#do I know if this is true? no. do I think armand is controlling everything? no…but I also think it’s part of it all

[heliza24]

In which I try to figure out Armand:

My brain has been ticking away thinking about Armand ever since episode 2.1. I have been fascinated and irritated by Armand in the off-season, so to speak, because I love Daniel and relate to him so much, and I know Armand is going to be very important to him. But we were given so little of Armand last season it has just felt impossible to get a grip on what his deal is. I am admittedly not a book reader, but I also feel like these feelings are still justified because the show version of Armand is so different than the book, in circumstance at least. So he’s the character I’m most interested in this season.

We still didn’t get a lot of him in ep 1, but I’ve been thinking about him and synthesizing some of the stuff that people have been saying about him in interviews, especially about his relationship to control. I’m specifically thinking about Hannah describing him as “Louis’s creature” and saying that he’ll do whatever Louis wants, and that this is part of their sexual dynamic as well. I think this makes sense with what we’ve seen in the trailers; it seems like Louis is the more sexually dominant one between them. So Armand is happy to be more of a sub in the bedroom and in their original flirtations. Maybe in their earlier dynamic as a couple too, we’ll have to see. Meanwhile, he’s in the background, arranging scenery, pulling strings, trying to do everything he can to hold onto Louis and keep him at least passingly happy. This, by the way, perfectly meshes with his role as director at the theatre. Never in the limelight, but always in control. (The stage management school of sexuality, if you will.). I think that emphasis on control probably becomes more pronounced as the years go on, and Louis is sitting in his grief for Claudia and more of their initial spark dies. But it also perfectly explains the Rashid act. Armand is comfortable playing a servant role. He’s comfortable observing from just off stage. He’s comfortable doing those things if it means ultimately having a better grasp on the way the scene unfolds.

For his part I think Louis is probably drawn to the way Armand seamlessly irons out the bumps in his life. The penthouse is a cage, but Louis is his own jailer; Armand isn’t the one keeping him there. There’s probably an interesting comparison to be made against Lestat here. Lestat revels in melodrama and high emotions, while Armand is intent on maintaining a facade of calm stability. It makes sense to me that Louis would have leaned into this facade, even if he knew it was partially a falsehood, after losing Claudia. I think this is true even around Claudia’s death. It was easier for Louis to forget and forgive whatever part Armand played in it, and allow Real Rashid to hide those diary pages away, than to really reckon with Claudia’s death.

I think Louis requested the interview as part of his general goal to narrativize and soften his own memories and grief, and Armand acquiesced in order to keep Louis. The original goal of the interview was for Louis to convince himself he really had killed Lestat, literally and maybe emotionally too. I think it’s possible that Lestat is back in the picture somehow and the interview is Louis’s last ditch effort to convince himself not to return to his maker. But then of course the whole thing goes off the rails and Louis ends up facing down his true memories for the first time in years. It makes sense that when put in an uncomfortable situation- watching Louis talk about Lestat- Armand would default to his old role of manipulating things from the wings of the metaphorical penthouse stage. Him stepping into the interview is a big departure from that, and shows how effectively Daniel has rattled him.

So how this plays against Daniel is interesting. Armand is putting on a big show about how he and Louis were able to manipulate Daniel in San Francisco. But I wonder how true that ever really was. I imagine even in San Francisco, Daniel represented a completely opposite dynamic to Armand’s relationship with Louis, which would have hooked Armand’s attention. If Louis appeared in control on the surface, but relied on Armand’s ability to arrange the periphery of his life, Daniel would have appeared to be easily (and perhaps happily) dominated, but resistant to Armand’s larger attempts to control his life. Obviously I don’t know exactly how they’ll play out a 1970s devil’s minion scenario. But I imagine that Daniel’s addiction, and Armand’s misguided attempts to protect him from it, will play a role in whatever kind of break up and memory erasure ensues. Whether it was the addiction or his personality or something else, there was some element of Daniel that was too wild for Armand to tame. He threw him back into the pond, all memories of being snared on the fishing line erased. And it’s entirely possible that Armand feels this loss of control very deeply. As heartbreak and loss, but also as a scary moment when his grip on the love that he needs in his life faltered. It’s possible that the break up with Daniel made him even more determined to control outcomes with Louis. And it’s also possible that the pain that he felt when he originally lost Daniel is causing him to revise and edit his own memories of his relationship with Daniel. If Daniel broke Armand’s heart, it would be a lot easier to remember him as a silly boy Armand manipulated in tandem with Louis than someone Armand actually found fascinating. Admitting otherwise means admitting his own weakness. So memory becomes the monster, again, even if you are the one controlling the vampire amnesia.

For what it’s worth, I currently think that Louis doesn’t know about Armand’s past with Daniel. I don’t think Louis would be as vulnerable with Daniel if he knew. And that would point to Armand once again subtly manipulating and managing Louis, completely hiding his connection to this mortal from him.

Regardless, I don’t doubt that Daniel was less fearsome in San Francisco than he is now in Dubai. (The show’s insistence that an elderly disabled man is just as powerful in his own way as an immortal vampire is perfection, and it makes me want to kiss all the writers on the mouth). He’s even less controllable by Armand than he once was (if he ever was), and he’s intent on finding out Armand’s truth, and the truth of their connection. I was really struck by Assad saying in an interview that the thing that Armand wants most is acceptance. He craves love and acceptance, but is terrified to show his real self and be vulnerable. Thats why he’s continuing to play stage manager to Louis’s love. But Daniel is coming for his true self in Dubai whether Armand wants it or not. And I imagine that is both extremely confronting but also ultimately attractive to Armand.

I deeply hope we get to see Daniel crack Armand’s sense of control. I hope we get to see Armand being vulnerable to Daniel and Daniel being receptive to that. I also hope we get to see Daniel facing down Armand as the source of his trauma (because being stalked, bitten, and then having your memories forcibly repressed is trauma, even if Daniel was attracted to Armand through it). I hope we get to see the way that trauma and fear and desire and love intermingle. And I also hope that when Daniel breaks Armand’s sense of control and sees his true self, he still likes what he sees. Because I would like Armand to get that acceptance from someone, even when his worst tendencies are laid bare.

(Oh, and while I’m making predictions- I’m not worried about 70s Devils Minion not happening, or them interacting in the 70s but it not turning into some form of romance. There is simply no better way to add stakes to the Dubai iterations of the characters than to give them this hidden history, and Rolin has talked extensively about needing to bring Daniel into the story in a personal way and crank up the conflict happening in Dubai. The penthouse is no longer just a framing device, but a site of active conflict and growth, and the only way you do that is exploring past and future DM dynamics. In ep 1 it’s still mainly acting as a frame, but I’m really excited to see its importance grow over the season).

Armand is such an intriguing mystery, but if I’m right about some of this stuff I actually relate quite strongly to him too. (I am reminded of a Brennan Lee Mulligan quote, where he describes characters you love/play as being garages attached to your actual personality of a house, and sometimes some piece of writing or improv shoots a sniper rifle perfectly through the garage door into the house and hits you in the heart)

@bluedalahorse warned me that this is how you really get stuck on a ship, when you see pieces of yourself in both characters, and I do fear that she is right.

So we’re really in it now, is what I’m saying. Send me your Armand thoughts, I want all of them. I will be counting down the days until episode 5 and obsessing until it airs. I’ll check back in on this meta later, I guess, to see how correct or incorrect I was.

#interview with the vampire #iwtv #my meta #devils minion #armand #armandaniel #daniel molloy

[lgbtiwtv]

god. god. the significance of the diary pages about claudia’s assault being torn out raggedly by Louis, clearly in a fit of guilt and anguish and trauma, vs the diary pages about louis mourning lestat and regretting killing him being removed with surgical control and precision. by armand. this wasn’t a heat of the moment action it was deliberate and calculated and I can’t stop thinking about it

#I’m SICK I tell you SICK over this #how much of Louis memory and life has he been controlling all these years??!!!! #louis already has repressed memories due to depression and trauma and now THIS??? Armand’s very very careful and constant control? #and manipulation of the truth? of not only Louis’ recollections but of Claudia’s??????? GOD #I can’t fucking wait for season 2 rashidmand judgement day WILL be upon you #and my god......the idea that louis asked for some aspect of this??? my heart is broken i'm crying tears of blood.... #do I know if this is true? no. do I think armand is controlling everything? no…but I also think it’s part of it all #iwtv spoilers #iwtv #amc iwtv spoilers #interview with the vampire #the vampire armand #louis de pointe du lac #m watches iwtv #tw assault #tw assault mention

[slumber--parties]

The last episode and the way it put everything else in a new perspective still has me spiraling. I can see every single thing having 10 different meanings. So this is nothing definitive.

But I was reflecting on the fact that we know now that Louis is living in what is clearly Armand's apartment, what looks like a very constrained life.

And that just got me thinking about Claudia saying "his love is a small box he keeps you in", talking about Lestat. And we all made the visual connection to Louis and Lestat fitting in the same coffin and interpreted it as a metaphorical confirmation of Claudia's words. But Claudia didn't have the whole picture.

Thinking back on it, Lestat is certainly insanely possessive about Louis and - in that sense - will always limit his choices. But apart from that he never wanted for Louis to have a small life. He wanted to show him the world. He wanted him to escape the country that treated him so badly, the family that didn't understand him and live free of any worry. Of course he lacked a fundamental understanding about why Louis was never going to be able to do that and never put in the work to really get it. But the point is that Louis chooses to stay in New Orleans for his own reasons and to live the life he lives for his own reasons. It's more guilt than love that keeps him close to his human family after a while and the choice to continously strife against the racist American society is born out of his feelings of inadequacy and desire for recognition rather then an attempt at helping his people. We understand why he does it, but he is objectively destroying himself with his own hands. Being a vampire exacerbates some of this, but it was always there.

And at this point Lestat actually screams to him "this is not a life" because he at least recognizes what Louis is doing to himself. And yet he stays and he lives that life with him. Even when Louis is so depressed he is living like a shadow still Lestat stays. He may not act impeccably throughout but he does stay, despite this clearly not being the life he wanted.

And the point is that, while some of Lestat's behaviours ultimately worsen Louis's condition, the box in not their relationship per se imo. Or at least it's not the only box. It's at most a box within the box.

I think the box is more generally a representation of Louis's mind and the life Louis always ends up building for himself within the confines of his persisting depression.

And the show tells us that Lestat joins him in his box. It's always Lestat that goes to Louis's coffin and never the other way around. And it's always Louis that closes the locks. Even with the house they live in, it may technically be Lestat's, but I would argue it is ultimately Louis's. Lestat bought it for him and Louis keeps it in the divorce. And Lestat wants to leave New Orleans but they never do, until finally - when Antoinette offers - Lestat says that there's no place for him but New Orleans. And when Louis "kills" Lestat and they separate, sure Louis is "free". But Lestat also climbs out of a coffin.

I just think that AMC has done such a good job at recentering Louis in the narrative and not let him be overshadowed by other characters. It's true that "the box" is a really good metaphor for abusive relationships, but it's also a very good metaphor for depression and the fact that Louis continously creates boxes for himself out of any situation is also very interesting to me.

This also does not detract imo from all the ways in which Lestat actively contributes to making Louis life miserable. Before I get a bunch of hate, I am not saying Lestat is a saint and that Louis deserved what he got or anything like that.

I was just reflecting on the layers of the narrative themes and the way they are showing us why Louis and Lestat are so bound to each other. And I think it's interesting that, in their dynamic, while Lestat boxes Louis in with more overt control, you get the feeling that Lestat also feels boxed in by Louis simply because the hold his love for Louis has over him is such that he can't leave even when he is feeling trapped. And that Louis know this.

And while, again, Lestat has a lot to improve, don't you think it's refreshing that his role in the narrative is not to save Louis? That Louis is a character that has his own path outside of his relationships and this is his story. That the role of love is never to fix, but just to accompany. That sacrifices must be made for this. That in moments when it's unclear whether you will ever be able to climb out of your box, all you want is someone willing to stay there with you for a while. And that ultimately marriage is partly about giving up and preferring giving up infinite freedom by choosing to build your life around one person.

#or more than one if you are poly #but honestly they don't have this down #interview with the vampire #iwtv #iwtv spoilers #interview with the vampire spoilers

[apoptoses]

🚨 what do you think is the best and worst thing Armand ever did?

Oh anon strap in, this is gonna get heavy.

Disclaimer: this is my personal read, my own meta, everyone else is entitled to their own takes etc etc

We're gonna start with the worst: everything he did with Louis in iwtv.

Let me explain.

Something that is very common for survivors of trauma that was more psychological in nature and required betraying oneself in order to stay safe is to enter the fawn response. Aka people pleasing. Someone who has learned that they have to pretend to be someone else in order to keep others around them happy and keep themselves safe doesn't just shake that when the threat has ended. They then go on to feel as if they must do that in all future relationships in order to be loved and cared for, and if this goes unchecked then it can manifest into some really damaging behavior.

Things like lying about personal beliefs in order to tell the desired companion what the traumatized person thinks they want to hear, trying to control outcomes of certain situations in order for things to happen that they think will keep the desired companion with them. Someone who is people pleasing ends up saying "Yes I love the thing that you love" to one person, while saying deep down (or to another person) "I actually hate this thing so much".

And while it's understandable why someone who is people pleasing believes they have to act that way, it leads to their companion feeling manipulated when they find out that all the things that were said and done to 'please' them were untrue or done simply to control the situation and keep them around.

(And if it gets really out of control, subconscious behavior can become conscious acts of manipulation)

So with Louis we meet an Armand who says that he cares nothing for god, that if he met a mortal who inspired a lust for life in him once again he would turn that mortal immediately, that he would have turned Madeline himself. As readers we find out this isn't true later, that Armand struggles with his faith, that Armand would rather suffer anything than turn someone else into a vampire. But if we look at his words from a perspective of someone in a fawn response, he's saying those things because he believes that's what Louis needs to hear in order to accept his love and love him back.

And in more overt ways he forces Louis' hand with Madeline by using his influence, because Armand has decided it would be 'good' for Louis to turn her, that this will help him accept the loss of Claudia and come be with him. It's an act of controlling the situation to try to control for Armand's desired outcome (Louis loves me and will leave Claudia behind for me) but he's doing it under the people pleasing lie of 'this is what Louis needs, this is what will make him happy' when really it's about what will make Armand happy and safe. In that act subconscious fawning has become conscious manipulation.

While Armand's emotional detachment and lack of reaction to the burning of the theater and death of Denis is in many ways related to his self-admitted inability to feel anything at that time, there's also an aspect of fawning there: in order to people please one cannot offer their real feelings for fear of upsetting the companion. So really it just leads this situation where Louis doesn't know how Armand really feels about anything. He never shows Louis a moment of hurt or anger or outage, which we readers know he is capable of, because in order to feel safe and continue to 'please' he cannot let himself feel anything at all except that which his companion feels.

And that's why their relationship crumbles, because Louis is right: they cannot offer each other real love because Louis is mired in grief and Armand is incapable of being fully honest. He can't cultivate a true sense of self and show Louis that self because he's too swept in fawning for him and 'pleasing' him. Even when he and Louis break up he doesn't show his hurt, doesn't articulate having felt neglected. He just walks away, holds it all in, and fawns away his own feelings.

So that's why I think the best thing he did was that moment of sincerity with Daniel right before he turned him: admitting that he felt like a coward, and that he loved Daniel far too much to let him die.

In his explorations with Daniel Armand stops pleasing and swings to far other end of the spectrum for a time: he is so utterly absorbed in exploring the world and figuring out who he is and how he fits in that at times he doesn't consider Daniel's feelings much at all. But by the end of things when the running begins, he doesn't chase Daniel until Daniel calls for him. He becomes honest about his feelings and desires, despite the layers of shame he's heaped upon them. He stops detaching and fawning and gets real.

Which in the end is the key to him re-uniting with Louis and building a healthier relationship, creating his own home, opening the door to future reconciliation with Marius and having Daniel move back in with him. Armand had to learn to be himself fearlessly so that he would have genuine love to give.

#pls i am not an armand/louis hater at all don't take it that way lmao #and i don't believe his relationship with daniel was 100% healthy either #it's just that he hits rock bottom on both ends of the spectrum with excessive fawning and excessive selfishness #before he can find his way to a middle ground and honesty #and that's growth baby!!! #i think this is why in the vampire companion anne said armand was a good person with daniel #because by daniel's turning he's learned to stop chasing and manipulating and fawning and be genuine instead #and trinity gate couldn't exist if that arc never happened #apoptoses answers #vc meta

[poorlittlevampirebaby]

like the idea that armand is keeping louis repressed is something i DESPISE and i hate to be like because the book directly contradicts this but because THE BOOK DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS THIS

(sorry i grabbed these from a webweave i did to save time lol)

like they break up because louis is so repressed, because he refuses to show any passion and that hurts armand more than anything like armand would rather have louis exact revenge against him for having claudia killed than see louis just... going through the motions

and i love and respect the show for changing so much of the book canon, for building on and commenting on the misgivings and shortcomings of anne rice's work. they have revitalized it. and there is so much these writers clearly understand, and know how to present in this revitalized way.

which is why it is so very important to me to believe that louis has explicitly asked armand to keep him in check. and armand loves louis and will do anything for him, so he does it. but like... man do i think armand truly enjoys this repressed, bottled up, controlled louis ??? no i just don't

and maybe being so trusting of the writer's room now will come and bite me in the ass, but idk man... ya kno

and i know lestat said that louis straight up lied about seeing him in new orleans which like that of course is its own conversation, but i do think it's fair to consider that the general reasons behind why he and armand break up are true whether we believe the lestat shit or not. armand doesn't want to keep louis repressed and carefuly controlled he wants to see that passion and fire and anger again he wants that back

so also because of how the show is working, we can consider that it is following THIS interview that the break up actually occurs. so like whoever the dude is who said "you should be afraid of the other one" and assuming "the other one" is louis, then yeah he's bottling everything up so much he is going to burst

maybe armand bails before that can happen

IDFK MAN THE NEW SEASON ISN'T EVEN OUT YET

#i'm vampire chronicling

[desertfangs]

☕️ + daniel's (official) mortal death

This is so fascinating to consider because it could go so many ways!

First, if Daniel was born in 1953 as many of us like to imagine, he will be turning 70 this year, so I hope Armand has a huge party planned for him on Night Island (filing that away as a possible funny, fluffy fic idea!)

Anyhow, some of the ways it may have gone/will go:

If Armand saw a reason to make sure Daniel was officially, legally dead during their years on Night Island after he was turned, he would have discussed it with Daniel and together they would have come up with the official story, written the obit, and gotten the death certificate made and filed. The reasons for this are many but I think really the biggest catalyst to this would be if people were searching for him. Relatives trying to track him down, old friends, etc. In that case, Armand would want to have legal records for them to find and possibly even send a copy of the death certificate to said family with a letter saying his estate has provided that they will continue to receive checks in perpetuity. However, if there was no pressing reason to do it, I don't know it would have happened that soon, since Daniel was well within his mortal life span, having only "died" at 32.

Which means, it's possible it's something Armand saw to while Daniel was mentally unwell. If Daniel wasn't in a position to help with those arrangements, Armand would have done it all himself and it's possible he never got around to mentioning it to Daniel, who might then, as in your wonderful headcanon, be sitting there one night and simply ask "Am I dead?" Because he honestly wouldn't know. I personally headcanon that Daniel and Armand's financial and legal lives are entirely entwined and largely controlled by Armand and have been since the 80s (Daniel is happy to let him handle that shit.) So Daniel knows Armand would know what his legal status was. As it is, I think they probably no longer have personal bank accounts, but everything, from the Night Island to any investments and holdings, and the million random apartments and houses they own are just under trusts and shell corporations.

Maybe he's still legally alive! I mean he's well within a mortal life span and it's entirely possible that's true. Again, I think it's Armand who will be thinking about these things and might bring the idea to him that it's time to legally "die" and they can figure out the best way to handle it together. That would be a fun fic!

But yeah, no matter what the situation, I think Armand is probably the one to go "So, beloved, you cannot legally be alive anymore." But when or why will just depend on if it's causing problems for them more than anything else, or if he thinks perhaps Daniel's family will want that closure. Daniel is not thoughtless but I don't think he's really considered it, especially given how much time he's spent out of sorts and not really able to think about those things.

#daniel molloy #armand #armand/daniel #thank you for the ask!! #answers in the desert #vc headcanons #vc meta #vc #vampire chronicles

[nalyra-dreaming]

I think Lestat’s love for Claudia is something I don’t particularly blame people who’ve only watched the show for not completely understanding.

But I’d be pretty devastated if it’s not something clarified in later seasons. Lestat crying over her yellow dress or whatever the show equivalent of that moment is should clue people in on there being more to that family dynamic that the version of the story told in season 1 has indicated.

Obviously in ep 4 but even 5, 6, 7 I think there’s evidence and indications about the depth of feelings he has for her but it’s easily dismissed because people see how cruel and harsh he can be to her as a parent, as well as the tale Louis is preparing that Claudia wanting lestat (but not louis?) dead was very understandable. That’s not to say Claudia’s motives aren’t understandable but louis is clearly maximising everything that would make her sympathetic. We are yet to see if they will tackle the way Claudia felt about louis (as revealed in later books) but there’s obviously more to the family dynamic.

I think the previous anon you got that said lestat was only wanting to control Claudia is maybe not prepared for how monstrously the vampires here are capable of loving. Yes it looks like lestat was obviously unraveling and exerting control but even if he was exactly as abusive as Louis suggests in ep 7 it doesn’t mean he wasn’t motivated by love as well. These are dark characters in a fake story. They can’t be fit into little boxes, they all love each other very deeply and do terrible things, both these things can exist at the same time. But it seems like some people who acknowledge armand does controlling abusive things out of a caring messed up loving place..but they don’t want to acknowledge that about others in the story. What do you think?

Yeah that could be it.

Just answered that other anon again, and they seem to be stuck on evil Lestat somehow.

These vampires are monsters, and their love is monstrous as well. They are also multi-facetted, and not good or evil.

A lot of things can be true at the same time, and Lestat being pissed at Claudia, loving her as a daughter, and careful monitoring her because he knows she wants to kill him, and being paranoid because they're threatened is definitely one of those things.

#Anonymous #asks #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire #ask nalyra

[sanctaignorantia]

Analysis, theories, spoilers and a bit of hate (maybe).

Sorry for the long text, I really can't control myself and if you start to hate me after it, well… I'm not sorry, but it's my opinion so I want to make it clear that, because it's my opinion, it's only up to me and if you agree, ok. But if you don't, just ignore it.

Let's go!

I was thinking recently about the way the series used Rashid who was an extremely small character in the book 'Blood and Gold' and then put him there as a name that Armand hides behind and then now, in the second season, we'll really get to know him. But for those who don't know, Rashid is one of Eudoxia's servants who appears in the book 'Blood and Gold' and just like Eudoxia he is extremely young ( circa 14-15 years old). Eudoxia was turned at the same age and then decided to create vampires just like her, she had them turn others because she always wanted to know what was going on in their minds. Marius ends up destroying her. Knowing this, I'm trying to conclude that perhaps the series won't use Eudoxia in the same way as the book did and therefore this part of Marius' story might not exist, or perhaps she'll arrive at a different age, in different circumstances (but I wish it didn't exist because that would automatically eliminate Zenobia and leave Avicus and Mael to live happily :D).

In short, Rashid was adapted differently, but the same. He doesn't have the same age and isn't connected to the same characters (as far as we know), but he continues to serve (this time for Armand).

Which makes me think of other possibilities.

When we think of adaptation, we automatically want the new media to be an exact copy of the original, but that doesn't always work. The story of the books "works" (or should work hahahaha) in the books and bringing it 100% faithfully to the series could be exhausting, especially when we're talking about a universe full of characters (with the vast majority of them being basically useless).

I keep coming back to this thought because I basically prefer the way the story is being told in the series to the way it is told in the books. I've read them all (except the crossover, no thanks) and now I keep creating these scenarios in my head, but let's get directly to the point.

For those of you who have read the 'Prince Lestat' trilogy, you know that the author simply decided to reboot the universe (as if this wasn't already done naturally with the inconsistencies and divergences in the books). And one of the things that made me very angry was what happened to Memnoch…

He first arrives as a demon or demonic creature who seduces Lestat and takes him on an intense and crazy journey through space and time, revealing a LOT of truth about a lot of things and for those who liked the spiritual vibe of the books, I think the book is a real treat, because it adds very much to the mythology of the universe in that respect. And we even find out a bit more about Amel. But then, when the book ends, we simply discover that Memnoch, just like any other malicious creature, has perfectly fooled Lestat (because our rockstar is very dumb). In conclusion, the book becomes a pit of useless information because you can't determine whether everything that has been revealed and contacted is really true…

Time passes and it becomes more and more something that is forgotten, until the author brings it back in the final trilogy, putting it into the mouths of the Replimoids (creatures and characters that nobody asked for) who end up saying, but without being very sure, because nobody in this universe is sure of anything, that perhaps Memnoch was Maxym, a Replimoid from the "Amel Era" in Atalantaya!

And don't worry, because the narrative about it gets so exhausting and big that you can't fix it in your mind, here's the quote:

As the author likes to do, you finish the trilogy and Memnoch has been forgotten again. This Replimoid shit to turn Amel into an innocent, lost and misunderstood child becomes so great that fuck the devil spirit.

Which, returning to the question of adaptation, makes me wonder what they could bring to the series. They bought all the books, right? That included the fucking Replimoid thing, I'm so sorry…

But then… The Replimoids have been on Earth for 12 thousand years… Much longer than any vampire soul, they are immortal, do not age and reproduce in an extremely uncontrolled way… If you have read the final books you know that a Replimoid is a great opponent for a vampire and they are so poorly used in the books, hmm… If we have Maxym who were one of them and became so spiteful and vengeful to the point of doing what he does to Lestat under the name Memnoch, because doesn't it say in the adaptation that they will come (finally and gloriously) as a true opponent against the vampires?

"Oh my god… But Amel was a Replimoid too!" - Wrong!

He's a mutated human, fuck that Replimoid thing with Amel. He has a human body, a human soul and he suffered on earth and in space (at the hands of other creatures) to have the end he did and become what he became (Oh poor thing, let's feed him - fuck him!) The author (IN MY OPINION, WHICH IS WORTH NOTHING, YOU KNOW) doesn't know how to develop villains or creatures that should serve as opponents for vampires, I don't think this is very well constructed in the universe and it makes me think that maybe I don't have patience to watch Akasha be adapted because she is a mediocre villain. Good luck to Rolin and the writers…

But back to Maxym and the Replimoid business… If they've been on Earth for more than 12 years and are immortal, nothing stops them from walking freely under any identity, after all, vampires do that too… Hmmm~ When I read Memnoch I thought: he's very smart, although he doesn't need much to fool Lestat, but it made me seem like a lot of Les's journey had been paved by Memnoch, that a lot of decisions Lestat made were under Memenoch's influence, so look how much power Memenoch has it!

We later discover that Amel also has a certain power of influence because he is what he is, that spirit at the center of the great web, the great brain that drives the vampires' existence.

And here I make a parenthesis because the introduction of this new race serves no purpose, you spend a long chapter reading Kapetria say about them and in the end no useful answer is answered:

How did Amel become such a spiteful spirit?

Because, when, how does he start to feed on blood if previously as a human he didn't need it?

Was it some spiritual influence that transformed him into this terrible being?

WHY IS SUDDENLY EVERYONE BEING GOOD WITH HIM??????? The guy killed several vampires indiscriminately, he was a huge threat and he convinces Rhosh to do what he does and he gets away with it???? Geez…

And if we have Maxym as a Replimoid walking on earth for 12,000 years being as bad as I want him to be, who's to say that he hasn't already crossed the path of another vampire, or that he's going to do so soon? And why do I say that? Because we have Filip playing this Maxim in the second season.

It's written differently, I know, but I don't think a change like that would bring disgrace to such a character, let's be honest…

-> Filip Finkelstejn as Maxim

And this has an almost 100% chance of being totally different when it comes out, I understand that, but if they put Fareed early in season 1, what's stopping them from inserting the Replimoids as well? What's to stop them from summarizing characters and saving space and time like they did with Rashid and still maintaining their purpose? And WHAT IF Maxym will be there to try and pave the way for Louis because the easiest way to get to Lestat is and always will be through Louis?

I'll let you guys think about it…

#maxym #maxim #replimoid #prince lestat era #lestat #louis #iwtv s2 #iwtv theory #iwtv #interview with the vampire #vampire chronicles #memnoch #i love being an idiot D:

[cosmicjoke]

Alright, so, still haven’t had a chance to watch episode 7 of IWTV yet, but I’ve been made aware of the theory being posited that the final reveal of Louis calling Armand the “love of my life” and some other details of the episode are meant to clue the audience into the fact that Louis is being mind controlled by Armand, and that the inconsistencies in his story, especially regarding Lestat, are a result of this.  I like this theory, as it’s truly the only logical, and justifiable explanation for... everything from episode 5 on.  If Armand is distorting Louis’ memories of Lestat to have him remembering Lestat as this horrific abuser, that wold be keeping well in line with Armand’s character.

I just finished rereading IWTV, and the last chapter (which I’d forgotten almost entirely since I first read the book years ago) is deeply revealing about Armand’s character and, even more so, I think, Lestat’s character.

I’ve seen plenty of people who I have to assume never read the books, or just have low level reading comprehension, refer to Lestat in the first book at the “villain” of the story, and I’ve already made a post about why that’s an incorrect statement to make.  And this final chapter really just drives home exactly why.

Firstly, with Armand, if anyone is thinking Armand incapable of manipulating Louis to the extent in which this theory posits him as doing, in the book, in the final chapter of IWTV, he flat out admits to Louis that he himself forced Claudia out into the courtyard and locked her in as the sun was breaking.  Armand killed Claudia, by his own hand.  More revealing still, though, is that Armand, earlier, in order to get Louis to agree to go back to New Orleans, reveals to him that Lestat is still alive, and we learn near the end of the chapter that he does so because he’s hoping that seeing Lestat will revitalize Louis’ lost passion and love, specifically, his lost passion and love for Armand himself.  He’s banking on Lestat revealing to Louis that Armand was the one who killed Claudia by his own hand.  Lestat, however, doesn’t do this.  And this brings us again to the fallacy of calling Lestat the villain of the first book.  Lestat’s completely desperate and pitiful state which Louis finds him is is a direct result of him having lost Louis and Claudia both, and the way in which he begs Louis to stay with him, and confesses to Louis that he never meant for Claudia to be killed, that he didn’t know what Santiago had planned, once again truly exposes Lestat’s true nature.  He wasn’t ever the unfeeling, cold, dimwitted or monstrous man Louis, for a long time, believed him to be.  He loved Louis and Claudia desperately, he needed them, not for Louis’ money, as Louis initially believed, but because he so loved Louis and Claudia both.  It was just, because of his own, terrible trauma, which is hinted at in this book, but not expanded upon, he never knew how to express it.  There’s a point in the book in which Louis explains how, on nights when he and Lestat would go out to the opera, or to a play, Lestat would afterwards show so much human joy and enthusiasm for the experience that Louis would confess to him that he enjoyed Lestat’s company, and after each such confession, Lestat would pull away and not ask to go out with Louis for months at a time.  It’s impossible to know exactly why just from reading IWTV, but of course, for anyone who’s read The Vampire Lestat, it becomes clear that Lestat is dealing with a lot of abandonment issues and childhood trauma which causes in him a great and awful fear of being left alone.  Of course, it’s a common thing for people who fear abandonment to pull away from those they love, frightened that if that person comes to learn too much about them, they’ll end up hating and leaving them.  We get plenty of clues to this being the case with Lestat throughout the first book.  He was never just some evil baddie who terrorized poor Louis and Claudia and treated them like trash.

Lestat’s desperate pleas for Louis to come back to him in Paris, and then for him to stay in New Orleans, reflect that.  He says to Louis “I wanted to talk to you so much.  That night I came home to the Rue Royale, I only wanted to talk to you!”.  Lestat always wished he could open up to Louis and express how he truly felt, but he was always too paralyzed by his own fear to do so, early on anyway.

I bring this all up because, contrary to what some people who defend the shows depiction of Lestat would have us believe, Lestat was never meant to be seen as the villain of that story, and so him being depicted as such in the show never would and never did make any sense.  It would be an almost unbelievable misreading of the text by the show runners for them not to realize this, and unless they really are just that blatantly disrespectful of Anne Rice’s work, I can’t see them being that stupid.  So I think, in light of this, the theory that Louis’ memories of Lestat are being altered by Armand makes all the more sense.  Lestat would never hurt Louis or Claudia the way he does in the show, not if we’re talking about the ACTUAL Lestat.  He loves them too much to ever do anything even remotely akin it, and he always did.  He doesn’t even shown any resentment towards Claudia, despite how deeply she wronged him, and that tells you all you need to know. 

Now how that relates back to Armand, and how Armand attempts to use Lestat to manipulate Louis, I think feeds into the theory for the show.  Armand shows no qualms whatsoever about using Lestat in order to gain Louis’ love and trust, or to use him to shift Louis into a more wanted state.  We first see this when Armand affects disgust with Lestat in Paris, after Claudia is killed, by asking him if he’s “satisfied” with what’s happened in front of Louis, pretending at his own innocence in the whole affair, as if he’s defending Louis from Lestat’s evil.  And then of course later, when he thinks by forcing Louis and Lestat back together, it will reawaken Louis lost passion for life and rekindle his interest in Armand himself.

Louis reveals though that he already knows Armand killed Claudia, and he doesn’t care, because he feels nothing for Armand anymore.  Hardly the “love of his life”, as he says in the show.  Louis would never say that of Armand.  By the end of IWTV, Louis’ distaste for Armand is plain as day.  He wants him gone, he wants to be away from him, he’s disgusted by him.  He even calls Armand out on pretending to be sad about having caused Claudia’s death.  Louis knows Armand doesn’t give a fuck.

So, assuming the show is intending to actually have Louis and Lestat end up together, as everyone involved has previously claimed, this would be a logical and justifiable explanation for the seeming character assassination they’ve performed on... well, everyone in this show thus far. 

I still think it was ridiculous to go about it in this way, and has done nothing but cause a lot of grief and misery and confusion regarding the direction the show was taking.  It’s woefully arrogant for the show runners to think they can go about telling Anne Rice’s story better than Anne Rice herself.  The whole thing has been convoluted.  I get they want to keep the audience on their toes and guessing, to surprise the audience so they’ll keep tuning in.  I get that’s how TV works.  But Anne Rice has sold millions of books, and the ratings on this last episode were, I’ve heard, about half a million people.  They aren’t exactly pulling fans of the books in in droves, it seems, probably because they’ve caused so much confusion and anger by deviating so drastically from the books themselves. 

They should have just stuck to what Anne Rice wrote.  It’s infinitely more complex, heartfelt, and powerful than anything the show has given us.  But, whatever, that’s how it is in Hollywood.  They routinely butcher works of literature, thinking they’re making it more exciting, when really, they’re just robbing it of its heart. 

Just read this paragraph from the last chapter, and tell me this doesn’t move you more than anything this show has been able to do:

“Don’t try to speak... it’s all right.”  I said to Lestat, who dropped down gratefully into his chair and reached out to stroke the lapels of my coat with both hands.

“But I’m so glad to see you,” he stammered through his tears.  “I’ve dreamed of your coming... coming...” he said.  And then he grimaced, as if he were feeling a pain he couldn’t identify, and again the fine map of scars appeared for an instant.  He was looking off, his hand up to his ear, as if he meant to cover it to defend himself from some terrible sound.  “I didn’t...” he started; and then he shook his head, eyes clouding as he opened them wide, strained to focus them.   “I didn’t mean to let them do it, Louis... I mean that Santiago... that one, you know, he didn’t tell me what they planned to do.”

“That’s all past, Lestat,” I said.

“Yes, yes,” he nodded vigorously.  “Past.  She should never... why Louis, you know...”  And he was shaking his head, his voice seeming to gain in strength, to gain a little in resonance with his effort.  “She should never have been one of us, Louis.”  And he rapped his sunken chest with his fist as he said “Us” again softly.

But yes, Lestat was just a big old meanie in the first book, he was just the villain.  Sure.  Okay.

Anyway, I’m off to start “The Vampire Lestat” next. 

#amc's interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire #Anne Rice #lestat de lioncourt #louis de pointe du lac #armand

[0junemeatcleaver0]

Lestat/Armand for the prompt, the most depraved but still sweet thing you can think of (because I’m exhausted and I need someone else to write it too, so help me God 🥹🥹)

Lestat/Armand Rating: E Features: Whump (IE: Lestat beats the shit out of Armand, but it's consensual, no worries), thoughts about the past, revelations, aftercare cloaked in sarcasm because these two can never get too vulnerable with each other. Post-canon; in this version Lestat has actually at least tried to do some work on himself.

𝔽𝕦𝕔𝕜 𝕄𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕐𝕠𝕦 ℍ𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕄𝕖; ℍ𝕚𝕥 𝕄𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕄𝕖

It sounds less like meat slapping meat, and more like meat slapping stone.

Lestat tries to remember if it was like this the last time, but it doesn't matter. So much has changed since then--individually and between them.

Where once he had done this purely out of rage, now he does it from a place of...of what exactly he's unsure. Armand had made the request of him, which quickly became a demand. And when Lestat still refused, Armand had backed him into a corner--

"Louis was happier with me, you know. Everyone knows it. There's no denying it."

--until Lestat reacted on his worst instinct, slapping Armand hard across the face.

He felt like an idiot. He shouldn't have allowed himself to be lead like this--to have given the little demon what exactly what he wanted.

Harder.

Armand forces the word into his head.

Why? What's the meaning of--

With a closed fist. Do it.

Lestat looks at his hand as though it had only just sprouted at the end of his arm. His palm was still slightly pink from the impact, even though Armand's face has already regained it's smooth, even tone.

You've done it once before. Armand reminds him.

That was different.

I want you to do it again.

That night in Paris, forced into his mind. Lestat beating the boy mercilessly, intent on killing him, on wanting to be rid of him once and for all.

"This is madness." He whispers. "I can't--"

Don't make me drain you.

And then suddenly that memory--the inciting incident--is in his mind but Armand isn't the one who put it there. Armand pressing his fangs into Lestat after dropping him into a haze with the Mind Gift, pulling great draughts of blood from him. The memory edges him closer and closer to fight or flight so when Armand thinks DO IT at him, it's pure impulse to raise his hand and strike him again.

And then once more.

Armand had well and truly been a monster in those early days. For all of Lestat's postulating about the Savage Garden and being a monster outside of the control of even Satan himself, Armand had been unnerving to him.

For Armand had actually inhabited everything that Lestat had touted and when met face to face with the reality, Lestat found himself terrified. A true monster wrapped in the most pleasing visage--beautiful enough to draw you in and dazzle you before you could stop him from inflicting terrible cruelty upon you.

Lestat shivers at the memory as he strikes Armand with a closed fist, connecting with his ribs.

There was a reason Lestat had kept Louis and Claudia from the others. Marius had seemed an anomaly in civility. What he knew of the rest of his kind had frankly chilled him to the core. Even after hearing Armand's story--a story that did not match up to the one he would later tell David, a fact that would forever plague him--he could not fully trust the vampire, even if he had begun to feel more empathy towards him.

He hadn't really begun to recognize whatever version of 'humanity' they had allotted to them until Armand had turned Daniel.

Lestat lands a blow to Armand's jaw and stops abruptly, realizing what he's doing.

Armand raises his bowed head, attempts to fix his gaze upon him with glazed eyes. He spits a mouthful of blood onto the floor between them and reaches out--catching Lestat's wrist in a lightning fast grip to press his palm flat against the arousal growing in his woolen trousers.

Reflexively, Lestat flinches back, whipping his hand away.

The fact that Armand likes a bit of rough play is perhaps the worst kept secret in all of vampire-dom. Lestat had assumed it stopped at being taken hard and perhaps smacked around a little--startled to find that being the victim of a brawl could make him this hard in so few hits.

Do it. Do it. Don't be a coward! Do--

Something snaps inside of Lestat and he grasps Armand by a fistful of hair by the back of his head, pulling him in close to strike him thrice more with his free hand.

The monster is in him, too, that's the problem. Armand's cruelty has always appeared from the outside to be dispassionate, but Lestat is also cruel and he enjoys it. Enjoys having control, enjoys taking life. It's one in the same, really. And while he's made great strides in the past few years he cannot pretend as though this isn't still a part of him--this desire for ruination.

No one brought that desire out of Lestat better than Armand.

Harder, Armand insists.

Finally, Lestat obliges without a second thought, striking him so that he stumbles back and trips over the low table behind him, falling to the floor. Lestat is on him the next second, straddling him as he continues the beating.

Time ceases to matter--if it ever truly could matter to their kind. He doesn't know how long it takes for Armand's pitiful moans to turn to gurgles as he begins choking on his blood.

His guard is down, mind open and Lestat takes a peek as he cocks his fist back again. Sees himself on that lawn in Paris, beating Armand senseless. Sees himself here and now, looking down upon Armand, backlit so that his hair is a bright yellow halo surrounding his head. Sees the two versions of himself blending and turning momentarily into Marius's face for a split second before he's himself again, fist still held back waiting to be thrown.

He brings his hand down to the carpet beneath them, momentarily stunned.

I missed him so much then.

The thought is weak but unmistakable.

You looked so much like him. As though you could have been his son. I hated you for it. I wanted you so badly.

And suddenly Lestat is horrified again, unprepared to see this part of their shared past through a new lens--to know that the reason Armand had imprinted upon him like a duckling was because he looked so much like his old Master. That he derived some sick pleasure from the beating he'd dealt him.

That he might only love him due to his love for Marius.

Lestat rolls off of him, laying on his back next to a sprawled out and broken Armand to stare at the ceiling for a long moment, numbed. There are no more thoughts--his head static.

He turns his head to look at Armand. He's hit him so hard--the trauma so deep--that he's still badly bruised. His hair is matted with blood, left eye glued shut with coagulation. His bottom lip is split and his perfect cheeks are purpled.

Slowly, Lestat sits up and begins undressing Armand with shaking hands. His knuckles are sore--he can only imagine how Armand feels. When he sits the boy up to pull his shirt down his arms--his torso a bed of bright blue blooms--the blood runs free and thick down Armand's slack jaw.

"Did you get what you want?" He mumbles. "Are you satisfied?"

"Yes." Armand croaks. "Thank you."

The horror falls away suddenly, replaced by affection for this approximation of a broken child before him. Carefully, he helps Armand remove his shoes and trousers.

"He wouldn't have ever beat you this badly."

"I'm glad one of us is certain of that."

He is certain, but only because he has to be. Refuses to think less of Marius. He thinks maybe that is another thing that binds the two of them so tightly together--their devotion to the Roman.

"Can you walk?"

"Of course. You didn't strike my legs."

"Keep up the attitude and I might."

A thought. No, a memory. A scene he'd read in Armand's sad little pornographic book--a switch coming down again and again against the backs of his thighs, wielded by a stern Marius, the scene crystalline in the way a memory only could be, frozen there for eternity.

"Don't threaten me with a good time." Armand mumbles. His swollen lips in a close approximation of a smirk.

Lestat dumps him on the bed. Armand moans in pain, his ribs in obvious disarray. He's fairly certain he hasn't broken them--runs a steady palm along Armand's flank to make sure.

"Hold still." Lestat mumbles, swinging a leg over Armand's legs. It's different this time--Lestat planting kisses instead of punches to each bruise, pressing is own blood against the injuries with his tongue.

He works him over just as slowly as he had before, correcting their shared wrongs with each kiss until Armand's torso is all the same pale shade of marble once more. Lestat sighs, slicing his tongue open again, letting gravity drizzle a ribbon of blood onto Armand's swollen eye and rubbing it in with a gentle thumb. He watches as the skin mends itself, the bruise falling away, almost appearing to sink into the skin until it is no longer visible.

He saves Armand's lips for last, bending to kiss them bloodlessly and tenderly. They have the same color and over-plumped fullness of a plum. Armand hisses when Lestat's lips make contact, pained. Lestat hushes him, sliding a hand between them to stroke Armand's half erect cock as he kisses each corner of his mouth.

"You don't have to--"

"Hush."

Armand plumps against his palm in just a few strokes, moaning when Lestat pets the head with his thumb, wincing when each moan pulls the split in his lip a little wider. A droplet of blood wells up on Armand's bottom lip and Lestat licks greedily at it as his thumb swipes a bead of precum off the tip of Armand's cock.

"Christ, please." Armand begs, breath pouring into Lestat's mouth.

Lestat opens his tongue again, licks the blood over Armand's bottom lip and into his mouth as he strokes him faster. Armand comes with the second mouthful of blood Lestat passes to him, body going completely limp.

He waits for Armand to recover for a moment before slapping playful at his hip.

"Up. Up now. You're sweating all over my bed and your hair is disgusting."

Armand remains dazed for a moment before scowling, throwing a pillow at Lestat's retreating back.

"And where are you going?"

"Calm yourself, imp. I'm drawing you a bath."

#the vampire armand #lestat de lioncourt #lestat/armand #my fic stuff #talk hard #ficlet

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

Disremember

First chapter of my new Armand/Daniel fic. It's going to span both the devil's minion era and the 2022 era. Read it here on ao3 or below

Daniel is nestled in the nook of Armand’s arm, head on his shoulder.  They’re laid out on an outdoor lounge on the balcony, watching the fireworks erupt in the sky. It's fourth of July.   Armand’s eyes are on the fireworks, and he looks like the picture of serenity, completely at ease.  It’s in part due to Daniel’s blood; he’s a little drunk and a little high.  Nothing stronger than pot tonight, but it makes him feel relaxed and loose.  Figures it must work the same on Armand.  

He leans up and nuzzles into Armand’s neck, kisses up his jaw.  Armand captures his face in his hand and tilts him into a lazy kiss.  Daniel could lie here in this moment forever.  

Except he can’t.  He doesn’t have forever.  

He kisses Armand again and slings a leg over his waist.  He settles down into Armand’s lap as Armand’s hands find his waist and his thumbs stroke around his waistband.  Daniel turns the kiss dirty, bites on Armand’s bottom lips then fucks his mouth with his tongue.  The hands on his waist slide back to squeeze his ass.  Daniel breaks away from the kiss to mouth over Armand’s neck.  “Armand?”

“What is it, Daniel?”

Daniel sucks on the skin of Armand’s neck.  If he gets him worked up enough, he’ll start to sweat the blood, and Daniel can lick it off.  That’ll be nice.

“Will you ever give me what I want?”  Now’s the best time to ask for it.  He’s never seen Armand more relaxed, more content.  

“I’ve given you everything you could ever ask for.”

Daniel frowns and sits back.  “Yeah, except the one thing I really want.”

Armand clutches him close and kisses his face.  His voice is a low whisper when he speaks, “Be alive, Daniel.”  He presses their foreheads together and shuts his eyes.  “Let me tell you from my heart that life is better than death.”

Daniel pulls away and stands up.  “I don’t want to be alive, Armand.  I want to be like you!  To live forever with you!  Then I’ll tell you which is better, life or death.”

Armand sighs.  “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

Daniel points an accusatory finger at him.  “You don’t love me.  You can’t.  You’ll never die, but you’ll watch me die, night after night, you watch it.”

Armand rises to his feet, eyes flashing with anger.  “Not this again, Daniel.  You know I love you more than anything.”

“Then prove it!  Make me like you; let me be with you forever!”  Daniel demands.  

Armand sweeps closer to him.  “Don’t ask this of me, Daniel.”

“See?  You don’t love me.  Not like I love you.  You don’t wanna be with me forever,” Daniel says, nearly snarling with rage.  “Why?  Why aren’t I good enough for forever?”

He’s so angry he shoves Armand in the chest.  It doesn’t matter; nothing can hurt him.  Naturally, it has no effect but force Daniel to lose his balance and stumble back a few paces. 

“How dare you!” Armand shouts, stepping closer.  

“Don’t hit me,” Daniel taunts.  “You might kill me, you’re so much stronger.”

“I’d never-”

Daniel interrupts, “But you like it that way, don’t you?  That’s the real reason you won’t change me; you like me weak.  You like being able to control me.”

Daniel is fuming, he can’t stop now that he’s started.  He’s shooting to kill.  “It’s true, you know it’s true.  Because you’re sick, you’re a freak.  I tricked myself into thinking you could love me, but you can't, you're incapable of love.”

Tears spill from Armand’s eyes silently.  He must not be able to stop them, because he cries and cries, teeth grit and saying nothing while Daniel speaks. 

“I will not do it, I cannot do it,” Armand says, tears flowing freely.  He reaches forward and grabs Daniel’s hand. “Ask me to kill you, it’d be easier than that.  You don’t know what you ask for, don’t you see?  It’s always a damnable error!  Don’t you realize that any one of us would give it up for one human lifetime?”

Daniel snatches away from him and laughs, on the edge of hysterical.  “I don’t believe you.  Give up immortality for one measly life?”

“I’d give it up if I weren’t still a coward.  Five hundred years and still the coward, still terrified to marrow of my bones of death.”  Armand reaches for him again as he speaks, eyes spilling tears and cheeks stained with blood.

Daniel hates to see him suffer, but tonight it feels like victory.  “Yeah, right.  Fear has nothing to do with it.  You don’t want to give all this up, and more importantly, you want to know what happens next.”

“Daniel-” Armand’s hands close around Daniel’s wrists, drawing him close.

“And if you really fear death, then why make me face it?  Why not save me from it?”

“It wouldn’t be saving you Daniel, it’d be damning you.”

Daniel pulls away in disgust.  “I was damned the day I met you.”

Armand flinches–looks like he struck a nerve there–and Daniel storms inside their bedroom.  He goes to the closet and starts throwing clothes in his backpack.  There’s a wallet in one pocket that has two grand in cash Armand forgot to take out when he switched to a different wallet.  Daniel’s found money this way more than once.  

“I’m leaving.  For good this time.”

He’s said it so many times before, Armand no doubt doesn’t believe him.  Daniel doesn’t care.  He’s not ever coming back.  He isn’t wasting his life on someone who will never truly love him, never see him as an equal.  

Armand sweeps in after him.  Daniel has his backpack slung over his shoulder and is halfway to the door.  He hesitates, stopping to look at Armand.  It’s all the opening Armand needs.  He moves unnaturally fast across the space between them.  Then his hands are on Daniel’s face and his mouth is on Daniel’s and his tongue is in Daniel’s mouth.  It’s bleeding.

Daniel groans and kisses him back feverishly. Armand always pulls this kind of shit, uses his blood or his cock to try to seduce Daniel to do whatever he wants.  It’s annoying in that it’s condescending, and that it usually works.  

Finally, Daniel has to pull back for a breath.  Armand drops his hands and steps back.  “Until next time, Daniel.”

“Fuck you,” Daniel says, and slams the door behind him.  This time really will be the last time.  It’ll be for good.  He knows exactly what to do to ensure it.

Daniel needs to ask Louis a favor. 

#iwtv fic #daniel molloy #armand #armand/daniel #daniel/armand

[monstersinthecosmos]

(i swear i’m still retired but one more thing)

VAMPIRE THERAPY THOUGHTS: 

Marius's ego & rigid belief systems read as survival mechanisms to me in a super poignant way, perhaps because I had to rely on similar survival mechanisms as a young person with no support system. (ie: super edgelord teenager shit that I thankfully grew out of but that he is stuck in perhaps as a hyperbolic & evergreen VC theme or because he’s like, yknow, not real and a perpetual exaggeration of human behavior.) I see myself in that part of him a lot and it's strange to interact with because I've tried so hard to forgive my past self for times that I was cold and arrogant to people around me because I couldn't afford to be vulnerable. It means that I empathize deeply even as I laugh at him and recognize his bad behavior, but I don't demonize him because as a reader I am cheering for him and want to see him grow and learn, the way I try to grow and learn.  Unmarried men in Ancient Rome were super ostracized so I feel that this might have been a skill he developed when he was alive, which gave him the courage to travel and study and do what he wanted despite the social stigma. He creates an identity around his independence and believes in himself because he has to. Even speaking towards his privilege as a man in a patriarchal society, he didn't quite fit in and have a place there.

So then he gets abducted by religious zealots, murdered & sacrificed, and forced into vampirism, and not only have they taken all of his autonomy from him but he's suddenly being confronted with mysticism that he STAUNCHLY disbelieved his whole life, and he's shoved into this drama with the Parents that he didn’t give a fuck about. His entire worldview is shattered during a moment where he has no control over anything in his life.

To take control the way he did, obsessively, and to lean back into an old habit of fortifying himself with ego & self assurance, is the way he survives and the way he copes with this horrific life change that he didn't ask for.

And hundreds of years go by where his methods continue to be affirmed. Like no, he can't share the secrets because zealots will raid his home. No, I cannot trust anyone else with this burden. It's mine and mine alone.

Later when he loses Pandora I think it reinforces this as well--she leaves and it puts him in a position to comfort himself by acting like he's choosing the Parents over her, and whether or not that's true it's one thing he can keep control over. So that this behavior repeats and repeats doesn't surprise me. It's worked for him and it's how he operates. His need to control everything & everyone and his need to tell himself he's doing the right thing are born from the same place.

I do think Marius tries to do the right thing and be a good person, but he's operating with a super limited tool set. He doesn't leave enough room to entertain that other people don't share his feelings. But I think it would be unwise to assume that every wrong thing he has done was calculated to be harmful, insofar as we must say at some point "bro you're 2000 years old please do some self work"

There's also a world of growth between the way he treats Armand's emotional needs and the way he treats Lestat's--with Lestat he's a much better listener, takes his misery seriously and offers him really sincere advice. He even admits he fucked up with Armand.

(Off screen we also know that Bianca has told him to fuck himself by this point so he is learning.) He is certainly one of the most polarizing characters and his trauma does not excuse him but I think it does offer a lens to understand why he does the things he does. Even in real life when people behave poorly you should hold them accountable, but it's worth asking "What happened to you?" because really it is so rare that anyone just behaves this way for no reason. In fiction it’s even easier to have these conversations, because these people do not exist, no one has been harmed, and what is humanizing the boogeyman if not an exercise in empathy and forgiveness? Monsters exist in fiction as placeholders for all the terrible things we’ve all done, and yet a character like Marius has the depth to be more than the things he’s done wrong, just like all of us. We are not our worst deeds. In a horror novel we use vampiring as a symbol, IRL maybe it’s about a time we were rude to a friend. This is a good space to practice. 

I've seen a few reads on Marius as like an old white mansplainer LMAO and I do see that, I get it, but I don't think it's a completely appropriate comparison. There's a context to that person when we talk about him IRL, a stereotype that it's just peak male privilege that creates adults who have never been challenged in their lives, and that's not what Marius is.  (I have a whole side-essay inside me about Marius’s position of power over people and whether or not it was gained at the expense of others but whew enough tumbling for now.) 

Marius's ego is not a product of "My life is easy so I don't understand the struggles of others", it's "My life has been horrifically traumatizing and I've fortified my own ego as a means to survive it."

He doesn't particularly have peak privilege in this context, and not just speaking to his human life but so much of his character as a vampire revolves around loneliness and desire to be involved in the world, even when he knows he can't and often doesn't even feel worthy of it.

#marius de romanus #vampire chronicles #anne rice #deep ass thoughts about vampires #but they are fools and i am right

[aramisinaskirt]

Thoughts on “Friends and Enemies”

Note: Spoilers galore abound below the cut, and this is going to be an extremely long post, as most of my episode reactions will be. 

The opening scenes of this episode go by so fast! It  had been a while since I'd seen it before I started to try watching it again.   I'm honestly surprised by how well d'Artagnan fights, for a character who is supposed to be a farm boy from Gascony. Watching his father die in the rain is an incredibly moving scene, for which I give full credit to Oliver Cotton.

I almost immediately feel sorry for Athos. The ice bucket scene, while it makes sense as a quick way to sober up, will never not be funny to me.  One thing I love about what the series did is how well it summed up all of the boys personalities in one or two scenes, almost as if they wanted to contrast the things the fake Musketeers were doing.

God, the scene with Porthos playing cards with Dujon. The "Ooh. That's slander." when he's accused of cheating gets me every time. It makes me want to laugh but also makes me wince because I know l couldn't have fought off a Red Guard with a fork for a weapon.  I do love that Porthos acknowledges Dujon is a confident  man,  and that they highlight Porthos' tendencies as a thief. It's established early that Porthos is close to Aramis, and therefore is expected by Athos to know where he'd be.  The look that accompanies "Tell me he's not that  stupid!", is everything.😂

I'm a big fan of Santiago Cabrera (If you've been following my blog for a while you know that I swoon over him pretty much on the regular.😍🥰).  I know a lot of  people have varying opinions on Aramis, and I understand and respect that. I do have to admit that I facepalmed, hard, seeing who he was sleeping with.  I mean, Adele is beautiful. Her cajoling "Poor Aramis" as she traces his scars highlights the kind of character he is.    But, of all the women he could have had... Did he really have to choose the Cardinal's mistress? At the same time, I guess because I feel an affinity with him, I think I might have slept with Adele, too, if given the chance.  The scramble to hide his pistol is also hilarious. It surprises me that he falls for the “If you love me, you’ll jump.” line from her.  I never tire of the “Have you seen how far down that is?!” or the reluctant, “The things I do for love.”) Aramis reunites with the other Musketeers. He gets back to be immediately called on a mission  to Chartres.

The choice to switch viewpoints at this point to d’Artagnan and then to Louis is a bit of a headspin, but I understand that the Musketeers travel might be a bit boring. I do find the innkeeper hilarious as it seems everything important to a man costs extra if you’re staying at the inn.  The introduction to Louis paints him as a spoiled brat who can spend all day shooting pigeons.  The line about birds being “born to be shot, like rabbits and poets” says something. (Wait for it... just wait for it...)

The scenes with the Musketeers riding through cold and snow are pretty intense. The introduction to Milady, while cold, also gives us a side of d’Artagnan that we’ve yet to see. He agrees to duel Mendoza (which, in hindsight, oof!)

Armand shows up to visit Adele (also how did I not notice that she was hiding Aramis’ pistol and Richelieu saw it on my second watch through?!) I love that he realizes what he’s fighting. And it’s obvious he’s a control freak. Now comes the part I hate. d’Artagnan and Milady.  The promise of killing the man she loved comes too soon for me. Mendoza’s death before getting to duel d’Artagnan and the fact that the latter is blamed sets up perfectly!)

At least we do get to see d’Artagnan’s clever escape (although I wouldn’t want to be him landing in whatever that really was.) But this leads to us getting to see Constance and her fiery temper (”Touch me again, and I’ll gut you like a fish!” never misses me), but then her kindness takes over.  She offers him the way to the Garrison before he passes out. d’Artagnan is given some grand lines here.  (”I’m d’Artagnan. Please think kindly of my name, if you think of it at all.”)

We arrive back at the garrison to see that d’Artangnan has found the Musketeers, which gives him an introduction that reminds me a bit of Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. (”My name is d’Artagnan of Lupiac in Gascony. Prepare to fight. One of us dies here.”-- and Aramis is right. It’s one hell of an entrance.) The ensuing fight and the Musketeers defense highlights the classic “All for one” mentality without ever needing to speak the line.  My shock when Treville comes in to arrest Athos could probably be felt from miles away. 

The trial is clearly a set up and a shambles, and Louis is just naïve enough to believe it.  It’s interesting to me that we don’t see Athos given any time to defend himself. We also see him seemingly accept his fate as he refuses a last confession from a priest after telling him about a woman he loved who died by his hand.  

Milady meets with Richelieu and reveals she was hired to retrieve the letters from Mendoza. Aramis’ pistol shows up again in the Cardinals hands. Meanwhile, Louis and Richelieu discuss the letters, proving just how vulnerable Louis is.  This cuts to one of my favorite scenes-- Porthos and Aramis working the guards for information.   The final fight is everything you’d expect it to be-- Musket fire, swords, Constance dressed as a whore for a distraction. . .  and the ensuing chaos leads d’Artagnan to his father’s killer. (huge sigh of relief breathed here for all). This leaves just enough time for the crew to save a resigned Athos, while Milady hovers above.  The final scenes nearly made me cry, as we see Richelieu luring Adele to a frozen spot where she is executed with Aramis’ forgotten pistol. True to tragic form, Adele declares her true love (”I love Aramis, and I love him with my last breath!”) True to form, Richelieu cannot get his hands dirty--he can’t even bear to watch her be shot. She dies repeating her mantra, “I love Aramis.” I was honestly shocked that I didn’t cry here, but knowing how Aramis’ character is set up, I expected it. I was a bit stunned to see that  Richelieu barely flinches at the idea of Adele being shot.  The Musketeers celebrate a win as Richelieu ties up his loose ends by killing Dujon with poisoned wine while promising his freedom, and implicating himself. 

Aramis shows up at Adele’s only to find her gone. (This scene almost made me cry given what we’ve previously seen of his interaction with her. I don’t believe he loved her, but that pain!!)

The last, chilling shots of the episode establish Milady as truly heartless. She goes to confession only to be told by the priest that she is “a child of the devil..an abomination.” She then chokes the priest by his rosary and flees the church (”You don’t understand, I’m not looking for absolution.  I want revenge!”) That ending gave me a shiver, and I am honestly terrified of what she’ll do next! 

#aramisinaskirtreacts #bbc the musketeers #reaction blog #long reads

[apoptoses]

DA here🥹 JUST had the chance to read chapters 5 and 6 back to back and holy fuck 🥵 the moment Armand started being horny on main I knew we were in for a good time, bb boy couldn’t even THINK straight (and I can’t blame him, not even a little bit). Daniel being all gentlemanly and sweet and holding out Armand’s hand when he had to jump past a puddle (MY HEART) while Armand's single braincell was trying its best to prevent him from jumping Daniel right then and there lmfaoo the dynamic of all time I swear 🥹  

That first kiss delivered and then some! That second one did too of course and I love how completely different they were from each other (passionate yet innocent vs. "I want you to tear me apart NOW”). “Bold as the boy with the axe” pls that’s my no. 1 boy right there! No one does it better than him. If there was a moment for Amadeo to come back in full force... this was 100% it, and Daniel had earned the right to experience him fully. He earned his immortality along with the right to drag Amadeo up Lestat’s staircase.  

“Slut. Armand moaned at the word. He’d asked Daniel to call him that years ago, back when he’d been mortal. When he was just a nervous and submissive thing, unable to do it with any seriousness” lmao holy shit this took me OUT. On one hand it’s hot as fuck but otoh I can easily see this thing having gone like “five times Daniel tried to call Armand a slut in bed and the one time it actually worked” 💀💀💀 it makes perfect sense to have finally happened post-reunion though. Daniel always had it in him imo (see: their little reverse roleplay where Daniel pretended to be a vampire and manhandled Armand and bit him with all of his strenght while Armand was the “human” and went all pliant for him etc), but he had to go through some shit to finally be able to embrace his full relaxed daddy potential. He’ll hold your hand, he’ll pet your head, he’ll call you a slut and fuck you up. King shit. And this: “When I’m fighting against you it’s so safe. With you I’m so free.” love everything about it 😭Of course he’d feel safe enough with Daniel to switch back to being a sub, with the knowledge that they’re equals now, and that Daniel can actually match his stenght (in a bedroom context) and hurt him without actually hurting him. 

No further notes, perfection as usual. I don’t ever want this to end but at the same time I can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with next! ❤️

DA!! I was wondering how you were doing!!

Writing Armand vampire-horny for his man was so fun, like in DM times he looks at Daniel like his little experiment a lot because he's so detached from his inner self. But now he's not! He's got all kinds of needs and he's worked up and he wants. In a way he hasn't since he was 17 and watching Marius go on his little murder spree at that banquet. Armand has always been hot for death, it's impressive he repressed that for as long as he did tbh

I'm glad the kisses worked!! I wanted them to have a loving kiss and a filthy kiss and I just had to give them both 🥹

“five times Daniel tried to call Armand a slut in bed and the one time it actually worked” This is the funniest fucking thing because it's true. During DM their power dynamic was so set in stone imo I just can't see mortal Daniel pulling it off knowing how much more powerful Armand was than him. It could only happen when they're both vampires (or like maybe if mortal Daniel was drunk enough to let his inhibitions down haha) so I think that's why it fit here.

And idk I just think it's hot for Daniel to run the show. He's such a man, he's got it in him!! He just needed to be asked to do it, and to know Armand really wanted it. At the end of the day they both know Armand calls the shots but Daniel is perfectly capable of handling things if he wants to lay back and give over control, even in a non-sexual sense.

their little reverse roleplay where Daniel pretended to be a vampire and manhandled Armand and bit him with all of his strenght while Armand was the “human” and went all pliant for him etc God I always forget that happened, I need to work that into a fic of its own because that's such a charged moment for them. Like being so desperate for Armand's blood that he'd try to gnaw through his skin? Hot!! Things I can't believe happened in canon!! Anne really gave us everything in that one chapter honestly.

I'm so happy you were into it ♥ I was kinda nervous sharing this because we don't see a ton of Daniel in charge in fic, so I wasn't sure how receptive people would be. But everyone seems pretty positive so maybe I'll do more with him like this 🥹

#dungeon anon #apoptoses answers #blood sanation

[diamondcitydarlin]

I am just...honestly fascinated by this sudden ‘change of heart’ with Guillermo tho in regards to being a familiar and becoming a vampire, there’s a lot going on there and a lot to unpack, and I’m hoping somewhere in the depths of what is about to be a long, directionless rant I’ll find the clarity I haven’t seemed to quite grasp yet. 

ALSO I’M SORRY THIS IS A LOOONG ASS POST BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO PUT IT UNDER A READ MORE AND SUBJECT INNOCENTS TO MY BLOG LOL, BUT I’VE TAGGED ACCORDINGLY 

So, I already made a post about ‘Collaboration’ and some of the interesting subtext we get within that episode. Mainly, that this episode is an interesting one for Guillermo because he finally gets what appears to be and should be (at least at first) the opportunity he’s always been waiting for. To this point, across seasons, Guillermo has driven home that his one and only aspiration in life, the reason he tolerates an endless, shitty position, is because he hopes to become a vampire. He’s wanted it since he was a kid. IF HE CAN’T BECOME A VAMPIRE, WHAT HAS THIS ALL BEEN ABOUT?? 

If it was as simple as just wanting to become a vampire by any means necessary, leaving Nandor for this golden opportunity should have been as easy as taking off an ill-fitting pair of shoes...but it wasn’t that, was it? When Nandor pretended to shuck him off as if it didn’t matter, Guillermo got angry and sad in equal measure and only really brightened again when Nandor came back and promised to do better by him. Not necessarily set down a concrete timeline for the ‘becoming a vampire’ thing though, but Guillermo didn’t seem to care about that all that much anyway. Interesting. 

Now we’re able to see a version of things in which Guillermo is being treated better as a familiar, but rather than this development improving his mood he seems all the more aware of the fact now that...maybe he doesn’t even want to be a vampire anymore. Maybe he’s wasting his time here. Maybe he needs to swim towards open waters, so to speak. 

Very similar to Nandor, Guillermo, I think, is not really aware or fully accepting of the inner workings of his own mind. He strikes me as a character that does a lot in the way of burying the truths of himself so far down, he even convinces himself that part of who he is doesn’t really exist- even when it does, and drives a lot of his actions. The show plays to this by only ‘showing’ us concretely how much Guillermo wants us to know, with only small hints and nods to other things going on. That fits and rings true to the norm for a mockumentary style of filming/writing, in that the audience has to rely on a lot of subtle cues from the subjects to figure out what’s ‘really going on’ with a character or plot line; the ‘camera’ in a mockumentary style piece is as much of a visceral, present character as anyone else in the cast and is treated accordingly (but then, like 99.99999% of human beings have seen the entirety of The Office and Parks and Rec, so yall know this already) 

I think part of the way to figuring this all out is to ask why Guillermo wanted to be a vampire in the first place. His answer to this would probably be something along the lines of ‘because they’re cool’ which, you know, valid. That would be a fitting and satisfying answer if, say, I had given it because there was a time when I was about 4-6 years old that I, too, decided I would grow up to be a vampire. Because it was ‘cool’ and aspiring to anything else seemed boring. Again, valid. For someone who has dedicated pretty much ALL of his adult life to apprenticing into vampirism based on a childhood dream that never died? THAT begs a bit more of an in depth reason, I think, to which for now we can only guess. 

I’ll try to make an educated one based on what I believe is going on here, that Guillermo himself is either not aware of or not ready to share with the cameras: I believe his drive to want to become a vampire, given it was based in childhood flights of fancy (and probably some Guillermo-self insert/Armand fanfics, let’s be hONEST) was rooted in a need to feel respected and powerful, at the heart of things. When we first meet Guillermo, and for much of season 1, we see that he’s quiet, subservient, meek, and we learn briefly about how he was bullied in school. I think Guillermo was raised to be this way and use silence/subservience as his only defense mechanism, which may also go a long way to explaining why he’s so reserved. For 10 years, I think it was enough for him to tell himself that everything would be better for him once he became a vampire, he’d have all the things he never had as a human. Respect. Appreciation. Power. Control over his own life.

That said, things have changed quite a bit for Guillermo since season one. While learning that he had Van Helsing blood came as an unpleasant shock, embracing and exploring that side of himself proved that he’s actually kind of a bad ass even without being a vampire. He only ever wielded this power to protect Nandor and others so far, but it is a power nonetheless, this agility and strength that is too great for even VAMPIRES to successfully fight back against. He’s also a smart cookie that knows how to manipulate a situation, something that he’s been using a lot this season too. So, power, then. He has it already. Respect he received from his vampire-hunting group. 

But that still leaves appreciation and, dare I say it, maybe even affection/love. I think there’s a part of Guillermo that wants to feel like he’s accepted and cared for, but even when it’s offered (by groups like his vampire hunting clan, or Celeste’s vampire community lol) he seems to shy away from it going too far, like it’s just too much or ill-fitting coming from people he barely knows. Given that he’s a private, introvert type this makes sense. 

One thing has remained consistent for Guillermo though, across both seasons and episodes, and that’s his seemingly unwavering concern and affection for Nandor. Even in this last ep when he’s unashamedly shucking off duties that don’t fit his job description and maintaining those professional boundaries like a BOSS, he still snaps to and gets to work the moment Nandor is kidnapped. Laszlo’s gone? Meh, who cares, not his jurisdiction. Nandor’s gone!?? Fuck it, he’s getting the keys. A ‘vampire’ offers him the opportunity of a lifetime to become a vampire quickly and live within an accepting community of likeminded people and Nandor told him ‘go for it’? He’s upset that Nandor didn’t fight harder to keep him. 

So now he’s back and Nandor’s making a consistent effort not to abuse Guillermo’s position. This seemed the ideal resolution at the end of ‘Collaboration’, but after a couple of weeks it becomes clear that it wasn’t. For some reason. Guillermo’s no longer satisfied and thinks maybe it’s time to do more with his life. 

I’ll try to sum up the points I’ve made so far into a concise version of where I think Guillermo’s at right now, at least subconsciously; mostly all the things he hoped that turning into a vampire would grant him, have already been granted. He’s learned that he’s strong, smart, capable as is, more than he or anyone else had ever given him credit for. I think it makes sense that his burning need to become a vampire has begun to ebb into a quarter-life crisis of questioning who he really is and what he really wants, because the dream he nursed for so long has turned out to be pretty shallow and maybe not even necessary. He realizes there’s more he could be doing than working tirelessly to an end goal that no longer seems so sweet. 

But that leaves the ‘affection’ and ‘acceptance’ elements dangling in space, held up by his own affection for Nandor that has yet to be really defined. It’s pretty clear that Guillermo is nursing it hard, but what is the nature of it? Even as his sense of loyal devotion to a cause has started to fade, even as his view of Nandor as this unflappable role model has begun to disappear too bc he’s starting to see Nandor for who he really is (a himbo idiot that he can outwit, outmatch without even trying hard) this raw affection still remains. It’s still important that Nandor fights for him. It’s still important that Nandor is safe and protected.  

And, as with the rest of these things I mentioned, I don’t think Guillermo is even really aware of how much he cares about Nandor, how much it drives his actions and thinking, how important that relationship is to him. It’s easier to just sort of...ignore that and pretend it isn’t a factor, that’s Guillermo’s modus operandi when it comes to complicated feelings. 

I think back to that line from season 1, wherein Guillermo’s kind of musing wistfully about how different his life might have been if he’d stayed at Panera Bread/in a stable job with pay and benefits, but then handwaves that all away with ‘The heart wants what it wants’. By this point in the show he was already kind of drifting away from the goal of becoming a vampire (whether he realized it or not). 

The heart wants what it wants indeed, Guillermo, but maybe it’s not really ‘becoming a vampire’. Maybe it’s something else entirely that keeps you tied to this house, this thankless ‘job’. 

At this point, I really cannot say for 100% certain what I think will happen next with Guillermo. This show has proven solid at pulling out unexpected plot twists I wouldn’t have seen coming, but then, I also have been pretty good at predicting where they’re gonna go with things. Like 7/10 lmao. My two theories right now are: 

He’ll become a vampire in the series finale- unwillingly, maybe by accident. This one I think is plausible because it’s a bit of a kick in the pants. It’s the outcome he’s wanted for SO LONG but has just realized maybe it’s not all he can do or wants to do. I could see a situation where, idk, maybe Guillermo expresses to Nandor his thoughts lately about moving on from this and, in an act of stupid desperation, Nandor thinks maybe if he changes him that’ll keep him in his life, so he does it while Guillermo’s asleep and then surprises him when he wakes up...only to find out maybe that wasn’t actually what he wanted anymore, but UH OH what’s done is done. This could provide a lot of tension in the next season, I think. But as it’s a bit of a ‘shocking’ twist type route to go, I can’t be certain this is what they’ll do. Kind of a toss up. 

Guillermo leaves to pursue something else, which the camera crew will follow and document. This is the ‘sensible’/’safe’ route that most scripted shows would take, I think, in this situation...but again, I’m not certain about this one either because Shadows is known for throwing us for a loop and this seems a liiiittle predictable. It’s also very similar to what JUST happened in episode 8 and, were I writing the show, I’d worry it would come across as redundant. Like, maybe we already did this angle and should explore other options to keep the audience on their toes. Also, as much as they love putting Harvey with new casts of characters for episodic stories, I’m not sure they’d transplant him from the main cast for an extended period of time because he’s part of what makes that dynamic run so well. But then, the synopsis of the finale does say that vampires have to ‘survive without Guillermo’ while preparing for an event, so this may happen in some small, episodic measure again.   

Anyway, to wrap this up into a conclusion, I don’t think I’m wrong in predicting that Nandor/Guillermo’s relationship has been set up in such a way as to keep us guessing, sort of a Sam/Diane, will-they-won’t-they type thing that will remain a constant throughout whatever happens next, but will require both characters growing independent of each other in their own respective subplots. At this point, it has always remained consistent that Nandor and Guillermo prioritize each other even when it doesn’t make sense, but I don’t think either of them are ready to realize, accept, and sort through the layers of what they feel for each other. The master/servant dynamic makes that difficult, I’d imagine, so I think inevitably we’ll see the show start to pull them away from that. All I’m saying is, if whatever is going on between them wasn’t VERY complicated it would’ve been resolved as whatever it is a long time ago. Nah, there’s some deep, repressed shit they’re ignoring collectively for whatever reason, and usually that points to something that will, at some point, become romantic. Either way, to understand Guillermo is to keep a close eye on how his dynamic with Nandor grows and changes and I’m, as ever, VERY eager to see how it does. 

#guillermo de la cruz #nandor x guillermo #guillermo x nandor #wwdits #what we do in the shadows tv show #long post #meta

[intervieweird]

‘ you craved me all this time... and you resisted. ’ 

@childofmanynames | continued.

Short, yet potent came his answer: “I had to.” It was all Armand uttered as he laid there with his back flat against the bed, video game controller in hand. He didn’t know what to make of Daniel’s expression - no longer able reach in and steal his thoughts; the puzzling mind of his fledgling closed to him forevermore - and, watching him the wrong way around - almost upside-down - made his face difficult to decipher.

Armand paused the game and seated himself upright; he smoothed out the front of his sweater with one hand and set aside the controller with the other. There were rings on both hands - just as he liked there to be - each of them unique and curious to look at. In their collective, they formed an irregular rainbow across his slender, white fingers. And, when the precious metals and pricey gemstones caught in the lamp light, they were a marvel to look at with vampiric sight. He had spent many nights studying his collection of jeweled rings.

With resistance he was well acquainted. Though, in recent years it was oftentimes overshadowed by his desire to indulge; he did love to indulge. His maker had taught him to surround himself in beautiful things, to love and crave beautiful things - only the best was good enough, that had been the lesson - and Armand was more than happy to have found his way back to that mindset, after having spent more than half of his existence resisting just about everything the world had to offer; centuries spent as the scary coven master under infamous Cimetière des Innocents in Paris, as well as his earlier years in Rome, were to thank - or, rather, to blame - for that. While still very much capable of resisting temptations, in the twenty-first century Armand had the freedom not to. He reveled in that freedom.

“What could I have- no, what else was I supposed to do?” He asked, in reference to their time apart; years during which their relationship was…strained, simply put. There was no cleverly hidden subtext, yet he elaborated for good measure; “If I hadn’t, nothing would have changed.” Not for the better, anyway. Their separation had been necessary, came the verdict; his belief was that staying together would have ruined all chances of future reconciliation. It was a risk he had been unwilling to take - a decision he still stood by - separation was the smarter choice. Wasn’t it? Heartbreaking as it was, it had worked out alright. Hadn’t it? He wanted to think so. The conversations regarding their years apart were fragmented; Armand didn’t pry, knowing well that Daniel treasured privacy - and he fully intended to let him have it - and Daniel…Armand wasn’t certain. In the privacy of his mind, he could admit it was fear which stopped him from asking. He refused to believe his fledgling didn’t care - why reunite at all if he didn’t care? - yet the underlying fear had it’s claws in him. When the conversations did come, he didn’t reject them like he had the relentless questioning throughout the last decade of Daniel’s mortal life. They were both guilty of peppering the other with questions Armand was reminded, the memories of his own cluelessness at the time of their first meeting bubbling to the surface.

He pressed his naked feet to the hardwood floor. A tender stare caressed the shapes of Daniel’s face, along the curve of his nose and the form of his lips, from the solid jaw to the ashen brows, and the gemstone eyes. Time would do nothing to him - age would not touch him like it did the last time they were together this way - time did nothing but smooth away the remaining traces of human in him, now.

And, Armand was infinitely glad they had found back to one another; but, it was only in recent years their world - the coven’s world - had calmed down, allowing its residents to at least try and enjoy the current millennium. Armand was as closely involved with the coven as ever, and his New York residence, Trinity Gate, had become a headquarters of sorts for many - he didn’t mind; Sybelle and Benji loved it - and, it was his love for their undead kinsmen that tied him to the coven, as much as it was his deep-rooted fear of losing everything - his companions of past and present, his children, his chance at happiness - again. The coven of the new millennium offered a stability he would not turn his back on; he didn’t trust the peace to last forever, but, for now, it was enough.

His mouth curved into a smile, small and faintly sad. “Didn’t you?”

Christ, to look at him. 

There’s a kind of figurative, unsettling beauty to Armand’s inverted stare; Daniel falls into the wide dizziness he’d felt to peer into the unreachable vault of the Sistine Chapel, where heaven had been untouchable and remote, and he could not lower the angels to fit under the shape of his hand. Or maybe he’s thinking of a Bacon portrait, faces a smear of something unsettlingly recognizable; a smudge of paint that might have been a mouth; or a wound. Daniel’s throat closes to see how Armand studies him; near, at distance. Agonizing to exist so aware of the nearness of each other, and the way their bodies once conformed in space. This brutal, intimate image of Armand’s feet, bare upon the floor. 

Daniel figures you’d have to have been a believer first for belief to lapse: he’d taken First Communion and been a bad Catholic since. But, God, he reads the Catechism in the shape of Armand’s brows, in the even horizon of his eyes, and thinks these are the articles of his faith. 

The controller is cold under his skin. Daniel’s hands are absent of the kind of warmth that leeches into plastic. Whatever the heat in him now is only borrowed.

But Daniel won’t warm the inside of a coffin.

Colors scatter across the round swell of Armand’s cheek like drowned coins under the waters of the Trevi, and Daniel’s breath catches by instinct. The television seems to him a kind of muted, dull chatter of noise, just traffic at a distance, and Daniel’s disinterest softens the snarl. It’d been a strange, abortive thing, to summon these old images, like memories, and finding that neither had been like he’d recalled. 

Daniel lifts his arm over the denim rough of his knee, wrist draped loose, blue light blinking violet through the skin of his thumb.

Nothing would have changed.

It might be true, but the certainty punches into him like a fist. 

He’d like to lean into the bitter. He can feel it, still, the old resent gathering behind his teeth. It would be so easy to let it come. But he can’t hold on to it. He digests the ugliness with an unfamiliar unease; he’s not used to chewing it down. It makes for an unfulfilling meal. 

“Is that why?” There’s a thickness in the question, tenderness fluttering under the plane of his sternum, where his heart closes achingly around a throb. “You didn’t come.” Somewhere along the line, without his realizing, they had slipped the rope of each other and unmoored. Was it the mortal allure that had, in the end, always summoned Armand back to him? The immediacy of loving something bound to die? And when Armand had sealed Daniel to his body with his blood, hadn’t it killed them both, anyway?

Maybe it wasn’t a rope. Maybe it was a bone, growing out of the cage of Armand’s ribs, like the first woman from Adam, like Armand’s first child; like his last. Maybe it was a bone. Maybe it snapped.

Daniel hears a strained laugh, threadbare around the edges, and supposes it must have been his.

A plaintive warble of something dying issues from the television screen, neglected. So let it die. It’s all only pixels. 

Daniel leans toward him. The air is dead between them, and Daniel longs to resuscitate their old frequencies. He lifts his hand like a compulsion, like the spellbinding he used to accuse of Armand, when Daniel couldn’t face that when he returned, treading the old paths back to these ancient, young eyes, it had always been for missing him. 

Armand’s face is so close beneath him. Daniel falls into it, like he always has, and the world tilts away. His vision spins with that same slanted dizziness, until he anchors himself against Armand’s skin; he slips his hand under his hair, and remembers the geography of these well-loved contours under his palm. 

“Jesus,” he breathes, raggedly, unsticking from the starchy quiet of his throat. He feels a weight under his tongue to see him, to breathe in the nearness of his skin, the way that time would never touch them again. “Doesn’t anything last? Aren’t we meant to?” Why ask it? Maybe they’re fucked. Maybe this is a confession.

#verse: modern. #childofmanynames #:' )