#Sybelle TVC

[nightcolorz]

Unhinged Sybelle and Benji tangent (cw references to abuse csa trauma etc)

yeah so Marius’s turning of Benji and Sybelle isn’t about whether or not that was the right decision to make and isn’t made better by their contentment living as vampires in late canon. Benji and Sybelle’s relatively happy lives as vampires are irrelevant to me. The cruelty of how he did it is made worse by the hypocritical nature of turning a kid into a vampire after so firmly insisting that turning children is morally abhorrent and smth he should’ve never done, yeah, but that’s only a small part of it.

It was so awful and upsetting to me bcus of the deliberate stripping of Armand’s agency. See, we have a whole book where Armand tells the story of how throughout his entire life and childhood he was forced into the role of submissiveness and/or dependency. whether that be his childhood religious devotion that would eventually lead to his being buried alive for God or being sold into sexual slavery or Marius’s mentorship of him that ultimately intended to teach him to stay loyal and dependent on Marius’s authority to Marius’s relationship with him sexual and otherwise to the cult indoctrination, up until Lestat comes along and tilts his own view of submission and devotion as his only way to survive and function in the world onto its head.

He gives him a theater and then he gives him Louis. Armand floats around, tries to find purpose without devotion through using Louis and Daniel as tools to understanding the modern age. The modern age to Armand is possibility and independence, things he’s never had so much access to and doesn’t know exactly how to apply to himself until the devils minion chapter when he’s like ah ok I get it, life without devotion is something I’ve always been familiar with—it’s what Marius taught me! I Am The Master now with my excessive indulgence and my Boy and my sea side paradise.

But Armand is a Void™️ with no concept of self besides a collection of concepts and experiences and people he’s been exposed to throughout his existence, so rlly he’s kind of a fraud. Internally he’s still a saint who yearns for a God to follow, he’s no Marius, and this all comes to a head in Memnoch the devil when he throws himself into the sun for Jesus etc. and so TVA Armand is mixed the fuck up, he’s lost everything he’s been building for himself, he’s like an open wound, like red and gold sand art shaken around until it’s sludges of brown.

Armand believes himself to have no coherent narrative of a life, no coherent and consistent sense of self, just a collection of unrelated sequences that he draws from to occasionally preform personhood, and at the beginning of TVA he is very much just that. No thoughts only colors and pain. But he’s trying to rebuild himself as best he can, he has these young humans who he’s caring for, and through caring Armand finds meaning.

These humans are very much reflections of himself, or who he used to be, and seeing a personhood reflected back at him through these two gives him insight into his own value as an individual, as someone who is inherently worthy of having a life. So with Benji and Sybelle he tries to rebuild his own sense of personhood by giving them what he would want in there place. The conclusion he reaches at the end of his story to David is that after everything ultimately he is learning and rebuilding, gaining fulfillment and individuality he’s never had before through his empathy and care for these two people in his life. Benji and Sybelle are representative of Armand’s healing process!!! They mirror him bcus they are him!! He’s literally nurturing his inner child!! And with that there comes self care and self love etc etc. but then the book doesn’t end!!

Then after all that trauma and all that healing everything that Armand was tenderly attempting to build for his new life is stripped away ! When Marius turns Benji and Sybelle it doesn’t matttttter that they like being vampires. What matters is that when Armand finally gained agency and individuality Marius decided to take that from him! Marius decided that he actually knew better then Armand, and if Armand would just allow him to do what’s best for him then everything would be so much better and so much easier. And when Armand starts sobbing and screaming and fighting him that’s just justification to Marius that Armand isn’t capable of independence or self sufficiency, that he’s a child throwing a tantrum who can’t make his own decisions, that he should just be dependent on Marius like he used to be and trust that other people know what’s best for him.

That’s why it’s so tragic! That’s why it’s so frustrating and so sad. Armand was on the road to healing but then Marius stormed in like the symbolic representation of his past telling him that no matter what he does or the progress he makes he’s still Armand in the catacombs, Amadeo on the red sheets, Andrei waiting to be buried alive. So I don’t really give af if ultimately Benji and Sybelle are fine! It’s great that despite being a child vampire Benji is able to function independently and contently as an adult with minimal body dysmorphia and existential dread, but you know who’s not able to do that? Armand 😭😭

[half-as-big-as-life]

Girlfriendsisterdaughter <3

[lady-phasma]

What if I were to post a short fic (like 800 words) before kinktober starts that's just Armand x Benji x Sybelle x reader fluff? Just some cuddles with the fam.

Update: I did.

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

it's been said but they're literally so. so neurodivergent. all three of them.

[platoapproved]

Something about Armand’s detached pragmatic certainty that if he just goes and walks down the street looking helpless someone will inevitably attack him sooner rather than later. And he is not wrong.

[moonchildillustration]

Sketched Sybelle again I love her 🎶

She fed messily again sorry Mariuuuuuus

[botticellibabyy]

anne rice after giving a character a child figure: how weird can we make this relationship

[tulinokkaelain]

I wanted to draw one Sybelle in a nice outfit but drew three Sybelles instead

[mugentakeda]

dadmand & babygirl sybelle

[wretcheddoll]

Love how Lestat can literally rape a man into vampirism as he’s screaming at him to stop and people don’t bat an eye, but when Marius makes two vampires consensually against their guardian’s wishes suddenly people start crying about their GUARDIAN’S autonomy, not even their own, like cmon…

And I’m not saying Benji and Sybelle’s making isn’t a tragic scene in the moment, but like why aren’t we holding the same energy for two instances of vampire makings that were tragic in the moment but ultimately turned out “good” for the parties involved. Especially when one was much more violent and traumatic for the victim, and the other was more of a tragic inevitability.

Again I am asking why does Marius get framed as the irredeemable villain in fandom for doing something that ultimately turned out for the great or good, but with Lestat it’s like “Oop that’s just Lestat being Lestat again teehee 🤭”

Also stop using my woman (Sybelle) as fuel for your lame ass Marius hate, thank you! 😤

[mercuryspit]

vamp intel

[nightcolorz]

armand playing minecraft with benji while sybelle plays piano in the background send tweet

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armand playing minecraft with benji while sybelle plays piano in the background …we all say in unison

[backwardsuwu]

Benji & Sybelle

[scampvamp]

if you would have told me armand adopts a big titty autistic pianist and her little podcast fedora brother I would have kissed you on the mouth

[aliasmard]

sybelle

[thecactifindahome]

Deleted argument between Marius and Armand in TVA, from Tulane University

Download link

The images here are the first half, the download link has the full section. I'll reblog with images of the second half momentarily.