#assembly square my beloved...

[flatoatchi]

i paid off my credit cards finally and now i can buy myself a big lego set :D

[holylulusworld]

Alpine, the heartbreaker

Summary: Your cat fell for a charming heartbreaker.

Pairing: Domestic!Bucky Barnes x Neighbor!Reader; Alpine Barnes x Tinker Bell Y/L/N

Written for @avengers-assemble-bingo “Spring Bingo” – Square filled: Gardening

Warnings: naughty cats doing naughty things, cat pregnancy, fluff, general cuteness, cats in love, flirty Bucky

A/N: For my story, Alpine is a tomcat.

“The weather is hot today, isn’t it, Tinker Bell?” You wipe your sweaty forehead, sighing as your cat disappears from sight once more. You huff because the last thing you want is for your beloved cat to get lost. “Tink? I told you not to stray too far from the garden.”

You sigh and go back to tending your roses. Tinker Bell usually never strays and stays by your side, but for the last few weeks, she has tended to disappear for an hour or two.

Gardening is your second favorite hobby since you moved into your house four months ago; crocheting is another. Your life has become more grounded and peaceful since you quit your job and decided to settle down and live a domestic life.

A noise catches your attention. It sounds like a wounded cat, and your heart thunders in your chest. You grab the pruning shears and sprint toward the noise. If anyone tries to hurt your cat, you’ll not let them live.

Chasing after the noise, you call your cat’s name. You must look like a lunatic running along the sidewalk, screaming, Tinker Bell.

“Tink! I’m coming!” You pant, not used to running so much anymore. “Leave my cat alone!”

Tink gets louder, and you run a little faster to reach your cat. Whoever hurts your beloved cat will suffer a slow death.

“Tink!” Stopping in your tracks, you watch a white cat do unspeakable things to your beloved Tinker Bell. Tink mewls like a cat in heat, enjoying the white cat’s attention a little too much for your liking. “You pervert!”

“Alpine!” A man runs toward you and your cat… “Punk, what are you doing!” He snorts as his cat is having a blast. “Uh—I didn’t think you had it in you. I thought the vet said you’re sterile.”

“Yeah, well.” You huff and glare at the man. “He’s capable of doing …” You're making air quotes, “it.”

“It looks like she’s enjoying it,” he grins, blue eyes sparkling as you glare at him. He looks familiar to you, but you can’t remember where you have seen the man before. “I think we should give them some privacy.”

“What? No, he can’t just…and then,” you try to argue, but the man guides you away from your cat and her lover. You can’t believe your cat has a more active sex life than you. “If she gets pregnant, you’ll pay child support. You and your naughty cat!”

You exclaim before storming off, cursing the man and his white devil.

“Lady, it’s not Alpine’s fault your cat is a naughty one,” he snickers as you turn around to glare in his direction. “Just saying, it takes two to have fun. Your cat is a naughty girl.”

“Irresponsible,” you scold the man and walk away. “How dare he call my cat a naughty girl!”

“Tink, we need to talk,” you say as your cat stretches on your bed. She’s meowing loudly when you run your hand over her belly. “You got knocked up by a punk. A naughty white heartbreaker. This can never happen again.”

She ignores your speech and rolls to the other side, purring.

“Young lady, I’m talking to you!” Pacing in your living room, you sigh. Having kittens wasn’t in your plans. “It’s not only your fault, though. I shouldn’t have trusted the shelter telling me you’re sterile. Now we will have babies to take care of.”

Watching your cat get comfortable, you plan on giving the owner of the devil seducing your innocent Tink a piece of your mind. You already have found out where he’s living. He bought the house just down the street.

“Ah, the naughty cat owner,” the man says, leaning on his door frame as you stand in front of his door, an ultrasound of your cat in your hands. “Does she want more of Alpine?”

“Your cat is going to be a father soon,” you grunt and push the ultrasound into his hands. “You should tell him not to stray. We don’t like a womanizer!”

“Whoa, punk!” He laughs when his cat runs out of the door to sit in front of you. Alpine meows and looks up at you. “He’s missing his lady cat.”

“He did enough!” You mutter under your breath.

“Hey, they are cats.” He shrugs. "Alpine won’t be a deadbeat father. We’ll take care of the young lady he made love to.”

You don’t know if you want to laugh or slap the cocky smirk off his face. “You should tell your cat to…” You frown. The situation is more than strange, and you don’t know what to tell him.

“I’ll tell Alpine not to stray,” he leans closer and says, “but I think this is not necessary. He lost his heart to your beauty.”

You snort. “Just…don’t let him knock more cats up.”

“He wouldn’t dream of straying,” he smirks. “Now that our kids are going to have kids, we should introduce each other, don’t you think?”

“Uh—Y/N,” you splutter.

“Bucky,” he replies, holding out his hand. You shake it, suddenly aware of where you have seen him and his metal arm before.

Great—the Winter Soldier’s cat knocked Tink up. What the hell…

One day later, you answer the door, only to find Bucky and his cat in front of your door. Alpine is wearing a tiny bow bowtie, and Bucky holds a basket filled with cat products in his arms.

“What is all this?” You ask, glancing at the basket.

“Uh—child support,” Bucky replies. “I told you Alpine will be a good father and partner. Can he now see your cat? He’s crawling up the walls.”

“I—” You look at the basket again, laughing. “Okay, come on in. She’s in the living room, sleeping. Her belly is growing fast.”

“How are the kittens?” Bucky asks when you allow him inside. “Can…can Alpine come with you next time to see the babies?”

You’d laugh at his words, but he looks so serious and determined that you don’t have it in you to make fun of Bucky.

“Sure, if my vet is okay with it, Alpine can come around.”

You walk into the living room, watching Alpine run toward the couch. He jumps onto the couch, immediately starting to groom Tinker Bell.

“I think they are in love,” Bucky whispers in your ear.

“Young love, huh?” You laugh because your cat is rolling over to cuddle with Alpine. They meow and purr, having a not-so-silent conversation.

“Should we…uh…leave them alone?” Bucky looks unsure when you take the basket out of his hands. “We shouldn’t watch them, right?”

“We can have coffee in my kitchen and leave them to…uh…their reunion.” You grab Bucky’s hand to guide him toward your kitchen. “Just so you know, the kittens are alright.”

“What are we going to do with them?” He asks, worriedly looking at you. “We cannot abandon them. They’re Alpine’s kids.”

“I think we should talk about shared custody.”

“Maybe, we can…uh…find a better solution,” he says, looking you deep in the eyes. “You know, my cat loves your cat and all.”

You laugh at his poor attempt to flirt with you. “How about you invite me for dinner before we plan on having a family of cats?”

“It’s a date!” He hurriedly says, hoping he’ll get lucky in love too…

[novaursa]

The Second Daughter (stone by stone)

- Summary: You were born as a second daughter under the watchful eye of a full moon. And just like the moon you were beautiful—and cursed to exist only in the dark.

- Pairing: targ!reader/Jason Lannister

- Rating: Explicit 18+ (adult themes)

- Previous part: herald's gifts

- Next part: raven across the realm

- Tag(s): @sachaa-ff @oxymakestheworldgoround @l3thal-l0lita @ninihrtss @barnes70stark

The meeting was held in a smaller chamber of Casterly Rock, its walls lined with tapestries depicting the victories of House Lannister. A long wooden table stretched the length of the room, with maps, documents, and records meticulously arranged for review. Jason Lannister sat at the head of the table, his posture commanding, his green eyes focused as he glanced over the assembled men. To his right was Maester Halford, quill and parchment in hand to record the proceedings. To his left sat Ser Alester Lannister, his demeanor casual but watchful.

Across the table sat Lord Allard Reyne, clad in a fine crimson doublet adorned with the sigil of his house: the red lion rampant. He lounged in his chair, his expression one of barely veiled smugness as he traced a finger along the edge of the map before him. Beside him was a scribe, a young man with ink-stained fingers and an air of nervous energy.

The tension in the room was visible, a silent undercurrent that simmered beneath the surface as the investigation into the disputed mines continued. Jason had already presented his findings, the impartial witness—Maester Halford—verifying the accuracy of the records. But Allard had proven adept at prolonging the discussion, his comments veering off course more than once.

“And, of course,” Allard said now, leaning back in his chair, “it’s important to consider not just the immediate yields of these mines, but the long-term impact on both our houses. After all, alliances are built on mutual benefit, are they not?”

Jason’s lips thinned, his patience wearing visibly thin. “The evidence is clear, Allard,” he said, his tone clipped. “The mines fall squarely within Lannister lands. Any suggestion otherwise is baseless.”

Allard smirked, clearly enjoying the opportunity to needle Jason further. “Baseless? I wouldn’t go that far. But no matter,” he added, waving a dismissive hand. “I’ve more important things to concern myself with these days.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, his expression unimpressed. “Such as?”

Allard’s grin widened, and he straightened in his chair, as though preparing to deliver a grand announcement. “I am to be married,” he said, his tone self-satisfied. “My bride may not be a beloved princess of the realm, but she is a lady of considerable standing in the Westerlands. An advantageous match, I dare say.”

Jason leaned back slightly, his gaze steady and cold. “Congratulations,” he said flatly, the word devoid of warmth.

Allard, undeterred, continued, “She’s the daughter of Lord Harwyn Lefford. A fine woman, with a strong lineage. Our union will strengthen ties between our houses and solidify my position in the region. And you, Jason? Surely you must know the satisfaction of such a match.”

Jason’s jaw tightened, his irritation evident, but he allowed a slow, deliberate smile to form. “I do,” he said, his voice steady but laced with quiet pride. “Though I suspect our situations are quite different.”

Allard tilted his head, his curiosity piqued. “Oh?”

Jason gestured toward the open window that overlooked the cliffs. “While you speak of solidifying your position, my wife has already ensured mine. A Targaryen princess—a woman of grace, wisdom, and strength. A dragonrider, no less.”

Allard’s smirk faltered slightly, but he masked it quickly. “Ah, yes. Princess Y/N. A fine match indeed. And Silverwing… a magnificent beast, I’m sure.”

Jason’s smile widened, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “Magnificent doesn’t even begin to describe her. She’s sunbathing on the cliffs as we speak. Have you seen her, Allard? The sight of a dragon resting in the sun, her wings spread, her scales glinting like molten silver—it’s something to behold. A reminder of the power and legacy my wife brings to our house.”

The mention of Silverwing seemed to unsettle Allard, though he masked it with a chuckle. “A dragon is impressive, I’ll admit. But dragons don’t dig mines or make deals, Jason.”

Jason leaned forward, his voice dropping to a calm, dangerous tone. “No, they don’t. But they do remind men of what happens when they overstep their bounds.”

The room fell silent, the weight of Jason’s words settling heavily over the table. Even Maester Halford paused in his note-taking, his quill hovering over the parchment.

Allard cleared his throat, his bravado slipping for just a moment. “Well,” he said, forcing a smile. “It seems we’ve covered all there is to discuss today. I trust your maester will see to it that the records are properly maintained.”

Jason’s gaze didn’t waver. “Oh, you can be sure of that, Allard.”

The meeting ended shortly after, with Allard departing in a flurry of polite words and thinly veiled annoyance. As the door closed behind him, Ser Alester let out a low chuckle, shaking his head.

“You certainly know how to put a man in his place, cousin,” he said, clapping Jason on the shoulder.

Jason exhaled, his expression softening as he turned back to the table. “It’s not about putting him in his place,” he said. “It’s about reminding him that Casterly Rock stands firm—and so do I.”

The nursery was quiet, bathed in the soft glow of the afternoon sun filtering through the high, arched windows. The faint scent of lavender lingered in the air, a comforting presence in the newly finished room. You stood in the center of it, cradling the finished embroidery in your hands—a delicate blanket adorned with a golden lion and a silver dragon intertwined, their tails curling into an ornate border. Every stitch had been made with care, and as your fingers traced the design, you felt a deep sense of accomplishment and love for the child growing within you.

Guiding yourself slowly, your fingertips brushed along the edge of the crib. It was sturdy, carved from the finest oak, with the sigils of House Lannister and House Targaryen etched into its sides. You placed the blanket inside with reverence, smoothing it gently before stepping back. A small smile graced your lips as you imagined the day your baby would rest there, wrapped in the warmth of the love you had sewn into every thread.

The soft crackle of embers in the hearth drew your attention next. The dragon egg Daemon had sent rested in a small iron cradle, nestled close to the fire's warmth. Its shimmering surface of silver and gold reflected the flickering flames, creating an almost ethereal glow. The sight of it filled you with a mix of wonder and curiosity.

Carefully, you made your way to the hearth, your hands trailing lightly along the edge of the table as a guide. The warmth of the fire grew stronger as you knelt beside it, one hand reaching out to stoke the embers with a poker. The gentle heat brushed against your face, and you felt the comforting weight of the egg nearby.

"Princess!" Alys’s voice rang out from the doorway, her tone sharp with alarm. Footsteps hurried across the room, and you felt her hands on your arm as she gently pulled you back. “My lady, please! So close to the hearth—you could have burned yourself!”

You turned your face toward her, a calm smile on your lips. “There’s no need for alarm, Alys,” you said softly. “I was careful.”

Alys frowned, her concern evident as she guided you a step away from the fire. “Careful or not, my lady, it makes my heart race to see you near the flames. Especially now, with the baby.”

You chuckled lightly, placing a reassuring hand on hers. “The fire won’t harm me. I only meant to tend the embers—to keep the egg warm.”

Alys glanced toward the egg, her brow furrowing. “Do you truly think it will hatch?” she asked hesitantly. “I’ve heard tales of dragon eggs that never stir, lying dormant for centuries.”

You tilted your head, considering her words. “Perhaps,” you said thoughtfully. “But there’s always hope. And if there’s one thing my family has taught me, it’s that dragons are full of surprises.”

Alys remained silent for a moment, her gaze lingering on the egg. “It’s beautiful,” she murmured. “Even if it doesn’t hatch, it’s a treasure unlike any other.”

You smiled, your hand lightly brushing over the cradle where the egg rested. “It’s more than a treasure, Alys. It’s a symbol—a reminder of where I come from. And a gift for the child who will carry that legacy forward.”

Alys nodded, her expression softening. “You’re right, my lady. It is a part of your family, just as much as it is of you.”

The two of you stood there for a moment, the quiet crackle of the fire filling the room. Finally, Alys stepped back, her tone lighter. “But next time, please call for me if you want the embers tended. I’ll not have you singeing your skirts.”

You laughed softly, the sound warm. “Very well, Alys. I’ll leave the embers to you.”

As she moved to tidy the room, you lingered by the hearth, one hand resting lightly on the iron cradle. The egg’s warmth seeped into your palm, and for a brief moment, you could almost feel a faint pulse beneath the smooth surface—an echo of something alive, waiting. Whether it was your imagination or something more, you couldn’t say. But the hope that stirred in your heart was enough.

The wind howled faintly across the battlements of Casterly Rock as Jason Lannister stood with Ser Alester, gazing out over the rolling waves of the Sunset Sea. The golden light of the setting sun bathed the towering fortress in warm hues, highlighting the intricate carvings of lions and other Lannister heraldry that adorned its walls. Jason’s eyes swept over the ancient stonework, his expression thoughtful as he gestured to the masons gathered nearby.

“Here,” he said, pointing to the eastern wall overlooking the main gate. “And there, on the western towers. I want them placed prominently, where every visitor and bannerman can see them.”

The master mason, a grizzled man with calloused hands and a calculating gaze, nodded. “Aye, my lord. But just to confirm, you want dragons—proper Valyrian beasts—carved into the stone?”

Jason turned, his expression resolute. “Yes. Majestic, powerful, wings spread wide. They must look as though they belong here, as much a part of the Rock as the lions themselves.”

Behind him, Ser Alester Lannister raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. “Dragons on the battlements of Casterly Rock?” he asked, his tone equal parts amusement and disbelief. “Forgive me, cousin, but why would you alter the aesthetic of our ancestral home? The lions have stood watch for centuries.”

Jason turned to face him, his gaze calm but firm. “I’m not altering anything, Alester. I’m adding to it.”

“Adding dragons,” Alester repeated, his smirk widening. “And here I thought lions didn’t share their dens.”

Jason stepped closer, his voice steady and measured. “Lions don’t share their dens, but they do recognize strength. These dragons are not a replacement for our history, Alester—they’re a reminder of the bloodline that is about to join it. My wife is a Targaryen. My child will carry the blood of both lion and dragon. It’s only fitting that the Rock reflects that.”

Alester studied him for a moment, his grin fading slightly as he considered Jason’s words. “So this is about legacy,” he said, his tone more serious now. “You want everyone who sees these walls to know the future of House Lannister.”

Jason nodded, his green eyes gleaming with determination. “Exactly. These carvings will stand as a testament to the union of our houses. They’ll remind every vassal, every visitor, and every enemy that the strength of House Lannister now carries the fire of Valyria as well.”

The wind tugged at Alester’s cloak as he glanced toward the masons, who were already sketching preliminary designs into their ledgers. “It’s bold,” he admitted, a faint smile returning to his lips. “And it will certainly give the Reynes and the other lords something to talk about.”

Jason allowed himself a small smile. “Let them talk. The more they dwell on it, the more they’ll understand what it means.”

The master mason stepped forward, holding up a rough sketch of a dragon, its wings unfurled and its claws outstretched. “Like this, my lord?”

Jason studied the drawing for a moment before nodding. “Yes, that’s the shape I want. Make it imposing, but elegant. A dragon worthy of standing beside a lion.”

The mason bowed. “It will be done, my lord. We’ll begin work on the first tower by week’s end.”

As the masons dispersed to begin preparations, Alester clapped a hand on Jason’s shoulder, his grin turning sly. “You do realize the poets will have a field day with this, don’t you? ‘Lions and dragons entwined’—sounds like the beginning of a ballad.”

Jason chuckled, shaking his head. “Let them write their ballads. History will remember the truth. This isn’t just about lions and dragons, Alester. It’s about ensuring that the legacy we build here endures for generations.”

Alester nodded, his amusement tempered by a hint of admiration. “You’ve always thought ahead, Jason. I’ll give you that.”

Jason turned back to the battlements, his gaze sweeping over the endless horizon. “When you’re entrusted with something as great as Casterly Rock, you don’t have the luxury of thinking small. This isn’t just my legacy—it’s for my wife, my child, and every Lannister who comes after us.”

The sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the ancient stone, as Jason stood tall against the wind. In his mind’s eye, he could already see the completed carvings—the fierce lions and the proud dragons standing side by side, guardians of a future that he was determined to secure.

The dining hall of Casterly Rock glowed warmly under the flickering light of the chandeliers, their golden glow casting soft shadows over the long table where the Lannister family had gathered. The faint aroma of roasted meats, freshly baked bread, and spiced wine filled the air as servants moved deftly, refilling goblets and replacing emptied platters.

At the head of the table, Jason sat, his gaze drawn not to the lively conversation around him but to you. You sat beside him, poised and graceful, your head tilted slightly as you listened to Lady Leonella describe the day’s events in her melodic voice. Despite the rich spread before you, your movements were deliberate and composed as you ate. Each piece of food was neatly cut and brought to your lips with a precision that Jason couldn’t help but admire.

He marveled at how effortlessly you carried yourself, your lack of sight never betraying you. Every gesture, every word you spoke carried an air of dignity and charm that Jason found himself captivated by, even in the simplicity of a family meal.

“You stare too much, my son,” Lady Leonella teased softly, her voice low enough to keep the remark private. She lifted her goblet of wine, her hair catching the light as she turned her gaze on Jason. Her expression was knowing, a small smile tugging at her lips.

Jason chuckled under his breath, glancing at his mother with a faint grin. “Can you blame me?” he replied quietly. “She makes even the mundane seem extraordinary.”

Leonella sipped her wine, her smile widening. “You’ve always been sentimental, Jason. It suits you.”

Further down the table, Ser Alester leaned back in his chair, a goblet in hand as he spoke with a mischievous grin. “So, have you all heard the latest about Allard Reyne’s wedding feast?” he asked, his voice loud enough to draw the attention of the other Lannisters seated nearby.

“Who hasn’t?” one of the younger cousins chimed in, rolling her eyes. “It seems half the Westerlands are invited.”

“And the other half wishes they weren’t,” another added, earning a round of laughter from those seated nearby.

Lady Leonella arched a delicate brow, her interest piqued. “What spectacle is Allard planning now?” she asked, her tone laced with mild curiosity.

Alester took a long sip of his wine before replying, clearly enjoying the attention. “A week-long celebration,” he said, setting the goblet down. “He’s hired minstrels, acrobats, and even some sort of exotic animal trainer. Rumor has it there will be a lion and a bear fighting in the courtyard.”

Leonella frowned slightly, her expression disapproving. “A lion and a bear? How barbaric.”

Jason’s lips thinned, his gaze shifting briefly to Alester. “Typical Allard,” he muttered. “Always trying to outshine everyone else, even in his own marriage.”

“You’re not wrong,” Alester said, leaning forward with a conspiratorial grin. “But I hear the real spectacle is the bride’s dowry. Supposedly, the Leffords are gifting him enough gold to fund a small army.”

“Gold won’t buy him loyalty,” Jason remarked, his tone sharp. “Allard thrives on spectacle because he lacks substance. Let him throw his lavish feast. It won’t change who he is.”

The table quieted briefly at Jason’s pointed words, though a few exchanged amused glances. The subtle tension eased when you spoke, your voice soft yet steady.

“A marriage should be about more than spectacle,” you said, your hands resting lightly in your lap after setting down your goblet. “The vows, the bond between husband and wife—that’s what gives it meaning.”

Jason turned to you, his gaze softening. “And you’ve given ours all the meaning I could ever need.”

Your lips curved into a small, warm smile, and though your eyes couldn’t meet his, the emotion in your expression spoke volumes. “As have you, Jason.”

Leonella cleared her throat gently, breaking the moment with a smile of her own. “Well said, my dear. It’s a shame others don’t share your wisdom.”

Alester laughed lightly, raising his goblet. “Here’s to marriages with meaning, then. And to the ones without—may they entertain us all.”

The table erupted into laughter, the mood lightening once more. Jason remained quiet, his gaze lingering on you as the conversation continued around him. As he watched you smile and respond gracefully to the others, he felt a profound sense of pride and gratitude.

Even amidst the noise and frivolity, you were the calm at the center of it all—the steady, unwavering presence that grounded him. And for that, Jason silently vowed to protect and cherish you, no matter what challenges lay ahead.

The chambers were quiet, lit by the soft glow of a single candelabra on the bedside table. The heavy drapes over the windows muted the sounds of the sea beyond, creating a cocoon of warmth and stillness. You lay nestled in the center of the vast bed, your silken hair spread out over the pillows, the flush of passion still lingering on your skin. Jason sat beside you, his hair disheveled, his chest rising and falling as he caught his breath. The warmth of his presence and the weight of his gaze were unmistakable, even as silence hung between you.

His hand rested lightly on your swollen belly, his palm pressing gently as though trying to feel the life stirring within. His green eyes softened, and a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “I still can’t believe how close we are now,” he murmured, his voice low and reverent. “Halford says it could be any day.”

You turned your face toward him, your own hand covering his. “He did,” you replied softly. “Though I suspect you’re more excited about his… particular advice than the timing itself.”

Jason chuckled, a low, warm sound that rumbled in his chest. “I won’t deny it,” he admitted, his grin turning playful. “When Halford suggested that more intimate activities might help things along, I didn’t think it was my place to argue. Who am I to deny the wisdom of a maester?”

You laughed, the sound light and free, though a faint blush warmed your cheeks. “You were far too eager to agree with him.”

Jason leaned down, his lips brushing over your temple as his fingers traced light circles on your belly. “Of course I was. Do you blame me?” he murmured, his voice soft against your skin. “You’re radiant, Y/N. Even more so now.”

You smiled, though a faint shadow of nervousness crossed your face. “It feels so close now, Jason. I can’t help but think of my mother… of what happened to her.”

His expression grew serious, his hand stilling as he leaned closer. “Don’t,” he said firmly, his voice steady but gentle. “We talk about this. You’re not your mother, and this isn’t the same. You’ve been strong throughout all of this. And I won’t let anything happen to you. You have my word.”

You turned your head slightly, your lips curving into a faint smile as your hand brushed over his. “I trust you,” you said softly. “And I trust Halford. He seems more concerned about the baby’s impatience than anything else.”

Jason’s grin returned, and he pressed a kiss to your knuckles. “Impatience seems fitting, considering the bloodline. A Lannister-Targaryen child wouldn’t dare be anything less.”

You laughed again, the sound warming the room. “And you’re already boasting about them before they’ve even taken their first breath.”

He smirked, his hand still gently resting on your belly. “Of course I am. This child is the future of our house—lion and dragon, strength and fire. They’re going to change everything.”

You tilted your head, your fingers brushing lightly over his jaw. “As long as they’re healthy, I’ll be happy.”

Jason leaned down, capturing your lips in a soft, lingering kiss. When he pulled back, his gaze was filled with love and determination. “They will be,” he said firmly. “And so will you. I’ll make sure of it.”

Jason adjusted his position on the bed, propping himself up on one elbow so he could face you fully. His hand remained on your belly, his touch light yet protective, as though guarding both you and the life within. The flickering candlelight softened his features, making his eyes gleam with warmth.

“Have you thought about what you’d like for them?” he asked softly, his voice carrying a rare vulnerability. “The kind of life we’ll give them here, at the Rock?”

You smiled faintly, placing your hand over his and tracing the lines of his fingers. “I’ve thought of little else,” you admitted. “I want them to feel safe, above all. Loved and protected, no matter what the world outside these walls might say.”

Jason nodded, his expression solemn. “They’ll have that,” he said firmly. “This child will grow up knowing their worth, knowing the strength of their bloodline. Lion and dragon. No one will dare challenge that.”

You tilted your head, your tone turning playful. “Already planning their future battles, are you?”

Jason chuckled, though there was a thoughtful edge to his smile. “Not battles, no,” he said, shaking his head. “But I do want them to understand what it means to carry the weight of two great houses. To take pride in who they are. And to lead, when the time comes.”

Your fingers brushed over his wrist, grounding him. “Jason,” you said gently. “Let them be a child first. Let them discover their own path, before the weight of titles and expectations is placed on their shoulders.”

He studied you for a moment, then nodded slowly. “You’re right,” he said. “I just… I want to give them everything. To make sure they don’t feel the pressures I did, growing up as the heir.”

You smiled, your voice softening. “And you will. You’ll be an incredible father, Jason. I see it already.”

His expression softened, his thumb tracing light circles over your belly. “What about you?” he asked. “What do you see for them?”

You exhaled, your thoughts turning inward. “I see a child who loves this home,” you said slowly. “Who feels the sea breeze and hears the crashing waves, and knows they belong here. I see them with their own dragon, perhaps—riding through the skies, unafraid of anything. And I see them with you, learning from your strength, your wisdom.”

Jason’s smile widened, his gaze filled with pride. “And from you,” he added. “Your patience, your kindness. They’ll be lucky to have you as their mother.”

The words brought a blush to your cheeks, and you looked down briefly. “If they have even half of what we’ve shared,” you said softly, “they’ll have a good life.”

Jason leaned forward, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “They will,” he promised. “Because we’ll make sure of it.”

The two of you fell silent, the weight of your shared dreams settling comfortably between you. Jason shifted, resting his head lightly against your shoulder as his hand remained on your belly, feeling the faint stirrings of the life you were both so eager to meet.

“And what of their name?” he murmured after a moment, his voice thoughtful. “Have you decided what you’d like to call them?”

You smiled, your hand brushing through his hair. “I’ve thought of a few,” you said. “But I wanted to hear yours first.”

Jason chuckled, lifting his head to look at you. “I’ll have to think carefully,” he said, his tone teasing. “After all, this is a name that will go down in history.”

“Take your time,” you replied, laughter in your voice. “We still have a little while, I think.”

Jason smirked, leaning in to kiss you again. “Not too long, I hope,” he said against your lips. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

As the candlelight flickered around you, the future seemed closer than ever—bright and full of promise, built on the love and strength that connected the two of you.

[diarylogbook08]

Ateez as Dads #8 : San — 🧸 the pure definiton of soft yet chaotic dude, eyes that water when his kid says “I love you”🧸

Wrapping up our legendary dad series our national cat boy duality king Choi—the emotional support king with the softest core and the most chaotic energy at birthday parties. (There's no in-between with him)

• Girl dad – Tells her she’s the strongest princess in the kingdom (because she is), lets her cover his face in stickers, and calls it “art.” Buys every pink sparkly thing in the store and cries during tea parties.

• Boy dad – teaches him to climb trees, wrestle pillows, cool handshakes and dramatic slow-mo walk entrances. Keeps all their crayon art in a binder titled “Masterpieces.” Also – teaches him how to fight imaginary dragons.

• Both – family dance parties with matching slippers, sings them to sleep even when he’s exhausted, always keeps snacks in his jacket pockets, and has a sixth sense for when his kid is feeling off.

• Cat dad only – one cat isn't enough, makes his personal mission to rescue all strays cats and keep them at home, comes back every day with at least 3-4 kitten more.

Time to choose your fighter(s) 💪 💪 

Please vote and share ! ^°^ I hope you liked this polls series. You have until this Saturday (June 14th) to next Wednesday (June 18th) to completes votes for all members. You can find all links below (and soon into a masterlist 🫶) More posts in coming until ends of theses polls stay tuned and follow me to see what's to come.

Wish y'all a very good day (or night depending on where you from ^°^)

- Tag list -

@miracle-sol

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ─── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ─

🧵 Don't forget to vote for the rest of our lovely pirates !!

[shelandsorcery]

it’s new watercolour palette time!

Treated my birthday self to an Art Toolkit Folio Palette! It’s both big and small, with lots of mixing space, even though it packs up very slim and weighs very little; and it magnets to itself and to whatever I want to stick it to for painting. While the -14C snowy weather here in Southern Ontario is not going to have me doing much plein air this month, I think my future self will really enjoy taking this to the beach, the park, etc!

(I also picked up an extra mixing pan to swap out for two of the larger square pans; I already appreciate the extra space, as I am a messy, chaotic mixer.)

In good timing, I also finished swatching all my watercolours onto cards, so I used them to assemble myself a palette of tube paints to fill this with:

I went heavy on the granulating paints; if this is a plein air landscape and urban sketching palette, then it doesn’t need as much texture control as one I might take figure drawing. I got to include a few of my newer tubes, too, to really test run them in a more focused way:

Lemon Yellow Deep (W&N)

Perylene Scarlet (DS)

Terre Verte (DS) (I picked this up because the Winsor & Newton terre verte I own is probably the palest, weakest paint I own and yet I adore the colour, so i was hoping for just a more powerful version thereof; sadly the Daniel Smith one is a totally different colour and pigment composition, but turns out I also love IT, so~)

Olive Green (SH PWC)

Mars Black (W&N)

The yellow, scarlet and black listed are all notably granulating versions of those colours, so I am excited to see what kind of unhinged texture I can lay out on the page with this palette!

I’ve started doing some sketchbook studies to test drive it and while I think I might have made a mistake omitting my perylene green, maybe that kind of challenge is good for me!

I will say, the mixing area on this palette is velvety and perfect. I have never had a palette be such a joy to mix on out of the box – the paint spreads usefully on it in a way I have enormous trouble conditioning my enameled metal or plastic palettes into achieving literally ever! It’s raised the bar for me and whoops, now I have higher standards.

What do you think of these colours? Do you have a beloved palette you have conditioned into perfection? Are you also dreaming of sitting under a tree and painting in a few months?

[sirladystitch]

Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by, I'm excited to get started on here!

I'm gonna go into a bit more detail under the cut, but TLDR, I've made a new blog to document the process of my next big quilting project, which I hope to enter into the AQS 2025 Lancaster show.

Why I'm Doing This

A few weeks ago we went to our local state fair specifically to see the handicrafts section and got inspired by all the quilts there. I've been wanting to step back from fandom stuff and work on more original pieces, and I've always wanted to try entering more contests, so I figured a quilt show would be a perfect thing to work towards.

I want to do something that's showy and has room to embellish as much as I want without being overly complicated. I've decided to rework my phoenix pin design:

(Sorry about the pixelation/anti-theft stuff I can't get Glaze to work on my computer lol)

How It Will Be Assembled

I'm going to build the quilt in two parts:

The background is pretty simple, just a matter of squares and long strips to frame out a section filled with applique leaves and apples (I was too lazy to redraw it here just imagine it lol).

The bird itself will be sewn onto gauze and then placed onto the background as a last step. The pieces are fairly large blocks of color, the embellishments will be dealt with through painting, embroidery, and beading. This will allow me to work on detailing the bird without dealing with the bulk of the background.

The applique pieces will be fused background and then sewn together with decorative stitching/embellishments. I think the actual quilting itself will be tracing the basic shapes and trying to be as neat as possible while doing so.

Sizing

Since I'm hoping to enter this into a contest, I needed to size it to fit within the contest dimensions. I've settled on a quilt that's about 70" by 50", which is a little shorter than the 72" height limit and totally within the width limits.

Materials

Fortunately I think I have most of the materials I need on hand, at least for the quilt top. The design will be primarily batiks (my beloved), although the bird will probably require some additional iridescent textures and layering.

Math is hard but I think for the background I'm going to need:

30 x 52 Blue background

50 x 1.5 strip yellow cubes

50 x 1.5 strip blue cubes

four 5.5 x 5.5 corner squares

two 2.5 x 52 red side panel

two 2.5 x 30.5 red top/bottom panel

two 1 x 52 yellow side panel

two 1 x 30.5 yellow top/bottom panel

eight 1 x 52 black side panel

eight 1 x 30.5 black top/bottom panel

eight 1 x 6 black corner frames

203 inches of 2” black binding

assorted green, brown, gold (tree applique)

The bird will be primarily made of fat quarters and 1/4 yard strips, plus lots and lots of scraps.

To be honest I another reason I am making the background first is so that I can adjust the background as needed since I have a bad feeling the numbers don't quite add up.

Timeline

The deadline for the contest submission is May 8th but I'm hoping to be done before that. I'm roughly planning the following schedule for benchmarks:

End of Sept - Have all materials and cut background pieces

End of Nov - Have background assembled, minus binding

End of Dec - Bird pieces painted as needed and the base of the bird has been fused together and onto the gauze background

End of Feb- Bird embellishments done, bird trimmed and sewn down to the background

End of April- Quilting complete

I'm hoping to take some time off of work in October to really get a head start on all of this, so fingers crossed progress goes smoothly. Wish me luck, and thanks for joining me on this adventure!

[justabackroundcharacter]

Thoughts while watching Wish:

- base princess personality trope

- Never getting over the face that the goat is named Valentino

- 7 dwarfs vibes with the friends

- Hans type character

- Weird ass love song to wishes

- Evil Chris Pratt went from 1-100 really fast

- The wife was 1000000% the kings wish and he used magic to get it

- Angry guy is played by GIZMO MY BELOVED

- 100 year old man move like a 60 year old fr

- Asha also goes from 50-100 real fast

- My favorite song was a little disappointing:(

- What she’s singing and what the animation gives dosent match

- Wifey is CLUELESS

- We could’ve had A STAR BOY INSTEAD WE GET THIS THING

- Star is still cute

- When you are a Star and accidentally make a devils trap in the tree lol

- IM A STAR ⭐️

- thanks for not eating me John

- Throwing books like your cramming for a test

- King is bipolar like actually tho

- EVERYTHING IS FINE

- What are you five ?

- DANCING CHICKENS

- Best friends help each other commit crimes against the kingdom

- King really is evil he made everyone go to an assembly and they aren’t even in school

- WAIT WAS KING SUPPOSED TO BE AN ALIEN

- how old is the king ? Do we know at all ?

- Casually dooms yourself to an eternity of pain because you got insecure

- HE HAS A SECRET LAIR LIKE HAWKMOTH

- ok how do wishes work again ? Was gramps not free to still inspire people

- Not the mom pleading for her daughter to only get her wish trampled on (definitely don’t need to look at how accurate that is)

- Star said SQUARE TF UP

- He’s literally just your king hit him with your bookshelf

- Returns to your stable if anyone asks pLaY dUmB

- when you have to speed run the 5 stages of grief bc you are the main character damnit

- I know what your thinking- WELL I DONT girl that star doesn’t have an expression on his face

- I can not swim *proceeds to jump into the water with reckless abandon *

- You’ve been hit by, you’ve been stuck by LOSS OF YOUR WISH

- ‘AMYIA darling your just in time come meet my new TOY’ why would you WRITE IT LIKE THAT

- Hot take anyone who calls their partner darling is on THIN FUCKING ICE

- King man went insane that is fun

- HANS KNOCK OFF BETRAYED THEM I FUCKING KNEW IT

- Dont worry im a talking mouse but very clean

- When you only want to be a loyal knight but you end up betraying your friends- happens to the best of us dude

- Good find Valentino - my butt found it

- introverts deserve sanctuary— louder for the people in the back

- STRIKE, STRIKE newsies vibes

- YES fulfill your Sabos wish

- doc and dopey slayed

- They all did

- They are like any queer friend group fr

- the chase scene is cool

- YAZ QUEEN GET YOUR HUSBAND

- I was fooled by the love I felt- Its ok queen you were definitely manipulated not your fault

- Don’t destroy never land you bastard

- A stick ? What am I supposed to do with this ?

- The MUSHROOMS 🍄

- Poor gizmo can’t catch a break no matter what universe he’s in

- a dress on a tree more likely than you think

- Dude bro dear got into the mushrooms fr

- Sometimes a plan is just you and your six friends jumping from a high place

- FUCKING HANS GOT ME AGAIN

- thanks John

- Your so right bunnies are terrifying

- Nope nope nope nope nope

- StAr GeT aWaY fRoM tHeRe

- WAIT IS HE MAGIC MIRRIR GUY

- Yay singing again

- THE power of collective singing will always save the day

- GREEN SMOKE

- MyWiShEs dude get a grip

- Simon and queen should be besties now

- LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

- Peter Pan origin story 👀👀

- ZOOTOPIA ?!?

- bippty boppty boo the magic wand is fixed

- Give GIZMO THE WAND 😭he deserves it

- Fireworks yay

- 5/10 movie

[ithrowshoesatconservatives]

since one of my beloved mutuals asked, here's the story of the 2010 Times Square bombing, AKA the single worst car bomb ever made

this is faisal shahzad, a pakistani member of the taliban

faisal wants to kill americans, which is a reasonable goal, let's be honest here

to do this, he wants to set off a car bomb in new york city

crucially, however, faisal does not know anything about explosives

this does not deter him, however, as he jams a bunch of random flammable shit in the back half of a car he bought on craigslist and drives it to times square

this is the diagram the justice department used at his trial, and fucking look at this shit

giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming the wire leads are actually connected instead of trailing off to nowhere like how they appear here, the primary explosive used was entire individual firecrackers packed in a cardboard box. a coffee can, and a pressure cooker

(for reference, an M-88 looks like this:)

allegedly he followed al qaeda instructions while assembling the bomb, and if this is the best al qaeda could do then it's not surprising that they had to give up on explosives and resort to flying entire planes into buildings

there are multiple gas cans, and i'm telling you right now that gasoline is going to add exactly jack shit to this if your plan is detonating the propane tanks (which incidentally are not connected to anything) because the slow burn of gasoline is going to be completely buried under any kind of pressurized gas explosion

and let's talk about the propane tanks, too, because these are standard steel-walled tanks with no modification and his grand plan is to penetrate that steel with fucking fireworks

to top it all off, the gun locker is full of the wrong kind of fertilizer for a bomb

he used urea-based fertilizer, which has these lovely statements in its data sheet:

and finally, when you put this haphazard mixture of random shit together, you get a lightly toasted SUV and a whopping zero casualties

so there you have it, the single worst car bomb until the cybertruck explosion in vegas

edit because i just picked this up: faisal also left both his house key and the keys to his getaway car in the vehicle, as if he wasn't incompetent enough

[koukouture]

(ohhhh @entropypalefire come get ur religious trauma au pspspsppspsps)

The night of father Nikola Sokolov’s hanging is quiet. The small town simply gathers with their torches raised high to gaze upon their once beloved priest.

He is calm, quiet, and ever composed. As the wind blows and he steps up, he simply fixes his hair and allows the necklace of rope to be placed around his neck.

“Father Sokolov, you have been found guilty of conspiring with the Devil. For this, you shall be hanged” the prosecutor announces.

Nikola tilts his head, “Remind me again, what gives you the impression I have been conspiring with The Enemy?”

“You were caught helping a creature of the night, one of Satan’s most vile demons; a vampire!”

The priest sighs, “Hassen Von Fadel is no demon, he is a child of the Lord, as you all are,” Nikola declares loudly, tilting his chin up defiantly.

Several whispers suddenly fill the deep, silent night. Were they all mistaken? Are the rumours of Hassen being a vampire fake? All eyes turn to the prosecutor, Collins, who only laughs.

“Is he now?”

Nikola closes his eyes, “Yes. Under God’s great sky, you are all equal. He did not burn when I baptized him, he is surely one of you.”

Collins smirk grows wider, “You love him, don’t you?”

The assembly falls silent, but Nikola does not miss a beat.

“Of course,” Nikola holds his hands out, wincing at the ropes digging into his pale flesh. “I would never deny that. Yet you deny me the right to a trial and the right to love him.”

Collins laughs again, his booming laugh interrupting the quiet crackle of the torches. “But one can’t deny that Hassen was seen turning into a mist and fleeing from your church. You knew. You even gave him your blood, we found the marks on your neck!”

Nikola drops his hands, looking down on the spectators and Collins raises his arm to give the command.

“Any last words, father?” he sneers.

Only now, does Nikola’s breath tremble, “My children, God is all merciful. But I can assure you, He, is not.”

The square is silent again. All the torches have been put out, and the moon simply illuminates the man covered in blood and he walks up behind Nikola.

“So, you did come” Nikola muses, “You wouldn’t miss my execution after all.” The rope around his neck suddenly drops, cut to ribbons by seemingly nothing.

Hassen frowns, “Oh, now you’re funny.” He wraps his arms around Nikola’s waist, ignoring the blood he’s smearing onto Nikola’s black priest garb.

“Why did you wait, did you want me to pronounce my love for you?”

“I just needed everyone gathered in one place,” the ropes around Nikola’s wrists fall too. “Except for the children. They’re all sleeping.”

“How merciful of you.”

Nikola turns to face him, bringing his hand up to wipe some blood from Hassen’s chin. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone, initially. But I didn’t want witnesses.”

The white haired man hums, “Will you turn me then?”

“I’d sooner walk into the sun than do that,” Hassen grabs his hands, bringing them up to his chest. There is no heart beating there, but Nikola doesn’t care, not anymore. “Just come with me. Away from here, away from these… animals.”

Nikola smiles, “Alright. Take me away.”

[gstdaisuki]

Part 1: A Chat with Paul Hutchinson

While I usually interview musicians, Paul is a programmer first, and musician when he needs to be. However, I still had a lot to ask about, as he was able to provide a fascinating window into what gamedev was like in the late 80s and early 90s.

This interview was conducted across several emails in 2024Q1. The exchange has been rearranged to flow more naturally as a conversation, with quote blocks mostly removed. There's a part 2, in a different format with more of a music focus. Both are mirrored on patreon.

GST: I'd like to start with a somewhat open-ended question: most of your online presence is under the handle "Z80GameCoder". that's a really interesting processor to embrace! I'd like to know why you embraced that, and I guess how you got started on that path. I got the impression that you were part of the UK's "bedroom coder revolution" era, but it seems like the 6502 was more popular (C64, BBC Micro). Was the ZX Spectrum your first computer, perhaps?

PH: It all began when I was about 13 years old, in 1977. Technically, the very first computer I had experience with was via a 300 baud modem teletype (playing Tic-Tac-Toe, on a print-out), but I don't recall what was on the other end of the telephone line. This was an interim solution, until the new machines arrived at my school. Computer Studies (O-level) was a brand new course at the time, and my mum said I should give it a try, on account of it being such a new thing. When the first machines arrived, after a few weeks, they were RML 380Z desktop computers. Made by Research Machines Limited, as I recall, and Z80 based.

They were a lot more fun than the teletype. I dove right in, and became quite familiar with them. So that is probably why I got into the Z80 in the first place. I wrote some BASIC games at the time. A version of Tic-Tac-Toe, and a version of Star Trek, which was another game they had on the teletype. Man, we used up a lot of paper playing that game on the teletype.

I left school at 16, to go to College, where I took Computer Science (A-level). There was a computer lab with a bunch of RML 380Z desktops. I continued to program games in BASIC, including a version of Pong, Breakout, and even a rudimentary implementation of Space Invaders. The graphics were very blocky, four pixels per character square, with black, white, and two shades of gray, if I remember coirrectly. Yeah, that was pretty basic stuff.

I got a Sinclair ZX-Spectrum 16k in 1982, for my 18th birthday, my very first computer. We quickly replaced it with a 48k version, as 16k clearly was not enough RAM to be working with, even at the time. I bought, and played, all the games I could, spending many hours with my beloved 'Speccie'.

Meanwhile, back at college, a friend, and one of the teachers, challenged me to write my games in Assembler, instead of BASIC. So I then set about learning Z80 code. I basically taught myself, although, later on, the Computer Science class began working with Assembler. But by that time, I was already fairly proficient. And the rest, as they say, is history.

GST: So in other words, you taught yourself Z80 assembly outside of school. What resources were you using to teach yourself all that? It's a few years before google, after all.

PH: Yes, I taught myself BASIC programming, Assembler, and everything related to game development. You had to be able to do everything back then, so I did.

The resources I used were …

Sinclair ZX Spectrum BASIC Programming - Steven Vickers - Appendix A

(For some reason Appendix A has been removed from the PDF that is online, I have no idea why, it's very strange.)

I referred to the assembler code there, but it was not enough, long term, and I very soon got …

Programming The Z80 - Rodnay Zaks

This was the resource for the Z80 at the time. Very detailed descriptions, and, most importantly, the execution time T-states, along with the byte length, for each and every instruction. With this I was able to determine that using a bunch of LDI instructions in a row, with a JR instruction to loop back, was much faster than using an LDIR. This got used in the V-blank routines used to dump memory to the display, for example. It used up more memory, but it got the job done way faster.

GST: How did you get into PSS? Did Xavior come first, and you found PSS as a publisher? Or did PSS find you? It looks to me like you found PSS and they brought you in to work on other projects, since your Amstrad games all came after 1984

PH: The first real piece of code I wrote in Assembler was for LBC's "Computer Club", a radio show hosted by Clive Bull. They would broadcast a program over the air every week. I sent in a version of Pacman I called MacMan, because it had a burger theme. (It's at the bottom of my game page at z80gamecoder.com ) After that I wrote Xavior. I spent about two months teaching myself Assembler, and coding the game. We were moving back up to Coventry from London, so I looked for a publisher in Coventry. That was PSS. I pitched the game to them, and they accepted it, and offered me a job. It was my first job. Pretty basic, not well paid though, but it got me into the industry. I got to work alongside Alan Steele (a really good bloke, I miss him), who was the leading War Game programmer at the time (at least in the UK). I worked with Mike Simpson (on Swords & Sorcery), who went on to do the Total War series of games, at Creative Assembly.

(As a side note, a member of Creative Assembly (I think his name was Ingi? Ingimar? [EDITOR'S NOTE: it was Ingimar Guðmundsson]) showed up to work at Gogogic in Iceland, when I was there. It's a small world, eh. re: the gaming industry)

I have worked alongside some of the biggest names in the history of game programming, looking back, it's pretty cool, tbh.

GST: I'm kind of surprised to see a game development job described as "pretty basic"!

"Not well paid" is easy to believe, but games are complicated! What made it basic?

PH: I say "basic" firstly because of the low pay. With the contract I had after leaving PSS, a project with Firebird (BT), I earned my yearly salary in just two months, which would be a six-fold increase in earnings in one jump. Secondly, the place where we worked was a residential house, nothing fancy.

(this off-white building is the same place in 2014, via google street view)

Mike's office was behind the top left window, our office space was at the back on the same floor. Humble beginnings. Although the bosses, Gary and Richard, drove around in super fancy sports cars.

GST: Actually, I'd like to ask about the names you mentioned. Maybe you can dig up some old memories about working with everyone and use those stories to illuminate what it was like at the time.

Or at least I think anecdotes are fun and interesting. :P

The credits I can find on Swords & Sorcery are all quite vague, saying that you and Mike Simpson both did "unknown".

I assume that he took the role of a designer while you programmed? Or is it impossible to cleanly divide who did what?

PH: Names …

Mike wore sweaters that were not the most fashionable, as I recall, and, as a result, got some degree of ribbing from co-workers. He was not always in the office, he came in when necessary. My involvement with Swords & Sorcery was with rendering the action window, Mike did the bulk of the coding, obviously, and he was the game designer. I contributed some graphics too, as I have some natural artistic ability. I worked on both the Spectrum and Amstrad versions (the full code conversion for Amstrad). The project took quite a bit longer than we expected, by my recollection. I remember a conversation with Mike about how excited he was with the possibility of fractal generation of environment, what is called 'procedural'? An example he gave was being able to generate graphic renderings of trees in games, using maths, rather than having a pre-rendered image of a tree. He was a bit ahead of himself, as he needed to get S&S finished first. … and now we have games like "No Man's Sky".

As an example, I did the graphics for this:

GST: Looking at mobygames, you're in the credits for the ZX Speccy version of Bismark alongside Alan Steele.

It says he designed everything and you just provided "graphic help"?

PH: Alan was a really nice bloke, and very talented. One day he showed me a book he had gotten, and at the back was mention of Jacqui Lyons, who was just starting to represent game developers, having been representing authors for some time.

Alan said I should get in touch with her and see where it would lead. I took his advice, and ended up as one of her clients. She got the contract with Firebird. It was definitely a good move, and I am really grateful to Alan for that advice. In turn, after a couple of contracts with Firebird, Jacqui said I should consider an opportunity in America. The first one that presented itself was with EA, in California. I did an interview with them, I think it was with Trip Hawkins (if I recall correctly).

However, I was not ready to make the move, so I declined their offer. Subsequently, I was rather glad about that, as I have heard that working for EA was not easy.

Later, the offer from MicroProse presented itself, and I was ready by then, and accepted. I interviewed with Steve Meyer, who had a firm handshake, which was something I noted about the Americans that I met. A level of confidence, assertiveness, that was not typical of your average Brit, including myself. I liked Steve, he was a good boss.

For Bismarck, I was working on the arcade screens, and the Amstrad version of those when I left. When I look now, I do not see that it ever got published for the Amstrad? Hmm. I commented the heck out of the code, right before I departed, and printed it all out, just to be certain it was well documented. That way I could not be said to have left things in a mess. I guess they never got someone to pick up the project. Oh, well. [EDITOR'S NOTE: this version was advertised as "coming soon", but never released.]

I had asked PSS to give me a contract right from the beginning, but they never did, so I had the freedom to leave whenever. When I told them I was leaving, they offered to double my wages, and give me a bonus there and then. However, double is still less than six times, and I had already committed to the contract with Firebird.

In my experience, and my life in general, everything happens for a reason. Looking back I can see all the turning points, and how everything just fell into place at exactly the right moment in time.

GST: I'm very fascinated with the situation you described with Jacqui Lyons. She's like an agent… for game developers? I'm surprised I've never heard of this!

PH: Yes, Jacqui was an agent for quite a few developers, some big names, apparently. She would find contracts, negotiate the best deal, and receive a percentage in recompense. It was well worth it. I got work, was well compensated for it, and I could just get on with doing what I loved, coding. I would go down to London from time to time, for a meeting with her, and for interviews with potential clients for projects. It worked out very well. She looked out for me, and I appreciated that too. When she got me the position with Microprose, all that came to an end, obviously.

GST: Looking at your gameography, it looks like Project Stealth Fighter is the only released game from Microprose.

Did you do anything else there? Or was it just a series of contracted projects once you came to America?

PH: At Microprose I did the 128k version of PSF for the ZX-Spectrum, and then I squeezed it down to the 48k version, as I recall. By the time I was done, two years had passed. In the meantime I had met my wife-to-be, and we had a wedding date planned, so I was kind of committed to staying in America by then. Once the PSF project was completed, I tried to convince the management at Microprose that I was worth keeping on as an employee (because I knew for a fact that I was). However, I was not able to do so. The new boss (not Steve Meyer) decided to let me go. They claimed I was not useful for anything else, and could only do Spectrum related projects, which they had no need of any longer. At the time, it seemed like a bad situation, but, as with everything else in my experience, it was just a transition to something much better.

When they let me go, I had to pack up all my stuff immediately, and vacate the building. That is how it worked in the software business. Once they were done with you, you had to leave. Supposedly due to industry secrecy etc. I would continue to be paid, I just could not be in the office once I was being let go.

As I was leaving, walking to the end of the corridor, there was a fellow coder, who had his office door open. He asked me about what was happening, and I told him. He quickly produced a business card for "Innerprise", a nearby company that was started by Paul Lombardi, a former Microprose employee. The co-worker said I might want to try giving those guys a call. And so, there was another stepping stone to a brighter future.

After leaving I did give Innerprise a call, got an interview, and was offered a job. I just had to wait until after I was allowed to work again, with the correct paperwork. There was a gap, where I went back to the UK briefly, returned, got married, and got the necessary paperwork.

I do have some anecdotes related to MicroProse, if you are interested in those?

GST: Absolutely! Anecdotes are great brushstrokes that help paint a picture of the era.

PH: MicroProse was a great experience for me. For the first year and a half the "MicroProse Family" (which I think it was actually referred to as) was a lot of fun. There were a lot of social activities going on, which was actively encouraged. This was a good business strategy, because a happy workforce is a productive workforce. We were more of a team as a result.

The whole company went to the Air Show at Andrews Air Force base, for example. Where the Blue Angels put on quite a display. Then there was the company trip to have a flight on the "Miss MicroProse", an old WWII airplane, with a single propeller. "Wild" Bill Stealey was the pilot, and we each took our turn up in the air, donning a flight suit and clambering up into the cockpit. I remember it being a pretty wild, and noisy, ride. Much more fun/exhilarating than any rollercoaster I had been on. We all went on a trip to an aircraft museum also. No chance was missed to participate in Aeronautical activities related to the flight sims the company was developing at the time.

(from an advertisement, courtesy SidMeiersMemoir)

The company purchased season passes for Merriweather Post Pavilion, for the summer concerts. We could select which concert we wanted to attend, based on availability. I remember going to see Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, which was most agreeable. Herbie Hancock being one of my favourite artists at the time, an excellent keyboard player/musician. The weather was suitably "summery", and the music was excellent.

GST: Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea! That's a great pair already! This would've been not long after "Perfect Machine", one of my fav HH albums.

I'm very curious about your music tastes, but I don't want to derail your thoughts just yet.

PH: Each Monday there was a company meeting, where everyone gathered in the main area of the building. Bill Stealey would address us all, along with the other management, keeping us up to date on the various goings on. That was fairly mundane, tbh, and not the most fun. However, one time, someone (and I do not recall exactly who it was) had an idea to help make it more fun. They ordered some comical headwear for all of us, which we paid for ourselves. And so, one Monday, we all showed up wearing a fez. It took a few moments to become noticed, as we filed in and sat down. It was rather silly, but it did lighten things up, with a round of laughter to follow.

Sid Meier was a cool dude to hang out with. One time, after work, a small group of us, including Sid, played M.U.L.E. on an Atari 400. We each took turns on the console, making our moves, as the game is turn based. Pizza was ordered, so we would have something to eat for dinner. As I recall, whilst we were waiting for the pizza to be delivered, Sid came up with the idea of "Pizza Hijackers", where you would order the pizza to be delivered, then hijack it on its way, and end up being the one who delivered it to the customer, thereby removing all the (unnecessary) overhead of actually having a pizza business. After consuming the rather delicious pizza, we drove to the local 7-Eleven, and picked out a pint of Ben & Jerry's, each. Then returned to the office, and devoured the entire pint in one go. Ah, the joys of being young and carefree, eh.

My (humble) contribution to making things a little "funner" was a "Name The Gorilla" competition. I purchased a bunch of small stuffed gorillas, and posted details of the competition, the prize for a winning name was a doughnut (the budget for the project was somewhat limited, obviously, going mostly for the gorillas). There were a few participants, including Bruce Shelley. I think Bruce's winning name was "DrillBit". The only other name I can recall is "Gorilla MyDreams", which was John Kennedy's entry(?). I still have "DrillBit", in a box somewhere here. I used to hangout and chat with Bruce from time to time, he was a big fan of the Saturn cars, which I think were fairly new at the time. I remember him mentioning, more than once, how popular they were.

Man, I just remembered the pit beef. Was it "Sharkey's Pit Beef"? There was a nearby food shack that sold pit beef. My first lunch in America was a pit beef sandwich. I always ordered it the same way from that day forward: pit beef, salt and pepper, American cheese, on a kaiser roll. We grabbed the sandwich and went to a local field, where we ate, and threw a softball around for a bit. The company had a softball team, which I joined for a while (although I do not remember us ever winning a game).

I seem to remember the food quite a bit. My first burger, which was about twice the size of anything you would get in the UK at the time, and I was unable to finish it. The ribs at "The Corner Stable" too, which I really enjoyed at the time. Ah ... Roy Rogers ... One lunch time, we went out to get burgers from "Roy Rogers". When we got there, the restaurant was quite busy. So, my roommate, Kevin, said we should go through the drive through instead. Except, he suggested we park the car, and walk through the drive through in formation. Okay, so off we went, on foot, in formation, to order and collect our lunch. I think the drive through staff were a little perplexed, but we got our food, and had a laugh at the same time.

All in all, the first 18 months at MicroProse were a lot of fun for me, which helped me adjust to life in America. I can remember when I first arrived I had some culture shock. America was quite different from England. It felt a bit weird because everyone was talking with an accent, and, unlike on TV, it did not stop, I could not turn it off. I did get homesick for a while, as it was my first time living away from my family home. In the end, I adjusted pretty well, and grew to prefer America as a place to live.

GST: Man, that drive-through prank in particular is perfect. Beautiful. lol

Let's see... after Innerprise, you moved to Sega of America. How did that work? I recall reading that you were in a unique position with SoA…

PH: I was at Innerprise working on the Sega Master System version of Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin. As such, I was in touch with Ed Annunziata, the project manager at Sega of America. The project was moving along, although maybe not as smoothly as it could have been. However, Ed and I worked together well, and had a good relationship. There were some things going on behind the scenes with the management at Innerprise, and I was not privy to such activity. What I did know, was that my paychecks were bouncing. I am not one to be working for free, and the cost/inconvenience of a bounced check is not to be tolerated for long. Ed came out to visit, we met and discussed the situation. Ed appreciated my honesty. After the third bounced paycheck, I had had enough, and I left my position at Innerprise as a result. After a brief period, I was contacted by Sega Of America and offered the contract to finish up the SMS version of Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin. (The Genesis version was still under development by Innerprise.) Thus, I found myself working directly with Sega Of America, as an independent contractor (rather than as a company), which made me unique. SoA seemed quite pleased with the choice, and so we continued our relationship across quite a few projects, moving on to the Game Gear right after Spider-Man was finished (beginning with that conversion).

GST: Oh yeah, I had a very specific question about your work on Spiderman vs The Kingpin: the in-game credits say that you were the programmer "with assistance by John Kennedy". I assumed that this was a senior programmer that helped onboard you to the project, but I actually can't find any other credits to his name.

Do you recall what the situation was, here?

PH: John Kennedy helped with some subroutines on Spiderman vs The Kingpin, I was the majority programmer.

GST: I'm curious about these conversions in general, actually. What was it like working as an independent contractor? Specifically, I noticed that the credits always had a tiny number of people, and your name was often in programming, music, art, AND design.

Were you doing all of this with some kit at home?

PH: It was great working as an independent contractor. I got to do what I loved to do, and without a lot of additional stuff to deal with (business-wise). After I left Innerprise, and got the contract with SoA direct, I had to go pick up the development kit from the Innerprise Office. Then I went and bought a new PC to hook it up to. I remember paying about $2200 for it. A 486 DX2 66, as I recall. With a $300 14" CRT monitor. I think that is the most I ever paid for a PC. Later I got an Amiga 2000HD also, for doing art (using Dpaint), and music (using Pro-Tracker). The Sega development kit included a ZAX-ICE (In-Circuit Emulator), which plugged into an SMS where the Z80 cpu would be (the SMS top cover was removed in order to achieve that). Those ZAX units ran about $50,000 a piece at the time. SoA provided a second one later on, when I was doing Game Gear work, as backup. I still have both units (SoA said I could just keep them or throw them out at the end of the GG development cycle, they did not want them back), and last time I looked, some years ago, they were on Ebay selling for only about $500. The Game Gear had a special development board, into which the ZAX-ICE plugged, it looked nothing like an actual Game Gear. I coded, and then uploaded to an SoA BBS (this was before there was an internet for that sort of thing). Once a year they would fly me out to visit, and we would meet and discuss the next project. I worked from home, and I was a stay-at-home dad too. My wife was an anesthesiologist, so she was busy full-time with that career. It was a lot to handle, and I did the best I could.

I was involved in all aspects of the games' development to varying degrees. There would be a designer who wrote the initial design paper, and we would work from that blueprint, going back and forth to get the best possible game we could make that was practical. There would be a musician who composed music for some of the projects too. And, of course, an artist to take care of the bulk of the necessary artwork. I contributed to everything that I was able to. I would touch up bits of art in order to make it work right, particularly sprites. I had prior experience with Spectrum and Amstrad, where I did everything myself. I really enjoyed having a hands-on approach to projects, it was very satisfying to have that much influence.

GST: I also spotted a Judy Hutchinson in the credits for the 2nd X-Men game. Any relation?

PH: Judy was my wife at the time, she was quite supportive. We supported each other. When the Game Gear projects ended, and the final X-Men 3 SMS conversion for Brazil was done, I was done working with SoA. I continued on as a stay-at-home dad. That was enough to keep me busy, with about three jobs worth of activity. A doctor for a wife, who was often on call. Three young children, all growing up. A large household, on 18.5 acres, that needed a lot of attention. Up to five horses, two pygmy goats, a pot-bellied pig, a rabbit, and around ten cats (at one point). I had my hands full all the time. I planned, drove, shopped, cooked, cleaned, mowed, planted, tended, … all the things. It was a great experience, which I would not repeat. I was a stay-at-home dad before that was even really a thing, so I was pretty much on my own (very challenging).

Looking at the .ASM files I can see the dates/years. We moved to the Gettysburg farm in 1995, I think. Before that we lived in a townhouse in Timonium, MD. There I worked in the basement. Slightly less work for me there.

GST: It's funny to hear that you were making these games on a farm! (Or, well, mostly basement.) I think most people imagine video games are made exclusively in high tech offices filled to the brim with cutting edge technology. I keep finding just the opposite! (Thinking of David Wise having to furnish his studio from a cattle shed...)

Anyway, from the above, it sounds like you were kind of a funnel: The person that put every asset and idea into the ROM.

... And you took advantage of that by polishing everything you got as you put it in.

Or am I misreading? I suppose you could've been uploading pieces to the BBS, for someone else to assemble/compile…

PH: That is correct. I put everything together, and built the finished ROM. I used the Avocet Z80 Assembler for coding. Turbo C++ to write utilities to convert data into assembler files (with db/dw statements, and lots of hex values). Dpaint artwork, and music files had to be converted from native formats. Maps were built in TUME (The Ultimate Map Editor). TUME was made by my friend, and ex-colleague from MicroProse, Dan Chang (Echidna, who made NES "Cool Spot", "M.C. Kids", etc.). He went on to work for Nintendo, and was in Washington state, last I heard. I programmed the EPROMs using a Needham's Electronics EPROM programmer. I put those into a test cartridge and ran it on a regular system.

GST: I'd like to circle back and talk about music. You were getting into game making at what I think was a time of transition, when people were starting to expect music to be part of the game experience…

…but the ZX Speccy only had a beeper.

Your first 2 games featured (as best I can tell on my emulators) purely beeper music on their title screens. It's simple, but that's par for the course considering the hardware. I'm curious if you recall any of your thoughts/philosophy about music on the ZX and CPC.

I mean, you could probably have gotten away with a silent title screen, but you put the effort in to make some music, so you had to see some value in that, right?

PH: Absolutely, title music had value to me. Music on the Spectrum was quite limited, due to the nature of the hardware. The Amstrad had more to work with, obviously. Actually, I remember making an attempt at "Acid House" on the Amstrad. I made a demo tape from simple loops I constructed, in BASIC. I took it down to Jazzy M's record store in London (Michael Schiniou, Oh'Zone Records). I used to listen to him on LWR, a pirate radio station in London. I would go down and buy House Music from his store. He was a cool dude.

(Interview, 1h 50m 38s)

GST: Man, this interview is wild. It feels like a very distinct slice of time. I'm not familiar with pirate radio but it makes sense that someone like that would be the "A&R guy for the A&R guys", as he put it 🤣

PH: On a later visit I purchased an LP of UK Acid House (I think the cover is yellow, mostly), which had a track on it which sounded very familiar. I think my Amstrad demo tape was inspiration for it. This happened also with a track I did on the Amiga. I posted several tracks I made on an Amiga Music BBS, when I was living in Timonium, MD (1991?). One was called "Baby Beat", which I made whilst my then wife was pregnant with our first child, Samantha.

And this is the track that I think it helped inspire:

Orbital - Midnight (Live)

I am unable to prove this, since my Amiga is long gone. I am not able to prove the Amstrad track either, unless there is a tape somewhere here that still has that recording on it (maybe I will find it one day, who knows).

GST: Man, I'd LOVE to hear a comparison between your CPC acid and the vinyl it inspired. Too bad it's been lost to time…

I also tried a quick search for any archived amiga tunes with "baby beat" in the instrument text, with no luck. alas…

PH: I released "Baby Beat" into the public domain, so it's fair game for anyone. I think I used my Mista "P" handle for that. That was the handle I ran with for pirate radio. We used to listen to Radio Invicta back in the day. Another pirate radio station, playing mostly soul, funk, jazz-funk etc. Stuff you could not hear on the BBC or even commercial radio at the time. I made, and sent in, large envelopes covered in funky artwork. Something to get noticed. We had lots of dedications read out, which were also designed to be stand-out (funky/quirky). Invicta was a South London based pirate station. They got to be quite familiar with us, due to our consistent interaction (via mail and phone). We (me and my younger brother, who called himself "Jam Thang", his name is James, btw) got to host a show once, with Steve DeVonne. We brought in all the Funk and P-Funk we had on vinyl, and Steve played it for us. We were teenagers at the time. The shows were recorded ahead of time, to cassette, then broadcast on a Sunday. Invicta would pick a block of flats somewhere, and set up their transmitter on the roof, for that afternoon. They had to stay ahead of the authorities, since it was not licensed. We even answered the phones one week too, so our home phone was used (just the once). It felt very cool at the time. I have a lot of the dedications on tape still, and the show we did with Steve too. I visited with Tony Johns, who ran the station. And I also made a banner for them in 1982 (when the "Falklands War" broke out, as I remember hearing it on LBC when I was painting the letters on the canvas). I met Steve Walsh (DJ), to deliver the banner, as I recall, when it was completed. I remember getting BBC Radio Medway to say stuff they were not allowed to say, that was fun. Dave Brown used to have a show on there. I sent in a dedication that included a "hi" to "Ray, Dee, Owen, Victor …" Hahaha … Dave read it out, before realizing what he had just said on air, then quickly said "Oops, who got caught out there? …" and laughed. That is on a tape I have. Man, I have to digitize those things before they fall apart, eh.

GST: I encourage this! It looks like it'd be in great company, too: https://archive.org/details/70s-80s-radio-shows/

Skimming through some of these shows, I imagine this is what I'd be into if I were there at the time. Especially when they bring in the jazz fusion.

I even spotted some Shakatak! Seven years before my favorite album of theirs!

This kinda answers an earlier thought, where I was wondering about your musical tastes.

Though these roots don't show very much in your game scores, which feel more dancefloor inspired, to my ear. Looking it up, I guess the music on LWR is a closer match

PH: Shakatak!

I remember buying their first 12" (1980)

Back when Brit-Funk was starting to be a thing.

I was recalling going up into town (when I lived in South London), to visit Groove Records (to get Surface Noise's 12" "The Scratch") and Bluebird Records (Manfredo Fest "Jungle Kitten"). I think both stores were in the Soho area? (generally)

I still have the plastic carrier bags from those stores. :D

GST: I keep being amazed at all the little details you can find online. Check this out, a website dedicated to remembering these old record stores: https://www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/shops/blue-bird-records/

PH: That is cool.

Ok, Counterpoint is where I bought my first vinyl, it was just up the road from where we lived. I even worked there for a time. Dang. This is a different location. The one I shopped/worked at was on Westow Hill, Upper Norwood. https://www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/shops/counterpoint/

GST: Circling back a bit, you mentioned you that you wrote an acid tune... I think it's kind of funny to imagine the square waves of a CPC in rotation on a pirate radio!

Were you able to get that "ringmod" sound with the AY using BASIC? (This "triangular" sound.) I've never worked with the AY so I don't fully understand it, but I always figured that was a fast CPU trick…

PH: I don't think I achieved that with the Amstrad audio in BASIC. I remember I was doing bending/ramping somehow. It wasn't actual Acid House sound, but was as close to it as I could manage. It sounded funky, and had that chip-tune quality to it.

I am happy at the thought I might have inspired some actual musicians. :)

GST: That's a funny choice of words, I think. What is an "actual musician" and how does that definition exclude you?

To be fair, I've been making and sharing music for decades but haven't signed any record deals, so perhaps I'd exclude myself from a category of "actual musicians".

It's an interesting thought to me, though. "No true Scotsman" and all that.

PH: "Actual musician" … hmm … I guess I mean "professional"? Like, it's something the person projects as what they inherently are? Technically I got paid for my music, so simply earning money from it is not what I mean. I would say I was a Game Coder, who made music, as opposed to a musician. But maybe, if I look at it, then I am a musician, by simple fact of making music?

GST: You definitely carry the essence of a Game Coder, specifically on the Z80. ;)

I'd describe these as hats. You may primarily be a game coder, but you've worn your musician hat plenty as well.

PH: Back on the topic of games … My time at Gogogic was even more of a family experience than it had been at MicroProse (the first 18 months there, that is). Such a cool bunch of people. I really enjoyed that time. There were co-workers who had grown up playing my games as kids (e.g. Jonathon Osborne, Australian, now in Montreal, Canada, I think).

GST: Was that the first time you had experienced that? I can imagine this being a shock, both with the realization that your work reached others, and the feeling of "I can't believe that I'm old now"

PH: Yes, that was the first time I experienced meeting someone who had played my games as a kid. It was kind of cool. It's heartwarming to know that I helped bring some fun/joy into the world. I don't regard game programming as something that has much impact on the world, in general, but knowing that it has had a positive effect is comforting. Yeah, there is a disconnect between programming games and the audience that plays them, for the most part. There are a few people in the industry who are "rock stars" that get that kind of experience. Most of us are just coding away, and getting on with our lives (and getting older).

GST: I'm also noting that you skipped straight to Gogogic, not really talking about what I presume was an era of self-study, learning how to write iOS apps. I suppose it was too transitional to mention?

PH: Ah, yes, the time before Gogogic …

I was doing the stay-at-home dad thing, on the farm, as I mentioned. I spent the time collecting consoles and games, in order to keep up with the industry in general. I was "The Entertainment Committee", and I had a (weekly) budget even. I built a home theater in the basement, with a projector, a 12' screen, large surround sound system, and six La-Z-Boy chairs, with the back row on a raised platform. It was super cool, especially when the THX sound played, at some volume. There was also an array of consoles set up, so the kids could all be playing whatever game they wanted, simultaneously. Then, after some years, I was being encouraged by my then wife to get back to work (since the kids were growing up, and requiring somewhat less supervision). I saw the growth of the iOS market, and people making a decent living from it. I had an iPhone, so I had played games on that. I set about finding out how to program iOS. It's a lot different from Z80 Assembler, the whole approach is different (high level vs low level).

We had a two story home, so I sequestered myself in the (finished) basement every morning for some months. I just pushed myself forward until it finally clicked. If game programming is supposed to be like "riding a bicycle", then it was more like having had muscles atrophy, and having to grow back muscle mass, before even getting to ride anywhere. It was literally painful to get my brain accustomed to programming again, but I persevered. I wrote a word puzzle game for iOS. I am sure the structure is terrible, because I did not apply the new philosophy of high level languages to the process. But, it worked. I made a word dictionary using a DAWG (Directed Acyclic Word Graph), which kept the size down to a minimum, and traversing it to find words was fast. Little did I know that it would come in very handy when I interviewed for Gogogic, and then getting hired within two weeks of arriving in Iceland.

We had developed a friendship with the team at Gogogic through their Facebook game "Vikings of Thule". We played it a lot, and interacted with the development team, providing bug reports and feedback on gameplay. We were getting very interested in Iceland, after visiting during a stop-over on the way to see my family in the UK. To the point of wanting to live there, at least for a part of the year (it was a mutual preference/desire). When we bought a summer house in Kjós, near Hvalfjörður, we hosted the entire team at our home (during one of our stays in the summer). It was the "Gogogic Fanfest". CCP had their big annual Fanfest each year, and so we decided to host one for Gogogic. They hired a mini-bus, and drove up to visit. It was so much fun.

GST:

It was literally painful to get my brain accustomed to programming again

yeah, I feel that! I took a class on iOS development around the same time (~2012) and it's far, far removed from assembly! I was curious about that transitional period specifically for that reason.

I can't help but zoom in on some of the things you say: You make it sound like you were playing Vikings of Thule, noticed a bug, reported it, then heard back from the developers… and then repeated that cycle until you became friends and coworkers.

Is that what happened?

PH: Yes, that is it in a nutshell. We (Judy and I) played the game a lot, found bugs, as it was still under development, and reported the bugs. We also made suggestions for improvements and features. It was really cool to interact with them. We visited Iceland a number of times before buying the summer house. Firstly, we met Gogogic at their office, before they moved to Laugavegur, which was here …

Glass building on the left, I think it was the third floor. The Japanese embassy is also in the building. To the right is the petrol/gas station that was used for the TV show "Næturvaktin" (highly recommended, very funny).

GST: that's a funny way to move to Iceland :P

PH: Actually, it was the perfect way to move to Iceland. Everything fell into place in exactly the right way. When our marriage came to an end, everything was in place for me to move there as smoothly as can be. The timing was perfect. I had just three days notice, from the time I was told "You have to go!", to when I was on the ground in Iceland. When I arrived, I had a car, a home, and a job lined up within two weeks. Jón Heiðar kindly picked me up, once I arrived in Reykjavík (on the bus from the airport), and we chatted on the drive up to the summer house (where the car was parked). He said Gogogic was looking for an iOS programmer, and I should interview. Which I did, not knowing how vital that would be at the time.

I also had developed a friendship with Jared and Hulda, and their friend Tim, which revolved around paragliding. They looked out for me, a lot, being concerned about my well-being, given the circumstances. I learned paragliding with them, up to the point of making an actual flight (a small flight, but nonetheless, I flew). I probably would not have made it without them. I am forever grateful.

I had been corresponding with Jared on account of his blog about moving to Iceland, and we had met at least once before I moved there. So I had actual friends as well, not just friends who were co-workers. Given that I ended up going through a divorce, everything else was perfect. It helped immensely, and I thank God for all of it.

GST: Paragliding? That's a funny recurring motif: flight!

PH: I bloody loved paragliding. I got really good at ground handling, which they told me is harder than flight, because in flight you don't have the ground to deal with. They all said they had never seen anyone learn so fast, and I was good. Tim said I could be one of the best if I continued.

(37s) "Hola Hop"

Hulda is holding the camera, and that's her voice. Jared is the other paraglider in the video.

They moved to Switzerland. During a flight, where Hulda was given instructions, which she followed, she got into a spin that was not recoverable from. She went all the way into the ground and died as a result. When I heard of this I quit. Hulda was the one who managed to get through to me with instruction the best, and we clicked as regards teacher/pupil. She trusted that instructor, and I would do the same. So I saw the potential of being in a similar situation. I could not risk that. My kids were pleased I gave it up.

GST: oh, that's a really tragic turn of events :(

I suppose it's nice to have experienced flight at all, but that's got to be haunting…

PH: Yes, it is a bit haunting. However, I remember all the good times we spent together, and I am forever grateful to Jared, Hulda, and Tim. I cherish those memories, and they always bring a smile.

GST: I'd like to circle back to gogogic. so, although both involve programming, working on high level iOS code in the 10s is extremely different from working on machine code in the 90s. I'm wondering if you experienced any culture shock, not just from moving to Iceland, but from jumping 15 years into the future of game development so to speak.

PH: yes, very much so. It was not just the Assembler to Objective C jump, in terms of type of language. It was also the jump from a lot of constraints, to relatively few. Space was at a premium on the Z80 devices I coded for. Whereas, it was not so on iOS. My co-workers at Gogogic were very helpful in guiding me in how to change the way I wrote code. On Z80 I used a lot of abbreviations, due to space. This makes code harder to read, obviously. On iOS they told me to name things according to what they were, or what they did. I did not have to abbreviate to save space. Then there is the object oriented aspect of the higher level coding. It is very different indeed. Working as part of a team was a change too. I mean, I worked on a team before, but I had more hands-on control over things on Z80. I enjoyed learning. We used Git, so I had to learn about version control etc. The way I did debugging was not to their liking, as I recall. I relied on intuition a lot, and it worked very well for me. They prefered a more systematic approach to debugging. I remember having my bug fixes rejected, after I came up with them very quickly. Then they went through the process they had adopted and fixed the same bug over again. It took them hours to do, but that is how they wanted it done. So that would be a change too, having to use the same methods as the team, with no room for bringing my own. I am good either way. My focus is on delivering the product, and doing the best job I can possibly do, regardless of anything else. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. That is how I have always worked, and it applies to everything in life.

GST: They didn't like your debugging? Interesting… I remember looking at your linkedin and seeing that you particularly enjoyed debugging code. I suppose this means you became accustomed to the team's "newschool" methods?

PH: Yes, I love debugging. I like fixing things in general, so that is the coding version of it. I did learn how to debug their way, and fit in with the team as needed. At AppDynamic I was praised by the boss for how I helped take the product(s) from something that functioned, to something that was really polished. Pratik was quite pleased with my debugging. He was really good at getting code up and running, but I don't think he liked debugging as much as I did. It's like a puzzle, you have to solve it. Puzzles are fun.

Fixing things is great. Taking something broken and making it of use, I love that. I can do anything I put my mind to as well. My friend Kent said "You can do anything that you want to do, if people do it, you can do it." "If you don't want to do it, have someone else do it" I took his advice, and I did all sorts of things. I bought a secondhand big dish (10') system, for $300, and installed it, so we had satellite tv. That required digging in the ground, hitting a boulder, drilling into the boulder, inserting rebar, pouring concrete, and setting a pole, perfectly vertical. I mounted the dish, ran the cable to the house, drilled through the wall, ran more cable. I set up the receiver, I buried an earthing rod and ran cable for that too. I aligned the dish with the satellite, and got C-Band stations across the entire arc. I had never done anything like it. It stayed in place throughout the years, through all kinds of wind and weather. We got a lot of enjoyment out of it. It builds confidence to achieve things like that. I did many projects like it whilst we had the farm.

Anyway, I digress, again …

GST: no, that makes sense! I think this mindset is why programmers are considered engineers.

I think I've covered all of the ground I was interested in, so I'd like to wrap up this interview with a few final questions.

First, since you mentioned it earlier [EDITOR'S NOTE: this mention was moved to part 2], have you worked with the PICO-8 at all yet?

PH: I have not worked on the Pico-8 yet. I bought the app, and I have it running on a Powkiddy RGB30 handheld. Which is the ideal platform for it, as the screen is square, and just the right size. I've played a few games, and watched a few videos (e.g. Pico Playtime on YT), and I just like the whole concept. It would be a fun thing to try, and not too much of a stretch.

GST: Another recurring theme I noticed: it's kind of fascinating that you still have an archive of all of your project files from so long ago.

Were you actively trying to preserve everything at the time? Or was it just a recurring thought of "hmm, maybe I shouldn't delete this"?

PH: I definitely meant to backup the files to the CD in 1999. I am a bit of a digital packrat, I have podcasts (including all the raw files from my own podcast) and all-sorts of digital archives from years gone by, because I don't like to throw out digital stuff. I started putting the Sega directory on whatever was my latest computer, so I would have it on hand for reference. I don't know if Sega still keeps that stuff after all this time, I would guess not, since it has been so long. I am not sure how long the NDA lasts, so I would not release the code into the public domain without asking them first (I don't have any of the paperwork I signed for them any longer).

GST: And finally, to endcap this interview, I'd like to open up a space for you to talk about what you're up to these days. Any upcoming projects you'd like to promote?

PH: We skipped over AppDynamic, where I coded for the iOS apps: AirServer, AirMediaCenter, and RemoteHD. Largely bug fixes, and some minor feature updates. I discovered that coding on its own is still fun for me, not just games. Again, because it is puzzles to solve.

I also spent a year without work, in Iceland, in between jobs, which was a challenge, but very necessary. Before I returned to the US, for the sake of my partner, and my (grown) children.

The last bit of coding I did was on the Ethereum blockchain. A project for my daughter's company (now dissolved, I think). So I taught myself that too. It was kind of fun. When it was published the contract number had "1dad" in it (what are the odds of that?), so my daughter had a t-shirt made for me with the address on it. :)

These days I am continuing to collect items related to retro gaming. I got into emulation pretty heavily, with a view to experiencing older titles on newer machines (for ease/convenience), and preserving them too. I want to have my own little video game museum, which maybe I can pass on to generations that follow me. I have most consoles going all the way back to pong. I recently acquired a bunch of retro systems, including a Wii, Wii U, PS2 fat, PS Vita, and a 3DS. Some of the hardware is getting harder to find, I got the last two devices from Japan. I collect games on the PC too. I have over 1300 games on my gaming PC, for example. Even though I have mostly just played Fortnite (with my sister) and Destiny 2 (with my youngest daughter). I bought Return To Monkey Island, and played that all the way through with my partner, as I just love point and click adventures. I have many fond memories of playing those types of games in the past. I listen to music a lot, and I make playlists on YT, either based on mixes, or of my own choices (lately, select tracks from a single label). I watch a lot of movies, and have a personal collection of DVDs/Blu-rays in the thousands. I have archived those too, and converted to them MKV, for convenient playback on a mini PC running Kodi. I love old movies, it's like time travel. Fascinating to see how the world was, over 100 years ago, for example. And for the nostalgia factor, for the years I experienced myself.

So … video games, music, and movies. That takes up a lot of my time currently, since I am basically retired (for now).

We live in a one-person apartment (it's a bit cramped, to say the least), so I am always looking for a house, to make into a home for us. When I get that, I will be able to spread out a little/lot. Set up all my old systems like I used to have them (they are currently in tubs, on shelves). I want to set up a home theatre again, so I can have that full movie experience once more. The audio in particular was what I enjoyed (I still have the speakers from that). I would get a new projector though, as now there are 4k projectors for less than the $3,000 I paid for my 720p projector for my old home theatre. I want to set up my podcasting gear again, and do some more recording. I miss that, it was a lot of fun. I want to set up my dual Technics SL-1200 turntables too, and listen to all my vinyl again (for now, they are all sat here on shelves).

I definitely want to do more creating, I do miss that quite a bit. I have been consuming a lot lately, but producing very little. Be it music, art, audio or video. Certainly doing some coding too. Maybe Ed Annunziata and I can collaborate on something cool, just like the old days. I would love that.

[dearmahiru-archive]

AUAUAU SO... I'VE BEEN RLLY ENJOYING ALL THE KOTOPOSTING AND UPON LOOKING AT YOUR DP BINGO, I NOTICED THE EX-PARTNER SQUARE????? I DIDN'T KNOW SHE HAD AN EX??????

THANK YOU I'M SO FLATTERED YOU'VE LIKED IT SO FAR!!

aa i can't remember all of it off the top of my head but there are a few hints that kotoko might've had a previous partner working with her before entering milgram.

i. kotoko nicely complements john doe ("you're weak, and you should rely on me, because i know what's best for you as your protector and savior"), which implies she might have a 'mikoto' of her own.

ii. there's also these voicelines:

kotoko: "there are people who understand what i'm doing."

kotoko: "from the beginning, i've never asked for your understanding! my actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. useless weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!"

the continuity for the second voicelines are unclear but my personal interpretations is that they're the catalyst for each's prisoner murder (yuno greeting her client, mu screaming for rei to slow down, kazui lying to hinako by saying he loves her, etc.)

for kotoko, she's clearly arguing with someone about the morality of what she's doing. this someone has confronted her about her vigilantism and, rather than scoffing or denying, she felt the need to defend her actions. this suggests, at the very least, that she's speaking with someone close to her.

iii. there's also kotoko's beloved jacques roulet cap, which is a reference to a man known as the "werewolf of angers."

in the story, some countrymen found two wolves feasting on the multilated corspe of a child, and proceed to chase them away only to find jacques roulet in the bushes, covered in blood and human flesh. when interrogated in court, jacques confessed to being a werewolf and that the two wolves were his companions, jean and julien.

iv. and it reads as no coincidence that fuuta, one of kotoko's major parallels, is apart of a guild and kotoko is apart of a wolf pack.

fuuta: "you already noticed right? what you gonna do. bring it on! those who believe in justice assemble!"

kotoko: "you're not going to collaborate? but we should have all the same goal."

...and that her third major parallel is a literal marching band.

[lumi-klovstad-games]

My thoughts on Marvel's Avengers: Definitive Edition now that I've had half a day of playtime or so with the beastie:

This is a fine enough game, and one where I can easily see the potential it always had. Most, if not all, of this game's problems were solvable. The simple elimination of the cash shop alone, and the act of entrusting players with the plethora of customization options they always really wanted in the game's twilight weeks in online storefronts really shows how much of this game's negative reputation stemmed from corporate grift, not a lack of love and care by the developers. If Crystal Dynamics had the ability (or the willingness, whichever was lacking most) to say "no" to their corporate bosses, this would have been a much more well loved game.

The combat is good enough -- keeping such a diverse roster of heroes feeling relatively distinct from each other and yet not forcing players to abandon muscle memory and allowing them to lean on what they've learned with other heroes at a basic level is no easy feat, and while maybe there's TOO MUCH interchange between hero control schemes for my liking, I can't say Crystal Dynamics chose poorly here, as indeed I might have come to the same conclusion had it been my job to figure out where that line was. As it is, once you learn how Kamala Khan plays in the campaign, you are well prepared to be competent with any other hero, though picking up their divergences and eccentricities is a matter of leveling up and unlocking their corresponding abilities, but animations, haptic feedback, and excellent sound design do a much better job carrying more weight than they should have had to.

The voice cast is superb. If you've been a fan of literally any Avengers animated series since 2010, you're well familiar with the cast of characters voicing this beloved cast of characters. Nobody here is a surprise, and they all bring their long-running interpretations of the Marvel roster to this game. Welcome back, Nolan North, Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, Travis Willingham, and Jennifer Hale. You're always welcome around these parts. In addition, we have prior Marvel voice alumni like Danny Jacobs and Jameison Price turning up all over the place. You've heard these versions of Earth's Mightiest Heroes before, and in no way is that unwelcome.

The VAs are supported by a story that's… well… it's …adequate. Where it's present, it's fun, if standard and cliche, but sometimes that's just how comic book plots go. The Avengers have been un-Assembled, and it's up to in-universe super-powered superfan Kamala Khan to start getting the band back together so they can stop the mad scientist from generally being a comic book supervillain. Very boilerplate stuff, but it's delivered well.

That is, WHEN it's being delivered.

All the story campaigns are unreasonably short because some unforgivable chucklefuck at Square-Enix decided to tell Crystal Dynamics, a predominantly single-player game developer, to make the next Destiny 2 (begging the question of why anyone would WANT that, given that one Destiny 2 is already far too many). Doubtless, upper management believed that the cooperative multiplayer aspect of the game would carry the bulk of player engagement, but Crystal Dynamics was an inexperienced developer when it came to live service titles, and they were not prepared to deliver on the unreal demands of keeping such a game consistently updated. Cooperative missions are largely cookie cutter affairs taking place in a small handful of environments that all begin to bleed together before long, and there aren't THAT MANY more multiplayer missions than story missions, in the end. These samey environments aren't visited for long, often between 5 and 15 minutes at a pop, and bada-bing, you're back to the Quinjet to pick out your next mission, which JARVIS will helpfully inform you is TOTALLY IMPORTANT, ACTUALLY, but after curbstomping hundreds of robots and gas mask-clad anonymous henchmen in the same New York City underground labs for the fortieth time, you find yourself inclined to stop believing him after a while. This game just lacks content and variety in missions, activities, and enemies, and it's a shame Crystal Dynamics weren't allowed to play to their strengths here.

I don't feel that the lackluster mission variety kills the game for me though; I have plenty of other games and don't plan on LIVING in this one, and that's really where this Definitive Edition shines best: you don't have to live here. The only FOMO at play is that the game becomes unpurchasable in 6 days as of this writing. You don't have to fret over timed content, no waiting for the magical timer to reset, or the usual toxic shenanigans we typically associate with live service games.

You pay $4, get your game, and everything associated with it so you and your friends can shitpost as Marvel characters on the weekends. That alone makes this a much more practically rewarding game than most live services (coughDESTINYTWOcough). This game ain't a service anymore. It's a product, plain and simple. It's a product to buy and have fun with, and put away for a while when you want (or need) to do other things.

I don't know about you, but I call that a bargain.

[jcmarchi]

Dragon Quest III: HD-2D Remake Preview - Returning To The Roots - Game Informer

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Dragon Quest III: HD-2D Remake Preview - Returning To The Roots - Game Informer

The long-awaited Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake appeared during today’s highly anticipated Nintendo Direct. We learned much more about the upcoming game, including its release date, which falls in November. On top of that, during Summer Game Fest 2024, we spent about 45 minutes checking out the upcoming retro remake of one of the most beloved and important Dragon Quest games of all time.

In Dragon Quest III, which takes place years prior to the first two games in the series, you step into the shoes of the only child of Ortega, a great hero who failed to defeat Baramos, an Archfiend who threatens the world’s safety. On the child’s 16th birthday, they’re summoned by the king of Aliahan and told to take on their father’s unfinished quest to defeat Baramos. The 16-year-old Hero must assemble their party, explore a massive world full of towns and dungeons, and defeat monsters in turn-based battles.

In Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, players enjoy the gorgeous HD-2D visuals, which take 2D sprites and add 3D graphics and elements to the mix as popularized by other Square Enix games like Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy. The remake also includes modernized UI and various quality-of-life improvements. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is pitched as faithful to the story of the original game, but developers Team Asano and Artdink also expanded the core narrative under the supervision of series creator Yuji Horii. 

This new version still relies on the traditionally turn-based combat present in the NES original that came to the US in 1992. However, the team has also expanded on that, giving players new animations, adjustable battle speed, and even an auto-battle setting. During my hands-on time, these improvements were the most impactful. Yes, the visuals are beautiful, and the UI improvements help, but being able to speed up the traditionally slower-paced turn-based fights and even set them to auto-battle made the grind so much more enjoyable. Pushing through endless waves of Antnibblers, Stark Ravens, Slimes, and Bunicorns using these settings helped me level my characters as they explored the large overworld map. 

However, it is worth noting that this is clearly a game that was created in the late ’80s. Various modernizations and updates have been made to the formula, but you might be left wanting if you’re expecting something in line with modern game design and gameplay standards. However, if you’re a fan of the original or are just curious about going back and experiencing this beloved classic, this seems like it could be the best way to enjoy the story of Dragon Quest III in 2024.

If this remake sounds appealing, we also received a release date during the Nintendo Direct: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC on November 14.

[dearcraziness]

Chapter 53.

The windows were opened wide, meeting flakes of white snow. The friends had breakfast in the kitchen and didn't feel the cold from the street, but the airing soon ended - Bendy closed the doors and turned the handles to their original position. He returned and began to wash the dishes, having heard words of gratitude for the excellent, divine, delicious dishes from the others. The young man noticed how Lara remained sitting at the table and guessed what she was thinking. In order to test his arguments, he asked, "Lau, do you think it's better for us to spend the day outside?... It's warm today compared to other days..."

"I don't mind taking a walk, that's just where?..."

"Oh, do you want to visit a new place?... Actually, I have an idea... We watch the stars so often, in winter and summer, different constellations open up in front of us - so why not take a closer look at them?... We'll get a telescope, climb the Purple Mountain, which, however, hides its violets, irises, phlox under fluffy snow, and watch the fascinating dark blue amazing sky all evening... And yet, I'll add new luminaries to my map..."

"But you already have drawn so many of them... Is there any space left?..."

"Of course, sunny, besides, I want to find out even more facts about space objects and their location... And then tell you..."

"I don't remember all the constellations you told me about..."

"I'll remind you, honey, don't worry..."

"I'll forget again..."

"And I'll tell you about them once more, Larry... What do you say, sweetheart?... Shall we devote the evening to the study of objects in space?..."

"It would be wonderful... Where will we get a telescope?..."

"I'll find a way... For now - let's put the items necessary for the expedition into the rucksack..."

And soon the devils finished. Despite a huge number of things, a compass, Bendy's notebook, a pencil and a pen for filling out a map of the starry sky, several sandwiches put in a box, collections of sudoku, thermoses found a place for themselves. The only thing left was finding a telescope. In the studio of friends, there was definitely not such a complex device in structure, so Bendy looked through the Magic Network of stores which own this device. The search was unsuccessful: none of the nearest warehouses had a device for viewing the heavenly expanses. Nevertheless, the persistent young man didn't give up and decided to check if there was anything like a telescope at home. However, even there nothing caught the eye of a purposeful seeker - the imp realized he would need to make the telescope himself with the help of improvised materials and reference tools. First, he looked in the book "How to create a homemade high-quality telescope" all the equipment necessary for manufacturing, and then went in search of it. As it turned out, there were no collecting mirrors for the reflector - telescope, and simple lenses weren't suitable for a professional level of assembly. Moreover, three mirrors were needed - one was intended as a lens for the eyepiece, the other was a mirror - lens and a secondary mirror. Copper couplings, bolts of different diameters, washers, epoxy glue, stainless steel sheets, plywood discs weren't mandatory to get - they were in the storage room, as well as in the large storage. The demon looked through the list of the nearest shops which own mirrors and, fortunately, found one near the center of the City of Black and White creatures. The young man was first convinced of the wonderful pastime of his beloved, and then set off on his way. Bendy was quite resistant to the cold, as a result of which he didn't put on a hat, although he took it with him just in case. The road was going to be long, and the temperature could drop. The imp walked quickly and in ten minutes reached the first five-storey buildings with intricate patterns and pleasant delicate flowers. After passing near the Apple Square, the young man turned the corner and walked along Plumeria Street. Among the beautifully garlanded front entrances, a dark brown door with a glass frame appeared. There was a sign on it that read: "Parts for assembling a great telescope." Bendy went in and saw shelves made of oak. Mirrors of various sizes and diameters were placed on them. Fortunately, the lenses suitable for the future telescope turned out to be in one store, and the young man took them (in the cartoon magic world, there was no longer a monetary system), putting them in his rucksack. Then the path was passed by the young man quickly, because without Lara he wasn't going to look at the great squares decorated for the holidays. All the trees and bushes were covered with snow instead of greenery, except for pines: in addition to the white fluffy miracle, toys were placed on them; they were wrapped in a rain of tinsel and colorful garlands; stars were placed on top of each. Bendy, looking at them, immediately imagined how he and Lara would watch the night sky and use the telescope to examine more distant objects in space. However, first it was necessary to make a telescope, as well as a mount and tripod, and put it in a special case... The demon was thinking about the upcoming evening, while noticing the streets replacing each other, then the outskirts of the City of Black-and-white creatures, the Big Forest, soon the garden of friends...

When he came home, the young man decided not to delay and set to work. He assembled the instruments well, followed the instructions exactly with accuracy and precision. In a few hours the tube was completed, Bendy attached a finder to it and inserted eyepieces. The young man fastened the mount to the tripod and firmly and securely put the telescope. Now the device stood on long metal legs and gave the impression of a real telescope with its appearance. The talented jack-of-all-trades looked at the assembled device with satisfaction and, having detached it from the tripod, put it in the case, when suddenly he heard Boris's voice, "Bendy, I'm looking for a nut... Have you seen it?..."

"Here you go..." Bendy held out the fastener. "Don't you have a suitcase with nuts, screwdrivers and a drill in your room?..."

"Those nuts don't fit, but with this one I can tighten smaller diameter screws..."

"So, you need help?..."

"No I don't, but if anything, I'll call... I only need to make metal platbands..."

Boris looked at the black case, and Bendy, noticing the mechanic's interest, took out the device and said, "I've assembled a telescope... Lara and I will be watching the stars with it tonight..."

"How wonderful... You're doing great, Bendy..."

"Thank you... But, you know, I just followed the instructions..."

"It requires a lot of work and patience..."

"I agree, turned out quite well... I can't wait to show Lara, I think she'll be happy..."

"Especially if you tell her you worked on it yourself... I would also like to make a telescope..."

"Take this one, Boris, any day convenient for you... Except for today, of course; although, it's better to warn, if you're going to take it, Lara and I will need a telescope more than once..."

"Understood... Thank you..."

"I'm going to get ready for an incredible hike... See you soon..."

"Bye..."

The friends smiled and, patting each other on the shoulder, hugged each other in a friendly way. Boris returned to his room and began assembling a completely new device designed to hold other devices. Bendy went to Lara's room. After knocking politely, the young man opened the door, and entered, and noticed her sitting at the table. He came closer to her and, stroking her shoulder and back, announced, "Dear, the device for exploring the celestial space is made!... It remains to make sandwiches and take water for a hike..."

"Good... And where did you get a telescope?..."

"Assembled myself... There are temporarily no telescopes in stores, so I decided to get the parts for it... Most of them were in our studio, except for special mirrors and lenses - I found them in one awesome store, where we'll definitely go together..."

"Wow, darling, I never expected you would make a telescope yourself in one day... Can I take a look?..."

"Of course, sweetheart, you don't have to ask..."

Bendy took the device out of the case and saw how the girl looked at the assistant with interest, which would allow to see the cosmic bodies closer.

"A great telescope, so wonderful..."

"Thank you, love... I'm infinitely glad we'll be watching the stars through it... I'll finish packing the food, will be back in a moment - then we'll start our hike, tulip..."

Soon the preparation was completed, and the beloved, warmly dressed, went outside. The sun disappeared below the horizon: nevertheless, there was no cooling - even the wind didn't bother the branches of trees and bushes covered with snow. The devils joined hands and headed for the coveted Purple Mountain. The sounds of footsteps on a dense layer of snow resounded throughout the neighborhood and were heard in dark corners between the firs of a Large Forest. The demons didn't find it necessary to go through the Forest, since the Mountain was located right next to the grove: blooming in summer and now covered with a snow-white blanket; standing before the Forest. The Mountain wasn't far away, but it turned out to be very high as the devils approached it. Bendy realized there were no special tracks, which meant that the only solution was to go and climb on their own. The young man couldn't let the girl to stumble upon snowdrifts or stones of a gently rising slope, so he took her in his arms and began to climb the Mountain. The snow flew straight into the eyes and face, and the imp carefully threw the hood of his beloved.

"Aren't you cold, honey?..." the demon asked.

"No, but how could I?..." the girl answered.

"I know, I provided special warmth to your clothes with the help of magic, but I was worried if the wind suddenly penetrates you..."

"Don't worry, I'm fine..."

"Wow, what a charming landscape stretches from the mountain!... I would love to draw you on such a magnificent background, sunny, I just have pencils with me..."

"Can't you live peacefully without my portraits, darling?..."

"No, Larry, not a single day goes by without my aspirations to draw you, compose a song about you, write a poem or a story about your wonderful character and delightful spiritual world... I'm absorbed in your hobbies and sincerely wish to share my interests with you; to tell you curious stories, amazing facts; to shower you with petals of love ; to calm your imagination with kind unshakable words and noble brave deeds ; to bestow you with embraces of care; to see your joyful eyes and radiant smile under the rays of sincerity; to brighten up the clouds over your head with a bright rainbow ; to share with you sadness, disappointment, discontent, indignation, bewilderment, surprise, delight, inspiration, happiness, laughter... I understand perfectly well that in life we experience a whole range of emotions, and yet, I promise to contribute to your positive feelings and high spirits..."

"My flame, you know, you are often the cause of my smile and pleasant feelings in my heart..."

"Dearheart, you have no idea how much love, tenderness, care fills my heart... I'm infinitely interested in the events happening around you and the impressions you receive from them... I love our relationship and am immeasurably happy to share every moment with you, to improve my character qualities for you, to become stronger in heart, soul and body... Accompanying you on your life path, giving warm sincere words, supporting you and helping you is the best thing I can do in my life, and what I strive for every day... I'm seized with the idea of decorating our time together with bright moments and pleasant sensations, and, without a single doubt, I'm thinking about adorning our future... I love being around you, sweetie... Love you very much, Laura..."

"Love you very much, too, Bendy... I think our relationship with is developing as well as possible... I suppose it's hard to describe in words my appreciation for all your kind deeds... I express my sincere gratitude to you for your manifestations of deep, soul-warming feelings for me..."

"And I highly treasure, respect your efforts to brighten up other's days, including mine... Your feelings are more precious to me than anything in the world : you are my ray of light, my destiny, my dream... Looks like we're reached our destination..."

"More precisely, you got there and brought me here in your arms..."

"But you also walked at the very beginning of the path, dear, it's worth noting... An excellent view opens from the mountain: I imagine how great it is to admire a floral carpet in summer, during the daytime..."

"An irresistible place... From here, the stars are even more clearly visible..."

"I'll take out the telescope, and we'll discover all the wonders of the magnificent night sky..."

Bendy carefully put Lara on the ground and pulled the telescope out of the case. The young man installed the device on a mount and tripod. Having freed the eyepiece from the protective plate, the imp lifted the tube a little and, stepping aside, looked at his precious beloved.

"Look at one of the fragments of the boundless expanses yourself, starlight..."

"Are you sure you don't want to be the first to observe?... After all, you have assembled a telescope..."

"I yield to you, sunshine... Besides, I decided to make such an incredible device for you, in order for you to discover the hidden marvelous stars invisible to the naked eye..."

"I'll try to see as many celestial bodies as I can..."

Lara bent down and put the eyepiece to the eye. What she saw delighted her: by the smile blooming on her face, Bendy guessed that she was interested in the starry space. A little later, she returned to her previous position and looked at the white bright dots in the sky without a telescope.

"Did you like it, love?..."

"That's not the word... Take a look for yourself..."

"Well, I'm curious which of the constellations I'll be able to see..."

Bendy looked at the sky from a completely new and unusual angle - many stars were easily distinguishable from nearby planets and spread out across the cosmic expanse. Even distant constellations were visible, such as Orion, Cepheus, Centaurus, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, Hercules, Aries, Taurus, Gemini and other constellations of the Zodiac group, Perseus, Dolphin, Swan, Quadrangle, Octant, Eagle, Peacock, Phoenix, Whale, Eridanus, Clock, Goldfish, Charioteer, A big Dog, a Giraffe, a Pigeon, a Hare, a Unicorn, a Painter filled the heart with joy with their impressive glow and delightful construction. Cosmic dust, shining in the glow of the Sun, acquired a special look and brought a festive, elegant atmosphere. The planets lined up along a certain path seemed to freeze in the sky, although it was extremely clear that they continued to move in orbit. Dark purple stripes in some; red, orange, light pink shades in others; even a black speck in some excited the imagination, forcing one to think about the reason for the appearance of unusual colors on the planets. It was as if the light coming from outer space transferred little-known deep mysterious iridescences and reflections into Bendy's eyes: he looked at celestial objects with pleasure and ecstasy, smiling warmly and pleasantly.

"How astonishing, delightful, marvelous, fascinating and splendid it is to look at outer space through a telescope... I'll certainly put the constellations I have seen on the map... But first I'll get you some sandwiches, sweetheart, if you're hungry..."

"I don't mind a snack... Don't you?..."

"I'll join you later, as soon as I finish completing my constellation map..."

"Well, good luck..."

"Thank you, we'll definitely make sure together whether all the constellations found are displayed on the map..."

Bendy took a pencil and began to draw with precision and attention to the smallest details. While the imp was checking his work with the image of the sky and circling the constellations with a pen, Lara finished her snack and raised her head, moving her eyes from one star to another. The caring beloved took out and put a folding table and a high chair for the girl, the comforts and coziness of a relaxed atmosphere made her heart even warmer. The demon felt very similar happiness to Lara - despite the fact that he was completely immersed in the thought - creative process, he often turned around and looked at her. The last of the notable constellations were pointed, and the imp, taking the map in his hands, approached Lara and invited her to evaluate the work he had done together, and just look at the atlas of the starry sky. The girl agreed and the young man opened the notebook, flipping through dense, significant in size, weighty pages, and the sweethearts began to read, study, understand. Bendy explained to Lara the reasons for the names of most constellations, favorable conditions for observing them, such as: the right time of year or the right part of the world; told about the brightest stars and the history of their appearance. In a word, with his knowledge, he carried her into a mysterious cosmic world; however, he had information on topics in various fields. Having finished the narration, the young man fixed his gaze on the girl and from the expression of delight and curiosity on her face, shone with a radiant smile. He closed the notebook and put it in his backpack, and he returned to Lara again, and sat down next to her, stroking her shoulder and arm, and then hugged her tightly.

"Lau, hope tonight has brought a number of useful knowledge and amazing discoveries for you... We'll certainly repeat such an inimitable magnificent hike on another day..."

"I completely agree... We saw so many amazing stars, and you displayed them brilliantly..."

"Thank you, berry... I also managed to draw your portrait against the azure sky, look..."

The imp opened the notebook on the right page and handed it to Lara. She took the subject for the implementation of creative ideas and was again pleasantly surprised and delighted with the masterpiece done by her beloved.

"It's very beautiful, you've portrayed me wonderfully once again..."

"Thank you, dearie, but in real life you look much more fascinating and stunning... And I'm glad every day I can see the brightest, most noticeable, main star in my life - you... And no light can compare with the light in your heart and in your soul, dear..."

"Your light is quite comparable to mine, my ray... For me, it's much warmer, kinder and closer..."

"You know, my precious, your sincerity, your manifestations of feelings, your kindness, your generosity, your determination, your cheerfulness, your resourcefulness delight me more than the qualities and character traits of others... Of course, everyone is unique in their own way, but only you occupy a special place in my life; only you I think about in the early morning, clear afternoon, cozy evening and late at night... We are connected by soul, and I'm seized by the desire to cultivate our love... Perhaps this is some kind of obsession, but there's nothing wrong with my attachments to you, my aspirations to follow you, take care of you, gently cuddle up to you, pulling you closer to me... After all, I only wish you happiness and am ready for decisive actions for your well-being..."

[csykora]

Hi maybe the post is kind of old, but did you actually have recommendations for a cold weather car emergency kit? No worries if not of course and thank you for your time. Love the blog.

Of course!

Basic car items:

Ice scraper, snow brush, windshield cleanser

Collapsible or folding snow shovel

Sand or cat litter

Flashlight (either a handcrank or with extra batteries)

Jumper cables

some bottled water

Duct tape

Road flares or reflective warning triangles

Lighter

Tire gauge and tire plug kit

some people would say a knife or a multitool, I recommend my beloved hatchet (like this)

Blanket (I recommend wool)

Mittens (wool or waterproof), leather work gloves, or both

Dry shirt

Wool socks

You can ignore me on the other wool recommendations, but the socks are worth it. The reason is that wool is moderately water resistant, while many synthetic fibers and cotton absorb water. Cotton is a remarkable fiber that can become remarkably dangerous in a cold-weather emergency, as it will collect and hold large amount of sweat and melting snow on your skin, increasing the weight you're carrying and your risk of cold injury. If you have to get out and dig your car out or walk for some distance in a cold weather emergency, you want to be able to change into that spare shirt as soon as you start getting sweaty or wet. Wet + cold is what will get you.

First aid kit

providone-iodine disinfectant bottle or swabs

alcohol-based sanitizer

2 Bandages, Adhesive, Fabric, 1" x 3"

2 Dressings, Gauze, Sterile, 2" x 2"

2 Dressings, Gauze, Sterile, 4" x 4"

2 Dressings, Non-Adherent, Sterile, 3" x 4"

2 Bandage, Conforming Gauze, 3"

5 Bandage, Adhesive, Fabric, Knuckle

1 Trauma Pad, 5" x 9"

maxi pads

Moleskin for blisters

1 flexible splint such as a SAM® Splint, 4" x 36"

1 triangle bandage (for sling)

shears or scissors

Splinter Picker/Tick Remover Forceps/tweezers

Safety pins

Pencil or Sharpie (for making notes in a medical emergency. this is extremely helpful!)

useful medications:

Ibuprofen

Acetaminophen

Antihistamine (Diphenhydramine)

Aspirin

Diamode/Imodium (Loperamide)

Antacid

oral rehydration salts/electrolyte powder

Providone-iodine, also known as Betadine or just iodine, is the preferred way to clean cuts and wounds. Alcohol is for cleaning intact skin or cleaning your tools. Hydrogen peroxide is not preferred on your body, because it can increase tissue damage, but you can clean your tools with it if you have it.

If you have fragile skin and are prone to skin tears or frequently travel with an elder who is, I also recommend carrying mepitels, which are the best way to dress shallow torn skin.

If you're assembling this yourself, I recommend putting it all in a plastic bucket. Cat litter buckets work brilliantly, since they're usually squared off so they fit well in your trunk. The bucket is useful if you need to dig snow, spread sand, or generally carry stuff. Also worst comes to worst you can gather and melt snow in it for water.

If as I now realize maybe you were asking about where to buy one, I really like https://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/, https://www.survival-supply.com/ and https://mymedic.com/

[slytherinspired]

Firsts - A Sirius Black Imagine

Pairings : Young Sirius Black x Reader

Warnings : smut, obviously, unprotected sex, swearing, smoking, alcohol and mild drug use.

Hi love! I did it! Beware, it is quite long, I sort of took the liberty to provide some context, but I hope you'll like it! :)

Masterlist

Sirius is looking back at himself in the mirror, wincing at his reflection. He recognizes his traits sparingly; his dark curls falling to his shoulders, his mocking smirk, his overall nonchalant expression. He knows who he is, but the clothes on his back are completely robbing him of his own identity. He glances bitterly at his beloved leather coat sitting on the back of his desk chair and sighs. The ridiculous black suit he’s wearing barely fits him. He knows it probably used to belong to one of his distant cousins and that it has been quickly and grossly recut to fit him by the house-elf. His parents are downstairs in the drawing room, waiting for him to join them so they can leave for this stupid reception. 

He doesn’t even know what it is about, except that he’s going to this apparent important new Ministry guy’s house who threw a sort of lame introduction party, since he just arrived in London with his family. And what he knows is that he’s going to spend the whole night with the type of people he doesn’t want to be assimilated with. From what he heard, the host of the reception just arrived at the Ministry of Magic to help with the passing of some bill for Muggleborn regulations, as awful as it sounds. He’d like to avoid to go, but Walburga has the upper hand on him, and nothing in the world would convince his dear mother to leave her eldest son behind, knowing full well that if she does so, Sirius is going to get the fuck out of there and join these Muggles mingling Potters fools. 

‘You look dapper,’ says a soft voice behind him.

Standing in the doorway, Sirius’ youngest brother observes him, grinning.

‘Shut up,’ he replies, annoyed by the stupid smile on Regulus’ face. 

His brother crosses his arms and steps into his bedroom. He looks around like he just stepped into some kind of freak show. His gaze rests a little longer on a certain poster. Sirius glances at the Muggle woman dressed in a revealing red swimsuit standing straight in the middle of the picture. He smirks, and caught-red handed, Regulus turns away quickly. She always was his brother's favourite, after all. Whether he wants to admit it or not.

‘Are you going to behave this time?’ he asks, stepping in front of his eldest brother.

Sirius shrugs, trying to adjust the bowtie strangling him. For Merlin’s sake, he thinks, it feels like he’s suffocating already. 

‘I always behave, brother dear,’ he replies, trying to undo the knot around his neck. ‘I just don’t behave the way they’d like me to,' referring to their parents.

Regulus shakes his head and starts fiddling with his brother’s bowtie and adjust it perfectly in one fell swoop, as if it were child’s play. Once the knot is properly buckled, he taps Sirius’ chest in an encouraging gesture, and frowns when he feels something hard hidden in the inside pocket of his brother’s vest. 

‘Really?’ he asks. 

Sirius snorts.

‘Just a bit of courage,’ he admits.

‘And how much courage did you drink already?’ 

‘Not enough, apparently,’ Sirius replies, thinking about the full flask of warm whiskey tucked inside his suit. 

He’d honestly rather be stuck in detention with Snivellus for the rest of his existence then go to this lame-ass party. That alone justifies the whiskey amply.

After a few detours in the city, he finds himself in front of an imposing white manor situated in one of London’s richest Square. Oh, this is going to be a long night, he thinks. Not only it seems like the host is wizard-rich, but he’s also everything rich, period. He rolls his eyes, there’s no issue. Walburga is pressing her long and emaciated fingers into his son’s arm as they step into the great hall of the house. The interior is as posh as the exterior, with its grand marble staircase curving up to the upper floor and its giant diamond-like chandelier hanging over their heads. For God’s sake, is it a live classical assemble he hears playing in the back? As his mother pushes him further inside, the sound of light chatter reaches his ears. He sees his father, dressed in his horrible robes, already on his way to speak with some old acquaintances, quickly followed by Regulus. He scans the principal room for a quiet corner, but it’s filled with this bunch of pricks, and he’s fighting with all his might the panic that is taking over his mind. He finally spots a free corner next to a big window and he walks straight ahead in that direction, hoping no one will recognize him on the way. 

‘I heard his son has found some work as a doctor,’ he hears a shrill voice say. 

‘A Muggle doctor? How peculiar!’ says another voice.

This is exactly the kind of chatter Sirius doesn’t want to hear. In no way he thinks he’s superior because he was graced with magic powers at birth. It is so suffocating, and he feels so incredibly small and inadequate, drowning in this sea of close-minded guests. 

He studies them, recognizes some familiar faces from Hogwarts, but most of them are Slytherins and are not close at all to use them as an escape. A waiter walks in front of him, holding a tray where champagne flutes fill themselves up. He grabs one and drink it in one sip. He’s already quite tipsy, but he doesn’t care. He’d rather be intoxicated right now to bury this hatred deep within. God, he needs air. 

He sees Walburga looking for him in the room, and she’s walking next to a tall and handsome man. For Godric’s sake, why is she walking straight in his direction? The man next to her doesn’t look as old as his mother, but the grey strands in his black hair betrays his age. He looks posh, and haughty. 

‘This is my eldest son, Sirius,’ says his mother in a toneless voice. ‘Sirius, this his our host, Mr Santorini.’

‘Pleased to meet your, Mr Black,’ says the man while he extends his hand. 

Sirius gets up on his feet, subtly struggling to find his balance, under the duo’s concerned stare. He rapidly and weakly shakes the man’s hand and nods. Ashamed, Walburga shoots darts at her son and quickly turns away from him.

‘My youngest, Regulus, is doing quite well at Hogwarts, see, he’s - ...’ her voice fades away.  

Sirius closes his eyes; he needs to find some distraction. And what could be better than the little thing he has brought to the party that is currently hidden in his pocket behind the whiskey flask? He needs to feel something else than the dreadful thoughts he has right now. He struts to the giant marble staircase and finds his way on the upper level without attracting attention to him. That is one advantage when no one cares about you; not being seen. The voices downstairs are slowly fading away and he feels already so much better.

He runs a nervous hand in his dark locks, feeling quite hot, with this bowtie strangling him. There must be a door leading outside. He tries to open the first one on his right, but the handle doesn’t bulge; it’s locked. And Walburga has confiscated his wand at the beginning of the summer upon his return from Hogwarts, so there’s no use. He sighs and adventures further away in the hall.

He has more luck with the second door, and finds himself into a deserted bedroom. His eyes make out the giant bed over the central wall of the room, and spots some sealed boxes on the floor. The translucent curtains discreetly veil the large windows in front of him, and he opens one widely and lights himself a cigarette without a care, pacing into the room nervously. He sees some pictures resting on a vintage dresser on the opposite wall. There are rows of books in the built-in bookcases, and even some disperse vinyls taking up some of the space.  He’s clearly trespassing someone’s intimacy, but whose? Sirius walks to the dresser and opens up the first drawer. A tickling feeling in his stomach at the sight of the several underwear – even in the darkness – makes him wonder how long has it been since he’s been intimate with someone. The last time was before school ended, with Mallory, and it was just snogging. He never went all the way... He chuckles discreetly at the thought and taps the ashes of his cigarette on the floor. Fuck this house, fuck this bedroom, and fuck this posh Pureblood family. 

‘Mm, mm.’

Someone has cleared their throat behind him. He jumps, and tries to hide the cigarette away. 

‘Please, don’t stop for me,’ says a girl in the doorway. 

He can’t make up her traits in the darkness, but she sounds young. She steps right in front of him.

‘I don’t think you should be up here,’ she says.

He feels like a child, caught red-handed. He feels suddenly very trapped. 

‘I heard the owner of this house is quite severe,’ she adds, taking the cigarette away from him, inhaling the smoke into her lungs, and exhaling. ‘If he found us in his daughter’s room, I think he’d torture us without any remorse.’

‘His daughter’s room?’ he replies nervously.

She nods, giving him back his cigarette.

‘A real pest.’

There is an awkward silence. 

‘What were you doing here?’ she adds. 

‘Looking for a way out,’ he replies in all honesty. ‘What about you?’

‘Just about the same.’ She glances at the cigarette. ‘You might want to put it out now.’

‘I really don’t,’ he replies, taking one last whiff, ‘but when do I get what I want anyway?’

He throws it on the hard-wood floor indifferently and follows the stranger in the hallway. She turns around to take a good look at him.

‘I’m Y/N, by the way – ‘ 

He feels like his legs are going to flinch. He doesn’t know if it’s the sudden nicotine rush, or the champagne mixed with the whiskey, or the lights in the hallway shinning over Y/N’s green doe eyes staring at him, or her long black hair waving on her back, or her delicious pink lips, or the gentle freckles on her nose, but he’s suddenly feeling quite light-headed.

‘You okay there?’ she laughs. ‘What’s your name?’

He shakes his head, trying to regain his thoughts. 

‘I’m, er. I’m Si – ‘should he really tell her his real name? ‘I’m Sid.’

‘Sid,’ she repeats. ‘Well, Sid, you don’t look too good.’

‘I don’t feel too good,’ he admits. 

Her expression changes. She’s not amused anymore. She’s pitying him. 

‘Follow me,’ she says, grabbing his hand like she has known him forever, dragging him to the end of the wall where they cross a door and end up on a small balcony overlooking the deserted garden. 

‘How to you know this place?’ he asks, resting his arms on the guardrail, humming the fresh crisp air. 

‘Hung out with the pest earlier,’ she replies.

‘Not anymore?’

‘Told you, she’s a pest. I can’t leave, though. I’m sort of stuck here.’

‘So am I.’

She laughs lightly. The moonlight shines on her beautiful face, and her traits are so soft, and if he was much more like himself, he’d try to charm her the way he knows how. 

‘So, Sid. What are we avoiding?’ she asks away. 

‘My parents, I guess,’ he replies, taking out the flask of whiskey of his pocket.

He takes a big sip and hands it to her. She considers it for a moment and grabs it. The wind flies through her hair, and her perfume reaches his nostrils, a perfectly well-balanced mix of vanilla and gentle notes of citrus. The fragrance shoots up his nose and wafts around his brain. Fuck, she’s so beautiful.

‘What about them?’ she asks away, wincing when she swallows the liquor. 

He snorts. He doesn’t want to talk about his parents right now. Not when the prettiest girl he’s ever seen is standing right in front of him. He has something else on his mind now. 

‘Your accent,’ he says, switching subjects. ‘It’s not from here.’

Y/N nods. 

‘I grew up all over the place, but mostly America.’

‘You don’t sound American.’

She smiles, revealing a straight row of perfectly pearly white teeth. 

‘My family, we’re from Sicily.’

He nods.

‘It’s in Italy – ‘

‘I know where Sicily is, I’m not stupid,’ he replies harshly, a bit offended.  

But Y/N chuckles lightly, and her soft laugh brings his attitude down. He can’t help but stare at her. She’s a bit overdressed to his taste, but hey, so is he. He wonders what is hiding underneath that navy dress of hers, and if her skin is as soft as he imagines it is. He needs to calm down. 

‘First time in London, then?’

She nods. 

‘What do you think?’ he asks, locking eyes with her.

She licks her lower lip without realizing it.

‘Well, I don’t hate the accent,’ she teases. 

Praised be Godric. 

‘Tell me, Sid, you seem to be about my age, yet you’re drunk like an old man with a drinking problem, and you probably smoke like a city boy. I keep wondering if I really should be alone with you right now.’

‘Are you afraid?’ he asks.

She shakes her head.

‘Rarely.’

‘To be honest, Y/N,’ he says, pronouncing every syllable of her name like he could actually taste it, ‘I was alone up there to find a quiet spot for this.’

He shows up the joint between his fingers. She squints for a short moment and smiles.

‘I see.’

Y/N’s eyes bored into him. He wonders if he has crossed a line. He barely knows her, after all.  

‘Let’s go somewhere more private, then,’ she suggests, grabbing his hand. He doesn’t even have the time to appreciate the softness of her skin when he feels himself disapparating, his body swirling in every direction, and a sudden urge of panic takes hold off him. When he reapparates in a loud pop, he shouts:

‘What the hell are you doing? Are you bloody insane?’

‘What, did you never apparate before?’

‘Yes, I did but -,’ he is freaking out, Walburga must think he’s left and is probably fulminating. ‘My mother, she’s going to hex me! Bring us back!’

‘Why?’ Eliana asks, intrigued. ‘How would she know?’

Sirius shakes his head nervously. 

‘She placed some sort of charm on me, I’m not allowed to leave her sight. If she knows I left the premises, she’ll find me and – ‘ 

He stops himself from saying too much. Perhaps it would be a bit intense to share with the girl what would Walburga do to him. At least, he wouldn’t have to explain the healing bruises on his ribcage.

‘Relax, Sid. We’re still on the premises.’

He looks around and spots the house in the distance through a small window. Are they in some sort of guest house? A garden shed? There is nothing around him, he’s just standing on a mat. Relieved, he sits down, running a hand in his hair. Y/N joins him and creates a small fire by flicking her wand, enough to dimly light the room they are in. 

‘You’re actually scared of your parents. Why?’

Sirius chuckles. He’s not scared, he’s terrified of them. She points out the little stick he forgot he was holding between his fingers. 

‘Shall we?’ she suggests.

‘Who says I want to share?’

She pouts adorably. He lights it up and he takes a good breath of the substance and exhales slowly, indulging the heavy smoke, his lungs burning, and a light sensation rushes to his head. Them Muggles can also do magic, he thinks to himself. Under her curious eyes, he passes the stick in her delicate hands, and observes her. Her delicious lips reach it, and she slowly breathes it in. She starts coughing, tears running to her eyes.

‘Wait,’ he laughs, ‘is this your first time?’ 

She presses her hand to her rounded chest, laughing uncontrollably. Sirius shakes his head, following her laugh, and explains to her how to actually get the smoke to her lungs. 

‘There, yes – keep it still a second, let it -, yes, good,’ it’s like teaching children how to mount a broom, ‘and exhale. Brilliant.’

He waits a second before taking another whiff. Y/N’s mouth curves into a smile and she closes her eyes slowly. 

‘Oh,’ she exhales, ‘this is – ‘

‘I know,’ replies Sirius, smiling. ‘I know.’

‘Oh,’ she repeats. 

He stares at her, admiring her delicate features. Her eyes are still closed and he sees her falling on her back, completely relaxed. If his mother saw him right now, smoking pot with a random girl he met at this rich guy’s party, she’d have a good reason to use the Cruciatus curse on him for once. Or she’d cut his head before he could say he’s sorry. He decides to join Y/N and rests his back on the floor. He lays his head just beside hers and fixes the ceiling. He feels better now, and it’s not just the drugs. 

‘I feel so heavy,’ she says, sliding her hands on her naked arms. 

She turns her head and looks at him. 

‘Do you feel heavy?’

‘Kind of,’ he laughs. 

He doesn’t particularly feel heavy. In fact, he feels relieved, and mostly, he feels horny. Good god.  

‘What is there to do in London at night?’ she asks.

‘Mm,’ he hesitates. ‘Pubs, clubs, walking around Southbank, I guess.’

‘Never went to a pub,’ she admits.

He wants to run his finger on her cheek. He wants to grab her face and press his lips on hers.

‘You’re kidding,’ he replies, still fixing that beautiful mouth of hers. 

She shakes her head lightly, and a stroke of her long hair falls in her eyes. Her little red stained eyes. He smiles at the view, and slowly leans closer, replacing the stroke of black hair behind her ear. 

‘I’ll bring you to a pub, one day,’ he mutters, daydreaming out loud. 

‘Wouldn’t you mother kill you if you did?’ she jokes. 

‘She would. It would be worth the risk, though.’

She turns on her stomach and rests her head on her hands. He keeps staring at her, detailing everything. 

‘What are you looking at?’ she chuckles.

‘Just admiring the view,’ he replies frankly.  

She would blush if she wasn’t all flustered already. There’s an odd adrenaline spluttering inside of him as he feels her close, and his pulse quickens and he’s feeling so hot right now, he’s melting into the rug. There’s a comfortable silence between them, and they both enjoy it for a couple of minutes. There is something about this girl, this nonchalant attitude, and her mesmerizing eyes, and her accent, and the way her body moves when she finally sits down again, pulling her dress over her thighs to sit comfortably, making him lose his fucking mind. If he weren’t so distracted by her presence, he’d be sweet talking to her, like he’s so used to do with other girls. But he’s simply incapable of doing so, like she’s robbed him of his means. 

‘We should go back, they’re going to be looking for us,’ she whispers, showing him her hand to help him sit back. 

But he doesn’t want to go back and mingle with the people he hates. He wants to be alone with her, if it is just to stay motionless on this rug in her company. He takes her hand and sits back up, and their eyes lock again, and they stare at each other, and he’s wondering if he’s hallucinating someone so perfect to help him cope with this emptiness he feels all the time. She absentmindedly licks her lips, taunting him, and he has to remind himself how to breathe, as his lips quirk hesitantly, sighing out loud to stop himself from pining her underneath him. 

‘Yeah,’ he stutters, like a fucking coward, and then he clears his throat and steadies his pulse and sternly instructs himself to get it together, dude. James would be laughing at him if he saw him right now. 

But they both stay there, motionless. He can feel the drugs running away from his bloodstream, he’s on another high now, another rush, and it has nothing to do with it. He can’t stop staring at her lips. Her expression washes over him in waves, and he pins a hesitant smile on his face, hoping it will distract her from the bulge growing down there.

‘Or we could just, you know, stay here for a while,’ she suggests.

For fuck’s sake. 

He’s only able to gulp and nod, his cock painfully growing thick through the fabric. He tries to hide the bump by placing his arm over his legs, but instead it catches her attention down there, and her eyes quickly spots it, but she innocently acts like she’s unaware of the effect she has on him. If he could only smack his lips on hers. 

Her emerald eyes are wide open, she leans in and presses her soft lips on his, and he’s never felt so relieved in his entire life, her mouth is warm and soft, and he can actually run his hands in her soft hair, and he can hear his heart hammering in his ears, and she actually lets out a discreet moan in his mouth, and fuck, there he is, gone, he knows there is no way back from there. 

He feels her hands slowly unbuckling his belt and removing those atrocious trousers, and he follows through, pulling up her dress to reveal her skin. He removes his shirt, he has dreamt all night to rip it off his body from the second he put it on, and now she’s pushing him on his back on the hard rug and places kisses in the crook of his neck, sliding her tongue all the way down, and he knows where she’s heading, but he can’t let her do that, or he’s going to cum already. He grabs her head softly, and while he’s busy sticking his tongue into her mouth, he’s unclasps her top, tosses it on the floor, and starts licking her round breasts, circling her hard nipples with his tongue. He realizes it is actually the first time he’s allowed to touch naked breasts, and Merlin, this is so much better when there’s no fabric covering them. 

He pins her small body under him, and he slowly moves down on her. He admires her ribcage moving up and down, and he can hears her heavy breathing, and he feels like he can’t hold it anymore. He runs his lips on her skin, down her stomach, to the birth of her underwear, pulling them down very gently. Sirius can’t believe he just met her a couple of hours ago; he feels like he has been desiring her for an eternity. There was a before her, and there’s now – and all the shit he’s been dealing with since school ended is now tucked away in the back of his mind. He caresses with his lips the soft bump between her legs, indulging the new sensation, and then just takes a mouthful of her sex. Her breathing stops, her ribcage is suspended for a second, and then she breathes out and grabs the back of his head while he tastes her. It’s sweet, and warm, and wet, and salty at the same time, and it’s so fucking good.

She’s squirming and writhing beneath him, her subtle moans amplifying. The gasps she makes sends sparks of unbearable pleasure through him, and he feels dizzy, like his heart is about to explode, ready to jump out of his chest at any moment. He slides one finger into her, and then another, and she spams around his fingers. He observes her perfect body tensing at his touch, cupping one breast with one hand while she orgasms into his mouth, her fluids mixing with his saliva. Her face is flushed and her pupils are dilated, and he could very well be on this high for the rest of his existence. But she places kisses on his lips, tasting herself on him, and his cock is so hard, he can’t help but groan when he feels her hand grabs his sex through the fabric of his underwear, slowly stroking him. It is pure torture.

He feels the small piece of clothing covering him sliding down his legs, and he kicks it on the floor. She stares at him in the eyes and licks her fingers, then moves her hand down there again, gently applying pressure on his hard-on. Sirius’ head tilt to the back, blood rushes through him. That is a different story when it’s someone’s else hand, isn’t? 

She lays down in front of him, and he follows her as she guides is cock at the entrance of her sex, and it’s so wet, how is he going to pull through? He’s shaking with apprehension but pure pleasure. She suddenly frowns.

‘Wait,’ she hesitates, ‘is this your first time?’

He nods. There’s so point in lying. 

‘Do you want to stop?’

Of course, he doesn’t want to stop. He shakes his head, and her face lits up. 

They kiss and he presses the tip of his cock into her, slowly, to get every sensation right, and he closes his eyes and, oh this feels so fucking good, and he can’t help but exhales of relief when he feels the warmth, and he hears her gasping underneath him. He’s sinking into her, and she pushes his length even farther by raising her hips. Why does it feel so good? He starts to pace inside her, like he has known what to do forever, increasing the tempo, and she moans under him. He moves swiftly now, trying with all his might to not just release himself off the pressure. She throws her head back into the rug, he feels sweat pearling at the birth of his forehead, his locks fall into his eyes, and he accelerates his pace and presses her legs on her stomach, and oh my god, this is even better. 

She presses her right hand on his chest, running her fingers over his hard stomach, avoiding the bruises, detailing each parcel of his body. She looks back up and pushes her lips on his, and their tongues meet, and he’s completely melting into her. She finally bucks her hips tightly and Sirius hisses, he can’t hold up anymore. Oh, he wants to hear her say his name – if only he had given his real one – but she lets a loud ‘fuck’ escape her mouth, and she’s damp with sweat, and he never seen something so beautiful, he slams into her harder and faster, he groans while his grip tightens around her delicate waist. He feels almost he’s in pain and something stronger than life itself is burning him; yes, he’s burning up down there, he can’t hold it anymore, his whole body is on fire, he glances at her one last time, and he lets out a guttural growl, while feeling his insides pushing his soul out, and for a short moment, he thinks he’s dying, spilling his warm seed into her, filling her up while’s he petrified, hanging between dream and reality, thinking his heart stopped beating. 

It is only half an hour later that he comes back to the manor, flustered and feeling out of his body, followed by Y/N. She’s even prettier under the warm lights, blushed cheeks, and he relives in his mind what just happened over and over again. That wasn’t bad for a first time, he thinks. 

‘Y/N! Papà has been looking for you forever, where were you?’, a young girl is staring at her. 

She shares similar traits with Y/N, but she looks younger, about Regulus’ age. Her arms are crossed, and she observes Sirius oddly, in a manner that makes him believe she can easily guess what Y/N was doing all the time they’ve been away. 

‘Where is he?’ asks Y/N. 

The young girl points at the host, the man he shook hands with earlier, speaking with Sirius’ father and a couple of older men in the corner of the room. 

‘Clara,’ mumbles Y/N with a threatening expression. ‘non dire niente a Papà.’

The young girl rolls her eyes and leaves them. Sirius frowns. Wait a minute, is this girl... 

‘Didn’t you tell me the host’s daughter was -’ he mumbles, feeling his hands becoming moist.

‘A pest,’ she smiles. ‘My sister.’