#armand means sm to me

[half-as-big-as-life]

They mean so much 2 me (based on that kojima painting)

[butcharyastark]

still havent forgiven yall for making the entire iwtv s2 plot themes of second chances, being failed and hurt again, grief and regret, lost childhoods and infantilization, long game manipulation, artistry and voyuerism, cycles of violence, and the complicated emotions in families with past trauma.... about armandanial. like that season gave EVERYTHING, delivered almost everything it possibly could for louis's arc, to set up claudia's tragedy.. but its abt a weird toxic romance yall invented in ur head. even ignoring the ACTUAL canon fascinating and complicated one ARMAND WAS ALREADY HAVING onscreen bc uhhhh old man yaoi or smth. yall can write a 2k meta post abt the way armand's eyes skated over daniel lingeringly and make every other post in the armand tag abt them but the real story of louis being vulnerable to abuse AGAIN right after leaving lestat or claudia's longing and bitterness for family while unable to trust louis just go unremarked some months later.

[yesimwriting]

Stawp!

Louis and bestie reader are so cute

They would be so satc coded and go out for drinks and vacays

Also i think reader would introduce him and call him "my beautiful louis" to other people

But imagine louis getting home and texting her with a smile on his face all cute 🥰

I like the idea of the person who makes vampirism good being her, a platonic relationship, in contrast of a romantic companion.

Also i imagine this convo:

Armand: do you have to go over to her apartment every other day?

Louis: first of, we have our movie night fridays together and you know this!

Armand: its 4 a.m

Louis: duh? I got to get there while the sun is down, besides we need to pick up thai food because she does not cook and she will starve herself before turning on the stove

AND ARMAND WITH HER

I feel like after he knows her, he would be jealous of any relationships/ one night stands she might have (louis knows about them obvi! She calls him all the time 💅🏻)

Im obsessed with this concept 😭

everything about this is so perfect!! i'm so happy you got the vibe! i feel like he just needs someone to pull him out of his (slightly subconscious) angst and something about that happening through a platonic relationship is so endearing to me

they're so satc coded too, just besties drinking and vacationing and having (slightly) delusional conversations <3

also bestie reader calling him "my beautiful louis" to others is everything to me 😭 they for sure love each other so much omg

armand is definitely so messy with this 😭 he's like a cat trying to gaslight their owner into thinking they don't want attention

bc i love this sm here's an actual drabble/fic:

pls be nice writing for new characters for the first few times is so daunting for no reason 😭, also armand is a bit messy here <3

----

Not unlike daylight's earliest hours seeping through shut curtains, the haziness--the easiness--you offer him is persistent.

Louis has grown accustomed to the feeling, to the consistent warmth of your friendship, but every once in awhile the sentimentality of it all digs at him.

"This is..." You trail off, legs crossed beneath you and television remote still loosely held between your fingers. "Complex."

Louis's focus flits between you and the screen you're intently staring at. The two of you hadn't set out to watch a documentary on some nature channel, but this is far from the first time you've gotten distracted by some default program while attempting to put on a movie. "Very."

His sarcasm is enough to break the spell. You turn your head, frowning, "Don't make fun of me."

The documentary cuts to a well lit, sparsely wooded forest. The camera focuses on a deer patiently grazing on the surrounding foliage.

"I’d never," he mumbles, suppressing a smile in an attempt at seeming as serious as he needs to be for the joke to work.

You let out a sound that's too gentle to be a laugh before straightening your shoulders and returning your attention to the television screen. There's something ironically pointed about the way the peaceful background melody fades into something more sinister. Looming Danger.

The deer, alerted by some sixth sense, stiffens, its body stretching to its full, insignificant height. The camera zooms in, focusing on the deer's wide eyes and unmenacing features. "That kind of reminds me of you."

This time, your laugh is full, sharpened by a partial scoff that's as amused as it is offended. "That's the weirdest thing you've ever said to me."

The comment is almost enough to ease him. The camera pans out, allowing the audience to see the other surrounding deer. "Maybe the deer from that one animated movie."

You're quiet for a moment, thinking through the implication of the words before turning your head towards him again. "You mean Bambi?"

He had been much too old to be interested in the film by the time it came out, but the name is vaguely familiar enough. "I think so."

You blink at that, tilting your head slightly. "How do you know Bambi?"

"I don't know Bambi," the argument is a relatively flat one. Louis turns to better face you, resting his arm against the back of your couch. "I've just seen some commercials."

That only seems to confuse you further. You straighten, pulling your legs towards your chest. "Where would you have seen Bambi commercials?"

"They were everywhere when it came out in the 40's."

You don't respond right away, your attention shifting away from Louis and towards your bent legs. As far as references that remind you of his lack of humanity, this is far from a drastic one. The 40’s weren’t long enough ago to be inconceivable to you.

Still, you’re quiet, as if thinking through the potential outcomes of your reaction. You nod once. “Right."

When you look up at him again, there's a hesitant sort of curiosity behind your eyes. It's an expression Louis's more accustomed to than he wants to be, it's the way you look at him when you're reminded of the reality of the differences between the two of you.

You tap your nails against your knee. "Does it feel weird?" The question comes out with a suddenness that doesn't suit you, the stiffness of the words sharp and uncertain. "All that time--carrying it inside your head?"

For a moment, all he can bring himself to do is sit with the question. Your question. It's a simple enough thing to ask, but not a exactly a straightforward thing to answer. Especially not to you, who has yet to experience a significant passage of time even by human standards.

"Well," he starts, "You know about the way that time has impacted aspects of my memory." You watch him patiently, saying nothing to prompt or rush him as he thinks through his response. "It does make things feel different--years spent with someone can feel like moments, and moments with others can feel like eternity."

You nod once, allowing his answer to sink in. "Which one am I?"

He knows his answer before he knows how to put it into words. You’re too familiar for either.

“You’re more like a memory.”

Your eyebrows briefly pinch together at that. You part your lips, but before you can respond the documentary’s music swells.

You turn your head in time to see the coyote lunge at a deer. You sigh, screwing your eyes shut before leaning forward, You press your forehead against his arm. “That’s depressing.”

Louis could have anticipated the reaction, you’re usually more bothered by animals dying in movies than people. Still, though, your ability to find comfort in him of all things will never not perplex him.

Instead of pointing out that you’re the one that chose to watch this, he gently reaches for the remote. “Fine, I’ll put on the movie.”

----

The familiar ringing is so muted, so low, Armand's certain that if it wasn't for his enhanced senses, he wouldn't have been able to hear anything at all. By the time he's turned his head, Louis is already reaching for his coat's pocket.

Armand frowns. If the late hour and limited number of people Louis talks to weren't enough to let Armand know who the message is from, Louis's smile as he unlocks his cell phone would be evidence enough. You--it's always you.

He continues forward, allowing Louis to type out a response without interruption. Once he's certain the message has been sent, Armand begins, "It's her again."

Louis's attention shifts away from the screen. "She's my friend."

"I know," he says, voice flat, "Your best friend."

"Stop it." There's nothing aggressive about Louis's response, but there's an underlying warning pressed into the syllables, the same almost-sharpness that Louis relies on whenever Armand implies a lack of fondness for Louis's latest source of entertainment. "It's not like that."

No, it really isn't. When you first began to weave yourself into Louis's life, Armand had almost convinced himself that this was a blatant betrayal that defied Louis's usual preferences. After about five minutes of assessment, Armand realized that the two of you really are as affectionately platonic as you claim to be.

"No," it's an easy enough concession. Armand continues forward, the coolness of the night's air sharp against his skin. Their walk hasn't exactly been the most exciting night of their companionship, but it has been non-contentious in a needed way after their latest session with Daniel. "You do spend a lot of time with her."

Louis's quiet for a moment, thinking through his response in a way that Armand finds unusual. "You could spend time with us, too."

The sentiment isn't as true as Louis intends it to be. While Armand's been around you regularly enough to consider you familiar, there are a few things that the two of you want to do on your own. Your weekly movie nights, casual drinking at bars, the surprise trip to Milan. And during the evenings in which Armand is there, Louis regards him with a subtle uneasiness that if you've noticed, you know better than to mention.

In your presence, what they are may only be portrayed in the softest of lights. The facets of vampirism must only ever be suggested, alluded to so faintly that they're rendered incapable of tarnishing that darling soul of yours Louis is so determined to preserve.

"And subject the poor, little fawn to an evening with two vampires?"

Armand keeps his gaze focused on what's ahead of them, but he can practically feel the lack of amusement radiating off of Louis. "Come on," he tries again, "She's not like that."

Although he'd love nothing more than to solely resent your existence, Armand does have to give you credit for that. You hadn't so much as missed a single step when Louis revealed the truth to you, never once treating him differently. You also barely flinched when Armand appeared in your home with no warning as a way of hurting Louis during a particularly lively argument. Armand's yet to determine if your bravery is a sign of idiocy or a testament to how certain you are in your connection to Louis.

It's far from rare for Louis to feel the need to defend you, but there's a determination there that seems urging. "She asked you to come over."

Louis's hesitation, though brief, is confirmation enough. He almost stills but seems to think better of it, placing his phone back into his pocket as if that will be enough to make Armand forget that you're the source of this. "She just ended things with the boy she's been seeing."

Hm. Not exactly an interesting update, but intriguing...more intriguing than why you usually call Louis, if nothing else.

"Alright," Armand agrees, "Let's visit your puppy."

----

The apartment building you live in is far from run down. You've slowly but surely transformed yourself into one of those rare artists with a curated following so obsessed with being able to credit themselves as the discoverer of the next big thing that they go out of their way to purchase anything that you've labeled as yours. Existing at the cusp of fame has allowed you to afford a decent apartment in the city, but it's nowhere near as nice as where you could be if you'd accept Louis's offer to get you a place closer to them.

Louis knocks on your door twice. In less than a second, you're clicking the lock out of place. You're beaming as you pull the door open, "Louis."

Armand watches Louis's expression melt into one of total warmth. There's a definiteness to your friendship that Armand might envy if he understood it any better. What's so special, so interesting about you that your presence is always desireable?

Louis extends an arm, offering you the bouquet of flowers he insisted on purchasing before visiting you.

Your smile widens even further at the arrangement. If it wasn't for the information that Louis gave him earlier, Armand would have no reason to think anything remotely upsetting happened to you tonight. "I love peonies. Thank you."

You lift a hand, your pointer finger gently brushing a thin petal as you examine the flowers. After a moment, you straighten, turning your head enough to acknowledge him. "Armand, hi." The greeting is cordial yet far from cold, the way you often are with him.

"Hello," he replies. You step back, pulling your front door open as a way of inviting them in. "I'm sorry about your boyfriend."

You pause at that, parting your lips as you look back at him. Louis speaks before you get the chance to, "I told you to look sad when we got here."

It's a playful chastising at best, but you react as if Louis had really meant it. In some ways, Armand believes he did. "Oh," the sound falls flat. You walk further into your home's entryway, giving them the space needed to enter. "Give me a second, I can do better." You turn slightly, holding onto the flowers a little tighter as you bring your free hand to your chest. "I'm distraught."

Your performance isn't worthy of a standing ovation, but there's a humor there that might have been charming if Armand's disinterest in you was less inherit.

"Nice try," Louis mumbles as he wanders towards your couch. He sits down with a casualness that highlights how used to existing in your space Louis really is. "Armand wasn't up for visiting anyone and I wanted you to at least look sympathetic."

You walk past your living room. Armand watches you for a moment before following, if for no other reason than to feel something resembling Louis's familiarity. He keeps his steps even, making a point of remaining a few paces behind you.

You stop in front of a cupboard. After opening the cabinet, you have to extend your arm so fully to reach a vase Armand's surprised when you manage to grab it without knocking it off its shelf.

"Trust me," you say, exaggerating the syllables as you approach the sink, "I'm very sympathetic." You place the vase beneath the sink before turning on the faucet.

Armand steps forward, setting a palm against the granite that makes up the island attached to your sink. "I'm sure." The words are spoken so lowly they're nearly drowned out by the sound of running water.

"What did he do?" Louis asks from his spot on the couch.

You lift the vase out of the sink's basin, shutting off the faucet as you move to set the glass onto the counter. "Broke up with me because he thought he had a chance with his ex-girlfriend."

"What?" Louis turns fully at that, craning his neck to look at you.

You nod sharply, completely validated by Louis's shock. "I know." You remove the plastic binding your bouquet together. "Men are the worst." You carefully pull a flower away from its bundle before placing it in the vase. The process of arranging the flowers must remind you who brought them to you, because after a second, you amend your statement, "Except you guys. Obviously."

"Obviously," Louis repeats in a way that only feels somewhat sarcastic. "So are you...upset? Angry?"

You pause, giving yourself a moment to really think about your response. "A little of everything, I guess." You pick up two smaller flowers by their long stems before placing them in the vase. "But not crushed." You reach for a filler flower. "I don't know...it's not like I was in love with him."

Louis rests an elbow against the back of your couch, propping his head up as he watches you continue to adjust your flowers. "I'm glad you weren't." You raise your eyebrows at that. "He wasn't the right person."

"You always say that."

"And I haven't been wrong yet."

You give him another look that would be threatening if it wasn't for the underlying fondness there. "Don't start." You don't wait for Louis's reaction before returning your attention to the flowers.

Armand watches you for a moment before allowing himself to take in your apartment. This place is a known entity, but it's not exactly familiar. He's never seen anything beyond the living but he has heard you talk about a room that you've converted into a studio space.

It's not as easy as it should be to imagine a space solely dedicated to your work when touches of it seem to cover your entire apartment. Two canvases too uniquely you to be purchased are hanging behind your couch, there's a ceramic vase on your dining table that reminds him of the way you paint, and then there's the abandoned palette and partially finished canvas still on its easel.

Armand walks forward slowly, approaching the painting as you and Louis begin discussing your least favorite things about the boy that ended things with you.

Even unfinished, the project is strong in its certainty, in its style. Your brush strokes are sharp, unafraid. Next to your well loved palette, there's a small photograph that parallels but doesn't exactly fully match the partially completed house on the canvas.

"That's an idea for a new collection--the repurposing of abandoned things, places..." Your explanation is abrupt in a way that borders on shy. "It's not meant to be as pretentious as it sounds."

There's a self deprecating quality to the disclaimer that doesn't fit you. Perhaps he's stumbled onto an actual insecurity. "Does someone seeing it like this make you uncomfortable?"

"Uh," you start, confused by his own suddenness, "No, not really. As long as you know to look it as a work in progress." You tap your nails against the counter. "I--I have a room down the hall that's full of half-finished stuff if you want to look at those, too."

The offer feels more like an attempt to convince yourself that you're okay with his analysis of your work before it's been polished than anything else. The concept of your uncertainty makes Armand curious enough for him to actively reach for your thoughts.

Armand's concentration shifts onto your mind, and he's immediately thrown by the vaguest implication of resistance. Your mental defense is so feeble it might as well not exist, but the fact that it does...that you're trying to at all is almost endearing enough to convince Armand to leave you be. Almost. "Are you attempting to block me out of your thoughts?"

You blink, the blood beneath your skin rushing its way up your neck at your embarrassment. "Are you trying to read them?" When your counter question doesn't impact him at all, you sheepishly offer an explanation, "Louis taught me."

Of course he'd teach his pet a new trick.

Louis lets out a small laugh at that. "The fact that he felt it at all tells me you're better at it than I'd thought you be."

Armand's gaze returns to your painting. You've managed to find a warmth, a beauty in the forgotten. "The implication of resistance isn't the same as resistance itself."

The criticism stings, but you don't let it impact your expression. You let out an exaggerated sigh, your shoulders slumping slightly to add to your point. "Be nice, I was just broken up with. Over text."

He continues to study the painting, his mind attempting to break the piece down by individual brush strokes. "That doesn't matter to you. Not really." Armand can almost imagine the creation of the house's boarders, of the formation of each individual stone and the heavy ivy covering them. "You're not 'crushed' because you're interesting and he's not, and a part of you knows that."

The sentiment behind the words leaves you desperate to push him away. Blood settles itself beneath your chest. Your feeble mental shield returns, this time determined enough for Armand to feel its desire to push him out.

"You don't know if I'm interesting," the response is too soft, too curious to reflect your unease.

You tap your nails against the counter, the gentle clicks of them hitting the granite echoing throughout the space. Armand refocuses on the canvas. "Louis wouldn't like you if you weren't."

Something about the statement seems to ease you. Armand's reminded of how almost overly genuine your friendship is. "Thanks."

Louis lets out an almost-scoff at that, his eyebrows briefly drawing together in a display of mock offense. "Don't make me sound so shallow."

"It's less about your shallowness and more about my winning personality."

"Uh-huh," Louis mumbles, pressing a synthetic lack of interest into syllables, "Well, as long as its about you."

----

a/n this is lowkey way longer than i expected it to be but i loved this dynamic so much so if you want to see more of them pls let me know <3

[nightcolorz]

Have been actually shocked by the takes of Louis and Armand’s relationship dynamic that I have been seeing in which people act like Armand’s subservience is manipulative and evil.

As someone who was also a victim of grooming in my youth (though obvs not like Armand level of traumatic events bc good lord that boy cannot catch a break) I always found Armand to be a really compelling character, and I loved how they were handling the psychological impact of his abuse on his relationships within the show and they all felt very relatable to a degree. I was like mind blown by the way they handled how Louis and Armand’s pasts related to each others and thought it was super clever and it made me go “holy shit�� in a way that a tv show hasn’t made me go in a long time. Though I can see where some of the takes are coming from, it has been really disheartening as a victim of grooming to see people dismiss Armand’s behavior when he’s with Louis as purely a form of manipulation on Armand’s part or a fun silly sex thing 😭😭😭

YES ANON FR!!! also very disheartening and genuinely offensive to me how some ppl talk about Armand and his trauma (also am a victim of grooming lol). I’ve talked about this before, but the way ppl r saying with their full chests that Armand is being manipulative in his trauma responses is like actually fucked up, and it’s low key triggering to me 😭. Just bcus armand manipulates ppl doesn’t mean he is *always* manipulating ppl omfg 💀💀 some nuance pls I beg of u.

to me it seems very clear that Armand falls into subservience and behaves as the victim bcus the abuse he experienced was the closest he ever felt to feeling like he understood what he was doing and understood what he was needed for. For a lot of victims of grooming their abuse can cause them to feel safe in those types of abusive dynamics bcus it’s familiar to them, which def seems to be how it is for Armand. Armand feels constantly lost and confused and by being a slave again he returns to a time where he knew what he was, when he had someone there to tell him what he was. And it comes off very clearly to me that Louis sees this in Armand when Armand tells him about his trauma and (as he’s also in a vulnerable position) realizes that he can use Armand’s pattern of submitting to servitude to his advantage. Which!!! That is objectively fucked up im sorry 😭 and I’m tired of being in a fandom where ppl r acting like just bcus Louis is a likeable sympathetic character and Armand does mistreat Louis also, that means Louis isn’t capable of mistreating Armand. Bcus it sounds like when ppl make those excuses that they r saying sexual exploitation like that is ok 😭. Just bcus Armand agrees to and participates in it doesn’t mean Louis isn’t knowingly exploiting the trauma of a vulnerable person 😭 and it doesn’t make it ok. Like we can find it fun and sexy, but the “face down in the coffin” scene was still borderline non con sensual 😭 yknow what I’m saying? You can like Louis as ur fav and discuss how Armand is shitty to him without acting like it’s ok for Louis to pretend to be Armand’s abuser as he orders him around like an animal so he’ll do what he wants. This is an incredibly complex dynamic with two very fucked up characters who hurt and abuse each other out of fear, and some of u can’t handle that nuance 😭.

and I understand not being able to grasp the nuance of Armand’s character, it took me like a year to fully wrap my head around him. He’s got a lot going on and it’s hard to understand why he behaves the way he does, especially if you haven’t experienced sexual trauma or grooming. But just like, y’all have to remember that it can come off as pretty shitty and bad faith to interpret a character like this as always being evil all the time. Ur reducing someone very complex and ur making some borderline offensive (also borderline racist but that’s a different rant) implications

thank u sm for the ask anon ur so right and I relate so hard to ur annoyances ❤️❤️

[nalyra-dreaming]

Thank you sm again for answering my questions, it really helped me.

I have another following question about Lestat's power. In 2x08 he said he cannot be killed if he isn’t willing to die. Does that mean he would have survived Louis&Claudia's attempt anyway even if Louis hadn’t put him in his coffin?

Also can vampires lose (part of) their power for any reasons?

And as an unrelated question, are either Akasha, Marius or Danielle still alive as today?

Back to episode 8, do you think Armand would have given up Louis if Lestat had chosen him over Louis? Like I don’t think Lestat would ever choose anyone over Louis but hypothetically speaking.

Appreciate you and your blog sm and I hope you have a great day!

(Danielle? Do you mean Gabrielle?)

Yes, Akasha and Marius (and Gabrielle) are alive "today". We will meet them, rather sooner than later.

And yes, I do think this Armand would have given up Louis, if Lestat had chosen him (though that was always out of the question, tbh). But this Armand, the show Armand, only saw Louis as a vessel, as Assad said.

As per the tower scene and Lestat burning.... no, I don't think he would really survive a burning. Not a focused one. I talked about that here as well, but I think he ... doubts his own ability to die by now, which is a theme in the books, true. But in that tower scene he deflects Armand's and Louis' actions there, imho, which works very well.

Book canonically Lestat did survive burnings.... at the hands of Louis and Claudia, thanks to the blood of Akasha.

So that is something that is referred to there as well. (But since it is not canon in the show... it's more a book nod than anything else.)

And no, vampires cannot really "lose" their powers - but they can get too hurt/weak to use them properly. That happened to Lestat after the trial, book canonically.

It will be interesting if the story will be ... extended there, next season. :)

(And anytime!)

[bitter-limelight]

Hello. So uh. I recently read The Vampire Armand, I've read a bunch of books after that, but there's this one thing in it I haven't been able to get out of my head and need to talk to someone about.

There's this one scene, before Armand becomes a vamp and he's with Marius. And Marius wants him to study or whatever, and Armand doesn't want that, and Marius like wips him. And it's described in great detail and Armand both dislikes it but also seems to enjoy it on some level.

And oh my god, it's obviously (BD)SM, right? And I don't think I've ever before read actual kink in an actual book. It was soo good.

And I felt so strongly that like this is written knowing that this is BDSM. It's written as someone intimately familiar with how impact play feels. And it made me feel seen.

And I also want to know if others also felt so strongly about this scene. If people thought about it like this when the book came out.

Anyway, thanks for being a target of my rant.

Hello!

You're in good company; many of us have a similair reaction to this scene and for good reason. Anne Rice wrote...a lot of kink. I haven't read her Sleeping Beauty books myself, or her Witching Hour books, but I know enough about what's in them, plus having read almost all of TVC, to know it's obvious that Anne is a kinky mofo at least on the page. And that's a good thing! Because books and art are a safe way to explore even the most taboo aspects of kink and sexuality.

Imo, Marius and Armand go through the dance of a recognizable romance novel BDSM or D/s dynamic. What I mean by this is a power exchange relationship run through the filter of a fantasy love story. People who was well versed in real life BDSM know all about consent, safe words, SSC, all that, but when it comes to fiction, we have a space where we can bend and play with those rules.

Marius is master, this is certain. He purchased Amadeo, he literally bought him. IRL we know this isn't an aspect of real BDSM but it plays well to represent the power imbalance on the page, same as Harlequin romance novels with Fabio on the cover as the pillaging Viking bringing back an unwilling war bride. This variety of forced marriage/relationship is a very old and common trope.

And we see that Amadeo takes to it well. He loves Marius. He welcomes the love Marius gives him. He loves him even as he's being disciplined. And that includes being whipped and punished. Punishment is a common aspect of a PE relationship, and this mirrors that concept in, again, the fantasy romance unfolding on the page. Antis like to point out that Amadeo isn't consenting to this and he's a victim, but once again that's why I'm reiterating that this is a *fantasy romance*, a historical one at that, and our real world ideas of what proper consent looks like don't apply here. This book is written for adults as an escapist fantasy, a rescue fantasy, just like people have been reading for decades.

As somebody who is in a type of PE relationship, who has always desired such a dynamic and who has been reading about practice and the community for 15+ years, I'm with you. M/A speaks to me, and it's kinky elements are a feature, not a bug.

INb4 someone tells me I'm promoting abuse, throws around the P word, insinuates I'm toxic and don't know what I'm talking about.

[argesta]

Academia, in my fanfiction (or at the very least, the ones I gravitate towards reading)? It’s more likely than you think!

In your last reply you mentioned chapter titles, so here I am to ask about the chapter titles!

And also how you decided who plays which roles. Ex. Santiago as Lestat’s oldest friend (from before he married Louis even) and member of his team.

I love this.... academia in my fanfiction more likely than you think... say that 😩

I’ll answer your second question first because it’s so, so good.

When adapting canon to an AU, what I’m interested in is the dynamic capture of a character over the static one. So by static, I mean a 1:1 parity with the character, a modern version of their job, direct translation of their personality, social status, identity etc. Dynamic essence is how they impact other characters + overall context.

To take Santiago - because he's this circus ringmaster in canon S2, this satyr, lurid spotlight figure, I could’ve easily just made him a tabloid guy, go the TMZ route. But that wouldn’t really convey what I needed him for - he’d just be a cameo.

Given that in canon he has such a fraught relationship with both Armand and Lestat - need but rivalry but resentment - I wanted to translate that above all else. And there is no better framing device for this dependency than to have him be this older, grizzled spin-doctor that has been working for “the cause” since forever, knows enough dirt to bury both Lestat and Armand, but does not have the resources to take on any of them individually. Armand himself is a new upstart that technically should be Santiago's subordinate, but in PV he comes with his own capital (the name and power and connections via Marius “eugh” de Romanus at his back).

To me, Santiago’s main draw in all his canon appearances is the fact that his power is so uncertain for all its apparent flashiness. His control is predicated on so many elements which lay behind the curtain (LITERALLY) and which we do not see until the finale.

We think he is calling the shots, but then: oh. You take a closer look and he’s no ringmaster or eminence gris, he’s just the town crier. There is no vertiable eminence gris in either IWTV canon or PV, because they’re all defanged. They are consequences of history and fatherhood, especially if you compare them to figures such as Magnus and Marius - these old men still moving pieces on the board from beyond the grave and/or before the start of the story.

Anyway, am I unnecessary and unserious for thinking this in-depth about it? Absolutely. Is this some artistic credo that I think all AU/fic writers should do? Definitely not.

It’s just the by-product of me outlining this AU-verse in 6 PoVs so far (Lestat, Louis, Claudia, Armand, Daniel, Nicki) so it’s inevitable that the world becomes part of the story. I’d love to get a chance to tell the events in PV from other characters’ point of view, or at least write more fic set in the same PV universe, so I just think of it as doing the planning in advance because I know it’ll come in handy later.

Chapter titles meta under the cut <3 sorry mutuals :’)

The chapter titles are all film techniques! Names come from either cinematography study (frame camera angle perspective etc.) or editing and transitional devices (montage, scene cutting and so on). They are mostly made for motion picture, but some are of course also used in other contexts like news live reporting social media etc. (though I do believe sm apps like CapCut come with their own name for stuff or whatever - I avoid platforming TikTok until it pays me).

I like taking this angle with all present & future chapters because it’s a clin to how the characters are mediating (and meditatizing) their experience through these like - artifacts and artifices.

I.e. TWO-SHOT being a wide-frame, single-take conversation between two people, with almost no one else (certainly #norealpeopleinvolved) entering or leaving the shot until the scene ends. CROSS-CUT being... well, to take it from the definition:

Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time, and often in the same place (...) can also be used for characters in a film with the same goals but different ways of achieving them. Cross-cutting is often used during phone-conversation sequences so that viewers see both characters' facial expressions in response to what is said.

Sometimes it's genuine - TWO SHOT really is just a two-shot, sometimes it's an irony/play on purpose/subversion, like SPLIT SCREEN showing on one level Louis-Claudia conversing on a literal screen, the proverbial split between Louis/Lestat, and the disturbing, growing similarity between Lestat/Armand as a common front (as perceived by Louis; being the split image of someone else, etc.)

Certainly I don’t need to oversell the point of why the performativity of editing and montage fits the universe these miserable girls are living in, or why the chapters are defined and sectioned through the techniques it would take to adapt them to screen. (Very clear that none of these characters can define their life without an audience, they’re so consumed with the self-narrative that they forget they are not only participating in it, but fully have the power to change it).

[apoptoses]

Just when I thought I had my Top 5 @apoptoses smut scenes SET IN STONE (a solid top 5 at least), you post the second chapter of Come Get Your Knife and turn my whole world upside down!!! Where to even BEGIN here jfccc

1. That blowjob scene at the beginning, so stupid hot and we were like 5 paragraphs in lmao insane 😭and then their conversation right after that, with Armand clinging to Daniel’s tigh and then going to the bathroom to spit out his cum without Daniel knowing. Armand would 100% swallow and then not tell Daniel it can’t actually stay in his system for long lmfao I love him sm

2. Daniel putting a hand on Armand’s exposed waist in the kitchen and Armand lowkey losing his mind over it yes GOOD

3. THE PLAY WRESTLING ON THE COUCH MY BELOVED. they totally still do this at home btw it’s just way more competitive now that Daniel actually has a shot.

4. Armand wearing Daniel’s hoodie and then trying to pass it off as an accident when Daniel noticed 🥹

5. “There were all sorts of ways Armand adored seeing him- half awake and grumbling in the evening, tipsy and hanging off his arm. Bright eyed and enthusiastic about the film they’d just seen. But Armand thought this was one of them that he loved best. Daniel loose limbed and eager to get close to him, with that hint of mischief in his eye.” GIVE HER THE PULITZER 👏 😤 And then Daniel blowing smoke into Armand’s mouth!! 🥵 still losing my mind over it.

6. the fingering bit aka the star of the fucking show. I had to pause like three times while reading it lol I didn’t want it to end and needed to drag it out for as long as possible 🥹 idk if we’ve talked about this before but like... Daniel fingering Armand is one of those things I consider 100% canon lmao. I mean it makes perfect sense ("every inch of his body" etc) and of course Daniel felt curious enough to try it and of course Armand let him. so if a fic includes a fingering bit I have to read it lmao regardless of the circumstances/plot/setting idc I’m giving it a go. But some of the ones I’ve read have been like... unnecessarily aggressive? still hot, don’t get me wrong, but they were basically about Daniel wanting to be as rough as possible because Armand didn’t feel much anyway/could take it and Daniel got off on it. just aggressive in ways I don’t think it ever was between them during their most intimate moments. Daniel is a passionate lover yes but he’s a gentle king first and foremost, and he cares so much about Armand’s pleasure, and you captured that so perfectly. Armand coating Daniel’s fingers with his blood please  🥵 🥵  

I’ll stop now before I get carried away but know that I’m still very much obsessed!!! xoxo DA

DA I've missed you!!

Lord I have so many obscene thoughts on Armand and Daniel's come haha Like absolutely he would swallow despite what the vampire body can or cannot consume. Absolutely he would let Daniel come inside him and walk home to his hiding place and go to sleep with that in him, because that part of his body is useless now! It's just a receptacle for Daniel's messes and he's a little freak who would want to keep part of Daniel inside him in more ways than one (which I discuss in an upcoming wip)

haha I forgot I had that in there but that's a domestic thing I think about all the time with them. Like, little touches that make them both insane but especially when Armand is the receiver of those touches. It's intimacy he's never had before!

YES like even if Daniel doesn't 100% equal him in strength after he's turned Armand would be so overwhelmed and caught off guard that Daniel would win just by sheer virtue of getting him worked up over having his wrists pinned (I might also have this in a wip oops)

Daniel, deep down, knows it was no accident 🥹

🥹🥹🥹 listen Armand loves when Daniel is being a little shit, he's beseeching and demanding and that's why he liked him in the first place! He's found the man who is the same flavor of randy pain in the ass as him 🥹

HELLO I love a gentle overwhelming fingering for Armand and I think it was you who gave me the idea of Daniel teaching Armand dirty talk? So like I wrote that and you'll be happy to know that specific act occurs in there too. But YEAH I think Armand can feel a lot if he lets himself and gentleness gets him out of his mind better than roughness, so just Daniel's long fingers are perfect for him because like- that's ALL about him, you know? Being fucked is mutual pleasure, getting touched with hands/someone's mouth is more hedonistic, and he deserves hedonism ♥

Hey, because I love you, here's a fingering preview treat for you (this will go up for kink week for impact play day)

“What would you call this part of you?” Daniel asks.

He’s tracing over his entrance again with a slick finger, maddening slow circles. He presses firmly like he might slip his finger inside and then pulls it away and starts the whole process over again.

Armand’s brain feels like the eggs he makes Daniel for breakfast, a sloppy mess that’s liable to run out his ears and stain the blanket with the way Daniel has taken him apart. He’s so thirsty his veins seem to have constricted with their demand for blood. Everything in him feels drawn too tight.

“I only know the clinical term,” Armand finally manages to admit.

Daniel’s finger slips inside him in one slick motion. It’s humiliating how Armand’s body doesn’t even resist it. Even the most dead, useless parts of him are desperate for sensation.

Or maybe just desperate for Daniel. Armand has the delirious thought that if this part of him has no purpose then Daniel could stay inside him forever, could live in his body and become part of him.

“You’re tight. Sometimes I wonder if that’s because you’re so clenched up all the time or if it’s just because you’re dead, and I’m the only person who uses this part of you,” Daniel says absently, like he’s saying these things to himself. As if Armand isn’t even in the room, he’s just a toy to be played with and not acknowledged. “I’d ask if you like having something in your hole but then the way you keep lifting your hips up like a slut answers that question for me, doesn’t it?”

“Daniel-“

The word comes out in a ragged rush of breath. Armand’s been called names before. Words meant to humiliate, to shame. But coming from Daniel it’s different. It sounds loving, like Daniel has stared down into his soul and seen him for the needy thing he is and adores him for it. Daniel, whose hand keeps stroking his lower back as his finger sinks in deeper, deeper. Armand feels the bumps of his knuckles, the stretch as his finger grows wider closer to his palm. And then it’s all the way in, rubbing at his insides while he struggles for air.

Daniel is always good at this. He’s always got this gentle way with his hands, a light touch that leaves Armand aching for more. Immortal flesh is sensitive- Armand has never told him that, he’s just picked it up on his own. And so he knows exactly how to rub teasing circles into his insides. How to drag his finger in and out so slow Armand thinks he’s about to sob with it. It’s only his index finger and that’s all it takes to have him come undone.

His finger presses all the way in, curls at just the right angle to make Armand make a choked off sound; something halfway between a moan and repeating Daniel’s name. Armand lifts his hips. Shameless, he spreads his thighs and arches his back in his silent demand for more.

“Hm? Is there something you need?” Daniel asks. 

xoxo ♥

[capvampconnection]

@lestatetlouis #and then this tonal shift lasts for 20 pages before the most traumatising shit you’ve ever read in your life #that’s a false sense of security #and this book is pure pain #make no mistake @vvi0lets-and-visc3ra #THE SHIFT IS SOOOO FUNNY #i love the tone shift between how louis portrays lestat and armand vs how lestat portrays lestat and armand #louis describes lestat as a bumbling buffoon who knows nothing and is mean and armand is this stoic all knowing ancient vampire #but then in tvl we see lestat is this freak guided by love and passion who’s trying to have fun and seek out knowledge #oh and he’s a big cry baby #and a slut #and armand in lestats pov is this ‘broken child’ with beauty he compares to princesses and angels but he possesses great misery and he’s #really strong and powerful but also lets himself be possessed by others and also he’s just a little guy #who needs to be guided and maybe he doesn’t really know as much as he seems like he should at his big age #i could go on and on #truly such a huge shift from louis’s guilt and existentialism to lestats sass and theatrics

@tobeconsumed #but then theres another complete tonal shift where lestat essentially starts trauma dumping#cut to: 20 pages later when he stumbles upon a room full of corpses that look like him and drinks his own blood-vomit#cut to: marius' 70 page (SEVENTY!!) interlude of the most boring bullshit you've ever read#and then at the end its like#“i reunited w louis and he was just as sad and beautiful as hes always been#and ik i fell in love w like 6 other people in this book but i love him sm and also he told me not to go on tour bc he was worried abt me#but i do what want and he still followed me 😩“#literally batshit

@whyinthewild #i love tvl#he loves everyone! and he's an ass!#he has so much tenderness and love for people in him and yet hes so selfabsorbed#love without empathy or responsibility#but still love and real delight in others and connection#a kind of love that cant help but sometimes fall into compassion#i love that he seems to stand in many ways for a love for human life

@superstardestroyer #people make so much fun of the intro but “WHATUP ITS YA BOI” is A Choice #You do not accidentally craft something that iconic and then immediately plunge into the incredibly dour grittiness immediately after #on accident or by like default that is one of the most incredible tone shifts any novel series has ever had and it rewires your entire #fuckign neurochemistry if you read it early enough in life I feel like

i've started reading tvl and no amount of posts telling me there's a "huge tonal shift" could have prepared me for this HUGE TONAL SHIFT this is the funniest fucking thing i've ever read it genuinely goes like:

louis, narrator of iwtv: as i wandered the streets of paris, i wished most of all for death. i had called to god, to satan, anyone, to find meaning in it all. but for an evil creature such as myself there is no place in this world. there can be no love where this evil lies. it was as though a veil separated me from all that could be good and righteous. i did not deserve to love and be loved in return, not by claudia, lestat, armand. to attempt it would be a sisyphean task, a fools tale. and yet...... the need for hole from armand was so great. greater was only the need for........ living human blood.

lestat, narrator of tvl: hey guys, my name is lestat, you may know me because i'm really hot and sexy. english isn't my first language so sorry if i make any mistakes!! okay here's my story: after rotting beneath the earth for decades, my hot and sexy body has finally risen from the ground. i used to be depressed, but now i'm slutting it up again in the 20th century! first thing i did was get some (hot and sexy) new clothes and then wore them while riding my (hot and sexy) motorcycle and listening to bach on my sony walkman. while i was watching this super niche indie film (you've probably not heard of it) "apocalypse now" i realized that i'm so evil that i shouldn't exist. but then i realized what could make me deserve to live on this planet: rock n roll music.

[00ff00]

i was tagged by @thesims2psp !! tysm for tagging me <3

rules : list your top 5 of your favorite sims worlds

since I've almost exclusively played ts2 for all of my life this is just gonna be a ranking of the ts2 hoods i guess LET'S GO

1 : Veronaville

this is very much so a tie with strangetown i mostly put V first as a statement lmao

I love Veronaville. so much. I mean first of all it's the first hood I've ever played in ?? I come from Brittany, a region in the north-west of France. It's landscape and some of it's architecture looks very similar to Veronaville and that's why i first liked it, but also why it's so nostalgic to me. I love the main Capp and Monty families. I love their characterization, I think the scripted events are funny, it's just good drama. it's fun. I read Romeo and Juliet because of it when I was 12. I made a simblr because i was crying about finding out that other people also shipped tycutio to my friend. yeah.

2. Strangetown

Again, this is very much so a tie, and good thing I chose to not include the handheld versions because this would have made judging very complicated.

I love this hood sm. I think it genuinely inspired a lot of my writing and my taste. I think it's weird, I think it invites you to be creative in the most perfect way. i remember waiting through so many loading screens excited but with a tinge of fear, just because i thought of something and wanted to check in this or that sims memories or family tree. I felt like I was uncovering something. It's so fascinating, with it's street names, it's empty houses that are so fucking liminal, and broken spaceship.

3. Pleasantview

Pleasantview is so iconic, and i like torturing Mortimer. Also, I'm obsessed with 10 oak street. I think the Calientes are visually ingrained in my brain from staring at their polygons for so long.

4. Belladonna Cove

I LOVE apartment life !!!! I love this hood !!! but I don't know why !! I think i just like the city. It has a vibe. I have a lot of love for Armand DeBateau and his daughter. for some reason. idk. I ship him with Malcolm Landgraab a lot.

5. Riverblossom Hills

Love this hood as well, mostly I think it's lower because I never played with the premades long enough. I didn't care as much for it's plotlines, although I do love the lakes and the longer winter. I played with my own sims a lot more in this hood for some reason ?? But i still love this Riverblossom Hills, everything has such a romantic tinge to it, especially in the night.

6. Desiderata Valley

sorry to this man.

I don't think of it.

tag : @kittykittycattycatty @kneesofpoultry @eliitosty @cheap-ghosts sorry if yall have already been tagged <3 kisses

[nightcolorz]

I know you are not home (home being the internet) but you can answer when you are back

(hey! if you are reading this, welcome back!)

Anyway I've been thinking lately about Marius's handling of Daniel when he was "sick" (crazy) and what it says about him and his core values

Specifically:

Not informing Armand that Daniel was unwell and with him

And

Not tolerating Daniel's choice of creative outlet fully, namely not letting him use recycling and assorted objects to build his little cities and making him use only mass produced packs

I think both things are very telling of who Marius is as a person, he doesn't see Daniel and Armand's relationship as something valuable, he is blindsided when they get back together (which happens basically the second they are allowed the privacy to have a full conversation) and he doesn't think what Daniel is doing with his models as real art

I can't help but think he made sure Armand and Daniel didn't have contact those years because he knew if they did they would both abandon him, but he told himself (and maybe even believed that he was doing it to protect them both out of love)

He thinks love equals control and that love can not exist without hierarchy and subservience

Thoughts?

It took me so long to answer this bcus I have massive thoughts!

I think the way that Marius treats Daniel and Armand when it comes to their creative outlets is rlly interesting and telling and I’m so happy u brought that up. I’ve always gotten the impression that Marius is kind of pretentious about art. He has the whole “control = love” mentality and I think that’s plays into what he thinks art is/means. The way that Marius creates is by making exact replicas of real life or pre existing paintings with his vampire mimicking skills. So his art always comes off as very detailed and fascinating but also impersonal and in some way artificial. When he ends up accidentally inserting parts of himself into his work (like painting pandora into his piece when he’s thinking of her) he considers it in error and erases it. I get the impression that Marius considers art more the act of possessing smth preexisting and making it in his own image, taking control over it by immortalizing it, rather then expressing a part of himself or reflecting on some meaning.

he sort of pushes that perspective onto Daniel when hes under his care by making him use store bought items to create his models instead of letting him delve into his mind to sort through some creativity and make smth of his own. Marius likely thinks that by allowing Daniel to only build things in this specific correct way he is both teaching Daniel how to correctly make art and he is also controlling daniel and any kind of narrative that may be happening by restricting Daniel by exploring any of his self or emotions that Marius doesn’t have a say over. Daniel can’t delve into his “crazy” mind to create if Marius controls what he is creating, and I think Marius sees this as a good thing. The less access Daniel has to his sense of self the less likely he’ll go “mad” (and the less likely Marius won’t be able to keep him docile anymore)

when it comes to Armand, when Armand was a child he was very artistically skilled and inclined. He was so religious and faith meant sm to him that he only drew religious icons, which caused him to be taken advantage of and exploited by figures in his community. When he is sexually assaulted and sold into slavery he represses his childhood memories and his ability to paint. painting becomes traumatically triggering for Armand, and reminds him of how he feels like he’s lost his faith and connection to god bcus of what’s happened to him, and he refuses to do it. Instead of trying to encourage Armand to recontextualize his relationship with art and to use it as an outlet to regain his identity Marius instead takes advantage of the opportunity he sees of Armand being a blank slate and pushes his own views of religion and art onto him as to replace to old ones. I know Marius had good intentions there, and was probably like “by giving Armand a more positive view of this he will be less terrified”, but what he ends up doing is further depriving a slave child from his cultural identity and religious values by teaching him that his faith is the wrong type of faith and he should consume art the way marius does. Marius is once again asserting his control over someone in his care’s capacity for creativity by making sure his perspective is the one that is dominating the creation.

The way I see it, as an artist Marius understands the power of art and creation and knows that to keep his “love = control so these dudes I love need to be under my control” mentality he needs to limit how his loved ones r able to engage with their own creativity so that they aren’t tapping into a level of independence that is beyond Marius’s power.

I think this is also exactly why he limits Armand’s ability to interact with Daniel while he’s “sick”. Armand and daniels relationship is such a hurricane and Marius definitely knows that if he puts those two in the same room they r a force that he can’t push around to his will. But I think Marius is definitely telling himself that he’s separating Armand and Daniel bcus Armand is a mentally ill unstable lunatic who will ruin daniels brain and Daniel is too fragile to deal with that. I also think that since Armand and daniels relationship doesn’t follow this master and apprentice dynamic and is instead this emotional colorful hot mess crazy kid combo who can’t keep there hands off each other and r addicted to each others blood that it’s therefore Bad and Irresponsible (it is but it’s better then whatever Marius thinks is correct 💀) so he needs to be the big parent and protect them from themselves (keep them reliant on him so that they don’t leave him)

thnak u for the ask this is all so interesting !!

[nightcolorz]

Hii can you explain what do you meant by amc's armand involvement with the trial being softened? With the whole memory wiping I think they did they opposite so I would love to get your perspective on that xx

Also do you think they made armand a two dimensional villain with their choices this season?? My thoughts are all over the place ha ha

thank u for the ask anon ! Good question.

I see where u r coming from, bcus in the iwtv book Armand’s involvement in the trial is definitely less intense than it is in the show. What I was referencing there is how in the vampire lestat it’s revealed (in a way that is portrayed as unambiguously true) that instead of rehearsing with him as he did in the show Armand tortured Lestat and kept him in captivity out of anger and revenge bcus of how hes still mad Lestat destroyed his cult in the 1700s, and then forced Lestat through torture means to confess to being murdered by Claudia to have her killed, and then he used this upper hand to ( as Lestat describes it, out of spite 💀) take Louis as his companion, and then he throws Lestat off a tower 😭❤️.

So as of now, the way the show is putting it where Armand’s actions r less coming from a place of insane revenge and r more out of a desperate ploy to retain his attachment to his safety net (the coven), I definitely consider that softening. Not necessarily bcus Armand’s actions r better exactly, in the books despite his torturing of Lestat, Armand fully intended to keep Louis alive and never planned to hurt him let alone kill him. But I think the severity of Armand’s actions r softened (in a way that I like) bcus of how they r portrayed as clearly rooted in fear and desperation, which is pretty sympathetic. While in the books the trial was much more unforgivable bcus Armand did it all cuz he hated lestat for ruining his life, but in the show Armand went through with it bcus he was scared of having his life uprooted by loosing his place in the coven and he knew that by letting Louis die he would be safer then he would be giving up the coven for Louis. I agree with u on how the memory manipulation is definitely an addition that makes Armand look worse, but to me it comes off as equally as fear based as his involvement in the trial was, and not scheming or villainous in a way that I can’t sympathize with. Armand is doing the memory wiping bcus he’s desperately afraid to loose Louis, bcus of his trauma response that tells him everyone will leave him, and makes him believe that if he doesn’t have someone he is devoting himself to he can’t live. So without Louis hes “nothing”. So it’s bad obviously, but not bad in a way I found non complexly villainous. And definitely more understandable and sympathetic then a lot of stuff Armand does in the books 💀

U probably know my answer to ur second question by my response to the first lol, but I definitely don’t think Armand was made one dimensionally villainous in s2 at all haha. I think despite how they write him to do some bad things he doesn’t do in the books, they portray it in a way where u can see how all of his villainous actions r based in some very deeply seated trauma that informs every way he behaves. Part of this is definitely Assad’s incredible performance, but u can always tell how sad and needy Armand is, in everything he does, he’s so lost. They definitely try to hammer home how Armand’s actions r so trauma and fear based by giving us his backstory so early and showing connections between how his trauma informs the way he sees the world and makes decisions. As of now, I think it’s rlly well done!

thank u sm for the ask anon!! ❤️❤️

[nightcolorz]

Just saw your post about relating Mitski song to Armand....

I am begging you on my knees to explain Nobody to me. "Venus, planet of love / Was destroyed by global warming / Did it's people want too much, too? / Did it's people want too much?" Just that passage + the possibilities make me insane. Like Armand as to have painted roman mythology scenes (since he was owned by a painter), he must know a lot of the stories. Does he appears in any of those painted scenes? Does he see himself as a sterile environment for emotions? 😭😭😭😭

RAHHHH!!!! YESSSSSS!!! So true so true runs around. I often consider nobody more of a lestat song than an Armand song and u pointing this lyric specifically out as Armand core is opening my brain up sm omggg. Ahhh tysm sm for the ask I have thoughts!

the comparison of Armand to Venus is so sad, omg, bcus like, yes. The way “Venice planet of love was destroyed by global warming” functions in the context of the song supports the main theme with a sort of a self aware edge. Nobody is about how incredibly desperate the narrator is for human connection while being completely unable to connect with ppl. By bringing up Venus the meaning is basically like, “I have so much love in me but I want too much that I can’t have and it’s destroying me”. By bringing up global warming also there is an edge of “the world is a corrupt place that is falling apart and it’s preventing me from feeling like I’m able to be a person”. Which is all so Armand ‼️‼️ the imagery of a planet that has so much to give and so much to love being destroyed by the curroption of humanity is ugh, Armand to a tea. He was born an earnest, innocent child, with so much potential and sm love in his heart and anything he could have been was stripped from him horribly bcus men r fucked up and evil. He was a human made an object, a sterile environment as u said, omgg. And because of what he’s been through Armand is unable to connect with people or ever feel like he’s a part of the world or part of humanity. And he’s always longing for that connection, always feeling that gaping hole in his chest destroy him from the inside and looking for something to fill it. And all he wants is love 😭 love he can never understand or find for himself because he was never given it. UGHHH

also, nobody always reminds me of this rant Armand goes on in queen of the damned, where he’s freaking out as he talks to Daniel and talking about how he feels like the world keeps becoming more sterile and isolated, and being alone keeps becoming more normalized, and he is watching in real time as loneliness eats up the population collectively and destroys them. And I always felt like Armand gets so freaked out about this because he suffers from feeling unable to connect with other people or the world and unable to understand it, and I think for Armand seeing this becoming a wide spread issue for normal people is frightening cus of how he relates to it

thank u SM for this ask omg!!!! I hope you enjoy my answer <3 (Cough cough guys pls feel free to send me “explain how this Mitski song is Armand” asks its my favorite thing to do)

[nightcolorz]

your music+armand posts leave me unwelllll (i am a mitski fan turned iwtv fan ofc) and I was wondering if you had thoughts/feelings about thursday girl and armand? also I just want to say your analyses are beautiful and I enjoy reading them a lot !!

Thank u sm omggggg!!!! I’m an iwtv/tvc fan turned Mitski fan lmao, i get u so hard 😭. Thursday girl is SO armand omgg. Thursday girl is about the narrator indulging in self destructive behavior as she longs for someone to “tell her no”/care enough about her to stop her from hurting herself. There’s also a theme in Thursday girl about lack of identity and the narrators need for someone to tell/show her who she is and what she should be doing. One of the lyrics is “glory to the night that shows me what I am”, the night symbolizing the narrator’s patterns of self destruction, implying that she self destructs because she believes that is “what she is”. There is also a lyric where the narrator says she’s “not happy or sad, just up and down, but always bad”. This likely means that she feels no agency in her actions and does things that hurt her because she feels like that is all she is/deserves/can do. So when she is pleading for someone to “tell her no”, she is longing for someone to come and give her a meaning that isn’t painful. She wants somebody to tell her that she can be something else. There is also an undercurrent of objectification, an implication that the narrator never encounters anyone who will tell her no because they gain pleasure from her suffering.

this is all INCREDIBLY Armand. He is always lacking an identity and longing for someone to give him orders/a purpose so that he will know what to do/what he is. And Armand is always stuck in patterns of relying on people who tell him that he is meant to serve them and be objectified by them, and Armand can not form a self sufficient sense of self without someone telling him what he is, so he believes this and even needs it. Whether he realizes it or not, part of Armand is longing for someone to tell him he is more than that, and to give him the tools to be somebody. But that never rlly happens for Armand 💔 horribly. I always get the impression that all Armand rlly needs is for someone to give him the validation, the support, and the patience he needs to learn how to be a person, but bcus of how strange and indiscernible Armand is no one is ever able to see him clearly enough to give him this, and often Armand is surrounded by ppl who can see his vulnerability and want to take advantage of it, which is very Thursday girl to me. Armand is always stuck in patterns being told that he is made to be hurt and objectified, and he longs for somebody to see his pain and help him, but he barely even knows that this is what he longs for, so he stays in these patterns of destruction because it’s “what he is”, or what he’s being told he is

thank u sm for the ask AHH i love Armand and Mitski my fav things. I’m so happy u enjoy my analysis ur so sweet ❤️❤️ ily anon hope u enjoy this response

[nightcolorz]

here for the armand writing tips 🙏🏽

I love u sm anon ur so iconic for this bless u 🙌🙌 I love that u saw me publicly slut shaming @butchybats + extending an invite for him to hmu so that I can info dump about armand and u were like omg I can not pass up this opportunity. Ur so real and this made my day. My bad if this is unhelpful or incoherent lmaoo I am just raw dogging this educational experience. For me writing armand has always come very naturally so this is the first time I’m thinking about this in a way I could explain to other ppl. I hope u get smth out of whatever tangent I’m about to embark on and I sincerely thank u bcus I love this and I love talking about army u r indulging tf out of me in the absolute best way. Also quick disclaimer I am going off of book armand, so tho this may be helpful to show fans (esp cuz show armand doesn’t rlly have an established personality yet) it may not specifically apply. Anyways

I understand why Armand would feel like a difficult character to write bcus part of his whole deal is that he is very strange and unknowable. No one knows what Armand’s deal is, nor does he, so how r u as the writer meant to figure that shit out. He is like a void of a person basically (affectionate). He is barely capable of conscious self reflection, most characters don’t rlly know what to make of him and those that claim to r often wrong. So I get it, feels intimidating. But for me breaking down Armand to his essentials puts it into perspective a bit. 

Armand doesn’t really know how to be a person, he is only a Thing when other people are there to give him something to work off of. So he’s a different character depending on who he is interacting with. Armand with Daniel is very different then Armand with Louis, Armand with Lestat is a whole different beast, etc. He is always playing a sort of role, with Daniel he is the boss slash master vampire commanding the mortal. With Louis he is an ancient with the answers Louis has been looking for. But the performance is often cracked, unveiled whether intentionally or not, especially by those Armand loves, so what is beneath that? Well. Kind of a child. Think of a kid in their dad’s shoes. Now imagine the kid is putting on a very deep voice and standing up all straight and professional. Then he trips, and suddenly he starts crying and screaming and yelling for mommy cuz he hurt his knee. That’s Armand, when u get down to it. Like a scary man in a suit who is secretly a little boy on stilts. But wait! There’s more.

Armand is not only an actor, he is also not a very good actor. He’s like those myths about faes replacing human children, very uncanny valley, not rlly a person. So in any given situation, armand is going to be just a little bit off. Just a little odd, a tad wrong. Think of a scenario (it can be sexual you awful heathen, or it could be like, guy is in the grocery store. Or smth) now think of something that would be a little off putting and strange to do in this situation. Chances r this would be in character for armand. I always think of him as something who doesn’t know what it means to be a person, yet is always trying to learn and understand and to pretend, but never really succeeds.

Armand also has conflicting facets of his identity that come into play in different ways and inform how he interacts with different characters. Amadeo is the beginnings of the person that was never able to completely form and grow. So Amadeo is like the normal bits of Armand, the human teenager who’s playful and funny and empathetic, a bit rude, kind of weird but he means well, likes technology. Gives Lestat a light punch on the shoulder when he ruffles his hair, etc. Amadeo rarely plays into sex for Armand, sex is very clinical for him—he approaches sex like an alien. But Amadeo is still there and when Armand is happy or care free some of the unsettlingly oddness goes away, and he seems sort of like a mortal teenager for a moment. The innocence and the moments of childishness are when Armand is most sincere. Though this is fleeting, and he often behaves cold and distant and inhuman. What I like to remember when I write Armand is that he is not unfeeling, tho he pretends to be. He acts unfeeling but it’s a mask, beneath the mask his unfiltered self is extremely feeling and emotional and sensitive. He’s as much of a cry baby as Lestat, he’s just better at hiding it. 

Andrei is also there, but he is much subtler, and he’s more so the embodied longing in armand that never really goes away. There is a need for answers and for knowledge and for guidance in armand always, and that’s Andrei, searching for his God or his family or his home or his culture, that were taken from him and never adequately replaced. Armand clings to purposes and things and people because he never learned how to fill that void left by the loss Andrei experienced, and then again Amadeo experienced due to Marius and the cult. He is the culmination of so many years of a child’s growth being repeatedly stunted by adults with selfish purposes, a child who keeps getting beaten down or molded into smth different by ppl who want to make him into smth new, until he ends up a creature without a concept of who he is at all. So he’s fractured almost, not rlly with a consistent identity since he was never permitted to grow one. Just a culmination of a bunch of identities he took on throughout the years. Im sure this sounds complicated, but the great thing about being a writer with a character like this is he may be a void, but he is also a canvas. Armand is so multifaceted that u could do sm with him and it wouldn’t be ooc

So in simpler terms, a good rule of thumb when writing armand, is to think of him as a guy who is a ball of extreme feeling and pain and joy and emotion that is being masked by a cold demeanor, that is often slightly off, a little wrong, cuz it’s first untrue. He is always trying to find a purpose to fill the void that he is, and he never rlly does for very long. 

So when it comes to portraying this? Lol uhhhh. There are some many layers of armand that exist and it’s up to you to decide which ones u want to portray in ur scenario. Say for example, ur writing a fic where armand and Lestat argue. You have to evaluate Lestat’s affect on armand, his closeness with him, the context, etc, and decide what parts of armand would slip out. If I was writing a fic like this I would think ok. So Lestat is like a trigger button for armand, they hate each other but they love each other, is a lot of big emotions and passion, and Lestat also reminds armand of the most vulnerable parts of himself that he is trying to keep under wraps. So Lestat and armand arguing? Likely armand is going to be cold and distant, but not for long, bcus quickly Lestat will get under his skin and cause him to revert to unmasked emotion ball screaming crying. How about, uh, Daniel and armand go on a fluffy date devils minion era. I’d write armand as odd, strange even, curious and excited but sort of cold and distant in a confusing way. Little slips of sincere childlike joy and emotion come out but they r brief. 

I hope this is making sense lmao.

It’s much easier when writing armand, esp if it’s smth ur not confident in, to write from someone else’s pov. Armand’s pov is a tough one, even for me. It’s not that his language or sentences r strange, it’s just that the way he thinks of the world and himself is so specific and unique that u gotta think a lot to replicate it. 

Armand, especially pre TVA, is nearly incapable of self reflection. He is so dissociated from his own experiences he sees his memories and life in fragments rather then events leading into each other that inform a larger context and “theme”. For example, in devils minion he explains to Daniel that he couldn’t explain what a time of his life “was like” because he can’t conceptualize concepts like that, tho he could tell Daniel if it rained on a specific date, cuz that is smth concrete to him. he just couldn’t identify what smth is like bcus he doesn’t reflect on his emotions and his experiences in a way that would allow him to make a judgement like that. 

He just goes through life and doesn’t look back. This is a hard pov to write from cuz these r basic capabilities a first person narrator must have for a story to make sense lmfao! Armand couldn’t say, “the day was a bad one bcus this happened and I was sad.” Especially not “this experience affected me this way and now I this this and this.” However, if u want to write from Armand’s pov u can integrate these ideas into it while retaining this part of Armand’s character. 

Tho armand can not self reflect, and his way of thinking and experiencing is a very bare bones simplistic way (think of armand saying “my soul hurt” in TVA narration then not explaining lmfao, that’s the extent of his self awareness and abilities to identify his emotions) u can convey complex ideas  through his simplistic approach. Through context clues, symbolism (armand loves symbolism), and word choice + description, it’s cool and possible to convey armand having a moment etc without using ur first person tools to have him self reflect. For example, if I were to write from Armand’s pov were he is having like, a traumatic flashback, instead of writing “the moment forced me to remember insert traumatic time here and my heart raced as it came back to me suddenly, and I felt like I was back there” or whatever, I’d write “flashes of red appaeared b4 my vision like many stabbing knives, and it felt as if I was engulfed in an ocean of red suddenly, unable to escape the waves, the blood, those voices of many pasts” whatever yada yada. Cuz red armand considers synopsis with pain and trauma (he tends to see it b4 his eyes when he’s in pain synesthesia king) ocean reminds him of dying of starvation in the brothel as a kid (he described it as the only thing he payed attention to as he died, the lapping sounds of the water). Past, etc. bad example I hope u get it 😭

U just gotta rlly think for armand pov lol. So if ur nervy about writing armand anyway I recommend starting or practicing with writing from someone else’s perspective about him. Daniel is a very good character to do this with, bcus his perception of armand is relatively accurate and he is a very bluntly descriptive and self reflective character who understands himself and others very well. Lestat is also very self reflective and his perception of armand is pretty easy to write imo lol. If u just write some shit like “armand was beautifully broken, like a discarded doll in an antique shop, and I wished sadly that he’d allow me to repair him.” Then you’ve got it down pretty well lmfao.

When it comes to more specific less big picture stuff, like how to write armand talking or what does armand fuck like Ryan save me from this hell, I recommend reading his scenes a Shit Ton until it’s rlly burned into ur brain like me. I don’t know if I can adequately explain how armand talks, it’s very blunt—he’s very blunt but simultaneously very flowery. Remember he is a guy who is trying to be distant, and doesn’t rlly understand how being normal works, but he also has a vibrant inner life and a shit ton of emotion waiting to boil over beneath the surface. Yah. Lmfao. 

I’m sorry this was so weird and confusing, I hope it was interesting or helpful lol. I’m so tired lmfao.sorry it turned in to meta 😭 It was hard trying to come up with advice for a prompt so non specific but I had a hella great time and ily for this anon. If anyone wants to ask me more specific questions about writing armand I would be so happy. Xoxoxo love y’all sm loool 

[nightcolorz]

just wanted to drop in and say i absolutely love seeing ur posts and takes !!! i love the way u interpret armand so much and im immensely looking forward to any and all future fics from u <3<3

ONG THANK U SM 🥹🥹🥹❤️❤️❤️ that means sm to me anon ur so nice ❤️❤️❤️