#Trish speaks

[robiland]

Hey, don't cry, Balatro mobile port in 2 days, okay?

[thusspoketrish]

top five books !!

Hi there!

Thank you so much for your ask x

This was so hard to narrow down. But here we go, haha. This also ended up a bit longer than I intended. Whoops!

My Top 5 Books: 

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. My God. Where do I begin with this painfully beautiful exploration of sexuality, identity, yearning, forbidden desire, repression, and grief all done in 159 pages?

Baldwin is a genius, my favorite writer of all time, and a true inspiration to me. He captured the dredges of the human psyche in this novel (in all of his novels, really) with such brutal honesty that smoothly oscillates between clean cut, surgical clarity and an achingly elegant beat of poetic prose. I first read the book at 17. I have reread it countless times since.

As a writer, I am so deeply touched by and indebted to Giovanni’s Room, the literary prowess of James Baldwin, and the impact his writing has had on me throughout my life.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. A relevant story on the perils of performative wokeness and classism as it feeds into casual racism/microaggressions, toxic relationships, and misogynoir. The protagonist is a young black nanny named Emira who is wrongfully accused of kidnapping the white child she’s babysitting by a security guard at a grocery store.

This book is the embodiment of the saying: “the most disrespected person in America is the black woman.” Emira is tried and tested at every turn, stuck in a cycle of devaluation and outright dismissal of her time, her energy, and her intelligence. Despite all the chaos, she’s not to be played with, and she circumvents the harmful stereotype of the “strong black woman.” Instead of having to strictly endure the pain and negativity thrown at her with complete stoicism, she allows herself the space to be vulnerable, to explore her self-doubts, and to process the impact the grocery incident had on her.

Black women can be soft, too, blue, too, and that's absolutely okay. This is so important to see represented in media, in literature, and in life.

Ways of Seeing by John Berger. There are a number of texts that dismantle elitism, the male gaze, and highlight the importance of historical, social, and cultural context to truly understand art, but Berger does it in a way that is accessible and timeless.

His work has always been a staple in my own research and institutional critiques on the inaccessibility of the art world, the austerity of museum spaces and practice, and the continued exclusion and mishandling of marginalized narratives within our canonical understanding of modern and contemporary art.

(Pssst…Outside of Berger, let me turn you on to performance artist Andrea Fraser, whose institutional critiques are hilarious, unapologetic, and without fail a gloriously biting commentary on the absurdity of the art world and our obsession with its lusty commodification and pretentiousness. Little Frank and His Carp (2011) is still a performance that lives rent free in my head.)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This book holds sentimental value for me. It was one of my dad’s favorites, and he loved the 1974 film adaptation.

What’s not to love about this American classic that captures nostalgia in such a poignant way? We also have the glitz and glamour of the Roaring 20s, the socialites, fake identities/personalities, obsession, unrequited love, broken dreams and promises, and murder.

And it’s all depicted in such a lush and beautiful way that it takes you almost by surprise when you finally realize just how terrifyingly cold and empty this world that Fitzgerald crafted for us is. Love it!

The Trial by Franz Kafka. No one portrays absurdism, existentialism, loneliness, and depressed but horny unreliable narrators quite like Kafka! He is a master at building dread and confusion while disorienting his imperfect protagonists (and his readers) by dropping us in the middle of harrowing situations.

I’m a huge fan of his work, and it’s hard to narrow down my appreciation of it to just one book for this list, but The Trial has to be my absolute favorite. I am a sucker for witnessing the moral flailing of somewhat problematic protagonists. K’s arrogance and superiority, tempered by his utter helplessness and increasing instability against the metaphysical force of the Law, make him an instant favorite character of mine. He struggles against a tyrannical bureaucratic system hellbent on stripping away his autonomy by trapping in the ambiguity of an inexplicable hell. K never learns of the crime he's being accused of and neither do we as the reader.

The book satisfies my love for a critique of flawed judicial systems, while also exploring the impact of paranoia, isolation, and existential dread, all wrapped up in the tension of a psychological horror/thriller. I also love a story that comes full circle at the end, even if it is abrupt, tragic, and maybe even meaningless, despite K.'s desperation to find meaning within the absurd.

Ask me my "TOP 5/TOP 10" anything!

[basil-does-arttt]

What kind of humour would the dmc characters have?

Dante, especially after meeting Patty and Nero, loves a classic dad joke. He makes them so often that Lady and Trish just roll their eyes with a groan at this point, lol. Somewhere in the office he's got a book stashed away thats just a collection of dad jokes. Vergil i think seems like he doesn't have any sense of humor at all when you first meet him, but we know from DMC 3 he LOVES his sarcasm. Teasing, sarcastic quips and being sassy with people, even if he isn't full on laughing at it, is something i think he finds really funny. Only if its because it pisses other people (Dante) off. Nero's sense of humor i think is the same as a teenage boy's sense of humor. Gross and sometimes it makes you want to slap him across the face, but there are occasional moments where his jokes are genuinely funny and make you giggle a bit (before you force yourself to stop because that was NOT funny at all, didn't laugh one bit.) That and cat memes. Nico is the same, they egg eachother on untill one of them has to shut it down because its just getting a little bit TOO much. Lady i think enjoys dark humor, maybe a little bit too much at times. Its just her way of coping, yknow? Never any dark jokes to do with children though, she thinks thats crossing a line. Trish i think has a similar sense of humor to Vergil, but rather than pissing people off, she does it to see how flustered she can make somebody before they run away (ESPECIALLY Lady. seeing how red she can turn Lady before the poor woman has to retreat otherwise she'd explode... Trish's favourite past-time :3) Kyrie, partly in thanks to taking care of children for a good chunk of time, enjoys simple jokes that are usually reserved for little kids (stuff like "why did the chicken cross the road"). But also, i think she'd make the occasional dark joke herself. Its never anything too outrageous or shocking, but sometimes it is enough to make Nero pause and ask if she's okay lmao.

[nekrosdolly]

dante likes calling you babe, sweets, cupcake (occasionally), and cutie. vergil likes calling you dear, (my) love, darling, and perhaps sparrow. lady likes calling you hon/honey, sweetheart, and babe. trish loves calling you (my) baby, doll, sexy, and sweet thing. nico calls you darlin', sweet cheeks, sugar, and hot stuff. nero sometimes calls you (my) love, but normally he calls you baby, buttercup, and sweetheart. v calls you by name, but sometimes he'll call you (my) heart, primrose, or dearest.

[put-me-out-of-my-destiny]

This is perhaps out of my lane, but I don't agree with the take that a female Vergil's fashion sense would be basically identical to her canonical male counterpart, contrasted with Dante who dresses in a girly and skimpy version of her canon wardrobe.

I suspect that this take is popular because a lot of people read Vergil's outfit as gender-nonconforming, or at least gender-neutral. Really, it's still on the masculine side, it's just an old-fashioned expression of masculinity. I think canon Vergil strives to be masculine much more than Dante does. Seriously, take a look at DMC's whole "devils never cry" motif and replace 'devils' with 'men'.

It's hard to imagine what Dante and Vergil would be like if they'd been women all along, because (allegorically speaking, at least) masculinity shaped a big part of their personalities and worldviews. They'd be completely different characters if they had completely different genders.

Something I feel more confident about is that if Vergil had transitioned as an adult, she would actually dress very feminine, but in a very conservative way. Still covered from the neck down, just with a long dress instead of pants. You might call that impractical, but would it really be any worse than a long coat?

With all of that said, I do mostly agree that Dante would dress more provocatively if she transitioned, just maybe not to the degree I sometimes see. Like, booty shorts seem very out-of-nowhere. I really like the idea that she'd end up dressing very similarly to Trish. High heels, tight leather pants, long hair, and prominent cleavage. The long red coat stays, though.

My headcanon is that a lot of the weird vibes between the two of them in the first game are due to Dante experiencing gender envy and not fully comprehending that feeling at the time. Maybe temporarily mistaking it for attraction because he'd never actually felt that before. The realization that you're aroace and transfem probably isn't so hard to swallow when the alternative is that you have an Oedipus complex.

[cheeriochat]

DMC HEADCANNON TIMEEE 2

Have fun!

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• Dante is Aromantic, and going off of that

• Dante and Lady dated for a brief period when they were 20~ish for a month but they soon broke up, Dante realised he was Aromantic and Lady realised she was a lesbian. It was really awkward and they don't talk about it.

• (also Demisexual Vergil fight me)

• Nero's the type of guy to crush a can of cola in his hand when he's angry

• He would never actively admit it, but Vergil instantly bonded to Nero, even if Nero himself didn't bond with Vergil. It's probably to do with some weird demon biology thing, as Vergil tries to show He cares in odd ways like offering to clean Nero's weapons (making sure the demon spawn can protect itself) or staring at him from across the room (monitoring the demon spawn to assure its survival). It freaks Nero out as he doesnt know what's going on.

• Nico plays pranks on Nero and Kyrie that border on being illegal

• Trish and Vergil kind of have an unspoken bond/connection (?). Like demon to demon communication especially after the V and Trish talk

• Vergil moved into Devil May Cry without asking Dante after dmc5 and claimed a couch and a portion of the office as his. Dante won't admit that he doesn't mind.

• Also about vergil, When Patty came to Devil May Cry after the events of dmc5, she yelled at Dante for an hour for missing her birthday among other things. Vergil thought it was hilarious but he stayed quiet the whole time as usual.

• Nero roughhouses with the kids at the orphanage, and he always tries to stay gentle, but those kids man... they're out for blood. One time Nero ended up with a huge gash over his eyebrow that surprisingly left a scar.

+ plus scent choices!!!

• Lady likes Versace perfume or light floral scents. Don't know how to explain this one

• Trish likes deeper, more musky scents. For example Kyoto in Bloom by glasshouse fragrances (my signature scent lol). She also smells of this hair oil my mum uses. Very nice ^^

• Vergil likes cool, crisp scents, but not very masculine ones. More androgynous or feminine. Otherwise he smells like old books, like the old sci-fi books my dad gave me

• Nero likes cheap cologne, anything to cover up the blood smell that seems to hang around as to not scare the kids

• Kyrie likes either light, sweet scents or deep, stormy scents. She tends to lean to more deep scents.

• Dante smells like pizza grease and Lynx Africa All the time (go argue with a wall) but if he had to choose he would probably smell like roses or something with sandalwood. Heavy scents.

[peacesmith]

i had a thought

[skunkox]

Trish?

You telling me she don't look like this bitch?

I swear I'm kidding...... Half kidding.

Someone, please draw this woman. I gladly would, but my brain has been corrupted.

[2nd-drop-me-safely-in-this-hell]

ladytrish pre-dmc 1 meeting au?

"A Premature Meeting"

Characters

Lady (Devil May Cry)

Trish (Devil May Cry)

Relationships

Lady x Trish

Premise

A sinister plot unfolds to lure the son of Sparda to his doom... But you know that story. This time around, however, a key player visits an old ally of Dante's just before events go into motion.

Content Warnings:

Firearms (Magically Resisted)

Explosives

Dismemberment (Magically Healed)

Canon Divergence

Author's Note:

This is actually a really good idea, thank you anon. I may actually write a follow-up to this, no promises though.

Lady flopped onto her couch, clutching Kalina Ann in her arms. She hadn't even bothered to change out of her riding suit, but all discomfort and soreness was outweighed by sheer exhaustion.

Her respite was cut short by a loud crash from the far wall. At once, Lady jumped behind the couch and took cover, peeking over to see her own motorcycle lying in the middle of her apartment, leaving a trail of glass and other rubble in its wake.

"What the hell?!" Lady roared.

As if to answer her question, the culprit made herself known. Landing behind the motorcycle was a tall, blonde woman, dressed in black leather boots, with skin-tight pants and a corset to match. Her hair was done up in a pony tail, and her eyes were hidden by a pair of sunglasses.

The woman looked fit, but there was no human explanation for throwing a motor vehicle into a second story window, then leaping in after it. Lady slung Kalina Ann onto her back, and placed a hand on her pistol - the human-sized demons tended to be too fast for Kalina Ann.

The mysterious woman turned, and met Lady's eyes. "Hm... One red eye, one green... Scar across the bridge of her nose... You're the one, alright."

"Tell me why you're here. Now." Lady drew her pistol. "Or else."

The intruder smiled. "Well well... You are a ferocious one, aren't y-"

Lady fired her pistol, hitting her right between the eyes. Even as the bullet crumpled and bounced off, leaving only a bruise, Lady's target grunted. "...That was rude." She hissed through gritted teeth.

Lady scoffed. "I don't know what's considered polite in the Underworld, but up here? Throwing motorcycles into people's windows doesn't exactly say 'I come in peace'."

The stranger chuckled. "I'll remember that next time."

"I won't ask you again." Lady cocked her pistol.

The woman smiled "I just need to know where I can find your friend, Dante."

Dante? Lady thought to herself. This woman knows him... Could she be another family member? Her hair isn't white, but she has his tan, and maybe his nose too...

"Who's asking?" Lady barked.

The demon glared. "No one's 'asking'. You're going to tell me. What's up to you is how much I'm going to hurt you first."

"Wrong answer." Lady fired her pistol again.

This time, the stranger dodged, and in an instant, she tossed the couch aside. "Right back at you." She then seized Lady by the throat, and lifted her off of her feet. "Surely you know by now that your only choice is to cooperate?"

"Think again." Lady retorted. "Look down."

The demon looked down to find that her right foot was planted on top of some sort of metal disk. "What's this?" She inquired.

"That's a landmine. Calibrated to fuck up demons like you." Lady answered.

The demon grinned smugly. "You've never faced a demon like me. I like my chances."

"But do you like mine? If you step off now, we'll both be caught in the blast. And I can't tell you anything if I'm dead." It was Lady's turn to look smug.

The woman's eyebrows raised, and her head cocked to the side. "Well played." At once, she tossed Lady over her shoulder.

She landed right beside her motorcycle, her leathers thankfully shielding her from the broken glass. Lady quickly got to her feet, and pushed the motorcycle upright.

"Oh, no you d-" The demon was cut off by a loud gang, and covered by a puff of smoke.

If this were a regular job, Lady would have stopped to make sure the demon was finished. Instead she climbed onto her motorcycle, and rode out of what used to be her window, landing in the street below and tearing away.

Who the hell was that?! Lady thought to herself. I better get myself to Dante's office. To warn him, and to get some answers.

* * *

"Agh, fuck me..." Trish came to, and looked down at herself to assess the damage. Her right leg was reduced to crystalized ichor. Nothing that wouldn't regenerate, and not nearly as painful as anything Mundus would bestow if he had witnessed this failure, but it was still a surprise.

As the stump began to extend into a complete leg again, she laid back down, and laughed to herself. Looks like I underestimated you, hunter. I hope this isn't the last we see of each other.

[teddypickerry]

i realized my age when i first saw this lineup this morning and my first thought was “dana carvey is sooooo cool.”

[moonymoonbeam]

so sexy and real of me to read a 1 million word band au in 12 days 🫶🤠

[robiland]

I've wanted to make a fursona for forever but I have no clue what species I'd make her

I like the idea of a Hyena or a Snow Leopard.... but I also could see her being a Raven or a Dragon....

[bottomvalerius]

I will say, I don't get why people are overselling how much shit Bret Hart talked about Vince. he literally says "in my heart, I forgave him" when it was revealed Vince didn't purposefully murder his brother lmao

there is something to be said about the culture of WWE wrestlers. they steer away from the word "abuse" concerning the environment Vince created because "abuse" means "victims," and these big, burly men and women could not possibly be "victims." this is just "business." being degraded, bodily, mentally, and sexually, is business. watching women get abused and treated "like toys" was just part of the business. seeing their coworkers die premature deaths was just "part of the business." no unionization, no proper health resources, no fair contracts--that's all business and cannot possibly be abuse or exploitative because look how much money they (the ones who have not died yet due to health complications) all have now because of Vince!! look at what cultural icons they all become "because of Vince"!

it's all very sad and mind-boggling.

[basil-does-arttt]

DMC Questions Anon here!

How do DMC characters handle gifts, both giving and receiving?

Hello!!

I think Dante would try and splurge a little to get nice gifts for everyone. Nothing too fancy or expensive, maybe a box of chocolates and a card, and maybe some beer or wine for those who drink alcohol. When it comes to recieving gifts i can see him being quite bashful about it, maybe not expecting to get anything more than a pair of socks or a just a card. If he gets any expensive gifts, he feels a little guilty and wants to try and pay back whoever got it for him pff.

Vergil i think would just get some simple but personalized gifts for close family (Nero and Dante, maybe Kyrie too bcs of Nero.) He'd rather give it to them in person and in quiet rather than during a big celebration where everyone is gathered together. When it comes to recieving gifts, he's polite and humble about it, but secretly surprised anybody got him anything in the first place (esp it its not from Nero or Dante.)

Nero and Kyrie go all out. Gifts are wrapped in pretty paper, the cards might have a little bit of cash in them, the things he gets are all meticulously chosen to make absolutely sure the reciever likes it. He gets a little red in the face when actually giving the gifts, but a few hair-ruffles from uncle Dante and a soft smile from Vergil in the background and he's loosened up a lot more. When recieving gifts i think he'd be grateful for anything even if it was just a cheap pair of PJs or a silly little trinket.

Lady and Trish i think get wine and beer to share, and give out cards to the others (Trish writes them, Lady puts cash in.) Theyre mostly there for the christmas celebrations rather than gift-giving i think, but they're happy to recieve any gifts too.

Nico is making the gifts she gives to people, and its usually something practical like a tool for Dante/Lady/Trish's guns, an upgrade for one of Nero's weapons, or a little stand for Yamato to sit on when Vergil isnt holding it. She's a little awkward about recieving gifts, but its all with a big smile on her face :3

[usaigi]

Danny: Why do people keep confusing Sam [Chung] and I? His suit is black, mine's green, he has black hair, mine's yellow and we look nothing alike!

Colleen, once again needing to explain racism: Oh honey.

[put-me-out-of-my-destiny]

Trish wouldn't want the responsibility of parenthood, but it'd be funny if she followed in Mundus's footsteps and created a new demonic species. She wants them to thrive, but she doesn't feel a strong sense of attachment or possession toward them. I'm not even sure if they'd be sapient beings or just a whimsical animal that Trish came up with. What if horses were predators?

I think Lucia would want to be a mom, maybe she'd adopt a child like her mother before her. If the child were not human, she'd be honest about it as early as possible, not wanting them to go through the crisis that she did. Through loving the child she'd learn to love herself better, and she'd feel closer to Matier having taken on this responsibility.

I don't think Lady would want to be a mom. Her job is dangerous, she wouldn't want to orphan them. She's terrified of how she'd react if the kid got interested in clowns. She'd make a good deadbeat mom, maybe, sending big fat child support checks in a most timely manner.

Kyrie already cares for 3 children as of the DMC5 prequel novel. I'm not sure how she feels about that, I haven't read it myself, and we hardly ever get an insight into how Kyrie feels. I could imagine that while she loves those kids to death, the amount of responsibility she's taken on in so little time is really overwhelming. Then again, she's rather used to feeling responsible for other people and putting their needs ahead of her own.

With Nico, I could go either way, but I think she wouldn't want to have a kid until she's at least 40 or something. She'd be a blunt and honest parent, not really caring too much about swearing or polite euphemisms. She'd be very loving, careful not to prioritize her work over the child, she has an idea of what that's like. I think this is the one reason she would consider quitting smoking.