#is the talamasca hiring

[desertfangs]

I don't want to work, I want to write about vampires.

[thedukeofgloomhimself]

ok but seriously if they’re smart they will bring the talamasca in during the night island spin-off. how i personally see this going down is the talamasca wants intel on night island and wants hard evidence but doesn’t want to send in any of their members because of the risk — so who would you turn to when you want to break in somewhere, make away with things of great value, collect information for you, and get out all without getting caught (but if they don’t make it out, it doesn’t matter, because they’re not part of your organization and therefore seem expendable to you)? PROFESSIONAL ART THIEVES!!! i think it would be a really smart way of introducing the organization and getting people amped for what is to come with it while also having the ability to be a one-off piece that is not necessarily integral to understanding the plot of later seasons of iwtv and mw. it could just set up that oooh here’s this sort of shadowy secret organization that has an interest in the supernatural goings-on, but isn’t the main focus of the miniseries (which based on the info we have currently will focus on the thieves themselves)

[mademoisellebianx]

I feel like we will see THE Marius de Romanus painting in Night Island and it'll be the painting the art thieves are hired to steal.

[wizardpink]

Honestly I believe Real Rashid is 100% straight and Louis and Armand have known he's working for the Talamasca since he was hired. They just can't bring themselves to fire or kill him until they fuck him. The flirting is shamefully obvious and neverending and he's just like 🕴will that be all sirs? And Armand just buttons his shirt back up with a defeated sigh. He's been begging to be transferred to another assignment for like three years but he's survived longer than 90% of all undercover agents, he's a legend. It's why he dropped that newspaper and fucking booked it. He was free at last.

[ronsenburg]

love how I keep saying stupid shit about this show and no one calls me out on it :( MY POINT WAS VALID, the joke is still exceptionally funny from Raglan, but I also wasn't paying attention at all when he introduced himself, clearly.

sooooo did David just make a body swapping joke to Daniel or?????

[mybelladonicbeauty]

How did Rashid begin to work for Louis and Armand - people are saying they think he is from the talamasca so how would that play into his being hired by them - people are also saying he is a vampire secretly - if he is do Louis and Armand know is it possible for them to not know - surely when he lies about Daniel not talking to anyone else at the restaurant Armand could read his mind and easily pick up on the lie - unless he knows he is a vampire and potentially vampire Rashid blocked his mind or Armand knew he was lying but wanted to sit on the information about Daniel talking to someone else at the restaurant to assess it I guess

[lemonandpie]

Any headcanons as to what Loumand's day to day life was like in Dubai (prior to the Daniel Molloy marriage wrecking ball)?

I feel like Loumand has three distinct phrases: post-Paris, post-SanFran, and pre-Interview.

In the immediate aftermath of SanFran, there seems to have been a lot of walking listlessly through the world. Louis is severely depressed and has the feeling of constantly being on eggshells, even if he doesn't remember why. Armand is the one guiding Louis with a hand around his wrist like a vice, just as afraid but unlike Louis he knows exactly why.

(My headcanon is that post the disaster telepathic zoom call, Lestat tries to track them down, and that's when Armand pushes him off a tower. Or skyscraper)

Louis said his last kill was 2002. Who or why we don't know, but that gives us a date for the end of the turmoil and an idea of when the truce like period between Armand and Louis began.

Dubai is very much home for them-- they have servants (which is basically a Talamasca bat signal, they must have figured they would at least attempt to infiltrate), decorations, specialized accomodations. Dubai would have taken a long time to set up and not be worth it just for a short time, so Dubai must have been their home base.

Armand seems to be the one in charge of the day to day running of things. He's the contact for buyers, for dealers; he is the directing the staff. I've seen so many takes (comedic and otherwise) about Armand being unemployed and I think those people need to rewatch the show 😅. Louis seems to take the CEO position. His word is the final say, he is the one making the wider decisions. I do not doubt he is the one charming the prospective clients. But Armand seems to be doing the legwork (head of household, shows submission by dominating everyone else, master's favorite, etc etc).

To get to the point where he wanted to do the interview again, Louis probably was growing increasingly introspective, and from what we've seen that means spending a lot of his time alone. In the interview, Louis seems to have been withdrawn while Armand was still very heavily revolving around him. So Louis retreats to be on his own, and Armand busies himself with running their company.

I doubt Louis would be the one to suggest hiring people to drink from, so I'm going to guess that was Armand's idea. The staff know they are vampires, so being snack food is probably part of the job description (unless, of course, Armand was trying to keep Louis from fucking the help. Though Assad Zaman said Armand's having orgies with all the Rashids, so maybe that's Armand's job instead). Armand hires and vets the "donors", then it's probably supplemented by animal blood, staff donations, and of course, the weekly feed from Armand.

Louis said "Rashid" has a very regemented routine, and I like to pretend that is Armand's routine as well (even if Armand's got more tasks). In general, I think life in Dubai is very ordered.

Armand needs less sleep, so he gets up first. Does all of the necessary business work, (swims, prays), showers, dresses. Once Louis wakes up, Armand helps him get up. Gets Louis' clothes, helps him dress, puts on his shoes, (the good nurse who kisses Louis' feet).

Louis has less an orderly routine and more of a depressed routine. Floats through life, eats because he's fed, sits with his feet in the rocks and remembers. His sex drive remains but he's disengaged from it. Only when he and Armand fight does he feel that spark of genuine passion again, and while the sex is always good it's those times when Louis remembers he and Armand are in love.

It's definitely Louis' idea to do the interview. Armand tries to change his mind, over and over again. Reminds him about Paris, about the Children of Darkness, about all of the horrific things vampires to do people who break the great laws (which they have already done, repeatedly). Armand knows that if Louis does this, he's going to die, and Armand is not going to be able to prevent it from happening.

But they're trapped in a stalement, slowly decaying in their endless monotony. Maybe Louis just wants people to know his story. Maybe he misses Claudia, and is dreaming of a second chance. Daniel, the 'symbol of their love', is dying, and maybe Louis wants to keep that symbol alive.

(I'm not actually sure whether Louis was planning to turn Daniel or not. It could go either way. If so, then the interview is a test to ensure they are compatible. If not, then Armand's weighing up if Louis' wrath is more important than his life. Either way, Armand's spending the entire time deciding if he's going to kill Daniel or not).

Eventually, Armand caves, probably in an "are you asking or making me" moment. So for the both of them, the interview is essentually the end of their relationship as they know it. Either Daniel will join them, or Louis will die after the book's publication. And Armand is too preoccupied about those two outcomes to worry about what other relationship destroying secrets could be revealed

[disregardandfelicity]

inspired by all the speculation in the notes of my show summary post...

[thenightling]

The Mayfair Witches episode 8

I finally watched the season Finale of the Mayfair Witches.

As much as I loved what they were doing with the Talamasca, turning them into a semi-sinister supernatural variation of The men in Black is where they lost me.  Since when does The Talamasca erase people’s memories?!

Why doesn’t AMC just give them Neurolizers and complete the MiB theme?   Odd that a society so secretive that it would erase memories carries around business cards with their logo and phone number AND have giant sacks of salt with their logo on it.   You can’t be a secret society and a brand name at the same time. Make up your mind.    

I wonder if the SPR / ASPR is mildly insulted by this portrayal since The Talamasca is based on them.

Though I read The Witching Hour (back when I was fourteen and I’m forty-one now) I was still surprised at the reveal that Cortland orchestrated Deirdre’s death and was who really impregnated Deirdre to begin with.  I thought the show was going to leave out the incest but I suppose in the post-Game of Thrones world TV has gotten less squeamish about such things.

The 1960s supernatural-themed Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows had incest but it was subtle and you had to pay attention to notice it.  Such as with Laura Collins (the Phoenix) and when another Collins was being pressured to marry his cousin.   I know that the child IS Lasher but Sip seemed a little too eager to want to want to hand over a baby to be poked and prodded by The Talamasca for the rest of his life, especially when he was just starting to see the sinister side of The Talamasca.  Though The Witching Hour novel and existence of the speed-maturing Taltos existed since the 90s, was anyone else getting a Twilight Breaking Dawn feel from this?  Including from Ciprian’s reaction to the baby?

Rowan’s chosen punishment for Cortland was harsh.  I know he did many terrible things and was a manipulator and rapist-by-deception and hired someone to murder his own niece but the idea of being frozen in stone forever and still able to see and hear is pretty damn horrific.  I’ve seen it in horror films before like in the Wishmaster franchise and TV shows like Warehouse 13 and Angel and it’s still horrific.     

Honestly, every character was kind of unlikable in that last episode.  Sip was clever with how he handled the situation with The Talamsca.  HIs sister was an idiot. Paraphrasing:  “Hello, powerful, illuminati-like secret society I am not supposed to know about, Is my brother there?” But what Sip wanted to do with the baby (even knowing it’s Lasher) is kind of terrible.  I hope he had a scheme up his sleeve outside of “Hand the baby over to be vivisected.”   It was also kind of cute seeing baby Lasher try to teethe on the Mayfair necklace.

The only character who didn’t say or do something terrible was Josephine.  Go, Josephine, you go take over the Mayfair family. You’re the only sane one there.  By the way, I want her actress (Jen Richards) to play Wanda in The Sandman Netflix series. She’d make a perfect Wanda.

The show is addictive but some of the characters have lost likability and I hope Cortland doesn’t really stay stuck as a statue forever. He’s fun. 

[doctordaemon]

trying mayfair witches again and it really is just like… every choice is the wrong one? Like the acting is bad and the music is meh and I hate all the shot choices and why would you color your lush new orleans witch show cold, desaturated blue? Every sex scene is soooo cold and lifeless; just not a lick of sensuality or heat. It’s like they understood that intimacy directors helped actors feel safe but they decided instead of hiring one they’d just make sure the actors knew they didn’t have to have a well-choreographed sex scene or touch each other or act… sexy? (Not saying they didn’t have an intimacy coordinator - this is just the vibe.) also all the magic/vision effects are sooo bad and chintzy and outdated. I just do not understand why this show is like this when IWTV is spectacular. (Bit worried about the Talamasca show tbh)

[magicveiled]

Words alone cannot express how much I am healing my younger Vampire Chronicles addicted self with this show, Mayfair Witches, and the new Talamasca show said to come out. They have done such a wonderful job staying true to the book and it's characters while modernizing their story and it's like??? THIS is what you get when you hire people who are passionate about the source material.

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

All Go Home in the End chapter 3

here is the 3rd chapter of my tale of the body thief au. or read it below

Of course, the Talamasca wanted Raglan.  He was one of the strongest psychics of the age.  The body swapping ability on top of that made him fascinating to them.  They had hardly cared that he stole this poor boy's body–it was in fact what made them aware of him.  

They had stipulations for him working for them, naturally.  He couldn’t just steal someone’s body.  Not for the long term anyway; for the short term they were excited to watch and write endless notes on.  The truth is, back in the 70s Raglan had felt more like an experiment than an employee.  Not that employee would be the exact word, per se.  But they provided for him financially, and that was close enough.  

There were more rules as well that Raglan disregarded.  As long as he never got caught it wouldn’t be a problem, and he had learned to shield his mind from the other psychics there readily enough.

Everything had changed the night he met Daniel.  At first, he had merely meant to swap bodies and disappear for a time.  The Talamasca would eventually hunt him down, and he could return to them on his own terms.  His own rules.  But then Daniel had spoken of a vampire.

A quick glimpse inside his thoughts showed he believed it.  Then there was another option to get the Talamasca’s respect.  Or something even better.  

The next few weeks Raglan spent all his free time using the Talamasca’s extensive resources to research anything he could find about Louis de Pointe du Lac.  Eventually, he ran out of information he had access to.  His request to further investigate was denied.  So he body hopped into the receptionist who had all the keys and access codes.  He left his own body unconscious in a closet.  

Then he stole all the relevant information, shoved into the large purse the receptionist carried.  He had taken the bag back to his own body.  Then he switched bodies again and left the receptionist in the closet.  By the time the Talamasca found him, he had made copies of most of the notes, written in his own cipher and had hidden them.  

They wouldn’t be able to keep him on, of course.  But if he’d just come in with them quietly they could sort this all out.  Raglan sundered their minds.  They weren’t dead, but they were catatonic and beyond saving.  

Raglan ran.  He ran for years, swapping bodies all the way.  He finally gets caught while inhabiting a skin head.  It had been the only mind weak enough to overcome in his exhausted state.  He’d been fighting off agents for days, barely keeping out of reach.  They outmaneuvered him and brought him in.  They had a prison built especially for him, enchanted by witches to keep him from being able to use his abilities.  

For years he was locked away.  Then he got sick, too sick to use his abilities.  Cancer of the brain.  They saw to his medical treatment, and slowly Raglan began to regain use of his powers.  

The room where he took his treatments was warded by the same magic.

He managed to body swap with the birds he spotted outside the barred window.  He didn’t stay very long–the brain was too foreign to him.  But Raglan knew if he kept practicing, he’d be able to swap with a person.  

He already knew exactly who he was going to take.  

Gretchen.  She was a nurse hired to care for him.  She was also a nun, but you wouldn’t be able to tell it.  Nuns these days don't wear habits.  Aesthetically, she was quite pleasing.  She had blonde hair cut in a bob just above her shoulders.  She wore it parted on the side with gentle waves that framed her face.  Her eyes were a deep, dark blue.  Her mouth was a cupid’s bow and her form was slender and petite.  

Raglan preferred not to be a woman.  Especially if she was menstruating; cramps could be debilitating.  Why use a body if it couldn’t function at full potential for a week every month? 

But Gretchen was sweet and trusting.  She’d already lowered her guard around him.  It was foolishly naive.  But that was Gretchen.  He’d spent months observing her, tentatively peeking inside her mind, then growing bolder and bolder, looking longer and longer.  He’d be able to overpower her, and then, live as her.  He’d wait a respectable amount of time, then leave the country with Gretchen’s body.  He’d find a replacement and dispose of Gretchen.  

He just needed to get rid of the body he was currently using.  

Raglan could feel that body dying.  So he put it into a coma and forced his way into Gretchen.  It wasn’t as easy as he anticipated.  Her mind was surprisingly strong.  Raglan attributed it to her faith.  Not that there was any other power helping her–that left something of a psychic mark and there was none here.   But faith gave people a sense of conviction and safety that was a powerful thing.  

In the end, he was able to overcome her by delving into some long repressed memory.  Gretchen as a young teenager, taking some back alley concoction supposed to cause miscarriage.  The long miserable night she spent in the bathroom, bleeding and bleeding and too scared to go to her extremely strict parents.  

He grasped onto part of the memory.  Gretchen sitting on the toilet, hunched over and eying her own blood stained panties.  Everything hurt.  There was too much blood.  Gretchen was sure she would die, die and go to hell where all the whores and harlots go.  And she was scared, so scared.  Raglan grabbed onto the feeling, forced it into her mind, and made it take over.  

After that, gaining control of her body was easy.  Gretchen had nowhere to go but into Raglan’s old body.  She wouldn’t be able to rouse it from its coma.  

He spent the next few months living as Gretchen, doing as she would.  Then he made his escape.  He found all his old hidden notes.  He began to research again.  

Eventually he went back to the one concrete place he knew that vampires once were–Rue Royale.   Raglan isn’t dumb enough to enter brazenly.  He scans with his mind for a psychic signature, some sign of intelligent existence.  There’s one there, though it’s weaker than he imagined.  A vampire, injured and sleeping.

Raglan dips inside the mind just briefly.  It’s a jumbled mess.  Pain, loss, agony, aching.  Thoughts of a teenage girl, a dark daughter.  A familiar face, one Raglan glimpsed years ago in Daniel’s mind.  Louis de Pointe du Lac.  This must be Lestat de Lioncourt. 

For weeks, Raglan watches the house but no one ever exists or enters.  Too weak to hunt for himself then.  Probably living off vermin.  

But why so weak?  When Raglan dips inside his mind, he remembers burning and wishing for death that didn’t come.  The feeling of heartbreak and betrayal.  An all consuming guilt.  Frequent nightmares of the girl, this Claudia.  Even weakened, a vampire’s mind gift is too strong to go digging too deeply without being noticed.  Raglan mainly gets surface thoughts.  

So an attempt at meeting the sun.  Interesting.  It meant Lestat was in a vulnerable mental space.  That could be useful.

Raglan begins a habit of buying blood from butcher shops by the gallon and leaving them inside the old house.  The first time after he does it, he leaves a note that simply reads “From an admirer.”

After two weeks of this, Raglan leaves a note.

To the vampire Lestat,

I hope my gifts have helped aid in your recovery.  Please believe that I am indeed a friend.  A friend with an offering I believe you’ll find most intriguing.  

I myself am one of the lucky mortals who possess some measure of psychic power.  We may speak this way, when you feel you are ready.

If possible, I would like us to meet in person to discuss my proposition.  I know you may decide it is easier to kill me, but that is a risk I am willing to take.  

I look forward to speaking with you soon,

R.J.

Three days later, he gets a response.  He’s been watching the house for days, when suddenly, just as the sky darkens, the door swings open.  Then there’s a gentle beckoning in his head, easy enough to ignore.  

Raglan goes inside the old, worn down house.  Gretchen’s body breaks out in goosebumps.  There’s a light coming from the parlor, so Raglan goes there.  Inside is a vampire with blond hair and blue eyes, one who looks badly sunburnt.  He’s sitting on a chair in rotting clothes, empty plastic containers and dead rats scattered throughout the room.  

“You must be Lestat de Lioncourt,”  Raglan says.  He tramples down his fight or flight instinct telling him to run from this predator.  

“My name is Raglan James, but you can call me Gretchen.  I have a proposal for you.”

[nanshe-of-nina]

Mayfair Witches; part II

Katherine Mayfair In 1857, when Katherine was seventeen, she and her brothers bought a piece of property on First Street in the Garden District of New Orleans and hired Darcy Monahan, the Irish architect, to build a house there, which is the present Mayfair home. It is likely that the purchase was the idea of Julien, who wanted a permanent city residence. Whatever the case, Katherine and Darcy Monahan fell deeply in love, and Julien proved to be insanely jealous of his sister and would not permit her to marry so young.

An enormous family squabble ensued. Julien moved out of the family home at Riverbend and spent some time in a flat in the French Quarter with a male companion of whom we know little except that he was from New York and rumored to be very handsome and devoted to Julien in a way that caused people to whisper that the pair were lovers. The gossip further relates that Katherine stole away to New Orleans to be alone with Darcy Monahan in the unfinished house at First Street, and there the two lovers pledged their fealty in roofless rooms, or in the wild unfinished garden. Julien became increasingly miserable in his anger and disapproval, and implored his mother, Marguerite, to interfere, but Marguerite would take no interest in the matter.

Julien Mayfair Julien’s black hair turned completely white while he was still quite young, and his numerous photographs as well as these oil paintings show him to be a man of considerable presence and charm, as well as physical beauty. Some have said that he resembled his opera singer father, Tyrone Clifford McNamara. But it has struck some members of the Talamasca that Julien strongly resembled his ancestors Deborah Mayfair and Petyr van Abel, who of course in no way resembled each other. Julien seems a remarkable combination of these two forebears. He has Petyr’s height, profile, and blue eyes, and Deborah’s delicate cheekbones and mouth. His expression in several of his portraits is amazingly like that of Deborah.

Mary Beth Mayfair There can be no doubt, however, that Mary Beth had scant interest in her physical beauty. Though always well groomed, and sometimes stunning in a ball gown and fur wrap, she is never spoken of by anyone as seductive. In fact, those who called her “unfeminine” dwelt at length upon her straightforward and brusque manner, and her seeming indifference to her own considerable endowments. It is worth noting that almost all of these traits—straightforward manner, businesslike attitude, honesty, and coldness—are later associated with her daughter Carlotta Mayfair, who is not and never was a designee of the legacy.

Those who liked Mary Beth and did business successfully with her praised her as a “straight shooter,” and a generous person, quite incapable of pettiness. Those who did not do well with her called her feelingless and inhuman. This is also the case with Carlotta Mayfair. Mary Beth’s business interests and her appetite for pleasure will be dealt with extensively below. It is sufficient to say here that, in the early years, she set the tone for what went on at First Street as much as Julien. Many family dinner parties were planned by her completely, and she persuaded Julien to make his last trip to Europe in 1896, at which time she and he toured the capitals from Madrid to London.

Stella Mayfair “Live” might have been the motto of Stella. ... While Cortland and Carlotta battled over the legacy fortune and how it should be managed, Stella began to throw scandalous parties for her friends at First Street; and the few she held for the family in 1926 were equally shocking, what with the bootleg beer and bourbon, and Dixieland bands and people dancing the Charleston until dawn. Many of the older cousins left these last parties early, and some never returned to the First Street house.

Many of them were never invited again. Between 1926 and 1929, Stella slowly dismantled the extended family created by her mother. Or rather, she refused to guide it further, and it slowly fell apart. Large numbers of cousins lost contact altogether with the house on First Street, rearing children who knew little or nothing about it, and these descendants have been for us the richest source of legend and other lore.

Antha Mayfair It does seem to have been entirely Carlotta’s doing that Antha and Nancy ever went to any school. Indeed, the few school records we have been able to examine with regard to Antha indicate that Carlotta enrolled her and attended the subsequent meetings at which she was asked to take Antha out of the school. Antha was by all accounts completely unsuited for school. By 1928, Antha had already been sent home from St. Alphonsus. Sister Bridget Marie, who remembers Antha perhaps as well as she remembers Stella, tells very much the same stories about her as she told about her mother. But her testimony regarding this entire period and its various developments is worth quoting in full. This is what she told me in 1969. “The invisible friend was always with Antha. She would turn and talk to him in a whisper as if no one else were there. Of course he told her the answers when she didn’t know them. All the sisters knew it was going on.

Deirdre Mayfair The nurse said she never took off the chain with the emerald pendant, not even when she bathed Miss Deirdre. “Let me tell you a little secret, Doctor, don’t you ever touch that!”

“And why not?” he wanted to ask. But he had said nothing. He watched uneasily as the nurse put on the patient’s ruby earrings, her diamond ring. Like dressing a corpse, he thought. And out there the dark oaks wind their limbs towards the dusty window screens. And the garden shimmers in the dull heat.

“And look at her hair,” said the nurse lovingly. “Have you ever seen such beautiful hair?” It was black all right, and thick and curly and long. The nurse loved to brush it, watching the curls roll up as the brush released them. And the patient’s eyes, for all their listless stare, were a clear blue. Yet now and then a thin silver line of saliva fell down from the side of her mouth, making a dark circle on the bosom of her white nightgown.

Rowan Mayfair “Carlotta stood godmother to the child. I believe they got some doctor off the ward to be its godfather, so determined were they to have the baptism done. And Carlotta said to Father Lafferty, the child’s to be named Rowan, and he said to her, ‘Now, you know, Carlotta Mayfair, that that is not a saint’s name. It sounds like a pagan name to me.’

“And she to him in her manner, you know the way she was, she says, ‘Father, don’t you know what the rowan tree was and that it was used to ward off witches and all manner of evil? There’s not a hut in Ireland where the woman of the house did not put up the rowan branch over the door to protect her family from witches and witchcraft, and that has been true throughout Christian times. Rowan is to be the name of this child!’ And Ellie Mayfair, the little mealymouth that she always was, just nodded her head.”

Mona Mayfair She took another sip as she nodded now to young Timmy Mayfair, who had come to shake hands. Yes, and hello again to Bernardette Mayfair, whom she’d met briefly at the funeral, and to the beautiful little red-haired girl with the hair ribbon, who was named Mona Mayfair, daughter of CeeCee, yes, and the tomboyish Jennifer Mayfair, Mona’s best friend and fourth cousin, yes, met you before, of course. Jenn had a voice like her own, she thought, deep and husky.

[ihaventcomeupwthanameforaheroyet]

There is more than this one-liner because Lestat mentioned he saw Marius making movies in the end of TVL, too:

From that I've managed to pick up, he operated the camera himself, hired human actors (I wonder what they thought of his nocturnal lifestyle, especially if he filmed something which would be easier to capture in the daylight), he used painted backgrounds (I think it would be safe to assume he painted the backgrounds, too), and the films he made weren't silent ones which made the whole situation unbelievable for Lestat. Lestat did not mentioned if these films were black and white or in colour, and he did not see any mortals watching these, but Marius showed his films to Those Who Must Be Kept.

I have my own list of questions regarding this.

First of all, were these films any good? I mean, I tend to imagine Marius-made films as something like Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible (except maybe with smaller budget). If you have ever seen this movie, you might understand - when you watch it, you can feel the volume even though the screen is flat and in some scenes you can almost see the colours even though the movie is black and white. (And I don't mean the 10 minutes of the second part which are deliberately in colour.) Also, many scenes look like they are moving paintings. (Yes, this movie impressed me a lot, and I would totally expect something like this from Marius.) But maybe these films were like these home-made first amateur videos - absolutely terrible but everyone eventually passes through this phase? Who knows!

I also wonder what the "once or twice" referred to - whether Maruis meant he made a film once or twice and never tried it again or... he showed only one or two movies to the mortals but made a bigger collection for internal use (for the Parents and/or for himself). Actually, if Marius ever made some films for the mortals, the opportunities here! Imagine Armand and Daniel catching a glimpse of something Marius-made on one of these weird films festivals. Imagine Talamasca owning some copies, too. Maybe it's David, not Daniel, who will bring the old films for the movie night! (Because I believe Marius' own collection won't survive the beginning of QotD.)

There is also that one thought that lives in my head rent free: I wonder if Marius ever made animated films. He is an artist, and he has his prenatural vampire speed - he would be able to make an entire film all by himself in no time, and he won't even need human actors. Well, he would need voice actors, but still... voice actors would probably ask less questions regarding his schedule.

But yes. The thought is mind-blowing.

“Entered the mortal world..as a filmmaker”???!!! As @desertfangs has said, there are WHOLE STORIES in Anne Rice one-liners.