#I’ve been thinking for quite a while with what louis has been saying and which lyrics are confirmed and even the George Michael green eye | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nalyra-dreaming · 4 months

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Hello! Interested in your encyclopaedic knowledge on this. Skim-rereading the VC now for first time since I was a teenager and have to ask - does Louis ever, like - do anything for Lestat? This prompted particularly by TOTBT which my god is so savage. I can’t believe he’s happy to just… let him die?!? He doesn’t lift a finger, he doesn’t even try to protect him? It’s IWTV all over again, only supposedly their relationship is much better by this point.

It got me looking for examples where Louis does anything whatsoever proactive for Lestat and I’m really struggling. At the end of QotD, it seems like lots of the other vamps are trying to look after traumatised Lestat a bit, but I don’t think Louis comes to him? He just wanders off to New Orleans? Maybe I’ve missed a bit though. He looks after him a bit in his coma? Although not moreso than anyone else. But in the end it is Lestat who ends up waking up to save Louis. Even that bit in PLaTRoA where Lestat is about to have his heart stopped - Louis sitting next to his coffin - but Lestat reaches out to take Louis’ hand, not the other way round. Aside from verbally saying that he loves him, other than being generally nice and calm and polite, does Louis ever do anything to show it?

Hey nonny!

(Not sure about the encyclopedic but I‘ll try 😅💕) I do see a lot of the mentioned events a bit differently, allow me to explain (this is gonna be long^^):

Soooo to address your mention of TtotBT first off, I personally do think Louis thought of Lestat first and foremost when he sent him away in that scene.

Louis was tempted. It's no surprise imho that Jacob really wants to do that scene with Sam, because the power dynamics are inverted of course, but it is also emotionally very raw.

I want to pause here and recall a quote from QotD here, which is important:

Louis, the watcher, the patient one, was there on account of love pure and simple. The two had found each other only last night, and theirs had been an extraordinary reunion. Louis would go where Lestat led him. Louis would perish if Lestat perished. But their fears and hopes for this night were heartbreakingly human.

Louis... would perish if Lestat perished.

For Louis to send Lestat away... is to resign himself to death also. I think that has to be taken into account for the scene you mentioned, where Louis decides that Lestat deserves to save his soul, before Louis himself deserves to save his own. His rejection of Lestat there is done in full knowledge that he condemns himself there to a very lonely, cold, and ultimately fatal existence. He rejects Lestat there, knowing he will lose his greatest love.

I wouldn't call that happy to let him die? And I, personally, don't see it as a parallel to IWTV either, though it might feel a bit like that for Lestat, but the Louis here knows how much this will hurt. He knows what he is doing. He is condemning himself, hoping it will free Lestat.

And, while we're on TtotBT, in the beginning of the book there is the mention of Louis coming by Lestat's, to 'Netflix & chill', to share space and spend time, watch movies (for example "Company of the wolves", just being there. Talk. Discuss. Being together. So Louis did come by, for Lestat. And Lestat visited Louis, in his shack, had his own chair there. They were in each other's lives.

And... in the end of that book - when David show's up? What does Louis do? He takes David in. Makes room for David in their old home in Rue Royale. Accepts David - for Lestat. Accompanies them, too. Honestly, given David is David... that is a HUGE sacrifice! He let's David, the new fledgling, into their home. Because he is Lestat's. Later on, in PL, he will do the same for Antoine, which is obviously something that had to grate quite a lot as well, and I have always seen that as a rather conscious decision to allow it. To allow Antoine into their lives, because he is Lestat's.

Louis also tries to protect Lestat before the concert.

I know a lot of people read that from Lestat's POV and are just happy with the reunion (and of course it is beautiful and I really want to see it on the show!!) but... it's not only that.

Louis comes, to Lestat, not only because he can do so. But he pleads for Lestat to stay safe, too, to not do the concert. Because he is afraid for Lestat. He wants to keep him safe, wants to keep him with himself, too. He pleads with him not to go on stage. Offers to talk, to make plans, to 'Let us have each other in this century the way we never did in the past'.

You mentioned the end of QotD, and... in their universe, all that happens right after this reunion. A few days, a week at most. And then Lestat hides himself away again, in a room, trying to cope. Because he has been used again, abused, too, in a way he himself can only cope with by reframing it as love.

Louis knows it isn't. Wasn't. And he knows that he and Lestat cannot talk freely with the others there. He and Lestat are not able to use the mind gift directly. And... he is deeply unsettled by Jesse's report, the report she gives Lestat. Claudia's ghost. Deeply, deeply personal and something they share, very painfully. They go by Louis' tombstone, and then they can talk. A bit. Louis trusts Lestat and in his new powers. Falls asleep in his arms.

And that... is a rather powerful statement.

Louis (admittedly begrudgingly) enters that "adventure" with Lestat, fully trusting in Lestat. Kissing, embracing. Sleeping in his arms. It's a statement.

A statement that, despite Lestat feeling changed, and alien, that Louis still trusts him. Trusts in him, too.

And it is Louis, who tries to take Lestat home in Memnoch, Louis who pleads, begs for Lestat to be released. Louis who cries out when Lestat is locked up. Louis is the one who saves the books, Louis is the one who tries to comfort Lestat. Louis is the one who holds the proverbial fort at Rue Royale, with David, for long, long years. Louis is the one who despairs, eventually, when Lestat goes back into that half-awake coma, his soul taken away by angels.

Though there is more to that, too. You say Louis did not look after Lestat more than others, and I'd beg to differ. Louis was the one in the chapel, guarding Lestat. Holding his ground with the ancients, and the riff raff that Armand hunted down (even once with Lestat later). Louis is the one who keeps Ruy Royale, and makes sure Lestat is kept clean during his episodes of stillness, and it is only when he breaks, eventually, when Merrick takes his focus... that that... stops. When the Merrick events start, David visits Lestat, and Louis is 'there, seated on the marble beside Lestat, reading in a hushed voice from an old book of English poetry'.

Louis never leaves Lestat's side for long. Armand notes how he seems emaciated, hungry when Armand comes by in his version of the tale.

It is only when Merrick's spell unfolds that Louis leaves Lestat's side, that his focus shifts. And with the shift to Claudia and her ghost... the despair takes hold.

And it is when Louis heartbeat stops - that the "angels" lose their blackmailing material.

Lestat later tells of how he was forced to do "their bidding" by them threatening to take the eye... and though he doesn't elaborate... it is very clear what that means wrt Louis.

Because there simply was nothing else they could threaten him with anymore. Nothing else was more important than Louis. Not his eye, not his soul.

This always sends a shiver down my spine.

But that just as a note.

Louis is the one who accepts Lestat's judgment, after Merrick's creation.

He also accepts Lestat abandoning New Orleans, eventually, because Lestat cannot stand it anymore to kill the riff raff, those who "offend Armand", something Lestat calls "autocratic, ruthless" wrt to Armand's killing of them.

Louis accepts Lestat's decision there, and goes to Armand. Something that Lestat in turn accepts and supports(!):

My beloved Louis de Pointe du Lac left soon after, and from that time on lived in New York with Armand. Armand keeps the island of Manhattan safe for them—Louis, Armand, and two young blood drinkers, Benjamin and Sybelle, and whoever else joins them in their palatial digs on the Upper East Side.

And when Lestat is finally ready, it is Louis who apologizes to Lestat for the "past" by hunting a woman who wanted to murder her husband - in front of Lestat.

Personally, I find that a very poignant "doing-it-for-someone" :)))

But there is more.

Louis is the one who rescues Rose! Rose, Lestat's charge. Louis knows about Rose. Lestat's lawyers know about Louis. Louis takes over when Lestat is unreachable.

There is so much in these simple facts!

Like, they must have talked about Rose. Louis knows about Rose, knows she is important to Lestat, he takes the responsibility, saves her from fire, kills the ones who harmed her. Brings her to him. And he is the one Lestat's lawyers reach out to when Lestat is gone? Unreachable? What a statement is that in and by itself?! Louis is the one Lestat trusts with that child, the girl he saved and who will become his immortal daughter. Their immortal daughter.

And then, when Rhosh is there in NYC, at that table, and the axe scene happens... what does Louis do?

He smiles.

Now I don't know if you know that scene well, but it is quite the scene, and I honestly cannot wait to see it on the show.

And Louis... smiles. Shows support.

Quiet. Steadfast. The support Lestat needs, probably more than he consciously realizes.

And then, of course, later on - knowing what "Lestat cannot confide". They are finally sharing blood again, and Louis becomes Lestat's confidant. To all the things Lestat cannot speak about, all the things he has hinted at but cannot put into words. All the things that are too heavy to address.

That is no trifle.

And the silver cord, where Louis pushes the matter against Lestat's (not) better judgement. Where Louis is there, for Lestat to reach out.

Your ask made it seem (a bit) as if being there and offering is not sufficient, but strength shows itself in very different ways. Lestat is more direct, "flashy". Louis' strength is more subtle, it is an offer for support, unwavering support, whenever Lestat wants it. For as long as Lestat wants it. Not taking agency from Lestat, which is like the worst thing that could happen again... because that is something that has been taken from Lestat again, and again, and again. And Louis knows that.

And so he doesn't.

He doesn't take. He offers. It shows he knows Lestat. And he accepts him, and their respective pasts, and all the shit that has happened.

Again, that is no trifle, imho.

There is more. Little mentions, in the books.

A "grotto" they once shared. For example. Louis wearing the clothes Lestat chooses.

But for the most part you have to "read between the lines" as Lestat says, for the juicy details - however, I think when you consider the arcs? The arcs that span all the books?

The things we are told actually speak for themselves, imho.

Louis does a lot of things for Lestat. The important things, actually.

He is there for Lestat to turn to when Lestat's strength fails.

And yes, that includes the rejection in TtotBT - because Louis thought he had to be the one to show the strength for Lestat - to hold fast to the initial belief. The initial hope that drove the body switch - because Lestat had just found out he could not die anymore. Even if he tried. And he had tried. And it had sent him spiraling.

Would Louis have held out indefinitely? Probably not :) But that's another discussion.

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twopoppies · 3 months

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https://www.tumblr.com/awesomefringey/741478697231646720/about-louis-bodyguard-on-tour

Hi Gina,

He has been in this for long and says that he is quitting now because of the reasons he mentioned that he does not booze or don’t wanna cheat on his wife or girlfriend.. may be because i follow the people i follow I’ve never seen anything of this sort of comments from people involved in HL team and always thought at least regarding HL that they chose a lifestyle or have certain borders which they kind of align to.. but do you think that HL going away for so long from home or from each other still choose to be faithful for each other??? Is it practically possible.. am not only asking this because you are big blog for HL but because I’ve seen you mentioning that you worked in industry am not sure what was the scope of it or how long to know the details of it…. Yea like is it all head canon in my head or do you think there is 1% of truth from what we see!!

Well, the latest turn of events is that people think Joni’s comments are connected to the rumors about Matt Vines. Joni specifically said he wasn’t talking about Louis and that he highly respects him.

Having worked in that industry as well the film industry, nothing he’s alluding to is a surprise. People who travel for a living often play fast and loose with their morals (there’s often a sort of “what happens on the road stays on the road” kind of attitude). Throw in a lot of money and power plus and endless supply of attractive people wanting to be close to someone in your circle, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. But Joni has known Louis for a very long time and has only ever spoken of him with the highest praise.

We know nothing of Harry and Louis’ real lives. However, my sense of them from their interviews and songwriting is that honesty, communication, and loyalty are all a big deal to them. While I would imagine they’ve had breakups and fights, and may have been with other people if they broke up for a time, I just don’t imagine either of them cheating on each other.

As for their crews when they’re on the road? They can only do so much. We know, for example, Louis was very quick to let his previous photographer go when allegations came out that he had assaulted models he photographed. But someone cheating on their spouse might not be a reason to let someone go (and if it’s his manager, that’s a whole other kettle of fish).

#louis’ crew #Louis’ bodyguard #music industry

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daisiesonafield-blog · 1 year

Text

Louis Tomlinson is sequestered in the executive boardroom of a swanky hotel in suburban London, and is treating it the way a pupil might a classroom when the teacher’s popped out. He’s leaning back on his chair, feet up on a radiator, hands clasped behind his head and a cigarette on the go. “All right?” he says, grinning impishly.

Despite huge global success with One Direction (70 million albums sold), which prompted a fanaticism that made Beatlemania look tame, he seems remarkably unaffected and far more normal than one might expect from someone with 35.8 million Twitter followers. He’s a 31-year-old so unassumingly bloke-next-door that the bloke next door wouldn’t look twice.

“I’ve always had a problem with ‘ego’,” he says, “and I’ve always been worried about being one of those people in the public eye who just loses all sense of reality, and becomes an arsehole.” As if by way of explanation, he adds: “I’m from Doncaster.”

And so while his former 1D bandmate Harry Styles, a superstar, floats through life like the fashion world’s favourite clothes horse, Tomlinson kits himself out in JD Sports: Kappa T-shirt, black sweatpants, Adidas socks, scuffed trainers. When he tells you he often frequents his local pub unmolested, you believe him.

“If someone does come up after an hour to ask for a selfie, I won’t say no and I won’t run away,” he says, “’specially if I’m three pints deep!”

Of the five members of 1D, Tomlinson has had the slowest start to a solo career. There are compelling reasons for this — family tragedy for one — but he’s also had to figure out who he is without the band around him. “With this job,” he says, “there’s so much room for overthinking, you know? Someone from the record label will tell you they like your stuff, but you find yourself thinking: yeah, but do they? It’s the fans that help you really believe in yourself.”

In the band, Zayn Malik had the best voice and Styles had the best everything else. While the other three — Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan — were hardly driftwood, each has nevertheless had to dig deep to carve out a solo persona that would compel beyond the bubble.

“I do miss the boys,” he says, “and I do definitely miss being one of the five, but I like doing my own thing too. It was time.”

It’s a bright winter’s day, and the man in sports casual is enjoying special dispensation here in the hotel: permission to light up. Had this been denied, there might well have been a problem, for Tomlinson chain-smokes with the wild abandon of Mad Men’s Don Draper.

After the release of his second solo album, Faith in the Future, in November, he adds another necessary notch in the belt of any self-respecting pop star next month: the documentary. All of Those Voices is a routine behind-the-scenes look at 21st-century celebrity but stands out for the multiple crises of confidence Tomlinson feels any time he’s not on stage.

“This is a confidence game for anyone,” he says earnestly, “and there’s been plenty of moments of vulnerability throughout the entire process.” An overriding concern of the documentary is not just whether people would be interested in him, but whether they’d take him, someone discovered on a TV talent show, seriously.

When Styles won his Grammy awards this month — he collected two and won four Brits — he used his acceptance speech to say that “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often”. This was swiftly ridiculed across social media because of course white men tend to win quite a lot. But what he likely meant was that it doesn’t happen to the product of manufactured boy bands, many of whom have the use-by date of a pint of milk.

“Only Harry knows what he means there, it’s hard to speculate,” Tomlinson says, “but we all came from relatively humble beginnings, and now we are where we are.”

But while Styles is a once-in-a-generation talent and knows it, his erstwhile bandmates — and this one in particular — need convincing.

Louis Tomlinson comes from a big family — his mother, Johannah Deakin, married twice and had seven children — and was a hopeful child actor before in 2010 auditioning for The X Factor. This is where 1D were created, “masterminded” by Louis Walsh. Deakin, who had Tomlinson when she was 19, was his biggest fan and they’d always been close. When, for example, Tomlinson lost his virginity, it was she he told first, not his friends.

In 2016, a year after One Direction split, she died from leukaemia, aged 42. Two years later, his 18-year-old sister, Félicité, who’d been struggling to get over her mother’s death, accidentally overdosed on cocaine, painkillers and an anxiety drug. The combined loss hit him hard. Aside from the single he wrote about his mother’s passing, 2020’s Two of Us, his mourning has been largely private.

He squints through a veil of cigarette smoke. “Some of the things that have happened recently have been quite drastic, yeah, but then so much in my life seems to have been pretty extreme, one way or the other.” In 2016, at the age of 25, a brief relationship with a Californian stylist, Briana Jungwirth, resulted in a son. “There’ve been challenging times, definitely. It’s funny, but I couldn’t even tell you how many years ago my mum passed, I just blank it out. But for the first 18 months, I’d take any form of bad luck personally. I’d feel every tiny thing. But now I genuinely feel I’ve come out the other side. I feel more empathy for everything and everyone these days.”

After his 2020 debut album, Walls, failed to set the world alight, Tomlinson called time on his relationship with Simon Cowell. “It was mostly amicable,” he says, nodding. “Simon always had my best interests at heart, and I liked him. He had his faults of course, like all of us, but it was always inevitable I’d have to go off and do my own thing.”

His new record, then, was a leap into the unknown and he elected to write not with professional songwriters but rather fellow creative artists: Theo Hutchcraft from the band Hurts, Joe Cross from the Courteeners and the singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow. “And that was a big difference, huge. These are people who live and breathe music. It’s the first time I felt really comfortable doing my own stuff, you know?”

Previously he’d been encouraged to sing like a nice young pop star should, without regional inflection. “When I was in the band,” he says, “working with professional songwriters whose entire aim was to write the hit single, they’d tell me that singing in my natural accent wasn’t commercial. Sorry, but what a shit idea! Who wants to sound like everybody else? I dumbed down a little bit in the band, because you do, but I’ve learnt who I am now.”

The album, which has its inspiration firmly in early Noughties indie, sounds more Kaiser Chiefs than One Direction. A risk, then. But when it came out, it debuted at No 1. While this did wonders for his confidence, it’s clear from the documentary that he still needs people — a support group — around him. He actively courts the friendship of his touring band, not necessarily a given among solo pop stars, and he seems almost always sociable. It’s when he’s not up for group activity that people worry. There’s a revealing moment in the documentary of him having just appeared on James Corden’s US talk show. Backstage Corden, an old friend, pleads with him not to go quiet on him afterwards. “You vanish, you change your number, no one knows [where you are],” he says.

Until recently Tomlinson lived in London with his long-term girlfriend, the model Eleanor Calder, but recent reports suggest they’ve split up and he’s dating another model, Sofie Nyvang. Life, clearly, is complicated. Perhaps that’s why he smokes so much. He says, though, that he feels finally relieved of the myriad pressures that once clung to being a pop star whose fanbase was predominantly teenage. Such as?

“Well, being a role model for one. I never wanted that. I always had to worry whether it was OK if, say, I was seen here or if I could get away with smoking a joint there, before concluding: hmm, probably not. But I never wanted to be the perfect pop star, especially in the climate of Instagram. I don’t want to put an artificial world out there. I think it’s important that people see your scars, your flaws.”

It’s never easy growing up in public and Tomlinson had no choice. “When One Direction split up,” he says, “I was mortified, I was absolutely gutted. I was a bit bitter, I suppose because it just felt like another loss to me. But I’ve a better understanding of things now, and there’s not as much anger. It is what it is.

“Getting back together at some point is hard to imagine right now,” he continues, “but I’d be surprised if we lived out our lives and didn’t have a moment where we had a reunion, or whatever you want to call it. I’d be up for that.”

When I ask what it’s like watching Styles’s ascendance into the biggest star of his generation — something that might delay such a reunion — he blows out a long plume of smoke.

“Well, it’s not a surprise is it? We were always aware that Harry fit that mould, and it’s been an amazing thing to watch. Envy? At the start maybe, when I was trying to find my feet, but it’s never healthy to cross-reference your own success with others is it? These days I’m learning to elevate myself in those moments when I have to. I didn’t know how to do that before, but now? Now I know I f***ing can.” All of Those Voices is in cinemas from March 22, allofthosevoices.com

-Full article. Feb 23 2023. Link here. Free link here.

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hekateinhell · 1 year

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this is from a while ago but you mention on that poll about armand's love interests you have a few different ways you interpret the blood communion speech armand gives lestat about loving him. i'm curious what your takes are, if you don't mind sharing :) as a daniel/armand shipper, i've always read a lot into the fact daniel isn't name-dropped - as though he's an exception or what they have is something more than just love... though the out of universe explanation is probably just he was forgotten (also apologies if you answered this before and i missed it)

Actually, I know I talk about Lestat and Armand a lot and I've certainly spoken about that scene plenty, but I don't think I've broken down my various interpretations in post form before. I don't mind sharing but remember, you asked! ♥️

I have four basic interpretations, the first of which I use for meta purposes and the others for headcanons/fic as needed.

Interpretation 1: Armand does love Lestat the most. This is the canon read and the one I default to because it's quite literally in the text. I know with VC we tend to selectively 'read between the lines' (I'm guilty as hell), but there's also times where Anne meant exactly what she wrote and I do find it extremely consist with Armand's characterization up to this point.

I'm not saying it's necessarily a healthy love, or even a romantic one though! In my opinion, it's at least in part related to the fact that Lestat's almost always present when Armand's going through some of the most traumatic events in his life (neither of them exhibit anything close to a healthy attachment style). Because these are not two mutually exclusive things, I do tend to read them as having more of an all encompassing, soul-connection type of love. Both can be true.

From 'does anyone else know the size of your soul?' to 'in my wanderings, I always return to you' to 'I have loved you more than any being in all the world whom I’ve ever loved' -- Armand simply does not talk to or about anyone else like this in canon. The depth and intensity of Armand's love for Lestat has been a very persistent thread since TVL through to BC and it seems to be rooted in a genuine passion and appreciation for Lestat's character, flaws and all (because oh boy, can Armand list them all or what?).

I adore them as a ship, but this is not the scene in BC that has me kicking my little legs with glee (honestly, I find it tragic for all involved):

“Fool,” he said again. His voice was roughened now by emotion he couldn’t suppress. “I have always loved you,” he said. “I have loved you more than any being in all the world whom I’ve ever loved. I have loved you more than Louis. I have loved you more even than Marius. And you have never given me your love. I would be your most faithful counselor, if you allowed it. But you don’t. Your eyes pass over me as if I don’t exist. And so they always have.”

“I hate you as much as I have ever loved you,” he said. [...]. I understand the very definition of ‘hate’ when I think of you.” ~ Armand, BC

Like, it's heartbreaking! I don't want this like this! Your ask is related to Armand's POV and I've already posted at length how the text (and Anne) very clearly states that Lestat does, in fact, love Armand very much so I won't get into that further here, but... yeah, yikes. I want better for Armand, I want Louis. 🤧

I'm sad now.

Interpretation 2: Armand does not love Lestat more than Louis, Marius, (or Daniel). This seems to be the more popular read and I totally get why, and I can work with it in theory!

If Armand wanted to shock Lestat back to life and into reacting and doing something about the situation, throwing Louis's and Marius's names around seems like a decent bet. Loving Louis and Marius deeply is something that Lestat can understand, it's something he and Armand have in common; it's yet another thing that bonds them together for better or worse.

Daniel isn't anyone particularly special to Lestat, what would be the point in Armand bringing him up at a time like this? He's a cunning guy, he's choosing his words carefully.

Interpretation 3: Armand's straight up traumatized and broken thinking Marius and Louis are dead and gone, and he's desperately trying to cling to Lestat for dear life because he's the only one he has left (channel Anne and forget about Daniel for a second here). Unfortunately, all their issues that have been festering and compounding since 1791 rear their ugly head and explode rather spectacularly.

What you get is a combination of 'I love you more than anyone; I hate you more than anyone.'

RIP.

Interpretation 4: Armand loves Daniel most of all. And I think I typically tie it into the second one. Yes, Armand loves Daniel more than Lestat, Louis, and Marius. No, he's not going mention him to Lestat for reasons listed above and/or he's not going to downplay his love for Daniel like that. He's a gentleman!

Bonus Interpretation 5: Anne forgot Daniel, plain and simple; I waste years of my life.

All that being said, I don't think Armand walks around with a hierarchy in his head of everyone he loves. He obviously has an abundance of love to give and he loves so fiercely! Pick your read and run with it, I sure do ;)

#they're so dramatic lmao i can't it's vampire telenovela #you ask and hekate answers #vc #armand/lestat #armand/daniel #armand #lestat de lioncourt #daniel molloy

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awesomefringey · 2 years

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Hi Sabine- hope you are having a good day. I have a question about PR relationships. I’ve never really been a fully committed fan of anyone before I discovered 1D and Louis and Harry (except maybe in the early 90’s but that was pre-social media so different parameters) so I’ve never paid close enough attention to one person to follow along with them outside of regular mainstream news, and I gave up reading gossip mags about 20yrs ago when I realised they were mostly bullshit.

I’ll preface this with saying that I absolutely don’t believe Harry is in a relationship with Olivia. My question is surrounding the purpose of some of the ‘sightings’. I get the pap walks and the attendance at high media profile events like Coachella etc. as these make their way into the GP’s realm and assist with PR for both of them (and reinforce Harry’s closet) . I don’t understand the objective behind the side stage/ backstage presence and other more obscure sightings such as these? This seems like something only fans would pay attention to (sometimes the photos only come from fans in the crowd) and I don’t believe the PR is there to convince fans of anything as I don’t think either side of this fandom supports her.

Is this extra ‘togetherness’ outside of the organised for Media outlets pap stuff a normal aspect of a PR relationship? Usually I’m quite good as seeing the rationale behind general things we are shown in different aspects of the media etc. but I don’t see what purpose this serves- am I just being thick?

Hi nonnie, thank you for reaching out because I could ramble about this forever. But I think your guess would be as good as mine since we both share similar experiences around fandoms and observing PR strategies.

This is going to be long, so my apologies in advance. 💜

I think Holivia has huge issues with credibility and image. In the general public they’re far from the iconic Bennifer-fication. They are called a “strange couple” and depending on the POV people wonder why Harry is with her or the other way around.

It must be a great disappointment that even Harry's het fanbase doesn't buy into it and rejects Olivia. I think younger fans can’t identify with her because she’s so much older and Harry’s fans closer to her age are furious about her behavior while dragging her kids into it all and making a show of custody battles like it’s some trashy reality tv. (It’s not helping either that she’s got a long history of treating people poorly.) This all manifests itself in very weak Holivia UAs with like 8k followers at best, of which many only lurk to rant over what they see if we’re being honest.

My impression is that Full Stop planned to market Holivia as this woke ageism-breaking ‘newly single mum succeeding in Hollywood in a male dominated field proving 40 with kids is not the end for romance or beauty or indefinite freedom’ dating this ‘gender bending rockstar aspiring actor who sells nail polish and wears dresses and waves his ally-LGBTQ flags every night but is so so very straight and therefore an icon who ends toxic masculinity’ where brand endorsement deals can be used in double with access to two different target groups/demographics. Harry and Olivia both wear éliou pearl necklaces, Bode, Gucci, Vans, Pleasing, Harry merch. Even better when one wears what seemingly belongs to the other. So outrageous. 🙄

But what happened instead is that people only saw an odd couple with zero chemistry that got together under questionable circumstances (they were still filming DWD due to the delay from closing the set) with Harry as Olivia's subordinate, when she had JUST separated (or had she?), and Harry had only been booked for his second role… And all of it in the wake of Times Up and Me Too as if THIS were the New Hollywood... To me it was the dirtiest kick off for a Pro-mance I could have ever imagined. I hate that Harry is involved in this shit.

Maybe many don’t see it like I do, but to me who takes great pride in feminist values and has worked hard in my profession to overcome the “cute and pretty label” to be taken seriously and now being a team lead in a male dominated field myself, it triggers me to no end. A female in a position of power should never abuse it and call it feminist. Olivia Wilde doesn't bring change when she stands for the same toxic values and creates unsafe work environments that have existed all along.

Why am I pointing it out? Because that part, the beginning of it all is something they still try to make up for. The longer this lasts, the less it looks like a reckless work hook up and more like a super serious love story that needed to happen under any circumstances.

Coming back to your actual question and taking into account what I said above - Olivia hasn’t been offered any deals at all so far.

I'm not aware Olivia is in talks for any scripts to be directed by her. The documentary she planned to do was cancelled? It looks like promoting DWD is the only thing left on her agenda. She has a lot of time on her hands and she attempts to use it.

Their ‘organic sightings’ are being used for articles is the thing. Those fan pics of Harry bathing in Dublin were all over the tabloids. Random ‘Olivia at Coachella’ fan videos were used as well. Harry meeting a fan in South England made it into the press. Harry playing golf didn’t.

So pics from the back of Harry unenthusiastically holding Olivia’s hand in Dublin didn’t end up in the tabloids. So Harry kicked it up a notch and went for a swim in Dublin instead. LOL. I really believe that’s the part that’s unpredictable for their teams. They “offer” Holivia content here and there, walking and walking and walking, but what will be newsworthy is up to the tabloids. It’s an unreliable yet very cheap way of creating buzz and promotion. And Olivia looooves the attention and I’m sure she gets off on the idea that people envy her that she gets to be so close to Harry...

#ask #I don’t even know if my ramblings answered your question #I could talk about this for ages #holivia

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niamflopped · 1 year

Text

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/louis-tomlinson-when-one-direction-split-i-was-mortified-it-felt-like-another-loss-mtlh2wgv2

Louis Tomlinson is leaning back on his chair, feet up on a radiator, hands clasped behind his head and a cigarette on the go. “All right?” he says, grinning impishly.

Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Zian Malik, Liam Payne and Niall Horan, 2011

“If someone does come up after an hour to ask for a selfie, I won’t say no and I won’t run away,” he says, “’specially if I’m three pints deep!”

“I do miss the boys,” he says, “and I do definitely miss being one of the five, but I like doing my own thing too. It was time.”

The former bandmates at the BRIT Awards 2012

“Only Harry knows what he means there, it’s hard to speculate,” Tomlinson says, “but we all came from relatively humble beginnings, and now we are where we are.”

But while Styles is a once-in-a-generation talent and knows it, his erstwhile bandmates — and this one in particular — need convincing.

Louis, along with Adrien Brody, was a guest on The Late Late Show with James Corden in 2022

TERENCE PATRICK/CBS VIA GETTY IMAGES

● Louis Tomlinson review — screaming singalongs

● Meet Harry Styles’s inner circle

Louis and his mother Johannah, 2015

DAVE J HOGAN/GETTY IMAGES

When I ask what it’s like watching Styles’s ascendance into the biggest star of his generation — something that might delay such a reunion — he blows out a long plume of smoke.

All of Those Voices is in cinemas from March 22, allofthosevoices.com

****

Sea is raging over this interview because the Times journalist praises Harry too much and keeps mentioning Louis' rabid chainsmoking!

#louis tomlinson #louis tomlinson times article #louis times interview

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louisisalarrie · 2 months

Note

what is triple strings?

Hello my love! and welcome to the show.

Triple Strings Limited is a dormant management company which he was appointed as director owning 50% of it, with S*mon Coward/Syco/Sony owning the other 50%. It was opened and filed as a company on 16 Jan 2015, and we all know louis is a businessman. He’s fantastic at it, has a passion for signing and developing new/local talent, and probably wanted to give them the treatment and support he didn’t receive from his mgmt at the time.

So basically, Syco/Sony gave him the imprint, but he stated 3 years ago today that it never worked for him because he couldn’t push anything through. Him and S*mon were both appointed directors on 30 September 2016.

Weirdly enough, it’s still active (kind of… I mean it’s dormant but it hasn’t been 100% dissolved) to this day.

So, yeah. Why give Louis an imprint? Why him when it seems none of the other boys during that time had anything offered to them? I mean… having the money they had, this management company would have been hugely successful in hiring pop artists who fit the bill, but as louis said in his tweet, the people he believed in didn’t fit into those traditional pop roles.

So, Louis posts that he is parting ways with Syco on the 12th of July 2020:

And then S*mon announces he’s quit Syco, on the 16th July 2020:

And resigns from Triple Strings Limited on 17 September 2020:

So, weird that it’s still active, but he’s still involved with Sony so I guess that just is what it is right now. Interesting though, to see it as bbg compensation. Like “hey, this is a dream of yours, sorry about the kid, here’s an imprint!! Congrats!! This can be your baby!!!” ya know? So it’s just an interesting take on it. We know that S*mon probably felt pretty shitty (well… I hope he did) when bbg continued on longer than what it was meant to, so he gave Louis all these opportunities. He could make money off Louis, Louis wouldn’t out him as a piece of shit because of these opportunities given to him that he wanted, and Louis could also make more money and have a bit more control over his career. It’s just an interesting take to think about. Because while S*mon is a piece of shit, he also knows how to manipulate, push and pull, and compromise (slightly).

Not too much else to say on this. If anyone has any other info they’d like to add, go for it. But I’ve never seen this talked about as bbg compensation… but it kinda makes sense.

#anon #answered #bbg

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lhrry · 2 years

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#to distract myself by another stunt I guess #thinking about ho and how much it seems to also be tied up to compensating my policeman and the larry rumours coming back and stuff #I’ve been thinking for quite a while with what louis has been saying and which lyrics are confirmed and even the George Michael green eye #the cover and stuff that that album is going to be so queer coded #like there are already lyrics which are so…. queer #and it seems that he’s really adamant at not defining the songs’ meaning but one thing that he says played a role was seeing the fans and #the shows and like he knows just how queer audience he has now as well and it really seems rn that that album is going to be that #so I’m wondering whether a part of the constant stunting is to allow louis to have this artistic authenticity and vision fulfilled as well #like I really hope from what he’s said he’s really doing what he wants to do musically and artistically so maybe that’s the price he’s #paying #we all certainly accepted that was happening with Harry for some time #i still don’t understand why’d they use babygate and not Eleanor for that and would prefer for this to be so that babygate can end but #eh #so maybe this may be at least a part of it ?

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sophiaredwood03 · 10 months

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For all those who wanted to see an interaction between MC and King Louis-Ernest.

Notes: this was fun to write! MC did precisely what I wanted to do to this man.

This is longer than anything I've written before- 1099 words!

The land of Luxure is even more beautiful than how Fenn described it. As the boat approaches the dock, the buildings and streets become even more illuminated by the setting sun. Grabbing my satchel, I check that my permit is still there, before paying the ferryman and hopping off the boat.

You see, I’ve come on an errand from Colde. It’s strange that a student would be given this task, but the headmaster was busy, and all the S ranks were busy, and Fenn was still banished from his homeland. So I came instead. I've only seen the king once, and that was when we were deciding how to deal with Iritium and the aftermath. Even though I’ve been promoted to S rank due to technical issues with the ranking system, I don't teach very much, mainly because my magic is different from well… everyone. In fact, I don't teach at all, except help C ranks and stand in for various professors when needed. Most of my time is spent honing my skills, playing with Shifah and Robin and wandering the town. Incredibly carefree, unlike life back on Earth.

There’s a whole string of carriages near the dock. I select a small, comfortable-looking carriage.

The driver gives me a really funny look when I tell him to go to Castle Luxure. Well, as long as he gets paid, he probably won’t care.

A while later, I hop off the carriage. The castle… I’m not actually sure which one I’m meant to go into, because all I can see are…well, castles and more castles. I heard that the king had a lot of wives and children, but I hadn’t realised just how many. Until now, that is.

The guards all regard me with no small amount of suspicion.

“I have come on an official errand to see the king on behalf of the headmaster.” I hold out my permit.

The guards stare back at me.

“The headmaster, meaning the governor of Colde, that is.” Still more uncomprehending looks. All of a sudden, they surround me and grab me roughly by the arms.

“What are you doing?!”

“Miss, you’re being arrested! If you want to cause less trouble for yourself, stay still!” One particularly burly guard claps handcuffs on my wrists. I very briefly entertain blasting them to the ground and making a grand entrance into whichever castle, before demanding to see the king and tearing him apart when I see him. No, no, stay calm. I’ve got more class than that. I’m sure His Majesty will understand when he knows the situation.

I was wrong.

The first impression I had of King Louis-Ernest was that he was quite invested in being a good king, etc cetera. I had to rethink that first impression immediately when he received me.

Firstly, what self-respecting man (or king, in this case) would see criminals surrounded by piles and piles of his wives? Secondly, (and I do mean this) was he even fit to be a king? Because the way he carried himself gave off the general air of complete nonchalance to his responsibilities. I completely forgive myself for my rather skewed first impression of him, though.

“Well… well. Who would have thought that you, of all people, would have ended up a criminal?” King Louis-Ernest addresses me from his throne of pretty lasses.

I think that I was still in shock at that point, actually, because my brain completely failed me and didn’t register at all what he said. The room was quiet, apart from the whispers of various wives. Whatever you say about the man, it has to be acknowledged that he has good taste in women, if only for their looks.

I think that kneeling on the cold marble floor for a solid ten minutes must have given my mind a sudden shock, because I self-reflexively pushed away the guards and stood up.

“No matter if I am criminal or not, Your Majesty should not be subjecting me to such indignities such as kneeling on the floor. May I add that the floor is very cold and hard?” I glare angrily at him.

“Quite arrogant, aren’t you?

“I am merely stating facts. Ones which I am sure Your Majesty is well aware of. What would people think if they heard what you did today? And anyway, I came on official business.” I shot back.

“Of what sort?”

I have to take a very, very deep breath to calm myself. The headmaster had already written, way in advance, that I would be coming on his behalf and that I was to be treated with the same respect that they would treat him. The fact that King Louis-Ernest does not know of this means that he has been neglecting his official duties. That is incredibly serious and cannot be forgiven.

“Your Majesty.”

The king takes one look at my face and shuts up. At least he has enough common sense for that.

“You have neglected your duties and treated an important and distinguished guest with disrespect. I have tolerated your tomfoolery until now but-” I pause and take a breath- “ I have reached my limit. Based on what I have seen today, you are unfit to be a king. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“What basis does a criminal have to accuse me of such things? I could have you executed for blasphemy.” He regards me with a cool smile.

“You must think that I am a naive, foolish young girl, entrusted with a task far too grave for me.”

King Louis-Ernests’ eyes widen, almost imperceptibly. I hit the nail on the head.

I allow myself a small smirk. “I’m right,aren’t I?” I take a step closer. He tenses. I can feel him gathering up his magic.

I slap him. Hard. Right across the face. He reels, stunned. Shrieks and gasps fill the room. Behind me, the guards ready their weapons.

Closing my eyes, I breathe in deeply again. Golden light shimmers gently, illuminating the whole room. “Don’t even think about laying hands on me. I will settle the business I came for another day. And-” I turn and look the disgraced king right in the eyes- “ don’t think you will get away with this.” Having delivered that last blow, I turn and stride from the room.

King Louis-Ernest faints and collapses into the laps of various wives.

I make my way out the castle. I think I’ll go and have a look at the town. And so, I wander off, the sun slowly making its way below the horizon behind me.

#court of darkness #sr03writes

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twopoppies · 4 months

Note

Hey Gina! I don’t exactly know how to talk about this so i apologise if it’s worded weird, but I wanted to talk about polari! :) Also want to quickly preface by saying A.) I am a part of the LGBTQ+ community, B.) while I’m not English, I am Scottish (Glasgow) and we use some of the same slang as (specifically Northern) England & C.) I have a lot of hetero English friends who know absolutely nothing about polari.

(Quickly before I start as u/ppl may find this annoying; I’ve said Scottish separately as a lot of Scottish ppl, myself included, don’t like being referred to as English/British as majority of us are currently wanting & trying to gain independence from the U.K. lol & I included British instead of just Scotland/England as I’m not sure if it’s used anywhere else in great britian/the UK - please say if it is! :D )

I’m not sure if you’ve seen this too but I see quite a lot of people saying that Louis solely knowing/using polari speech is proof/semi-proof of him being queer or knowing queer history - I have to completely disagree with this.

Polari is used very commonly (some examples I can think of off the top of my head are bevvy, lallies and naff as I use them quite a lot.) in day-to-day conversation in scotland/england (as I mentioned, I have hetero english friends and they use polari ALL THE TIME, like they use only refer to a alcohol/drinks as bevvy, and have no absolutely no idea that it IS in fact polari..). People use it without even knowing what it is, especially those who are lower/working class and/or neds/chavs (which Louis seems to use as? Or want to be perceived as?) and are more likely to use slang. I guarantee you that if you were to go down to England (especially the north) and asked what bevvy meant, they’d almost 100% be able to tell you what means - but they won’t know the origins of the word, they’d just think it’s slang (they probably wouldn’t even know it’s used in Scotland too LOL).

I’ve seen absolutely no other scottish/english/british person talk about this so I feel like majority of the people speaking about polari are Americans (not all & not only, of course, but I feel like they majority of larries are American? Haha) who don’t actually use it or understand it’s use in modern day England/Scotland/U.K. and that’s why they’re saying that he must be queer to use it because they think that it’s not used anymore when it actually is! :)

I’m so sorry if this is a complete jumble of words, I’m absolutely horrible at writing my thoughts down hahah! I pray you understand what I’m trying to say. I hope this isn’t coming across as rude or mean. I’m not meaning it that way at all. Also, this isn’t meant to be a dig at Americans/non-scottish/english/great British folk either, it’s completely normal that you wouldn’t know this! :)

Sorry again hahaha I’ve been thinking about this for a really long time and have been dying to get this off my chest !! + I haven’t used tumblr in years so if the layout/format(??) is weird, apologies for that too, I’m also on mobile :( Thank u (if u do) for reading my long ass ramble lol :D I just wanted to shed some light on this.

Hi, honey. I think assuming Louis’ sexuality only based on him being aware of/using Polari is pretty silly. As you say, straight people in your part of the world use certain words regularly without being aware of it.

As always, I think one has to take many behaviors and actions into consideration when wondering if Louis (or anyone) is signaling. There’s a difference between using certain words that have become common, and knowing what Polari is. Him wearing that brand goes hand in hand with many instances of him wearing clothing that sent a message (for example, wearing the All Out, Queen’s Surf, and Rainbow Apple logo shirts). At that time, he seemed to be very calculated about what messages he sent through clothing. I think Polari was one of many instances of Louis signaling being a part of the community. But I’d never look at that as an isolated instance and think that.

#coded clothing #Polari

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beardyboyzx · 1 year

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Teaser Thursday

I was tagged by @louisandtheaquarian, @allwaswell16 and @thinlinez to share a snippet. Thank you!!

From my Big Bang fic (which keeps giving me little creative crises)

“And what about the mysterious brunette Captain Tomlinson was seen talking with while on duty?”

“Mysterious brunette? Do they mean Harry?”

“Do they mean Harry?”

“Don’t do this.” Louis shakes his head, eyes closing. “I’ve already heard enough from uncle Mick and my mum. And the entire Country. Or, well, all the gossip outlets, at least.”

“I haven’t said anything.”

“We were just talking about Liam.” Louis finds himself saying, no matter how much it feels like a justification. “Harry can’t even engage in a conversation with me without looking like he’d rather pull a tooth.” That's true, and Zayn knows that too. “I can talk with an omega without it being romantic.”

It's something that has been going on a lot ever since he had his first rut: every omega Louis talks to is automatically his mate-to-be, no matter how long or how short he's known said omega. It's annoying and frustrating.

“You’re preaching to the converted, here.” Zayn raises his hands in mock surrender. “Besides, we are the example that omegas and alphas can be friends without any weird tension between them.”

“You and I. You and Liam,” Louis lists, looking into his eyes. There are a lot more examples out there in the world. “If you and Liam are just friends, why can’t Harry and I be just that? Or, well, not friends. I don’t think he’d like to call us that quite yet. Let’s say… people who talk without any romantic or sexual tension ruining things. You know, good ol' platonic omega-alpha relationships.” “Yup. You’re right.” Zayn gives him one of his tight-lipped smiles, the fake ones that don't actually reach his eyes, and Louis wonders what the hell has he said to make that happen.

I'll tag @hellolovers13, @nooradeservedbetter, @larryatendoftheday, @enchantedlandcoffee and @rockstarlwt28

#tag game #things i write #fic: wtht

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28whitepeonies · 2 years

Note

hey i don’t mean to be rude so i apologize if i come off as such. but i’ve been following you for a while and you’re such a logical and reasonable person, and you seem quite smart too. so i wonder how someone like you could still believe in larry? again, no offense, i’m just not used to seeing sensible levelheaded people be larries.

Good morning anon

This is a bit of a funny one I think, because I’m not sure that believing Louis and Harry are in a relationship would be illogical/unreasonable, but neither would be believing that they’re not. I do think there are a lot of people in fandom whose logic is very different to mine, and there is definitely a great deal of not-levelheadedness in this fandom, although I’m quite frequently on a rant about something so I’m not sure I’m much different!

I guess what it will always come down to for me is that I’m pretty convinced they were in a romantic relationship of some sorts during at least some of the 1D days, and that post-hiatus there’s plenty that makes me continue to believe that. Some of that is in their songwriting, Louis’ album in particular (mainly because I think Harrys writing is so much more open to interpretation, so what I think and what you think might be very different) much of which tells a story of a long term relationship, and the ups and downs that come with it. Eleanor’s role in Louis’ life is another, and I am nosy enough to say that I’m curious about that and all the time where Louis just disappears, and I think there could be many reasons for that but the timing is often interesting to me. There are little things too, that I think are more unlikely to be a coincidence, the odd clothing choice, some similarities in things they say etc.

And the very last reason in all of this is that I want to, so if there’s a time that somethings a bit marginal in my mind, it’s likely going to come down to the fact that in all of this, I want to believe that they’re still together. Like I said, I’m pretty convinced about the 1D days and there’s never been something that either of them has said or done that’s made me think ‘oh it’s impossible for them to be together’.

I will say that I don’t spend much time thinking about whether they are or aren’t together on a day-to-day basis, this is pretty much my baseline now. And I don’t generally buy into ideas about them never having broken up, or theorise about what their relationship looks like at any point because that’s impossible to know. Although I have the odd bit of headcanon I try to be clear about it, because we can’t know the ins and outs of anyones relationship we’re not in, nevermind of two millionaire closeted ex-boybanders.

There are other possibilities of course, I could be wrong about them being in a relationship now. I could be wrong about them having ever been in a relationship, although as I’ve said it would take quite a lot to sway me on that. But me being wrong on those things would probably leave me with more questions than I have now.

There’s also the possibility I’ll never know for certain any more than I do now and either I’ll keep on with the belief they’re together or something will happen that’s significant enough that I think they’re not. But if that did happen, it would still take something pretty compelling for me to think they were never together at all.

#anon #this is a bit of a ramble #soz #hope it makes some sense

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mariedemedicis · 1 year

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hmmm…making my own post because I don’t completely agree with the opinions expressed in this one and mainly talking to myself

disclaimer: I’m not saying that the interpretations in that post are wrong, we’re all talking about a hypothetical alternative situation so like all of this is purely speculative & subjective

for me, personally, the appeal of alysanne as maegor’s daughter (despite the fact that this rumor about grrm having an earlier draft of the family tree in which she was, has in fact, alas been debunked) is twofold, firstly, it gives her a (small) degree of agency in comparison and secondly, it ties in really sexily with grrm’s themes of children, admittedly mainly sons, who are not like their fathers

-sam (most beloved) who is nothing like randyll which is exactly what makes him so wonderful (and of course also what makes randyll so horrible to him)

-daeron the good who is the son of aegon the unworthy but nothing like him

-daeron the drunken who refuses his responsibilities including losing track of his younger brother as the son of stern, dutiful maekar

-tywin and tytos

-quellon & balon

(thank you to Em for those last two examples since my brain stopped working)

so yeah I think good queen alysanne being the daughter of maegor the cruel is fascinating in terms of legacies and reputations (and it can be really complicated if aly has fond memories of her father while not being able to really speak about those with anyone)

also I’ve always thought grrm’s comparison of aly to eleanor of aquitaine was a huge stretch given canon aly is just the youngest daughter of a former king and doesn’t even come before jaehaerys in the succession whereas eleanor was duchess of the hugely wealthy aquitaine in her own right

but if aly is maegor’s daughter and was invested as princess of dragonstone in her own right, it works a lot better

I wouldn’t imagine this version of aly and jaehaerys eloping, rather to tie up loose ends and shore up jaehaerys’ control of the throne, alyssa betroths the pair of them (which is another eleanor parallel. i think grrm wants jaehaerys to only be henry rather than louis but i think he kind of has to be both together.)

I think aly being the daughter of alys harroway would be the most interesting (the timeline doesn’t quite work for it while keeping aly’s birthdate but eh, I’ll just move up the date of maegor’s marriage to alys harroway by three years - the marriage to alys here can be precipitated by the fact that she’s pregnant), both because if ceryse is her mother I don’t know how realistic it is that maegor would marry again so soon because there’s a chance the next kid would be a boy but also because if alys is pregnant, maegor’s going to be motivated to make sure his kid is legitimate and having already married a second wife, the gate is already open to maegor marrying additional wives

and secondly, there’s something so deliciously ironic about visenya presiding over her son’s marriage to a second wife who he’s marrying for if not love, definitely lust and slighting his first wife when visenya was that slighted first wife in generation past (which yea she did so in canon too but this time she gets a granddaughter out of it)

of course in maegor & visenya’s eyes, aly is legitimate but to the faith, she isn’t

alys harroway is alysanne’s mom in the sense of having given birth to her but when maegor and alys harroway are forced to go into exile, he’s forced to leave little alysanne behind (aenys’ decree but alyssa’s idea) so aly is formatively raised by ceryse hightower minus the valyrian/dragony things where she’s instructed by her grandmother visenya

I would let vaella live in this one too, which I think can still happen, since she’s born after aly so aly’s parentage doesn’t have to affect her being born, this version of vaella is a bit different than in my vaella centric one, significantly her relationships with aly & jaehaerys are different

I do want to write this fic someday but I am tragically a very slow writer and have a million projects so !someday!

#asoiaf au #asoiaf meta #alysanne daughter of maegor

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nalyra-dreaming · 1 year

Note

I remember Jacob saying he had finished reading merrick and that he liked some it and didn’t like a couple things, I’ve been curious what’s in the book that he would maybe not find sits right with him. The way it recontextualises louis and Claudia’s relationship, her motivations, or more broadly Louis’ role in the book altogether, or maybe what merrick does to Louis? Or that whole David and merrick situation? You have any idea what someone would find unlikable about the book?

Oh, I bet this is in regards to this gifset?

Well. Merrick... is a rather interesting, and at the same time sometimes very dull book. (I wasn't really sure how much you know of it, so just real quick!)

It is narrated by David, and you have to give it to Anne, the style is... distinct. It sometimes drags (imho, obviously).

Merrick is the titular Mayfair witch, but one of the "colored" branch, who doesn't have much to do with the main family. (No I'm so not going into that here and now, but I hope the show will if we get her tbh!!)

She helps Louis resurrect Claudia's spirit through her diary, and he, already mightily depressed by Lestat's continued coma and what he hears from Claudia, tries to commit suicide.

So far so... not good^^.

I think in regards to Jacob specifically there are a few things to consider.

He has read it, and they have taken the diaries from it so they are playing around with that context. Which means he looks at it from a how-would-that-influence-my-play perspective.

Louis in the book is back to being severely depressed. I remember Jacob saying that he has his own bouts of depression, and... I could imagine that it could be hard maybe to know he has to go that deep. (That is just a personal take though!)

David... goes from moderately interesting head of the Talamasca to Lestat's other fledgling who lives with them... and who recounts his errr... tendencies in the book. That is something Anne likes to do, reshape one's perception of people and it happens here, too. I bet, as with Marius, Jacob's perception of David shifted through that.

David treats Louis quite patronizing in the books at times. I do hope they'll skip it in the show, but in any case I could see that it would raise Jacob's hackles while reading...

And... last but definitely not least (I think): Merrick uses her spells to make Louis turn her. Forcing him. Both his fledglings, Madeleine and Merrick came to be through outside influence. I actually hated that more about the book than a possible infatuation with her. It must have been the final blow for Louis, in a way.

The change to Louis' and Claudia's past... to their relationship - now that I actually see as gold for an actor like him? Can you imagine him and Bailey facing off over that bloody altar? However, having said that, it is of course heavy for Louis. But I don't see Jacob having a problem with that.

(And just for completeness sake - no, no problems with the Lestat parts at the end either, in fact I think Jacob would love to play these parts with Sam, because they mark such a big change in their dynamic.)

So yeah, you more or less pointed at the parts of the books that I (personally) could see Jacob finding unlikable already. For various reasons, maybe.

It will be interesting if we ever hear him talk about the details.

There are quite a few very interesting details they could draw form this book though, and in regards to the Mayfair Witches, too.

#Anonymous #asks #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire #iwtv louis #louis de pointe du lac #beautiful one #the vampire chronicles #vc #vampire chronicles #jacob anderson #iwtv cast #merrick #ask nalyra

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lady-divine-writes · 2 years

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Our Flag Means Death - “An Ever-Fixed Mark” (Rated PG13)

Summary: Stede and Edward celebrate Stede's birthday at Stede's former home with his "widow", Doug, and Stede's children. Edward ends up playing babysitter when Stede has to help Mary and Doug with some estate business. And while they do, Edward confides in Stede's daughter that he wants to get Stede something for his birthday that matters. So she offers to teach him to read... (3707 words)

Read on AO3.

"What do you think? You could wear your hair like this for Father's party," Alma says, sticking a silver hand mirror in Edward's face. He tilts his head side to side to get a better look at his hair and beard, which Stede's daughter has been braiding for the better part of an hour. The braids don't lay flat, and they're not straight, but they're not half bad. She secured the ends with brightly colored ribbon and that, of course, is the only thing that matters.

Or so she said when they started.

"Excellent," Edward says. "Pink always was my color."

Alma giggles. "You said that about the purple. And the white."

"What can I say? I look good in every color."

"But you're Blackbeard, aren't you?" Louis asks from his place on the floor, where he has been practicing his own braiding on a soft, yarn-haired doll. "Shouldn't you wear the black ribbons?"

"Nah. I've spent far too much of my life wearing black. I'm not a damned undertaker. Put me down for all the colors of the rainbow like your father wears, in his fancy suits and linens."

"Mr. Teach? Are you really the deadliest pirate that's ever lived?" The boy at Edward's feet has a book on pirates open by his knee. He's referring to it - looking from it to the man sitting patiently in one of his mother's wooden chairs and having his salt-and-pepper hair braided. Edward cranes his head for a better look and notices the page he's turned to - the same page Stede showed him in the book on board the Revenge.

A picture of himself carrying too many pistols and looking positively dreadful.

Edward sighs. "That's what they tell me."

"You don't look deadly," Alma remarks.

"Isn't that a good thing? Would you want to be braiding the hair of a bloodthirsty murderer?"

"Honestly?"

Edward shoots Alma a look. She stares back at him mischievously, holding his gaze without an inch of fear. Whether or not that fearlessness comes from the knowledge that her father owns his treacherous heart, he doesn't know, but it's quite admirable for a child her age. To his knowledge, parents still use horror stories about him to scare their children into submission.

"You'd better do your chores, or we'll sell you to Blackbeard!"

"Stay in bed. Blackbeard steals children who stay up past eight!"

"Eat all your veg. Disobedient children end up on Blackbeard's crew!"

That sort of thing.

Edward wonders how many brats do most children think he has running about his ship.

Edward has no idea what is going on in Alma's brain. She has probably been fed the same stories her father had before he went to sea.

Before he and Blackbeard ever met.

But from the twist of her lips, she can't be thinking anything good.

"Hmm, maybe not," he decides.

"May I ask you a question?" Alma asks, collecting up her remaining ribbons and folding them carefully.

"You may."

"Do you love Father?"

Surprise pales Edward's cheeks, but he doesn't pause for thought. He wouldn't want Stede's children, of all people, to think him insincere. "I do."

"Do you love him the way Mother loves Doug?" Louis asks.

"I don't know. I don't know how your mother loves Doug. But I would say it's probably close, yeah."

"Mummy loves Doug with lots of hugging, and kissing, and sending us to bed early. Do you love Father like that?" Louis presses.

Edward looks at the boy. His mouth goes dry, and he swallows hard. "Next question."

"Are you going to marry Father?" Alma continues.

"You two ask a lot of questions."

"We're children. That's what we do."

"I wouldn't know. I don't spend too much time around children in my line of work."

"Father should have warned you."

"He might have."

"You avoid a lot of questions."

"Yes, well, your father should have warned you."

Alma shakes her head at his ridiculous response but moves on regardless. "If you do marry Father, are you two going to keep being pirates?"

"Your mother lets you run around the house in trousers? Like a hooligan?" Edward asks, hoping to divert her line of questioning.

"Yes," Alma says proudly.

Edward nods in approval. "Good. She's raising you right."

"Would you like to see what I've made Father for his birthday?"

"If you would like to show me."

"I would."

Edward watches Alma skip to the corner of the room. He doesn't know if she got the hint that her queries wandered into uncomfortable territory or if his dodging simply bored her. He's grateful either way for the change of subject.

Alma pauses, double checking that her mother, father, and Doug haven't returned yet from their business. When quiet meets her ears, she reaches beneath a thick piece of cloth and pulls out a canvas. She carries it over to Edward and holds it up.

It's a painting of a ship out at sea on a calm, sunny day.

A ship he assumes is the Revenge.

"Did you do this?" he asks, astonished at the girl's talent.

"I did."

"It's lovely," he says, leaning forward to examine every inch of the painting. "You're very talented."

Her cheeks go rosy. "Thank you. Mother taught me."

"Have you ever seen your father's ship?"

"No. But when I dreamt about him sailing the high seas, this is how I pictured it."

Edward's heart clenches hearing that. If nothing else went right with Stede's family, his children love him, and he loves them. To think of this young girl lying in bed at night, wondering where her father is, whether or not he's safe or alive...

Everything turned out all right in the end, but it's still heartbreaking.

Stede did what was right by him when he left his family. Edward, of all people, has no right to judge. Still, he gave up a great deal. And innocent people were affected.

"You are definitely your father's daughter," Edward says, focused on the painting as if the ship is a long-lost love, "because you got it just right."

"What are you getting Father for his birthday, Mr. Teach?" Louis asks as Alma stows her present away.

"I commissioned a portrait from your mother. Of me. For your father's quarters on the ship. But, to be honest, I was hoping to get him something else. Something a little more personal."

"More personal than a painting of your face?" Alma asks.

Louis giggles. Edward pulls a face. And though Alma smirks, she becomes pensive, chewing her lower lip in thought. "Mr. Teach, may I ask you a question?"

"Again with the questions," he teases.

"You don't have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable."

Can't be more uncomfortable than the marriage one. "Let's hear it."

"Can you read?"

This question Edward isn't quick to answer. "Why do you ask?"

"You and Father have been here for three days so far, and I never see you read. When Father wants to point out a passage, he doesn't hand you the book. He reads it out loud to you. He never did that with Mum. Or us."

Edward nods, itching to his bones to talk about something else, anything else: ribbons, fashion...would this be a good time for that eye-gouging anecdote? But he and Stede are set to stay for the remainder of the week, so he won't be able to avoid the subject for long.

"You're very observant," he says. "No. I'm not the best reader. I've never had the opportunity to learn."

"Reading is Father's favorite pastime."

"Aside from being a pirate, it's his favorite thing on the planet!" Louis chirps.

"I think if you learned, it could be something you could share. Something important to him."

Edward is already shaking his head before he answers. He feels like a coward for that. "I don't know that I could learn in time."

"You don't have to learn to read everything. Learn one thing, and with practice, the rest will come."

"But how would I learn? I want it to be a surprise, so your father can't teach me. And I don't think your mother has the time."

"I can teach you!" Alma says excitedly.

"And me!" Louis adds, displeased at not being included in this conversation. Making surprise plans with a dangerous brigand? This is the best day of his life!

Edward narrows his eyes at the two. "Are you qualified to teach?"

Alma tuts. "Of course, we are. We've been reading for ages."

"Ages," Louis repeats.

Edward snorts. Ages. How old are these two? Nine? Twelve at most? What do they know from ages? But he can't discount them. They're willing to help him. That has to count for something. "Do you have any recommendations? Something your father would like? Preferably something short?"

"Absolutely." Alma walks over to the bookcase against the wall. With barely a search, she picks out a leather-bound book and brings it back. "The surefire way to my father's heart," she says, holding the book out to him. "Shakespeare."

***

Edward and the children decide on a sonnet. Sonnets are relatively short and sweet. It shouldn't be too much trouble for Edward to learn. But they don't start on it right away.

Alma insists they begin with the basics.

Edward spends the afternoon with Alma and Louis, reciting catchy rhymes about vowels and another about consonants in an attempt to build the foundation necessary for learning one sonnet. Edward knows that, if he's not careful, he's going to find himself mindlessly repeating these rhymes around the ship.

If Lucius hears him, he will never live it down.

Alma, God bless her, has the patience of a saint - bizarre considering her hot-headed parents.

Edward feels silly being taught by children, especially when Alma recommends going back a step and brings out a primer for beginners. It's even more humbling when she explains that this is the first book she learned to read.

At the age of four.

Louis, who spent the past fifteen minutes keeping watch in the hall, comes running in, waving his arms. "Father's coming!"

"Quick! Hide this!" Alma shoves the Shakespeare book at Edward. He tucks it beneath his waistcoat for safekeeping. "Now tie us up!" Alma grabs her jump rope and thrusts that at him as well. "We'll tell him we were playing pirates."

"No. Tie me up." Ed yanks the rope from the girl's hands and gets started, whipping it around his waist and the chair.

Alma stares at him, offended by the suggestion. "Why?"

"Then your father will have to rescue me."

Alma watches Edward wrap the rope around his torso, shaking her head. "Adults are so strange."

"Hey! Tying someone up was your idea!"

Alma thinks on that, watching Edward till he's nearly done, then shrugs. "Fair point."

"Children!" they hear Stede call as Alma knots the ends. "Edward! Where are you? I hope we weren't gone too lo---" Stede gasps when he sees his son and daughter, whooping and hollering as they race around a bound Edward struggling to be free, his hair and beard done up entirely in pink ribbons. Stede chuckles to himself at Edward playing the damsel in distress, pretty braids and all. But he doesn't like his children taking advantage of him. "Alma! Louis! What are you doing?"

"Nothing, Father!" Alma protests but doesn't cease her skipping.

"He asked us to do it!" Louis admits. His mother always did say honesty is the best policy. Besides, it's highly unlikely their father will believe him anyhow.

"Untie him now!" Stede demands.

Alma stops behind Edward. She takes the ends of the ropes in her hands and slowly makes another loop, adding to a line of knots. "You're the pirate, Father," she challenges, her voice steeped in cheek. "Why don't you save him?" Then she pulls the ends tight. As her father sputters, she whispers beneath her breath, "Good luck, Mr. Teach."

"Thanks," Edward whispers back.

Stede rushes for them, but Alma grabs her brother's hand and drags him away.

"What on Earth happened here?" Stede asks, fiddling with the rope. There are nine knots total, pulled hard as rocks.

"Your rugrats got the drop on me," Edward explains. "One minute, I was choosing ribbon colors. The next, they were lashing me to this chair."

Stede digs his fingernails into the knots, trying to loosen them, but they won't give. "You know what they say. Never turn your back on children or the ocean."

"Yes, well, the ocean's a bit more predictable."

Stede fumbles with the knots some more, but they refuse to budge. Not interested in spending the remainder of their afternoon on this task, he reaches beneath his waistcoat and pulls a knife from - where? Edward has no idea. He didn't know Stede kept a knife on his person. Edward, in his borrowed suit, doesn't have one on him.

He is equal parts turned on and jealous.

Stede cuts through the rope, slicing it easily. "There you are." He twirls the knife once, then returns it to its hiding place. He unwraps Edward and tosses the rope aside. It's not until he finishes that he catches Edward staring. "What? What's wrong?"

Edward looks at the knife - or, more accurately, where Stede keeps it - then back at Stede. He grins, his brain crowded by thoughts of sending the children to bed early. "That was hot."

***

Over the next three days, Edward, Alma, and Louis steal away to the playroom while Stede helps Mary and Doug iron out estate business. Even with hours of tutoring under his belt, Edward doesn't feel this is getting any easier. They've gone over the sonnet so many times, he is memorizing it more than reading. But that's not his fault.

It's Shakespeare's.

What language was the man writing in any way?

Of course, he'd be the favorite author of a man who speaks ecclesiastical Latin.

They switch to a new sonnet and give it another go. But for all of Alma's sounding out and encouragement, Edward begins to wonder whether or not he has bitten off more than he can chew.

He still has time to buy something for Stede. Something extravagant, even if not entirely personal.

The riches Edward has accumulated rival Stede's. But Stede's material possessions outnumber Edward's by fifty to one. This man has never said no to anything. Edward can respect that. But it makes Stede impossible to shop for. Ed doesn't want to give Stede something he could buy for himself. He wants to give him something with meaning.

Something that matters.

Reading matters to Stede. Stede would appreciate being read to every so often. Wouldn't he? When they're underway, and the only other person who can read on the ship is Lucius? Alma thinks so. And she should know. He can only take her word for it and hope for the best.

The night before Stede's party, Edward feels himself cracking. Alma had suggested Edward read the poem to Stede at the party during the opening of the presents, but he's not sure he can. It's one thing to fail in front of Alma and Louis. He may even be okay failing in front of Stede. But add Mary and Doug and the few other people who know Stede isn't actually dead to the mix, and Edward feels his heart preparing to tear out of his body and make a grand escape.

If he doesn't do this now, in private, he is going to pack his things, go back to the ship, and stay there till the party blows over.

The party Stede was so looking forward to, he literally rose from the grave for a week to attend.

"I'm about ready to pack it in for the night," Stede says, dropping onto his side of the bed with a stretch. "It's been such a long day, dealing with probates and what not. How about you?"

"Yeah," a distracted Ed agrees. "Probates and...long day."

Stede cuts off a yawn and appraises him curiously. "I cannot thank you enough for helping out with Alma and Louis while Mary and I got this done. They are so taken by you."

"They're good kids. They'd make good pirates."

Stede raises a brow. That's an...odd remark. "Indeed. Well, is there anything you'd like to do before we call it a night?" he asks suggestively. With Edward's nerves performing a jig in his stomach, he doesn't catch on. He's been chewing on his inside cheek for so long that he nearly bites straight through it.

If he's going to do this, he'd better do it now before he fully chickens out.

Or before he pierces his face.

"Can we, maybe, do a bit of reading?" he asks, voice shaking.

"Sure. Any requests?"

"I thought, being your birthday, we could do one of your favorites. A sonnet thing. By that William guy."

"One of Shakespeare's Sonnets? That sounds pleasant." Stede keeps a volume of Shakespeare's works on his bedside table, so Edward's sonnet is within arm's reach.

It's now or never.

Stede grabs the book and opens it, but Edward takes it from him.

"May I?"

"Of course," Stede says, fascinated by whatever is happening at this moment. It's nice to see Edward taking an interest in the written word, considering his deplorable treatment of books in the past.

Edward flips through the pages, searching for the sonnet he wants. They're numbered. All he has to do is find the right number. He's good with numbers. "116...116...116..." he mumbles, panicking when he doesn't see it. What if this volume doesn't have it? That can't be possible. He's heard Stede read it a dozen times. He flips back from the end, teeth clenched, palms sweating, and... "A-ha. Okay. Found it."

Stede reaches out, assuming Edward will hand the book back. But his eyes widen when Edward clears his throat and starts reading:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

Six lines in, Edward peeks at Stede, but he can't get a read on him - his expression absent and his face a wee drawn. Edward fears he messed up. What if Alma is wrong, and Stede doesn't want to be read to? What if, instead of a romantic gesture, he's making an ass out of himself? He knows he skewed a pronunciation here and there. Alteration for one. And impediments? It took him a whole afternoon to learn that one, and he still screwed it up. He contemplates whether he should continue. He's already gotten this far. He should finish, yes?

Jeff, the accountant, would finish.

But other parts of Ed would rather bite his fingers off.

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error, and upon me prov’d,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.

Edward closes the book and stares at the cover. He can't make himself look up, can't face Stede's vacant expression. Not when he doesn't know what it means. The man hasn't said a thing. Not a single word.

That's not like Stede at all.

They sit in silence for what seems like ages before Stede opens his mouth. "You can read?"

"Uh...this one poem for now," Edward says, eyes glued to the well-worn cover as if it's a buoy in choppy seas and he's holding on for dear life. "Alma taught me. She thought..." He skids to a halt. He has no intention of tossing that well-meaning girl underneath the carriage. "I thought, you know, it would be a nice surprise...if I could read to you. I mean, you read all the time to me and the crew. It's only fair."

Edward can't help feeling Stede is disappointed. This is the first milestone they've spent together, and Edward scotched it with his non-present present. He should have simply followed social norms and bought Stede a pocket watch or something, whether he needs another one or not.

Edward sighs, his shoulders slumping. "Was this...was it a stupid gift? It was, wasn't it?" He closes his eyes, locking himself away inside a world where he didn't just make a colossal faux pas. Stupid, stupid! "I'm sorry, Stede. That's not your only present. I promise. I got you something else, something real. Something you can touch---"

Stede's lips against his stop the rest of his apology. Edward doesn't waste time being surprised over Stede's forwardness. He puts a hand to Stede's cheek and kisses him back, then he kisses him again. He endeavors to kiss him for every day they were apart, every day he thought Stede had abandoned him.

Because God, he loves this man.

"Oh, Edward," Stede whispers, chuckling when Edward refuses to stop kissing him to let him speak. "That was one of the most beautiful gifts anyone has ever given me."

Edward presses a bashful smile against Stede's mouth. "Really? You're not just saying that?"

"I wouldn't dare." Stede winds his arms around Edward and pulls him close, unconcerned with what happens to the book in the process. "I don't need to touch a gift for it to be real. Your gift touched me. And besides, you've already given me a wonderful gift that's more real to me than anything."

Edward's brow furrows. He runs the tip of his nose against Stede's, trying to think of what gift he's given him. But he can't come up with a thing. If anything, Stede is always the one giving: sharing his clothes, his food, his expertise, his ship. "What's that?"

Stede inches closer, gleefully submitting to an evening of being kissed senseless. "Your love."

"I'm glad you like it," Edward whispers with the old Blackbeard charm Stede first fell in love with, "because you will always have it."

#our flag means death #ofmd #edward teach #blackbeard #stede bonnet #the gentleman pirate #gentlebeard #blackbonnet

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