The golden syrup incident seems to confirm that the brothers/Devildom as a whole still uses and reacts to pheromones. It seems like it could be an interesting thing to talk about in theory since humans no longer "have a use for" them, but perhaps awkward in practice?
oh boy that is interesting. Especially if you consider the reason why humans don't rely on smell (and the inverse of why demons do). It's not that our sense of smell is weaker - in fact it's quite strong. It's just that we're better at noticing and assimilating other sense info.
Humans can be very good at picking up micro-expressions, movements, body language, etc. Even unconsciously, we take in all of these cues to put together a person's 'vibe'. Some of us are better at it than others, but those of us sighted people can generally pick up on a person's mood (provided they're not going to any extreme lengths to hide it). And even without sight, we rely on other sensory info like hearing and touch.
But demon's can't really do that - especially with the lower 'classes'. After all, miasmic balls of lust or wrath probably don't pull too many faces. If they have faces to begin with. I'd take a stab and say the emotions some of those little d's are capable of are more basic - those that are associated with their sin, obviously, and maybe one or two others like sadness or happiness or anger. Thus the reliance on pheromones! Though that does bring up the interesting question of demon anatomy...
But I dropped out of med so if someone who knows anatomy better than I wants to take a stab please do.
[Image Description: A digital sketch of a brunette girl in a simple long white dress and black sash, hugging a befuddled God of Love by wrapping her arms around their neck. The God of Love visibly freezes at the touch, cheeks turning pink as their hand hesitates in the air. The only color in the sketch is the pink hair ribbon in the hair of the God's host, resting behind the God's right ear. End Description.]
My belated Christmas gift and early New Year's Gift to @partialdignity and @lunarimpact, courtesty of @panyum. Thankie for taking another comm request of mine, Pan. You're still my favorite FGO artist, and this looks amazing to me. Just, thankie.
To Carim and Chorus, well. Thankie for being friends with me in this past year. I hope we have more years together for a long while to come, and that Vy hugging your Assassin delivers that. I love you both platonically, so so much.
And well. Per my username, I have to have another story go with the art, right? With a song to accompany it too, even if I've heard it many times over.
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It wasn't hard to admit to herself that Vy wasn't perfect. No human being could really claim that they were perfect, because from birth and through living life one day at a time, personalities clashed with the world. People sometimes learned, people sometimes didn't.
Even then, when looking up at the God of Love that was Kamadeva, in spite of everything that had happened between them — why did you have to involve Novum Chaldea in your Ooku, why did you have to nearly turn Robin into a skeleton, why burn the world, where would it leave you — Vy still felt sympathy for the former Beast.
After all, not everyone was able to choose how they wanted to die. And Kama's legend in particular had a cruel death — an undeserved one. That wasn't even factoring in Rati, Kamadeva's spouse and consort, who screamed and cried at her husband's death and smothered herself in his ashes to curse Parvati forever. Kamadeva had only been doing the job the gods dealt them in awakening Shiva with their arrows— Shiva had no right to incinerate them the way they did. It was no wonder Kama wanted to lash out at the rest of the world for what Shiva and Parvati caused — Vy still couldn't meet one of her oldest contracted Lancers in eye contact after learning about all that. Sure, it didn't make Kama's scheming against Chaldea any less personal, but the reasons made it understandable, even if Vy couldn't empathize entirely with it.
And now, in Novum Chaldea, where they were surrounded by ghosts of old and former enemies, Vy looked up at the God of Love and made a decision.
"What is it, Master? Are you trying to play nice again, even when Humanity is still—"
"Kama, not to be rude, but is it okay if I could hug you?"
Assassin froze, mouth left open from Vy's sudden question as they blinked at her. "...What the hell are you spouting now?" left Kama in a soft, uncharacteristically raw voice, arms left barely extended in Vy's direction as they met her eyes with sheer disbelief. "A hug? For what?" Vy did her best not to flinch away at the broken laugh that left Kama's lips, only left watching as Kama held their stomach. "I nearly killed your beloved green Archer! I took your home away! Why hug someone like me when you and I both know we're ugly inside—"
"Because it feels like you deserve one," was all Vy could whisper back, interrupting Kama's tirade. "Because love to me isn't just about giving and taking, Kama. Ugliness or not. Corrupted or not."
Kama lowered their hands, inhaling shakily as their head barely bobbed up and down.
Vy wasn't sure if it was a nod, or, hell, if it was even a sign, but she took it anyways. She stood up on her tiptoes, gently wrapping her arms around the God's neck, and Kama froze yet again, muscles tensing underneath Vy's grip. "Vy..."
You used my name.
"I don't know how exactly to teach you about love," Vy murmured into Kama's ear, tightening the hug as she pressed herself against the Assassin's chest. "I don't even know how to consult a friend about love when I'm still figuring it out myself. I'm just a simple Vietnamese girl who wants to see her family again and help the people around her be happy. And for a God like you, who was hurt by the world around you, the least I can do is hug you and say, 'I care about you.' Because I do." Against her will, tears bud in the corners of her eyes and Vy did her best to smother them by resting her nose into Kama's shoulder. "Because even Gods deserve hugs too."
Kama didn't hug back. But the heat underneath Vy's arms was warm, real, and there. The person, the god Kama, in a human body, was there.
"...You are a foolish Master, Vy," was the eventual response that brushed Vy's ear, a cheek roughly bumping the side of her head once the words lingered in the air. "You are so, so foolish."
Ree, your Kamadev and Ratidevi art is sending me 💜
THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUU WAAAAAAAAAA DO U WANNA KNOW THE PROCESS!!!!!!!! OK SO I HAD LIKE 5 OR 6 DESIGNS FOR RATI IN THE WORKS I WAS LIKE bro. none of these are good enough AND THEN I GOT THAT ASK AND I WAS LIKE thats it its coming my brain is turning /on/ SO I WENT TO DRAW and the SPEED at which i drew these 3 designs is insane, it cured my art slump so now im on fire again DJNADJSNJDS
here’s an old rati wip and a vasanta wip i ended up disliking and revamping!!! there’s SO much to do with kamadeva’s iconography and their place in hinduism theres SO MUCH so i needed to b at my Best Inspiration Overdrive
4. If your favorite character isn’t an (un)datable, who is you favorite (un)datable? Why?, 10. Which Devilgram story has been your favorite?
From this ask game:
4. If your favorite character isn’t an (un)datable, who is you favorite (un)datable? Why?
I do pretty heavily favour the brothers, but Solomon is by far my favourite (un)datable! He has these insanely shady lines that come out of nowhere and there are times I'm questioning whether he's that oblivious or if he's really just fucking with everyone (made even more difficult by the fact that he clearly loves messing with people).
But when push comes to shove, he's reliable and clearly cares for MC, Asmo, and the Purgatory Hall crew. He's our fellow human, our troublesome mentor, and adds an interesting dynamic to whatever scene he's in.
10. Which Devilgram story has been your favorite?
This is a really tough one, because I have a lot of favourites that I replay regularly. I'm going to split my favourites into 'character development' and 'romance':
For Romance:
Movie Date (Mammon), A Party Just for Two (Barbatos), A Little Mermaid-ish (Leviathan), The Best Present Ever (Satan), Solomon the Researcher (Take a Guess)
For Character Development:
The Search for Self (Satan), Hide and Seek + Hatred (Belphegor), A Cup of Red Coffee (older bros), Say His Name (Beel), Uses for Gemstones (Luke)
I appreciate the cute event grams, but I also really like the ones that feel like missing scenes from the story. I think Belphie's Chapter A ones in particular add a lot to his character and to his relationship with MC.
First of all, fuck DW’s portrayal of Parvati. All the writers suck at portraying Parvati as she should be. They just suck at really writing the nuances of any of the Indian/Desi/Hindu mythos based servants. They lack the carefully cultivated personalities, the intricate backstories, the elaborate myths, and the respect these characters deserve.
Like just fucking admit that it’s Sakura COSPLAYING as the most powerful Goddess in Hinduism, the wife of Shiva, who is his equal in every way. She’s as terrifyingly powerful and destructive as he is, and as loving and motherly as the world needs her to be. She is Shakti incarnate, Sati reincarnated, Adishakti given flesh, etc etc etc. She’s not the soft oh no I had to borrow my husband’s trishula waifu that they want people to believe. She’s violent and temperamental, willing to make the whole world suffer because her husband fucked up a little.
Parvati is, and can be, one of the most terrifying women in all of mythology, but DW doesn’t have the cojones to do her fucking justice.
And it pisses me right the fuck off.
And do not get me fucking started on Karna or Arjuna.
Second of all, most everyone has kind of said what I feel about the event, so I’m not going to go into a big spiel about how the event’s story played out, or the depth of design and story telling, and so on and so forth. It was an interesting way to bring in the God of Love, and give him an outlet to be bitter and hurt, and to show his scars from being used by the Gods to get Shiva and Parvati together. Did they fuck up his story a little by putting all the blame on Parvati? Yes.
Yes, because it WASN’T Parvati who asked Kama to fire his arrows at Shiva, it was Indra. Parvati, in some cases, mourns the loss of Kama, for she is met with Rati who rages at her, who curses her. Who screams and cries and begs, begs for her beloved back. Because Kama has always been Rati’s destined one, her other half. And yes, they share a husband who is every bit a part of Rati’s heart and soul, but the focus tends to boil down to Rati.
Now that aside, the event was a lot. It was long, drawn out even, with so much grinding that I was clenching my jaw in frustration, but I enjoyed the story well enough. And I enjoyed seeing Kama, and interacting with Kama. And Lady Kasuga/Lady Tsubone was amazing. She was fierce and wonderful and just stole the show when she was around.
Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY
Super underrated characted! We are just judging appearance wise- which Beowfulf Hot Look at those Tiddies he can punch really hard as his NP and I think that's so badass of him. Also slicked back hair is appealing, it radiates confidence and a someone who you can rely on!
Reason he isn't higher on the list is simply because I wouldn't kiss him Romantically. I would like him as a friend and perhaps have a BBQ or something with him. He is the guy who would give me a friendly slap on the back and knock all the air out of my lungs. The sort of guy who I would bring allong when I'm going places because I can be safe with him AND would intimade any creeps if they would try to aproach me. I would love him as a really good friend.
