#Parkinson's sickness

[tomriddleslove]

Mattheo and the Ranking Kisses Trend

Mattheo Riddle, who picks you up from your closing shift at the little bookstore in hogsmeade, with two cups of hot chocolate.

Mattheo Riddle, who makes you stand there whilst he bundles a scarf around your neck, not wanting you to get ill as you walk back in the snow.

Mattheo Riddle, who listens to you ramble about your day, gazing at you like an absolutely lovestruck fool.

Mattheo Riddle, who can’t say no when you flop down on his bed next to him and ask him to film the trend where you rank the kisses generated by the filter.

Mattheo Riddle, who holds his phone up as this song begins playing in the background. He grins when the first kiss, a forehead kiss, pops up and you shuffle over to press a sweet kiss to his forehead.

Mattheo Riddle, who ranks it second best because it reminds him of all the times he’s fallen asleep next to you, finally feeling safe as you press a gentle kiss to his forehead.

Mattheo Riddle, who’s a little too excited when a neck kiss comes up and you press a slightly too long kiss to the underside of his jaw. (You’re going to pick up from where you finished off the second you stop recording.)

Mattheo Riddle, who can’t help but grin with delight when french kiss is the last one. He’s got lipstick kisses on his cheek, nose, forehead and neck.

Mattheo Riddle, who all but pulls you into his lap. His phone drops onto the bed sheets, still recording. You squeal his name with a giggle as he drags you over, and his laugh echoes throughout the room as he pulls you in for the sweetest kiss.

Mattheo Riddle, who’s bruised-knuckled hands tenderly cup your head as he kisses you. It’s all love and little laughs slipping into the kiss, Mattheo holding onto you like he can’t get enough.

Mattheo Riddle, who’s found his forever person.

[lady-of-tearshed]

Precious times

Summary: You had never met Azriel's mother. You never dared to ask to come with him when he's visiting her. You discretly test the waters of this subject with him.

Words count: 1.7k

Warnings: slight angst, talking of Parkinson disease, mention of slight injuries

A/N: At your demand... here you go :)💕 I felt like being productive today, so a Azriel fic out, AND I'm going to go feed your deers @thehighladywrites 🤣

The raw weather of Velaris winters engulfed your house briefly when your mate walked into your home. He took off his flying leathers in peaceful silence, as usual. The usual thud of his boots as he puts them down on the carpet announcing the end of his arrival routine. You smile as he gently wraps his arms around your hips, his chest pressed tightly onto your back as you are cooking dinner. He hummed and kissed your jaw softly, his cold lips brushing against your skin making you shiver. He giggles “I missed you today.”

“You always do, handsome.” You smile and slightly turn your head to him so you can kiss him. He kisses you back quickly before slightly pulling back as a smell hits his nose. He doesn’t say a word as you keep stirring the soup boiling in the cauldron and his eyes scan the kitchen. He spots a familiar book spread open on the countertop beside you. “Where did you find this..?” He whispers and frowns his eyes at you.

One thing you knew about the spymaster is that he hated when you were snooping around his stuff. Not that he had things to hide from you, simply there were things he wasn’t ready yet to talk about. “Oh, found this when I placed your folded laundry into your drawer. I thought a recipe from your mother’s cooking book would make you happy.” 

He tenses slightly, then rests his head on your shoulder. “It does, love. It does… Thank you.”

The both of you stay in silence as you keep following the recipe written in his mother’s handwriting. You had never met her since you and Azriel got together. You knew he visited her every year around Solstice, and on special occasions, but he had never offered you to join him. And you knew better than to push him into something. It would only make him shut up like an oyster. 

“Are you going to visit her at Rosehall soon? Solstice is coming.” You start off carefully. He simply nods, his nose snuggled in the curve of your neck.

“I’ve never met her before.” You simply state, testing the waters. He hesitates for a while, then speaks up. “Do you wish to?” 

You spin around and narrow your eyes “Why wouldn’t I? She’s your mother. The one that raised you to the man you are today.”  You smile softly and turn off the oven. You caress his cheek, feeling that there was something more he wasn’t telling you about this topic. 

He bites his tongue, and sighs, trying to release some tension from his knotted stomach. 

“It’s… a bit complicated. She has a disease. neuro-degenerative disease. Parkinson.” He states and places his hand on the one caressing his cheek.

You had never seen him on the verge of tears as he is now. “She can barely talk now, I don’t think you would like to meet her like that-” “Azriel… I just want to meet her and thank her, for you. She seems like such an amazing person…” “She looks just like you.” He admits, his voice shaky. He forces a smile and kisses your lips tenderly. He then whispers against your lips.  “Next week. I’ll bring you with me next week, so we can celebrate Solstice all together.” 

—

You had spent all week wandering around Velaris marketplace with Feyre, digging for the best gift for Azriel’s mother. You had settled your choice on a photo of you and Azriel on the day of your mating ceremony placed in a sculpted silver frame. You had bought her a set of blue sapphire earrings, matching Azriel’s siphons. You were anxiously looking down at the gift in your hands as your lover walked into your shared bedroom. “Love… I don’t want to put pressure on you…” “No, I want to go, Az, really. I just… I want to make a good impression on her.” I want to be good enough for you… 

He lifts your chin up between his fingers and brushes a strand of hair behind your pointed ear. “You don’t have to prove anything. Be yourself, you are perfect in every way, love. I love you. And… she already loves you…” He mutters, red painting his cheeks. 

“You talked about me?” You give him a teasing grin. He grabs you by the hips and leads you towards the balcony, ready for take-off. “A little. Ready?” He says before taking off abruptly, making you shriek and giggle as he holds you close to his chest, his body warm enough to block out the cold winter wind.

—

Rosehall was a lot smaller than what you imagined. A little cottage covered in vines and thorns. It must be an even more beautiful place in hot summer weather, when the roses are blooming on the residence walls and archway. 

When he walks inside the house, Azriel is immediately alerted by the nurses's voices coming from his mother's room. He quickly lets go of your hand but before he goes inside the room, a maid stops him gently. 

“What is it?! What’s wrong with her?!” He suddenly hears a slight groan of pain coming from behind the door the maid was preventing him from passing. “Stop it. You’re hurting her.” He snarls, his siphons glimmering and shadows covering his feet, ready to burst. 

“No, they’re healing her, Azriel.” The old maid, probably familiar with Azriel's protective nature over his mother at this point. You walk slowly towards your mate and place a comforting hand on his tensed shoulder. The nurse takes a softer tone when she notices the anger slightly vanishing from his hazel eyes with only your touch. “Her health is slowly deteriorating. She’s having to develop end-stage symptoms. Her coordination isn’t the best anymore, she’s having a lot of muscle rigidity and even her voice has started to change… We tried to write you a letter, Sir.” 

Azriel’s jaw clenches, and his fingers slightly twitch at the maid's words. An overflowing feeling of shame and self-loathing runs through the bond, making you feel it as if it were your own. Azriel had been busier than ever the past month, and there were piles of unread letters on his desks. The missive from Rosehall about his mother’s health had probably gotten lost in the piles of work on his desk. You squeeze your boyfriend’s hand, it wasn't his fault. 

Before you can tell him comforting words, the nurses come out of the room and smile politely at Azriel “Is she okay?” He asks. “She’s comfortable now. She has a light bruise on her hip, but nothing alarming.” The nurses smile and leave with Azriel's nod of dismissal, the maid moving to let him in.

The sight of the woman lying in bed almost struck you in place, if it wasn't for your mate’s hand pulling you inside. She was exactly like him. The same long eyelashes fluttering in front of the most beautiful shade of hazel eyes you had ever seen, except Azriel’s, those high cheekbones, that sharp jawline, and this smooth tan skin. It was literally how you had imagined her. Her son was definitely the exact perfect portrait of his mother. 

Azriel’s mother's eyes seem to light up, chasing those heavy clouds of tiredness from them, when she sees you moving from behind him. “Eve.” She tries to smile at you, barely able to do so, the muscles from her face tightly and painfully tensed up. 

Azriel sits beside his mother on the bed and kisses her cheek. He pulls you down on the end of the ridiculously large bed and squeezes your hand lightly. 

“Mother, this is Eve.” “The Eve.” She cuts him off, her voice strangely monotone, due to her sickness. Azriel chuckles, “Yes, mother. The Eve… And Eve, this is my mother, Ymir.”

Your heart swells with happiness when you realize how much your boyfriend must be talking about you if his mother considers you as ‘The Eve’. The three of you take the rest of the night easy, exchanging gifts and talking about mostly everything. It’s mostly you and Azriel doing the talking, as Ymir wasn’t feeling all too well. But you didn’t mind at all.

As it was getting quite late, and Ymir was starting to get tired after today’s events, she asked Azriel to tuck her in and play her a song on the big piano placed in the center of the room. A small smile lingers on your lips as you stand next to your mate on the piano seat. His fingers dance on the tiles as he plays a relaxing and comforting song, a song he had probably played thousands of times before, considering the fluidity and accuracy of his notes. As the song finishes he stands up and goes to kiss her forehead, his mother already deeply asleep. 

The both of you quietly make your way out of the house, and you feel the shields your mate had put up, without you even noticing, crumbling down when the front door closes. Tears start falling down his face, just like the snow from the night sky. You hug him tightly into your arms as he silently cries into your neck, his shoulders quivering with each sob. You can’t help but wonder how many times he had to deal with it on his own, how many times he broke down alone without anyone to hold him tight. You want him to know that you’re here, that you’ll always be, and that everything he’s feeling is okay.

“You’re not alone. I’m here.” His sobs get slightly louder, his neck burying even deeper into the crook of your neck. He tries to get lost in your calming scent and to get a grip on his shaky breathing. You stroke his hair slowly, patiently waiting for him to deal with every feeling he’s dealing with right now. “That part is always the hardest… I’m sorry…” “Don’t be. It’s okay to be sad, it’s completely normal, Az.” 

You stay there for a while longer, before he flies the both of you back in your house. The both of you quietly get ready for bed, and put on the matching pair of socks his mother had lovingly knitted. He nuzzles into your neck and holds you close. It felt so good to have someone at his side… He regrets not bringing you with him sooner on his visits. 

“I love you…” He whispers, his voice barely audible. “I love you too, Az.” You answer back before falling asleep.

A/N: Azriel is a very complicated male to write about... there's not much we know about him, actually! Can't wait to see what Sarah J.Maas has planned for us in the next book, I hope we'll learn more about him. 💕😊

[lgbtiwtv]

the more I think about rashidmand the more I’m like. that whole thing definitely has to do with daniel right? like nobody else is there. of course yeah it could be a fun little game louis and armand are playing but like. it’s not being played for anyone but daniel. because there’s history there that he’s forgotten. so like. what was the purpose? to tease? to see how long it’d take him to notice, if he did at all? dramatic reveal? jog his memory? to what end? like….I genuinely and truly think that some part of devils minion happened in the 70s and daniel wanted armand to change him and obviously armand didn’t want to so. instead of daniel’s self-destruction leading to getting turned it led to armand erasing/editing his memories, because he wanted daniel to live a human life. but why do all this now??? because of louis’ wish to retell his story? because daniel’s sick? because something big is brewing in the vampire world and they want daniel close by? all of the above??? and most importantly how is daniel gonna feel when he remembers everything and realizes what armand did

[1roentgen]

.

[crowwolf]

I just defeated cursed Harpers in Reithwin, then Malus, then protected the portal, sold my shit, went to go to camp. I made a fatal error.

I forgot to fucking save.

The game crashed epically.

Fuck

Someday I'll be able to afford a laptop with a proper graphics card to run it smoothly. Maybe.

I know, first world problems. Just the tip of the iceberg of my life.

[scarlettheknight]

My grandfather passed away today

[andromedasummer]

finished my crochet cup holder and sewed up lunas ears, head and sewed them together and have started on crocheting a cactus which is pretty damn good considering i spent nearly all of saturday sleeping to recover from work and the family emergency happening rn

[magnoliamyrrh]

.

[wolfperson1]

Like 10,000 to 20,000 people died of the flu every year before covid?

Sure, that’s not a lot compared to the 100,000+ we expect to die of covid this winter, but also still not great.

we eliminated an entire strain of flu by masking in 2020. It’s just gone.

imagine if we invested in clean air and just generally masked in higher risk settings.

weirdest side effect of the pandemic is how many people i know who get sick and say 'but my covid tests are negative so i should be fine' like you know other illnesses. exist. right.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

FEEL THE DRAGON SICKNESS OVERTAKE YOU IN THIS FEARSOME, FIERY HIGH FANTASY CLASSIC.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on one of the most popular fantasy paintings ever made, "Into the Fire," a.k.a., "THE GREAT RED DRAGON," oils on illustration board, later used as cover art to "Dungeon Adventures" magazine #1, dated September/October 1986. Artwork by the late, great Keith Parkinson (1958-2005).

MINI-OVERVIEW: "Keith’s thoughts on this piece:

"This was the cover to Dungeon magazine #1. Need I say more?  I’ll take the silence as a yes.  This was done during my “paint a billion objects in the foreground” period.  Painting that amount of anything takes a lot of time.  Would I do it again?  Not in the literal sense.  Since this piece was done, I’ve learned faster and more effective ways to suggest that amount of detail without actually painting every single bead.  Instead, I’d focus more time and attention on the dragon, and then with all the extra time left over, I’d take a nap.""

-- KEITH PARKINSON (official site & online shop)

Sources: https://osrgrimoire.blogspot.com/2023/07/interview-with-grant-boucher.html, www.keithparkinson.com/product/the-great-red-dragon-giclee, Etsy, various, etc...

[in-kyblogs]

I still can’t believe they gave us vampire Daniel already. I was convinced I’d had to wait until actual season 4 for that. Btw this -to me- is the most clear hint they could give that most of the devil’s minion chapter already happened in the seventies

[corvus-viridi]

I hope Daniel has just an INSANE slut era now. One second you're 70 years old with Parkinson's and the next suddenly you aren't sick anymore AND not only are you strong again but you've got fucking superhuman strength, AND you've got weird sexy new eyes, AND you've just become a millionaire?? I for one would be absolutely insatiable. Watch out gay people of the world peepaw's about to hit the streets

[yadavhewrote]

World Day of the Sick: Celebrating with Cooper Pharma

February 11th is a day dedicated to showing love and support to those who are suffering from illness – World Day of the Sick. As a leading pharmaceutical company, Cooper Pharma is committed to improving the lives of people every day through quality healthcare.

The theme for this year's World Day of the Sick is "Blessed are the Merciful" (Matthew 5:7). This verse serves as a reminder that compassion and mercy should be at the forefront of our minds when caring for those who are sick. At Cooper Pharma, we believe that access to quality healthcare should be a right for everyone, not a privilege, and we are dedicated to making a positive impact in communities around the world.

We understand that illness can be a difficult and challenging experience, and our goal is to provide support and care to those in need. Whether it's through developing innovative solutions and treatments or providing access to essential medicines, we strive to improve the lives of people every day.

It's important to recognize that World Day of the Sick isn't just about those who are suffering from illness, but it's also about the healthcare workers who work tirelessly to care for others. These dedicated professionals put their own health at risk to help others and provide comfort and support. We are grateful for their dedication and the sacrifices they make to help those in need.

In conclusion, World Day of the Sick is a day to show love and support to those who are suffering from illness, and to celebrate the healthcare workers who care for them. At Cooper Pharma, we are dedicated to providing quality healthcare and improving the lives of people every day. Let's come together on this day to show our support and commitment to improving healthcare for all.

[valcaira]

Look I get that we all want to relate to one another. I really do. But seeing people on my post about how shitty it is to exist as a visibly deformed & disabled person in public say things like "that's why i don't stim in public" or "that's why i'm scared to bring my cane in public" is just... You're missing the point.

Some of us cannot mask our disabilities. You can simply not stim if you can supress it in the first place. You can leave your cane at home if you're doing that already in the first place. A knee brace doesn't make you look like a "freak". You do appear abled otherwise.

I cannot. Many people I know cannot. I can't just "hide" my deformities and abnormal gait or convulsions to appear abled. I *need* my crutches everywhere I go. I can't supress my tics. Full-time wheelchair users exist. High support needs autistics exist. Schizospecs who cannot mask exist. People with William's Sydrome, Down's Syndrome and various obvious deformities exist. Little people. People with severe chemical burns or otherwise or scarring. People with Parkinson's, Tourette's, Huntington's, Cerebral Palsy, every disabled person who looks "abnormal".

We can't just "turn it off" like you. People WILL stare at us. Point their fingers at us. We have no power. They used to put us into freakshows. Not you. Not you who can hide your disability to "appear normal". That post was not for you to "relate to". I and many people are sick of many invisibly disabled people claiming they "want to look disabled" so they'd be "taken more seriously". It's not an invitation of you to declare you leaving your mobility aid at home or shit like that. It's not the damn same.

[bunny-1111]

Masterlist - requests are open.

updated daily

Harry potter:

Theodore Nott:

Post game destress (fluff + angst) 1.2k words Theo is angry about his team losing the game, and accidentally takes it out on his girlfriend.

Amortentia (fluff) 700 words Amortentia has its perks

Moving on is not for the weak (fluff + angst) 1.2k words Theo and reader breakup, and when Theo sees reader on a date and regrets everything

Migraines and get better kisses (fluff) 800 words Through an intense Quidditch match, Theo gets hurt and you comfort him

Dark Marks and Forbidden Hearts (original short) (fluff) 1.7k words Theo x Slytherin reader pairing during the uprising of the second wizarding war, you, your boyfriend and your friendship group are forced to become death eaters and follow in the legacy of your parents. You are faced with a challenge that you never would’ve imagined.

Whats become of us? (fluff + angst) 2k words the ups & downs of Teddy and your relationship, a party almost causes its end

Upon closer inspection (fluff) a deep dive into the magical Theodore Nott

Dry your tears (angst + fluff) (sad ish) 700 words Theodore and reader drift apart leading to an emotional breakup

Doctor Nott (fluff) Theodore takes care of sick reader

Forever is ours (fluff) Pressures of the war cause you to lash out; your boyfriend Theo is right there to remind you what you’re fighting for

Mission Impossible (fluff) 1k words Theodore attempts to ask you on a date until you finally give in

Beg for it (angst+fluff) 1.5k words Before break, you had trouble with Theodore. On the train ride back to Hogwarts, he reminds you of the consequences of your actions. Beg for it Part 2 0.9k Returning to Hogwarts after ignoring Theodore all summer long was so much worse than you imagine; Theodore was starving you of what you so desperately needed.

Mr fix it (fluff) 1.65k words. Theodore is protective over his wife and daughter as they accidentally take a fall into the lake under his supervision.

Blow out your candles (fluff+angst) 1.1k words You hate your birthday, your boyfriend Theodore tries to make it the best day for you, but only makes it worse, until...

Falling behind (fluff) 0.8k words Based on the lyrics of "Falling Behind" by Laufey, where the reader feels like everyone's in a relationship. Too blind to notice that Theodore's been waiting for her all along.

Theo wants to marry you (fluff)

Slytherin party, theos gf edition

One Step Ahead (angst, enemies to lovers) 1.2k words You and Theodore hate each other. Amidst exam season, was the tension and the teasing because of your rivalry or something else?

Theodore Nott Who Theodore Nott Who Part 2 Theodore Nott Who Part 3 (protective edition) Toxic Theo who

Dating Theo headcanons Dating Theo headcanons, Part 2

Dating Theo headcanons, Part 3

Dating Theo mood board

Dark Marks and Forbidden Hearts (Ongoing book on wattpad)

Dark Marks and Forbidden Heart, Theo Nott Fanfic, navigation

Slytherin Boys react:

how they reaction to you getting sloppy drunk at a party

How they would say I love you for the first time

How they would react to you crying

How they would hold/cuddle you

Slytherin boys + Pansy as poetry quotes

Slytherin Boys fan edits together

How they would react to you getting into a physical fight with another student

How they react to Snape catching them smoking a j

Slytherin boys and their romantic tropes

Draco Malfoy

Dating Draco Malfoy mood board

Matteo Riddle

Dating Metteo Riddle mood board

Matteo Riddle headcanons Headcanons Part 2

Us on repeat, Angst Matteo gets possessive after seeing reader at party after break up

Pansy Parksinson

Pansy Parkinson mood board

Tom Riddle

dating Tom Riddle mood board

Lorenzo Berkshire

coming soon

[heliza24]

I want to talk a little bit about Daniel in the Interview with the Vampire show, because the new trailer material has me stuck thinking about him, and also I’ve never written about how meaningful he is as disabled character to me before.

I don’t see many people thinking about show!Daniel in these terms, but he’s a canon disabled character. And I think the way he is written is just SO good. The acerbic wit, his relationship to doctors and his medication, his rueful acceptance of the way his disability has changed him. It is all so correct!! It’s really incredibly rare to have not only a disabled character written this well but specifically a chronically ill character written this well. His illness is always present; it doesn’t get forgotten about by the story. It gives Daniel insight into the vampires (more on this in a min), but it also gives Louis and Armand leverage over him. When Louis triggers his Parkinson’s symptoms? Deeply not ok. But that’s what made it such a great scene, and really made Louis feel dangerous and threateningin that moment. Armand and Louis arranging Daniel’s meds is a sign of great care and also great power over Daniel. It’s the perfect way to communicate the complicated power dynamic in their relationship.

I also just fucking love that this show takes place in 2022 and doesn’t erase the pandemic. Covid is a very present concern for Daniel and I cannot describe how validating that is for me as someone who is clinically vulnerable to Covid and who has had to really limit my life and take a lot of precautions because everyone else has decided to stop caring whether they pass on Covid or not. The fact that Daniel gets on a plane to Dubai is a BIG DEAL. He’s risking his life to talk to Louis and Armand before he’s even in the room with them. He really wants to be there. I have to make a similar calculation every time I travel, and trust me, getting on that plane knowing getting sick could spiral you into even worse health or kill you is really hard.

I think making Daniel disabled and including the pandemic is kind of a genius level decision on a thematic level. Of course Daniel is now facing down his mortality, which gives him a whole new lens on the vampires and the fact that he once asked them to turn him. And the pandemic further highlights his fragility, and is also possibly being used as a cover for drama that’s happening in the vampire world. But I think it also really sets Daniel up as a foil to Louis.

There’s a lot of analysis of the vampire chronicles that reads vampirism as a metaphor for queerness. But I would actually propose that it’s a much neater parallel for disability and illness in a lot of ways. So many of Louis’s initial experiences after being turned resonated with me, as someone who became chronically ill in my 20s. My appetite and relationship to food completely changed, much like Louis. My relationship with the outdoors and the sun changed, because of dysautonomia and allergy reasons. I was very mad, and very depressed, and I too have missed out on birthday parties and big life events like Louis did because I was too sick to go. Hell, you can even say that the way that Louis is treated as evil by his family, that the way vampires literally can’t be a part of society during the day, is reminiscent of ableist exclusion and ugly laws. (Ugly laws were laws that forbid disabled people, especially those with visible differences, from being out in public, and they were on the books in many American municipalities until the 1970s.) You can look at Lestat being an out and proud vampire in the first few episodes on the season and imploring Louis to leave his shame behind as a queer thing, but you can also view it as a disabled thing. Disabled people are portrayed as monstrous so often (and in a way that has gone relatively unexamined compared to say, the queer coded villain trope) that sometimes it’s just easier to embrace that label: I’m the monstrous Crip, but at least I’m not ashamed of or disgusted by who I am anymore.

I do think the real strength of this adaptation is that while you can find parallels between queerness or disability or other forms of marginalization with vampirism, ultimately it’s not a one-to-one parallel. It speaks to the real world but ultimately it is a gothic horror story about supernatural monsters. So I don’t mean to say that vampirism directly equals disability, because it does not. But I do think that making Daniel disabled was an intentional choice to help draw out some of those parallels, and I think the text is richer for it.

So Louis and Daniel have had these kind of parallel experiences of uncontrollable and difficult things happening to their bodies. It sets them up perfectly as foils, and even, I would argue, as the A plot and B Plot protagonists. This is one of my favorite ways of kind of examining the structure of a TV show (or maybe it’s that most of my favorite shows seem to be structured this way?). When TV was all episodic, it would be common to refer to the A plot (mystery of the week), B plot (interpersonal drama happening as the mystery gets solved) and C plot (any overarching plot tying the season together) in an episode. Now that stuff is serialized, there’s often a main protagonist, who has the main dramatic question and the most agency, and then there is often a secondary B plot that explores similar themes and mirrors the A plot, or presents a second main character who is the ldifferent side of the same coin” to the main protagonist. (My favorite example of this is Flint and Max in Black Sails, and I’ve also made the argument that Wilhelm and Sara fit this pattern in Young Royals.) In IwtV, Louis is obviously the main protagonist of the show, especially in the A Plot, which is the stuff taking place in New Orleans/Paris. But I would argue that Daniel is the protagonist of the B Plot set in Dubai. At the very least they’re intentionally set up as mirrors of each other:

They are both unreliable narrators, who are struggling with the way memory contorts (through memory erasure, illness, deliberate obfuscations, and just the passage of time). The most recent teaser trailer, where we hear Louis saying “I don’t remember that”, with panic in his voice, further underlined this similarity between Louis and Daniel to me. I don’t know if it means that Louis has also had his memory tampered with, as I’m assuming Daniel has, but I do think it means that Louis is going to be struggling with feeling out of control of his own narrative more in season 2, a thing that was already starting for Daniel in season 1.

They are also both locked into power struggles with people more powerful than they are. The fact that Louis is under Lestat in the flashbacks and above Daniel in the Dubai scenes in terms of power/status makes it all the more interesting. And, if we want to go ahead and assume that the Devils Minion’s years have happened in the past by the time we get to Dubai— it’s possible that both Daniel and Louis are united in being the less powerful partner in their own respective fucked up gothic romances.

They’re also both the audience’s entry point into their respective stories. Louis’s narration guides us into the world of vampires. Daniel’s questioning satisfies our human curiosity in Dubai.

I think one of the things that makes the show so special is the way that these two protagonists interact. In a lot of shows the a plot and the b plot stay pretty separate. I love talking about Black Sails for this because I think it’s such a good example; Flint and Max never exchange dialogue the entire show, even though they’re so clearly affecting each other the whole time. But the way that Louis and Daniel clash in Dubai is so exciting. We see them both wrestling for control of the narrative. It’s thrilling to watch and it just hammers home the theme of how complicated and changeable stories can be.

I am SO excited to see how the Dubai scenes play out in season 2 because of it. I really can’t wait. I’m really hoping we’ll see Daniel and Louis’s relationship evolve in surprising ways, and I’m holding my breath that we’ll get a lot of Armandaniel material to work with. (I have a whole other post drafted that’s much less smart than this one and is just me waxing poetic about Devil Minion’s theories which I may post at some point. You have been warned.)

I do have two wishes for Daniel in the new season, and they’re 1: that he gets to have romance/sex, because disabled (and older!) characters are so often seen as unworthy of being desired, and I would like to see that challenged and 2: that he continues to refuse to be turned/is not offered a vampiric cure for Parkinson’s. The magic cure for a disability or chronic illness is probably my least favorite disability trope, because it serves to erase disabled characters and representation from the narrative, and I want to see my experiences continue to be reflected in Daniel’s. That means that whatever ending Daniel’s story has will probably have at least a bit of tragedy baked into it, but I’m ok with that.