#i. ( arc ) — nola

[simstrouble]

🧊

[cementcornfield]

the presumed joemarr fight is so delicious for the narrative i cant lie but goddd bengals get your shit together 😭

lol no i totally agree, honestly i’m just defensive about ja’marr, because the way some fans are blaming HIM for this loss??? like my man was actually the best player on the field (besides the punter lmao) so fuck off about that! 

BUT narratively you’re so right. like i really wish i could have been a fly on the wall (field?) during that conversation. ja’marr all frustrated coming off the field and asking joe why he underthrew him, joe also frustrated about just…everything in general, but explaining to ja’marr that he he did it on purpose to try to SAVE him from getting hurt. ja’marr wrestling with conflicting emotions of a. being touched by that, b. being frustrated that they didn’t score because of that decision and c. being secretly anxious that joe didn’t think he could run through the two safeties in time (watching the film analysis myself, he most likely couldn’t have without getting hit HARD but if a WR isn’t overconfident then are they really a WR?)  

and then joe also struggling with his own emotions of second-guessing himself (DID he make the right call?) and being anxious that ja’marr might be doubting his throwing ability and/or decision making. and why shouldn’t he, he’s been fucking up all game! (joe would say to himself. because he’s incredibly hard on himself. i don’t think this.) 

and yeah, these two are good at talking about plays on the field. but how would they deal with the EMOTION of it all. especially with a loss on top. and uncertainty going into THE biggest opponent next week. 

LOTS of potential for delicious narrative angst, is all i’m saying. totally agree with you anon, thank you for stopping by <3 

[kolhearted]

               THE SIGHT OF her immediately gave him a migraine he had unaffectionately named Mystic Falls when it had first begun to develop. While Kol hadn’t particularly been hiding, the idea of Bonnie Bennett on his front step wasn’t precisely what he’d call a welcome sight. 

“There’s a reason why there’s no welcome mat if you look down,” he said, crossing his arm in his doorway. “I can’t possibly think of a good reason why you’re here.” 

                                                   ( @denydefeat​ ) « c: 

[alwaysakin]

The Vampire Diaries Universe Fic Recs

Once again putting my unhealthy amount of fanfic knowledge to good use. Here's my list (non-exhaustive) of the best vampire diaries & originals fanfics. Includes Klaroline, Bamon, Kolvina, and more.

Bamon Fics

Before I Take My Flesh Away by Orig1n - the fic where Bonnie and Damon are comically bonded, and she hops around in his timeline pre (and during) the series. Tragically unfinished, but completely incredible! Kudos for developing Stefan and Damon as brothers and making me not hate Lily Salvatore. Also love the Arthurian lore.

if you love me (don't let go) by sarcastic_fina - this is a heartbreaking deconstruction of Bonnie and her victim mentality, and shows the strength of not only her romantic relationship with Damon, but her friendships with Caroline, Matt, and Tyler. So sad, but so good!

Bloodstone by cactusfinch - Bonnie time travels to 1864 (with all the problems entailed). Her relationship with Damon is done well here, and her friendship (sort of!) with Katherine is fun as hell.

rest for the wicked (hope for the weary) by castelia - Damon and Bonnie go on a road trip together after the prison word. I am a sucker for mutual pining, and this fic does it so well!

Fifty-Five Years by turningofflights - written from Elena's perspective, after she reads Bonnie's diary entries and learns how Bonnie and Damon fell in love. A bittersweet, believable love story for Bonnie and Damon.

Other Bonnie Bennett Ship Fics

The Edge of Night by Szajnie - a crossover between season 3 of the Originals and season 7 of the Vampire Diaries, where Bonnie goes to New Orleans. She's absolutely in her element here as the most powerful New Orleans witch, takes the supernatural world by storm, and everyone has a happier ending because of it (including her!). Absolutely love her friendships with Davina, Vincent, and Freya, and shout-out for being the only fic to make me care about Cami! Truly, this is great. The NOLA gang is the family Bonnie deserves, and the Bonnie/Klaus is so believable.

Kai Parket Screwed Us (Until Bonnie Bennett Screwed Him) by hysteriaww - exactly what it sounds like. Bonnie shows up to help Josie and Lizzie deal with the prison world and her and Kai's insane relationship weirds everyone out. Deals with the Gemini Coven in a really interesting way. Hilarious, and with mild Damon and Alaric bashing. BonKai.

Season One, Epsidoes One-Three by BorgiaBabe - a rewrite of the first three episodes of TVD with Bonnie as a proper main character. Her love interest is a softer Kai, and it's great! Bonnie really deserves better.

the night light hits off, turning kisses to bites by donutworry - an insane, dark, twisted Bonnie and Kai romance, where they're the only ones in the prison world from the start. I absolutely love the Gemini Coven lore in this fic.

Klaroline Fics

Make them bow by for_darkness_shows_the_stars - Klaus appears in season 1 of the vampire diaries. it's Klaroline, but still super gen, and all the characters get their own compelling arcs in it. Especially love the way Elena and Stefan are written.

One of A Kind, Two of a Kind, or the Three Musketeers by Phandancee74 - Caroline is an ancient nymph who was erased from memory by Malivore. She still helps the Mystic Falls gang out (and her relationship with Bonnie is great)! The Klaus/Caroline is angsty and lovely.

Calling on a Friend by Phandancee74 - 5 year old Josie gets Klaus's number. Shenanigans ensue. Short and cute as hell.

Sanctuary in their Hearts by thatsanotherlovestory - Caroline leaves before the season 8 wedding, and heads to New Orleans with Klaus. A fun story, but still so sad Bonnie didn't get her happy ending in it. The twins are so cute in this.

Let's do the Time Loop again! by kcatdino - on the night of the sacrifice, both Klaus and Caroline get stuck in a time loop. It's so funny to watch them get more and more deranged.

sweet present of the present by VintageLilac - it's Caroline, not Rebekah, who raises Hope while New Orleans is at war. I absolutely love Katherine in this fic, and though Hayley gets the short end of the stick it's written quite well.

The Wolf by Yokan - a witch version of Caroline is the one pregnant with Klaus's baby in the originals. And while season 1 doesn't change a lot because of it, the later one's definitely do! I love the Klaus and Caroline relationship, and Caroline & Elijah friendship.

Elena Gilbert-Centric Fic

The stars were brightly shining by adlyb - a fic where Elena is pregnant with Klaus's baby. It's so hard to describe! A little twisted, a little sweet, and a thorough depiction of Elena's mental state.

The Forgotten by MissNMikaelson - Elena time travels and gets dropped in the middle of Klaus and Kol's war in New Orleans, circa 1914. The flashback scenes in the fic are great! Eventual Kol/Elena.

blame it on the stardust by allwritenow - the fic that looks into if Elena's doppelganger nature affected her more. And a truly beautiful Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena friendship.

Off by a Single Degree by Tarroko - when Elena's phone dies, Damon walks her home and never compels away her memories, and her parents never die. This softer, sweeter Elena is so believable, and I love the way canon immediately shifts. Amazing development of her parents, Anna, and Enzo. Delena.

Katherine Pierce Centric Fic

afflictions eclipsed by glory by passionesque - in 1864, right after the fire in Mystic Falls, Elijah finds Katherine. They team up together against Klaus. This deals with Katherine's trauma and cunning so well! A slow build to Elijah/Katherine, involving him acknowledging his faults.

General Mystic Falls Gang Fics

in another life (i would let you go) by sarcastic_fina - Elena wakes up in a world where she isn't the doppelganger and no one knows her. An interesting deconstruction of the affects she's had on her friends.. Manages to be both Elena-bashing and sympathetic at the same time. Minor Steroline and Bamon.

Originals Family Feels

It All Comes Crumbling Down by AlwaysAkin - can I do a self-rec? I'm doing a self-rec. Hope is born a century earlier, and grows up in New Orleans with the Mikaelsons. I'm particularly proud of my Hope-Marcel bond and young!Hope voice in this one.

A Twist Through Time by fandom_lover_101 - Hope is sent back in time to the Vampire Diaries season 3. She messes everything up. Absolutely love the slow Hope & Klaus relationship built here, and her friendship with Elena is cute too. Minor Klaroline, Delena, and Handon.

Always & Tomorrow by Viretta - another tragically unfinished fic. Set after Hope jumps into Malivore in Legacies, it involves the dead Mikaelsons being resurrected, and the kids from the Salvatore School travelling to New Orleans (with a newly activated tribrid Hope). This is a Mikaelson family story in the bloodiest, best way. Has Handon and Klaroline in addition to the canon originals couples.

if no one in the entire world cared about you (did you really exist at all?) by nevermore_evermore - Elijah is erased from the minds of everyone he loves. Kol is (eventually) there to help him through it. An interesting take on Elijah's place in the family.

A Million Mistakes by mon-amour-eternel - a fic where Caroline is also an original, and her and Klaus are Marcel's parents. Sadly unfinished, especially considering the rarity of Marcel-centric fic!

But Stand Brave, Life-Liver by crownjrose - A Hayley-centric fic! Her foster parents come to New Orleans and see the way her life turned out. Interesting closure for Hayley, and a sweet Klaus/Hayley relationship.

Kolvina Fic

(finally) you and me are the lucky ones by yorkes - a long one-shot where Kol and Davina are soulmates. It's cute as hell! And Kol and Davina really grow into each other in this one.

The Vixen and the Fox by BlueBooThalassophile - be warned, this read is long as hell. But it's also great. Davina time travels to the Vampire Diaries season 4, gets involved in the fight against Silas, and everything goes sideways immediately. Love Davina's friendship with Hayley and bond with Marcel in this one. Every character in both shows appears in this one.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Do you think that, at the beginning of the episode, Armand kept Louis asleep so he could spin his little yarn about Lestat without the latter there with the express hope of selling Daniel on the telenovela? As well as maybe making peace/having some quiet time with the Daniel (read: his boy from SF) he kind of tried to protect from Louis' cruel Alice-rant last episode? Daniel has been continuously mocking Louis with the notion of Loumand being "a story that is being sold to him" so maybe this way, Lestat appears to be the bad guy yet again and further Lestat discussions are tabled except explaining how Louis got his groove back (and learned to forget about the 'ever-thinking-about-himself' Lestat)?

I'm a Loustater who was ready to live with Loumand because we have to, and thought I was willing to give Armand some trust that he's trying to protect Louis from doing something terrible in Dubai, but it seems that, with that fiction about Lestat, he's been withholding more than Louis ever did. And whether that's to save Louis or himself and likely both, I can't tell. I can't even imagine how we're going to have a walk-down-memory-lane discussion about the trial if Armand can't be remotely honest, even now, about Lestat.

Lastly, all that talk in theatre about the coven wanting Louis dead if he's not joining etc. Is all that telepathic murder plotting being freely discussed in Dubai?

Need help! Want to understand!!!!!!!!

Oh, I think Louis being asleep when the interview continues is a massive red flag, indeed. He was up during the day before, so why will he rise at sundown now? And why does Armand launch into a little fanfic version of Lestat while Daniel asks him a very different question?

And why did the Mac not record that one sentence?

The thing is... I think Armand is doing precisely what he was doing with Louis at the end of the IWTV book, namely a) lie to him about a few specific things, b) keep a kind of veil over Louis and c) protect him (from others and himself).

It's Armand! He's the coven master. He does what he thinks is best.

And of course he loves Louis, too, but... you know. At this point it should be very clear that Louis did not love him back as much as he seemed to do (before). Louis invited Armand in (and into a relationship with him) to not get killed. And to keep Claudia safe, too. THAT is their actual relationship start and fuck how bitter is that?????

The Louis in Dubai... has lived decades with whatever happened after that event in San Francisco. And whatever happened with the Devil's Minion arc there. And Armand... is still lying to him.

I said it in another ask, but by now I'm leaning towards Louis going to NOLA at the end of the season - and either finding Lestat there ... or NOT. And if he does not find him I can see him go and do the Merrick ending in the Merrick ending place.

I think episode 7 and 8 will shift a LOT of things, and no matter how the trial is narrated we already know it likely won't be how it went. It will be interesting to see if they break the narrative once more - or let Daniel read them to filth.

Because I can see Daniel do that. Because allll the little things, all the Talamasca files, all that background information he has now will click into place for him. Because he is very good at his job.

[grainjew]

Nikaposting Pt 4: Sun God Tropes

This is the fourth of a series of posts about Nika & associated religious practice in the One Piece world. As I write and post the rest of the series, I’ll add links to this header.

Pt 1: Crypto-Religion | Pt 2: Symbology & Syncretism | Pt 3: Joyboy was Shandian

Enormous credit to @oriigami for being my discussion partner through all of this and having a substantial influence on the final product. Check out our ao3 series Joyful for a narrative rather than analytical take on the Nika tradition, and definitely go read her OP blog @kaizokuou-ni-naru for meta and translation fun facts.

-

#JustLittleSunGodThings

So Luffy’s a sun god, or the embodied power of the wishes for one, or whatever. But does he do mythological solar deity things?

Yes actually.

This post is the fourth and last (as of now) in this series, and it’s entirely for fun. I’ll almost certainly miss things as I go down the list here- if you can think of other solar or dawn deity things he gets up to, please add them in the replies!

With no further ado, here is a list of sun god things Luffy has been known to get up to, & which will no doubt inform the mythology developing around him in the One Piece world. (How many people were deifying this guy even before he awakened his devil fruit? Like it was definitely not zero is all I’m saying.)

Getting eaten by snakes

What started this whole list was me turning to @oriigami in the middle of the night after we’d been rewatching Little Garden and trying to make an accurate count of how many times Luffy’s been swallowed whole and going “you know what’s sun god shit? getting eaten by snakes.”

Sun gods are often doing this. Take Apep in Egyptian myth, who tries to devour the sun god Ra every day. Or Rahu, the Hindu shadow planet and serpent, who swallows the sun to cause solar eclipses.

Luffy is also often doing this. The most notable example is of course the Nola Incident in Skypiea arc, but if we expand the definition of snake to include generally snakeish sort of guys, he also gets briefly ate by Kaidou very shortly after awakening, and just now by Mister Sandworm in ch 1110. (And by Kaidou fish-fish fruit equivalency I’d argue we can also count the Little Garden goldfish and the crocodile that ate him as a kid here but obviously that’s more tenuous and mostly just funny.)

Slightly more tenuously as well, there’s Amaterasu of Shinto lore retreating into her cave (a cave is a kind of snake), as well as the Norse wolf that chases the sun Sköll (occasionally merged with Fenrir), the Javanese god (described as an ogre) Batara Kala who eats the sun and moon to cause eclipses, and the alchemical Green Lion that devours the sun.

Storm and sky gods are also often interacting with, killing, and being eaten by snakes, which is less relevant here except that Nami is storm god coded and she also got ate in the Nola Incident. So that’s fun!

Having a chariot that circumnavigates the world

Many sun gods, especially in the Indo-European sphere of traditions, have some sort of chariot or boat that they ride from east to west each day to carry the sun across the sky. Often they have attendants (sometimes dawn and dusk gods; or sometimes these gods have their own chariots or horses as well) to help them with this.

If you want a list of sun vehicles the wikipedia page for solar deities has a whole bunch of them. Have fun.

I think Thousand Sunny speaks for herself on this front: not only is Sunny a ship designed, destined, and dreamed up to herself circumnavigate the world with Luffy as her captain, but she also has the Sun on the front as her figurehead in a manner that does kinda remind me of some depictions I’ve seen of the sun being carried across the sky in such a chariot. Also, she can fly!

Association with royalty

Kings and emperors love to use sun gods to give divine legitimacy to their rule. This is in no way universal (there’s lots of storm gods out there who also do this, just off the top of my head) but take Amaterasu (Shinto), Inti (Incan), Amun-Ra (also Aten) (Egyptian), Sol Invictus (Roman), etc.

Obviously Luffy is going to be King, and is currently an Emperor. But also, he tends to go around and toppling kings and gods and tyrants and vaguely lending legitimacy to whoever is stepping up to the throne in their place. He’s got the Mandate of Heaven (this is a joke mostly but we HAVE all read Loguetown)! And also distributes it to people he likes. Thanks Luffy.

Solar discs, radiate crowns, and beetles

A solar disc is a flat circle, sometimes with rays, that symbolically represents the sun or the sun personified. If you have read pt 2 of this series, you will recognize the Nika symbol in this description.

In the same vein, when applied to a personified depiction of the sun, the solar disc has the habit of becoming a halo or a radiate crown (such as the one worn by the Statue of Liberty - the radiate crown used to be an emperors and sun gods thing and has since become associated with personifications of liberty. So That’s Fun). Obviously Luffy is not in the habit of having either of these representationally, except of course for. The hat that encircles his head in gold.

The final note on symbology I have here is that the Egyptian god of the morning sun, Khepri, is associated with scarabs/dung beetles. A fact that I think known beetle-lover Luffy would appreciate. Get this guy some scarab symbolism stat. Check these bugs out!!!

Bonus: descending into the underworld and eclipse stories

Katabasis, that is, a descent into the underworld, is in no way a sun god exclusive, although solar myths do often involve the sun god, having traveled across the sky by day, needing to find their way through the ocean, the underworld, or some other sort of nether realm to return, overnight, to their morning home in the east. And it’s very fun to look at in the context of Luffy, eclipse myths, and the Marineford saga.

So obviously the Impel Down arc is is a very literal katabasis. It’s Hell, it’s got all the Dante’s Inferno theming, and, like in so many katabases, Luffy descends to the depths in pursuit of some goal, eventually emerging miraculously alive but unsuccessful (see, for a very quick shortlist of katabases of this type, Orpheus & Eurydice, Inanna, and Izanagi & Izanami).

So that’s delightful. But I think it’s even more fun to think about the Marineford saga in general, eventually culminating in the timeskip, as a prototype for an eclipse story.

Solar eclipses, though predictable, are something like a rarer and more frightening form of night, and so their associated myths have a general tendency to involve a more dramatic and/or violent symbolic death of the sun- see, for example, the various devourers of the sun mentioned in the first bullet point of this post.

So, we have the timeskip. The fire goes out. The sun, having descended into the underworld and pushed himself past his own limits, is defeated, disappearing completely from the world for two years. Until- In a way that was, technically, predictable, if you had the correct sphere of knowledge, he returns, miraculously renewed.

I’d incorporate that into my belief system, is all I’m saying.

-

Thank you all for reading! This is all for the series so far, but not, I hope, forever. Many more thoughts to have and webs to weave!

Have a lovely week!

[pynkhues]

A lot of people think Louis' persona during his "Prince of Iberville" years is not his authentic self and completely OOC. And subsequently that he returns to it with Armand as a coping mechanism instead due to transactional nature of that relationship (Louis starting his "companionship" with Armand as a way to shield Claudia. @dhampirdulac on twt has a few threads on the topic).

Can we hear your thoughts on this? I've seen you mention in the tags that you have other views.

...did Louis start his companionship with Armand as a way to shield Claudia? I don't know if I agree with that at all, rather I interpret it as coming back to what Claudia says to him in 2.02 which is that he doesn't know who he is without Lestat and outside of her. He's spent the last three episodes trying to pursue photography and getting very passionately interested in art and has just that episode been shut down by a gallery owner who won't stage his work.

He makes excuses with Dreamstat - that he can't sit down with a subject because he'll eat them (not true, he worked with mortals for years at The Azaelia, and made genuine, albeit brief, mortal connections in the shelters of Eastern Europe without eating them), the lens is dirty, he's impatient - the latter two probably are true, but that's the thing about art, right? Being a successful artist is less about talent than it is about persistence, which is hard when the creation of art requires vulnerability, and the rejection of that art can feel a rejection of the self.

Louis' seeking not just validation but identity, and Armand floundering at controlling the Coven offers Louis a way back to a part of himself. As he says it, he used to be (and proves to still be) very good at running things, and that is a part of him from before Lestat and Claudia. He holds to it as something that is true of himself. Is it all of him? No, of course not, Louis' a million things, it's what makes him interesting as a character, but he's always been professionally ambitious and I think to deny that part of him is to deny his story. His whole NOLA arc is about the fact that Louis is forced to settle for a secondclass seat at the table when what he really wants to be the head of his own table. He wants power and autonomy and freedom. What's disingenous about him in that era is that Louis has to play submissive and pander to the white men who are a fraction as intelligent, ambitious, capable as he is because it's the only way he can get his leg in.

He, as a character, wants to be respected, he wants to be seen and not just heard, but listened to. I think his relationship with art is something that's really fascinating and I could write a lot about that, but in terms of this question in particular, I think he saw art as a way forward for him and when it left him treading water, he felt crushed by it. His photography's not very good because Louis doesn't have anything to say, he doesn't have an artistic rationale, and he's deliberately been creating distance between himself and everyone around him as a means of emotional survival. How can you capture something artistically that you're refusing to engage with? It's not a coincidence that the best picture he takes is when he's trying to take one of Lestat.

Keeping things casual with Armand was, I think, partially motivated by trying to live a bohemian lifestyle, and making things official wasn't about shielding Claudia. It wasn't about Claudia at all, that's the point, as she says it. It's never about her. It was about slipping back into a job he knows he's good at to give himself a sense of identity, trying to let go of Lestat, and regain control not over Armand, but himself, and affiliate himself with power. If he's dominant over the only person who gets to have a genuine voice in the Coven, isn't that as good as having a voice of his own? And it's that that's disingenous, the idea that he'd ever be happy puppet mastering someone else - - that's not Louis' character. Louis wants to feel professionally fulfilled but he doesn't actually give a fuck about the Theatres des Vampires, and he certainly doesn't give a fuck about the Coven. In fact, he actively dislikes both.

He's tried doing something he was passionate about, has given up when he wasn't immediately good at it, and now is putting himself in a position to run a business he doesn't care about just because he knows he's good at it and it gives him some semblance of a sense of purpose again. The Theatre is not The Azaelia, and that is what I'd say leaves Louis cold.

And look, I actually do think in this early stage of their relationship, there is genuine affection between Louis and Armand too, and I think Louis likes that Armand needs him. Louis wants and needs family around him, and Claudia's pulling away while Armand's desperate to get closer, and I think there's something to Louis trying to let Lestat go that shows his companionship with Armand isn't purely transactional. He wants to move forward, but he's going backwards with pale versions of things that were once important to him - again, the Theatres is not The Azaelia, and Armand is not Lestat.

[psychopersonified]

****SPOILERS SEASON FINALE*****

🇦🇺 walk among you….. so yes we get it early if you don’t know by now.

The fucking FEELS.

Revelations, clarifications, self discovery.

One thread gets tied off, another picked up.

Daniel casually lobbing 💣 into vampire marriages. Poking holes into the story that fans have been asking too. Daniel being even more insufferable… at the end.

Sam Barclay a DJ - with a decorative helmet? Daft Punk? 😄

Armand? What’s your next move??

A few funny moments peppered throughout.

Louis looking hella FINE in modern day. Warm light makes his eyes pop. Bittersweet homecoming in multiple ways. Seeing how his NOLA life is reduced to a footnote for tourists. The way he can walk into a luxury hotel now and the white staff treats him like any other patron - the respect he so craved in the past. I’m sure there will be more commentary around this in the next few weeks.

Lestat serving dirty rockstar vibes, funny enough, he’s serving a much better looking Steve Tyler 😁. The ‘plank’, I have jokes for this later (anyone remember Ed, Edd and Eddy?)

THE REUNION…. OMFG…. Decades of grief finally getting processed together. This one is poignant. Firstly Louis coming to terms with his own choices.

Secondly Claudia. You can imagine parents when a child is diagnosed with an incurable disease, if they have different opinions around what’s best for the child - treatment, dignity, suffering… neither is completely right or wrong, but It can tear them apart. And when the child eventually succumbs, they are left with nothing but each other and the grief - some marriages survive, some don’t.

COLOURS finally.

And to those worried about Louis fading into the background in S3, don’t worry. Don’t you worry, our boy throws down the gauntlet!

Overall, a great conclusion to the NOLA-PARIS arc. And laying foundations for something BIGGER. *wink wink*. My shipper heart whist not euphoric, is adequately satiated for now, knowing a more satisfying outcome is in the future.

Season 3 possibilities: We’re going into somewhat uncharted territory now I think. Louis is a much stronger character than the book!Louis. He has bits of Lestat’s personality and vice versa. Honestly I love it, it will make their relationship moving forward more on equal footing. It lays down the possibility of a power couple Loustat (one that I’ve been advocating) going into Prince Lestat. Lestat doesn’t have to shoulder the entire burden of governance through his personality alone, an equally charismatic partner to share it with. Maybe it will be Prince Louis & Lestat of the House of LOUSTAT endgame for the show!

[starshipconsultant]

i feel like a lot of people hate the line in the reunion part of s2e8 where Louis tells Lestat “its not on you” which i assume it’s because they think it’s like absolving Lestat of his part treatment of Claudia but i really don’t think that was the point of Louis saying that.

Like it seems pretty apparent that the amount of guilt Lestat has like figuratively frozen him. The two times we see him after Claudia’s death are in the place he was kept (or at least had been to) while he was turned, and in an abandoned house in NOLA wearing the he same robe he had back when he lived with Louis and Claudia. I think both of these are meant to show that he is unable to move forward. And while yes, i understand the personal desire to say “Yeah Lestat deserves it let him live in the grief cycle forever”, i think the point of the show so far is that being stuck in that place is ultimately harmful and distructive to yourself and the people around you.

Like that’s the whole arc for Louis, whose guilt and grief have colored his actions in the show thus far. His guilt over feeling responsible for the mob violence that trapped Claudia in the fire and grief over the death of Paul, are what caused him to beg Lestat to turn her in the first place. The first 2 seasons are about him learning how to process his feelings of grief and guilt and move forward in HEALTHY ways. In the first episode, his mother tells him, it is your fault Paul is dead. Obviously his mother is also grieving and likely feeling some level of guilt on her own. It’s a very human thing to lash out and hurt someone else when you are hurting. But I think the guilt that it provoked in Louis, and the maternal rejection he feels drives him to make almost every following choice he makes in s1.

Louis cannot repair his relationship with his biological family, and he cannot repair his relationship with his dead daughter. The only thing he can do is look at the only person, who shares his feelings of grief and guilt (even if Lestat bears greater culpability in the circumstances regarding it), and say you do not have to carry this alone, the blame for this is not on you. “It’s not on you” is less of what Lestat “needs to hear” and more of what Louis needs to say, and needed to hear all those years ago. To me that whole scene is less about Louis forgiving or absolving Lestat and more about him stopping the cycle of guilt and grief that has been permeating Louis since Paul’s death.

[andreal831]

Where does Lucien rank among your favorite TVDU villains? Personally, outside of the Mikaelsons, he’s my favorite.

It's complicated. Mostly cause I don't really have a rank in my head for villains. I love/hate them for different reasons.

Lucien is a really good villain and I like that they just let him be a villain. Yes, he has a sort of sad backstory, but so does everyone. I hate how people say characters "aren't evil, they're just broken." 99% of villains in media have tragic backstories. It doesn't make what they do ok. And Lucien's story was not more tragic than a lot of what we saw. He was essentially a "lower class" person who got rejected by a girl... and then, yes tortured and killed by the nobility... But who hasn't?

I like that they never really tried to play up his backstory. We see him in flashbacks and can feel a little bad for him, but then Lucien is still just Lucien in present time. He never feels sorry for what he does. He never questions his choices. In his mind, he deserves to do what he is doing and doesn't hesitate. Even when he has bonded with characters, he's still willing to harm them to achieve his end goal. Like I said, I like him as a villain because he is unapologetically a villain.

He came to New Orleans with an elaborate plan to take down the people who he felt wronged him. I really liked the storyline where he was going after wealthy men, but the show kind of dropped it. I love vampire serial killer storylines because they all are serial killers but most of them are just sloppy with it. Lucien was methodical. It makes him even scarier as a villain. He had this hatred towards elites, yet he was one. He complains about how he grew up, yet he spent the vast majority of his life at the top of the food chain.

I will always hate him for what he did to Cami, but it makes him a better villain. He had a fondness for Cami or was at the very least amused by her bravery and spirit. But it didn't matter. His revenge was above everything. So this may put him at the top just for the fact that he was such a good villain all the way through.

I also really love Dahlia, Celeste, and Aurora. Yet, they spend so much time trying to make us understand Dahlia and Aurora that they lose some of their edge. Don't get me wrong, I love that they got their redemption, but it felt like it took away some of their "evil." It was supposed to. We were supposed to root for them and their redemption at the end. So it just makes me not want to list them as my favorite villain.

Celeste, not surprisingly doesn't get this ending (since she is a woc, I am not surprised by how quickly her arc was finished). If Celeste had a main story, she would probably be my favorite villain. She doesn't get enough credit for how she manipulated and launched TO. People love to credit Katherine for sending Katherine to NOLA, but Celeste was the one that manipulated the prophecies and was there at the beginning, destabilizing the factions in order to make the witches desperate to call the Mikaelsons back. She was incredibly powerful and actually had the Mikaelsons running scared because she knew how to emotionally manipulate them.

Speaking of Katherine, I know people love her as a villain, and she is fun. But if we are talking about the top villains, she doesn't rank very high for me. She was too caught up in the teen drama of it all and revolved around Stefan. It was just never a good enough reason to me to like her as a villain. But I don't want to turn this into me just going through each villain and analyzing them, because that's not what you asked for.

All of this to say, Lucien ranks pretty high for favorite villains for me. To me, the TO villains were all a lot scarier than TVD since they all had to be so much more powerful because the main characters were. While I liked TVD, the villains just don't rank as high for me. But I really liked all of the TO villains. I can't think of one that I was bored with actually, I can, Greta, but all of season 5 was a mess so that's not surprising. Even the Hollow, which was a bit of a messy storyline, still had a really neat backstory and was scary.

Season 3 is one of my favorite seasons because the story was so interesting. You can see where the villains are coming from, but they are never redeemed. They are villains and choose to be villains. It also plays on the idea that one mans villain is another man's hero. Like I don't consider Aya a villain at all because she was just fighting for her freedom, whereas some of the other's were motivated by power. I definitely prefer Lucien over Tristan, but Aurora is my favorite of the trio. Yet again, I never felt she was as good of a villain as Lucien because Aurora's actions were more understandable and even justified at times. She did things that weren't, but so did everyone. It really just depends on how you rank your favorite villains.

Sorry for answering this in a stream of consciousness. Let me know if you want any clarifications!

Thanks for the ask!

[rollinouttahere-writes]

They built a Lady Camorra sized crate thing so that she could go with them to Skypiea. She's just vibing for most of the Skypiea arc while enjoying some of the Skypiea wildlife and fishes. She only gets involved towards the end where she helps take down Giant Jack. Lady Camorra and Nola bond while the celebration goes down.

Lizard had to leave Lady Camorra behind when her and Robin fled Alabasta. Lizard was devastated, but you just can't sneak around with a giant bananawani following you.

Lady Camorra set out to find Lizard herself, but didn't catch up with them until after they crash landed back into the Grand Line after Skypeia.

I went more into detail on this before but I can't find that post now lol

[as-i-watch]

Ranking animal companions for each arc?

Yokozuna, the bull from Dresrossa, eyelashes, Karoo, the snake from Skypea.

With delight! Im sure i forgot some but i can add them later if you let me know!

I went for a tier list to make it easier, and it only goes down to D bc they are all such good animal buddies

In reverse order:

D- Gonbe & Eyelashes. That bunny is a troublemaker and that camel creeped me up a little but he did help a lot

C- Nola & Cerberus: Cerberus was funny and Nola was a legendary giant snake, it dont matter it ate Luffy and Nami, that snake is awsome

B- Megalo & Komachiyo: that poor poor shark. And Komachiyo is an amazing bodyguard / get away car

A- South Bird, Yokozuna & Ucy: South bird i dont think was an animal companion per say but the comedy that bird gave me, had to include it. And animal that can kick ass like that frog and bull are listing high

S- Chouchou, Karoo, Laboon and Zunesha: any animal that can make me cry, is an unofficial crew member, can make my cry x2, and can fuck shit up in such an epic way deserve the highest honor

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 62 – The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings

This is the latest book I never would have heard of if it wasn’t for an award nomination (WFA for Best Novel, in this case). Overall, I was left dearly wishing I had liked it more than I did – it was so thoroughly soaked in imagery and references to a whole milieu I only barely know enough about to catch all the references flying over my head. Unfortunately by the final act the whole thing just collapses into a mess of spectacle without much in the way of connective tissue or context.

The story follows Perilous “Perry” Graves, his kid sister, and his best friend/crush Peaches (who is clearly an ersatz Pippy Longstocking but for some reason this is almost literally the only reference the book doesn’t explicitly acknowledge). They live in Nola, a fantastical alternate New Orleans full of zombies, animate graffiti, sky trolleys, and music that is indistinguishable from magic. After the magical songs that sustain the city escape/are stolen, it’s up to the three of them to get them back before Stagger Lee (the song) hunts down and kills the others for his mysterious partner. There’s also an extended subplot with Casey, a recently returned Katrina refugee in what seems to be our world, discovering that his and his cousin’s graffiti and other art is very literally magic and can come alive when he isn’t looking. Things just generally get messier and harder to explain from there.

Above everything else, the book’s a love letter to New Orleans. The sheer fascination and affection Jenning’s has for the place just about oozes out of every page. The geography and the culture and especially and overwhelmingly the art. Now I know barely anything about modern pop music and even less about classic jazz, but Jennings is either a massive fan or an incredibly confident bullshitter, and either way it’s an absolutely loadbearing part of the book – famous jazz musicians appear as magicians and ghosts, snatches and stanzas of different songs are quoted liberally, and of course the songs themselves are the driving engine of the plot. I, at least, just kind of let all the references wash over me and try to figure them out from context, and also started listening to the namedropped songs as I read. But even without really knowing the subject, the sheer love for the culture that just suffuses the book is really incredible endearing. Which is good, because it’s absolutely the main actual draw here.

The dialogue also deserves a shoutout – both because there’s a fun line you can draw between the characters that talk like actual people and the ones that intentionally present themselves like cartoon characters, and also because it’s the first book I can recall reading this year where people speak in AAVE. Plus, as a matter of style, when songs or certain ghosts were speaking telepathically the book used a different font for what they were saying, which is the sort of flourish that I always like when it’s not too overused.

While the surreal, exaggerated sort of magical absurdism works very well for the setting of Nola, the plot is...just kind of a mess. You almost get the sense the book was written in one sprint and then never revised – the protagonists are constantly getting help out of nowhere exactly as they need it to solve their latest problem, and revelations of plot critical information exactly when it’s needed to keep things moving abound, whether there’s any setup or justification for it or not. The metaphysics that underpin Nola are all vague and confused, which really wouldn’t be an issue if the entire third act didn’t turn on on the villain being wrong about them. The end result is a finale that feels like a bunch of big set piece scene the author had been looking forward to writing without any real connective tissue linking or supporting them.

Also, like – it is a major part of Perry’s arc that a year before the events of the book he had a run in with a monstrous caricature of a Jim Crow era hanging judge, and it has traumatized him sufficiently that he had steadfastly refused to try and do any magic since. The judge is later revealed to be an escaped bit of living graffiti, with absolutely zero relevance or deeper significance, and never appears on-screen again. Which just feels like some sort of narrative malpractice, honestly.

I’m also just left a bit disappointed with the villain – or, specifically, the wasted potential. Like, the idea of The Storm as this primeval elemental force that wants nothing more than to drown the world is a pretty great villain for a magical New Orleans, honestly. And there was something there of graffiti and music and just art being this engine of joyous hubris letting the city exist in defiance of its inevitable doom – but you really have to dig to get at it, and most of the other personal plots and heroes journey stuff burying it was far less compelling to me.

Anyway yeah, in the end this very much felt like it was style over substance, but on the other hand the style was excellent. In the end I kind of feel like this was ill-served as a book? Not that it’s necessarily impossible to write a novel that’s mostly about music, but this was really begging for a medium that could include a soundtrack.

[dwreader]

Can I ask what has made you think the season isn’t Louis/armand/claudia centred? I know the fandom is annoying but I’ve yet to see anything to convince me that the actual show itself isn’t going to be completely centred around them. Daniel is just a part of their modern day narrative, he has to have some character exploration or there’s no point to him/ no vehicle for the interview to take place. Lestat is just a part of the past narrative, I think the flashbacks are mostly going to be about Armands past with the theatre which involves Lestat and Nicki, Armand needs to be fleshed out a bit as a character cause I doubt we’ll get to a TVA season. I just haven’t seen anything yet that makes me think it’s Daniel/Lestat’s story they’re just a part of the overall story. Idk I’m just hopeful I guess but I don’t see why we’re doom posting before we know what we’re actually gonna get, unless there’s something you’ve seen in particular?

I think the interview happening because of a daniel lost memories arc completely undercuts the story as being louis's no matter how much or little screentime they actually devote to it. I don't rly think there's going to be a lot of screentime on young daniel just based on how little the actor was there (even nicki's actor was on in prague way longer) but the central question of the season/second half of the book being what happened to claudia and does louis know turning into what's been erased from daniel's mind completely changes the show's centrality. It's not necessarily that daniel is suddenly going to be the main lead which he's obviously not but what the show deems an impactful reveal does affect how we view the importance of the characters and relationships. And to me throwing in a whole amnesia storyline about the white guy 100% takes away from the premise of the interview altogether. Its very very jarring when in the book daniel was entirely irrelevant to loumand but in the show suddenly he's the main figure in the room... very deliberate choice and kind of screams they have no confidence in loumand carrying the show on their own.

As for the Lestat/Nicki/Marius/etc flashbacks, I just think it's not relevant to the Louis + Claudia arc in the book at all? and you'd never in a million years see a Lestat-centric TVL season be shoehorned with random bits of Louis or Claudia backstory that occur w/o Lestat even there and have little to no relevance to the main plot. In fact, you probably could've dropped some TVL bits in s1 since it's clear Louis does know about Nicki already in NOLA but the show doesn't go there cause it doesn't feel the need to (as Lestat is already a co-lead in s1 and has a lot of screentime as is). But I think once they were given the OK to make the book into 2 seasons they realized the second half was going to be almost entirely louis-armand-claudia with only a brief lestat appearance at the end... and yeah. If they really have the confidence that the show would get multiple seasons then why try to cram so much later book stuff into this season? Supposedly AMC wants 10 seasons and like theoretically you'll have plenty of time for all this when Louis's main arc is over so why are you doing this now when he actually does have a story left to tell? Or do they think if they don't sprinkle this shit now, most of their book loyalists will bolt since they don't care about non-white characters without a white person tether.

[nalyra-dreaming]

whether or not that loustat hug is the contested NOLA reunion, do you think it could happen in the present day instead? obviously in the iwtv book it’s a fleeting visit from louis. but in the show i just can’t imagine them going separate ways again after a reunion as it’s all heightened so much more. plus, i believe it’s been said that we have a modern day NOLA shot in the trailer. after watching s1 i just assumed that lestat would eventually pop up in the present day, but that was before reading the books!! how do you think us seeing him in the present day will go down? do you have any thoughts on where he even is? i’m feeling so clueless but curious about how they’ll introduce him and pave the way for his story to be told. sorry that this is so long🫶🏼

The hug can theoretically happen in Dubai time, but then... you know, back then, when Claudia's diaries showed up for the first time, I said that I sure hope their potential will not be wasted.

Because... Claudia's diary was a twist. A BIG twist, even for book readers. It shifted perceptions of characters yet again. "Merrick" was a blow to the stomach, especially knowing Anne had originally planned to let Louis die. (Btw, the first "Merrick" post I tagged as such was a reblog of @cbrownjc, in October 22, go figure :P)

The show has taken elements from Merrick, elements which would indeed be wasted if they do not go a certain route towards the end of season 2. Because they have been building up to it, and if they should not go there then they won't be able to return later on and then this twist will be wasted.

I just... cannot see them waste that twist, tbh, given its importance for all the arcs.

Which brings us back to NOLA (or not) and Lestat, and where he is, because if we are in Merrick territory... then Lestat is either asleep/in coma, or roaming. Because I agree! I don't see them separating again (not fully) after finding each other again. It wouldn't serve the show imho, the back and forth, and why would Lestat tell his story?

So I do not see the hug happen in NOLA. And if it is, then I bet that will be the contested meeting.

Now, I personally think Lestat is close by. I think he might be connected to "The Groan". I think it will literally all come crashing down when Dubai comes to a head.

I think Lestat might be in the "chapel" with "Those Who Must Be Kept", maybe. A chapel which serves both, and which explains the "I serve a god", too.

I think the moment when the books come down Lestat will wake up.

If they are mean, they'll go out with a cliffhanger of epic proportions^^ (aka Louis seemingly dead), but I can also see them go through with the resolution first... and then sit back, literally, proverbially, and Daniel going something like: "So you are the vampire Lestat." in that tone of his, while side-eyeing all vampires there :) I can hear it.^^

That said, there was once a comment about Lestat maybe telling his story through a different device, so maybe... maybe Daniel finds some old tapes :) Or maybe he even interviewed Lestat before! We don't know yet. He did seem to react to "Come to me".

Personally I want Louis there to listen to the story though. Because ultimately Lestat tells his story for Louis.

So. To come back to the hug and Dubai... Maybe what we saw was the end of the season.

Because... if they are not that mean (to us)... then maybe Louis does attempt suicide, Lestat wakes, he, Armand and Marius save Louis... and Louis wakes to see Lestat - dusty, hair tangled, and clad in a velvet jacket.

"Lestat had by this time brushed off the cumbersome covering of dust he wore, and taken from his own closet a new coat of dark- brown velvet, and fresh linen, so that he wore his usual thick and faintly discolored old lace. He had shaken out his hair and combed it, and put on new boots."

Dark brown velvet jacket, and shaken out and combed hair.

I mean, we can hope, right? :)

[livlepretre]

Any estimate on when the next chapter is coming? I don’t mean to pressure you and I know it’s only been one week but you’ve been edging us HARD with the Klaus Meltdown! I NEED TO READ THE NEXT PART ITS BECOME AN OBSESSION

no one is edged harder than me, who is losing her poor mind over the desire to get this out!

going to be real here: I haven't formally started writing the next chapter yet. it exists as various scraps of dialogue and some rough scenes, cobbled together over the past eight years, and as various outline drafts of what I want to happen. it was only the other night that I had a big breakthrough on some issues that were plaguing me and feel clear on the writing.

this is what I am planning. I am working on finishing my reread of the nola II arc-- I'll wrap up with the chapter Klaus vamooses. I've been slowly reading and annotating FE all fall because I want to make sure I don't drop the ball on anything as we head into the final parts of this fic. Just today, I had a huge realization about something while reading through these old chapters. also, they are relevant for various technical world-building reasons.

anyway, once I finish that today or tomorrow, I'll start writing.

I want to say I'll have it in another week or so but why make a promise I'm not sure I can keep? Literally my two year old controls this entire fic's publishing schedule.

but.

GOD.

I think this arc has like 3 more chapters left. (the finale is going to hit elena like a brick to the face, sorry y'all)

I would DEARLY love to get those out before Easter.

probably a fever dream though.