#I hope that if Assad knows or finds out I hope he'll also know that he's making the autistic fans feel loved and seen.

[autistically-zoinked]

Real talk though, do you think Assad is aware that he is giving us one of the best autistic characters of all time?

[adamnablelittledevil]

Reacting to The Vampire Lestat - Part V (with a bit of spoilers and maybe important quotes?)

Armand!

YAY!

Okay, what the hell is happening?

??????

Seriously, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?

Am I lost because I'm reading the Brazilian Portuguese version and maybe it's not properly translated?

*Downloads an English PDF copy* Yeah, this isn't much better and it looks like it was poorly transcript.

I'm still not sure I'm following...

Well

Whatever

I still like this anyway?

Also, I can see I'll have to read at least this book twice anyway. Maybe more or even the whole chronicles.

Because since Armand showed up I'm DEVOURING this and I can see myself maybe missing a few details... I'll need to read it slower and savor it in the future. I also assume that knowing more of the lore will give me perspective on a future read.

Armand is never boring.

Still my favorite character. :) Let's hope nothing ever ruins that. :) /hj

Not one Lesmand/Armandstat interaction is wasted tbh, I don't care if they're vibing or hating each other's guts, they're always A MOMENT™.

Let's hope nothing ever ruins that. :) /hj

They also have some pretty valid and intriguing conversations, really.

The impression I get is that they want to stay close, but deep down know it's better not to because they're so messed-up and would be even more messed-up as friends or else (and maybe it's the or at least one of the reasons why they attract each other?), but there's some frustration in that acknowledgement too. Like, doing something because you should is not the same as doing it because you want to and... Well.

I mean, there's more I could say, but this is the short version of how I generally feel about them lol.

Can't wait to see all of this on season 3.

Assad is right, I want Armand to be unhinged too. So glad we're on the same page about all thigs Armand ever and that the spirit of Armand posses Assad on a daily basis so he can play him 100% the way I imagine him. SMILING THROUGH IT ALL, CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS MY LIFE RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm also ready for more Lestat (Armand's version) and finally some Armand (Lestat's version). Let the battle begin. I wonder who will be more insufferable.

Little bit of Armand's back story. :/ I wanna put him in a bubble.

I don't really think I'll be interested in Marius, tbh.

Anyway... He's not here yet.

Gabrielle jumps from roofs like Cat Woman and Armand quickly and silently vanishes from places like Batman. I hope we keep the Gotham-esque vibes of these scenes. I think it's super cool tbh.

I also love seeing Armand talking to people telepathically? Feels so much deeper and kind of poetic, idk. Not to mention is such a cool concept. I hope the show explores more of that.

Also, when he stops blocking his thoughts and let's someone peek at his thoughts it feels intimate? And not necessarily romantic or anything like that, but just like, "hey, this is a little piece of my soul, I'm sharing it with you". Or maybe I'm too romantic and trying to find the beauty in everything lol.

But then he finally speaks out loud and it feels deeper and more meaningful as well? I don't know. Maybe I'm becoming insane.

Lestat went like 3 pages without mentioning Armand's beauty. I'm proud of him.

Nevermind, now he is mentioning it 50 times per sentence. Even more than he did before. It's like he regretted it and it's making up for lost time lmao.

Some of the words Lestat has used to describe Armand so far: beautiful, sublime, ethereal, exquisite, perfect, soft, saint, angel (there's more, but it's been so many synonyms for beautiful I can't remember... still, you get the point). Not to mention comparing him to a Caravaggio and Da Vinci paintings.

I feel like he'll run out of words to describe him pretty soon.

I guess we all feel pretty (not) normal about Armand.

This is also ruining it for me, because if someone doesn't describe me as "irresistibly beautiful" then what is even the point, really...

And it's not like they're a couple or anything, SO??? STOP!!!

They're not lovers, they're not friends, they're not enemies, they're a fourth and more sinister thing that not even them can classify, let alone my mere mortal self.

Anyway, I hope Lestat will be even more annoying describing Louis. He set the bar too high now.

I wonder if Louis appears (for a significant amount of time) on this book.

I hope so, but I don't know.

"But I was so glad it was finished. So glad that we could go on. Yet I held to the bars for a long time just looking at the distant woods, and the dim glow far beyond that the city made upon the lowering clouds. And the grief I felt was not only for the loss of him, it was for Nicki, and for Paris, and for myself." This is sad...

"So let him be your patron saint if you need it" LMFAOOOOOO.

Is Gabrielle wrong, though?

NO, SHE ISN'T!

Just have fun with your immortality instead of going on an uncertain quest to find Marius? Stop being stupid???

You'll probably just find danger or disappointment. Or both.

LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF REASON, LESTAT!

"And the sense of grief came back to me, the realization that we were really going, that it was finished with Nicolas and finished with the Children of Darkness and their leader, and I wouldn't see Paris again, or anything familiar to me, for years and years. And for all my desire to be free, I wanted to weep." So, he finally starts making a life for himself away from his abusive family. Then, he is forcefully turned into a vampire, has to live this double life with mortals, without ever being able to be completely open, honest and have real, deep relationships with them. Later, he turns Gabrielle, Nicki, meets Armand and the other of his kind, but they're all so troubled or with completely different interests... And it's clear as a day that they can't stay together anymore, he's slowly coming to the realization he's losing everything and everyone he knows and will soon be alone again... I'm (not) fine.

Also, this is so BPD-coded of him. He's had these pretty sad and traumatic moments, but he never allowed himself to feel those emotions for too long, he always found stuff to distract himself with, tried to see the "the good side" of things, embrace them, be positive instead etc, but you can only ignore it so much until it becomes such a big problem you can't possibly avoid anymore. And then the emotion hits 9483958345x harder than it would have if you processed things properly and had better coping mechanisms. Like, I get him, but OMG. Get him some vampire therapist.

Btw, Armand feels pretty BPD-coded too.

I also heard somewhere that Armand is a Scorpio?

And Lestat is another BPD Scorpio...

That would explain A LOT actually lmao.

End of "The Vampire Armand" chapter and they're parting ways.

So I guess I'll just rot and die, then?

Or...

...Armand will return in the worst possible way lmao.

I tried to find a gif of 2x05 saying "everything is fine!" to represent how I'm feeling right now, but failed, so consider it done anyway. Everything is (not) fine!

[thecactifindahome]

Yeah, I'm in the middle of the books and I've already decided to read them again because some details can go unnoticed. And there are so many characters, stories, different historical periods, countries etc that you kind of need to study them like a bible. No wonder Sam Reid seems to read a little bit of them on a daily basis. TVC bible studies. 🤣😅 But I admit I compartmentalize and ignore some stuff on purpose because they're way too uncomfortable to me (some TTOTBT parts, for example, even if I find it a good book). Just my personal approach to it. Oh, I'm glad you love Armand too. 💗 Do you watch the show? Is he your favorite there too? Book Armand is my baby, but on the show everyone is at the top of their game that my love is equal. But Assad has this really creep thing where he is 100% my Armand. Most times people are 85%, 90% how I envision those characters, but he is totally my Armand. The face, expressions, body language, eyes, voice, walk... I've never seen someone match a character so well that I wouldn't change even the tiniest thing. It's like he was born out of my thoughts. 🤯 Still, in terms of adoration and rooting for, their show counterparts are on the same level for me.

Sorry for the late response! Tumblr is erratic about showing me my inbox on mobile, and I tend to just leave it to the queue on weekends/days off.

Yeah, I think it's fine to engage with the aspects of the series you enjoy and box up the others - god knows I'm more familiar with tva than anything that happens in totbt, lol. My little guy isn't even in it 🥺

Oh, showmand, showmand...he's my favorite both because he's Armand and because his portrayal in the show and reception by the fandom have produced a powerful protective instinct in me. Showmand comes across to me as a completely destroyed person in a way bookmand isn't - can you imagine showmand breaking down Marius' door with an axe? Can you imagine bookmand letting Louis break a wall with him? Or tolerating that level of disrespect from the theater coven? I can't, at all - showmand reads to me like a version of Armand who was broken by spending 10+ years with the show's version of Marius actively pimping him out that whole time. He's lost the pride and energy that kept bookmand hoping for something better out of life, and I hope he gets it back somehow. I love him dearly and it genuinely hurts my feelings to see bad things happen to what's left of him. I hope he gets to yank someone's scalp off next season, I sincerely think it would help him feel better.

I love Zaman's portrayal though! I honestly think he understands the character a lot better than some people involved in the show* do, it's evident in his acting and things he's said. S2E5 in particular demonstrates that he can bring the monstrous insect energy, and the confident menace that's just as important as the vulnerability also shows up whenever the script allows it. But good lord, that script was an anchor around his neck at times.

*Rolin Jones, I am talking about Rolin Jones right now. It's becoming increasingly apparent that his interest wanes the further away any aspect of the story gets from ☆♡☆|oustat☆♡☆ and if the other writers/Sam Reid don't rein him in soon I think he'll poison the show with it.