#as soon as daniel finds armand

[jaypentaghast]

asking for a friend

[nightcolorz]

I would love to hear your thoughts on autistic Armand, if you haven’t already spoke about this! Imo he’s very autsitic coded, and it’s very precious to me as an autistic iwtv fan :]

OMG!!! RUNS AROUND. Yes lmao I talk about this a lot actually it is one of my favorite Armand things to meta about bcus I’m also autistic and he is my special interest🙏I was trying to find some of the stuff I’ve written about autistic Armand but tumblrs search engine makes it near impossible to find anything so I gave up 😭, but believe me they r out there. Even tho I talk about this a lot I would love love love to talk about it some more for u anon because I can never get enough of armandtism.

I first figured Armand was autistic when I was reading the vampire Lestat because when he is first introduced he is completely non verbal and only communicates through the mind gift. through further explanation it’s very much implied that he does this because he finds putting his thoughts into words hard and he considers just projecting them into peoples brains much easier. Armand speaks out loud for the first time like more than halfway through the book, and lestat is surprised to hear him lol. This is super autistic I feel like that’s obvious 🙏 it’s basically the vampire power equivalent of using a non verbal communication device. Armand having trouble with connecting with people, understanding how to “fit in”, and talking r prevailing parts of his character throughout the whole series (not just tvl) which solidified my headcanon into basically a canon fact in my mind lol.

When Armand is first introduced in iwtv his strangeness is chalked up to his vampirism, but it’s soon revealed throughout tvl and qotd that Armand is considered a strange outcast by other vampires. The things he struggles with r unique to him and r not representative of vampires in general. His otherness/strangeness can also not be chalked up to his trauma or his age turned because Armand was also an outcast as a young child. It’s described in the vampire Armand that Armand was not understood by his parents or his community because he was obsessed with and freakishly good at painting. His community interprets his unusualness as a sign of some divine intervention, the priests believe he is a saint or a prophet sent to earth, even at times saying things implying that he is “not human”. Unusually high quickly developing skill in childhood is an autistic trait, as is hyper fixation on an activity/topic that becomes a core identity factor and prevailing obsession. The affects of Armand’s trauma only worsen the severity of his autistic traits. C-ptsd and autism often overlap and coexist in autistic people who were traumatized in childhood, which seems to be Armand’s case.

in queen of the damned Armand is at his peak autistic lol, I feel like this is when most book readers gain that head canon. The Devils minion chapter revolves around Armand using Daniel as a guide to help him learn how to be “normal” and to blend in to the modern age. Armand can’t seem to figure out how to blend in on his own because he is unable to understand social norms of any time period enough to integrate himself into society. Armand is in love with technology and what most would consider monotonous sensory experiences. He stares at his own reflection for hours, he loves kitchen appliances and watching ingredients whir in blenders, cameras, he watches the same movie over and over again and never gets bored of it. The way Armand fixates on technology really reminds me of how a lot of autistic people played as children. He enjoys repetitive, sensory behaviors over “fun”. For Armand this means watching the same things repeatedly, which is a form of visual stimming. There r moments where Armand is trying to understand his world, but is so blind to what he is trying to understand that he goes about his discoveries wrong. Such as in qotd when he tries to interrogate strangers to gain information on societal norms but he only gets uncomfortable glances. Armand is desperate to understand and to connect but he is consistently inherently alienated, whether it be from humanity or from other vampires or from himself.

Armand also can not process his memories comprehendingly. This is part trauma part autism, but autism is def a factor. Because of his repressed trauma induced memory loss Armand finds it difficult to talk about himself to people. This is worsened by Armand being unable to comprehend the aspects of story telling that he needs to be able to tell people about his life. Armand explains to Daniel that he vividly remembers small details, such as dates and weather, but he could not tell Daniel what “things were like” because he “doesn’t know what that means”. Literal thinking, the inability to grasp vague, fiction based concepts like narratives and metaphor, and strict fixation on minor details like numbers, are all autistic traits!

Armand also struggles heavily with emotional regulation. He is described as often having intense and extreme meltdowns where he cries and screams and breaks things. Armand is easily bothered, in tva he mentions that he covers his ears when he is overwhelmed. The vampire Armand begins actually with Armand becoming overwhelmed in public and trying to escape to an attic so that he can be alone in silence. Armand copes with his intense emotions by putting on a mask of neutrality. He is often described as expressionless and blank, uncanny. But this is a mask, and when Armand can no longer mask and his disguise lapses his facial expressions r described by lestat as being so over the top and emotional that they are disturbing and weird. Over the top unnatural facial expressions as well as blank unreadable ones are both autistic traits. For Armand he is naturally overly emotive to the point of being considered horrifying, and he hides this by taking the opposite extreme. Either way, either expression Armand puts on causes him to be socially outcast.

Armand often describes feeling like there is something wrong with him that causes him to be isolated from others and he’s not sure what it is. In prince lestat he tells Gregory that he doesn’t know why it’s so hard for him to have relationships when other vampires are fully capable of doing that. In the vampire Armand he explains to David that he’s crazy because his mind isn’t built right and his senses are tripled so he shouldn’t bother trying to understand him. I rlly relate to this as someone who felt like I was from another dimension as a child bcus i didn’t know the unspoken life rules everyone else did.

Armand is often treated like a child by the other vampires and assumed to be emotionally immature and too fragile and insane to be helpful. Armand says in the vampire Armand that he doesn’t consider himself an adult because he can’t function like one. This could be due to the age he was turned, but it’s shown to us that characters like Benji and even to an extent Claudia r able to self regulate and function appropriately despite being turned even younger then Armand was.

in conclusion, book Armand is an autistic person who was never given proper support or understanding because the environment and the time period he was born in decided to alienate him further rather then work to help him socialize and learn appropriate skills, and because of the necessities he has been deprived of and the horrible trauma he endured Armand is never able to learn to function in the way he was likely capable of. this recessive quality in pair with his autism caused Armand it be unable to cope or self regulate or learn ways to understand himself since he wasn’t given a chance to in his formative years. He’s a great representative of what many autistic people who experienced intense child abuse experience.

Im rlly happy with the shows portrayal with Armand so far partly because he is omg, so autistic. Show Armand shares so many of book Armand’s autistic traits. inability to understand himself or others, fixation on small details but inability to understand the big picture, etc. even his iPad is autistic asf! My ipad is my comfort item that I carry around with me to self sooth, and this is def the vibe Armand’s iPad gives me in the show. Even assads performance is autistic! He is able to play Armand masking and Armand unmasking, the stilted expressions he gives and the blank stares, the uncomprehending earnestness. AGHHHH!! Assad stims with his fingers when Armand is nervous too which is just an amazing touch. I hope the show explores Armand’s autism, because that would literally be a dream come true. Even still, for now I’m satisfied.

thank u so so much anon for the ask this made me so happy 🙏❤️ autistic Armand means so much to me and has gotten me though some tough times. Understanding and analyzing Armand helps me understand myself better and feel more comfortable with how I am. Earlier this year I gave myself a concussion because I was harmfully stimming during a meltdown, and while I was in the emergency room I was holding the vampire Armand and imaging that he would relate to what I was going through. So yeah he is very special to me too! And once again it makes me so so happy that u got me to talk some about it. I hope this was coherent or interesting lol I felt like I was all over the place

[desertfangs]

The Parallels Between Armand and Daniel's Turnings

I’m rereading Blood and Gold and I was struck by how similar Armand and Daniel’s turnings are.

Armand and Daniel were both mortals in love with vampires. Armand (Amadeo at the time) knew Marius was something “other” pretty quickly, and eventually Marius even shows him that he’s a monster as a sort of test to see how he’ll react. Armand is no less smitten and still wants to be with Marius (and be like him - he even cutely asks if he just needs to drink the blood of evil doers to become like him.)

Daniel, of course, knew Armand was a vampire when they met, and he is also enamored with his monstrosity as well as his humanity. He wants to be a vampire when he finds Armand, but by the time he's turned, he also wants to live forever with him.

Both were given little drinks of vampire blood repeatedly as mortals before their turning, although for Daniel this went on for 8 years, and while it only lasted 2 or so years for Armand.

Both Armand and Daniel are dying when they’re turned (Armand from poison and Daniel from alcoholism). Marius had decided to turn Armand already, though he was waffling a little, and I'd argue Armand had made the same decision about Daniel.

Both Marius and Armand are brought to tears when faced with the reality of turning the one they love and both Armand and Daniel tell their would-be makers not to cry. From Blood and Gold: He smiled. And it was never innocent, no matter how beautiful, his smile, "Don't weep for me, Master," he answered. He struggled to rise a little from the pillow, his eyes very wide. "When the ikon fell, my fate was made, Master."

From Queen of the Damned: "Don't cry! It's not fair," Daniel said. "This is my rebirth. How can you cry? Don't you know what this means? Is it possible you never knew?" Both Armand and Daniel have to affirm that yes, they do want the blood, and to be with their soon-to-be-maker:

Blood and Gold: “Would you truly have the Blood, Amadeo?” I asked. “Say it to me, that you forsake the light of the sun forever, and forever you will thrive on the blood of the Evil Doer as I thrive.” “I vow it, I will it,” he answered. “You'll live forever, unchanging?” I asked, “feeding upon mortals who can be your brothers and sisters no more?” "Yes, forever unchanging," he answered, "among them, though they are my brothers and sisters no more.”

Queen of the Damned: "Say the word, my love," Armand said. "I'll do it. We'll be in hell together after all." "But don't you see," Daniel said, "all human decisions are made like this. Do you think the mother knows what will happen to the child in her womb? Dear God, we are lost, I tell you. What does it matter if you give it to me and it's wrong! There is no wrong! There is only desperation, and I would have it! I want to live forever with you."

Anyhow, I just think the parallels between Marius/Armand and Armand/Daniel are really neat and this is a really stark example.

[armandsfangs]

AU: Young Daniel in Paris in the late 40s. He and some other party goers are the intended targets for a coven hunt. Louis and Armand are casually sitting to watch the entertainment unfold- Claudia and Madeleine are off on a separate hunt- the coven starts squabbling when they reveal themselves and Daniel and some others are getting away.

Armand stands before the coven fuming.

"Did you order this meal to go?"

Sam is confused. "No! Why?"

"Because THERE IT GOES!" Armand points a claw at the fleeing humans.

Various humans are lost to pouncing and other things, one is dragged out from under the brush Daniel is trying to hide in. Soon all that is left is Daniel and he is the next sacrifice...can he win his way out of this or is he doomed?

There is one of them left.

Armand can hear the staccato of the boy's heartbeat, his ragged breaths, his sudden yelp as he stumbles down the darkened staircase, away from the ruckus of the feeding coven.

With light steps, Armand follows, and finds the boy scrambling to pick himself up at the foot of the stairs, his clothes torn and scuffed with dirt, a veritable street urchin. It's impressive that he managed to slip away, but Armand cannot let him live after witnessing the hunt.

A foot on his chest makes the boy gasp and stiffen. He turns his face up towards Armand. Even in the gloom, the boy's eyes are bright, glistening with unshed tears. He babbles in English with an American accent.

"I'm sorry - please don't kill me - I wasn't even meant to be here tonight - I only snuck in for the booze - please I'll never say anything to anyone - "

The acidic scent of fear rolls off the boy in tidal waves. And yet... Armand's nostrils flare. There's something else underneath, roiling like a riptide.

Armand presses down harder, forcing the air from the boy's struggling lungs with another choked gasp. There it is again. A sweet undercurrent. The boy's lips are quivering.

This must be the devil, yes, with his hellfire eyes, he is going to rip me apart with his teeth and my blood will paint his perfect lips and he'll drag me down to hell and I'm fucked in the head because I don't want to die without tasting the blood in his mouth.

Hm, fascinating. Armand tilts his head, staring down at the boy's screwed up face. His foot trails lower, down the boy's abdomen, down to his groin, where he's half hard from being pinned down by a monstrosity. The boy's thoughts stop abruptly at the threatening pressure, replaced with only wordless longing. He desires with such intensity, he is a hole to be filled.

"Please," the boy exhales, curling around Armand's leg as tears fall from his still closed eyes.

"You don't even know what you are begging for," Armand says, without malice, "Is it your life? Is it mercy? Is it release?"

The boy's hips twitch. The fabric of his pants rasps against the leather of Armand's shoe. He whimpers, and the sound kindles something hot and viscous in Armand's gut.

"Please, I - I'll do anything you want - "

"Open your eyes," Armand says softly, stroking the boy's cheek with a single claw.

Splinters of jade crack open. The boy trembles when he meets Armand's eyes. He's trembling in anticipation, Armand realises with a degree of awe, as the boy's thoughts race with images of Armand mutilating him in various ways and in all of them, the boy is overcome with lust.

"Daniel," says Armand, pulling the name from the boy's mind. Even that is enough to make Daniel's hips jerk and his face flush. "As morbidly fascinating as your fantasies are, I have a better use for you."

Daniel lets out a shaky breath. The heat of it warms Armand's thigh. His eyes are wide and wet as his tongue darts out to lick his lips. Yes, anything, I can be good. I can be yours.

It almost knocks the breath out of Armand's lungs. This foolish mortal boy, on his knees in a state of humiliated arousal, willingly giving himself over to the whims of a monster, is a gaping hole that is theatening to pull Armand into a fatal freefall. The worst part is that Armand is walking over the edge with his eyes wide open.

He caresses Daniel's jugular, tracing the path of his veins, reveling in the way Daniel's pulse jumps beneath his fingers and the breathy moan elicited.

"This throat was made for a collar. Don't you think so, my pet?" Armand asks gently.

Daniel arches into his touch. "Yes, yes, yes - "

Armand smiles.

---

Thanks for the prompt! In spirit, Daniel became Denis (the guy from the book that humps Louis' leg) so you can decide if that's winning or not...

[iwtvfanevents]

Rewind the Tape —Episode 2

Art of the episode

Just like we did for the pilot, we took note of the art shown and mentioned in the second episode while we rewatched it, and we are sharing our findings with you. Did we miss any? Can you help us put a name to the unidentified ones? Do you have any thoughts about how these references could be interpreted?

Unnamed painting by Marius de Romanus

Created for the show (uncredited artist).

Armand (still "Rashid") tells Daniel that Marius was a contemporary of Tintoretto (1518-1594).

Transformation

Ron Bechet, 2021 [Identified by Gizmodo's Linda Codega, here.]

Bechet is a New Orleans-born visual artist. He's a relative of the early jazz pioneer Sidney Bechet. Exhibition Prospect.5 says about the collection this piece belongs to: "Bechet carefully renders the ways vines wrap themselves around trees for support and access to sunlight. At times, this relationship serves both the vine and the tree. Works such as Transformation depict a harmonious symbiosis, as tree and vine both flourish. (...) Through his immersive compositions, Bechet invites us to see history and ourselves in relationship to the beauty, power, and violence of the natural world." And, from Xula Gallery: "Here, we are gifted with the physical proximity of life and death – How they share the same organic space, how they sleep together as equals. The flora of South Louisiana's natural landscape is cleaved open to expose its roots. (...) Here is botany that has every potential of becoming monstrous. All of these meanderings are used to symbolize the deep historical roots of a family home and exhibits the precariousness of nature, both human and environmental, with all of its nurturing and destructive potential. (...) It is a diaspora body, skin folded back to reveal its elegant and resilient backbone."

Untitled photographs

Vivian Maier, undated

Maier was a street photographer whose work was discovered and distributed after her death —she took more than 150,000 photographs during her life, and never printed or circulated any. You can learn more about how her work came to light here. We don't actually see the self-portrait in the third picture, which hangs to the left, until episode four.

Dancers

Edgar Degas, 1899 [Identified by @nicodelenfent, here.]

Degas produced countless paintings of ballerinas throughout his career. While he is often considered an impressionist, he himself saw himself more as a realist and preferred harsh gritty subjects of working class backgrounds. Ballerinas at the time often came from working class or poor families and worked intense grueling hours.

Berthe Morisot with a Fan

Edouard Manet, 1872 [Identified by @nicodelenfent.]

Manet was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. The portrait in this scene shows his close friend, painter Berthe Morisot, wearing mourning blacks after the death of her father, but wearing a wedding ring —she was engaged to Manet's brother.

Portrait of Erich Lederer

Egon Schiele, 1912 [Identified by @nicodelenfent.]

The Schiele depicts a young Erich Lederer, son of art collectors Serena and August Lederer, whose collection was looted by the Gestapo.

Paddy Flannigan

George Bellows, 1908 [Identified by @nicodelenfent.]

The Bellows depicts a young impoverished boy on the streets of New York.

A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen, 1879

Lestat tells Louis "They'll seat us late, and we'll miss Nora's entrance with the Christmas tree," which quite a few fans soon identified as a reference to this play, in which a housewife becomes slowly disillusioned with marital life and eventually leaves her husband. This conclusion led to the play being banned in certain countries, such as Germany and Britain, and Ibsen was compelled to write an alternative ending, in which Nora's husband forced her to stay. In the two stage productions pictured above, you can see Kelsey Brennan and Nate Burger on the left, and Assad Zaman and Anjana Vasan on the right.

Unnamed paintings of Papa du Lac and Paul

Created for the show (uncredited artist).

Unidentified painting*

* The running theory is that the woman in this painting is Gabrielle, Lestat's mother; which would mean this is another uncredited prop painted for the show.

Woman in A Fur Coat

Edouard Manet, 1879

Additionally, on the bottom left corner of the frame you can catch a glimpse of another unidentified painting, but we couldn't get any clearer looks of it either.

Autumn at Arkville

Alexander H. Wyant, 1909 [Identified by @vfevermillion.]

The one in the mirror and the one on the other side of the door are too blurry, but we managed to place the one on top of the couch!

The Lone Tenement

George Bellows, 1909 [Identified by @nicodelenfent.]

The National Gallery of Art says about this painting: "Bellows has imbued the composition with a sense of eerie wistfulness, recording the precarious positions of those who were being displaced to make way for the future."

Don Pascuale

Gaetano Donizetti, 1842

The opera that Louis and Lestat go to at the end of the episode follows an elderly bachelor, who gets conned by his nephew Ernesto and his friend Malatesta into marrying the nephew's lover, Norina, under false pretenses. You can find a complete synopsis here.

The Storm On The Sea Of Galilee

Rembrandt van Rijn, 1633 [Identified by Gizmodo's Linda Codega.]

Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch Baroque painter and printmaker from the 17th century, is best known for his biblical and allegorical pieces. Rembrandt's only seascape was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston on March 18th, 1990, alongside other 12 works of art. The case remains unsolved.

If you spot or put a name to any other references, let us know if you'd like us to add them with credit to the post!

This week, we will be rewatching and discussing Episode 3, Is My Very Nature That of a Devil. We can't wait to hear your thoughts!

And, if you're just getting caught up, learn all about our group rewatch here ►

[sburator]

The painting is striking. Its presence alone takes Daniel's breath away, not just through its remarkable beauty but also the fact that it's been deemed to be lost for more than half a century, and now it's right there, in their living room. Daniel approaches it with reverence, respect and all the care of a man who's just woken up and is still having his first sip of coffee of the night.

Armand is engrossed in the details, looking at the painting in the way he does, with eyes soft and pensive, managing to be even more beautiful than the art itself.

“I’ve wanted to have this one for so long,” he says, barely taking his eyes away to look at Daniel. He smiles a small, nostalgic smile. “I like surrounding myself with old things.”

Daniel fucking chokes. He hardly has enough time to turn around to spare this priceless piece of art but the warm coffee's already spilling out his nose, making his eyes water. He spits whatever coffee he didn't get to swallow because between the laughing and the shock of having liquid up his nose he forgets how to breathe and his body panics.

“What?” Armand's beside him with the gentle taps on his back that don't help at all. Daniel is almost doubled over with laughter, whatever's left in that cup spilling on the beautiful carpet because he's shaking so hard with it. “I did not mean— Daniel,” says Armand, needlessly stern, which makes Daniel laugh even harder.

“No, you said what you said,” Daniel manages, as soon as he can talk. He wipes his nose on his sleeve, hands Armand the cup, then turns around to find some tissues or something.

He's in the bathroom, full of mirth as he's wiping the coffee that spilled down the front of his shirt. He can hear Armand knocking twice.

“Are you alright?”

He comes out a minute later, still smiling but looking and feeling less gross.

“You can be the most unintentionally hilarious person I know. I love you,” he states. A fact. “Please tell me I didn't get any coffee on the painting.”

“No, the painting is fine. What I wanted to say is that for someone like me—for a lot of us, I think—art from when we were younger, maybe even living, is a tether to our past. It's comforting, maybe there's a sense of schadenfreude there, at how the subjects in the painting are forever trapped in that moment while we roam for centuries, the world a whirlwind of change around us. Or perhaps it's kinship, how we both, art and ourselves, remain unchanged, fixed points in time, each of us suspended in our own way.”

“Mhm. You like surrounding yourself with old things,” repeats Daniel, in the precise tone to rile Armand up further.

[stedes-tarty-pink-robe]

IWTV Season 2 Episode 5 Thoughts

Great episode. It went so many places emotionally. We get Louis wising up, Armand in full predator mode and a shift in the alliances. It's no longer Armand and Louis as a "united front" against Daniel but Daniel and Louis united in pursuit of the truth.

Some thoughts as I watched:

- Young Daniel didn't have "fucking in a coffin" on his bingo card, but he wants it now that it's an option.

-  I think this episode is warming me to Danlou

     Present Daniel: did we bang back then?

     Present Louis (laughing it off) I'd never. (Gets serious) Unless you want to do it now.

- Young Daniel: "Are you the Zodiac Killer?" Daniel ... baby. I know you're high, but really? I'm glad you grew more of brain in later years. As current Daniel put it, you were a moron.

- Uh, oh. Louis's suicidal ideation popping up again. He was not just recounting the feelings from back then. He was actively longing for the sun as he spoke to Young Daniel.

- Yikes at Young Daniel presuming way too much too soon. Comparing himself to Louis's loved ones after one night is ludicrous. Didn't deserve to almost be killed for it, but yeesh.

- Louis hit hard with that speech about how dull Armand is. He doesn't need the Fire Gift for that burn.

- Holy shit. Loumand's going full A Marriage Story. These resentments needed to be aired out, but not like this. They're two vipers who know exactly where to inject their venom to make the other suffer.

- Ouch. I hate being right in this case. Past Louis walked into the sun. And here modern Louis is, his heart breaking as he realizes he had a suicide attempt he wasn't aware of.

- Oh, wow. Louis tried to reverse uno Lestat into seeking him out by publishing blatant slander just like Lestat got Louis to seek him out by sending him a love song but using his mistress's voice. God. They really are two fucked up peas in a pod.

- Poor burnt up Louis. Armand may have saved him from the sun, but he is holding that grudge something fierce. He's in full coven leader mode, dealing with witnesses and interrogating Daniel with a brutal practicality. Reasserting his dominance on Louis (emotionally) and Young Daniel (the whole shebang of torment for being the easy scapegoat). Armand is so frightening when he puppeteers Young Daniel and breaks him down to the worst aspects of himself. As Armand previously said, he's good at finding the vulnerability in the object.

- I do not believe for a second that Armand was going to let Louis go. That coffin scene is Grade A manipulation on Armand's part to guilt Louis into staying. Sure, the emotions Armand claims are real - the best manipulations have truth to them - but Armand's expertly wielding them to achieve his goals - make himself look like a love martyr and Louis feel like a bad person if he doesn't stay.

- Armand being the gentle death, soothing Young Daniel as he washes him and coaxes him into accepting an early grave. How much was Daniel's dumpster fire of a personal life the result of him chasing a high and how much was because Armand mindscrewed him into thinking that such a disappointing life was inevitable?

- Louis upped his manipulation game, too. He got Armand to spare Daniel by reaffirming the vows so to speak.

- Aww. What Louis told Young Daniel was so sweet. While Armand's words guided him to self-destruction, Louis's gave him hope in his darkest times.

- Oh, fine. Danlou can join Loustat in my prefered ships in this adaptation. You won me over, show.

- Yes! Louis finally realizes Armand scrubbed his brain like it was a crime scene. That throbbing neck vein doesn't lie. Louis is big mad at Armand.

[brawlingdiscontent]

CW: Mentions of death and suicide, spoilers for all of Interview with the Vampire season 2 

In season 2, episode 5, “Don’t be afraid, just start the tape,” a number of key questions circle around Daniel and Louis: Why did Louis pick Daniel to go home with him? Why did he ultimately save Daniel from Armand? This post unpacks these through a close reading of the episode and explores how they shed light on 2022 Louis’ character arc. (AKA, I decided to be a huge dork about this episode!)

Near the top of the episode, Daniel raises his “outstanding questions” about 1973 with Louis: “...like why you talked to me in the first place?” He doesn’t buy Louis’ unsatisfactory and avoidant answers, but Louis succeeds in dodging his questions with another – “What’s the next thing you remember?” 

In the flashback, we see Louis reject Daniel’s sexual proposition because, as 2022 Louis tells Daniel, “you offered something off the menu.” But what, exactly, is that?

Louis’ problem is his inability to examine or work through the massive amount of pain he carries, relying instead on various strategies of avoidance (which, for example, form the spine of his Paris life). The result is Louis’ dissociation and separation from himself. In 1973, the resulting internal pressure has culminated in a self-destructive spiral (128 boys) from which Louis desperately needs an outlet—which leads to what present-day Daniel describes as a “floundering” Louis, “eager to spill” “tape after tape of emotional upchuck”—burning with the need to vent the pain held inside and repressed for so long.

Later Louis tells Armand, “the ten hours I spent with that boy were more exciting, more fascinating than decades spent with you!” which Armand mishears as Louis saying that DANIEL is fascinating (and obsesses over this—more on Armand later). But what Louis actually says is the hours spent together were exciting and fascinating, in other words, the experience Daniel afforded, the interview. So what was this experience?

While the interview is valuable, not just any interview or interviewer would do the trick. Daniel is more than ”an eager black hole” absorbing others’ stories, and the experience is more to Louis than just having a listening ear.

The key, surprisingly, lies at the point where Louis snaps. Deep in reflection and depression, Louis tells Daniel that after Claudia set off on her planned Europe trip he thought about killing himself, staying in the park until the sun came up. And instead of empathizing Daniel gets mad: 

Daniel: “Are you kidding me? What, you were just gonna end it!? I mean, what about life? Like, joyrides and night swimming, and marriage, and cancer, and all of that till the death rattle? I mean we gotta carry all this shit and you had a ticket out and you were just gonna throw it away?..... you were given the gift, and I’ve been hearing you bitch the night about it.”

Upon Louis’ answering outrage, Daniel adds: “I mean, you don’t understand the meaning of your own story.”

While, to be clear, Daniel also doesn’t know the meaning of Louis’ story and his take on it is pretty bad (the meaning is ‘make Daniel a vampire??’) The provocation within these words and his call to life are very valuable. When Louis examines his existence he only finds meaning in pain, which makes him afraid to look closer and makes death seem the only viable escape. Daniel, even with all his struggles, affirms life through its challenges and prompts Louis to interrogate his own narratives about his story, which fixates on the burdens of vampiric existence. 

Meanwhile, in Louis’ immediate environment, the only thing Armand knows how to affirm is death, which we soon watch him try to coax Daniel into. (Not taking sides on Armand, here. I think both Armand lovers and haters can agree that whatever else he may be he is a Sad Little Muffin). Throughout season two Armand repeatedly discourages Louis from engaging with his pain. For one brief example, in 2.1 when Louis cries when discussing Claudia with Daniel, Armand calls for a break and tells Louis he's ‘lost control of the interview’. I think we can read multiple motivations into Armand’s actions: that he’s intervening both for Louis’ sake as he’s afraid that confronting the pain will kill him (as it almost did that night in 1973) AND that he doesn’t want his lies exposed— he’s a complex creature.

Figuratively, for Louis’ arc, Armand represents fiction and illusion. That’s what the theatre’s about, and his big-boss persona hiding a fragile gremlin, and even his ‘Rashid’ disguise. He generally prefers pleasing fantasies and fictionalized narratives—including wilfully ignoring the reason that Louis is with him in 2022 (the name, unspoken in their home for 23 years)—to painful truth. In this respect and others, he is the exact counter to Daniel (which makes them such a fascinating pair).

Where Armand is death, Daniel is life. Where Armand is illusion, Daniel is truth. By offering the opposite of Louis’ current environment, life and truth, and giving him permission/encouragement to address his pain, Daniel becomes a source of fascination that Armand can’t pin down. (And how could he figure out that it’s Daniel’s joy for life and zest for truth that’s the source of Louis’ fascination, when Armand, himself, has little of his own.)

However, Louis doesn’t understand the gift that Daniel offers him in the moment. Instead, injured by the provocation, he lashes out and attacks Daniel. It’s what happens later, in the fight with Armand, that cracks things open for him.

Louis and Armand’s fight is the emotional equivalent of them digging their fingers in each other’s open wounds. One of the last things that Armand says to Louis before the latter runs onto the roof is: “...[Claudia] didn’t love you, not like he did. Not like I have.” Louis says, “I know. I know! Yes. I know. Thank you for saying it. It’s all creeping back…” And then after some more raving and a, “She’s calling me”, now high off his mind from Daniel’s drug-laced blood, Louis runs onto the roof. 

Louis running out into the daylight is not so much a deliberate suicide attempt as it is an externalization of his pain, triggered by the memories. His burnt and charred body actualizes the pain that he always carries inside, like a festering wound, but is only now facing. 

While in this painful moment of (literal) exposure, Louis is living out the show’s tagline “memory is a monster” an alternate tagline could also be drawn from it – “the truth, even if painful, will set you free’—which Louis comes to recognize. His pained “thank you for saying it” to Armand after the latter's devastating remarks about Claudia is about Louis’ need to confront the pain. I’m not at all saying that Claudia didn’t love Louis (even Armand’s wording modifies this “not like he did. Not like I have”), but rather that Armand’s words, combined with Daniel’s assertion that Louis doesn’t know the meaning of his own story, draw attention to the fact that the narrative he’s been crafting for himself is one that both preserves his pain, and avoids engaging with or working through it. (Which will eventually lead to bigger discoveries like “I didn’t realize it was a gift”.)

Despite the horrific experience of being burned, as he lies in bed recovering Louis finds that the remembering is worth it, making him realize the value of Daniel’s questioning—and feel the need to return the gift by saving Daniel’s life, where only a few days before he would have drained him had Armand not intervened.

Daniel doesn’t need to live as a testament to Louis and Armand’s relationship—that’s just the bullshit Louis tells Armand to get him to go along with it. Daniel’s high off his mind, but his instincts have helped Louis to see that Louis’ own is one of the “stories that need telling,” and handed him the key he needs to move through his grief. My favourite little detail about this scene is the light hanging above Daniel’s head as Louis offers his pep talk. Daniel sheds light for Louis, so Louis, in exchange, offers him a different kind of metaphorical light: words for when things get tough. They offer each other mutual support (best bros!!)—in a way that Louis’ two hubbies have so far been unable to do. 

Unfortunately, when Armand wipes Louis’ memories of this encounter, the guiding light Daniel offered is gone, too—instead going on to become a central part of Louis' season two character arc once the memories are recovered. 

The question then emerges—if Daniel’s speech was so valuable and healing, why the memory wipes? 

There’s two options: Louis may have recognized the value of what Daniel offered but have still been unprepared to examine his pain, and so asked Armand to erase the memories. The other option is that, Armand, worried about another suicide attempt and Louis leaving him, took away that choice for him by erasing the memory. (What really strikes me here are the parallels between Armand and Lestat. Lestat kidnaps Claudia and threatens to kill her to prevent Louis from leaving him but also out of a desire to save Louis’ life, given his despair at Claudia’s absence. Armand arguably operates in the same way. Both do messed up things for somewhat pure as well as selfish reasons).

I think what actually happened could be somewhere in the middle of these two options—Armand manipulating/convincing Louis into erasing the memory, and a pained, still-healing Louis agreeing. And then of course, in typical Armand fashion, when the topic comes up, he dodges accountability with a, ‘But it was your idea, babe.’)

And yet, we see the effectiveness of Daniel’s intervention through the progress they make in the new interview session and once Louis recovers these memories in 2022—for example, we see Louis go from torturing Daniel for probing too far into Claudia, to facing deeply painful memories of her and acceding to Lestat’s version of the story of Claudia’s turning.

As a form of summary, we actually see this whole dynamic I’ve detailed play out in the beginning of the episode in Dubai (and that’s what’s so perfect about the writing!!)—when Daniel says ‘grab that’ and Louis asks about what he’s grabbing:

Louis (recorded): “Funny thing, trying to remember what occupied one’s time, when one was ignorant of the plotting around him.” Daniel: It’s a thing with syntax, I see it a lot. The impersonal pronoun ‘one’—one’s time, one didn’t—becomes the third person ‘him’. Stops being ‘I’ or ‘me’. Louis: And that indicates what? Daniel: You’re circling something, you’re getting close to something you want distance from. Language as a chicken exit on a roller coaster. Armand: Or it’s daytime and a vampire of Louis’ age is fighting the narcoleptic pull of the sun.

It’s the same ditty - Louis dissociates, Daniel identifies the pain point, and Armand tries to change the subject. 

What’s lovely, then, is how this little exchange is prologue to the past playing out yet again the present. And so it comes to pass a few episodes later that Daniel uses his skills as a “bright young reporter with a point of view” to once again shine a light for Louis, getting him to see past the pain, and exposing the truth (Daniel voice: He didn’t save you, Lestat did!)

In conclusion: Best bros 4 eva!!

Thanks for reading! Medal for you, if you got this far!

[nightcolorz]

I just finished the new iwtv episode and I’m so confuzzled by this consensus I’ve seen where people r sad that devils minion won’t happen because they literally gave us the perfect set up?? In devils minion book version Armand finds Daniel, hears Louis’s tapes, kidnaps Daniel and tortures him for days as he listens to Louis’s tapes, keeping him in an attempt to understand why Louis would choose this boy, becomes fascinated by him and lets him go—kickstarting the romance as he soon starts stalking him and trying to learn from him lmao. And the shows version of events is pretty damn close?? Armand is taken aback by Daniel and desperate to understand why he caught Louis’s attention, and in this becomes enamored by him and wants him to teach him whatever he has that Armand doesn’t, he even keeps him in captivity and tortures him as he listens to Louis’s tapes. Like the way I see it this is a pretty damn clever way to set up an amc version of there relationship and I’m so mf excited

[kalgalen]

His vampiric vision paints his surroundings in vivid colors, lights shimmering and pulsating in time with the beat of his heart. His other senses give him the same insane level of feedback - hearing sharp and attentive, smells subtle and shifting but bringing a whole other layer of information with each breath. His prey is hiding, and hiding well at that; but he's being intentionally sloppy, leaving a trail of tracks that would have been entirely avoidable if he'd really not wanted to be found.

Daniel smiles, predatory. His eyes flash amber behind his tinted glasses; the hunt is on. He hums a nonsensical tune as he strolls through the near-empty streets, picking up the signs of his quarry passing through the same alleyways with ease. Here, a handprint on a wall, invisible to anyone human and inattentive. There, the memory of a shape in a drunkard's mind. A puddle of water, imperceptibly disturbed by someone stepping in it just a minute ago.

The trail is getting warmer, and Daniel allows himself a moment of satisfaction; he's turning out to be a good hunter. No, scratch that, fuck the pretend modesty: he's a great hunter. His maker will be proud.

He finds himself following the tracks into a dead end, and is stumped for a bit; the hints stop there, between three solid walls and himself. The rules are clear: no flying, no killing, no manipulating passerbys’ memories - at least, not yet. Daniel tests out the wall that's in front of him for grips in the stone; it is brick, and so doesn't lack grooves where someone's claws could find purchase. The scratches are old, though, and not at all in the shape of hands.

Daniel doesn't let it deter him. He breathes in - once to center himself, a second time to scan his surroundings - and here, here's the smell he's looking for. Strong now that he's paying attention to it, familiar, mouth-watering. He looks around, up, and finds a rusting ladder that has recently been pulled up into a fire escape stairway. He can't reach it by jumping but perhaps -

He turns again to the brick wall and fits his claws into disintegrating mortar, then starts climbing.

It isn't easy, and it isn't quick, but he makes his way to the top of the wall and hoists himself up to a sitting position. He takes a moment to marvel at his strength and endurance (not quite new anymore, but it's going to be a long time until the novelty wears out after years of slow physical decline) then carefully stands up and, in one smooth motion, leaps from the wall to the fire escape.

The noise the decaying metal makes as he slams into it makes him grimace, but he doesn't waste time, immediately pulling himself up and climbing the creaking steps, following the intoxicating scent of his prey. It leads him to the roof, and he knows he's reached his goal as soon as he reaches the top.

“Took you long enough,” Armand says by way of greeting. His back is turned to Daniel, and his voice is low - but Daniel hears him loud and clear, each syllable plucking at his attention like fingers on the strings of a guitar. He sighs, smiles easy and fond, and steps forward.

“Aw, were you getting bored?”

Armand half-turns his head. “No. Simply wondering if you'd gotten lost.”

“Ye of little faith,” Daniel chuckles. He's right behind Armand now, and it feels natural to wrap his arms around his maker's waist, to pull him closer. “Got you.”

“You did.” Armand sighs, and his body melts comfortably against Daniel's. His neck bends invitingly, and that's all the encouragement Daniel needs to set blunt teeth on the dark skin offered to him.

He breathes in his sire's scent, loses himself in it for a bit - Armand's smell, Armand's physicality, his presence - then lets his fangs drop slowly, until they're pressing against the tender flesh underneath.

“Well?” Armand says softly. “Claim your prize. Go on.”

Don't mind if I do, Daniel thinks, and although he can't hear his thoughts directly, Armand must feel them well enough. A shiver of anticipation runs through his narrow frame, and his hands cover Daniel's on his hips.

Daniel bites down; the blood floods his mouth, sweet and cool and sticky, sluggish like only a vampire's can be. He drinks slowly, savoring each gulp; so focused on his own enjoyment, he doesn't notice the way Armand has slumped against him until he can hear his maker's breath, coming short and quick, laced with desperate little moans.

“Oh, not bored, then.” Daniel smiles against the punctures he bit in Armand's throat. “Impatient.”

Armand tears himself away, then, and flips around. His eyes are twin flames in the muddy night of the city, dangerous and eager. Without a word, he crushes his mouth against Daniel's in a bruising, bloody kiss.

“I've waited long enough,” he snarls - before dragging them both down to the ground.

[monstersinthecosmos]

Day 9 - Slow Burn

{depeche mode - halo}

“What is it, exactly, that you want?” Marius asks.

Daniel watches his face carefully, afraid to speak too soon, or move too fast. Like being caught in a lie, like Marius can see all the way through him. 

Arousal doesn’t feel the same as it had when he was alive, but danger does. Sometimes, the stillness in Marius’s face reminds him of how Armand’s simple presence could put a chill in the room.   

It used to give him a hardon back then, sick from the blurry line between sex and terror. His adrenaline stopped being able to tell the difference after a while. 

Now, though. The way the hair raises on his arms is pleasant. Erotic. Blood rushes to his skin in a warm tingle, all over his entire body, not just focused on his cock anymore. 

He shifts in the corner of the couch, afraid to look away. Marius is sitting in the wingback chair near the fireplace, his legs crossed, unmoving as he waits for an answer. 

Armand had always looked kind of strange, hadn’t he? Out of place, when he light caught him just right. Too pale. But it was easy to mistake him for human, wasn’t it? If you didn’t look too hard. If you let him hint otherwise.

Marius, though.

Like a cold spot in the room. His presence feels so large, like it can send ripples into the air around him, like it can squeeze around Daniel’s body. It’s always there, in some ways, even when he’s being kind. Warmth and gentleness never really hide it.

What does Daniel want, though? He shrinks beneath the challenge, unsure the answer. 

Want you, is sort of the answer. But Marius is so still, unblinking, he isn’t sure he’s brave enough to say it.

He’s been afraid of Marius since they night they met, really. 

The memory of those first nights is so hard to navigate, though. Not unlike nights he’d been blackout drunk. It was like someone else was driving. 

And then those months at Night Island. It had been fine. Marius had been polite, when he’d shown his face. But he’d hidden in his room so much, and his grief had been like a pit. Him and Lestat both, sticking to each other, because no one else would really get it. 

The baggage with Armand had been too messy, too. Both of their baggages with Armand, truthfully. 

“I used to ask him about you,” Daniel says. And that’s not the answer, but he says it anyway. Marius’s eyebrows come together for a moment, before his face smooths back out. “He wouldn’t tell me. He never told me anything.”

Marius opens his mouth, as if to speak, but clicks it shut. 

And it had been too awkward, hadn’t it? Back at Night Island with everyone else. He’d left it mortal and hungry and sick and come back something else, and it had never been the same there. Not a quiet little place to dry out in private, but… 

He’s not sure how long he stuck around, either. The manic first few weeks splintered into a blur of time and space. Fifteen years went by where he couldn’t have told you the date. 

But Marius there, in the beginning, siphoning all the warmth out of the room, and them in at the end, with a bleeding wrist, bringing Daniel back down to earth.

And here now, watching him, sending chills into Daniel’s spine. 

“I don’t know, Marius,” Daniel finally says. “I just think, sometimes, I regret how it was for me. Like I wish I never did that interview. I wish Armand hadn’t been the one to find me.”

“I made mistakes with him,” Marius says softly.

What had Armand said in his book? Daniel had read it, four hundred fucking times. 

I was no Marius to him afterwards.

Daniel had finally read about Marius out of Lestat’s book. He’d stolen a copy, the day he saw it in a bookstore window, because he’s panicked and couldn’t breathe and didn’t want to talk to the clerk. And he’d read it in one sitting, his eyes sore and stomach in knots in his hotel room, suddenly transported back to those early days, hiding out, terrified that Armand would find him. He remembers that night as if it was any motel from the years being hunted, like he can swap the memories in and out. 

And he’d gotten butterflies when he’d finally seen Marius, at Maharet’s place, even on his freshly-turned high, as if he was star-struck. 

“I should’ve talked to you, on Night Island,” Daniel says. “I think maybe things would have been different for me if I’d had you in those early years.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Daniel picks at lint on his pant leg. Draws his knees to his chest. “I was scared of you, I don’t know. And scared of Armand. There was too much baggage. I don’t know. I just didn’t want to get into it.”

Marius uncrosses his legs. He rests his elbows on his knees as he leans forward, and the firelight catches in his eyes. “Daniel. What is it, exactly, that you want?” 

Want a maker.

Want a partner. Want your blood, want your teeth. Want a teacher. Want your help. Your discipline, your charity. Want a brother and a lover. 

Want a father.

He’s too shy to admit that he doesn’t know how long they’ve been together. Like coming out of a blackout. But he knows that for years he’s drank Marius’s blood, at the end of the night, as if Marius is tucking him into bed like a child. It’s strong in him now, he feels the way it lingers. He feels it, whenever Marius gives him the creeps. The blood shimmers inside, as if it knows, like it remembers him. 

Armand’s blood used to make him crazy when he was alive. Ruined his life, really. But he liked being bitten, too, liked being touched. Liked the pain. Craved it. 

I’ve drank so much of your blood, Daniel thinks, and his eyes even follow the veins swelling at the side of Marius’s throat. But I want you to drink mine, too. 

[irisbleufic]

Part 14 of Caldera; 3 out of 4 chapters posted. Armand and Daniel reckon with some of the clues that Daniel and Jesse have been gathering, finally forming some theories about what the Talamasca might be up to; a couple of nights later, on returning to New York, they finally reckon with a visit from Daniel's daughters.

Conjectures (2024-09-16)

Collisions (2024-09-17)

Confessions (NEW, 2024-09-18)

TEASER:

Daniel should know something’s off when they find the lights on, but he’s left them like that while he’s out of town many times before. Maybe he just can’t remember having done so. He drops his bag on the floor as soon as Armand drops his, tugging Armand into his arms.

“Welcome home, my love,” Armand murmurs between kisses, unzipping Daniel’s jacket. “Can’t wait to get you under the covers, start a film…”

“Hot,” Daniel teases, nuzzling Armand’s earlobe, biting his neck with a hint of fangs. “Your dirty talk never fails to…” He feels Armand freeze.

“Daniel,” Armand says, the tremor in his body suggesting that it’s taking an inordinate amount of control not to give in to his attack instincts.

“Jesus Christ,” Ellie says, strolling in from the dining room with her arms folded as Daniel lifts his head, mouth clamped shut to hide the retraction of his fangs. “What an entrance. Might get you a third Pulitzer if you write this scene in your next book. Hey, Paige, get in here!”

[lacefedora]

Home: Devil's Minion/ Armandaniel

@rosilynn

Reverse Devil's Minion chase. After Dubai Daniel tracks Armand down to Night Island. Being there feels weird. You decide how much he remembers about that time, but he has feelings about it. Armand stalks him around the Island, but doesn't come out of hiding while Daniel looks for him. You decide if Armand gets found or not

-

It's like the 80s threw up here. A weird fucking time capsule, except the capsule is actually a whole fucking island. An island with stores and arcades and eye-searing neon lights. With honest to god employees that ran it all from dusk until dawn. It wasn't a tourist spot, instead it seemed to have a bunch of meandering locals all enjoying the price tags that were still stuck in the 80s too.

An Island that has Daniel Molloy's name on the deed. He's pretty sure he should remember owning an island. When he'd first began tracking Armand, he'd looked up everything under every alias he knew of for him. He had even pried a few alias's out of Louis. Man that had been like pulling teeth. But eventually something nagged at Daniel's mind and he started looking for things with his name on them.

Granted there are a lot of Daniel Molloy's out there. He had to do a deep dive, middle names and everything. But here it was. dubbed 'Night Island' by the little sign at the harbor. As soon as he'd stepped off the boat he'd known Armand was here.

When you've been to a place a lot there are sort of echoes in your memory everywhere you look. Daniel had quite a few places like that. Polynesian Mary's was one of them. But he had no memory of ever setting foot on this island… still he keeps feeling the echo of memory on every corner. A kiss against the pinball machine in the arcade. Laughing himself sick outside the movie theater. Singing along to The Cure as he walks hand in hand with… someone. Daniel can't see their face, can't hear their voice. But they're in every echo.

It could only be one person.

Daniel can feel eyes on him. His new vampiric senses are keen and they're never wrong about things like this. He puts his hands in his pockets… it has to be Armand. He thinks Daniel can't catch him. He's wrong.

Daniel walks the island for more than an hour. Patience pays off. He can feel Armand getting closer and there's a thrill in the air. The thrill of the chase. Daniel can't tell if it's coming from him or from Armand. This close it was easy for the edges to blur between their bond. Have they done this before? Something feels so incredibly familiar. The world's worst case of Deja Vu.

Daniel finally feels the air brush passed him. He reaches out and grabs Armand's wrist, moving with as much vampiric speed as he can muster. For a moment they're both frozen, each surprised that had actually worked. Daniel locks his grip, nails biting into Armand's fine shirt. He pulls Armand into an alley… fuck how did the dumpsters even look like ones from the 80s?

Armand's eyes are glowing amber in the darkness. Eyes wide and unblinking. He looks freaky as shit and Daniel is just utterly relieved to see him. He loosens his grip but doesn't let go, simply sliding his hand down Armand's hand. He grips his hand and watches Armand, just as unblinking, as he brings his hand up and kisses his knuckles. Armand sucks in a breath he doesn't need, shocked.

"Been looking for you." Daniel says finally. It seems to take Armand a moment to find his voice. He's flustered. Daniel fucking likes him flustered.

"You've found me." Armand returns. The first word from him since that night. Armand had said nothing while he turned Daniel. not a fucking word. Three little words shouldn't sing in his brain but they do. Daniel barks out a breathless laugh.

"Yeah I fucking did." He says. "You didn't make it easy. You're the Devil, you know that?" Daniel tells him and he crowds Armand up against the wall in the alley. Even this feels familiar.

"I have been called worse." Armand says and he seems to not know what to do with his hands. He flails a little but eventually one hand comes to rest on the back of Daniel's neck and the other at his waist. Daniel's just relieved he hasn't bolted yet.

"You're going to tell me everything about this island and give me back whatever memories you took." Daniel says, his tone dark. He sounds ever inch the top of the food chain Vampire he is now. "And I mean everything, Armand." He growls, Bringing his own hands up to Armand's arms, then then slide around him. He holds onto him. Armand could quite literally float away and Daniel needed him to stay… Maybe forever.

"…Whatever you wish, Beloved."

Daniel feels at home for the first time in fifty years.

[dxxtruction]

Okay… Okay… I'm not huge on the Alice is Armand, some Alice memories are really Armand memories, truther, but there's something SO juicy about it. Imagining it, it's got all the works.

Like a pregnancy is such a good cover story [coded language] for if there was infidelity. Like "I’ve been sleeping around with you, and it’s yours" = you’re who I want to have this kid with. (ie; would even want to turn if it ever came to it), but he - Louis in this case - is going to find out if we stay together like this. I might have to abort this.

Daniel goes. “Yeah, we’ll talk about it later.” Several months later, Daniel has it all in his head, and proposes they be together forever, that Armand change him, like he knows he wants to, deep down. But Armand can’t. Because he can’t trust him. In this case 'he' is also still Louis, though somewhat Daniel, and how well he'd take to the gift. Daniel taking it only as himself, because he doesn't see how Louis would be a problem for them if he was just turned. Armand never correcting for it (this guy would).

They stay around for a while though, cause they can’t quit. Second proposal, a “why are we still doing this if we can’t be together forever?” And Armand ‘accepts’ this time, but it’s a lie. He fakes turning him, but what he’s really doing is fudging his memories. This is how he’ll protect him, he’ll go live his life with what will be his wife soon enough, with a kid.

Because what would be EVEN JUICIER. Is if this same version of events happened on Daniels end, almost exactly. And Daniel was also double dipping, and actually did get the real Alice pregnant. Proposing at about the same times. Said about the same things to her, but only she got to keep him in ‘death do us part’ which never ended up happening. Probably because subconsciously he both wanted someone else, and wanted to be someone else, in fact, in some part of him, he was already living as if under the impression he was no longer human. That he could take on anything and was impenetrable, dedicated to getting his blood, I mean, his journalistic score, and in so doing he sort of ruined his marriages, daughters, even career. But he still prevailed. Very Claudia of him. 

Something halfway unfortunate about 'how Daniel took to it' is that Armand is only now half in love with him. It's Daniel, his mortal beloved, but he's taken to his 'not a gift' gift in a way that's turned his sweet boy into something he also comes to greatly resent in equal measure. Fairly he hates him, and relishes in any opportunity to tear him, down. Mocks your entire existence at the very end. But you're both good at threading together lies to deceive a partner who is not yet or ever a spouse. Did Daniel propose a third time? Or did Armand, resenting both himself, and Daniel, turn him out of spite? Though equally spite for how Louis had separated them in the first place at all, that he turn him out of this love he still had for him. Whose to say. Armand ran off without any answers.

[wouriqueen]

2x06 thoughts - part 3 - Armand & co

He needed a whole section for himself because he's a freak

Masterclass of playing of the victim

"I can't do anything about the coven." "I'm protecting myself from Daniel Molloy." He's so funny and evil. The audacity the manipulation the lies. It's to the point where I might have to subscribe to the idea that he's got to believe some of what he's saying. Otherwise it's too big.

Armand and Claudia

"Thank you for never treating me like a child" + Claudia apologizing to Armand... Despite her fear of being put aside by Louis for Armand, and her resentment at Louis endangering her for the sake of his relationship with Armand, Claudia has always made sure to show respect for Armand and his position. She did her job. She spoke up respectfully. Stuff she didn't even owe him considering he strangled her and threatened to kill her over literally nothing. She went to him to get approval for turning Madeleine. When they meet again with Madeleine and Louis, she apologizes to him for the conflict he went through with the coven, even though that was mainly about Louis, and even though it started way before she even had any idea of turning anyone or going anywhere.

And right after that apology he lets her get kidnapped and killed. Just like her apology to Lestat was met with ugly mockery and eventually assault :(

"She's worth having" not the objectification.

"You'll come together again" (about Louis and Claudia) I know he believed that and I know that's why he let her die. Because he didn't want that. I know it.

"It's forbidden, Claudia doesn't want his (Lestat's) blood" Says the guy who called her Claudia de Lioncourt!!! And he's so disrespectful, saying that to Louis' face even though Louis was there when he called her that (and I liked that he defended her). Now you respect her wishes to not be associated with Lestat?

There's so many more hypocritical moments in general but I might just list them in another post.

Armand and Louis

Louis sick and tired of "Yes, Maître" My absolute favorite scene is at the park when Louis asks Armand to witness Madeleine turning, Armand tries to turn it into a "Maître" situation, and Louis immediately shuts down. He does kind of play into it with a nonchalant order but he also makes it clear he dislikes it. He just wanted to ask his boyfriend for a favor... He's already tired of having to play that game every time he asks for something that matters to him and they haven't even left Paris! Armand apologizes, but does he truly understand?

Not to mention, given the nasty looks Louis was throwing Madeleine before the bite, I'm sure he felt lonely. Having Armand by his side would have eased the feeling of loss (as Claudia said, "to get something you must lose something" but what he was getting didn't show up).

Armand moving in. I know Claudia herself wasn't really living at the apartment anymore but the way Armand moved in as soon as she left town aghdjshuis

Daniel spelling it out. Too bad that it had to be done that way for people to get it, but I'm glad Daniel pointed out how Armand's submission to Louis was only when it was convenient to him. It was always obvious. Hopefully the bad discourse around it dies down!

Armand, Louis and Daniel

Vampire apologies and dubious alliances. Armand apologizes to Daniel for the memory edit. He has to be prompted to apologize about the attempted murder. He does not apologize for the torture. Daniel is holding onto the shared outrage and the connection he found with Louis earlier, and at first they're kind of a team, but in the end it's not quite going as planned.

Poor Daniel is about to find out what it really feels like to sit on the outskirts of Louis' relationships. He better re-read those diaries for reference...

Vampire hackers and the Talamasca. WHAT is going on with that though? Armand asking about the suddenly encrypted laptop means he regularly snoops around in there, no? And why is he asking Rashid about Daniel's outing as if he can't read both their minds. He knows for sure. But why not just come out with it?

Anyway those were my thoughts, I loved the episode.

2x06 thoughts - part 1 - Madeleine & co

2x06 thoughts - part 2 - Claudia & Louis

[indelicateink]

the Interview with the Vampire kink meme continues to be everything

there's been a scorching HOT loustat fill today: The Interview

a bouquet of thanks to @vampire-dove for maintaining this anon kink meme for us.

i'm going to share some of the prompts going on over there. please go add more. please fill prompts. these vampires cry out to be put in Situations.

Prompts [5/?]:

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Seduction, Vampire Turning, Drunk Sex, Marriage Proposal

"Parallel universe.

"In 1905, Parisian brothel owner Lestat de Lioncourt keeps his ungrateful brothers and father, and his frail mother, in comfort despite hating his life. When his new acquaintance, wealthy American Louis de Pointe du Lac, comes on so strong, he starts to think life could be different. There is an air of the preternatural about him, but Americans are probably just like that?

"Vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac searches for a new life in the old world and finds a handsome man with a most agreeable disposition who he wants to convince to become his companion. Life certainly wouldn't be boring."

--

Armand/Daniel Molloy

"Minimal or no Devil’s Minion before 2022. Armand turns Daniel out of spite, but Daniel takes to vampirism immediately and revels in his newfound strength and immense power. And Daniel is so psyched about this new un-life that he kisses Armand, who kisses him back passionately. He then fucks Armand all around the penthouse and gives him the best dick he’s had in centuries. Armand is terribly confused by this intense, feverish passion between them, over thinks it, and flees out of self-preservation. and naturally Daniel gives chase!"

--

Claudia/Madeleine, Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Alternate Universe - Royalty, Weddings, Competition

"Royal wedding au. Now that she's in her thirties, Claudia's parents are putting their foot down: as their only child, she will be inheriting the throne, and she's going to need a partner as strong as she is. They've lined up candidates. It's tradition.

"Claudia has never forgiven Lestat for not using his magic to bring back her first love, Charlie, years ago, but he hopes he can make amends by introducing her to a beloved fellow countrywoman from his homeland who was…exiled…for being…a traitor?? Louis wants to know what the fuck is wrong with Lestat's head."

--

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Extremely Dubious Consent, Hallucinations, Episode: s02e01 What Can The Damned Really Say To The Damned? (Interview with the Vampire TV 2022)

"While traveling Europe with Claudia, Louis hallucinates(/fantasizes about?) Lestat forcing himself on him.

"Can be violent or just disturbing, can be physical assault (I know the hallucinations don't work like that but we can suspend our disbelief) or not include touching at all. Up to you how aware Louis is that the hallucination is his own mind torturing him. The important part is that Louis is really messed up and can only get off while also punishing himself. Bonus points for Lestat being in his bloody post-Mardi Gras outfit, throat slit and bleeding and all."

--

Armand/Lestat de Lioncourt Accidental Marriage, Accidental Bonding, Dubious Consent

"1795 AU. The Great Laws this, The Great Laws that. Magnus never told Lestat that when another vampire overpowers you with a bite soon after your turning, your body imprints on them and you become vampire-married.

"After Armand attacks Lestat at the party, Lestat finds himself craving sex with Armand against his will. He is determined to be strong! Gabrielle rolls her eyes a lot."

--

Louis de Pointe du Lac/ Oiginal Male Characters, Armand/Original Male Characters Serial Killers, Recreational Drug Use, Creampie, Felching, Rape/Non-con Elements, Service Submission, Under-negotiated Kink, Humiliation, Drugged Sex

"Louis gets lost in the high and never cleans up/finishes draining his hookups to kill them. Louis isn’t going to fuck him when he’s like this, but Armand dutifully cleans up Louis’s sloppy seconds to feel closer to his maitre.

"additional tags: unnegotiated bdsm, nonconsensual drugged sex (armand/louis’s half-dead hookups), nonconsensual blood drinking (armand/louis’s half-dead hookups)"

--

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Pregnancy Kink, Crack Treated Seriously

"fantasy m/m non-omegaverse vampire au in which ppl of any sex can get pregnant if they're fertile and are someone who has a uterus because reasons!

"lestat can bear children. louis desperately wants kids. lestat and louis knew when they got married they were not on the same page: children were a hard no for lestat. not having them was a dealbreaker for louis. they really should've sorted that out before they eloped.

"years later louis has one foot out the door when lestat bitterly caves, to louis's single-minded delight. gabrielle and armand are quietly appalled.

"five times louis got his husband pregnant and one time lestat volunteered the idea.

"(i am begging you on my knees for this fic please and thank you)"