Anime is love, Anime is life. Multi Fandom. 98% Anime, 2% Other Things. Sentimental little prick. FUJOSHI. Editor. Writer. Artist(?). Titan Slayer. NANODAYO.
Dropping the latest Sketch-a-Wish, voted on by my lovely Patreon members for April! A scene from The Wicked King by Holly Black, Cardan and Jude pledging their troth.
This scene was nondescript on the type of flowers that were blooming in the king's chambers as they were professing their vows to each other. But given how they were both adamant that their marriage would be utilitarian and short lived, I feel like the room blooming over head was a sign that it was more permanent than they realized, hence the wisteria and its meaning. 🤭
"Hearken, as arbor revives and foe nears, we call forth the mighty waters of ancient sea, to flood abodes of heaven and quell roots of evil. We etch this in stone for all to heed."
I have news for you, boy… Behind you is none other than the traitor of the Xianzhou! A criminal, forever banished! The High Elder of the Vidyadhara… Imbibitor Lunae!
I’m not much of a writer and I suck at writing stuff but the thought of having the Demon Brothers transform into animals, like what happens in Fruits Basket, won’t leave my mind. So I tried writing a short fic about it. Please have mercy on my writing style because I know I not so good about it *cries*
To summarize what had happened, you were supposed to be in bed right now. Waiting for the alarm to wake you up and prepare for another day of school. For some reason though, you stood in front of, apparently, the next king of hell with the six demon brothers? What? Apparently this is not a dream and is your reality.
Now, you’re stuck with an annoying white-haired brother who wont stop whining about looking after you.
“That Lucifer! Why’s it gotta be me?!” Mammon, the white-haired whining demon, says as the two of you walk down the halls of the House of Lamentation.
“Hey Human! Be sure to stay outta my way got it?! If you don’t, I’m gonna eat ya alive.” He says. It would seem to be a threat but for some reason you don’t sense fear.
You were going down from the second floor where the rooms are located when you suddenly trip on the stairs. Mammon, who is right in front of you, didn’t see it coming and you suddenly fell on top of him.
Poof!
A cloud of smoke appears out of nowhere.
“What now?” you say as you rub your head. When you look down, Mammon is nowhere to be found. Instead, you see a pile of clothes on the floor and a crow.
“What’s a crow doing here? And where’s Mammon?” you say to yourself as you stand up and fix yourself.
“Ya stupid human I’m right here!” you hear his voice. Yet, you can’t see him anywhere.
“Yo human! Look down!” you hear his voice again. Down? You look down to where the pile of clothes and the crow were. The crow is looking at you with its black eyes and you look back at it.
“Stop staring and pick up my clothes!” it suddenly yells. What? Did that crow just talk? This is a dream, right? You’re not in hell, right?
“What are ya waitin’ for?!” the crow yells again. Surely, it’s Mammon’s voice. Did Mammon just turn into a crow?
“M-Mammon is that you?” you ask as you crouch down to talk to it.
“Of course, it’s me! Now, pick up my clothes and take me ta my room before I transform back!” he yells again before another cloud of smoke appears from him. The next thing you now, there’s a naked, beet-red Mammon in front of you.
“I told ya’ to pick up my clothes!” he says as he takes his uniform to cover himself. You immediately turn around on pure instinct. At least your mind still knows what to do when that happens.
“What- what was that about?” you ask as you hear a rustling of clothes behind you. Is he wearing his clothes here on the staircase?
“Uh oh, Lucifer’s not gonna like this.” Mammon says to himself. You turn around to see a horrified Mammon behind you.
“What do you mean ‘uh oh’?” You ask. You can see, clear as day, the fear on Mammon's eyes. What exactly is happening?
"You human, this'll be the only time that I, the Great Mammon will ask ya for somethin'. Ya got that?!" Mammon places his hands on your shoulders, and they're trembling.
"Wh-what is it?" You ask. Curious as to what made Mammon act this way. He stops to think for a bit. Maybe it's a big secret that he can't just tell you. You wait for almost a minute. He takes a deep breath before looking back at you.
"Let's talk somewhere else. Don't want my brothers findin' out that I've messed up big time." He says as he goes up the stair again and walks to the direction of the rooms.
He stops in front of a door and opens it. You peek behind him to see a spacious room, quite messy, but spacious.
"Get in before anyone else sees us." He grabs your arm to get you into the room and closes the door behind him. You look around the room. You see a pool table with an empty bottle of something, a manga next to it.
"They have mangas here?" You stop to think. You shake your head and continue looking around.
The next thing you see is the car on the second floor of the room. How the hell did that get in here? Bellow it is the bed and a closet. You look to the right and see the couch and table. A game controller on top of the table. There's no television, only a white screen in front.
You find the room both amusing and shocking st the same time.
"Stop lookin' 'round and take a seat." Mammon walks into the room and sits on one of the chairs. You do as he says and sit on the couch right across Mammon.
"Just so ya' know, this is my room." He says as a matter of fact. You nod your head to say okay.
The two of you stare at each other for a moment. Not knowing what to say next but the curiosity is killing you so you say something first.
"So… about what happened?" You say. Leaving the end for Mammon to continue. He sighs and scratches his head.
"Lucifer is totally gonna kill me but we can't have you goin' around blabberin' 'bout what happened." He says.
"I'm pretty sure Lucifer's told ya 'bout who we are?" He asks you. You nod to answer his question, afraid that if you talk Mammon won't continue what he's about to say.
"I can't tell ya the whole story 'cos it'll be too long. I'll only tell ya what had happened earlier." He says. Trying to pick out the words that would come out from his mouth.
"You've met Lord Diavolo earlier and he's the most powerful demon here in the Devildom and we brothers come right after him." He starts explaining. You sight tight in your chair as Mammon leans forward and continues his story.
"But just 'cause we're powerful as well, doesn't mean we can't be cursed." He says. Just from what he's said, you still couldn't understand anything and Mammon must've seen the confusion in your face because he continues his explanation.
"Out of us brothers, Lucifer's the one who's an expert in curses but for this one, he hasn't found a way out of yet." Mammon looks at his hand and clenches it into a fist. You still look at him with a confused face and he continues his monologue.
"Look, remember the student council room? I'm sure ya' saw the picture hangin' on the wall." Mammon says. If you remember correctly, there are seven images hanging on the student council walls. Each images are a silhouette of an animal.
"Ya remember what they are?" Mammon asks you. You stop to try to remember some of it.
"I think I saw birds, a scorpion, a horse?" You try to wrack your brain to remember the rest of the images but that's all that it can remember.
"Well, at least ya remember some. Those animals are representations of each of us brothers." Mammon starts. You lean in to listen closely to his explanation.
"The first image is a peacock which is Lucifer. The second are crows which is me. Next's a serpent, that's Levi. Then a unicorn which is Satan. A scorpion, Asmo and a fly which is Beel." Mammon stops. There are seven images in that room but he's only mentioned six.
"Maybe it's a given that it's Lord Diavolo." You think to yourself.
"What happend earlier, when ya' fell on top of me. It triggrted the curse and I transformed into a crow, which is my animal representation." Mammon sighs. You try to take all the information in at once.
"If we get hugged by the opposite gender or if we get terribly sick, the curse will take into effect and we become animals. We have no idea how long the duration of the curse takes effect that's why I was panicking a lot earlier. Look what happened." Mammon scoffs. You blush a little remembering the naked Mammon standing in front of you.
"That's all I could tell ya." Mammon leans back as he finishes his story but immediately leans in again.
"If Lucifer finds out that ya know about the curse this early on I'm dead meat. So keep yer mouth shut for now, okay?" Mammon’s back to his old self. It just occurred to you that Mammon’s aura changed while he was explaining the curse earlier. You were to engrossed in listening about the curse that you didn’t notice hat the air around him changed.
"I get it, I get it. I'll keep my mouth shut." You promise him. He looks at you, still not believing what that you'll keep it a secret so you mimic the action of actually zipping your mouth.
"Good." He says as he stands and heads for the door.
"Where are we going next?" You ask him as he opens the door.
"To yer room. Tour's over for now." He says as he bobs his head to the side to tellcyou to get out of the room.
"By the way, that was my room, okay?" He says as he walks in front of you. His hands in his pockets.
The words pass by your ears as if they were nothing. The only think on your mind is the curse and your current situation. You have to make sure not to accidentally hug the brothers while not being so suspicious about it. It'll be easy obviously. What kind of idiot would hug random strangers right off the bat, right?
"Oy, we're here." Mammon is standing in front of you. Opening the door beside him.
The inside somehow reminds you of a forest cabin in fairy tales. Almost everything is made of wood or more like a live tree since it still has leaves growing from its branches. There's a table with chairs at the side. A small bookshelf with books. The bed looks comfortable with its purple blanket.
"Get goin' and get some rest human. The Great Mammon's outta fuel too. Gonna reward myself with a nap." He yawns and stretches his back as he closes the door to your room. You take a look around once again. Taking it all in. Taking your new life all in.
Wait, why are you accepting the fact that this’ll be your new life for a year? You scratch your head hard. Getting a way out of this place is almost impossible. You sigh and approach the bed to get yourself a good night’s rest, hopefully.
If Lucifer gives the “dad vibe”, I honestly think that in a way Mammon was the mother figure centuries ago. Dunno, maybe it’s because it has been shown that he really CAN cook , or maybe because the two eldest bros’ dynamic interests me a lot. ;;;
Mammon the Protector
I've seen a lot of people describe Lucifer as "dad vibes" which I can see the value of, though I think it's not quite correct. Lucifer I think sees himself as the Guardian of his brothers, as both the eldest and the one who they all followed quite literally into hell.
He loves his brothers, but his driving force is to protect them and keep them in line, even if that means ruining his own relationship with them. He is overly strict and inflexible, doesn't know how to handle his own feelings or discuss issues without flying off the handle, yet he would lay down his life for any of them. If in trouble, it is more likely his brothers would fear him rather than confide in him.
Even so, the Lucifer we see at the very beginning of the game has still come a long way in terms of character progression. The Glory Days devilgram shows a Lucifer who is still an angel - an archangel in fact - and this Lucifer is utterly unbending, incredibly dismissive, and absolutely prideful. There is a glimmer of something underneath, and that becomes who we see as Lucifer at the start of the game.
There are two demons who give Lucifer emotional support. One is Diavolo, who Lucifer frequently rejects. In many ways, he replaced his unquestioning faith in his father with unquestioning loyalty to Diavolo - with the exception of family issues. Lucifer would never turn to Diavolo for emotional help, he has far too much pride.
The other is Mammon, the second eldest and second most powerful. In both The Rulebook and Paying Back What's Owed devilgrams, Mammon is shown giving Lucifer emotional support and reassurance, that Lucifer is actually able to accept.
In several Devilgrams, Mammon is shown to defend his younger brothers against Lucifer, call Lucifer out for being too hard on them, and show how much he cares for his brothers and is aware of their emotional states and needs.
After the Fall, it is Mammon who makes sure everyone is okay, noting that the twins will need more support due to their heightened grief, and assuring Lucifer that none of them blame him, nor regret following him into battle.
Mammon certainly couldn't be described as a Guardian of his brothers, in the way that Lucifer is. Mammon is pretty hands off, sees no issue with stealing from his brothers (though he also gives them gifts), or of ducking out on his own responsibilities (yet he has more responsibilities than the other brothers are aware of).
Mammon is a pretty complex guy, and how he is seen is not the whole picture of him. He is the safest demon, yet also the second most powerful, and the fastest. He is the thief, yet he gives more of his emotional self than any of the other demons. He is insulted relentlessly by his brothers, yet he protects them from Lucifer. He is tortured by Lucifer, yet is the only emotional support that Lucifer will accept.
Mammon is, I think, the Protector. He protects all his brothers from Lucifer, including Lucifer himself. He is aware of when his brothers are in emotional turmoil. He gives money, his prize asset, and endures mental and physical torture so that a little girl grows up a little safer. And he watches over his human, determined that no harm will befall them.
Lucifer is the Guardian of the family, but the world of emotions is something he finds very difficult to navigate, and always has. Mammon is the opposite in this respect, spilling his emotions outwardly, even as he makes an attempt to hide some of them from his human, not wishing to appear weak. But this also allows him to see the emotions of others, and act as their Protector.
Mammon is unguarded with his emotions, and his freedom of expressing them often gets him into trouble. But it's this exact emotional strength that has kept the family together, under the unyielding Guardianship of Lucifer.
If I hear another person tell me that Mammon is just a whiny character that has nothing more to him than how childish he is, I'm going to kick their face in.
And let me tell you- you do NOT want a 3rd Dan TKD Blackbelt to kick you.
^ LOOK AT MY BOY REASSURING LUCIFER THAT HE DOESN'T REGRET FALLING WITH HIM.
LOOK AT HOW DESPITE BEING A PART OF THE WAR HIMSELF- DESPITE FALLING AND PROBABLY ALSO BEING HURT BY IT ALL, HE'S STILL THERE, PUTTING FAMILY FIRST.
HE EVEN HECKING WENT AROUND TO CHECK UP ON HIS YOUNGER BROTHERS AND REPORTED BACK TO LUCIFER:
THAT BEING SAID. If I hear another person even try to convince me that Mammon is the worst brother because of how childish and greedy he is- I'm inverting your ribcage.
