Nobody:

They will sing songs of our legacy, weave tales of the blood we spilled and the hearts we stole. We have carved our names in history, my dove, using the lives of the guilty. And once you are appointed, you too will be marked in legend.

Genre: dark, crime, romance, gangs

Setting: fictional world of Hera, ancient times

You are the Dove, the heir to one of the most powerful crime families in your country. The grip your family--your father--has on their side of the land is tight, and now that you've reached adulthood it's time for you to be fully absorbed into the machinations of gang warfare. That means opium, mercenaries, assassinations. In this ancient world, blood moves people just as much as money does.

But your family is not the only family with a steel-like grip on Hera. The Dimas family have been your rivals for centuries, a blood feud fueling the anger on both sides. You both fight for territories, for money, terrorize innocent civilians and throw them in a fight they never asked to be part of. Eventually it must end...and eventually it will come down to you and the Viper, the rival heir.

But when murders and kidnappings crop up on both sides of families, the blood feud grows larger. Because there is an even bigger threat coming, and a blood war may be the only way to get out of it.

Viper & Dove is a dark romantic interactive fiction that follows two crime families in a blood feud taking place in ancient times. It is rated 18+ for violence, explicit themes, possible sexual content, and gore.

Customize your heir from name, appearance, gender identity, pronouns, demeanor and more. Customize their approach to their position and how they feel about their family and their responsibilities.

Choose a weapon of choice like a sword, throwing knives, and more.

Choose what kind of heir you want to be, and how far you're willing to go to protect your title from your endless siblings...who are various shades of bloodthirsty.

Indulge in romances that go from a doomed Romeo & Juliet narrative to a bully arranged-marriage romance to a bodyguard romance.

more features to come.

Talon/Thea 'The Viper' Dimas (m/f) : the eldest and heir to your rival family, neither of you can live while the other one breathes. Everyone is waiting with baited breath for the day you two come face to face for a fight to the death to finally bring an end to a century long rivalry...in blood. The day seems to be inching closer, and you wonder if you're prepared.

You are forbidden to see them. Forbidden to speak to them. Romancing them grants a punishment in blood.

Romance: enemies to lovers, forbidden lovers, heirs to rival families, Romeo & Juliet-esque

Alastair (m): your father's advisor, his second-hand man. He is serious, distant, and treats you with neutrality, mostly because of who you are. He oversees everything your father does and your father trusts him with his life. Romancing you would mean certain death for him.

Romance: forbidden romance

Shadow (real name unknown) (m/f): the family's head assassin and lapdog for your father, indebted to him like a prisoner. They have killed many, and their deaths pile up in a way that keeps them quiet and isolated. They do not speak, least of all to you, and you rarely see them underneath their assassins garb.

Romance: forbidden romance

Kalis Dimas (f): the twin of your rival. Even though she is a Dimas, you feel she has no interest in the blood feud. She is too kind, too pure. If anyone were to find you speaking to her--especially her very protective twin--the results could be detrimental to you both.

Romance: forbidden romance

Oren/Odessa (m/f): your betrothed. They are mean, rude, and a bully, and yet you are expected to wed them. After all these years of them bullying you, tormenting you, how could it possibly change?

Romance: bully romance, arranged marriage

Kai/ Kara: (m/f): your childhood best friend. Your guard. The one meant to protect you. They were once an orphan, then found and employed by your father to keep you safe. They take their duty seriously, lest they get thrown out again.

Romance: bodyguard romance, forbidden

Raven/Rome: (m/f) your personal maid/butler, hailing from the servant family that has served yours for generations. They don't look you in the eye and don't dare speak. Some might find their overt politeness endearing.

This is my first interactive-fiction story and I hope you like it. Reblogs are always appreciated, thank you! :)

Friend: Wanna hang out tomorrow?

Me: I actually performed an Activity yesterday. Please wait the three day recovery period to submit another inquiry

Book Three Sneak Peek Snippet #2...

“No ‘hello’?” I ask, Mason/Morgan’s familiar gruffness enough to have me smiling through my gloom. “Why would you assume something wasn’t all right for me to call you?”

“For a start, you rarely call for anything social,” he/she states before snorting a sharp breath. “Secondly, that waver to your voice says you’ve been crying. I’m coming to see you right now. Where are you?”

you asked for angst, i delivered. i’m happy to say that chapter eight is officially out on itch.io now!! saves will and should work so play to your heart's content (and trust me, some of the ros scenes are worth reading).

IN THIS CHAPTER.

face the consequences of your disastrous night at crimson rouge

discuss what you learned and what you’ll do next (while ignoring the complaints of a certain warlock moaning about going home)

witness some bickering between K and Rylan (they’re simply a variant of A and Blane, just saying)

see sebastian again (how is he doing you ask? not that great. he appreciates it though)

experience, uh, some blood

STATS.

word count. 355,422 (+76k)

LINKS.

ko-fi

patreon

please email me (evertidings@gmail.com) for large bugs and issues or shoot me an ask if you catch something! otherwise, enjoy and let me know what you think (i’m dying to hear). as always, thank you for your support <3

TSR Demo, Public Release!

TSR Prologue - now released through moody.ink! (Just click on the word to access the demo!)

Warning: The content is not suitable for minors or those uncomfortable with the contents listed.

surprise? i know it’s been a while but chapter seven of When Twilight Strikes will (finally) go live publicly june 3rd at 1pm EST. the password is already up for those of you in the midnight tier on patreon, and will be released for the twilight tier this sunday.

(if you’re thinking of pledging for the demo, i’d suggest doing so and cancelling once you get the password unless you plan on sticking around for june, as my patreon charges every 1st of the month).

in this chapter…

meet Mirai, who, honestly, is a pain in the ass

learn more about the ros’ backgrounds and struggles

enter some dangerous situations, including one where you can be in close proximity to your chosen ro

use those fight or flight instincts

make some crucial choices…

thanks for sticking by me everyone <3

The Universe's Brightest Lights Have Some Dark Origins

Did you know some of the brightest sources of light in the sky come from black holes in the centers of galaxies? It sounds a little contradictory, but it’s true! They may not look bright to our eyes, but satellites have spotted oodles of them across the universe. 

One of those satellites is our Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Fermi has found thousands of these kinds of galaxies in the 10 years it’s been operating, and there are many more out there!

Black holes are regions of space that have so much gravity that nothing - not light, not particles, nada - can escape. Most galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers - these are black holes that are hundreds of thousands to billions of times the mass of our sun - but active galactic nuclei (also called “AGN” for short, or just “active galaxies”) are surrounded by gas and dust that’s constantly falling into the black hole. As the gas and dust fall, they start to spin and form a disk. Because of the friction and other forces at work, the spinning disk starts to heat up.

The disk’s heat gets emitted as light - but not just wavelengths of it that we can see with our eyes. We see light from AGN across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from the more familiar radio and optical waves through to the more exotic X-rays and gamma rays, which we need special telescopes to spot.

About one in 10 AGN beam out jets of energetic particles, which are traveling almost as fast as light. Scientists are studying these jets to try to understand how black holes - which pull everything in with their huge amounts of gravity - somehow provide the energy needed to propel the particles in these jets.

Many of the ways we tell one type of AGN from another depend on how they’re oriented from our point of view. With radio galaxies, for example, we see the jets from the side as they’re beaming vast amounts of energy into space. Then there’s blazars, which are a type of AGN that have a jet that is pointed almost directly at Earth, which makes the AGN particularly bright.  

Our Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has been searching the sky for gamma ray sources for 10 years. More than half (57%) of the sources it has found have been blazars. Gamma rays are useful because they can tell us a lot about how particles accelerate and how they interact with their environment.

So why do we care about AGN? We know that some AGN formed early in the history of the universe. With their enormous power, they almost certainly affected how the universe changed over time. By discovering how AGN work, we can understand better how the universe came to be the way it is now.

Fermi’s helped us learn a lot about the gamma-ray universe over the last 10 years. Learn more about Fermi and how we’re celebrating its accomplishments all year.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

ATTOLLO 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Hello, everyone!! I'm very pleased to announce the upcoming 2nd year anniversary of Attollo come September 10th. 2 years is a long time, but I'm incredibly delighted (and a bit shocked still, to be honest) to have come this far!

As a thank you to everyone for the support I have received so far with the game, I am eager to announce two things that will be released this day:

A miniature lore book of Attollo that you can download and read (light and dark modes will be accessible). This will include a little authors note on the story by yours truly and then a breakdown of the City, the major cast, the secondary cast, and other characters that you will meet along the way. This is also an excellent introduction to the game if you're on the fence about it! Tips about the game may be included as well.

Original works. These will consist of posts throughout the day discussing what Attollo was BEFORE it became Attollo and was simply known as 'Mammon'. With this, characters first editions will be discussed and contrasted to their current forms, including notes on how the changes came to be.

I look forward to September 10th, and thank you all in advanced for your support!

(P.S—check out The Nameless by @parkerlyn and the amazing 2 year anniversary event that's being hosted there as well, also taking place September 10th!)

8 Different Types of Love

Eros- sexual passion and desire, generally considered as a loss of control, i.e., Cupid’s arrow with Troy and Helen causing the Trojan war. It’s an intense kind of love that is romantic and passionate, but not necessarily stable. In mature individuals as describe by Socrates it recalls youth, but when misguided it can be abused and indulged in. This love is centered around the body and our more selfish desires, and needs one of the other types of love to survive.

Philia- affectionate love, friendship, Plato felt love didn’t always need physical affection to be felt, hence the word platonic. Philia is what you feel between that friend you’ve had through hardships. It’s about the mind and loyalty rather than physical pleasure like eros.

Storge- familiar love, generally used to describe kinship, a love you feel for family, or those you view as family. It’s bound in our memories, and though storge is generally considering good, it can hold you back if members of you family have views that differ from yours in harmful ways.

Ludus- playful love. It’s what you feel in the honeymoon stage, or when you first start dating someone. The flirting, teasing, fun banter, and giddiness of love. It’s the emotional side of love that is unfortunately often neglected later in life.

Mania- this is when one lover becomes obsessive with the other, either due to insecurity or possessiveness. People who go through mania need love and are desperate to keep it and become jealous and controlling. This leads to unhealthy relationship with codependency issues.

Pragma-this love is enduring. It’s in couples who have been together for decades or friendships that have lasted just as long. Pragma is not the result of a search for love, but rather the effort of maintaining it. Pragma is for partners who have put in effort for each other, found resolutions that are best for each other, have invested in one another.

Philautia - loving yourself, the greeks defined this one under two categories a positive and a negative. It’s fantastic to love yourself to be confident in who you are, to have compassion for your being. This is not the self love described by narcissus which is vanity obsessed and greedy. This is a love for the person you are and who you will become.

Agape- this is love in its purest form, a kind of love that accepts and forgives and hopes for our success. It’s the kind of person you meet who has a never ending supply of empathy and compassion, and your always comfortable around. They are  agape with love.