#marius inspo.

[maliswriting]

marius zhang - tag drop & info

CHARACTER BASICS

Full Name:  marius zhang

Nickname:  mari, z, frenchie

Age:  30

Date of birth: july 1

Gender: demi male

Pronouns: he/him

Ethnicity:  hakka chinese

Nationality:  french

Education:  master's degree in education,

Occupation:  primary school teacher

Hometown:  lyon, france

Current location:  edinburgh, scotland

Species:  human

Written Aesthetics:

Character inspiration: tbd

CHARACTER APPEARANCE 

Face Claim:  eddie liu

Height: 178cm

Hair Colour:  brown

Eye Colour:  brown

Dominant Hand:  right

Distinguishing Features:  none

PERSONALITY

Positive Traits:  honourable & warm

Negative Traits:  impulsive & vindictive

Neutral Traits: sarcastic & proud

Goals/desires:  earn his master's in world history

Fears:  disappointing his parents

Hobbies:  reading outside, running

Habits: zoning out in conversations, tapping his pen three times before writing

VERSES

slice of life

RELATIONSHIPS

[ormymarius]

Arthur would totally buy Orm some bag of chips (he likes the cronch) and let him eat half of them then sneakily eat the rest of the chips when he’s not looking but leave Orm literally one (1) chip total at the bottom of the bag

[clownwithoutamedicallicense]

aight guys I wanna make another mechs pin but idk what to do so

(Sexond one is supposed to say “murdered my father” but I ran out of characters lmao)

[flarendel]

|| 2nd Nov 2023

I don't have an addiction. I swear.

[syrupsyche]

Students hunting down the social media of their teachers in the Les Mis Teachers!AU, and finding:

Combeferre's public Instagram, where he posts and IDs all the insects and animals he sees. Sometimes he uploads links to YouTube videos and news articles for his students who are following him to read. He also has a TikTok where he uploads science experiments with Joly.

Courfeyrac’s private Instagram, where he only accepts students if they've long graduated. His IG stories are loud clips of him in the club, so blurry you can't see what's going on. His IG posts are of him with his friends, as well as screenshots of himself roasting stupid people on r/politics.

Feuilly's public Instagram and Twitter, all of which repost or retweet journal publications and news articles written by his friends in the field. Once in a while he posts a piece of woodwork he's made, and Enjolras is always the first to like and comment a 👍.

Enjolras' public Instagram, which has no profile picture, no description, and only the occasional post of current news affairs with a loooong caption sharing his thoughts. One day a student finds his Twitter, which is entirely in Korean, where it's also 90% of him sharing about news that may have gone under the radar (esp. things happening in Korea/Asia in general) and then 10% of him asking the void for dating advice. No one replies to those 💔.

Bahorel's public TikTok, where he has 3 workout videos and 48 duets of him arguing with people on bad history takes. Sometimes he goes on TikTok lives with Grantaire and they talk about bullshit for 3 hours straight.

Jehan's Tumblr, which is solely dedicated to Romantic literature. They invite students to send them asks and they answer them pretty often, usually about book/show recommendations, further readings, and opinions on poets and playwrights. Every so often an anon will send a scathing ask roasting Jehan's taste, and every time it's Bahorel.

Bossuet's private Instagram, where he only allows students who've graduated to follow. Except the app keeps glitching and his students keep getting in, so every day he has to softblock them again. His profile is pretty simple though, just pictures of him and his friends, his food, yearly graduation photos with his students etc. Alas, all of them have EXTREMELY horrendous IG filters on them. He likes it, okay?!

Joly's Twitter, where he retweets mostly cute/funny animal tweets, interspersed with the occasional Twitter thread where he goes on long tangents debunking myths about historical illnesses like the black plague, the cholera epidemic etc. He's currently curating one about COVID in his drafts. It's 80 tweets long.

Grantaire's public Instagram, which has about 1,320 posts because he posts about EVERYTHING. His breakfast, a nice cloud, a store having a clearance sale (in which he will tag his friends and caption "Shall we go?") etc. He treats IG like a group chat with all his 289 followers. A lot of pictures of his friends too. Whenever his students win an award or competition he posts about them as well, just with a huge censor bar to conceal their identity. He uses up all 10 slots for the IG carousel post, with the 10th picture always being a sneaky photo taken of Enjolras that day.

Bonus:

Marius' Twitter, except it took forever to confirm it was Marius because his tweets are in four entirely different languages. The students only figured it out once they saw a Twitter thread where Enjolras and Marius were debating with each other in Korean.

Éponine's TikTok, where it only has one video thus far, and its her sending off Gavroche on his first day of school. She uses her account to roast Combeferre’s and Joly’s science experiments, as well as bully Bahorel and Grantaire on their TikTok lives.

Cosette's public Instagram, which is a pretty popular bullet journaling account. Very aesthetic; students follow her to get some decor inspo and study tips. Her IG stories are pictures with Valjean and Fantine captioned "brunch with my favourite people!! 💫💗" or blurry pictures of Enjolras coming out of his bedroom at 2pm on Saturday captioned "Bigfoot sighting #39"

[immortalsarcasm]

Marius/Daniel Week 2024

Day 1: Sunday, November 17th Prompt: changing colors / storm Music Inspo: “Watching The Storm” – U137 Listen on: Spotify | YouTube

“Marius, look!”

Daniel had taken pause, mouth agape in a very human expression of exuberant and youthful wonderment as he stood on the large deck outside. Marius finished adding a log to the roaring fire going in the hearth of the great room before he exited the open double doors leading outside and joined his charge. He followed Daniel’s gaze to the brilliant dance of lights overhead and they stood there for a long moment in silence, taking in the natural wonder of the Northern Lights, the first magnetic storm of the season since they had returned to their home in the north a couple weeks prior.

“It looks brighter this year than last,” Daniel finally said, then added quieter. “At least if I’m remembering it right.”

“You are remember it correctly,” Marius affirmed, and the relief in Daniel at his words was palpable, those slender shoulders and jaw both relaxing. “You’ve been remembering many more things correctly, Daniel,” Marius added, and it was true. Daniel went days now, sometimes weeks without losing time and lapsing back into himself and into silent fugues, or into tempestuous outbursts.

“What I don’t remember entirely is what you told me about it last time,” Daniel finally said, glancing toward Marius, then again at the sky, “Would you tell me again about the origins of the name and about the science of it?”

Marius nodded, but it took him a moment to vocalize his assent; he watched the play of the light reflected on Daniel’s pale, preternatural skin, changing colors dancing there. And what a canvas for those hues to grace, those blues and greens a contrast to the violet of Daniel’s striking eyes. Marius looked away then. He might paint this, and he secreted the image away in his mind, like he had done with so many others. Painting some of these happy moments of lucidity in Daniel had become one small way that Marius had learned to weather the spans when Daniel was unwell. It quelled his own frustrations in more ways than one.

“If you truly wish," Marius said agreeably, but added, "Though I must remind you, you became rather bored with what you called my “tiresome rambling” last time.”

“Did I?” Daniel pursed his lips and his brow furrowed lightly in thought, then shook his head before he shifted closer to Marius’ side, and Marius could see the amusement evident in the grin tugging at the corners of Daniel’s mouth, that supple mouth made all the lovelier by the lights all around them, and that parted again to utter, “No, don’t remember that either, so I guess you’ll have to bore me all over again until I learn to know better than to ask.”

“Yes, I suppose I shall,” Marius murmured, filing away in his mind the rosy details of Daniel’s lips in that unique and effervescing illumination before he looked to the sky again, and began to ramble exactly as Daniel had asked him to.

His paintbrush would have to give life to and kiss what Marius dared not.

[pastsaoi]

update on my tot isekai fantasy long fic based on many many manhwas ive read...

i have. finished One Chapter💪💪

i have planned... Eight chapters...

I would like to finish at least five before i actually start publishing it because I am the slowest writer in existence and don't wanna leave it seemingly abandoned...

ive given it the longest title in existence it just felt right.. for a hint about the overall plot the story's title is 'I Suddenly Became a Noblewoman in a World I Don't Know!?' im sooooooo tempted to make it longer?? or more silly??? but for now...

im excited though i love what im doing right now!! its so fun..

only luke and artem have been introduced in the first chapter, vyn and marius will follow soon after and then Shenanigans will occur with the typical manhwa isekai angst that is always involved

the only like... overarching thing i have planned is Luke's Suffering so im sorry luke fans he isn't free here either

but!!!! yeah i just wanted to give a little update because im really happy with what im doing... its nice having a long project to come back to when im bored or lacking in inspo when im not doing my usual bullshit!! hooray for writing!!!!

[blueiight]

I was reading your tags to dre's published ask. Do you think while writing about these blood sucking monsters, Anne deliberately made one of them a former slave master? I mean the way this man during his mortal times had benefited by preying on the black race and the reflection of it in his fate where he is now in literal terms an entity who survives by preying on people? Or is it like twilight ( movies) where Jasper's past as a confederate soldeir is just dropped as if it's the most casual thing to shrug away.

( something is up with vampire media and all of them being connected to slave trade my god. Either it is a social commentary or people really do not have any self awarenesses?

i dont know about twilight book or movie to make a meaningful comparison to louis’s book counterpart. i wish i knew. and tbh, its hard to prescribe authorial intent on a dead woman who wrote a sprawling epic of 20+ books for 50 years , especially with shifting perspectives , namely pivoting away from louis to lestat as her MC bc of what fantasy/POV was more interesting to her. but i think in the first book there was some intention there, i cant just say how much. lestat wants to hunt the runaway slaves along the freniere plantation, and louis discourages him from doing it not out of compassion for enslaved people (which would be condescending and abysmal writing for a slaveowning character), but for his proximity to the freniere’s as fellow planters. ive talked about it a lot how its really interesting in the first 2 books that the american planter is created both literally + vampirically by the european aristocrat.. and theyre both parasitic beings in relation to the enslaved people, eventually draining them+ burning the plantation down. iwtv early book louis is resentful of lestat in part bc he thought lestat wanted his plantation, but when he learns who lestat is + where he came from, the power and will he has. hes far more genial to him. its a very dark book, and i think the fact that these characters are so vicious + melancholic is intentional on the authors part. i dont know how much race based chattel slavery is meaningfully explored from the perspective of the slaveowner, but book louis thinking of people in his captivity as fixtures, as creepy ‘things’ more proximate to the supernatural bc of their ‘african nature’ (that had yet to be ‘trained’ out of them) is a very probable, chilling, and haunting perspective of a former slaveowner to take even a hundred and some years removed from it. or if we take it as book louis immersing himself in his perspective @ the time. either way. and its pathetic when fans try to flatten book louis into ‘he was a good slaveowner’ cuz at that point theyre just conflating the movie with the book. i kinda joke that book louis is the vampire it girl bc he was such a terrible mortal LOL. im still indeterminate on the exact mode or purpose, or how much it was just about the aesthetic of gothic horror (re: the earth’s a savage garden). especially bc later books fixate on very discrete modes and metaphors of servitude/subjugation ‘being a slave to the blood’ is a recurring motif running antiparallel with the motif of ‘purifying the african/asian/foreign’ (through ‘admixture’ with the ‘european’) (s/o poacher bro gabi + talamasca bro dave ig) and in later works, theres the cycle of slavery through marius & armand.. marius, whos mother was a slave, purchases armand. chattel slavery took inspo from the romans in the idea of maternal based slave caste inheritance.. idk. idk. ive had very long rambly convos w ppl on here in the past (& im still a bit embarrased abt it) on this, but i think the reasons why fans dont rly get into it is cuz most ppl got into these books at a young age + was just into the cool lore or the queer shit and were able to handwave things as just aesthetic/era/quirky anne things etc. idk.

[nalyra-dreaming]

sorry for giving you this task 🙏 im not really good at retrieving info in the internet. but so far what do we know about s3? not the info in the books, i read them, but info about their inspo, plot (which i see they are willing to change a bit seeing the previous seasons), style, anything we know officially so far? i just saw the purple poster (that made me think to prince and rock of ages) then i heard hedwig and rocky horror (which is even better!!). we know else?

Only circumstantial things I believe?

Sam being excited for Lestat’s past, and we know we will get Nicolas and Gabrielle, Marius and… Magnus. Rolin said Lestat had the most traumatic turning and so we better brace ourselves there. The production assistant they searched for was supposed to travel to NOLA and Prague, so we know some locations for shoots.

That‘s it so far I believe?

Anyone know if I forgot something?^^

[bitter-limelight]

Day three- perhaps this is shoe horning in the inspo a little but I think the fuck you sass attitude siren Daniel has here towards Marius counts as rebellion!

Inspired by this Amazing pic of model Dominick Sadoch

[talkfantasytome]

Do We Like a Gladiator Cassian? 👀

So, I've been playing around with this idea a lot - some friends can confirm - and trying really hard to start my Gladiator!Cassian AU. And by that, I mean drowning in research. I love research. And history. It's glorious! And extremely stifling.

I was hoping to have part 1 ready for romance week, but as the weeks went on, it was clear that wasn't going to happen. It was initially meant to be for meet cute day (cause, I mean, you can have a meet cute in Ancient Rome)...and then it got pushed back to free day. Well, it's free day now and...😬

But, I did get some inspo today to write some parts of the piece! So, I have a small snippet for y'all that will hopefully grow to more in time. I give you Gladiator!Cassian!

Nesta's eyes skittered over the group of men training in the yard. They were all shirtless, each one carrying a large wooden sword. Many were striking tall poles, others standing and waiting for their turn. Another group was doing strength building exercises led by a well-dressed man who must work for Marius.

It was overwhelming. Nesta could only imagine how Feyre would react in a situation like this, surrounded by some of the strongest men in the country. Nesta would do better. She had to. She could maintain control.

They paused, Marius explaining the training regimen to her father. Their morning and afternoon routines, their eating schedules, their diets. It gave Nesta more time to actually see what was in front of her.

Her eyes fell upon a man striking the closest pole to them and her mouth went dry.

He was inhumanly tall, something she could tell even as he was slightly crouched for a stronger striking stance. His shoulders were broader than she'd ever seen before, his torso packed with muscle. It was most defined in that moment in his arms as he lifted the rudis and struck and struck and struck. She could see the way the muscles flexed and clenched as he lifted the heavy sword and slammed it down again.

Beads of sweat glistened across his golden brown skin, shimmering in the bright light of the day. His shoulder length near-black hair was damp from the exertion, clinging to his neck and cheeks. His face was dusted with pink and his eyes blazed.

He was focused, his eyes fixed on the palus as he hit it again and again with his rudis. Nesta could've sword she heard a slight cracking sound, but he continued, never missing the post. He began to move around a bit, slamming it from different angles. His strength never wavered. Each hit was as hard as the last.

It was rough and violent, and as graceful as a dance. She'd never seen a man move so seamlessly. Most gladiator fights were beautiful in their own way, but this was something else entirely. His movements entranced her, drew her gaze and hoarded her attention. It was a symphony and Nesta could swear she could hear the glorious music in every strike of his sword.

[valkyrayn]

i hope your creative block goes away, i get how sucky that must feel :(( my brainrot of the day recently is simply marius' hands, i just know he'd be a little shit the moment he caught onto the fact that you might have a little thing for them,, even if you two were still in your crushing phase. later on when you're finally together he's whispering all the filthy things he can do to you with his pretty hands and he's watching you crumble just from that 😩😩

i hope so toooo! it comes and goes a lot these days and it’s so annoying that when i get that surge of inspo, it’s usually when i’m out and have things to do 😩

please you are so real for that. his fucking hands LORD like i just loveeeeeee talking about how sexy his hands are. how big his hands are compared to yours. like he makes your hands look tiny in his grasp.

in your crushing phase, you fantasise how they would feel on you. and inside you. getting hot and bothered just thinking about his long slender fingers, beautiful, calloused—touching you and teasing you.

and when you finally have a taste of it, of his fingers, deep inside you—fucking you like that, it makes you lose your mind. bcus fuck, does he know exactly what he’s doing with them. knowing how much you have a thing for his hands, he takes all the opportunity he gets to get you off with them.

slipping his hand under the table, grazing your thigh and then finally dipping into your drenched panties to start fucking you with his fingers right then and there, in the boardroom, during a meeting 🫦

[whorejolras]

hello i would love to hear about the grantaire & eponine fic and sign here!!!

oh yes! i would love to tell you 🥰

the nye grantaire & eponine friendfic is inspired by this past new year's eve. @softerhour and i had her best friend staying with us and those two together are my grantaire and eponine 🫶🏻

the inspo came when our friend was like "ok my mate was saying that a few years ago he found the best houseparty ever in brunswick on new year's eve. he said they do it every year, but can't remember where. so we're gonna start at pres and see who knows who and party hop until we find it: The Best Houseparty Ever"

and i of course was like hey that's so marius to find the best party ever and forget where it was... plot idea?

(we didn't find The party but we did hit up five houses in brunswick and got invited to a billionaire's pool party that we ended up skipping, so the night was a success)

bc it's pretty closely based on the night we had i went ahead and set it in Naarm so that's why it's my "trashbag naarm/brunswick au" in my head. i've always wanted to do a local les amis and always thought of them as inner north trash (except eponine who's fs from the west and grantaire lived in footscray once and made it his whole personality)

and sign here!

i started that one in like 2015 😭 then found it and revived it a few months ago. it's messy e/r/c my beloved

combeferre and enjolras are on the brink of becoming official, but the will they won't they enjolras has always had with grantaire is still there.

so combeferre proposes to grantaire that they both court enjolras bachelor style and get him to chose between them 🤪 complete with rules and guidelines and they even go ahead and sign a deal on it ✍🏻

and then the whole fic is them breaking all the rules, including "don't crash each other's dates" and realising they like each other too 👀

thank you for sending 🫶🏻

[uncivilcivilservice]

Navigation post

Doing a bit of spring cleaning on the blog and trying to organise my tags

General: Answered, Art, Aesthetic, Historical Fashion, Misc Vampire Stuff, Nature, Queer History, Queer Stuff, Useful Stuff

Fandoms: Amrev, Carmilla, Doctor Who, Good Omens, Percy Jackson, Vampire Chronicles, WWDITS

VC Characters: Armand (Armand vibes), Daniel (Daniel Molloy Core), Lestat (Lestat Core), Louis (Louis Vibes), Marius (Marius Vibes)

VC Ships: Armand/Daniel, Armand/Louis, Armand/Lestat, Armand/Marius, Armand/Daniel/Louis/Lestat, Armand/Marius/Daniel, Louis/Lestat, Marius/Daniel, Marius/Pandora

VC Pairings: Daniel & Lestat, Daniel & Louis

VC stuff: Anne Rice, Devil's Minion (inspo), Trinity Gate, VC AU, VC Meta, VC Shitpost

VC stuff I've made/written: VC Aesthetics, VC Fic, VC Headcanon, VC Music Recs

Also I'm NuclearCivility on AO3

My nature/animals blog is @all-scales-no-spine 🐾💕🐍💕🪲💕

Important: This is a VC books only blog, that is occasionally light-heartedly critical of the show. To avoid seeing my thoughts on the show, block the tag #taylorshush

[deadcityhq]

CHARACTER NAME: lestat de lioncourt CHARACTER FACECLAIM: sam reid CHARACTER AGE/DOB (if relevant/they're not old af): november 7th, 1760. changed in 1781 at almost 21 years old. 263 years old now technically. CHARACTER PRONOUNS/GENDER IDENTITY/SEXUALITY ETC: he/they, genderfluid, bisexual/biromantic/polyam CHARACTER FANDOM (if relevant): the vampire chronicles, admittedly with a few twists and inspo based on the new show too OC OR CANON: canon CHARACTER TYPE (for example: werewolf, shadowhunter, warlock, demon etc): vampire brat HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN IN NEW YORK/WHY ARE THEY THERE ETC: about three months IMPORTANT CHARACTER INFORMATION TO NOTE AND SHARE (this could be important headcanons for initial plotting, mini bios etc, supporting docs): born in france, lestat was the youngest of three sons-- five other children having not survived childhood. as the youngest child, lestat stood to inherit no lands or fortunes. as such, lestat set about forging his own path in life. from 12, he began education in a monastery and decided he would enter the order as a brother when the time came. however, this was opposed to his father and brother's ideas, and they proceeded to pull him from his education.

another attempt at building his own life came around the age of 16, when lestat disappeared with a travelling group of italian actors. he fell in love with performing. however, it didn't last long. as days later he woke up to the actors gone and his brothers to take him home.

it isn't until his twentieth year that lestat finally finds true freedom. he meets and befriends and violinist named nicholas, and upon his mother's insistence that lestat know freedom, he travels to paris with nicolas.

here, he gains a job as a backstage assistant in a theatre, while later being offered a shot at going on stage and becoming a professional actor. however, it is not long into this that something drastic happens. a change lestat was wholly unprepared for, when a man named magnus enters his life.

magnus kidnaps lestat and very soon after, he is made into a vampire. however, his maker quickly commits suicide and lestat is left to grapple with eternity on his own, adapting to his new life. however, as magnus' only fledgling, he inherits all his wealth. and so, lestat buys the theatre he used to perform at, but tends to avoid contact with the human world he was once a part of, including nicholas.

it isn't until a while later that lestat's mother, gabrielle, arrives in paris, dying, that a further change occurs in lestat: he forges his own first fledgling, changing his mother into a vampire to save her.

for months, they travel and live together, eventually taking in nicki and changing him too. many different events occur over this time, including lestat meeting and coming to know of armand and then by extension, marius. inevitably, this leads to lestat being fed some of marius' ancient blood to regain his strength after burying himself in the ground for a time after his mother leaves him.

shortly after meeting marius, he takes him to see those who must be kept -- akasha and enkil, the first vampires and rulers of their kind who appear as living statues. marius explains then how vampires came to being, and the next night, when lestat is alone, he visits akasha and enkil to try and wake them inspite of marius' warnings against this.

his plan actually works, and akasha allows lestat to drink her blood as she drinks his. that is until enkil awakens in a jealous rage and attacks lestat. thankfully, lestat is saved by marius. marius then tells lestat to leave the island and although reluctant, lestat agrees. and this… is where he comes to new orleans. and meets louis de pointe de lac.

from here, the events unfold as is known: lestat, louis and later claudia spend some 60 years together, before going their separate ways. their time together is beautiful, but clouded with tragedy and pain. it ends rather messily, with lestat thinking louis dead for some time. but then, then--

lestat comes back to the world. a longing to reconnect, and, well, he's heard all the talk. the stories floating around of so many different disasters occurring over the years. maybe he wants to take a look, maybe he wants to even contribute to the chaos. so in the end, he decides what better way to dip into the world, than with theatrics. and so, in mid/late 2023, his band is formed. and now, lestat resides in new york city, the place that seems to be becoming quite the centre for shenanigans right now. hopefully, he'll be able to make his own waves too.

THREE AESTHETICS THAT REMIND YOU OF YOUR CHARACTER:

the feel of vibrant red rose petals against skin

sounds of a lively party, with music coming from a few doors down

the fear of never being able to keep a hold of what you love most

admin andy app.

[immortalsarcasm]

Marius Daniel Week 2024

Day 7: Saturday November 23rd

Prompts: free day*

Music Inspo:

"All About Love" - SIERRA | Listen On: Spotify | YouTube

"Tell Me Why" - Supermode | Listen On: Spotify | You Tube

"Silence - Remix" - Delirum, Various | Listen On: Spotify | YouTube

Author's Note: I'm gonna be real with y'all, this piece ended up taking on a whole life of it's own (I meant for it to be a shorter two part thing) and as much as I wanted it to get finished by now, I would not be happy trying to prematurely crank it out when it's headed in the direction it is.

So please consider this the first of several parts I'll be releasing moving forward over the next several days/weeks (I'm working simultaneously on all of them as we speak), and I will be finishing this because it's finally knocked loose a huge block I've had writing-wise for over a year, and it's also helped with untangling the words to explain the intricacies and dynamics of what it is about the relationship between these two that makes me totally feral for them.

* This story sprung up from the following prompts from the week - rhythmic - feeding – possessiveness - heat it up - and you will find them all throughout the work in it's entirety.

Forever - Part I: Daniel

Sweat.

Neon.

Desperation.

Need.

The music pulsed around Daniel as strongly and persistent as any strong vein did beneath the crush of his teeth, and the throng of mortals thrashing wildly around him did so with an abandon mirroring the last frantic movements of a victim in his arms when he made a full kill.

Bodies electric and pulsing, vibrating with the rhythmic pace of the baseline and their own heartbeats. Daniel had been able to find relief and release in both. He danced with as much wild recklessness as those around him, his entire being humming with so many Little Drinks he’d taken through the evening, his own heart knocked in tandem or syncopation to each and every song, and all of it was bittersweet release.

That was why he’d gone there.

He’d made a habit out of going to the clubs since returning to New York; even with decades between the time Daniel had lived in the city and being there now, and though the venues and names and music had changed, there was a familiarity in the nightlife that called to him. He’d thrown himself into that world even as a mortal; first as a naïve youth in San Francisco in the discotheques trying to find himself and find connection with others like him, and again in the dance houses of Berlin, and Barcelona, and Manhattan, and Miami, or wherever Armand would have them at any given point in a time that Daniel still had trouble recalling even with a vampire mind.

Now these sundown playgrounds were where he could find blood and lose himself, and almost nightly he lied to himself that he wasn’t using this addiction like he’d used alcohol to avoid what was plaguing him, if only for a while. If only until the next time when feeding was necessary, or out of sheer boredom, or to avoid feeling like an animal caged and needed to escape from the decadent and sometimes suffocating glory that was Trinity Gate.

The place had become the North American hub for their kind, as well as the other preternatural beings allied with them, and that had brought everything else that came with the pomp and circumstance of immortal life. Daniel had underestimated how important the place would become in the grander scheme of things and, in retrospect, he felt like a fool for the oversight. Maybe Night Island had jaded any notions he’d once had, that vampires could stay in together for meaningful lengths of time. Or maybe he’d stopped believing in that kind of thing after leaving Rio.

But Daniel didn’t want to think about any of that. He didn’t want to think at all; and that he was there in the club where he’d gone to block everything out – block out the most recent and unannounced deluge of vampires come to call, the ever so polite and strained way he’d greeted them, all of them, even --

No.

Thinking about it, about anyone, but most especially thinking about him? That was the last thing Daniel wanted, and that was the other undeniable allure of being in places like these. He had never gone to any of the club with Daniel, not in Norway and not in Brazil, not even when Daniel had pleaded.

Daniel cast about, searched almost frantically for another mark he could more blood from, and it wasn’t difficult because there was no shortage of people to choose from in a location that could hold over three thousand at once. He locked his sights within moments on a man just a few pushes away amid the sea of bodies; tall and dark-haired, well-proportioned, and searching the crowd for something, or someone to occupy his attention with.

Yes, Daniel wanted that one. He called out with his mind, a whisper of suggestion that turned the man as if the motion had been of his own accord. Daniel locked eyes with him and was at his side swiftly, moving lithely through the gyrating dancers all around them with all the grace of the predatory thing that he was.

Yes, he would drink from this one, but not just yet, not before Daniel had allowed himself the distraction of a dance, maybe two; allowed the pull of the strong hands that took hold of his waist and drew him close, allowed himself to pretend that this was more than just a fleeting moment of flesh and lust and hunger for either of them. Daniel savored as much as he could; the deep timbre of the mortal man’s voice, the tug of his body against the other’s body tight and eager, the hard line of this mortal’s erection pressed hard to his groin between layers of fabric and denim. Daniel’s own body responded in kind, at least partially.

The immortal world had embraced more and more modern aspects of the world per Lestat’s decree that they should do so, and as more and more of the medically minded had joined their ranks, Fareed’s designs to make advances of every sort for them all had come to greater fruition. There had been no scientific breakthrough with regards to immortal procreation and Daniel suspected there never would be, but the ability for vampires to again experience sexual pleasure and desire was now commonplace with the help of a bi-annual injection.

Curiosity had put him in line with so many others when Fareed had set up clinic during a visit, and Daniel was now four months in and full of regret. He’d hoped maybe regaining focus on the head below his belt would make it easier for him to keep from getting to deep into the head on his shoulder; but all he’d discovered was that the head below his belt rarely made it past half-mast, and the only activity that he’d found encouraged more than that was his own hand paired with memories that left him feeling more alone and pathetic afterward.

Daniel shook himself mentally from falling down that rabbit hole of thoughts any further, pretended that all the nonsensical things that this man had started to whisper-yell into his ear over the music - ‘Jake’ he’d said was his name - weren’t alcohol and hormone-fueled ramblings that likely wouldn’t remembered the next morning.

Daniel had a multitude of experiences just like it from all those years before, but now he was in control of these encounters and he never took them beyond the dance floor. No matter how achingly lonely Daniel was he would never lead a mortal on or treat one like a toy, he would never give them a single drop of his blood, and he would never, ever bed one, even if by some miracle his body allowed for more one day. Daniel would not reduce any of them to what he’d been.

He let his mind wander, no longer paying attention to anything that Jake was saying to him and focused only on the way their bodies met, allowed himself to admire the little signs and details of age that no number of hours in the gym could carve away; the beginning hints of gray flecking black hair and the subtle crease at the corner or eyes and mouth. Daniel tiled his head back when those lips sought out his own neck, allowed the kisses there and those mortal hands to rove over him as he closed his eyes and let himself be exactly what he was – a dead thing buoyed by the living.

Daniel waited until that song, and then another passed before he forced himself out of his torpor and he twined his arms around the man’s shoulders, pressed his own face to his throat and sank his fangs into the vein. Daniel felt the vibration of a groan beneath his lips, felt the man’s thoughts spill over into his as surely at the blood pooling across his tongue and with it snippets of vision. Visions always came to Daniel when he fed – hell, he saw them even when he wasn’t making a kill. Nothing of vampiric nature had come to Daniel so easily as this, seeing into minds, both mortal and immortal alike. He could read some of them even when he wasn’t trying.

In this man Daniel saw flashes of days spent in some office; tedious hours at desks and tables, business trips, long nights pouring over a computer screen. He saw endless numbers being crunched with monotonous efficiency, saw this cycle repeated at what would have been ad nauseum if the image of another man hadn’t come into the memory, flashing by quick at first, then coming front and center in one memory, then another. He saw that new man, a younger man, laughing, walking at Jake’s side, waking beside him in early morning hours, saw that younger man’s face looking up when a door was opened to a simple but cozy apartment. Daniel saw days and nights of those two men together, splitting a clean swath through those mundane and ever dwindling visions of work, he saw holidays and vacations - and then saw the two quarreling, the angry gestures and the tears streaming down the youthful face before Jake slammed the apartment door shut as he left.

Daniel tore himself away, locked down his own mind as he extricated himself from the mortal’s hold. He shook his head at the protests the other raised then locked eyes with Jake again and commanded his silence through the force of his will, his own words now passing between them in mind only.

'Go home.'

Jake stared at him, expression blank and swaying lightly on his feet, like he was a particularly stupid animal. Daniel pushed the man away again, gentler this time, and he was still careful not to use his full strength, a trill of agitation coursing up as he pressed into the other’s mind again.

'Go home to him.'

Daniel watched the man as he finally, sluggishly, turned and blundered his way toward the exit and out into the Manhattan night.

It was only once he’d lost sight of him that Daniel allowed the surge of feeling that those images caused to flood through him, and he turned, stumbled blindly in the opposite direction toward another exit in another direction. Suddenly the press of the crowd and the music and lights were no longer a safe haven and escape but an overwhelming onslaught to his vampire senses, and his own head had just turned as chaotic if not moreso. His ability to dampen down and filter out the cacophony had slipped.

Daniel swore profusely, felt the smallest sense of relief when his outstretched hands found one of those massive support beams of the building, tall columns that rose floor to high ceiling, and he clung to it, closed his eyes as he tried to collect himself and regain his control and struggled not to let the panic that rose like unstoppable nausea from the pit of his gut take full hold.

'Daniel.'

Daniel felt the presence of another immortal a fraction of a second before he’d heard his own name in his head. He didn’t need to turn to see who it was; he knew. He always knew and he always would, but he turned around all the same.

Marius was standing there behind him, not even an arm’s length away; Marius, over dressed as always in one of his fine suits and jackets, his long hair clipped that night in a modern, conservative style, concern in his eyes and one gloved hand outstretched but stopped just short of touching Daniel. So close and so far.

Emotions spun through Daniel in rapid succession; surprise first, then a wash of dismay and near anger – this was his refuge, or up until now it had been – but in the end wariness and exhaustion won out when he still struggled to keep his bearings along with this sudden shock, and his words came out quieter and tired, lacked the defensiveness he might have otherwise met Marius with under different circumstances.

“.. What are you doing here?”

[To Be Continued...]