#it does basically mean an entirely digital library of games | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

In February 2021, Tumblr had 518.6 million blog accounts.

#it does basically mean an entirely digital library of games

kichimiangra · 1 year

Note

You know what makes me mad? Proximamon. He's a super special Digimon who doesn't exist, and his existence is only a theoretical possibility born from super calculations.

The three Digimon you need to make him are Arcturusmon, Siriusmon, and their buddy from the library, Ryudamon. The super calculator who would have come up with the possibility was Quantomon, and we never even got a single mention! Not even some ominous foreshadowing where Gulus gloated about obtaining ultimate power, or someone foretold of endings and beginnings (Proximamon's entire shtick is that it repeatedly destroys and then recreates the world, which are its actual two attacks that it is constantly using. I think it does this until it creates an idealized world that it wants and unfuses back to its component Digimon)

Not even a mention. I am so disappointed.

I have to agree! Proximamon is one of the things that have me holding out that the world of Ghost Game isn't over and that we are going to get a movie or a short second season that finishes up because there is too much leftover loose ends left untied up. Like, lesser ones are things like

-"What has Hokuto been doing in the digital world this whole time???"

-"How did he click up with assistant Terriermon?" (Until confirmed otherwise I'm going to pretend Terrier Assistant hatched from Bokomon's egg when he died and BlackTailmon Uver. took it.)

-"Espimon wanting to evolve is all well and good but was there any more important reason to go on a possible one-way trip to find Hiro just to Evolve?" Like... was it to be "Strong" to survive the chaos and infection Gulus left in the digital world? But then he goes to a mostly "Safe" Dimmension where that might not matter so....?

-"Can Fukatsu and Mei be reunited please?"

But then there's the IMPORTANT info like

-"Wait.... did you say ENDBRINGER????!!!!!" Like I know the GG writing team wanted to make something a little different (Example: No dead Leomon this series) but to go through all of that and almost end it on a joke that for the most part the thing motivating the "Big Bad" to do the big bad stuff is an almost NOT THREAT for the humans currently alive. Like it'll be a threat to FUTURE humans but like... 84 generations away from now.... That feels kinda like when a creator sets up a twist villain and the audience guesses correctly so they switch it to someone else entirely that had no set up or foreshadowing.... IE.... Bad writing....

-"Why no fight Gulus all the way to MEGA????" You HAVE a mega for him we never get to see in anime. You have a Mega AND a MEGA+ that we have ALL THE INGREDIENTS FOR and we never get him. Ryudamon could have been ANY kind of digimon but they chose one of the parts to make Proximamon.

-"Why not just kill off Gulus? Or not just let him be the big bad." I mean I don't WANT him killed off but killing him off and not bringing up some endbringer and just having Gulus be this Regulus Star Black Hole that wants to eat/destroy everything would at least tie off that loose end. Sure it is WAY more satisfying and on brand for Hiro and Gamma to love him into submission given that this series is basically "Lilo and Stitch the Series" but digimon! But the loose ends man....

The whole ending had this theme of "Creating a new world for both Digimon and Humans alike" and Proximamon is the man with the plan to be able to do it! And once again we have ALL THE PARTS and Quantumon! And why would you not want to try and sell cool villain merch?

Ghost game felt a lot like the first series of Magic Knight Rayearth; a whole series setting up to a second series that wraps things up and is the story they actually WANT to tell. But who knows...

6 notes · View notes

riotwritesthings · 4 years

Text

Melt into Me (Your Words Are My Own)

WinterIron, E, 18k, Heavy casual praise kink, pining, non-graphic injury, self care is big sexy | AO3

Remember when I said this prompt for WinterIronMonth got way out of hand? I was young and naive. It’s a monster. Here it is I’m super proud of it.

This fic, like lots of other fic, is all Stella’s fault. Everyone say thank you. And an extra big thank you for the idea, and the title, and in general letting me whine about this fic at you all the way through. You are truly a treasure.

Bucky has a new strategy for getting Tony to take proper human care of himself. Tony has never been so well fed, hydrated, thoroughly rested, and confused in all his life.

That doesn’t mean he wants it to stop, and it’s amazing how many boring adult things Bucky can get him to do just by patting his head and calling him ‘good boy’. Right up until Tony possibly ruins everything.

“Did you actually go to medical before coming down here?” Bucky asks as he walks into the lab. He fixes Tony with an expectant stare, looking freshly showered and gorgeous and-

Tony viciously shoves down that line of thought, instead holds up his arm and shows off the neat line of stitches on his forearm “I did,” he says smugly, “and you can tell, because these are much neater than when I do it myself.”

“Your stitches are terrible, I’ve seen literal evil scientists with better needlework than you,” Bucky says agreeably, stepping close to inspect Tony’s arm before giving a satisfied nod.

“That’s hurtful,” Tony says, dropping his arm and turning back to his worktable before he does something stupid like lean in and try to get a big whif of the shampoo Bucky uses. “Now where’s my treat, that was the deal, I went and let the ‘professionals’ sew me up and you better not be backing out on your end of the deal, or-“ Tony cuts off when a ziplock bag of homemade cookies lands on the table in front of him, straight from Bucky’s secret stash that no one has been able to find. “Yay,” he says gleefully, ripping into the bag.

Bucky’s hand is suddenly resting on top of his head, gently ruffling it, and Tony is uncomfortably aware of the fact that his hair is a sweaty mess because he may have gotten distracted on the way to his post-battle shower. Then Bucky pats his head and coos “yeah, tha’s a good boy.” His voice is equal parts teasing and amused, maybe a hint of condescension and underneath it all a fond warmth, like he really is pleased Tony dragged his pitiful human ass to medical after a relatively routine fight.

Tony flushes hot, nearly chokes on his giant mouthful of cookie and the only saving grace is that Bucky has already wandered away to play some kind of elaborate game with the bots. Tony still does not understand the rules of said game, and he wishes he found it less endearing that Bucky refuses to explain it to him.

Okay, so. That... that happened. Tony turns his attention back to the gauntlet he’s trying to repair and tells himself it’s fine, it’s not like it’ll ever happen again. It’s fine.

And the thing is, it’s not like Tony meant for it to happen again. It’s not like he was aiming for it. At least... not intentionally.

It’s just that Bucky’s been pestering him about actually remembering to eat lunch at a decent time recently, so when one day Tony actually does remember he decides to rub it in a little. ‘Ate lunch,’ he texts even though it’s silly, it doesn’t even matter and Bucky is only a couple floors up helping Steve rearrange furniture to Natasha’s liking for the millionth time. ‘Don’t see the big deal, but now maybe you’ll leave me alone you big mother hen.’

About half an hour later, Tony is heading to check out the new common room arrangement when Bucky texts him back and he laughs when he sees that it’s just a cookie emoji. Then Bucky adds ‘good boy’ and Tony makes a strangled sound as he walks into the still-opening doors of the elevator.

Tony spins on his heel and punches the door-close button before anyone spots him. Because he really doesn’t need company while he presses his flaming red face against the cool metal wall of the elevator, his heart thumping hard in his chest. Tony firmly tells himself that had not been his intention, and it’s really a good thing he’s so experienced at lying to himself.

Tony tracks Bucky down to hand over the fancy new scope he’s just finished, and finds him in the library curled up in an oversized armchair. It’s unfairly adorable, and Bucky’s smile does dangerous things to his heart.

“Thanks doll,” Bucky says, staring up at him instead of inspecting his new toy. When Tony tries to literally wave him off, already turning for the door, Bucky catches him by the wrist and gives a gentle tug until Tony relents and meets his stupid earnest gaze. “I mean it,” Bucky says, “I know how hard you been workin’ on this, thank you.”

Tony sputters, and then makes a couple nonsense noises while something uncurls warm and amazing in his chest. “No worries,” he finally manages and it’s both a relief and a disappointment when Bucky releases his wrist. “Making scopes is my jam. That’s better than the one I just put on Clint’s bow. Don’t tell him.”

“I’m gonna tell ‘im,” Bucky says instantly, smug and grinning and still just staring up at Tony, like he could possibly be more interesting than a digital scope. “I get the best stuff an’ I wanna make sure he knows it.”

“Whatever makes you happy, snowflake,” Tony says, face warm because oh god he’s so obvious, isn’t he? When he turns to enact a manly flee, Bucky lets him go and the sound of his soft, fond laugh follows Tony the rest of the day.

It kind of spirals out of control from there. Tony tells himself he doesn’t love it, but even he doesn’t believe himself anymore.

Bucky snatches the coffee cup out of Tony’s hand and replaces it with a glass of water before Tony can even begin to formulate a protest. For a long second all Tony can do is blink in stunned silence because how dare?!

Tony narrows his eyes in a glare, and apparently the twitching of his free hand gives him away because Bucky shifts to hold the mug way up above his head with that wide, gorgeous grin. Tony is pretty sure, if he tried hard enough, he could get that mug back, but it would probably end in both of them covered in water and/or hot coffee. And it would involve a lot of pressing himself against Bucky and attempting to climb him like a tree, which is... probably not a great plan.

So Tony chugs the water, glaring the whole time, and then Bucky hands back his coffee with a quiet “good.” Tony struggles to fight back his blush, can’t at all help the smile that takes over his face, and Bucky just smiles back before continuing on his way.

“JARVIS, please wake Bucky up just to inform him that I am pointedly not getting more coffee at three in the morning, and please do it as obnoxiously as possible,” Tony says as he stares into the depths of the fridge, “I’m thinking air sirens. Neon lights.”

There’s a soft, low chuckle from right behind him, and Tony has just enough time to freeze up, his eyes going wide. Then Bucky’s hand is in his once again messy hair, and Bucky’s low, sleep-rough voice is rumbling out “good boy.”

By the time Tony finds his own voice again Bucky has leaned in close against his back to swipe one of Clint’s juice boxes, patted him on the shoulder, and started for the door. “If I’m a good boy then where’s my cookie?” He calls after Bucky’s retreating back, tongue thick and heart racing.

“Good boys go t’ sleep,” Bucky calls back, pointedly, and Tony grumbles all the way to bed.

He sleeps like a fucking baby, wakes up still feeling warm and happy and flushed.

"I don't need a brain scan," Tony insists. Again. “My brain is fine. It’s excellent. It is a stunning example of a human brain, ask anyone. Except Bruce, but he’s still just mad that I broke his favorite microscope.”

Bucky continues to stare him down, then lifts his shiny metal hand. "How many fingers am I holdin’ up?" He demands, and Tony would be insulted if he wasn’t having such a hard time focusing.

Tony stares at his hand, counting carefully. "Three," he finally declares, with full confidence.

"That took entirely too long!" Bucky says, dropping his hand again even though it looks like what he really wants to do is just throw both hands in the air and yeah, Tony gets that a lot. "You have a knot the size of a fuckin’ golf ball an’ no offense, but it’s ruinin’ your pretty face. Go get th’ damn scan!"

Tony taps his screwdriver against his chin, eyes on the ceiling, and decides he should probably wait to freak out about the ‘pretty face’ comment later, alone. So for now he turns a sunny smile on Bucky, pointing his screwdriver, and says "no.”

"Please, doll? Do it for me?" Bucky asks, completely shifting tactics, and he even has the gall to pout at Tony. With his blue eyes and red lips. The nerve of it.

Tony holds firm. For about five seconds. "Fine," he sighs, dropping the screwdriver to the table so he can throw both hands in the air himself.

Bucky smiles at him, warm and relieved and something that Tony almost wants to call thankful and Tony has to drop his chin because he can’t deal with that face.

Moving his head so suddenly kind of makes the room spin, and Bucky ends up having to carry him to the medical wing. Bucky also lectures him the whole time, but his hands are so gentle and he stays for the entire thing and Tony finds that he only minds the lectures a little.

Tony wakes up from a nap he definitely hadn’t intended to take, still sprawled out on the couch in the common room with Bucky’s fingers still running through his hair. He has no idea how much time has passed but the TV is off and the windows are dark. He appears to have stolen Sam’s blanket, at some point.

He twists his head, still resting on Bucky’s thigh, to fix Bucky with a baleful look and says “I thought I told you I didn’t need a nap.”

“‘S not like I made you fall asleep,” Bucky says, smiling innocently even though he basically did, with his stupid magic hands. Then Bucky’s grin turns into a smirk, voice low as he adds “but don’t you feel better now?”

Tony pouts harder, because he does, and Bucky laughs, continues petting his head until Tony falls right back to sleep.

“You do not want me helping you cook,” Tony says with a sputtering laugh, but he steps further into the kitchen anyways, because whatever Bucky is cooking smells amazing. And because it’s Bucky. “I can’t believe you’d ask me to come help you cook. Did JARVIS not tell you how much of a terrible idea that is?”

“Just be good an’ get over here,” Bucky says, and he doesn’t look up from stirring whatever’s in the giant pot but Tony can hear him rolling his eyes.

“I will be no help,” Tony assures him, but steps up to the stove anyways, trying to peek over the rim of the pot. “Is that tomato sauce? Please say yes, and then please don’t let me ruin it.”

Bucky lets out a huff of laughter and turns towards him, wooden spoon outheld, and says “c’mon doll I need a taste tester.” When Tony just blinks at him, Bucky wiggles the spoon a little and says “open up, sweet thing.”

Tony does his best to ignore what that particular choice of words does to him, instead making a big show of checking the spoon for signs of poison or sabotage, humming suspiciously until Bucky gives an impatient huff. Only then does Tony give in, leaning in just a little more to drag his tongue up the flat back of the wooden spoon and then groans happily, because holy shit that is some good sauce. He opens his eyes to tell Bucky so, not sure when they fell closed in the first place, only to find Bucky watching him with an intensity that has Tony’s breath catching in his throat.

“Good?” Bucky asks, like he doesn't already know the answer, and when Tony nods emphatically he grins. “See,” he says, voice suddenly gone low and deep, not looking away from Tony even as he returns to stirring the pot, “you can be good an’ helpful, knew you could babydoll.”

Bucky finally turns back to the stove, just in the nick of time because there’s not a damn thing Tony can do about the warmth spreading across his cheeks, unfurling in his chest. “Yes, very helpful,” Tony says with a dry laugh, “what would you do without me here to lick things?”

Bucky’s eyes flick over to him, lids lowered in a way that is giving Tony ideas, and his lips quirk up and as he says “have to lick things myself I guess, an’ where’s the fun in that?” Tony barks out a startled laugh, face heating, and Bucky grins down at the pot. “Gonna stay and eat with me, right?” He asks pointedly, like he’s just daring Tony to say no.

Tony pretends like he actually has to think about it, making considering noises and dragging his eyes away from the smug curve of Bucky’s lips. “Do I get a treat afterwards?” He asks obnoxiously, giving Bucky a little nudge with his elbow.

“Mmhmm,” Bucky hums, gaze shifting over to him again. Tony can feel his pulse in his fingertips in the best possible way and he has to bite his lip so he won’t start blurting out suggestions. Bucky’s eyes flick down, just for a second, and then he says “go get some plates.”

So they eat dinner, and Bucky demands to know all of Tony’s greatest cooking disasters and yeah he laughs his ass off but he also keeps giving Tony these wide, warm smiles, and Tony finds that he really doesn’t mind. He’d tell Bucky every embarrassing thing he’s ever done if he gets to hear that laugh. And he’s done a lot.

When Tony starts shoving his empty plate across the table, knocking it into Bucky’s obnoxiously, Bucky just laughs and goes to rummage around in the pantry. Which is a foolish move, because now Tony knows his secret sweets stash is in fact somewhere in the pantry. Which is more than anyone else knows.

Bucky returns with a chocolate and peanut butter cookie roughly half the size of Tony’s face, and then watches him eat it with an unfairly intense stare. Bucky barely glances down at his own plate as he devours a second, and then a third helping of food, just watches Tony eat the cookie that he’s starting to suspect Bucky has been saving just for him. Like there’s nothing he’d rather be doing in the world, nothing more interesting than watching Tony make a mess of himself with baked goods, licking smears of chocolate off his fingers.

The heat in Tony’s gut is battling for attention with the warmth in his chest, and he can’t do much more than stare back. He barely even remembers the walk to the elevator after Bucky firmly suggests he should get some sleep once in a while, the weight of Bucky’s eyes on his shoulders all the way down the hallway.

He falls asleep thinking the word ‘ravenous’ and wakes up panting, stuck to his sheets and aching.

Bucky walks into the room, and Tony switches from eating his breakfast like a normal, rational person, to eating it pointedly, fork scraping across his plate, loud chewing, the works.

Bucky just smiles, big and genuine, says “look at you, feedin’ yourself, I’m so proud,” like he really means it. Tony swallows thickly, heart thundering in his chest and an addictive warmth spreading through him. That still doesn’t mean he lets Bucky get away with trying to steal his bacon, though.

And okay yeah, Tony feels a little bad, if he stops to let himself think about it. Feels like a bit of a creep, but only a little. Because it’s not like Bucky knows that every tiny nice thing he says goes straight to Tony’s head. And his heart. And also a little bit to his dick. Just like Bucky doesn’t know that Tony has had a big useless crush on him for like a year now and really, what’s one more secret?

And besides, unless Tony is actually as out-of-touch as some people like to accuse him of being, it almost seems like Bucky is happier too. Like for some reason he actually likes keeping Tony alive and functional, and really, who would Tony be if he took that away? If Bucky gets some sense of accomplishment out of forcing Tony to get three square meals and eight-ish hours of sleep, then who is Tony to deny him?

It’s just one more tiny little secret.

Tony barely manages not to audibly sigh in relief as the reporter who’s been hounding him gets distracted by some kind of commotion over by the catering table and hurries away, lest he miss the story. Tony’s smile doesn’t slip, because he’s a pro, but it’s difficult. Tony loves his mother’s charity, he really does, it’s the only gala he doesn’t have to be convinced to go to, but he really wishes people wouldn’t ruin it by insisting on asking about Howard.

If Tony has to grit his teeth one more time and say that Howard was a ‘great man’ (debatable) or that he ‘always supported Maria in her causes’ (outright lie), then he’s going to snap and do something drastic. Like go raid the entire bar. Or cry.

“You don’t have t’ put up with that,” comes a voice from right beside him, and Tony jumps hard even though he’d know that voice anywhere. Apparently, Tony is even more tense than he’d realized, and the concerned look on Bucky’s face means he’s probably noticed too.

“I’m going to put a bell on you, almost gave me a heart attack,” Tony grumbles, clutching one hand to his chest and hoping like hell that they can just not talk about it.

Bucky hums thoughtfully, then grins and says “Sneakin’ with a bell, sounds like a fun challenge.”

“That is not the point of the bell,” Tony says seriously, pointing at him, and not letting his eyes drag down the line of Bucky’s body, no matter how much he wants to. No matter how good Bucky’s legs look in a well-fitted suit.

“I mean it,” Bucky says, smiling dimming a little, and so much for Tony’s attempts to deflect, “you know you don’t have to put up with that, right?”

“What?” Tony asks blankly, even though he doesn’t know why he bothers, he never gets away with playing dumb. Sure enough, Bucky fixes him with a flat look until Tony sighs and says “Yes, I kind of do.”

“No,” Bucky says, so firm and urgent that Tony is a little taken aback, catching Tony gently by the elbow when he tries to turn, tries to look for a distraction. “Maybe you have to be here, an’ maybe you have to play nice, but you don’t have t’ answer anythin’ you don’t wanna. And you especially don’ have to talk about him.”

Tony doesn’t know what he feels at this point, some mix of frozen and warm and fuzzy, flushed hot while ice runs through his veins, and he kind of can’t believe that Bucky has been watching him that closely-

“I don’t?” He asks and hates how weak his voice comes out, how unsure, but he’s been talking up Howard at these stupid things for as long as he can remember, it’s second nature, and no one has ever told him that he doesn’t have to in his his entire life-

“No, Tony,” Bucky says and his voice has gone soft too, rough and a little sad and he smiles crookedly as he adds “jus’ tell ‘em to fuck off if they keep tryin’.”

“Well I definitely can’t do that,” Tony huffs. Bucky’s fingers are still holding him so gently, thumb dragging over the inside of his elbow, making Tony shiver just as much as holding him standing.

“You’ll figure it out,” Bucky says, smiling a little wider again and tapping his thumb against Tony’s pulse through his sleeve, “you got that way with words, sweet talker, ‘m sure you’ll come up with somethin’.”

“You’re the sweet talker,” Tony grumbles, and Bucky laughs softly.

Not even half an hour later the same damn reporter corners him as he steps off the stage after his speech, asking the same damn questions, and Tony hesitates. Then he decides fuck it, throws out all his prepared responses, slaps on his sharpest smile and bites out “I’m not going to talk about that anymore.”

The reporter actually looks a little thrown for a second, then visibly steels his nerve and says “People just want to know what it was like growing up with-“

“No,” Tony says, smiling wider, sharper, “I’ve already answered that question what must be a million times by now, how about you go dig up one of those stories and republish that. I’m sure it’ll be better written that way, anyways.” The reporter is still sputtering as Tony turns and walks away, slips into a side hallway to pat himself on the back and maybe panic-breathe, just a little.

He’s barely slumped back against the wall before Bucky is right in front of him, breathing out “Oh, Tony.”

“Seriously, a bell, a big one,” Tony repeats, smile only a little wobbly as he drags his eyes up to meet Bucky’s, and then can’t help blurting out “Did I- was that... okay?”

“Perfect,” Bucky says instantly, jolting forward and then stopping, like he’d been about to pull Tony in for a hug before thinking better of it. Which is too bad, Tony could really go for a hug right now but it’s almost just as good when Bucky says “That was perfect, you did so good sweet thing, don’t you feel better now?”

“Yes,” Tony says with a heavy sigh, not even realizing how much he means it until all the tension bleeds out of him and before he can stop himself Tony is leaning forward to thump his forehead against Bucky’s chest, letting his eyes fall closed and breathing in the comforting, earthy smell of Bucky’s cologne. He just can’t take the warmth and open pride in Bucky’s gaze anymore, not without running the very serious risk of turning to a useless puddle of mush.

Of course, then Bucky’s right hand lands warm and gentle on the back of Tony’s head, wide palm cradling his skull easily and thumb stroking down the line of his neck, the other hand curled around Tony’s shoulder and pulling him a little closer. “So proud’a you, Tony, did so good, knew you could do it doll,” Bucky says softly, speaking directly against the top of Tony’s head while his fingers slide through Tony’s hair.

“I’ve told off reporters before,” Tony huffs, even though he doesn’t know why he bothers, Bucky apparently sees right through him, “I do it all the time. Did you miss when I snapped at one of them during that last press conference and Steve gave me disappointed face?”

Bucky just hums, taps his metal fingers against the curve of Tony’s shoulder blade. “Yeah,” he finally says, voice barely more than a breath, “For everyone else. Always makin’ sure the rest of th’ team never has to talk about anythin’ they don’t want to the press. Never cut yourself any slack like that, though, do ya?”

Tony’s breath catches in his throat, and how does Bucky do that?! He has no response, no idea what to say, absolutely never expected to be called out. Not on this. When Bucky makes a soft, expectant sound, like he’s actually waiting for an answer, all Tony can do is shake his head a little, careful not to accidentally dislodge Bucky’s hold on him.

“You’re worth it too, ya hear me?” Bucky asks, his hold on Tony tightening ever so slightly, one finger tap tap tapping at the back of Tony’s head until Tony finally huffs and nods. “Good boy,” Bucky says, still so softly, and if he notices the way Tony all but melts against him, at least he doesn’t say anything about it.

Tony shuffles down the hallway, frowning at his phone and glancing up every now and then just to make sure he’s not about to run into anyone. Considering he lives in a tower full of spies, soldiers, and other assorted superheroes, they all have surprisingly terrible situational awareness sometimes. And sure, it’s heartwarming that they can all let their guard down, at least a little, but he’s also a little tired of people tripping and breaking things because Thor likes to nap in hallways.

When he glances up and spots Bucky in his path, he steps to the side and barely has time for a “Hey frosty, Clint was looking for you. He was also holding a water gun, so I’d be careful.” After a quick grin Tony returns to squinting at his phone, and therefore does not see it coming at all when Bucky gently grabs his elbow and halts him in his tracks.

“Hey, you okay?” Bucky asks, an adorable little concerned wrinkle between his eyebrows. He also lets go of Tony’s arm, which is a shame.

Tony blinks, then glances down at himself. He’s not sure what gave Bucky the impression that something is wrong, if it was the stained and hole-littered jeans, the wrinkled shirt, or the fact that Tony apparently lost one of his socks somewhere. Huh.

“Yeah, fine,” Tony says and waves his phone a little, “just got a lot to do. You know how it is. Every day I receive emails, so on and so forth.”

“You got a headache?” Bucky asks, randomly, even though Tony does. It’s pounding right behind his eyes, and all along his temple, and throbbing in time with his heartbeat. All in all, it’s a high quality headache.

“No,” Tony says anyways, because he has things to do, and Bucky is making ‘go take a nap’ face at him. It’s a very specific face. “My head feels awesome, better than awesome, I gotta get down to the lab, so, you better be getting on with your water gun fight. Watch the furniture.”

Tony tries to step away again, before Bucky can guilt him into not working, but Bucky snaps a hand out and catches him by the belt loop on his hip. It’s everything Tony can do not to swallow his tongue.

“What you gotta do is take a break,” Bucky says firmly, and Tony is opening his mouth to ask if that means he’s invited to the water gun fight, but Bucky apparently sees it coming and cuts him off. “Go take a nap, Tony.”

“I don’t want a nap,” Tony whines petulantly and braces his bare foot against the ground, leans against Bucky’s hold and trusts him not to actually let go as Tony pouts at him.

“Then at least go lay down,” Bucky says, heartlessly. When Tony just pouts at him harder Bucky rolls his eyes with a soft huff and says “Do it an’ I’ll bring you somethin’ to drink.” When Tony opens his mouth Bucky immediately adds “not coffee.”

Tony gasps in horror, but Bucky remains unswayed. “Fine, hot chocolate,” he demands, leaning a little harder despite the way his worn jeans are gaping at the waist and more than likely to rip at any second.

Bucky considers, eyes dragging down Tony’s chest and probably counting the grease stains on his shirt, and finally says “Water an’ then hot chocolate.”

“Fine, I will go to my room and await my beverage delivery,” Tony says, already running mental calculations on exactly how long he has to run to the lab and grab his tablet then stash it somewhere before Bucky catches him.

“You goin’ straight to your room?” Bucky asks, one eyebrow raised, and damnit how does he do that?! Tony is seriously considering

Tony groans, then gives what Rhodey has assured him is the worst salute humanly possible as he says “Sir yes sir, Sargent Tastee-Freeze.”

Bucky grins with lots of teeth and tugs at Tony’s belt loop to pull him back upright again as he says “Good boy.”

Tony goes straight to his room, and Bucky’s smile when he finds Tony already curled up under a blanket with the lights in the room down low is totally worth it. The amazing hot chocolate is just a bonus.

“Tony,” Bucky says, voice frantic, “Tony, you gotta stay awake.”

“Hurts,” Tony complains, just in case Bucky hasn’t noticed that he’s bleeding out here. And he’s supposed to be the observant one.

“I know, I know it does,” Bucky says and his fingers are shaking as he brushes Tony’s hair off of his forehead. His other hand is incredibly steady as it presses a crumpled jacket to Tony’s bleeding stomach, making him groan pitifully. “You gotta stay awake for me, doll, jus’ stay awake.”

“Wanna sleep,” Tony says petulantly, because that sounds way better than being awake for all this agony. His eyelids are already fluttering shut and he’s not worried about the asshole that shot him, if Bucky is here then there’s nothing to worry about. Tony is pretty sure Natasha was around here too somewhere, but it’s surprisingly hard to remember.

“No no no, wake up,” Bucky says, voice cracking, and maybe there is something to worry about, if Bucky sounds that upset. Tony wonders what it is. “C’mon, wake up for me sweetheart, be a good boy and just- jus’ open your eyes.”

“Good?” Tony slurs out and cracks one eye open, just enough to see that Bucky’s face is wet and if Tony didn’t know better he’d think Bucky was crying.

“Yeah Tony,” Bucky says with a smile that’s entirely too shaky, sounding entirely too desperate, “jus’ be good and stay awake for me, give you all the fuckin’ cookies you want, give you anything.” His hand is on Tony’s cheek again, fingers so warm, and when Tony’s eyes start to fall closed again Bucky gives him the slightest of shakes and says “Hey, hey, c’mon doll, don’t you got some demands for me? Gotta stay awake to tell me what you want, baby.”

“Wanna be good,” Tony manages to croak out, struggling to get his stubborn eyes to open and actually focus. He almost wishes he hadn’t, because there’s something horribly stricken about Bucky’s expression, something startled and scared and it drags a pained noise out of Tony’s chest that has nothing to do with the blood pooling below him.

“Yeah?” Bucky asks after a pause and he’s shaking all over now, everywhere but his metal hand still pressed firm and agonizing over the bullet holes in Tony’s stomach. “Wanna be good for me, you gotta stay awake until the paramedics get here, can you do that sweet thing?”

“Gross, hate them,” Tony says, and Bucky’s laugh sounds more like a choked sob. Tony flails one hand up until he can grab weakly at Bucky’s shirt. “‘Kay, stayin’ awake,” he says and decides to not mention that he can taste blood with each word, instead tugging at Bucky’s shirt a little as he slurs out “just cuz y’re a worrier.”

“That’s real sweet of ya, darlin’,” Bucky says and at least his laugh sounds a little less ragged, a little less like it’s being dragged out of him.

Everything goes a little fuzzy after that, but Tony doesn’t let go of his grip on Bucky’s shirt until the EMTs start heartlessly cutting into his nice suit. Bucky doesn’t let go for even longer.

Tony did something wrong. He doesn't know what, but he knows he did something. Which is just, Classic Tony.

Except he does know, he knows exactly what he did and the knowledge sits in his stomach like a weight. He made it weird. He hasn't seen Bucky since he woke up in the hospital. Not really. Because Tony made it weird.

He’s not even sure what he did, exactly, except possibly everything. He’s got this huge sad crush on Bucky, sure, but he’s had that for ages now, and Tony is dealing with it. He’s dealing with it fine. And okay sure, maybe Tony has been acting like a bit of a creep about it, lately, getting all warm and fuzzy and tingly anytime Bucky does something nice for him. Which Bucky does all the time, because he’s a nice person.

And now Tony has scared him off, somehow, between bleeding out mid-press conference and being discharged from the hospital. Painkiller-Tony probably said something to give himself away, that loopy bastard has no filter.

But Tony tells himself it’s fine. It’s fine. Maybe he’ll finally get over this stupid, useless crush now. It’s not like he feels cold and lonely without Bucky’s constant hovering, or anything. It’s not like the fact that Bucky will barely look at him hurts more than the multiple lines of stitches in his stomach, or anything.

It’s fine.

He shuffles slow and careful into the kitchen at stupid-o-clock in the morning, after his second (third?) night without sleep, and there’s no super soldier laying in wait to snatch away his coffee. And force feed him an obscene stack of pancakes. And bitch at him for not sleeping enough when he’s technically still recovering from his unintended run-in with multiple bullets.

The best he gets is Natasha telling him he looks like a zombie and throwing an apple at his head, which really just doesn’t have the same charm. Even if she does do it gently, while giving him concerned eyes.

So Tony gets his coffee, takes his apple, goes back to the lab and wakes up later that day with everything aching because he passed out sprawled across a worktable again. His back is sore and he’s hungry and his stitches burn from being hunched over for hours.

But it’s fine. Tony is fine, he’s an adult, he’s been barely-taking-care-of himself for years. It’s fine.

Bucky is still around, is the thing, he still cracks dry jokes at Steve’s expense and hoards all the blankets on movie nights.

He still wanders down to the lab to play with the bots, but it’s not as often. Not that Tony has made charts, or anything, just to prove to himself that it’s not all in his head. He brings down plates of food, also less often, and doesn’t stick around to make sure Tony eats them. Tony never plans to, plans to shove the food away for a proper pout, but after the third time he finds himself finishing off the plate and halfway through texting Bucky about it before realizing better, Tony gives up. He switches to just eating as soon as Bucky leaves the lab, and he doesn’t even have to lie to himself that it’s just a different form of pouting.

When Tony tracks him down to hand over some new body armor, Bucky still thanks him with entirely too much sincerity, like he still doesn’t realize that this is just what Tony does. It still makes Tony’s heart lurch and his stomach swoop and his face heat, but when Tony goes to run away because he still doesn’t know how to deal with that, Bucky doesn’t stop him.

Bucky still watches his back in every fight and suggests weird sci-fi books, still leaves leftovers with Tony’s name on them in the fridge just like he always has. Tony still has his friend, is the thing, and when he tells himself that’s all he’d ever expected it’s not even a lie.

JARVIS is the one to gently remind him when it’s time to have his stitches removed, Tony is nearly overwhelmed by the sudden urge to cry. Because he can’t remember the last time Bucky wasn’t the one dragging him down to medical for boring things like follow up appointments, bribing him with baked goods and smiling all the while.

Tony is tempted to just remove them himself, he’s so tempted. Because it’s not like he can’t, it’s what he used to do before Bucky started his whole ‘aggressive mother hen’ routine. He even has the tiny scissors in hand, sterilized and everything, but he can’t stop picturing that sad little twist to Bucky’s lips, the way his eyes go wet and pained when he catches Tony doing his own first aid. And Tony can’t even lie to himself that Bucky doesn’t care anymore, because they’re still friends, it’s not like Tony can exactly blame him for needing space now that he almost definitely knows Tony has feelings.

Eventually Tony throws down the scissors so aggressively that DUM-E makes concerned beeping noises at him, and he definitely gets some weird looks when he stomps into medical grumpy and painfully alone. No one asks any questions about it though, about the sudden Bucky-shaped hole in his side, and Tony wonders just how miserable he must look.

He nearly runs straight into Bucky in the hallway at something-past-midnight, and it’s all Tony can do to not spill his extra large mug of coffee all over both of them.

“You give me one more heart attack and I’m actually putting that bell on you,” Tony threatens, clutching his mug close to his chest even though odds are pretty good Bucky isn’t going to try and take it from him anymore.

Sure enough, Bucky only makes sad-eyes at his coffee for about two seconds, then drags his eyes up to Tony’s face and says “Just make sure they sound extra Christmas-y, to fit with my whole ‘winter’ vibe.”

Tony laughs and tells himself that this is fine. He still has a friend, still gets to enjoy Bucky’s weird sense of humor, still gets to see him around in the common rooms and that’s plenty, it’s fine. He almost manages to believe it. “Christmas anti-stealth bells, your wish is my command,” Tony says, nodding seriously. And then he raises his coffee to his lips and takes an obnoxiously loud sip, doesn’t know why he does it except that he absolutely does, stupidly trying to bait Bucky into snatching it away from him, insisting Tony take it easy, get some sleep some time this week, something.

All Bucky does is make sadder-eyes at him, which is not what Tony had been going for now he feels terrible. Bucky opens his mouth like he’s going to say something, then shuts it again, and honestly that’s worse than the way Tony’s stomach still throbs dully anytime he laughs, it’s an aching hurt that settles deep in his chest and makes it hard to breathe.

“Well, I better get on it,” Tony says and takes a shuffling step back because he doesn't know what else to do, he doesn’t know how to fix this. He’s tried to stop having this big stupid crush, fuck has he tried, but he can’t. It just gets worse and Tony is starting to think he’s never getting over it, just one more chronic ache he’ll never shake.

Tony needs to go, he needs to get out of here and go put himself back together so he can stop doing this to himself. But when he turns too quickly it sends a sharp pain lancing through his gut and Tony can’t quite stop the hiss that slips out of him. He doesn’t stop moving though, just pushes through and keeps his steps as carefully measured as he can, even when Bucky makes a soft, wounded noise that sounds like he’s trying to swallow it down.

Bucky doesn’t actually say anything though, and soon enough Tony is alone in his room holding a mug of coffee he’s just now realizing he doesn’t even want. He dumps it out in the sink, crawls into bed for another good pout and ends up falling asleep for eight hours.

So Tony keeps feeding himself and getting a good night’s sleep every so often. He even waits until he’s officially cleared by the doctors to start demanding to be let back into the field and he drinks the occasional glass of water. He keeps doing all those things even after he stops hoping Bucky will ruffle his hair and call him a ‘good boy’ in that tone that’s somehow the perfect mix of fond and amused and bossy and maybe just a little condescending.

Because they’re still friends, and Tony doesn’t want to ruin that too. He doesn't want to keep making Bucky make sad-eyes at him across the lab when he catches Tony chewing on coffee beans to keep himself awake, holding a half-melted ice pack to his face and squinting at his screens.

So maybe Tony has a big sad crush, and maybe Bucky figured that out somehow. Probably the fact that Tony got inappropriately tingly when Bucky treated him like a particularly stupid house pet, because Bucky has completely stopped. Tony is not letting himself think about how much he misses it, because that’s not the point.

The point is that they’re friends, and if it makes Bucky sad when his friends can’t take basic human care of themselves, well the least Tony can do is try to do better. It was just a lot easier when he could look forward to Bucky patting his head and calling him ‘good’ in that way that sent heat spiraling through Tony’s entire body.

But whatever. Tony manages.

“We should order pizza,” Tony announces, marching into the common room and nearly shouting to be heard over what appears to be half the team heckling a baking show.

“Are you trying to start another screaming match?” Steve demands, giving him a horrified look, “this tower cannot agree on pizza toppings, we’ve learned this.”

“I’ll just order everyone their own, no screaming, no problem,” Tony says dismissively, “I just finished with an all-day meeting that could have lasted an hour tops and I’m starving and the only thing that can make it better is pizza.” He ends his declaration with a whine and a little stomp of his foot, and tells himself that the sound of Bucky’s quiet laugh doesn’t make his chest warm. He needs to get better at lying to himself.

“But then I still have to see the abomination Clint calls a pizza, and how am I supposed to eat like that?” Sam demands, shooting a look at Clint who’s already half on-top of his arm chair and drawing in a huge breath to no doubt shout his rebuttal.

“I’m still going to do it,” Tony says gleefully, drowned out by the onslaught of yelling and already pulling out his phone.

“Are you happy now?” Steve demands as Sam and Clint start whipping throw pillows across the room at each other while Bucky laughs, egging them on and tossing Clint more ammo.

And yeah, Tony kind of is.

Someone walks into the workshop and Tony’s head snaps up, but it’s just Clint. Tony is not disappointed.

“Stop giving me that look,” Clint says, pointing one finger at Tony’s face. “Bucky wanted me to come down here and remind you to go to medical. He also told me not to tell you he told me to, but I’ve conveniently forgotten that part.”

“Convenient for who?” Tony asks with a huff of laughter, and ignores the way it makes his stupid heart feel all warm that Bucky still worries, at least, even if he doesn’t actually want to come down and face Tony’s crush himself. It’s still something.

Clint ignores him in favor of poking at the things scattered across the worktables, never mind that most of it is weaponry of some kind, and when Tony throws a screwdriver at him Clint spins around with an unimpressed look. “What’s up with you two, anyways? You’re being weirder than normal,” he demands, throwing the screwdriver back.

“Go tell him I’ve already been,” Tony says, barely managing to catch the tool before it hits him in the face, “my stomach is fine, they just taped up my ribs and gave me a tetanus shot. Tetanus!” And no, for the record, Tony had not spent the entire time thinking about how Bucky probably would have let Tony hold his hand, if he’d been there.

“Go tell him yourself, you incredible idiot,” Clint says, and then starts poking at dangerous things until Tony kicks him out of the lab.

“Why are you up before noon and looking like you actually slept?” Video-call-Rhodey demands, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, “who are you and what have you done with Tony?”

“Fuck you, platypus,” Tony says pleasantly, “that’s hurtful, I know how to adult.” The look Rhodey fixes him with in return is so unimpressed Tony’s can feel it in his soul, even through the screen.

“I have known you for years,” Rhodey says slowly, “and I can emphatically say that no, you do not, and- Are you drinking water?”

“What? No,” Tony says, lowering his glass of water back out of frame. Rhodey continues to stare him down, and Tony just stares back, because there is no way they’re getting into this. Tony wouldn’t even know where to start, at this point.

He passes Bucky as he turns the corner towards the elevator, and Tony really wishes he had the time to ask what Bucky is grinning so wide about. As it is he has a meeting with Pepper to get to and best-friend-questions to avoid.

“You know what Steve,” Tony snaps, because he can’t take it anymore. He’s exhausted, he’s sore, he has a ton of work to do and he’s tired of being yelled at for shit that’s not his fault. He’s also tired of the sad look Bucky is giving him, like he thinks Tony can’t see him, like he thinks Tony doesn’t know that he doesn’t deserve this.

Steve actually falters, words trailing off as he blinks at Tony because yeah, Tony usually calls him ‘Rogers’ when he’s pissed, or at least ‘Cap’. And yeah it’s one of Tony’s favorite ways of distancing himself, what of it? He can feel Bucky’s stare like a physical weight on his chest, he’s frustrated enough with himself as it is, and Tony doesn’t want distance.

“I’m not a magician, okay,” Tony grits out, doesn’t snap it, keeps his voice even and clenches his fists to keep them from shaking, “hacking an encrypted system takes time, and it takes processing power. Processing power that is limited when I’m also using it to pilot the armor, so yeah, I hacked it as quick as I could, and if that’s not good enough then I don’t know what to tell you.”

Steve gapes at him for a second, eyes wide and mouth hanging open and Tony really wishes he could feel better about accomplishing that right now. “Oh,” Steve finally says, and Tony can’t help but notice that the debrief room has suddenly cleared out around them. “I- I didn’t-“

This is usually the part where Tony would jump on that moment of hesitation, tack on a couple barbs to easily push Steve from thrown-off to angry. It’s surprisingly easy, Tony has practically made an art form out of it. Because Tony is so much better at knowing what to do with people when they’re mad at him. But right now, Tony is tired, and he really needs a shower, and he really needs to get down to the lab and figure out how to up the power in the suit, make sure he doesn’t get caught unprepared again.

And yeah, Tony can still feel Bucky staring at him, and Tony doesn’t know how much longer he can stand it without breaking down and doing something ridiculous. Like demanding a hug. Or to have his head patted, or for reassurance that he did okay. And Tony doesn’t get that anymore, never should have had it in the first place, so he just turns and leaves.

Tony has nearly made his escape, and he’s managing to keep it together, right up until he catches sight of Buck’s face. Tony has spent a lot of time cataloging away all of Bucky’s expressions, telling himself the entire time that he’s not a creepy obsessed weirdo, and he’s never seen that face before. Some mix of happy and surprised and proud, and a hundred other things that Tony still hasn’t been able to figure out how to deal with. Seeing it less often apparently doesn’t stop Tony’s heart from lurching dangerously at the sight of that warm smile, doesn’t stop his stomach from working itself into a tight, heated knot.

No one follows after him, and after turning a couple corners blindly Tony finally lets himself slump back against a wall, just for a second. Just to try and catch his breath, try to fight down the warmth rising stubbornly in his chest.

Tony likes doing his test flights of the suits around dusk, when he can help it. He likes watching night fall over the city, likes watching the colors of the sunset give way to the bright lights that come to life in every window.

When he finally heads back for the tower he aims for the roof, figuring he’ll have the suit drop him off and then take itself down to the workshop to start running diagnostics on the new settings without him. It’ll take a while anyways, and Tony hasn’t had dinner yet. And for some reason, all of Tony’s friends seem weirdly invested in his eating habits and are weirdly thrilled when he remembers to do it. Tony is even doing a better job lately of convincing himself there’s not one friend in particular he’s trying to thrill.

Once the armor zips off towards the entrance on the workshop level the roof is dark, and Tony very nearly trips over Bucky on his way to the door. He makes an embarrassing squeaking noise but manages to keep his balance, only wincing a little as his toes throb because fuck what is Bucky’s shin made of?!

“Woah, shit, excellent lurking there, Frosty, truly A+ work,” Tony says, clutching at his chest, and he’s about to re-suggest his whole ‘put a bell on you’ plan when Bucky actually drags his eyes up from the ground to fix on Tony instead.

Bucky looks terrible. Which of course means he’s still one of the most gorgeous people Tony has ever seen, but the dark circles under his eyes hit Tony like a blow to the chest. Bucky’s hair is a mess, lines around his eyes deep and pronounced and he looks tired in a way that seeps straight down into your bones, eats you alive. Tony knows that feeling all too well, but he has no idea what to say in the face of it.

He doesn’t need to ask if Bucky is having a rough couple of days, it’s painfully obvious, and he knows Bucky isn’t going to talk about it if he doesn’t want to. And he very rarely wants to. It would certainly explain why Steve was looking for him yesterday, if Bucky has been hiding out avoiding everyone, which probably means that Bucky has been sitting out here on the roof for who knows how long and will continue sitting out here until he feels like a person again.

The fact that Bucky doesn’t say anything, doesn’t uncurl from his protective huddle against the wall, just stares up at Tony with shadowed eyes, means that he’s definitely not there yet. He barely even twitches when Tony’s stomach growls loudly, just raises one eyebrow slightly even though Tony is pretty sure that was loud enough for people down on the street to hear.

“I’m on my way right now!” Tony defends before Bucky can start making sad face at him, because that is probably the last thing Bucky needs right now, to be worrying that Tony is somehow going to starve to death without constant supervision. Bucky’s lip twitches in the barest hint of a smile, and Tony is absolutely going to count that as a win.

He’s about to leave, head inside and leave Bucky alone to his rooftop creeping, but then something occurs to him. If Bucky has been hiding out away from everyone, it stands to reason that he hasn’t been to the kitchen for food recently. There’s always someone in the kitchen. Tony hesitates for a second, and then decides fuck it. They’re friends, and fair is fair.

“Come on Snowflake,” he says firmly, no room for arguments, and holds out one hand for Bucky to take. “I’ll make you one of my specialties. Do you want a lumpy sandwich, or cold cereal?”

Bucky’s lips twitch ever so slightly further up as he takes Tony’s hand and pulls himself to his feet, and Tony is going to call that a resounding fucking victory.

Bucky loves sci-fi. Even worse, he loves cheesy, horrible sci-fi, and he gets a particular kick out of movies that are so inaccurate they send Bruce and sometimes even Tony into fits of rage.

It’s a serious problem, because Tony loves that Bucky loves shitty sci-fi. It’s hopelessly endearing, and Tony is pretty sure it’s only a matter of time before he full on breaks down crying at the entirely-too-adorable sight of Bucky on the couch amid a mountain of blankets, happily humming along to the Stargate Atlantis theme song. Tony is only human, okay? He’s just trying to head back to the lab with his lunch and there’s only so much he can reasonably be expected to withstand.

It’s also a problem in that Bucky tends to get caught up in binge watching something and forget about things like sleeping, or the ever important feeding his super appetite. Which Tony gets, he really does, he is no stranger to getting wrapped up in something and forgetting everything else, so instead of suggesting Bucky take a break from his marathon at least long enough to get food, Tony just shoves his own plate into Bucky’s lap and leaves his glass of water on the coffee table with a pointed look.

Then he heads back to the kitchen to make another sandwich for himself, waving off Bucky’s stuttered, surprised-sounding thanks and refusing to let himself look back.

It kind of spirals out of control from there.

Tony sticks his head into the gym where, sure enough, Bucky and Steve are still having their stupid push up competition.

“Let’s wrap it up boys, it’s dinner time,” he calls, and then rolls his eyes when they don’t react at all. “Seriously, you’re both impressive, you both win beefiest belle at the ball, you can punch it out later,” Tony adds as he wanders closer, “Let’s go before Thor eats everything and then comes down here to show you both up.”

“Five minutes,” Steve huffs out between push ups, “He’s about to give up.”

“Like hell,” Bucky grumbles and does his next rep one handed so he can swat at Steve. It’s unfairly distracting.

“I’m evicting both of you,” Tony says pleasantly, “Just like I threatened everyone else with eviction until they gave in and agreed to order from that Korean-Mexican fusion place you’re both so obsessed with.”

“What?!” Steve demands, pushing himself upright on his knees to fix Tony with an affronted look, “why didn’t you say that?”

“Ha! I win!” Bucky says, still doing push ups and grinning at Steve smugly.

Steve looks so horribly offended for a second that Tony can’t help snorting in laughter. Then Steve grins wickedly, shoves Bucky over, and makes a break for the door calling “I’m gonna eat all your food, then we’ll see who wins!”

“Still a sore loser,” Bucky says with a sad shake of his head, pushing himself to his feet. A couple strands of loose hair cling to his forehead and fall around his face, his thin shirt clinging to his chest just right, and Tony’s life would be so much easier if he could just not.

Bucky is staring at him, curious tilt to his head, and Tony belatedly remembers to blurt out “Don’t worry Frosted Flakes, I hid your kimchi tacos at the back of the fridge where no one can get to them. Not that I know why anyone would want to.” The wide grin that breaks out across Bucky’s face still makes Tony’s heart thump dangerously, no matter how many times Tony tries to convince himself that it doesn’t, that it won’t next time. It always does.

“Thanks Tony, you’re the best,” Bucky says, all warm and soft and genuine, bumping their shoulders together gently as he heads for the door. Tony trails after him, face flushed and chest warm, and that was totally worth all the trouble of convincing Bruce that Korean-Mexican fusion is not a crime against humanity.

“You need to go lay down,” Tony says for what must be the tenth time since Bucky walked into the lab.

“I’m fine,” Bucky says, again, despite the fact that he is clearly not fine.

Tony waves both hands at Bucky, trying to encompass all of him, the fact that Bucky hasn’t changed or showered since the fight when usually that’s the first thing he does, the way that he’s just kind of standing there letting the bots poke at him instead of chasing them around the lab. “I can hear your spine clicking when you move, and I have normal human ears!” Tony insists.

“No it’s not,” Bucky says, but he’s holding himself suspiciously still. When Tony just stares at him, unimpressed, he adds “it’ll heal.”

“Yeah, if you go lay the fuck down and avoid killing yourself before then,” Tony says, and only barely resists the urge to throw a bolt at him. He’s pretty sure Bucky would just let it hit him in the face right now, and that’s not what Tony is going for. No matter how well it would prove his point.

“No," Bucky says flatly. Tony throws the bolt, and Bucky winces when it bounces off his chest but otherwise refuses to move.

"Then you're going to medical," Tony says, throwing both hands in the air, "I’ll call Steve and he’ll carry you there, don’t think he won’t. He will be delighted to do it."

“I’ll throw ‘im out another window,” Bucky grumbles, and when Tony makes a show of grabbing for his phone Bucky sighs out “fine, fine, I’ll go lay down.”

"Damn straight you will," Tony grumbles under his breath and then blinks in surprise when, instead of heading for the door, maybe back to his room, Bucky slowly makes his way over to the lumpy couch in the corner.

And Tony's not complaining, it absolutely makes sense for Bucky to lay down on the nearest available flat surface, but Tony had really been expecting him to leave. Keep up that friendly distance, and all that. Instead Tony is left just staring dazedly as Bucky lowers him half down onto the couch with a level of care that completely gives away how injured he actually is.

Once Bucky is settled he turns his head where it's propped up on the armrest, only wincing a little, and stares back at Tony. There's something considering in his gaze, and he's probably trying to figure out how long it'll take before Tony gets distracted enough to not notice Bucky making his escape.

After several long seconds of mutual staring, broken only by them both glancing over when DUM-E gets tangled in the blanket he's trying to bring to Bucky and starts beeping in distress, Bucky finally breaks the silence. "Don't I get a cookie?" he asks slowly, innocently, like he has no idea that the reminder sets off an explosion in Tony's chest.

"I already gave you one of my favorite bolts, what more do you want from me?" Tony complains, turning back to his workbench so hopefully Bucky won't notice that his face has no doubt gone bright red.

"Somethin' edible, preferably," Bucky says with a soft laugh that has warmth spreading out from Tony's racing heart and mixing surprisingly well with the sudden influx of butterflies in his stomach.

Tony tells himself that it's fine. They're friends. He's glad that Bucky is comfortable enough to hang out in the lab with him again, making dumb jokes. All Tony has to do is not make it weird. Again. He can totally do that.

He doesn't have any cookies, but Tony does share his terrible energy bars, and when Bucky dares to complain about how terrible they are Tony throws a couple more bolts at him. Injured or not, he can't let that stand.

Eventually Bucky falls asleep, and Tony works as quietly as he can, and it's fine. It’s the closest to fine that Tony has felt in a long time.

Bucky’s nose scrunches up a little in disgust, but he doesn’t say anything. No one else seems to notice, arguing over their exact dinner order like it’s a life or death ordeal. They are all usually armed, in some way, so hell it might be life or death.

Tony slumps a little lower in his armchair, just enough that he can stretch out and kick Bucky lightly in the foot. When Bucky looks over at him Tony gives him an expectant look. When Bucky continues to stare blankly at him Tony does a little ‘go on’ motion with his head, and then kicks Bucky again. Just for good measure.

Bucky’s eyes widen, just a little, and then he blurts out “I hate sushi.” Everyone stops to stare at him, and Tony grins widely.

“What? Since when?” Sam demands, looking personally offended.

“Since always, it’s raw fish,” Bucky replies, throwing a pillow that bounces harmlessly off Thor’s head when Sam ducks. “Just get me some rice or somethin’, ‘s long as it’s cooked,” he adds and easily swats Sam’s return pillow away from him.

Steve immediately starts reading off other options from the menu, and Tony continues grinning all through the rest of the ordering process. He’s a little surprised when he looks over to find Bucky smiling back at him, something small and strangely delicate, and Tony just hopes his face isn’t as warm as it feels, hopes it doesn’t show that he’s melting inside.

Bucky has been giving him this look, lately, and Tony has no idea what it’s supposed to mean. It’s somewhere between surprised and considering, like he’s putting together the pieces of a puzzle he didn’t even know he was looking at. It’s mildly terrifying.

If he didn’t know better, Tony would think Bucky has figured out about his super secret crush, but that can’t be right. Bucky had already figured that out... right? And if that was the case he definitely wouldn’t suddenly be hanging out with Tony more, he’d be running even further away.

Tony is kind of tempted to avoid him, avoid that look entirely, because as long as he doesn’t know what it means it can’t mean anything bad. The problem with that plan, is that Bucky is suddenly everywhere he turns.

He stumbles out of his lab and it’s like Bucky is just laying in wait so he can drag Tony to the kitchen for an impressive lunch spread. And then he hangs out, watches while Tony gorges himself on soup and sandwiches and leftover donuts, and when Tony shoves the last donut towards him Bucky’s thoughtful little smile gets wider.

Tony doesn’t know what to do with that, or what to do with the warmth that lingers in his chest all day, growing something that feels dangerously like hope. Maybe he should give that avoidance plan another shot.

He makes it a full day. Mostly by hiding out in his lab the whole time. When he shuffles out, rubbing at his tired eyes and aching everywhere, Bucky is there before he makes it ten steps out of the elevator onto the common floor.

“What have I told you about sleeping?’ Bucky asks with an exasperated sigh that does not at all take away from the smile tugging at the corners of his lips, both hands coming down on Tony’s shoulders to stop him in his tracks. “And don’t say ‘it’s for the weak’, or I swear...”

Tony hums thoughtfully, then grins up at Bucky, who is standing so very close. If Tony were less sleep deprived he’d probably be more worried about that, more worries about what he’s giving away as he leans into Bucky’s chest ever so slightly. “Must have escaped my mind,” he finally says, grinning wider when Bucky rolls his eyes.

“I believe it was that you need to sleep, Tony,” Bucky says and uses the hands still on his shoulders to spin Tony in place and point him back towards the elevator. He leaves his hands on Tony’s shoulders, which is probably a good thing because Tony is dimly aware of the fact that he’s swaying in place. “Go on, before your zombie face scares Bruce again,” Bucky adds with a soft laugh.

“That was one time,” Tony protests, digging in his heels as Bucky starts pushing him towards the doors, “and I’m hungry.” The last part comes out nearly as a whine, and Tony doesn’t even try to stop it because this is all Bucky’s fault in the first place. Him and his regular meal schedules, and his insisting that Tony follow them.

“Nuh uh, I know how you are,” Bucky says, giving him another little shove towards the elevator, “you’ll go to the kitchen and then you’ll get distracted and I’ll find you five hours later half asleep and having a staring contest with your reflection.”

“Again, that was one time, and I had been up for days,” Tony says with a huff, then squeaks when the heels of his worn sneakers slip against the floor and Bucky’s grip on his shoulders is the only thing that keeps him from falling on his ass.

“Go get ready for bed, doll,” Bucky says and he’s definitely laughing now, “an’ I’ll bring you somethin’ to eat.”

“I want waffles,” Tony demands petulantly and finally stops leaning back against Bucky’s shoving, starts moving towards the elevator instead.

“Waffles, you got it,” Bucky says, all warm and amused, and his hands finally fall away from Tony’s shoulders. There’s a second where Tony starts to shuffle forward, elevator doors already dinging open, and he hears Bucky start to turn back down the hallway, and then Bucky’s hand lands on his head and Tony freezes in his tracks. He’s not even breathing, just holds himself perfectly still as Bucky ruffles his hair.

When Bucky steps away and his footsteps disappear down the hallway Tony is finally able to drag in a ragged breath and start his forward shuffle again. He spends the entire elevator ride thinking it’s a good thing he’s already half asleep, or he’d be really freaking out right now about what this all means.

Tony is slumped down low on his couch and poking at his phone when Bucky turns up with the promised waffles, but it’s totally worth the wait because the waffles are hot and fluffy and covered with the perfect amount of syrup. After Tony eats them all Bucky smiles at him warmly and says ‘good’, and what’s left of Tony’s poor batted soul feels like its been dipped in warm honey.

Tony doesn’t actually remember falling asleep, and he definitely doesn’t remember Bucky carrying him to bed, but he wakes up later curled under the blankets with his socks still on and oh look at that, he’s awake enough to start freaking out again.

Because Tony had been pretty sure he’d ruined everything, given himself away, and now everything is back to normal. Maybe even better. And Tony has no idea what to do. He doesn’t know what’s changed, and he doesn’t know how to not ruin it again.

Tony is heading for the gym, figuring he might as well accomplish something if he’s too angry to sleep at three in the morning. Sure, he’s exhausted, but maybe if he gets some of this energy out he’ll be able to sleep. And it won’t even be the first time someone has found him blissfully passed out on the gym floor in the morning.

He passes Bucky in the hallway, and it’s somehow both a surprise and not surprising at all when Bucky catches him by the forearm and pulls him to a stop. His eyes move over Tony’s face, and at least this is an expression Tony recognizes, it’s Bucky’s ‘figuring out why Tony can’t sleep’ face, and it’s a game Bucky is disturbingly good at. Even if it’s been awhile since he last played, not that Tony is letting himself think about that. Much.

“Hey freezy-pop, just heading to the gym,” Tony says and aims for an easy smile, but Bucky frowns at him and doesn’t let go. Not that Tony is actually trying to get free, that would mean losing the warmth of Bucky’s skin against his.

“People problem or math problem?” Bucky asks with a crooked little grin and Tony really hopes it doesn’t show how much it makes it heart leap that Bucky knows that.

“People problem,” Tony says before he’s even aware he’s going to say it, and then sighs as it feels like something tense inside him starts to unravel. “Huge people problem. The board is trying to slip some shady shit past me again, and I have to wait until morning to yell at them. Because I’m, and I quote, ‘not allowed to wake the old bastards up to yell at them’ any more. But I want to, I’m all riled up now and I want to bite some heads off.”

Bucky’s smile gets a little toothier and his gaze flickers down for just a second before he says “As much as I enjoy watchin’ you bite heads, prob’ly not a good idea. Might give ‘em a heart attack.”

“Which would be a bad thing, because...” Tony says and waves his hand in a ‘go on’ type motion.

“‘Cause then Pepper will kill you with her shoes,” Bucky says, very seriously, and damnit he’s right. Down to the exact threat Pepper had used, and Tony’s heart gives another little lurch.

“And that is a thing I do not want,” Tony recites with a sad little nod, and then grins when Bucky laughs. “So that’s why I’m going down to the gym. I’m going to imagine their wrinkled old faces on the punch bags. I figure hey, punching bag therapy works for Steve.”

“No it doesn’t,” Bucky says with a snort, then gives Tony’s arm a gentle little tug and says “c’mon, come watch Star Trek with me.”

“You think you can just distract me with Star Trek?” Tony demands, “because you can. What episode are you on now? Should I grab popcorn? What am I saying, of course I should grab popcorn, come on I need your hands.”

“How much popcorn you plannin’ on eating?” Bucky asks, but lets Tony start dragging him towards the kitchen with a smug little smile, like he’s getting exactly what he wanted.

Tony’s heart gives another little leap, and apparently this is his life now. If he dies tonight, it won’t be from an anger induced aneurism, it’ll be from choking on his own stupid heart just because Bucky is taking care of him again. Because Bucky is smiling at him all warm and fond and a little awed, like Tony is the one doing something amazing.

“Also, I love it when math problems keep me up, that’s the dream. The metaphorical dream, obviously,” Tony rattles as he drags Bucky along by way of Bucky’s hand still on his arm, just firm enough to not lose his grip, thumb stroking over the inner bend of Tony’s elbow as he lets out an amused hum.

Bucky doesn’t let go even as they settle onto the couch with their own bowls of popcorn, just shifts his grip down to Tony’s wrist instead, tap his finger against the wild flutter of Tony’s pulse in time with the opening theme. Tony shovels more popcorn into his mouth, mocks the questionable science until Bucky starts good-naturedly shoulder checking him, and doesn’t let himself think about the fact that Bucky’s hand on his wrist is leaching all the tension out of his body better than anything else ever has.

And Tony especially doesn’t let himself think about the fact that Bucky is giving him that look again. Like he’s solving some kind of riddle. Or maybe like he’s already solved it, and he’s just waiting for Tony to ask about the answer. But Tony is terrified to ask, because fuck he doesn’t want to be wrong. Even more terrifying, he’s starting to think he might not be.

Tony isn’t sure how Pepper convinced literally all of the Avengers to dress up to the nines and show up for the fanciest and most painful charity gala of the year. She even got Clint into a tux. Tony does know how she convinced him, at least, which was with threats to both his person and his cars. It was very effective.

Tony is still pondering the mystery as he heads for the common room to round up the rest of the unwilling ceremonial social sacrifices, and instead finds only Bucky struggling with his bow tie. “Either I’m late, or everyone else is extremely late,” Tony says and doesn’t even try to hide his wide grin as he watches Bucky nearly strangle himself.

“It’s both,” Bucky grumbles, yanking at the ends of the bow tie so aggressively Tony is a little surprised the poor thing doesn’t tear, “Some of ‘em were here, but then Bruce spilled his tea all over him an’ Clint, an’ Steve laughed so hard he ripped his shirt. So they all went to change. I think Nat left without us.” Bucky drops his hands to his side and scowls at this reflection in the mirror above the bar, at the lopsided bow hanging loose around his neck.

“That’s why she’s Pepper’s favorite,” Tony says, laughing as much at the story as the defeated slump of Bucky’s shoulders as he starts unknotting the bow tie again. Before Tony can think better of it he’s stepping closer and tugging at Bucky’s arm, all wrapped up in soft black fabric that somehow makes his arms look thicker. “Stop, stop, you’re killing the poor thing,” he says as he grabs for the tie with his free hand.

“Good,” Bucky says with a pout that has no right being so adorable on someone so lethal, “I dunno why it’s bein’ so difficult. I can do a tie no problem, but this?” He whips the bow tie off his neck and eagerly shoves it into Tony’s hand as he declares “bow ties are bullshit. Do you have a clip on around here?”

“Bite your tongue, you heathen,” Tony tells him seriously and forces himself to let go of Bucky’s arm, only dragging his fingers along Bucky’s firm bicep a little in the process. Then he takes a deep breath and steps forward a little closer, until they’re pressed practically chest to chest, and says “Here, let me help you with this before you somehow injure yourself with neckwear.”

“Please,” Bucky says with a heavy sigh, his hand brushing over Tony’s hip just for a second before falling to his side. “I swear I’ve tried fifty times now, you’re my only hope. You always clean up so nice an’ I’m just tryin’ not to make a fool of myself.”

Tony tries to ignore what that particular choice of words does to him. Later, he can work himself up into knots over the fact that Bucky thinks he cleans up nice, thinks he always cleans up nice, like Bucky has been thinking it for a while. But that’s for later, for now he just has to focus on getting this bow tie in place so they can all get over to the stupid gala and live through the stupid night. And then he can go back to his stupid panicked pining.

Focusing on the bow tie turns out to be a little difficult though, because all Tony wants to focus on is Bucky standing so incredibly close to him, the way Bucky is looking at him, eyes half lidded and chin tipped up to give Tony better access to his throat. His first attempt looks even worse, too tight and the bow lopsided, and Bucky barks out a laugh.

“Do you actually know what you’re doing?” Bucky demands, play-swatting at Tony’s stomach, “Are you wearing a clip on?”

“You take that back!” Tony squawks, swatting back at him before he starts aggressively undoing the bow tie again. He needs to get it together, because the longer this takes him the longer he’s standing all up in Bucky’s space, and the more of a blushing mess he’s going to become. And if Bucky hasn’t figured him out already, which is something Tony still can’t get a definite, undeniable read on, then Bucky definitely will now.

Especially because Bucky keeps his head tipped back and smiles lazily in a way that has Tony’s stomach clinging up tight as he asks “Are you trying to kill me, is that what’s happening here?”

“Yes dear,” Tony says, sickeningly sweet, and gives an extra hard tug at one end of the tie, “I’m trying to kill you with a bow tie. Slowly.” Bucky doesn’t say anything, but his smirk gets wider and wider and finally Tony huffs out “Turn around, I can’t work like this.”

“Sure, much easier to strangle me from behind,” Bucky says agreeably as he spins in place to face the mirror again, and his reflection fixes Tony with an expectant look.

Before he can talk himself out of it Tony steps forward and up onto his toes, hooks his chin over Bucky’s shoulder to properly see what he’s doing in the mirror, and brings both arms up over Bucky’s shoulders. From this angle it only takes a couple seconds to get the bow tie perfectly centered and secured around Bucky’s neck, just like it only takes a couple seconds for Tony’s pulse to jump up to truly unsafe levels.

“There, told you I know what I’m doing,” he says with a smug grin and then can’t quite seem to pull himself away, can’t seem to break eye contact with Bucky’s reflection.

“Looks perfect, thanks doll,” Bucky says, low and warm, and raises one hand to gently grab Tony’s forearm where it’s still draped over his chest. Like he doesn’t want Tony to pull away.

“So how did Pepper talk you into this?” Tony blurts, which, all things considered, is probably the least damaging thing he could blurt out right about now.

“She pointed out that if the Avengers look good, it helps your company look good,” he says, like that’s any kind of explanation, still staring Tony right in the eye like that’s supposed to mean something.

“That- that’s not- what-,” Tony says, startled, taking an instinctive step back. Bucky doesn’t let go of his arm, just turns back to face him with his mouth already open to protest. “Seriously,” Tony says, cutting him off and feeling a little frantic for reasons he can’t name, doesn’t want to name, “That’s not something you need to worry about, what- why would that-“

“Hey,” Bucky says, soft like Tony is some kind of spooked animal, which, okay, that feels pretty fair right now. When Bucky gives his arm a little tug Tony steps closer, completely helpless against it. Then Bucky’s other hand is on his face, fingertips just barely brushing Tony’s cheek, the line of his throat, and cool metal thumb pressed oh-so-gently beneath Tony’s chin nudging his head up to meet Bucky’s gaze. “Hey,” he says again, “I want t’ make you look good, okay? ‘S the least we can do after all you do to make us look good. ‘Cause I know that can’t be easy.”

Tony just gapes uselessly for a second, breath caught in his chest, and he’s not sure when he grabbed two handfuls of Bucky’s tux jacket, but he doesn’t think he could let go if he tried. Finally he manages to drag in a shaking break and stutter out “w-we?”

Bucky smirks a little wider, taps his thumb against Tony’s chin, and confesses “I may have helped Pepper ‘talk’ some of ‘em into it.”

And Tony is right back to useless gaping, because what the fuck is he supposed to do with that?! Tony has never expected the rest of the team to worry about the effect their Avenging has on SI, that’s his responsibility, his problem to deal with, and he has the growing feeling that Bucky is trying to tell him something here but Tony is too busy trying not to hyperventilate to figure out what the fuck it is-

“I’m about to enter the common room!” Comes a sudden shout from the hallway, and Tony startles so hard that Bucky’s hand still on his arm is the only thing that keeps him from toppling over. “Please no one throw tea at me this time!” The voice continues and oh, that’s Clint. Of course, because they’re waiting for the rest of the team. Who will be here any minute, and Tony should probably get it together already.

“That was your own fault, an’ I think you know it,” Bucky calls back, smiling just a little ruefully as he drops his hands back to his sides. Tony untangles his hands from Bucky’s jacket and has to resist the urge to smooth out the slight wrinkles he’s left in the lapels.

“Now hold on just a minute,” Clint says as he bursts into the room to defend himself, wrinkled suit jacket only half on and waving a finger at Bucky and Tony sees his chance.

Tony runs. Sure, he says he’s going to get Bruce, but it is absolutely just a cowardly flee. He just needs a minute, he just needs to breathe, needs to figure out what the hell he’s supposed to do with all the hope growing wild and unchecked in his lungs.

Tony gets home from a business trip and he honestly has no idea what time it is. He doesn’t even know what day it is, the only things he knows are that he’s jet lagged as all hell, and that he just wants to sleep.

When he gets to the penthouse there’s takeout from his favorite Italian place waiting on the table, still warm. There’s also a note that says ‘be a good boy and eat before you pass out for 12 hours’. It’s not signed, but at this point it really doesn't need to be.

He honestly doesn’t know what he’s expecting at this point, when he send a photo of the empty containers to Bucky with the caption ‘I want a cookie when I wake up.’

What Tony gets is an almost immediate response in the form of a picture of one of those chocolate-and-peanut-butter monstrosities that he loves, followed by a text that says ‘see you in 13 hours sweet thing’.

Tony wakes up almost exactly thirteen hours later, and he’s so far past wondering how Bucky does that. He’s also so far past his ‘avoid Bucky’ plan, all he wants to do is go find Bucky, get his cookie, and maybe even get the feeling of Bucky’s fingers ruffling his hair again.

So he does.

He’s heading for the elevator to leave for a press conference when Bucky and Natasha suddenly appear in his way, arms crossed and matching terrifying assassin glowers on their faces.

“Seriously, bells,” Tony says, clutching at his chest with the hand not clutching his to-go cup, “bells for everybody, I can’t live like this. I have a heart condition.”

They don’t laugh, but it’s not the usual ‘Tony please don’t joke about your heart condition’ not-laughing, and Tony is instantly on high alert, because something is going on here and he has a feeling he’s not going to like it.

The feeling only gets stronger when Bucky actually hesitates before slowly saying “I know you already talked t’ Pepper about this-“

“No,” Tony says instantly and he can’t believe he ever thought it was kind of sweet that Bucky talks to Pepper, that was clearly going to come back to bite him in the ass some day. Sure enough Natasha pulls out the very same body armor shirt Pepper had been waving at him this morning and Tony groans out “no.”

“You’re wearing the armor,” Natasha says flatly, and it’s completely unsurprising that she’s the one playing bad cop here.

“I am not wearing the armor,” Tony returns, just as flat, “because why would I? It’s a press conference, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“You could get shot again,” Bucky bursts out and his face is doing something truly fascinating, like he’s cycling through emotions too quickly for any of them to properly settle.

Tony can’t help rolling his eyes a little, because are they still on that? “What’re the odds that’ll happen again?” he says dismissively, “Smart assassins never try the same move twice, you know that frosty.”

Bucky’s face twitches harder and okay, apparently they are not yet to the point of joking about Tony’s recent gunshot wounds. Noted. “If you don’t wear the armor? Odds’re pretty damn high,” he growls out and yep, he’s even got his angry-eyebrows on. That’s usually reserved for Steve-levels of stupidity.

“You made this, it's the same material you use for all our gear,” Natasha points out, and okay, maybe she’s not ‘bad cop’ so much as ‘rational cop’. She holds the armor out to him, one eyebrow raised, and demands “are you saying it’s not good enough?”

“That is not what I’m saying, and I think you know it,” Tony says, narrowing his eyes because oh, that’s a low blow, how dare she imply he’d put his team in anything but the best. Her challenging smirk only gets wider, so Tony sniffs and drags his free hand over his chest as he says “I just don’t want to ruin the lines of my suit.”

“It’s the size of an undershirt, your figure will be fine,” Natasha says, but her lips twitch ever so slightly upwards.

Bucky remains staunchly unamused. “Yeah, I’m just gonna put the armor on you myself,” he says with a decisive nod, and Natasha gleefully hands it over.

“I’ll throw my coffee on you,” Tony warns, holding it up like a shield and taking a step back, “it won’t accomplish much, but then you’ll have to listen to me bitch about how I don’t have my coffee anymore. I might even cry.” Bucky keeps advancing on him, armor in hand and a determined look in his eye, so Tony pretends to fumble with the lid of his cup and warns “I’m talking ugly crying here, Bucky-bear, you’ve seen me without my coffee, it’ll be embarrassing for everyone, and-“

"Tony," Bucky snaps, standing right in front of him now, voice low and rough and cracking ever so slightly, "be a good boy and wear the damn armor!”

Tony's stupid heart trips all over itself. Natasha is somehow suddenly all the way down the hall, pointedly ignoring them while sipping Tony’s coffee, and when did she even steal that, and she is very clearly blocking Tony’s escape route. Not that Tony could actually flee right now if he wanted to, he’s much too busy just trying to stay standing under the force of the hot flush that rushes over him, stomach clenching hard and blood roaring in his ears. Tony can’t find the air to reply, can only stare, and Bucky’s face crumples a little further.

“Please, doll? I gotta know you’re safe, I can’t-'' Bucky cuts himself off, clenching his jaw, and Tony feels some confusing mix of horrified and elated. Because of course he feels terrible that he’s the reason for the terrified, pleading look in Bucky’s eyes, the reason Bucky’s right hand trembles slightly as he gives the body armor held between them a little shake. But on the other hand, Tony is the one who made Bucky look like that, cracked open and vulnerable, Tony did that. And oh, he knows that Bucky is letting it show, for him, it’s a gift that he hears the way Bucky’s breath hitches as he pleads “Just- jus’ do this for me? Be good and wear th’ damn armor so I can feel like you’re safe, will you do that?”

Fuck, Tony is pretty sure he’s going to die, he’s pretty sure the entire tower can hear the way his heart is racing in his chest, He has no idea how he’s supposed to respond to that, because all he really wants to do is take that single step it would require to bury his face in Bucky’s chest. But Tony knows he has to say something, anything, Bucky is still staring at him like he’s waiting for an answer, and it nearly knocks him off his feet all over again when he realizes Bucky has been waiting for an answer from him for a while now.

"O-okay," Tony finally manages, voice weak around the way his heart is lodged somewhere in this throat and already shrugging off his jacket so he can just take the stupid god damn armor.

"Yeah?" Bucky asks, voice pitched low, gaze heavy, so much in that simple question. It’s so new and so familiar and Tony is already nodding because oh fuck yes, anything Bucky is offering, anything he wants, yes.

Tony has to swallow thickly a couple times before he can actually say “Yeah, I- I can do that. Wearing the armor, being safe.” Being good, he doesn’t say, but Bucky’s eyes darken like he heard it anyways. Once Tony has finished tugging off his jacket and tie Bucky takes them from his shaking hands, and Tony can only manage a vague huff of protest as Bucky carelessly drapes them over his own shoulder and makes an impatient gesture with his free hand.

And here’s the thing, Tony is not generally what people would call ‘shy’. He left his shame far behind him about a decade or two ago and never looked back. But it’s Bucky, and he just keeps staring as Tony starts fumbling with the buttons of his shirt, and Tony has a terrible feeling the flush on his face is spreading down his neck. He’s more or less gotten used to the scars that litter his torso, his teammates have all seen them and on a good day Tony even forgets they exist. He’s still getting used to the three new freshly-healed bullet holes scattered across his stomach, so of course that’s right where Bucky’s eyes settle and it’s all Tony can do not to fidget, not to snatch his shirt back out of Bucky’s hand.

Bucky’s fingers are warm as they trace over the shiny new skin, ticklishly light and unbearably gentle. “Jus’ wanna feel like I’m protectin’ you,” he says, voice barely more than a sigh, and Tony wants to protest that it’s not his fault but he can’t find the air. Instead all he can do is nod, scared to breathe too hard in case it dislodges Bucky’s fingers from tracing the edges of each slightly raised scar. Tony can’t help the soft noise he makes when Bucky’s hand falls back to his side, already mourning the loss of contact, and Bucky smirks just a little as he says “Arms up, babydoll.”

Tony definitely hears Natasha snort, somewhere down the hallway, but it’s pretty low on the scale of her ‘insulting snorts’ and Tony really doesn’t care right now. He’s too busy throwing his arms up so quickly that it’s a miracle he doesn’t smack Bucky in the face or dislocate his shoulder or something equally ridiculous. Bucky smirks a little wider but doesn’t say anything, just carefully slips the deceptively thin body armor onto Tony’s arms and then gently lowers it down over his head.

Bucky makes sure the armor is pulled all the way down, big hands running over Tony’s hips and the small of his back, and then hands back Tony’s shirt. “There y’ go, nice and safe for me,” Bucky says almost absently as he fixes Tony’s hair and Tony is mostly still just marveling at the open relief in Bucky’s eyes.

“You’re only paranoid because I’m an average squishy human,” Tony tries to accuse, mostly to distract from the way his hands are shaking as he does up his buttons, but it comes out wobbly because even he doesn't believe that anymore.

Bucky’s lips quirk up like he knows Tony doesn’t really think that, but he still says “Nah, I worry cuz its you,” voice soft, like he needs to be sure that Tony knows. His eyes are dark as he watches Tony settle the knot of his tie against the hollow of his throat, and Tony’s hands are shaking so badly that Bucky has to help him get his jacket back in place. “Didn’t even ruin th’ lines of your suit,” he adds with a smug little grin, running both wide palms down Tony’s chest, fingers spread wide, and there’s no way he can’t feel the way Tony’s heart is trying to beat straight out of his chest.

“Lucky for you,” Tony says, voice equally soft, and when Bucky’s hands fall away he drags in a ragged breath.

“Lucky me,” Bucky repeats absently, like he’s talking about something else entirely, and then leans forward. His grip is firm but gentle as he cups the back of Tony’s head with one hand, his lips are dry and soft against Tony’s temple, and Tony freezes up all over again. “Thank you, Tony,” he whispers, lips moving against Tony’s skin and sending shivers down his spine, “always so good for me.”

Tony makes a sound that he refuses to categorize as a whimper, and Bucky pulls away smiling amused and warm and amazed. When Tony steps onto the elevator he’s still trying to catch his breath, but his hands are steady.

“You should date me,” Tony blurts out that night, because he can’t not, anymore. Because he’d smiled like a loon all the way through the press conference, face still warm, and at the end Pepper had asked him if he had a concussion, half serious and half knowingly smug. Because the warm flutter in his chest still hasn’t faded. Because Bucky has been giving him that look, and Tony thinks he’s finally figured it out.

Bucky just blinks at him for a second, and okay yeah, maybe Tony could have picked a slightly better place than the middle of the kitchen. At one in the morning. When they’re both in worn pajamas, odds are unfortunately pretty good that Tony has the remains of his PB&J sandwich smeared around his mouth.

He probably could have picked some better words too, so Tony scrambles desperately for some and all he comes up with is “Or, I should date you. We should date each other. No, I mean- yes, but- fuck-“

“Yeah,” Bucky says, cutting him off and still blinking at him like he’s vaguely dazed. “Yeah, we- us. Dating. Yes. Okay.”

Tony blinks back at him, because that sounded a lot like Bucky agreeing to date him, but it also sounds a lot like he just broke Bucky’s brain. “Are you sure?” Tony has to ask, shuffling on his feet a little, “Because-“

“What- yes,” Bucky says, surprisingly vehement, lurching up from the stool he’s been sitting on. Tony dares to let a wide smile start spreading across his face. Still-

“I’ll be a good boyfriend,” he offers helpfully, and really wishes he could sound more sure of that. He’s damn sure going to do his best.

Bucky is up and across the kitchen in an instant, taking Tony’s face in his big, deadly, gentle hands and breathing out “Tony.” He’s moved from looking dazed to looking something almost like awed and he says “Tony, doll, you are already so good to me, I just want you.”

Tony shudders all over and he’s not sure when his hands landed on Bucky’s waist but he’s holding on for dear life. “Bucky,” he sighs, and then, because he’s weak, he begs “Say it again.”

And oh, Tony just knew that Bucky knew what he was doing, and he gets his proof because instantly Bucky tightens his grip, drags his fingers along the hollows behind Tony’s ears. “Gonna be my good boy, yeah?” he asks, breath hot against Tony’s lips, eyes dark and intent, smirk to die for.

“Oh,” Tony gasps and when he shivers Bucky just holds him tighter, pulls him closer, until Tony’s eyes fall closed and he’s clinging helplessly to the broad muscle of Bucky’s back. “I- oh,” he gasps again when Bucky’s thumbs trace along his cheekbones, barely catching his eyelashes, and Bucky’s answering laugh is everything. It’s happy and amazed in a way that makes Tony's chest warm and fluttery, dark and just a little condescending in a way that makes his guy tighten up in heated want.

“I see you, Tony,” Bucky says, low and rough and insistent, “I see everything you do for us, for everyone.” His lips trace the line of Tony’s brow in soft, feather-light kisses, and his voice is barely more than a breath when he adds “For me. Gonna be good an’ let me take care of you back?”

Tony is caught between the urge to nod frantically and the need to stay exactly where he is, Bucky’s hands cupping his face like the most precious thing he’s ever held, so instead he croaks out “Yeah, I- I can- fuck I want that.” Tony cracks his eyes open again, because it’s overwhelming, and he doesn’t want to miss it.

Bucky smiles, happy and proud and heated and a million other things that have warmth spreading through Tony’s chest, curling up tight in his gut, lighting up his entire body. “Can I kiss you, baby?” he asks, lips nearly close enough to touch already, and when Tony throws himself forward Bucky catches him easily, left hand sliding to the small of Tony’s back and pulling him in closer.

The first press of lips is electric, has Tony sighing out a soft noise and then Bucky’s hand still cupping his jaw tilts his head a little further back and Bucky licks his way into his mouth with a slow, consuming determination. Tony clings harder to Bucky’s shirt where it stretches tight across his shoulders and hangs on for all he’s worth, tries to catch Bucky’s tongue between his teeth and shudders when Bucky growls low in his throat.

Bucky’s thigh slots between Tony’s like it belongs there and Tony breaks away from the kiss with a shaking groan as he abruptly realizes that he’s achingly hard, soft cotton of his sweats damp and clinging and amazing. “O-oh, shit-“ Tony gasps out, helpless against the way his hips jerk forwards just once to grind himself against that thick thigh. “God, Bucky-“ he whines, ducking his head to pant against the curve of Bucky’s shoulder and then bites back a desperate noise when Bucky’s thigh nudges up against him a little harder.

“Tha’s real sweet baby, sound so good,” Bucky sighs out as his lips move over Tony’s hairline, down his temple, his breath as heated as his words. He shifts his hand a little lower, spreads his fingers wide over the curve of Tony’s ass and pulls him in encouragingly as he growls “C’mon doll, don’t stop, lemme hear you makin' all those pretty noises for me.”

Tony doesn’t need to be told twice, rolls his hips forward again with another muffled groan. “Bucky, oh my god-“ he whines and presses closer, until he can feel Bucky’s cock nudged up thick and hot against his hip. His legs shake and he just clenches them tighter around Bucky’s thigh, tucks his face into Bucky’s throat and grinds himself forward. The sweet friction against his cock has Tony gasping again, shuddering all over as fire races up his spine and his head spins.

“Good, so good sweet thing, fit so perfect against me, gonna take such good care of you, treat you just right,” Bucky says against the shell of his ear and presses his thigh up a little further, digs his metal fingers a little harder into the swell of Tony’s ass and pulls in time with the roll of Tony’s hips against him. When Tony moans and clutches at him tighter Bucky chuckles again, low and dark, and drags his calloused thumb along the line of Tony’s jaw as he asks ”Damn you’re easy for me, ain’t ya? Gonna come like this, grindin’ against me all desperate and shakin’ for it?”

It sends another wave of heated, slightly-embarrassed arousal crashing over Tony and all he can do is whine again because unless Bucky is planning on stopping him, then he absolutely is. At this point Tony couldn't stop himself if he wanted to, cock throbbing and leaking as he grinds himself against Bucky’s thigh, panting hot against the curve of Bucky’s throat.

He can already feel his orgasm building fast, feels like it’s been building forever now, and his voice is shaking as hard as the rest of him as he moans out “Bucky- please, I- I’m, I can’t, please-“ Bucky silences him with a scrape of his teeth over the shell of Tony’s ear that has him practically collapsing against Bucky’s chest, limp except for the way he can’t stop rutting himself against Bucky’s thigh, chasing the sparks that light up his body.

Bucky laughs again, just a low, warm rumble in his chest, and presses another kiss to Tony’s eyebrow before saying “You’re this worked up you better come for me now, babydoll. ‘Cuz I’m gonna take you upstairs an’ take my time with you, make you feel as good as you deserve an’ put you to bed real sweet, how does that sound baby?”

He somehow makes it sound like both a promise and a threat, and Tony chokes out a noise caught somewhere between a sob and a moan. “Y-yeah, fuck yeah that- oh- fuck please-“ Bucky’s fingers press a little more firmly against the base of his skull, sliding through his hair, and Tony feels like he’s burning.

“Good,” Bucky says, an uneven hitch to his breath and Tony can feel the way Bucky’s cock throbs against him, “Fuck, you’re so good sweet thing, so perfect, feel so good, sounds so sweet for me, c’mon Tony, wanna feel you fall apart for me.”

Every word settles hot in Tony’s gut, has his head spinning faster until all he knows is Bucky’s voice in his ear, Bucky’s hands firm and demanding against him, the rush of his own blood in his ear as the pressure builds inside him. His sweats are going to be ruined and Tony doesn’t give a fuck because he’s so close, thin cotton already soaked and clinging to his cock, thrusts of his hips gone short and uncoordinated as his fingers scramble at Bucky’s back.

“Bucky,” he moans out, completely shameless, and drags his teeth over the line of Bucky’s throat, just because he can. Because Tony still kind of can’t believe the way Bucky shakes and groans against him, pulls him in harder and meets every roll of Tony’s hips with one of his own. “God, you’re so- I, I can’t believe- oh- Wanted you so long-“

“I know,” Bucky says, surprisingly soft and something almost like sheepish. He presses his thumb a little harder to the underside of Tony’s chin and tips his head up again, making Tony gasp at the rush of cool air over his flushed face even as he keeps his eyes squeezed shut because it’s so much. He’s so close to breaking apart at every seam. Bucky’s lips brush against his and Tony whimpers even as Bucky says “I see you now baby, been taking care of me for so long, haven’t you? Been so good, takin’ care of yourself so perfect for me, shit- you’re so good for me doll.”

“Bucky,” he gasps again, so close to the edge, every inch of him tingling, burning, so close-

“Look at me, Tony,” Bucky says, barest edge of a demand to his voice and it still has Tony prying his eyes open instantly. Then he groans weakly because Bucky is right there, blue eyes gone nearly dark, wild and hungry and fixed on him like there’s nothing else in the world as he breathes out “now be a good boy and come for me.”

Tony’s orgasm hits him overwhelming and inevitable, leaves him moaning breathlessly and clinging to Bucky impossibly tighter. Bucky’s hand on his ass keeps pulling him in, dragging it out until Tony is shaking and nearly sobbing into the feather light brush of Bucky’s lips against his own as Bucky calls him ‘good’ and ‘perfect’ and ‘gorgeous’.

As soon as he gets back the bare minimum brain cells Tony tips his chin up to kiss Bucky again, blissed out and lazy and it makes him shiver all over again when Bucky clutches at him tighter with a deep groan. Tony has to break away from the kiss sooner than he’d like because he still hasn’t quite caught his breath, hasn’t been able to get his hips to stop twitching forward as aftershocks race through him.

“Damn,” Bucky sighs, one hand petting at Tony’s hair and the other gentling against his waist as Tony slumps against him fully, “Good boy, so good baby, so perfect for me. Let’s get you up into bed, huh? Spread you out real nice and get my mouth on every inch of you.”

And that sounds good, it really does, but Tony can still feel Bucky’s cock thick and hard and throbbing against his hip, and he wants it now. So instead Tony drops to his knees, moving quick enough that he slides easily out of Bucky’s lax grip, presses his face to Bucky’s hip and nuzzles his cheek against the clear outline of Bucky cock through his thin pajamas.

“Fuck-“ Bucky gasps and his fingers tighten in Tony’s hair, holding him in place as his hips jerk forwards. “Damn what a sight you make, you want it that bad, doll?”

Tony turns his head just enough to look up at Bucky, lips moving against the hard line of Bucky’s cock, and he’s never meant anything more as he breathes out “Please, honey.”

Bucky’s eyes get impossibly darker and his cock throbs, the scent of him thick and heady and Tony’s mouth is watering. “We’re still in the kitchen, baby,” Bucky points out, but he’s already hooking his thumb into the front of his pants.

“I can be quick,” Tony promises, smirking a little because Bucky’s hips keep twitching forward against him, parajams visibly wet where they pull tight over the head of his cock, and this isn’t going to take long at all. And Tony really, really doesn’t care right now that he’s in the kitchen in a tower full of insomniacs, all he cares about his getting his mouth on Bucky, making Bucky feel as amazing as he does.

Bucky groans out something that was probably meant to be Tony’s name, but Tony has more important things to focus on because Bucky shoves his pants down far enough for his cock to spring free and Tony wastes no time trying to choke himself on it. He’s so loose-limbed and orgasm-dazed that when Bucky’s cock nudges at the back of his throat Tony just keeps going, only gags a little even as his eyes water and a whine builds in his chest.

“Oh- fuck Tony, so good, you’re so good baby, so- fuck-“ Bucky’s every word comes out rough and gasping and his fingers dig harder into the back of Tony’s neck, hips jerking forward like he just can’t help himself.

Tony moans encouragingly and clings to his hips, presses his nose to Bucky’s stomach and swallows around his cock. Bucky pulls back and then thrusts himself deep into Tony’s throat with another shuddering groan. Then he does it again, and again, until Tony has spit and precome sliding down his chin and arousal building again, almost painful, in his gut.

“Good, fuck you feel so good, you’re so- Tony-“ The way Bucky groans out the compliments, practically snarls his name, sends a hot shiver down Tony’s spine and has shaking all over again.

There’s a desperate moan caught in Tony’s chest that comes bursting out of him when Bucky abruptly tightens his fingers in Tony’s hair and yanks him back, leaves Tony panting for breath. His protest dies away when he opens his eyes and meets Bucky’s gaze, dark and ravenous.

“Open up, sweet thing,” Bucky growls, metal hand flying over his cock and his other hand still holding Tony in place, so close to the flushed, leaking head of Bucky’s cock and yet so far.

Tony doesn’t even need to think before he lets his aching jaw fall all the way open and he doesn’t care that his face is wet, constant pleading noises slipping out of his raw throat. He doesn’t care that he’s kneeling on the hard tile of the kitchen with his own come cooling in his sweats, all he cares about is getting more.

“Good boy,” Bucky gasps, and then finally comes. It streaks warm across Tony’s chin, the bridge of his nose, into his open mouth, and Tony lets his eyes fall closed again with a pleased moan as he runs his tongue over his lip, chasing the musky taste of him. “Fuck- shit, oh, Tony-“ the way Bucky groans out his name is going to stick with Tony for a long, long time, ringing in his ears, lighting him up, and Tony wants to hear it forever.

He’s still catching his breath when Bucky pulls him to his feet, into his arms, and Tony is all too happy to wrap his arms around Bucky’s shoulders, his shaking legs around Bucky’s waist, and let Bucky take his weight. “Okay, now we can go upstairs,” Tony slurs out as he drops his forehead to Bucky’s shoulder, voice rough, still feeling like he’s floating on air.

Bucky laughs, quiet and rumbling, and his hand is so gentle on the back of Tony’s head again as he tucks Tony’s face down into the curve of his neck. It’s definitely smearing Bucky’s shirt in come but if Bucky doesn’t mind then Tony certainly doesn’t care, just snuggles in closer and wonders if it’s actually possible for his heart to swell straight out of his chest.

“Whatever you want, babydoll,” Bucky says, warm and fond, presses a quick kiss to the side of Tony’s head and then starts carrying him towards the elevators. “Gonna take such good care of you, my good boy.”

Tony is pretty sure it’s not physically possible to get any closer, but he wraps himself tighter around Bucky and gives it his best shot and he mumbles “Gonna take care of you back.”

“I know you are, sweet thing, ‘s what makes you amazing,” Bucky says with another warm laugh, and Tony could probably argue that, because he’s really not, but he decides to let Bucky have this one.

For now. Apparently, they’ll have plenty of time to debate it later, over dates, and Tony is so looking forward to it.

Tony wakes up sore in places he didn’t even know he had, teeth marks on his shoulders and stubble burn on his thighs and just- deliriously happy. He can’t even try to convince himself it was some kind of crazy dream, because the physical evidence is kind of overwhelming. The other half of his bed is still warm, and there’s a telling clattering sound coming from his kitchen, and Tony decides he can afford to let himself lay here grinning at the ceiling like a loon for a while.

Soon enough Bucky is back with a giant plate of waffles and a wide smile, pausing in the doorway to drag his eyes down Tony’s bare chest. His hair is a mess and he’s unbearably gorgeous, and Tony smiles back as he realizes he can say it now.

“A beautiful man and breakfast? Help, my heart can’t take it,” Tony says, clutching at his chest with one hand even as he makes grabby motions at Bucky with the other.

“Not funny,” Bucky says, but he’s laughing as he sets the plate down on the nightstand and crawls back into bed, into Tony’s arms, and he’s still smiling softly when Tony pulls him into a kiss.

#The one where bucky gives tony a cookie and then watches him eat it #as i call it in my head #winteriron #buckytony #starkbucks #my fic

367 notes · View notes

ladyloveandjustice · 4 years

Text

Winter 2020 Anime Overview: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

Ok, so let’s get this out of the way first, 1. I adore this story so much and 2. Toilet Bound Hanako-kun has a horrible, horrible English title that is not actually at all representative of the story’s content and I have no idea what happened when it came to the team choosing that name. To the average English-speaking viewer/reader, this name 100% implies gross stuff and bathroom humor, and there is none in this show.

A Japanese reader on the other hand, would be more likely to recognize the name Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun as a spin on the classic ghost story “Hanako-san of the Toilet” only A BOY THIS TIME WHHHHA?” Basically, the story goes that a girl named Hanako in a red skirt haunts girls’ bathrooms in Japanese schools and if you knock on the third stall and call “Hanako-san” three times, she’ll appear. She might grant you a wish or pull you into Hell or something else, it varies.

(Her Wikipedia image, aww.)

Anyway, I dunno why the English title didn’t at least go with “Toilet Ghost Hanako-kun” or something that would have gotten the premise across even a little better (HE NOT TECHNICALLY BOUND BY THE TOILET EVEN, HE CAN GO ANYWHERE IN THE SCHOOL GROUNDS THE BATHROOM IS JUST HIS HOME BASE), but our boy Hanako haunting the girl’s bathroom only leads to broad jokes about our heroine being tasked with cleaning the bathroom and “dude you really shouldn’t be in here” comments, it’s pretty incidental.

Now that THAT’S out of the way, let’s talk about my LOVE FOR THIS STORY

Hanako-kun tells the story of a “regular” high school girl named Nene Yashiro, the mischievous and mysterious school ghost she befriends, and all the other weird monsters, exorcists, spirits and curses they encounter. It’s got a gorgeous, colorful bold aesthetic and art style that combines gothic and cute! It has a great mix of humor, intrigue, angst and fantasy action. basically if you love ghosts, monsters, Japanese mythology and legends, supernatural-human relationships, supernaturally fueled angst and drama, stories about trying to fix an unfair system the world has set up, wistful romance, a good shoujo manga with a Lot of Feelings (yes this is a shonen technically I’ll explain that later), weirdo dorks becoming friends AND MUCH MORE...this story will have something that will resonate with you. It’s got a lot going on, and it’s a ton of fun.

Hanako-kun is really one of those surprising stories that fits right into a hole in my story-loving heart I didn’t realize was still there, or that I’d actually been carrying since childhood. I love ghosts, see, and have since I was a kid!!! I knew this, but I kinda forgot how intensely I love them until this show reminded me again??? That’s because regular ghost stories/mysteries/whatever- I like them, but they don’t quite do it for me in the way more character-driven ones exploring the nature of being a ghost and humans and ghosts trying understand each other etc do. Stuff that really gets into the tragedy AND the fun fantasy aspect of ghosts, and plays the long game with it- and Hanako-kun scratches that itch perfectly.

Getting a little bit deeper into the premise of Hanako-kun, Nene is a very brave and sweet but not-all-that-bright girl (or, to put it more bluntly, she’s an idiot in the best way) who has a lot of romantic fantasies and insecurities and is VERY focused on them. After hearing a rumor at school that “Hanako-san of the bathroom” will grant wishes, she wishes to be able to confess to her crush and finds out its actually a weird ghost boy her age named Hanako haunting the bathroom! A lot of things happen, and she ends up cursed and bound to Hanako-kun, but also ends up slowly forming a friendship.

Turns out Hanako is the ghost in charge of the “seven mysteries/wonders” aka seven powerful supernatural entities that haunt this school (he’s number seven). These apparitions only supposed to terrorize students a LITTLE, because apparitions need to have rumors spread about them to remain in the human world.

(‘HAVE YOU HEARD?’ Oh hey shadow girls from Utena see you’ve moved to a new school.)

The rumors also generally dictate how powerful and dangerous the apparitions actually are- but SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS is changing the rumors around the school and making the apparitions go berserk and actually harm humans. So Hanako needs a human assistant to change the rumors and help him calm and seal the apparitions! That’s where Nene comes in.

Hanako himself is a very fun character- he’s very chaotic and revels in his whole “ gremlin ghost” persona, and is upfront about being a bit of an asshole. BUT he also makes his kindness, often good intentions and the fact he’ll have his friends back when it counts obvious from the beginning. B U T! He’s also got darkness and hidden depths to explore, and a lot of his persona is affected and masks deeper issues!

Our ghost boy is genuinely A TAD unstable deep down (as in he straight up has several untreated PTSD symptoms and that’s as disastrous as you’d expect) and packing some serious tragic backstory, as you might expect from a kid who died young and carries around a butcher’s knife, and it’s gonna come back to bite him and and all who care about him hard.

Especially when an overly enthusiastic exorcist named Kou Minamoto shows up! Kou is another one who’s very dumb and very good, a wannabe-shonen-protag with a heart of gold and strong sensitive, domestic side. He rounds out our main trio. Also he gets a tragic, emotionally intense relationship with yet another ghost boy that sings to my heart.

(Yes Hanako’s helping Nene to do the thing)

You may be able to tell, this story has INTENSE good-shoujo vibes despite technically being a shonen in a way that I love- it’s story very driven by big emotions, a variety of fucked up and tragically complex relationships, teen hormones running wild, etc, and it’s just delicious.

Nene is the normal-person-audience-surrogate-girl in a way that is more common for a shoujo protag, and the way her emotional connections to everyone, her sweeping romantic fantasies and her interiority are consistently in focus when she’s there- yeah, she’s definitely a plucky shoujo protag, 100%. And I’m all about that!!!

One thing I especially appreciate (though this comes across more strongly in the manga than the anime thanks to the anime rearranging things) is when Nene finds out about Hanako’s Heavy Baggage, she actually takes some time to herself to consider whether she can handle dealing with someone with these intense issues as a kid who’s never encountered stuff like this before- it’s not assumed by the story that the Sweet Girl is Obligated to help the Tragic Boy. I go into more detail about this part in this part here, but it’s that kind of attention to Nene’s needs that makes her role in the story work. Hanako and Nene and everyone’s struggles to get the hang of and properly navigate honest communication and mutual support in relationships are often really great and real-feeling

The story has a lot more things I love packed in to it- a dorky-but-still-deeply-unsettling villain gang who’s screwed up interactions are just as fun as our protagonists, yokai, A CURSED LIBRARY, some great ladies in addition to Nene, meditations on the nature of life, death, themes about fighting nihilism, and so on...I could seriously go on forever. It’s good stuff, and there’s lots of good weird supernaturals to meet.

The story’s also got tons of intrigue! The overarching plot and Hanako’s Mysterious Past is still in the process of unfolding, but it’s been great drama every step of the way! As mentioned before, the story also really relies on funny character dynamics, interaction and development to carry the whole thing and balance the drama.

The anime itself does have some pacing issues bc they crammed a lot into the first season and rearranged some stuff- an entire two chapter arc was skipped and was unlikely to be covered in the anime and some parts are noticeably rushed. I still really like the anime and it’s a solid adaptation. I love how much of the manga’s detailed aesthetic it managed to keep as well as the amazing voice acting and it made a few small but important additions. But there are some notable bumps- of course this just led me to go binge the manga (up to volume 12 is legally available digitally) and BOY DO I NOW LOVE THIS STORY EVEN MORE.

Now obviously, just because it is Exactly My Shit in a lot of ways doesn’t mean Hanako-kun is the much quested for “unproblematic fave”, there’s several caveats you should probs be aware of- its shoujo vibes also mean some classic shoujo ~Problematic tropes~ and a couple shounen ones.

THE LIST:

-Just as a general content overview thing: if this wasn’t clear the show deals heavily with death, body horror and other horror aspects. There’s heavily implied suicide and abuse and so on- as mentioned, the main character is traumatized and shows a lot of symptoms of PTSD, and Nene has to struggle to navigate her relationship with him because of this, as does Kou.

-Hanako himself has the whole ~loveable pervert~ and ~slightly possessive shoujo bad boy~ schtick going as part of his mischevious persona. In the anime so far, he never actually gropes or comments on not-in-his-naughty-mags-people’s breasts or anything of that level thankfully, but he’s very flirty, clingy, will loudly bring up porn, fond of the ol’ *says something that purposefully sounds sexually possessive* HAHAHA U THOUGHT I MEANT SOMETHING DIRTY RIGHT LOL ACTUALLY I DIDN’T.”

(My unnecessary ‘this part is kinda interesting!’ ramble: Nene always lists “sexual harassment” among Hanako’s flaws (she loves listing them), but doesn’t get visibly uncomfortable with his flirtiness or seem to mind it most times, which at least makes the whole thing more tolerable for me.

(since she doesn’t seem to mind that part and its clear he does it bc of actual affection for her, it’s actually p. cute how huggy he is.)

The one time it does cross the line and genuinely upset her, it’s treated seriously, Hanako is genuinely regretful and apologizes. That’s one of my fave moments in the story and the way it’s handled is well done.

This incident that he’s honestly pretty socially clueless as kid who died young and a lot of his bravado is to cover that up and keep people at a distance- this is a trope into itself that can use unpacking but I do at least appreciate that this is a considered character trait that’s part of his whole messed up package rather than something that thrown in there Just to Be a Fanservice Trope. (Especially since the manga confirms he never acted particularly pervy while alive, further cementing this is an affected persona).

-There’s a running gag around Nene’s insecurity over her thick ‘daikon shaped’ ankles and boys treating her badly for it.

One one hand, her body image issues are relatable, on the other, it feels cruel and annoying just how much the show finds ways to bring it up and humiliate her over and over again.

(My unnecessary “this is part is kinda interesting” ramble:The one thing i did realize that despite bringing it up constantly, we at least have no “i’m going to do this to lose weight” or “go on a diet” rhetoric,like this is just part of Nene’s body type and she knows she can’t change it? Which is kinda interesting. And I’ve spotted what might be foreshadowing something plot relevant’s going to happen with her ankles (I DON’T KNOW HOW, BUT GOD I PUT NOTHING PAST THIS STORY) so uh yeah??? either way it’s not good tho)

-”Obsessive and twisted love” is a running theme in this story, and while it’s generally acknowledged as unhealthy, it can be played for comedy in a way that could make viewers/readers uncomfortable. There’s a couple characters who’s entire thing so far is “obsessively in love with this one person” (and the one only focused on in the manga so far is one of the least interesting characters tbh ugh)

-The antagonist of the show is a member of a main character’s family, and the manner he acts towards pretty much everyone, including (and really especially) his family member, verges on seductive. This is presented as deliberately unsettling and treated as a marker of how unstable and scary he is- and though the backstory between them hasn’t been fully delved into, it’s pretty much all but confirmed he abused this family member physically and emotionally.

-The story has like, A LOT of queer subtext and pretty-heavy queer coding for one character especially, but the few times queerness blatantly comes up in the story, it’s played as a joke in the “haha that’d be kinda weird” way (aside from the rando boys who have a crush on Teru, handled pretty neutrally). It’s not as malicious as a lot of animanga can get (ONE MANGA INCIDENT ASIDE), but it’s something to Be Aware Of, and it makes it clear we’re unlikely to see subtext rise to text and makes some moments feel baity.

-And probably more I might have missed! The manga also has Some Shit in addition all the Good Shit that hasn’t been adapted yet, an early arc has Hanako crossing a serious line etc.

BUT despite how messy it is, I think it’s clear I have a lot of love for this story. In fact, I wouldn’t trade away a good chunk of its messiness (DEFINITELY SOME JUST NOT ALL), it kinda works for the characters and works in the “this story really feed my inner teen” way. Some of the trashy parts are exactly My Trash, basically.

So, I knew I’d ramble on for a while when I talked about his show, but if you’ve read this far, thanks, and I hope that means you’re gonna check out and maybe enjoy this story, bc i need more people to join me in Hanako Hell.

#toilet bound hanako kun #jibaku shounen hanako kun #jibaku shonen hanako kun #winter 2020 anime #anime overview #hanako kun #nene yashiro #yashiro nene #kou minamoto #minamoto kou #yugi amane #amane yugi #my reviews

125 notes · View notes

phoenotopia · 4 years

Text

2020 May Update

I hope you're all staying safe and healthy during this time of Coronavirus!

We continue towards the finish line, slowly, but surely. Coronavirus did throw a few wrenches in our plans. Our talks with a publisher about a possible sponsored appearance at an upcoming event stalled.

But that was always just a possibility. We have a backup plan. If we didn't win a sponsor, we were just going to pay our own way to a convention. That's what most indies do! Anyway, that's canceled too. It doesn't seem like there'll be any conventions to showcase in the near future...

Nevertheless, we did move forward in other areas. We've got the press materials ready as well as the game's official launch site up. You can view it in its prelaunch state at this link. NOTE, It is in a "prelaunch" state, so some media links are being withheld until reveal time. But there are a bunch of new pictures and artwork you can look at.

You might notice the link reads "phoenotopia.wordpress.com". The plan is to direct "phoenotopia.com" to it in the near future. That means if you wanted to reach this tumblr specifically, you'll have to visit it at its tumblr link, "phoenotopia.tumblr.com" (which, I just noticed doesn't work... huh). Anyway, since this is a dev blog, I'll talk a little bit about the journey of creating the website.

SQUARESPACE vs WIX vs WORDPRESS

I actually tried 3 different services (in the above order), before I settled on wordpress. I did a bunch of researching, and most reviews seemed to point at WIX >= SQUARESPACE >>> WORDPRESS.

I went with Squarespace first, since it was recommended a bunch on some youtube videos I saw (guess marketing works). Even though it didn't win outright in the reviews, my impression of it was "less quantity, but more quality." I tried it and found it serviceable. It was kinda sluggish, with some not so intuitive areas. I had to ask for help a few times for some things that would seem simple ("how do I change the BG and font color and of the music player?", etc).

That was last year, when I *thought* I was near launch and would need a press site soon. One year later (present day), it was time to create a press site again, and since my website with Squarespace expired (I had only signed up for a trial period), it was a good opportunity to try Wix, especially since Pirate had lots of praise for Wix.

My impression of Wix was that it was... too distracting. After I chose a theme, in the editor view I felt bombarded by menus. Everywhere you move the mouse, things kept lighting and popping up. And it was slow. So I guess it was sorta like Squarespace, but maybe even a little worse?

(Easy ways to preview the website from phones and tablets was one of wordpress’s neat features)

What prompted me to try Wordpress was one of their slogans "35% of the web uses WordPress". If it's good enough for 35% of websites, it's good enough for me! I ended up liking it most of all. It's definitely less featured, which suited me, since I'm not trying to create something too fancy either. Unlike the other website builders which emphasize free-form, wordpress was more rigid. I couldn't drag and drop an element just anywhere - I found that comforting in a "I can't screw this up" sorta way. The most important thing was that it was fast. Loading the editor view to Wix took 11 seconds vs 4 seconds with Wordpress. And the speed advantage of wordpress extends across every action. Similarly, when Chrome launched 10+ years ago, it was also less featured vs Firefox, but it became my choice browser. I guess speed is something I value highly.

Anyway, my experience is from a drag/drop perspective with minimal coding. This is also NOT a paid advertisement. However, if wordpress would like to send some money my way, I would not be opposed... (call me!)

Achievements, Bugfixes, and Cleanup

Lots of small tasks and polish was done over the past 2 months. I finally fixed the time tracking bug - important because the Speed Run achievement depended on it. I also finally finished implementing all the technical stuff for the achievements. There was a bug where some enemies would stack up too many light sources, causing them to appear too bright and drain system resources. That's now also fixed. Lots of other small ones that don't bear mentioning.

A neat trivia about the game is that there's a final super hard achievement for those seeking to prove their mastery over the game. The player has to beat the game having never picked up a heart or energy upgrade. When playing under this constraint, some enemies can even kill the player in one hit! In the game's most current iteration, even I failed to achieve it, so I'm definitely going to have to go in and tweak things a little more.

Age Ratings

I went and got the game's age rating. I did a little research on this - it's quite fascinating. ESRB would be the age ratings board for the United States (where I'm based). But if you were in Europe, you'd get a PEGI rating. Then there's ACB for Australia and so forth. So if you wanted to launch a game globally, you'd have to deal with this process over and over, and each country rates things a little differently... that's a lot of work!

Enter IARC (International Age Rating Coalition), which aimed to simplify the process by being the one standard that you apply to, and from which you could then get the equivalent rating for all participating countries. IARC is an entirely automated process - probably necessary due to the boom of digital titles across all platforms, particularly mobile.

IARC is great for me, because they relaxed the standards for getting a rating. From my understanding, the process used to be more difficult. And you'd have to pay ESRB a hefty chunk to get a rating, but with IARC, it's totally free! So long as it's for digital and it's used only on licensed sites and store fronts. If I wanted to launch the game physically, I'd have to deal with ESRB on an individual basis again.

Without further ado, here's Phoenotopia's IARC ratings:

Fascinating... Phoenotopia is rated "Mature" in Australia... but for "Horror". Which seems suspect. The horror elements are rare (remember Dreadlands?). But when I was answering their questionnaire, they provided a video example of what they considered "horror", and it was pretty mild. About as mild as my game, so I checked that box. It is what it is...

We also got a "Teen" rating for ESRB for reasons of Fantasy Violence and "Mild Blood". This one is kinda iffy. In the game, if you hit a giant bug, it spits out a few drops of green blood. Does that really count as blood? Ocarina of time skirted by with an E rating 2 decades ago, and it let a dude spit out green blood. However, since IIARC is an automated process, I didn't see any place to dispute. But also, I wouldn't have disputed it anyway. A "T" rating is cooler than an "E" rating!

I'd like to mention this is not a paid advertisement for IARC. However, if IARC would like to send some money my way, I would not be opposed... (call me!)

Submission

I expect to polish the game for about 2 (maybe 3) more weeks. After which, I'll be submitting the game to the console "authority". From my understanding, I'll then have to wait a month while they "inspect" the title. After which, I'm then cleared to have an official launch date - which I'll probably set to be 1 month after getting approval.

So the plan is to have a very short marketing campaign. The reveal trailer will basically drop 1 month before release. And we're going to sprint to the finish line. Some marketing campaigns are 6 months to a couple years. Ours will be one month... Let's hope it works.

Wrench

That's what the plan looks like right now, but there is a possible upcoming wrench in this whole thing. I recently learned that my version of Unity is too old. Games running on old Unity versions are not automatically accepted - so I'll have to apply for an exemption. If the exemption gets rejected, we can't launch without upgrading, which will require *significant* work...

This came as a surprise to me. When I started dabbling in games development a decade ago, the most common advice I found online was "Make Games, not Game Engines." I interpreted this to mean lock in your technologies. There's always going to be a new and shinier bell or whistle, but if you keep chasing it, you're not going to work on the actual content of the game. That's probably what kept me to releasing the original game on Flash. That was a game I was making as a hobby while working a full-time job. By the time I quit my job to go full-time indie dev, Flash had long been a dead technology. But I remembered "do you want to build game engines or games?" And so I pressed forward.

So that mindset could potentially backfire here. If PC was the lead SKU, we wouldn't have these issues since PC is more relaxed as a platform. Consoles, as I'm now learning, have an ever forward shifting window of technologies. If we get rejected for the exemption, there's a couple ways we can play it. One, we go through the pain of upgrading which will take months... Two, we pivot and make PC the lead SKU again, but have to handle porting that plus its specific features, which will also take months...

So why is updating such a big issue? Unity has changed drastically over the years. When I started, it was a lot less 2D friendly. They didn't have an official 2D tilemap solution, so you had to build your own or buy a 3rd party library from their asset store. I used 2DTK for tilemaps - 2DTK is now entirely deprecated. Similarly, I had to search for and purchase a good asset to display crisp text - since you couldn't even do that in Unity back then (heh). That's the story for a lot of old Unity stuff. Think of it as a first mover's "disadvantage".

Hopefully it won't come to that, since I'm pretty spent as a developer. I've been ready for this to be over, and I know many of you feel the same. Hopefully soon! As usual, I'll update in 2 months at the latest (end of June). An update might come earlier if we have some good news to share sooner. Until then!

Fanart and Cosplay

This first picture comes from roccy_chair and shows Gail basked in light. I like how her pose and equipment together form an "X". That's a neat hidden symmetry. The way she floats also kinda reminds me of Crono's "Shining" spell. Perhaps Gail should have the ability to cast spells? Hmmm...

Cody G returns with a new art depicting the 2 Moonstone enthusiasts. I like Fran's starry-eyed expression here. That's true love on display. I also like how the Moonstones are depicted as flat and coin-shaped. Very unique! Also note Gail makes an appearance in the back :D

Thanks to M1shaaa for this cosplay of Gail! There's a lot to like here! The vibrant pink hair. The costume with 3 stitches across the vest. The pose with slingshot, accurate to Gail's depiction in the box art. Amazingly, this might also be the very *first* cosplay of Gail! Will and Pirate both alerted me about it excitedly since they were pretty stoked. We joked that we crossed the final milestone in terms of fandom.

43 notes · View notes

kidscoding-blog1 · 5 years

Text

Top 15 Coding Games For Kids to Learn Programming

As Technologies is now Controlling our coding for beginners Planet and everything is Getting digitized, studying computer skills could be stated to be the simple requirement of one hour. Like food, clothes and shelter will be the basic should live on the planet, and fairly soon we may also should add Coding. Coding is a huge deal at this time, studying basic computer programming is not only a wise concept, it is a vital ability for grown-ups and kids.

Build simple websites and games can help them refine their layout, logic and problem-solving skills. It is going to also permit them to share their thoughts and imagination in a unique manner. We already know gambling promotes discovery, interaction, trial-and-error. To understand which language your children are going to be considering, you can have a look at the hottest programming languages. A player who plays more matches is very likely to learn his abilities as time passes. We'll take a look at a number of the coding games that help children in generating new games while teaching them new technology. Codewars offer classes They clinic'kata' exercises that make them speed towards an entire proficiency of the own code. Well-experienced users may use the huge library gift there. They can also interact with other people in the area for any query. It can be a fantastic kids coding tool for children who wish to learn how to program. To be able to use the sport, you want to login into the website and utilize codes to assault or ward off your enemies from the game.

CodeCombat Is a moderate to understand computer science whilst playing a real sport. Code Combat does an superb job of fun while teaching. Code Combat teaches children to code using a multiplayer programming match.

CodinGame Every puzzle or game features a different theme such as shooting down airplanes from a turret which approaching too near. It's both single player and multiplayer options and participate in leaderboards to get really deep into the contest.

Robocode Is a intricate programming game in which you code to the robot tans participated in a struggle with one another. In Robocode, your job involves creating a digital tank in Java or another language, which you may send to resist another user-generated robots.

Code hunt Is a game which may be operated in C# and Java. The game is intended to educate you on the fundamentals of whatever language you pick. Here you begin using coaching, proceed through the upcoming steps such as loops and strings and eventually end with intermediate challenges such as Cyphers and Puzzles. In this match, you have to figure out the way to acquire every level.

Code Monkey is a award-winning educational programming game that helps children learn how to code in a really easy method. In every level, the children have to use unique codes to help the monkey achieve their destination (bananas). Here the child must use his imagination alongside some basic programming skills to finish his Wikipedia Programming assignment. It's acceptable for novices as its really easy with small complications and computer abilities.

Robozzle Is as a mystery game. Programming thoughts to the youngsters. It helps in educating the children the art of Programming logic by means of a set of exciting and hard community-created puzzles. Kids in making their own matches.

#coding for kids coding for beginners coding classes for kids coding games for beginners

1 note · View note

teaandgames · 6 years

Text

The Science of Stress Relief

So, a few weeks ago I spoke about how I played Viscera Cleanup Detail as a way of calming down. It’s a very peaceful game, despite not looking like it on the surface. After all, you’re basically cleaning up body parts and wiping up blood. A job with unique stresses perhaps, but it chilled me out. It had simple goals and allowed you to approach things your way and at your own pace. It was a similar situation with Stardew Valley. Basic goals but how you do things is up to you and you’re never really punished for larking about.

This brings me on to an unusual member of the crowd: Red Faction: Guerilla. Specifically, Red Faction: Guerilla Re-Mars-Tered. As with most of these remakes, it’s been so long since I’ve played the original that I don’t notice any graphical upgrades at all. No matter, that’s a subject for the revisit. Instead, I’m more interested in the stress relief element. Smashing up buildings with a big old hammer is not unique as far as stress relief goes, but boy is it effective. But I want to throw this manic destressing into sharp relief by mentioning a game that does stress me out - and how that can be good too. The game I’m using? Pyre.

First, let’s focus on Red Faction. Playing it, I’m reminded of that scene in Brooklyn Nine-Nine where they celebrate a hen party by smashing up an old restaurant with hammers. Anyone who’s broken old tiles knows that hammers are fun to use. Red Faction captures that feeling very well. The buildings may look like they’re made out of cardboard and prayers, but smashing chunks out of them with a hammer is incredibly satisfying. Even when thirty people are firing at you at the same time.

It works because, outside of the structured missions and challenges, it doesn’t hold your hand. It gives you a range of targets and a suite of tools with which to accomplish your goal. My favourite of these targets was a giant bridge, spanning a hefty gorge. I tackled it using only explosives and my hammer, chiseling away at it until it all fell down. Cars would come piling on to it only to fall through the gaps. It was poetry and it was all my work. There was little punishment for slipping up and dying. It was only a short drive back. It was the lack, perhaps, of any responsibility that made it so fun. I could do it when I wanted and how I wanted.

I think that’s the key point in all of this and it’s why I find games like these so relaxing. In Viscera Cleanup Detail, you’re only timed because of a basic leaderboard. Honestly? I really don’t care about that. Otherwise it’s just about getting the job done. There’s no failure state. The same with Stardew Valley. Even though it dangles over the whole ‘three years’ thing, it’s by no means a solid ending. You’re free to farm, and romance, how you want without the threat of ever being thrown out of the community. There’s no responsibility to anything or anyone. You just do what you want. After a long, hard day at work, isn’t that what you want to do?

It’s why, I think, The Sims has never been that relaxing to me. The idea that goofing off will literally kill the digital version of myself is not a relaxing thought. But that doesn’t stop it being fun and I think that’s a key point. Some games will relax me and some will stress me. But this is good stress; emotional stress we should perhaps say. For extreme examples, we can see games like Dark Souls that stress people out enough for them to wonder whether taking their next breath is really worth it. But to really explain what I’m talking about, let’s turn to Pyre.

On the surface, it’s not remotely stressful. It’s beautifully designed, both aesthetically and audibly. The characters are well written and all diverse. I’m not here to smother it in praise (at least until I review it), so I’ll cut to the chase. The Rites stress me out and I love it. See, sometimes having responsibility is a good thing. It brings you closer to the characters, in a way. For those that don’t know, Pyre is centered around a core group of characters who have all been exiled for various reasons. In order for them to rejoin society, they have to compete in the rites. For complicated reasons, you control them when these rites happen. Think basketball but the winner gets the entire Euromillions jackpot.

It’s stressful because it puts responsibility on your head. Suddenly, a failure state isn’t solvable by a quick reload and a loss of cash. Not a game, then, that you would play after a bad day. I don’t want a beloved character disappointed in me when I’m already feeling bad. Instead, it’s a game when you want to eschew these mortal chains and really get into something. It’s really quite an emotional state and I think it highlights what games can do that other mediums can’t. Pyre is ninety percent a visual novel, which usually isn’t my cup of tea. I struggle to connect when I’m just blinking through text. Pyre does more by forcing you to juggle these characters lives.

So it’s in an opposite emotional state to my previous relaxing games. I cared about my friends in Stardew Valley, true, but I never ended up shouting swear words when I couldn’t get them the melon they asked for. Pyre highlights what I look for in games - an emotional connection. Sometimes games do that by chilling me out. Red Faction Guerilla does that, in spite of a fairly dull plot and cast. Other games stress me out by making me care. Pyre does that. In the end, we can reduce it down to responsibility. Sometimes, all you want is no responsibilities. A clean slate. But when you’re in the mood, by heck can they pile them on.

If there is a message at the end of this, it’s that you need to pull what you want out of your library. There’s a lot in Red Faction Guerilla that can stress me out. The missions; the dull plot. Similarly, Pyre’s rites can be dull. Rather, you need to approach your games with a goal in mind. Whether it’s to muck about in a sandbox or chum around with some friends. These games are relaxing when I go in with the right frame of mind. I disliked Viscera Cleanup Detail until I put music on. Forget what the game is telling you. Embrace it how you want.

#pyre #Red Faction Guerilla #red faction guerilla re-mars-tered #Viscera Cleanup Detail #Stardew Valley #Gaming #Video Games #Tea And Video Games #Editorial #Article

12 notes · View notes

melissagt · 6 years

Note

Hi! I absolutely love all your creations and I was wondering what program you used to make your models? You've really inspired me to try my own hand at this type of stuff, but it's alllll new to me, so help would be appreciated!!

Hi there, and I’m so glad you like them! I use a program called Daz3D. It is a free piece of software that can be used to render rigged models, most often Daz proprietary models, props, and clothing. The software itself is free, but unfortunately, pretty much nothing to use with it is.

I would never try to caution someone against getting into rendering because it is fun once you get the hang of it and have a decent library of resources to play with, but there are a few things that folks often don’t realize (and I didn’t at first either). So, here’s the skinny…

1 - Cost. CostCostCost. As I said above, the software itself is free. However, the models and clothing and props and lights to go with it are not. I have a library of…maybe about ten different Daz-Branded models (a mix of male and female). Each model can range from about $30 on sale, to over $100. And if you want the model to be anatomically correct, you have to buy the ‘Pro’ version, which is over $100. Sometimes you can snag them on sale - I just bought two new ones (one male and one female) for 60% off, but it still adds up. Then there are the various characters you can buy for those models…each one ranging from about $10 or more depending on level of complexity (the most expensive I’ve seen was I think like $45, but she came with hair and an outfit). These base characters, along with purchasable ‘morphs’ are what allow you to create your own special faces and customized body shapes. Clothes. Shoes. Props. Lights. Backgrounds. Poses. You -do not- want to know how much money I’ve invested in this stuff. Too much. So much so that I won’t even tell my bf how much I’ve spent because I know he’d blow a gasket (we’re supposed to be saving up for a house). It’s an addiction, one that can be hard to stop. At this point, I really only try to buy stuff when it’s on sale for a deep discount.

2 - Hardware. Daz3D utilizes two different rendering engines, 3Delight, which is old and less resource-hungry (but also results in less-than-realistic images), and NVIDIA IRAY. As you might suspect, because I included the word ‘NVIDIA’, IRAY is a NVIDIA resource. Which means that if you have an AMD graphics card, too bad, so sad….you’re s.o.l. However, even you do have a NVIDIA card, rendering with the IRAY system is hardcore. Like…ultra hardcore. You need the horsepower to back it. Here are my system specs - AMD RYZEN 7 1800X Octa-Core w/ NZXT X62 AIO Cooler MSI Gaming Pro-Carbon Mobo 32GB 3200 Corsair Vengeance RAM EVGA GTX 1080TI FTW3 11GB GPU EVGA SuperNOVA 850 P2 Platinum PSU Corsair Crystal 570X Tempered Glass Case (all fans upgraded) Samsung 960 EVO 250GB M.2 (operating system) Samsung 960 EVO 1TB M.2 (games and rendering which is almost full) Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (games) Western Digital Black 3TB (storage) Western Digital Black 4TB (backup) Western Digital 3TB External (backup) Carbonite (online backup) Acronis True Image 2018 (local backup software)

Don’t ask how much all that cost (like srsly…don’t, lol). And with all that…some renders have still taken several hours to finish. And sometimes, I have to do several passes to blend them all together in Photoshop.

3 - Learning Curve. Yes, you can render out of the box. But, as with any art, you want to make things your own. That leads to customization. Make your own lights. Make your own backdrops. Customize those textures. I’m playing constantly with stuff in Photoshop. That leads to other things, like learning what a bump map is…what a normal map does…what subsurface scattering is for. Learning the basics of photography and composition is also a ginormous help.

4 - Additional Software. Just like above, you -can- make renders with only using DAZ3D. But, if you want to take it to that next level, that means learning things like Photoshop, which adds to the cost. There are free options, such as GIMP, but I never could get a handle on its rat’s nest of a UI…probably because I learned with Photoshop from Day 1 (I have a background of photography and modding other video games). There’s also 3D modeling software. A free option is Blender, but I just couldn’t get a grip on it (seriously, I tried, lol). I ended up dropping entirely too much money on Zbrush. I also use Mudbox to paint the tattoos I make directly onto the model. The tattoos are designed in Photoshop, but arranged in Mudbox.

All this adds up to time and money and patience and practice. Practice.Practice.Practice. I’d imagine it’s like that with any type of art.

Again, I’m not trying to chase anybody away. It really is fun. And I love being able to show people how I’ve always envisioned these characters in my head. Folks especially seem to like my version of Theron, lol. But, it’s also a cautionary tale…because I got in over my head with the money. Thankfully, it’s the one hobby I’ve been spending money on at the moment, so I’ll be okay, lol. But, when I started this journey, I had no idea. None. You see this advertisement for FREE software and then you find out that it’s really not free, lol. Like, at all. It’s also why I’d love for there to be interest in adopting some of my peeps...because it would be hella-nice to make back some of my crazy investment, if only a drop in the giant-ass bucket, lol.

Anyways, I hope that helps!

3 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

Evil Season 2 Finally Indulges Creepy Doll Horror

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Evil review contains spoilers.

Evil Season 2 Episode 12

Pinocchio, your strings are showing. Creepy dolls don’t have to walk, talk, or wet themselves to capture paranoid attention. Chuckie, Annabelle, Talking Tina, and the Killer Krusty Doll from The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror III” all bring solace to some, and torture to others. Eddie graduates from recurring character to monster-of-the-week in Evil season 2 episode 12 “D Is for Doll,” but will he live on in future episodes, or become another loose string in the fabric of the series?

As a favor to Kristen’s (Katja Herbers) therapist, the team is watching a man whose son is being pushed around by what might be a demonic infestation, or it might just be a doll which has seen too many Twilight Zone episodes. After a search of the house, a doll is found wrapped like a mummy, in a box which is secured by chains, which has water damage not caused by weather or pipes. The entire attic where it is found smells “like something died” in it, according to Ben (Aasif Mandvi). The object doesn’t breathe, move, or talk. It appears to be an inanimate, hand-made creation, but it communicates with its owners. The now-deceased mother of the battered fifteen-year-old gave the doll treats, and did whatever it wanted. Until she didn’t, and died.

The little boy who Kristen’s daughter Lynn (Brooklyn Shuck) babysits also follows his doll’s instructions. He doesn’t even want to play hide and seek in his own house, because his Eddie doll doesn’t like to share, and doesn’t play well with others. All this seems to mean the doll communicates, but it can also be something communicating through the doll. During one sequence Sheryl (Christine Lahti) finds herself in possession of more than one of the porcelain-faced figurines she makes financial sacrifices to. They are not the only Eddie dolls on display during the episode, but while Sheryl seems genuinely surprised by the extra toy friend, she knows exactly what to do with it.

Having two dolls present at a ritual appears to add power to the proceedings. The sequence reminded me of the film The Ninth Gate, where the real directions for a true satanic ceremony is spread out among three books, and knowing how to decipher Lucifer’s cipher. Edward (Tim Matheson) is playing a dangerous game with Sheryl. For himself, of course, she gets a little slap-happy towards the end. Edward thinks he can teach a Pavlovian dog new tricks, but Sheryl’s bark has more bite than he can chew. He does leave a nice parting gift – a family heirloom which doubles as its crest on the tablet of sigils. We don’t yet know the significance of the cryptic scroll, but it looks like a pre-digital Ancestry.com for demon spawn.

The generational specimen, kept in a mason jar, interacts very well with the two Eddies.

“D Is for Doll” opens with Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin) pouring the aggression into passive aggressive power plays. T is for trouble when the good sister is doling out the sugar cubes. She and Leland (Michael Emerson) have been performing graceless duets since their first pirouette at knifepoint, and are highlights in any episode. Leland is trying to make headway with Monseigneur Matthew Korecki (Boris McGiver), desperately squeezing his attention between his job as a hellcat and the interloper standing in his way. Leland is pressuring the Monseigneur into giving him a full-time position at the church, overseeing the recently possessed and offering counsel and consolation for their continued contrition. Sister Andrea is such a force in the room, she is basically cast out by the most superior official. It is a perfect beginning, comic, tense, and conspiratorial.

Sister Andrea’s scenes with David Acosta (Mike Colter) are no less spectacular, though far more intimate. The two characters are truly in a world of their own, separated from even their peers by a real calling, and a true mission, and the actors who play them leave emotional restraint at the door. Each has been more vulnerable, but together they are able to examine the root cause and determine personal responsibility. Martin and Colter allow doubts, recriminations and defiance full reign in their immediate consciousness, but never once lose perspective or make a false reach. They say twice as much because they make apparent the ideas they are biting back. In a sense, it’s as much fun as watching Kristen in the wine barrel during “S Is for Silence.”

The other unsung fun moment comes from a very unsuspected character, Kristen’s therapist Dr. Kurt Boggs (Kurt Fuller). He’s decided to follow the team around on their latest investigation. It’s part of his finder’s fee, he brought the case to their attention and is owed bigtime for being bashed by Kristen’s paranoiac outburst. He wants to write a book about it, he tells Ben as the Magnificent one is listening to walls creak. Is he annoying? Yes, but it is all worth it for the way Boggs says “no” after Ben asks if David approved of his kibbitzing.

The countdown to ordination is running down and David is playing the field. But he’s not one for ex-priests who think the Catholic Church is too much like the mafia. David has more of a problem with Gregory Biel, the layman expert called to exterminate the demonic infestation, but who is really there for comic relief. His performance recalls both The Stupendous Yappi (Jaap Broeker) from The X-Files, and Mr. Bookman, the library detective from Seinfeld. If Leland gets any say in the investigative team’s personnel, Gregory is the obvious choice to replace Kristen. It’s written in his book, the “Gospel of Gregory.”

The “D Is for Doll” page in the Pop-Up Book of Terrifying Things MMXXI comes late in the episode, because Evil is toying with us. Eddie may correspond to the sigil or counteract its hierarchy, but it might be in need of a full set. Sheryl should try Etsy.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Evil airs Sundays on Paramount+.

The post Evil Season 2 Finally Indulges Creepy Doll Horror appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3orI4RR

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

0 notes

douchebagbrainwaves · 6 years

Text

OK, I'LL TELL YOU YOU ABOUT OUTCOME

You're committing not just to learn about are the needs of your own users, and all users care about is whether your product does what they want, which happens to be written in itself. Here I'm going to give you the first part of it. Do popular languages deserve their popularity? Real hackers won't turn up their noses at a new tool that will let them solve hard problems with a few library calls. A language that would be better for programming. In the capital cost of a business offering a server-based applications, more and more types of work. We wrote what was, as far as I can tell you how much an expert can know about it, and b it's worth spending a lot to market it. The nature of speed, as perceived by the end-user applications. Most people should still be searching breadth-first at 20. If you want to, but talking to them when they're ready to, but the entire town.

One of the most distinctive things about startup hubs is the degree to which people help one another are both artificially amplified. Sometimes infix syntax is easier to read. Some clever person with a spell checker reduced one section to Zen-like incomprehensibility: Also, common spelling errors will tend to use whatever language does the job. Too bad. It may also help to have persistent objects and/or language level support for lazy loading. That's the tradeoff. What if I run out of ideas? Nine times out of ten, sitting around strategizing is just a series of web pages. There's not a single yes or no answer to that question. How are they to hear?

Your boss is the point where much of what you're measuring is artifacts of the fakeness. Recursion. This is one case where it pays to be self-indulgent. It's not just that it's demoralizing, but that a they aren't told about it, and the average becomes sharper, like a digital image rendered with more pixels. And yet—for reasons having more to do with technology than human nature—a great many people work for companies with hundreds or thousands of employees. Much of the time we called retards. The unusual thing about Lisp—both in the sense that it lets hackers have their way with it. They were attracted to these ideas by instinct, because they enjoy it. Nor do we need to. And you'll do it best if you introduce the ulterior motive toward the end of the process. You'd have to be designed for human feet. A real hacker's language will always have a slightly raffish character.

On the Company page you'll notice a mysterious individual called John McArtyem. I managed to get him to agree to change it at once. You may feel lousy an hour after eating that pizza, but eating the first couple hours. Whereas VCs need to invest in startups, as there are in any domain, but they are at least declining gracefully. When you first try skiing and you want to encourage kids to come up with will not merely be bad, but bad and plausible-sounding idea, I ask What Microsoft is this the Altair Basic of? Unfortunately, to be unpopular in school makes kids miserable, some of them so miserable that they commit suicide. Some say wisdom and intelligence stands up to scrutiny. But I think the big obstacle preventing us from seeing the real problem with Lisp, or at least, certain kinds of work, we can avoid being discontented about being discontented. Another view is that a large organization is compelled by its structure to be one of those meetings when you check out a company you've pretty much decided to buy, just to make sure they're ok guys.

Lisp is a slow AI language with a lot of mistakes. Puberty finally arrived; I became a decent soccer player; I started a scandalous underground newspaper. It's that death is the default thing to do. Unfortunately, to be able to optimize for both simultaneously. And that is in fact what venture capitalists do. The path to wisdom is through discipline, and the leaders end up being more productive. And, of course. It's really a group of sufficiently smart and determined founders succeeding on that scale might be significantly over 1%.

Why? Multics and Common Lisp occupy opposite poles on this question. The component of entrepreneurship that really matters is domain expertise. So if you want to start startups who shouldn't. At the time I thought, the world. What counts as property depends on what works to treat as property. A hacker's language needs powerful libraries and something to hack. The real problem is the same they face in operating systems: they can't pay people enough to build something better than a group of kids who band together to pick on you are doing the same thing: obedience. But in fact I named after Rtm. But there is little correlation between founders' initial attitudes and how well their companies do. It's much more about alliances.

The language offers abstractions only as a way of telling you what to do in situations where few others could. That is, if you had a graph in which the x axis represented situations and the y axis the outcome, the graph of the smart person would have high peaks. They would be in the twentieth century. Perhaps it's because startups are less of a zero sum game than most types of business; they are rarely killed by competitors. But it seems to bother a lot of ski instructors and not many running instructors. You need the young hacker's naive faith in his abilities, and at worst facile schmoozers. The language offers abstractions only as a way of saving you work, rather than solid money-making businesses? Growing too slowly is particularly dangerous in a business with network effects, which the best startups get started, much of the innovation is unconscious. But beyond that they didn't want to have a good enough grasp of kids' capacities at different ages to know when to be surprised. Many employees would like to build great things for the companies they work for, but more often than not management won't let them. The political correctness of Common Lisp is an aberration.

Whereas a search engine, when there was a problem with a server. But I think this happens all the time. Technology tends to separate normal from natural. In 1998, advertisers were overpaying enormously for ads on web sites. The real question is, what's saving startups in places like Silicon Valley? His office was nicknamed the Hot Tub on account of the heat they generated. Optimizing code means taking an existing program and changing it to use less of something, usually time or memory. Once the libraries get too big, it can sometimes take longer to find the function you need than to write the code yourself. Users don't switch from Explorer to Firefox because they want to know what the kids are kept in prisons, but that it's very large, and the word that came to mind was optimism.

1 note · View note

codeeu · 4 years

Text

The Ultimate Guide to organising a Code Week activity

Code is everywhere around us. Playing a computer game, sending an email, watching an episode of The IT Crowd on Netflix, even taking a selfie – all these actions wouldn’t be possible without code. Seemingly effortless, these activities involve lots of complex algorithms and computer scientists, developers, software engineers spend numerous hours working on them.

And it gets even more exciting when you get to know what’s behind your favourite applications, and you realise your own ideas through code. That’s why EU Code Week focuses on making programming more visible - to show young, adults and elderly how you bring ideas to life with code, to demystify these skills and bring motivated people together to learn.

What is EU Code Week (and why does it matter)?

< 1 > Why coding matters

For starters, coding is fun, and it’s creative! Imagine yourself as an artist, creating the work of a lifetime – you have something to say and you want to show it to the world. Well, your computer, tablet, phone or any device you’re using is your brush and the coding language you are writing in is your paint. Unlock your artistic mind and start coding.

Programming also teaches you how to solve problems. To code means to break down complex problems into smaller ones and to tell a computer how to solve them. Much like composing music – to create a melody you need to write note after note, and these notes might not mean much individually, but when you play them together, your song comes to life.

On a more serious note, coding helps you realise your academic or professional goals. Let’s say you are a marine scientist or oceanographer and your mission is to protect marine life. Coding helps you write programs which can track endangered species and know about threats against them in advance. Pretty cool, don’t you think? Truth is, there are hardly any jobs nowadays where no digital skills are required. Giving pupils the chance to learn code gives them a significant advantage both academically and professionally making them more competitive and qualified candidates.

< 2 > What is EU Code Week?

EU Code Week

is a grassroots movement that celebrates creativity, problem-solving and collaboration through programming and other tech activities. The goal is to make coding more present in school programs and to ensure that children get the digital competencies they need. The reach of the initiative so far has been impressive. Only last year 4.2 million people in 80 countries across Europe and beyond took part in it.

< 3 > Why you should get involved

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again – Code Week is for Everyone. Are you a schoolteacher who wants to bring innovation to your classroom and who wants to prepare their pupils for the digital world? Are you a librarian looking to create a new digital cataloguing system? Are you a teenager interested in coding, but you don’t know where to start? Or a parent looking for ideas on what activities to try out with your children during summer vacation? Or even a grandparent looking to take bedtime stories to the next level? (In that case Scratch is the app you need!) Or simply an enthusiast who loves the world of coding and wants to be a part of a great initiative? Then EU Code Week is for you.

< 4 > When does it take place?

Officially, EU Code Week takes place in October, this year we celebrate it between 10 and 25 October. Be that as it may, every week is Code Week, and you can register a coding activity any time of the year.

< 5 > Terms to know

Coding

It’s no surprise that we start with this one. Coding refers to writing a precise set of instructions that a computer can understand to execute an action - creating computer programming code. Coding is, therefore, the primary method for allowing intercommunication between humans and machines.

Computational thinking

As you might have learned from our Code Week ‘Icebreaker’ massive open online course, computational thinking describes a way of looking at problems and systems so that a computer can be used to solve or understand them. Computational thinking is not only essential to the development of computer programs and understanding programming languages but can also be used to support problem-solving across all disciplines and sectors.

EU Code Week Ambassadors

The Code Week ambassadors are the people responsible for EU Code Week on a national level. They are the people you first turn to if you have any questions. You can find your country representatives here.

Leading teachers

The EU Code Week leading teachers are active teachers of the community who have a lot of experience in organising coding activities. These Code Week veterans are the ones teachers turn to for best practices and tips on how to teach coding.

Edu coordinators

The Education Ministry coordinators have the task to coordinate Code Week activities within the national education system and help reach out to schools and teachers.

How to participate in EU Code Week?

Now that we know enough about EU Code Week, it’s time to learn how to organise and register a coding activity. We’ve divided the process into eight simple steps you can follow for a foolproof outcome.

< 1 > Get the information you need.

If you’re new to coding and EU Code Week, the first thing to do is to learn. Learning is a lifelong experience, and so is coding. There are plenty of resources available on the Code Week website, including lesson plans and video tutorials, all of them available in 29 languages. Here are some that might be useful for you:

This toolkit for activity organisers;

These video tutorials with unplugged activities – a great way to start teaching younger pupils the basics of computational thinking, at home or in school;

This endless list of resources to learn coding (and they’re for free);

Or to teach it;

These ready-made lesson plans we like to call ‘learning bits’, take a pick or even better, let your students pick one they find interesting!

If you need even more, sign up for our Deep Dive online course, registration is now open.

< 2 > Select your participants.

It’s important to remember that anyone can participate in a coding activity. All you need is a group of people who want to learn something new, like your pupils or your colleagues, maybe friends or parents too. Your choice! If you’re organising a more complex activity, it’s a good idea to involve other trainers who will help you coordinate it.

< 3 > Pick the right format.

This one is entirely up to you. A coding activity can be rather simple, like a classroom lesson involving an innovative tool or approach, for example, a game with Scratch to learn about the universe. It can also be light years ahead, like developing a mobile app with high-school classmates.

< 4 > Choose a venue.

Now that you know what type of activity you want to organise, you need a place to learn. You can choose a classroom, library, or even a public park, as long as you have an internet connection, you’re good to go. You can also organise an entirely virtual activity and use tools like Zoom or Teams to communicate with your group.

< 5 > Make sure you have access to the tools you need.

Speaking of Wi-Fi, you also need to make sure you have all the learning materials and resources you might need. Our recommendation is to use open-source material, and if you’re organising a large-scale activity, preparing a proper time plan and keeping track of your To-Do’s is always a good idea.

<6 > Add your activity to the map.

Register your activity on the codeweek.eu website Make sure to add as much information as possible, so that other people can see what you’re doing. This way, you can connect with other coding enthusiasts and get tips from others who have organised a similar activity before. All activities are displayed on our interactive map.

< 7 > Invite your participants.

Invite your participants and support and motivate them to learn throughout your activity. Once your activity has finished report it on the website. You are now ready to download a certificate of participation. You can also download certificates and personalise them for all participants – either through your profile or the teacher’s info package.

< 8 > Share your accomplishments!

And finally, share your success with your community and motivate others to gain new skills and take part in the Code Week. If you’re a teacher, join our Facebook Group for Teachers, or follow our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts for daily updates.

Feeling like a Code Week expert already? If you need an even more exciting opportunity to develop your coding skills, take part in the Code Week 4 All challenge. This challenge lets you connect with other participants and link your activities with others organised by friends or colleagues. And guess what – once you complete the challenge, you will earn the Code Week Certificate of Excellence! All you need to do is register at least 10 activities from 10 different organisers or connect with organisers from two other countries and join your activities. Here you can find a step-by-step guide on how to participate, and on this Padlet you can find a partner and get in touch with them for a collaboration.

Other useful resources

Don’t forget to register for our next massive open online course - the Deep Dive MOOC. It starts on 15 September and will remain open until the end of October. In the course you’ll get an even more profound understanding of coding and computational thinking and learn all about the Code Week movement. No previous coding experience is needed.

Ready, steady, code!

#coding #digital skills

0 notes

beckybuildscosplays · 7 years

Text

3D Printing Mega-Post (with links!)

Being a member of the maker community means I am surrounded by people who are totally in love with 3D printing. There’s no other group with whom I can have a 30 minute discussion about bed adhesion, lol. While the cosplay community is also generally supportive of the technique, every now and then I will come across somebody who thinks it is akin to cheating. Most recently it happened on a blog I really enjoy. When I read posts like that, I can only shake my head and assume that person must not really understand all the work that goes into 3D printing. Even in the best case scenario where you find a ready-to-print model and own a printer large enough to accommodate it, there is still tons of work that goes into taking a raw print from... well, a raw state to something beautiful. Hence I have decided to type up an overview of 3D printing; what it is, how it works, and all the steps it takes to create a cosplay prop. This is not a detailed tutorial; rather, it’s a high level scope of all the steps. Without further ado, here’s 3D Printing 101!

*12/20/17: Updated with new information on the latest printing technology plus even MORE links!

How does 3D printing work?

3D printing is an additive manufacturing process used to create three-dimensional objects; think of it as the opposite of sculpting where you start with a block of material and cut parts away (subtractive manufacturing). There are actually many types of 3D printing technology, but the most common for hobbyists by far is Fused Deposition Modeling—or FDM for short. In plain English, FDM means the printer head is essentially a hot glue gun that “draws” the cross-section of a model, building it up one thin layer at a time. After tens or hundreds of layers, ta-dah! You have a 3D object! You can check out this link for more info on other types of 3D printing.

The workflow for printing looks like this: find/make a 3D model, optimize that model for printing, convert it to G-code with a slicer, and send it to the printer. Once printing is complete, you need to assemble any separate parts, fill major gaps, fill/prime/sand the surface, and then paint. If any of those terms are confusing, don’t worry! I will explain them all.

Finding, Modifying, or Making a Model

Sourcing models is one of the topics where I see, “Cheater!” start to sneak in. There is a misconception that you can find just about any model you want, download, and hit print. This can be true depending on what you’re trying to build; popular cosplays like Iron Man, Halo, and Star Wars do have a plethora of models available for free, and many are already optimized for printing. Once you get outside well known characters, however, it gets much more challenging. If someone has 3D printed components in their cosplay, it’s never safe to assume the person just downloaded them.

Downloading Models

It’s always worth hunting around for the files you need even if the character isn’t well known. Even if you want to build everything from scratch, it is nice to see how someone else tackled the same challenge. There are a couple websites I like for searching for printable models:

Thingiverse: Run by Makerbot, Thingiverse is a huge collection of models designed specifically for 3D printing and all of them are free! This is where I always start my search for 3D printing files. Most come with some degree of instruction and suggested optimal print settings.

GrabCAD: I don’t use this site as frequently for costuming since the focus is engineering, but it’s very possible to find some cosplay goodies there. Other than scaling, most models should be ready to print.

SketchFab: While this was originally a place to share 3D models, some users also make theirs available. If you need a file for printing, be sure to search through the Downloadable section. (and even if you can't download the file, a 3D reference beats 2D refs any day!)

When selecting a model, try to find something that specifies it was made for 3D printing. Otherwise, you may need to do some manual cleanup and that can be challenging. Just FYI, game models are never ready to be printed but if you want to start with them, Source Film Maker has hundreds to select from. it’s also worth Googling to see if anyone has offered ripped models for free, but be aware that these should NOT be used for profit. Steriolythography (or .STL for short) and Wavefront (.OBJ) are the two most common file types, but get an STL if you can. OBJs will often come with texture files (.mtl), but those are not needed for printing. Aim for highest resolution you can find unless you want the low-poly look. Trust me, you don’t want to be filling in faceted planes with heaps of Bondo later.

There are a few products and processes that allow for multi color printing, but for the most part FDM machines are limited to one or two colors. If you are bound and determined to have multiple hues, you can check out Prusa’s new Multi-material upgrade, the new Da Vinci Color, or the Palatte Filament Splicer. I suspect that multi color printing is going to be one of the next major features to hit hobby printers, but for the time being most methods are either rudimentary or really expensive. It can also be fun to print with multiple materials such as combining rigid and flexible pieces, but that is best reserved for a dual extruding printer. When it comes to cosplay, I would either suggest printing in the object’s final color or preparing to paint. Even if you choose to paint, try and pick a filament color that will make sense if it is revealed through wear and tear.

Modifying Models

If something wasn’t specifically made for FDM, how do you know if it’s printable? Most commercial 3D modeling or CAD software have tools to check and correct issues with models—sometimes automatically. Unfortunately the easy-to-use, open source options in this area are a little barren but there are still ways to do it. Here are some free options for both checking and repairing mesh issues:

MakePrintable is an online paid service, but it will let you repair a set number of models per month for free. In my experience, this is best for basic issues but it couldn’t get any easier.

Microsoft STL Repair: Similar to MakePrintable, but unlimited and free. The downside is that you have zero control in the process, and files need to be opened with Microsoft’s free 3D Builder (from there you can export as an STL).

MeshMixer: An Autodesk product that has a number of capabilities for manipulating meshes. It’s more complex than MakePrintable and Microsoft 3D printing, but you have way more options.

Meshlab: Ah, Meshlab. This program has been around for a long time, and in many ways it is incredibly capable. Unfortunately, it’s also somewhat unstable and has bad documentation, so tutorials are hard to find.

Blender: A popular open source 3D modeling program, Blender also has a 3D printing add-on with some mesh analysis tools. This is the most robust option I have tried, but Blender has a steep learning curve and it can be intimidating for newbies.

Making Models

There is a good chance that you won’t be able to find ready-to-print files, so you might need to heavily mod or even make your own from scratch. Unfortunately, you will need to jump into 3D modeling software to make this happen. There are two major categories of software types: engineering (computer assisted drafting, or CAD for short) and artistic. In a nutshell, CAD is usually meant for objects (cars, wrenches, buildings, etc) and offers tight control over dimensions, surfaces, and shapes. Artistic software can be used for just about anything from trees to characters to spaceships, but it can be more challenging to make precise mechanical objects. I use both depending on what I need to create. There are actually a ton of free 3D modeling tools, so I will list the ones I have experience with and can recommend.

TinkerCAD: This is probably one of the most popular free CAD programs, and for good reason. It’s browser-based and very intuitive to use, thus it has become popular in schools. The entire thing revolves around building objects out of primitives, so if you need something complex it might take a little creativity to get there. TinkerCAD also has its own library of downloadable objects and it can export items for 3D printing (or even send them to a printing service!).

Google Sketchup: Available in both free and paid versions, SketchUp is a lot more complex than TinkerCAD but still very approachable. For some reason, it would drive my professors nuts when anyone used this software for homework. Be sure to check out the hefty list of extensions as they can significantly increase the program’s capabilities.

Autodesk Fusion 360: I will admit that I haven’t used this one very much, but it has been getting very popular very quickly. Fusion 360 is a fully-featured, professional CAD program meant for industry use, but it is available for free to students, startups, and hobbyists. If you want to grab the bull by the horns and work with maximum potential, get this software. It can be intimidating for someone who has never set foot in CAD before, but it is one of the most approachable fully featured CAD suites I have ever seen.

Sculptris: And now for something completely different! Sculptris is the baby brother of Z-brush, an industry standard software for digital sculpting. It’s actually very capable, and if you need to model something organic or CAD just isn’t making sense, give Sculptris a whirl.

MeshMixer: MeshMixer’s site calls itself, “a Swiss Army Knife for 3D meshes,” and that’s pretty accurate. It has some CAD capabilities mixed in with artistic tools and a few unique things to boot. It’s reasonably easy to use, although there could be more tutorial support in my opinion.

Blender: Ah, good ole’ Blender. Completely free now and forever (unlike many Autodesk programs), it’s the most capable and robust open source software I have ever used. Blender is definitely on the artistic side although it has add-ons that make CAD a little less painful. The major downside is the interface; simply put, Blender is incredibly unintuitive. Thankfully, Youtube has tons of high quality tutorials to get you started.

Slicing

Once you finally have a printable model in your possession, it’s time to send it to a 3D printer. If you are using a 3D printing service, congratulations! You can send them your model and call it a day. The rest of us will need to use a Slicer. Remember how the printer moves a hot glue gun around to draw a shape? Well, the computer needs to tell the printer head where to move, how fast to move there, and when to start and stop drawing. It uses a language called G-code to do this. A slicer’s job is to convert a 3D model into G-code so the printer knows what to do.

I use a free slicer called Cura from Ultimaker, but Slic3r and Repetier Host are popular options too (although more advanced). If you want ultimate control, cutting edge features, and don’t mind paying for it, Simplify 3D is considered the best slicer on the market. Cura is my slicer of choice due to its friendly interface. In the photo above, you can see how it has made layers out of a model (hence the name “slicer”).

The first thing to do will be properly scaling your print. Cura assumes your units are millimeters by default, so you may need to convert to your original modeling unit (inches, my my case). Unless you are printing a small prop or have a very large printer, your parts will probably be too big to fit on the print bed. If this is the case, return to your modeling software and split into smaller pieces.

When it comes to 3d printers, you get what you pay for. The more expensive models ($1500+) offer the closest thing you can get to plug-and-play experience, but even they will have failed prints, clogged extruders, and other common issues every now and then. The rest will need some degree of hand-holding. It took me about a week to get my $200 Monoprice Select Mini printing to the best of its ability, and that involved a lot of fiddling in Cura and 18 test prints. Spend some time optimizing your software for the fastest, highest quality prints; you’ll be grateful you did once you get to the sanding phase.

Update: After 10 months of regular, reliable performance, the board on my Monoprice Mini has died. At $160, I definitely got my money’s worth and other users have had theirs much longer. I am upgrading to a Prusa i3 MK3 kit, but I would still recommend the Select Mini v2 as a good gateway machine.

Printing

With your slicer ready to export G-Code, now is the time to set up your printer! A 3D printer’s “ink” is spools of plastic string called filament. There is a variety of plastics to choose from, but Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) are the most common. PLA is cheap, readily available in many colors, and is made from plant starch. For most people, it’s the go-to choice but it is not the strongest material. ABS can provide better structural integrity, but it’s a little more finicky to print and the fumes are noxious and require ventilation. This link has a good summary on various types of filament on the market.

If you search Amazon or Google for 3D printing filament, you will get approximately 82376483456978938 results. Be sure that you are searching for the proper diameter filament; most printers are 1.75mm, but some are 2.85-3.0mm. Reliable brands of PLA that I have worked with are Hatchbox, Matterhackers, ProtoPasta, and ColorFabb. Be wary of no-name brands off places like Ebay or Amazon; not all filaments are created equally and I have definitely wasted money trying to be thrifty on Amazon.

With your filament loaded in the printer, it can be a good idea to extrude some and make sure everything is working properly. Next, verify you set the proper export settings in the slicing software. Different plastics need different speeds and temperatures, and often the packaging will give you a good suggestion. When all is ready, slice the model and send the G-code to your printer!

I always stick around to watch the first few layers of my print because most mistakes happen at that point. Bed adhesion in particular can be troublesome. My solution of choice for PLA is a layer of blue painter’s tape with a light misting of hair spray. Others have used glue sticks, but that didn’t work well for me. If you notice any problems, pause immediately and try to fix the issue. A small clog can turn into a major problem if plastic goops all over your extruder.

When the print is done, it can be tempting to pull the model off the bed but have a little patience! The plastic can warp while it is still warm, plus your printer will still be hot. Let it cool down slightly, then pop it off the bed.

Surfacing

Now comes the tedious part! First of all, remove any supports (or if you have a dual extruding printer, dissolve support filament) with pliers. Depending on the support type, a box knife or X-acto can be handy. I have also heard that deburring tools are handy for this. Next, assemble separate parts with glue. CA or epoxy are good choices, or you can get fancy with friction welding. If you printed with ABS, acetone can help glue pieces together and even smooth your model.

Next you will need to fill any major gaps such as those found along seams or where errors may have occurred in the print. Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty is a popular option for large holes and epoxy can be used as well. You can also use wood filler although I would reserve this for parts that will not be subject to a lot of handing or strain as it can be a little brittle.

Now you have to do something about all those layers.

Your options are sanding, smoothing, or a combination of the two. In the past I have wet sanded the plastic starting from 120, 220, and 400 grit wetdry sand paper. The “wet dry” part is important because PLA will heat quickly from friction and then you have to wait for it to cool again. If I wanted the plastic to show, then I would take it to 1000 grit or even a bit higher. 220 is the minimum for a matte appearance and slightly rough feel whereas 1000 starts to approach injection molded plastic. Bear in mind that dark filaments will show scratches and need sanding at finer grits to look clean. If you intend to paint, 400 grit paper is high enough. Then you will need to spray your model with primer. Allow to thoroughly dry (no longer cold to the touch) and sand with 600 or 800 grit paper. Reapply primer and continue sanding until you are satisfied with the surface. I have found 3 or 4 coats to be sufficient. Paint will hide very few defects, so you can’t take shortcuts with this step.

You can circumvent some obnoxious sanding by filling the layers first. Automotive filler primer works wonderfully although the fumes are terrible and it will need be to used in a well-ventilated area. Filler primer is much thicker than normal primer and with enough coats, it will fill in all those grooves. I found that 3-4 light coats built up a good base to start sanding, and then another 3 coats with sanding between each application gave an excellent finish. This might sound tedious (and it is, to be honest) but the primer sands much easier than PLA. I was satisfied with the finish 220 grit sandpaper provided.

I have heard that CA glue is also good for filling grooves, and Smooth-On makes a self-leveling product called XTC-3D that you paint over your model. I haven’t tried either of these, but they get good feedback from others. Finally, if you have printed in ABS you can try vapor smoothing your part; just be careful playing with acetone, and don’t do it too long or you’ll melt your piece.

Now with all that said, my experience with finishing 3D prints was with the intention of creating a production-quality model (aka something that looked like you bought brand new it from the store). Every print needed to be practically flawless when viewed at close range. For cosplay, this is unnecessary. Nobody is going to hyper-analyse your work from inches away; rather, you can rely on the 10 foot rule. Also, weathering will hide many defects

Focus your efforts on pieces that will show the most. For Soldier 76, this means I will be spending many hours making his mask smooth and pristine, but I’m not even going to paint the brackets on his boots.

Painting

Now you are on to the last step! Unless you wish to control texture through brush strokes, I always recommend spray painting or airbrushing. Rattle cans are available in a myriad of colors these days, but if you have an airbrush they are handy for detailed work. I had a professor who wouldn’t let a can of Rustoleum in his classroom and demanded we use Krylon, so I guess you should also use Krylon? The artists I know who use spray paint swear by the Montana brand, and they have a huge range of colors to select from.

Anyway, all your spray painting should be done outside or in an area with plenty of ventilation. I always wear a dust mask--not because I’m worried about paint fumes (dust masks don’t stop fumes anyway)--but because I don’t want to breath in teeny paint particles. Even if paint is non-toxic, it doesn’t belong in your lungs. I also like to tape down a huge backdrop so I don’t get any over-spray surprises. Your coats of paint should be incredibly light, almost like dusting the model with pigment. It will take many coats, but the slow buildup guarantees even application. I promise the effort is worth it, plus thin coats of paint dry quickly anyway.

Sealing

Last step! I have always used rattle can clear coats to seal my models. This step should not be skipped because your paint job can be marred very easily, but the sealer will help protect it. Always, always, always use the same brand of sealant as your paint or test on scraps first. I cannot reiterate this enough; not all products will get along together, and nothing ruins your week (or month) quite like destroying a detailed paint job. If your model will be going through a lot of wear and tear, you may consider coating it in clear resin for durability.

Conclusion

So as you can see, there is a LOT more work to 3D printing besides downloading and hitting print. I didn’t even go into detail and the post is huge. Any of these topics will have more information if you search on Youtube or Google, plus my Ask is always open. I hope this helps somebody!

#3D Printing #tutorial #overview #3d printing 101 #how to 3d print #beginner

69 notes · View notes

holytheoristtastemaker · 4 years

Link

Introduction to Docker

In today’s IT world, most of us must have heard or faced issues like code works well in the Dev environment, but not in testing or a production environment. Because of this, the Operations team faces a severe headache of maintaining the systems in their proper state without having downtimes or affecting the end-user. This becomes a snake and ladder game between Dev and Ops and creates a lot of chaos that results in unproductive releases, downtimes, and trust issues. When the developer code works in one machine but not in another, a lot of developer time is consumed in finding the exact error that caused this issue. Docker is the tool that solves this puzzle, with docker we can pack the code along with all its configuration and dependencies so that it can work seamlessly in any environment, whether it is development, operation or testing.

Why Docker?

Docker changed the way applications used to build and ship. It has completely revolutionized the containerization world. With Docker, deploying your software becomes a lot easier, you don’t have to think about missing a system configuration, underlying infrastructure, or a prerequisite. Docker enables us to create, deploy, and manage lightweight, stand-alone packages that contain everything that is needed to run an application. To be specific, it contains code, libraries, runtime, system settings, and dependencies. Each such packages are called containers. Each container is deployed with its own CPU, network resources, memory, and everything without having to depend upon any individual external kernel and operating system.

Imagine you’ve thousands of test cases to run connected to a database, and they all go through sequentially. How much time do you think that will take? But with Docker, this will happen very quickly with the containerization approach where all these test cases can run parallelly on the same host at the same time.

Benefits of using Docker

Enables consistent environment

Easy to use and maintain

Efficient use of the system resources

Increase in the rate of software delivery

Increases operational efficiency

Increases developer productivity

Docker Architecture

Image Credits: Docker

Docker works on a client-server architecture. There is something called Docker client that talks to the Docker daemon, which does the heavy lifting of building, running, and distributing Docker containers. Both the Docker client and Docker daemon can run on the same system, or the other way is, you can connect a Docker client to a remote Docker daemon. The Docker client and daemon communicate using a REST API, through UNIX sockets or network interface.

Main components in the Docker system

Docker Image

Docker Images are made up of multiple layers of read-only filesystems, these filesystems are called a Docker file, they are just text file with a set of pre-written commands. For every text written or instructions given in docker file a layer is created and is placed on top of another layer forming a docker image, which is future used to create docker container. Docker has created hub.docker.com, where people store their created docker images, it’s like a storage area for docker images, also it can be stored in a local registry.

Docker Container

A container is an isolated application, it is built from one or more images, and acts as an entire package system which includes all the libraries and dependencies required for an application to run. Docker containers come without OS, they use the Host OS for functionality, hence it is a more portable, efficient and lightweight system that comes with a guarantee that the software will run in any environment.

Docker Engine

It is the nucleus of the Docker system, an application that is installed on the host machine and it follows client-server architecture. There are mainly 3 components in the Docker Engine:

Server is the docker daemon named dockerd. Creates and manages docker images, containers, networks, etc.

Rest API instructs docker daemon what to do.

Command Line Interface (CLI) is the client used to enter docker commands.

Docker client

Docker client is the key component in the Docker system which is used by users to interact with Docker, it provides a command-line interface (CLI). When we run the docker commands, the client sends these commands to the daemon ‘dockerd, to issue build, run, and stop the application.

Docker Registry

This is the place where Docker images are stored. Docker Hub and Docker Cloud are public registries that can be accessed by everyone and anyone, whereas, other option is having your own private registry. Docker by default is configured to look for images on Docker Hub. You can also have an Artifactory Docker Registry for more security and optimize your builds.

Let us get into the practicalities of Docker

Steps to install Docker:

Below is the link for docker installation, that is provided by Docker, we have clear documentation available for installing Docker. https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/ Once docker is installed check the version of docker

Few basic Docker commands

docker ps: Gives you the list of active containers on your machine

In the output we can see it displays few details about the container

CONTAINER ID: Each and every container will be assigned with a unique ID IMAGE: Every Image has an attached tag COMMAND: Each and every image will be assigned with a unique ID CREATED: shows the detail when it was created STATUS: Shows the detail whether the container is active or not PORTS: Exposed port NAMES: Random name is assigned by docker for container created

docker ps -a Gives you the full list of containers including the once’s which are stopped or crashed

docker images Gives you the list of images present in the system

docker run ARGUMENT IMAGE-NAME It will create a container using the image name

Here arguments -itd means i — interactive t — connected to terminal d — detached Mode

We can run the container as detached mode (-itd) or root mode (-td)as per the requirement.

docker stop CONTAINER-ID/NAME To stop the container

docker rm CONTAINER-ID/NAME To remove a container

docker rmi IMAGE-ID To remove a docker image

docker exec -it container name /bin/bash/ Get access to shell of container

With this command we can run our required code within the container.

Volumes in container

Containers are dynamic in nature, they move a lot, today a container might be on server A tomorrow it may be on server B so they will be shuffled, relocated as per the requirement Volume acts as data warehouse, or data storage attached externally to container.

Let’s say for example, in data directory (data) we have data1 and data2 as file that are part of the data associated for our application to work with.

but we do not want these data to be really stored within container, instead of that we want it to be mounted, so the actual read and write will happen within data1 and data2 it will look like it’s a part of container. So these mounted data are called as Volumes.

Now that we have a basic idea about creating, deleting and starting a container, further will see how to create your own image.

On our server machine we need to install Apache2 by running below mentioned commands: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install apache2

Creating a Dockerfiles

Create a directory as sample-code within that create a Dockerfile and index.html file

Every dockerfile starts with FROM command which tells from where is the base image is coming from , here we are telling to use httpd as our base image, and then we want to add a file index.html, which will act as our source and our destination will be /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/index.html, when we run this file docker will create a temporary container and it will create an image out of it once the image is created we can use this image to create a container out of it.

docker build . -t first-image: this command will build an image where first-mage is the name of image

docker run -itd — name first-container -p 8090:80 first-image: this command will build the container where first-container is name of container mapped to port 80 we can see the output : http://server_IP:port

Conclusion

Docker containers are better than virtual machines because they ensure that our application runs without any error. The containerization paves the way forward to digital transformation in the software powered organizations. Docker Containers can be spun up with any framework and language of your choice as long as there is an image already available in the community for them. Many CI/CD tools like Jenkins, CircleCI, TravisCI, etc. are now fully support and integrated with Docker, which makes diffusing your changes from environment to environment is now a breeze. Docker makes deployment of application very easy and because the containers are lightweight, it helps in scale and automation.

0 notes

flych1 · 4 years

Text

The 9 Best Photo Apps for iPhone 2020

The default iPhone camera and iOS Photos app can be reliable tools for doing basic photography and image editing on an iPhone, but there are a plethora of other iOS apps worth checking out. Some of these image apps for iPhone can enhance the photos you take while others can inspire the interior artist with some really creative editing options and amazing filters.

Here are some of the best photography apps for iPhone worth a try today

1.Best iPhone Photo App for Social Media: Canva

For people looking for a cheaper alternative to Adobe Photoshop, Canva image editing tool is a great app. The iPhone app has a wide variety of editing tools to resize and adjust the photos saved on your device and, although it doesn't offer nuanced color tweaking other apps, Canva does have many filters that should be sufficient for most users.

What really sets Canva apart is its large library of predefined projects that have the exact width and height of pixels for specific use cases such as a Facebook cover photo, a business card or Instagram Story. The only downside is the user interface which can be quite frustrating at times with its ambiguous gestures and controls.

2.Best Photo App for iPhone Collages:

PicCollage Grid & Photo Editor

PicCollage Grid - Photo Editor is a free iPhone app that does exactly what its name suggests. In seconds, anyone can use this app to create high-quality collages using their own photos and images uploaded directly from their iOS device. Not only can the style of the collage be customized, but the width of the gap between each image can also be changed, as can the background color or pattern.

Editing a collage in PicCollage Grid - Photo Editor is very easy as almost every task requires just one tap or dredging of a cursor. Unlike other iPhone photo apps, there is no guess here. This is a photography app that anyone can use.

How to Edit Videos on Your iPhone

Having an iPhone in your pocket means you can record great-looking video at practically any time. Even better, there are built-in features that edit videos on the iPhone itself. No need for extra apps or to sync the video to a computer.more

3.Best Photo App for Adding Text: Typorama

Typorama is one of the best apps to take photos on your iPhone and turn them into shareable posters, brochures, or memes. You can import any photo from your iPhone film or choose from a variety of stock images already available in Typorama. From there, a variety of text templates can be added to make a professional-looking presentation that most would pay a graphic designer expensive fees for.

What's really impressive is the high level of customization available in the app for free. You can change the color of the text, add a shadow, and even transform it and apply effects. There is a paid monthly subscription for pre-sets and additional filters, but the free content is more than enough for most people

4.iPhone Photography App for Advanced Users: Darkroom Photo Editor

Darkroom is an extremely comprehensive photo editing app for iOS that has a variety of tools to fine-tune all aspects of the image. Basic filters and culture tools are present, but so are some really deep color controls that make Darkroom one of the best photo apps for iPhone designed for real professional photographers and designers.

While it is true too advanced for casual Instagrammers, this photo app is clearly not designed for this demographic hence the high price that is needed to unlock all the features on a permanent basis.

How to Edit Photos in the iPhone Photos Aps

Digital photo editing meant the purchase of expensive editing programs such as Photoshop and complex learning features. These days, iPhone owners have powerful photo editing tools built directly into their phones.more

5.Best Instagram Picture App for iPhone: Instasize Photo Editor + Video

Instasize is one of many picture apps for iPhone aimed at modern Instagram users and social media influencers looking to up their social game and make an impact with their photography. A good selection of color tools and filters are available here so you can save and immediately upload the finished product to Instagram without making any additional changes but the real star is the frames tool that adds a border around your photo

The width of the frames can be adjusted to taste and the ability to add gradients, designs, and photos to them places Instasize above its rivals. A $4.99 monthly subscription is needed to unlock extra filters but there’s plenty on offer for the free user on a budget.

6.Best Retro Photography App on iPhone: FIMO Analog Camera

FIMO Analog Camera may not be one of the best photography apps for iPhone but it is one of the more unique ones with a great retro vibe that will appeal to the nostalgic photographer.

Once opened, the entire app acts like an old-school camera with none of the typical app controls that iPhone users would be used to. Instead, you need to tap the on-screen camera button to take a photo or swipe the camera roll along the bottom to select a different type of film which artificially makes whatever photo you take look like it was snapped on actual film.

7.Coolest iPhone Photography iPhone App: Glitche

Glitche is a unique photography apps in Apple’s App Store due to its rather exclusive focus on digital distortion filters and edgy 3D imagery that can be edited and placed over a photo. The app also allows for the creation of gifs and videos and also contains some AR (augmented reality) functionality.

The amount of image editing and creation potential in Glitche is truly impressive but it is held back significantly by in-app purchases and a profoundly confusing UI that will take most users an entire weekend to work out. Once mastered, though, Glitche can be a powerful iPhone photographer’s tool.

8.Best iPhone Photo App for Photoshop Fans: Adobe Photoshop Express

If you have any interest in photography, you would have heard of Adobe's Photoshop software which is used by many professional photographers, designers and journalists around the world. Adobe Photoshop Express is its little brother designed only for touch devices such as the iPhone and it offers impressively most of the tools commonly found in the main version.

You can crop, adjust color levels, and transform photos and, while there are quite a few filters and tools hidden behind a paid monthly subscription, all the basic features are free and work really well. As a bonus, Adobe Photoshop Express also has its own built-in social network that shows that you are modifying changes made by other users have shown next to the original image they've been working on.

Best iPhone Motion Blur App: Slow Shutter Cam

Slow Shutter Cam is the best app for taking pictures of traffic light trails and scenes that require a motion blur on an iPhone. The app is also a necessity for iPhone owners given the fact that the default iOS Camera app can’t slow the shutter speed to create these effects by itself.

Slow Shutter Cam is fairly easy to use with its basic point-and-click functionality but it is worth reading up on the importance of ISO and shutter speed to truly get the most out of the app.

The 9 Best Camera Apps for iPhone in 2020If you want to take advantage of the iPhone's camera, you'll need camera apps capable of taking your photography to the next level. Here are the ten best iPhone camera apps for 2020....more

The 8 Best Apps to Record Phone Calls on iPhone of 2020iOS disables the ability for apps to record audio while a call is active, and without any way to turn that off, many users choose to use an app to record calls on their iPhone. Many iPhone apps implement a third phone number to divert calls through for recording, while others power voice calls on their own cloud platforms. Here are the best iPhone call recorder apps available...more

#funny #cute animals #animals #funny animals #tumblrgrunge #tumblrpost #tumblroutfit #tumblrgril #tumblrr #tumblrposts #tumblrfeed

0 notes

anycontentposter · 4 years

Text

Content Strategy for Nonprofits: Make the Most of Your Story

If you are associated with your not-for-profit’’ s marketing efforts, and specifically if’you ’ ve chose to see what the web needs to state about not-for-profit marketing, no doubt you’’ ve discovered the term material technique . And if you had the guts to get in ““ material technique ” into a Google search, you were rewarded with scads of resources and posts.

My own look for material method yielded more than 1.8 billion hits. Refining my search to ““ material technique for nonprofits ” narrowed the outcomes to a not-yet workable 13.8 million resources and links. Plainly, this is necessary things, however it's not constantly clear where to start.

The larger concern is how a material marketing rookie can cut through all the research study and recommendations to come up with a convenient prepare for their company. Stay with me and I’’ ll simplify for you, so you can take advantage of your company’’ s story with material marketing.

. What is content technique for nonprofits?

Content technique for a not-for-profit is whatever including the preparation, advancement, and publication of material utilized to inform your company’’ s story

Chances are great that you are currently carrying out a material technique of sorts. If you are printing pamphlets, sending out news release to regional media, or publishing fliers in regional shop windows —-- heck, even if you are informing your next-door neighbors about a brand-new program or service —-- you are sharing your not-for-profit’’ s story( material )with the general public.

The great news is that you understand your not-for-profit’’ s story and for that reason are well on your method to a strong not-for-profit material technique. And today’’ s innovation uses chances for taking that technique to an entire brand-new level.

.What do you wish to leave your material method?

When you’’ re very first beginning, it’’ s practical to ask concerns prior to you begin outlining your method. Think of things like:

.What are you intending to accomplish through your marketing efforts? Do you wish to motivate individuals to benefit from your company’’ s programs and services? Are you wanting to hire brand-new volunteers? Do you wish to engage or hire donors?.

These are very important concerns to ask and will assist you set a workable set of objectives particular to each audience that you want to reach.

And while objective and vision are at the core of a not-for-profit company’’ s story, it is necessary to think of how you can customize your message for each audience that you choose to target.

.What does material marketing consist of?

Content marketing incorporates all the channels and interaction approaches you utilize to inform your not-for-profit’’ s story.

Great stories have actually constantly become part of the not-for-profit sector’’ s DNA. It ’ s the story and effect of a company that keep a not-for-profit ’ s workers, donors, volunteers, and other fans invested and engaged in the objective.

So what’’ s various now? The possibilities for sharing those stories that have actually blown up in the last years. Many nonprofits I deal with continue to produce some print products. Fliers and pamphlets still look excellent on street reasonable tables and library info kiosks. It would be an error for any not-for-profit to presume that their audience can’’ t be reached digitally.

Example: Nonprofit Reel Works utilizes a mix of their Facebook , other social networks platforms, site, and newsletter to keep stakeholders participated in their work assisting teenagers in NYC.

The Pew Research Center reports that 9 in 10 grownups in the U.S. utilize the web. Facebook has 2.4 billion regular monthly active users — -- more than a quarter of the world’’ s population . With the assistance of mobile phones, 91 percent of customers utilize e-mail day-to-day , and it is anticipated that there will be 4.2 billion e-mail users by 2022 .

Your company will benefit most from utilizing a mix of channels –-- social networks, site, blog site, and e-mail –-- to get your story out into the neighborhood.

.Concentrate on supplying important material.

Before you set fingers to typing or electronic cameras to recording, think of what material you can supply that will bring worth to your target market. What will get their attention, and keep them returning for more?

People enjoy images, so make certain to provide image-rich posts and e-mails. Don’’ t be shy about utilizing not-for-profit video material . Many mobile phones have a decent-to-excellent video camera and video function that you can utilize to record unique minutes at occasions.( Just keep in mind to get suitable approvals from any individuals who are consisted of in your videos, especially if they are kids.)

youtube

In this example of not-for-profit video material from Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center , a basic un-edited video serves to link audiences more carefully with the animals the company assists every day.

Beyond that, however, it can be difficult to photo precisely what material method appears like for a not-for-profit. It isn’’ t like you are offering tires or designer denims.

So, in an effort to assist you understand streaming, I chose to challenge myself to come up with 10 material method concepts, each for a various kind of not-for-profit. Every concept is something you can utilize best out of package or as a springboard for establishing your own incredible concepts.

.10 innovative material technique concepts for nonprofits.Senior Citizen.

Use your material method to resolve some misconceptions about aging in the 21st century. Learn what your elders depend on nowadays and distribute a series of profiles. Interviews, videos and images can paint a lively picture of your Center and its customers.

.Animal Rescue/Adoption.

Who doesn’’ t love photos of kitties and young puppies? How about distributing ““ adoption day ” videos revealing individuals being familiar with their brand-new family pets? Deal sponsorships to regional companies to include their logo design with the declaration, ““ This adoption day minute was given you by …””

. Assistance Center for Teen Parents.

Circulate directions for making a basic toy or video game for a child out of affordable, easy-to-find products. Deal to provide a toy-making set to moms and dads who attend your next open home, throughout which you share details about the academic and social services that you provide.

.Neighborhood Theater.

Theater fans are amazed by what enters into a production. Rehearsal videos, backstage pictures, and interviews with the ““ stars ” assistance to develop enjoyment for upcoming programs. Think about hosting a personal gown wedding rehearsal celebration for donors.

.Art Education Program.

I like the dish videos that I see published on Pinterest. In simply a minute or 2, I can see 2 hands make a remarkable one-pan meal. How about adjusting that concept to art tasks? Construct an audience for these videos and after that welcome them to a neighborhood class to produce something more complicated.

.Nature Preserve.

A picture contest is an enjoyable method to get individuals engaged. Utilize the very best images to develop a calendar that you can later on offer to raise funds. The winning professional photographers get a little totally free promotion along with bragging rights.

.Neighborhood Food Pantry.

Circulate tasty, healthy dishes that count on kitchen staples. Strategy a fundraising occasion around a dinner that utilizes the dishes, asking each volunteer cook to contribute the components utilized in his/her meal.

.After-School STEM Education Program.

An after-school STEM program would do the parenting world a substantial favor by routinely including concepts for kid-friendly science jobs. Make it enjoyable by welcoming grownups and kids to finish experiments side by side for the camera, to see who are the more effective ““ researchers.”

. English as a Second Language (ESL) Program.

Once, several years back, I offered to teach ESL. My customer was a female from Taiwan who spoke English perfectly, however would get stuck on typical American expressions. Distribute a series including typical idioms from all over the world with their meanings, to raise awareness about the difficulties of residing in a brand-new nation.

.Historic Society.

History museums and societies frequently have incredibly odd things in their collections. Distribute images of the most curious products and ask individuals to think what they are, publishing their responses on social networks. Strategy a follow-up display to show the products, or arrange a fundraising occasion that includes conversations or presentations discussing how they were utilized.

.A last suggestion: commemorate your donors.

Include your devoted advocates in your material strategies. Commemorate them like the heroes that they are. A routine schedule of donor profiles utilizing written material, photos, audio, video or all of the above provides you numerous chances to be familiar with your donors, reveals them just how much you value them, and motivates others in your neighborhood to offer. It’’ s what I would call a win-win-win.

So what are you awaiting? Construct a basic material technique and begin benefiting from digital tools to engage your fans and grow your audience.

The post Content Strategy for Nonprofits: Make the Most of Your Story appeared initially on Constant Contact .

Read more about this at blogs.constantcontact.com

https://coolarticlespinner.com/content-strategy-for-nonprofits-make-the-most-of-your-story/

#content #nonprofit #storytelling #marketing

0 notes

carlen374gaming-blog · 5 years

Text

What does promo credits do in imvu check out right now

Imvux Imvu Credits (@imvucredits) On Twitter

Commence by following imvu credits cheats. In 2009, the company's revenue run price grew from $11 million to $25 million. At the moment, there are two million active users logging in to IMVU each and every month. The trends are supporting our development,â€ said Rosenzweig. Watching video advertisements is a further way to earn credits. Go to a partner's page, watch a video and get credits for every view. Videos are frequently updated, so you really should verify back if you never immediately see anything according to your taste.

As we explore new techniques to induce mass adoption of cryptocurrency, there is the prospect of a deeper integration of Kin that'll unlock opportunities to devote the token interior of IMVU (possibly not just the marketplace), also Kin could come to be a medium of exchange between Creators and their own users. Aside from customizing your avatar, the true focus of IMVU is interacting with other players. Users can chat with someone they know or click the chat nowâ€ button to randomly connect with other players.

When I played this game, I felt several difficulties collecting it. Nonetheless, IMVU Credits hack helped me acquire unlimited credits in the game and now I can progress more quickly with ease. It is simple and 1 of the very best option to rely on. IMVU is a thing of a departure from the majority of typical IM clientele. In the course of registration users are essential to assemble a 3D avatar by means of which to chat. You're offered a sort of construction kit of generic faces, haircuts and clothing to make a character from.

youtube

Get exciting and distinctive gifts for your avatar and chat rooms when your mates join IMVU. 2019 Imvu Credits Generator - No cost Imvu Credits has no lists. Of four million customers, extra than 50,000 folks earn revenue on IMVU by generating virtual goods, promoting them for IMVU credits and converting these credits into fiat cash. Now, IMVU will integrate the Kin SDK and marketplace to give its user base native methods to earn cryptocurrency in the broader digital world.

Particularly given that many individuals in the community have benefited financially from IMVU, as well as socially. Allude companions to IMVU. When you agree to accept IMVU you are given a welcome code. Send this code to companions and have them make a record. Every time a companion joins with your welcome code, you'll get 1,500 credits.

The primary currency of IMVU Credits Generator is Credits, and each and every player desires it. But you may well have found it quite tough to earn the IMVU Credits Generator hack, and that is the explanation why you are right here to appear for IMVU Credits Generator hack hack tool. Hugging, shaking hands, and waving are going to be incredibly vital,â€ he said, highlighting how even when not working with virtual reality, IMVU has had some robust reactions from individuals.

IMVU Neighborhood (2012-09-21). "Inside IMVU" Time :39: YouTube. Retrieved 2014-09-19. It is the greatest and most precise list of strategies to get cost-free IMVU credits on the Web. The perceptions of the players can boost by way of the support of credits that can be generated in the game. This game is all about exploring newer factors and moving ahead when competing with other individuals. The productive gamer can design eye-catching designs, aura and in true life also can get suggestions with the assistance of this game.

Some of you reading this article might not be 100% familiar with IMVU and would like additional facts about it. So let's cover the basics of the game just before we get into the credit-earning methods. There is a new website on the block named ZEHX. It really is pretty related to metaRL except you earn PEDâ€ that can be cashed out as IMVU credits (and other game currencies). Presently 1 PED = 320 IMVU credits.

With the IMVU API for Unity , readily available for no cost on the Asset Store, you can leverage IMVU's big base of loyal customers by enabling them to use their avatars inside your game practical experience. A fully Mecanim-prepared skeleton implies that the avatars will function as a organic portion of your game. Due to quite a few company motives, we have concluded that we will need to sunset the existing reseller program exactly where authorized resellers bought Credits from IMVU Creators in exchange for cash and sold these Credits to other IMVU prospects.

What Zombies Could Explain You Almost IMVU CREDITS

IMVU is a rather unusual game, where players can explore many possibilities, chat with folks and use 3D avatars. The game platform is entirely totally free, and any one can use it. You are getting into a social entertainment neighborhood, which has additional than 1 million users. Most of the gamers will be thinking that how to use imvu credits hack and how to progress faster. Effectively, there is no need to have of worrying about a single factor. The below offered are the 5 measures to stick to, and you are accomplished.

ImvuZone is the simplest way to earn Free of charge Imvu Credits. Sign into IMVU, uncover someone to chat with. When in VR the game is completely controlled with gaze. Hands-no cost! Back button on your phone will make you leave a VR room and return to the major menu. By utilizing such methods, you can obtain a very good quantity of resources with ease. Utilizing the IMVU hack imvu cheats is genuinely effortless, and you can rely on it without the need of any situation. If you don't want to face any concern in future, then there are some standard strategies that can help you out in the game.

You can understand why folks are seeking for how to hack IMVU when you see how crucial credits are. Credits in IMVU is what revenue in actual life is. You can obtain virtually everything in IMVU with credits. From virtual clothes to footwear to sunglasses and furnishings, you will require the IMVU income to develop as credits. Confirm your e mail address. When you agree to accept IMVU you will get a connection sent to your email address. When you click this connection you are going to get 500 credits.

The IMVU API for Unity is a library that enables users to authenticate with IMVU and load their Mecanim avatar into your app. You can leverage their IMVU assets (avatars and outfits) and their social network from inside your app. Most likely when you played IMVU often you wondered how to get no cost credits on imvu? This question is asked by all the folks in the virtual globe of IMVU. This imvu credits generator was created to make the game easier to play.

No sense of path in terms of item vision. The solution itself is outdated. They are too focused on stopping users from shopping for credits from other sources, that they do not focus on their product vision. Symbol Creator permits developing unicode symbols and text for use in IMVU chat, group thread titles, and on avatar cards. The reality that customers actively build and personalize their personal on the net alter egos has been a massive portion of IMVU's results in attracting and retaining members.

The algorithm will start processing your request and generates the quantity of Credits you have asked. With this totally free imvu credits hack you can add as a lot of imvu credits for free as you like, and in one go you can add as several 999 999 credits to your account. Enter your IMVU Credits Generator username or e mail id in the desired location and click on the confirm button.

0 notes

Last Seen Blogs

ali-megido

Ali's Dreamscape

showingmytruefeathers

Showing my True Feathers

freelancewebb

Freelance Web

sgleak2022

Untitled

beejboy

spookz