#date everything MC

[curtain-caller]

You know what? I like you *Turns your nameless faceless MC into a character*

[zephyrchama]

It was late evening when your DDD started ringing. An unusual time for someone to call unless they were either drunk or in mortal peril. This occasion happened to be the latter.

Karasu's caller ID flashed a photo of Luke across the screen after the first ring. The angel was always early to bed and early to rise and never called without good reason, so you scrambled to answer, moving so fast that your finger slipped and you initially missed the right button.

"Hello?" you said. It took a moment for the call to connect.

"Hi... Sorry, umm, is now a good time?"

Luke sounded close to tears. He was trying to keep himself composed for your sake, but the distressed warble in his voice betrayed him. By the sound of things, he wasn't in his bedroom. He wasn't even in the living room or kitchen of Purgatory Hall. It was somewhere small, where his voice echoed off the walls.

"Luke, are you okay? Where are you?"

You recognized the sound of splashing water when he sniffled just before responding, "I'm in the bath."

It was an odd answer, but at least he was somewhere safe. So, why was he crying?

"Did Solomon feed you anything weird?"

"No, that's not it." Luke took a deep breath and winced. The sounds of agitated water accompanied his explanation. "You see... Simeon got a new shampoo that smells like cloudberries, and I really wanted to try some. Just a little bit, honest! But it came out of the bottle really fast, and it fell into my eyes." The crying began in earnest. "It really hurts and now I can't get it out of my eyes and Simeon's going to find out I used his shampoo without asking."

You felt slightly thankful that Solomon wasn't using the little angel as his food taster, but his small sobs over such a small matter made your heart ache.

"I'm going blind as punishment for stealing Simeon's shampoo," he confessed.

"Hey! Hey, no you're not! It's going to be okay!" you assured him. "You're not going to go blind. Listen. Turn on the faucet and try to splash some clean water in your eyes. Also, keep crying."

The sound of a running faucet could be heard through the phone. "Why? Will my tears prove that I'm repenting and weaken the punishment?"

"It'll... uh, yeah? Yeah, sure. It will also rinse the shampoo out of your eye so they stop stinging, but it'll do that, too."

There was a soft thud as Luke set his DDD down, followed by several minutes of loud splashing noises and weeping. He was having a tough time. You tried to be encouraging, unsure if he could hear you or not, by chiming in with the occasional "you're doing great!" and "hang in there!"

The tears came to a stop and Luke turned the faucet off. There was a beat of silence, followed by him exclaiming from afar, "it worked!"

He picked the phone back up. "It worked! I can see again! It doesn't hurt as much! Thank you! I'm so glad I called." The boy sounded like he was crying again, this time in relief. He had his usual cheery demeanor back.

"Everything OK now?"

"Yeah! I really owe you. I have to go tell Simeon what I did now, but I'll properly thank you tomorrow at school."

You wondered what sort of treats he would present. A drain popped open and you heard the water swirling away. Your muscles were still tense from concern, but the emergency had been swiftly dealt with.

"Glad I could help. Be sure to get lots of sleep, okay? You need to rest your eyes."

You could tell Luke was nodding even if you couldn't see him. "Got it!"

"Good night, Luke."

"Good night!"

[devildomwriter]

“I promise I won’t tell anyone if you start crying…”

“…Shut up.”

— MC and Lucifer (Nightbringer Chapter 19-13)

[inhuman-obey-me]

The End Times

Well, here we are. The final lessons have been released, all in a flurry. It's been interesting times, y'all.

JK, they said the world of OM will continue, and we're not going away either. We still love our demonic dumbasses. This is, however, the last lesson of the apps. And, uh, we didn't talk about the last 3 before this either, considering the flurry.

So, maybe for one last time: let's get into it.

(spoilers up to NB Lesson 60)

Nightbringer

The first thing to address here, perhaps, is truly: for splitting off a whole ass second app titled Nightbringer, they really didn't tell us anything about him in the end, huh!

We never did get the answers to what he wanted out of our second set of pacts, what his deal with Solomon was, what his overall goals are, or who he even is. He just showed up, we got some early info on him, and then he basically fucked off for the majority of season 2 and basically all of season 3. At least they did end on a nice little message from him, though, echoing the start of the game...

So will we eventually get the answer to ANY of those major questions? The world may never know...

A Celestial Shitshow

What we do get, first, is the resolution of the whole Raphael arc of this season -- at least, the closest they could come to giving us a resolution.

We do not get a precise answer to what he felt or thought in the moment of Michael refusing to even try to appeal to Father on Simeon's behalf, which he was seemingly so unable to confront at the end of 55. However, after the collapse of Babel, Lucifer and Simeon go to talk to him again, more calmly this time.

The source of Raphael's distress comes down to loneliness. Like Simeon, he remarks how quiet it became in the Celestial Realm when the brothers, apparently the only loudmouth troublemakers that ever existed there, fell after the war. With the possibility of Simeon also becoming a demon, Raphael felt incredibly lonely at the thought of losing another former seraph and friend from the Celestial Realm.

Luke comes up to chime in about being there for Raphael, and Simeon realizes he doesn't want to just leave those "two kids" alone to fend for themselves. With that decided, he concludes that he is not so fine with becoming a demon after all, because he wants to return to the Celestial Realm for their sakes.

MC, with the help of Lucifer's power, then breaks through Babel's projection of collapse, which had reflected Raphael's distraught feelings, to restore it to its actual not-destroyed state, and further uses their new protection powers to return everyone to the Devildom. More on that later!

Also, Michael is a dick again. Raphael is set to be punished for the whole Babel thing, and Michael basically plans to let that happen, until Simeon threatens to "hold it against him" as a grudge. Which is hilarious, because Simeon has no real power or anything against Michael at this point, but angy Simeon is so scary, Michael apparently backs off.

Anyway, setting all the all of that aside, there's also still more SF to get through.

Three Worlds-building Science

In the process of restoring Babel, MC and Lucifer conveniently also remove all the demonic powers/energy from Simeon, so that works out nicely! He's no longer "demonic." However, of course, this couldn't just be such a nice simple wrap-up as that, so next, we get a whole bunch of lore-contradictory worldbuilding around the way cells work for each type of being!

It turns out, while angels and demons both have homogenous cells which are purely one or the other, human cells can actually transform into either one, in the right conditions. And although all demonic energy has been cleared out of Simeon, he apparently still has some of those transformed demonic cells, and it's possible he will have his demonic cells activate or start to transform again in the future. Plus, even with his decision that he wanted to return to the Celestial Realm after all, it's not really in anyone's control out of the cast to do that for him, and the Celestial Realm would not allow him back if he has any demonic cells.

This brings up some pretty terrible implications about the Celestial Realm, which we're not sure were the devs' intentions exactly, but which become implied nonetheless. After all, Simeon's punishment was to become a human, but if it's a known fact that humans can turn demonic and they would refuse to take him back with any demonic cells, even dormant ones, that's just a really shitty trap of a situation! Plus, they were able to convert his cells from angelic ones to human ones, so if they have the ability to change him at a cellular level, why can't they just purge the demonic cells from him in the process of changing him back to an angel? Lucifer has specifically noted before on his transformation to a demon that he supposed that was his punishment, so that also seems to have been a punishment inflicted by God, implying the ability to also manipulate the brothers at a cellular level into demons! And if human cells can become angel ones as well, what does that mean for Simeon's punishment of becoming human? Could the punishment be undercut by his cells naturally turning back to angel cells? Come on, devs, it's called consistency!!

But hey, it's not like this series has been particularly consistent on its lore in the past either...

Anyway, the Science Fair is still going on -- and Leviathan has a mad scientist moment, coming across a unique potion that could help with restoring Simeon back to a more fully human state, ridding his body of any dormant demonic cells! The problem is it requires three very rare and hard to procure ingredients, but it turns out Solomon had also thought about this potion a while back, so he conveniently already has two of the three rare ingredients! Part of the reason Solomon never brought it up before, however, is that the potion only has a 60% success rate and is known to have some pretty bad side effects including the briefest mention of possibly even death???, and with how complicated Simeon's feelings had been up to this point, it didn't feel like there had been a good time to bring all that up.

Deciding that Simeon can decide for himself if he wants to take the risk after the potion is ready, we have a little adventure to obtain the third ingredient that places us back in the Starfall, which we visited during our time in the past. We momentarily have to avoid the subject of the past as Leviathan recalls that you were there, but is brushed off as misremembering because that wouldn't make sense, after all! Haha...ha...

Leviathan makes the potion for the Science Fair, and then Lucifer and MC keep Simeon company while he takes it. Simeon begins to succumb to the potion's effects pretty quickly, but Lucifer steps in to try and take the pain from Simeon and transfer it to him -- with MC then also stepping in to help share it. Simeon ends up not suffering as much, but is still knocked out with a fever for a bit.

Upon waking from his fever and analysis of his cells and some other genetic science, Simeon has now returned to his fully human state, meaning that he should be able to get back to the Celestial Realm! -- if they'll have him.

The end of the game seems to initially imply that he might be reinstated as an angel -- but the very last text we see is that Simeon will be opening up the Angel's Halo again in the human world. So is Simeon still a human? Did he become an angel again but they have him stationed in the human world?? No clear answer!!! Why would they ever end the final lesson on giving us any clear conclusions? Nope, never, and so here we are with no more lessons and yet another big fuckin' cliffhanger.

Well, they did say there are new projects in progress, at least...

Anyway, Later is Now

So, back to MC and how overpowered we've become.

Through this last season, there has been a focus on how much stronger MC has become, especially when it comes to their protective/defensive magic. We know it's because of the double-pacts, but that is a secret from most of the cast to avoid space-time fuckery.

In Babel, MC is able to control this magic for the first time. As mentioned above, we use our pact with Lucifer to break out of the illusion created by Raphael's breakdown, which also clears Simeon of his demonic energy. MC then uses their power, with some guidance by Solomon, to get out of Babel and return everyone to the Devildom.

That's a great sign, as otherwise MC has had zero control over this power activating. Of course, that means we have to use it one last time as the game comes to an end -- but this time, on the moon.

That's right. The Devildom moon is really into MC and is on a crash course to the Devildom (hi Majora's Mask) to also get some of that sweet, sweet MC power. Our cast gets thrust into having to deal with the situation as the final Science Fair competition, because the Research Institute is basically giving them the responsibility (with the House of Lords being ridiculous and not getting the news to Diavolo faster because, um, they suck).

Satan wonders if MC's protection power can be used here and stop the moon on its crash course, so of course that is what we are going to do. Solomon leads you up into the sky, and after a pep talk, leaves you to choose one of the brothers to help carry out this mission. Whichever brother you choose ends up getting knocked out in the process, to protect you. After a few days, we find out how to wake them back up and yay, they're conscious again!

With that handled, it's time for the classic OM tradition, throwing a goodbye party for the exchange students!! PARTY TIME! Everything's good now! Hurray!!!

Does this all seem rushed? Sure. Does it reek of them hurrying to tie up loose ends because this is the last lesson? Yup. How much of this was actually planned in this messy rushed way from the start anyway? Who knows! Did they also leave us on that big Simeon cliffhanger anyway, for funsies? Abso-fucking-lutely.

But that's it for the last 4 lessons! After 5 years, finally, MC has completed all of their tasks...congrats to us!!! 🥹

Now to wait for whatever new projects are coming next...

[astaroth1357]

How to Social:

*MC and the brothers are in the HoL dining room for breakfast. MC has only known the boys for two days now, so they're still a fly on the wall to most of their interactions. Incidentally, they're sat across from Leviathan today, watching him fiddle on his phone...*

*in its Ruri-chan case*

*with a Ruri-chan charm*

*wearing a Ruri-chan shirt*

*and watching a comfort episode of The Magical Ruri Hana: Demon Girl*

MC [In Their Head]: Okay so. I need to break the ice.

MC: I read the plot summary of the Ruri Hana anime on the wiki last night so I understand the premise...

MC: I know the names of a few characters and the basic plot structure of the episodes...

MC: I should try to talk to him about it now.

MC: ... But what about that whole controversy over the dub and the sub versions? The forums said that they're practically different shows! How do I know which one he saw? What if I get it wrong??

MC: Maybe I should do more research...

MC: NO! I want him to introduce the show to me properly! I don’t want to come off like I know more than he does...

MC: But what if I say something wrong and it totally pisses him off?? He may never talk to me again!!

MC: DAMMIT HOW DO I TALK TO THIS MAN?!?

*and then, much to MC's dismay, Levi finishes his buffo eggs and juice then gets up to leave the table. Not a word exchanged between them all breakfast*

MC: ... *sigh*

MC: There’s always tomorrow....

[lyrichi]

mc: you remind me of that one mean girls song...

mammon, side eyeing mc: ......which one..?

mc: oh shit what's the name of it.. Uh... da-da-da-da-da -- stupid with- Stupid with love!

mammon, offended: I- no- how dare you compare me with Cady-

mc: it's cause your stupid and in love

mammon: what??

mc, dramatically: and I'm Aaron, the camera is revolving around me

mc, being more dramatic: and then I dip you and kiss you like in that other song from the new movie

[riverintheunderworld]

JUST PLAYED BEYOND THE BET!! thank you to my lovely friend poppy who bought it for me and my other friend!! she's an absolute dear <3

Anyways, check under the cut if you want to see me ramble about Casper and MCs relationship like its a queer allegory!! Minimal spoilers, I'll be talking about it very vaguely!

As a very, very, queer person, I couldn't help but become so emotional at Casper and MCs storyline, ugghh.

Their relationship is so dangerous for the both of them. In theory, it would be so much easier for both of them to just follow the roles they were made for; for MC to die, and for Casper to be the one who makes it happen. They have roles, and they were built to follow them.

But it's not easy. It's supposed to be easy, but it's irritatingly not! Because they love each other dearly, and it would be harder to seperate now knowing that if they turn around, they would've missed out on a life filled with each others presence.

Grim Reapers and Mortals should not be together. It's not safe, and it wouldn't just cause them harm, but it could cause them death. But they stay together anyways, because they can't see it any other way -- because they love each other.

They find a way to make it work! They try so hard, and they know they're risking their own lives. They should feel helpless, because honestly, it feels like the world is against them. Actually, the world IS against them.

In what they assumed was their last days alive, Casper and MC spent it protecting each other (even if it meant risking harm on themselves) -- and they spent it loving each other, indulging in sappiness that was too much for my poor, gay heart.

I couldn't help but like see them as two queer teens, trying desperately to survive in a (previously lonely,) homophobic household -- homophobic world that was not built for those types of relationships, and would punish anyone for even trying to fall out of line.

Two queer people who only had each other, managing to survive through pure determination and spite and the need to experience life with each other.

Euughh this game makes me SICK!! i hope you enjoyed me regurgitate the same 2 points over and over!!

Cough, cough, I also write stuff, sooo.. send me a request!!! if you'd like :3

[whatlovelybones-if]

"the screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain" THE WHAT?! YOU DARE AVERY??? AND WTF J???

What would happen if MC and J were about to kiss, but MC suddenly stopped and just apathetically stared at them and said that they resented them for not being their first kiss, and just left? 😂😂

(Also, did MC have a some sort of relationship before the story began, or is that left for headcannon?)

it started with a simple statement.

“i won’t be riding back with you today,” J said.

you didn’t mind, not really. of course, you used to take every opportunity to spend time with them, but you could understand that they had their own life and sometimes their plans didn’t line up with yours.

“anything special you got planned?” you joked while closing your school locker, but you feel your insides wither and shrivel like a crumpled flower when they give you the actual reason.

“avery wanted to take me home today,” J said, shrugging like it wasn’t a big deal but the embarrassed pink on their cheeks give them away.

you had a feeling whatever was going to happen today, you wouldn’t be liking it at all. on top of that, J was acting weird as hell. not to mention that this avery person had been someone they’d been weirdly close the past couple of days.

you also happen to know that avery lived on the other side of town, completely off the route you and J took to get home every day. avery wasn’t just giving them a ride; it was something else. the more you thought about it, the more it sounded like a date. a motherfucking date.

you felt your heart starting to weigh three times heavier as you forced a smile and said, “oh, sure, that’s fine.” and then, before you could stop yourself, you found yourself stupidly asking, “so did they ask you out on a date or something?”

to save yourself the embarrassment and act nonchalant, you find yourself ruffling their hair slightly. if J noticed that you were forcing it, they didn’t let it show. instead they just laughed nervously, trying to fix their hair, and said, “actually, i was the one who ended up asking them out.”

wonderful. you wanted to scream, but you managed to give them the fakest smile you could. “i’m so happy for you.”

J picked up on the hint that maybe you weren’t feeling as happy as you’re saying you are because they asked, “are you alright, teddy?��

that nickname hurts even more now as you nod, “of course, why wouldn’t i be?”

one of J’s love languages has always been physical touch and everything just gets a lot more complicated; their hand on your back is warm, the inky dark eyes that stare back at you are kind and worried, the full pink lips that you wish to kiss look so inviting. they smell the same as always: leather, strawberries, spearmint, and marlboro red smoke masked by a fancy cologne/perfume.

“did i do something wrong?” J asks, looking like a kicked puppy.

you can’t stand it. the concerned look on J’s face as they ask you what’s wrong when everything is wrong right now. it’s wrong that they can’t see how much you love them. it’s wrong that they can’t see how loving them has become second nature for you. it’s wrong that they can’t see how you don’t want to be just their best friend.

knowing them, you know your best friend is probably imagining a thousand different scenarios of how they must’ve hurt you. but you know that they didn’t hurt you, they could never do that, at least not intentionally.

then you do it. you actually do it. one of the stupidest things you have ever done in your 15 years of existence.

you leaned in and kissed them.

the look on J’s face makes you wanna crawl into your own skin and die. their body had tensed up, their lips frozen open, parted but not uttering a sound. all of that was enough to tell you that it was fucking mistake. so you do the only thing that made sense to you at that moment: you turn and run outside like a fucking coward.

time seemed to slow down, each second stretching impossibly beyond normal. the only sound that could be heard was the rain. heavy, rhythmic, and coming down without pause. you don’t even feel the chill setting in as your whole body burns with the shame of what you did and the image of J’s reaction only makes your skin crawl more.

stupid, stupid, stupid!

you run across the parking lot to get to your car and book the hell out of the school campus. you utter a loud curse when you check your pockets and realise you left your car keys in your locker.

you’re soaked to the bone and you aim a swift kick at your car; panting like you just ran a marathon, hair sticking to your neck and cheeks, heavy breathing pushing your chest up and down, your face wet from both the rain and your tears.

tears? no, you’re not wrong, you can feel the saltiness mixing up with the rain and pouring down your face. you haven’t cried in forever. at least not in a genuine way.

why in the world did it have to J of all people that you had to fall for? they had been your best friend since you were kids, always a constant and comforting presence in your life. almost a decade of friendship down the drain because of your stupid feelings. it wasn’t worth it at all to lose your best friend like this.

your best friend who’s now calling your name. a yell in the distance muffled by the sound of the rain and of your breaking heart. your breath hitches but you ignore them. there’s no way you can face them, not right now.

“for god’s sake, you can’t just kiss me and walk away! hey!” J yells out.

“go away, J! i really don’t want to talk to you right now.”

they catch up to you, refusing to let you run off again. “and why is that, hm?”

“i don’t know!” you answer, throwing up your hands in exasperation. “i’m ignoring you right now.”

“well,” J continues to stubbornly come closer, “i am ignoring the fact that you’re ignoring me.”

you give them a glare. “that’s not how it works.”

J matches your challenging glare. “fine then. tell me why you kissed me and i will leave you alone.”

“i kissed you because i love you, you daft dumbo!” you nearly yell, frustrated beyond reason. ignoring the dumbfounded look on J’s face, you continue, “i’ve loved you ever since we were kids. i love your eyes and how they sparkle like stars when you’re talking about music. i love your voice and how it soothes me whenever i’m having a hard time. i love how you know me and know exactly what to say to make me feel better whenever and wherever. i just love you so much and i cannot stand the thought of you with avery. i will get over this though, J, just give me some ti—”

in a heartbeat, they lean in and their lips are on yours. you can’t help the gasp which slips out of your mouth, too surprised, too tense, and J holds your face dearly like you’re something precious, pressing your lips and body against theirs with something akin to desperation. both of you so entirely soaked from the rain, so entirely frightened, so entirely in love.

when the kiss ends, it’s because both of you are completely out of breath. J doesn’t let the space between the two of you grow any further, though. they instead press themselves further against you, your bodies fitting like perfect puzzle pieces.

“don’t get over me,” they plead, the taste of strawberry in your mouth, forehead against yours, dark eyes fluttering close. “don’t ever get over me.”

“b-but,” you stutter, head still spinning, “what about avery?”

J groans, following it up with a chuckle. “one date and i think even they’d be able to see it.”

“see what?”

“how you are the one i’m in love with.”

before you can even process what they just said, they lean in again to seal it with a kiss.

[rustytrident]

seeing all these mixed opinions ab nightbringer and here i am giggling and kicking my feet cause we get to rizz up the demons all over again

[celestialrealms]

tbh, simeon isn't just "a nice sweet angel and nothing else" he's extremely emotionally intelligent, and if anything, uses that perception. like yes, he IS kind... but this has always been a facet of his character from season one, when he let luke go through hardships so he could learn better, when he subtly pointed out asmo's insecurities to him

the whole point of simeon is that he is an "imperfect"/"bad" angel (and that he got that way the hard way)

[nocreativityfornames]

At some point during MC's first weeks in the Devildom:

Lucifer: My brother Beelzebub keeps going to the kitchen at random times of the day and eating all our food while no one is looking.

Because of this, me and my other brothers have to take turns checking the kitchen throughout the day to ensure everything is in order.

MC: *confused* You're telling me all of this because...?

Lucifer: Because I need you to stop him. Your room is next to the kitchen, which means you can hear him from there and stop him in time, sparing us the trouble of doing it ourselves.

MC: What do I gain if I accept? 🤨

Lucifer: 30 Grimm for each time you succeed.

MC: *immediately* Count me in. 🤝

[anintrovertedechoe]

hey simeon what if I cried

[kitkatgohard]

Slumber party with the best gal 13 🫀🫂

[devildomwriter]

“Kiss me.”

“Now that I’d be happy to do. Mm… …Wait. That’s it? You asked me to kiss you… Surely you don’t want to stop already? Here we are alone together, and the mood is perfect. We can’t wait this moment, now can we? Now, come here, ___… Up in the human world, we got to spend all the time together during your practice sessions. So ever since coming to the Devildom, I’ve felt like something’s missing. It’s lonely without you around.”

“I don’t want to go home tonight…”

“Yeah, neither do I. I don’t want to let go of you. I don’t want to say goodbye. I want to feel you there beside me all night long,___…”

— MC and Solomon (Chapter 72-9)

[inhuman-obey-me]

Power + Control: Lessons 55/56

As the main story of Nightbringer has been announced to be coming to an end, there is a lot for the writers to try to wrap up! Plus, we're approaching what is probably the climax of the season, which means shit's getting serious again.

Naturally, this means there's also a lot going on. Shall we get into it?

(spoilers up to Nightbringer Lessons 55 + 56)

MC and Their Power

In Lesson 55, we find ourselves back at the Sorcerer's Society, this time with Mammon and Satan in tow. When the two brothers question why they need to be there, Solomon explains that it helps solidify MC's reputation, as the spotlight has been on them for a while now. The Sorcerer's Society has been keeping a wary eye on MC for a while -- and we wonder if that might be since OG Season 2, when MC's powers were destabilizing the Three Realms. But they seem to be keeping an eye on them not only for their power, but also because of concerns that MC's loyalties could shift due to their close relationships with everyone, thus endangering the human world.

The actual reason for their visit, however, is that Solomon wants to use a device the Society has to measure MC's powers. On the initial reading, it doesn't seem like MC's powers have gotten particularly stronger, much to everyone's confusion.

Solomon then decides to test a theory (without warning, of course) and sends an attack spell in Mammon's direction. This, like before, triggers MC's magic to defend Mammon -- and causes the instrument used for reading magical power to break. Solomon mentions that the only time it's broken before was because of him, but he reinforced it when he repaired it. So, for a brief moment, MC had even surpassed Solomon in magical power.

We speculated a bit about MC's powers in our last lesson post, and Lesson 55 proved us right on the theory that this growth in power is due to now having two pacts with each of the brothers. This is also allowing MC to generate magical power, which is rare. We have to keep quiet about it, though, because otherwise we risk messing up the space-time continuum if others were to know of our trip to the past and all that occurred. (Though, one would think it would be safe to talk about it with Barbatos, who would probably also be more knowledgeable...)

However, there's no time to worry about any of that time travel shenanigan nonsense in depth, because *drumroll*...

The Angels Are Troubled

When we get back, we learn that Raphael has been acting very strangely since the Devildom Math finals. Mephisto, being his boyfriend a concerned fellow student, notes that he hasn't been to school at all in a while, and it turns out that he has holed himself up in his room pretty much ever since the Devildom Math finals, when he overheard Diavolo and Lucifer talking about Simeon's little turning-demon situation. And hey, speaking of Raphael acting weird, it seemed like Lesson 55 opened with some kind of prophetic vision of him having an emotional breakdown...??

Anyway, so MC and the brothers make a plan to visit him after school, loaded up with treats and Raphael's favorite demonus, courtesy of his boyfriend Mephisto, who would never himself go visit an angel at home for any reason... However, when they arrive, it turns out that Raphael is not actually home. And, at around the same time, Simeon is out walking with Lucifer and gets a text from Michael saying that Raphael went up to the Celestial Realm, though he leaves the reason for the visit cryptically vague -- though, Simeon suspects Michael just couldn't be bothered to explain. About what we should expect from the one Raphael called socially inept weirdo, we guess?

As Simeon and Lucifer get back to Purgatory Hall, where everyone else is deciding what to do about Raphael, suddenly the ground shakes, and next thing we know, everyone is in Babel again!

Confused and quite literally shaken, everyone tries to figure out what caused them to suddenly be transported to Babel. Both Simeon and Lucifer suspect it has something to do with Raphael -- especially as the brothers take on their angel forms soon after arriving. We end up finding Raphael fast asleep, which further confirms Lucifer's and Simeon's suspicions.

When Raphael wakes up, however, he can't actually remember how he got there -- he remembers he went to visit Michael to talk to him about something, but can't remember what happened after he passed through the Celestial Gates on his way back to the Devildom. After some coaxing and interrogating, Raphael confesses why he went to speak to Michael, and it was to beg him to speak to God aka Father and convince him to forgive Simeon, as Raphael believes he has been punished enough.

Luke apologizes to Simeon, thinking he hasn't nearly done enough in comparison to Raphael to help him. They all have a heartwarming discussion of just how much Simeon is loved, but there are still questions to be answered.

Lucifer asks Raphael if he's responsible for all that's happening, seemingly determined to goad Raphael into some kind of realization that the seraph is too distressed to confront, even as the others try to stop him. Solomon makes a desperate move to come help, which has the more-than-geriatric human sorcerer showing up absolutely exhausted -- with a little anime-style help from all the demons left behind back in the Devildom!

After catching his breath, Solomon says he understands everyone wants to protect Raphael, but that this conversation needs to happen. Lucifer, now backed up by Solomon, again coaxes Raphael to think about what he wanted in that moment, saying it's important (more on this later). On that question, Raphael begins breaking down, much like we saw in that earlier vision, and losing control of his power.

Amidst the shaking and panic, Solomon takes a moment to explain that Raphael's power is probably what pulled them all there to Babel, and Simeon in particular remarks that Raphael's feelings of wanting to live peacefully with everyone are probably the reason that the brothers were in their angel forms.

But now, as Raphael unfurls while acknowledging what he wanted, the entirety of Babel starts to collapse.

OM's #1 (Deadbeat) Dad

So now, of course, the big question is what did Raphael think and feel in that moment, which is causing him so much distress? And the answer, it seems, may be that he disagrees with God.

We've seen time and time again that the Celestial Realm is one of extreme obedience, shown more recently by the entire situation with Simeon. So, Raphael trying to make an appeal to God takes the brothers by surprise. Leviathan in particular says he can't believe that Raphael would do something like that, "knowing it might make Father mad" -- with Asmodeus and the others agreeing but admiring him for it. After all, the brothers became fallen angels for rebelling against God themselves.

Lucifer in particular probably sees the way Raphael's actions and feelings mirror his own old feelings -- he thought the way Lilith was being punished wasn't right and wanted God to change his mind and see reason. He too tried to appeal to God to change Lilith's punishment, and encountered the same obstinate refusal to listen. Those feelings led to him starting the Great Celestial War, which resulted in him and his brothers all being the demons they are now. And now, Raphael is experiencing something similar with Simeon, someone who he admires and is considered his mentor.

If so, that's certainly a very troubling track record for the Celestial Realm. Of the four angels we know of who have been seraphs, we have Lucifer (fallen), Simeon (demoted-about-to-become-demon), Raphael (now questioning), and Michael (...socially inept weirdo).

And yet, is it any wonder? The idea of even questioning Father is seen as blasphemous. With such authoritarian absolutism in place, of course those at the next tier of power might begin to wonder as their own loved ones face these overly harsh punishments. And as a seraph whose loyalties are otherwise so unwavering towards the Celestial Realm and the other angels, it's no wonder his magic is getting unstable as Raphael comes to terms with these feelings. He already went through the loss of Lucifer and the brothers, and being faced with losing Simeon after Simeon's already been "punished enough" drives him over the edge.

In his breakdown, which parallels MC's prophetic dream from the start of Lesson 55, Raphael says he's never felt so alone and miserable and he just can't take it.

Gee, good job Michael.

Now, we've long held a theory that God is just...not around. From a practical narrative sense, the devs have said that their original plan to have Diavolo himself be the Demon King felt like it made him too intimidating, and when they changed it to Crown Prince instead, they probably wanted to try and make things more "equal" between the Devildom and Celestial Realm. Thus, we have Diavolo and Michael as the acting leaders instead of the Demon King and, well, God.

But it's interesting because way back in OG Season 3, Simeon mentions that he hasn't seen Father in an extremely long time, even though we know he'd already received his "human" punishment by that time. Now, Raphael mentions that he's been unable to get an audience with Father. In fact, it seems like Michael is the only one who might be able to, and when Raphael says he pleaded with him to do so, it seems that Michael denied him -- in spite of the fact that, according to past speculation from Lucifer, Michael is also very worried about Simeon and was said to probably be trying to work out a way for him to come back! Though, by the way, the thing that got Simeon punished with human status was stealing from Michael, not the Celestial Realm itself, which itself is quite interesting. But even Michael has never been outright mentioned to be in contact with Father, as far as we've ever heard.

So...where the fuck is he??

[chiefcroissantdeanbanana]

canon because I said so cough cough