#but then when marius needs him armand goes to his side and comforts him a few chapters later

[infinitelyweary]

Has anyone endlessly dissected Armand's subtle Marius shade yet

[with-a-point-of-view]

CW: Armand's backstory, Claudia's assault, Louis' suicide attempt

The assumption that Louis and Armand never talked about Marius or that Louis was somehow fine with Marius because of the 2x5 fight makes as much sense as assuming Armand was making jokes about Paul's death or referred to Claudia as "throw pillow" the whole time. The whole point is they're digging their fangs into the softest underbelly of each other. Louis attempts suicide not five minutes after he says that!!!

Louis listens to Armand's story in the Louvre without passing judgement, and even in being cruel in the 70s he is being cruel about Armand being exploited and the incestuous nature of his relationship.

It's much more likely going to mirror the conversations we see between Louis and Claudia about her kidnapping and assault by Bruce, where he is incredibly heartbroken and sympathetic but struggles to find the right words. His instinct is to say stop, he doesn't want to hear this, but he does give her the grace of listening. Just as in the Louvre he offers Armand his support and assistance, what he offers Claudia is his presence, watching her being inducted into the coven. We even see this earlier on with Lestat - Claudia is upset that Louis offers Lestat love and grace after hearing his story with Magnus.

Yes, Daniel is much more likely to interrogate and force Armand to open up or cast judgement on his story - but remember "He only hit me the one time, officer!"? He is not sensitive, and he takes a combative and argumentative stance even when he's trying to side with Louis and point out Lestat's usage of domestic violence. This can be written in such interesting ways -- especially when Armand of 2x5 comes out to play defence through attacking Daniel. I think Daniel has the same arrogance that many of us can have when we're talking to those we love who have been abused - if I say it, if I point out the logic of it, if I give enough examples, they'll realise it's wrong!! It's patronising, but it's also comforting, because we wish that's how it would work.

In contrast, I think there is so much unsaid in the relationship between Louis and Armand that there's no place for open conversation. How can there be, when any mention of "Paris" is already a landmine in any conversation which could detonate their whole relationship? We see how the tension of it seeps into every single aspect of their relationship - take the Fred Steins. Armand denies them, Louis clearly doesn't believe him, they both yell, but then it fizzles out. Because as soon as they go beyond the Steins, it goes into the cracks of the foundations of their relationship.

But that doesn't mean there can't be tenderness. Louis and Armand are incredibly tender. Louis lets Armand display Marius de Romanus right in their dining rooms - something I don't think Daniel could stand - because he knows it's important to him. I think he would listen to Armand, even if he's uncomfortable. He might perhaps make more gentle suggestions that Marius wasn't the hero Armand remembers him as, but probably after a certain amount of Armand-walls is going to be frustrated and leave be. They're also physically affectionate, which is really important in terms of establishing that connection if Armand needs to talk about it. Louis is also likely to offer action - going out together, doing something small but meaningful for Armand, taking care of some of their business.

Armand is 500 years old, it isn't Louis' job to be his therapist, and it's honestly patronising to pretend that he needs a partner to "make" him work through his trauma, whether that's Louis or Daniel. Equally, Daniel isn't a therapist, he's a guy who got divorced twice and whose daughters went no-contact, I think he would genuinely want Armand to "realise" Marius is bad news, but he'd go about it like he's busting open a scandal, not necessarily talking about a father-husband-figure who, as far as they both know, has been dead for half a millennium. (And he's 100% going to get hurt by Armand in the fallout.)

Viewing the measure of Armand's relationships as whether his partner can "fix" his trauma is just so so condescending. All vampires are made from trauma in one way or the other. There are very interesting discussions about how that trauma functions -- Armand's reflexive lies vs Daniel's obsession with "truth" vs Louis' schizophrenia and subjective storytelling fascinates me -- but I feel it's unfair to all involved to single out Armand as a problem-character because of the nature of his trauma.

[faerywhimsy]

Vamptember Day 12 - "Love never dies a natural death"

Today I'm back to my nonsense about my beloved Bianca Solderini.

Here is a chronology of our girl Bianca: Marius' briefly human companion after Santino abducts Amadeo, burning down the Palazzo and leaving Marius a blackened shadow of his former self. Marius brings Bianca into the blood. They occasionally argue to the point where Marius cloud gifts her to a place she can't return to him again, before he feels really bad about it and brings her back again—

While there's an argument to be made that—just as The Vampire Armand was Armand's burn book—Blood and Gold was Marius' maudlin self pity after seeing Armand in Queen of the Damned, I'm still sore about that.

Bianca accepts his temper is just a part of Marius and stands loyal by him for centuries. But they come to a permanent separation after Bianca overhears the way Marius throws her aside for the possibility of being with Pandora again. Like, does Bianca comfort him on the night Pandora rejects, bringing Marius to her cold grave. "It is early for you, but I must go and I can't leave you this way." <3

Less than a page later, as soon as Marius is himself again, my girl, like a boss, informs him in no uncertain terms that she's finally put up with enough and is leaving.

"I heard the things you said to her. And I'm leaving you."

This is around the mid-17th century.

So it's not impossible Bianca goes immediately from Marius in Dresden to Armand in Paris in that brief, possible interaction in TVA before Armand comes across Louis for the first time. Likely she's licking her wounds and building her courage. But then Armand scares her away.

This actually does make a great deal of sense from Bianca's PoV. Marius had regularly been utilising the Telamasca to keep tabs not just on Pandora, but also on Amadeo (now of course Armand). Through Marius, Bianca understands Armand has spent the last hundred years making himself coven master to the Children of Darkness. At his worst, he has completely eschewed any softer feelings or the lessons Marius left him with over only killing the evil doer. In fact, the more innocent the mortal, the more pleasure Armand seems to take in the killing.

Secondhand knowledge is confirmed by reality at the dawn of the 20th century: Armand has changed from the Amadeo she loved into a man Bianca has no ability to recognise.

And then... We don't see Bianca chronologically in canon until Lestat finds her and Allesandra in Paris in Prince Lestat.

It's the century between that visitation at the turn of the 20th century and the end of it that captivates me. Bianca isn't at all present or mentioned by the time we have Queen of the Damned in 1988. Other characters that she's later seen with in Prince Lestat are present for Akasha's Burnings.

And so my investigation begins.

Maybe Bianca had not forgiven Marius by the time Pandora and Santino (🙃) were searching for Marius at the beginning of Akasha's reign of terror. And that's why Bianca did not come to his aid. (It's not like Armand pulled himself away from Daniel either.)

That explanation suffices, or else more simply: The first burning passed over Bianca and her still relatively new fledgling. They were grateful and saw no need to involve themselves in happenings that were by majority occurring on the other side of the world. It's just... they were not so lucky when it came to the second Burning.

"But I'll tell you that, why I am suffering," Bianca said, drawing near but talking in a normal and not a confidential voice, her arm slipping around me [Lestat]. "I lost one I loved in the attack in Paris, a young one, one I'd made and lived with for decades. But this was the Voice at work, not the one he'd brought out of the earth to do his bidding."

This moment where Bianca is just... comfortable enough to slip her arm around Lestat? It's so incredibly maddening to me because the two of them have never before had an interaction on the page before Paris.

How does this moment between Lestat and Bianca come about? There are two obvious options that immediately come to mind for an explanation, then, of the affection evident between Bianca and Lestat (outside of the love every vampire in this universe has for Lestat).

1) more happened between Armand and Bianca directly in the years between 1998 (TVA) and 2013 (PL) when Lestat and Armand were on better terms (??)

2) Armand told Lestat of his beloved Bianca Solderini before Lestat went into the ground

Picture this: Lestat is weakened from Louis' and Claudia's attack on him. He asks and is refused healing blood from Armand. Fair enough. Maybe Armand makes a throwaway line, "I wouldn't give my healing blood to even my beloved Bianca Solderini if she had treated me as you have!"

It's entirely possible Armand would have mentioned her here, after all. Remember he thinks he sighted Bianca in Paris earlier in the decade.

And so Lestat, hurting and humbled, wanders back towards New Orleans. But it just so happens that Bianca has also found herself in this part of the world at the same time. She has come across the occasional immortal on her travels up till now but, with them, a quick scan of the mind always shows little more than whether or not there is an intention to harm.

Lestat's mind is different in two ways: He is clearly far from his best but, also, there are familiar figures in this immortal's mind. Marius, and Armand.

They stare at each other in shock, hardly able to parse that they have two such influential figures on each of their lives in common - yet they have never before met. Bianca immediately offers him aid, and Lestat's mind throws up the memory of the words Armand threw at him.

She doesn't completely recoil. Bianca's used to Marius' temper. She knows how unkind men can be and does not jump to assume either Lestat or Armand must be the right. She's just tired, so tired of being alone. So she asks Lestat to give her stories of Armand and, in exchange, she will offer him a little of her blood that is almost as powerful as Armand's.

Lestat accepts this deal, and Bianca hears about Armand from someone other than Marius for the first time in almost 400 years. She ends up in tears with it. Lestat cannot stand the idea of yet another blood drinker flying into a rage over what is only truth to him. He knows he will not survive it, even with the small amount of blood she has granted him.

That will be just enough to get him safely the rest of the way back to New Orleans.

And so, while Bianca mourns, Lestat takes his leave from her, apologising, thanking her for her kindness, but asking her not to follow him.

She doesn't. Bianca wishes Lestat well and thinks on him often while he sleeps.

Because he is the last blood drinker she holds company with for several decades. By the 1950s, she finds herself in California, at which point the mind of a human girl captivates her. She is strong, this girl, recently sent away from her family to give birth to a baby she was forced to then give up for adoption.

But this girl refuses to fall down to depression despite the current isolation from her family, her younger brother, her old friends. She's getting her diploma in night classes, and Bianca finds herself quietly stalking her, curious at her thoughts and her resilience.

She's not as subtle as she thinks she is, and the girl confronts her one night, telling her that if she's going to be appearing out of nowhere every night, the very least she can do is buy her a soda.

The first time Bianca reaches for her hand, the girl pulls it away, before realising she doesn't need to worry anymore about what others might think of her holding another woman's hand. Bianca asks her where she would like to go in the world if she could go anywhere. Her eyes light up at the idea of being able to leave California behind her.

And this is the fledgling Bianca mentions in passing. The reason Bianca does not appear in Queen of the Damned is explained: Bbecause her fledgling refused to go back to California, and Bianca wouldn't make her. Lestat gave her the highlights after it was all over. He even visited the two of them on one of his visits to France.

The hug Bianca gives to Lestat in that moment of Prince Lestat, then, gets to be a quiet moment of recognition between them. Bianca is glad to know Lestat is okay because she can't help but think of their first meeting, and this time it is Bianca who's the one that's utterly bereft, while Lestat is as fit and healthy as Bianca was on their first meeting.

Their roles have quite reversed.

@vamptember