#so that also feels y'know!

[pynkhues]

It's interesting, thinking of how Lestat's traumatic experiences influence the way he perceives and seeks love. I'm curious about your thoughts on something I've been pondering, but I don't feel like I can articulate it that well. Lestat clearly wants Louis to be attracted to him, which makes sense, presumably that's what most people want in romantic relationships. But even that feels tied up, to an extent, in all the trauma -- Magnus chose him partly for his beauty, and his looks/sexual appeal have always played a big part in how others react to him. So it feels sometimes like he thinks that's the main thing he has to offer, and that's partly why Louis not wanting to have sex much on the rat diet feels like such a rejection, like if even his body/face can't entice Louis, then he has nothing. So in the present, what would it take for Lestat to feel confident both that Louis is extremely attracted to him, AND that physical attraction/sex isn't the main reason Louis wants to be with him or the main thing he has to offer?

As I'm typing, I'm thinking that maybe this is obvious--of course most people want their partners to find them attractive AND not to feel like that's the main/only reason their partner is with them. It just somehow feels more complicated with Lestat. And I think you're already exploring this really gorgeously in your fics, actually...just by the way you show that Louis and Lestat have this insane physical connection and need for each other, but Louis keeps fighting to know Lestat on a deeper level too, and Lestat can see that. But anyway, if you had any particular thoughts in this area, I'd love to hear them.

It's definitely an interesting thing to consider, anon! Lestat's vanity is definitely a major part of his character, and while I do think it pre-dates Magnus, I agree that it's probably in part compounded by his turning. Like you said, Magnus chose him in part for his looks, and his beauty is really emphasised throughout his turning, both through Anne's prose, but also specifically through Magnus and Lestat himself.

Half of what Magnus says during his turning is about Lestat's looks, and even in the immediate aftermath, he's laid out a beautiful outfit for him to wear (red slippers and white hose and a red velvet suit worked with gold and rubies and pearls and the same Italian lace of his mother's wedding dress, which has been a fascinating detail to me since I picked it up on re-read) and Lestat spends paragraphs looking at, and admiring himself in a mirror. There's something to it that sort of feels soaked in the sense that Lestat was intended to be a kept boy, only now he has no keeper, and I suspect that's probably partially why Rolin and co have made the decision to extend it from two nights to a week.

Your ask actually brought two beats from s1 to mind - first Lestat's considerable considerables line from 1.05 when Louis' ignoring him as he searches the newspapers for Claudia, but also that tiny moment in 1.01 when he and Louis first meet and Louis makes that jab at Lestat's wardrobe that Sam lets land on Lestat's face in a way that I always love.

(And this is a sidebar, but there's an interesting thread with the clothes too in that people really do dress Lestat a lot - from the theatre troupe to Nicki giving Lestat the wolfkiller cloak, to Magnus laying out those clothes, to Louis updating his wardrobe in New Orleans, than dressing Dreamstat in his favourite suit - - it's one I think about a lot).

Both moments I think speak directly to what you're saying in that Lestat places a lot of his own value on his physicality - both in terms of his appearance and his sexuality - and so the lack of acknowledgement of either, or even a perceived slight against them, I do think is probably felt pretty deeply? It's all intrinsically tied up for him with the trauma of Magnus, yes, but I think also his freedom and ability to survive in Paris was dependent on his looks. He was beautiful enough to be on the stage, for people to want to look at him, something Nicki makes clear in the books and Armand makes clear in 2.03, and in that sense, what he looks like (and his ability to play a role that an audience wants) marks his life and his death and his rebirth in a way that probably only Armand could relate to.

So yeah, I think you're right that even beyond the natural desire to have your partner be physically attracted to you, Lestat probably needs it as a form of validation and that it probably carries a lot of weight in conversations about his self-worth. As for what it would take for him to feel confident in that? I don't know! A part of the fun with Lestat is that he's so in-the-moment that I think he'd probably pendulum between knowing exactly how much Louis wants him / is attracted to him, and being crippled by insecurity about it if, like, Louis didn't look up from his book fast enough, haha. I do think he'd probably like it when Louis dresses him though, because not to go back to that sidebar, but between those relationships (and his conviction is always that he and Magnus loved each other), I do think he probably sees that as an act of love and attraction.

And thank you for your kind words! Interestingly, the sentiment of what Lestat and Louis give each other, both sexually and otherwise, has been a thread in the cruising fic, so it was fun to get this ask and think about it a little more, haha.

[egophiliac]

like mother, like son, but less wholesome this time?

(I couldn't decide whether or not to put them together, so have them in all the different ways!)

[thespacesay]

apartment dwellers, or those with communal laundry situations.

feel free to explain your choice in the tags, especially how polite/impolite you view your choice.

[lazylittledragon]

do any other artists feel like. yeah you're a 'good artist' because you draw things that look nice, but like. TECHNICALLY? you're really not great

i really hate that i can recognise that yes, my art is good, but is it VARIED? is it dynamic?? is my anatomy good? is it full of texture and colour theory? do i know how to do This? can i do That? no, not really. and that's quite painful actually

[sandflakedraws]

the song came on my shuffle and would not leave me alone until i penned this i'm so sorry

[saltpepperbeard]

hugs ed hugs ed hugs ed hugs ed hug—

[nicandragon]

if youre still taking requests, i would love to see something where laios is wooing kabru or maybe laios and kabru working together post-canon :)

Shit's rough ...have Kabru finally getting the shoujo moment he deserves <3

Also my friend said that Kabru looks like he's reacting to a marriage proposal instead of a flirt so I doodled them crying about it as well

[deoidesign]

One of my first digital pieces (2010) versus one of my recent ones (2024)

We all start somewhere!

[perpetual-fng]

a very rendered roach

[hood-ex]

"Love" and "proud" and "family" come up so frequently in bat comics now. Bleh. Bring back something I can relate to like emotional constipation and repression.

[wolves-in-the-world]

the thing about eliot spencer as a character, right. the thing about him.

(and as always your mileage may vary on my analyses so if we disagree that's cool actually)

is that he is in fact a somewhat emotionally constipated idiot who is occasionally sensitive about his perceived masculinity and gets defensive about emotional intimacy around other men (largely hardison, who's much more comfortable expressing affection and embracing a softer kind of masculinity), but eliot displays enough emotional awareness and sensitivity and respect for women etc etc that anyone who's been subjected to that era of television will put on rose-tinted glasses without even looking twice.

(and he is, don't get me wrong, incredibly emotionally aware for a professionally punchy guy with enough trauma to sink the titanic. it still startles me to see.)

on top of which we have the layers and the accessories and the excellent hair with the secret braids and the way he barely has an ego and he's good with kids and protective of his team without taking it too far, and some of us never stood a fucking chance.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Detectives at the Disco (Elysium)

[juney-blues]

i think gamers dismissed the notion of keeping score in non-arcadey titles too easily i think. some games are a lot funner if you try to play them with score in mind

[varilien]

can you pls draw vash in his really nice cute bra 🥺

teehee yeah i think i can do that :3

(now available at my shop!)

[the-punforgiven]

Hey, I'm really sorry to have to ask y'all, but my family and I are being evicted from our home and we can't really afford to live anywhere else.

We've been saving up for a while and we've found a place we can almost afford, but we're still short about $4,400. So like, if you have anything you can do to help I'd greatly appreciate it, but like, I get that times are tough all around so I totally understand if you don't

Here's a link to my paypal, but like, please only donate if you've got the cash to spare, I don't want anyone to go hungry on my account

[nshi-ao3]

The Persona 3 Reload version of Heartful Cry got me wanting to draw a certain scene...