#lestat in general LMAO

[hekateinhell]

Lestat pov ddg and knifeplay pt 2 please!!! <3

Anything for you! 🥹

Here's what I have for knifeplay pt 2 (this is pt 1):

Never, in all his years, has Armand ever seen another immortal in such a delirious state of ecstasy that was not induced through the swoon as Lestat is now.

He listens, taking great care to maintain a separation of his senses. Drags his finger over the concave beneath Lestat’s eye—the same one that had been taken from him and then restored—gathering up the fluid there and licking it off his fingertip. Permitting himself a single suck to ensure no residue was left behind. 

Of course Lestat’s tears would taste as sweet as the rest of him.

Fascinating as ever to bear witness to emotions and sensations taking form in the minds of others, especially one Armand loved and valued such as him.

The echo of their willing victim’s shallow breaths swirl in the air to meld with the wet sounds of Louis slicing into Lestat’s immaculate flesh with the loving precision that a butcher bestows on his most prized cut of meat fit for a royal feast. Lestat’s thoughts had become less pronounced until they lost shape entirely, falling apart some time ago like a poorly constructed dress on a mannequin, tattered scraps held together by nothing but rusted pins and hope. Distorted without word or sound, mindless flashes of color and static, the useless dreams of a beast who does not realize it can dream. His grey eyes fixed open, glassy but bright, tinted with a reddish film reminiscent of something violently killed until enough tears have amassed that they spill over, permitting the cleansing cycle to start anew.

“You do so well, Lestat, so beautiful,” Armand murmurs praise into his ear, caressing the spot where his hairline meets his temple, the blood sweat staining the white-blond baby hairs. It is for Louis’s benefit that he speaks at all, seeing as Lestat is well past hearing either of them through any means.

For now Armand is content to speculate and facilitate, dipping his hands in and out of each wound to coat his fingers a warm and sticky crimson, the liquid seeping underneath his nails, greedy and wretched as a gluttonous child left unattended in a candy shop.

----

I hope to have it finished sometime this summer! ♥️ I'll slide Lestat POV DDG under the cut!

Lestat’s sophomore year—she’s had more than enough first days of school at this point—and yet somehow the anxiety in her stomach never goes away. She’s already anticipating the frustration, the tears, the begging Nicki to help with her papers because flunking a class would mean losing her scholarship to the theater program.

And Nicki has being so irritable with her lately, “Just go to the fucking tutoring center yourself, Lestat! Even you aren’t that dumb” she would snap, storming away, leaving Lestat staring numbly at the screen, unable to translate the thoughts in her head into words on the page in a way that made sense to her or anybody.

I’m not dumb...

“Lestat!” Eleni yells, waving as she bounds up the short steps outside of the liberal arts building. “What’s wrong with you?” She’s still catching her breath, god knows Eleni’s never been anywhere on time a day in her life.

“Nothing,” Lestat lies, shaking her head and taking one last hit of her vape, tilting her head back to blow a strawberry-scent cloud into the air.

Eleni narrows her eyes, but she doesn’t say anything. She’s met Nicki. She knows. That’s the shame of it, isn't it? Everyone knows.

And how had this happened? Was there truly nothing to spare the daughter the fate of the mother? How could Lestat not see it coming when she’d grown up knowing the warning signs before she even knew her ABCs and 123s?

“Come on,” Eleni puts her hand on Lestat’s arm like she’s guiding a lost child—her touch that careful, her tone that gentle.

Nicki aside, Eleni was her closest friend. Truth be told, Lestat didn’t have many friends. More acquaintances than she could care to remember, much less name.

Try as she might, she had never really stopped being the gangly little girl curled up in the corner with a book she couldn’t read, staring at the pictures until she saw spots dancing and her vision blurred, pretending she hadn’t even wanted to play with the other kids anyway. Who wanted to be friends with the kid with ratty hair and torn up clothes, eight-years-old and still unable to read because none of the adults in her life gave a fuck? Nobody wants you… Why should we?

Except Eleni had. Nicki had.

----

And that's as far as I got before I realized the story needed to go back to Armand's pov! Not that I wasn't happy with it or anything, but it was just starting to tell an entirely different story than the one that I wanted to!

[leslutdepointedulac]

Mojo being Louis' little shadow whenever Lestat's away because he misses him and Louis lets him follow him around because he's waiting for Lestat to come home too and he's glad to have the company and for it to be from someone who won't Bother him. Louis miiight even let Mojo on the furniture to snuggle (even though he doesn't normally allow it) but as soon as Lestat's back, Louis' like "yeah Mojo missed you, he hasn't left me alone the whole time 🙄 Me? No I didn't miss you at all, it's been lovely having some peace and quiet for once"

[lamourt]

@aranostra said: “ why can’t you be honest with me? with yourself? “ (from louis)

"because i will break!" he cries, arm flying out in a wild gesticulation, chest heaving once the words have left him and the silence descends. the air seems to reverberate from the exclamation, both the truth and volume at which he announced it rolling over his palms. he swallows thickly, tries to recover. where his gaze is locked on louis's, he now drops it. "there," he sniffs, eyes cast towards the floor and focused on nothing. "you want the truth? now you have it."

[shavirlight]

a consensual-nonconsent fic

I don't know if this is what you're working on, but I've always wondered how Lestat engaging in that kind of scenario with Louis could help him with his Magnus trauma. Or not help lol.

I'm working on a two part fic, first part would be a cnc scenario where Lestat is the aggressor during his and Louis' first years in Rue Royale, and the second part would be a similar thing but with the roles swapped in a nebulous time after season 2 when they're sort of settling into a relationship again.

It's mostly the first part I'm playing around with now, so I actually don't totally know what Lestat in the victim role would be like yet. I'd imagine Magnus would be haunting that particular sex scene even if it isn't explicitly stated. It's also Louis POV so it might end up being a bit ambiguous. Remains to be seen!

[pynkhues]

https://x.com/pixielayer/status/1818003659675869381

since you're in your smut writing renaissance era... i'll just leave it here and hope it sparks the creative juice flow *wink-wonk*

(ok that sounded weird. i'm out)

Lmaooo, anon!! LOOK, I will keep it in mind.

[loumandaniel]

man idk i just don’t really care for lestat. s3 might be really rough for me

[strangestcase]

👻 bicanterville Follow

Ngl. I hate how vampire centric tomblr and the monsternet in general is like did you know there are other monsters

🐺 omega-awoo Follow

No duh, there’s werewolves

🧜🏽 lagoonloonatix Follow

Ah yes, The two types of monster: vampire and werewolf. There’s nothing else no sir

💋 kissofdeath Follow

Ok but vampires are the most common type of monster and also we have the coolest powers

🫀 frankennaturals Follow

No they aren’t and no they don’t lmao. Is getting criticized for being entitled little freaks one of the vampire weaknesses

🩸 lestats-big-gay-fangs Follow

Just say you want all vampires to get staked you formaldehyde ridden freak

🫀 frankennaturals Follow

[nalyra-dreaming]

Fans who insist Nicki was Lestat's "real love" and that Louis was "just a replacement" will be bitterly disappointed by s3. imho even the most generous reading of book!Nickistat doesn't allow for that interpretation, but it's just laughable to imagine the writers spinning it that way after spending 2 solid seasons driving home that this is the Loustat show. Nickistat are important ofc but they aren't gonna be the new Main Couple any more than Loumand were in s2. I doubt the show will villainize Nicki, but it'll probably lean into the toxicity and tragedy of that romance & use it largely to inform Lestat's character and his later attitudes and behaviors towards Louis & Claudia. Obvs there's nothing wrong with liking or even preferring Nickistat, but idg why some constantly try to make it more than it canonically is? And for the life of me idk what Loustat haters are even doing here at this point lmao. They should protect their peace & stick to fanfic, genuinely!

Probably :)

Nicolas... is dead. He is dead within the narrative. Louis "showed" us his grave in the tale in 2x08.

I do not get the comparisons or pitching of these canon relationships against each other, I truly do not.

Nicolas and Lestat were doomed from the start, there was love there, and it is tragic. And Lestat learned from it, and even some of the wrong lessons.

And those lessons learned formed his initial relationship with Louis, and going by what we know already a lot of little things will click into place with season 3 I think, which fits of course with what the books canonically did as well, namely Lestat explaining the 'why'... to Louis.

There is no reason for jealousy between "ships". These are real relationships within the narrative. Both have their faults, and one informs the other.

[doubledeadstudio]

Hello, happy holidaysヾ(＾∇＾) I apologize for this being a long question but I've been thinking for a long time and I really have to ask if you would ask the RH crew (Mars, Abel and Fleur too if that's okay) for book and/or movie recommendations, what would they give ? If it's not a spoiler, what media inspired their depiction, if any? I want to practice English so I find new things I like, and I hope my words make meaning when I use translation. Have a happy holiday (づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡

Happy Holidays! This is so sweet. Good luck on your language journey.

Recommendations:

Crux Hertz - The Ritual (2017) or Bones and All (2022) (movie), Siddharta by Hermann Hesse or No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (books)

Black Lumaban - Mad Max: Fury Road (movie), The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin (book)

Vincenzo Fontana - Possession (1981) (movie), The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde or Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (book)

Florentin Blanchett - The Substance (2024) or Dead Ringers (1988) (movie), Stiff by Mary Roach (book)

Abel Valencia - American Psycho (2000) or Wolf of Wall Street (2013), no books because he's stupid but I will give a TV show... Desperate Housewives

Inspirations:

So, the thing about this is really complicated because I'm an avid art fan and I consume all sorts of media, from books to movies to tv shows and music. Generally, I get a concept then my brain starts piecing things together. (Crux is the hardest to explain because he originally started off as the child of two of me and my husband's oldest OCs... and he became a whole separate beast on his own.)

But I can give characters that really remind me of them!

Crux - Sans (Undertale), Gojo (JJK), Loki (Marvel), Shawn Spencer (Psych) (This is the worst list of all time), also Markus (Red Embrace:Hollywood), and Lee (Bones and All). Hozier and Will Wood remind me of his aesthetic.

Black - Guts (Berserk), Lio Fotia (Promare), Fenris (Dragon Age), Warren Peace (Sky High), Bigby (Wolf Among Us), Juri (Utena). For music, grandson has his vibes.

Vincenzo - Lestat (Interview with a Vampire), Orin (Baldur's Gate 3), Gilbert (Kaze to Ki no Uta), Mahito (JJK), Alois Trancy (Black Butler), Ryo Asuka (Devilman Crybaby). His storyline was largely inspired by HP Lovecraft's Dreams of Witch House. For music, near everything by Emilie Autumn and Mindless Self Indulgence.

Abel - Ashley (The Boys), Rhys (Tales from the Borderlands), Nathan (Life is Strange). (I won't lie, a huge part of him is directly inspired to parody Right Wing pundits lolol) For music, no lie, Laufey and Lana del Rey, LMAO.

Florentin - Griffith (Berserk), Viktor Frankenstein, Dr Herbert West (Re-Animator).

~~~

For Mars:

Hello, Clovis here, creator of Mars! Thank you for the interest! Mars likes classic films with lots of sexuality and violence. Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Chicago (he loves a good musical if it isn't too sugary-sweet). He'll go for the stereotypical Dad Movies too as long as he thinks they're suave enough, like James Bond and Indiana Jones. For books, he reads a lot more than you'd think and enjoys being well-read, but let's say A Song of Ice and Fire, because there's political drama and everyone's suffering. (Their misfortune and crushed innocence amuses him.)

Mars is inspired heavily from the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood depiction of Greed. While not a direct inspiration (I've had the character for years), Sukuna from Jujutsu Kaisen is hilariously similar to him. Vintage mafia movies are where a lot of his aesthetic comes from. If you like crime thrillers, I would highly recommend the television show Fargo for bastard men that you love to hate, are scary as hell, and are darkly comedic. — Clovis @VileFable

[monstersinthecosmos]

Do you see Marius as a villain?

If you’re asking if I personally see him as a relative bad guy in a series of bad guys – no! He’s not even the worst guy in the books he shows up in lol. I stand by my problematic wife.

But asking if he’s “a villain” is a really nice question, this is chewy to me, I love it. Like, villainous as in a bad guy in general? Sure! But as a story mechanism? If you’re asking if he’s an antagonist inside the series, also no!

I think we know that, though. VC does not have simple antagonists, aside from the occasional big bad that shows up (Akasha, Rhosh, Santino) but the antagonist in VC is like, the prison of their reality, their condition, the struggle of faith. It’s GRIEF! It’s disability, it’s the nature of evil!!!!!!!!!! It’s THE UNKNOWN!

Like, we can say that Marius is the villain of Blood & Gold in the sense of like “omg my life is so hard who is making my life so hard! OH NO IT’S ME!” and in the same way I could say that Lestat is the villain of VC overall! But again this is getting into like, trying to make the books black & white, which they aren’t, and Lestat can be both the protagonist and a terrible person who causes most of the problems in the story and he’s still our antihero. And like! Honestly while it’s fun to chat about and analyze, if you’re looking for a simple answer or feel the need to file characters as “good” or “bad”, you’re in the wrong fandom!!!!!!!

I don’t want to get into yet another dissertation about how VC is about bad people because it’s  been discussed to death LMAO but let me tackle this for a few minutes because I’m procrastinating.

You can look at some of the “bad” things Marius has done (threatening Lestat, keeping the Parents to himself, not rescuing Armand) and see ways in which those actions rippled to affect other characters or move the story, but no one in the series is a true villain. THERE ARE GRADATIONS OF EVIL, AFTER ALL. Even when we meet a character who behaves atrociously (Santino, for example) we often also get a perspective of them that is generous and still recognizes their nuance and worldview. If we pinned a single person to the antagonist in TVA you could argue that it’s Santino, but we also see that he’s warm and generous in his own way and that he believes in what he’s doing, that he’s acting from a place of devout faith and isn’t acting from a place of deliberate evil. And villains need that! It makes them believable. But even inside the text, the characters are generous towards each other and forgive each other. Armand has Louis's daughter-wife killed, and Louis still dates him! Santino still gets to come hang out at Night Island!

Even these alleged bad deeds of Marius’s!!!!!! There’s nuance, there’s a reason why he did those things. We can add: groomed Armand, destroyed Mael’s village, had Santino killed, tried to manipulate his wives, refused to participate in Roman society by marrying, kicked Flavius out, committed vandalism. There’s nuance to all of these things, and whether or not they were bad or whether or not they were intentionally evil.

And as a story mechanism it just doesn’t really make sense to think of him as a villain. The shitty things Marius did, even when they’ve rippled outwards and affected others, aren’t the driving force of conflict in the story. The books barely even have a single driving force of conflict, they’re stories about trauma that just compounds and compounds and compounds. You could say “Lestat acted shady in New Orleans because Marius threatened him” but Marius didn’t tell Lestat to coerce Louis for decades or turn a small child (in fact he told Lestat explicitly not to turn a child). And why does it lead back to Marius instead of leading back to Santino, Eudoxia, the Parents, the druids? He threatened Lestat, but he also rescued Lestat and let him into his home and what did Lestat do except immediately disobey him and cause chaos!

This is ultimately a series about being loved and being forgiven. They are saying that all of us deserve love, even when we've fucked up, and that forgiveness is divine. So even if we look at evil events or characters who have behaved badly, it's not a sticking point to build the whole story around. There is no single villain of IWTV - people misbehave and pay for it, and people forgive them. The villain is grief and change and the horror of the unknown.

Every character in this series is atrocious. (Not you Mojo.) They’re all villains. And I think like, depending how you find joy in fandom you can take that time to criticize Anne Rice or the way she handled all these subjects (regarding Marius, the subjects of: pedophilia, imperialism, the hubris of  white male privilege) but if you’re here to kinda play in the sandbox and meet the universe where it’s at, he wasn’t designed to be a bad guy, and we can criticize and analyze all we want and it doesn’t change the reality on the page that he’s not the bad guy. You can go “But Armand was underage!” and the book says “That doesn’t matter in this reality! No one cares!” You can see Armand’s story as a series of traumas that compound and compound and even if you place some of the blame on Marius, the text really doesn’t. You can sketch out a framing of TVA that says “this is the reality of abuse where a child doesn’t recognize their experience as abuse” but when Armand is spilling his guts about his religious trauma, his abandonment issues, being kidnapped by a cult, trying to kill himself, it just isn’t intended to be a book that frames his maker as the big bad of his life. It’s just not.

Like everyone’s of course welcome to make transformative fanworks and write the version “what if the text actually condemned Marius preying on Armand?” and that’s fun if it’s what you want to do. That’s not really my bag so I’ll stay over here indulging in my monsterfucker kink. PERHAPS I WILL CELELBRATE FUCKING THAT OLD MAN ON THE FUCK THAT OLD MAN WEBSITE.

Really though at the end of the day, when we look at all the characters, they all do awful things, they’ve all hurt each other, they’ve all murdered countless numbers of people because they valued their own survival over removing themselves from the foodchain. And Marius, to me, is one of the kinder ones, and even if he’s kind of a fucking loser and even when he’s fucked up, I don’t think he’s anywhere near as bad as Lestat LOL.  

[nightcolorz]

I would love to hear your thoughts on autistic Armand, if you haven’t already spoke about this! Imo he’s very autsitic coded, and it’s very precious to me as an autistic iwtv fan :]

OMG!!! RUNS AROUND. Yes lmao I talk about this a lot actually it is one of my favorite Armand things to meta about bcus I’m also autistic and he is my special interest🙏I was trying to find some of the stuff I’ve written about autistic Armand but tumblrs search engine makes it near impossible to find anything so I gave up 😭, but believe me they r out there. Even tho I talk about this a lot I would love love love to talk about it some more for u anon because I can never get enough of armandtism.

I first figured Armand was autistic when I was reading the vampire Lestat because when he is first introduced he is completely non verbal and only communicates through the mind gift. through further explanation it’s very much implied that he does this because he finds putting his thoughts into words hard and he considers just projecting them into peoples brains much easier. Armand speaks out loud for the first time like more than halfway through the book, and lestat is surprised to hear him lol. This is super autistic I feel like that’s obvious 🙏 it’s basically the vampire power equivalent of using a non verbal communication device. Armand having trouble with connecting with people, understanding how to “fit in”, and talking r prevailing parts of his character throughout the whole series (not just tvl) which solidified my headcanon into basically a canon fact in my mind lol.

When Armand is first introduced in iwtv his strangeness is chalked up to his vampirism, but it’s soon revealed throughout tvl and qotd that Armand is considered a strange outcast by other vampires. The things he struggles with r unique to him and r not representative of vampires in general. His otherness/strangeness can also not be chalked up to his trauma or his age turned because Armand was also an outcast as a young child. It’s described in the vampire Armand that Armand was not understood by his parents or his community because he was obsessed with and freakishly good at painting. His community interprets his unusualness as a sign of some divine intervention, the priests believe he is a saint or a prophet sent to earth, even at times saying things implying that he is “not human”. Unusually high quickly developing skill in childhood is an autistic trait, as is hyper fixation on an activity/topic that becomes a core identity factor and prevailing obsession. The affects of Armand’s trauma only worsen the severity of his autistic traits. C-ptsd and autism often overlap and coexist in autistic people who were traumatized in childhood, which seems to be Armand’s case.

in queen of the damned Armand is at his peak autistic lol, I feel like this is when most book readers gain that head canon. The Devils minion chapter revolves around Armand using Daniel as a guide to help him learn how to be “normal” and to blend in to the modern age. Armand can’t seem to figure out how to blend in on his own because he is unable to understand social norms of any time period enough to integrate himself into society. Armand is in love with technology and what most would consider monotonous sensory experiences. He stares at his own reflection for hours, he loves kitchen appliances and watching ingredients whir in blenders, cameras, he watches the same movie over and over again and never gets bored of it. The way Armand fixates on technology really reminds me of how a lot of autistic people played as children. He enjoys repetitive, sensory behaviors over “fun”. For Armand this means watching the same things repeatedly, which is a form of visual stimming. There r moments where Armand is trying to understand his world, but is so blind to what he is trying to understand that he goes about his discoveries wrong. Such as in qotd when he tries to interrogate strangers to gain information on societal norms but he only gets uncomfortable glances. Armand is desperate to understand and to connect but he is consistently inherently alienated, whether it be from humanity or from other vampires or from himself.

Armand also can not process his memories comprehendingly. This is part trauma part autism, but autism is def a factor. Because of his repressed trauma induced memory loss Armand finds it difficult to talk about himself to people. This is worsened by Armand being unable to comprehend the aspects of story telling that he needs to be able to tell people about his life. Armand explains to Daniel that he vividly remembers small details, such as dates and weather, but he could not tell Daniel what “things were like” because he “doesn’t know what that means”. Literal thinking, the inability to grasp vague, fiction based concepts like narratives and metaphor, and strict fixation on minor details like numbers, are all autistic traits!

Armand also struggles heavily with emotional regulation. He is described as often having intense and extreme meltdowns where he cries and screams and breaks things. Armand is easily bothered, in tva he mentions that he covers his ears when he is overwhelmed. The vampire Armand begins actually with Armand becoming overwhelmed in public and trying to escape to an attic so that he can be alone in silence. Armand copes with his intense emotions by putting on a mask of neutrality. He is often described as expressionless and blank, uncanny. But this is a mask, and when Armand can no longer mask and his disguise lapses his facial expressions r described by lestat as being so over the top and emotional that they are disturbing and weird. Over the top unnatural facial expressions as well as blank unreadable ones are both autistic traits. For Armand he is naturally overly emotive to the point of being considered horrifying, and he hides this by taking the opposite extreme. Either way, either expression Armand puts on causes him to be socially outcast.

Armand often describes feeling like there is something wrong with him that causes him to be isolated from others and he’s not sure what it is. In prince lestat he tells Gregory that he doesn’t know why it’s so hard for him to have relationships when other vampires are fully capable of doing that. In the vampire Armand he explains to David that he’s crazy because his mind isn’t built right and his senses are tripled so he shouldn’t bother trying to understand him. I rlly relate to this as someone who felt like I was from another dimension as a child bcus i didn’t know the unspoken life rules everyone else did.

Armand is often treated like a child by the other vampires and assumed to be emotionally immature and too fragile and insane to be helpful. Armand says in the vampire Armand that he doesn’t consider himself an adult because he can’t function like one. This could be due to the age he was turned, but it’s shown to us that characters like Benji and even to an extent Claudia r able to self regulate and function appropriately despite being turned even younger then Armand was.

in conclusion, book Armand is an autistic person who was never given proper support or understanding because the environment and the time period he was born in decided to alienate him further rather then work to help him socialize and learn appropriate skills, and because of the necessities he has been deprived of and the horrible trauma he endured Armand is never able to learn to function in the way he was likely capable of. this recessive quality in pair with his autism caused Armand it be unable to cope or self regulate or learn ways to understand himself since he wasn’t given a chance to in his formative years. He’s a great representative of what many autistic people who experienced intense child abuse experience.

Im rlly happy with the shows portrayal with Armand so far partly because he is omg, so autistic. Show Armand shares so many of book Armand’s autistic traits. inability to understand himself or others, fixation on small details but inability to understand the big picture, etc. even his iPad is autistic asf! My ipad is my comfort item that I carry around with me to self sooth, and this is def the vibe Armand’s iPad gives me in the show. Even assads performance is autistic! He is able to play Armand masking and Armand unmasking, the stilted expressions he gives and the blank stares, the uncomprehending earnestness. AGHHHH!! Assad stims with his fingers when Armand is nervous too which is just an amazing touch. I hope the show explores Armand’s autism, because that would literally be a dream come true. Even still, for now I’m satisfied.

thank u so so much anon for the ask this made me so happy 🙏❤️ autistic Armand means so much to me and has gotten me though some tough times. Understanding and analyzing Armand helps me understand myself better and feel more comfortable with how I am. Earlier this year I gave myself a concussion because I was harmfully stimming during a meltdown, and while I was in the emergency room I was holding the vampire Armand and imaging that he would relate to what I was going through. So yeah he is very special to me too! And once again it makes me so so happy that u got me to talk some about it. I hope this was coherent or interesting lol I felt like I was all over the place

[leslutdepointedulac]

Would you ship Nicki with Antoine?

This is the most delicious question and I've been marinating on this since I got it! Honestly, I dare say I'm not mad at it 🫢 Like, Nicki's gunna pick on Antoine, one because it's Nicki and he's Like That and also because Antoine's a baby to him who spent years of his life chasing after Lestat, which he does not get at all 😭 But at some point he starts to see the young musician who was cast out by his family and ended up with this otherworldly man who changed his life, who he loved more than anyone else. But then he was put aside in favour of something someone better and suddenly he was all on his own again.

I just know Nicki would bully Antoine over it, like, he's saying how he isn't special for having a shit family and a tough life, and he certainly isn't special for being ditched by Lestat. And Nicki's feeling kinda bitter over this on his own part because of how familiar Antoine's story is (funny that). Although, I also see him having this twisted sense of pity for Antoine, not in a nice caring way but more, 'well shit, he got you too then. Sucks for you ig but good to know I wasn't the only one' and then tell him to get over it 😭

There's also the fact that they both play the violin (and Antoine plays piano too, ofc) which has me chewing on this further. So, I feel like when Nicki finds out that Antoine plays, it piques his interest a little, in part because it's another similarity between them (typical Lestat) and partially because he's admittedly a teeny bit curious about it.

When he hears Antoine's playing, he's a bit like "huh, it's fine, I suppose. I see potential but you can do better." Antoine asks if he can teach him, to which Nicki probably rudely declines because 'I don't teach, I was just pointing out what should be the obvious'. Which is true enough when he says that but sometime later, he hears Antoine playing his violin again and he can't help but linger nearby and listen.

And when Antoine has finshed Nicki simply tells him what he did wrong, so naturally Antoine asks if he can show him what he should be doing. Nicki rolls his eyes and huffs but goes over, all while grumbling to himself about how fledglings can't do anything for themselves.

Basically after that, I can see Nicki doing the one thing he said he wouldn't do, which is teach Antoine, although he is a dick about it and he's overly harsh when critiquing him. I do think he'd give credit where credit's due though, albeit in a curt sort of way. (I think deep down, a small part of Nicki might secretly want Antoine to do well. He's never thought much of his own talents, in his own mind he'll never achieve the success he wants to with the violin, so maybe if he helps Antoine he can live vicariously through him. At least then someone will get somewhere, even if it isn't himself.)

Antoine might stick around for a little bit after and Nicki just doesn't outwardly tell him to go away (even if he does sometimes ask him why he's still here), though I don't think they're hanging around each other forever. They'll come and go but when they do cross paths there isn't really any hostility as such, just Nicki going "oh, it's you again. You better not be stalking me". Something about them both being Lestat's fledglings and former lovers, and Nicki having Reluctantly helped Antoine with the violin has bonded them in some weird fucked up way. And I'm not saying Antoine stops getting grief from Nicki, he is still a Menace, Antoine hasn't changed him and if he's having One Of Those Nights then Antoine is best keeping away altogether, but generally speaking it could be worse. Rejects have to stick together after all.

I didn't mean for this to turn into a whole thing lmao. Anyway, short story long yes I would ship them. I'm frothing at the mouth over this and I think I've really sold this to myself. Idk if anyone else will be convinced but hey, this is my pitch for Nicki/Antoine 😂

[dwreader]

Claudia's Hair & Growing Up

I've written previously about how Claudia's wardrobe signals a shift from her childhood self to her adult self but the most clear and obvious marker of her self-perceived adulthood is her hair. In the early 1900s, a girl was allowed to have her hair down or in a half up do until about age 17-18 or when she made her debut into society. After that, when appearing in public spaces, she would be expected to have her done up (and also wearing a hat).

As you can see in episode 4, she has her done in the typical style of a young girl in the 1910s, ornamented with a bow or some other decorative ribbon. In fact, this is one of the clearest indicators to people like Charlie and the guy at the university that she's really young even if she claims to be older. This is a childhood/early adolescent hairstyle and an adult woman would not have worn it out and about.

In the first photo above are the Romanov children with the girls between childhood and early adolescence. Below that, you have adult women in the 1910s with their hair done up and on the right wearing a large hat when out of the house.

However, an interesting shift happens in the 1920s that coincides with Claudia's coming of age and while it's not explicitly explored in the show, it likely compounded Claudia's frustration at her inert physical state. The 1920s was the beginning of VERY short hair becoming popular with women, so instead of marking your adulthood by putting your hair up, many would simply chop off their hair into a flapper bob.

But Claudia CAN'T cut her hair. It would just grow back so not only is her body in arrested development but she can't even style her hair to the adult woman trends of the era. She's not only stuck in a 14 year old's body but she's stuck with a 14 year old's hair length from the year 1917. So what does she do? After episode 5, she almost always wears her hair up especially when out in public and when she is trying to project maturity (anatonizing Lestat, buying things at the pharmacy, meeting with Tom Anderson). While she may not be able to cut her hair to match the trends of the 1930s woman, she CAN at least put her hair up like a 1917 woman. It's literally her one way of controlling her appearance beyond how she dresses.

Final note: while the show in general has pretty accurate and well developed styling choices, the one glaring exception is Antoinette. She's really not styled properly for any era she appears in and I know her looking 35 years old for 30 years is a bit of a joke in fandom but truly her hair is just NOT it. It's way too short for 1917 (needs to be updo capable!!) and kinda too long for the 20s-30s. They really just did not care about styling her accurately at all and ykw that's okay cause she doesn't really matter lmao.

Like look at these from the years 1917 and 1937 and then look at the styles I posted above of the 1910s vs. the 1930s and like????? what is going on here lady!!! You're just not trendy in any era hon.

[shavirlight]

Hi shavir. One thing I really love about your writings is that you write from the past as well as the modern timeline. So you get to see Loustat relationship at different times and how Louis and Lestat have evolved individually. You mention how modern Louis is more confident, especially sexually and it would rock Lestat sideways. I know you’ve written some New Orleans material and brought up topics of consent but I was wondering, what do you think their sexual dynamic was like back then? They were together for 30 years so it definitely switched up at different points of their relationship.

Aww man first of all, thank you for your kind words about my writing! I honestly love writing Rue Royale dynamics, it's 30 years so there's so much to explore! If you're asking about dynamics in terms of top/bottom, I really do think they switch pretty regularly, regardless of the time period or the dynamic at play. My personal headcanon is that they have a slight preference for bottom Louis/top Lestat, but I don't feel like there's any real evidence of that being the case. It's mostly just a gut feeling/personal preference.

Now, I hope you realize that you signed up for a ramble, because those freaks' sexual dynamics are one of my favorite things to talk about. So, this is how I ***personally*** see the evolution of their sex life during those years:

Episode 2 / honeymoon period: crazy horny 24/7 sex marathons all over the house, with Lestat at his boldest and meanest (not actually mean just like, sexually for the purpose of titillation) considering it was probably a time when he felt secure and was pretty confident of Louis’ desire for him (esp. following their courtship when he could read his mind lmao). Probably some “oh no we shouldn’t” games which were fun and flirty until after the sex was over and Louis got stuck staring at the coffin ceiling feeling immense amounts of guilt, which he then promptly repressed and ignored.

Episode 3 / Louis going vegan: by Louis’ own admission they weren’t really having much sex then, and I’m guessing when they did have it it was pretty tense and not very good. Probably Lestat trying a variety of (ill-advised) ways to get Louis on board, failing repeatedly and growing resentful.

Episode 4 / early Claudia years: Honeymoon 2.0, less wild and more romantic, softer, sweeter sex. These were the happiest years of their lives and it seemed like Louis was eating well even if it wasn’t human blood. I can’t imagine they got super kinky around that time but I think it was still probably some of the best and most fulfilling sex they've had.

Episode 5 / depression years: post-Charlie, no sex. In the seven years when Claudia was absent I think realistically they probably did do it a few times, but I can’t imagine it was any good. Again I can see Lestat trying a variety of ways to get Louis interested, likely even more desperately than before, and I bet it worked a few times; but I am of the opinion that Lestat was also depressed about Claudia leaving, rather than just about Louis not paying attention to him, so really I think the general vibe was pretty rancid and unsexy for both of them. That being said, over the course of seven years there were probably a handful of times when they found comfort in each other’s arms and had a kind of wounded, softer moment of intimacy.

Episode 6 / after taking Lestat back: prior to Louis finding out about Antoinette I think they were probably back on that romantic sex grind. Sweet, gentle lovemaking with Lestat being very generous (in lieu of, you know. Providing an actual apology lmao). After Antoinette, well, we saw what that was like.

Episode 7 / murder-planning months: hooo boy you know that shit was wild. Both of them were probably all over the place holding onto these big secrets and pretending like everything was cool. My gut feeling is that they were trying to have the same kind of romantic intimacy that they had years before, but that it often slipped away from them and gave way to a more intense, passionate sort of thing.

I'm not sure if this was exactly what you were asking for but I am incapable of giving short answers to anything ever, much less when it comes to this. Thank you for the ask, it was interesting!!

[hekateinhell]

you said you were comfortable with receiving questions about your fics and i have a question about our house armand and daniel's backstory. how much of armand's sexual trauma does daniel know? i mean in the fic he mentions "the brothel in amsterdam" or how hypersexual&relentlessly giving armand is but, did they ever sit down and have a talk about it ever (it seems a bit unlike armand pre-therapy) or did armand Had to open up a bit about it to daniel bc something cathartic happened, for example a breakdown during sex, him disassociating etc. ? i would love to know if you have anything in mind about this or generally how that convo would go when it eventually (hopefully) happens. armand being as secretive about his past as he is, we hardly get anything like this in canon and even in many fics it is hardly dwelled on, but i do think about it a lot! so i would love to know your thoughts!! lots of love x

Hiii! 💖

Omg, I've thought about this so much in the canon of Our House!

If I continue with the fic, I would definitely love to expand on this more because the whole theme of the fic is supposed to be about trauma—how sometimes there are just some things you don't ever really heal from but you can grow around them! You can find ways to live with them, ways so they don't hurt so much, so they're not so intrusive, and ultimately you can still have a good life and love and be loved. That's just what I want for Armand, okay? 🤧

Ngl, I had to skim through my own fic to make sure what I have written still aligns with what's in my head because it's been a while lol. But yeah, Armand was clamped down pretty tight (pun intended) pre-therapy and his sexual trauma wasn't anything that he was willing to recognize at the time and it definitely wasn't anything he wanted Daniel to know. The trick with OH is that the fic is primarily from Daniel's POV, so there's a lot he doesn't know (thanks Armand) and therefore the reader doesn't know. He's been kept in the dark about sooooo much!

Like for example, Daniel didn't know anything about Armand's sexual trauma prior to therapy but in the notes in my head, Lestat knows because he met Armand when Armand was 17 and left Amsterdam for Paris, and they, along with Eleni, also did sex work together sometimes just to survive. Louis met Armand in New York and knew him when he'd just arrived to the USA and was initially making money as a sugar baby. Daniel doesn't know any of this at any point in the story yet lmao. Armand gave him a bit of the Amsterdam and Europe overview in therapy, but "I was in a window in Amsterdam by the time I was thirteen," isn't exactly something Daniel really wanted to pry into, you know? He knows Armand has night terrors a decade later, he knows Armand has an ~interesting~ relationship with sex; he can put two and two together and imagine what kind of horrific things Armand endured. 

But beyond that, no, they've never talked it in detail! I did always think at some point it would be inevitable that it comes up in some messy way like the Baby Thing. Like Armand maybe pushes himself too far while exploring a kink, and like you said, triggers himself and it all comes out. But I also like a softer version where he just walks into the living room one night and curls up by Daniel's side, making himself small, and says, "I want to talk to about what happened to me in Europe, about who I had to be before you. Because sometimes I still feel like that lost, forgotten child, and it frightens me. Maybe if you knew him too, you could talk to him for me. You could make it better."

Which I mean... this is a lot to put on Daniel! But that's the secret secondary theme of this fic lol Daniel Molloy Carrying the Entire Fucking World on His Shoulders! 🤪

[thecourtoflionsandwolvess]

Reacting to The Vampire Lestat - Part V (with a bit of spoilers and maybe important quotes?)

Armand!

YAY!

Okay, what the hell is happening?

??????

Seriously, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?

Am I lost because I'm reading the Brazilian Portuguese version and maybe it's not properly translated?

*Downloads an English PDF copy* Yeah, this isn't much better and it looks like it was poorly transcript.

I'm still not sure I'm following...

Well

Whatever

I still like this anyway?

Also, I can see I'll have to read at least this book twice anyway. Maybe more or even the whole chronicles.

Because since Armand showed up I'm DEVOURING this and I can see myself maybe missing a few details... I'll need to read it slower and savor it in the future. I also assume that knowing more of the lore will give me perspective on a future read.

Armand is never boring.

Still my favorite character. :) Let's hope nothing ever ruins that. :) /hj

Not one Lesmand/Armandstat interaction is wasted tbh, I don't care if they're vibing or hating each other's guts, they're always A MOMENT™.

Let's hope nothing ever ruins that. :) /hj

They also have some pretty valid and intriguing conversations, really.

The impression I get is that they want to stay close, but deep down know it's better not to because they're so messed-up and would be even more messed-up as friends or else (and maybe it's the or at least one of the reasons why they attract each other?), but there's some frustration in that acknowledgement too. Like, doing something because you should is not the same as doing it because you want to and... Well.

I mean, there's more I could say, but this is the short version of how I generally feel about them lol.

Can't wait to see all of this on season 3.

Assad is right, I want Armand to be unhinged too. So glad we're on the same page about all thigs Armand ever and that the spirit of Armand posses Assad on a daily basis so he can play him 100% the way I imagine him. SMILING THROUGH IT ALL, CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS MY LIFE RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm also ready for more Lestat (Armand's version) and finally some Armand (Lestat's version). Let the battle begin. I wonder who will be more insufferable.

Little bit of Armand's back story. :/ I wanna put him in a bubble.

I don't really think I'll be interested in Marius, tbh.

Anyway... He's not here yet.

Gabrielle jumps from roofs like Cat Woman and Armand quickly and silently vanishes from places like Batman. I hope we keep the Gotham-esque vibes of these scenes. I think it's super cool tbh.

I also love seeing Armand talking to people telepathically? Feels so much deeper and kind of poetic, idk. Not to mention is such a cool concept. I hope the show explores more of that.

Also, when he stops blocking his thoughts and let's someone peek at his thoughts it feels intimate? And not necessarily romantic or anything like that, but just like, "hey, this is a little piece of my soul, I'm sharing it with you". Or maybe I'm too romantic and trying to find the beauty in everything lol.

But then he finally speaks out loud and it feels deeper and more meaningful as well? I don't know. Maybe I'm becoming insane.

Lestat went like 3 pages without mentioning Armand's beauty. I'm proud of him.

Nevermind, now he is mentioning it 50 times per sentence. Even more than he did before. It's like he regretted it and it's making up for lost time lmao.

Some of the words Lestat has used to describe Armand so far: beautiful, sublime, ethereal, exquisite, perfect, soft, saint, angel (there's more, but it's been so many synonyms for beautiful I can't remember... still, you get the point). Not to mention comparing him to a Caravaggio and Da Vinci paintings.

I feel like he'll run out of words to describe him pretty soon.

I guess we all feel pretty (not) normal about Armand.

This is also ruining it for me, because if someone doesn't describe me as "irresistibly beautiful" then what is even the point, really...

And it's not like they're a couple or anything, SO??? STOP!!!

They're not lovers, they're not friends, they're not enemies, they're a fourth and more sinister thing that not even them can classify, let alone my mere mortal self.

Anyway, I hope Lestat will be even more annoying describing Louis. He set the bar too high now.

I wonder if Louis appears (for a significant amount of time) on this book.

I hope so, but I don't know.

"But I was so glad it was finished. So glad that we could go on. Yet I held to the bars for a long time just looking at the distant woods, and the dim glow far beyond that the city made upon the lowering clouds. And the grief I felt was not only for the loss of him, it was for Nicki, and for Paris, and for myself." This is sad...

"So let him be your patron saint if you need it" LMFAOOOOOO.

Is Gabrielle wrong, though?

NO, SHE ISN'T!

Just have fun with your immortality instead of going on an uncertain quest to find Marius? Stop being stupid???

You'll probably just find danger or disappointment. Or both.

LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF REASON, LESTAT!

"And the sense of grief came back to me, the realization that we were really going, that it was finished with Nicolas and finished with the Children of Darkness and their leader, and I wouldn't see Paris again, or anything familiar to me, for years and years. And for all my desire to be free, I wanted to weep." So, he finally starts making a life for himself away from his abusive family. Then, he is forcefully turned into a vampire, has to live this double life with mortals, without ever being able to be completely open, honest and have real, deep relationships with them. Later, he turns Gabrielle, Nicki, meets Armand and the other of his kind, but they're all so troubled or with completely different interests... And it's clear as a day that they can't stay together anymore, he's slowly coming to the realization he's losing everything and everyone he knows and will soon be alone again... I'm (not) fine.

Also, this is so BPD-coded of him. He's had these pretty sad and traumatic moments, but he never allowed himself to feel those emotions for too long, he always found stuff to distract himself with, tried to see the "the good side" of things, embrace them, be positive instead etc, but you can only ignore it so much until it becomes such a big problem you can't possibly avoid anymore. And then the emotion hits 9483958345x harder than it would have if you processed things properly and had better coping mechanisms. Like, I get him, but OMG. Get him some vampire therapist.

Btw, Armand feels pretty BPD-coded too.

I also heard somewhere that Armand is a Scorpio?

And Lestat is another BPD Scorpio...

That would explain A LOT actually lmao.

End of "The Vampire Armand" chapter and they're parting ways.

So I guess I'll just rot and die, then?

Or...

...Armand will return in the worst possible way lmao.

I tried to find a gif of 2x05 saying "everything is fine!" to represent how I'm feeling right now, but failed, so consider it done anyway. Everything is (not) fine!