#lestat might find her too and try to make out with her
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krea2re · 4 months ago
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im more annoying about this on twitter but iwtv fanartists have got to realize that louis is not that darkskinned. he's not darkskinned at all actually, jacob anderson is like. kind of hilariously lightskinned. this goes for (bailey) claudia too but since she is obviously lighter than louis people seem to recognize that a bit easier than they do for louis for some reason (but the problem still persists. it's just not as egregious because i rarely see depictions of her cross into darkskinned territory)
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when youre a passive consumer of art and fanworks this can come off as more of a non-issue but when you're an artist depicting characters played by real people, it would do you good to stop and think about the choices you are making when you put pen to paper or tablet and colors to those drawings.
i know that likely a lot of artists go darker when depicting black characters or even lighterskinned black actors because of the general association of black person = darkskinned as well as out of a fear of possibly be perceived as whitewashing a figure if the values end up a bit off, but it is in fact still a colorist mindset to believe darker is better for someone who is not.
reiterating again that this is primarily about the depiction of LIVE ACTION CHARACTERS with real people
this is also a general plea for artists to stop drawing jacob, delainey, and bailey as random black person #73728
black features are not interchangeable and black features vary greatly if that wasn't obvious already from our cast. generalized depictions of black people in the spots of louis and claudia coupled with colorism ends up coming off as not only lazy but immensely disrespectful to the actors we are trying to depict. even moreso when people can easily nail lestats or even armands likenesses or put more effort into doing so, then on the other hand deliver unrecognizable louclaudias.
i also find it extremely outrageous seeing drawings where louis is noticeably darker than armand even after we got the line of claudia very specifically making a remark about armand being darker than louis.
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i also implore non-artists and artists alike (especially if you are nonblack) to point out when they see stuff like this happen in fanarts. obviously in Good Faith and without Hostility or Dogpiling.
no excuse can reasonably prevent someone from trying to adapt a persons ethnic features into their own style. there is no excuse other than laziness or other deep-seated resentments one might avoid acknowledging.
ive seen people draw louis with MY skintone and below is a picture of me and jacob anderson to hopefully drive home the point of how egregious that kind of depiction of louis is in practice
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flex^
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yesimwriting · 4 months ago
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Do you think bestie reader is aware of Dreamstat? I’m not sure if Louis would tell her about his hallucinations since the last thing he wants to do is scare her off, not that it would deter her from being his friend because I doubt it would. Assuming that he doesn’t, I think that based off everything he’s told her about Lestat and that it’s somewhat visually noticeable when he’s seeing Dreamstat, would she be able to figure it out? If she knows about Paul’s hallucinations and delusions, which I don’t know if she does, then she might assume it runs in the family considering everything that’s going on with Louis. The time period in which Louis was raised in would definitely play into this as well. He was reluctant to get Paul treatment partially because he tried in the past and he felt like it only made things worse, but I also know that a lot of people (especially older people) are hesitant to get their loved ones help because that would mean acknowledging and accepting that there’s something “wrong” with them. I think that mentality was definitely a factor in why he denied being schizophrenic when Daniel asked him, aside from Daniel’s attitude and tendency to taunt, of course.
ohh this is such a good question!!
Realistically, I think bestie is around Louis so often that pretty early on in their friendship she picks up on the fact that something is going on with Louis. I don't think she'd necessarily piece together that Louis is experiencing hallucinations, but she'd definitely recognize that Louis has moments where he's 'elsewhere'/lost in his head.
For Louis, it'd be instinctual to not mention Dreamstat to bestie. I can see him telling himself that he's only keeping the secret 'for now' and that he'll tell her about what he sees when he feels like she's comfortable enough with him to digest the information. However, as bestie and him grow closer, he starts to continuously find excuses to justify not telling her yet.
Louis has definitely told her about Paul's struggles with mental health. While there's a lot of emotional baggage there, sometimes telling bestie about his more human issues is easier than delving into traumas that are directly connected to vampirism. These discussions would not only let bestie know that mental illness runs in Louis's family, they would also help her understand how he perceives mental health.
I can see bestie eventually connecting the dots and assuming that Louis is seeing something that's not there. Bestie's around Louis so much that fully hiding Dreamstat would be incredibly difficult. Maybe while half asleep, bestie squints her eyes open enough to see Louis interacting with Dreamstat, or she enters the room a little too suddenly and catches Louis mid fictitious argument.
I do think that if she does start to think that Louis is experiencing hallucinations, she wouldn't want to mention it because of her concerns over Louis's understanding of mental illness. She'd also be worried about making Louis feel even worse about his hallucinations because it's clearly something he doesn't want her to know about.
Bestie would probably try to drop subtle hints that she doesn't think there's anything wrong with experiencing hallucinations in hopes of changing Louis's perspective.
If Louis were to tell her about Dreamstat, I can imagine him being afraid of losing her to this just for her to quietly tell him that she already knows and is beyond happy that he finally felt safe enough to tell her himself.
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nalyra-dreaming · 4 months ago
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Thank you for your thoughtful response to my Armand questions. I am always nervous about asking blogs about him because I tend to get my head bitten off for liking him as a character. I think just because you like a fictional character doesn't mean you condone all their actions. To me, this show is about many, many monsters who have had terrible things done to them, fueling their monstrosity. It is about the cyclical nature of abuse and how we can overcome it or be a constant victim to it. And I have always been fascinated by how different people react in similar situations based on their backgrounds. Perhaps that is why I am so fascinated by Armand - he is a survivor who has gone through some truly horrific shit but hasn't come to terms with it so the abuse cycle goes in circles. I don't see him as having these grand evil plans but someone who is flying by the seat of his pants, grasping at anything that will help him keep control of his life and unfortunately making every bad decision he can make and never taking time to breathe and fix is mistakes or try and figure out why he is doing what he is doing. I want to see the show explore that. Explore his abandonment (possibly or possibly not?) by his family, his life as a child sex slave, his life with Marius in a relationship equally filled with love and abuse, his life in a cult, and trying and failing to find someone to love him for who he his in all his gremlin glory. This show, IMO, has done an amazing job showing the extreme complexities of very traumatized people. I just get a little worried that because Armand is not one of the 2 leads, his very interesting story might just be regulated to a case book villain and that would be disappointing to me given how well they have done with the main 3. (IMO. I know a lot of people have valid reasons for not liking the portrayal of Lestat. And while I personally like the character and what they have done, I can't argue that it is its own entity separate from the book character people have heavily invested in over the years.)
Anyway, I like Armand and further more, I love Assad's portrayal. I really hope he gets the opportunity to dive deep into this insane gremlin.
I do think that Armand, while not one of "Loustat" :) is one of the four corner stones this show is built on (as of now), namely Lestat, Louis, Armand and Daniel.
I do think the two main relationships (and the history and ... well, entanglements between them) will remain focus, too.
The thing is, that... Lestat has experience both with Armand and Marius, for example. Marius wanted him to become his pupil - but Lestat never did. Why? I do think it has to do with what he knows about Armand and Marius and the experience he has himself, and there is an interesting tidbit in the last books, where another cult survivor, Allessandra, calls her maker not rescuing her from the cult a "moral failure". in this case it was Rhoshamandes, but this applies to Marius also, and I always felt this like a ripple-effect through the books, unsaid, unspoken - but there.
Because Anne was very good with unspoken things that have effect nonetheless, and even had Lestat spell it out in his recount: "you have to read between the lines".
The characters "live" within their universe. In their universe things have repercussions and effect. Armand and Lestat having a thing together (whatever that'll turn out to be) and Lestat drinking some of Armand's blood will transmit knowledge. In the book Armand does relay his story to Lestat, and in a lot more detail than what we got so far in the Louvre. That will - and arguably does - shape Lestat, in both book and show. As well shape his relationship with Armand and ... Marius.
There is also the aspect of Lestat's and Armand' relationship in the book, where Lestat refuses to become that which Armand thinks he needs, namely his "master" - and finds very clear words on this:
"I've been a rebel always, " I said. "You've been the slave of everything that ever claimed you. " "I was the leader of my coven! " "No. You were the slave of Marius and then of the Children of Darkness. You fell under the spell of one and then the other. What you suffer now is the absence of a spell. I think I shudder that you caused me so to understand it for a little while, to know it as if I were a different being than I am. "
I do hope that the show will manage to show this understanding Lestat has for Armand, and the (at the book age) surprising wisdom of rejecting him as such. And why.
Because this is a theme in the books - and I have a gut feeling they are going to go there.
Assad went and read TVA immediately when he knew who he was actually auditioning for - as with all our cast I cannot wait to see what he does with this, when we will get the "real Armand", too.
Because Armand, too... we have only seen in a tale, in a deliberate setup. The "real Armand" bleeds through the cracks though, and what we got so far is utterly brilliant, even if some of the choices the writers made will have effect and repercussions within the universe that I would have preferred to have differently. Alas, it is what it is :)
I am looking forward to more of our master gremlin coven master :)
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erisweekofficial · 10 months ago
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Today we're highlighting @shadowsandlint, another wonderful Azris writer! SL has such a way with words, so much of it reads like poetry. You can't go wrong with any of her fics, but here are a few to start with.
If you need a place to start, try SL's favorite fic she's written (and our favorite too) Autumn Winds Across the Sea
What did Azriel say to Eris at the High Lord's meeting? Your Scars on My Pulse has all the answers!
If you want a cute Azris fic that'll make you feel warm and fuzzy, read O Holy Night! The Stars Are Brightly Shining.
Read on to learn to learn more about @shadowsandlint and if Eris is going to win a battle against Loki and Lestat!!!
Give us a name for one of Eris's Brothers!
I haven't named any of his brothers in my fics yet, but I would like for them to be in the same vein as Eris'. He is named after the Greek goddess of strife, and is one of Zeus' many children. So maybe Arcas, the hunter, or Horai, after the goddesses of seasons.
Give us a name for one of Eris's hounds!
I've named one of the hounds Erebos in Your Scars on My Pulse! In Greek mythology, Erebos is the personification of darkness, which I found fitting for a smoke hound.
What drew you to Eris Vanserra as a character?
The masks he wears. He has so many layers! When we first met him after under the mountain, I immediately got the sense that he was more than he seemed. He was too well thought out to only be a flat character, with little quirks and hints to a world beyond the surface. What is he hiding? We have gotten some answers, but I want SJM to answer it all!!
Do you think Eris had any childhood friends?
Yes, I think he did before he got old enough to fully understand his role and the expectations that came with it. But after he and those around him made that connection, I think those relationships might have ended up being only superficial friendliness, in order to not have any weaknesses to be used against him.
How does Eris deal with the expectations placed on him by his court and family?
He probably reminds himself of the end goal quite a lot, like a mantra, repeating that it'll all be worth it once Beron is dead and he can shed his wicked persona. And lots of alone time in the Autumn woods with his hounds. Doggie cuddles make everything better!
Eris v Loki v Lestat. Who is winning?
I fully believe we have not been shown the extent of Eris' powers yet (the incident with Feyre and Lucien on the run was too suspiciously easy for them), so he might have enough tricks up his sleeve to take home the victory. I mean, how did he find and capture Azriel? And this is before becoming High Lord, so we can only imagine how powerful he'll be then.
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cher-horowitz · 7 days ago
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I saw this on X and thought it would be fun and unserious. On a scale of 1-5, rate rate the 🔥 factor, or potential 🔥 factor, between the following ships:
Loustat
Loumand
Lesmand
Lesionette
Nickistat 
DM
Dan Lou
Claudiene
Danstat
Nickimand
Lounicki
omg lol as a loustat monogamist this is hard for me, but here we go:
1. loustat— 100/5 🔥 NO ONE DOES IT BETTER. NO ONE. there's a reason these two keep coming back to one another. they compare every person they sleep with to each other. this is some make-you-quit-your-job-and-obsess-about-it-for-multple-lifetimes shit. and i would sell my kidney for a front row seat. BLACK. TAR. HEROIN.
2. loumand 3/5 🔥 not going to lie, i would watch their sex tape (as performative as it would be), but overall flop. paris sex was probably the best it ever got for them, unfortunately. and yes, i saw the whips and whatnot in their bedroom. my opinion remains the same. 3 points since they're both sexy, though.
3. lesmand 3/5 🔥 they both hate (or love) each other so there is a lot there to work with, but the best part of lesmand is the edging. i fear if they actually fucked (which they did according to armand), it would be a bit of a let down. still... you know... sometimes you gotta try it out to be sure.
4. lesionette is 1/5 🔥 they had sex for YEARS, so there must be something there but… i just can't care. sorry.
5. nickistat 2/5 🔥 lol okay i feel like i'm gonna piss people off with this one, buuuuuuut, to me, this is first love gone wrong and nothing else. before the horrors, nickistat was just... sweet. not really fiery. 2 points for disrupting the table in tvl though.
6. devil's minion 5/5 🔥 lol i just know it would be weird as hell (affectionate).
7. danlou 3/5 🔥 despite the "did we have sex moment?" in 2x05 that i desperately love, they kinda give big brother/little brother energy (idk who is who there). probably would be one fun night and nothing else.
8. claudeleine 5/5 🔥 madeleine finding out that claudia was a vampire and immediately offering up her arm like that told me everything i needed to know.
9. danstat 2/5 🔥 based on what i see online, i think i'm actually alone in this opinion, but i feel like they would ONLY ever fuck to make louis and armand jealous. no other reason. like, not even just to see if it's good. that being said, it still might be good lol. i DO think s3 will involve daniel pretending to be annoyed by lestat until he realizes the annoyance is actually an obsession.
10. nickimand 4/5 🔥 now let me explain lolololol. i feel like they did it once after lestat left and it was…. good. too good even. sleeping with the enemy style. this was BH (before hands) obviously.
11. lounicki 2/5 🔥 i feel like this is what happens when two twenty-somethings move in together to save rent. it would be good, solid sex. no complaints. then they would break up and have way better sex with some random stranger at a bar after last call late one night and realize something about themselves. i wonder if they would have ELITE communication in bed or the worst communication you've ever seen in your life. it's a toss up.
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faithandfairies · 9 months ago
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Re-visiting Antoinette
So, I've been re-watching the show and it has me coming back to Antoinette. Which, I think I always come back to Antoinette because she is important, just not in the way a lot of people think.
The thing is, Louis and Lestat don't communicate properly so you have to look at their actions to figure out where they are at mentally and emotionally at any given time. And painting a more complete picture of Lestat's actions in relation to Antoinette and her purpose according to Lestat does that.
You see, I think by the time Antoinette enters, Lestat feels like he is losing Louis. Their relationship is going down the drain because they're not communicating properly and on top of that Louis isn't feeding well so he doesn't have energy for the parts of their relationship that do work. Louis' lack of proper feeding though is tied to his feelings, his humanity. And his shame of what he is, for which Lestat partly blames himself because of how he handled Louis' turning and their relationship.
And so Lestat starts trying to re-write history to get Louis back. Fix the mistakes he made in the past that Louis holds against him to get Louis back in the present but also as a way to remind Louis of the good times. And he uses Antoinette to do that.
As such Lestat casts Antoinette in the role of Ernesto. Because that's where everything started to go wrong in their relationship. Louis being disgusted with how and why Lestat kills. In Louis' opinion Lestat should never have killed Ernesto. At the very least not in the way he did.
Just like Ernesto Antoinette is a musician. And just like with Ernesto as she leaves Lestat is looking at her like he wants to drain her but he doesn't at that point even though I believe he wants to.
He then also uses Antoinette to remind Louis of his courting period with him. I think Lestat's intention with Antoinette is for Louis to miss him during that two week period as he lavishes all of his attention on someone other than Louis only to then try to seduce him at the end of it, recreating the first time he and Louis slept together after their two week courting period with Antoinette in the role of Lily. Also using the fact that Louis is hungry to try to get him to feed.
I genuinely think Lestat would have killed Antoinette if his plan had worked here. Drained her with Louis most likely. Ernesto's death, but with different circumstances. No humiliation, no torture, just pleasure and lulling her into a false sense of security so Louis can feed. Trying to listen to the objections Louis had to the way Lestat killed. Because the killing itself is non-negotiable, but the circumstances can be negotiated. Lestat is willing to hunt for Louis, and in whatever way that will make it more likely that Louis will feed human.
Lestat's genuinely trying to find viable alternatives for Louis to feed on. Because Louis isn't opposed to feeding on animals. But that isn't a sufficient diet. So what is the human equivalent of an animal to Louis? Louis is opposed to feeding on black people because he considers them his people. Louis is also gay, attracted to his own sex, so all men might be off the table. So I think Lestat goes, would white women suffice? Would that be impersonal enough? Or do you need it to be more personal? Would a white woman that looks like me make you angry enough to feed if you can direct your anger at her? Since male criminals don't do the trick? Or do you need variety of the sexual sort? Do you need to have sex that then devolves into you draining your victim in the heat of the moment?
And I mean, Lestat hit the nail on the head too, you've got to give him that. He knows Louis very well. Because Louis in Paris feeds on humans when he hallucinates his victims as Lestat and directs his anger at them. And in San Francisco Louis sleeps with his victims then drains them. They need so much therapy by the way.
But then here that doesn't work. Louis leaves to feed on animals instead of joining Lestat and Antoinette. So Lestat's like okay, I've got to go back even further. Fix every mistake I've ever made with Louis. Not kill Lily, not turn Louis two weeks into knowing him and use Antoinette to represent that. And so he continues to cast Antoinette in the role of Lily and adds Louis-stand-in and doesn't kill or turn Antoinette. Instead he continues a relationship with her as a human.
But I think Lestat's also realizing it won't make a difference, even if he has learned from his mistakes. I think his relationship with her devolves into a form of self-flagellation through her then. Because he can't turn back time and not turn Louis after only two weeks of knowing him, ease him into things so that Louis doesn't hate Lestat and himself for what they both are. So that he doesn't want to hurt himself and Lestat for what they both are.
I think Antoinette also ended up becoming a way to bridge the gap between Lestat's vampirism and his humanity to save his relationship with Louis when Louis became hard to reach, because Lestat stopped being able to read Louis' mind to understand him and because they didn't communicate well. And because Lestat kept making missteps that created an increasingly larger chasm between them.
Because that's one of the problems, although Lestat understood where Louis thought he went wrong enough to try to fix it I don't think Lestat fully understood why Louis thought certain decisions Lestat made were wrong, why Louis saw things the way he did. Lestat acts on instinct a lot, having been a vampire for as long as he's been by the time he meets Louis and having embraced it as he has. He just doesn't think about things the same way Louis does or at all.
He left Antoinette human as long as he did because it was beneficial to him, because it meant she could help him understand Louis' human side, to be a confidante and a sounding board, but it also genuinely offered a layer of protection to him and Louis for him to be seen with a woman when he and Louis were suspected to be lovers by the town.
Until of course it was more beneficial to have her as a vampire. And of course her love becomes a stand-in for the love he wishes he got from Louis, that he feels he could have gotten from Louis if he'd handled things differently with him.
The thing is, just like everything else in Lestat's mind his involvement with Antoinette is for Louis. It's just that Lestat being Lestat everything he does or thinks he does for Louis alone he's usually also doing for himself.
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pynkhues · 23 days ago
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What do you think of the read that Lestat physically abused Nicki in TVL? I saw a Lou/mand blog post about that and I don’t know if OP’s read is true or if they were being biased.
They had an odd read of Lou/mand’s relationship in opposition to Loustat and they seem to want Lestat to be a worse abuser than Armand is and absolve Armand of his control of the Trial? But I haven’t read the books so I don’t know if their Nicki/stat abuse read is true.
I’ve seen some people say yes Lestat abused Nicki and some others say no Lestat didn’t abuse Nicki but I trust your read of the books the most.
Mmm, I'd say it's a pretty bad faith read of their relationship, anon, especially as I think if you were to talk about abuse in Lestat and Nicki's relationship, you have a much bigger case for it as being the other way around.
I have seen the argument you're referring to before though, and I'm unsurprised to see it gain traction in particularly mm, let's say motivated parts of the fandom. Lestat does hit Nicki once, and hard, but it's not supposed to be depicted as a normal part of their relationship at all, and it actually comes after Armand's abduction and torture of Nicki, so it's kind of funny that it's being used to absolve him of his sins.
What happens is that after Lestat's turned and after the trauma of Magnus, he retreats entirely from Nicki, but he can't stop himself from sending him gifts with all the money Magnus left him with. Nicki's obviously (understandably!) extremely hurt by Lestat's disappearance, and his depression worsens as he alternates between performing at Renaud's and trying to find Lestat. When Gabrielle arrives in Paris incredibly sick, also looking for Lestat, who's been avoiding her too, Nicki ends up sitting with her a lot until Lestat finally caves, and goes to her, something that culminates in him turning her.
Nicki doesn't know this at the time, and Gabrielle asks Lestat a bit about whether or not Lestat will turn Nicki, and Lestat doesn't want to at all. He wants Nicki to live a full mortal life because he loves him. This all goes belly-up because the Paris coven finds out about Lestat and Gabrielle, and Armand abducts, feeds off and tortures Nicki in a bid to get Lestat and Gabrielle to come out. It works, they rescue Nicki, but the torture has really aggravated Nicki's mental illness and bubbled up a lot of his resentments towards Lestat. They have a really ugly fight and Nicki tries to coerce Lestat into turning him while Lestat wants Nicki to leave Paris and try to leave the vampiric world behind him. Nicki doesn't take to that well and feels like Lestat's being deliberately withholding, and it's then that Lestat hits him, only to immediately cave and turn him. It's an upsetting scene, but it's not abusive. They're at the end of their relationship and both trying to trick themselves and each other into thinking turning Nicki could let them start again.
Nicki and Lestat's relationship is more complicated I think than it gets credit for, and I think a lot of people don't necessarily understand the power dynamic between them which is very much steeped in the era they come from. I've talked about it a bit on here before, but Lestat might be an aristocrat, but he's penniless, untitled, uneducated, illiterate and fundamentally really naive. Nicki's a member of the bourgeoisie which is about to literally overthrow the aristocracy in the book (and will be in the midst of doing it in the show's timeline), and his family is wealthy, with a strong profession (his family makes clothes, which is kind of a fun parallel with Madeleine), he's highly educated given his father has sent him to Paris to school, and he's worldly as he's pretty well-travelled. This really underpins the dynamic between them which see-saws when Lestat gets turned and Nicki ultimately feels entitled to what Lestat has because Lestat's never really had anything that Nicki hasn't already had.
And again, this is made starker in their break-up when Nicki tells Lestat that he only went with Lestat to Paris with the intention of them both dying there together. I actually don't entirely think that's true - I do think Nicki loved Lestat very much and briefly felt the hope that they could escape their abusive fathers' together, but he grew to really resent Lestat when Lestat's light failed to counter his own darkness, something he pretty much says explicitly.
Their love story really does start as something beautiful, but it ends extremely badly, and there are a lot of complicated and toxic parts to it in the process. I wouldn't describe it as abusive at all though, and if you're looking at the balance of power between them, I think for most of it, Nicki has a lot more.
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doumadono · 1 year ago
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mmm emergency request
take as long as you need to answer!! or if this is too triggering, no need to answer at all!!
tw for mention of childhood m*lestation
so recently (couple of weeks ago) i found out that my dad’s friend/girlfriend kind of knows the guy who m*lested me as a kid…
she knows everything that happened and knows how difficult it was for me to heal from. now finding out that she knows him— it set me back and i distanced myself from her.
a bit ago she called me, telling me that i should forgive him for what he did to me… and it went into a whole thing and now i’m trying not to cry while writing this lol
but anyways
it set me back really far and all of my progress is gone so i was just hoping for some comfort??
like twice or dabi comforting their gf/s.o. through this and helping them try to heal again.
maybe even twice or dabi getting a bit of revenge on the two people lol /j
sorry if this doesn’t make sense i’m just a bit out of it
- twice & dabi anon
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EMERGENCY REQS MASTERLIST
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Twice
Twice is initially shocked and angered when he learns about your troubled past and the person responsible for your pain.
He lets out a string of curses directed at the one who caused you harm, showing a protective side that you hadn't seen before.
Immediately, Twice pulls you into a comforting embrace.
"I might be a bit crazy, but I'm crazy about you. We'll get through this together, I'll never let you face it all alone."
After learning more about the person who hurt you, Twice puts together a plan for justice. "Nobody messes with my girl and gets away with it."
He ensures you have the support you need, encouraging you to take good care of yourself and promising to be there for every step of your healing journey.
As you try to hold back tears, Twice pulls a playful expression, "And if you need someone punched, I got a clone for that too. Or ten."
Twice is genuine, realizing that some battles require a team effort, and mental health is no exception.
Later, you discover Jin had discreetly gathered information to ensure the person responsible faced the consequences.
Twice, without a moment's hesitation, serves justice to the person who has caused you harm.
One day, accidentally overhearing him in conversation with Toga, you catch her asking for "the blood of his new friend." The request surprises you, but you eventually shrug it off.
The next day, Twice seeks you out and declares that the case is concluded, justice served.
When you express a desire to learn more, he simply smiles at you, smoothly shifting the topic, leaving the details in the shadows of his actions. "Don't worry, little mousie, Twice did his best to make sure they won't hurt you ever again."
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Dabi
Dabi listens silently as you open up about your troubled past. His eyes, however, betray a mix of anger and concern.
"No one should go through that. I'll make sure they pay for what they did to you, princess."
Dabi, in his understated way, offers a warm touch, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. "Don't think about that anymore. Let me take care of everything."
Dabi, true to his straightforward nature, ensures justice is served.
As you express your fear of encountering your past abuser, Dabi assures you, "I won't let them get away with it, don't ya worry your pretty, little head, princess."
Dabi, true to his character, never utters empty promises. Swiftly acquiring information about the person's name and address, he becomes a rare sight within the League of Villains' hideout for the next few days. Unbeknownst to you, he meticulously stalks every move of the individual, methodically transforming their life into a nightmare.
Days pass, and news reports flood the airwaves. Resting your head on Dabi's shoulder while watching the news, you hear of a house engulfed in flames, with a person unable to escape the inferno. The police chalk it up to a gas leak, citing eyewitnesses who observed the flames as an eerie shade of blue.
Your eyes widen, and you glance at Dabi, seeking confirmation. "Dabi..."
He, however, responds by gently placing his index finger to your lips, silencing any questions. "I promised you something, and I'm a man of my word, yeah?"
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avaelangel · 4 months ago
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Started reading Tale Of The Body Thief and got really sad.
That was what I sort of saw just thinking about Lestat not wanting to live anymore, but it isn't necessary what's going on here.
Word count: 543, so itty bitty.
Mild typos and\r OOC.
Lestat turned away from the camera. Silence fell onto the set, but for him absence of sound was impossible. Young PAs shuffled uncomfortably in different corners. Producers didn't know what to do, but kept people from talking just in case. Protections Daniel Molloy build up around his mind gave cracks. Lestat pressed knuckles against his lips in a strange, unfamiliar gesture for his elegant fingers. So dramatic.
Lights hummed softly all around his armchair, their rays reflected by stylized set pieces. He hate it. Every litte payette and a tub off to the side filled with candelabras and ornate goblets. Camera men that cringed every so slightly from looking at him. He knew he wasn't hidious, even though today he didn't even try. Lestat was beautiful in a sheer blouse with bell sleeves as much as he was beautiful in a well-tailored suit.
Soft crackling and hissing tickled his ears. On the corner of his eye ash flew through the air, dancing in the bright studio lights. Cameras won't pick up this and nobody will notice anything expect bloody tears that rolled out from Lestat's eyes. This is going to be etched into human history at least for a year. He will fight to get his edit, but rumours will spread online, snowballing into a mental breakdown instead of a quiet cry.
Maybe, he should have a breakdown. Rage and trash the place, put the fear of God, whatever it might be, into every single person here. But he slowly looked at the camera and smiled, while tears slid down his cheek. His gums were too pale for his liking, he saw it in the monitor. The blond camera man shivered, thinking about how pale he was and how Lestat must be able to count veins under his eyes. Lestat could. Six under left eye and four under the right one.
"Excuse my," Lestat took a shuddering breath, "interuption. It's time for a break. I need dinner," he raised his voice with a theatrical flair and clapped his hands, making everybody snap out of the daze.
PAs jumped up and ran away to find the nurse who was in the next room over. Lestat let his vision blurr while figures darted in different directions. He didn't mind Daniel Molloy who still sat a bit to the left, less lit and barely filmed in order to not draw attention to his sunglasses. Lestat didn't think about his secretive kin. To Daniel Molloy, Lestat stared into the farthest of lights, the cleras of his eyes growing redder.
Claudia stood with her back to the blasting white light. Ash flew around her like snow. Her big brown eyes were intact, her lion-mane hair were down and her hands were slightly open, as if waiting to be held. Her yellow dress bore the forever marks of a kidnapping. Her face betrayed nothing except, for maybe, strange pity. But she would never pity him. Claudia would never pity herself.
Lestat knew the true answer to the question. Not deep down, the answer was right there.
"I tried to give Claudia everything I never had. A lavish childhood, a vampire upbringing, but I everything I was given by my father drown the lovely life the three of us had started,"
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queerofcups · 10 months ago
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an August rec list
August Rec List
Why yes it is nearly the end of September and I’m just now posting my August Rec List. I’ve been busy!
Hockey RPF
come stitch me up
E | 10k | addandsubtract
Sometimes he wakes up sucking on his fingers, rutting his hips into the bed. He’ll be right on the edge of coming, the wet head of his dick trapped between his hips and the sheets, but he can’t, he can’t, not without – not without something pushed up inside, something stretching him open.
Hey man, I barely know who these players are. Is this kind of a horror story? Yes! Is it also very hot smut! Yuuuup. This is what I mean when I’m begging people not to try to explain away the dub in dubcon. Someone should be calling a doctor, an exorcist, a therapist etc. But instead, because this is fanfic, they whip their dicks out! It's great!
Interview with The Vampire
monstrous servant
Armand/Louis
E | 5k | inthebelltower
The old itch never goes away. It never feels less good to scratch.
inhuman taste
Armand/Louis
E | 1k | inthebelltower
Louis can’t help it; he wants to eat him up.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Louis as a dom as I’m writing my own WIP and this fic and the next were really instrumental in shaping my own ideas of how Louis is with Armand. I really think this and the next fic act as a great picture of the two sides of their relationship.
not a ruse, not heat
Armand/Louis
M | 872 | inthebelltower
Louis drinks from Armand’s neck. Somewhere in the compound a clock is ticking.
Let me tell you diary (islands)
Claudia/Madeline, Louis/Lestat 
T | 4k | anonymous
Basically, Claudeleine don't return to Paris, don't fall for the trap, and just travel to wherever the X leads them... until…
In Sickness and In Health
Louis/Lestat
M | 3k | anonymous
“Sure, okay,” Louis huffs softly, “one coffee, why not.”
They’re engaged again by November. Claudia calls Louis the moment she finds out and scolds him for fifteen minutes straight. Hear me out, Louis barely gets the words out before she hangs up on him. Five times he tries to call her back.
Of mercy, with choice 
Louis/Lestat
E | 6k | shavir_light
“I always thought that your victims were truly fortunate, to be gifted with such an exhilarating death,” Lestat says, tangled in the messy sheets. “What bliss it must have been, to be killed by one so beautiful.”
Louis and Lestat play at a fantasy. It gets a bit out of hand.
The Things We DId and Didn’t Do
M | 3k | @marbleflan (they are on tumblr, but I can't tag them)
“You are thinking of him, maybe.”
Louis looks up. It’s like Lestat is speaking in another language and Louis is reading the subtitles on a delay, or something. He can make out the words but not the meaning, for a moment.
“What?” Then it clicks.
“Armand. You are touching me. In bed,” Lestat says, casual. Maybe too casual. “But you are thinking of him.”
Louis doesn’t say anything. There’s not really anything he can say. It’s true, in a way. Not that he’s literally thinking about Armand. Not consciously. But he’s assuming Armand: Armand’s desires, Armand’s preferences, Armand’s reactions. He’s holding Lestat, he’s thinking of Lestat, he’s hard for Lestat. But he’s treating him like Armand.
Wow I sure am reccing a lot of fic about Louis and BDSM, huh? Wonder what thats about. Anyway, I think this and the fics by shavir_light work as lovely little complements to each other. More thinking about how domming wasn’t just a thing for Armand, but was something that Louis participated in, enjoys and carries with him. I also enjoy thinking about how Louis and Lestat might fall back together once Louis is back in New Orleans, but they might not settle together quite as easily. Eighty years is a long time to be apart and of course people are going to pick up quirks and require adjustments. 
the body, not in stasis
Daniel/Louis
E | 1k | shavir_light
“The need to cares for your body is, in part, what tethers you to it. It’s a reminder, Daniel—that you are flesh and blood. That you are a human being,” Louis insists, in his usual verbose fashion, and Daniel can’t help but laugh as he turns to leave.
“Well, you’re welcome to come watch, if it’s so magical to you,” he says.
I think this is such a short, sweet meditation on bodies. It does the exact kind of thing I love fanfic to do, take a single point an original work makes — vampires’ bodily functions fundamentally change when they’re turned — and just has a think and does a little smut about it. I love it.
Want and Swallow and Keep
Louis/Lestat
E | 10k | shavir_light
Love, sex, possession. To Lestat, they’re all the same thing.
So this could be perfect; Louis could decide what they do, control Lestat’s actions. He could make Lestat work for it, earn Louis’ trust again by way of obedience. Louis could restrain him from doing something—something bad.
So interesting to be in such disagreement about what a fic is and how we’re supposed to take it. I think this fic is a great example of the ways Lestat and Louis treat each other poorly, and get off on it! shavir_light makes it clear that they see one party clearly in the wrong and one not. I just think it's so fun that we’re able to have such different perspectives on the same work. 
Harry Potter
New Gods
Harry/Sirius 
E | 4k | @thecouchsofa
It rocks Sirius to his core every time he thinks about it, because they aren’t the same – Harry and James.
Sure, Harry pushes his glasses up with the knuckle of his pointer finger. James used to do the same thing when he had dirt or sugar or random potion essence on his hands. Other people do that too. Sirius has never seen it, but they do.
I like a fic where people are having relationships that are complicated, or they “shouldn’t” be having them for whatever reason. I like the ambiguity of this fic and how Sirius is trying to insist, to us and to himself, that the ambiguity doesn’t matter when it certainly does.
Wield Me
Harry/Draco, Pre-Harry/Draco/Teddy
E | 10k | @tackytigerfic
Draco Malfoy, blacksmith, is renowned through the magical world for his skill and exquisite creations. He could quite easily spend the rest of his days making pretty trinkets for the fae court, and being handsomely rewarded for the privilege. But why take the easy route when instead he could get involved in a dangerous mission with Unspeakable Harry Potter (who also happens to be Draco's... well, he's something, isn't he?)
A little story about learning to strike while the iron is hot.
Home Truths
E | 67k | @fantalfart, @skeptiquewrites
In the off-season Harry decided to fix up Grimmauld Place and found that Draco Malfoy was the only person who could help him. A demanding career and unrelenting press scrutiny were enough to deal with before Harry added a house with a mind of its own, family history, and a tense, flirty, complicated relationship with his childhood nemesis to the mix.
On professional Quidditch, magical houses, hard choices, Life Debts, and inconvenient truths.
Honestly, this fic, to me, is more of a lovely character study than a romance. There’s a good bit of fic that Draco barely appears in but we get to learn more about Harry’s job (y’all know i’m a sucker for any fic where Harry’s not an auror) and the whole world feels very lived in. 
Wonderful Anything
E | 24k |  harDEEhar / @dryrsheet
They were birds of a feather, he and Draco: the pathetic bastards in love and apart.
I can hardly believe this fic is only 24k. I read the next fic immediately after this one because they both manage to offer worlds that feel so full, just from what we learn while watching people fall in love. I also love an unconventional relationship timeline, stories where people build their own lives and families they way they want and second/third/fourth tries until something finally clicks. There are just so many lovely details in this story, it really was one of the standouts of the month. 
Grounds for Divorce
E | 122k | @tepre
Malfoy finds a coin. Harry finds a letter.
A story about histories, a story about families. A story about a lemon tree somewhere in Upper Egypt.
Oh God, I stayed up way too late reading this fic. Sometimes, I’ll just random think about this fic. I’ve reread it so many times. The writing is just gorgeous. The emotional character work is…is shocking in how wonderful and layered it is. It feels both so real and heightened at the same time. The whole story is cooking on high but once Harry and Draco get to the conference in Egypt? Baby, it's on flambé. I don’t know if this story is considered a classic in the Harry Potter fandom but it's quadruple platinum in my household. 
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nalyra-dreaming · 11 months ago
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Hello :-) I was just wondering if you have overall thoughts now on how you feel about The Drop in series one now we’ve seen all of Louis’ perspective on what happened?
I’ve been mulling it over (and trying to separate it from the fact I find the discourse in fandom about it (Lestat) annoying). I can see why the show runners wanted to do it; it makes the relationship’s toxicity much more clear and Lestat was abusive in the books, just not as clearly as 1x05 lays it out. So I can see why they wanted to give Louis (and especially Claudia) that much more motivation. I did also find Sam’s reasoning - that it’s important to show Lestat’s underlying toxic masculinity more clearly - compelling too. But I also just don’t like that they did that to Lestat. I do think it’s something that changes who he is and what he’s capable of. But maybe I’m just too much a Lestat girl and it is better for the story and it’s actually just laying out some difficult truths about him in a way that’s not comfortable. Obviously he’s a monster, even if in the books he’s a monster that generally tries his best to help and care for those he loves. Where do you land on it?
(I totally understand if you don’t want to open this can of worms, but I’d be interested in the discussion or you pointing me in the direction of your previous thoughts if that’s easier)
Hey!
All good. I have talked about this a few times, so I'll try to... condense where I am at this moment :)
So, re that "toxic masculinity" and the arc they're aiming for... I think it's important to remember here that Akasha does aim for Lestat as her tool because she does see "everything wrong with the males" in him. So that arc makes a lot of sense for them to set up.
Ultimately this is what she misjudges Lestat on though, and why she, why her quest fails - he actually isn't, and he turns against her because he isn't.
I said it before, the abuse is in the (first) book - but not at this level. And not with the added layer of domestic violence, and I think that level will come back to bite the show in the ass again and again (and the fandom is a mess because of it), because what the show showed - and what they let stand for almost two years - is something decidedly different than "two vampires fighting". Which we're supposed to take away from it now. And which is "only" the inside part of that... fight.
The outside has been hinted at in the video with Sam you're referencing now as well, totally apart from the missing blood everywhere which makes the scene unlikely to have happened as shown, there was also the hint re... something else, that Sam caught himself on. I have theorized early on that the outside might be connected to Amel, and I do think that might hold true. Which is no excuse, btw, since Amel uses certain skills and tendencies. We'll see.
So now the drop.
I am not sure if we have seen all, tbh. There were comments about something about the "blood of Akasha" that was cut from that scene, for example. It would certainly makes sense with the tower scene. Also Lestat being so frustrated with Louis and whatever discussion they had up there to drop him? Still doesn't make sense to me, but I guess that's more or less confirmed now. Still reeks like the tower drop parallel to me (that we might get in s3, who knows).
I think there is something quite powerful they could do with the drop vs certain upcoming book canon "flying scenes". I know some fans said that they destroyed that scene with 1x05, but I actually disagree. The level of trust needed would actually only enhance where they are with each other then, but we'll see.
So. After the comments re "toxic masculinity" etc (mostly by Sam) it made click for me.
I think I know why they're doing this, I think I know how they'll spin it. But I don't particularly like it.
Still, it will likely work. In the end.
After a lot of (fandom) pains.
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op-la · 1 month ago
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Furthermore, I don't think any discussions on Lestat's intentions would be very meaningful at this point tbh. There are arguments to be made that if he could he would save Claudia too, but I don't think it's uncharitable to read that he never intended to save Claudia in the first place, considering the fact that he wanted to get rid of her and replace her with Antoinette in 1.07. Again, I don't think his intentions matter much, since Claudia is dead. He already made the choice.
I think it matters a lot. The show is primarily about the love story between Louis and Lestat, and a big part of that is also their grief over Claudia. So Lestat's intentions don't absolve him of what happened before Paris, for sure, and I think they'll explore his guilt over not saving Claudia no matter what his intentions were--but there's a pretty huge difference between him going through the play because it was his only chance to save Louis and him wanting to save Claudia if he could, and him only caring about Louis and ignoring an opportunity to also save Claudia or just not caring if she died. The first option doesn't mean he's great and everything's forgiven, but the second would make him even more unforgivable than before. The first allows the love story and fits more with what we saw in the reunion.
Side note...I'm also curious about whether we'll revisit mardi gras, since there are clearly parts of it we haven't seen and the writers have suggested we might go back to it, and whether we'll find out if Lestat actually did intend to kill Claudia. I think it's perfectly possible that he did intend to kill her and, like much else, regretted it by the time the trial happened and didn't want her to die either ("if you sentence THEM, you sentence me too"). But it's not 100% clear what his intentions are. Because what we see is Antoinette trying to force Claudia to drink some poisoned blood, and we know that poison can't kill a vampire. They're very clear on that. It can weaken/incapacitate them. So maybe Lestat would have killed an incapacitated Claudia. But I do think there's also a chance that he was trying to weaken her so that he could either leave her behind and take Louis and Antoinette with him, or maybe even take Claudia with them too but in a weakened state where she couldn't (in his mind) interfere with them. idk. That's all pure speculation on my part. But it's interesting what they show and tell us and what they don't.
But yeah for the story the show is telling, I think Lestat's intentions matter a lot.
Sorry I think when I initially wrote that I'd just seen people discussing the topic and using Lestat's intentions to absolve him of his past actions, which was annoying me and I think I wrote it addressing that in mind instead of talking about the storytelling of the show. Should have worded things better since I didn't want it to mean that his intentions does not matter within the show, my bad! My personal reading is similar to what you're saying here; I don't know what his plans were initially though I think if Lestat wanted to really kill Claudia he already had a lot of chances to do so, so I do think that his whole act with Antoinette was more about intimidating/exerting dominance and his goal was to incapaciate her in some way. That's just my take on it but I understand how it can be read differently since like you said, there are still parts we haven't seen.
#a
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eidetictelekinetic · 1 month ago
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WIP Wednesday - Daemons for Vampires and Ghosts
So this one's Dead Boy Detectives and Interview With the Vampire
From the next chapter of my Dead Boy Detectives daemon AU
"Selene, what are we going to do?" The question is torn from him, and Edwin sinks to his knees in front of his daemon, hands shaking as he almost touches her. It's been so long since he dared reach for her, though the pain has lessened some over the years. But now, tonight, Edwin longs to hold her close like he did when they were small. Tonight, when he's had his first kiss from a friend, and then hurt that friend, and all the while… "Do you think they know?" Selene asks softly. "No, not yet, but I do not think that I can keep it hidden for very long. Charles and Kel know us very well, and soon enough they will notice something. And Crystal already accused us of acting like a married couple. She has reason to pay attention to such things, doesn't she?" It is unfair, he knows that it is unfair, especially since whatever transpired between her and Charles, she seems to have cut it off. But if it is unfair, it is not necessarily untrue. "Maybe they won't figure it out," Selene says, though not like she really believes it. "They will," Edwin says. "We have to tell them. It is --- it is better to have that much control over the situation, don't you think?"
From the next Daniel POV in the IWTV daemon verse
"What I really want to do is find Sam Barclay," he says one evening, climbing out of his coffin. The coffin had been here when he got home, oversized and plush inside. He has thoughts about where it came from, and enjoyed a few fantasies of chucking it out a window the way Louis once threw Lestat's coffin into the street, but that's the kind of gesture that only works when the person you're aiming it at is present. Also, it's comfortable, and saved him the hassle of getting one, so fuck it. (No, it's not that once he was used to Armand giving him things.) "You think he'd talk to us?" Sianna asks, jumping out after him and leaping up to one of her new perches. "I figure for him to have gotten out of Paris and still be alive now, he must be good at keeping under the radar." "Sure, but he's still the only source we haven't spoken to yet, with the potential to be a better one, in some ways." There's still holes in the story, after all. Sure, they know now that Armand was in on the trial, in on Louis and Claudia being executed. The timeline, though, that's still hazy. Who had the idea of contacting Lestat and setting the trial in motion? Was it Armand all along, or was some of the story he told about Santiago's mutiny true? Sure, this kind of thing isn't directly tied to Louis' memoir, but as soon as the interview gained a second subject --- hell, once he got access to Claudia's diaries --- the option to loop in other people's parts of the story was there. And Sam isn't going to have the same kind of agenda. Oh, he'll have one of some kind; everyone does. But not one tangled up in the same emotional mess as Louis or Armand. Or Lestat, if he was on the table. Trouble is, like Lestat, Sam's in the wind. The difference is, because things are less fraught, Daniel's thinking he might just be able to make contact. He is a vampire now, after all. "So, what, just yell on the telepathic network until you get an answer?" Sianna asks. "Wouldn't be the first time we annoyed our way into getting the story."
Introducing Jesse Reeves to the IWTV daemon verse
And that's it, really. Jesse's daemon has it right, because of course he does. To Jesse, sometimes, the world feels like… Well. She's never needed glasses, has perfect 20/20 vision, but it's a thing kids do, isn't it, trying on their friends' glasses, swapping if they both have them. Wearing glasses she didn't need, Jesse found the world became too sharp, enough to make it distorted in a whole new way. It's like that, only it's all her senses, it's her very self, not just her eyes. There really aren't words for that, or at least not any that she can string together coherently. And she's tried, over and over in letters to Maharet she's never sent. Always to Maharet. Jesse loves Michaela and Maria, her adoptive parents --- and distant kin, by way of the Great Family --- and she trusts them with most of herself. Even the things she sees, to some extent. They don't understand the way Maharet has always seemed to, but they've always believed her. They never tried to tell her she'd just had a nightmare, or that something was a trick of the light. She knows she could tell them about this strange feeling, she just… can't seem to. And she can't seem to tell Maharet either, even though she thinks that should be easier. So she doesn't tell anyone. She and her daemon hold the secret of it inside themselves, and try to talk it over between them. What else is there to do when they can't reach out? When they want to, and yet they simply can't?
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faithandfairies · 9 months ago
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Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Rant
It's so interesting how season 2 is like watching a train wreck happening in slow motion.
Let me start by saying that Claudia tells Louis that he's once again choosing another vampire over her. But I feel like Louis is trying to do the opposite of that. Or at least he really doesn't start out trying to choose Armand.
The entirety of season 2 involves Louis trying to help Claudia make her dreams come true by following her lead, doing what she wants to do. For once he's choosing her.
None of what they end up doing is anything he cares about. He's a homebody who likes to read a good book by the fire while knowing his loved ones are safe and near. I mean, he asks Claudia early on whether they can go home now, when they don't find what they were looking for after 5 years of searching, right before Paris.
He doesn't know what home will entail, whether it will just be going home to New Orleans with Lestat dead or if Lestat will be there waiting for him, murderous or loving, but he doesn't care. Both options will do.
Him seeing Lestat is him trying to desperately reconnect with something he cares about, even if it is within his own memories, especially when his attempts at connecting with Claudia fall flat.
Claudia initially wants to leave Paris when they first arrive there but Paris is the first time Louis feels at home because Paris is the closest he's been to Lestat in years. So Louis wants to give it a chance.
I think on some level Louis expected Lestat to follow them, to come looking for them, so Louis could say he tried to pick Claudia over Lestat and Lestat wouldn't let him. The way he tends to place blame anywhere else than with himself. Even him going to Roger and Albert is about inquiring whether Lestat is truly dead, sure, but is also a siren song meant for Lestat in case he's alive I think. That if Lestat is alive he will hear from Roger that Louis is in Paris and show up. But then none of that happens.
Season 2 also involves a lot of everyone lying to themselves. Even Louis' relationship with Armand is him trying and failing to fix the mistakes he made in his relationship with Lestat with Armand as a stand-in for Lestat.
Armand is very obviously dangerous from the start. Even while he's crushing a bit on Louis he does not make it a secret that he wants Louis and Claudia dead.
Initially Louis makes the right call, he wants to leave Paris the moment he realizes Armand is a danger to them. But it would mean uprooting Claudia, forcing her to start over from a point of misery again. So then he approaches Armand the way he did Lestat.
He tries to solve the problem of Armand being a danger to them by trying to love him, love him into safety. He tries to go one step further than he ever did with Lestat, he tries to say it, say "I love you" but it doesn't ring true even to his own ears.
He forgets that loving Lestat was always his truth, incapable of being a manipulation, impossible to replicate as a lie.
Even Armand tries to love Louis, because the only thing better than killing Louis would be for Louis to fall in love with him more than he ever was with Lestat. To the point that if given the choice Louis would choose Armand because he loves him more than he ever did Lestat.
But Armand is not Lestat. Which means a lot of things. It means Louis and Claudia will never truly be safe with Armand simply because Louis and Claudia are not his. Lestat considered Louis and Claudia his, his family, his to take care of, his to protect. Armand does not feel the same way. But Armand not being Lestat also means Louis will never love Armand. Which only underlines that they will never be safe with Armand. Because aside from running or killing the coven, actually loving Armand more than Lestat was the one way Louis might have gotten Armand to not kill them.
And Louis can't do that. He shows Armand this too when he can't commit to Armand in the one essential way he did do to Lestat. He can't accept Armand as his companion. Because in his mind Lestat never stopped being his companion and to accept Armand as such would mean to give the role Lestat filled to Armand. At this point Armand is an affair. He cannot be Louis' companion because even considered dead, in Louis' heart of hearts, that position belongs to Lestat.
And yet when it turns out he and Claudia are still in danger from Armand and the coven Louis tries to do that anyway. He tries to banish Lestat's memory. He tries to force companionship with Armand even though he doesn't feel it. And that scene is so interesting because it's Louis lying to himself in its entirety. It seeming to be initially about him breaking up with Armand but instead it's him trying to let go of the memory of Lestat.
But what it's really about is him trying to let go of his humanity and once again becoming the cold and calculated pimp he used to be before he met Lestat, that needed to do what he needed to do to protect his family. It's funny to realize that by loving him Lestat unknowingly unearthed some of Louis' humanity that had previously been hidden away. Because in choosing to love Lestat Louis became more human. Lestat chose Louis in part because of the hardened pimp façade he threw up in order to cope with the work he had to do to take care of his family. But in loving Louis Lestat laid bare all of who Louis really was and while he thought he knew what he was doing I don't think he truly knew until after he had turned Louis and saw the true effects of him taking a wrecking ball to all of Louis' walls at the same time.
When Louis realizes that once again his family is in danger he does what he did all those years ago. He dusts off the pimp persona. He's about to give the performance of his life trying to make Armand believe he's in love with him so Armand doesn't kill them, all while locking his heart away with the memory of Lestat for safekeeping so that he can actually give a convincing performance.
But here's the thing, Lestat was the actor. Louis was never good at lying about how he really felt. It's also why distracting Lestat before he killed him was so effective. It was as easy as breathing because Louis didn't have to act. The love he felt for Lestat was the absolute truth and anything less than that would have been a lie Lestat would have seen straight through. Lestat may not have realized Louis loved him but unbeknownst to him he did know how it felt to be loved by Louis.
Louis can't deceive Armand the same way precisely because he doesn't have those particular feelings for Armand and up to then he was trying to use Armand as a Lestat stand-in, a do-over in which he tells Armand what Lestat needed to hear, in the hopes this time the outcome will be different. Which almost worked because he had Dreamstat to bring those real feelings to the surface. But then Louis locks Dreamstat away thinking that's the answer and no longer even has a whisper of the feeling he previously had to back up his words and actions. And by then it's already too late anyway.
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pynkhues · 2 months ago
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Apologies for bringing twitter stupidity to your tumblr, but I feel like I need a reality check lol. While the large majority of ppl who commented on that photo the fan in Sydney took with Sam were just saying how pretty or cute or rejuvenated he looked, the wet slicked-back hair and the angle, with his head tilted back so the hair is less visible, made some people start saying that he was losing his hair, and then a few people even started saying that Jacob and Assad were losing their hair too. And I just need to check that I'm not crazy because, with Sam, it's like, we just saw him 20 days ago? And he looked like this??
https://ton.x.com/i/ton/data/dm/1910615867832086697/1910615720955904000/xUuXOCoz.jpg:medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GqMfH9lW0AA0hAZ?format=jpg&name=medium
And two years ago when they were filming s2 he looked like this, which seems exactly the way he looks in the fan pic with his hair pulled back tightly?:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GqN2g_QbkAAsSMC?format=jpg&name=large
So unless they think he lost significant hair in the last few weeks, I don't get it. And with Jacob and Assad, I don't get it. Someone posted post s2 photos of them and they didn't look different to me from the s1 photos? Am I wrong? And where does this come from? I mean honestly it's not that many people, it was a lot fewer people making these comments than it was people talking about the people making the comments (which honestly is so often the way. I usually hear about something negative on twitter not because I come across it myself but because I read someone else commenting on it angrily). But is it anxiety that these men are playing vampires who aren't meant to age and yet they may show some human signs of aging if the show goes long enough? And maybe that's especially centered around Sam as a blonde man living in a sunny country (even though his skin has truly never looked smoother and glowier lol).
I mean, I can't say I'm particularly surprised, anon.
You're kind of asking me a whole bunch of questions here, haha, so I'll answer as succinctly as I can, but like - - yeah, the context of how and when pictures are taken matters. Of course all of them are going to look better in professionally taken photos at events they're professionally styled for than in candids where they're literally just hanging out in their hometowns, of course angles and lighting has an impact, but also of course they all look a little older today than they did three years ago, because they are? There's nothing wrong with that - all three of them look great (and I personally would say have aged pretty minimally), and the handwringing over it feels - -
I don't know.
Well, that's not true, I have my suspicions, haha. I think it's partially a manifestation of a global culture drenched in youth fetishisation, of which, to be fair, the vampire subgenre has been a part of at least since the 70s, from Valerie and Her Week of Wonders to The Lost Boys to Twilight to The Vampire Diaries - - hell, Anne herself writes it, given the Lestat of the book is an eternal 21. I think it's partially a fear that if the actors age, they might no longer look like they did in 1.01, or worse, that they might no longer find them 'hot', and I also think a big part of it is people trying to be funny or signal to a certain crowd that they can hang.
I also - - mm. I've mentioned this once before, but I do also think there's a little bit of a degree of inexperience in parts of the fandom, and while there's nothing wrong with that at ALL, I do think that there's a small subset within that cohort who read as female-incels to me. These are the ones who really go after the cast, particularly Sam, but not just him, in a way that feels deliberately punishing and obsessive, and I think for them these sorts of comments are lowkey a sort of negging akin to guys who feel the need to comment when they think an actress is starting to look haggard.
In that sense, I think it's both specific and really broad to internet culture, and really, unfortunately, I just think it is what it is.
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i-want-my-iwtv · 2 years ago
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I recently read Interview with the Vampire which is such a good ride and since I was already very much expose myself to many spoilers, I knew the trial would happen and all that. But since English was not my first language and though I like the poetic words, I can't seem to understand what exactly they are talking about sometimes 😂. I'm busy often and can't seem to get the time to actually search up things about it so I wanna know more about why exactly would Armand has the need to kill Claudia, I know about how he wanted Louis for himself but I think he's aware that Claudia was everything to Louis so killing her doesn't seem to be the best idea if he truly love and want Louis to be with him. And the second one being why is Lestat so indifferent to Claudia's possible death at the trial, I've seen his quote about Claudia and discussions about how great he love her even after all the killing attempt and that he never blamed her for anything (didn't read the Vampire Lestat yet by the way), so to say the least I was quite shock at how he allowed Claudia to be held by the coven and why is he only advocating for Louis survival, is his love too much greater for him? And can't seem to understand that why would he think Louis would be willing to go back with him without Claudia. I think there are other scenes related to these in the other books but I forgot about it, I hope to find out about it when I get to read more but I'm really curious and can't help myself back. I hope my question makes sense and I wouldn't mind any spoilers, I really wanna know more about it.
Hello! Wow, that's a lot of ask. I'm glad to take a stab at answering tho 😎
But since English was not my first language and though I like the poetic words, I can't seem to understand what exactly they are talking about sometimes 😂
Understandable, I'm always impressed with ppl reading these books and finding the stories and characters captivating even without being able to fully understand the words, that speaks to how well they're written that they transcend complete understanding! It can be poetic at times. The books are translated into a number of other languages, you might want to find it in yours, that might help, even though there are necessarily differences in the translations from the original. She also throws in some French from time to time so be aware of that 😉
I think there are other scenes related to these in the other books but I forgot about it, I hope to find out about it when I get to read more but I'm really curious and can't help myself back.
Yes, there are a few more mentions of it, but mostly just Lestat's perspective from TVL, and there's one scene in The Vampire Armand where he says he did surgery for Claudia after the trial but before she died (we're not sure that actually happened, or he was inventing something to intimidate David at the time!)... ANYWAY other ppl can reblog and comment on this to add more specifics! I'm trying to keep this concise and not spend hours on this answer, which I could do! 😅
why exactly would Armand has the need to kill Claudia, I know about how he wanted Louis for himself but I think he's aware that Claudia was everything to Louis so killing her doesn't seem to be the best idea if he truly love and want Louis to be with him.... And can't seem to understand that why would he think Louis would be willing to go back with him without Claudia.
Yes, Armand was aware that Claudia was everything to Louis! Briefly, Armand wouldn't share Louis with Claudia, as she told Louis that Armand spoke to her with the mind gift that Louis couldn't hear (Forgive the typos here, this is a bad PDF copy of IWTV 😅):
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Armand also admitted to Louis that he pushed him into turning Madeleine to replace Louis as Claudia's companion, but Louis still doesn't give Claudia up even after doing that. That's a bigger discussion, whether Armand couldn't wait any longer for that to happen, or he lost control of the Theatre vampires, or Lestat re-entering the story changed Armand's mind about how to separate Louis from Claudia.
Regardless, Armand physically protects Louis from Santiago and warns him a few times that the Theatre vampires might harm Claudia if she doesn't leave soon, and it's unclear whether Armand is ordering them to behave that way to get rid of Claudia, or if Armand would be equally happy with Claudia just leaving Louis, rather than being killed by the Theatre vampires. That's also a bigger discussion for sure, and I could argue both sides.
And the second one being why is Lestat so indifferent to Claudia's possible death at the trial, I've seen his quote about Claudia and discussions about how great he love her even after all the killing attempt and that he never blamed her for anything (didn't read the Vampire Lestat yet by the way), so to say the least I was quite shock at how he allowed Claudia to be held by the coven and why is he only advocating for Louis survival, is his love too much greater for him?
I don't think Lestat is indifferent to Claudia's possible death, but he's wounded and starving, which definitely could have weakened him emotionally, too. In TVL, we get Lestat's point of view just before the trial: he came to Paris to beg Armand for the healing blood to speed up the wounds he suffered (from Claudia and Louis attempting to kill him) and Armand throws him in a cell and feeds him a dead victim, with cold blood (which doesn't hurt vampires, it's just distasteful and not as nearly as nutritious as living victim blood). While begging, Lestat admits to Armand that it was Claudia who damaged him so badly, probably thinking there's no way Armand could have her in his possession! Welp, he's wrong.
Even without that TVL context, I think Lestat was in a position where he knew he was physically weakened and outnumbered, he couldn't take on and fight the whole pack of healthy Theatre vampires AND Armand, so he was trying to use his words to save who he could. That meant choosing Louis OR Claudia 😭 The Theatre vampires were clearly going to kill one of them, if not both. So the best Lestat could do was argue that it was Claudia's fault primarily and try to rescue Louis.
Now why advocate for Louis' survival, is Lestat's love too much greater for Louis over Claudia? I think one's love for their lover is different than for their child, not greater or lesser, a different kind of love. One could say that he could see more of a future with Louis than with Claudia, after all, his relationship with Louis was probably more salvageable than his relationship with Claudia, bc ultimately, she tried to kill him! Her feelings were probably the same, or worse, knowing he had survived. She didn't speak to Lestat during the trial. Louis was advocating to Lestat during the trial, still hopeful Lestat could save them both.
Either way I don't think Lestat chose Louis over Claudia for revenge, because YES, you're correct, Lestat says in Tale of the Body Thief (or TVL, I don't have it with me to check) that he didn't blame Claudia for trying to kill him, and that he might have done the same in her position 😭.
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[^X by miss-jose] I have a few more fanart pieces featuring this scene in #the yellow dress tag, if anyone has more, let me know!
I assume that Lestat felt awful after Claudia was killed by the Theatre vampires... he still speaks of her with love in the later books. The very next night, Louis finds Lestat clutching her blood-stained yellow dress, and could some of those blood stains be Lestat's tears, since he's sobbing? I think so! Here's the quote (my emphasis added):
“‘This is madness!… ’ I said, my hands rising suddenly to my temples. 'Where is she! Where is she!’ I looked about me, at their still, passive faces, those inscrutable smiles.'Lestat’ I turned him now, grabbing at the black wool of his lapels: "And then I saw the thing in his hands. I knew what it was. And in an instant I’d ripped it from him and was staring at it, at the fragile silken thing that it was - Claudia’s yellow dress. His hand rose to his lips, his face turned away. And the soft, subdued sobs broke from him as he sat back while I stared at him, while I stared at the dress. My fingers moved slowly over the tears in it, the stains of blood, my hands closing, trembling as I crushed it against my chest. - IWTV
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