#virtues end

[nemotoself]

You thought you heard the last of me about raffle prizes but guess what, I got another one! 🙆

The very talented artist-faur was so kind to draw Ash, my helvling from the interactive fiction Virtue’s End in a magnificent coat.

Isn't she grand? Not the usual kind of slaying she does...

(the other prize is a writer's snippet, check it out)

[riessene]

ah romance @virtues-end

[aroaceleovaldez]

the dynamic of demigods thinking which other demigod is the most powerful is always amusing to me because. like, we know the big 3 kids are all the most powerful. That's just a fact of their universe. And then we know nearly every character views Percy as the strongest demigod, and most people are very rightfully intimidated by him.

and you look at the powers of the Big 3 kids and there's Percy, but then you realize Nico is just kind of objectively more powerful than him but simply chooses to hang out in Percy's shadow like he's Percy's scary dog privileges. Like, the two of them are pretty equally capable of causing multiple different apocalypses. Nico just also has like four different instakill powers and it's not like he doesn't use them. He very much uses them! Not infrequently, even! And they don't seem to take a significant amount of energy from him! And other demigods are pretty intimidated by both of them! But Nico makes a conscious point to keep his cards close to his chest and not let on exactly how dangerous and scary he can be if he wants to. People are already scared enough of him without knowing anything about him and he doesn't like that. Percy doesn't think about that nearly as much, and so usually just goes in guns blazing and that's part of why he's considered a wildcard. And then Nico himself puts Percy on a pedestal, so those who do know more about Nico's abilities then presume Nico knows something they don't about Percy that implies Percy is even stronger than him.

And even on a meta level Nico's narrative role requires him to be functionally more powerful than Percy, because he very often serves the purpose of getting Percy out of situations he can't handle on his own. That's just part of his function as a character! But also narratively he can't overshadow Percy so he just takes a backseat of his own accord and that's very amusing to me.

[virtues-end]

✦ virtue’s end — game update 24 june 2024

word count: ~51k (excl. code)

this update marks the completion of chapter one! 🥳 so far, in this chapter, you can:

learn about the world, and your place in it as a helvling.

establish your relationship with your Keeper, Shea.

fight against a many-limbed helspawn.

save a child (or not).

customise your helvling, including skin, hair, and eye colour, hair texture and length, facial hair, body type, unique features, etc.

spend time with either shea, penrose or elexis. pet a horse, eat some treats, play a card game, or go lick your wounds (or shea's).

the length of your playthrough will vary depending on your choices. please let me know if you come across any continuity errors or other bugs! 💜

virtue's end is an 18+ interactive dark fantasy novel set in a sunless, medieval world struck by catastrophe. you play as a helvling, a cursed monster hunter with a (barely) suppressed monstrous side, bound to serve a human Keeper as you travel through broken lands teeming with danger.

✦ play virtue's end

[turtleblogatlast]

Every day I’m haunted by the fact the boys happily swim in sewer water

Even if it’s filtered somehow there’s no way it’s not still nasty 😭 Bet they can defeat any of their villains just by accidentally giving them diseases I swear

[the-paris-of-people]

Also it's fucked up to yell at members of marginalized communities for acting within the two party system and not burning it all down when you don't have a plan. People are not your fucking sacrificial lambs to skewer and roast on a stick

[shy-sapphic-ace]

List of queer books I read, loved & recommend!

(There isn't any particular order, I wrote these as I remembered them)

Master Of One - Jaida Jones & Dani Bennett (mlm, fantasy, very cool worldbuilding and magic system, funny, cool characters)

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree (wlw, fantasy, very soft & chill vibes)

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon (wlw, high fantasy, cool worldbuilding, kinda reminds me of LOTR but with more dragons and feminism and lesbians)

Even Though I Knew The End - C.L. Polk (wlw, supernatural noir, cool 1930s detective story with angels & demons, I loved this one!)

The Love Interest - Cale Dietrich (mlm, science fiction, very cool concept)

The Darkest Part Of The Forest - Holly Black (side mlm, fantasy, cool fae lore)

The Weight Of The Stars - K. Ancrum (wlw, not quite science fiction but space stuff is involved, lovely and complex characters)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz (mlm, fiction, very nice in general, there is also a sequel)

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee (mlm, historical and vaguely fantasy, nice story but I preferred the sequel honestly)

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy - Mackenzi Lee (wlw, the sequel to the one before, more fantasy elements than the first, asexual main character!!)

Gallant - V.E. Schwab (no romance, but in the background one of the characters(?) uses they/them pronouns, very cool dark fantasy vibe)

Stranger Than Fanfiction - Chris Colfer (gay main character, trans main character, coming-of-age, nice book)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (yes it's the Love, Simon book, mlm, fiction, pretty nice)

They Both Die At The End - Adam Silvera (mlm, sci-fi ish but mostly fiction, cool ideas, but the ending is sad! Very amazing book though, I haven't read the prequel yet)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid (wlw, bi main character, historical fiction, cool story, just a neat book in general)

This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (wlw, sci-fi, very cool time travel stuff!! and very beautiful, it felt like reading poetry most of the time)

One Last Stop - Casey McQuinston (wlw, background trans & pan & queer characters, sci-fi or fantasy idk, but time travel, I loooved this book, great)

The House In The Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, THIS BOOK oh my gosh you should read it!!, just cute and lovely and good)

Under The Whispering Door - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, this book is also sooo amazing, great character development and awesome relationships and stuff, it's been a while since I read it but it was so good)

In the Lives of Puppets - TJ Klune (mlm, ace main character!!, sci-fi, now THIS is found family, oughh feelings. argh, tj klune you’ve done it again, a human and his family of funky robots… I love them)

And They Lived... - Steven Salvatore (nblm, fiction, about gender identity and learning to love yourself, read it a while ago but it was very nice)

I Wish You All The Best - Mason Deaver (nblm, fiction, about finding your identity and people who care about you, very cute and sweet)

The Song Of Achilles - Madeleine Miller (mlm, historical, very good in general)

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell (mlm, background wlw in the third book, fantasy, it's a trilogy, basically Harry Potter if it was gay and also better)

Silver In The Wood - Emily Tesh (mlm, fantasy, very pretty, lots of fae stuff and lovely descriptions, it has a really good sequel too)

Pretty much anything by Alice Oseman (all cute and lovely and great, though I've only read Radio Silence so far I hear only good things, Solitaire is on my to-read list)

I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuinston (wlw, fiction, it's been a while but I liked this book)

The Falling In Love Montage - Ciara Smyth (wlw, fiction, this book was so cute and funny and deeply emotional it made me Feel way too many things, I'd definitely recommend it)

What Big Teeth - Rose Szabo (a bit of queerness all around, fantasy, werewolves and monsters, this one was pretty cool!, lots of original ideas for the world/character building)

His Quiet Agent - Ada Maria Soto (mlm, asexual, fiction, about like spies but this book was so gentle and sweet I wanted to cry in the best way possible)

Some By Virtue Fall - Alexandra Rowland (wlw, historical fiction(?), theatre drama!! rival romance!! duels!!, a very good read in general)

Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend - Emma R. Alban (wlw, historical fiction, I’m not usually one for regency romances, but I really liked this!!, very cute and lots of drama, and there’s a sequel coming out soon!)

[ronanlynchbf]

[tbcanary]

Lian Harper + her various caretakers in Green Arrow Vol. 7 (2023)

Bonus:

[hecksupremechips]

Something to be said about how much more fucked up the nonary game that Sigma and Akane made is compared to the one that Akane and Aoi made. Like the experiences of the 999 cast were fucked up and traumatic and they did suffer nine hours all genuinely believing they were on a sinking ship with bombs planted in their bodies, but the game didn’t put them in any actual danger. There were no bombs, they were in a normal building, the nine door was modified to let everyone escape, they were given a car to drive home with. There was the risk of Ace killing them if the wrong path was taken (or clover), but the only actual danger from the game itself was the incinerator and idk the water at the beginning. They were still kidnapped and went through some terrifying shit but measures were taken to make sure they people being used for Zero’s gain would get to return to normalcy afterwards

In vlr though it’s completely different. The threat of penalty is very much real, it’s less of a fucked up death than bombs but it’s still a real thing that will happen if the rules are broken or if someone’s bp is 0. They’re also infected with the deadly disease that caused the literal fucking apocalypse. The number 9 door can be opened by anyone with 9 bp and everyone else will just be trapped for the rest of their lives. But those are all bad ending ass scenarios, everyone can make it out if you get the good ending, right? Except no actually, these bitches are on the moon. Luna and K were specifically made for this purpose. Alice, Clover and Phi have to discover they’ve been trapped in deep sleep for 45 years and are incapable of ever getting their lives back. Tenmyouji and Quark were tricked and have nothing to gain from this experience except for more trauma. Everyone was just a pawn used to make Sigma go create the magical happy timeline that they will never see. They don’t get to return to normalcy, Zero doesn’t give a single shit about what happens to them, they’re just disposable objects. Just termites incapable of understanding the beauty they helped create

[kenobihater]

of all the star wars movies, which of them do y'all 1) enjoy the most 2) consider the best quality and 3) think you've rewatched the most. add your answers in the reblogs or replies, i'm genuinely curious how much of an overlap there is within everyone's three answers. mine don't overlap at all! they're revenge of the sith, empire strikes back, and the force awakens :^)

[awittlebabbyboy]

I know that you said that the posgrad au is mostly focused on the sixtuplets and all but i want to know.... how is totoko doing?

Totoko is doing well! She's working at her parent's fish shop in lieu of becoming an underground idol. She still has a very strong personality with her temper and all, but it's a little more reigned in because she's not getting fawned over by 6 idiots all the time. She's still plenty confident in herself, but she's a little lonely without her boys

She sees Oso often because he picks up stock from her shop, and sometimes she'll go out of her way to spend time with him. She and Choro exchanged numbers before he left, so they still text each other from time to time and sometimes they even see each other in person. Totoko is vaguely aware Oso and Choro had a fight, so she never brings up one to the other. She hangs out with Chibita too, and sometimes she and Oso will sit at the stand and shoot the shit with him.

There are times where she sees the others in public when she visits other wards, but she's apprehensive about approaching them. She was apprehensive with the situation in high school, and now it seems like it's gotten even worse... she doesn't even know if they'd want to reconnect with her. So she stays out of their way.

She spends a lot more time on social media too.

[entropii]

Lomai on the brain...

[antigonenikk]

hoosier and leckie are actually not cringe to me at all....at any modern day university leckie is the super hot dude in your english lit class who u see around town on dates with actual models. hes kind of annoying when it comes to literary analysis, but will always open the door for you and is polite to the professor. not cringe. meanwhile hoosier is the most desired man on campus. definition of nonchalant. faded on dabs 24/7, chain smoking cigarillos, blasting the loudest rap in the world from the speakers he smuggled into the dorms. always has on a ripped vetements hoodie he stole from bucky's dorm room to piss him off. invites to every frat party on campus. opposite of cringe.

[nuclearanomaly]

Oh, bookstore girl I wonder what your name is

[symbiotic-slime]

giving characters top surgery scars is great but we gotta start expanding this mentality into just random medical procedures. you’re telling me this protagonist made it through their whole life without needing some type of surgery??