the moon & i

✩ χάος [chaos] ✩ 18+ ✩ they / them ✩ obey me ramblings

[nyoureii]

everyone is talking about the origins of henry 1.0 and how he was gifted to levi, but i can’t help but wonder if the “first best friend” they mentioned is actually lotan.

as far as i know (and please feel free to correct me if i’m wrong), we haven’t seen anything about how levi actually met lotan nor how he gained his status as the grand admiral. we know that levi has the ability to summon him at will (usually for comedic purposes) and that he can cause mass destruction, but they haven’t dove in deep beyond that (other than the monster festival chat). considering how nightbringer is covering the aftermath of the celestial war, including the upbringing of the brothers as the newly appointed seven lords, then it is safe to assume that we will be exploring how each of the brothers gained their statuses and the respect of the citizens of the devildom, including leviathan.

this brings me to my next question: why is leviathan the one who has the ability to command a dangerous monster like lotan? wouldn’t it be ideal to have lucifer, the strongest of the brothers and the leader, to command him? why not mammon, who worked directly under lucifer and is the closest one to him of the brothers?

well there’s one possibility: they both lacked the ability to gain lotan’s respect and hence control him.

again, i’d imagine that a monstrous creature as dangerous as lotan would not be easy to tame. he is a feared serpent of the deep sea — one with seven heads at that, and so strong that he caused so much mass destruction in the human realm,

and yet this monstrous serpent follows the command of leviathan.

leviathan, who prefers to keep to himself, enough to where interacting with others makes him uncomfortable. leviathan, who is very passionate about his interests and speaks in internet slang out loud.

leviathan, who was also the general up in the celestial realm and was so passionate about fighting that he felt like he had no purpose otherwise (and the reason why he’s so good at strategizing in video games).

leviathan, whose aforementioned experience could’ve been the overall reason why he somehow tamed the large, seven-headed beast.

now wouldn’t that catch the interest of the higher authority?

and wouldn’t that higher authority possibly be the demon king, who, as satan states below, gave them their rankings and demon names?

could that be why leviathan is the third eldest of the brothers, despite there being doubts in this? because even though his powers do not equate to an extremely powerful ex-celestial nor a throne who worked under said ex-celestial, he still gained enough respect that he could control such a wild, wild beast and eventually gain yet another leadership status over a whole army — a beast that his younger brothers cannot control either and hence are placed beneath him.

leviathan, the commander of the sea.

the grand admiral of hell’s navy.

[maruuax]

Quick drawings of the brothers since a new game is coming out! Only managed to color Satan and Lucifer (they’re still unfinished (*´Д｀*)) before I lose motivation..

[chaosinterlude]

this valentine’s day i humbly request the obey me fandom to consider aromantic barbatos

(gentle reminder to be kind to your aro-spec pals today)

[helpmycatisblue]

woaaaah it feels good to finally post these

some boys in some fancy outfits, rest of them coming soon (hopefully i’ll finish them this year lol i’ve been so lazy)

PART TWO(coming soon)

[chaosinterlude]

not a single obey me character manages to make me feel as conflicted as asmodeus does. it's incredible really how he manages to make me both very interested and very frustrated at the same time. i think that mainly has to do with the fact that i see a lot of potential in asmo, but he never lives up to that. both because of his personality and the... questionable writing in the game.

in any case, i'm very skeptical about 'asmo learned to love someone outside of himself', because 1) that would mean asmo loves himself, which he doesn't, and 2) asmodeus... doesn't really learn or change.

let me explain; asmo constantly craves outside validation and deflects any criticism he gets, circling back to how great and beautiful he is. in my humble opinion (and experience), that's not someone who is comfortable with themselves or loves themselves as they are.

asmodeus continuously deflecting any criticism he gets, not taking it to heart and just writing it off as others being jealous, also means that he doesn't change. not drastically, at least. change for asmo would mean listening to the criticism others have of him, and he doesn't - even not when it's coming from mc, whom he supposedly loves.

i personally don't think you love someone if you don't even listen to them when they come to you with valid criticism. of course that goes both ways, but asmo doesn't really seem to listen to mc when they (or anyone) confronts him with his behavior, and he just aggrandizes them (as well as himself). to me that seems more like obsession rather than love, which makes sense, since asmodeus represents lust.

and this is where the frustration part for me comes in. i truly believe asmo is capable of change and loving someone else, if only he'd listen to others. but instead he keeps chasing the high of attention, craving that same adoration he had as the 'Jewel of the Heavens' in his days as an angel, which again, makes sense because of lust.

so yeah, there's the potential of change, but asmo doesn't take the chances that are presented to him. what asmodeus needs isn't an mc who will coddle him and/or praise him, no he needs someone who confronts him and lets him reflect on himself.

[taigalikethetiger]

Finally done!❤️ I love her design so much🥰

[antiomnia]

self-control

[possumy]

no cuz Lucifer is an ice skater

[bakwaaas]

there’s obviously a lot of nuance to to this conversation, but I feel like the way that people nowadays talk about friendships is so cold and devoid of love or empathy. like you aren’t allowed to complain or be sad, ur burdening ur friends with ur problems, helping someone through a hard time is ‘emotional labour’ and ‘you don’t owe anyone anything’ and I’m just thinking what does friendship even mean to you then? like honestly? people say ‘I’m not your therapist’ as if therapy is the answer to everything. what a sad world where a paid clinician is the only person you’re allowed to be emotionally vulnerable with. this ultra individualistic mindset leads to everyone feeling alone and isolated and we’ve lost all concept of community and support systems

[chaosinterlude]

“lucifer is sadistic and mean!! he’s so serious and scary!!”

meanwhile,

he’s just a silly man who wishes for a domestic life with his partner and dog <3

[vforys]

lakeside

[ophyriart]

More Leviathan!!

[chaosinterlude]

a detail i really love in obey me is that barbatos (in the japanese versions / his japanese voice lines in the english version) uses formal language. it stands out considering everyone else speaks to mc and each other in casual language. i never noticed it until i started learning japanese a few months back, but now i think it's a neat little nudge to more of his character.

because not only is using formal language a sign of respect and, well, formality, i think it also creates some distance between barbatos and the rest of the cast and mc. ignoring the mess that was the end of s4.... in my interpretation barbatos has always kept a polite distance to everyone and especially mc, and never really revealed much of himself. not necessarily in the way that he deliberately hides it, but he doesn't bring it up either.

and i don't know, i find the use of simple formal speech for him really fitting because of that - since it's generally used in situations where you don't know someone that well (or in formal situations such as towards a teacher or at work to your colleagues), and thus can indicate a kind of distance between speaker and listener.

[demonfamilytherapist]

the House of Lamentation is alive (all houses are) and it loves you

[demonfamilytherapist]

What I was thinking with this is -

The House is a human house. It was built in the human world to shelter humans. It loves its occupants - those who hide in its nooks and crannies, those who so carefully wash its floorboards, those who dance and cry and sleep inside its walls, trusting the House to keep them safe.

And then something unimaginable happens - a threat comes from inside. The House has strong, sturdy walls. Its doors securely lock and are made of the finest oak. Its windows are fitted sensibly and close tight. The House can keep out any manner of threat, but this time it was not given that chance.

And then it is dragged to hell.

Dismantled brick by brick, stone by stone, reassembled in a place where the sun never shines on its old paint. Has it absorbed anything of human religion while it had them living beneath its roof? Does it think it has done something wrong, to have let a threat inside and failed in its duty as a House?

Demons take up residence and it’s… fine. Satan reads on the same windowsill Theo did centuries before. The scent of roses seep into its walls in Asmo’s room. Other things seep between the kitchen tiles - Beel can be a messy eater, and enjoys his meat much bloodier than the House can recall any previous occupant doing, but little Jeremy used to push whole plates onto the floor.

Changes are made to it. Lucifer strengthens the House’s exterior so it can stand up to the strange, violent weather of the Devildom. The basement is expanded beyond what the House had thought possible and made a tomb. A room is made in an impossible space, hidden from view.

Lucifer completes his paperwork in the same study a dozen other family patriarchs had. Levi takes shelter from the cruelty of the outside world in his room. Mammon runs through his halls with the energy it has witnessed from generations of children.

They are not bad occupants, overall. Damage - and there is often damage - is swiftly repaired. It is kept sensibly clean by a rotating chart of the brothers, one enforced by Lucifer with an iron fist. The brothers live and feed and sleep within the House. But they are not human, and the House misses humans.

Then you come along. The House does not understand days, weeks, months. Only that you have slept in your bed for longer than a usual guest, that your closet is full, that you study and eat and laugh in its walls.

The changes are subtle so as not to be noticed.

Beel complains he keeps stubbing his toes on the main stairs now. Mammon nearly falls more than once. But to you, they are perfect - the most comfortable height for your legs.

There are no corners where shadows collect in your room - no places for nightmares to hide, waiting for you to sleep. There may be no sunlight, but your room is a bright space in the rest of the dreary House.

You never got lost, despite the House being so large and unfamiliar. There is always some shadowed space to avoid Lucifer in. It even opens up the secret room to you and Beel when you have need of it.

When you are killed, the House mourns - when you return, it rejoices. The fires on the stove burn enthusiastically, heating your favourite food (Satan has to take it off quickly, lest it burn). A small collection of library books push themselves out from the shelves, books from the human world you may like. When you shiver in your bed, the House moves warm water through the pipes to better keep you cozy.

Once more, a threat had come from inside the House, but this time it had been given a second chance.

When you leave at the end of the year, the House despairs even more than the brothers. It, after all, has no concept of why. It does not understand exchange programs or calendar years or your life beyond its walls. All it can do is wait, and keep your room neat until you return.

[obm-avenquire]

devildom ambience - solomon’s room

•  The clocks are almost never synced up. You have no idea how he manages to keep track of them all, each unlabelled and seemingly always operating on a different time, repurposed as stop watches and timers and then back to keeping track of time zones across the realms.

• His room smells a little different every time you visit. There’s always a faint smoky undertone, mixed with parchment and the old yellowing books that fill his bookshelves. Still, it’s almost always overshadowed with whatever chemical he played with last - thankfully he keeps the more unpleasant and dangerous ones (sulphur, mercury, the hundreds of unnamed plants and substances he makes use of-) contained, both out of consideration for you and to Simeon who despairs at the mess and clutter that no amount of cleaning is ever enough for.

•  You run one hand across the deep button tufted leather, sleek and red, and less comfortable to sit on than you had initially expected. Not uncomfortable, per say, but there’s a grounded firmness only found in unused furniture. (Solomon later confesses later that you are, in fact, the only one to really use it. Solomon is rarely one to rest, and he’d picked whatever he thought might seem welcoming for guests. He doesn’t get many.)

•  Crackling fire, bubbling, simmering liquids, concentrated fluids that drip-    drip-    drip-     down into empty glass.

• He lets you help, sometimes, when he can trust that he can keep you safe, guiding you through the specifics bit by bit, shaving thin curls of some gnarled root into cauldrons, cutting up plants and peeling rough skin off strange fruits. It’s an arduous and particular process, and Solomon ever-lighthearted, becomes remarkably critical, picking and choosing at each ingredient and transferring each piece to its proper place.

•  He always has something new to show you, even when he invites you to hideaway in his room from everyone else provided you ‘don’t expect him to be a good host’, he just can’t help but get…distracted. Boyish, eager for feedback and admittedly needy, he can only spend so much time tinkering before he feels the need to show off just a little. Once, silently tapping your shoulder to show you dried, ashy seed pod heads on twirled stalks, pouring bright blue kernels into the mortar. He picks up the pestle - just as old and well-loved as its partner - and carefully, carefully, splitting the seed in two, and you watch as it crackles and pops, keening like a firework as it sputters multicoloured sparks and flickers of light.

•  They’d offered to soundproof his room when he’d first joined - an offer he appreciated, but not one he ever accepted. The artificial silence that came with that sort of thing gave him headaches, he’d said. Listening faintly through the walls of the Purgatory Hall, you can’t help but just…find it more homely. Footsteps in the hallway, students bickering outside the darkened windows, little things like that, and - on days where you’re lucky - faint singing. His temporary home is alive.

•  He shows you pointed crystal growths along the shed skins of strange creatures, glass-like teeth from the maws of sand dragons and the green, moss tangled furs of rain deers. Clay and ochre and blood and ichor, though he spares you his most unpleasant ingredients, he can’t help but want to revel in sharing it with you, ever fascinated by the unending resource of learning, creation without exchange, or loss.

[chaosinterlude]

well, diavolo, it shows.

let me start off by saying that while this post will be diving into diavolo’s more… questionable qualities, i don’t think he’s a bad person or has malicious intent. in fact i think his idealistic, optimistic and adventurous nature certainly have good sides as well - mainly in the way he seems eager to be involved with his subjects and is keen on taking care of their interests.

however. i also think he often acts very childish and naïve. what annoys me the most is how all of the characters let it slide, because of various reasons. aside from simeon and solomon, who both aren’t citizens of the devildom, belphie is the only demon in game who actively dislikes diavolo and went against his wishes - and that got him locked up in the attic. for good reason, because diavolo would have subjected him to punishment much worse.

so, basically, diavolo can act freely without repercussions. combine that with his sheltered upbringing and it quickly becomes an absolute mess.

season 2; solomon (something tells me simeon and/or barbatos were involved in this as well, but don’t quote me on that) urges diavolo to tell lucifer what’s going on. but he doesn’t listen. and then acts somewhat surprised when lucifer’s pissed off afterwards, not to mention that solomon actually wanted to tell mc (and lucifer) and lucifer actually started to doubt himself because of this. so much could have been avoided if diavolo just told lucifer, who is supposed to be the one he trusts most.

season 3; the whole karaoke mess. diavolo thought it was funny to worry the whole cast as a funny haha prank. to his credit, i guess he does apologize afterwards and promise not to do it again (and then proceeds to do it again in season 4. sigh.). don’t get me started on the storyline with belphie. the one person (in the devildom) who didn’t like diavolo, and was pretty open about it. and they made him make up with diavolo within a day. goddamnit.

season 4; honestly this whole mess pissed me the fuck off so bad. once again diavolo thinks it’s funny to put other people in danger as a consequence of his “pranks” or “jokes”, and doesn’t seem too concerned with fucking telling people what’s going on. and no one batted an eye! they dropped the whole thing within seconds!

in general diavolo just doesn’t seem in touch with other people and their feelings that much, no doubt due to the sheltered life he’s lived. he acts incredibly impulsively, without much regard for consequences for others, and more often than not gets away with it because he’s the prince and almost no one has denied him shit or directly stood up to him. again, he doesn’t do this with malicious intent, but it also seems like he doesn’t quite learn from his actions when they do bite him in the ass.

[chaosinterlude]

thinking about lucifer again and how much i hate the “sadist” image he has.

in the words of the lovely kazuya yamashita (lucifer’s va) in what is probably my favorite otaku fm episode: i believe lucifer thinks about his brothers constantly. honestly love how much kazuya seems to understand lucifer’s character pretty well.

and it doesn’t take that much digging to realize how much lucifer cares about his family. he signed away the freedom he just earned to save his sister. he kept it a secret from his brothers to save them the hurt - thinking it’d be better if that burden fell to him alone. he hid belphie away in the attic to prevent diavolo from finding out belphie wanted to destroy humanity - and face punishment that’s likely worse than death for it. lucifer relies on mammon the most, the one who he seems to be the strictest with. and honestly, i’d be strict too if the last time i rebelled against authority i lost my sister. lucifer is strict with them to protect them, to protect his family.

and i keep thinking about mammon who expressed to have no regrets following lucifer after the celestial war. about beel who sees it as his duty to follow and protect lucifer. about levi being introduced to anime and manga through lucifer.

it’s really no wonder that the way to lucifer’s heart is getting along with his family.

this is only the tip of the iceberg, and there’s so much more to say! but yeah, i think the sadist label is a huge mischaracterization.

[chaosinterlude]

just to clarify my point here… (^^;;

a sadist is someone who enjoys hurting others, derives significant pleasure from it. lucifer’s punishments do not come from a place of enjoyment or entertainment at the suffering of others, but (to him) from a place of necessity. he doesn’t enjoy giving out these punishments, as far as i know he’s always pissed off when he deals them out / has to deal them out, but he sees it as a necessary way to protect his family from stepping out of line too far and history repeating itself.

he doesn’t do it because he enjoys it. σ(^_^;)