astrinde

[astrinde]

I am so very grateful that this beautiful, inspired artist accepted a commission from me and brought a scene from my fic to dream-like life. Here appears the stream-of-consciousness climax of the story, in which Armand rewrites Daniel's memories; it's eerie, ethereal, and exquisite, encapsulating everything I'd envisioned for this moment. I adore it.

Please do check out @holographings if you want to commission something glorious for yourself!

a snapshot.

comm for @astrinde's wonderful devil's minion fic <3

[astrinde]

Oh, you voted for Drumpf fOr TeH eCoNoMy. Because somewhere in all of his rambling 'rhetoric,' it made sense to you that "narcissistic billionaire + no plan + no interest in making a plan + no understanding of working-class economic reality because narcissistic billionaire + ??? = prosperity."

Is that supposed to make me feel better? Being surrounded by people who - yanno, nothing personal or anything, but would kinda-sorta-yeah-I-guess throw me and others like me under the bus, as long as their own bank balances offset the deportations and oppression?

If you voted for a fascist wannabe dictator because he promised there was something in it for you, then what you're telling me is that your morals, your compassion, your very kinship with humankind can all be bought, by someone who wants to distract you with dreams of dollar signs so he can get away with all the heinous shit he's been planning against everyone he hates.

Somehow, I don't find any of that comforting.

[astrinde]

Whereas Armand has been defined for centuries by the gaze of his observer, Daniel has made a name for himself through those he observes: through the penetrating stare, keen insight, and acerbic wit of the reporter. And the pieces of him are scattered in every direction: the ex-wives of his failed marriages, the daughters with whom he no longer speaks, the places he's lived, the investigations he's conducted and concluded, the books he's written. He interviews many, peeling away the layers to find what lies beneath, yet is known to others only through his words and not through the intimacy of being truly understood by anyone. If Armand is a painting, then Daniel is a lens.

If and when Devil's Minion happens, imagine Armand wanting Daniel for everything he can teach and show and describe. Wanting to know every miniscule moment of Daniel's life, everything he's ever thought or desired. And Daniel's strewn brokenness returning to a beautiful whole, in the gaze of someone who sees and cherishes and desires him for everything he is.

[astrinde]

Here's an awesome post with a ton of information from the books; autistic Armand matters greatly to me (also autistic), too. I also add the theatre to this essay because, for some, theatre with its scripted dialogues, rehearsed actions, and clear expectations can be a refuge compared to the daily strain of wholly unpredictable interactions.

I would love to hear your thoughts on autistic Armand, if you haven’t already spoke about this! Imo he’s very autsitic coded, and it’s very precious to me as an autistic iwtv fan :]

OMG!!! RUNS AROUND. Yes lmao I talk about this a lot actually it is one of my favorite Armand things to meta about bcus I’m also autistic and he is my special interest🙏I was trying to find some of the stuff I’ve written about autistic Armand but tumblrs search engine makes it near impossible to find anything so I gave up 😭, but believe me they r out there. Even tho I talk about this a lot I would love love love to talk about it some more for u anon because I can never get enough of armandtism.

I first figured Armand was autistic when I was reading the vampire Lestat because when he is first introduced he is completely non verbal and only communicates through the mind gift. through further explanation it’s very much implied that he does this because he finds putting his thoughts into words hard and he considers just projecting them into peoples brains much easier. Armand speaks out loud for the first time like more than halfway through the book, and lestat is surprised to hear him lol. This is super autistic I feel like that’s obvious 🙏 it’s basically the vampire power equivalent of using a non verbal communication device. Armand having trouble with connecting with people, understanding how to “fit in”, and talking r prevailing parts of his character throughout the whole series (not just tvl) which solidified my headcanon into basically a canon fact in my mind lol.

When Armand is first introduced in iwtv his strangeness is chalked up to his vampirism, but it’s soon revealed throughout tvl and qotd that Armand is considered a strange outcast by other vampires. The things he struggles with r unique to him and r not representative of vampires in general. His otherness/strangeness can also not be chalked up to his trauma or his age turned because Armand was also an outcast as a young child. It’s described in the vampire Armand that Armand was not understood by his parents or his community because he was obsessed with and freakishly good at painting. His community interprets his unusualness as a sign of some divine intervention, the priests believe he is a saint or a prophet sent to earth, even at times saying things implying that he is “not human”. Unusually high quickly developing skill in childhood is an autistic trait, as is hyper fixation on an activity/topic that becomes a core identity factor and prevailing obsession. The affects of Armand’s trauma only worsen the severity of his autistic traits. C-ptsd and autism often overlap and coexist in autistic people who were traumatized in childhood, which seems to be Armand’s case.

in queen of the damned Armand is at his peak autistic lol, I feel like this is when most book readers gain that head canon. The Devils minion chapter revolves around Armand using Daniel as a guide to help him learn how to be “normal” and to blend in to the modern age. Armand can’t seem to figure out how to blend in on his own because he is unable to understand social norms of any time period enough to integrate himself into society. Armand is in love with technology and what most would consider monotonous sensory experiences. He stares at his own reflection for hours, he loves kitchen appliances and watching ingredients whir in blenders, cameras, he watches the same movie over and over again and never gets bored of it. The way Armand fixates on technology really reminds me of how a lot of autistic people played as children. He enjoys repetitive, sensory behaviors over “fun”. For Armand this means watching the same things repeatedly, which is a form of visual stimming. There r moments where Armand is trying to understand his world, but is so blind to what he is trying to understand that he goes about his discoveries wrong. Such as in qotd when he tries to interrogate strangers to gain information on societal norms but he only gets uncomfortable glances. Armand is desperate to understand and to connect but he is consistently inherently alienated, whether it be from humanity or from other vampires or from himself.

Armand also can not process his memories comprehendingly. This is part trauma part autism, but autism is def a factor. Because of his repressed trauma induced memory loss Armand finds it difficult to talk about himself to people. This is worsened by Armand being unable to comprehend the aspects of story telling that he needs to be able to tell people about his life. Armand explains to Daniel that he vividly remembers small details, such as dates and weather, but he could not tell Daniel what “things were like” because he “doesn’t know what that means”. Literal thinking, the inability to grasp vague, fiction based concepts like narratives and metaphor, and strict fixation on minor details like numbers, are all autistic traits!

Armand also struggles heavily with emotional regulation. He is described as often having intense and extreme meltdowns where he cries and screams and breaks things. Armand is easily bothered, in tva he mentions that he covers his ears when he is overwhelmed. The vampire Armand begins actually with Armand becoming overwhelmed in public and trying to escape to an attic so that he can be alone in silence. Armand copes with his intense emotions by putting on a mask of neutrality. He is often described as expressionless and blank, uncanny. But this is a mask, and when Armand can no longer mask and his disguise lapses his facial expressions r described by lestat as being so over the top and emotional that they are disturbing and weird. Over the top unnatural facial expressions as well as blank unreadable ones are both autistic traits. For Armand he is naturally overly emotive to the point of being considered horrifying, and he hides this by taking the opposite extreme. Either way, either expression Armand puts on causes him to be socially outcast.

Armand often describes feeling like there is something wrong with him that causes him to be isolated from others and he’s not sure what it is. In prince lestat he tells Gregory that he doesn’t know why it’s so hard for him to have relationships when other vampires are fully capable of doing that. In the vampire Armand he explains to David that he’s crazy because his mind isn’t built right and his senses are tripled so he shouldn’t bother trying to understand him. I rlly relate to this as someone who felt like I was from another dimension as a child bcus i didn’t know the unspoken life rules everyone else did.

Armand is often treated like a child by the other vampires and assumed to be emotionally immature and too fragile and insane to be helpful. Armand says in the vampire Armand that he doesn’t consider himself an adult because he can’t function like one. This could be due to the age he was turned, but it’s shown to us that characters like Benji and even to an extent Claudia r able to self regulate and function appropriately despite being turned even younger then Armand was.

in conclusion, book Armand is an autistic person who was never given proper support or understanding because the environment and the time period he was born in decided to alienate him further rather then work to help him socialize and learn appropriate skills, and because of the necessities he has been deprived of and the horrible trauma he endured Armand is never able to learn to function in the way he was likely capable of. this recessive quality in pair with his autism caused Armand it be unable to cope or self regulate or learn ways to understand himself since he wasn’t given a chance to in his formative years. He’s a great representative of what many autistic people who experienced intense child abuse experience.

Im rlly happy with the shows portrayal with Armand so far partly because he is omg, so autistic. Show Armand shares so many of book Armand’s autistic traits. inability to understand himself or others, fixation on small details but inability to understand the big picture, etc. even his iPad is autistic asf! My ipad is my comfort item that I carry around with me to self sooth, and this is def the vibe Armand’s iPad gives me in the show. Even assads performance is autistic! He is able to play Armand masking and Armand unmasking, the stilted expressions he gives and the blank stares, the uncomprehending earnestness. AGHHHH!! Assad stims with his fingers when Armand is nervous too which is just an amazing touch. I hope the show explores Armand’s autism, because that would literally be a dream come true. Even still, for now I’m satisfied.

thank u so so much anon for the ask this made me so happy 🙏❤️ autistic Armand means so much to me and has gotten me though some tough times. Understanding and analyzing Armand helps me understand myself better and feel more comfortable with how I am. Earlier this year I gave myself a concussion because I was harmfully stimming during a meltdown, and while I was in the emergency room I was holding the vampire Armand and imaging that he would relate to what I was going through. So yeah he is very special to me too! And once again it makes me so so happy that u got me to talk some about it. I hope this was coherent or interesting lol I felt like I was all over the place

[astrinde]

"Lay me on the ground And fly me in the sky Show me where to look Tell me, what will I find? What will I find?"

The answer: peent.

I FOUND IT GUYS I SPENT HALF AN HOUR LOOKING FOR THIS VIDEO AND ITS HERE

[astrinde]

Imagine listening to your current partner ramble about his ex for two weeks in a row - the second time he's babbled for days on end to the same guy about the same relationship - and then he gets to the part where he gets with you. And suddenly he's all efficient about the storytelling: "oh yeah, that guy! Yep, we did some stuff, visited some places. And with that *checks watch* we're done! Who else is hungry?"

I hope that, when Devil's Minion finally happens, Daniel is just so. damn. into Armand that he's got, like, five different books-in-progress about everything Armand's experienced and a metric fuckton of browser tabs open to research everything he's mentioned and they both get three hours of sleep a day because the talks go on and on and on - endless debates about the nature of evil and the purpose of their existence and why frappé is the most useless of all blender settings. I can't wait to see Armand with a partner who wants to delve into him, without being disappointed that he isn't someone else.

[astrinde]

This is most of all I have ever wanted to say on this.

EDIT: IN THE REALIZATION THAT MAYBE YOU THINK THIS IS ME THIS COMES FROM cloud.bastidas ON TIKTOK!!! THIS ISN'T ME!! I UPLOADED THIS REALLY QUICKLY THINKING IT WOULDN'T DO SO MANY WAVES

[astrinde]

Of course Louis thinks that Daniel was turned "out of spite," having just spent 70+ years of his own life in a spitetuationship. How could any other motivation exist when Armand is involved?

[astrinde]

What a coincidence, I too have lost the will to live over the exact same news.

oh someone at the guardian has lost the will to live

[astrinde]

[astrinde]

Twilight x Interview with the Vampire.

[astrinde]

I contributed three IWTV fics to the recent Trick or Treat exchange on AO3. This is the one I love most: my firstborn Devil’s Minion story.

Excerpt: For one blessed moment, he lets himself forget: the blind faith before him, the darkness within him, the lockless prison to which he must return in a penance that may never end. He lets everything vanish, save the young man's hand and the love in that look. But unwanted knowledge sears Armand, as it always does: the adoration in that mortal grin, the barely restrained desire boiling just beneath, the love inevitably warped by time into loathing and parting. The abomination that he is, regardless of what he does or does not do, who he does or does not serve.

He is an immortal numbed by eternity; his beloved is a mortal who burns against mortality. It sounds like a play. It probably should be one.

Armand closes his eyes, tries to remember when they last slept. He is so very tired.

Or: Daniel asks for eternity. Armand can only give him an ending.

Chapters: 1/1 | Words: 3,674 Fandom: Interview with the Vampire (TV 2022) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Armand/Daniel Molloy Characters: Armand, Daniel Molloy Additional Tags: Devil's Minion Era Happened (Interview with the Vampire TV 2022), Emotional Hurt, Mind Manipulation, Memory Alteration, Mutual Pining, Tragic Romance, Armand is Alice (Interview with the Vampire TV 2022), Mind Rape, Trick or Treat: Trick.

[astrinde]

I realise this is the tiniest gripe possible, falling just short of criticising individual atoms on the show, but I rather dislike the book's design. It looks like a tacky present from a NOLA souvenir shop, the sort of thing you'd buy in a rush as they announced final boarding for your Christmas morning flight. A red public domain map in the background, with a title that looks like "Intervew wth the Vampre" because there's white ribbon covering the rest - an instant bestseller from a two-time Pulitzer-winning author, and this was the dust jacket they chose to promote it? I can't believe that the one and only fledgling of Armand ("let us explore the chiaroscuro in this depiction of my exploitation, shall we?") greenlit this thing.

[astrinde]

if you voted for trump, block me. you're a horrible fucking person.

[astrinde]

Imagining a similar tableau for Armand turning Daniel and quietly losing my mind.

(Tamara and Demon, by Konstantin Makovsky - https://artchive.ru/artists/1214~Konstantin_Egorovich_Makovskij/works/402581~Demon_i_Tamara, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3818575)