ratkingsocks

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these are so peak!! could i use the nerokyri one as a pfp?

Hello dmc fandom

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Back to talking about my fic here on the final morning of my trip with friends since my self imposed "no yammering about DMC weekend" is over;

One thing I want to include happening in the background is Nero slowly coming to terms with his devil heritage & undergoing a like.. second puberty? (for lack of better descriptor) Where his demonic instincts really start to come to the fore. Some sill have been around his whole life, but I think some will get stronger or be new to him and they'd be something for him to work through/around.

However, since a lot of the chapters are (at least i think rn in this moment of drafting) gunna be from Kyrie's POV it'll be in her noticing changes in behavior and conversations they end up having over the years. So idk how obvious it'll be that those are happening. We'll see, idk

Some things I think Nero would've always had as part of his personality are like his shorter temper, his love of fighting/violence, being stronger/faster than regular people, healing faster kind of stuff

But new things that I think would be difficult for a grief stricken teenager to sort through would be like:

- Suddenly feeling a need to patrol his "territory" without realizing that's what it is. Just feeling stressed and paranoid about if everything in/around the castle town of Fortuna is FINE and SAFE and slowly that expanding out to the whole island over a couple years. I think initially he figures out this like jogging route he can take that winds through most of the city when he's getting stressed. Once he gets the van, he goes on long drives to "calm down" (for a while at first he's scaring the shit out of Kyrie by dissapearing at night to prowl the city like an agitated cat and she's like "holy fuck he's doing something stupid like my brother")

- Most of the demons we see in-game seem to spawn in big groups, Empusas have a clear social structure, Echidna makes her lil babies, and the frog dudes are like... a hoard of buddies so I HC that many demons are pack animals, basically. Nero falls into that category. He's always been a huge family guy but never felt confident expressing it. Now? After loosing almost all his remaining family and meeting Dante and however they're maybe-possibly related (this takes place pre 5), I think it's cranked all those feelings up to like 15. He's feeling way more clingy and over protective and the need to like protect and raise. His foster kids are his little babies and he would die for them. His lil sons. Kyrie has no complaints about the extra affection even if sometimes Nero is making her cooking way more difficult by being a category 5 clinger

- HC, whenever Nero sees/hears from Dante he ALSO gets weird devil-feelings but he doesn't really notice them amidst the confusing tangle of normal human feelings he has about Dante. So it's just categorized in his head as one thing LOL Both parts of him really want Dante's approval.

- Also just like increased senses? But I imagine after a month, he's more or less got it on lock by the time 4 ends. gives me an excuse to project my sensory issues onto Nero like a normal person

Done with my list, but I like to think that Nero is generally pretty in touch with himself even if he doesn't always grasp which side his desires stem from. He maybe doesn't get all the devil bullshit 100% or even like it! But he at least learns to accept and manage it pretty quick. Post-5 Nero is deeply irritated he has more of this AGAIN after fully awakening his DT though. Poor guy. Especially since both Dante & Vergil being around sets off that like desperate for approval kid in his brain so bad

So what if he feels extra baby fever? Look at his beautiful perfect girlfriend and adorable foster kids? Who wouldn't want a bigger family with these people?

I mean, of COURSE he wants to protect Fortuna! That's his job and it's his home and Kyrie lives there! He has to make sure she's safe and his kids have somewhere to grow up. Totally normal to pace the streets while armed to the teeth at 3 am, what are you talking about. Yes, he may be a cryptid to local kids after a few months of blurry night spottings, but it's totally normal!

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something about Vergil trying to flex the "i'm a son of sparda" for fucking morning cuddles is so devastatingly cute! (which is, frankly, not a sentence i'd ever considered saying before and yet here we are LOL) 500/10 OP I love this immensely

idk, i do kinda wish we got to see the softer sides of vergil MORE in the games, but that's what fanworks are for right?

sunday mass with the boyfriend aka the son of sparda

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LITTLE BABY NERIOF HDSJKGH HE'S SO CUTE MY BOY

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meeting up

by saucypaws https://linktr.ee/saucypaws

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there’s this extremely kind soul of a woman on instagram that makes accessible recipes that don’t require standing, chopping, or a stove and she might just have a permanent place in my heart

edit: here's her YouTube account, as well as her TikTok and Facebook :)

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So I'm plotting out this stupid fic that takes place between dmc 4 & 5

and like, Nero seems to know Trish and Lady relatively well? More than just "they killed some demons in Fortuna five years ago" and he's quick to ask for their input in a shit situation. So I will be ignoring the idea that Dante & co. never talked to Nero between games. That's silly as hell

I will HOWEVER keep Dante being a really avoidant asshole about if they're related because it's kinda funny and fucked up. Dante you cannot invite the boy over to come hang out with you help on a job and not expect him to ASK! RIP Nero's sanity for a week or two but it's fun bonding time for everyone

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this is so slick god damn

Vergil animation from 2020

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Holding all your baggage, you know I’m not your father

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Vergil's Coat

This is something that has plagued me since I got into this series because Vergil's coat is so specific but I had... no earthly idea what to call it or why it was so interesting to me. Although DMC doesn't do much with time periods and technology, purposefully so, we know it's at least modern enough for Nero to have had wireless headphones when he was 16, phone booths to have existed and already been outdated by DMC 5, and for cell phones (and cell phones specifically, which is different than a smart phone) to exist. With a few exceptions, the majority of the characters dress in pretty modern styles. You could buy similar clothes in stores, or otherwise order them online, but Vergil.... Vergil dresses like a fucking Victorian nun. He truly has such a "Victorian girl meets Salem Witch Trials victim" vibe to him, and its reflected in how he dresses too.

In 3, he has his signature long, blue coat adorned with gold buttons, a gold inner-lining, and light-blue detailing that looks like it's embroidered. He pulls it all together with a black kravat, gold fingerless gloves, the leather vest, and fucking snake-skin pants that he tucks into knee-high gold-green boots. It's clearly very elegant, very regal, and very antique compared to the way the other characters in the series dress.

In 5 specifically, not an inch of skin except for the tips of his fingers and his face are shown. He dresses in needlessly-complicated layers upon layers of leather and other materials to the point where I'm not even certain if this would be something comfortable to wear, let alone while fighting. There's even an idle animation in 5 where he pulls at the neckline-- which goes all the way up to his chin-- so clearly it's not exactly the most comfortable clothes, but he does it for the aesthetic.

It's clearly meant to be a similarly-styled coat just...a bluish-black now instead. And because I have 0 self-control, I then decided to download the model that was ripped from the game and pop it into Blender so I could take a better look at it. And based on this, it looks like the coat is intended to be probably wool and the blue detailing is in fact embroidered-- a noticeable difference from the silk-like material of the jacket in 3.

But all of this is particularly interesting to me because the Deadly Fortune novel specifically calls attention to the fact that he dresses in a very peculiar and old-fashioned way.

I had hoped I'd be able to find something in an interview or a style note in the concept art about where they got the inspiration from the coat from, but I found nothing apart from the "goth kimono" note, so I was off to do my own research. And from that, I've found that it seems to take inspirations from both Napoleon-era frock coats and evokes Gothic‑Victorian stylistic elements as well. In 3 specifically, it appears to be a long royal-blue frock coat with military‐style flair. Its cut--double-breasted front, high standing collar, fitted waist and flared tails--seems to draw inspiration from early 19th‑century uniforms and Victorian-era tailcoats. The ornate detailing reinforces its antique look with large decorative buttons on the lapels, layered chest embroidery and deep rear slits similar to the elaborate frock coats or tailcoats of Napoleon’s era. The 3-pieced "tail" of the coat (the rear slits) is also convenient for Vergil. While in the Victorian-era, this would've helped with carrying riffles (so the gun could sorta go "through" coat rather than awkwardly poking out the back) but it works for a katana too, so it makes carrying Yamato a little easier for him.

In 5, the coat still has a high collar and flared skirt, similar to the Victorian-style frock coat, but it noticeably has less embroidery and is a darker color. While it's not explicitly confirmed, based on the commentary from the DMC5 Official Art Book, it appears they scaled back some of the details and made it the darker, navy color to make the outfit feel more somber. In the art book, they specify that they wanted to "capture the essence of Vergil’s dignity and nobility," so it seems they were definitely going for the more regal nobility look. They even include some small details like it being "haute couture" and "goth coat" and I feel they tied those things together pretty well.

And all of this is a reflection of his tastes and interests. He likes classical literature and poetry, and based on the off-handed remark V makes in the manga, seemingly historical pieces and antiques as well. So he somehow either bought, made, or conjured this specific antique coat because he wanted to dress all regal and fancy, and I love that for him. He's very dedicated to his sickly Victorian boy aesthetic and I think it's adorable.

While I still prefer the blue and gold of the original coat from 3, I think the coat in 5 still conveys his whole goth-closeted-poetry-nerd thing well while also providing a nice contrast to Dante's sort of visual-kei vibe, especially if you're comparing the twins from 3 specifically.

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Vergil would be SOOO into people watching post DMC5 hell. It's fascinating to him, and he can learn, and it's so... full. Hell is barren, because unless said life is very capable in its own niche, it will die. But in the human world, there are worms. Worms! They crawl onto concrete when it rains and kill themselves when they don't go back in time! Yet they prevail!

People watching, nature watching, anything. He'd probably prefer nature just because people sometimes come up to bother him, but he likes both.

He's probably also interested because then there's smells! The demon world is doused in demon scents and trying to mark their territory, and death! It probably fucking reeks, and yes, demons are like rats where they can tell so much from a demon's scent, from their type and strength and heirarchy and gender and everything, but it's not necessarily new. Peanut butter and slightly sweeter peanut butter are still the same smell.

He will sit by the window for hours, just looking out of it. Watching. And bro is LOCKED IN. He is IMMENSELY enjoying himself, like an old dog that will just stare out the window for hours and hours.

Nero comes in, and looks at Vergil... oddly. Goes to Dante,

"Is dad okay?"

"Huh?" Dante checks, "Oh, yeah, he's fine. He's loving it."

Eventually, it becomes a good way for Nero to de-stress with his old man, they'll just sit together and nature watch. Nero probably coaxes Vergil into going to other places, like the park, or a little out of the city, for new sights. Vergil doesn't understand, there's still so much he doesn't know, even from the agency window, but he doesn't mind getting away, and if Nero wants it, well, he's not complaining.

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I actually had to pause the game during the Vergil boss fight to hop up and go yammer at my partner about how weird it was to me compared to other Vergil boss fights! Because during the mission as Nero he's like "this isn't your fight." "stand down." etc etc snd just sort of like.... pacing around? for a while? and the attacks he does throw out are slow and pretty easy to just hop over! like Vergil is NOT trying to do jack and or shit until Nero locks the fuck in and basically throws him around a few times.

I didn't even notice our first play through because my partner just hopped right into the smack down, but I was waiting to see if there was any dialogue. It was honestly kinda cute though, how he seemed reluctant (for Vergil) to huet Nero at first. Like aaaaawh, he's putting that newfound human heart to use. Go Vergil!!

I NEED to talk about this amazing detail I just now noticed in the Vergil boss fights in DMC5 as Dante vs as Nero.

Vergil on the left looks like he’s having the time of his life fighting Dante, as quoted by him, “just like old times,” but you look at his expression on the right, he looks regretful and has that, “I don’t want to keep fighting my own son like this. Not after what I had done.”

Are there any Nero and Vergil fics where the stories focus on Vergil regretting what he did to Nero and never forgiving himself for it? I want those.

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Literally the only two good people in his life either get kidnapped or try to stab him to death while he's processing the whole "am i even human" thing!! Plus Dante is like NOT helping! And he (almost, mostly) DIES!

Nero has the most valid crash out of all time, honestly. I'd have been rolling on the floor screaming too!

I really don't understand ppl who are like uhgh DMC 4 Nero is so annoying and whiny

Like that kid is 19 and learning that he's part demon, something he has been taught to hate to the point of killing all his life

Then he's forced to fight his brother whom he does not want to fight, then his sister/the woman he loves is being used as bait for him and as a power source for a false God he doesn't believe in, and he desperately wants to save her only for her to be torn away from him when he's inches away from getting her away from Agnus and Sanctus

And its still like waa waa he's having a tantrum waa

Bro Nero just speedran trauma in like, a day. He needs a fucking hug and doesn't even know how to process any of his emotions at all, let him scream for fucks sake

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I honestly really like this idea! I personally like to HC that part of why Nero looks so human is because he tends to see himself as/wants to be one. He's very insecure about his whole devil thing for a while and by 5, I think he's come a long way in accepting it, it's probably not to the same degree Vergil (who seems to see himself as devil first, human second) and Dante (who via Rebellion stabbing seems to have accepted all of himself) have.

If we ever get an SDT for Nero, I wonder if it'd look significantly more monster-y?

ngl I prefer to think that the Sparda Genes cannot be diluted. So, functionally, Nero is still half-devil. It's not like his [blood] kids will be weaker as they're only 1/8 devil. As long as the bloodline continues, the blessing will not fade until the power of Sparda dies.

Yes, Nero's devil trigger looks more humanoid. But also he was raised around humans. He also wasn't given the same 'care' that Vergil and Dante got at least at first, so maybe his demonic half was in remission- grew to be different, because it was starved. Additionally, it could be just that the Sparda genes themselves adjust to their environment. Being surrounded by humanoids, blending in is absolutely essential. Vergil and Dante needed to survive, they had to fight for their lives, likely even before Temen-Ni-Gru [did i spell that right], Vergil had activated his Devil Trigger well before then, and Dante clearly was still very familiar with fighting. Likely between Eva's death and DMC3, they had hard, brutal lives. Blending in was less essential when you needed to fight for your life.

This also means these idiots need to be REALLY careful where they lay because we can have an epidemic if they start getting an illegitimate child problem.

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NEROKYRI MY BELOVEDS! I never expected to get so very attached to them but here we are. Fuck me, I have no clue how to draw Nero's hair but it's fine, I GUESS. They're so sweet with each other and I have PLANS! Plans that circle my brain and may or may not escape, we'll see.

Alternate Versions & design ramblings below the cut:

I have a bunch of versions cuz I wasn't sure if I wanted to include like... everything and then impulsively went "tail? tail!" and spent like twenty minutes pacing and ranting as I tried to figure out how I'd design a tail... so here we are. For the devil bringer, I also did a sort of hybrid design between its 4 & 5 look! I love the bringer; it looks sooo cool and I had to draw it just the once. AND FINALLY KYRIE! Hello, my sweet girl. I have many thoughts on you but for now, I just wanted to draw her in a simple but kinda cute outfit. I also still wanted to keep some of her cream/gold/red color scheme from 4. It just looks nice contrasted with Nero's. Also Nero's bracelet has 3 beads for his 3 kids because he would totally wear friendship bracelets his kids made, ty for coming to my ted talk

Actually, while I'm here: I wanted Nero's tail to be a mixture of both Credo's and Vergil's! The fact that Nero has feathered angel-like wings is a pretty unique trait. One I'm pretty sure only Credo shares, and I feel like it ties back into Nero looking up to Credo and his own insecurities about being part-devil. So I wanted his tail to be similar? Having that soft feather-fluff covering on the top to tie into Nero's longer, more human hair in his DT and to Credo Angelo's design! I also wanted it to look a bit like Vergil because, gosh, Nero is his father's son. Hence the spikes and bladed tip. I, for the life of me, could not figure out how to draw Vergil's layered scales on his tail.. but originally that was the plan? Essentially "nero layered what he wants to be over where he came from to create his own thing" sorta deal

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We fight through fire and ice forever

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Oh layer groups I love you for making it easy to add alternate details. Now we get to color, chat. I'm so excited