#And Lestat is not one for patience..

[ehhlien]

Also, I'm surprised that so many are surprised by Louis' hurtful remarks about Alice to Daniel.. seeing many people are in awe at how ruthless he is, but Louis has never been this sweet little innocent guy.. like are we all watching the same show?

Lestat was initially drawn to Louis when he saw him pull a knife out on his own brother. He was an alcoholic pimp who boo-hoo'ed about his terrible life to a priest, and spoke on how much he regretted putting young girls on the streets while knowingly ignoring their cries, only to marry a rich white man who promised him he could leave his life behind only for Louis to.. want to expand his pimping business and be the dominate one in the industry/area.

I think being able to see Louis be depressed and lonely, struggle with his sexuality, beef with his family, and be overly righteous about not drinking from humans regardless of the circumstances, made people forget the other side to him.

I don't think Louis attracts violence (re: his relationships with Lestat and Armand). I think Louis is equally violent, just in a way that materializes differently.

[limonmelon]

One idea which I think is central to IWTV is the idea that becoming a vampire is the antithesis of improvement - stagnation. Your hair can't change length, your body will never grow, and as we know with Claudia, your hormones don't even change and you can be perpetually stuck in puberty.

But I love how this is reflected even in the vampire's art and creations throughout the show. The first song we see Lestat play on the piano is a jazz interpolation of a Bach song, his other song a piece created just to goad Louis back to him. Louis's photographs are derivative, and he has no patience to wait for his shots in order to actually capture the essence of his subjects, even if he has a good eye for art, and he drops photography quickly after one criticism. Claudia, who can't ever mature out of her teenage body, can't even make another vampire. The Théâtre des Vampires is struggling before Claudia becomes their main attraction, but it's not her acting that brings people - as we see her giving half-hearted performances to a crowd that barely seems to notice - but her exploitation. Armand had been a muse and model for other artists while alive, but he has no real motivation to make art, and he runs plays for 50 years until they're tired to a half-empty audience. He can also recognize good art, but he can't seem to make it himself. And they all have a horrible attitude towards criticism of their creations as well, sometimes even getting violent in their rejection of the words of critics or other vampires.

But you know who does create, and improves over time? Daniel. While he may have been terrible at interviewing Louis the first time, which he acknowledges, part of the reason he comes back to interview Louis again is because he knows he can do better. Over time he has become a great journalist and interviewer, winning Pulitzer prizes, writing books, working for major newspapers, even having his own Masterclass. He doesn't stagnate with technology, we see him using his laptop and talking about how his cell phone has become the great equalizer in the world or reporting. Being human has allowed him to grow and change and improve, to learn how to be better.

So I'm really curious to see how the handle Rockstar and Vampire Lestat next season, how his music is created, how in-universe critics are responding to it, etc. especially after this recent glam rock Rocky Horror-esque song has been released. I also wonder if being a vampire has changed how Daniel works as a journalist, especially now that we know his role in the next season will be him interviewing Lestat in this MTV Behind the Music documentary setting.

[random-imagines-blog]

Imagine being a liberal woman, and the three vampires wanting to make you part of their family.

“Another visit from my favourite little family,” You smiled when you saw Louis, Lestat and Claudia come to approach you. They were some of the few who did so openly, while many others shunned you. See, you considered yourself to be a modern woman, though perhaps you were a bit ahead of your time. Your neighbours and community though, they considered you a harlot, a sinner. All because you were an educated woman, who wanted to educate others - particularly about sex. Not having it, no no, that was best left up to people to figure out on their own, but the actual information, the dangers, the pleasures, the safety, how to enjoy yourself, things that you regarded as important and wish someone had been open with you about when you were a girl of Claudia’s physical age. “Bonsoir, mon cher,” Lestat said smoothly, taking your hand and kissed the top of it. You bowed your head, and he was soon replaced by Louis. Claudia though, she hugged you, getting close to your neck, making you chuckle and give her a little push away. Not that you could really stop her if you wanted to. But she was quick to disengage. “Ahh, you sneaky little one,” You chided her playfully, smiling up to her fathers. Oh, you knew all about them. Perhaps too much about them. Their homosexual relationship. Their vampirism. The interracial relationship that most people would frown upon even if they were man and woman. But you were the only one in the city who didn’t think badly, who didn’t judge or look down their nose. You loved them like they were your own family, and wanted them, above all, to be happy. They even eliminated a couple of your protesters for you, something neither of you acknowledged. “So have you thought about our offer?” Louis asked, his hands atop of his cane, leaning on it slightly, the dark glasses hiding his eyes from you. “Oui, have you?” Lestat echoed in that sophisticated, erotic way that he often spoke, leaning in close to you. As Louis often said, he had a way about him. A way that could charm God out of Heaven and the Devil out of Hell and get them to tango in New Orleans. “Just a little more time, ma famille,” You said, knowing their patience was waiting. They wanted to turn you, make you a bigger part of their family. Your liberal thoughts enticed them, and they wanted to keep you. “I still have work to do in the daylight. But soon,” You stroked the side of Claudia’s head. “Mon petit, soon.”

Requested by: Anonymous

[cece693]

Fun (Lestat de Lioncourt x M! Vamp Reader)

Summary: You found this whole thing amusing—it was Lestat who pushed for an open relationship, not you—so how was it your fault when your companion became jealous?

tags: jealousy, typical Lestat, no mention of Louis or Claudia, reader doesn't really care, he loves seeing Lestat come undone, does mention Antoinette, fluffy/happy ending

You struggled to hold in your laughter, watching as Lestat paced the parlor of your home after scaring off your latest lover. "I don't see what's the problem." You drawled, crossing your arms as you leaned against the doorframe, enjoying the spectacle that was a non-composed Lestat.

"You were the one who said we could see other people, fuck whoever we pleased, as long as we returned to one another. So, what changed?"

Lestat whipped around to face you, his eyes blazing with a mix of anger and something deeper—something almost vulnerable. “What’s changed?” he repeated, his voice low and dangerous. “What’s changed is that I didn’t expect to find someone draped all over you like a cheap coat, looking at you like you’re theirs to keep!”

You raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at your lips. “Isn't that how Antoinette sees you? A man who'd given her everything—even the Dark Gift?

The moment you mentioned Antoinette, you saw something flicker in his eyes, a brief flash of guilt that he quickly masked with renewed anger. “That’s different." Lestat shot back, his tone harsh, almost desperate. “I never let her think she had all of me. I never gave her what’s ours. She's just—”

“Just what, Lestat?” You interrupted, "Just a convenient distraction? Someone to keep you entertained when you’re bored with me? Or is she something more, something you don’t want to admit?”

“Don’t twist this around!” Lestat snapped. “You’re the one who brought this on! You’re the one who’s been pushing the boundaries, flaunting your little affairs in my face, acting like it doesn’t matter—”

“Maybe because it doesn’t!” You shot back, the words slipping out before you could stop them. "I asked you many times, Lestat, if this was what you wanted, and you said yes every single time. Why should I feel guilty when I'm finally enjoying myself?"

"Because I never thought you would!" Lestat roared, his voice echoing through the parlor. His eyes were wide, as if in disbelief at what he said, but there was no taking it back. “I didn’t think you’d actually let someone else get close to you—close enough to make me feel like I’m losing you.”

The parlor grew silent after Lestat’s revelation, and while you wanted to comfort your companion, a grimace tugged at your lips. He spoke of his fear of losing you, but you couldn’t help but think about his ongoing relationship with Antoinette. Despite being a distraction, Lestat had returned to her for a century. Meanwhile, none of your lovers had even lasted a week.

"You're a hypocrite, Lestat. You truly are. Just admit it, you don't want to lose control over me. I'm to stay at home, waiting at your beck and call while you're out fucking anything that catches your fancy!"

"That's not true—"

"Stop lying!" You interrupted him, patience wearing thin. This conversation wasn't supposed to go this deep, neither you nor Lestat were good at conveying emotions, but perhaps this was the time to put aside shame and bear it all. "Just tell me if you want to continue this arrangement or not. Be honest for once."

Lestat’s eyes widened, his struggle evident as he searched for the right words. “I—” He hesitated, his mind racing but his heart already knowing the answer. “I want you.” Seeing the confusion on your face, he took a deep breath and continued, his voice steady but filled with emotion.

“I want us to be together, without these complications and uncertainty. I'll end things with Antoinette, even dispose of her, if you desire, to prove my sincerity and love."

Smiling, you abandoned the doorway and walked toward your companion. While it had been amusing to see Lestat angry and out of his element, this display of vulnerability was even more compelling. Gently tracing his jaw with your fingertips, you leaned in and kissed him, your lips brushing against his in a tender, reassuring gesture.

Lestat's eyes fluttered closed, his initial surprise melting into a soft, almost relieved expression. “I hope you keep to your promises.” you whispered, your breath warm against his skin as you broke apart. Your arms were still wound around his waist, tightening when the vampire laughed with joy.

“Oh, for you, I’m willing to do anything.” 

[dreadfuldevotee]

Let Louis be arrogant, self-involved and not the most observant person in the room. This is the man who said he didn't know Lestat could fly even though they floated together in the pilot ep. The man who looked his daughter in the face and said she was wrong when she told him that his new boyfriend put his hands on her in a scene 10 minutes after the one where he told said boyfriend to stop being a dick to her. Louis Du Lac gave up on photography after a year when he received critique from someone other than his own machination of Lestat, even though he knew the photos would be a lot better if he exercised just a little patience. its fuuuun, it makes him interestiiiiiing

[asthedeathoflight]

Maybe opinions have shifted in the fandom but i do think its very interesting that a lot of fanfic ive read assumes that Louis and Armand are living off of Armand's money. Assuming the apartment is in Armand's name, etc, when Armand actually seems to be perpetually broke. He has zero employable skills. When Lestat meets him he's living in squalor and hes only living a reasonably comfortable life when Louis meets him because Lestat has been his (and the covens) absentee sugar daddy for a hundred years. Now its possible that theyre living off of Lestat's fortune after his death but I can't imagine Lestat would have left Louis as inheritor of his estate after returning to Paris. I actually think the show is pretty clear that its LOUIS's money they're living off of. In 2x4 he talks about it: he became an art dealer. He has the eye. As a vampire with infinite patience he can sit on art until it becomes incredibly valuable. And we see them do it in the show! They sell the Francis Bacon paintings! The show really lavishes a LOT of attention on the sale of the paintings, and it makes sense if that's one of Louis and Armand's main occupations. Its Louis' keen business sense that has brought them into wealth (although im not sure why Louis was living in that shitty apartment in 1976). Anyways. I don't know where I'm going with this i just think it's interesting that people assume that Armand's power extends into the financial when he is like. The brokest man alive. Lmao.

[arhapsodyofwords]

She had a way of cutting me off when I spoke to her, and mingled with my love was a powerful resentment of her. All my life I'd watched her read her Italian books and scribble letters to people...yet she had no patience even to teach me or my brothers the alphabet...I was twenty and I couldn't read or write more than a few prayers and my name. I hated the sight of her books; I hated her absorption in them. And in some vague way, I hated the fact that only extreme pain in me could ever wring from her the slightest warmth or interest. Yet she'd been my savior. And there was no one but her. And I was tired of being alone..."

Re-reading The Vampire Lestat, it struck me that Lestat managed to recreate his childhood in Auvergne with Louis at 1132 Rue Royale.

He also found a partner who completely embodies his mother and triggers him in the same way. Gabrielle de Lioncourt was a very unhappy person who would escape her circumstances by reading, and she would spend all day doing this while neglecting Lestat when he was only a child.

Louis shares this reading habit with Gabrielle (as well as the ability to ignore his child while the other father torments her. "Come in the great hall and play chess with your father.").

I want to see these flashback scenes recreated in season 3 so badly.

[monstersinthecosmos]

Vamptember Day 23 - Cigarette

{reza safina, h. scott salinas - buckley leary medley}

Armand feeds like a filthy chore that needs to be done, something to put behind him, perfunctory. 

At least, he had, back in those early nights. 

It hadn’t felt like a new place for their relationship, not something tender and intimate to be shared. Something vile, a burden, something private that he hadn’t consented to sharing. All those years of curiosity for nothing, when Daniel finally got to see. All that hype about the swoon and in Daniel’s first months, no one would ever just enjoy it with him.

Not even someone like Lestat, on the nights that Daniel tried to get him alone. Too haunted, still, from everything. Dull behind the eyes, and he just wanted to stay in his room, obsessing over the manuscript. 

Even when he’d tried with Khayman, Pandora, Santino, it had—

“Daniel,” Marius says gently. A warm hand curls around his wrist, and Marius’s face is so serene when Daniel looks up at him. Just enough blood that his cheeks are flushed pink, his eyes glassy. “Would you like to try?”

And Marius feeds like he’s making love.

Daniel’s head spins for a moment, and he has to stare into Marius’s face. Stay here, with him, remember where they are. What year it is. Armand is so close behind, so vivid in his memories, lingering like the cigarettes he used to smoke when he was alive. But no. That was a long time ago.

Marius’s eyebrows raise, just a little. Just enough to signal concern, not enough to be patronizing. He doesn’t even ask if Daniel is all right, allows him the space, just waits for him to lock back in.

Right. Right. Where were we?

The victim’s house, Daniel realizes, and he can remember the entire evening to this point, now that he thinks of it. It’s a woman named Mia, he remembers. Marius said he’d been watching her for a few weeks, and that she deserved to die.

Daniel hadn’t asked why. Just tagged along.

It’s been a long time since Daniel killed someone. His chest aches with the sick thrill of it, even twenty years in now. Maybe making up for lost time, or the shitty tutelage under his maker. And for years now, with Marius, it’s been Little Drinks and patience. Slowly working up to this while the fog lifted.

Mia’s neck is blotchy red where the first little bite has healed already, and she doesn’t even realize it happened. She calls over her shoulder to ask what they’d like to drink, and goes up on her toes to reach the half-empty bottle of whisky from the top shelf of her bar. 

She was buzzed already, and Marius is now, too. Funny how such a small bit can hit him, even from a little taste. Marius smiles as Daniel thinks it, and leans closer to kiss him on the temple. He offers a small grin before crossing the room, slinking up behind her, his hands on her hips.

“Daniel likes… Jack and Cokes,” he says by her ear. The accent that almost never comes out hits the k’s a little too hard, but maybe it’s the way he’s just an ancient old weirdo. Daniel leans back against the couch cushions and watches them, the way Marius strokes up the side of her ribs with one hand, and brushes the hair away from her neck with he other. The way his body curves as he bends to kiss the bump at the top of her spine.

She giggles, and sways beneath his hands, indulging of a moment before swatting away and leaning down towards the small refrigerator. The crack of the soda can is so loud in Daniel’s ears, and he feels the hiss of the carbonation in his bones. 

“How about you, Daddy?” she asks Marius, and turns to look up at him. Light in her eyes, and she bats her eyelashes. His hand glides up her body, across her breast, her collarbone. His fingertips pet across her jaw line, and she tilts her head into it. 

Daniel can hear her heart skipping beats. Can smell her arousal from here. Her mind shuffles a frantic stack of images, imagining what the two of them might do to her, but she doesn’t notice the way Marius’s thumb is tracing back and forth along her pulse point.

“I’ll have what you’re having, dear,” he says, and leans in to kiss her.

It’s so patient, the way he kisses. The finesse of a creature who isn’t in a hurry. Part of Daniel wonders what it must be like, to be kissed like that, except the moan that vibrates out of her chest gives him an answer. 

She’s so much shorter than Marius, her neck craned to meet him. Up on her toes as she presses a hand to Marius’s shoulder for balance, pulling in, hanging on. About Armand’s height, Daniel realizes. They must have looked something like this, centuries ago; picturing it makes Daniel shudder.

Armand wanted to be in and out. Staring now—at the way Marius draws back, the way he squeezes her breast on the way to grabbing Daniel’s glass off the bar, the way he leads her back to the couch—Daniel isn’t sure why he was so disappointed, so surprised, by the way Armand hunted. 

All those nights, when he was alive.

Waking up with Armand hovering over him, face flushed, looking like a real living boy. Nights waking to the smell of old cigarettes and someone else’s cologne, clinging to a well-worn jacket that Armand wore like it was his own. Nights waking to Armand in his bed, pressed to Daniel’s back, skin on skin and a mouth breathing warm by his ear, so hot that it was like he had a fever. 

Still time for the opera after all of that. 

Something immature about it, maybe. Undignified fumble of a kid rushing through the motions. Reminds Daniel of sloppy handjobs in a friends car in high school. 

Be nice, Marius says, and glances at him as he and Mia sink into the couch. It’s not immature, he’s just uptight. He’s been through quite a bit.

Mia’s cheeks are red, her lipstick smeared a little. Eyes glassy as she  stares at him for a second too long, so that he can’t help the blast of her thoughts. Imagining herself between them, and her breath hitches as she pictures Daniel holding a fistful of her hair, imagines Marius’s fingers digging into her hips. Her cunt throbs and Daniel wonder what it tastes like. 

She reaches for a pack of cigarettes on the coffee table, and Marius reaches for her lighter. The flame dances in his eyes as he lights it, and for a moment Daniel thinks it’s too obvious that he’s not human. Wonders how she doesn’t see it. Uncanny and too hard, even with a little bit of blood in his face. 

Ice rattles in Daniel’s glass as he lifts it to his face, pretending to drink. The carbonating hisses and breathes against his face as her free hand lands on Daniel’s thigh, petting softly, curving in towards his groin as she drags the cigarette in her other. Marius leans in, right as she’s about to exhale, to kiss her again, hand cradling her belly. The smoke flows from his lips as they pull apart.

Armand is a fumbled handjob in a friend’s car, rushing through so that he doesn’t miss his mom’s curfew. Marius is more like the film lit professor Daniel had in freshman year of college, who spoiled him with wine and patiently ate him out until he’d relaxed enough to bottom for the first time.

It’s possible, isn’t it, to make it nice for them.

Even the evil ones.

She’s still imagining herself between them, squeezing Daniel’s inner thigh as she bites at Marius’s lip. She wonders if it would kill the mood if she hit pause to drag them to the bedroom, so she can reach the lube. She wants one of them in each of her holes.

No time for that, though. Marius takes the cigarette from her, rolling it between his fingers for a moment in consideration. Without looking, he reaches to drop it into Daniel’s drink.

His hand curls so gently around her throat. Rubbing it, like he’s preparing meat. Pleasuring in the rush of the veins beneath his palm, taking that small joy to let the anticipation build. 

Daniel puts his drink down. He shifts on the couch, to face them better. Grabs her hand, where it’s trying to grope around his zipper. He rubs the baby skin of her inner wrist, feeling the way her pulse dances as Marius kisses her throat, as his fingers slip beneath her shirt, as he sinks his teeth into her.

Her other hand drops between her legs, rubbing lazily over her clothes. 

Try her, Marius urges. It’s all right. 

Daniel hesitates, his own heart skipping the way Mia’s does. 

You’re allowed to enjoy it. 

[avelera]

Man, there's a tiny part of me that wants to write a short comedy fic about Hob Gadling encountering the Anne Rice vampires, not so much because I think he'd annoy the shit out of them by having no patience for all their angst about being immortal, but also because I'd like to see one of them, probably Lestat, jump out of his fucking skin when he drinks Hob's blood to the point of death and drops the body, only for Hob to get up a few minutes later rubbing his neck and complaining about how much that stings because I honestly think that would scare the shit out of him

[covenofthearticulate]

18. What are they like when they're drunk? How do they act together? & when 1 is drunk, while the other one's sober?

For Louis and Lestat pls 🥰

Ship Asks!

omg I LOVE this question asdfgahdvhc

Louis obviously had some drinking problems as a mortal (to put it lightly) so I've always imagined that as a vampire he would be an incredibly moody, temperamental drunk. Like, maybe he's not as outright aggressive as he was when he was alive, but he's a little more irritable, a little more likely to say something completely out of pocket. He's much more of a wildcard than Lestat; there are some nights when he'll go into an existential spiral and get so upset, but there are other nights when he gets unfathomably horny and follows Lestat around the bar like a lost puppy LMAO it's truly so hard to tell with Louis, you never know what you're gonna get!

Lestat, on the other hand, is exactly how you'd imagine him to be when drunk. He's consistently boisterous, bubbly, loud, and happy-go-lucky. Whatever confidence he has whilst sober is quadrupled when he's drunk. He's dancing and singing and flirting with anything that moves. He's sappy and sentimental and has the fragile ego of a 20-year-old.

When they're drunk together, I think it goes one of two ways.

1: Lestat is so enamored with Louis and Louis tries his best to act grumpy but maybe he's just a little charmed after all, so he allows himself to be swept into a sloppy waltz and maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't mind a handsy makeout session in the corner.

2: Lestat is enamored with someone else and Louis gets jealous and has a meltdown, but then has another meltdown when Lestat tries to apologize and has the audacity to try and touch him!!!!!!! it's an absolute shitshow afsdgfcgvghbsjfh

I think the ideal scenario would be a drunk Louis with a sober Lestat LMAO. Whether Louis is in a sour mood or a touchy-feely mood, a sober Lestat is better equipped to handle whatever Louis has for him, and matches his vibes accordingly. Lestat also likes being the caretaker for a change, so looking after a drunk Louis would make him feel needed and important :)

A sober Louis with a drunk Lestat is just a fucking nightmare as well because tbh Louis barely tolerates a sober Lestat as it is like afsdgfagkhfjhdf he'd run out of patience so fucking fast.

[mortish-writes]

One of the things that the first few nights glazed over was Serax mentioning that Kalat was raided a century ago, whereas your MC distinctly recalls it being far more recent. Depending on your route in Night IV, you'll begin untangling the first of many mysteries surrounding your rebirth. Or, ya know, just spend the night getting sweaty with the hot vampires. You do you. The intricate plot will find you no matter what.

So far, Night IV is Valdricht-heavy and I suspect a lot of readers will come away with him as their favorite RO. Serax is more of a comes-on-hot and then burns slowly type. Early on, you're really interacting with his facade, but with time and patience you can peel back the layers. Very fun for the type of player who romances irreverent rouges like Zevran and Astarion, or has a special place in their heart for the hot mess that is Lestat. Thankfully, you really don't have to choose between them. As you may see in Night IV, it's quite fun when Serax and Valdricht work together.

Bride of Shadows is an interactive romance novel on Itch. Grown-ups only.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Musings - LDPDL & Nosferatu 2024

We all know & love AMC!IWTV's canon that the Unholy Family saw Nosferatu in 1922, and busted a gut rotflol over Hollywood's vampire.

But if Louis saw Nosferatu 2024, in the wake of Lestat in NOLA, and esp. Armand in Paris/SanFran/Dubai & Claudia's death, I reckon he'd be triggered on several levels. Ofc, one doesn't need to see Nos24 thru Louis' eyes/POV to recognize all the themes about the predatory nature of vampiric seduction, let alone the devastating ways vampires affect/abuse/take advantage/wreak havoc on human vulnerabilities like religious mania depression, mental illness, and suicidal ideation. But let's go for it!

The Closeted (Isolation, Repression, & Mental Illness)

In IWTV, Louis was a closeted gay man who had to grow up always hiding who he really was, for fear of punishment by his uber-Catholic family as well as society at large. Homosexuality was not only considered a mental illness, subject to extreme forms "treatment" including solitary confinement in a sanatorium (mental asylum--the same place his mentally ill brother Paul had already been sent that made him "worse than before"); but also a crime punishable by incarceration or even death.

I've long said that "Rashid"/Armand's treatment of Louis esp. in Dubai was more like a nurse than a servant--the kind of nurse that hates their job (being "stuck on suicide watch") & whose bedside manner effing SUCKS, having no patience for the mentally ill & no capacity to properly take care of them; just making things worse.

In Nosferatu, Ellen was always "touched" as a child, having the 2nd sight that allowed her to always know ahead of time what her Xmas gifts were, and know the date her mom would die. Her mean father thought she was a freak and had her closeted away & isolated from society, the family embarrassment. Even after she got married, Thomas' BFF Friedrich barely tolerated Ellen, and when her seizures started he had her tied & doped & corseted up--all the worst ways of caring for her that likely did more harm than good. Ellen even called him out on it, knowing Friedrich tied her up cuz he hated having to deal with her in the first place "I tire of discussing her; can we please talk about something else; the entire household centers around her fairy whims!," and got sick of her being in his house anymore.

Book & Hearth's video analysis of Ellen's mental illness in Nosferatu says this:

So, Louis/Ellen are both people stigmatized by Victorian society for things that were never their fault (homosexuality, mental illness, etc), either socially closeted/isolated (Louis) or spatially closeted/isolated (Ellen).

(Lestat kept whining in 1x3 & 2x7 about how the worst thing a vampire can feel is loneliness--as if that's not awful for humans to feel, too. 🙄 Esp. since vamps are immortal, they've got all the time in the world for someone to eventually show up & fall in love with them; unlike humans, who grow old & decrepit & die in no time flat.)

We see the extreme lengths Louis & Ellen would go to, to alleviate their loneliness & desperation for companionship, and their desire to feel seen & close to someone--even if that someone was the Devil himself: a vampire.

"Come to me" - Loustat & Orllen

Both IWTV & Nosferatu use Come to Me. It's a motif as old as Dracula itself, so it's par for the course, really.

"Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!" --Lucy Westenra, Dracula

But both shows play around with it in interesting ways.

In IWTV, Lestat repeatedly chants C2M/Viens a moi to lure Louis to him. In 1x1 Louis actually runs away, fleeing to the church & prayed to God to help/kill him; only for the Devil/Lestat to show up & "give you death" by making him a vampire. But in 1x6, Lestat uses the song "Come to Me" to "get a rise out of" Louis, who swims the Mississippi to take his estranged husband back. But during the Trial, Lestat lied on Lou and accused him of saying C2M to "accost" Les instead--the human seducing the vampire. Meanwhile, Lou still has Les's master recording of C2M in 2022, which he plays for Daniel in Dubai--again proving that Les was lying on Lou & weaponized C2M against him.

Nosferatu24 plays the human-calling/seducing-the-vampire straight, where Ellen literally summoned Orlock. Lonely, she'd prayed to God for a companion, "a spirit of comfort," but accidentally roused the Nosferatu from his sleep as she kept repeating "Come to me."

Ellen accidentally called Orlock, and Lestat hunted Louis down--but both characters are still guilt-ridden by their open-armed acceptance of their vampire lovers, once they eventually realize that the person they thought would be their comfort/safety had only taken advantage of their loneliness, desperation & ignorance about their situation and the type of creature these vamps really were.

Louis' relationship with Armand doesn't 1:1 fit, since they never use C2M per se, but Armand DOES approach Louis similarly to Les, as the charismatic vampire who stalked Lou before finally confronting him, luring him & Claudia into the Theatre to recruit/convert them to his crazy AF coven/cult; and then using a series of lies, manipulations & brainwashes to take advantage of Louis' trauma post-Banishment to keep Lou as his (un)willing companion for 77yrs after killing his daughters.

The Death of 2 Daughters

Orlock's murder of Friedrich's 2 daughters is a chilling scene. The Nosferatu puts a spell on Friedrich while he's sleeping, his hand casting a spectral shadow over Friedrich's face to keep him pinned in his bed and trapped in his nightmares. Meanwhile, his 2 daughters & wife are screaming for him to help them, but Friedrich can't move or wake up, impotently clutching the gun in his hand as his wife & kids are slaughtered bu Orlock, just down the hall from him.

Orlock has both the little girls in his clutches, and throws them down like sacks of potatoes once he's done draining them, as their mother Anna helplessly watches, screaming, before he kills her, too.

This is painfully similar to how Armand instructed the coven to fog the minds of Claudia, Madz & Louis whenever they tried defending themselves, on top of their ankles being slashed so they couldn't move, escape, or fight back--esp. not once Lou was dragged away kicking & screaming to be buried alive, ensuring that he'd be helpless to do anything to save his 2 daughters from being murdered. The last thing he ever heard Claudia say was her screaming his name.

(Since this is 2024, Louis wouldn't yet be privy to the details Lestat reveals in S3 (2026). But if Lestat's also watching Nos24, he knows even more about Claudia's final moments than Lou does--that feeling of helplessness is only amplified by the fact that she's HIS literal Blood Child--he'd've felt her die the same way Louis felt Madz die. Drained after using his Mind Gift to save Louis with Banishment, Lestat's too weak to save Claudia as she burns. The last thing Claudia ever saw was her father just standing there, uselessly watching Armand & the coven burn her to death.)

Sexual Inhibitions, Awakenings, Stigmas, Salvation

Louis is often mocked/derided in the fandom as a d**kmatized Pick Me who only thinks with his loins to stay with toxic AF Lestat's "considerable considerables;" after years of closeted sexual repression.

"Do you remember the best you ever had? So imagine that flowing inside your veins again. Now multiply it by miles, to the rings of Saturn and back...." "He had a way about him, those first years, Lestat. Preternaturally charming, occasionally thoughtful. He was my murderer, my mentor, my lover, and my maker--all of those things at once. He had taken what he called un petit coup, the Little Drink. Not enough to kill me, but just enough to keep him fit. It takes an enormous amount of restraint for us, the Little Drink. For a human, experiencing it for the first time, it was…unsettling. And not for the physical toll on my body, which was significant, but for the feelings of intimacy it awoke within me."

Lestat's seduction of Louis was a sexual revelation/awakening, but it also spooked TF outta Louis. He fled Lestat's house in a gay panic, "vowing never to return." I also discussed how Lestat's C2M in 1x1 was dubcon/noncon, and mirrored Lestat in Paul's head, making both him AND Louis feel unclean.

She sank on her knees on the floor in an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out. “Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgement Day.” -- Mina Harker, Dracula

(Lou was bored to dangit death with Armand in SanFran (the gay mecca where he'd been enjoying his 2nd wind/try at a gay sexual awakening), mocking Armand for having been forced into ascetic celibacy by the Children of Satan, who made him forget he had a working peen (Lou was obvs mad that Armand wasn't using said peen with Lou--the Bed Death Truthers were right all along, LOL).)

Meanwhile, Ellen was outright called a "sinner" by her father when he found her lying naked after a (Orlock-induced) fit/orgasm.

Orlock stayed with Ellen for years, an incubus visiting her in her dreams & having sex with her (the best she'd ever had, as she later throws in Thomas' face, "you could never please me like he could"); but also throwing her into fits/seizures--"at first it was sweet...and then it turned to torture!"

In the end, LDPDL & Ellen use their sexual prowess to distract their vampire husbands long enough for their Murder Plots to be accomplished--a la Mina Harker in Dracula.

Louis is literally instructed by Claudia to seduce Lestat, keeping him distracted with sex while Claudia plans how to poison & kill him. Louis is afraid to fall back into the "well with no bottom" and "lose myself in him," and Claudia promises to be his salvation--pulling him out in time to strike the killing blow to Lestat.

Ellen is another femme fatale who welcomes Orlock into their marriage bed, where she forcefully holds him close as he notices the sun rising; keeping him distracted with sex long enough for the sunlight to cook him to death as she hemorrhages under him. Her suicide is her salvation/martyrdom, as she frees herself (and the whole town) from Orlock's clutches.

(Again, Armand doesn't have as neat of a 1:1 fit, since Louis doesn't distract him with sex to defeat him. But Louis still plays up his seemingly helpless submission to get Armand to allow the interview to continue, as if Daniel isn't threat, and as if Louis doesn't suspect Armand of foul play--at least not until the end of 2x5 ofc. But Armand constantly wrests control back, and by the end of the interview in 2x8 he ALMOST wins. Louis doesn't defeat Armand or save himself at all here--DANIEL defeats Armand & saves Louis instead, showing the leagues of difference between the threat Armand posed vs Lestat. )

[horizon-verizon]

Interview with a Vampire: Claudia

I watched this series a long time ago, both season, but I remember that I never expressed my disdain for Claudia-hate.

Some people argue Claudia had no right to be angry at Louis for telling Armand about Lestat...ugh.

While you may be part of a community, I don't think that means that said community has a right to force you to dehumanise yourself or to dehumanise/infantilize you. Or to ignore and dismiss what are very deep core, defining wounds in favor of their own "order". They know she is an adult and a community very much can change or shape itself towards some members' emotional needs as long as there's a unresentful understanding amongst all.

That play, if you notice, is basically describing--metaphorically--Claudia's existence, how others see her, how the coven members can and might abuse her, as well as foreshadowing the end of this story Claudia may have chosen to be a part of a coven, and specifically one in theatre, but she did not ask for infantilization. It's like if you have an insecurity and then tried to find a group to "belong" to, say a church community, but you find out right after you joined that you have to basically hone or perform your insecurity many times a week. For Claudia, that's x50. If you go back to the last episode, in the after credits, the directors and actors reveal that for the vampires, performing's only purpose is for them to be as they are (killing humans for glee, blood, etc.) while in front of the very humans they have to hide from so as to not be hunted or else.

Claudia has another layer of tragedy--her being a vampire adult stuck in an immortal body. And she has been forced into posing as a child for all of her vampire life, AND she has never been a human adult. While every other vampire she has met has at least experienced--even if they don't remember--what being a human adult was like and have carried whatever makes one "adult"/become physically "mature". Claudia is arrested in childhood not just physically of body but partially of mind, as you said. She has been trying to understand what it means to be a vampire and to be a realized vampire all this time, which is why she was so single-minded in finding other vampires--to find any frame of reference as well a a community that knows and appreciates their own vampire "self". So she could then find what she can be without it always going back to her entrapped state. Who is she, what is she? The girl who has never been "fully" mature? Who has only known adult" life as a vampire but is trapped with the form of the human self she no longer has any real attachment to? She quite literally doesn't have much clue what it's like being a more comparatively complex "human" (kids are still people, still complex, and have good cognitive skills) and has had no mental grasp or sensory experience of "humanness" to actively use when defining-measuring her own actions and self. Or others'. Other than the memories of an abusive aunt and a father who neglected her that are diluted to its most potent foundation of fear that obviously she nor others would want to dwell on, thereby making her even more focused on being a "vampire". There is quite literally nothing like the "leftover" shame Louis has from his mortal life in her, nor something else in the same "family" in potency.

Therefore she has no real interest or feeling of proximity or stake in understanding humanity nor her own proximity to the possible meanings of "humanity"--which explains her lack of patience or care or empathy for humans. She has nothing else but vampirism. So yes, there are more sticky, overlapping motivations for her "demanding" is not strictly the same sort of demanding as the kind of a child's natural forwardness, curiosity, & self-centeredness. Rather, this is a separate, related, and mutually informing phenomenon to how she is partially always a child with impulsive, demanding self-concern of a teen/child.

No one else has this sort of condition, even if they are also trapped in some ways and by their own actions. Only for her to be forced into playing a child in front of the very mortals she and the others do not think of as actual people. It is also like they are excluding her from their own process of self-actualization of vampirism, even inadvertedly. The effect is cruel and unnecessary. She can play a little person, or Armand can do as she asks and relegate her to the back, but he specifically states how he wont' bec "he said so", she should be "grateful", and that they are making a lot of money. As if that is actually why they perform in the first place. So, it's also form of exploitation. In a way, the coven is "feeding" off of her or she is going through special "punishment" before Armand actually punishes her. Child star, anyone? It's also interesting, considering how she is a walking violation of their laws, how they already show that they hate when their precious rules are broken, and how they resent Armand for making Louis just walk around breaking rules...she likely will/would have always been an outlier--socially--in the community she looked for all her life. So, they could also be said to take pleasure in her de-personing similarly to how they take joy/self affirmation when they kill humans onstage--"look at how we enforce our own laws, watch us punish this girl and watch as how we mock 'innocence', how opposed we are to the very concept." And they literally sucked the joy of performing from Claudia by trapping her in the performance she wanted to use to "free" herself--a thing she would have loved and thrived in, used to destroy her.

Claudia is in the most danger if the coven finds out abt Lestat, since Louis is at least in Armand's favor by having slept with him/Armand being in love w/him. And she is physically weaker, smaller as well as a literal "abomination". Louis using the reason of "you were unhappy" is simply not enough in the face of this danger mostly stacked against her, so his superior motivation is that he wanted to keep close to Armand. He had a whole year, mind you, to tell her Armand knows. S2Claudia is not the girl who kept secret the bodies of people she indiscriminately killed after her breakdown last season, which itself again was, as self-destructive and messy for not just her but Louis and Lestat, was a mental breakdown from THEIR actions in turning her as she is now that lead to her killing her first crush/how Lestat handled that. Yes, she needed to know her actions' consequences; however, with Lestat & Louis having not actually not engaging with her as a person but more an accessory-child so they could properly discipline her teenage-child stage, that was also most of their own doing. They needed to connect the consequences of their own actions to their actions that have lead them all to that point--w/o them, Claudia wouldn't have had to live as she did, and that will never change or not matter or not define why she does what she does! (btw, the first crush kill has its own plethora of meaning: it is when Claudia first really comes to realize that she is too dangerous to even that who she could love/value [like a child who's finally broken a much-loved thing what it did not fully internalize was the same as all the other things they did not "love"]).

Having read the book, this TV iteration Armand is not at all interested in really incorporating Claudia into the coven on her own merit, but just to keep Louis around, so he tolerates her emotions and psychological state even less. In fact, it works toward his benefit, bc it isolates her from Louis. I think it's good to remember that these people/vamps are not really trying to act in good faith to each other and might=right is what they really respond to unless they actually like you. Which isn't often.

Then there are those who question why Claudia is so fascinated and comes to trust Madeliene. And vice versa.

Claudia is fascinated by Madeline bc Madeline is a woman who really lives in her womanhood with no trace of self victimization or apologizing for it. Madeline actively listens to her, to her pain, Claudia is the interested in her own. Madeline is not distracted or putting anyone else above Claudia and is interested in what she has to say. It began with Claudia seeing how isolated the woman was in the other episode, how people tried to "warn" her away from her, and defying that boundary to see for herself what made this woman so ostracized. Like a teenager who doesn't like being told what to do (like Lestat), but also bc she had already desired to see herself in a dress that the woman was making that she wanted to use to see herself as she thinks of herself--a woman. You can compare it to how a trans person will wear clothes they/we see as "feminine" or "masculine" to identify and see their denied inner selves outwards. And the guy telling her not to enter likely re-reminded her of her limitations & childness. Also, Claudia cannot talk to other vampires both bc they are not interested and she would have to divulge information that could get her killed. Which makes Louis' telling Armand all the more enraging for her bc it's not just his secret but hers, she has been keeping the end of the silent deal they have to do so, and he never told her he was thinking of telling anyone--much less the vampire who could destroy them both consequently. In fact, Claudia is so much alike to Lestat. It is true that Claudia is trying to go back to Louis with how the coven is doing what they are doing, but she is very valid in that considering all the above and how we still expect our loved ones to have space for us when we see that the space we found with others is actually not conducive to our happiness or safety or mental stability--as the coven has proven to be and she instinctively knows but is clinging onto she has also felt Louis to be so unhappy even before they arrived at Paris (remember how he talked about wanting to go back home, how she was incessant in her search as if he resented her for the constant movement). In fact, it can be literally be life saving.

No, Madeliene is not a pedo nor does she only love or is attracted to Claudia bc she reminds her of her younger sister who she lost and their relationship re-fulfills a lonely failed-protector need in her. Just because you may not like her or understand why she has any appeal to anyone in the series or in real life, doesn't mean she has none nor that there isn't real meaning people get from her character.

Madeleine loves her, is loyal to her, and wants to be her vampire companion in any way--platonically or romantically--bec Claudia similarly rejects nothing about her when quite literally most people in Madeline's life has rejected-abused her or has died. Gender and sexism is a huge part of that; we see how Mad is dragged to the public and had her hair shaved in a public shaming for sleeping with the Nazi guy, and no I don't think sleeping with a Nazi soldier is morally unquestionable (at best), but the crowd's fury was not at her seeming inhumaness but them deciding to re-enforce a control over the female body. think Cersei's walk of shame, how that was clearly not about her murdering people but punishing her sexual decisions culturally denied to women. Would we really have seen a mal townsman be similarly shamed in public if he had slept with a Nazi lady spy or office worker, or the wife of a Nazi officer? A female Nazi officer?

Madeliene loves Claudia because despite all that Claudia has been through and still goes through, she is defiant and relatively easygoing (if people leave her be) and is as defiant as she is. She loves her strength and humor; is impressed by how Claudia is herself and relatively steady in her convictions to be herself. This inspires not just admiration but a faith that Claudia has an emotional steadfastness to be a "permanent" fixture in her life when change in Mad's life has mostly always been negative AND constant. Claudia is both intriguing, never boring, as well as immortal. Which goes back to why the book Mad wanted to be changed and be bk!Claudia's eternal companion--having lost her daughter and having lived her life forever haunted by the regret, she saw Claudia as a self restoration. With show Mad, she's also eager to leave behind human life not just for her lost sister but everything else on top of that. Where she would not have to be beholden to tragedy and have the vampire beauty and strength to be her "optimal" self. Humanity offered her nothing but pain and with the war, and thus far into her life as a dressmaker, she didn't seem to feel there was hope for an actually satisfying life...and without Claudia saving her from being raped, she def would have had an even worse life.

And she likes/is grateful for that Claudia is not put off by her own weirdness; Madeline is weird, she invited a vampire to suck her blood without really knowing beforehand what could happen to her aside from Claudia perhaps losing control and killing her accidentally. (No, I don't include her being dismissive and flippant with Armand when he was questioning her abt her readiness to become a vampire. One, she might have learned from Claudia abt his treatment of her and we already know that she puts Claudia before literally everyone else. Two, Armand may have been sincere in his desire to assess her and impart vampirism's bleakness, but he also was very clearly trying to intimidate her and it is very clear Madeline is not a person to take such things for long & unchallenged...she was nearly raped for it before. She's quite literally the definition of protecting any shred of dignity & happiness over he very life, she's just very...hard as reflective of her "dead" and disillusioned era. We have to remember that this is a time where people are coming back from a terrible world war and brought out the very worst in people--survivors aren't going to majorly be exactly pleasant to be around nor emotionally accommodating but challenge people to assess worth of personal investment.) If you really think abouu Claudia as a person instead of as an attachment or "obstacle" to LouisxLestat or some sort of "child", it's really not difficult at all why anyone could admire her. She could have folded at any time but she pushes on.

They match each other's "freak" AND sense of survivorship, basically.

Was it at first a little strange that she took an interest in Claudia before she ever saw her as a vampire or knew of her nature since Claudia is supposed to look like a teenager? And is Claudia's trappedness as adult-in-body define much of the material that developed into those traits I described? Yeah. But she's hardly a pedo if she has proven herself to see Claudia as an actual woman and treated her like she was one as if she instinctually knew she was (which is what I think happened)...unlike book Marius' weird attraction for kids.

[v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e]

Lestat and Louis + Kisses

The vibration went through my temples. A layer of skin was being peeled off. I clasped Louis's arm, gave him a lingering kiss, and then felt him release me. - The Vampire Lestat

The Vampire Lestat and his cohorts stood spying upon the hall through the holes in a great serge curtain. Lestat embraced his companion Louis, and they kissed on the mouth, as the mortal musicians put their arms around both of them. - The Queen of the Damned

I smiled. I kissed him suddenly, thrilled by the warmth of him, the soft pliant feel of his near human skin. God, how I hated the whiteness of my fingers touching him, fingers that could have crushed him now effortlessly. I wondered if he even guessed.

There was so much I wanted to say to him, to ask him. Yet I couldn’t find the words really, or a way to begin. He had always had so many questions; and now he had his answers, more answers perhaps than he could ever have wanted; and what had this done to his soul? Stupidly I stared at him. How perfect he seemed to me as he stood there waiting with such kindness and such patience. And then, like a fool, I came out with it.

“Do you love me now?” I asked.

He smiled; oh, it was excruciating to see his face soften and brighten simultaneously when he smiled. “Yes,” he said. - The Queen of the Damned

"Do it to me, please, beautiful one," I whispered in his ear. "Take this heat into your veins, and give me back all the power that I once gave to you." I pressed my lips to his cold, colorless mouth. "Give me the future, Louis. Give me eternity. Take me off this cross."

In the corner of my eye, I saw his hand rise. Then I felt the satin fingers against my cheek. I felt him stroke my neck. "I can't do it, Lestat."

"You can, you know you can," I whispered, kissing his ear as I spoke to him, choking back the tears, my left arm slipping around his waist. "Oh, don't leave me in this misery, don't do it." - The Tale of the Body Thief

"Think on it," he whispered. "Could you make another, after all that's passed?" Gently he pushed it further. "Could you work the Dark Trick again? Ah-you take your time before answering. Look deep inside you for the truth as you just told me to do. And when you know it, you needn't tell it to me."

Then he leant forward, closing the distance between us, and pressed his smooth silken lips against the side of my face. I meant to pull away, but he used all his strength to hold me still, and I allowed it, this cold, passionless kiss, and he was the one who finally drew back like a collection of shadows collapsing into one another, with only his hand still on my shoulder, as I sat with my eyes on the altar still. - The Tale of the Body Thief

I stopped. I put my arm around him. I held him close to me.

“I’m Lestat,” I said in a low voice. “Your Lestat. I’m the same Lestat you’ve always known, and no matter how I’m changed, I’m still that same being.”

“I know,” he said warmly.

I kissed him. I pressed my lips to his and I held this kiss for a long silent moment. And then I gave in to a silent wave of feeling, and I took him in my arms. I held him tight against me. I felt his unmistakable silken skin, his soft shining black hair. I heard the blood throbbing in him, and time dissolved, and it seemed I was in some old and secret place, some warm tropical grotto we’d once shared, ours alone in some way, with the scent of sweet olive blossoms and the whisper of moist breeze. “I love you,” I whispered.

In a low intimate voice, he answered: “My heart is yours.” - Prince Lestat

I was unable to speak. He’d put on these clothes for me, and I knew it. Nothing else in this world would have prompted him to dress like this, or to have brushed all the dust out of his glistening black hair. And the hair he’d left long on rising so that it was full as it had been in the old days, wavy, a little unruly, curling just under his ears. Even his white skin looked polished. And a scent rose from him of a rare and expensive male cologne. That too, I had sent for. That too, servants had brought here along with my other gifts.

Silence. It was like when Gabrielle, my mother, undid her long braid and combed her free and luxuriant hair. I could scarcely breathe.

I sensed he understood. He crossed the hall and put his arms around me and kissed me on the lips.

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” he asked. Nothing mocking or mean in the tone.

Shocked. Unable to respond.

“Well, I figured you could use some new clothes, that you always can.” I was stammering, clinging to a shred of dignity, trivializing the moment with ridiculous words. - Prince Lestat and The Realms of Atlantis

“Some of us are infinitely better at being miserable than happy,” he said gently. “We’re good at it, and proud of it, and we get better and better at it, and we simply don’t know what it means to be happy.”

I nodded. My thoughts were as thick and confused as the dancers, the music. But the dancers and the music were beautiful. My thoughts were not.

I could not recall ever having spoken of Nicolas to Louis, never ever even mentioning Nicolas’s name. But then I do not remember everything, as I once thought I did. There is something in us, even us, that will not allow for that, something that pushes the memory of suffering that is unbearable slowly away.

“I have no gift for being miserable,” I said.

“I know,” he said. He laughed. Such a human face. Such a lovely face.

There must surely have been twice as many blood drinkers now in this ballroom as there had ever been, and I sensed that I had ought to stop having such a marvelous time and return to greeting newcomers as the Prince should. But not before holding Louis for a moment, and then kissing him and telling him low in French that I loved him and always had. - Blood Communion

[waterme-stories]

Wild to me that there are ship wars for Interview With The Vampire when, as a teen, The Vampire Chronicles were some of my first exposure to non-monogany.

Obviously it wasn't perfect. I mean, Lestat/Louis/Claudia is a textbook example of "relationship broken, add more people (oh no now it's even more broken)," and "not every Vee should become a Triad." If you've ever experienced the drama of an incestuous non-mono community where everyone's dated everyone... those books all get a little too real. There's backstabbing, jealousy, domestic abuse, and more murder than I personally prefer in my own polyamory 😅

But there's also "we belong to each other, why would anything we do with other people affect that?" There's "let's find out what it looks like to be with someone for the rest of my life (or theirs)." The idea that relationships have value even if they don't last forever. That romantic relationships aren't inherently more important than platonic ones. The idea that you can hold multiple people in your heart at the same time, that there's room for everyone. That the relationship escalator (dating > marriage > kids > death) isn't the only (or best) way to have significant, committed relationships.

They introduced the concept of comet relationships to my baby brain more than a decade before I would learn the actual term--those people you don't see for months or years but as soon as you see them it's like no time has passed (a personal favorite for my ADHD ass).

Like, when I say those books changed my brain chemistry, I mean that my silly little self-insert Mary Sue OCs went from "marry my fictional crush and be with them forever" to "what if they only saw each other once or twice a year but it was still incredible" and "what if she was married but also had a vampire lover and everyone was chill about it (and also she was a rock star)" and "what if they all lived in one big house together" and/or "what if lived by herself and found that fulfilling" and "what if men and women and ???" That shit was formative. Some of those little daydream OCs live in my brain to this day.

-

Idk man. I don't have much patience for ship wars anyway (and I'm scratching my head about people getting upset about canon relationships being, you know, canon). But with TVA especially, my brain simply cannot comprehend it in a monogamous framework.

[nightislandnoveltymug]

actually, proper answer now that i'm awake and have had some time to percolate lol. best thing armand did!

i should say this is kind of a tie for me because the person armand becomes with daniel is always going to be up there -- he didn't let him die, he gave daniel what he wanted, but more importantly he told him, and showed him, that he loved him, and just in general in their time together he allowed daniel to see so much of his real genuine vulnerability and cared for him and worried about him so much and that fucks me up!!

but!! the thing i actually wanted to mention is his homes! (this is maybe cheating a little bit because it isn't something he did, it's something he does, but whatever.) one of the things i love most about armand is that he's always creating these stable places and central points for everybody to congregate on. while a lot of the others are sort of nomadic and don't stay in touch and you don't really know where they are, he is always (as he says) "a canker in the very eye of the world". he's easy to find, he stays in one place and he uses his resources and his power to create these stable, lasting home bases and then opens his doors to others. he creates stability and then shares it in a way that really nobody else does.

and i think it's very interesting because this sort of stability is a character trait that (i think!) maybe most people would first and foremost think to associate with elders like maharet, or marius, when in actual fact, the truth is that neither of them has ever done that -- for their own disparate reasons they've always been highly reclusive, and have protected their own stability by staying out of touch with the rest of the vampire world, not opening their doors, and for the most part not helping anyone or intervening in anything in any way.

there's something fascinating and honestly poignant about like... armand, maybe subconsciously, running a household according to an ideal which (imo!) is based on marius, except that marius has never actually done that. not for vampires. and so in actual fact, this is something that armand has innovated; this actually comes from him, and is coloured by his experience with the covens (which marius has never shown anything but disdain for), and perhaps even beyond that, by his experience with the sense of community in monastic life (which really ditto).

i personally suspect that rather than praiseworthy, he probably sees this as ultimately pretty self-serving on his own part, because he has this longing for community that drives him to create these places, so he probably just sees it as something he does so that he won't have to be alone. and also, from the way he talks in late canon you get the sense that he rather sees himself as trying to atone, and as trying to emulate those who are better than him. when in fact he's doing something that nobody else is doing, and in many ways (imo) behaving more like a leader of a community than any of the characters that everyone else thinks ought to lead, like marius or lestat. not because they couldn't, but because neither of them has ever had the resources, capabilities, patience, and willingness to create something like that and then open it up.

and for a character who's been so lost, and has spent so much of his life feeling lost, feeling abandoned (and i think, right up until present day, still feels that way really), and has spent so much of his life looking for something to anchor his life to, without ever having the luxury of truly finding it, and having to just sort of go on anyway, keep living anyway -- for that character to be a stable anchor point for everybody else is something that really really gets me about him, maybe especially because i think he isn't fully aware of it himself.