The morning light shone through the glass ceiling of the Bara Ballroom, the glow beginning to compete with the space's electric fixtures as it grew. Only a sparse scattering of people filled the space with a low buzz of conversation and squeaking footsteps. The sounds echoed dully and seemed far too loud without the usual press of bodies to mute them.

All around, Kaitlyn took in the sights with interest. She'd never had a cause to arrive at Bara Bash this early before, so seeing the space so empty felt a bit surreal. Despite the lack of bodies though, there was certainly no shortage of activity. Small clusters of volunteers, students, and vendors busied themselves with arranging stalls and tables in preparation for the day's event.

"It's way too early…"

Ian mumbled where he sat before his laptop, his red-rimmed eyes blearily checking things over one last time before the event started. She shot him a sympathetic look. "Yeah. I know. But hey! At least we won't be scrambling to set up. You just about ready?"

His face was tense. "Yeah. At least… I think so."

Kaitlyn set a comforting hand on his shoulder. At the contact, Ian managed to tear his eyes away from the screen to look at her. "Hey. It'll be ok. Everything's gonna go great."

He let out a long, shaky breath. "Yeah. Right. I… I hope so. Sorry, just a bit jittery."

She chuckled. "Maybe you shouldn't have had that coffee, after all."

"Are you kidding? If I didn't have coffee, I wouldn't even be here. Not without you physically dragging me, at least. Hopefully I don't crash halfway through…"

"I can run and grab some more," Kaitlyn offered. "Then I'll feel like a real personal assistant. That's what they do, right?"

Ian cracked a smile, the joke finally managing to break through his tightly-wound bearing. He tapped the keys a final time before standing. "Ok. This one's all good to go. Let me make sure everything's working on yours, too."

As the guy began running through his final round of checks, Kaitlyn busied herself setting up as well. Stacks of fliers appeared beside each of the two computers, as well as QR codes that she taped to the tables. Each directed people to social media channels and other places to get updates about the game.

She inspected one of the fliers again. Seriously, these look super professional. Heather really outdid herself. I need to bake her something special as a thank-you… Though it does make me feel a bit self-conscious about the rest of the setup.

Glancing around at the other tables, however, made her feel a little bit better. There were a couple of groups wearing t-shirts with their studio's or game's logo on the front, but that was about it. No one had set up anything too fancy, it seemed. Only the fact that they were running off of laptops—two mismatched ones at that—suggested that Ian's booth was any less professional than the rest.

With a final glance over everything, Kaitlyn nodded to herself. They were ready. At least, as ready as they could be.

Stretching, she turned back to Ian. "Anything else you can think of? I'm pretty sure I got everything, but wanna to make sure…"

"I don't think so… oh! Actually, do you mind taking my Bash Bros setup over to John? I'm pretty sure I'll forget otherwise."

"Sure! No problem. Be right back."

She retrieved the PlaySphere and monitor from beneath the table and headed over. The Bash Bros area was only a short ways away from their own, its round tables already set up with chairs and a scattering of consoles.

That's not nearly as many as I remember. Guess most of them come from people bringing their own? I mean, I knew that happened at regular tournaments, but it's still interesting that they're so reliant on other people…

It didn't take long for Kaitlyn to find who she was looking for. He sat at the long tournament organizer's table to one side, his chin propped up on one hand and eyes half lidded.

"Morning, John. You doing ok?"

The scraggly student stifled a yawn at her approach. "No. Is it over yet? I want to go back to sleep."

She chuckled. "Didn't you set this thing up? Why didn't you make it later in the day if you hate mornings?"

"I tried, believe me. But apparently 3 PM is 'too late to start an event' and we've got 'way too many events to run.'" He snorted. "Well, joke's on them. Everyone else's gotta suffer with me now."

Kaitlyn just grinned. As head of the gaming club, John was largely responsible for organizing Bara Bash and everything around it.—something she still had a hard time wrapping her head around.

I mean, I know that he runs the Bash Bros tournaments, of course, but… she glanced at the yawning and slightly bored student again. That's pretty small compared to this. Plus, I didn't think of him as wanting to be a leader much. He always seemed to just do it because he had to.

Then again, she hadn't been to many other gaming club events outside of tournaments. Maybe he had the chance to show off his leadership skills even more in those.

"Still, now that things are moving… I wonder if I could sneak off and take a nap? This thing's got a long tablecloth, I doubt anyone would notice if I just crawled under and slept for a bit…"

…Or maybe not.

"Do you want me to grab you a coffee or something?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. Just complaining." He shook himself and took a deep breath. "Anyway. Thanks for the setup. You wanna sign up for doubles while you're here?"

"Actually…" Kaitlyn hesitated. "...We're not entering this time."

John raised a questioning eyebrow. "Seriously? Does this have to do with that last-minute booth app you sent over?"

"Yeah, pretty much." She scratched her head in embarrassment. "Thanks again for helping out with that. I really appreciate it."

"Hey, it's no skin off my back. The fact that it keeps me from getting bodied by you in bracket is enough." John leaned over to glance behind her. "But now I've gotta know what you're up to. What's this game you've got going on?"

Kaitlyn thought for a moment. She'd avoided mentioning Ian's name when filling out the application, mostly to save him from any questions that he wasn't quite ready to answer. But now that they were at the event…

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…He's bound to find out as soon as he walks over. Plus, it's John. He's pretty much Ian's best friend. We couldn't ask for a better trial run than this.

"Want to see? We should be about set up. If you're not busy, of course." Kaitlyn gave him a pointed look.

He waved the concern off, seeming to miss her implied accusation. "Nah, I've got a few minutes. They can handle things without me for a bit. At least, they have been."

Heaving himself to his feet with a groan, John stood and followed Kaitlyn over toward the demo setups. Ian still sat working on her laptop, his attention focused enough that they managed to sneak up on him.

"Ian?"

The guy froze,then whipped his head around in alarm. "John! Hey! What're you doing—er, what's up?"

"That's what I should be asking you," The older student looked at Ian expectantly. " You're in on this, too? I mean, I knew Kay was up to no good, but why are you here? I thought you were a fellow sleep connoisseur."

"I-I…" Ian stammered, freezing up at the sudden attention. The sleepy expression he'd worn just moments before was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, the surprise of being faced with an unexpected visitor had thoroughly banished the veil of grogginess from his mind.

Maybe he won't need that coffee after all.

John glanced down at the table, bending down to pick up a flier, and whistled appreciatively. "Damn, these things look good. Grail? Is that the game's name?"

Ian nodded mutely.

"'Indy Studios?' Well, that's a name. Wait…" John frowned. "Don't tell me…"

Ian swallowed thickly and nodded. "I, er… I made it. The game, I mean."

"Seriously?!" John gaped at his friend in disbelief. "You've been making a game?! Since when?"

"Since, ah… a few months ago? Before the semester started…" Ian scratched his head, looking for all the world like he wanted to melt into the ground then and there.

"And you never told me? What the hell, Ian?!" The guy turned to Kaitlyn with a stricken look. "You knew about this?"

Ian withered slightly at the accusatory tone in John's voice. Kaitlyn couldn't help but feel a bit sympathetic. "To be fair, he hasn't told anyone, really. It took a while for him to tell me, too."

"Did you help make it?"

She shook her head. "Nope. It's all him. I've just been helping with some of the business-side stuff. Like this booth."

John pursed his lips, crossing his arms resolutely. He looked between the two silently as he thought. Eventually, he gave Kaitlyn an imperious nod. "Right. I take it back. You totally owe me for getting you this spot. As payment… I'll accept first dibs at playing the demo."

Ian's face flushed further. "Ah, you don't have to—"

"Don't have to what? Play it?" John snorted. "Uh, I obviously have to play it! You can't just expect me to just not!" A proud grin stretched across his face. "And since doors don't even open for a while, you can bet I'm gonna hog it all to myself."

Kaitlyn couldn't help but giggle as Ian's face flushed an even deeper shade of red than before. "Er… ok. Sure. I mean, that one's already set up," he nodded to the laptop next to him. "So…"

"Great!" In moments, John was sitting down and ready to go. His hands hovered over the keyboard and wired mouse they'd brought along specifically for the booth. He eagerly clicked "start" and dove into the demo.

Kaitlyn and Ian both watched as their friend began to play. The demo itself wasn't a full version of the game. It only featured three of the five weapon options: the sword, the spear, and the bow. The fists and shield were fully functional, but Ian had been hesitant to include them, insisting that they still needed a bit more polish. She hadn't particularly fought him on the point. Having a more limited demo would probably keep people from being overwhelmed anyway.

John picked the sword and loaded in. His eyes widened in surprise as the world sprang into being. "Damn. This is nice."

The main character—a stocky, bearded warrior this time—stood amidst a clearing of evergreen trees, a dirt path leading forward through them. Gone were the simple shapes and blocky placeholders that characterized the game before. Now, it boasted real art, vibrant and colorful. The newly-added visual assets really did wonders for the game's appearance.

I wish I knew how to animate better, though. Hopefully the clunkiness on that front comes off as a stylistic choice more than anything.

As John headed down the path and began testing out his moves, she saw Ian fidget nervously beside her. He kept his eyes glued to the screen as though committing every one of John's moves to memory. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides almost unconsciously.

I guess I can't blame him for that, she realized. This IS the first person to play the game outside of us. It's only natural that he'd be a bit nervous. Still…

The screen panned over to reveal the first group of enemies—shambling skeletons. John dashed forward, swinging wildly with his sword and reducing them to piles of bones. Winged skulls floated up to take their place, spitting balls of electricity at the protagonist.

"Woah!" He blinked as one of the errant slashes collided with one of the balls shooting his way, sending it back into a foe. "I can hit those?"

"Yeah," Ian confirmed with a quick nod. "I mean, the timing is a bit strict, though. I should probably make it a bit easier…"

With a malicious grin, John dashed backwards. In an instant, his entire strategy shifted from attacking the enemies directly to playing tennis with them. The skulls keened angrily as their own projectiles struck them down, one by one. Kaitlyn couldn't help but giggle as Ian watched on in sheer, dumbfounded confusion. Eventually, as the enemies subsided, a glowing altar appeared from the ground.

"There's upgrades, too? Awww, hell yeah!" John swung his sword, each slash sending shards of ice into the distance. "Now they're in for it. I'm gonna make the first non-contact sword build!"

They watched on as the guy continued his journey through the forest. He wasn't making his way through the game quickly, not by any means. But he did seem to be having fun. And the game progressed, Kaitlyn saw Ian's posture relax, bit by bit.

"How far does it go? Is this just a tech demo? Or are there bosses, too?"

Ian perked up a bit. "Right! This just goes to the first boss, right now. But the actual game has… six? And some mini bosses, too. I've got ideas for more on the side as hidden extras, just haven't put them in yet."

John whistled appreciatively. "Dang. You really have been putting in work on this. How close are you to being done?"

"Er… I'm not sure. I mean, there's a lot more I want to add of course, but… the core's all there. I've got most of the main features, even the story's coming along well."

They continued talking as John played, the conversation doing even more to ease Ian's tense posture than anything else. If she didn't know better, she would've said he was even getting a bit excited talking about the game. But maybe that was overselling things.

"Damn!" An anguished cry erupted from John as the boss struck him down. "C'mon! I almost had him!"

Ian chuckled. "Maybe if you actually hit him instead of everything else…"

"Nope, I'm gonna make this work." John rolled his shoulders and started up the demo again. "I've decided. I'm going to make this build happen if it's the last thing I do."

"You know the upgrades randomize, right?"

John stared at him incredulously. "They do?! Wait, how many are there?"

"A lot. I think we're up to a hundred, now. But I've made it where it does weight them according to your choices a bit…"

He let out a long groan. "Curse you and your creativity. It's ok, I've got all morning to make my perfect run!"

"Hey, John?"

Kaitlyn looked up as one of the event volunteers approached, a lanyard dangling around his neck. "Sorry to interrupt, but Kerry needs some help over at check-in. Seems like the kiosk isn't working…"

"Ah, shoot. Ok, fine, just… give me one second!"

Leaping to his feet, John practically pushed the volunteer into his seat before dashing off toward the front entrance. "I'm trusting you to keep me alive, alright Nick? Don't let anyone take my spot, either!"

The utterly perplexed student stared after the older student's retreating back before glancing curiously down at the laptop. Once he realized there was a mob of skeletons bearing down on him, he jumped and began furiously mashing at the keys "Ah! H-help? How do I…?"

A grin stretched across Kaitlyn's face as Ian reddened, diving in to help his newest playtester.

Yeah. This is gonna go great.