#add armand/daniel to that list too

[falsebeginnings]

me happy and thriving knowing that the show is always going to be about louis and lestat and them together:

[savagewilderness]

Here are the results from both polls! Pretty surprised Gabrielle’s hair-cutting was number one scene in the book vote by a huge margin, but there we are! I do want to see it, of course!

For me it’s The Witches’ Place that’s non-negotiatiable though. They don’t have to do it in exactly the same way as the books, but I need it to happen & to be a recurring theme. Which I think can be even more impactful in its way on TV as Lestat is turned mid-French-Revolution & both that & Louis’ different era only add even more parallels for The Witches’ Place to make us feel from. And the book already echoes The Witches’ Place over & over.

Also high up from the book are Lestat’s on-stage breakdown (I agree! I need it. And pretty as Harlequin-Lestat was, I need Lestat to deny he ever played Harlequin!) & pre-trial imprisonment. I’m not sure if TV Lestat will be imprisoned pre-trial myself. If he is, great as I do want to get close to the book feeling… but I feel like he might only be psychologically fragile enough that Armand might try to mess with his mind (whether literally getting in his head or more blackmailesque attempts at manipulation)… perhaps echoing stuff Armand tried in the 1700’s with Lestat (& maybe on TV he’ll do this with Nicolas too?) rather than it being super-close to the book here… but we’ll see! I have no expectations here because I’d rather be this way than set my mind to some idea of what to expect & be disappointed.

On which note, I’m basically happy whatever non-TVL-book things the show wants to bring in. I’d be delighted to see many of the things that sprang to my mind on that list.

No surprise Devils’ Minion won & a lot of people who voted otherwise commented they’d be happy to wait for a slow-burn DM… but I voted for it myself as it’s such an exquisite chapter in Queen of the Damned & I feel if we don’t get *any* at least hint of it in S3, we won’t get it at all, surely? And I want it. And I think Assad, Eric & Luke do too!

Gabrielle, ghost-Claudia & Daniel’s turning also all ranked highly here!

PS Can’t believe so few people went for Lestat killing his horse… I think it’s important we see that as it’s part surely of why Magnus knows that he could be a great vampire - not that he could kill beasts threatening his own life (the wolves) in a kill or be killed scenario, but that he can also kill a creature he deeply loves, to end its suffering.

But yeah, for me: 🤞 for The Witches’ Place. I am especially excited for Gabrielle too!

[nalyra-dreaming]

I'm a show-only fan who never read the book but I learned that Lestat had an very incestuous relationship with his mom Gabrielle in the book (which I'm here for it. Sorry for being a sickko who enjoy inappropriate relationships). And today I learned that Gabrielle also kissed Armand (on the lips???) and combed his hair and showed motherly affection towards him. However, Armand doesn't seem to like her very much? So we're not only gonna get some Lestat/Nikki/Armand love triangle but also gonna get some Lestat/Gabrielle/Armand (incestuous) triangle???

Wow. I can't wait to see how the show runners & Rolin are gonna handle those messy relationships. This is too good... Just imagine Louis and Daniel's face when they get this information...

Armand... hates her guts, later on. I wouldn't necessarily see them as a triangle... but we'll see.

I think the main reasons for his feelings are as follows:

When Lestat and Gabrielle leave Paris, Armand wants to come with them, but Lestat rejects him, though he says he wants to. Gabrielle is a bit more clear on that: "The Devil's Road is what we want, " she said. "And we are enough for each other now. Maybe years and years into the future, when we've been a thousand places and seen a thousand things, we'll come back. We'll talk then together as we have tonight." This "we are enough for each other now" (Lestat and Gabrielle) had to eat at Armand, who only a short time before had warned Lestat: "Remember that when your dark children strike out at you, when they rise up against you. Remember me. " and who had, only just before, fought so hard to "have" Lestat for himself. And failed.

Gabrielle fails, except on the most outrageous instances, to come to Lestat or to Lestat's aid - in Armand's eyes. Other than Armand, btw, who comes when called, or requested - I think in an attempt to make up for his refusal to help Lestat when he did come for help to him in Paris (pre trial, book canonically Lestat came to Armand for help and healing, and Armand tortured him instead because he felt used and rejected again) - a help which he had offered, before Lestat had left him. And Armand despises Gabrielle for that: Gabrielle. She's around now. She was around on The Night Island. Everyone hates her. She is Lestat's Mother, and abandons him for centuries, and somehow doesn't manage to heed Lestat's periodic and inevitable frantic cries for help, which though she could not receive them, being his fledgling, could certainly learn of them from other vampiric minds which are on fire with the news round the world when Lestat is in trouble. Gabrielle, she looks just like him, except she's a woman, totally a woman, that is, sharper of feature, small-waisted, big- breasted, sweet-eyed in the most unnerving and dishonest fashion, gorgeous in a black ball gown with her hair free, more often dusty, genderless, sheathed in supple leather or belted khaki, a steady walker, and a vampire so cunning and cold that she has forgotten what it ever meant to be human or in pain. Indeed, I think she forgot overnight, if she ever knew it. She was in mortal life one of those creatures who always wondered what the others were carrying on about. Gabrielle, low- voiced, unintentionally vicious, glacial, forbidding, ungiving, a wanderer through snowy forests of the far north, a slayer of giant white bears and white tigers, an indifferent legend to untamed tribes, something more akin to a prehistoric reptile than a human. Beautiful, naturally, blond hair in a braid down her back, almost regal in a chocolate-colored leather safari jacket and a small droopy brimmed rain hat, a stalker, a quick killer, a pitiless and seemingly thoughtful but eternally secretive thing. Gabrielle, virtually useless to anyone but herself. Some night she'll say something to someone, I suppose. ... I mean, maybe they'll dip their toes into this as well, and add "rejected lover" to the list of reasons. It could... fit. But later on he hates her guts, at least when he does speak of her.

[slapjacq]

I am ill. Not okay. I’ve cried and thrown a tissue box at the wall. Then proceeded to scream at said wall for twenty minutes. Yes I am melodramatic, no I don’t care. I am still in therapy for a reason. Nevertheless, this episode was bonkers, off the wall batshit insane. Like genuinely so good that it almost adds to the tragedy of it all.

Here are my immediate and unfiltered thoughts from my post episode freak out that I have to put somewhere because if I don’t, I will, in fact, explode.

Warning: spoilers up the wazoo, a lot of profanity

First and foremost: Daniel, old Maniel, I can count on you to always keep it a buck, and for that I thank you.

Armand you piece of fucking shit I swear on everything that is holy, you are no longer babygirl, you bitch ass hoe, go stick that fucking doe eyed face up someone else ass you stupid fucking piece of shit. “i cOULD nOt pReVEnt iT” FUCK YOU MEAN YOU COULDNT PREVENT IT YOURE 500 YEARS OLD, YOU SOLD THEM OUT TO BEGIN WITH. YOU STOP TIME, CAN CONTROL BODIES, PLANT IDEAS INTO PEOPLE HEADS, READ PEOPLES MINDS AND THE BITTY BABY VAMPIRE ARMAND COULDNT DO ANYTHIGN ABOUT IT? SUCK MY DICK AND KISS ME MERRY GO TRH THAG SHIT ELSEWHERE (shout out Assad for really giving his all with the whole puppy dog eyes this entire episode 10/10 would fall for them if not the circumstances). I can’t believe I actually was defending this dude a few episodes ago, I literally can’t defend anything else from here moving forward.

Claudia and Madeline deserve to watch these assholes burn and the fact they died such painful deaths should warrant the gods to set the sky alight with constellations of their love. They were allowed NOTHING but a small taste of happiness before it was shredded away from them. No one is EVER gonna villainize them, not to me, not ever. Roxanne absolutely was incredible, and Delainey, in the coming future, better up there as an A-list actor because she has been that astoundingly good. (That goes for everyone here honestly, but Delainey and Roxanne really deserve their flowers here).

Santiago has a special place in hell. I simply cannot wait to watch him die. Decapitation is too kind for him, put him through pain and fury before sending him to hell. Ben Daniels you son of a bitch you played the villain so well. I damn near jumped through the screen when he began to read Claudia’s diaries with a shitty NOLA accent, I have never been so livid in my life.

The rest of Theatre: “All of you motherfuckers, fuck you, die slow.” -Tupac Shakur

Louis GET UP LEAVE YOUR WIFE DUDE YOU KNOW ITS BULLSHIT and honestly I’m not even going to rag on him this episode because the poor man has gone through too much. Jacob was absolutely brilliant in all of this, and honestly I literally will never stop talking about the performances in this show. Regardless, the upcoming rage is justified and I when get to watch him massacre these assholes, I will cackle with the same glee a schoolboy has after he disintegrates ants with a magnifying glass.

And finally Lestat. He rose on the third day and served cunt and made me ball like the mommy issues toting bitch I am. Sam, my man, you knocked it out of the fucking ballpark. Magnificent. Lestat, fucking bastard. You messy bitch. When you get out of whatever the Theatre is doing to you big man, I better see you read Armand to filth. I better see the same from the other. They both deserve to be dragged to hell and back.

Also Daniel Hart is a genius, just really fills your soul with dread this entire episode, I mean the score was filthy, vivid, and hauntingly gorgeous. The violins at the beginning were nasty work and had me fully hypnotized for the entire 50 minutes.

SFX is killing it, everytime, making it all believable and absolutely the worst someone could imagine it to be. I full body contorted at the sight of the sliced ankles.

Shoutout costume department also did its thing. Santiago’s costume was top tier camp. And Lestat’s suit was absolutely everything. Gender envy 11/10.

I could sit here all day and go on about how all the cast and crew did a fucking fantastic job. Like you can really tell they put their heart and soul into this episode.

I mean dear god I’m going to be in shambles for the next two years this episode was insane.

[ohsunshine]

statistical character personality test. take the linked quiz from the perspective of your character, then select 5-10 results from the complete matches list that you feel resonate with your character the most.

Daniel:

Han S.olo (Sta.r W.ars): 83% he wishes lol. i may have posted this before but i just KNOW him + a went to the cinema 20 times in sw's opening week. also in one of the pics of his desk, i'm p sure he has one of those little lego stormtroopers Haymi.tch Abern.athy (The Hun.ger Ga.mes): 82% nothing to say here but [the saddest yeehaw imaginable] Natalie (Yellow.jackets): 81% [longer yeehaw] Freddie Lou.nds (Hannib.al): 78% yeah. nothing to add. Rom.an Roy (Succ.ession): 75% this one doesn't resonate AT ALL but i thought it was funny

Armand:

Kend.all Roy (Succe.ssion): 75% this is the only one that feels even close to accurate. the rest are just funny Davi.d Rose (Schi.tt's Creek): 75% LMFAO Ta.hani Al-Ja.mil (The G.ood Place): 73% i'm crying. good place au NOW San.sa S.tark (Ga.me of Thr.ones): 71% ok there's SOME similarities but like La.dy Macb.eth (Macbeth): 71% i like this one a lot actually

Hosea:

Will Turner (Pirates of the Caribbean): 88% Donna Sheridan (Mamma Mia!): 87% i'm fucking crying. mamma mia au NOW. they're both single mothers working too hard </3 Buffy Summers (BtVS): 81% ok... yeah... Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean): 80% get you a man who can do both

Roman Roy:

Kendall Roy (Succession): 81% ok he's gonna kill himself Tom Wambsgans (Succession): 79% he's killing himself again Jaime Lannister (Game of Thrones): 75% he wishes Shiv Roy (Succession): 70% ok where is roman on this list Jackie (Yellowjackets): 69% he would be eaten first in a plane crash Roman Roy (Succession): 66% THERE HE IS. nobody understands him like i do. i bet the profile takes him at face value. (yeah people voted him exhibitionist (96.5%), GLUTTONOUS (91.8%) that ain't my roman, according to this thing you can either be ADHD OR OCD which. terrible news for a lot of people.) Jamie Tartt (Ted Lasso): 66% these two are actually the same guy, just from vastly different socio-economic backgrounds.

Jinx:

April Ludgate (Parks and rec): 87% Powder (Arcane): 86% Natalie (Yellowjackets): 85% YEAH Haymitch Abernathy (The Hunger Games): 83% well this is starting to look a lot like Daniel's list Fleabag (Fleabag): 83% if I said yeah Arya Stark (Game of Thrones): 81% YEAH but louder

Irv

Rupert Giles (BtVS): 81% yeah. Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place): 81% YEAH. (irv looking at burt) this is the good place :) (burt retiring) this is the BAD PLACE >:( Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG1): 78% Arthur (Inception): 78% Ben Wyatt (Parks and Rec): 77%

[indelicateink]

some random recent wishes from the bounty of IWTV kink meme requests--the full list is amazing!

note: so many thanks to @vampire-dove for maintaining this anon kink meme for us.

to play: click on the form link on the left side of the kink meme page. please go add more. please fill prompts. have you mused about your favs exploring each others’ bodies today? NO? would you like to?

Armand/Louis de Pointe du Lac Blood Drinking

loumand have been fucking but they haven't shared blood yet

--

Raglan James/Daniel Molloy

Daniel Molloy and whoever the hell Justin Kirk is playing (Raglan? Marius?). Dubai, pre-vampire Daniel. Just two old men screwing while screwing over vampires.

--

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

modern-day au. when impoverished Lestat de Lioncourt comes into the vast inheritance left to him by his stalker, he makes a lot of changes in his life. the first is tackling his illiteracy. he's making steady progress, but braving the public library has been life-altering--especially since meeting the hot librarian who recommends him books for them to argue about.

other life goals include buying an actual house, exploring the wonders of having health insurance, enjoying the ability to buy new clothes. and getting over the trauma of magnus's attack. and being able to be intimate with someone again. little things like that. mostly he just wants to hang out around all the free books, in sight of his very beautiful new friend.

non-ao3 tags: anxiety about sex, louis is compassionate, adult learning is not a punchline, louis knows all the best erotica

--

Claudia/Madeleine Claudia starts realizing that she's getting the same kind of butterflies around Madeleine as she did around boys, perhaps even stronger. One night after Madeleine called to visit, Claudia takes her exploration into her own hands and imagination.

While Claudia is in the throes of her self pleasure, Madeleine returns to retrieve something she'd forgotten, only to hear Claudia's moans through the half-closed door. Peering inside, she watches for a moment, her own hunger growing inside her, before she can't hold herself back. Swooping into the room, Madeleine takes charge of the situation (not in a dom sense; just in an experienced sense) and shows Claudia the joys of lesbian sex.

TLDR: Claudeleine + masturbation interruptus, first times, (slight) voyeurism, experienced teaching the inexperienced

--

Armand/Daniel Molloy, Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Possessive Behavior, Possessive Armand, Vampire Daniel Molloy

Daniel wants to interview Lestat, but apparently he’s like catnip to older vampires. Lestat flirts relentlessly, Louis finds it funny, and Armand is possessive.

--

Armand/Louis de Pointe du Lac Trans Louis de Pointe du Lac, Trans Armand, Lesbian Sex

dyke loumand have sex on a motorbike

--

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Birthday Sex, Consensual Somnophilia, Marathon Sex, Established Relationship, Consensual Kink Loustat having (enthusiastic!) free use agreement on their respective birthdays (including somnophilia).

I couldn't find free use kink tag so let's pretend it's there. Ideally, would have two parts, one on louis' birthday, one on lestat's, but picking one would be good too!

--

Daniel Molloy/Louis de Pointe du Lac Post-Season/Series 02, Canon Compliant, Murder, Blood Drinking, Shower Sex, Bottom Louis de Pointe du Lac louis gets back home a few days later to a newly turned daniel who has been holed up in the penthouse since he killed a couple employees as soon as he'd gone through the worst of his transformation. vampire daniel with newfound zest for life comes onto him.

--

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Top Louis de Pointe du Lac, Bottom Lestat de Lioncourt, Dominant Louis de Pointe du Lac, Submissive Lestat de Lioncourt, Spanking, Crybaby Lestat de Lioncourt, Cock Warming, Orgasm Delay, Orgasm Denial, Orgasm Edging, Begging

After Lestat comes back home flaunting Antoinette's scent, trying to get a rise out of Louis, he gets what he wants. But Louis, determined not to give in so easily, makes him beg for it.

Bonus points if Louis makes Lestat play the piano with his cock in him.

--

Daniel Molloy/Louis de Pointe du Lac Painplay, High Heels, Foot Fetish, Orgasm Edging, Verbal Humiliation, Bottom Louis de Pointe du Lac could be an AU or canonverse. louis likes high heels, daniel likes it when louis gets a little mean.

--

so I am but one cheerleader--if anyone else wants to make posts promoting requests they'd like to see, you might catch the eye of a like-minded author or fellow dreamer!

[avaelangel]

Once upon a time I thought I'd be very good in writing Devil's Minion and then I completely forgot about little canon detail: makers and fledglings can't read each other's minds. I'm dumb, okay? Okay. But this is the first two pages of it.

If you like this, shoot me a request or bully me to post the whole thing.

The thing for now:

It was a party. It also was a bummer.

He fed on some guy that called him daddy and left him in a private lounge to scare either a stripper before a lap dance or a drugged out couple that had a decency to scurry away, though being drunk out of their minds. Either way, Molloy stepped out of the booming array of lights and bodies into the street. The air was growing cooler each night, his instinct to close his leather jacket in order not to die from a common cold at his age kicked in on rare occasions at this point.

Daniel was disappointed to discover how actually sensitive he was now. Two years ago he would have had at least a seizure after spending ten minutes under a stroboscope and colorful lights. Now he could go on a bloody rampage and probably not get knocked down by dozen, but still feel the lights blinking around him when he gets out onto a dark street. Dude he drank from was drunk on spicy margaritas and weed, which left a punishing aftertaste of rotting lime and grass.

Nothing really welcomed him. The darkness was indifferent to a vampire, only thing he could count on is an unfortunate curiosity of his next meal. But Daniel walked behind buildings, not trying to draw any attention or to focus his. He was just walking, thinking about no names in particular. To his shame, he was tired of searching. Months of pushing through drowning voices that bragged and cursed each other only to find nothing. It occurred to him fast that sending out a name might be not that smart. Deep down in the subreddits, Armand had his fans. If someone decides to start a targeted campaign, it would be too easy to get to his only fledgling.

Fuck. Fledgling.

Daniel Molloy had many memories he didn't want to keep. His turning was almost on the top of that list. Voiceless, angry and sad. Offended. That's how he started going to loud places. With his amplified stubbornness, he almost aimed to repeat San-Francisco, but with him on the winning side. Not countless, maybe a dozen of eager bodies slammed into a wall, though with a force of a lonely man, not a revenging vampire. What he had lost back then or recently could never be regained. So he eased up on his antics, showed some face here in there and gave the reigns to his agent. What is Daniel Molloy up to now? Sales of his older books slowly crept up, which could be more gratifying.

''I'm not mad, dickhead. You could at least talk to me,''

Scrawled across paper adds on street lights around museums and libraries. There was a book that mentioned Marius de Romanus, a piece of one of those adds went there too. Each lead was a dead, like the one ahead of Daniel too. Burning eyes haunted his dreams that never came true.

''You are not making out Lestat to be a worse maker this time, you know.''

Someone in a block he passed thought about Paris coven, so Daniel left a note in the park. He wasn't proud of that one. Anger is a good driving force too. Rumors of Lestat being alive and not squatting in some dilapidated townhouse in New Orleans, were only now reaching bigger cities. Louis wouldn't tell him anything he knew about his not-that-former lover, cutting communication every third time Daniel reached out. Molloy would always be joking and familiar, hating every second when that version of himself bled into conversations with people he wanted to be honest with.

''I know full well you didn't just walk into some fire. Come out of your little hole, Mothman,''

He reached the dead end and turned around. Armand stood at a considerable distance from him. A shadow at first, yet after a longer moment, it was really him. Passing light from the street helped make sure that Daniel wasn't going mad. No more Jimmy Choos, but it was Armand alright. Dressed in a confusing amount of layers, covered up by a big jean jacket that reached past his hips. Cargo pants? Doc Martens? Is he -

''Why Mothman?'' Armand's voice came in the way of bubbling up insults. Daniel stood there, suddenly dumbfounded.

''The eyes,'' he answered, amazed and annoyed that he doesn't want to bite back that much. He's annoyed with everything around him, with the entire world, but most of all his annoyed with Armand and everything his abandonment of him represented.

He gave Daniel a polite smile and a breath.

''Expect another apology?'' Armand strolled to him unnervingly slow, not taking his hands out of the pockets of his jean jacket.

''Ready to atone again?'' He would have been seething, if he wasn't mesmerized to watch Armand without his glasses for the first time. No matter the oversized jacket, the clothing, nothing could hide that Armand wasn't actually small and weak.

''For your information, I can feel you anywhere. Would you like to be reminded of all the names that you've called me?'' His polite, almost ethereal expression faltered, as if expecting to hear another creative name.

''Why me?'' Daniel asked, ''of all people that tended to you in that penthouse, why me? Do you think that you've cursed me?''

''Because it's you,'' his face fell into a neutral, default state, only his eyes peered into what he has made, what he has done, pupils dilating slightly.

''You wanted it so badly when we first met,'' Daniel felt himself swooning, unable to look away, ''and here you were, dying and still smug as ever. And since I'm a dickhead,'' Armand gave a smile that almost reached his eyes, ''I couldn't resist.''

This shove into the wall felt satisfying. Armand's bones shifted, he threw his back, as if trying to worsen the impact. He wanted to laugh, but Daniel's anger seeped into him, wiping the smile away. They looked into each other's eyes for a long time, before Daniel snarled at Armand's attempt to talk. It was a guttural sound, his mouth opened like a wolf's maw, showing his fangs.

''Look at you,'' just a whisper in a wind. Nearest light blew out, bathing them in more darkness.

''DON'T YOU DARE,'' Daniel shoved him again and threw him down on the ground, standing there, instead of looming over.

''YOU DON'T PLAY YOU TRICKS ON ME,'' his roar was dying out. He came closer to Armand, putting him back onto his feet. A five-hundred year old vampire letting his fledgling just throw him around was confusing and somehow more horrifying that a thought of what he could do to repay Daniel.

''You talk to me,'' Daniel hissed, ''off the record. I'm not giving you any more fucking notoriety.''

Armand's face shifted again. He didn't want notoriety; he barely knew what Daniel meant. But now, he was completely locked in one place and he walked into that trap willingly. Armand accepted it.

[desertfangs]

Just wanted to say how much I love the heart locket piece -- I can't be the only person who wants a whole series just of marius and daniel shopping in paris!!!!!! I would read 1,000 pages of that, your drabble was just so good!!!!!!

AAAAAH thank you!! I'm glad you enjoyed that little ficlet! Honestly Marius and Daniel shopping in Paris could be amazing. Adds that to the long list of fic ideas I need to write. ☑️

The thing about Marius and Daniel that gets me is that like with Armand, Daniel treats Marius like a guy.

Yes, he's an ancient and powerful vampire, and when they meet, he's something of a mythical figure to Daniel: he's someone who acted as a mentor to Lestat as outlined in Lestat's little autobiography, and he's Armand's maker. So there's probably a bit of awe when he gets to meet him person, but there's never really that hero worship he has with Lestat and he doesn't have the fraught relationship with him he has with Armand (and Armand has with Marius... generational something something).

Anyhow, the point is, Daniel strikes me as someone who's generally very straight forward. Maybe not as blunt as Armand, but he says what he thinks, he can be wry or sarcastic, and he's not afraid to tell things like he sees them. Which is probably good for Marius, who needs that person who will be honest with him and call him on things when, say, he's being stubborn or unreasonable. And Marius in turn respects Daniel and knows Daniel doesn't mean things in a malicious way, and he's more willing to listen to them than he might be to others. (I mean I think he listens to Pandora, too, though he might be able to dismiss some more of her criticism in his head.)

But also, Daniel enjoys being dressed and pampered and taken care of, and Marius enjoys doing those things for people.

So basically this my long essay on why I love their dynamic and think they're great. Which is not at all what you asked for but sometimes this is what happens when I'm just spewing VC thoughts after a long week.

Thank you again for the compliment and amazing fic idea!! I always adore messages like this. I'm giving you a mini bundt cake and a handshake! 💖

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

Armand/Daniel NSFW Prompt List

ok y'all, i made this for an event in my devil's minion discord, then The Horrors happened and I never got around to filling any of them. So I've decided to put it below a keep reading (bc it is basically all smut prompts) 69 specific prompts, and 8 bonus prompts that are a little looser. Feel free to use them, though most of them didn't come directly from me, they came from various online writing prompt generators that I tweaked a bit. (Also, if you want an invite to the server, let me know)

I have been having difficulty writing so I have devised a method of choosing. Go to this site. Make sure to check the box beside Show Totals Only, and Show Last Roll Only. There's a box where you can enter how many sides the die has. Put 69 if you want a number prompt, 77 if you want to include the other bonus prompts and just add up. Or for bonus prompts you can just roll a single d8 and have 1-8 match a-h.

Prompt List:

Armand holding up and fucking Daniel against the wall.

Daniel, for a sex pollen-type reason of your choosing, has become insatiable in bed.  Daniel can and needs to go for hours to be satisfied.  Armand is the only one who can help him.

Daniel: “I’ve never wanted to fuck someone as badly as I want to fuck you right now.”

Armand catches Daniel masturbating without permission, and as punishment, ties him face down with a vibraotor/plug inside him.  He watches from a nearby chair, remotely controlling the device and tells Daniel his punishment ends as soon as he comes.

Hate sex.  Armand and Daniel are fighting.  It turns into rough sex.  They shove each other against walls, pull hair, insult each other, continue to fight even as they fuck.

Daniel licking his own come out of Armand’s orifice of your choosing.

Armand uses his mouth on Daniel, while simultaneously fingering him.

Armand sexts Daniel for the first time.

Daniel and Armand have tender reunion sex.

Armand wakes up in the middle of the day horny, and asks vampire Daniel for sex.  But Daniel is too tired, and tells Armand they’ll have sex at night.  Daniel wakes up to Armand sitting on top of him and saying “Now?”

Daniel could get off just listening to Armand talk.  Armand decides to see if he can make it happen

Daniel and Armand are trying to outlast each other, staving off their own orgasms but trying hard to make each other lose it.

Daniel fingering Armand with patient dedication, determined to make Armand come with fingering alone.

Daniel gets aroused while sleeping next to Armand, and tries to quietly masturbate, not realizing that Armand is awake and watching.

Coffin sex.  Armand and vampire Daniel wake up in their coffin together.  Daniel rolls on top of Armand, thirsty and turned on.  What happens next?

Nothing but sweet, slow, and romantic sex.

Armand calls Daniel for phone sex, but Daniel is otherwise occupied: out in public, with friends, etc.  But Armand isn’t dissuaded.  Daniel listens to Armand masterbating and helps talk him through it without being overt

Armand and Daniel arguing over each other’s personality flaws during a rough round of sex.

Armand: “It doesn’t have to mean anything; but I don’t want to be alone tonight.  I want to feel good; help me feel good, Daniel.”

Daniel pours honey on Armand’s dick then sucks it clean off.

Armand cries from over-stimulation during sex. 

Daniel is fully nude.  Armand is fully clothed.

Daniel: “We passed ‘just friends’ about 20 fucks ago.

Daniel and Armand use sexual favors to bribe each other to do the chores.

Armand has outrageously sensitive nipples, and Daniel loves playing with them.

Armand and Daniel have emotional sex after a serious fight.

Daniel distracts Armand while Armand is on the phone by nibbling his ear/showering kisses on his neck/getting handsy etc.  

Car sex in a place they may get caught. 

Armand gives Daniel oral to make-up for something bad he did.

Jealous of the attention Daniel receives from a third party, Armand decides to remind Daniel who they belong to.  Cue intense, possessive sex.

Armand has a sex dream about Daniel.

Daniel reveals he has a daddy kink after accidentally or jokingly calling Armand ‘Daddy’ while fucking.  

Armand: “I am holding back from fucking you over that kitchen counter, so don’t test your luck.”

Daniel masturbates while thinking of Armand. At the same time, Armand listens and gets off on Daniel getting off on him.  

Armand pins Daniel down and bites his neck while taking him from behind.

Daniel and Armand are arguing because Armand is overprotective of Daniel, but when they get in each other’s faces, they end up kissing and groping each other.

Armand handcuffs himself to the bed and makes Daniel ride him.

Daniel and Armand have a one night stand.  They wake up in bed (or coffin) together naked and surprised by what happened between them.  They awkwardly try to discuss it, then hook up again.

Daniel is taking a video call on his computer at his desk.  Under the desk, Armand is sucking him off.

Armand and Daniel make a sex tape for each other, for when they’re apart and horny. 

It’s Armand’s birthday.  (A day he doesn’t remember, so Daniel helped him pick.)  Armand and Daniel spend hours in bed doing whatever Armand wants.

Armand calls Daniel by their bedroom pet name in public, causing Daniel to get VERY flustered.  

Daniel: “How the fuck did you manage to cover me with this many hickies?”

Armand catches Daniel watching porn.

Armand and Daniel are having rough sex.  Daniel fucks Armand hard and fast, keeping a bruising grip on his hips.  He bites down on Armand’s shoulder as he comes and Armand leaves deep scratches over Daniel’s back.

Daniel is in a chastity device, and trying to get off by humping a pillow(or other object of your choice).  Does Armand have mercy on him or delight in his desperation?

According to Armand, Daniel needs to learn to come just from being fucked in the ass.  Or Daniel won’t get to come at all.  Ever.

Armand has no gag reflex.  Cue Daniel fucking Armand’s mouth roughly and coming down his throat.

Daniel is in the middle of a meeting and he gets a text from Armand stating that he is all alone and aroused.

Daniel pinning Armand down, locking their gazes together for a few moments, and then slowly trailing kisses down Armand’s body.  Daniel gets encouraged by the soft moans Armand makes and it ends in sweet, slow, and romantic sex.

Daniel has Armand’s arms tied behind his back, sitting on his lap, and teasing him.

Armand punishes Daniel by constantly edging him.  Daniel tries to act bratty, but ends up begging after being edged so many times.

Armand won’t let Daniel touch him.  But Armand can touch Daniel all he likes.  And he does, teasing Daniel several times a day/night with gropes and caresses, until Daniel is hugely pent-up.  All the while smacking Daniel’s wandering hands away.

Armand: “Daniel, we just had sex.”  Daniel, with his cock pressed against Armand’s ass while holding him by the waist: “Your point?”

Daniel and Armand cuddle on a couch while watching TV.  Daniel starts to jerk off Armand, stopping every time Armand makes noise.

Daniel and Armand fool around in a library.  Daniel has a hard time keeping quiet and Armand teases him about it.

Armand comes a lot during sex and Daniel likes it.

Armand whispering dirty words into Daniel’s ear as he teases him, running a hand on his thigh and telling Daniel he’ll have to beg for what he wants.

Daniel comes home to find Armand lying on the bed seductively, wearing silk stockings and silk panties.

Daniel gives Armand oral in a public area, where they could be caught any moment.  Yet, they don’t stop.

Daniel: “Take off your clothes, right fucking now.”

Armand and Daniel get caught doing something sexual in public.

Daniel and Armand having deep, passionate sex, with Daniel holding Armand’s arms above his head and whispering dirty things into his ear while thrusting hard into him. 

Armand revisits some sexts from Daniel and gets so turned on, he initiates another round of sexting.

Daniel: “You taste like fucking candy.”

5 times Armand and Daniel had ‘meaningless’ sex, plus the 1 time they caught (or admitted) feelings. 

Armand and Daniel making love.  And that’s all.

Armand watches and directs Daniel fucking someone else from the cuck chair.

Daniel and Armand 69ing. 

Bonus Prompts:

One of them is a sex demon who feeds on the other.

Arranged marriage AU.  Cue the honeymoon.

Truth spell/serum/curse/etc. that only allows one (or both) of them to tell the truth.  And the truth is, they want to fuck.

Multiple orgasms + vampire stamina

They get stuck in an elevator together.

One of them finds dirty fanfic online about them, and reads it out loud to the other

Only one bed (or coffin)

Vampire pon farr (aka fuck or die)

Oh yeah, here's a visual of the dice roller.

I rolled on got this

But if you don't like a number, you can just keep rolling. Or choose whichever catches your fancy.

[wouriqueen]

Rec list - Polycules

On the occasion of @iwtvfanevents A Meal to Remember, which aims to honor fic writers and their work, here is a list of some of my favourite IWTV stories featuring a polycule.

Little kidnaps in the dark | gaypiratedivorce (@gayvampiredivorce). Daniel x Louis x Armand. Their love story throughout the years (so Devil's Minion with Louis too) and them reckoning with it now in Dubai, in non chronological order. It's a fantastic mosaic across time and space about memory, identity, power, desire, resentment, grief, guilt, and of course love. Written from Daniel's POV, which adds a layer to it since of course he's the one mostly grappling for info, slowly remembering, and in the story switching from young lost reckless greedy and in love to old weathered slowly remaking himself whole and ... in love?

All polycule fics (any fic really) by themasterletters (@brightfelon). Peak entertainment, romance, excellent dialogues and character work and story-driving - honestly an inspiration for me as I start writing. 1/ Your mouth and madness for wholesome Armand x Daniel x Louis x Lestat from childhood and throughout their lives. Got me thinking hard about the improbable Daniel x Lestat! Each pairing had its own distinct dynamic. 2/ Good to love and its sequel Ruthless in love for messy, cheating, selfish, obsessive love stories. All pairings including the 4 guys featured right now except Lestat x Daniel. Again, each dynamic is so specific.

A potentiality for corruption | vampdf (@vampdf) Rewired my brain. Lestat x Louis x Armand. Louis in a castle in a gothic romance with one and eventually two suspicious and very audacious men. Great use of imagery, excellent ambiance, properly crazy people.

[savagewilderness]

Slightly more complete thoughts on S2E3, No Pain…

Daniel’s list - he’s worried about his family… about their safety

Raglan James is so confusing.   I don't know what to make of it...He seemed so David Talbot-esque... so will David be mixed between Raglan and Daniel?  Or will he appear too?  And if he is a character drawn from other characters, will he have Raglan’s malice… because it certainly wasn’t evident in this episode…. In TTOTBT there is a clear aura of bad intent with Raglan and I didn’t feel that here

I thought the children of darkness set up was really effective.  Assad as Armand in this era was so great - jaded, depressed, hopeless.  In fact, I thought Assad was brilliant in the whole episode

Harlequin Lestat was so beautiful, and so elegant for an (Auguste!) clown!  But there as also a layer of triteness to the character and to Lestat’s view of acting it seemed that unnerved me.  Armand told it like Lestat was naturally charming, but acted only as he liked the attention. That’s NOT Lestat’s motivation.  And the comic nature of the character slightly undermined for me even Armand’s response to Lestat.  And I loved Armand’s covetous desirous looks to Lestat…. But you don’t need Lestat as a Harlequin displaying his bum, as if to Armand to make your point…. Though I enjoyed that at least they made it clear Lestat refused Armand (even if only at first from Armand’s telling…)

It’s the episode Lestat has so far been in the most, yet is also the first episode where no scene with him in made me cry... (Bad times in my life currently, admittedly)

I loved the use of French, but I found it frustrating how little of the French was subtitled. I want to know what people are saying!  I was not lucky enough to ever have been taught even a word of French in school so I have literally zero clue.  Like, *he whispers in French*... WHAT do they whisper?!  That is NOT ENOUGH INFORMATION FOR ME!!!!  Can anyone help with the French text that wasn’t translated at all?

Although the bit in the theatre, I suppose having Lestat perform in French as Harlequin, but the mind-conversation take place in English made that clear… but I want to know the French text too!

I feel very weird and sad about Lestat meeting Nicolas when he's already a vampire (I know this is only Armand's telling, but I feel this fact will surely remain, due to Joseph's Nicki not looking like he could be the same age as Lestat… I suppose it is possible Lestat could still meet Nicolas as a mortal, but I don’t see any way Lestat can meet Nicki back in his home town) - I can only see it hugely lessening Nicolas' impact... but I guess maybe they want that for TV..?  My expectations shift for TVL there though as I thought they’d go big with the Nicolas and Louis parallels to add to the poignancy of those two relationships.  Instead, the parallel that was made by Armand was that both Nicolas and Claudia were not built for immortality….?

To expand on that - The Witches Place… if Lestat and Nicolas didn’t know each other as children what happens with that SUCH IMPORTANT element… perhaps Lestat will have been married for a while in his hometown in the TV show or something and there’ll be another character to get some of Nicki’s story… but it takes poignancy away from Nicolas and away from Louis in my opinion.  It also takes poignancy away from the wolf killer red cape which Lestat is wearing.  But Nicki is Lestat's first true love, the first person he converses with who he feels understands him and Lestat is snatched away from their shared bed in their shared abode by Magnus.... if Lestat doesn't meet Nicolas till he is 34 and already a vampire, that is SO different… in many more ways than I have included here... 

But I liked Joseph as Nicki, and joy of joy, the snippets of violin playing were convincing enough for me.  I was really worried about it, but nothing bothered me, albeit they obviously were very brief.

The Lestat Armand told us was far from the Lestat I know in most respects though. Lestat suggesting killing mortals on stage?! Lestat being romantic with Armand at all?  Doing it in front of Nicki? Even Harlequin-Lestat... the behind-curtain slaughter and the non-Lelio-ness of it... It’s just overwhelming how un-Lestat the whole thing is, making it hard to know what to feel.  It’s not like I hated or was sad by anything much other than Nicki… and I liked Nicki and enjoyed how he and Lestat were together… it’s more the implications of that Nicolas may be relegated to way more of a minor character…. With the amount Nicolas means to me, that makes me so sad (Don’t get me wrong: Loustat is endgame… I am not AT ALL a Nickistat is better than Loustat because absolutely NOT - I love Nicki for himself and for his impact on the formation and formative and mortal years of Lestat’s life!)

It's just different, of course, but it’s so much to take in…

I would have enjoyed Lestat in the coven except that the first time I saw that promo image I thought Lestat was holding a leg of meat on a platter and that it's Jesus on the cross just makes it all inappropriately hilarious to me now.

I know Lestat was trying to hide from Armand how concerned he was about Nicki, but I felt underlying feelings in similar scenes in S1 and I didn’t feel even underlying concern to the degree I expected here… just because it is Armand’s telling?

Also, Armand - you did NOT want your coven destroyed!

It’s hard to watch Armand’s fanfic simply because it is SO different that at some point all the differences feel like you’d need to literally retell the entire show!?  I just didn’t feel much of *hidden real Lestat* from these scenes, the way I *could* often feel in Louis’ telling.  But then, I suppose Louis is not intentionally lying, so it makes sense we’d feel more of the real Lestat than from Armand, who *is* intentionally telling a somewhat false version…????

BUT Assad is so good.  And may I say at this point, I love how Assad, Jacob and Sam are all brilliant at conjuring convincing chemistry with each other.  NOW ALL KISS TOGETHER AND I SHALL FORGIVE THE BOOK DISCREPANCIES hahahaha… I jest!

I felt so sad and sorry for Claudia, little flea :(.  Seeking belonging, only to be so tragically disappointed.  The way she imagines herself in Santiago’s role, but instead has to act a child for eternity - how horrific.

I'm also so aware of how in the book, Claudia immediately senses the danger she is in from the coven and from Armand and here it is so very different.  I don't know what to make of it.  Louis also seems to be considering leaving Claudia already anyway too, so his role in what happens feels a lot different too…

The wet room… Is Lestat locked up in there somewhere now?  In a burial vault?  Down with the rats and dead bodies?  The fact that we’ve been shown the cellar seems to suggest Lestat could be there somewhere, but I don’t know with the book changes whether Armand will lock Lestat up in the way he does in the books?  I feel all a bit at sea and like I am an idiot to expect to see book plot or book motivations in a way…???

LOL when Daniel is just distracted and kinda disinterested in hearing about Loumand!

I did LOVE where they went with the Louis-Dreamstat - kill me again and show me you love me the only way you know how though, MMMMM!  And the reveal of what Louis did to the mortal.  I think this was my favourite part of the episode in fact??  

I wonder whether this could hint at anything to be revealed about S1E5 at all???

Tortured Jacob-Louis is fabulous in this episode

Did Armand *really* ever consider killing Louis??!?!?!

I felt a bit sad I’d seen so much of Harlequin Lestat and dreamStat in trailers… I think it took away some of the impact in the episode.

It’s NOT that I disliked the episode… I thought the acting was brilliant and I really felt for Claudia in particular… but I also felt weirdly ambivalent.  Aside from Claudia’s scenes and the Dreamstat Louis-violence scene, I wasn’t sure what I felt about a lot of it… weird… I felt kind of weird about it I would say….

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hey,

Feel free to ignore if not an interesting question! But before we get into the finale where I imagine many emotions may arise and there may be many new things to add, I wonder if you have any favourite moments from S2 so far and/or any things that have surprised you?

And anyone in comments or reblogs - I'd love to hear this from anyone!

If anyone's interested, for me here are some things I have loved:

Armand. Assad's Armand has been even more glorious than I could have imagined. Armand is my second favourite character in the books and I honestly did not think it was possible that Armand could be elevated even beyond how much I love book-Armand, but Assad has achieved that! Episode 4 and 5 especially I was just speechless afterwards how incredible Assad is.

DreamStat. I have absolutely adored DreamStat. I did not miss Lestat in episodes 1-5 AT ALL because I adored DreamStat so much and because even if the DreamStat in an episode was only 30 seconds, it was always 30 seconds of 100% emotion. I loved how they used DreamStat to convey feelings; to convey Louis' internal world and experience and subconscious, to covey Loustat's love and connection and to express vampiric longing and transgressive thoughts, feelings and emotions. Absolutely adored it. Ironically, the episodes I missed Lestat in most this season were E3, which he was in the most but I found Armands storytime-Lestat too unnerving... and obviously E6 as he wasn't in it bar 2 seconds!

Claudeleine. Oh my: Madeleine and Claudeleine were both written utterly perfectly. Madeleine, again, I feel so much more from than book-Madeleine and she was simply exquisite.

E5 - A Masterpiece.

The music. The piece that opened S2E1 - Imagine Never Being Able to Dream remains my favourite so far from this season (I haven't listened to the S2 score yet so there may be some new thing I love more in E8 I have yet to hear.) When I first watched E1 I was so moved by this piece I had to watch the first 10/15 minutes of the episode... it was at least 3 times over as I couldn't even focus on what Louis and Claudia were saying, I was so moved by the music.

I've been surprised they haven't resolved everything, or at least more things with memory. I thought memories would be (pretty much, if not entirely) resolved by the end of S2 and from S3 on that we'd be working in (relative) truths. I also thought the stuff with memory would be a lot more to do with Louis and Daniel uncovering their own true memories. For example I was surprised that some memory revisits were part of the trial as opposed to Louis' perspective. We did do some of that in E5 of course, but that felt only the beginning to me.

Hey!

I actually concur with a lot of what you listed here ;)

Especially Assad‘s Armand… and the memories-in-Dubai thing. I had expected it to be a lot more uncovering for Louis and Daniel as well, but I can see it why they didn’t. Still, as said before, I would have preferred a slightly different season setup (with more time to actually resolve things before it ends).

I do love that Claudia and Madeleine got a proper arc. You feel for them. I also love the OST and my personal favorite piece of it will come up still 😏 I did not think Loumand would go that dark, and I don’t think there’s much chance of reconciliation once it breaks in Dubai tbh. But… we’ll see. I loved DreamStat being Louis‘ inner voice and I also find e3 weird… I adore the harlequin Lestat though, even if only a fanfic 😅 Santiago was so much more than I had anticipated and I loved how they made the… labyrinthian… depths.. :) of coven life clear.

I did not like them doing Merrick in SF, and I have already written a few notes on it all for an after-the-season post. But we’ll see if they pick it up in the last ep.

So these are my thoughts (for now^^) - anyone want to chime in?;))

[sleepymarmot]

2.04 – I Want You More Than Anything in the World

I think I liked this episode more than the previous ones. And as with season 1, this means that I don’t have any particular thoughts to record because nothing in particular bothered me.

So I’ll talk about something I noticed in the online reactions to one of the previous episodes. Apparently people think that what Louis and Armand planned in episode 1 and enacted in episode 2 was not a continuation of some kind of unseen conversation they’d been having about Daniel’s memory and past, but just putting him in his place to retake control of the interview. I guess this works better with the rest of their bedroom conversation. My interpretation was based on/influenced by the subtitles that wrote Armand’s line as “We can have him saying what happened next in no time”, and I genuinely didn’t see other interpretation than “While Daniel is interviewing Louis, we’re secretly interviewing him back for some not yet revealed reason”. But if the internet people are right, then the subtitles are wrong and Armand actually says “We can have him saying ‘What happened next?’ in no time”, i.e. “We can force him to drop the aggressive prying and conduct the interview in a normal manner”. I relistened to the line a couple more times and the delivery honestly sounds like it could be either or even both. Maybe it is both? I’d hate to lose the extra layer to this subplot. We know that the surface level is that Armand is trying to shield Louis from Daniel digging too deep in order to prevent him from compromising their marriage, the viewers can see it, Louis can see at least a part of it. But is that what Armand wants us and him to see? The season 1 finale juxtaposed shots of Armand with the lines “Cold, calculating, on a mission” and “...the entire endeavor had been his idea to begin with”, which I took as an indication that the interview was secretly a result of Armand’s plotting. Am I just setting myself up for disappointment?

---

Alright, now I feel the need to say something about the episode. Here: a list of potential gifsets I haven’t seen yet:

Lestat (x2) and Armand lighting Louis’s cigarette

Armand preparing to kill Louis with his fire gift vs lighting his cigarette with the same

Louis offering Daniel a taste of Armand-as-Rashid vs Armand telling the story of how he used to be “donated”

As an extension of the above: Armand’s traumatic backstory vs Armand continuing the cycle of abuse by forcing Claudia to live an imitation of his traumatic backstory (“Fifteen minutes a night to pretend.” “It’s a degrading fifteen minutes!”) vs Armand consensually roleplaying a scenario that has similarities with his traumatic backstory

---

Wait, I have a question. Who lit which cigarette? Because the tone of the scene changes a lot depending on the answer:

A) Armand lit both cigarettes. Louis throws out the lighter because lighting his cigarettes is Armand’s job from now on. That’s what my first interpretation was, and it fits the narrative best.

B) Armand lit Louis’s cigarette as ordered, then Louis lit Armand’s cigarette, returning the favor. His gift has grown stronger compared to the beginning of the episode: now he doesn’t need to be angry to use it, as the weakness and hesitation were banished along with Lestat’s ghost. He throws out the lighter because he doesn’t need it anymore.

C) They actually both lit their own cigarettes. Louis’s nod was actually the permission for Armand to light his own. Follows from what each of them is looking at.

(Edited much later to add: In the film Now, Voyager (1942), previously referenced by Armand in 2.02, a man lights two cigarettes at once then hands one to his lover! Well, that settles it, then. Option A it is. Love wins! For a while.)

---

Okay, enough about the men. I have another question, inspired by the claudeline scene. If someone is turned into a vampire while menstruating, are they going to be stuck menstruating for all eternity? That would be horrific. The vampires should update the great rule about children and the injured etc. specifically to forbid this as well.

---

Edit: after one more episode and approximately two days of scrolling through people’s blogs from that period, I come back to this section because it concerns something from this episode specifically. I saw some strongly opinionated discourse about the “Arun” thing, and that suddenly made something click for my own understanding of the scene.

Sure, this is Armand’s birth name that he just revealed in a bid to solidify their relationship and that nobody else knows, so using it is an intimate gesture that indicates romantic commitment. However, that doesn’t explain why Louis simultaneously uses it as one of the markers of them bringing D/s into their relationship, or why Armand immediately understands it as such and responds by addressing him as “Maître” specifically.

Well, there’s something that caught my attention in a scene from 2.01 that I’ve already talked about a lot. Armand says about Daniel that “the boy” is “still in there, somewhere”, and that they “can find him” and bring this younger self out to make him more compliant. In the next episode that plan is put into action when Daniel acts out of line and Louis puts him in his place. When Louis asks his final piercing question, he calls Daniel “Danny”.

Fast forward to the episode I’m discussing here, 2.04. Armand, as the Maître of the coven, disciplines Claudia by making her wear childish clothing and makeup even offstage; Louis watches this happen. Later in the same episode, Armand opens up to Louis about his past for the first time, and tells him of the first of the several names he’s had, the one from his youth until 15 years old. These are the two pieces of information introduced earlier in the same episode with which Louis goes into the umbrella scene: 1) that Armand sees infantilization as a tool to enforce or signify hierarchy which is the job of the Maître of the coven, and 2) what Armand’s childhood name was. So Louis puts these two pieces together and addresses Armand by his childhood name (to sound patronizing like a coven leader would), and when he does so, Armand understands and effortlessly responds in kind (by addressing him with a coven leader title), because Louis is intentionally using the tools that Armand himself gave him.

(I guess this is a very long-winded way to say that Louis essentially calls Armand a (good) boy with a few extra steps but whatever ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

(And all of that is also connected with both of them repeatedly referring to Daniel as “boy”, especially in 1973.)

(And in 1.05, they’re doing their roleplay right in front of Claudia’s diaries... To the sound of her victims’ last words “no, please, stop” written in them... Not a direct connection, but that juxtaposition of presence vs absence of consent still feels thematically relevant to the similar contrasts presented in this episode.)

---

Edited right before posting to add:

I rephrased my wording in the section above to be clearer for a potential reader compared to how I originally wrote it for myself, because I’ve seen even more bizarre discourse since then and don’t want someone to mistake my opinion for those I actually disagree with. I didn’t change the meaning of what I was saying, though, and since then I’ve obviously gained some perspective, so here’s a couple of clarifications. The preceding part of the scene (“I’m a little wet”) was not mentioned because I didn’t have any questions about it, and was only trying to figure out why loumand were using these specific name and title for each other. I focused on Claudia’s punishment here because it was in the same episode, but in retrospect, the nickname “Puce” might be a closer analogy. As another example from the same episode, there’s Armand calling Louis and Santiago fledglings. Louis isn’t evoking the idea of punishment or hazing, just the general “age = hierarchy”, which in retrospect is such a basic obvious concept that I’m embarrassed I spilled so much ink over this in the first place. Let me go over the points I was trying to make above, again:

The usage of overly familiar and/or diminutive terms of address as a display of seniority and dominance is a fairly universal and basic thing, and in a previous episode Louis has demonstrated that in the present day he can do it to great effect in order to breach someone’s emotional walls.

In the 1940s, Louis has seen Armand use similar tricks to wield his authority as a coven leader, so he knew he’d recognize the power play.

Conversely, the main hierarchical relationship in the vampire community is “coven leader/coven member”, so these are the roles that Armand projects onto Louis and himself respectively. And Armand, who is sick and tired of leadership and also terrible at it, and has spent a long time trying to get Louis to see beyond his stoic façade and commit to him and be in a coven with him, is relieved and happy to grant Louis the symbolic title of the leader for the pseudo-coven of just the two of them. Also all this happens in the span of seconds and they’re both really horny about it, so they’re not overthinking it like I have been doing for a whole page.

Alright, that’s it. I feel stupid for retroactively attaching what is essentially a long disclaimer to my two month old liveblog, but it was either this or removing the whole section altogether, which would have defeated the point of leaving a record of my evolving opinions. It might be especially redundant because I also have a draft of a long post breaking down this episode’s themes and storylines, which makes similar points, and I’m hoping to publish it sooner than later. Well, at least it was nice to see AZ validate the main point of my interpretation in one of his interviews (the one quoted here), so I don’t feel like this entire wall of text is completely off base.

Next: 2.05 →

Interview with the Vampire notes, episodes 1.07–2.08

Here are the notes I took after watching every episode of IWTV, starting with the first season finale.

This post is just the intro; see the reblogs for the full text. I’m not sure that it’s possible to fit 20k words into one post, and even if it is, such a long post would be painful to navigate. More importantly, this way the contents of the posts shouldn’t flood the site-wide search results for pretty much every possible character and ship name I mention here. There is some negativity in these notes; if that bothers you, please scroll past.

I tried to simulate a fandom experience for myself, taking a break after each episode, checking out what other people said about it, and writing down my reactions mostly to the episode itself but sometimes to the things I’ve seen posted about it.

For context, I watched the first two episodes of season 1 back when they came out, loved them, but failed to keep up with the weekly releases and decided to catch up later. When season 2 aired, I checked out the trending posts every weekend, and after it was completed, I finally restarted the show from the beginning. Oh, and I had seen the movie half a lifetime ago as a teenager. This means that I was familiar with the premise and some of the main characters, was aware of the impending tragedy (one of the few things I remembered from the movie, and one of the reasons I was afraid to catch up and break my heart), had no idea about the events of the late season 1 or what the fandom was doing during the hiatus, but knew pretty much every major spoiler from season 2.

I didn’t take notes during season 1, because I was familiar with the opening episodes and satisfied by the following ones (I thought the first four episodes were flawless television). After the first season finale finally had things that bothered me enough to write about it, I started taking notes. Initially I just wrote down the things that I disliked or had questions about, but with each episode I got into the habit more, and had more fandom reactions to sift through and prompt further thoughts. By the end of the season, I was having long-winded arguments with myself. Since the point was to record my own evolving opinions, I didn’t go back and amend the previous entries, except for one or two marked paragraphs; all editing for that part was for clarity only. I wrote all of that in the notes app on my phone, for the first time in my life. The exception to the above is the final section with my opinions about the finale and the entire season: I kept periodically adding to my original phone notes during the almost two months between watching the episode and publishing this post. That’s why it took me so long: completionism finally took over and made me attempt to write down every thought about the show I had and attach it here, then proofread the resulting wall of text more times than it is healthy.

That’s enough for an intro. Direct links to each reblog:

1.07 – 2.03 / 2.04 / 2.05 / 2.06 / 2.07 / 2.08 / season 2

[somevagrantchild]

The Ballroom Ceiling mural

Everyone talks about how Marius “forgot” to include Daniel on the giant ballroom ceiling mural he paints at the end of Blood Communion, but Daniel is far from the only “big” character in the chronicles not mentioned as being up there! I’ve personally always accepted the people missing from the mural as an oversight (or deliberate choice??) of Anne Rice in the writing of the scene, not actual canon that Marius didn’t paint them. In my head they’re all up there, Lestat just didn’t tell us for some reason. But who is “all” you ask?

Racking my brain (so I’ve probably missed some, let me know if you remember anyone else and I’ll edit the post to add!), here’s all the named vampires who I can think of as not being mentioned in the mural--even though Lestat took the time to tell us that all of Fareed&Flannery’s random scientists and Notker’s 245834 boy sopranos were up there...And people like Eric?? And Laurent?? Anne remembered to include them, but she did not mention:

The Forgotten:

Thorne Antoine Nicolas Arjun Daniel Santino Merrick Roland Baudwin Felix Everard Killer Baby Jenks Davis Quinn Petronia Mona Manfred Hesketh, though she’s possibly included in the “Other Children of the Millenia” section Lestat mentions...and maybe we can say this section includes Petronia, Baudwin, and Roland and even Thorne too (but I doubt it)

People actually mentioned as being in the mural: Akasha Enkil Khayman Mekare Maharet Santh Gregory Seth Cyril Teskhamen Rhoshamandes Benedict Allesandra Magnus Notker ”A cluster of his singers” Sevraine Eudoxia Avicus Zenobia Marius Pandora Flavius Eric Mael Chrysanthe Arion “Other Children of the Millenia--some new to Court and some known only in legend” Armand Bianca Gabrielle Eleni Eugenie Laurent Fontayne Louis Claudia David Benji Sybelle Jesse Rose Viktor Flannery Fareed “Other blood drinker physicians and scientists” Barbara Alain Lestat

FUN FACT! I have an ebook version of Blood Communion on my phone that I’ve had for years and don’t even remember where I got it from. I thought it was just the regular book--BUT it must have been an ARC copy because my book has an earlier version of the mural description that does NOT include Gabrielle, Teskhamen, Notker, or Notker’s boy sopranos. So now we know that Anne wrote the description, then remembered about those characters later, and then went back and added them in for the final version of the book. And yet...she still didn’t include the other 16 vampires that list at the top of this post 😅 And whatever this e-ARC I have is, it’s different from SOME of the the print ARCs that were released, because there are print versions that have the scene the same as mine and others with the final version of the scene.

Gabby, Tesk, and Notker got remembered and added back in, but not Nicki or Daniel??

I could say that I can see why the minor Fang Gang characters from Queen of the Damned wouldn’t be included--if it wasn’t for the fact that Eric was included?? and Laurent?? Killer became a recurring character in TWO more books, and Davis survived to become Gregory’s companion; what did Laurent ever do to get remembered but not them?? And I could say I can see why the Blackwood Farm characters weren’t included, because of what Anne once said when Prince Lestat was coming out, about the witch crossover books not being part of canon anymore for the new book--except she clearly changed her mind about this by the time she wrote Atlantis and made Arion an enduring character and had Lestat actively grieving Quinn and Mona. And we could say maybe Arjun, Santino, Baudwin, and Roland weren’t included because they’re dead and Marius doesn’t like them, enemies of the court and all...except Eudoxia and Rhoshamandes are up there, so??? And as random and painful as it is for fan-favorite Daniel not to be included, he’s not even mentioned in Blood Communion, so I can see why he’d get overlooked. But there’s absolutely no excuse for why Thorne, Antoine, and Everard aren’t up there, as they’re part of the very book in question and physically IN the scene with the rest of the court looking at the mural as it’s being described 😆

Yeah, so it’s not a question of “why.” We know why. Authors make mistakes, and Anne was notoriously opposed to editors assisting with the content of her books. I don’t read any canon “reason” into the missing characters not being in the mural. In my head, they’re all actually up there, and Marius is far too Good At What He Does to have neglected to include them himself. 

But I have created this post in commemoration of all the characters who did not get honored on the page. We remember them!

[i-want-my-iwtv]

So I noticed there's some discussion about there being fanon that Armand's birthday is November 11, and no one being quite sure where it came from. I couldn’t say for sure, but the IWtV movie came out on November 11, 1994, so I think it's very possible a fan chose to headcanon that as his bd as a nod to that, and other fans saw it and confused it with canon.

Hey Luanna! Good question. I remember there being fanon about that being Armand’s birthdate. I’m 99.999% sure it wasn’t in canon it might have been in these most recent books and I missed it... bc I continue to struggle to absorb them as canon.

I googled around for you, too, to try to see if there was an official answer, and didn't find one. I also checked Anne Rice's Facebook, used the Search feature, and didn't find anything there, either. You might try searching or asking her on the official fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/officialvampirechronicles/

I DO remember fandom talking about this for a hot minute. You're correct that there's fanon that Armand’s birthday is Nov. 11. Here's a post about it from 2017, in which vagabonddaniel wrote:

//I wonder if comes from the official calendar? Which was released god only remembers when but it listed a lot of their birthdays (I don’t think Daniel was included). A lot people were like “UGH NO DISAGREE” but it exists somewhere, so maybe this is where people are getting that date?

I don't know of an official calendar other than the one in the official Vampire Companion, maybe @nodominion knows of another calendar. The OVC entry for Armand doesn’t mention his birthday (or I may have missed it!) and the timeline in it only lists years, it doesn’t have Louis or Lestat’s birthdates, either. Kind of interesting that Armand and Magnus are turned in the same year, I don’t think it was in canon when the OVC came out... I thought Magnus was older! Yes those are my nails in the pic, yellow is such an underrated nail color.

BUT this is interesting, there’s a page in the VC Companion that mentions a Trivia book, maybe it’s in there? I JUST BOUGHT IT WHAT THE HECK. Published 1/1/1994, interestingly... I’ll share any gems I find in it. Apparently it has more than VC trivia. I don’t remember any groupie traveling with Lestat’s band, MAYBE this is like, outside of canon lore? IDK.

~*~*~*~

All that said, just in terms of fanon November 11 as Armand’s birthdate, personally, I like that it would be that close to Lestat’s on the calendar, another source of contention between them, that they’d share the same zodiac sign >;}

[^fanart by @garama]

Armand WOULD HATE following Lestat on the calendar, like, c’mon, Lestat would throw a HUGE BALL for himself (you KNOW he would), and then like 4 days later, Armand wants to have a big party… and everyone is like… ~Meh we just HAD one~… (They all went home already)(poor Armsy ;A;)

So Louis suggests to Lestat that he share! And have a bday party for both of them in between, on like 11/9. And Lestat is all pouty like “WHY SHOULD I SHARE WHEN MINES FIRST?? 11/9 WILL BE TOO LATE FOR MINE”

^it’s a source of contention.

ANYWAY.

I like your theory of it being the IWTV release date, but since that movie wasn't focused on Armand, I'd say that wasn't the reason. Plus, other birthdates we know about were based on Anne's family members, maybe she has someone in mind with a Nov. 11 bday? 

Lestat’s birthday is November 7, the birthday of Anne Rice’s late husband Stan (whom she partially/mostly modeled Lestat after).

Louis’ birthday is October 4, which is Anne’s birthday.

Claudia’s birthday IS identified in canon as September 21, it’s also Anne’s daughter Michele’s birthday, so L/L’s bdays being her parents’ do match with that.

Antonio Banderas' bday is Aug. 10, so it's not based on him (PPL OFF THE PAGE, DO NOT EVEN START WITH ME ABOUT HOW HE'S NOT CANON-COMPLIANT ARMAND just go to my #defending Antonio tag, it's such luke-warm flavorless tea at this point).

Christopher Rice’s bday is March 11. 

Anyone is welcome to add their thoughts, tho!

[auburnandamberangel]

Daniel Molloy headcanons? Daniel Molloy/Armand headcanons? Would you have had them break up if you wrote the books or would you keep them together as a couple?

//I might reblog and add the Daniel headcanons on my Daniel blog.

Armand/Daniel Molloy Headcanon:

I wrote a few about the latter years below of their relationship in a previous ask. It's here

• Aside from Louis at Trinity Gate (a whole other kettle of ship that) Daniel was his longest romantic relationship, and arguably his most vulnerable domestic setting too. Imagine how nerve racking it must have been to leave Daniel before dawn before the deathsleep. He could so anything and Armand would have no way of helping him. Gassed himself, got alcohol poisoning, slipped drunk in the shower, jay walked, killed by a mugger there's an endless list really.

• If Daniel was especially distressed I'm sure Armand would have made him sleep, use his mind powers to induce a peaceful slumber.

• Aside from heavy drinking, and bad to little good eating habits it might explain how Daniel unravelled away from and ended up back to Armands side. (A long with the blood addiction.)

• Marius voiced in Blood and Gold that Amadeo responded well to the blood, and hadn't fallen into madness as others had. I've always gone with the assumption Armand was psychic and the religious fervour for painting was a symptom of trances or seeing other planes/channelling past monks.

•Him seeing ghosts as a vampire was a natural extension of this, making Daniels hallucinations of the twins meaning he was suffering from too much of being in Armands world through their donations.

Would you have then break up or stay together:

Oh so much I would have added or changed. But alas not. I feel it was alot of emotional energy for them and us, the readers for them not to get back together. I love this problematic pairing, can you tell. So ahuh them getting back together despite all odds would be top of my list. So close, so joyous of that inner nugget in the last Chapter of Prince Lestat - Armand and Daniel, hunting alone together in the rain. - Not much other than another Daniel left Marius in PlRoA = Marius was bitter. Then Spoilers Daniel doesn't exist in Blood communion. How very dare !!! He started the chronicles. That I'd change. SO YES

• Armand talking through problems with Marius but abandoning him after two crisis' and his own brush with death Hell to the No!! A happy sharing perhaps. Polyamourous only sensible for a vampire. But not one over the other.

•Who else can call Armand an immortal idiot. Swear at him. Teach him how to swear in Klingon or Elvish

•Teach him the latest popular culture.

•Share a meme with, give a playlist too on cassette tape in a non ironic sense

• Allow his devil to steal his clothes