#I’m also wondering what Dante would think

[42-because-why-not]

Whenever someone says “what song would kill a medieval child?” You might be tempted to say something from the ultrakill soundtrack because it’s fast paced and chaotic but most of the songs in medieval times would have just church hymns and since ultrakill is a religious game a lot of the religious themes are carried out into the music, so I’m saying a medieval child would be confused at first but would ultimately enjoy the ultrakill soundtrack

[ava-of-shenanigans]

HOR, SON OF PA-NESHE AND HOR FROM NEHES KNOW EACH OTHER??!

[cath-lic]

Hello, I was wondering if you believe non-Christians can be saved? I know many Catholics believe everyone that doesn't accept Jesus will go to hell. Personally, I find this outlook very sad and I was curious on other points of view so please anyone respond with their own opinions. I mean to ask you this: If God is love and is forgiving of our sins, why would he send everyone to hell simply because they could not find their way to him?

hi!! YES absolutely everyone is saved!! now, everyone and their brother has a conflicting opinion on this, but i’ll throw in my two cents.

my first, more concrete point: john 3:16. the everyman’s verse!!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

okay, but what if someone doesn’t believeth? vatican ii’s lumen gentium, no. 16, also covers this. (italics added by me)

Those also can attain to everlasting salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the gospel of Christ or his Church, yet sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, strive by their deeds to do his will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does divine Providence deny the help necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God, but who strive to live a good life, thanks to his grace.

however, it’s important to note LG no. 14. bear with me here.

Whosoever knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by God through Jesus Christ would refuse to enter her or to remain in her could not be saved.

i’m not a theologian, i’m just joe off the street—so i may be taking things out of context. forgive me!

however—as much as i am catholic, i believe that this is putting WAY too much importance on the catholic church as we know it today. it is far, far different than the original organization founded upon the rock of st. peter, and i believe that there are many things that god takes issue with in the catholic church (notoriously, jesus criticized large institutions like these). therefore, i don’t know how much i believe that the catholic church today, nor as a whole, was made necessary by god through christ.

my second point: my most fervent belief is that god is love. pretty much all of my friends are atheists, and they are kind and caring and loving people. it is, therefore, impossible for me to believe that they are not saved.

my second-and-a-half point: i take a little bit of issue with your phrasing of “send” to hell.

personally, i believe that hell is not necessarily Dante’s inferno, but a place of complete and total separation from god. i also believe that hell is not a place you are sent to, but rather a place you send yourself.

i mentioned purgatory in my earlier answer to a different anon; this is where that comes in. i generally concur with pope francis when he says that he likes to think of hell as empty (note: he was not issuing doctrine here). i believe that in purgatory, 99.999% (you get it) of people, if not 100%, are able to reconcile with god and see the consequences of their decisions, good and bad, throughout their life.

you know when you tell someone something that is true, but they keep on rejecting it, no matter what evidence you show them? that’s what i imagine is happening to the other .001%.

god is endlessly patient; he doesn’t mind spending eons trying to convince others to have empathy for their fellow man. however, humans are not as patient. they get fed up and walk away—and this is my (limited) understanding of the process of going to hell.

i’ll be honest, i don’t know if hell is permanent, temporary, etc. i’m not sure how helpful it is to debate it, either. but what i do know is very helpfully summarized in this post by the lovely hymnsofheresy.

whenever i have doubts about some aspect of what i believe being incorrect, i remind myself that god is love. he loves us more than anything in the world, and nothing we can do will ever change that. he doesn’t look for reasons for you to go to hell; he wants to be with us all the time.

thank you for sending in this ask, and i hope it helped ❤️❤️❤️

[thedinanshiral]

What's in a name? A (very) simple guide to find your Rook's name.

I’ve seen some people are wondering how some of us already have named Rooks, others have no idea how to get names or which names could be good, and since i kinda overdid it and have 11 Rooks already planned and named i thought i’d share some of my process and drop some ideas. This works for me, but maybe it can help others find their Rook’s name(s).

Keep in mind these are also fantasy names, they don’t have to make sense or have a specific meaning, you can literally make them up. I also take into consideration known naming conventions, for example in Elven we have Solas and Abelas’ names, with specific meanings (Pride, Sorrow) and judging by what Solas tells Abelas, it’d seem ancient elvhen would change their names according to roles or events in their life. Similarly in the Qun, we know their names aren’t names as we understand them but simply descriptors of the role that is assigned to them within the Qun.

It’s probably easier when it comes to human nations in Thedas: Orlesians are likely to have French names, Fereldans to have anglo names, Antivans to have Spanish and Italian names. Tevinter is a bit trickier because it’s based on the Roman empire and Latin is a pretty dead language, but they sure liked to make records so we have names there too.

Elvhen names:

I literally opened a tab with the Elven language DA wiki page and read everything -for the bazillionth time tbh-; DA elven language is a cipher, not a conlang, so feel free to make things up because we don’t have the full cipher -i’m not even sure BW does- .

For Elven names i check the wiki for words that i like the sound of, the meaning of, ideally both. If i feel something is “missing” i may add a letter or combine different words into a new one.

Here are some examples:

Athima, from athim, humility

Atisha, from Atish'an, atisha is peace

Sethena, from Sethen'a or Setheneran, land of waking dreams or where the veil is thin, aka the Fade.

Revaren, from Revas, freedom, and Renan, voice.

Alasan, from alas, earth/dirt, and suffix an, place.

Sulahni, from sulahn, sing.

Samahli, from samahl, laughter.

Vardanehn, lit. Our little joy.

Mir'as, Banal'ras is shadows, implying ras refers to light, Mir is mine. Lit. "my light".

Qunlat names:

Same process as elven, but trying to modify as less as possible, keeping in mind the Qunari are very rigid in their ways and can be very literal as well.

Anaan, victory

Asaarash, rivaini horsebreed used by the antaam.

Kaaras, navigator.

Asaara-kaaras, wind navigator, wind rider.

Saar, dangerous. Saar-asaara, dangerous wind. Saar-meraad, dangerous tide.

Sata-kasi, mauler.

Vattic-kos, vat is fire, tic is cold and kos refers to nature damage, all three words are in reference to damage done with a mage staff. So Vattic-kos could be elemental damage.

Shokra, shok is struggle or war, shokrakar is rebel.

Antivan names:

These were way easier as i’m Latina of Spanish and Italian descent which in this case feels a bit like cheating. I think any Spanish and Italian name could work, these are just some i like.

Vittoria/Victoria

Chiara

Alessandro/a

Stefan

Dante

Aria

Tevinter names:

I literally googled for Latin names for this one, and also checked previous Tevinter characters’ names. Some of this could also work for an Antivan Rook.

Aelius

Amadis

Bastian

Caelus

Camilla

Dena

Dante

Desideria

Ella

Enora

Favian

Fausto, Faustino, Faustus

Gaius

Gloria

Grazia

Klaudia

Laurena

Lavinia

Liberia

Merit/Mérita/Mérito

Remus

Salena

Sarina

Sidonia

Sollemnia

Tatius

Terentius

Tiberius

Urbano, Urbanus

Valentio

Varinia

Viatrix

Virgilio, Virgil

Vitus

Xandros

I’m leaving out the numerals like Primo, Segundo, Quintus, Octavio... check Cesars' names, that could work too. I think you could just search the scientific name of any fauna (hello House Pavus) or flora and pick whatever sounds nice too. Also we recently got a new Magister’s name in the Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance trailer, Magister Andante. Y’know what “Andante” means? Walking. Magister Walking. Fear nothing and go wild with these names, seriously.

You could also check other cultures and native names, respectfully of course. Here are some guaraní and mapuche names i like, i didn’t modify these at all.

Kerana, guaraní “goddess of sleep”, or sleepy one.

Karai, guaraní, “respectable man”.

Luriel, guaraní, “lord of the wind”.

Amaru, guaraní, “rain”.

Anahí, guaraní, from a legend, the name of a young woman burned at the stake by the conquistadors, after which she is transformed into the flowering tree.

Newén, mapuche, "strength"

Nahuel, mapuche, “jaguar”

Ayelén, mapuche, “laughing”.

Tahiel, mapuche, “hombre libre”

For Dwarven names, i am deeply sorry i haven't decided on a Dwarf Rook yet so i haven't done my dwarven research, but the same process applies: check the canon dwarf names we got so far, if the lore says anything about dwarven naming conventions, if they're a commoner or noble, if there are caste-specific names too, and so on. And if you want to name your dwarf Rook Bob, that's fine too! ( if DUNE can have Paul and Jessica, why couldn't we have a dwarf named Bob?? like i said, go wild, name freely, be happy)

I understand some people don't want to or aren't sure about naming their Rooks until we learn what the different canon surnames will be, and i totally get that, i felt the same way. But i couldn't resist until we got that info so i overdid it, particularly with my Tevinter-Nevarran mage whose name i picked clearly inspired by Cassandra's full name, only for me to end up calling her by the first of her five names that i kinda struggle to remember. So far we've only seen one canon surname, "Thorne", and since surnames are defined by factions, Thorne seems to be the Grey Wardens' canon surname. The elf Grey Warden champion seen in the recent high-level combat gameplay is named Esha Thorne.

I think maybe surnames should depend on what they're now calling lineage (elven, qunari, human, dwarf) rather than on factions, or they could have offered options, one per lineage and one per faction, and let us decide which one to keep. An elf named Thorne sounds a bit odd to me, even if they're a Grey Warden. Will any of my chosen names match the canon surnames? Probably not, but at least i had fun while naming them. My only GW for now is Favian and Favian Thorne doesn't sound bad.

Anyway, I hope this helps those who are a bit lost to find names that works for you and your Rooks, have fun!

[ariseur]

THANK YOU FOR WRITING AMAZINGLY 🙏🙏

(You feed into my dmc addiction)

Okay so Dante and V with an angel reader who’s is a bit of a tease(playfully)? (I have a dmc oc that I’m trying to map how it would work.I also just really like V and Dante 🤭)

dante and v with a teasing angel!reader 𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

devil may cry x reader

┊ ˚➶ notes ｡˚ 🎼

JELP I REMADE THIS BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU MESNT LIKE A SEXUAL TEASE SO I HAD TO START OVER 😭😭 hope you enjoy nonetheless though 💔

┊ ˚➶ warnings ｡˚ 🎼

innuendo to v’s fate in dmc5, dante thinks you’re literally so hot, intended lowercase, lmk if i missed anything!!

. ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ . ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ . ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ . ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄

. ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ 𝓓ANTE — 𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

❥ first of all, angels are real?

❥ second of all, why are you so gorgeous?

❥ last of all, why does he find your teasing so hot?

❥ he’s not used to being teased, so once he meets you, he’s immediately taken aback by your quips.

❥ he likes being able to have a conversation and to bicker with you, though!! he enjoys the little moments you guys have of straight up making fun of each other.

❥ but jeez, all those words die out at the back of his throat when he looks at you. he always wonders how an angel like you— literally, ended up with someone like him.

❥ you guys have little inside jokes with how much you guys poke at each other, which he always cherishes when you laugh at the mention of them around other people when they don’t know what the fuck is doing on.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈ ｡ﾟ

. ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ 𝓥 — 𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

❥ v also loves being challenged!! he finds it amusing that someone can keep up with his dry remarks.

❥ he likes being able to banter with somebody, so he immediately takes a liking to you with your wits and whatnot.

❥ enjoys watching you and griffon bicker, teasing him for the simplest things that make him dramatically feign hurt.

❥ he’s also fascinated with your species!!1!1! he’s only known angels to be apart of mythology so it’s a nice breath of fresh air in contrast to the weird and unruly demons he sees on the daily, or however long his existence lasts.

❥ doesn’t mind if you tease him, even if he’s too tired to respond. he’ll simply give you a close-mouthed chuckle and continue reading.

❥ sometimes, he’ll catch you off guard. you could make fun of him about that stupid sleeveless vest he wears and all of a sudden he’ll just look at you and then give you a breathy, “you’re beautiful.”

❥ then he’ll walk away and act like nothing ever happened 😭

[rosemary03]

Do you have any headcanons of Dante (either sfw or nsfw) with a s/o who’s just as much of a badass devil hunter as him? I’m interested to see what ideas you come up with

I'm not very good at sfw but I did what I could haha, I hope you like this ;)

Well, honestly, I think he totally agrees with that, he thinks it's great to have someone with the same level of combat and power, in that case, if he feels too lazy to go on a mission, he'll ask you to go, making excuses. like he's too sick to go out (only if you refuse to go)

“god (name) are you really going to let me fight a very strong demon and get hurt? What happens if I die? No no no no, what a bad friend you are!"

“Please you have to go, you wonderful and incredibly strong woman you can! Divine and beautiful entity and being of light! Go for them!" and a big smile graces his face when he says this, you almost forget he's sick. He's also curious about what techniques you use, whether you're a demon like him or not, sometimes he just likes to watch in a corner while you fight, he'd obviously be alert and ready in case the demon tries to land a lucky strike on you.

But even if you are very strong, he will still protect you, no matter what.

So...NSFW

He has two sides here, he allows himself to be taken care of (or mistreated) by you or he tries to dominate you, there is no more.

If you decide to take care of him, he will be delighted, your touches, caresses and kisses adorning his skin, the way your hands work on his member, and little by little you satisfy each of his needs and desires.

You would be on top of him moving your hips slowly taking all his hard length, he's being lazy so let you do the work for him, but he can't help but touch you, and from time to time play with your clit, yes, he wants to be taken care of but he also loves to see how excited you are, he wants to hear you and make the same sounds that you make dante yell.

Or there are times when he plays dumb, hugs you and you just think he's being clingy to you but he enjoys having your strong arms around him, he would pull you even closer to feel how hard he is, sometimes he makes you mad at purpose for you to punish him, oh yes, he loves to be punished by you, he likes almost everything, do you want to mistreat him? Perfect, do you want to take care of it? Fuck yeah, you want him to take control? With pleasure, even though it doesn't matter how dominant you are with him, he will always want your pleasure before his, well, only sometimes. He likes that you use him as much as you please, it's an honor for him, he might make fun of you after showing the marks you leave on his body or saying that he's a good boy outside of sex.

and well I honestly think that this is not something he does just because you are a strong devil hunter like him, even if you were like a little mouse he would love to do these things

[icycoldninja]

I’m back again with another idea:

A reader with a hauntingly beautiful voice got caught humming “Once upon a dream” to her daughter to sleep by the DMC guys

Reader was a single mom whose husband died of war/devils/etc… and she raised her daughter alone until they came into the picture

P/S: The version of “Once upon a dream” where it was sung by Lana is a good example of what her voice could sound like, if not a little bit more deep and eerie

OK, might be a little short, but enjoy!

Sparda boys + V x Reader with beautiful voice headcannons

¤ Dante ¤

-Dante happened to stroll past your daughter's bedroom door and suddenly froze in his tracks.

-He thought he'd heard ghostly voices coming from that room, but upon further inspection, he discovered it was just you singing.

-Dante was honestly shocked. Firstly, how could your daughter fall asleep to that haunting noise, and secondly, since when did you sing like that?

-Not like he was scared or anything, Dante thought your voice and the song you were singing were both pretty cool, and lingered in the doorway to hear it.

-He was glad to watch you and your daughter get some quality bonding time, considering how rough things had been for you two in the past.

■ Vergil ■

-Vergil could hear the eerie humming all the way from downstairs. He thought you'd left the radio on or something and went up to look.

-He followed the sound all the way up to your daughter's room, which was odd since she didn't have any music players.

-For a second, Vergil began to think a demon had gotten into the house and was working its sick magic by singing to your little girl.

-Then he saw you sitting by your child's bed, humming to her softly while stroking her hair as she slept. The whole situation reminded Vergil of how Eva would sit and read to him when he was little.

-Vergil quietly entered the room and stood next to you, smiling. He was glad to be able to witness this moment, and how happy the two of you looked.

□ Nero □

-Nero was busy doing his thing and cleaning his prosthetics, letting you have some quiet time with your daughter, when he caught wind of this haunting singing.

-At first he thought he was hearing things, but as time passed, Nero realized he was not hallucinating and that these sounds were coming from somewhere in his house.

-Nero tracked the music to your daughter's room, where he found you softly singing to your sleeping child.

-He never knew you could sing like this, and was honestly quite impressed.

-Relieved that nothing strange was going on, Nero left you two alone to enjoy your time together, not wanting to interfere.

● V ●

-V was relaxing on the couch with his familiars, reading poetry as usual, when he heard your faint singing.

-Your voice was eerily soothing, like a loving, nurturing ghost was whispering to him through the walls. V had never heard anything like this before, and now that he had, was pleasantly surprised.

-He knew you were singing to your daughter because she was the only other person in your life besides him who could get to see that sweet side of you that you normally kept hidden.

-V chuckled to himself, wondering what it would be like to fall asleep listening to your comforting, but also haunting singing. Your daughter was so lucky.

-Ah well, V would have to control his curiosity. Right now was some mommy-daughter bonding time--he could always ask you to sing him to sleep later.

[limbuscompanysituations]

Hello! Just a silly little fact again, I wasn’t rambling in a while here, so I came with some stuff. So, one of my roaches (yes, I’m a parent and have been for some time, I love my bugs sm!) recently uh… molted? Is that how you say it in English? Basically, this little lad slipped out of his outer skin? Usually, when that happens they look for a private place and hide away until their new “skin” isn’t soft and white anymore. But that lad did it out in the open in front of me and chilled with me. Guess that takes some feeling of safety and I’m honoured. I’m not here to brag about my parenting, more so to say that uh. Well. Again, I’m not here to equate Gregor to a bug, (‘bug’ isn’t an insult to me but it’s upsetting to him so, you know). Just saying that the rule definitely applies to the arm (he’s able to fight with it, it has to be hard and covered in that dark outer layer that I lack words in English to properly describe) and do with that what you will. Just yk. Probably not a nice thing for him to go through. But yeah. But I think Dante would at least be okay with giving him some time before the new layer hardens so at least there’s that. Not that he would be thrilled to explain to his coworkers what is going on.

Another fact is that cockroaches need higher temperatures than what is considered comfortable for most humans, around 30 Celsius or more. When the temperature is lower, their metabolism slows down. Again, use that fact as you want. I’m just here to share some stuff I know^^

Lastly, not connected to my new amazing friends, more so to the source book. This is my personal headcanon but since I like putting Grete’s traits onto Yuri (I know there was Grete in canon, but two girls can be similar and I just like this hc) I think Yuri, though she had no way to indulge in that interest, is quite skilled with music and passionate about it. Able to guess a tune almost right away, humming her favourite melodies when the work isn’t getting too dangerous. Her good hearing might have helped her out in terms of surviving too. This is just some random thought of mine, not much to build upon I suppose. But I wanted to share something other than bug facts hah

That is all I suppose. Sorry for bothering you again. I don’t have a sign off, but I think it’s kind of easy to tell which anon I am haha. Anyways, have a great day or night and remember to give yourself time if you need it, don’t burn yourself out for your audience. We appreciate the content you put out, but I would hate for it to be a source of pressure for you <33

I am so thrilled to hear that your little guy decided you had to be there for him to slip out of his dead skin. You're his emotional support giant... Please give your babies plenty of tasty snacks in my honor. I love insects so much...

Yuri looks like she has like, slender, skilled fingers? Wonder what would be her instrument of choice! A string instrument, or maybe some type of flute? Bet if they had the time to interact she would've tried to teach Gregor a few things about music and he would end up being able to pick up the notes she plays after a while of listening... oughhhhh...

It's not a bother to read a little bit of people's headcanons for a change. I love it! Please come here as often as you'd like! I'm having to pace myself because other than low energy, after typing some idk 10k words in a week? (I write for this blog, for my friends and also for personal projects) My wrists are giving up. Such is life...

[only-the-impossible]

i really don’t know how tumblr works but i posted this brain dump analysis thread on twitter about nicki and his “i secretly hoped we would both fail” thing bc it’s sooooo yummy and complex and not what it seems on first glance and i wanted to add it here too 😁

it’s not him secretly hating or judging lestat, it’s a progression of his deterioration from “i am cursed and the heavens despise me but it’s not too late for lestat bc his soul is good and by being around him maybe there’s hope for me too

to

“i am pure evil and cursed to my core, there is no hope for changing that or salvation for me and i’m corrupting the person i love most just by being around him and that is risking his soul also becoming damned and the thought of that is devastating so i would rather push him away and get him to leave by being cruel to him; while also selfishly hoping that he could choose me and damn himself to be cursed to hell by staying and dying with me; the way we talk about being ‘companions in sin’, but hoping that could mean for eternity so that i wont be alone there, selfishly hoping that someone will choose loving me and my evil enough to love it to that end”

like there’s something specific in how nicki’s “hatred and judgment” he feels towards lestat is not that at all and it’s actually that he loves him SO much that it makes him hate himself more; a big reason nicki’s character and nickistat hurts so bad and is so doomed and compelling is that lestat loved him SO MUCH that that just solidified nicki’s fate/destiny to where there could be no denying that even the highest level of love could not save him from it

and nicki projecting hatred and judgement onto lestat was not actually about lestat, it was hatred and judgement towards HIMSELF that ended up being projected onto him bc ‘how evil of me to drag this good person into loving me and letting them hope that could save me and how silly of ME to believe that could cleanse me of my darkness and evil and that it could change my fate.’

he doesn’t and never could hate lestat, the fact that their love was so intense and big for eachother ultimately made nicki hate himself more bc yeah god really does hate him and wants him to suffer and it was stupid of him to even hope that he could make god love him by learning goodness and light from lestat

he believes that to have been him manipulating lestat into loving and hoping for him and that makes him hate himself even more bc “who was I, to dare and doom my beloved Lestat's soul to such a fate?Nicolas de Lenfent. Lord of Darkness, Lord of Sin.” (quote from my current fav nicki character analysis fic btw i’ll add the link at the end😈)

him trying to make lestat believe he hated him was a desperate attempt at saving him from the same fate, it was ultimately a legit (albeit complex and fucked) act of love,

i’ve also got a lotttt of thoughts about this specifically in regards to parallels of nicki/nickistat to dante’s inferno/francesca + paolo’s story bc a LOTTTT of tvc characters and themes and nicki especially have so much catholic religious influence in how they think and behave due to being raised under it and it’s horrible and wonderful and i can’t wait to write an entire essay about it :)

[noone-and-nowhere]

Things I particularly loved about the ari and dante movie/little things I noticed

***Major spoilers ahead***

- the bird metaphor (birds in the sky in various scenes, birds chirping when ari and his parents are having the conversation after his fight with Julian, the feather on the pillow when dante is in the hospital)

- ari squeezing the tiny shoes before confronting Julian

- Daniel being an ari lookalike (it makes sense but I never thought of it like this before when reading the book

- Sam telling Jaime “Remember what I said in there”. I wonder what he said! I would guess family advice

- Ari having that conversation with his parents with Julian’s blood still on him, as a visual reminder of how much he loves dante and how much he struggled with the shame. dante still having bruises in the scene were ari confesses his love, as a visual reminder that he is healing but the incident made him vulnerable and that’s part of the reason he was so closed off in the desert scene before the kiss.

- Jaime going to hold Ari’s hand and then deciding not to in the scene where he tells him that ofelia died

- the condom 😭Tia really thought they were getting it on

- Ari awkwardly slapping Dante’s shoulder after they get off the bus

- sams tattoos! I think tattoos fit him so well as a character.

- Dante’s room. I can’t wait until it’s on streaming services and I can pause and look at every little thing

- also his teddy bear 🧸

- Sam also not wearing shoes and calling dante his beautiful boy (I have a lot of thoughts about Sam okay)

- the motif of red in Ari’s life (his truck, blood, shoes, one of his shirts) which I think could represent his anger

- Dante’s outfits serving absolute cunt

Okay that’s all I can think of for now but I’m sure I’ll come up with more when I inevitably see it for the 3rd time!!! In the meantime I’m feeling inspired to write my ao3 is kindandyoung and I’ll be posting a few ari and dante fics in the next few days!!!

[pvlvsdog]

Dante with an affectionate reader please... I love them sm

Good taste anon, I think Dante is delightful! Also, though I’m afraid I’m the only one consumed by the issue, I’ll include update logs for anyone who wants to see how my limbus battle is going

As I have said before, Dante is a bit… awkward. And by now they more so expect others to treat them like an object, a resurrection machine or a personal diary. People generally don’t care for their pain and talk at them. So they are always taken aback when you act so sweetly and compliment them or pay close attention to them. It doesn’t feel like it does when others inspect their changed body, it’s not dehumanising. There’s something very genuine about the look you have in your eyes, the warmth radiating from you as you praise their work or inspect them for injuries. Against what they believe about themself, something tells them you don’t do it only because they are a convenient asset to the team. And it always flusters them to no end. They don’t remember if they ever experienced this type of care before you. As far as they know, this is the first time they remember anyone treating them with so much love. So, they try to reciprocate. Their tone always unsure, even when they tell you to rest after doing great job or thank you for being there for them, it sounds more like a question. Lack of their previous memories only makes them more unsure as it what they should do. Surely, there are things one expects from a romantic interaction, things they should be saying or doing. They know better than to ask most sinners about such things. Besides, any guides would be useless when you stand before them with your smile, when they feel your arms wrap around their form, when you linger so closely each time the group is out doing their usual work. But they do their best to praise you. To let you know how wonderful and great you are. Stammering an and stumbling at times, but they have messed up enough in their line of work to be determined to make this one thing go right. And even if it’s awkward and “not as good as you wanted things to be” (forgive their esteem hhhh) they will be there to support you each and every time

Update log 1#:

-> I check each option and keep digging for info. I woke up again (I dreamed of WH, feels very targeted and taunting given my current issue/lh) to compile more data. All could be helpful. I should have done this sooner, but all I can do is fix things and prepare so it doesn’t happen again. Some mates are a bit worried, but I’ll stop obsessing once I reach my goal. Progress: none, no limbus for me

[possum-quesadilla]

Chapter eight of Lonely Remnants, “Hey, would it be so bad if I stayed? I'm just a ghost out of his grave”, is here! :)

Here are the extras for this chapter and the previous chapter!

Chapter Seven:

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars” by Mitski! It’s meant to be from the Shoggoth’s perspective, but it also really sounds like something Lawrence would’ve sang when he was part of a band, haha.

- “The Shoggoth sat like a kid outside the principal’s office, shoulders hunched and head hung low, waiting for a harsh punishment.” - The Shoggoth did genuinely expect them to hit it.

- “The Shoggoth let out a strange low whine, looking towards Adam and Barbara with pleading eyes.” - “It then looked to Lydia, as if for approval.” - “The Shoggoth lifted his head, staring up at her with big, dark, hopeful eyes.” - THE SHOGGOTH CARES SOOO MUCH ABOUT WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT IT GUYS. AHHH.

- “Lydia forced down the bitter taste of sarcastic irony building in her as she thought of all of the horror flicks and dramatic paintings depicting demons as fearsome monsters without remorse or pity.” - the last part is a reference to a line from “Aliens”! Also, Lydia is specifically thinking about the Deadites from “Evil Dead” and the one painting of Dante and Virgil.

- “I don’t… I can’t find it in me to forgive you yet.” - I DID NOT MEAN FOR MY FICS TO LINE UP LIKE THIS. WHOOPS!

- “… it’s no problem, Bug.” - this is the first time Lydia called the Shoggoth by it’s preferred name!

- I wonder if that dream is thematically relevant? ;)

Chapter Eight:

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Ghosting” by Mother Mother! Very literal, haha.

- Thank you to @ten-chocolate-sundaes for Adam’s nerdy autism rants about Klingon culture and such from Star Trek, I have no clue about most of Adam’s interests haha <3

- “The Shoggoth briefly bit his lip as it thought, it’s tail softly thumping against it’s seat. “… I guess. Sure.” Lydia raised an eyebrow. “‘Sure’?” “I, uh… spent a lotta time alone in the woods. But I’m sure it’ll be fun with you guys!” ” - The Shoggoth spent a grueling year wandering the woods up north. It sucked ass.

- “Mrs. D used ‘em only once.” - this is what Lawrence used to call Emily. The Shoggoth doesn’t even know her last name.

- “The demon suddenly seemed rather invested in staring at his arm, tugging the sleeve of it’s cotton sweater. (Funny, she could’ve sworn it was Adam’s.)” - It is Adam’s! :)

- “ “That’s.. from Lawrence’s favorite movie.” A bittersweet smile tugged at Adam’s lips. “‘Rule #32: Enjoy the little things’.” The Shoggoth’s head whipped up in his direction. “Oh! From… the zombie movie?” ” - This tattoo is referencing “Zombieland”. It is a sweet little reminder Lawrence wanted to give himself.

- “Lydia hadn’t seen any being look so starstruck before. The Shoggoth sat, eyes wide and full of wonder, mouth hung agape with the hint of a smile. It’s tail kept thumping against the seat as it wagged.” - Average reaction to listening to Chappell Roan for the first time.

- “She’s a damn visionary!” - Hm! What oddly familiar phrasing.

- “Who knew a demon would be such big fans of Chappell Roan?” - thank you again @ten-chocolate-sundaes for helping me figure out Barbara’s music taste!

- “Lydia let out a little laugh as she turned her attention back to the minute-mystery she and Adam were solving together.” - These are phenomenal to do on road trips. Murdles are too. Adam loves his Murdles.

- “… I like… ‘they’. And ‘it’, still.” - The Shoggoth’s pronouns are now it and they! They were just it/its until this point. When I use ‘his’ while referring to a body part for the Shoggoth, it’s because the body part doesn’t belong to them.

Tag list: @raineisinkless @c0zmo-writes @musical-fiend @katslitterbox

(Want to be tagged in future updates for CorpseJuice / LoopJuice? Let me know!)

[darkfictionjude]

Hello! This is an EC ask, sorry if you aren’t taking those at the moment. I was wondering if we would get to choose how the MC feels about the whole mafia thing. Do we get to be reluctant about it? Can we choose to hate the violence and crime? Or is it going to be more of a set thing? I know this is wayyy down the line but I was just curious as to what the plans were for that.

Oh I’m taking them! It’s just that WWC with the update buzz overshadowed the side wips. And also I think the fact that I said to cool it on the pregnancy Dante asks didn’t help either 💀

Yeah I’ve been thinking about this, I think it would interesting to have a Luce who hates the mafia and still be involved in it just as you’ll get the option to be in love with it, it’s a very human thing to do something you don’t like

As in for the fbi route you can hate the fbi while working for them

[idealisticrealism]

TCL 3x06 thoughts (and many feelings)

Well, as expected, this ep basically broke my heart into a million tiny pieces- but still, they really did give Arman the best send-off that they could given the circumstances, and I’m so, so grateful for it.

Breaking the recap up a bit differently this week because I have a lot to say about everyone lol

But of course, I have to start with my beloved boy Arman, and Armony. I always knew that this ep was going to break me, and man, they didn’t waste any time doing it… less than 4 mins in and the tears were already flowing from hearing him saying the Reloj line, because seriously, knowing that this was his one chance to pass on a message to the people in his life, and that he chose that??? God it was powerful seeing Nadia and the others incorrectly assuming the message simply meant that he was running out of time, vs seeing Thony's jaw clench on hearing it because she knew the truth, knew that it was meant for her alone. In some ways, it was a “I think my time is up and I'm the one leaving forever in the morning, and that's okay” kind of message, but it was also a “this is me telling you I love you, because I never got the chance before”, and a “no matter what they do to me, in my mind I'm there, dancing with you by the fire.” No wonder she reaches for a beer the moment she gets home, knowing that there’s the chance she will be able to hold him in her arms again in only a matter of hours, but not being able to do anything to make it happen except just sit and wait for news. Well, at least until the moment she sees the report and understands Dante’s involvement, and then there’s no holding back anymore, no more trusting others to save him. Her blind determination to go find him and bring him home is exactly like how she acted when Luca was dying or when Fi was deported; it’s the way she always responds when someone she loves desperately needs her, and I love that Arman is so clearly in that category. (Okay gotta break this up bc of Tumblr's character limit lol)

Anyway ugh the entire time she was at the apartments I could feel my heart in my throat, because god, she got so close. (Oh and the way she instantly recognised the jacket and then knew with a single sniff that it was his?? Help???). But anyway ugh when the kid pointed them to the apartment, and she saw him right there through the window, only for him to be stolen away again in the mere couple of minutes it took her to get back around to the apartment’s front door.... Ughhh these two have been star-crossed from the start, but it was so hard to watch the final acts of their tragedy unfolding. I'll never be over the fact that for days, he was kept in a haze of drugs and pain, and yet we (and Thony!) know from his message that he spent that time thinking of her, escaping his reality by living in the moments they’d shared. And her own drug-induced hallucination of him was equally heartbreaking… god, to see her be so honest and unreserved in the way she looked at him and held him and spoke to him ("I’m gonna take you home, I'm never gonna let you go again”)... like damn, in that moment we really got to see the unfiltered, uninhibited truth of her feelings for him, the truth she never got to tell him and that he never got to hear.

But still, I’d like to think that he knew it anyway, especially when he saw her there in that car– saw that she had come for him, that she was trying so hard to save him, even at risk to herself. (Naturally I wish that we could have had his real face for that heart-wrenching moment of goodbye, but it was close enough, and when it comes down to it, that moment was still truly Arman and Thony no matter what). And while I’m sure Arman would have wished that he could live, that he could have stayed and built a life with her, we also saw multiple indications in the past 2 seasons that Arman knew and accepted that an early death was likely for him, if not practically inevitable, just like it had been for Mateo and Carlos and Bosco. And so for him to get to go out on his own terms, and in the act of saving Thony? It was exactly the death that he would have wanted. (On first watch I was sobbing too hard to notice that he didn't just knock the gun away and cause chaos in the car, he actually also grabbed the wheel and deliberately drove them off the cliff, meaning he truly chose for himself how he met his death). Honestly, it was literally the exact kind of ending I'd been predicting for him ever since s1– both the culmination of his hero arc, and also the ultimate fulfillment of his vow to protect her.  I'm so, so thankful that he got to have that, got to go out fast and painlessly and like the hero he was, rather than dying in the hangar or alone in that grungy apartment, and I’m even more thankful that he got to see her one last time, got to have that final goodbye with her. He died knowing she loved him and never gave up on him, and knowing that his death would ensure she got to live on; and for him, that would have been everything. And as devastating as it was to see Thony on her knees on the cliff, staring up into the sky as everything faded into white and El Reloj began to play... it was also heartbreakingly beautiful- seeing them dancing together again truly felt like getting a glimpse into his heaven, like it was telling us 'This is where he is now. This is where he'll always be"- and though it'll still always hurt to have lost him, I can be at peace with that.

(Though ngl, this ep was full of 'if onlys' that are going to haunt both us and Thony forever... If only Chris hadn't blocked the toilet today of all days. If only Thony had called a different plumber. If only JD's friend hadn't gotten him the arrest report. If only Ramona hadn't put a tail on Thony that caused her and Fi to have to rely on Jeremy for a ride rather than going on their own. If only Thony had been able to trust that Jorge wasn't involved and had called him instead. If only Nadia hadn't sent her the address for the meet location. If only if only if only. The show has always centred around this theme (all the way back to 1x01 and ‘if only Thony hadn’t encouraged the underground fighter to make her own choices, then the fighter may have done what Theo ordered her to and deliberately lost the fight, and then Tarik wouldn’t have killed Theo and Thony wouldn't have witnessed it, and none of this would have happened’), and it's a vital aspect of both the storytelling (because if none of that had happened, then there's no story at all) and also of Thony's character development. But obviously in this instance we all know that the writers had no other choice, and that there was no way this ep could have gone differently anyway, not after the loss of Adan. We know that, but Thony doesn't, and so it's going to be devastating to see Thony blame herself for yet another death, especially the death of someone she loved so deeply.)

But alright let’s talk about who is actually responsible for Arman’s death, because while Thony inadvertently contributed to it, she absolutely wasn’t the one who directly led to them being in that situation! Let’s start with Dante: firstly, I knew it was very suss that he ‘accidentally’ killed that guy in the last ep! And then when I saw the BTS pics for 3x06 last week and saw that Thony and Fi were going to go to the same apartment buildings that Dante got arrested at, it was clear that he was definitely involved in Arman’s abduction somehow. So either it’s option 1, and that giant bastard knew just how deeply Ramona wanted Arman back in their lives and figured he could not only give her what she wanted, but could also use the opportunity to score a fuck-ton of money without Ramona ever knowing of his involvement; or it’s option 2, and he abducted Arman on Ramona’s orders so that she could a) get her hands on a bunch of Nadia's money, and b) receive Arman's gratitude for saving him, which would then lead to his return into the family. Personally I think that option 1/Dante working alone is much more likely, and I'd also prefer it to option 2, because if Ramona was involved it would completely ruin the enjoyment I’ve been getting out of her character and her sibling relationship with Jorge. So I'm really hoping that it was all just Dante’s plan, and that Ramona and Jorge believe Thony when she tells them about Dante’s role in Arman's kidnapping (and therefore his death) and then they fucking murder him for it. 

Speaking of murdering, that brings me to Jeremy Fucking Dolan. (Yes, I literally looked up his last name on IMDB purely bc I felt the need to put a curse word in it). It’s funny, but from the very first moment his character was announced and it was mentioned in his bio that he would befriend Thony while hiding a dark secret, I had an almost irrational level of hatred for him, even more than I had for Jorge’s character, which was definitely odd and inexplicable given that Jorge’s bio made him sound like he was purely meant to be an unwanted ‘Arman 2.0’/potential love interest, which I obviously did not want in the slightest. But if I’d been given the option to get rid of one of them before S3 even started, it would have been Jeremy with no hesitation. The moment he made his appearance, I called it that he was actually an undercover FBI agent who was using Thony to get to Arman, which was maddening enough because she just didn’t deserve to be manipulated in that way, or to be betrayed by someone whom she had been isolated and vulnerable enough to risk trusting. And then that undercover bastard not only uses her, but ends up being the very reason that the FBI shows up right at the worst moment– not only preventing the exchange, but also causing the chase that kills Arman??? I don't care if he was only doing his job and trying to catch criminals, goddammit, I still hate him so much, and it's going to destroy Thony (even more than she already has been destroyed after losing Arman) when she eventually puts it together and realises that her trusting Jeremy directly contributed to Arman’s death. Which is why I’m over here violently daydreaming of a moment sometime late in the season where Jorge and Ramona finally manage to capture Jeremy, and then they bring Thony in and let her pull the fucking trigger and end him. (I mean, is it at all likely that she would go that dark, even to avenge Arman? Well, no. But thinking about it certainly gives me great satisfaction so I’m sticking with it lol)

Anyway, moving onto something more positive– if you wanna find the MVP of this ep, you only have to look at Fi!!! I loved her for the kind and understanding way she addressed Thony's connection to Arman, and the way she almost got Thony to acknowledge her feelings for him. Though I guess in that moment she could see that Thony still wasn’t ready to talk about it, and so she tried to ease Thony's mental discomfort by shifting focus to jokes about Jeremy (gross). Still, throughout the ep she was just so completely ride or die for Thony, like she has always been, and honestly Thony needs that, needs her. And not just for her badass lock-picking skills haha (taught to her by Paolo maybe??). Basically, Thony is like the Frodo of this series, carrying a huge burden and going through unimaginable things, but Fi is like her Sam, and it’s only with Fi’s support that Thony is able to keep pushing forward through everything. Obviously the loss of Arman, the other vital person in her life (does that make him Gandalf??) is going to be absolutely crushing for her, and I think Fi is going to be even more incredible in the coming episodes as she supports Thony through her grief and devastation. Ngl, I already had a fic idea about Fi going and getting Arman's jacket back for Thony, and it makes me cry just thinking about it ugh

In addition to Fi and Thony, I did love the whole De La Rosa fam vibe early in the episode, with Chris and Jaz bickering, and Thony and Fi making a fuss of Luca, and then Chris gently telling them to ease off when Luca got overwhelmed– it felt so nice to have them all reunited again and just getting to be a ‘normal’ family getting ready for school in the morning, and for Fi and Thony to be dealing with problems like blocked toilets and wet clothes rather than threats of deportation or dangerous cartels or the FBI. Chris worrying over missing Camila’s call was super cute too; I’m glad we got to have another mention of her and I hope we get to see her again soon. As for Luca, I’m really happy he’s started school, mostly bc it frees up Thony’s schedule haha, but also because it’s an important step for both him and Thony in moving forward with their lives. Thony has lived in an endless loop of ~My Child Is Dying~ for 6 years, and finally (thanks to her and Fi and Arman, like she said in the ep) that cycle has finally been broken. Luca will always need careful monitoring of his health, of course, but Thony isn’t trapped by his illness anymore, and I’m excited to see what potential  paths that will open up for her. I will always wish that one of those paths could have been a relationship with Arman, and I'm sure she does too, but as long as she finds happiness and purpose, I'll be satisfied.

Okay, so Jorge showing up at the school was pretty great honestly; like he says, it kind of is their thing to just show up uninvited into each other's spaces, and plus I think he actually truly did want to help make the moment a little easier on her by being there and distracting her/reassuring her as a fellow parent. I also loved the sweatshirt mention lol, it was a good throwback and I enjoy that he’s comfortable enough with her to tease her. Just shows how much their relationship has changed in the week or so since he first tossed that sweatshirt at her in a different school parking lot!! And he definitely won points with me here by going out of his way to get the info for her about the legal/CPS stuff without being asked, and though he explained it away as basically just him buying her influence over Arman in regards to the Sin Cara business, again I think he just genuinely wanted to help. Like Arman, he doesn’t get the opportunity to do many things that are purely good and noble, and so the feeling of getting to help her and Luca clearly has somewhat of an intoxicating effect on both men haha. Even with the loss of Arman (and so the loss of his supposed reason for helping Thony with the CPS stuff) I don’t doubt that Jorge will still help her with it once he’s satisfied that she had nothing to do with Arman’s death. But ugh speaking of Arman, the way Jorge questioned her about her connection to Arman… he already knows that Thony’s husband only died a few months ago, and as far as he knows from Nadia's behaviour, her and Arman’s marriage was solid, so it’s understandable that the intensity of Thony’s loyalty to/concern about Arman is a bit confusing to him. And because he doesn’t understand it, he’s always going to view her with at least a trace of suspicion until he learns the truth. Which may even be as soon as next ep– it looks like Jorge and Ramona are going to be demanding answers from Thony about how Arman died/ whether she betrayed him to the Feds/ how she was even there in the first place etc etc, and honestly I'm desperately hoping we'll get some kind of "I would never betray Arman! I LOVED him!" outburst from her that makes both Jorge and Ramona stop in their tracks because of how clearly heartfelt and honest it is. And ngl, while we’ve seen Thony indirectly state or demonstrate her love for Arman multiple times now, it would really mean a lot to me to hear her just say it openly without holding back. Not to mention that I think it would also really help pave the way for her to be accepted into the Sin Cara/Sanchez family, which would make for interesting viewing for the rest of the season.  

Speaking of the Sanchez family, I enjoyed the flashback and getting the backstory about the caddy, and seeing more of the Eduardo/Ramona/Jorge dynamic. (I’m trying so hard not to be nitpicky about the fact that young Arman's hair was straight and young Jorge's was curly, when it should have been the opposite, lol). But I’ve been thinking a lot about what Eduardo says to young Arman in that moment about how the only way to be a good man is to work hard and make an honest living, and I think that before we meet him in S1 Arman had really internalised that, and didn’t see himself as being a good man even though he wanted to be, which is why it hurt him so much to have Thony reinforce that belief during their argument at the wedding in 1x03. But then through helping her and forming a connection with her, he sees that even though she’s witnessed him at his worst, she genuinely does believe he is a good man, and it allows him to start believing it of himself for the first time. The flashback also definitely gave us more of a sense of Arman’s relationship with Ramona and Jorge, and really added another layer to him not selling off his caddy despite the direness of his debt to RK. What Nadia said to Ramona about the caddy being Arman’s dream car seemed to prove to Ramona that Arman still loved her and Jorge, and never truly turned his back on them… and so hopefully her sense of family and honour will mean that she will now consider Nadia and Thony– Arman’s family– to be her family as well. I also really enjoyed the scene of Jorge and Ramona sitting together in the caddy, discussing their business choices/differences in their life plans, and also talking about Arman and his good heart… they’ve definitely both grown on me, partly because they’re well written, but mostly because they've helped Thony and they genuinely care about my boy Arman. I’m sad we'll never get to see an Arman and Jorge brotherly reunion, because that could have been truly great. But tbh what I’m really wondering is what will happen to my beloved caddy now that Arman's gone... will Nadia want to get rid of it because seeing it is too painful?? Will Jorge offer to take it? Will I get my dream of Thony being the one to keep it lol? Doubtful, but one can always hope.... (and I guess there’s always that fic I’ve been planning to write about it for like 3 weeks lol)

Sigh, poor Nadia gave me a lot of feels in this ep. She is working so hard to get Arman back, and handling herself amazingly well under incredibly stressful circumstances. She dealt calmly with the kidnappers (which Ramona was clearly very impressed by... a potential protege there, perhaps?). Nadia also politely yet firmly declined Ramona’s plan for Arman to be basically kept in their home, despite knowing how powerful Ramona is and how risky it would be to piss her off.  She also insisted on being at the exchange to get him back despite the risk to herself (and possibly partly because she still doesn’t trust Ramona’s intentions). She trusted Thony with the meet location, despite their complex history, despite knowing that it meant that she would have to share her reunion with her husband with the other woman he loves. Even if she only gave Thony the address because it meant getting to have a highly-trained doctor there who could be trusted completely with Arman’s life, it still means she put Arman’s wellbeing above her own wants. Honestly I respect the hell out of Nadia, and literally the only consolation I have about losing Arman is that at least I'll never have to watch her go through the heartbreak of Arman still choosing Thony over her despite all their history and everything she’d done for him. Of course, we still have to watch her going through an absolutely horrific heartbreak of a different kind, but at least instead of being alone in it, she has Thony to share that pain with. (Or at least, she will, when she gets past her initial anger and blame towards Thony). It's almost a certainty that Thony and Nadia's connection will continue and even strengthen throughout the rest of the season, and I strongly believe that Thony is going to do everything she can to support and protect Nadia now, not only because she genuinely does care about her, but also because it’s the only thing she can do now to honour Arman and give thanks for all he did for her.

Okay, last couple of things: I loved that even despite her desperate search for Arman and the ticking clock that was hanging over their heads, Thony still stopped and helped the kid’s grandfather. It was very true to who she is, and how she can’t not help the people in front of her that need her. And tbh in terms of TV medicine, this instance actually wasn’t too bad haha, even if her Epley manoeuvre was a bit off. The fact that the man turning to look at the clock helped her diagnose the vertigo was also a cool reference to the ep’s title/theme as well. But anyway the reference that I can’t quite figure out yet is the word Thony saw written in the dust on that mirrored platter thing; I’m assuming Arman wrote it as a clue in case someone found the apartment? It seems to say something like ‘Marin’ which means nothing to me rn, but they very intentionally included a shot of Thony seeing it, so I guess its meaning will become clear in the next ep or two? 

Anyway, this has been many many words and feelings, so I’m just gonna end it with this, the prayer that Thony spoke as Arman walked out of prison in 2x02, because it feels even more tragically fitting now:

Now he is freed Through your blood on the cross Through the blows to your face And through the crown of your thorns that pierced your head Deliver him from all evil From the rigor of injustice From the torment of conscience And from all darkness Welcome him into Paradise Where there will be no more sorrow No more weeping or pain Give him the blessings of the life to come As he enters into the kingdom of peace and light.

[nicosraf]

hiyaaa finishing abm was so incredible! i loved how you tied in lucifer’s fall from heaven as the meteor that impacted earth. that being said, I’m also a big fan of paradise lost. if lucifer wasn’t cast into hell from the initial fall (like from what milton describes), will hell be a place in a&m? does it not exist at all? or does lucifer create hell himself?

hello!! i'm glad u liked it! and that u liked the meteor thing!! it's very silly and i love it very much

also, i need you to know that i'm laughing a lot right now. i was starting to think no one would mention this before the sequel came out!! but yes you're right, Lucifer didn't get cast down to hell :) he landed on earth, along with all the other demons. hm ! i wonder what that means for A&M!

something theological is that hell as a concept is pretty silly; it's hardly in the Bible itself, if at all (this is an article I read a long time ago that has stuck with me). Most of Christian hell is stolen from Dante's Inferno, but where did Dante get his ideas from? Mostly Islam. Briefly, I considered not writing in hell at all.

Back when I was conceptualizing the trilogy for the first time, though, I read the Book of Enoch and did some research. I remember learning that the story of Enoch was one of the first (known) scriptures to bring up this idea that there existed some kind of good-evil judgment after death, as opposed to the general Sheol, where all souls go. You can see this in the passage where Raphael explains to Enoch why there are separate places for the dead:

I had the thought that maybe the events of Enoch could be tied to the creation of hell. And, you know, the Christian hell is really amusing — the devil being in charge of this random burning place where he punishes bad people, seemingly with God's permission.

So, in short, yes Lucifer will receive his hell in A&M :)

[polarisbibliotheque]

Nemesis (Vergil x Reader) - Chapter 5

Nemesis

Pairing: Vergil x Reader

Summary: The Abyss opening is a rare occurrence. In his youth, Vergil wanted to harness its power, but never thought he would meet his greatest adversary along the way. Years later, the Abyss is once again open and that might call for some rather unlikely alliances.

Chapter 1 (Prologue) | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 (you are here!)

Age restriction: 18+ - there’s a lot of blood, violence, cursing and all those things people want to forbid younger audiences of seeing. Also, cosmic horror is a thing here. Procceed with caution.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Self-hatred, self-doubt, a lot of blood and difficult emotions going on this chapter. The reader and Vergil face their own selves, seeing them as fragile, hurt, bleeding, frail beings. There's a lot of "I'm not worthy of love" from Vergil too. It all happens after the fight with the Hell Puppeteer, so reader discretion thoroughly advised.

Seriously. If you struggle with themes like these and struggle with imagining yourself hurt/crying/vulnerable and it is too much, I do recommend not reading after the fight. The part where it begins will be in red, and underneath it, things get complicated. Take care of yourself and your mental health! ^^

Special Thanks: To @furyeclipse, the wonderful being who allowed me to use her character, Ovid, and is always helping me write their part properly and screaming over DMC on DMs ^^ You can check out Fury's writing (which I highly recommend) on this link: Fury's Ao3 Author's Notes: Oh, so much going on. The bantering with Vergil. The fighting alongside him. The mind horror of the Abyss. *sighs* jokes aside, I'm loving writing a reader who doesn't make it easy for Vergil. He deserves it for being a brat during blue coat era ;D And I regret nothing regarding the fistfight

Also, last chapter was quite small. Well, this one is quite huge. Buckle up! I hope you guys like it!

Chapter 5

“Perhaps the Abyss is some sort of prison.”

You only realized you muttered your thoughts out loud when Vergil’s eyes diverted from the street ahead to your frame by his side. You looked back at him – you researched on your own and spent most of the time on your company, unused to having someone else alongside you. Speaking to yourself out loud, even if in a murmur, was an acquired trait.

“What do you think?” You tried to conceal that fact pretending you intended to start a conversation. The blue devil didn’t need to know you were a pathetic little being who talked to yourself out of loneliness.

If only you knew back then Vergil did the same, you wouldn’t have felt that awkward about your little slip.

“You tell me, human. After all, you are the one with the source of knowledge on the Abyss.”

You couldn’t hide from your reaction how unsatisfied you were with his answer. Vergil knew he had won that round of bantering.

“Tsc. Every source I’ve found on human arcane libraries haven’t got much information. You probably know it as well.” You rolled your eyes, unsheathing your sword. Something stirred inside your chest and that could only mean the extinct demons were close. “I’m wondering why there’s a Puppeteer inside the Abyss if it was given as extinct an eternity ago.”

“It can be a prison…” Vergil considered back, brooding for a while. He could hear as if it was happening right at that moment: the voice of his mother, calling him from inside the Abyss. If it was indeed a prison, then why would Eva be in there? Would it be the work of Mundus? To make his mother suffer for the act of defiance from his father? Was… Sparda in there too…?

After all those years, Vergil never knew what happened to Sparda. He saw Eva brutally murdered by those demons – and yes, there was a great possibility they had taken her to eternal suffering. Dante was supposed to be dead if she hadn’t gone through all that to save at least him… Only him.

Vergil should’ve died that day: mercilessly sliced by his own sword, his bloody body thrown in a forgotten cemetery while all his memories of a heaven burned to ashes, with only Dante as a survivor. If Vergil’s demon hadn’t awakened that fateful day, he should’ve been dead. It was his father’s blood that saved him, his father’s heritage – something he was infinitely proud of; after all, it was the only thing he had left.

But… What about Sparda? Where was he? Did Mundus’ demons kill him? Did he perish in a fight while trying to keep them away from his family? Did he abandon them…?

Vergil’s greatest strength was also his greatest weakness. He had to stop thinking sometimes – and only his endless pursue of power gave him a little peace of mind.

“It can also be another level of Hell. A deeper one.” He finally emerged from the endless dark water of the ocean in his mind. If he didn’t, Vergil could easily drown.

“Hmmm. How does it open sometimes? It should be like Hell, with many seals and ways to open it.”

“If it is, it was probably sealed by Sparda.” Vergil side-eyed you, hoping to analyze your reaction to his father’s name. Many humans feared him, but many adored him, seeing Sparda as a savior of humanity. Even those who feared were thankful for the devil who protected mankind so many years ago.

“I don’t think so… If Sparda really existed, he locked the gates of Hell. The Abyss keeps opening, so there must be something different about it.” You sighed, not giving much to Vergil other than your words. “Even if it is another level of Hell, it might not be part of what Sparda sealed away. If the legends are true, of course.”

“If…?” The word rolled slowly from Vergil’s tongue, as he kept gazing you. It was the first time he met a skeptic regarding his father’s origin.

“It might be just a bunch of hocus pocus, you know?” You shrugged. “A story to keep children scared and away from dangerous forests, like Hänsel and Gretl. As far as I know, that’s how great legends are born.”

“So you don’t believe in the Legend of Sparda?”

“I never found a piece of evidence that it actually happened.” You noted with an academic air to your speech. Vergil had to hold down the urge to wheeze from your words – after all, you were talking to the greatest evidence that Sparda was real. “I read a lot on books and yes, I do believe Sparda existed. I just… I don’t know if he was as heroic as the tales say he is.”

Vergil pondered your words for a minute before thinking about answering them. Indeed, Sparda was harsh and demanding, but he also knew when to show them love and care. From what he remembered, his father enjoyed the little human things – and how soft it was to touch them all in warm embraces, how magic it was to play fight with him and Dante on the fields, how gently he would caress Eva’s face… How much adoration he carried in his eyes.

When Vergil was a child, Sparda was never the great, heroic demon, savior of humanity – Sparda was his father. With flaws and strengths, he was just… Vergil’s dad.

Not as heroic as the tales said he was – just ordinarily human.

Vergil would have found an answer after mulling over your words if you weren’t both attacked by puppets – humanoid demons, looking like parts of various creatures who were reassembled together, walking in wobbly legs, falling apart at the joints, but attacking viciously with teeth and claws.

You avoided the attack by separating and allowing the demon to stumble between you. Soon, it had no arms left: you and Vergil attacked at the same time, curiously coordinated, slashing the demon apart. As you cut it in half, Vergil took off its head.

“Guess we’re close…” You pointed at the path ahead of you, making Vergil realize how many more puppets stood in your way.

“Try to keep up.”

His voice was arrogant as always, as Vergil plunged into battle. You scoffed, running right after him.

If you weren’t sworn enemies, you would be the perfect match in a fight – no demon would be powerful enough to bring down the both of you in battle, fair or not. Vergil was learning and applying, for quite a while now, the power of concentration over lashing out – but he was indeed aware of all his surroundings, including you.

As the dance of death among the puppets commenced, his silver eyes sometimes would linger a second or two longer than it should in your direction. Your movements, as he observed before, were swift and elegant, but there was something of aggressive. A viciousness picked up after fighting demons for a while – something you didn’t have before. As the days passed, you became increasingly stronger and a match to him.

And quite a match you were indeed – the speed with which your silver sword moved, painted only gleams of bright light between the dark blood of demons spilling on the pavement. Right by your side, the ghost of the Yamato could barely be seen as the blue devil used all his skill to slay as many demons as you – or even more.

Your back found Vergil’s back as you both stood still at the end of the street, finally settling your swords and observing the carnage of demons scattered across the ground. On the other side, the Hell Puppeteer had its soulless black holes meant to be eyes turned to you, the mouth eternally opened in distress, screeching with the loss of its demon army.

“A horde down…”

“One more to go.” Vergil completed your thoughts, slowly turning alongside you towards the Hell Puppeteer.

The ancient demon was at least three times taller than you, but neither you nor the blue devil’s steps faltered while walking towards it. The red mouth gleamed a haunting aura in the cold air of the night, but you and Vergil held your heads tall.

He was the only one who carried as much pride as you did in your steps.

What brought you both to a halt, though, was the sound of dragging. Thousands of things dragging, right behind you. Turning quickly, you and Vergil found all the parts of the demons you had previously slain to be dragging towards each other, grotesquely reassembling in wobbly creatures and screeching towards you once again.

Of course. They were puppets. Killing them wouldn’t be that easy.

“This will take forever at this pace.” Vergil groaned between his teeth, keeping his eyes on the approaching demons.

You sighed: even if you didn’t want to admit, he was right. If those demons really could reassemble and weren’t even alive to begin with, constantly tearing them apart would do nothing. How, then, would you kill something already dead?

As you looked up, quickly searching for the stars to illuminate your thoughts, the red gleam of the Hell Puppeteer – slowly approaching you, with its guttural screech that could haunt the bravest of human hearts – made you notice something you wouldn’t have seen in other circumstances: faint lines in the sky, as if made of the finest and purest glass, falling from behind you towards the little puppets.

With a quick glance, you chuckled within yourself: it was indeed a puppeteer – for those glass strings tied firmly across the dark claws of the Hell Puppeteer.

“Look at the sky.” You pointed out, making Vergil’s silver eyes finally see what you were seeing. “I’m guessing if we cut the strings, they will all fall apart for good. But…” You sighed once again, already attacking one of the creatures who were close enough to hurt you. “There are too many of them. I’m not that quick; the Puppeteer will catch us before we’re done.”

Vergil looked back in a matter of seconds, arriving to the same conclusion as you. There was only one thing he could do, then.

“Stay behind me and don’t move.”

You furrowed your brows, ready to argue with that conceited demon right in front of you. Who did he think he was to talk to you like that? Hadn’t you proved already you were strong enough to beat him in a fair – or even unfair – fight? You had managed to draw his blood. He shouldn’t be that full of himself and patronizing towards you.

Before you could even start to argue, Vergil sheathed the Yamato and, with a snapping sound while his head quickly looked up, the man gave room to a creature with the strike of a blue lightning. You had no words, but there he was: with skin made of black and blue scales, the sheath of the sword as part of his arm, claws instead of nails and horns crowning his head.

You took a few steps back as he took his hand back to the Yamato, flexing his legs in an attacking position you had noticed already he had a preference for. Your feet stopped moving, though, when the air around you seemed to warp. Time itself became denser, almost as if you were under a gelatinous body of water. It was increasingly difficult to breath until he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

With eyes wide, you maintained your feet glued to your place as you only managed to see dark blue figures of warped air and the sharp glimmer of the Yamato cutting everything on its path. The floor underneath your feet trembled slightly and, in a matter of seconds, the blue devil was kneeling in front of you, in a typical position to finish his attack.

As he got up and that devilish form enveloped in a ring of blue light, the man with white hair and silver eyes returned to his human form, finally sheathing the Yamato once again.

And, when he did, all the strings exploded in a million of pieces, cut in a fraction of seconds, falling from the sky like a crystal rain.

All the demons fell to the floor at once – dismembered. Unmoving. Defeated.

You had to admit to yourself, that was a lot more impressive than you had expected. You wanted to scream at how much you hated him: now, you had even more to surpass regarding that stuck up blue demon.

During all your life, you never wanted so bad to stab someone.

“A simple human like you wouldn’t be able to do this not even with years of training.” Vergil fixed the collar of his coat while walking the path towards the shocked and infuriated Hell Puppeteer.

“I don’t need to rely on demonic tricks to be my enemies’ demise.” Your comeback was as quick as his sharp words. “Or I shouldn’t have been able to draw your blood earlier, demon.”

“You did it out of sheer luck, human.” Even though he wanted to throw a murderous glare towards you, Vergil’s silver eyes kept fixed on the Hell Puppeteer. The creature never had its whole army decimated so quickly – it had never been so weak before; and that made it absolutely fuming. “Hadn’t this thing crawled out from its confinement, you would’ve known what real demonic power looks like.”

“Interestingly enough, I am the one with apparent access to the Abyss, not the real demonic power here.”

This time, Vergil couldn’t refrain from stopping right where he was and stare at you – his cold eyes mimicking glaciers, while you held them with pride on your own stare. The Hell Puppeteer didn’t seem to be as entertaining – and important – as winning a stare contest against that stuck up creature.

That was a thought shared between you both.

In the shadows, though, a set of bright and intelligent eyes watched you and Vergil with delight. Ovid reveled in the fact that child of Sparda had found his match – be it in combat or regarding the mind. You were, indeed, a very interesting human to follow; and something about your fearless and proud attitude towards Vergil was infinitely entertaining. After all, not many were brave enough to banter with the blood of Sparda, let alone make him bleed.

A quiet chuckle rolled in the darkness. In Ovid’s ancient eyes, humans were absolutely fascinating and ever-changing creatures that were always in motion, never stopping – so much more exciting than demons.

The Hell Puppeteer didn’t find you fascinating, though. Vergil would chastise you in order to at least try to win that little battle of wits of yours, but the demon wouldn’t just watch in shock with the loss of its puppets. Its claws flew towards you, and that made you both get back into battle.

Anyone who watched you wouldn’t say it was a fight – at least, that’s what Ovid observed in the shadows. It was fun watching you argue, but there was something of classic in the way you both fought alongside each other. It was a dance: a deadly waltz you and Vergil knew the steps quite well. Sometimes he guided, other times you took the lead. But you crossed each other and coordinated attacks in such a graceful and natural manner, it looked like a ballet of death – your hearts in synch, choreographing the steps for your enemy’s demise.

“The hands!” Vergil growled after an attack that made the Puppeteer slightly flinch. “Break the seal, break the power!”

You turned your eyes to the demon’s claws and immediately understood what Vergil meant: it had red glowing bracelets across its wrists, embellished with scriptures of an old language you couldn’t read. But that rule was always clear: whenever a seal was present in the body or around a demon, you had to break it in order to kill or subdue it. That was actually one of the first things ever mentioned on the Codex Daemonica.

Apparently, he did knew it by heart, just like you.

“I’ll get the one on the left! You get the one on the right!”

Vergil would have argued so he wouldn’t really be following a human’s orders, but that was already what he had thought to himself – you just mentioned it faster than him. Of course, you were fighting for your lives, and he wouldn’t be petty to the point of stopping everything to argue about that – but his mind would make sure to keep it noted for future encounters.

During the fight, though, Vergil did notice your body was starting to get tired – you were human, after all. And, even if he was focusing on killing the demon and going back to arguing with you, Vergil did have a sense of honor that you were doing that together. He wouldn’t let you notice, of course, but his next attack was designed so that the Hell Puppeteer would need to lean its left hand on the floor – making things a lot easier for you.

In the distance, Ovid was amused by the spectacle of a human and a demon working together. The blue son of Sparda wasn’t known for kindness, let alone being a team-player – but there he was, in his own way, helping the little human fighting alongside him. Vergil did have a demonic part in his soul, yet, somehow, he was helping this human fight off a creature. Was it for power? For pride? Or something else? It didn’t matter in the end: as tempting as it was to also have the son of Sparda as a study subject, his fixation on his demonic power would be an outlier in their grand experiment results. What a shame, really – it seemed as if, maybe, later in his life, Vergil would come to understand the mixed heritage he was blessed with.

For the moment being, though, Ovid would only note those changes and continue just observing.

The Yamato easily sliced through the seal on the right hand of the Puppeteer, raised in the air as it shrieked and tried to protect its own power – to no avail. Your silver sword found the seal on the left hand, needing a couple of hits to break the seal. Yes, you were tired, and using all your strength to have that fight meet its end. But, as Vergil knew too well, you wouldn’t give up.

The Hell Puppeteer let out a scream you almost had to cover your ears – even Vergil furrowed his brows and felt the sting inside his eardrums. The demon recoiled in a manner that was almost pitiful, but you both knew better and, with resolute steps, side by side, you and Vergil approached the creature now tossed on the ground.

With a swift last blow, you buried your silver sword in its chest while Vergil used the Yamato on its gleaming red mouth. With one last shriek, the Puppeteer burned to ashes until there was nothing left but you two – you with a ragged breath, leaning on your sword, and Vergil somberly quiet.

After a few seconds catching your breaths, though, your eyes met once again.

And you knew.

Vergil tried to run. The Abyss was still open and his chance was finally at his grasp – he could almost feel it touching his fingertips.

But you had made a promise: nothing was to come out and nothing was to go in.

With that in mind, you followed him – holding Vergil by his coat, you pulled him back, trying to hit him with your sword. His answer was swift, and, in the blink of an eye, your silver sword clashed with the Yamato.

The sheer strength of it made your swords fly away from your hands, dancing in the air towards opposite sides.

What a nuisance. That’s what you were in Vergil’s eyes. An incredible, annoying, petty human nuisance. Never in his life he had lost the grip of the Yamato, but there he was. His anger towards you increased as the seconds went by.

And it only became worse when Vergil found himself tossed on the floor, you on top of him, punching his face with your tired – but strong – human hands. His eyes lit with anger; his teeth increasingly sharper. Holding both of your wrists, Vergil tossed you away from him, ready to end you.

Even after everything you did together, he still underestimated your power and your human resilience. You got up faster than he expected – but Vergil still punched you. With wobbly steps, you couldn’t refrain from losing your balance – and he took the opportunity to hit you one more time.

His nails now were as sharp as claws. Turning back to him after protecting the right side of your cheek, Vergil finally saw: he had managed to draw blood. The cut on your cheek bled just like his – and you were finally even for that day.

“I won’t let you go any further.” You managed to mumble while wiping the blood from your face, raising your head to keep a little bit of your pride. You knew you had cut him before, but the fact that he did the same… It made your blood boil.

“You can barely stand…” Vergil answered in the same tone, beginning to feel the tiredness in his bones. He was demonic indeed, and his blood caried a heritage stronger than many others… But Vergil could only take so much. He also needed to rest after a long day – and he was beginning to feel that. “Don’t make me hurt you even more.”

“Don’t make me fatally wound you, stuck up demon.”

Both of you growled, reading your attack positions. Your swords were far away, but it was quite clear you could – and would – get on a fistfight if necessary. With those thoughts, you ran towards Vergil, ready to kick him far away from the Abyss – but, as expected, he too knew martial arts and managed to deflect and try a counterattack.

And Vergil’s demonic side couldn’t hold back a growl of utter annoyance when you deflected expertly and managed to scrape his face with a well-placed punch. In all honesty, he wanted to tie you up on a light post and enter the Abyss at peace so there would be no possibility whatsoever that you would follow him and continue being so annoying.

As the fight went on, that idea became increasingly tempting.

You managed to place a strong kick right on Vergil’s abdomen, making him stumble away from you for a few seconds. Neither of you realized how close you were to the edge of the Abyss; your eyes trained on each other, careful and attentive of whatever move you would make.

Until you heard a voice.

It was a cry, really. Silent. Lonely. Muffled. Buried deep inside the darkness.

Vergil frowned as he saw how much your expression changed – instead of anger and focus, he found a pair of vulnerable wide eyes, almost as if you had seen a ghost.

“Vergil…?”

And your expression was suddenly mirrored on his own face. It was his mother. It was Eva again. Calling him – far away, a ghost of a memory, but still… There. Just like it happened years prior, when he heard her in the Abyss.

You took your eyes away from each other – and you both fell into darkness.

Taking a deep breath, you stepped carefully, not knowing where you were getting yourself into. You didn’t understand what was happening – had you entered the Abyss? Was it reaching out to you? Who was crying…?

The floor was wet. You furrowed your eyebrows. Why were you barefoot? You were wearing your boots before… Weren’t you…?

A dim light could barely light the scene ahead. A frail shape – weak, bony, with their skin looking like it lacked blood underneath – kneeled on the floor, face covered by bloody hands, their back filled with several wounds: some fresh, some still healing.

Shards of a crystal heart were tossed on the floor, covered in blood: they tried desperately to put it back into place, but it kept breaking, over, and over, and over again… The wounds kept opening, the blood kept flowing. They couldn’t get up: they tried, but every time there was progress, they would break once more. Their strength was running out.

Your feet froze and you couldn’t move. That frail creature, that broken heart, that blood… It was you. And you didn’t want to see that. You didn’t want to acknowledge that beaten down creature – the one you would always find whenever you looked in the mirror.

You had broken all your mirrors before. You didn’t want to be forced to look at that.

But other people walked around. People you knew. People who left. They would look at that broken human and ignore – forget it existed.

In the end, you were always on your own.

You had to get out. You didn’t know where you were, but you had to get out.

Vergil didn’t have to walk too far to find himself in the dark – not able to see even his own hands in front of him. Everything he heard was his mother’s voice quietly crying, calling for him. Begging for his help.

“Is that you, my son…? Can you help me…?”

“Yes. I am coming for you.” He muttered under his breath, not knowing if she could hear him or not.

“But… Why did you leave me…?”

As soon as he heard that voice, Vergil’s whole body froze – his eyes as wide as the silver moon. He knew who said that. He heard that before.

Slowly turning around, Vergil felt the scorching heat gradually hitting his face. The amber inferno of a starless night, coming back again to haunt him.

“Why… Why did you leave me, mom…?” And Vergil found himself. Tossed on the grass of that godforsaken graveyard, blood on his mouth, his hands, his whole body; his life slowly slipping away from his soul. “Don’t… Don’t you love me too…? Am I… A bad son…?”

Fucking hell. He was a child. He was only a child. Vergil stared at himself trying to claw away from the demons who cackled at his dying state, dragging his almost dead body as far as he could. His eyes were red, raining with tears, his nails broken and stained with dirt. His hands… They were so tiny compared to how big they were right now. The Yamato was almost as big as him – and now, it could look like a toy in Vergil’s hands.

He was so small. So… Vulnerable.

“Am I not… Worth saving… Mom…?”

Vergil couldn’t see that anymore. He couldn’t help. He couldn’t grab his own hand and slay those demons – that was not how it happened. He died that day, and his demonic heritage saved him. The demon had awakened, and he managed to save himself.

No one came. No one appeared. He wasn’t loved, he wasn’t protected, and he would have to save himself in other to survive. That was it.

“Please… Don’t leave.”

Vergil couldn’t make out who said those words: if it was his younger self or his mother. But one thing was sure – he had to get out. He couldn’t stay. Or he wouldn’t survive.

The floor trembled once more under both of your feet. You lost your balance and fell to the floor while Vergil kneeled in order to remain anchored somehow.

Light and color gradually came back to your worlds – and, as you found yourselves lit up by the moon once again, you realized you were still close to the edge of the Abyss; still beside each other, even if far apart.

When you met his eyes, for the first time, you found a hint of vulnerability. Those silver moons stared at you with the same distress you looked at him. None of you knew what to do – after all, you were in the middle of a fight. Should you attack? Should you run? Should you… Search for solace in each other…?

Before any of those thoughts could be answered, the floor trembled once again, making nearby buildings collapse. You rolled even farther apart, and your path to each other was blocked by heavy pieces of concrete.

The Abyss was closed once again.

**

To be continued...