#marius also needs to get a gift for armand so

[desertfangs]

Valenfangs - Day 6 - Heart-Shaped Locket

💘 Just a short, silly little drabble today for the @valenfangs prompt "Heart-Shaped Locket" 💘

“You can’t give Pandora this,” Daniel said, looking at the contents of the shiny gold box on Marius’ dresser. Marius frowned from his chair where he was reading over some emails on his iPad. “What?” “This thing.” Daniel lifted the heart-shaped locket. “It’s too cheesy.” Marius stared at it for a long moment. “You don’t think it’s romantic?” Daniel put it back into the box. “Sure, I do, but I’m a sucker for those kinds of things. Pandora is going to think it’s silly. Maybe if it were shaped like anatomical heart…” “Shall I gift it to you then?” Marius smiled. Daniel laughed. “What about a bracelet? That seems more her style.” “You’re as bad as Armand, trying to play personal shopper for everyone else,” Marius said. “What did you get him anyway?” “A vase dug out of the ruins of Pompeii that’s been restored,” Daniel said. Marius’ face dropped a bit. “That is quite good.” He sighed and stood. “Fine, yes, let’s go shopping. I can fly us to Paris.”

[ravennawritesfanfiction]

Beauty From Darkness Part 4

Words: 4733

Pairings: Armand x Reader, Louis x Lestat still in denial, Gabrielle x Marius?

Summary: Armand and Reader are moving to a new life together and Armand hatches a plan that would be the finishing touches on the perfect life.

Everyone in the vampire quintet made the most of this opportunity. Gabrielle and Marius could not have been happier. It had been months and no one had slipped back into old habits. And although they acted as mom and dad to the group, they made a point of being there, but leaving everyone alone to do what they all needed to do. They were there to help but the guidance came from one another. 

You and Armand had moved to Los Angeles together so you could be closer to your new record label. Although you had decided you decided to be companions half way through your tour, this was the first time that you were living together. It was perfect. Armand was thrilled that you wouldn’t have to travel for work outside of tours anymore. You were both glad to have the other around now. You were also thrilled to be closer to Daniel. 

Together, you and Armand had kept your promise to Daniel to be there for him. It hadn’t taken long for the vampires of the world, the ones who were already threatening Louis, to realize that Daniel was also a vampire. The threats began and Daniel couldn’t really be bothered to give a shit about words. Then attacks began. The first had been orchestrated by a couple young fledglings trying to make names for themselves. Daniel was uninjured by the exchange, but it was enough for you and Armand to decide he needed to develop his gifts. 

He had vaguely figured out how to read minds on his own, though the skill was unrefined at best. Luckily, he knew the basics and he was an eager student. By your suggestion, Armand worked to strengthen his mind gifts first. Daniel was a natural. After he’d figured out telepathy in all its wonders, it didn’t take him long to figure out pyrokinesis. He was trained to fight physically, though you didn’t think it was necessary since he had lit Armand’s sleeve on fire out of lingering spite. You really didn’t think an attack on him would have a chance to get physical. 

You fell into a rhythm after that. You left Daniel and returned to your life in a new city. Armand made it his personal project to make your home absolutely perfect and he spared no expense. The entire house was remodeled. Your kitchen, which became a bit of a joke amongst vampires, was absolutely amazing. Louis stated that Gordon Ramsey would be jealous. The master bedroom was gutted and enlarged; Armand incorporated a sitting area around a fireplace, designed massive walk in his and hers closets. The en suite bathroom had both a walk in shower that doubled as a sauna as well as a bathtub that doubled as a jacuzzi. One of the several guest bedrooms was converted into a gigantic library that you knew Belle would have died for. The guest rooms were also given a revision and honestly you were worried that once someone visited, they wouldn’t leave. He had built you a castle.

Gabrielle and Marius moved to Los Angeles a little while after you had gotten situated. They claimed it was because they were part of your team so it made sense for them to follow you; you and Armand suspected they just wanted to be closer to the group. During a conversation with Gabrielle one night while you and Marius were off working, it was decided that Armand had come a long way towards giving you the perfect life. A thought began gnawing at his brain; your thoughts on what a perfect life would look like. By human standards, you were probably viewed as live-in boyfriend/girlfriend. Gabrielle was eyeing him suspiciously; seeing snippets of his thoughts. 

“She has loved you for over two hundred years,” Gabrielle stated more or less to herself.

Armand looked to Gabrielle, fully catching her meaning. He knew that your biggest dream before had been to get married, but you often regarded it as a human fantasy now when the subject was brought up, though he knew you didn’t believe your own words.  He was still at Gabrielle and Marius’ house when Marius returned, you must have gone home since you weren’t with him. He looked at the two and began working on his biggest plot yet. He was going to marry you. Both of the vampires quickly agreed to help.

You knew something was off as soon as he got home. His mind, which you always had full access to, was shut off. He was no less attentive to you, but you knew there was something he was hiding. This continued for weeks. He was never home when you got home from work and when he did get home, he was exhausted. You called Louis up and told him what was going on, but Louis didn’t know of anything happening that would make Armand, the vampire that was mad about you, act so weird. He tried to be supportive and convince you maybe it wasn’t something awful, but you could hear the underlying anger in his voice. That day when Armand got home, you were informed that he was throwing a party in a few weeks and that Gabrielle would be stopping by to help him. You were not excited.

Boxes were delivered full of things that Armand would not let you see. Stacks of chairs he gave no explanation for. The entire ballroom was listed as off limits to you until further notice. You were upset, he could see it, but once Gabrielle made the final move, he hoped you would figure it out enough to enjoy it; maybe you’d even be excited.

Marius left town for “work”, but since he worked for you, the excuse was thin. He wouldn’t tell you where he was going and by the time Louis and Lestat arrived, you were a wreck. You had promised each other no secrets and no lies. Now Armand was keeping secrets and lying by omission; he even had Marius in on it. 

Gabrielle arrived the next day with a team of decorators that she unleashed on the ballroom. Clearly, she was also in on it. She threw clothes at you, a sign that she expected you to get up and get dressed. She did your hair and makeup in a way that didn’t scream shopping trip, it screamed prom or photoshoot. Once satisfied, she dragged you out of the house, Lestat and Louis watching you next to Armand, who looked sad and excited. Gabrielle would not tell you where you were going. 

You arrived in front of a bridal shop that looked big enough to house every dress in the world inside. You were beyond confused. The only communication you got was from Gabrielle who instructed you to find your dream dress. You decide that she is a steel trap and it would probably be best and less painful to just listen and do as she told you. You tried calling to Armand, but he wouldn’t answer you despite the fact you could feel him there. 

While you’re gone, Louis and Lestat take the opportunity to find out exactly what was going on. Armand doubts that either of them would be able to keep this from you, but seeing Louis getting progressively more pissed off, he decides that it would be wise to just tell them and hope for the best. 

“I am prefacing this with that fact that I know we are vampires,” Armand began from his spot on the couch, he put his head in his hands before looking back up at Lestat and Louis. They both knew he was about to say something incredibly human. “(Y/N)’s dream was to get married. We all know how it worked out for her in the past, we aren’t here to rehash it, but I wanted to give her the wedding that she always dreamed of. I know she’s already my companion, but I really want this experience for her.” Louis couldn’t hold onto his anger after that. That was the single sweetest thing he had ever heard. 

“And you’ve seen heredream wedding before?” Louis asked, unsure how he could know what she wanted otherwise.

“She pictures it often. Gabrielle and Marius are also helping me by adding the things they know about her as well. Marius is actually on an errand for me, but he should be back anytime.” Armand looked between the men sitting with him. He knew what he wanted to do, but doubted they’d do anything for him, he asked anyway. “Louis, I was hoping that you could stand with her as her Man of Honor?” Louis didn’t hesitate, he agreed before the question even left the air.

“Who will be your best man?” Louis questioned.

“Daniel has agreed to do it, but I’m certain that that is for her rather than for me.” Armand was surprised that anyone would ask about him.

“May I ask a question?” this was the first Lestat had said anything since Armand announced he was marrying you. Armand nodded for him to go ahead. “Do you have anyone walking her down the aisle?” Armand pondered this for a moment, an oversight on his part. “No, would you do it, Lestat? I think it would mean a great deal to her.” Lestat nodded. He was going to ask to do it, so of course he would when asked. 

“Where is she now?” Lestat asked.

“Gabrielle took her to get her wedding dress.” Louis stood up and departed, stopping at the door only to announce that as the Man of Honor, he wanted to be there for the dress shopping. Lestat rolled his eyes at Louis. 

“Too bad you killed Madeleine, she could have made the dress exactly as (Y/N) had always envisioned it.” Lestat passive aggressively stated while watching the fireplace. They may get along, but that didn’t mean all was forgiven. 

Louis surprised you and Gabrielle by arriving at the shop. His mind was blank to you as well, though he looked like the cat that ate the canary. He sat with Gabrielle as you tried on a hand full of dresses, though you didn’t seem overly enthused about any of them. You wore them all well, they looked great, but you clearly weren’t in love.

“What are you looking for in a dress?” Louis asked her, trying to figure out exactly what she was looking for that might give her that spark that all of these dresses had failed to provide.

“I don’t know. I always imagined a ballgown with a corset back and lace, but now I don’t know.” Louis stood and disappeared into the endless rows of dresses searching for anything that resembled the image he had seen when you were describing it to him. He found three dresses. One was lace and appeared very dated to him, but you were two hundred and sixty-four so who cares. The other two were ball gowns with the corset back, but lacked lace. He lowkey liked these two better, but it was your wedding so he said nothing when he returned with the dresses to present to you.

You went back to the dressing room where you were helped into the first dress Louis had picked out. You loved it more than anything that had been picked out so far. It was a nice fit, more in line with your vision, but still didn’t do it for you. You went out to show Louis and Gabrielle.

“How do you feel about this one?” Louis asked after making you do a spin.

“It’s more in line with what I wanted, but I don’t think this is the one.” Louis nodded his agreement. The dress was stunning, but it wasn’t it.

Next you tried the lace dress. When you put it on, you realized you hated the feeling of the lace. You loved the look of it but the thought of putting it on made you cringe. You tried it on for Louis to see anyways, though you clearly hated it the whole time. Louis hated it more. You ran back to get it off as quickly as possible.

The last dress almost made you cry when you saw it. You got into it and lit up. When Louis and Gabrielle saw it, they both looked at each other and nodded. It was perfect. That was your dress. Gabrielle set out to find you shoes and accessories while you just kept staring at the mirror. Louis was grinning behind you. 

She paid for it all before retuning back to you; she hadn’t put the card away completely and you caught sight of the name. Armand. You watched her in the reflection as she looked at you in the dress. You broke through the wall and saw the late nights with Armand and Marius planning everything. You saw Armand asking Louis to be your Man of Honor. 

“I won’t let on that I know.” you said as you pulled them into a hug. 

“Let’s make this your dream night, Ma Fille.” Gabrielle relied back from within the group hug.

You changed out of your dress and made your way back home. When you arrived, everything was suspiciously normal. Lestat was sipping a brandy with Armand and Marius in the living room. Gabrielle had taken your dress up stairs. You curled up next to Armand and watched the flames as everyone sat quietly together. 

“Shopping successful?” Armand casually asked.

“I was certainly something.” You offered. You knew that he would stay out of your head to avoid seeing the dress. 

The quiet resumed until Lestat decided that he was getting tired. Louis left with him since both of them were sharing a room due to the volume of guests. Daniel had just arrived and went straight to his room as to not tip you off. Marius and Gabriell retired to their rooms leaving you and Armand alone.

“Perhaps we should retire as well?” You agreed, already winding down from the eventful day you’d had.

Armand led you to your room and lit the fireplace. You sat on the sofa and watched the flames dance until you noticed that Armand was gathering a few things up. When you looked, he had a garment bag, shoes and other things he would need to get ready for the party, but he was gathering them up as if to take them somewhere. You were so confused.

Then he went back into the closet and returned with something behind his back.You watched him out of the corner of your eye as he looked at you smiling. You turned to look at him and your heart melted at the look on his face. He was thinking about how the flames danced off your face. It was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. 

“Did you know that your family had a vault?” he asked, breaking the silence of the moment. You were unsure what to say.

“My family? No, I didn’t know about it.” you were confused where this was going, seemingly a trend lately.

“They did. It was in your home, which still stands today. The vault had remained untouched for over two hundred years until a few days ago when Marius went looking for it for me.” he stated matter of factly. “You see there was something in there that I needed to make this absolutely perfect.” he approached you, hands still behind his back.

“I really needed this to be perfect, and this was the missing piece.” He knelt down in front of you on one knee. “You are my everything. I love you more than you will ever know. You make eternity sound not long enough. You are my world. Will you do me the honor of not only being my companion, but of being my wife?” he pulled out a ring you would have known anywhere. The ring that had been your mother’s, grandmother and great grandmother’s wedding rings. The ring that was over four hundred years old and shined before you like it was brand new. The ring. The man presenting it to you. Everything was perfect.

“You already have me, My Love. Yes!” you launched yourself into his arms. You wanted to stay in his arms all night, but after a while of staying curled up on the couch, he stood and gathered his things.

“Where are you going?” you asked as he came over to give you a kiss.

“The groom isn’t supposed to see the bride on her wedding night. I’ll be right next door. Gabrielle will be around to help you get ready. I love you.” you gave him another kiss, hands tangling in his hair. His hands were full or you're pretty sure he would have stayed with you right then and there. 

Bright and early by vampire standards, Gabrielle rushed in and shuffled you off to the bathroom where everything had been laid out to get you ready. She did your hair and make up, and after what felt like hours, she was finally pleased with her handy work. She moved to getting you into your dress. You were a picture of pure beauty. She was teary-eyed looking at you.

“Such beauty. My son is an idiot.” she smiled at you, “but Armand is one lucky man, Ma Fille.” as if summoned, Lestat knocked and entered. He looked handsome in his tuxedo.

“You look like a dream.” he smiled. “Everyone is ready when she is.” he informed Gabrielle. It was unsure if he had heard her comment about him being an idiot, but you got the feeling that he had. And that he probably agreed. 

“I’m ready.” With that, Gabrielle did something she never imagined doing, she left you in Lestat’s care and made her way to the ballroom where her next task began. 

“I hope you don’t mind that I am walking you down the aisle?” Lestat stated as he offered you his arm to escort you to your future.

“I’m glad it’s you, Lestat.” It was the perfect closure. One horrible wedding being replaced by what you already knew was going to be your dream. 

Two doors separated you from your groom, the love of your life. You were already tearing up at the thought of him standing at the altar, waiting for his forever to walk down the aisle. The doors opened and the guests were all on their feet. Playing in the background was the song you had composed in Paris in 1805, the song of you and Armand. It was the perfect touch.

When you saw Armand standing there waiting for you, it took everything you had not to run to him. Lestat’s timed steps keeping you calm and composed. You walked past the faces of people you knew, all smiling back at you with pure joy.

Lestat stopped at the end of the aisle and placed your hand in Armand’s. Before taking his seat next to Gabrielle. You ascended the altar together and took your places with Daniel and Louis before Marius. Turning to face Armand, you got lost in his eyes. Those honey eyes that held forever. 

“It’s not everyday that you get to celebrate a love as profound as the one Armand and (Y/N) have for one another.” Marius began. “It’s the kind of love that forgives and understands. That makes you want to be better for the other. Love that transcends time and distance to find its way back. I asked Armand what he loved most about (Y/N) one day; he told me she’s his home.” Armand was beaming at you.

“I asked (Y/N) the same question and she replied that Armand is her joy, her happiness, he is her other half.” Marius paused before continuing on; he was smiling like a proud father. “I have known both of them for a very long time. I knew each of them before meeting each other and after. I can tell you with absolute certainty, they are better together.” He smiled at his fledglings. 

“I won’t bore everyone with the bit about sickness and health and death do us part. I think Armand and (Y/N) might be past all that,” he laughed at his own joke. “I think I will let them speak.” 

“I knew in Paris that you were a home for my heart. Everynight with you felt like a dream and I didn’t want to wake up. Your absence was worse than death and I missed you immensely. I felt that I was just a shell of myself without you. Finding you again was a miracle that I’m sure many would say I didn’t deserve, but I thank the universe that it decided to give you back to me. You are my whole world. You are my very reason for living. You have made me a better man and I will love you until the end of time.” You mouthed I love you before it was your turn to speak. 

“I once said that you are my best friend and my companion on all the late nights, but you have always been so much more. I believe that Marius made us so that we would one day find each other. You are my other half, my joy, my happiness. Without you, the stars don’t shine as bright and music is just sound. Eternal life loses all meaning. I will forever love you more.” you wiped your eyes as Marius continued. Daniel handed something to Armand. 

“Since this isn’t your normal wedding, I think I speak for everyone when I say keep any objections to yourself, unless of course you want to be on the menu for the happy couple,” Marius was having entirely too much fun getting to speak. 

“Armand, do you take (Y/N) to be your companion for all nights until the end of time?” Armand presented the ring that Daniel had handed him and slipped it on your finger. 

“I do.” He had tears in his eyes now. 

“(Y/N), do you take Armand to be your companion for all nights until the end of time?” Marius turned his gaze to you.

“I do.” Neither of you could look away from the other. You were so overcome with happiness you could barely wait for Marius to announce that you could kiss him.

“By the power vested to me by me, I now pronounce you Vampires Armand and (Y/N), companions for eternity and Husband and Wife. You may now get to the fun part and kiss the bride.” With that, you shared the sweetest most loving kiss that no one could stop. The audience erupted into cheers.

Once Lestat started playing and you made your way back down the aisle arm in arm with Armand. It was absolutely perfect. And even better still, Gabrielle had a wedding photographer capturing every moment. They set up for the classic wedding photos while the ballroom was rearranged to hold the reception. You were having the time of your life. Armand, Louis, Lestat, and Daniel posed with Marius. You and Gabrielle posed together in a few. There were several group shots too. You decided that you would have a massive one printed for over the living room fireplace. 

The reception itself was a grand affair and was everything you had always imagined it would be. Your first dance with Armand felt like the only place you ever wanted to be. His arms were your home. And you never wanted the dance to end. Eventually it did and Daniel stole you away from Armand to spin you around the dancefloor himself. Marius stole you from Daniel for a waltz that was so well executed that you were really showing your ages. Louis stole you away when the jazz began and he had you laughing your way around the dancefloor. You had never felt more love in any place as you did right then. Eventually, Lestat cut in.

“Is it all you dreamed it would be?” he asked, spinning you.

“So much more.” you corrected as he dipped you.

“Thank you, (Y/N). For letting me share this with you.” Lestat rejoined Louis before you could respond. 

Love was in the air. Lestat and Louis were inseparable despite claims that they were not together. Everyone was quick to notice that neither one corrected anyone when they were referred to as companions. Marius and Gabrielle were getting mighty close and everyone in the quintet was secretly hoping that something would come of it. 

At daybreak, everyone retired to their rooms. You and Armand fought what he had coined “the narcoleptic pull of the sun” and spent the day doing what newlyweds do. From the sounds coming from Louis and Lestat’s room, it sounded like you weren’t the only ones. Eventually, you let sleep win in a tangle of limbs. You woke up late that night and decided that you wanted to go for a swim. You had the pool to yourselves. You wrapped your arms around Armand’s neck, foreheads pressed together.

“Everything was perfect, my love. Thank you.” You smiled into his neck. 

“Anything for you.” he kissed you. You stayed in the pool until the sky began to lighten. 

The next day, everyone left to return to their own homes. The party was over and you had a trip planned for you. Armand hauled you to the airport and took you back to the beginning. Paris. You visited the Louvre and all of the oldest streets in Paris. The same ones you walked down in the 1800s. You visited the tunnels that once led to Theatre des Vampires. 

After Paris, you went on to Auvergne. The castle looked much the same as it had when you had lived there. It was your understanding that some faction of the de Lioncourt family still resided there. The family cemetery had grown over the years. You found the one the Marquis had put up for Gabrielle when it was obvious that she would die on her travels that led her to the Vampire Lestat. There was a headstone for Lestat when news traveled from Nicolas that he had disappeared in the middle of the night and had been assumed dead. And lastly, there was a headstone for you, your heart breaks. “(Y/N) de Lioncourt, Lost but not forgotten.” Armand pulled you close. Something about the fakeness of that family irked him. How could they love you so much in death, but let you suffer in life. You didn’t stay there past the cursory examination of the grounds. 

Your last stop was at your very beginning. Your family home. Armand had stopped at the town hall and pulled records for the home. It had been standing empty since 1787, the year you died; also the year your mother reportedly died as well. When you arrived, nothing had really changed. The grounds were overgrown, but that was about it.  

You ventured into the house to discover that all of your belongings were still there. The family portrait about the fireplace was faded but still clear enough to see those forever captured on the canvas. The bedrooms were all exactly as they had been left. Your books you had been forced to leave when you left for Auvergne were still on the shelf, albeit not in the same condition. Your dresses still hung in the closet, years of moths not doing them any favors. Armand found the journal that had been left in your nightstand. You didn’t care that he was reading it. None of the thoughts trapped on those pages mattered much. 

“January 1, 1775, Dear Diary, Mother and Father are acting strangely as this new year begins. Even still, one thought follows me; I hope that I will get to marry the man of my dreams. Let him be strong and intelligent, kind and compassionate. I hope I can see the stars in his eyes. “ he read aloud.

“249 years later, Dear Diary, we did it. It was a long road full of loneliness and heartbreak. We never thought we would live to see the day, but he saved us. He’s strong, smart, and caring with honey eyes. And we are forever surrounded by stars. I love him completely.” You wrote back. 

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Musings - Can vampires LEARN new Dark Gifts?

YES.

And NO.

Three things affect a vamp's Gifts: Time, Blood, & Akasha. ALL vampires have the ability to unlock ALL of the Dark Gifts as they age & drink & get stronger & practice. No one vampire is born with the ability to do things no other vampire can do, that's not how it works. Vampires are superhuman, and preternaturally strong & powerful, even at base level as bb!fledglings. For instance: mere minutes after she was Turned, Lestat's mother Gabrielle was able to shatter glass just with her voice (just as we see AMC!Claudia do); it's basic.

However, some vamps CAN be born naturally more adept at using the Gifts from the offset. Gabrielle's vampiric senses & instincts seemed to be naturally sharper than Lestat's:

And she needed ZERO direction figuring out how to scale walls (anti-gravity)--nothing but sheer youth/age kept her from the Cloud Gift.

A BAMF, AMC!Claudia seems to be teaching herself how to use the Cloud Gift--or at least anti-gravity (OG!Superman could only leap tall buildings in a single bound b4 DC said eff it and let him fly).

Ofc she has the potential for the Cloud Gift already, cuz AMC!Lestat already had it. book!Les didn't learn the Cloud Gift until QotD, after he drank copiously from Akasha. But book!Claudia never stood a chance--book!Les didn't have it yet to pass it down to her.

Another good example's Armand, who is THE best vamp with the Spell & Mind Gifts--a naturally talented savant; a child prodigy.

That's not to say that there aren't other skilled & powerful vamps who're really good at the Mind/Spell Gifts. It's just that from very early on, Armand was uncommonly good at it, and he just honed that talent over time, quicker than other vamps do.

But the Mind Gift is also THE default ability of vampires. Even basic AF young bb!fledglings can use it; and with practice, they can all get good at it--but most don't live long enough to get that good.

But several things CAN hold a vampire back from getting stronger/better with the Dark Gifts--I've explained wtf Rhosh was up to b4.

As bad as Magnus was, he had NOTHING on Rhoshamandes (who deliberately didn't WANT his fledglings to know anything about their Gifts). Magnus was suicidal, and in a hurry to to die, so he told Lestat the barest of bones, but nothing more, then offed himself.

Cuz yes, even BEFORE book!Lestat met Armand & Marius/Akasha, he was ALREADY abnormally gifted (10x stronger than a fledgling his age)--cuz Magnus was old & strong AF thanks to having the blood of old AF Rhoshamandes (via Benedict).

But book!Louis was weak AF, and the WORST with the Mind Gift. AMC!Louis' below average with it, as Armand warned him in 2x2 that he's garbage at blocking his thoughts. But book!Louis couldn't use the Mind Gift AT ALL, he's shockingly bad.

But it's not that book!film!Louis could NEVER be taught how to use the Mind Gift--but Lestat certainly didn't know HOW to teach Louis, or connect with him on a level that could ease Louis into vampirism more considerately. He was a pisspoor teacher for Louis (but not for Claudia, who was more similar to Les & thrived under him--at first).

However, the fact that Lou was habitually starving himself meant he'd stunted his own growth--he CAN'T get stronger/better, cuz his body's too frail by design. Vamps need time, practice, and esp. HUMAN BLOOD, to feed the power within them. book!Lou never did; despite how old he got, it was only once he drank Lestat's super!Akasha!blood in Merrick that he finally unlocked all of the Gifts instantly, in one fell swoop, inc. the Fire Gift. Despite how weak & starved he was, the second Lou got access to Akasha's super!blood thru Les, he was off like a shot. (And I'd bet Monopoly money that if book!Claudia had drunk from Akasha, she'd have every Gift, too.) Speaking of--

Conversely, let's look at Akasha. According to Marius, it took her FOREVER to get the Fire Gift--several millennia. As strong as she was in Egypt, she was still young, and still developing, too. Khayman's Akasha =/=Marius' Akasha =/= Lestat's Akasha. She naturally got stronger & stronger with time.

Back in Egypt, Akasha had to use the Mind Gift (telekinesis) to lift oil lamps that were already lit, and throw them at people.

~500yrs later, Marius saw her kill Eudoxia just by lighting the wench on fire from thin air; with the Fire Gift (pyrokinesis). So it took Akasha thousands of years to acquire the Fire Gift.

But Akasha already had it in her--"lain dormant for centuries." Same as it lay dormant in Marius--he didn't even know he had the Fire Gift, or that it was even a thing--the first time he used it was an accident/surprise, when he was already ~500yrs old & fought Eudoxia's goons.

One could argue that mere time had given Marius the Fire Gift--and his Maker Teskhamen was old AF, strong enough to have survived the Great Burnings, so that was another bonus. BUT! Marius had drunk lots of Akasha's blood MORE RECENTLY than ANY of the Elders did. Her blood was aging while he alone had her, so as Marius drank, he gained access to older/better blood than the Elders before him. He was at the best advantage to get stronger quicker. Marius was better at every Dark Gift than the vampires FAR older than he was (Avicus was just as old as Teskhamen).

With the Killing Gift, Marius could make bodies literally explode. But Avicus, the eldest, could only give them a fatal aneurysm to make their brain bleed out. Mael could only cripple bodies, not kill them.

But the Fire Gift was something ONLY Marius could do, that the other vamps couldn't, younger or older.

Drinking Akasha's blood is vamp steroids, crack, Aim Bot, hax mode, deus ex machina, cutting the line, copying off the smart kid in class. But drinking from old AF vamps can also grant significant boosts. The Children of the Millennia begged book!Lou to take their ancient blood, to help him get strong pre-Merrick; but he always declined. We know from the Tulane drafts that he never drank book!Les' blood, or vice versa. And presumably, he never drank Armand's blood either. (I have reservations/doubts abt whether AMC!Loumand drank e/o's blood, but I'll talk about that in a separate post.) As for Lesmand....

We'll have to wait for S3 to confirm if 2x3 was bullsh!te or not. AMC!Lestat drank Armand blood (and presumably gained the power boost needed to get the Fire/Mind Gifts Armand then taught him to use), but this never happened in the books. book!Les already had the Mind Gift--he was able to read Eleni's mind and know she wanted Renaud's Theatre, which he told her take & run with Nicki. And in QotD Les said he used the Mind Gift "in the first few weeks after Magnus had made me" to telekinetically punch Nicki during one of their fights.

book!Armand drank LES' blood when they fought and Les kicked his arse, but he never drank from Armand in TVL, or asked him about the Mind/Fire Gift. It was Armand's strength that surprised Les--

--mostly cuz Les wondered if he was just as strong as Armand. Les had no idea what his powers were. Cuz barring extreme cases like using the Fire Gift while your life's in danger, vamps don't KNOW the Gifts that are out there, to even know to learn/practice with them--just like Everard said: Rhosh never told the de Landen Coven about the Dark Gifts, and he was 1000+ years old when he learned about them by reading TVL. Knowledge is power, and if you don't even know what your baseline is, how can you ever know your limits/potential?

The most valuable thing book!Armand taught Lestat (and Louis) was information. KNOWLEDGE about the past. NOT about Dark Gifts.

Louis took Armand's word that there was no living vamp older than Armand (proof that God didn't exist), but Lestat took Armand's word that Marius was NOT a fake legend, and went looking for proof on his own.

But AMC!Armand teaches Lestat & Louis VERY important Dark Gifts, which changes their dynamics significantly (I'll make a separate post all about that).

So yeah, I just wanted to think out loud & mull over whether dogs really can learn new tricks or not.

[monstersinthecosmos]

Since you don't see Marius and Armand as having a lot to gain from a relationship with each other in the current era, I'm curious as to how you headcannon them with Daniel? And what do you think the best possible version of their relationship could be in the future for all three of them in their respective groups?

Dasdg I want to like, clarify that, I THINK NOT HAVING A LOT TO GAIN is not exactly what I mean. I know I’ve said things along those lines but fandom softened me a little bit. I think what I mean more is like, the thing they have to gain is the investment of time, and I wonder if this is something that will take years/decades/centuries to build and heal. The thing they have to gain is the baby steps, the clearing of the path!, so that they can get somewhere again!

I think the relationship is something like this:

The strange thing too is that like, we’re now getting like, seven years off of canon !! SO WHEN WE SAY CURRENT ERA PART OF ME THINKS “WHEN THE BOOK ENDS” but then I’m also wondering, how much do they get done in 7 years. This is interesting to think about. Because me thinking that they’re not in a great place by the end of canon doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t get there eventually! I wonder what those dingdongs are doing out there in the ether!  

I really think Daniel could be very useful for this, as well! Like as a mediator! NOT JUST AS A PERSON BETWEEN THEM WHO KNOWS THINGS ABOUT EACH THAT THEY MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER, BUT AS A MORE MODERN MAN WHO MIGHT HAVE A BETTER GRASP ON PSYCHOLOGY.

So like the short answer your question is that I think he’s maybe their marriage counselor LOL. He’s someone who can read people very well and spent a lot of time with Armand, even before the barrier was an issue, so I think he can read Armand very well even without it! And he can mimd gift with Marius to understand the subtext when Marius is being cagey about his true feelings, or when he’s speaking abrasively/condescendingly as a defense mechanism!

Since you’re asking about headcanons I’m gonna be indulgent here and talk strictly headcanons and how I personally imagine it so don’t take anything else I’m about to say as canon in anyway way, since we literally get ZERO information about the 3 of them together in the books—

I wonder like in what ways does Daniel being between them resembles a child and their parents, maybe even more accurately a child of divorced parents. And the family structure is abstract here obviously, but so is the polycule structure and the way it’s complicated by the Mind Gift barrier and how it puts Marius and Daniel at an advantage when it comes to communication. It kinda leaves Armand out in the cold to never be understood lol but Marius can be so contradictory sometimes that I wonder if it does them good for Daniel to able to translate when it’s needed.

AND LIKE THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO EACH OTHER ARE SO DEEP ??? As much as Daniel might help as a balm between the two of them, I think he and Marius can also ground the three of them in a nice way. NOT SURE HOW ELSE TO INTRODUCE THIS OTHER VISUAL AID SO HERE -

I have some headcanons about Daniel’s backstory and what his home life was like and so that kinda plays into headcanons about the current day, too. Like, I pictured him having unhappily married parents who were too squeamish for a divorce, partly because I’m projecting LMAO and partly because divorce was a little less common then. There WERE divorces, even Anne Rice’s parents were divorced!, but I wonder about what it does to you, when your parents stay together “for the kids” and wind up making it worse. (I say I wonder, but, I know very well how it feels lol.)

Like how much does Daniel as the mediator come out of a need to break a family cycle?

I think it’s a trap people fall into when we try to break cycles, or try not to be like our parents; sometimes you think you’re safe because you changed your situation drastically and yet we still always wind up confronted by things we need to unlearn. So Daniel might think he’s left the realm of the family cycle by removing himself completely from humanity, except now he’s in the center of this very fraught chasm and has to rely on his human experience again.

Daniel is such a very blank slate in canon that it’s so hard to know, like even after he’s better again we don’t see him interact with Armand, so honestly like it can be whatever you want it to be, but I like the idea of him being a mediator.

I think he has seen the best and worst of them both, and I think he can see the way they miscommunicate. Even with the barrier with Armand I just think like, he’s Armand’s ONLY fledgling like they know each other SO well. I think Daniel can just read him anyway, in a way that Marius can’t, because Marius knew Armand when he was so young and naïve and Marius was so stressed.

And even though Daniel is WAY younger than both of them, all three of them have been through some very life changing experiences since the 1980s when Daniel was turned! Like Marius needing to re-evaluate his entire life & purpose & identity without TWMBK to take care of, and Armand having such a massive religious relapse that he attempted suicide, and Daniel’s psychological overwhelmed and subsequent recovery! 

In some ways, all three of them are new people who are in the process of building their new lives and understand their new identities, so in a way it’s sort of a blank slate that they can work from. 

So the question, what does it look like ?

I’m not really sure!

I think there’s the sort of like vaguely polyamorous nature of VC vampires along with their patience for eternity — for example, the relationship we see between Lestat - Louis - Armand is that Louis is able to come and go from Trinity Gate as needed. We know that Daniel went back to New York with Armand in PLROA, but there no indiction that he’ll never come back to Marius again, or if it’s just a visit, or what it was. Like perhaps Daniel will also get in the habit of coming and going from Trinity Gate as needed, we can’t know. 

LIKE THANKS ANNE FOR FUCKING FORGETTING DANIEL EXISTED DURING BCTU LMAOOO cause like, does he comes to Marius’s side when Marius is in criss? Apparently not LMAO. Did he stay home in NY to babysit Benji & Sybelle while ARMAND came Marius’s side? Gosh idk man. 

I like that canon tells us that the vampires are sort of relaxed and secure in their relationships when it comes to stuff like this (it’s something I REALLY deeply fucking hate about the show sorry lol) so I think I kinda enjoy thinking that there’s a version where they can come and go and be there for each other without being codependent. I like to think that Marius & Daniel have a home in France for when they needed space away from Court, and we know that Marius has a lair in Trinity Gate. 

At the end of BCtu Armand is like freshly traumatized and probably need some comfort, and Marius wants to go talk to him, and I think that’s a great sign that they’re ready to start talking to each other again. It might take years or decades or centuries for them to get somewhere healthy because they have a LOT to talk about, but I like the idea that they can have an open line of communication! And I like that maybe Daniel can be there to mediate! And they don’t have to a always be around each other all the time, but don’t get jealous when the other two are spending time together, and maybe sometimes they hang out and hunt together or go catch a show or go to Carnival or go fuck off into the mountains to stargaze, who knows what all they get into! 

But I like thinking that when canon ends they’re in a place where they can start working towards that!!!!!

[savagewildnerness]

Hey I'm not really understanding exactly what you're saying about the season split can you clarify some more?

Hello!

Yes. Obviously this is 100% speculation! But I was thinking:

Maybe S3 will end with a double cliffhanger:

Lestat goes into The Earth after Nicki's death and Gabrielle leaving him in the last years of the 1700's, AND

Akahsa abducts Lestat in present day...?

And maybe we won't get any of The Ancient History in S3. (They could also only do Armand's origin story in a very brief way - like flashes of painful moments Lestat and Gabrielle may see in his mind since they've already told his story in S2 and we'll hopefully get it in more detail in S4 or beyond...)

That way, you have around half of TVL to fit into S3. I will say though - that first half alone of TVL is, I think longer than the entire book of IWTV so it doesn't entirely assuage your fears. Especially since there is rockstar Lestat, Louis, Armand, Daniel and ghost-Claudia all to fit in too in modern day. AND the epilogue, as any Lestat revisiting NOLA and Paris Louis surely has to be in S3. So it still feels a lot to fit in.

So then S4 can start with Marius saving Lestat and Akasha abducting him in the present and it can be a QOTD and latter TVL combo?

This said, my greatest fear for the TV show is that they just don't go very in depth with Lestat's mortal and early vampire life. For me, that's the heart of the existential questions which is what I love most about the Chronicles. So it's the one part of the books I need to feel the feeling of very accurately on screen.

Because if the feelings and experiences of Lestat's mortal and early vampire life aren't there, The Vampire Chronicles aren't there.

However, Rolin has already alluded to so much of the feeling in this time, I can't imagine he doesn't wanna dive deep into it all. And Lestat's Big Feelings are surely a gift for TV in any case.

Hmm... I ramble on... and on...

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hey, thanks for answering my previous question. Could you also explain why Claudia wasn’t as powerful? She too was Lestat's blood and unlike Louis she always fed well. And she also drank from Santiago and the rest of the coven. And will Louis eventually get stronger and learn things like the cloud gift once he fully commits to vampirism and drinks from Lestat again?

So for one, Claudia's body is "too small" (at least canonically in the books), she cannot drink "enough" of Lestat's blood to make her truly powerful - or have her "have enough vampiric blood". In the show... that may be debatable, logically seen, given she's already 14, BUT they tried to make that canon there, too, by adding it in that she could not turn those boys she left there "gasping". (It's part of her narration when they confront her in ep5.)

In the book that is more logical, since Claudia's body is that of a small child there.

But there is another factor there as well, namely the sequence of fledglings and the relatively short time between.

Vampire blood "refines" with time, and also if "distilled" by sleeping. But it needs time either way.

Lestat turned Louis, and gave him the blood.

Claudia was turned a mere handful of years later, and rather unplanned, Lestat's blood had not yet become as powerful again.

Claudia was a strong vampire - for her body and for her "timing". She was a powerful predator.

The blood she had taken from the coven, as well as her feeding properly (and regularly) would have, eventually, granted the gifts to her.

Louis also will become stronger, has already become stronger with Armand's blood. But... well, at least canonically the gifts cannot be learned. I know we saw Armand "teaching", but it is more teaching how to trigger it - that can be taught. Akasha, for example, teaches Lestat how to use the cloud gift in the books.

But the "blood ability" of the blood being strong enough to use that gift has to be there first.

For Louis to be able to learn the fire gift at all means that he was, actually, quite strong already.

A lot of vampires only learn the fire gift quite the while later. And the cloud gift is actually quite rare, and limited to the truly old ones - or those who had access to truly powerful blood.

Like Armand, for example - he's been made by Marius, after Marius had not made someone for quite a while. And Marius had drunk from Akasha, often.

Armand is no ancient (though Louis calls him that) - but he has powers that surpass his basic age because of Marius' powerful blood. It was a rule by the Children of Darkness not to make a vampire with such powerful blood, a rule that Magnus, Lestat's maker also broke, for example.

And Lestat could have the cloud gift there because he was older - and had drunk from Akasha.

Hope that explained it a bit :)))

[reve-de-sang]

prompt fills! @theninjazebra requested “Human au rockstar lestat, with magnus still around somehow?” and @framblebee requested pregnant lestat

this clicked with a WIP i've been noodling around with since early 2024 but currently has an uncertain future despite my fondness for it; seemed like a good time to polish up what i've got and just put it out there, even if it's only to be in pieces. but uh. also, i apologize to theninjazebra & framblebee, bc this bit's pretty damn dead dove

Vampires Are Known au set 20 years in our future. human rockstar Lestat and ex-flame Louis, Lestat's agent Armand, shady oligarch superfan Magnus, hacker Claudia.

“A collaboration, with Louis,” Armand was saying. “Then a tour perhaps, depending. Yes?”

Armand was talking to him. Or at him. Kneeling at his bedside. Lestat thought this was one of those centers where they left you alone, wrapped you in cotton wool. He didn’t actually know—maybe there were meant to be medications handed out in small paper cups (they wouldn’t, given his condition, he assumed) and groups of people sitting in circles Lestat would never be able to join, because NDA or no, it would always, always end up published somewhere—

“Yes, it is actually one of those centers,” Armand said. “But you’ve been here four months, and Marius thought creativity might be the better medicine after all.” Armand studied him. “You were using the mind gift again just now.”

Lestat closed his eyes in pain. Fuck. He was never going to get used to this.

“Four months?”

“Yes.”

“Louis.”

“Yes. He’s already agreed.”

Lestat sighed explosively and turned over onto his back to stare at the ceiling. “Well that’s humiliating.”

“Why?”

Lestat turned his head to give him the full force of his glare. “Are you telling me he actually wants to do this for the music, not out of pity?”

Armand considered this. Lestat hated that Armand’s presence could actually be quite calming, when he wanted it to be. Armand’s mouth gave the suggestion of a smile, and Lestat assumed he was accidentally using the fucking mind gift again.

“Can it not be both? Creative interest and—not pity, but support, because he cares about you and wants to be there for you right now.”

“We haven’t talked in years. I don’t even know who he is anymore.”

“Oh, now you’re just being dramatic.”

Lestat felt a pout coming on, and turned his glare back to the ceiling.

“So you’re busting me out of here.”

“Right now.”

Lestat sighed, and shifted his body to sitting. He tugged his shirt down over the swell. “Do not look at it, do not comment on it, tell me you brought a massive coat, a hat, and big fuck-off celebrity sunglasses.”

Armand wordlessly plucked up a Balenciaga overnight bag at his side, the “bitch, please,” unspoken. Lestat nodded, only slightly contrite.

—

It hadn’t been years since he’d talked to Louis. It had been months. And they hadn’t spoken since. The night before—before. But Armand didn’t need to know that.

And the horrifying mess that Lestat’s life was right now should have made Armand’s suggestion such a hard no for Lestat that planes passing overhead would have been able to hear Lestat’s shouting.

But there wasn’t anyone Lestat wanted to see more.

He didn’t care about awkward. Fuck pity. Fuck a collaboration. He just wanted to look at Louis. And then he would figure out where to go from there.

—

Four months ago.

It had hit all the news pages in a tidal wave. The hotel suite rooms, the bed soaked in blood, blood on the walls, on the carpet, streaking the tile in the bathroom. Bloody handprints on the bathroom mirror. Furniture broken like the detritus of a weather event. The horror of Lestat’s victimization had lasted 72 hours, and then, as if it were unendurable by the collective psyche, the reaction pivoted to disbelief, blame, and mockery.

Even the most ardent fans disavowed Lestat, posting conjecture on his either orchestrating this or deserving it for obviously seducing such a powerful vampire. His detractors applauded what they decided was a naked power grab: that he was showing his true colors. Defenders turned into apologists.

(read more)

[loustat-0]

Not sure why we need to perpetuate this lie that people think loumand is healthy. Been in this fandom for two years and I’ve never seen anyone say it even once. Maybe that’s how they’re living on Twitter but not here.

1. None of the ships are quite healthy in TVC . Not from what I've read so far . But maybe people mistake Loumand being more understanding and more calm to be less toxic ? That's not how it is to me . Because Armand had so many benefits that Lestat didn't have with Louis . Armand had nothing to hide from Louis , Armand wasn't threatened by Marius to be destroyed if he said anything about their kind and their origins , Marius literally told Lestat to go live like a human and gave him sets of rules and told him if he breaks them he would definitely find him and kill his fledglings and himself . And more importantly ARMAND COULD READ LOUIS'S MIND . Of course he knew what Louis wanted to give it to him . Of course there was no dark gift between them so that Louis hates him too of course Louis believed Armand wasn't withholding anything until Madeline of course . And then Claudia and the fact that he never told Louis he imprisoned Lestat to get him to confess against Claudia . But again Armand wanted to save Louis and separate Lestat from him and he would do anything to make that happen .

2. Armand seems less toxic because he doesn't have those limits that Lestat had . Why do you think Armand was so opposite of turning Daniel ?? Because he knew once the dark gift is shared between them their love will disappear and it will make them resent each other or at least it will make Daniel resent him . And it actually did happen unfortunately , they fell apart after QOTD till prince Lestat . So the dark gift is such an important aspect that Armand and Louis are free of . And that's to their benefit . People say Armand was also a good listener to Louis yes I agree but Lestat became a good listener too if Louis's words weren't always triggering him . Louis always triggered him . It's also the same on the show , we saw Lestat talk a lot but he also listened too . Unless Louis was triggering him with something he hated to talk about which is also understandable .

3. Now I don't know how the show will handle Loumand but I hope they keep these factors in mind but even if they didn't we can't do much about it 😉

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

But do you want daniel/marius to happen in the show? why? i promise you im not picking a fight i am genuinely curious? what part of book daniel/marius do you think can apply to the show with all the changes?

and if they do make it happen.. boy i cant imagine how many seasons they’re gonna need to explain it to the audience who don’t read the books? we haven’t even got to marius/armand yet? lol

First of, thank you for asking in good faith. Sometimes it seems that it is impossible to talk about certain topics in this fandom, especially the Marius related ones.  

The way I see it, we don't need many seasons to explain Daniel Marius if part of it has already happened in the past. Imagine, Devil's Minion after San Francisco going more or less as in the book: Daniel spiraling down his alcohol/drug addiction begging Armand for the Dark Gift; Armand fatally in love with the fascinating human, refussing to turn him into a monster. Marius de Romanus has to burst in because that's what he does, he loves to stick his nose in other people's business, especially if they are Armand's. Think about Sybelle and Benji. He gives Armand an ultimatum about Daniel, turn him or let him live a full human life. Armand lets Daniel go and during the time it takes for him to heal, Daniel moves in with Marius. After a while, Marius erases his memories too and lets him go (the "Marius de Romanus? Never heard of him" line should not go to waste). 

So, there you go, Daniel and Marius patient/caretaker dynamic from the books, only that this time Daniel is still human, played by Luke Brandon Field and whoever gets to be Marius.  Nevertheless, I am ambitious and I can also see a second part to their (love)story playing out in the present time.

Now, I would like to reply this to @/inspireland but they blocked me so you will have to do, dear Anon. Sure, Daniel was able to clock out the abuse in Loustat and Loumand's relationships but nothing in the show suggests that he did it out of empathy or compassion. Of course old Daniel is a parent but Armand is not his child. He's the diabolic creature Daniel loves and lusts for, who traumatized him to the brink of madness and death. In this scenario, Marius would be the one who saved him from all of that.

Of course old Daniel would ask questions, but not (only) for Armand but for himself. It would be extremely ooc for show Daniel to confront Marius on behalf of Armand on the basis of some (very popular) fanon theory that Armand would ever want/need/ask for such thing. Show fandom, that inspireland person among many others, tends to asign Daniel a compassionate kind of morality that has no foundation in the adaptation whatsoever. That's not Daniel's characterization in the book, much less in the show, where he fucks a girl with a paper bag over her head while she cries. If someone needs to confront Marius that's Armand himself and I hope the show makes the most of it, now that Armand is older in this version (no, he won't kill Marius with hammers, sorry).

But I digress.

I'm not saying, always in this hypothetical scenario, that Marius will be able to influence old Daniel into believing that what he did, protecting him from Armand's harmful influx, was entirely for his own good. However persuasive Marius could be, Daniel would still be bitter that both, father and son, tampered with his memories. He nonetheless, and thanks to the calmness that comes with old age, will be able to understand that it was necessary. And there will be affection between him and Marius but Daniel will still fight Marius back and try to vindicate his past human self. He will torment Marius with questions and those questions will be cutting and provocative. And, if characterised properly, show Marius will know how to answer them.

Think about it. Old, wise and seasoned journalism vs much older, much wiser, persuasive and charming ancient roman rhetoric. Horny septuagenarian fledgling against the enchanting and delectable ancient vampire he probably already yearned for in his human youth. If the show dares to go there, the battle will be epic and it will have my respect forever.

I know, I know. This sounds threatening for Devil's Minion but don't worry. Armand and Daniel will be together in the end because that's what Anne Rice wrote and the show will find a way to make it work. But she also wrote Daniel Marius and we know that the show is sticking to the books even more so than we expected. I don't see why they won't write Daniel Marius too, given all the exciting possibilities.

[hekateinhell]

Can Armand fly? Like does he have the ~Cloud Gift~ so to speak, or does he not? I can’t remember..

And he doesn’t seem to have/use the Fire Gift too right, or am I wrong?

Armand’s powers are so interesting to me, the way he can make life like illusions like no other (at least I can’t remember an Anne Rice vampire making that kind of illusions, maybe I’m wrong) is somehow so ‘compliant’ with his character.

I remember when Daniel is about to be turned, Armand creates this illusion for him and Daniel’s description is so haunting for some reason, like he can actually smell the flowers, he can see the stars, he can pick a leaf from a tree and he even sees Armand’s damp footprints on the ground(!) Imagine being able to conjure up an illusion like that.. jeez

And he seems to have been able to do it when he was a younger vampire too, right?

Like didn’t he draw mortals who were ready to die from their homes with some kind of illusion, so he could feed on them? (That is also so compliant with his character for some reason now I think about it)

God, he really is SUCH a good character I can’t get over him. I need to have his name tattooed on my body (like Armand definitely tried to convince Daniel to do. ‘Daniel, can’t you get this tattoo of my name on your arm? I want to see how it is done :3’)

Armand does have the Cloud Gift!

The very first mention of Armand being able to fly is in MtD, where Lestat seems rather surprised to realize that he can:

The steel buttons of his [Armand's] denim jacket were icy cold, as though he had come from some far worse winter in a very few moments of time. We are never entirely sure about each other's powers. It's all a game. I would no more have asked him how he got here, or in what manner, than I would ask a mortal man how precisely he made love to his wife. ~ Lestat, MtD

Unrelated but I'm always so thirsty for any insights as to how vampires view their relationships to each other within vampiric norms, and I think it's fascinating that even two vampires who've known each other for so long and have such a complex, intertwined history as Armand and Lestat do don't really know how powerful the other is and it would be taboo to ask. Scandalous!

Thank you to @thecactifindahome for reminding me that Armand actually has known how to fly for quite a while!

By my own will, and with the first explosion of my blood in the light of the morning sun, I had been driven upwards, as high perhaps as I could go. For centuries I'd known how to climb to airy heights and how to move there, but I'd never pushed it to a conceivable limit, but with my zeal for death, I had strained with all my available strength to move Heavenward. My fall had been from the greatest height. ~ Armand, TVA

Armand also has the Fire Gift, which is first noted in PL:

“You go to New York, my friend, and Armand will burn you to cinders,” said Killer. “Oh, not Benji or Sybelle, no, and maybe not even Louis ... but Armand will do it and they won’t bat an eye. And they can do it too. They have Marius’s blood in their veins, those two. Even Louis’s powerful now, got the blood of the older ones in him. But Armand is the one who kills. There are eight million people in Manhattan and four members of the Undead. I warn you, Antoine, they won’t listen to you. They won’t care that Lestat made you. Least I don’t think they will. Hell, you won’t even have a chance to tell them. Armand will hear you coming. Then he’ll kill you on sight. You do know they have to see you to burn you up, don’t you? They can’t do it unless they can see you. But Armand will hunt you down and you won’t be able to hide.” ~ Killer to Antoine, PL

Armand has always been incredibly powerful — even a newborn vampire — which I think is due to a few different factors:

Marius ensured that Armand received plenty of his blood during his turning

Prior to making Armand, Marius hadn't created another vampire since Pandora, some 1,500 years ago so the power in his blood was very potent

Marius's blood was so powerful to begin because of the regular infusions he received from Akasha, so the vampires in his line do tend to be powerful and gifted

This accounts for Armand's early strength and Mind Gift abilities (spellbinding and illusions).

Seeing as the Cloud Gift didn't come until after QotD, I headcanon Armand received a blood power-up from Marius (or perhaps another of the old ones, similar to how Maharet offered Louis her blood). Vampire powers evolve with time/age, surviving a burning, taking the blood of a much more powerful vampire.

Age gave him the Cloud Gift, and following his suicide attempt, Armand did drink from Lestat — so the combination of the burning and Lestat's blood likely contributed to him developing the Fire Gift soon afterwards.

Armand is also telekinetic:

I have most-powerful abilities to cast spells, to dislocate my vision, and to transmit my image over distances, and to affect matter both at close range and matter which is out of sight. ~ Armand, TVA

And last but not least, he may have the power to astral project although I don't believe it's explicitly spelled out but even as a mortal, he has an out of body experience witnessing himself dying, and later on when he's recounting his suicide attempt in TVA, he says this:

That is, having fallen on the roof, burnt and in unspeakable torment, I might have sought a desperate mental escape, projecting my image and my strength into Sybelle's apartment long enough to kill her brother. It certainly is possible for spirits to exert enough pressure on matter to change it. So perhaps that is exactly what I did-project myself in spirit form and lay hands upon the substance that was Fox, and kill him.

However, he doesn't actually believe that that's what happened in this particular instance, but it's the possibility that he is, in fact, powerful enough to do so. Armand was already so unique and "different" as a mortal child and adolescent (I would call this neurodivergent but that wasn't a term in the 15th century or anytime shortly after), that it makes sense his powers would be easily amplified and exceptional in their own right.

Re: his hunting style, it's described by Lestat when they first meet as:

He [Armand] had learned to summon those who truly wished to die. He had but to stand near the dwellings of mortals and call silently to see his victim appear. Old, young, wretched, diseased, the ugly or the beautiful, it did not matter because he did not choose. Dazzling visions he gave, if they should want to receive, but he did not move towards them nor even close his arms around them. Drawn inexorably towards him, it was they who embraced him. And when their warm living flesh touched him, when he opened his lips and felt the blood spill, he knew the only surcease from misery that he could know. It seemed to him in the best of these moments that his way was profoundly spiritual, uncontaminated by the appetites and confusions that made up the world, despite the carnal rapture of the kill. In that act the spiritual and the carnal came together, and it was the spiritual, he was convinced, that survived. Holy Communion it seemed to him, the Blood of the Children of Christ serving only to bring the essence of life itself into his understanding for the split second in which death occurred. ~ Lestat, TVL

Definitely within character, I agree :') for a character that to me reads as having been passively suicidal for most of his life, there is a bittersweet irony and perhaps even a misguided sense of mercy behind it.

AND YES YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY GET AN ARMAND TATTOO I WANT ONE SO BAD!!! character of all time, love of my life, etc etc you guys already know!!!!!

[wretcheddoll]

Get to know your mutuals!

Tagged by: @tulinokkaelain <3!

What’s the origin of your username?: My username is a reference to the Switchblade Symphony song Dollhouse "In the attic is where I'll hide" is also a reference to that song.

OTP(s) + ship name: Marius/Armand if that wasn't obvious lol, they're the best and I'm a Marimand truther.

Favorite color: Black, I also like purple, black, and red paired together.

Song stuck in your head: I guess Dollhouse cause I was just thinking about it.

Weirdest habit/trait: Like stimming and general autism spectrum stuff, like when I'm sitting in a chair my legs need to be hiked up to my chest to feel comfortable like El from Deathnote lol

Hobbies: Vampires lol, idk I really need to get back into some of my old hobbies cause I feel like I don't so anything anymore :/ But I am interested in the Goth subculture, historical fashion, and yes vampires lol. I want to get back into drawing and music.

If you work, what’s your profession?: Don't have a degree yet but I work at a gift boutique.

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be?: When I was little I wanted to be a truck driver lol, I also was trying to pursue a degree in animation which I still love, but I one, don't think I have the art skills necessary, and two, think that profession is just getting more and more hellish for workers. So I still don't know what I want to do.

Something you’re good at: I honestly don't think I'm good at anything I really don't know. 😭

Something you hate: Cognitive Dysfunction and the downsides of ADHD. 😵‍💫

Something you collect: Plushies!! I love Jellycats we sell them at my work, and I have fallen hook line and sinker for the craze, I love the Halloween ones so much! I bought two of them as a birthday present to myself lol. Also I collect art books, I have the WolfWalkers and Adventure Time art books, and Gorillaz Rise of the Ogre (not really and artbook but I consider it one) I also collect gothic clothing if that counts? I have two thrifted pieces of Tripp and I want to further my corset collection. Dark alternative clothing is valuable to me, so I see as more of a collection than just a regular wardrobe. I would love to start collecting dolls definitely Living Dead Dolls. but any old vintage dolls are cool to me.

Something you forget: Anytime I'm doing a task and I get distracted from it for a second, I swear it's like I forget everything I was doing.

What’s your love language?: I don't like the love language thing cause it's fake, but if I had to choose, I would say quality time.

Favorite movie/show: Hmmm, I feel like I always forget about all the movies I like when asked 🫠 Nosferatu really blew me away. Interview with the Vampire (the 90s film!!) of course, probably the first vampire film for adults I ever saw. All time classics to me are Cartoon Saloon's Irish mythology trilogy of animated films, Aventure Time also is a show that basically raised me lol, it was such a formative piece of media to my child brain, same with Over the Garden Wall. I feel like I'm missing a lot of stuff I love but I can never remember when asked. 😭 There's so many films I haven't seen that I know I would love so that's also the thing.

Favorite food: Burgers and fries, sushi, and Mexican definitely my go tos.

Favorite animal: Bats! I love owls too but bats #1.

What were you like as a child?: Autistic 😐 like either really quite or on the verge of a meltdown with no chill. 😭

Favorite subject at school: Probably world history or English.

Least favorite subject: My nemesis math.

What’s your best character trait?: I think I'm a nice person, I genuinely love to know people's stories and make their day better even if I'm socially awkward.

What’s your worst character trait?: I think I can be selfish and way too addicted to personal comforts, if I was a deadly sin I would be sloth personified lol.

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet: Hmm idk who I would want to meet per say but time traveling into the past seems like the coolest thing ever, I mean just to visit of course I know the past was shitty for most people. But it would be so cool to learn about the past by actually going there.

Tagging: @sellycarcosa @empiresofyourheart @paintaboveyourbones @pain-in-the-butler (if you want lol)

[rebelrevenant]

Get To Know Your Mutuals

Tagged by: @desertfangs who knows I will always join the party, tysm for the tag! I appreciate you!

What’s the origin of your username?: It is an ode to Lestat, for is he not the rebel of revenants? Then I came up with my own self-effacing lore for it which you can read on my ridiculous bio.

OTP(s) + ship name: Armandiel, Marimand, Loustat from VC. Also the trinity, give me Armand/Marius/Daniel. But my very first OTP was Rosiel/Katan from Angel Sanctuary and the only ships that have ever sailed anywhere close, except for OCs, are from VC. I do also love me some Hannigram, too.

Favorite color: Gold.

Song stuck in your head: Sleep Token's new release, Emergence.

Weirdest habit/trait: I have many little guys (characters with lore and weird voices I made up when I was young, shout out to Turnip). I also believe there is a vagrant spirit cackling at all my misfortunes so I yell at him whenever shit goes wrong because I outsource my internal locus of control evidently.

Hobbies: Writing, reading, singing, cosplay & sewing, cycling, and coming up with weird new business ventures.

If you work, what’s your profession?: Live events coordinator. I own a traveling Halloween arts and mystics festival and then I also do tradeshows across various industries, primarily tech, exhibition booth design, etc. I used to run an anime convention too, so really nothing is off limits. I'm an introvert so go figure, I guess I just enjoy controlling large gatherings of people like a bossy little tyrant.

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be?: A dark academia life as a professor by day, moonlighting as an author under a mysterious pseudonym.

Something you’re good at: Singing!

Something you hate: Pervasive muffled noise. I will go feral if I can hear loud voices, thumping and bass banging through my walls, so I always live on the top floor, no exceptions. Noises need to be sharp and clear for me or something feral in me feels unsafe? I wear headphones if at home and spend a lot of time outside or in cafes.

Something you collect: Coffee table books and sea turtles. I have a little sea turtle gift from everyone I love irl and I keep them sacred.

Something you forget: Anything that ever makes me sick or unhappy or injured in some capacity so I do those things over and over again while everyone in my life says "... remember last time you did that? And what happened?" I have no risk aversion, I swear.

What’s your love language?: Quality time is the one I give by default, but only when deeply committed. I'm very self-contained and overly protective of my boundaries in general, but once I'm in it with someone and I feel safe I'm very clingy.

Favorite movie/show: Fargo and Hannibal. Film will always be Return of the King for me, nothing has ever held a candle to it, though It's A Wonderful Life comes awfully close.

Favorite food: Seafood in general.

Favorite animal: Sea turtles, crocodiles and tarsiers. I do love me some walruses and narwhals too.

What were you like as a child?: Very sweet and docile. Described by a friend who I went to grade school with as "always lost in another world". I over corrected and became extremely adventurous and spicy, but secretly I Am Still That Desperately Softsoft Girl, the world just isn't so accommodating of sweetness 🤧

Favorite subject at school: English and History.

Least favorite subject: Math.

What’s your best character trait?: I'm one of the most resilient people you are likely to ever meet. Put me in front of any adversity and I straighten my crown and own it. I am also extremely pure of heart, I cannot be tarnished by anything, put me in darkness and I heal and absorb none of it into my light. I do not hold grudges and my ability to genuinely forgive keeps my soul free.

What’s your worst character trait?: Impatience and little tolerance for anyone lacking efficiency, basic courtesy or spatial awareness. Bratty when mildly inconvenienced by anything I deem as preventable or irrational with a habit to lapse into full-blown existential crises over our failures as a species and it is never that serious, so yes, I am dramatic. Self-isolating. The things I have done and will do to avoid asking for anyone's help makes me look like a damn idiot. I never stay in one place for very long.

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet: Dostoevysky, Rasputin, Napoleon, Socrates, Jesus. Imagine us all at a party, egads I say.

Tagging: ANYONE, please feel free! I've not been on tumblr enough to see who has done this yet!

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Musings - The Mind Gift, AMC vs TVC

@gremlinsminion brought up a VERY good point in their post about how much credit us viewers should give AMC's vampires' abilities to read minds/use the Mind Gift. A HUGE issue's that AMC doesn't stick to the book lore consistently, so their take on Anne Rice's vamps often contradicts what we know vamps CAN / CANNOT do.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but AMC's Mayfair Witches is actually very helpful for understanding how telepathy works in AMC's Immortal Universe--a shared world where psychics (witches, Talamascans, AND vampires) coexist just like they do in the books, and interact & mind read each other all the time--or not.... 👀

Anne Rice was very inconsistent about telepathy: sometimes it seemed like an unreliable nuisance/hindrance that just throws random jumbles of info at you. BUT! For the most part telepathy tells vamps/psychics exactly what they need/want to know. Vampires can absolutely pick through layers & layers of secrets & random irrelevant crap--and even deliberate mental blocks--to get at the info they want & need. And it's EASIER to do it to humans than to other vamps, since most humans have no psychic abilities for protection. Talamascans & Mayfairs are unique & important cases.

Precise vs Imprecise Telepathy

Precise (TVA):

This is perhaps the most descriptive & relevant counterpoint; how vampires CAN peel back layers of a human's conscious thoughts to get at a very precise thought/image they want to read from the inner recesses of someone's mind, just as Armand read Sybelle's. And we KNOW her mind in particular was more layered than most people's, since she was obvs on the spectrum, yet Armand still managed it with ease even when he was burnt & starving. (Which is interesting when compared to Nickistat, cuz Les could barely EVER get a read on human!Nicki as he descended deeper into madness.)

When Armand was kidnapped by the Children of Satan, they read his thoughts easy as ever, despite how talented Armand was already proving himself to be with the Mind Gift & esp. the Spell Gift--which was precisely why Marius made a point of never telling him anything specific about TWBMK, in case the coven read Armand's mind & figured out precisely how to steal Akasha.

Marius basically described it as mind-rape without actually calling it that--the mind of an "apprentice/fledgling" vamp was an open book for older/stronger/skilled vamps who could EASILY "pick your mind barren of ALL its thoughts," "for its DEEPEST secrets, either with your cooperation or without your knowledge, or against your will." Cuz it happened to Marius before--

Precise (B&G):

--Avicus (a vampire THOUSANDS of years older than Marius) was able to EASILY read Marius' mind and know he had TWMBK; "I can penetrate Marius' thoughts even when I DON'T want to do it." So yes, vampires even STRONGER than Armand can read everyone's mind all the time even when thery Do have something better to do with their time. The thoughts just come to them regardless--they HAVE to learn how to actively block people's thoughts, just like Marius & Avicus & Mael eventually taught themselves how to do, as I discussed here.

Precise (TotBT):

When the Talamascan Raglan James DEMANDS information from someone's mind, human or vampire alike, Lestat/AR explicitly calls it "rape;" just TAKING what you want from someone's head cuz you CAN--esp. if you're stronger & they're weaker.

Precise (Blood Canticle):

Basically, AR's telepathy was however precise it needed to be for the sake of THE PLOT™. It could be imprecise, yes--but in a way that directly contradicts not only AR's far more precise examples, but also AMC's rendition of telepathy, where they've actually NEVER indicated that people's minds are random indiscernible jumbles.

Imprecise (TVL):

Imprecise (TotBT):

Imprecise (Blood Canticle):

In BC Lestat describes telepathy as a cacophony of noise like what he imagines saints/angels have to listen to in heaven--a barrage of prayers & petitions; every thought & wish & fear people everywhere have. And he says it's cuz vamps have such heightened senses that it just overwhelms them. But this also explains WHY they need to block people's thoughts, just to have a moment's peace & quiet.

Blocking Thoughts & "Forgetfulness / Laziness"

This brings us to the matter of just how accessible the minds of others are for vampires. A vampire reading a regular human's mind isn't the same as reading another vamp's mind; or any other supernatural's mind (Talamascans & Mayfair witches included). In the books, Talamascans ran the gamut from being way stronger than strong vampires, or way weaker than weak vamps.

But we also know that a strong Talamascan's psychic powers can trump a strong witch's (Cip > Moira), AND to a certain extent even trump a strong vamp's (book!Raglan > book!Lestat--Raglan could easily block his thoughts from Les, but couldn't FORCE Les' spirit out of his body).

But you have to deliberately work at blocking people's from you, and your thoughts from other people, just as I already described with Avicus & Marius & Mael in B&G. Even Raglan & Lestat had to LEARN how to telepathically read and NOT be read.

Even on AMC!MayfairWitches we SEE Moira being bombarded with people's thoughts, having to wear headphones and play music just to block people out and be blocked.

So blocking thoughts is NOT something a psychic (vampire, witch or Talamascan) can just casually DO, whether they want to or not.

"FORGETFULNESS"

Armand, THE best mind reader, had to actively block out the thoughts of others, human & supernatural alike. He didn't just "forget" to make sure he couldn't read anyone's mind & they couldn't read his.

But according to AMC, minds are very accessible, but also easy to cut off. The ability to cloak one's mind is natural & easy--Les "forgets" that he can read minds, since he just doesn't read them.

But this highkey sounds like AMC's way to not HAVE to think ahead about why a vampire WOULDN'T be constantly reading people's minds--esp. on a show where they're changing so much to make the big reveals & gotchas! more shocking; if literally no one could see them coming, even a telepath--oh, they just casually "forget" to read people's minds~! 🙄😅

"LAZINESS"

Yes, AMC is NOT 1:1 book canon. However, it's still based on AR's universe, and closely follows the plot of AR's books. And in the books, vampiric abilities are a very big deal, cuz they directly affect the overall plot & structure of the books as a whole. You can't change 1 thing without affecting (the implications of) everything that follows. And giving Louis the Mind Gift drastically changes the logic of the plot, raising way too many questions AMC can't answer without contradicting themselves & exposing the holes in their writing.

Louis could read minds in NOLA, so how come he didn't know those racist white men were screwing him over since JUMP? Not ONCE for 7 whole years did Louis EVER read their minds to pick up on all the nasty things they thought (AND SAID) about him? 🤨

When even just ONE convo with Finn O'Shea let Lestat know that Finn was a rotten little thief (and Louis fired Finn right away for it)--again: VERY precise telepathy.

Even though he was deflecting, Louis still had a point about Lestat staying quiet about the Alderman's schemes on purpose, letting Louis figure it all out on his own--just like Les stayed quiet about Armand's Seismic Lie about "Banishment"--making Louis learn the hard way about people who can't be trusted.

Like, plot-wise, it makes sense for book!Louis to be blindsided, cuz book!Louis couldn't read minds. In TotBT & TVA it's confirmed that it made Louis weak to be unable to use the Mind Gift or Spell Gift--the only spells Louis can cast are purely accidental.

But AMC!Louis CAN use the Mind Gift. Which requires far more accounting for, when there's not ONE vamp in the room who can read minds (& just chooses not to for whatever reason), but TWO. Or god forbid THREE+, like when Claudia AND Armand are with Louis in Paris and NONE of them know the coven's plotting their demise? 🤨

In MW we knew Ciprien's Trial was happening behind his back too, but we SEE Anamika read Ciprien's mind--something not even MOIRA could do--to confirm that he was innocent and let him go. Ian Mayfair was sussing out Cortland the whole time to figure out that he was lying about "remembering" things about Julien & Scotland. Moira was locked in a room with a woman whose mind was wiped ("her head full of lettuce") just to make SURE Moira couldn't learn what was going on with Lasher's wedding. But immortal frikkin vampires just sit around on their hands all day not reading anything from anyone? BS.

TL;DR: Suspended Disbelief? 🤷

So yeah, it's just weird AF logic AMC forces us to casually accept, but requires using mental gymnastics to explain how TF this is even possible; when in no other situation with telepaths even in AMC's own Immortal Universe would this EVER happen without a VERY logical explanation: someone much stronger than Armand actively BLOCKING all their thoughts from being read (a la Moira vs Cip).

So, having the canonical best mind reader NOT reading Daniel's mind when he SHOULD is the biggest issue with IWTV S2, esp. when we see the Talamasca & the Mayfairs on AMC's MW CONSTANTLY reading & controlling people's minds every episode. It just makes no frikkin sense half the time what AMC is doing, or what they expect us as viewers to understand or follow along with or even EXPECT. And it's tearing the fandom apart when we don't know whose word to trust. If everything is a lie, or nothing matters, why TF should we even bother being invested in the story at all? 😔

[monstersinthecosmos]

LMAO THANKS FOR RIPPING MY HEART OUT WITH THE POST ABOUT WHAT A BLIP IN TIME VENICE ERA ACTUALLY WAS I GUESS?!?! im at workkkk i cant deal with this!!!!! ! 😫😫😫 WELL EVEN SO, how do you think armand views/deals with this difference in how formative those yrs were for him vs what they meant to marius? they were extremely significant for both of them but i feel like for very distinct reasons / in very distinct ways.... 😭!

i think he deals with it exactly like this:

✨ I fear him. I don't know why. Perhaps I fear him because I could love him again, and loving him, I would come to need him, and needing him, I would come to learn from him, and learning from him, I would be again his faithful pupil in all things, only to discover that his patience for me is no substitute for the passion which long ago blazed in his eyes. ✨

I feel like there's a huge fucking mother wound maker wound going on with Armand and I think a LOT of his behavior can be tracked to his abandonment issues. Making himself useful to people or trying to Spell Gift manipulate people into loving him back, or seeing a version of him that he wants them to see, etc.

Making a fledgling is his biggest fear and he sees it as a curse! He knows that once you turn them, they stop seeing you as special, you can never communicate the same way, and you lose your lustre, you become boring to them, there is no substitute for the passion which long ago blazed in their eyes!!

I'm gonna die on the hill defending why Marius didn't rescue Armand -- I GET IT -- but Armand doesn't know any of that. All he knows is that his Maker never rescued him. Even when he was out of the cult, running the TDV, easily track-downable, Marius never came to him.

In the way I think Marius declined to rescue Armand for fear of rejection, Armand also can't bridge this gap back to Marius for a fear of rejection. He wants it! He wants what they had! But he knows they're too different now and it's never going to be the way it was, and they both have to do a lot of work to build a new relationship that could work for who they each are now.

But to answer your question I think it probably just really compounds the feelings of inferiority and the fear that he doesn't deserve love! 🤗

[nalyra-dreaming]

Let me use this opportunity of getting weird Loumand anons once more to say something that's been on my mind:

All the bad faith, passive aggressive anon asks (especially those wanting to make the "ships" about the fandom "shipping them" (or not) because of "color" and "racism") I see around piss me off sooooo much.

Lets look at the "ships" we have so far:

Loustat: difficult, at times toxic, later not so much, endgame

Loumand: difficult, at first infatuated, then dead, later healing

Lesmand: difficult, at times insane, obsessive in parts

Devil's Minion: difficult, intense, at times insane, obsessive in parts, endgame

What have all these "ships" in common?

They are canon relationships. And they are difficult.

Two of those are endgame.

Let's dive in (a bit).

Loustat:

At this point not much has to be said about why Loustat are toxic in parts, but that changes - their character journeys are inverted, and they are endgame. Two sides of the same coin. They are "petty and in love" as Jacob called it, and they are "it" for each other, for better or for worse.

Loumand:

Born from Lesmand actually, because Lestat goes to Armand to make him care for Louis (and for Armand's blood), which... works. But the initial infatuation phase, while honest on Louis' side, is based on Armand's fascination with him because of Lestat. He gaslights Louis into loving him. I bet they will be very much shown to be in love, and then the shit will hit the fan and then... Louis will be destroyed, for a long, long time. Qualifies as toxic for me, too, btw. The Loumand in later years, in Trinity Gate (or Dubai?) is a more healing one, one where Louis comes to terms with who he is and what he wants in safe, stable, loving surroundings. And I bet they are freaks in the sheets :P

Lesmand:

Obsessive, and while loving definitely more so from Armand's side than Lestat's. He "imprints" on Lestat when he sees him because Lestat reminds him of Marius, and a lot of Armand's actions are informed by his need for Lestat, and the fact that Lestat upends his world. That said, the fascination itself is mutual, and I bet the show will have them engage in a proper affair.

Devil's Minion:

Wohooo, Daniel, a gift from Louis for Armand!!! Armand shifts full on obsessive and love on Daniel, Daniel, who will become his only fledgling. (And who goes mad for a while, too!) The show has obviously expanded the journey, but I don't think it will change too much - Daniel is the only one Armand could not let die. Talk about love beyond reason or endurance.

ALL OF THESE SHIPS ARE RELATIONSHIPS IN THE VC.

YOU CANNOT PUT A VALIDATION BASED ON SKIN COLOR ON THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL VALID.

And they are canon.

Saying the fandom doesn't "ship" Loumand because of them being POC is just ludicrous.

If you think Louis in Dubai in season 1 is "happy" I don't know what to tell you. We haven't really seen "happy" Loumand yet, and, depending on how they spin it(!) we might not even see it in season 2, though I think they will make it seem as if it is happy and "pure" at first.

But they might throw in the horror of Claudia knowing (and she does, canonically, she tries to warn Louis!) and being ignored by Louis (failing her again) in - in fact, I take the little info of the scenes we have of Sam and Armand filming as precisely that, namely that they make it clear that there is a relationship there as well... and how that relationship enables Loumand.

And then Armand will kill Claudia. And Madeleine.

And Louis will stay with him.

Personally I found later Loumand always very healing, as said. (But, personally(!!!!!!), also a bit boring. I love them, but... writing them (i.e.) does not hold much appeal right now.

But that might change with the upcoming seasons!) But the Loumand in Paris?? Hell, that's not even real, Armand gaslights Louis into loving him, uses his spell gift and mind gift as influence, poor Louis. And it will hurt Louis, incredibly so.

Making it seem as if people, especially people with a background in the books, do not "ship" them because of the actors' skin color... is just...

There's many, many reasons to ship them.

There's many, many reasons not to.

I OBVIOUSLY cannot speak for everyone. But these simplified takes are becoming so tiresome, when there are so many other reasons that need to be considered.

And honestly, as said before, I fully expect parts of this fandom to turn on Armand when he is being himself, when his relationship to Lestat is becoming clear, when his meddling and role in Claudia's death are clear and... can you imagine the outcry when they actually kill off the black (likely) lesbian character and her lover. -.-

If they actually chop of Claudia's head on stage.

Mayhem.

Which brings me to the next part:

My predictions for season 2:

Louis hurting, seeing Lestat everywhere (outcry)

Loumand in love, oh so sweet, look at them

Claudia gets a girlfriend!! (Sweet!)

What is Lestat doing there? (outcry)

What, Armand is interested in Louis because of Lestat?? (outcry)

What, Louis is yearning for Lestat?? (outcry)

What, Armand is doing what to Claudia (and Madeleine)? "ThEy KiLl tHe gAys!!" ((outcry)

Armand throws Lestat off a tower (Meh, he deserved it, should have been much worse)

What, Louis stays with Armand?? (outcry)

Whatever will go on with Louis and Lestat (outcry)

At some point people will turn on Assad, I agree here with what has been said by others on this.

They could not separate Sam from Lestat, they will not do so for Assad, in fact THERE I can easily see it be much worse, because of the racial implications.

I can also see them turn on Jacob btw, because Louis stays with Armand. "How could he". -.-

So: Even if you are only a "show fan", if you have no idea of what the books might bring... the hiatus is still very long, and going and hating on people, accusing them of racism, because people who know the books go a bit bonkers when they see certain bts photos... is on you - not them.

These ships are all canon relationships.

And valid.

End of rant.

[hekateinhell]

Hi! I'm a show watcher that's been trying to get into the books. I have seen around that Armand vowed to never make a fledgling but broke this vow for Daniel. Why did he vow to never turn another person?

Hi! 🖤

Okay, just a head's up - there's no real way I can give a detailed answer without spoilers so save this for later if you'd like to avoid them for now!

Jumping in, Armand actually touches on this topic in TVA and gives a somewhat straightforward response:

I was a firm believer that those we make ourselves will always despise us for it. I cannot claim that I have never despised Marius, both for making me and never returning to me to assure me that he had survived the horrible fire created by the Roman Coven. I had sought Louis rather than create others.

Armand never wanted to create other vampires, which is really no surprise given how horrible most of his lived experience as a vampire had been.

He also seems to have a preference for communicating via the Mind Gift, almost as if comes easier to him than communicating verbally. When a vampire turns a human, it closes off their minds to each other forever — something Armand particularly emphasizes in his tirade to Lestat in TVL when he mentions 'the veil' aka 'veil of silence':

"Oh, but it's always a travesty, don't you see?" he [Armand] said with that same gentleness. "Each time the death and the awakening will ravage the mortal spirit, so that one will hate you for taking his life, another will run to excesses that you scorn. A third will emerge mad and raving, another a monster you cannot control. One will be jealous of your superiority, another shut you out." And here he shot his glance to Gabrielle again and half smiled. "And the veil will always come down between you. Make a legion. You will be, always and forever, alone!"

Armand will never be able to communicate with his fledglings the way he can Lestat and others besides his own maker.

And interestingly enough, Armand did accurately prophesize the outcomes of several of Lestat's fledglings over the next hundred years. Gabrielle (shuts Lestat out); Nicki (goes mad); Louis (resents him); Claudia (need I say more?).

Even if Armand didn't have so much trauma from his own life and his maker abandoning him, I have to imagine bearing such close witness as to how the maker/fledgling dynamics played out for Lestat would be enough to make anyone second guess the whole idea. For Armand it must have served to reinforce every preconceived notion he had on the matter. He even said to Lestat:

"Remember that when your dark children strike out at you, when they rise up against you. Remember me."

And we have still to broach the final layer (in this post — dissecting the entire topic will end with me writing a dissertation and nobody wants that). But Armand was torn away from his maker at a very young age and he did spend the next three hundred years of his life in service of a Satanic cult, which was instrumental in shaping his perspective and driving home the belief that vampirism is the ultimate condemnation.

Yet in the centuries of his long obedience, Armand kept two secrets to himself. These were his property, these secrets, more purely his than the coffin in which he locked himself by day, or the few amulets he wore. The first was that no matter how great his loneliness, or how long the search for brothers and sisters in whom he might find some comfort, he never worked the Dark Trick himself. He wouldn't give that to Satan, no Child of Darkness made by him. ~ Lestat passing on Armand's story as it was told to him in TVL

In a way, I think it was the only measure of autonomy Armand felt he might have had during the cult years. He wouldn't give that to Satan! He wouldn't do that to another being!

And yet, eventually... he did.

And yes, Armand was different person by the end of Devil's Minion but it was obviously still a decision that pained him. One that he said he did out of loneliness but also love, and it's up to the reader to decide how hyperbolic Armand thought he was being when he tells Daniel as he's offering him the choice: "We'll be in hell together after all."

As an aside: it fascinates me how Armand and Lestat both suffered from this agonizing loneliness and yet they each approached it in entirely opposite ways.