you here.”

“It’s easier having you here too.”

(Y/n) didn’t know if that was true, but she was starting to think it might be. She was starting to feel something. Steve was helping her remember the good times with her brother, before the Army and the War. Back when they were just two kids in Brooklyn.

She missed him.

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Erskine. Gone.

Would this war take everyone from her?

(Y/n) kneeled in a pool of his blood, his body splayed out in front of her.

She’d dedicated years of her life to Erskine’s work. She’d dedicated time, money, opportunities. She’d dedicated everything she had and more. Gone.

His work was gone. Erskine was gone.

He was her friend, her family; and he was gone.

She summoned a tear, more than one.

They came slowly at first and then spiralled uncontrollably. Sobs racked her body as she gripped at his hand.

Someone tried to help her up, but she didn’t want up.

Vaguely, she recognized Stark’s voice. He was calling out to her.

“(Y/n), he’s gone.”

Yes, she already knew he was gone. What good was all of his genius when he could only state the obvious.

What good was all of her years in a hospital, all of her years of training, if she couldn’t save a life when it mattered, the one life that mattered.

It felt like hearing her father was gone again.

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They were taking Steve too, as if she had anything left to give.

“Phillips would just as soon send me home. I’m just a lab rat to him.” Steve spat the word out in disgust. “That’s all I am, an experiment, Erskine’s experiment. They wanted an army, but they got me.”

“That’s all you are to him.” (Y/n) quietly corrected.

“And what am I to everyone else?” Steve turned on her, his eyes as red as hers were. “What am I to you?”

“His legacy,” she answered immediately.

She’d been thinking about it a lot. Erskine had been dead for two days, and all she’d been thinking about was him and Steve and the little family she’d made for herself at Lehigh. Erskine the father, Steve her brother, Peggy her sister, even Phillips, the grumpy uncle who didn’t want to be in the picture.

What did it all mean?

“You are his legacy. If you were any other soldier you’d be just another experiment, but you’re not. You’re Steve Rogers. Erskine chose you. You carry on his legacy; you carry on his work.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Steve asked in a desperate tone. He slumped onto the bench and let his head fall into his hands.

“I don’t know Steve,” (Y/n) sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “That’s for you to figure out. You don’t have to know now. No one’s expecting you to know now, but when you do piece it together, I’ll be waiting.”

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“Stark says you’re going to have your pick.”

Steve was lying on his back next to (Y/n), tossing a ball in the air and catching it repeatedly with a satisfying thunk as it hit his palm.

A few weeks ago, he wouldn’t have been able to catch it once. He had all of the coordination of a newborn foal and would’ve whacked himself, or her, in the face the first time he tried to throw it.

It reminded her, again, of her brother. After his growth spurt, when he finally caught up to her, passed her, when he got tall and filled out. The girls started to notice him; the guys started to respect him.

“That’s what they tell me.”

“Any Allied hospital in Europe…” Steve stopped tossing the ball and glanced over at her, “Know where you’re going to go?”

(Y/n) didn’t meet his gaze. She kept her eyes on a cloud floating by overhead. “I hadn’t really thought about it,” She confessed. “When I applied, when Erskine took me in, I was planning on going to the frontlines.”

“You don’t have to now.” Steve rolled onto his stomach and watched her expressions carefully. “You could go to the evacuation hospitals or England…”

“Would you?”

“What?”

“Would you go to the frontlines? If they let you?” (Y/n) asked. She already knew the answer, but she needed to ask.

“You know I would,” Steve admitted.

“Then that’s where I’ll go.” She’d joked, when Erskine was still alive, that Steve’s real superpower was always doing the right thing. If he’d go to the front, then that’s where she’d be, waiting for him to find his way.

(Y/n) met Steve’s eye finally. “You said your friend was in the 107th?”

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It was only about a month before (Y/n) was running the field hospital attached to the 107th.

They sent mostly inexperienced girls out to the frontline. Supposedly, it was an easy job. They didn’t have time for complex treatment or procedures, so in theory, it was all triage and wound treatment. They claimed anyone with a little bit of training could handle it.

Early on when the fighting had just begun she imagined there might have been some truth to that claim, but as the war slogged on, it wasn’t so simple anymore. Every soldier had some kind of injury. The Army couldn’t afford to send everyone with more than a bump or bruise back from the frontline to an evacuation hospital. There wasn’t the time, manpower, money.

The field hospitals were overflowing with infected wounds, illness, bullet holes, broken bones, and there weren’t enough experienced nurses to go around. Not only did they lack the know-how, many of the inexperienced nurses were just young woman, some girls even, who didn’t properly know what they’d signed up for. They were shaken by the crack of every bullet, the boom of every grenade, the scream of every dying man.

(Y/n) had a sneaking suspicion that the real reason the Nurses Corps didn’t send out any of their trained nurses was that they want to risk their better nurses dying on the frontlines.

(Y/n) had watched a stray bullet tear through the chest of a young girl named Lydia only a week into her time with the 107th. She’d been reliably told by another nurse that Lydia was the fifth to die so far that year.

The second most experienced girl in (Y/n)’s unit had been a midwife for a few years before she shipped out, not exactly a skill that was necessary in an army full of men, but it came with some transferable knowledge. Her name was Maria, and it only took a few weeks before she was happily handing over the reins.

“They’re bringing in a batch of men from the front,” Maria reported to (Y/n). “Nothing serious, a couple broken bones. They took a fall to avoid a grenade; I’m told.”

(Y/n) motioned for Beverly and Viola at the other end of the tent. “We need to clean down some beds.” (Y/n) turned to Maria, “Did they say how many?”

“Not exactly, but I think it was only a few.”

(Y/n) only had a few beds to spare anyhow. There were a dozen cots set up in the field hospital, and six of them were currently occupied by men waiting for transport to the nearest evacuation hospital back West, another two by men with leg fractures. When she’d arrived, the beds were first come first serve, but (Y/n) had quickly started a process of dismissing anyone who could walk back to their own tents to come in to the hospital for regular checks on whatever ailed them.

“They’ve already reached camp; they’ll be here any moment.”

“If the bones aren’t through skin, then I don’t want them hanging around here. We’ll set them and send them on their way. We haven’t had free beds in a week, and I don’t want to take them up with something trivial.”

“Trivial? Glad to know you care about my leg, nurse.”

The tent flap was being held open by two soldiers, a sergeant and a private, around the girth of a much larger man propped up between them.

(Y/n) ignored the jab, “Get him on the bed.”

The two men helped their friend onto the nearest cot, and (Y/n), Beverly, and Maria quickly descended on him.

(Y/n) was the most experienced one there, but she’d made a point of having Beverly watch every bone she set. When things got busy, she might be needed elsewhere, and it was good to know that Beverly knew her way around things well enough to take a few bones off her plate.

“What happened?”

“Bit of an ambush, ma’am.” She recognized Gabe Jones immediately. She’d treated a broken finger of his on the first day she’d got here, followed by a number of bumps and bruises that probably wouldn’t have required her attention if Gabe weren’t such a flirt. “We had to jump into a ravine. Sergeant, here, did a number on his knee, and I got grazed by a bullet.”

“Maria, will you clean Private Jones’ wound?” (Y/n) began inspected the Sergeant’s knee.

“Of course,” Maria motioned Jones away to another open bed.

The third man took a step back towards the tent flap, but before he could get more than a few paces, he crumbled.

“Barnes!” The sergeant in the bed bolted upright. Beverly held him still, as (Y/n) rushed to his side.

“Are you alright, Sergeant?” (Y/n) slipped her arm around the man’s back and helped him stumble back to the nearest bed.

“I guess I’m not,” The man winced as he slumped back against the metal bed frame. “My side is killing me.”

(Y/n) nodded at the other sergeant, “Relocate his knee, while I do this, Bev. Maria can help when she’s done cleaning Jones’s wound.”

With deft fingers, (Y/n) unhooked the buttons down his uniform to check his complaint.

“I’d normally take you to dinner first, Doll.” These men hadn’t seen a woman in a long time, and usually they acted like it. She’d heard every bad joke in the book from the soldiers around camp and a couple from Jones in the bed next to them, but his tone was far more lighthearted, less learing than the others. He was teasing, trying to lighten the mood of how much pain was written across his face.

“Well, the rations around here aren’t very appealing, so you’ll have to settle for…” She found what she was looking for. A bruise spanning his entire right side. “You carried him back like this?” Her fingers probed gently at the edges of the dark blue stain.

“Someone had to; not like Dugan carries his own weight around here.” He winced as she touched a particularly sensitive spot.

“Broken ribs,” (Y/n) told the other girls over her shoulder, “three from the looks of it. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“That’s alright, Doll. I’ll just get to see more of your smiling face.”

(Y/n) wasn’t smiling. She hadn’t smiled in quite a while.

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“You’re healing well,” (Y/n) observed Barnes’s side, peeking out of the sheets, a few days later. “Right on schedule. You won’t need to be on the next train to the evacuation hospital.”

“Of course not,” Barnes scoffed, “How could I ever leave your lovely company?”

(Y/n) cocked an eyebrow. “That work on the girls back home?”

“Depends on the girl really,” Barnes confessed. “Most of the time a smile and a dance does the trick, but I like the ones that make me work for it.”

(Y/n) rolled her eyes and went back to inventorying the supplies she’d spread out on the cot next to his.

“Where is home for you, (Y/n)?”

It was the first time he’d called her by her name, also the first time he’d asked her a genuine question. “Brooklyn.”

“Brooklyn!” He exclaimed, “I knew there was a reason I liked you. I’m from Brooklyn myself.”

“Really?” She glanced back at him, pausing cataloging the rolls of gauze. She had to remember to put in for that. They desperately needed more gauze.

“Born and raised,” With a wince, he adjusted pushed himself higher in the bed. “My whole family and my best friend still live there. I’ll go back there too, if I make it out of your care in one piece.”

(Y/n) snorted; she couldn’t help it. Her care? They were in a war, and he wanted to joke that he wouldn’t make it out of her hospital. “I’ll have you know my care is perfectly fine. I served 8 years in ambulatory at Wyckoff.”

Barnes’s brow furrowed. “Can’t say I’ve ever been to Wyckoff, but I was a frequent guest at Beth Moses Hospital.”

“You break ribs running from Nazis often in New York?” She jabbed.

“No, but my friend may as well have. He picked a lot of fights. Didn’t win many, but that never stopped Steve.”

(Y/n)’s head jerked around and she dropped the papers in her hands. “Steve? Steve Rogers?”

“Yeah,” Barnes had her attention now, and she had his, “you know him?”

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“I swear, Bucky, next time you come in here you better be losing an arm. You’re wasting my time with these little scrapes.”

Bucky rose to his feet in front of her.

She came face to chest with his shirtless torso, and her ego absolutely refused to allow her to turn her head away or take a step back. Even as she felt her cheeks coloring from his state of undress, she adamantly met his smirking eyes.

“It’s okay to admit you’d miss me, Doll. Around here, I’m like a little slice of home, a breath of fresh air, a…”

“The smell of maneur wafting out of the stables,” She cut off.

Bucky chuckled and began buttoning back his uniform. “One day, Doll, one day.”

Bucky always said things like that. ‘One day, when we’re both back in Brooklyn’, ‘When I finally get the chance to take you dancing’, ‘Me, you, Steve, and a friend’.

(Y/n) never took any of it to heart. Bucky had popped in and out of the medical tent on many occasions since he’d broken his ribs, and he flirted with all of the girls who treated him. She never let it get to her heart, and she tried not to let it go to her head that his flirtations were infinitely more personal with her. He’d teasingly compliment the other girls’ uniforms, make observations about how nice they looked that day, wink suggestively as he ducked out of the tent. She was the only one he made plans for: Brooklyn, Steve, Coney Island, dinner, dancing.

The thought was nice, but she left it all there, just a thought.

“Don’t be a stranger, Doll,” Bucky called as he made his way to the door. “I’m sick of faking injury just to see you.”

He gave her his signature wink before he turned and left the tent.

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The SSR had moved in. She saw Phillips riding in from a mile away.

She stood side by side with the commanding officers; everyone over the rank of Sergeant filled in a pseudo welcome party for the reinforcements as they rode in.

None of the men could figure out why she was there, at the front, out ranking them. She wasn’t even properly in the Army. She was just a nurse, a field medic, nothing more or less.(Y/n) couldn’t say she was expecting any sort of comraderie from the Colonel. She’d expected a firm handshake, an acknowledgement of their acquaintance, and a swift dismissal back to her duties.

When Colonel Phillips jumped out, the men behind her became painfully aware of who she was, and she became painfully aware how things had changed.

“(Y/n),” Phillips ignored the officers in charge and marched straight for her. “Good, you’re here. I need someone with a head on their shoulders.” He clapped her on the back and led her towards the truck.

From the back, they came filing out, the men she and Erskine had rejected for the supersoldier program. Each of them a hand picked reminder of her lost companion. All of them could’ve been the poster boy for a ‘join the army’ campaign if things had gone a different way.

She had to remind herself that these men were Phillips choosing, that, even if Erskine lived, none of them would have ever been Steve. These were good soldiers, but that didn’t make them good men. There may well have been a few good ones in the bunch, but being strong, being able, didn’t make them so. She preferred the men behind her, the 107th.

“There’s someone else I know you’ll be happy to see.”

It took a moment more of men filing out of the truck bed before Phillips’ surprise came to face her. She felt her heart building up hope, anticipation, excitement.

Peggy. It was Peggy.

She hid her disappointment well as she smiled and hugged the Englishwoman.

She loved Peggy, but she was no Steve.

Where was Steve? It had been so long since she heard news. She was worried.

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“So you’re a hotshot then?”

Bucky had swaggered up to her the moment she stepped outside of the hospital tent.

“You must be if you have the Colonel’s ear. Everyone’s been talking about it. My little Brooklyn in league with the bigwigs.”

“Your?” (Y/n) chose to ignore the rest of the sentence. She stopped midstep and crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t think you’ll find me ‘your’ anything, let alone all of Brooklyn.”

Bucky smiled mischievously and matched her stance. “Of course you’re not mine, but who do you think’s been keeping the rest of these scoundrels off your back?”

“Oh?” Her lips quirked up instictively in response to his smile. She really couldn’t help it. Steve had told her once that Bucky had that affect on women, that they couldn’t help themselves arounf him. “You’re protecting me from the wandering eyes of your fellow soldiers in hopes that someone will kindly cave into your flirtations.”

“No,” Bucky drawled, taking a step closer. “I’m protecting all of our dear nurses from the wandering eyes of my fellow soldiers because you have more important things to do like treat the broken ribs of a cocky sniper trying desperately to keep from crying like a child in front of his men.”

“Well your service is greatly appreciated.” (Y/n) chuckled, turning back to her walk, “If you must know, I’m not a bigwig at all.”

“Really?” Bucky fell into step by her side. “Didn’t look that way to me.”

“My mentor was a bigwig,” She confessed, her smile turning stale on her lips, “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Bucky looped his arm through hers and dragged her to a stop, rounding her to face him. “That can’t be true.”

“It is.”

“If your mentor was that important, then you must’ve been pretty great to catch their eye.” Bucky gave her an encouraging smile.

She saw it in his eyes then. She hadn’t seen it before, not even when he was making her laugh with his flirting. She could see the kind heart, the trusting nature, all the things she admired about Steve. They were there, just buried deep beneath a layer of bravado and natural charisma.

She finally understood why Steve would be his friend.

“Have you heard of the Strategic Scientific Reserve?” The question slipped her mouth before she could stop it.

“No,” Bucky’s expression furrowed. “Why?”

It was top secret. She really shouldn’t be mentioning it. She’d already lied to him about how she knew Steve. She should just lie about the SSR, forget she said anything. She should…

She didn’t. “It’s a program my mentor and I founded…”

She told him everything. Everything about the SSR, about Steve, about Peggy, about Phillips, about Erskine.

He led her off to the edge of camp, away from stray ears and wandering eyes. He sat with her under a tree.

She told him about signing up for the war, about the general who delivered the news about her brother and before that her father. She told him about her mother leaving. She told him about her childhood.

She couldn’t help it. Once she started, she just couldn’t stop.

She understood why Steve would be his friend. She hadn’t meant to, but she’d inadvertently trusted him with everything.

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“(Y/n),” Maria came running through the tent flap, not even bothering to push it aside as it draped her shoulder. “Come quick. It’s Bucky.”

(Y/n) was in the middle of handing out rations. She dropped the box on the cot in front of her and bolted for the door.

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“What happened?”

She found Peggy first.

“The regiment was ambushed by Schmidt.” Peggy liked to talk as she walked. In that moment, (Y/n) appreciated that about her. “Only a third of them made it back. We’re doing rolls now, but the men in the yard are all that’s left.”

(Y/n) burst into the square field that functioned as the town center of camp.

There were men, dusty, beaten, bloodied men everywhere. Her small staff of nurses would be overwhelmed by the numbers, but that wasn’t what was on her mind now.

“Where is he?” She left the question and Peggy in her wake, running through the clusters of soldiers. Some supported their injured friends, others laid groaning side by side, a few stood in the center, completely fine. They looked the most lost of them all, as if they were asking God why he had chosen to spare them.

Hodge was there, in the center, one of the men surveying the damage around him. He was fine, completely fine.

“Hodge,” She marched up to him with a fury, “Where is Barnes?”

“Barnes? That kid that’s always following you around?”

Hodge had come in with the other Super Soldier Candidates. He hadn’t had the time to learn everyone’s names, not that he ever would have anyway. He was Hodge; Hodge thought he was too good for that sort of thing.

“Where is he?” She demanded again, not intending to repeat herself a third time.

“He was in the flank with his buddies. They’re gone. All of them, gone.”

Hodge had the decency to look sorry that he was giving her the news.

(Y/n) imagined it was the first decent thing he’d done in his life.

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Was she cursed?

She felt like she was. She felt like a ghost walking through life, doomed to haunt everyone she touched.

Her mother left her. Her father was dead. Her brother followed not long after. Erskine died just as she’d come to think of him as family. Steve was forced to tour around the country like some kind of sideshow because of what she’d helped do to him. Lydia was dead almost as soon as (Y/n) arrived. Now, Bucky.

She hadn’t confided in anyone in a long time until she met Bucky. She’d chatted with Lydia, Maria, her fellow nurses, made nice with them. She’d only told Peggy things she was sure the woman had already read in her file; she told Phillips even less. She told Steve bits and pieces, but she tried not to burden his plate more than it already was. She hadn’t needed to tell Erskine anything; the old man could read it for himself in her eyes.

She’d told it all to Bucky.

Whether it was the heat of war, the charm that came to him so effortlessly, that kind smile or those trustworthy eyes, it didn’t matter. She’d told him everything there was to tell, and as quickly as he knew he was gone.

Caring about her. It felt like the kiss of death.

She was a nurse, and her father bled to death on the battlefield. She was a nurse, and her brother died of injuries from a plane crash. She was a nurse, and Erskine died of a gunshot in her arms. She was a nurse. She was supposed to save people; she hadn’t saved them. And now, she couldn’t save Bucky either.

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Steve. She knew those eyes anywhere. Even behind that stupid mask, she knew it was Steve.

She watched the show with blank eyes and a blanker expression. Steve didn’t look much better.

Back in Brooklyn, (Y/n) had been rather a catch. Boys had taken her out many times, and often times, when they wanted to seem smarter and more cultured than they actually were, they would take her to a show. (Y/n) had watched more plays than she could count, and none of them had been nearly as bad as this.

Steve couldn’t fake excitement if he tried, and he was clearly trying.

(Y/n) didn’t care about the show though, bad acting or not. She cared about Steve, and she cared about what he could do.

“Steve,” She barged into the dressing rooms backstage.

The girls, the dancers, squealed and made to hide or cover themselves, but they quickly regained composure when they saw it was another girl.

“Steve!”

Steve looked up from where he was sat in a corner doodling.

“(Y/n)?” He dropped the paper aside and got to his feet, hesitantly, disbelieving that it could really be her.

“Steve,” (Y/n) threw herself at him, hugging him close. “I’m so sorry, Steve.”

He held her close. “Sorry? What for?”

“Steve, you have to help,” She pulled back and looked him dead in the eye. “It’s Bucky.”

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(Y/n) didn’t join them on the plane. How could she? Every time one buzzed overhead her brother came rushing back to mind.

She still hadn’t buried him; his body was waiting for her back at home. She was going to bury him beside her father, beside an empty plot she’d reserved for herself, just in case something happened on the front.

She wondered, to herself because Bucky was not there to wonder out loud to like last time, if she couldn’t mourn because he had not been laid to rest. She wondered if she needed the confirmation of seeing his body for herself or the resignation of a coffin and a deep grave.

That hadn’t been true of her father. She’d mourned him the moment the general knocked on her door; she’d wept for losing him. Perhaps, she’d been able to weep because she had more to lose. Perhaps, she wept for her father because with her brother alive she still had a reason to feel. Perhaps, she wept for Erskine because, by the time he left her, she’d found other reasons, a new family.

She wondered if she would ever cry for her brother the way she had her father or Erskine. She wondered, if she started crying for him, if she would ever stop.

Maybe she was just full of it.

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“He should’ve radioed by now.”

She was in the hospital tent, pacing nervously in front of the only cot void of soldiers. Peggy and Maria had sat cross-legged on the flimsy mattress and were watching her with anxious expressions.

Howard Stark stood angrily tapping his foot near the bit of canvas at the head of the bed.

He was the only one who seemed to share (Y/n)’s nerves.

How Peggy was holding it together, (Y/n) had no idea. It wasn’t like she didn’t care. A blind man could see how much she cared about Steve. She had a composure to her though.

(Y/n) envied her that; she wasn’t ashamed to admit it. She wished she were as composed.

“That’s no guarantee that anything happened,” Maria’s voice was a calm guiding hand in the storm. She cared about the missing men, about Steve, but no more than every other soldier. She cared deeply for everyone under her care; it was part of her nature. Their absence didn’t sway her.

“No guarantee,” (Y/n) conceded,”but one hell of a coincidence.”

“Well what can we do?” Howard asked. “Ride into Occupied territory and offer our assistance?”

(Y/n) haulted midstep and looked up at Howard.

“No!” He immediately shot out.

“Yes.”

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She packed a bag of all the essentials: bandages, needle and thread, alcohol, small bottles of antibiotics and medicines she could sneak out of the tent.

The bag was heavy, bulky, but it would fit snugly on the back of one of the motorcycles that that night's messenger had left near the edge of camp.

He wasn’t scheduled to make his next delivery run for three days. She had every intention of being back by then. Either she’d be back or dead.

With all hope, and a little help from Maria, she’d be entirely unnoticed until she rode back into camp. Maria had managed well enough on her own before (Y/n) got there. She could handle a few days.

“Do you even know how to ride one of those things?”

(Y/n) froze. She knew the voice, but she didn’t turn. If she didn’t turn, maybe she could pretend he wasn’t there.

Phillips stepped up to her side. “Is this what Erskine would want for you? A suicide mission?”

“It’s not a suicide mission. What Steve did, that was a suicide mission. I’m just trying to help the odds.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

“He’s trying to free hundreds of your men from a Hydra base where they’re being held prisoner. At best, he succeeded, and they’re headed back this way.”

“Unlikely,” Phillips butted in.

“At worst, he failed.” She continued without acknowledging his interruption. “There are a lot of scenarios in between worst and best that involve your men out there, injured and dying.”

“And you think one nurse is going to help?”

“I’m not going to hurt!”

Phillips snorted, “Is this about that boy?”

“What boy?” (Y/n) turned back to securing her bag to the motorcycle. It was a tell. Phillips wasn’t stupid. He knew that. She knew that.

“The one Rogers is friends with. The one you sent him on this fool’s errand after. I thought it was just because they were friends, but the men told me you two were close.”

(Y/n)’s hands clenched around the strap of her bag.

“Is that why you want to go? You’re chasing after some lowly soldier.”

“I want to help!” (Y/n) spat, turning on Phillips with a vengeance. “Who cares if it’s because I’m feeling guilty or because I care about him! They are my friends, and I want to help them.”

Phillips watched with a cool, calculating eye for a long moment as (Y/n)’s chest heaved with anger. She looked as angry as he’d ever seen her, and he’d seen her angry many times at Lehigh.

She cared about Steve. There was no denying that, but whoever this sergeant was he was something else, something special.

Reluctantly, he sighed out in defeat. “Your bag’s going to go flying off the back if you tie it down like that.” He turned and started knotting the ropes for her.

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She was seven miles out when she heard it. Something big and loud and powerful barrelling down on her.

(Y/n) stopped her motorcycle in the street and went silent, listening.

Tanks.

She rolled the bike off the road, muscling it behind some trees. It was clunky, weighty, and she didn’t have the strength to get it properly hidden back in the woods. Still, she found a patch of dirt flat enough to roll the bike off the road and made due with laying it on its side behind a bush.

Whoever it was was coming closer. She found the thickest tree there was and stood straight and tall behind it, sucking herself in to be as narrow a target as possible.

She could hear shouting now, though she couldn’t make out the voices. There was a melody to their tone even though the words were indistinct. They were singing something.

It went on for a verse or two, judging by the pauses, before whoever they were were finally close enough to make out words.

English words. American accents.

“The Star Spangled Man! With a plan!” Horribly out of tune male voices echoed through the tree tops without a care in the world for who heard.

“Steve!” (Y/n) rushed out of the trees.

They were at the end of the road, making their way around a bend a few hundred yards ahead, but she’d recognize that God awful costume from a mile away. It stood out plain as day against the swath of brown and green forest and the drab, colorless look of the men at his side.

“Steve!” (Y/n) raced for him.

Steve realized who it was almost instantly. “(Y/n)!” He jogged forward and met her halfway.

“I thought you were dead!” She choked out.

“Come on, little Brooklyn, you have to know we’re made of tougher stuff than that.”

(Y/n) pulled away, positively beaming to hear that drawl of her nickname. “Bucky!”

Bucky tipped a nonexistent cap her direction. “At your service, Doll.”

He dropped the hat charade just in time to catch her as she flung her arms around his neck.

“One day, Doll,” He mumbled into her ear.

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Frenchie was in the bottom of the tank with a seriously mangled stint strapped to his arm.

“I did the best I could,” Bucky was hunched over (Y/n) as she treated his fallen companion. “I’ve watched you enough times, you think I’d have it down by now.”

“Maybe if you were actually watching her hands you would have,” Jones jabbed an elbow into Barnes ribs.

“Hey now,” Barnes chuckled. “I watched her hands.”

“Sure you did.” (Y/n) bit back a grin. “The stint isn’t pretty, but neither is the break. This will take a while to heal.”

Jones prattled off in French, alarming (Y/n) to no end.

Bucky knelt down next to her and explained. “Frenchie doesn’t speak English. We make Jones translate to earn his keep. Only way he’s been useful so far.”

“Oh,” (Y/n) went back to the arm in question.

“I promise I was watching your hands,” He murmured to her with his usual heart-stopping smile.

(Y/n) rolled her eyes, “And I promise you were too busy flirting with my staff to notice what my hands were doing.”

“Not your staff, just you.” He corrected her. They both knew that wasn’t technically true. Bucky Barnes was nothing if not a flirt. That didn’t mean he meant it though. They both knew he meant it with her, and they both knew he didn’t mean it with anyone else.

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“Rogers, I’ve been with these guys on the field for months,” Bucky smacked him on the shoulder and pointed to the table in questions. “They’re all utter morons. Of course they’ll say yes.”

Steve gave his friend a worried look but let Bucky’s smile reassure with enough to take the next step. “Wish my luck,” he patted his friend on the back and marched over to the group of men getting drunker by the moment.

Bucky chuckled to himself and circled around to the far side of the bar to order himself a drink and find a quieter table. He wanted a beer, and he wanted as much distance between himself and that piano as possible. It was giving him such a headache. The beer would help with that.

He wasn’t actually sure that was true. He wasn’t a doctor or a nurse to know, but he was going to tell himself it would. Mostly he just wanted the beer. He’d earned it after the last couple months he’d had, after the last year honestly.

He heard the booming voice of Sergeant Dugan over everything else in the bar and couldn’t help a chuckle. They’d all earned a round.

They’d earn a couple more if they said yes, and as Bucky watched them from over the rim of his glass, he knew they would. They were fighters, like Steve, and like Steve, they wouldn’t back down from that.

Bucky kept his eyes on the men as they all considered Steve’s offer. He could tell the moment the words left Steve’s mouth, the moment they all froze at the proposition. He could tell, one by one, as they all agreed, like he knew they would.

It was written on their faces. It was written on Steve’s face.

He tried not to sound too cocky when Steve came back around to him. “See, told you; they’re all idiots.”

“How ‘bout you?” Steve took up the chair next to Bucky.

Bucky didn’t meet his eye. He knew the question was coming, and he already had his answer.

“You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?”

“Hell no,” Bucky sighed with a smile. “That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight, I’m following him.”

Steve smiled, relief washing over his features as he took the drink in front of him.

“You’re keeping the outfit right?” Bucky couldn’t help but tease.

“You know what,” Steve looked back at the poster, “It’s kinda growing on me.”

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The singing at the front of the room fell quiet, to almost a murmur.

Bucky and Steve turned to the door, to the woman in the vivid red dress.

“Captain,” she greeted with a formal note to her voice.

She was beautiful. Bucky would’ve been blind not to see it, especially in that shade of red. She looked like one of the girls Bucky used to go dancing with, tight dress hugging her curves, matching lipstick and perfectly styled hair. She was a woman on a mission, and he had a sneaking suspicion that mission was a man, specifically a man named Steve Rogers.

Bucky’s eyes wandered over assessingly. She was way out of Steve’s league, or at least the league he used to be in. He hadn’t been out with Steve since this new transformation; he had no idea what Steve’s league even was anymore. He was taller, stronger; he was famous apparently. But he was still an absolute dork, clueless around women.

It was written all over his darting, nervous eyes.

“I see your top squad is prepping for duty,” she observed.

“You don’t like music?” Bucky smiled.

“I might even, when this is all over, go dancing.” Peggy didn’t bother to look in Bucky’s direction for even a moment.

“Then what are we waiting for?” He asked her.

“The right partner,” Her tone was suggestive; her eyes watching Steve expectantly. For the first time in his life, Bucky wasn’t in on the joke.

“0800 Captain,” She said as she whisked herself away.

“I’m invisible,” Bucky turned back to Steve, “I’m turning into you,” he scoffed, “this is a horrible dream.”

Steve smirked as he turned to walk off, “Don’t take it so hard. I hear she has a friend.” Steve motioned over Bucky’s shoulder towards the doorway Peggy had just left.

Steve took up his old seat as Bucky turned away.

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What had possessed her to come here, (Y/n) couldn’t be sure.

She knew what she’d told herself. That Captain America was assembling a team of his own, that his team was leaving for deployment, that she wanted to be on the ship when it did.

She could’ve asked him all of that before he left for the bar, or when he came back. It’s not like he’d be drunk; she knew that couldn’t happen.

Hell, she could’ve asked him the next morning. Steve would’ve made it happen.

But when Peggy told her she was going down to the bar to check on the men, something had possessed her to follow.

Maybe she wanted a drink. Maybe she too wanted to check on the boys. More likely, it was how clearly Peggy’s excuse was a rouse to get dolled up and see Steve, and there (Y/n) was, right by her side getting dolled up too.

Jones had cornered her the moment she’d walked in. Gabe kissed the back of her hand like an old-school gentleman and asked her to dance. She politely declined.

“That’s all right,” Gabe smiled knowingly and pointed in the direction of the room Peggy was leaving. “Sergeant’s right in there.”

(Y/n) followed, anxiously, in Peggy’s retreating footsteps with only an encouraging nod from her friend to bolster her courage.

She’d chosen the purple dress, a more understated shade than Peggy’s red but a far more modern cut. She wasn’t there to grab the attention of the entire bar like Peggy was, but she hoped at least to keep one pair of eyes on her.

Steve spotted her first and immediately smiled. He waved a hand in her direction and retreated back to the tables.

Bucky’s back was to her, but whatever Steve said made him turn.

His face went slack, and a little space opened between his lips, as if his mind had formed words his tongue couldn’t speak.

“Well, now I know what Peggy meant,” He mumbled as she approached him.

“About what?”

“The Right Partner.” Bucky offered her his arm, “Would you like to dance?”

“I’m not very good,” she confessed smoothly.

Bucky smiled. Not his usual cocky grin that swept girls off their feet, or the warm, reassuring smile she’d come to trust. It was gentle, somewhere between kind and loving. “I’ll teach you.”

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Taglist

Forever Taglist:

@maybe-a-fangurl / @libbymouse / @geeksareunique / @deathbyarabbit / @spilltheearlgrey / @ryanbarnesrogers / @bloodorangemoonlight

Marvel Taglist:

@the-high-queen / @iamverity / @darktownairspeed / @radicalstars / @hermione-is-my-queen

#bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfic #winter soldier fanfiction #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #avengers fanfiction #bucky barnes oneshot #bucky barnes one shot #avengers one shot

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