#i just really like the spelling of madeleine

[toriangeli]

Thoughts about Lesmand next season

I maintain that one of the most important relationships of s3 is going to be Lestat/Armand, not because of shipping, but because it's very central to TVL and the series as a whole. Their complicated feelings about each other are fascinating. And they're complicating them even further.

One clear change made is that Lestat now blames Armand for Nicki's death. For those who haven't read the books, Lestat never blamed Armand for Nicki's suicide. This is because one of book!Lestat's most infuriating flaws is that he forgives immediately. This isn't because he's a sweetheart or virtuous or any of that shit, it's because he doesn't like feeling negatively. It's a trait that gets him into a lot of trouble.

But on a television show, something visual and far more concrete than the contents of a book, I can see how this attitude could lead an audience to believe Lestat didn't really care about Nicki. I think that's a good enough reason to make the change already. But there's another important reason to change this.

People talk about how much Lestat's characterization changes between the first two books, but seldom do we get into how vastly Armand changes. Not as a result of character development--as a result of Anne Rice not quite knowing who he is. He was the villain of the first two books, and she expected him to remain a villain until she wrote QOTD and realized he isn't evil.

But by the time she'd figured that out about him, TVL was already out there, and the conflicted nature of Lesmand was very much one-sided. Lestat thought they were besties, while Armand had basically no redeeming characteristics. In this light, Marius' abandonment of Armand is more understandable than it is later on, because as of the writing of TVL, Armand really was meant to be beyond hope.

So at the start, Lestat and Armand really just had a hero-villain relationship. Straight-up. With mutual pining. Some of the major beats of their dynamic, like Armand's sincere belief that Lestat led him on, or Lestat's strange trust in a very unstable Armand, came out of nowhere. It seemed like some of Lestat's attitude towards him was only there to make the betrayals even crueler. Lestat was a total martyr. Hell, at one point (in Memnoch I think) he even asked how Armand could still love him "after everything I've done to you." Lestat didn't do shit to Armand.

Conversely, it can also feel like their later closeness comes out of nowhere. A lot of grudges are let go during QOTD in the face of bigger problems, and the Lesmand conflict is one of them. But what did they do to earn the closeness they have as of Memnoch? What bonded them so much that Armand was the only one who could safely approach a coma'd Lestat?

The show has the opportunity to make these beats feel earned. It has the opportunity to make the conflict something they both contribute to, rather than just Armand. Just like with Lestat, they are drawing characterization of Armand from later books where Anne had his personality down more solidly. They've ironed out some of the big conflicting things, like him spell-gifting Louis into turning Madeleine when turning people is later established to be utterly against his moral code.

More than anything, I hope to see what made them so important to each other right away. I want to see Lestat's pity and mercy as he realizes how very unwell Armand is, and how that is the reason he lashes out. I do think it should still fall apart because Armand bites the hand that feeds him. I do still want the unhinged gremlin we saw in 2.05. But I think if the audience is going to empathize with him--something Rolin has said is important to them--Lestat shouldn't be quite so much of a saint. I think there should be a crumb of a reason Armand thinks Lestat led him on, albeit a small enough one that it's still not a conclusion a rational person would come to. Like the blood-sharing and casual (for Lestat) sex in Armand's little story. Ideally even smaller. I'd like there to be some trigger. Otherwise, the audience will wonder if they missed something (as I did).

I'll probably ramble more as thoughts come up, but that's it for now.

[wouriqueen]

2x06 thoughts - part 3 - Armand & co

He needed a whole section for himself because he's a freak

Masterclass of playing of the victim

"I can't do anything about the coven." "I'm protecting myself from Daniel Molloy." He's so funny and evil. The audacity the manipulation the lies. It's to the point where I might have to subscribe to the idea that he's got to believe some of what he's saying. Otherwise it's too big.

Armand and Claudia

"Thank you for never treating me like a child" + Claudia apologizing to Armand... Despite her fear of being put aside by Louis for Armand, and her resentment at Louis endangering her for the sake of his relationship with Armand, Claudia has always made sure to show respect for Armand and his position. She did her job. She spoke up respectfully. Stuff she didn't even owe him considering he strangled her and threatened to kill her over literally nothing. She went to him to get approval for turning Madeleine. When they meet again with Madeleine and Louis, she apologizes to him for the conflict he went through with the coven, even though that was mainly about Louis, and even though it started way before she even had any idea of turning anyone or going anywhere.

And right after that apology he lets her get kidnapped and killed. Just like her apology to Lestat was met with ugly mockery and eventually assault :(

"She's worth having" not the objectification.

"You'll come together again" (about Louis and Claudia) I know he believed that and I know that's why he let her die. Because he didn't want that. I know it.

"It's forbidden, Claudia doesn't want his (Lestat's) blood" Says the guy who called her Claudia de Lioncourt!!! And he's so disrespectful, saying that to Louis' face even though Louis was there when he called her that (and I liked that he defended her). Now you respect her wishes to not be associated with Lestat?

There's so many more hypocritical moments in general but I might just list them in another post.

Armand and Louis

Louis sick and tired of "Yes, Maître" My absolute favorite scene is at the park when Louis asks Armand to witness Madeleine turning, Armand tries to turn it into a "Maître" situation, and Louis immediately shuts down. He does kind of play into it with a nonchalant order but he also makes it clear he dislikes it. He just wanted to ask his boyfriend for a favor... He's already tired of having to play that game every time he asks for something that matters to him and they haven't even left Paris! Armand apologizes, but does he truly understand?

Not to mention, given the nasty looks Louis was throwing Madeleine before the bite, I'm sure he felt lonely. Having Armand by his side would have eased the feeling of loss (as Claudia said, "to get something you must lose something" but what he was getting didn't show up).

Armand moving in. I know Claudia herself wasn't really living at the apartment anymore but the way Armand moved in as soon as she left town aghdjshuis

Daniel spelling it out. Too bad that it had to be done that way for people to get it, but I'm glad Daniel pointed out how Armand's submission to Louis was only when it was convenient to him. It was always obvious. Hopefully the bad discourse around it dies down!

Armand, Louis and Daniel

Vampire apologies and dubious alliances. Armand apologizes to Daniel for the memory edit. He has to be prompted to apologize about the attempted murder. He does not apologize for the torture. Daniel is holding onto the shared outrage and the connection he found with Louis earlier, and at first they're kind of a team, but in the end it's not quite going as planned.

Poor Daniel is about to find out what it really feels like to sit on the outskirts of Louis' relationships. He better re-read those diaries for reference...

Vampire hackers and the Talamasca. WHAT is going on with that though? Armand asking about the suddenly encrypted laptop means he regularly snoops around in there, no? And why is he asking Rashid about Daniel's outing as if he can't read both their minds. He knows for sure. But why not just come out with it?

Anyway those were my thoughts, I loved the episode.

2x06 thoughts - part 1 - Madeleine & co

2x06 thoughts - part 2 - Claudia & Louis

[avaelangel]

Watched the finale. I have some thoughts. And I miss Tumblr, so it's going to be here. Spoilers. Spelling errors. Annoying takes. A lot of letters.

To be completely honest, it's not perfect all the way. It's a bit shakey and seems like it suffered because of the strikes, maybe? I still love my bastards, but well oh well.

I didn't expect Daniel to be so pro-Lestat? It was very satisfying for him, to see him unveil Armand like that. I think, Armand's ''How dare you?'' could have been played up, since he was growing some affection for Molloy. But I expected a full fight. I know it isn't the last we see of the manipulative gremlin, but still. Hate him, but what a face.

There's still questions to be answered and details to know. Lestat mastered up some strength to save at least Louis and now we know, that at least about something Armand didn't lie. Claudia really looked at Lestat, while burning.

Loustat getting closure was very beautiful. Very raw and human, not what happens in the book, really, which I loved. Everything showed, including how actually free Sam and Jacob are with each other. Lestat, of the two of them, barely holding on and trying to ease the tension? I hate them, I love them. I understand both of them and I hate that too. Kinda.

We all knew what is going to happen to Daniel. He was actually less frail that I expected him to be, walking up to two vampires in a fight. Damn, boy. Again, even Talamasca thought that he's in danger. But Armand didn't retaliate, probably because he knew that it's over.

Akasha? Hey, girl? To be honest, I haven't met her fully yet, I only have two books under my belt. But it was such a funny little flex. This whole scene was a little silly, but I think I also got too used to the vampire grandeur that Armand and Santiago spewed.

Sam? Talamasca guy? I need more details on that, but he's a vibe, I'm glad he stays.

The mention of Akasha did throw me off and I thought, at first, it was her who Lestat couldn't get out of his mind. But I really look forward to the terror The Ones Who Must be Kept will bring. And Marius? I don't trust him. Lestat is probably the one I trust the most here, and that's saying something.

Also, Dan is sort of pre-Bright Falls Alan Wake now? Who is also a vampire? But I love it. I hope he drives Armand insane soon. It seems that Eric Bogosian is very happy in this role and I'm very happy to see him in it. Was Daniel turned out of spite, really? It really seems, at least for now, that Armand came and went like ''You wanted it all those decades ago? Here you go, bitch!''.

As far as I've seen, AMC's marketing, especially in terms of merch, is very meh. It would have been so smart to release the book in the cover they have showed in the show. There was a literal close up! Come on, guys.

It is great that Louis is not in a relationship right now. We know that he will be in the third season, he might go on tour with Lestat or just take some hits at first from the ones that are willing to square up. Saying this, I'm so excited for Gabrielle and I hope there would be jokes about Lestat being a true motherfucker.

SUPER DUPER SPOILER THAT MIGHT BE WRONG.

Claudia. Haunting. I really need Delainey back. And I really hope Armand didn't fucking lie about her and Madeleine's end. I will stitch his eyes closed otherwise. God, I'm probably reading Vampire Armand when I find it.

I guess...That's the end? But there's so much left. I hope the 3d season will bloom into existence sooner.

[savagewildnerness]

OK!  Thoughts on S2E2, Do you know what it means to be loved by death?

I love the gold (Pegasus?) statue Louis and Claudia sit upon at the start of the episode

“We’ve been together 77 years Daniel.” …”44 more than he did with Lestat.” LOL Armand (I agree with Daniel: “Keep selling it!” !!!!)

LOL @ Louis’ Parisian neck scarf

The fashion plates Claudia has cut out and stuck inside her bed… my heart

Louis looks so good in the red darkroom light, oh my!

Claudia asking Louis who he is reminded me of my thoughts the other day (a very brief summary):

Louis is afraid to look deeply within himself at who he is, in case he is not perfect, as he needs to believe he is.  But he does believe he deserves love.

Conversely, Lestat knows himself - for his evil especially, and despite it all, he still likes himself mainly. But he is afraid he is utterly unloveable.

Claudia talking about a new brain in her head and Armand a new body for her brain… are they *really* going to go there?  It is seeming like it?

I like Madeleine from the wee bit we saw, and I love Claudia’s dress

“It’s just Rashid” LOL

The first meeting of Armand and Louis:

Armand is like a poem made into the form of a being - the way Assad’s Armand speaks, how he looks, how he looks at Louis: he radiates a quiet peace, calm & poetic gentleness, which gave me shivers and goosebumps. Like the beautific gaze of an angel. All added to by Daniel Hart’s divine score, reflecting exactly the same emotions. This is how Armand is often described in the books (until he’s not), but because of the extremes Armand can go to, I don’t often think of this calm, angelic, almost innocent side to him so much… but oh how I felt it

I love how the lamp lights flicker.  It’s like a fairytale romance and everything about it: down to “I will not harm you” is exactly as Louis would wish to hear

SANTIAGO!  I love Ben Daniels.  I love Santiago’s outfit and his eyes and his theatricality and his evident cleverness.

Interesting how dilapidated the Theatre des Vampires is.  Seems like it hasn’t been updated since the ’20’s - half empty; broken bulbs… I am sure we have more to hear on this in the show…

Love how Armand brought cinema into the plays

The plays though have such a tawdry, distasteful feel.  I would agree with Louis’ and Lestat’s visceral dislike of them, even before the human sacrifice.  Though I do like the Brecht vibes.  But it is such a contrast to S1 Lestat and Louis at the Opera…

LOL @ Louis’ face seeing the portrait of Lestat!  And “They’ve got a shrine to him!” Hahaha

Whaaatttt @ Santiago and star charts!! Hahahahaha??!?!?!

Claudia on Loumand… I guess we have our answer now as to whether the vampires really are having actual sex and exactly how!  Cheers Claudia!!!

Roget knowing about Lestat potentially sleeping… interesting…

I’ll copy and paste from elsewhere my thoughts on the Loustat scene…

“Do not waist life…” - Oh Lestat, the illiterate boy & young man you were; so desperate to learn & be good, with a Mother for whom knowledge & escape through books was her only solace… who couldn’t even be bothered to teach you the alphabet.  Now, with your preternatural skills, you can read & write & do any thing you wish… but of course - it makes sense that you would never have entirely learned how to spell, or at least that there’d be the odd, common words you didn’t know. (Occurence, too.) Little details, breaking my heart even more. Thank you everyone for caring so much, you thought about the spelling of Lestat’s letter. I noticed. I care about every tiny detail like this & feel it, like love: deep in my soul.

Also: is Dreamstat *really* going to make me cry in every single episode of season 2, even when he’s barely in the episode for a breath?! (1 min 40 seconds to be precise!) He made me cry in episode 1, and here he made me cry too. 

Oh Louis: to read this letter & all your internal pain & shame & sorrow & guilt & love to deepen, I’m sure even more. Oh Sam, how you spoke the letter. Oh Lestat’s outfit, from their first “date”….

Another link to the episode title here -  Do you know what it means to be loved by death? too

For anyone who’s like the full text of the letter:

“My Louis

In the event you are reading this, something dreadful has occured, which is not my own death, but rather the fact that we now both exist (e?) in two different worlds.

Do not waist life seeking revenge on the person or persons responsible. Do not give them the satisfaction of the hunt. Let their treachery eat them from within and instead…”

(Continued as spoken…)

“And you… you go carry on with your living. Know only this, Mon Cher, you are the only being I trust and whom I love, above and beyond myself.

All my love belongs to you. You are its keeper. A veil will now forever separate our union. But it is a thin veil… and I am always on the other side, my face pressed up against your longing.

Lestat de Lioncourt”

Alice truly doesn’t exist, does she?  Armand: what *have* you done to Daniel!?!  Is all of his life a lie? Is Daniel's shaking here evidence that Armand's mind-altering has had physical impact on Daniel too?  And Louis clearly knows some of it too… though I presume not the love part…. And THEY MUST LOVE EACH OTHER like Devil’s Minion which always makes me sob. (Or maybe Alice does exist, but Armand is why she wouldn’t marry Daniel?)

Oh Claudia - your GLEE at Murder mansion

“I like how you withhold” - Armand providing your next chat up line - you’re welcome!

OMG we’re going to actually see Nicolas play violin!  I am SO SCARED!  I hope I’ll adore it and I have faith in the show makers. But, I have also seen so much terrible violin miming (it makes me wonder, when people play surgeons, is what they are doing this annoyingly unrealistic too and I just have no idea!?!) and it is particularly noticeable, as usually piano miming is very good!  Anyway, I know it is such a minor thing in the greater scheme of things, but I know I will be so irritated if it doesn’t look like Nicki is playing the violin.  And it’s only that telly violin miming is so notoriously bad.  Oh, please - let me believe in it!  I BEG!

[nalyra-dreaming]

Do you think Louis will be more upset at Armand for using his mind gift to make Louis turn Madeleine? I read that part on here somewhere and considering Louis saying that was the last of his humanity leaving when he turned her, I figured he would be more upset lol I think Louis just told Armand not to do it again. 🤣 Or does Louis just not care because he’s in love. I’m really interested in that part .

Sooo, the part you're referring to is this one, right (a discussion between Armand and Louis, prior to the trial):

“ ‘But if it’s any consolation to you...surely you realize I had a hand in it.’ “ ‘That I did it to be free of Claudia, to be free to come to you... yes, I realize that. But the ultimate responsibility lies with me!’ I said. “ ‘No. I mean, directly. I made you do it! I was near you the night you did it. I exerted my strongest power to persuade you to do it. Didn’t you know this? “ ‘No!’ “I bowed my head. “ ‘I would have made this woman a vampire,’ he said softly. ‘But I thought it best you have a hand in it. Otherwise you would not give Claudia up. You must know you wanted it....’ “ ‘I loathe what I did!’ I said. “ ‘Then loathe me, not yourself.’ “ ‘No. You don’t understand. You nearly destroyed the thing you value in me when this happened! I resisted you with all my power when I didn’t even know it was your force which was working on me. Something nearly died in me! Passion nearly died in me! I was all but destroyed when Madeleine was created!’ “ ‘But that thing is no longer dead, that passion, that humanity, whatever you wish to name it. If it were not alive there wouldn’t be tears in your eyes now. There wouldn’t be rage in your voice,’ he said. “For the moment, I couldn’t answer. I only nodded. Then I struggled to speak again. ‘You must never force me to do something against my will! You must never exert such power...’ I stammered. “ ‘No,’ he said at once. ‘I must not. My power stops somewhere inside you, at some threshold. There I am powerless. However... this creation of Madeleine is done. You are free.’

I think this Louis will be more upset, yes.

However, I think the scene in the show will mirror the quoted discussion... in the break-up scene. Because Louis refuses to leave Claudia, despite Madeleine's turning. (We'll see, but I think that's this scene:)

I'm... just not sure whether it will include this admission of forcing Louis.

Because, Armand still does this in Dubai. He says: "I protect Louis from himself, always have." So maybe that admission will be something that will happen later. And the vow not to force him again never happened.

Though, tbh, it happens again in the book as well, he spell-binds Louis to leave the theater after the trial

And Armand’s eye said, Sleep.

and there is this comment from Louis later on that when Armand finally tells him that Lestat isn't dead after all that the veil that is between him and the world is suddenly thinner:

But when I heard this now from Armand it was as if the veil that protected me were thin and transparent, and though it still hung between me and the world of feeling, I perceived through it Lestat, and that I wanted to see him again. And with that spurring me on, we returned to New Orleans

So Armand obviously doesn't quite ... honor that promise as he should.

Personally I think that Armand likely kept Louis from bigger emotional outbursts. At the very least.

In the show the apology in episode 2 comes to mind, for the tear. Louis "resting" in-between. Armand coming and calming down Louis. Armand always watching.

So yes, when that falls away? When Louis will not buy into it all anymore?

I think he will be very upset. (What did Jacob say in the recent interview? Dubai would be explosive?)

Of course it will depend heavily on whether he suspected before and what the interview is actually for. Is it because he needs some kind of trump card to force Armand's hand? Or his own? Of course Daniel would be perfect for that, and of course using Daniel's relationship to Armand is a double-edged sword as well, given their history.

IF Armand did promise Louis not to force him again... then this Louis will definitely be beyond pissed when he can break free.

And, depending on what he will find when he does break free - that might be devastating for him. And then... things will likely unfold.

Given what is to come this will only be one aspect of the whole mess though and so... We'll see :). I do think the show has already hinted at all this, and I also think Jacob has done so in the last interview.

And wrt to him being in love... I do not doubt that Louis will fall for Armand, maybe even head-over-heels for a while. But that will shift, through all that happens. And a lot of things will weigh much heavier than that infatuation. The time after the trial is wrought with pain, and Louis trying to numb himself. And we have literally only had a glimpse... it will be very interesting to see what has to happen for this Louis to stay with the one who kills his daughter.

I think Jacob spilled the beans already a bit when he mentioned that Louis would choose that relationship "again" - that happens in the books as well, that Louis does go back to Armand at some point, and I do think that this is what we see in Dubai.

So no, I do not think Louis doesn't care because he's in love.

I think there's a lot more to it and I don' think they'll shy away from it^^.

[madsslays1104]

“You can’t skip chapters, that’s not how life works. You have to read every line, meet every character. You won’t enjoy all of it. Hell, some chapters will make you cry for weeks. You will read things you don’t want to read, you will have moments when you don’t want the pages to end. But you have to keep going. Stories keep the world revolving. Live yours, don’t miss out.”

- Pillow Thoughts 2 by Courtney Peppernell (found the quote on pinterest)

Hi here’s my intro post>>>

Here's what you'll find here that will hopefully pique your interest:

~Art

~Stories (fandoms or stories im writing myself)

~memes

~vents/updates (they are really fuckin random but stay with me on this)

~reblogs

ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯

Here's some things abt me:

Name: Madeleine

Nicknames: mads, maddie, marie, mad

Age: minor

Pronouns: she/her♀

Sexuality: Bisexual

Now some random facts abt me:

i listen to music more than i should…

baby witch (i havent done any spells before but i do tarot a lot)

i love all of my friends <333 Im so lucky to have them and i would literally die for them even if my parents think that's crazy...

🩷 “this is modern feminism talking” “i expect to rule the world in shoes i cannot walk in”🩷

💞V, K, H, C, E, A, B, J, E, E, A, S, L💞

🇵🇸river to sea, palestine will be free🇵🇸

Fandoms:

Owl house, Craig of the Creek, Superstore, Gravity Falls, Amphibia, Big Bang Theory, She-Ra, Adventure Time, Harbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, etc. (ik ik i’m a nerd)

I do theatre, speech and debate, and student council

DNI: DMs (im not allowed to talk to strangers online but if ik u irl then u can dm, or if you want to ask a simple question), Transphobes, homophobes, racist ppl, Z00s, N@Z!/neo-N@Z!, s3xists, p0rn bots (im a fucking minor), p3d0s, nsfw.

☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉

𖤐Links:

𖤐Pinterest: https://pin.it/6yOROIOV8

𖤐Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/31oipuyo5ugngemqkszzk73n2gqy?si=H-pyQDvyRVazJKjlg_IisA

𖤐Tumblr Community: https://www.tumblr.com/join/D_QF2twF

𖤐My post about my series i’m working on: https://www.tumblr.com/madsslays1104/754844183689330688/hi-guys-so-i-know-ive-mentioned-some-stuff-abt

𖤐My userboxes are here: (im still working on it so i dont have a link 😔😔😔 srry)

☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉���◉☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉☠◉

Just remember that you are amazing <3 Like literally the best and i know that hearing that from a total stranger may sound crazy and creepy, but i genuinely care about my friends and mutuals. Have fun here, so yeah byeeee :]

[manwalksintobar]

if we’ve gotta live underground and everybody’s got cancer/ will poetry be enuf?  // Eisa Davis to Ntozake Shange

         dear ntozake,

I got sacks of mercury under the skin beneath my eyes either cried too much or i’m abt to the cool war’s burnin up my retina again does poetry start where life ends? i know i’m supposed to be cool: i wear corrective lenses that feature high definition tragedy. baby in the dumpster       ethnic cleansing assassinations       multinational mergers i’m supposed to shake my head write a poem believe in ripples. but i ain’t cool. i emit inhuman noises i imagine terrorist acts as i flick my imaginary ash onto the imaginary tray i imagine going insane with a purpose and writing it down feels sorta unnecessary does poetry end where life begins? berkeley girl       black girl        red diaper baby born of the blood of the struggle but with reaganomics and prince pickin up steam in ‘81 nothing came between me and my calvins 10 yrs old       unpressed hair       playin beethoven readin madeleine l’engle       got scared in my pants when i heard this girl testifying ‘TOUSSAINT’ in the black repertory group youth ensemble i was just sittin in a rockin chair pretendin to be 82 and talkin like I knew all bout langston’s ‘rivers’

i wasn’t as good as her and i definitely wadn’t cool so i gave up drama and decided to bake soufflés zake you wda beat me up in the playground if we’da grown up together and you did eighth grade       ‘he dropped em’ at the regional oratorical competition i saw another fly honey rip it this time it’s ‘a nite with beau willie brown’ i was bleedin on the ground i became yours no more soufflés i jacked for colored girls right off my mama’s shelf my mama fania who was sweatin with you and raymond sawyer and ed mock and halifu osumare dancin on the grass       back in the day in you i found a groove never knew i had one like that did that monologue over and over alone in my room my bunk bed the proscenium arch 13 yrs old       screamin and cryin abt my kids gettin dropped out a window didn't know a damn thing about rivers but i knew abt my heart fallin        five stories you were never abbreviated or lower case to me you just pimped that irony that global badass mackadocious funkology you not only had hígado you had ben-wa balls in yr pussy

betsey brown on my godmother's couch nappy edges in mendocino at the mouth of big river spell #7 after the earthquake in silverlake the love space demands had to be in brooklyn yr poems are invitations to live in yr body love letters yr admirers dream they coulda written themselves no one cd find a category that was yr size blackety black but never blacker than thou you teased me into sassiness when i had none to speak of made profane into sacred but never formed a church sanctified women's lives whether we were reading nietzsche or a box of kotex we were magical and regular you many-tongued st louis woman of barnard and barcelona you left us the residue of yr lust left us to wander life as freely as sassafrass cypress and indigo and even the unedumacated could get yr virtuosity cuz you always fried it up in grease you built an aqueduct from lorraine hansberry's groundwater and it bubbled straight to george c wolfe you never read what the critics said and you scrunched up the flesh between yr eyebrows like everybody else in my family

but zake is poetry enuf?

i beg the question cuz you grew me up you    and adrienne kennedy     and anna deavere smith and all my mothers you blew out the candles on my 26th so when there's mercury under the skin beneath my eyes and the world ain't so cool do you write a poem or a will?

like leroi jones said     if bessie smith had killed some white people she wouldn't have needed that music so do we all write like amiri baraka does or do we all get our nat turner on?

i beg the question cuz i wanna get my life right do some real work and i really don't want to kill any white folk i mean     can we talk abt this maybe it's just my red diaper that's itchin but i still got that will to uplift the race sans bootstraps or talented tenths or paper bag tests this time we uplift the human race and i know the rainbow might be but is poetry enuf?

it's a naive question but i'm old enuf to ask them once in a while if we do finally unload the canon clean it out stock up on some more colorful balls ain't we only gettin the ones that are available at a store near you? doesn't the market end up setting the new standards anyway? is poetry enuf if it ain't sellin? if ain't nobody readin it? can poetry keep a man     who can't read from droppin his kids out a window?

and how can i call a ceasefire to this cool war in stanzas of eights when we've declared poetry a no fly zone? we have learned to protect it and its potential politics like a mother shoot down anyone who might overdetermine a poem's meaning (while we poets divebomb everyone else's politics with impunity like we're the United States or something)

if poetry is just poetry we save it from the conservatives but doesn't that mean it's of no use to the progressives?

is poetry enuf? cuz that's all i'm doin. makin up stories    on stage     on the page keepin the beat and that's all my friends are doin and that's what a lot of folks my age are doin

but if we've gone and burnt up everything in the sky if there's nothin else to eat but landfill stroganoff if we've gotta live underground and everybody's got cancer will poetry be enuf?

my aunt angela says i can do my thang and keep swinging left hooks to oppression if i stay up stay into it stay involved just one form of praxis will do. it's just my guilt that thinks i need twenty-two what's enuf?

shouldn't i (or somebody) be our secular bodhisattva become a real power player but skip the talk show can't we stabilize, rekindle collectives and cooperatives and collaborations therapeutic communities that double as creative juggernauts a publishing house     a theatre where the plays cost less than the movies get the neighborhood coven back together take dance breaks in the cubicles sing until the flourescent lights burst into snow i ask you because you changed me zake you changed thousands of women and i know poetry can't be enuf if you drunk

i ain't tryin ta walk off wid alla yr stuff and i got nuttin but love for ya so that's why i gotta know i'm sittin on my bed encircled by every book you've ever published they're open like fans marking pages with the flint of genius all i want is for this circle to grow so tell me:

is this where poetry and life are twins? i felt so crumpled up when i started writing you poetry seemed so useless and dingy next to all the bright red bad news but now that the poem is over i feel wide open like an infant of the spring just tell me how to feed this light to my responsibilities and poetry just might be enuf           love           eisa

[ownworldresident]

*TAKES DEEP BREATH*

The Royal Romance - Liam and MC (Rayne)

What's it about? Romance, found family, general drama, Liam and MC being fools.

No I mean what's it actually about? They never solved the scandal, and King Liam married Madeleine. Despite this, the woman he loves, mother of his children, has remained by his side. Drama ensues.

How much words? About 57k over 18 chapters

Will you ever actually finish it? Yes! I already have.

Didn't you already write this? Yes! But I wrote myself into a corner, stripped the whole thing from this beautiful hellsite, and rewrote it to a satisfying conclusion.

And now for some drama from chapter 3...

“Stop drinking,” Madeleine said. Liam locked eyes with her as he finished the glass, as if this tiny rebellion was worth anything. She rolled her eyes and snatched the bottle

“Hey!”

“I know what you’re doing,” she said before he could protest further. “And it’s unnecessary.”

“I strongly disagree.”

“I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“I- what?” It took a few moments to process the words.

"I'm not going to sleep with you. Not now, not ever."

He blinked, rising to his feet, and the room swayed as he tried to absorb the words half as well as his body absorbed the alcohol.

"You know how this works. The Crown needs heirs." The thought made him sick, and he again silently apologised for the betrayal.

"Lucky for you, your carelessness has provided a different option. You can legitimise your mistress’s child."

There were a lot of things in her words that he needed to unpack, and none of it stood out. But then…"What do you mean by my 'mistress’s child'?"

"Shit, Liam." Madeleine set down the bourbon bottle hard, jarring him back to some awareness. "You really need me to spell it out for you? You’ve been screwing her for months."

"She isn't my mistress."

"For all intents and purposes she is. How long before she's set up in the royal wing? In your apartments, perhaps? And is that really the part that you’re fixating on?" She stepped away, combing her fingers through her hair, and rolled her shoulders back. "I just told you you can go ahead and get as many heirs on her as you want. I couldn’t care less what you call her."

Liam finally connected the earlier point. "Her child…" he breathed, setting down his glass beside the bottle.

"I think she'll find out in a day or two." She paused, watching him. "Congratulations. You're going to be a father."

------

Thanks for reading!

As mentioned, I was writing this previously, and had a few readers. These are listed below, and if you'd like to be added or removed please let me know!

@leelee10898 @umccall71 @indiacater @speedyoperarascalparty @brightpinkpeppercorn @riseandshinelittleblossom @bella-ca @custaroonie @thequeenofcronuts @lodberg @kuladekiwi @mfackenthal @carabeth @romanticatheart-posts @blackcoffee85 @whenyourheartskipsabeat @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore

[grayintogreen]

I'm actually really excited after reading this interview! It hit a lot of good points !

Lucien hype Lucien Hype Lucien Hype!

“He’s not a good guy,” Roux said. “That was actually one of the best challenges of the book. How do you flesh this person out and how do you explain their life without excusing their behavior? How do you build in these steps where he has all these opportunities to do the right thing, change for the better, self-reflect in a way that might move him down a better path?

Showing that there were ways out and showing that it wasn’t just a foregone conclusion that he was going to be a villain, but always making it a choice that he’s making, to do the selfish thing or to do the easier thing,” Roux continued. “That was sort of my approach — we have to keep his sense of humor. We have to keep his sort of smugness. We have to keep these indelible things that make him a fun villain. You know, the monologuing and the sort of wickedness that he has. Those things have to remain. But always keep in mind, at the end of the day: I don’t want this to be an apology.”

OKAYOKAYOKAY SHE GETS IT. SHE GETS THE ANAKIN SKYWALKER OF IT ALL!! SHE EVEN MENTIONS THE MONOLOGUING.

“I don’t think you can do it correctly if you don’t take into account that this person is an amalgamation of these different souls that end up inhabiting this one body,” Roux said. “And what would that do to you, and does that mean that there’s crossover? You try slipping in juicy little hints here and there. Maybe they’re all meshed together in some sense — or maybe when the spell was cast they were broken apart.” She relied on Jaffe’s performance and Mercer’s improvisation and dialogue to nail down Lucien’s persona. One of the biggest throughlines she identified was Lucien’s reliance on theatricality.

OKAY OKAY OKAY. SHE IS REALLY GETTING IT.

“It’s just performance all the time,” she said, “and how exhausting that is and how draining that is, and how ultimately it’s kind of what leads to his isolation.”

BITING MY FIST. EXCELLENT. PERFECT. Oh my god if I get NOTHING ELSE AT LEAST MY CHARACTERIZATION IS VALIDATED. YOU GET ME MADELEINE. YOU UNDERSTAND THE ASSIGNMENT.

Getting to explore his story in a novel meant that Roux got to flesh out Lucien’s connection to the Somnovem and how he became the Nonagon, as well as the sinister impact that those changes have on his psyche and his body.

“What would it feel like, to stumble across something like this that has its own magical sway over you?” Roux said. It also meant reshaping the established understanding of other villainous NPCs, including the Tombtakers and Cree, the catfolk who Lucien seemed to be closest with in the actual play.

OHHH SHIT. YES PLS. GIMME THE CREECIEN.

“He didn’t come out of the womb monologuing,” she said. “I think what you’re trying to do is find little nuggets of surprise and revelation that you have along the way, so it doesn’t feel like a retread of what’s on screen. You can’t get away from it, but I wanted to stay away from [that] as much as possible because it’s not a book about the Mighty Nein. They are the antagonists of this book in a sense. Although I would argue that it’s mostly [Lucien] himself, it’s man versus man, man versus internal dialogue.

THIS IS ALL I WANTED OH MY GOD IM GOING TO SCREECH.

“But, you know the ending, right? You have to build in surprises,” Roux said. “And not just outside of this new biographical information, which is fun and good. I think what people want to see is: What makes this guy tick? And how did we get here? How did we get to this place? Let’s never lose sight of what people want out of this, and what’s interesting. But I think just [biographical] information is not necessarily compelling. I think we need the heart of him and the heart of his relationship with Cree — she’s the most steady presence in his life. And eventually the other Tombtakers as well.”

CREECIEN CREECIEN CREECIEN.

In conclusion: shaking, crying, throwing up.

[symphonyofmalice]

Episode 15 (2.8)

Reactions to "And that's the end of it. There's nothing else"

OK OK OK shot of my boys' grave!!!

And they fucking spelled it right

So the shows timeline is 1769 to 1796, dying at 27...

This is a very serious scene so I shouldn't joke, but Daniel in the middle of the table like a stereotypical shot of a kid with divorced parents.

Ok I am liking this Louis speech

Who is Armand feeding?

Wait was that the sacrifice revenant? So Armand "made" a fledgling or did he find one?

"Without him, I am nothing" God even now Armand is trying so hard to push the romance angle

Ok so they are doing the death-sleep but caused by coffins and not the sun itself. all right, i guess.

Santiago's bragging sounds conveniently like covering for Armand.

It's definitely a triumphant, vengeful show-off sequence but I still don't like Louis having all these gifts.

Sam Reid is trying so hard to carry book!Lestat into this show.

I know we're meant to take Lestat's "Does it take a lot out of you, destroying everything? Well almost everything..." as toward Louis about Armand but I prefer reading it as the reverse.

"Here's your death" with a kiss. The dynamic of all time.

oh yay they're using the unreliable memory thing to retcon plot holes and errors. this is definitely not something that can be overused and misused by the writers.

GET 'EM DANIEL

Louis' shocked, incredulous expression is so good

Sam Reid is putting his whole pussy into the sarcasm

whyyyy did they give fake Madeleine a bra

"You're over this" "you have forgiven me", there's Armand, returning to overt control whenever he loses it.

In RP, it could be interesting to parallel Louis telling Armand not to hurt Daniel with Lestat telling him not to hurt Nicolas.

"I gave you to Armand, you tell me if that was saving" please, PLEASE someone make these Nicolas parallels for me

Also Lestat not answering with an immediate yes, distinguishing him from Armand

Ok ok ok i love this scene between them

the actual end is not as strong for me but it's fine

I was worried that taking this long to get to TVL would mean I'd be burned out/less excited for it, but that doesn't seem to have happened. I'm sure they'll still play with perspective a little, but I hope the narrative can be more straightforward without all the Armand lies and literal edited memories. Like I just want TVL/QOTD again. Unlike IWTV, which had the movie, a lot of those scenes haven't been properly adapted before. The musical gets a lot of them, and I love it, but only weirdos like me have seen the musical, and it really has less time and less detail and very little QODT

[rockinlibrarian]

fellow jaclyn moriarty fan! hello :3

Hello! Yes! Let's talk up Jaclyn Moriarty, fellow fan! Jaclyn Moriarty is an Australian author whose sister Liane eventually got more famous on this side of the world because she writes grownup books that get made into shows and stuff, whereas Jaclyn, who HAS written a COUPLE grownup books, MOSTLY writes children's and YA and so gets ghettoized by tasteless people. 🤪 When I first discovered her, she only had the first few Ashbury High books out, which (wrongly) were being marketed as typical realistic YA, so I'd had no temptation to pick them up, until I read an interview with her on a book blog and there was an instant "THIS IS A KINDRED SPIRIT! WE ARE OBVIOUSLY BEST FRIENDS WHO HAVE NEVER MET! ALSO SHE'S FUNNY! Maybe I should actually read one of her books." So I picked up her newest at that time The Murder of Bindy McKenzie (US title--it has a bunch of different titles around the world but always about Bindy) because it had "murder" in the title and was about what today would be referred to as an "autistic-coded" girl so that would be more interesting than straight up realism, and, okay, it was like nothing I'd ever read before. It was epistolary...realism?...but off-kilter, WEIRD. It was both funny and heartbreaking, which is always a nice blend, but my biggest takeaway was just that it was DIFFERENT and I liked it. So I read her other books only to discover they were ALL like that, and also even when there was romance the primary relationship focus was friendship which was really refreshing.

Then she came out with the Colours of Madeleine books which mixed FANTASY into this off-kilter worldview so that got EVEN WEIRDER and more wonderful and just when I thought I'd figured out all the twists it'd hit me with bigger ones out of nowhere! Also they spelled my youngest child's name right! Like Madeleine L'Engle!

By this time I was following her on social media and it became clearer the kindredness was from us being ADHD and loving stories. Whoo! And that's also when I found out she was working on a MIDDLE GRADE FANTASY ADVENTURE! WITH PIRATES! And I was like take THAT me of a decade or so ago that thought our tastes in books didn't overlap! And I can read it to my kids! So I've been reading each Kingdoms and Empires book to my kids and am now trying to get my hands on the latest, but my new library has a smaller budget and I can't get away with buying books just because I want to read them quite as easily. But I do have an excuse, because I'm definitely going to read a few chapters of Bronte Mettlestone to the Summer Reading camp group this summer (the theme is Adventure! How can I not!) So I'll HAVE to make sure we have the whole series...!

Anyway, I'm convinced every last person in the Kingdoms and Empires has ADHD, or at least some sort of neurodivergence, so these stories are truly a delight to read.

Thanks for letting me go off on this topic, anon friend!

[wisteria-lodge]

Bird vs Lion (Javert vs Valjean)

I've been wanting to annotate this scene for ages, because it's SUCH a good example of a really loud Lion primary (Valjean) and a really loud Bird primary (Javert) just being... unable to communicate. And since everyone is reading Les Mis right now, I thought this would be a good time.

So. Inspector Javert has just arrested Fantine, who has insulted Valjean (in the guise of Mayor Madeleine) on her way into custody.

***

“Sergeant!” [Javert] shouted. “Can’t you see this hussy [Fantine] is making off! Who told you not to let her go?”

“I did,” said Madeleine. (...) 

It was obvious that Javert had been ‘knocked through a loop,’ as they say, to have allowed himself to say what he did to the sergeant after the mayor’s invitation to set Fantine free (...) Had he wound up telling himself that it was not possible for any person of authority to have given such an order and that Monsieur le maire must certainly have said one thing when he meant another altogether? Or else… did he tell himself that it was necessary to resort to extreme measures… and that, in this dire extremity, law and order, morality, governance, society as a whole, were personified in himself, Javert? 

Whatever the case, when Monsieur Madeleine let out that “I did” we heard a moment ago, the inspector of the police was seen to turn towards Monsieur le maire, pale, cold, his lips blue, his eyes desperate, his whole body shaking with a barely perceptible tremor, and he was heard to say something unprecedented: “Monsieur le maire, that can’t be done.” 

Poor Javert is having two equally important parts of his system collide here. ‘Respect all authority figures’ and ‘punish all criminals.’ In this moment, he can’t find a way to do both simultaneously, and it’s sort of breaking his brain. 

“How’s that?” said Monsieur Madeleine.

Madeleine (Valjean) does not get what his problem is.

“This wretched woman insulted a gentleman.” 

She broke the Law! (Objectively true.)

“Inspector Javert,” Monsieur Madeleine replied in a calm, conciliatory tone, “listen. You are an honest man, so I don’t mind spelling things out clearly for you. It’s like this. I happened to be crossing the square as you were carting this woman away. There were still people milling around, I asked a few questions and I found out the truth: it is the gentleman that was in the wrong, and if the police were doing their job, he should have been arrested.” 

The lady only technically broke the law, for understandable reasons. 

She broke the Law!!!!!!!!!

Javert could not stop himself: “This miserable creature just insulted Monsieur le maire.” 

She insulted you, the mayor, a symbol of authority. It is a VERY important part of my system that authority figures need to be respected for society to function.

“That’s my business,” said Monsieur Madeleine. “My insult is mine, if you like. I can do what I like with it.” 

I’m not personally upset about it, I don’t see why you care. 

“I beg Monsieur le maire’s pardon. The insult is not his, it belongs to the system of justice.”

She must be made an example of. People can NOT be allowed to get away with this, especially not to a symbol of authority/structure/governance. No matter how much you PERSONALLY may not be bothered by this specific incident, she MUST be made an example of or others will follow suit and the morals of society begin to crumble. How can you, a man such as yourself, not understand this? You sir. The mayor who has done so much for this town and whom I respect for both his accomplishments and authority? Do my eyes and ears betray me? Surely they must?"

“Inspector Javert,” replied Monsieur Madeleine, “the highest form of justice is one’s own conscience. I’ve heard the woman out. I know what I’m doing.” 

EXCUSE ME? What? No. Why would you think that? That's not how any of this works.

“And I, Monsieur le maire, don’t know what I am seeing.” 

*brain is broken* 

“Then make due with obeying.” 

I don’t know what your deal is. Do you need direct orders to respond to or something? (Valjean is very Badger secondary, you can see it start to kick into gear here, he’s trying to find ANY way to communicate with Javert.) 

“I’m obeying my duty. My duty tells me that this woman should do six months behind bars.” 

I am REMINDING you of the law, which you ALSO have a responsibility to. 

Monsieur Madeleine responded gently: “Listen to me carefully. She will not do a single day.” 

… I feel that the law is wrong. 

At these decisive words, Javert risked a glare at the mayor and said to him, though in a tone of voice that was still scrupulously respectful: 

because you still must RESPECT AUTHORITY

“It causes me despair to go against Monsieur le maire, this is the first time in my life, but he will deign to permit me to observe to him that I am within the bounds of my responsibilities. I will confine myself, since Monsieur le maire wishes it, to the case of the citizen in question. 

He's changing the way he perceives Valjean in that quick, dramatic way Birds do. The Mayor is SUPPOSED to be on the side of Law, just like Javert... but has let him down. And Javert (under stress) is just going to get even more icy and even more polite. 

Valjean (under stress) gets angry.

“I was there. This girl threw herself at Monsieur Bamatabois, who is a voter and the owner of a magnificent house with a balcony on the corner of the esplanade, three stories, all in hewn stone. At the end of the day, some things count for something in this world.” 

We’re starting to get more of a sense of Javert’s system here. People have roles/symbols/functions in society, which must be respected if society is to stay intact. (Also, Victor Hugo was obsessed with architecture, and you can tell that he’s a Bird primary who… absolutely identified with Javert, which is honestly probably why he comes down so hard on Javert in the text.) 

“Anyhow, Monsieur le maire, this matter is a case for the street patrol and so it concerns me, and I am holding this woman, Fantine.” 

The structures that I believe in say that this situation is the responsibility of the Law. Stop getting in the way of my duty to enact this vital societal function. (I respect you a whole lot less than I did five minutes ago.)

At these words Monsieur Madeline folded his arms and said in a harsh voice that no one in town had ever yet heard: “The case you are talking about is a matter for the municipal police. By the terms of articles nine, fifteen, and sixty-six of the code of criminal law, I am the judge of it. I order this woman to be set free.” 

Oh screw you. If you want letter of the law I will GIVE you letter of the law. (This is one of the places where aggressive Bird secondary model Valjean shows up. He *knows* how to do his job.)

Javert struggled to make one last stand. "But Monsieur le maire -” 

Valjean just threw the book at him, and the book is holy. There’s not much Javert can do here. Valjean might as well be quoting Bible verses. 

“Let me refer you to article eighty-one of the law of December 13, 1799 on arbitrary detention.” 

Yeah. I’m not going to waste time with you. 

“Monsieur le Maire, allow -” 

“Not another word.” 

I’m pissed now. 

“But - ”

“Not another word” 

I’m PISSED now.

Javert took the blow standing, full on and bang in the chest like a Russian soldier. He bowed practically to the ground to Monsieur le maire, and left.  

And Javert ends the scene experiencing a contradiction in his System that is physically painful for a bird as rigidly dedicated as he is. Honestly a huge part of the tragedy of this guy is that a fix-it is *so plausible.* Javert is so earnest, and tries so hard, and you get the impression that if he had a few more interactions like this he might have been able to transform his system into something more elastic.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Louis quite sympathetically explaining that lestat hid the cloud gift, stating that it was because lestat didn’t want to relationship to suffer due to an even more lopsided power dynamic, is just so interesting in the context of Louis saying all that in front of armand and armand shown casually using that gift in the last scene. We don’t know yet how the present day Louis and armand dynamic will be necessary but that explanation from Louis seems an interesting inclusion (especially when it could be argued Louis had been aware of lestat’s gift since ep 1), how do you think Louis views his current situation with armand?

It definitely is a very potent statement actually, because it describes his relationship with/to Armand here, the sheer power imbalance shown to us, the viewer, in said last scene.

I think Louis is something of a self-proclaimed prisoner. He hides himself away, after having asked Armand for help, and Armand being Armand… helps in the way he sees fit. Armand loves Louis, he tries, but he is Armand.

He controls, edits, the penthouse, the diaries (books in general though of course Louis could jump or get a ladder, but the shelves are a statement not a forbidden zone per se), Louis‘ memories.

Armand canonically is a strong mind and spell gift user. He uses that influence on Louis for him to turn Madeleine, for him to leave the theater. For example. We’ll see how it is on the show but Rolin already hinted in last season‘s episode insider that Armand will still be that coven leader he is in the books, so… ;)

Now, we are decades later. Louis is at least latently suicidal, for reasons that we will still get to see imho, and which likely have to do with the diaries, a too important piece of canon to waste, imho.

I think Louis feels trapped in Dubai.

Not necessarily by Armand, but… in this life, in this situation, in the choices he made. And he is tired. Louis calls it bored, but what really is that except being bone-tired? By everything? And so I think that he tries to tie up loose ends, so to speak.

Only… neither Armand nor Daniel really play along. I agree with others that the Rashid play was likely improvised, and then, at a certain point Armand took over.

I do think there’s love there, berween Armand and Louis.

But also desperation and a certain helplessness, especially as the tale unravels. This interview isn’t exactly going as planned after all.

I think they’re at a point in their relationship where all that is keeping it from falling apart is the status quo - and memory is a monster, and what will be unearthed from said memory next season will be uncomfortable at best - but likely very, very painful, and it‘ll unravel what is left.

And Armand will try to control it, thereby making it worse (I think), and… well. Then it will all come to a very interesting cliffhanger… no matter which one they’ll choose^^

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

i am endlessly intrigued by raglan's line to daniel in their first meeting, about how he isn't the first to try what he's doing, that 4 others came before and are all dead or undead.

we know armand has never made a fledgling. so if one of those 4 ended up undead, it had to be from louis. in the books, louis makes exactly 2 fledglings: madeleine and merrick.

(merrick is also a mayfair witch from the black side of the family, who also has ties to the talamasca. so she would be a good character to use, if we wanted to bridge the 3 shows in the immortal universe)

i think 3 of those that came before died, probably via armand, since louis doesn't like killing these days. but the 4th is merrick, and she's the life louis took back in 2000, by making her a vampire

probably something to do with claudia. with trying to summon her ghost. that could be the groan--claudia's ghost trapped in the realm between life and death. or merrick herself, who would could have summoned ghost claudia and things went wrong and now she's taking a dirt nap

though the show will have to play it differently than the books, where merrick puts a love spell on louis and they kind of have a thing. which works there bc louis likes women romantically in the books, but he's gay on the show. (or he was gay and just super repressed in the books, according to some interpretations--which could mean the love spell thing could work, bc hand-wavy magic)

tbh that's not really something i wanna see, it feels gross. like the love spell itself was gross in the book, where louis might have had real feelings for her as well, as he doesn't really get too mad about it. but if he's gay then it's all coerced, and while the show isn't shy from exploring darker themes, i don't want my baby boy to go through that. he has suffered enough.

also i think the show could use merrick and her connection to the mayfairs as another way explore race as a theme. bc in the books there's a whole other branch of black mayfair witches that the main mayfair witches don't really associate with. (they were black, but they also had some other heritage that I can't recall without digging out the book) and that could be something worth exploring; a sort of mirror to louis back in storyville, where he sat and played cards with white men who thought they were better than him, bc he was confined by the laws and social mores of his time as a human. as opposed to merrick who didn't want anything to do with the white side of her family

(also in the books, louis owned a plantation. he owned slaves. like this is canon. and merrick is a bi-racial black woman who falls in love with him. like, outside of anne rice's imagination, that shit would not and should not happen. this isn't relevant to my point, i just wanted to rant a little about it bc it's so fucking stupid)

[queen-rainy-love]

Part 5. They all go somewhere else and Clotted Cream is being really quiet as the three talk to each other. They run into Mint Choco he his surprised that CC is a child. Creampuff explains. Anyways, they all decided to be with MC for a while. The five of them enter his house and the three sibs are admiring his fancy stuff and etc. CC and MC have a chat. CC asks him to teach him to play violin. He does. Anyways, CC tells him that violin reminds him of someone he loves. (Part 6 soon)

Let's do this.

*The scene is set an hour after going to the park. Madeleine, Clover, Cream Puff, and (a still young) Clotted Cream were walking around the Berry District. The three siblings were talking while Clotted Cream quietly followed.*

Clover: *turns to Cream Puff and Clotted Cream* Are you two hungry? We can grab some sweets.

Cream Puff: That would be great!

Clotted Cream: I'm not-

Madeleine: Come now. Your father is not here. He won't know if you had a sweet treat. *winks*

*Clotted Cream smiles a bit and nods. Clover leads the two young Cookies to a cotton candy stand while Madeleine waits for them. As he waited, two Cookies caught his attention, Red Velvet and Wildberry. Panicking, Madeleine ran over to the group and quickly grabbed them. Then he starts running.*

Cream Puff: Madeleine!! We were about to get something!!!

Madeleine: There's a certain Cookie that will go on a rampage if he sees a certain Cookie in a certain state!

Clotted Cream: I-is my father-

Clover: It's not him! Just put us down, Madeleine!

*Madeleine stops running but still held onto his family. The three tried to escape but failed. Clover was about to yell at the eldest brother when a voice caught their attention.*

???: Are you four okay?

*The four looked in the direction of the voice to see Mint Choco, who was completely confused. He looked at Clotted Cream a bit longer before his eyes widened.*

Mint Choco: Is that-

Cream Puff: My spell backfire and turned Clotted Cream into a child! But he's slowly aging back to his original age!

Madeleine: And right now, we're hiding from Wildberry.

Mint Choco: Oh...Yeah, he would be angry about this.

Clotted Cream: Who's Wildberry?

Clover: Don't worry about it now. *Looks at Mint Choco* Do you think we can hide at your house? Just for a bit?

Mint Choco: Very well. But you know you can't keep this from Wildberry forever.

Clover: We'll cross that bridge later. Just help us! Please!

*Thirty minutes later, the group of Cookies was in Mint Choco's living room. The siblings were looking around the room, admiring his decor, while Clotted Cream and Mint Choco are talking.*

Clotted Cream: So you really travel around Earthbread? Just to play your violin?

Mint Choco: *smiles* I do. I enjoy bringing joy to my audiences. There's no feeling like it.

Clotted Cream: *shyly looks down* Do you offer lessons?

Mint Choco: Every now and then. *smiles a bit* Are you interested in learning?

Clotted Cream: *sheepishly fidget his fingers* I...um...I would like to learn how to play the violin.

Mint Choco: I would be happy to teach you how to play. But if you don't mind me asking, why do you want to learn?

Clotted Cream: Well...it reminds me of someone I really care for. And I would love to play for that Cookie.

Mint Choco: Very well. We can do a quick lesson today. *takes out two violins and hands one to Clotted Cream.* Let's learn the chords first.

[ladymochamagic]

❝ MORE COFFEE TALK… ☕️ ❞

I kept up with a follower of mine from talking about some of the abilities such as ‘Coffee Magic is basically Black Magic’ or how he hides the fact that he has worked with Black Magic before. We’ve also kept up with more lore about how his line:

“Coffee magic is a magical substance! Any counter arguments?”

Where I find it as a contradiction over the fact that again, coffee magic is camouflage with black magic. While the counter argument between coffee magic being extremely powerful and treacherous, light magic is holy and defensive for self reasonings. But I also came across to my follower’s post again regarding some of the other abilities like witchcraft, telekinesis and such and how he’s able to bend his powers. Which obviously, he’s been called a ‘black mage’ right? So I like to elaborate on that…

In the past, theoretically, we felt that Espresso may had lived a traumatizing childhood, dealing with his ongoing life in the Lower City in the Creme Republic, although, he didn’t have much resources at the time. He felt like a burden, being pushed and adapting the lower city resident’s behaviors and how he may had wanted to discover light magic at the time while he was mastering coffee magic. His coffee magic was very fragile before it got powerful. I felt that he may have had a very big interest in wanting to learn and understand light magic as much as learning it from Madeleine Cookie (who was also one of his childhood friends aside from talking to Seaweed Cookie about his share of science and magic).

While this was difficult for Espresso Cookie, growing up few years later where he still continued schooling in Parfaedia, before ever been granted a Professorship, his coffee magic gradually gotten better. He still had interest in learning light magic as he still did with Madeleine Cookie. Later, everything took a turn from him, from his studies, other cookies really didn’t see enough potential from him. He maybe had faced a huge dilemma of being bullied because he had so much to share and express about his experiments and his knowledge on magic. Majority of the cookies lacked interested from him, but probably because they saw his coffee magic being a potential threat to the cities. Madeleine Cookie and Latte Cookie had never turned their backs on him. He grew depressed overtime, giving up on his research and works. (This is where Dark Enchantress Cookie comes in…)

Dark Enchantress Cookie over saw Espresso Cookie’s achievements with his coffee magic. She wanted to make him inevitable, which was to make coffee magic the most powerful type of magic to ever exist across Earthbread. She was even admired because the cookies who portrayed coffee magic as a threat and how it links to black magic may be the case. She would hire him as her formal evil scientist and black mage to study all different kinds of magic and to take over Earthbread alongside. She also believed that light magic is just good for nothing for old time sake. it was a useless type of magic for any light user to cast. Thus, he was gaslighted the fact that after he took in her word for it, it light magic had gained no potential for him whatsoever and was a firm believer of black magic.

I don’t really see Espresso believing in a godly creator of who exactly created Earthbread or how a ‘divine light’ in reality could grant you spirituality or a blessing. Even though cookies tend to create other cookies using a magical oven to grant them a spell of life, given consent by the witches and how they scientifically made Earthbread with the finest of ingredients or was it magically granted by either the Elemental Cookies (which he would have a scientific explanation for all of this to better understand how their world was made). He would be Agnostic to me for someone who could research on whether a ‘Cookie God’ could create such a world and the different magic types if it’s undefined.

Coming back to the original theory…

I firmly believe that he was a clan member of DE’s until it eventually didn’t work out at the end. Espresso Cookie knew that his works and his knowledge for the betterment of his career or what he was capable of wouldn’t want to go to waste. I felt that as much as being villainous grew power amongst him, visually seeing the concept of how coffee magic can be a sign of black magic with the power of a heaping black hole that wards enemies towards a gravitational pull to eradicate their very existence, he would still continue his production on the line to work diligently hard with it. He didn’t care if others despised his beliefs or his magic— he is capable of it regardless and knows more than any other cookie! Likewise Coffee Magic is a difficult type of magic to master, therefore would take longer to understand.

Eventually, he was granted a Professorship to teach the Theorems of Coffee Magic and also fulfilled in becoming a researcher. As much as he disliked Light Magic now, he would take a careful and cautious procedure to avoid it at all cost as much as Madeleine Cookie liked to brag about it (and himself), which I also think he grew less interest of it and even after Dark Enchantress Cookie was trying to wipe his memory from him ever studying it when he lived poor.

Overtime, he was able to master:

Pyrokinesis - the psychic ability to allow a person/cookie to create and control fire with the mind (Which his Philosophy of believing how fire, a formal believer of Fire Spirit Cookie would sought that fire could create matter and how it can change its form. This is also something I learned in my Philosophy class where a Greek Philosopher, Heraclitus because that matter was created with fire)

Telekinesis - the ability to move objects within a distance by mental power and without physical contact or force (Where in his Gacha animation where he manipulates his mental power to control his coffee bean(s))

Witchcraft - magic, especially black magic which causes to create spells (Coffee Magic = Black Magic; summoning evil spirits and demons, also like coffee magic (beans) can be ‘threatening’ and a ‘dangerous hazard’ to create destruction of summoning black holes, voids, etc.)

Gravity Magic - magic that’s allows them to manipulate gravity or gravitational pull (Much like his ability; he is able to summon a ‘Black Hole’ to bring opponents together in a spiraling gravitational pull to stun them)

shoutout to @/mxgdabewitched for letting me snoop on your discussions and your story posts with your share of Espresso Cookie! ♡

all credits to other info!