oh, I don't know?

Thinking about the moment in DMC5 when Dante reveals to Nero that Vergil is his father.

I don't think the fandom really talks about that moment all too much, at least on my corner of the internet, because it's such common knowledge that Vergil is, without a doubt, Nero's father.

But in the game verse, there'd been no hint, no tell that Vergil was even remotely connected to Nero in the slightest until DMC5, outside of appearance. There might have been something here and there in DMC4 tho, but don't quote me I haven't played that game in forever.

Either way, I think about Nero's shock a lot. I mean, the way he grew up within the religious teachings of the City of Fortuna, of course he hid his devil arm all his life, whatever, yada yada, he's a one of a kind up until the events of dmc4 where suddenly this powerhouse of a man shows up and shoots the high priest ?? And he kind of sort of looks like Nero ??

Like, genuinely, regardless of how Nero and Dante's relationship unfolded between the events of dmc4 and 5, I really think Nero wholeheartedly thought Dante was his father. And who could blame him, tho. They have very similar wit, they look alike, since Dante is literally Vergil's twin, and they have similar (relatively) fighting styles. And Dante is the only one who could even remotely relate to Nero on both a biological and emotional level imo.

I'm sure a lot of people thought the same before it was revealed to be Vergil as the father instead. Which would make sense as a plot twist with everything leading up to the moment.

But idk, I just don't think the fandom talks about Nero wanting Dante to be his dad so bad just for Dante to drop the bomb that Vergil, the man who literally sliced off his arm, is his father instead. In Nero's shoes, i'd pray to everything that could have been listening for Dante to be my dad too, instead of Vergil.

I like to think that, besides the obvious, it's also a source of Nero's anger toward Vergil. Like ofc he has the feeling of "YOU of all people are my father??" Bcs omg big bad, but at the same time I think that thought also can come down to something along the lines of "I wish I had a different father" but not on a good vs evil thing; just on an emotional preference for Dante instead, even if in-verse these things aren't said or really shown ofc but I like to think Nero was utterly devastated at finding out Dante was, in fact, not his father the way he thought he could have been.

This is the main Trio, I haven't made proper reference doodles, like below, for the other two yet but I'm gonna figure it out eventually LOL

The guy below is the one all the way on the right in the above picture :)

Some lore: He's a Vampire(long story) and been floating around since the og Vaqueros were starting up in the early Wild West

Here's Shane !! He reminds me of a hamster ngl LMAO my next post should be his race car and what that looks like.

Is there anything you guys want to see for this au?

If you have anything you want to see or want to know about this au, do send questions in my asks :))

I think Shane is a little more confident in himself. Considering he doesn't have the weight of captain on his shoulders, he's able to just worry about himself and his rep yk. As well as I think wearing his gear/helmet gives him some kind of anonymity esp. when he's just a nobody rookie at the start of his career before climbing up the ranks.

Typical golden boy of racing, rookie number 24 coming in hot for the dirt racing scene. Definitely still a raging closeted homosexual to where it's visually painful tho LOL

Ilya is a little more quick to anger especially how much more competitive the racing scene can be (imo) I think he'd definitely get super heated. Especially if he had been sitting pretty in first place, even coming up on the car in last place for most of the A-Main race, just for some mfs in middle of the pack to crash and everyone has to slow down and go back in place. And then once the green flag waves, whoever was in second place somehow manages to fly by him and take the win for the feature race 🙄 personally, youd see me in the news the next day cause ain't no WAY I'd let that fly let alone would Ilya fucking Rosanov let it fly 💀 so I definitely think he'd try throwing hands with the winner.

He'd also be the driver that throws his steering wheel out the car when he crashes and needs to be pulled into the infield to get checked out before deciding if he's good to keep racing or not

Most of their story though I think would be relatively the same off the track. The rivalry everyone knows about; the shit talking, the seggsy times post races, the terrible communication, etc. etc. they're terrible at talking in all universes because what the fuck guys

Back again Hollanov nation !! Just as promised, here is Ilya in his racing suit plus a closer look at his helmet for the Boston Raiders.

Ilya's sponsor is the hockey team, as it's not unheard of for other sports to promote themselves on race car drivers for any reason. Although, not too common in The Outlaws but its ok, it's my au and I make the rules ✨

Ps. Ilya in my mind would totally have skeleton gloves, I don't make the rules

I think it was a hard flip, caught on a lip of the dirt/clay track or maybe even clipped Marlow's(is that how you spell his name?) car (or he ran into Shane) and Shane bounced hard on his front then slammed into the fence/guard rail on his left before rolling onto his top. Prolly popped a tire, like the front left or smth, and maybe even fucked up the fender or axle. Depending on how hard he hit the side, maybe even fucked up the engine idk.

Not sure, but maybe Marlow ran into him on top of that, on accident, naturally. Maybe. Either way, slammed into Shane when he was already down and jostled the hell out of his car. Idk but Shane gets injured somehow this way and prolly also got the wind knocked out of him. Sure, you can only go so fast in a 600cc sprint car but this is my au and I need plot convenience.

All the cars emergency stop, red flags waving as the pit crew rush out to get him up and on his tires again. Clearly, he's out for the rest of the race, unknown for the season yet but he's prolly not doing to good. Those straps in race car seats are no joke. They may save your life but the bruising they could leave is crazyyyy

Ilya, the local lowkey somewhat sort of hothead, unstraps himself immediately and climbs out his car and rushed to Shane's car, tryna help crew flip it back over. Even though, the crew can do it with ease cause the car is only maybe like 900-1klbs max. But fuck that, doesnt matter to Ilya in the slightest.

Shane, wind knocked from him is pulled from his car and rushed off the track and to the pits for medical attention and Ilya lowkey is tweaking and the crew gotta get him back in his car to finish the race and the entire time ilya is just freaking out Abt whats going on with Shane 🫡

For the record; for this au, I'm not talking about asphalt racing. I'm making this au straight from my own experiences with micro-sprint cars. Although, I personally never raced them myself, despite it definitely have been a dream when I was a kid, my father, my grandfather and my great grandfather, were all race car drivers in their own right and I grew up attending local micro-sprint car dirt races with my dad and grandfather.

So this au means a lot to me and I really want to make it something in my corner of the internet. Currently attending another sprint car race tonight with my dad and had gone to the opening night just last night.