#Rough one sorry guys

[noctilu-uca]

THIS IS A CHARACTER STUDY OF FUCKED UP CHARACTERS!!!!!!!!! I DONT CONDONE ANY OF THIS SHIT I JUST THINK THEY ARE A FREAK AND I NEED TO PUT THEM UNDER A MICROSCOPE and also kinda fandomstudy just read ok tw sensitive and triggering topics though

(1,839 word count) I was talking to some fellow fans earlier and they got to the topic of character popularity and socially convenient character designs

Things i had never considered before .

Very IMPORTANT things on a characters perception

So basically what brought it up was a character being brought up, roman. Now I know like only 1 person will know who i'm talking about BUT ! his character is extremely important for the point i'm making. And roman isn't very popular in this fandom, he has some fans, yes. As does every character but he is not nearly as popular as the others. Someone had pointed out that they thought he would be more popular if he had the "pretty boy" archetype design that's been booming in popularity as of recent. which is definitely a good topic to hang onto, but that's not very much the issue here. we will get to that later though.

Roman as a character is traditionally masculine, short buzzed hair, short eyelashes, muscular ect ect all the things you would associate with tradmasc fuckboys. This is very important to the way he behaves and thinks, he very much values masculinity and denounces femininity of any kind if its not from a tradwoman.

Note that everyone i'm going to mention is fucking awful and disgusting please. and this is also horror. topics mentioned can get very uncomfortable stay wary soldiers

Anyway despite roman's traditional masculinity, he is still a very attractive character !! He is considered one of the more attractive ones in canon too. His personality though ? Yeugh....

Hes a "white knight" feminist whose actually a misogynist and active has issues with anger and PHYSICALITY .

Aka everyone thinks hes going to beat his girlfriend one day. He hasn't yet, but there is very much an underlying *when*

Now, this is like whatever ok we expected that its tlc everyones fucked but whhhyyyy does everyone like sibling kisser and sti guy more ??

I mean hey one of these fuckers actively preys on their step sibling, but why is he regarded as one of the better characters ?? (He absolutely is but that's a story for another day)

Thats because of MODERN DAY SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND STANDINGS !!! That has been my conclusion

During the conversation i saw a lot of people start commenting on roman's main characterization points. Namely how oddly *realistic* he feels. How its hard to conversate and build a character *to* conversate with him. Its hard to, genuinely. its not easy to immerse yourself in his character and enjoy the things being told.

With the others, you can build off their behavior easily. Fall into tropes, make new ones, make your own spin on their set behaviors and motives. Vincent wants his step sibling, build off the step sibling and their fucked relationship. Soren wants power and to ruin his academic rivals reputation, build off his need for power and control and his social killer status. Marcus wants to ignore consequences and stay ignorant about his drug dealing and usage, build off his need for consequences and make him realize. And so forth, there are many different situations, and many different reactions you can pull.

But roman ? He doesn't *need* anything. His only motive is to keep his practically unknown one-off murder hidden. And his behavior doesn't help with his lack of motives. yes, there is the fact he is inherently abusive. the way he keeps his girlfriend, Madeline, under wraps. isolating her, trapping her in only what he finds acceptable and such.

but that's not fixable through him, there is a reason Madeline has her own POV. you need to get *her* out, not him.

This is not me saying his character is bad and unlikable as a specimen, he is extremely well written and his motives are understandably realistic all things considered.

But his behavior is very reminiscent of current time red-pilled conservative young men. Yknow. The ones who go on podcasts to bash women they will never meet ever for being "whores" and not wanting children

I find that Roman's fatal flaw as a character is that he is too similar to people that we actually *know*.

Now, realism in characters is very good !! We of course want characters to feel fleshed out and actually *possible* to be obtained as a real person. But !! The difference between sibling freak Vincent, mind games Soren, OD Marcus, self harm Heathrow... Is that they aren't nearly as common to run into than pro trad conservative Roman

You wont see someone like Soren often. someone who manipulates and blackmails for their own gain. Sure, they exist !! But you have less of a chance of meeting someone like him. He is obtainable, he is someone you *can* know. But hes rare.

Roman? Walk into an average american school and listen around, i'm sure youll see some of his dialogue regurgitated straight from the mouth of a fucked up teen boy

Hes someone you interact with often, even if not directly. So... Why would you gravitate toward that?

Media like this, as realistic as people like to make it, is all supposed to be fantasies rather than realities. So when you bring realities too close, youre going to get some unhappy reports

Of course, people love roman as a character and still like his codings and characterizations, its just that its so much harder to actually favour him. Why would you favour the douchebag you see everyday ? Unreasonable

Instead, people jump to the more "real fantasy" characters like Heathrow. Will you ever meet someone who forces you into dangerous situations and tries to get you killed so he can die right alongside you because of some fucked up meaning of love ? Probably not. But the possibility isn't entirely gone. If you wanted to talk to some fucked up trad red pilled asshole, just go to school at that point why need roman you know ?

Someone said during the conversation that they knew someone like Soren and that they very much disliked Soren because of that experience. So the concept of "attainable" characters has some backing to it. even though people might gravitate to characters similar to oneself, its those who had a negative experience with someone that acts similarly that affects the characters perception.

I think this is an incredibly important aspect to character creation, Think about how your characters comply to the real life people you know and or are aware of, and know how that affects their audience perception. Use it to your advantage, it's very interesting and makes a lot of sense when put into theory. Of course there is an audience for real life people depictions but an overwhelming majority wants fantasy that feels real.

Overall, the looks of a character matter heavily, of course, but not as much as people think. even if Roman fell into the "pretty boy" archetype, most of his audience wouldn't change. yes there would probably be a little bit more in favour of him since... well. pretty. unfortunately that's a truth. but his behavior would still feel increasingly troubling to enjoy or "defend" in a way.

Now I know that this sounds like I'm somewhat advocating for the demolition of these types of characters, but i'm really not. characters like these are crucial to our self perception, fandom spaces, and even morals. lines get drawn in behavioral ideals and sometimes what reached way past the line for you isn't even cutting it for someone else. If these characters did not exist, i feel as though our perception of others would get very skewed. In a way, these characters show and remind us of our actual realities. These things are real, they exist, don't forget that.

if we were to ignore the realities of people like this, we wouldnt get very far in our social progression. Now i know many people dont very much concern themselves with interacting directly to these kinds of thoughts, but ! Think about it. The less aware we are, the less we portray these sorts of things, the less change we see in our enviromental thinking. Its something very commonly experienced, which is why so many varying groups of people fight for their representation. It works both ways.

But luca !!!!! If people dont like characters too closely related to reality, why do people like characters that relate heavily to *their* reality?

Well. Simple. As i said before with the "attainable" characters: people like characters that relate to oneself. Thats generic info, yeah, everyone knows that. But theres a level of reliability thats needed for a character to have as much popularity as they have.

Lets take doppo kannonzaka for example, one of if not the most popular hypmic character. People love him !! Hes relatable in the sense of modern day struggling. People hate their jobs, people hate the current economic state and how its forcing them into keeping jobs that are terrible for them just because theres no other option. But not many people will explore this outwardly.

So...

They do it through characters.

While being rooted in reality, he is *still* a fantasy. He portrays the emotions rarely shown out of private. The thoughts and feelings of average workers, the things they arent allowed to say publicly without fear of repercussion. Theres no harm in liking a character, right?

Thats the main difference i see in this dynamic. The Outlets, and The Plug-ins.

The Outlets are what allow people to express themselves, the "real fantasies"

And The Plug-ins? The things people need to stay conscious about their enviroments, the "realities"

Personally, i think this is something to keep in mind as an audience and as a producer. When interacting with media, i see many people dislike characters that fall into "the plug-ins" category. Simply for the reason that they represent something seen as distasteful to publicity. This feels like the wrong way to go about things. First and most of all, the producer has a right to create what they wish to express in their stories. It is 1. Never okay to harass them for such, and 2. Never okay to interact with such media with a mental blockade preventing you from truly understanding the medias intent.

That last one was mostly in reference to fans that take themes and situations out of context because they find the inherent thought of it "bad". Thus resulting in the bashing of that media without truly knowing what it represents.

Now of course, there are acceptions to these things. And it is perfectly okay to choose what and which media you immerse yourself in based off of your tastes and personal feelings. But thats not what we are here for right now.

But disliking plug-ins for being plug-ins? To me, it seems small minded.

So this is me politely giving my observations up, and asking whoever reads this to think about the way they interact with media.

You dont have to like them, but appreciate your fandom plug-in and reconsider how you see their point in the story and its themes.

[hotdogmchiggin]

I guess DARE wasn’t a thing in Goron City

[starscream-is-my-wife]

Ok I understand why sparkling ocs are so popular designing one is addicting

Alt forms/ adult designs under the cut

So when he's littler he can be a Nissan atla, they're pretty cute, but reaching adulthood he'd be a Nissan big thumb, and getting a mod to have a trailer too.

Optimus only has a flat bed so Im doing the old reliable transformer design of putting stuff u don't know how to fit into the back. If he diddnt have a trailer, the bed sides could just be a part of his legs but he modded to have wings so he can get used to the weight distribution easier.

Big thumbs are 12 feet tall, G1 Optimus is a Freightliner making him also 12 feet, and G1 Ratchet is a Nissan cherry vanette, which are almost 6 feet (5"10 to be exact)

I thought that the big thumb would be a bit smaller then Optimus but damn, Ratchet is gonna have to deal with 2 giant trucks.

[kala-mies]

Ceaseless hijinks

[yesmissnyx]

An Unsexy Post About Censorship

Sooo...gumroad is shutting down NSFW content sales because of Stripe and Paypal. This is also why Wishtender has been down as well, if you weren't aware. And why Patreon is also cracking down on anything remotely kinky.

(If you're wondering why your favorite FICTIONAL sexual content isn't allowed on most platforms, it's payment processors.)

Please be extra kind to anyone who works with NSFW content right now, whether it be art, writing, audio, photos or video. Whether it be tasteful erotica, or the kinkiest BDSM porn you can think of, we're all in the crosshairs right now.

And, judging by trends from these past few years, this is only going to get worse.

Support NSFW creators where you can, whether by tipping or buying our content (where you still can) or just helping boost content on sites where algorithms want to drown us out.

Call representatives where you can and complain about payment processors acting as arbiters of what YOU are and aren't allowed to pay for and enjoy.

This may be about porn right now, but censorship of this caliber doesn't just stop with porn. Any transgressive (read: non-conservative) media is fair game.

Fight against it where you can. Support creators where you can.

Art is important. Reflections of our sexuality are important. We don't want a world where people aren't free to make or see the things they love and enjoy.

[jettorii]

he needs to be humbled give him a second

[heartorbit]

i wanna make a prsk major arcana...

[mrfroag]

*snapcube eggman voice* I miss my guys tails

[piissdrinker]

sleepy :p

[rox-of-iu]

ayo guys guess what time it is again :)) 💜💜

spoiler warning for cultivate ch 41-46

hehe finally scrambled brain enough to be able to catch up and cultivate makes me go 🥰🥰😌🤗���😊

cultivate of course by @neonghostcat beloved

[iinryer]

can we fucking stop assigning “ableist” to characters for no fucking reason. jesus christ. not only is it extremely boring and cop-out storytelling to just make villains out of regular ass characters to create your conflict, it’s also fucking jarring and exhausting to have to be slapped with slurs and ableist microagressions towards a CHILD out of nowhere while reading an otherwise unrelated (and untagged for it!) fic. im not normally one to get this negative on main, but if im being honest? you guys are pissing me the fuck off

[seagull-scribbles]

And you think that makes you unique?

[dykedvonte]

I love that the Chairmen are like the lameos of The Strip. Like it just says so much about how the Boot Riders were that they are just so fine being like Vegas cool guys.

Everyone at The Tops sans Benny is content, happy and fine with how things play out. They just like having food, women and something to do. Like occasionally they have to use some of their tribal warrior skills when threats like the Courier pop up but they are like if you took mountain lions and gave them a kitty spa day and now they refuse to leave.

Of course, the other families think they’re boring like one of them is literally eating bitches and The Tops just has the worst Wasteland’s Got Talent contestants as premiere acts.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

snap's uber cringe vampire cherik rambling !!!!!! read at your own risk of charles/erik origins But If They Were Vampires and more !!!!

very simple makeshift vampire age map for the sake of understanding this vague timeline i have (hint: just multiply by ten) this is all subject to change because time is mean and im indecisive

infancy - 0 - 40

childhood - 50 - 120 years

adolescence - 130 - 170 years

emerging adulthood - 180 - 240 years

older adulthood - +250 years

elderly - +700 years

about dhampirs: they're not immortal like vampires, they just have a (much) longer life expectancy than humans (they really are just like 'weaker' vampires in this, only possessing half of their strengths and weaknesses)

'what's our time period' EXCELLENT question brother.

jk i think the main events will be set victorian-edwardian period (1850's-1910's) but charles and erik are at least a couple centuries old- probably born amidst the late 1500's (1580's-90's more specifically), maybe meet during the 1800's

charles' profile

charles heralds from a wealthy vampire family whos had their influence in england for centuries (maybe established roots during the 5th century), the general public none the wiser to their vampirism. at most there's rumors, but the family's charismatic enough to keep the murmurs at bay

brian is like. a little less evil to charles in this timeline. most of their time together being brian teaching charles how to run the family's business and whatever else vampires do to balance the life of a vampire and a human. at most, brian emotionally neglects charles as he stays vigilant in ensuring the xavier family can prosper for centuries. sharon xavier would be the one to instill all that is good and human in charles despite her own vampirism (most likely turned by brian before they had charles)

brian xavier is murdered by human kurt marko once the latter figures out his vampirism right before europe's widespread vampire hysteria (so maybe late 1600's)- not for any heroic purposes but so he can steal the xavier family's wealth of course.

he holds the xavier's vampiric origins over them until his eventual death (maybe early 1700's).

considering the idea charles' accidentally summons a pack of wolves to the house during a heated moment and they tear him apart- maybe kurt tries to protect cain and charles idk. charles wouldn't realize he caused this until much later while learning about his vampirism, BUT im still chewing on this so don't take this as 100% canon to this au.....

kurt never discloses the true nature of the xaviers to cain while he's alive, but as the boys grow older cain figures it out for himself and decides to dedicate his life to hunting down charles- how much of it is to rid the world of one less vampire or to vent the unhappiness he experienced growing up in the xavier household onto his brother is unclear

while kurt was alive, he experiments on charles in an attempt to understand his vampirism in an attempt to achieve eternal life without the drawbacks of vampirism. but i mean how good can your science be: evidently he fails vjELKJALKJ

as an adult, charles is curious about his own vampirism as he attempts to live amongst humans and perhaps help them (maybe not give them eternal life but at least how to extend life). he doesn't seek to 'cure' himself, only figure out how his biology works to live comfortably and safely: after all, there must be a reason as to why he was born this way, he reasons

he pursues a life of medicine to do this and along the way meets moira mctaggart (around late 1700's/early-1800's), a scientist working closely with the occult and isolated from general society. after some time, he reveals he's a vampire to her and they effectively become partners to further understand vampirism (but not romantic partners)

most of their work concerns why vampires 'need blood' and how to find a suitable substitute ('surely it's not blood itself that satiates vampires but a property within it?'), but they also look to find out why vampires can be weak in the sunlight and why they appear immortal (aka: they're purely scientific in their approach to the vampire phenomena instead of thinking it's magical, charles reasoning that vampires are just humans with a type of evolved biology. time will tell if he's right or wrong in this approach, and brother he has plenty of time)

erik's/max's profile

compared to the house of xavier, the house of eisenhardt- while not as wealthy- still maintained some sort of reputation in east prussia. however, the news of their vampirism easier leaks amidst the mid-1700's heightened paranoia of vampires (probably a domino affect of the rumor of Renowned Xaiver Family being one of vampires expanding after kurt's death), and he finds himself to be the only survivor amidst the violence against his family

fleeing further east and with the benefit of his youthful visage despite his real years, max has no problem using his intelligence and experience to find work to support himself and manages life alone until he eventually meets magda (maybe around the same time charles meets moira, 1790's). with her being human, it isn't long until she and max introduce little dhampir anya into the world

he tells magda of his vampiric origins (after all, if they were going to have a baby it'd prob be best to let her know the baby's gonna be part vampire right..), but whether it's disbelief or not fully grasping the implications of such, magda accepts and loves him. max vows never to feed off his wife, mostly feeding off hunted animals to satisfy himself

for a while, max was content to live in relative solitude with his family: he wouldn't bother the humans, and in turn they shouldn't bother him. but soon enough (talking Ten Years Later soon enough), the true nature of max and his family is uncovered in the quaint town they lived in, and history threatens to repeat itself as a growing mob attempts to torch their home. they can't succeed before max makes a bloody example of the mob- a display that frightens magda and has her flee with anya in her arms. that would be the last time max sees his wife and child. he effectively repurposes the site of where he lost his family as a quaint memorial to them and the grounds remain relatively untouched bar his annual visits (the common people more often rumoring it to be cursed as a result)

max would change his name to 'erik lehnsherr' as a way to bury his past and move on with his new, less-human-sympathetic life. uttering his real name weakens his power if not strips them away for some time entirely, so he's greatly secretive to who he tells it to (spoilers: he never tells anyone). he spends most of his time alone in his castle, going out at night to feed off late-night wanderers in nearby cities

as for wanda and pietro, debating on exactly what to do with them and if they're blood related to erik or not. considering having pietro be a dhampir that maintained his superspeed while wanda's still just a witch. not sure what to do about lorna either. at the very least, if they do live with erik, he's greatly protective and overbearing about them (a possible blend of keeping them close to use their might against humans, and not wanting to lose any more of his family)

The Part People Are Here For charles and erik interacting

How Do They Meet wow great questions today !!!

around 1810's, probably during one of erik's Feeding Nights he bumps into charles and attempts to make dinner of him, charles at this point passing far too easily as a regular human. the ensuing encounter/fight eventually leads to charles having to reveal himself also to be a vampire (probably as a result of having to resort to using telepathy to keep erik at bay and thereafter explaining himself)

despite the rocky start, neither can hide the fact they're ecstatic about meeting another vampire and become fast friends. Yknow. After overlooking the Sorry I Tried To Eat You part

so now charles spends his mornings with moira and his humanly duties and at night he sometimes spends time at erik's abode and with his children (if i decide they live with him of course).

moira can't ignore the way charles lights up when talking about erik (and how could she: even if he was candid with her about his experiences, it was an entirely different feeling talking to another vampire who already understood- and perhaps understood better). as such, she doesn't let charles forget erik could potentially be a danger- something charles can't forget if he wanted to (see again: them meeting the first time. still, he chooses to believe in the better parts of erik)

of course charles tries to dissuade erik from seeing humans as purely food or menaces and encourages him to work alongside himself to find more 'ethical' ways to be a vampire, but of course erik is resistant to the idea and at times admonishes charles for his thinking.

Everyone's Favorite Part: The Divorce

for a while- maybe five years- erik isn't aware of moira's existence. but on a night charles neglects to visit him he spots the pair walking to moira's home. following them, he's quick to discover moira's lab and realizes charles has been cooperating with a human this whole time (how much had he told her about erik? how much of their weaknesses did he expose to her? why wouldn't he tell erik about moira sooner if she wouldn't be an issue?)

enraged, erik doesn't wait for an explanation as he barges into the small shack and barks accusations of betrayal at charles. it only gets worse when moira is puzzled that charles didn't tell erik about her when he was more than happy to tell her about erik, only reaffirming erik's suspicions charles was attempting to doom vampires as a whole

what happens next im still up in the air about, but it'll be how charles loses the use of his legs in this universe

scenario a is while erik and charles brawl in moira's shack, she hurls holy water onto erik and disfigures his face. while he's down, she attempts to throw more holy water on him to at least give her and charles more time to escape only for charles to shield him at the final moment. while he's mostly unharmed, his legs get burnt as he pushes erik out of the way and finds he isn't able to regenerate the damaged limbs

scenario b is moira still gets erik with the holy water, however charles drags them out of the shack and tries to break for the nearest town. unfortunately, during their escape erik finds one of moira's silver-tipped crossbows (or something to that affect: still deciding if he should have control over magnetism in this but Details Details) and shoots charles in the spine ultimate style. going off the myth silver is Not Good for all 'unholy' and dead creatures of course, charles' nervous system isn't properly able to regenerate for Above Mentioned Reasons (his body's so 'dead' the antibacterial properties of silver eat away at him). the cruel irony of it all really (or silvery... heh.. metal...)

as a result of being burned by the holy water, erik would wear his helmet more often- at least until he feeds off enough humans to regenerate the damaged tissue (note: only human blood can restore holy-artifact-induced wounds, which means charles won't regain the use of his legs because of his refusal to consume human blood)

either way, once she and charles escape erik and relocate, moira stays with him for some time- at least long enough for charles to get used to his new way of life without his legs and figure out what they should do next, maybe two-three years. eventually, charles and moira agree it might be safer to work apart from each other and effectively split. probably leads to charles moving to america to keep an eye on vampires on the other side of the globe while moira keeps an eye on europe

after the encounter with moira and charles, erik becomes more active and now seeks out other vampires (or humans to turn into vampires), fully intending on converting the world to become a vampire's (and hell why not monsters in general) paradise

Things to iron out

the difference between animal and human blood

Whats the benefit to drinking human blood: is it tastier? More nutritious? Evidently its restorative properties are more potent for vampires than animal blood

Maybe more animal blood is needed to supplement human blood (i.e. one human may need the blood of- say- five pigs or something yk what i mean)

Maybe its possible for a vampire to live off animals only, it’d just be more difficult and they might not be as physically strong as vampires who feed off humans

Would they eventually cave into craving human blood? Is it a conscious effort to Not feed off humans? Curious….

Perhaps moira tests the effects of human vs animal blood on charles, offering blood from her arm both directly from her and extracted first to then drink. He cant argue its wrong if she’s offering for science no…. Its For Science Charles its ok…

Another thing i want to solidify is time period: on one hand i wanna do this modern-ish period but im also thinkin bout the 14th century…. Shrug i still have a lot of finer details In General ill work out with myself. For now it’ll prob remain around 1700’s-1900’s

A final minor thing i wanna work on is erik’s ‘real’ name and his name situation in general, mostly how magda knew him. Maybe changes his name to ‘erik lehnsherr’ after the eisenhardt incident, and goes by ‘magnus’ after magda, her knowing him as ‘erik’ while charles mostly knows him as ‘magnus’. ‘Count magnus’…. Hm…. Dunno if i wanna reintroduce ‘magneto’ into this or not …… ill figure it out at some point …

Perhaps other vampires and dhampirs saying his real name doesn’t negatively affect him and it’s strictly only if humans/non-vampires say it

[monstersinthecosmos]

Vamptember Day 22 - Music Video

{sisters of mercy - this corrosion}

// I have to shout out to @hekateinhell for birthing the concept of casting the Armand actor in Lestat's music videos LMAOOOO I borrowed it here! THANKS BABE! //

“Oh my god… Mars…”

Headlights of a passing car glow against Daniel’s skin as Marius looks across the bistro table to him. They catch his eyes just the right way.

“Yes?”

“There’s a Vevo page for Lestat now.”

Marius presses his lips together, unsure how to respond. He offers a tight smile.

“That’s nice,” he says. He twists his coffee mug against its saucer, unsure if Daniel will elaborate. Daniel’s thumbs tap against the screen of his new smart phone.

“This is fucking wild, oh my god,” he says. 

Marius leans back in his chair, breathing the humid air. Odd mix of car exhaust and coffee and confections. Human smell and sea air beneath it like a base coat. Not unpleasant, but still new to him. 

Daniel looks from his phone to Marius, then back. He finally flips it around, to show Marius the shining bright screen.

It’s… certainly Lestat there, beneath the glass. Daniel gestures with the phone, as if he wants Marius to take it, but Marius just stares at him.

The corner of his mouth twitches, like he’s about to laugh. He leans his elbow on the table and cups his jaw in his hand.

“Marius do you know what Vevo is?”

“You’ve certainly spoken a number of words out loud.”

He rolls his eyes, and the crooked smile pinches a dimple into his left cheek.

“It’s on YouTube. You know YouTube.”

Marius doesn’t dignify him with an answer, but that’s true. He has seen YouTube.

“It’s music videos and stuff.”

“Music videos.”

“Lestat’s music videos.”

Marius frowns, and looks at the screen again. 

Oh.

Oh.

He leans back in his seat—recoils, if he’s being truthful—and pulls his hands in close, away from the tiny screen. Trying not to show alarm, hoping it can pass off as disinterest, but Daniel is starting to know him a little too well. 

Perhaps we should have seen this coming. Marius knows that. He’s enjoyed this new age of digital communication, for the most part. It had been charming when Daniel had showed him a video about Classical Latin, and asked how accurate it was, and he’d enjoyed curling against Daniel on the couch to watch daylight tours of their neighborhood on their laptop. It makes sense, in this century, that the humans would begin to digitize everything. The part of Marius that considers himself a scholar is actually excited by it.

But that image beneath the glass, and the way Lestat’s body starts to move as Daniel taps the play button.

It only takes the first two notes for Marius’s hair to stand on end, and his hand flies forward to turn the volume down. 

“Let’s not be obnoxious in public,” he mumbles, as an excuse, even seated outside where there’s so much street noise. Daniel’s brow creases as he watches Marius’s face, his thoughts veiled, but it’s obvious the way he’s studying.

Odd how time can move like this. He almost expects Daniel to react the same—it wasn’t so long ago that Daniel couldn’t make sense of time at all—but he still just seems so alert, so curious. Not the way Marius feels disoriented, unsure how many decades have gone by, as if all of this were yesterday, as if Akasha were still—

Lestat struts back and forth across the screen, the lights strobing against him. The high contrast makes his skin seem like a visual effect—surely no one imagined he was truly this pale. He walks through the video set with a microphone stand, chest gleaming beneath an open leather jacket, his eyes hidden beneath large sunglasses.

It should be funny.

It was funny, Marius remembers. He remembers it playing on MTV, he remembers the way he laughed. All of it had seemed a little silly, and it was too absurd to even get mad at him. 

He reaches to take the phone from Daniel, glancing at the patrons around them. Reminding himself, quickly, that it’s the 21st century, they’re in Brazil, he’s with Daniel. Armand’s fledgling Daniel. 

The video cuts to Lestat fighting all the filthy zealots from Armand’s coven.  It had been too funny for it to hurt, back then, and even now it lessens the blow. Something so childish, imagining the two of them. Imaging Lestat shuffling through head shots, holding auditions, telling the actor exactly what he wanted.

Not an exact match, really, but the hair is styled correctly. It’s a beautiful young man. In the video, Lestat holds him by the jaw, leaning in close, singing the words almost directly into the young man’s mouth.

Marius had played this video in the Shrine for them. He can still hear it, even with he phone muted. He feels each beat, remembers the lyrics as Lestat’s lips shape each word.

The street noise is too loud all of a sudden.

He glances up the avenue, towards the dark hills on the horizon. He wonders how quickly he could be away from all of it. In the forest somewhere. 

The phone drops onto the table a little too hard, but he’s too frazzled to apologize. He runs his hands along the tops of his thighs to smooth out wrinkles that aren’t there, and counts backwards to see if it will rinse the phantom sound of Lestat’s music from his mind.

“Jeez, sorry,” Daniel says, but he’s still got that grin on his face. Amused. Marius thinks the phrase Little Shit feels appropriate, and he doesn’t hide the thought well enough. The recognition flashes on Daniel’s face as he shoves his phone into his pocket. Laughter wobbles through his voice as he squeezes Marius’s knee beneath the table in apology. “Too soon?”

[catocappuccino]

1-BOO altered my brain