• Val • 27 • He/They • Primarily DMC, Spardacest enthusiast, will play in the sandbox with other fandoms from time to time. Pro fiction and anti censorship. We fuck with fictional incest here sorry Trigger-happy with the block button. Don't take it personally if you are @storytellering on twitter and bsky • Other links and commissions info • • Strawpage •
Hello! Didn’t expect to come back to posting to tumblr but welp, here I am ;;
I guess I’m gonna post my art here, right now my main focus lays with DMC and mostly, spardacest ships (DVN, DV, VN and DN interchangeably, with no strict dynamics) - that might change but for the time being! This is what I’m mostly going to post, if you were wondering where else to find me -
My Twitter
Links to all my other socials + comissions info
My INPRNT shop (for prints)
My acggoods store (for keychains, stickers, pins, standees, etc)
I'll gladly do so, anon!!
(TW for mpreg and discussion of birth + hybrid genitals and demonic biology shenanigans)
I do wanna say I went over it a tiny bit on this twitter thread here, however I didn't elaborate so that's what I'm gonna do here.
Like I said in there, my personal HC and play by play of what exactly happened changes depending on which story I'm playing with at the moment, and which biology I imagine for the Spardas for that specific verse - although the one version I like to think about the most is one where it was a natural birth, contrary to me depicting Vergil with a c section scar (like I said, it's mostly a neat visual to immediately get the point across that he's the birthing parent of Nero).
I think the gestation for the Spardas is primarily mammalian even though their demon forms are somewhat reptilian + bug like - I personally like to also pull from shark biology (given Vergil's hammerhead motif) to say their reproduction might be somewhat akin to ovoviviparous where the embryo forms in a sort of egg-like membrane first, which gets absorbed to form the placenta to continue a more traditional mammalian pregnancy.
It's also interesting to me to think that they might usually naturally eat their siblings in the womb the way sharks do (which, sidenote, wouldn't apply to DV bc I hc them to be not twins in the regular human sense, but literally two halves of the same soul, as in they generated from the same demonic embryo which split in half in Eva's womb because her body wouldn't withstand the pregnancy otherwise) - which would result in Nero being an only child + clearly being the strongest surviving young.
Sorry for the nerd out about biology lol I Cannot hold myself from it whenever talking about the Spardas and reproduction.
ANYWAY, to elaborate more specifically about Nero's birth: like I said, with that premise, it might look at least on the surface just like your standard mammalian live birth.
In practice though, I do imagine the pregnancy itself might have been very difficult and taxing on Vergil, given his generally precarious position in life at the moment, I don't suppose he was particularly well fed or able to care for himself with all the bells and whistles even a normal human pregnancy would require.
From the hints of demonic biology we see in canon, it's entirely possible the embryo would have competed with the mother for resources, leaving Vergil extremely run down and tired.
I imagine the birth, too, would not have been easy. He'd have been a scared teenager (18 at most given the timeline) on the run and functionally homeless, and knowing him and his circumstances it's extremely unlikely he sought any kind of medical help AND likely tried his best to hide his pregnancy (not wanting any kind of weakness to be exploitable), especially from Arkham. Even in the best of circumstances this is not a recipe for a walk in the park birth.
(continued in reblog bc it got too long)
I think it likely lasted at least several hours in labour, with him hiding out in whatever shelter he could find in Fortuna - a run down abandoned building, an alley, even a dumpster if he was strapped enough for somewhere to hide.
Nero would have at least the luck of being born dead in the night when it would've been harder to detect them.
I have this very specific image of the moment of his birth, actually, which I dunno how to necessarily rationalise it as much as it's just always been what I picture when I close my eyes and imagine it - that being, Vergil cowering in the corner of a deserted back alley, late at night, dead in winter with snow coming down.
He labours for hours, having to bite the scabbard of Yamato to keep quiet - knowing any minute now, any sound and the smell of his blood would alert demons - not just from pain of childbirth, but because I imagine Nero might be partially demonic upon birth, so there'd be scales and claws and horns catching in places and making it all the more difficult, and through all of it he has to keep quiet and stoic.
And then his pup is born, and he can only assess he's alive and well briefly, allow himself only a moment to groom and feed his spawn before wrapping him up in a black blanket and leaving him at the orphanage's doorstep, knowing a wailing infant would be a beacon to the legions hunting him.
Anyway yeah that's pretty much it uh. I have thought about this a normal amount. yeah.
Putting this in the same thread as well since I think the anon who asked was the same and the topic is similar enough!
(TW for mpreg, hybrid genitals, potentially ambiguous slight underage, noncon, sexual coercion/extortion, implied past underage sex work, mentioned abortion, just. well. the Arkham/Vergil dynamic as a whole)
So, as for DV baby Nero, I also have a few different threads I like to explore for this idea. But at the core is the idea that pack and parcel of Vergil's "deal" with Arkham, in some way, included some form of sexual favors.
I'm assuming Vergil wasn't new to the idea of using his body as currency or leverage - after all, he had to grow up on the run and on the streets. There's only so many ways a lone young man (and earlier, a boy) can get around, even one as strong and deadly as Vergil - so, when Arkham first approaches him to "aid his plans", he does expect something of the sort to be on the table. As far as he's aware, he can deal with it. He's done many things in the name of survival, and held on to his pride through all of it. Surely, scheming with a creepy old man with the ultimate goal of reclaiming his father's powers might come at a price he's willing to pay.
He's overconfident - he thinks, as Sparda's son, he always has the upper hand. There is nothing Arkham can do to him that he isn't willing to let happen, the moment he is truly indisposed he can just kill the old fool and get on with his life.
But of course, as we all know, Vergil was being very naive of Arkham and his manipulation.
I think he would have been boiled-frog'ing him the whole time to accept way more than he was comfortable with, all the while holding his cooperation + his expertise over his head as carrot and stick.
As for the reason he'd be doing this, that's the part where it's fun to speculate. Was Arkham doing all this just for sick kicks? To get off with the newest pretty young thing he could get his hands on? Was it a power kick to feel like he was subjugating something as powerful as a son of Sparda?
Or maybe it was never for pleasure's sake, maybe it was always all a ploy intended to impregnate Vergil to secure a fallback in case anything should happen in these plans.
After all, it's kind of what's implied to have happened with Lady too - that he never loved her mother in the first place, but rather the whole marriage was concocted on purpose so he would 1. have access to the Priestess's blood and 2. have a back up with her blood to use should anything happen to the original one (which it did, with his ritual failing). It's not far fetched to assume the moment he got Vergil sufficiently under his snare he immediately began trying to sow his seeds (literally).
Either way, either by accident or on purpose, Vergil ends up pregnant with Arkham's spawn.
In the first case, I think he might either realise about the pregnancy far too late to do anything about it, or decide to keep it under wraps exactly because he'd know Arkham wouldn't be Normal™ about it.
In the second case, it might be Arkham himself who makes it clear he intends Vergil to carry to term, as yet another chip to pay in order for their cooperation to work.
In this scenario, either way, I do think it would be more complicated how Vergil feels about the pregnancy. He would definitely consider getting rid of it, but I think ultimately he might go through with it entirely out of spite + that deep down desire I mentioned to no longer feel so alone and without family.
And once Nero is born, he'd feel vindicated looking at him - no matter Arkham's involvement in the spawn's creation, he's Vergil's and only Vergil's. A son of Sparda to belong with him only.
After that, him leaving Nero at the orphanage might play out either exactly the same as in the DV baby scenario, or it might be an intentional choice to not raise the baby, depending on the thread we want to explore.
Also, in either case, he would 100% know that keeping his child in Arkham's reach would be a Very bad idea.
Tbh I do want to add as a sidenote, I do hc this dynamic with Arkham to have happened regardless of whether Nero is his or Dante's baby.
I also imagine he might have treated Lady similarly, which honestly is part of why I don't like to make Lady too hostile to Vergil in a post-dmc5 verse.
Yes she would still be pissed about Artemis, but ultimately I think Lady and Vergil would have a quiet understanding/bonding over having had the same abuser.
Not necessarily saying they'd be the bestest of friends, just, there's nobody else but them that Gets It.
I'll gladly do so, anon!!
(TW for mpreg and discussion of birth + hybrid genitals and demonic biology shenanigans)
I do wanna say I went over it a tiny bit on this twitter thread here, however I didn't elaborate so that's what I'm gonna do here.
Like I said in there, my personal HC and play by play of what exactly happened changes depending on which story I'm playing with at the moment, and which biology I imagine for the Spardas for that specific verse - although the one version I like to think about the most is one where it was a natural birth, contrary to me depicting Vergil with a c section scar (like I said, it's mostly a neat visual to immediately get the point across that he's the birthing parent of Nero).
I think the gestation for the Spardas is primarily mammalian even though their demon forms are somewhat reptilian + bug like - I personally like to also pull from shark biology (given Vergil's hammerhead motif) to say their reproduction might be somewhat akin to ovoviviparous where the embryo forms in a sort of egg-like membrane first, which gets absorbed to form the placenta to continue a more traditional mammalian pregnancy.
It's also interesting to me to think that they might usually naturally eat their siblings in the womb the way sharks do (which, sidenote, wouldn't apply to DV bc I hc them to be not twins in the regular human sense, but literally two halves of the same soul, as in they generated from the same demonic embryo which split in half in Eva's womb because her body wouldn't withstand the pregnancy otherwise) - which would result in Nero being an only child + clearly being the strongest surviving young.
Sorry for the nerd out about biology lol I Cannot hold myself from it whenever talking about the Spardas and reproduction.
ANYWAY, to elaborate more specifically about Nero's birth: like I said, with that premise, it might look at least on the surface just like your standard mammalian live birth.
In practice though, I do imagine the pregnancy itself might have been very difficult and taxing on Vergil, given his generally precarious position in life at the moment, I don't suppose he was particularly well fed or able to care for himself with all the bells and whistles even a normal human pregnancy would require.
From the hints of demonic biology we see in canon, it's entirely possible the embryo would have competed with the mother for resources, leaving Vergil extremely run down and tired.
I imagine the birth, too, would not have been easy. He'd have been a scared teenager (18 at most given the timeline) on the run and functionally homeless, and knowing him and his circumstances it's extremely unlikely he sought any kind of medical help AND likely tried his best to hide his pregnancy (not wanting any kind of weakness to be exploitable), especially from Arkham. Even in the best of circumstances this is not a recipe for a walk in the park birth.
(continued in reblog bc it got too long)
I think it likely lasted at least several hours in labour, with him hiding out in whatever shelter he could find in Fortuna - a run down abandoned building, an alley, even a dumpster if he was strapped enough for somewhere to hide.
Nero would have at least the luck of being born dead in the night when it would've been harder to detect them.
I have this very specific image of the moment of his birth, actually, which I dunno how to necessarily rationalise it as much as it's just always been what I picture when I close my eyes and imagine it - that being, Vergil cowering in the corner of a deserted back alley, late at night, dead in winter with snow coming down.
He labours for hours, having to bite the scabbard of Yamato to keep quiet - knowing any minute now, any sound and the smell of his blood would alert demons - not just from pain of childbirth, but because I imagine Nero might be partially demonic upon birth, so there'd be scales and claws and horns catching in places and making it all the more difficult, and through all of it he has to keep quiet and stoic.
And then his pup is born, and he can only assess he's alive and well briefly, allow himself only a moment to groom and feed his spawn before wrapping him up in a black blanket and leaving him at the orphanage's doorstep, knowing a wailing infant would be a beacon to the legions hunting him.
Anyway yeah that's pretty much it uh. I have thought about this a normal amount. yeah.
I'll gladly do so, anon!!
(TW for mpreg and discussion of birth + hybrid genitals and demonic biology shenanigans)
I do wanna say I went over it a tiny bit on this twitter thread here, however I didn't elaborate so that's what I'm gonna do here.
Like I said in there, my personal HC and play by play of what exactly happened changes depending on which story I'm playing with at the moment, and which biology I imagine for the Spardas for that specific verse - although the one version I like to think about the most is one where it was a natural birth, contrary to me depicting Vergil with a c section scar (like I said, it's mostly a neat visual to immediately get the point across that he's the birthing parent of Nero).
I think the gestation for the Spardas is primarily mammalian even though their demon forms are somewhat reptilian + bug like - I personally like to also pull from shark biology (given Vergil's hammerhead motif) to say their reproduction might be somewhat akin to ovoviviparous where the embryo forms in a sort of egg-like membrane first, which gets absorbed to form the placenta to continue a more traditional mammalian pregnancy.
It's also interesting to me to think that they might usually naturally eat their siblings in the womb the way sharks do (which, sidenote, wouldn't apply to DV bc I hc them to be not twins in the regular human sense, but literally two halves of the same soul, as in they generated from the same demonic embryo which split in half in Eva's womb because her body wouldn't withstand the pregnancy otherwise) - which would result in Nero being an only child + clearly being the strongest surviving young.
Sorry for the nerd out about biology lol I Cannot hold myself from it whenever talking about the Spardas and reproduction.
ANYWAY, to elaborate more specifically about Nero's birth: like I said, with that premise, it might look at least on the surface just like your standard mammalian live birth.
In practice though, I do imagine the pregnancy itself might have been very difficult and taxing on Vergil, given his generally precarious position in life at the moment, I don't suppose he was particularly well fed or able to care for himself with all the bells and whistles even a normal human pregnancy would require.
From the hints of demonic biology we see in canon, it's entirely possible the embryo would have competed with the mother for resources, leaving Vergil extremely run down and tired.
I imagine the birth, too, would not have been easy. He'd have been a scared teenager (18 at most given the timeline) on the run and functionally homeless, and knowing him and his circumstances it's extremely unlikely he sought any kind of medical help AND likely tried his best to hide his pregnancy (not wanting any kind of weakness to be exploitable), especially from Arkham. Even in the best of circumstances this is not a recipe for a walk in the park birth.
(continued in reblog bc it got too long)
Hey Val!! Just creeping into your asks to tell you that I absolutely loved all your artworks for the Spardacest Cafe summer event!!! You are so immensely talented, it's always a delight to see your work and get lost in all the little details ♥
Ahhhhh thank you so much 🥺🥺🥺 your tags have been a pleasure to read for sure, I really really appreciate it!!! 🫶🫶🫶🫶
feeling so vindicated that theres other people who believe the Nero is a VD baby agenda.. i mean hes Literally their colors. i always just assumed he was manifested from ritual gone wrong stuff with the temen-ni-gru and their blood mixing up and yknow. plus hes so clearly meant to be more demon with his devil bringer, i just figured he was an egg baby that vergil was incubating for a while and then had to ditch in order to continue with his (basically) suicide plan. sighh i love your art too, you get it.. you get itt!!!
Thank you anon!
Well, I specifically like Nero as a DV baby the most, haha. Nothing against him as a VD baby as a concept at all (after all it's a sister idea to the reverse, and it is a thought I played with too earlier in my days in this fandom), I just find it so emotionally poignant to think of Vergil giving birth to him.
But I'm glad to see other people agree!
Personally I have my own reasons to want to consider Nero more demon than a quarter (it saddens me a bit when people class him off as "a quarter" and then imply he's less powerful, less demonic, less "other" than the twins... basically putting him off into a box all by himself, where he is not demon enough to be on the same playing field as DV, but still not human enough to be just a simple human. that's just too sad to me, part of what I love about Nero's story is his eventually finding community/belonging in his identity as part demon, and the thesis itself of DMC keeps beating you over the head with the fact that "demon" and "human" mean nothing ultimately when it comes to being good people or doing the right thing or feeling emotions, you can always choose to do good and choose to love and care even if you're a "demon", and you can still do horrible demonic shit if you're a "human". Also DF literally all but spells out that Nero is just as strong as the twins if not more, he just needs a bit more time to bake lol), but the logical conclusion to get there /is/ that he is not born from another human.
THATS SO REAL ANON... I'll see "Nero's mother" or his birth referenced and in my brain I just automatically assume it's about Vergil and have to take a step back to Remember. Everyone's interpretation is valid ofc but it's just so genuinely canon To Me
yes! mDmV/mVmD stands for reboot DV/VD (the 2013 ninja theory DmC game), the m is because in the acronym for that game the m is lowercase, unlike og dmc where it's either all lowercase or all uppercase! so it stands for (lowercase m)D/(lowercase m)V (and vice versa)
Thank you, anon!! I 100% agree, there's something so compelling about their dynamic, them being so opposite yet so similar and codependent and complimentary, it's like they're less two characters and more two halves of one person, it really goes crazy.
Like it's unfathomable to me to ship them alone with another character, because them being involved with each other feels like it's just part of the text, and then anyone else is a plus AND to some degree, will be shared by both stamatins. 3 (and 1 later down the line) really opened my eyes to shipping them because when I only played 2 they didn't really catch my attention hgjfgd.
I'm not actively hyperfixating on patho rn but I do think of them often and I'll probably be back and do more art sometime, it's a franchise I keep having cyclical bursts of obsession with haha.
If anyone's noticed, I've been in a really gorey mood lately, haha. These pieces aren't necessarily all connected, but I think they look nice all grouped up! For any fellow gore whores interested, you can get any of the merch pictured in my store, link here🫀
Also as an extra sidenote, while acgoods is where you can get merch of my art, for any and all prints of pretty much anything I've ever posted you can get those off of my INPRNT, which has pretty frequent sitewide sales!
