#my genuine best friend armand

[vampirebabeforever]

putting a blender on a chair in my bedroom for armand like putting out cookies and milk for santa

[lgbtiwtv]

the thing about lestat and armand is that their relationship is literally incomprehensible. they are boy best friends they are codependent worsties they are archrivals they are platonic soulmates they are telepathic gossipers they are part time haters and full time ride or dies they are insane bisexuals but most importantly. they are toxic exes. despite the fact that they have never once dated. hope this helps

[monstersinthecosmos]

okay so i just finished IWTV....... oh my god!!! oh my god. it's embarrassing how insane this book made me. for the last 50 pages or so i was regularly taking breaks to run laps around my apartment like a lunatic because i physically could not handle all the pain and angst and despair coursing through my body LOL. i got so immersed in the story i forgot pretty much all of the background for armand you'd given me (and i can't remember most of it even now!!! my mind is in shambles) and still, very organically...... he became my favorite. even despite all of the. you know. and maybe even more so BECAUSE of it. i've just never witnessed an evil so heartbreaking!!!!!!!!!!? THE ABSOLUTE DEVOTION?????? DERANGED AND UGLY AND UTTERLY BEYOND REASON????!!!! FUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!! i'm sorry for vomiting all over your inbox i genuinely cannot conjure up any resemblance of coherence atm!!! THANK YOU FOR POINTING ME TOWARDS SUCH LUXURIOUS PAIN i LOVE it i want MORE! <3 <3 <3

oh my god OH MY GOd ,... omg... 🥹🥹

WELCOME WELCOME YES THIS HOW I FEEL EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE I WISH I KNEW WHERE TO EVEN START 

(I really feel like just answering with this meme and not subjecting you to a wall of text but I'LL TRY !!!)

GOD LIKE WHAT THIS BOOK DOES SO SO WELL AS LIKE IMMEDIATELY GROUND FLOOR OF THE SERIES LETS US ALL KNOW THAT ALL CHARACTERS COMMIT EVILS AND ARE NOT GREAT PEOPLE BUT THEY ALL WANT TO BE LOVED AND ARE TRYING LOL. 

LIKE LOUIS MOVES FROM ABUSIVE PARTNER TO ABUSIVE PARTNER UNTIL HE’S FINALLY SO DEAD INSIDE THAT HE CAN BE BY HIMSELF AND WALK AWAY.

AND LIKE IT’S SO HARD BECAUSE YOU SEE HOW CLAUDIA FREED HIM FROM LESTAT, AND THEN ARMAND FREES HIM FROM CLAUDIA. AND SOMETHING THAT ALWAYS FUCKS ME UP SO BAD IS THAT ARMAND HAS SUCH A SKEWED MAP OF APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR BUT HE’S NOT EVIL. HE’S TRYING HIS BEST, IN THE BEST WAY HE KNOWS HOW.

Wait hang on I’ll take caps off I’m so sorry lmfao I’m just really worked up. 

I think there’s a sort of meme-ier version of this like Armand going “hi 🙂 I killed your daughter 🙂 you can kill all my friends if you want 🙂 I won’t stop you 🙂 do you like me? 🙂"

But it’s actually SO TRAGIC god. Like I read IWTV as a story about domestic abuse and the family cycle, personally, and I see Claudia as an Oedipal figure. Louis is unable to get away from Lestat until Claudia makes it happen, and Claudia winds up being so cold and cruel and he’s stuck with her until Armand frees him. And there’s a lot of conversation about like, Armand being manipulative or what he did to CREATE this, how did he push them both where he wanted them, etc, but the thing that gets me is that when Louis wants to break up, Armand lets him leave.

And like SKIP WHAT I’M ABOUT TO SAY IF YOU DONT WANT A SPOILER BUT LIKE I DID MENTION THIS IN MY OTHER POST  —— but if you read Lestat’s book and get the background on how he and Armand met, it’s sort of the opposite where Lestat destroys Armand’s coven and Armand is so devastated about it, vs 100 years later he ALLOWS Louis to destroy a coven. AND HE GETS THE GUY!!!! In TVL he like BEGS Lestat to be with him and Lestat isn’t interested lol but he gets to keep Louis this time.

IDK IDK IM JUST REAL EMOTIONAL. 

And like !!!!!!!! God idk. If you read more of the books you get so many indications about how people in Armand’s life don’t respect him, and a lot of times people write him off because he looks like a teenager. They don’t take the danger of him seriously, which makes him even more dangerous. But it’s so heartbreaking reading IWTV and seeing how Louis respects him so much, and sees him as wise and calm, and needs him! 

And like maybe Louis is uniquely qualified to not judge people for looking like children because he has spent the last 90 years with a vampire child and respects her as an adult, you know?

If you keep reading you’ll see how much Anne Rice like retcons or how much the continuity flops around so like EVERY book will have a Doylist vs Watsonian conversation like, she never comes out and says that Armand looks like he’s 17 in IWTV and in the later books it’s a huge point every time he’s on the page just HE’S SHORT HE’S 17 HE LOOKS LIKE A CHERUB etc and maybe that’s because she hadn’t decided that yet but also maybe Louis is the only person who fucking respects him. :) 

[thelioncourts]

Hello. first of all I'm so sorry to read about your sad loss. Sending you love x

Youre so lovely with anon asks, I just happened to see in a blog that Jacob said in an interview, he cried bts in the final scene as he said "he got freaked out by it all ending, and doing this to Sam, the dynamic changing next year and its going to be different". That's kinda my worry is that we'll get barely if any Loustat for a few seasons, and viewer numbers could drop a lot as they'll miss Jacob and Sam together and we might not get to see a reunion season, years down the line if its cancelled 😞 Plus seeing Jacob doing promo with the guy who plays Armand and if they have the same amazing best friend chemistry that he and Sam had, will (in the nicest way possible) make me sad and miss Sam. What do you think?

Oh, thank you ❤ Charlie was the best girl. I think about her an obnoxious amount and hope, with all that I am, that she's playing in endless snow piles and taking the longest naps on comfy couches and eating the largest amounts peanut butter treats.

Now! That Jacob interview and Loustat speculations and everything else:

So obviously a lot of what I'm going to say is going to be pure speculation because I have no actual idea at what is going through Jones' mind and this particular story, this second interview, is not something that exists within the books.

First thing is that one thing the writers of Interview have already promised that is significantly different than the books is this promise of more Louis. For anyone not familiar with the 13 TVC books, Louis disappears significantly throughout the books, all before finally coming back in a real and lovely way in the last three, the last three that cement him in the vampire world and as the love of Lestat's life. (I've said it before, but if anyone ever wants to talk about Anne and her relationship with Louis, etc. I'm always down because it's sad and understandable and yet had such a horrible impact on Louis as a character, something I'll, selfishly, never get over). By adding Louis back into the narrative, I think we're going to see a (imo, necessary) shift in certain aspects of the book, namely Lestat's jumping around, especially given the insignificance of several of his partners, partners that would take too long in a show to build up as anything other than a weird one-nighty-stand kind of thing (another thing I could talk about all day is that I don't hate the idea of Lestat with others, to a point (okay, that's a lie, I kind of do), but Lestat needs stability in love and he could have had that had Anne kept Louis in, etc. etc.). As the narrative of the show will eventually be focused on Lestat as our main character, the promise of more Louis means that we will see Louis, predominantly, in how he interacts with Lestat.

Second thing is that while the show is inspired by TVC, it's obviously its own creation. I genuinely do not believe TVC would not do well as a show in exactness, for a multitude of reasons, and one of those is the lack of stable romance. Television audiences, fandoms, they thrive on romance. And I think Interview is very obviously setting up the entirety of the show to be focused, to some point, on Louis and Lestat's romantic relationship. I think if season 3 comes around and Louis and Lestat are still incredibly separated, people that are not TVC book fans (because if they are just trying to appeal to a book crowd, they're not going to stay on air, that's not how things work, and they are, obviously, not appealing to all book fans given the backlash they've gotten from some lol) are going to start falling off.

Third thing is that the #1 consistent review that has come from Interview's first season in all of the publications and whatnot is that Sam and Jacob's chemistry is an ultimate selling point. Like, every single thing I've read is stuff like "Only Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson and their sizzling chemistry could make the ethics of blood drinking believable," or "Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson are breakout stars, both for the individual performances they display as Lestat and Louis and also for the portrayal of their romantic, and doomed, relationship." Interview is too smart to not capitalize on that. They know that.

All of that being said, I think we can fully expect some Loustat moments next season, but I also do believe next season will be the hardest season re: Louis and Lestat, because of separation. There is a line in one of Claudia's diaries that we see, something about how Louis was acting like Lestat's ghost was around every corner and/or something about his constant mourning of Lestat while they're in Europe. And I think we may get flashbacks because of that, stuff like Louis dreaming of Lestat and waking up to realize he's not there, Louis discussing how, in his grief, focused on the happiness he missed, on the happiness that was once there. I also think Daniel is going to call him out on a lot of stuff and that's a whole different thing. I have this hope that we won't just get flashbacks though, but that we'll get Louis, so caught up in his grief, so in his head, that he hallucinates Lestat there, alive and full of golden life and just -- ugh. And I also think, if the show is, again, smart (and I do think they are, this set of actors and crew and writers and everything very clearly love these characters and love the world they're writing in), they will introduce Lestat into the modern world at the end of season 2 as to allow us a smooth transition into The Vampire Lestat for season 3.

Now, as for Jacob and Sam and promotion and stuff !! They will most definitely have them do promotion together, even if they'll have Jacob do a decent amount of promotion with Assad for obvious reasons. I think we'll get a lot of Assad and Eric interviewing together, for Armand and Daniel nightmarish shenanigans, I think we'll get a lot of Jacob and Sam because Louis and Lestat are still going to be considered the main characters of the show, I think we'll get a lot of Jacob and Bailey for European adventure interviews, I think we'll get a lot of Eric and Jacob for the actual interview portions, etc. etc. And! I do fully believe that they will let Jacob and Sam do a lot of promotion together simply because they want to. I won't get into too much because some people get weirdly uncomfortable talking about it (I'll save it for another post lol), but Sam and Jacob feel safe with one another. They truly love one another in a way that is glaring obvious, and beautiful, to audiences and to the cast (specifically Eric, who calls them out 24/7). They will fight to do things together, and it would only make sense to let them anyway, so I fully anticipate seeing plenty Jam Reiderson <3 (I selfishly demand it, too, Jam Reiderson is my entire life right now.)

So. After that essay, what I will conclude is I am not too worried. I do think next season is going to have its pain because there will be inevitable separation, but I truly believe, in my heart, that the show will have Louis and Lestat together much quicker than the books and that it will be, for lack of a better word, permanent. And I think Jacob and Sam will have plenty of time to be...them <3 and I think all of that is beautiful.

[dlsintegration]

hi you..... 1, 12, 32 and 40 for the ask game >:D

Hiiii my angel ​🫶🏻​

When did you fall in love with the show:

Started watching a little bit after it started airing, I don't remember the specific tipping point that made my brain fully snap in two and decide to make my entire life revolve around iwtv but. It has to be the Church scene right . Ep1 is a movie of its own and I loved it from the very first scene but the last 15mn are just everything i'd been missing in my life at the time, I remember literally calling my friend and screaming at her to put it on it was already so bad for me...It's almost surreal to think about that period now but yeah . Immediately fell in love and now well. lestatwhiteshirtclaspedhands.jpg

12. What were your favorites moments of season one?

UGHHH so hard to choose just a few but immediately my mind goes to the Dubai scenes and the insane power dynamics going on in that penthouse... the entire show is so gorgeous and smart and thoughtful but there's something about the moments where you catch a glimpse of what's really simmering beneath the seamless surface and it makes me insane. the best example of that is the honey and pineapple scene the tension is so thick and charged and dangerous and . yeah . it just goes back to how excited I am to actually see Dubai armand outside of his rashid persona. but if we're talking new orleans I really have a soft spot for the scenes Louis shares with Paul and Grace.

32. Is there a specific moment or plot point you're hoping to see next season?

Well, yes! Not going to be super original here but I can't wait to see how they're going to rework Armand and Louis' first meeting as I'm having. well. very specific theories about it. Also the "No pain" scene, obviously, and also very curious about how they intend to integrate the political aspects of post-war Paris into the narrative framework of the show. I'm also equal parts terrified and excited to see Louis and Claudia's falling out happen on my screen because of how genuinely heartbreaking I know it'll be.

And um. Armand torturing lestat in that tower, boot on his neck and all .

40. If you made any fanworks of your own, what are your personal favorites? Throw yourself some flowers!

Hopefully will have more things to feel proud of this year but I'm so happy that House exists and that I've been lucky enough to write alongside some of the people I love and admire most <3

[regensia]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER. 

REPOST DO NOT REBLOG !!

NAME:  Ame

PRONOUNS: she/her

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: IMs to Discord (depending on if I know folks)

NAME OF MUSE(S): GOD please don’t make me.

RP EXPERIENCE/HOW LONG (MONTHS / YEARS?): One decade on tumblr dot com.

BEST EXPERIENCE: Hard to say! Getting a big name artist at the time to follow and do fanart of a thread was pretty cool. But I think it’s meeting @distopea​ & @ikkaku-of-heart​ & @infinitxes​ who are genuine ride or die pals, enough that I share my real name and address because we send each other shit in snail mail. They’re all wonderful friends!

RP PET PEEVES/DEALBREAKERS: People who clearly ignore rules (i.e. mutuals only), people who visibly put no effort into their replies, or people gunning for ships/smut without chemistry.

FLUFF, ANGST OR SMUT: More of the first two.

PLOTS OR MEMES: A nice healthy mix! Everything is about balance. 😌

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: As much as I like both, I tend to be pretty wordy.

BEST TIME TO WRITE: Good god, who knows. My creativity shifts from interest to interest (writing/design/embroidery/art/gaming) basically in like one or two-week periods.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): Yeah, more so the OCs for obvious reasons. I’ve got some post floating around the blog of how I relate to each of them. I’d say overall most like Armand though!

Tagged: @bkkorosu​ (ty Astrid!!) Tagging: @sciass​ & @sovereignxfae​ & @fallesto​ & @niitoryuu​

[jerkxbitchx]

Time for a little positivity.... 

@armandlucienduval This is literally one of my favorite people on tumblr. I love rping with Armand, and their Dean. I love the verse that me and Rory have made for Dean and Armand it’s magical. Well it’s not magical it’s Supernatural verse but I still love it. Rory is one of the nicest people I know and deserves so much more then they get. Armand is such a well thought out character and they’ve put so much time into him that it really makes you feel like you know Armand. I am glad he’s my friend and even more glad I met them. 

@ofwinchestersandangels-rp we don’t talk as much as we used to but you are literally my favorite person I’ve ever met on tumblr. I love our wincest interactions so much. The world that we have made for our boys and the love they share is golden. I have enjoyed getting to know you over the years and enjoyed all our talks and interactions on messenger. You will always be one of my favorite people on here as well as my best friend. ILY!!!

@gracefullight you’ve been with me a very long time and I love each and every one of our threads that we do. You are an amazing writer and I just love the way you play your Cas he’s chef kiss. I love our demon and angel verse so much and I love how we have built it from the ground up. I know we don’t reply to our threads often but every time I get a reply from you I get so happy. I also love our Penpals verse even though it’s going to cause so much pain eventually it will be like reading a damn colleen hooever book. 

@waywardera I don’t rp with Luna much but I LOVE her. We did a buddy read recently and she got so excited about the book we read just like me. Now we are going to make a rp verse for the book we read and I can’t be more exicted for it. Luna has given me a lot of advice lately and just listened to me talk about certain issues and I appreciate her more then she’ll ever know for just letting me vent my feelings to her. She’s a wonderful writer and a genuine and wonderful person and I am lucky to call her my friend. 

[humanist-aufhebungist]

Gonna get greedy and say.....all the ones that you haven't been asked yet :)

thanks for this :))) idc about numbering im just answering what im remembering.

which oc has never had their first kiss?

I guess this is at the start of the story, so jude's pretty fresh. Midge, contrary to popular belief, also hasn't.

what oc has the best music taste? the worst music taste?

Douglas even though it's overrated. Rob, obviously. I think most of the cast of St. Jude's Beach has great music taste tbh.

what was an oc’s first slow dance song?

Not many of my characters like slow dancing. Bill probably danced to some schmaltzy 40s crooner, or glen miller though.

which oc prefers to dip someone? to be dipped?

you know im fucked up bc i thought this was talking about the dip from roger rabbit. Darry likes to dip girls... Midge likes to be dipped... by girls ;)

which oc has the most cohesive color pallet? the craziest color pallet?

For a good solid colour pallet... I like jude in hawaiian shirts. Just seems fitting for her. Craziest... Maybe Kenver and the other bluebirds in their bright 60s clothing but it's gorgeous.

what is one universe/story an oc would fit in to besides the one they live in?*

Uhhhhh rob in [redacted]. Everyone in Valley in the Sun belongs in the Jungle Book.

what’s one canon character all of you ocs LOVE? one they all HATE?

My ocs don't exist within another fandom but they have lots of opinions on old hollywood. All of my OCs love Gilda.

which oc has the most friends?

Genuine friends? I think Crevette, she has a good support system.

which oc has the most admirers?

Doug or Bill. Ah the contrast between a british invasion and victorian celebrity.... Doug has more fans the world over but anyone who knows Bill really likes him.

which oc likes country music? which oc HATES country music?

Midge would love country music. Unfortunately this is nonsense to the rest of the cast of Valley in the Sun who thinks it's hot garbage.

which oc has has the most lovers/flings/partners?

Thomas McGrath or Rodney who is a little slut.

which oc gets crushes the easiest?

Jude, if someone looks at jude with An Emotion, she will throw herself at them.

which oc likes to read to their partner? which oc prefers being read to?

None of them... do this... They'd do it for their children though.

which oc dog ears pages? which oc thinks that’s an ABOMINATION?

Armand seems the kind to dog-ear pages and then Caroline will DIE because those are her expensive leather bound books and he's getting his nasty fingers folding them.

which oc hates the taste of water?

All my ocs love water and being hydrated because i don't propagate problematic messages <3.

which oc is the most practical?

From out of left field... Leo is pretty practical (I just want some variety ok im saying Bill to everything).

which oc loves scary movies? which oc only watches them to cuddle?

Rob loves scary movies, her favourite is alien and she forces like everyone she knows to watch that and Cronenburg movies. Jude cries and tries to cuddle and Rob tells her to quit being a little bitch and look at James Woods's stomach pussy.

which oc would have a successful music career?

Well :) Doug of course. Rodney is also a great trombone player.

which oc got excited when taylor swift came back? which oc got excited when MRC came back?

Sorry my ocs listen to good music only lol.

which ocs believe in ghosts?

Lucy, she has a whole late night radio show about the paranormal.

which oc is chronically online?

No one thank god but if they had to be, I think doug would have a few mental breaks on his twitter for the world to gaze upon.

which oc pronounces it meh-meh instead of meme?

Rob's grandparents.

which oc has the best skin care routine?

Midge. She is putting oils on her face that you wouldn't even know about. Her skin is always lovely and glowing, she looks like a coca-cola ad. Gil Elvgren type skin.

which oc has the best handwriting? the worst?

Lucy has gorgeous handwriting. Douglas's is so bad no one can read his notes except adelaide who learned how to write from him, and therefore ALSO writes like shit.

who would be your ocs celebrity crush?*

Everyone crushes on Gilda. Douglas is also many of my ocs' own celeb crush. I think Scout would like David Farrar and Leslie Howard too.

THANKS SO MUCH XOXOX

[scmg11]

If you do requests!

How about Kate Bishop in the black suit fucking you😳

KATE BISHOP x READER

BATHROOM STALLS

A/N: in my defense, I wanted to be it just smutty, but my heart swells for soft Kate, so you got some smutty fluff!

Enjoy!

As always, let me know what you guys think!

Sending love ❤️

-

Summary: Kate and Y/N met after years at a charity event. Y/N coming across her ex boyfriend and some teasing lead them in a really interesting place.

Warnings: smutty fluff.

Word count: 7101 words.

-

The night was particularly cold, the snow was falling down slowly wrapping the city in a pristine, white blanket that made New York even more magic than it already was. Kate thanked the driver and tipped him with the few dollars that she had with her - her mom finally decided to unblock all her credit cards after her small, insignificant mistake that was completely imposed by a stupid bet -. Sure Kate would have said no, but then she would have sullied her reputation. She never backed away from a dare, not as easy as that one was.

"Here I am, forced to go to the umpteenth snotty gala. I just hope they have good booze. This is the only reason I’m staying." Kate adjusted her black tie and walked through the big gates, nodding her head to greet the security man outside before giving her name to him and showing him her ID, before trotting inside, making a beeline where a waiter was serving a bunch of arrogant upper-class idiots, grabbing a flute filled with what Kate thought was a very expansive champagne and nodded at the good taste of the bubbly beverage. She leaned her elbow on one of the tall tables scattered around the room and laughed when she noticed she was standing in the exact same spot, in the exact same position and the exact same venue, she was standing in the night that starter her superhero’s career, with the exact same black suit that she had to wash to get rid of the dust and debris from the explosion that night. A lot happened after that. Luckily her mom got released after the trial. With a little of her help, the police detective found out that her mom wasn’t behind the murder of Armand III and she just did minor laundry of money for Wilson Fisk. She made a deal to stay in home detention for two months and all the while helped the New York PD investigating on Fisk’s operations. Kate had a really hard time accepting what her mom did, but when she saw the commitment she had in tracking down that monster, she understood that everything her mom did, even the filthiest of actions, she did it all for her, to protect her and to give her the best opportunities to thrive in life.

"What got you so smiley, honey?" Kate’s grin broadened when her mom approached her and hugged her hard, before taking her place back beside Jack and leaned into his side when he slip his arm back around her shoulders. After all Jack was really a good guy. He was genuinely ‘almost too good to be true’ like she used to describe him a few months ago. And he was really fond of her mom. So Kate buried the hatchet and started appreciating him and his quirky personality, even going to a few LARP events when she discovered he was a total nerd and was enjoying those gatherings as much as her, if not more.

"I was just thinking that this place changed my life- our lives a lot." Her mother laughed at her implication, followed by Jack after he raised his glass in toast. Surprisingly, her mom took her superhero’s life pretty good, all things considered. They had a thorough conversation about hiring a black widow assassin to kill her mentor to convince her to give up her lifetime dream and after her mom explained that she didn’t have anything to do with that, Kate even thanked her and Fisk for giving her the opportunity to find a new best friend. "Who knows, it will happen again… maybe… at the end of the night, you guys will get married." Kate joked with a soft snort, causing the other two to laugh alongside her after looking at her bewildered. They didn’t talked about wedding yet - even if, they were engaged a few months prior, but y’know going to prison because you were cooperating with mobster Wilson Fisk to pay off your husband’s debt he had with him and keeping working with him because she had no way out tends to create a big rift in your relationship and each other ma trust, however they worked it out just fine - but Kate knows it was a conversation they will have in the foreseeable future.

"Or you will finally find someone right for you." Eleanor quipped back, bumping her shoulder with Kate’s one, after freeing herself from the loving embrace of her boyfriend, and watching a frown unfold on her daughter’s features - the black haired girl noticing how her mom emphasized the word ‘finally’ - , causing her laugh to intensify in volume. "We’re gonna mingle a bit, I’ll see you later at our table. Try not to go superhero-ing around young lady, I’m watching you." Eleanor jokingly threatened her daughter and used two fingers to point at her eyes before directing her forefinger at her menacingly.

Kate laughed heartily at that and shook her head as she lifted her hands up in surrender, "I won’t mom, I promise. I’m just gonna enjoy this quiet, uneventful evening." Kate teased her mother by stressing out the words and winked towards her while she lifted her glass up, watching her shook her head as she rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. She then let her eyes sweep over the room once again, watching intently snotty people flaunting off their money and their power. "And here I thought this gala was a charity event." She commented under her breath with an unamused snort.

"Ah, who do we have here? Kate. Elizabeth. Bishop. I see you’re still weird, standing in the back, watching others and talking to yourself." Kate couldn’t help the completely fake, annoyed grin that came after hearing that voice, letting her tongue curl between her molars on the left side of her open mouth as she assessed the girl, dressed in a beautiful, strapless light blue dress that fell over her slender body and stopping right above her knee, with an irritated look on her features.

"Y/N Y/L/N. What a pleasure meeting you here after all these years." Kate stressed over the word ‘pleasure’, remarking how that was far from the feelings of seeing the girl after 8 years awakened.

"I know right? It’s been so long! Where have you been Katie?"

Kate let a grunt of disapproval leave her lips at the nickname she hated and still hates the girl used to call her when they were younger, "y’know busy being a more than once Olympic gold winner and then becoming New York’s new favorite hero."

"Oh yeah, I read about it on the news. You destroyed the Christmas three. Smooth, Bishop, really smooth." Kate rolled her eyes at the overly sweet tone the girl used to mock her and finished her glass of champagne after leaning her head back and gulping down the bubbly beverage.

"Don’t you have someone else to bother? It’s a big place, maybe Armand VII is around here whining about something irrelevant- Hey!" Kate’s face lighted up with realization as she pointed at the girl eagerly, "look on the bright side, you’re finally not the most annoying person here. Here, let’s celebrate." Kate grabbed two glasses at the waitress walking around with a tray full of flutes and passed one at the girl, who took it with what Kate was extremely surprised to deem as a soft, genuine smile curling the corners of her lips.

In all honesty, there was a time when the two got along pretty well, they even considered themselves best friends, but then Kate, little 14 years old Kate, went and fell in love with the stunning Y/H/C girl and she was almost sure Y/N felt the same. Almost because when Kate admitted her feelings to Y/N she was met with cold silence. A minute later Y/N walked away saying absolutely nothing. What made things worst and created this big rift between them was when an intoxicated Y/N taunted her in front of everyone two months later - two months were Kate cried herself to sleep because Y/N blocked her after she sent her way too many texts and ignored her when they hung around with their mutual friends - when she kissed her and yelled for everyone to hear ‘oh I’m sorry, I only kiss boys’ with a mocking small grin. That made everyone laugh with Kate the center of their amusement. And after that Kate walked away from her and those idiots she called friends for good and moved on. Y/N broke Kate’s innocent, tiny heart. She was her first love, that 14 years old Kate saw transform in heartbreak in a blink of an eye. They didn’t spoke since then. "Look Kate-"

"Oh you pronounced my name correctly, so that must be serious."

"Hear me out- I’m- I’m sorry."

"For what? Oh wait, maybe I know. For making fun of me in front of what I was too naïve to call friends? For embarrassing me for being who I am? Or maybe for breaking my heart?" When Y/N didn’t respond and just plainly stared ashamed down at her hands gripping the flute of champagne, Kate kept going, "y’know, you could’ve just said to me that you didn’t feel the same. You didn’t need to go all the way to make me feel like shit. We were best friends."

"I know and that’s why I’m sorry. I was a stupid 14 years old girl that was way too much over her head. I-I was scared Kate okay? I was afraid my mom-"

"What? That she wouldn’t approve her daughter being best friends with a lesbian? Yeah I heard you that night, right before I run away and cried all the way over my house."

Y/N felt her eyes sting with brimming tears and shook her head softly, grabbing Kate’s bicep and squeeze it tightly. "I will never forgive myself for what I put you through. So believe me when I say I’m sorry. I don’t expect you to forgive me but I just wanted you to know I am deeply, truly sorry. And that I really valued and cherished our friendship. I-" Kate saw Y/N break their staring contest to look down at her hand grasping the black haired girl’s arm and take a big, grounding breath before assessing Kate with sincerity swimming in her Y/E/C irises, the look so intense Kate felt almost dizzy, "I missed you. So much."

Kate rolled her eyes good-naturedly this time and let a small smile take place of the frown furrowing her eyebrows a few moments before as she listened the girl’s point of view, "you’re lucky I’ve always had a good heart. I’m not saying you’re completely forgiven-" Kate lifted an hand up to stop the overexcited girl that opened her mouth to add something as her eyes filled with hope, "but we can start over. Do not make me regret this. My best friend would literally kill you if you break my heart once again." Y/N let out an hearty laugh at the joke Kate pulled, "I’m not joking." And after assessing Kate was completely serious, Y/N gulped visibly and the blue eyed girl snorted at the reaction, "long story. I’ll tell you someday."

"I hope so Bishop. You have a lot to tell me, starting with you becoming a superhero. You actually saved me at the Christmas party."

Kate let a confused look overtake her smile, "really?"

"Yes. A man with an ugly red sweatpants and sweater was running towards me with a baseball bat but an arrow stabbed his thigh. So I now can personally thank you for that." Y/N smiled in appreciation at Kate and watched her nod with a soft grin.

"Don’t mention it."

"And I gotta say you’re costume was-"

"Y/N, what a surprise finding you here." A deep voice interrupted Y/N’s sentence and Kate saw Y/N close her eyes and sigh softly under her breath before she turned around and regarded the tall man with curly brown hair with a cold stare.

"Cut the crap Chad. You never go to this events your father is trying to convince you to attend for 5 years now- hell I even tried to do it, but you never came. And now you suddenly are here! What a coincidence!" Kate was confused to say the least and felt a little bit out of place, wanting to be anywhere but there in that moment, but the harsh tone Y/N was using with this Chad guy, intrigued Kate to no end, so she stayed put to find out why Y/N was being so harsh with this guy.

"My dad finally convinced me. I’m gonna inherit his company, so I need to start learning how these kind of things work."

"Oh yes, so the fact that I’m here after I dumped your poor ass three months ago when all you did was being a selfish, neglectful piece of shit is not one of the reason you’re here?" Damn, girl’s got balls. Kate was impressed at how good Y/N was standing up for herself but she couldn’t push the small, irritating clasp around the pit of her stomach and couldn’t shush her mind when it was poking her brain with a particular thought: Bishop, you still have feelings for her, relatively small but they are still there.

"I’ve changed. I miss you. I miss us. I now know I made a mistake."

"So when I’m finally out of your life, you come back crawling to me because no one else fell for your charm?"

"If I remember correctly my charm worked really well for you, many, many, many times." The smirk this Chad guy sent to Y/N, generated a disgusted shiver down Kate’s spine and her fists clenched involuntarily. "So don’t play hard to get. Let’s just go back together and let’s put this all behind us."

"No Chad. We are over." Y/N stressed her words over with an exasperated sigh and Kate instinctively took a step closer to Y/N as Chad invaded her personal space, leaning their faces really close.

"I’m not gonna repeat myself again. We are gonna get back together-"

"Uhm, excuse me, you are?" Kate interrupted him and she saw Y/N visibly relax at her voice before feeling Y/N’s back slightly lean on her front. She acted on sheer instinct when she put a protective hand on her waist and stared Chad down with an hard look on, her right eyebrow lifted up in challenge.

"I’m Chad, Y/N’s boyfriend. We were in the middle of a conversation, why don’t you go around serve champagne like you are supposed to?" Y/N gasped loudly at his harsh response that only made Kate chuckle softly under her breath.

Y/N then assessed the first thing the tall man said after she recovered from the shock, "you’re not-"

"Last time I checked I was in a relationship with Y/N, not you. So I’m gonna ask you to rephrase that." Kate clenched her jaw as her grip on Y/N’s was tightened and pushed her into her body to put a great amount of distance between them and Chad, a gesture that Y/N was completely grateful for before shock kicked in as Kate’s words settled in her brain.

"What?" Chad asked dumbly, laughing loudly a few seconds later, "okay, that was funny, waitress. Now , can I have a refill?" He shook the empty glass in front of Y/N’s and Kate face as he smirked cockily at her.

"You can ask to the other waiters, I’m not one of them."

"Oh so who are you?"

This time Y/N interrupted Kate and with her head high and her tone decisive she stepped into the conversation, "she is Kate Bishop, as well as the new Hawkeye and my girlfriend." Y/N grabbed Kate’s free hand to intertwine their hands together and laying them on her abdomen as Kate pushed her body more into her protectively, a gesture that flowed Y/N’s stomach with wild butterflies and a gentle blush to dust on her cheeks.

"Very funny. Now who are you really?" When Y/N and Kate merely stared at him with a deep scowl marking their features, he snorted, "right. So in the span of three months you became a dyke?"

"Okay, I had enough of you." Kate growled through gritted teeth and pulled away from Y/N - totally ignoring how her body immediately missed Y/N’s warmth - and grabbed Chad’s arm instead, pulling him with her and out of the ballroom, before pushing him out of the building, "don’t you ever, and I say ever, call someone like that again. Especially Y/N. Just because your enormous ego couldn’t take a no for an answer or that a girl took your place, this doesn’t give you the right to denigrate someone like that. Now say sorry to her and leave her alone, or you’re going to deal with me. And trust me, you don’t want to mess up with me and my friends."

Chad nodded with fright swimming in his green eyes at the brutal look exuding from Kate blue eyes and quickly apologized to Y/N and Kate before he sprinted back into the ballroom, followed by them as they strolled contentedly back into the party with their arms slung together and grabbed some appetizers as they settled back on the tall table they were standing before Chad’s interruption.

"Thank you Bishop. He was being a pain in the ass."

"Ugh, I was asking myself the whole conversation what you saw in him."

"Uh, that’s harsh Kate. He was charming like-" Y/N trailed off to lift her eyes up in deep-thought, "the first three weeks of our eight months relationship. Then I started asking myself that same question." Y/N quipped in the end, reveling in the cute, deep, throaty chuckle Kate emitted.

"Some things never change. You still have pretty bad taste in boys."

Y/N slapped Kate’s shoulder softly as a gasp left her lips, "take that back Bishop. Or I will post online that picture of you wearing that cute pink pony costume."

Kate shook her head knowing Y/N would never do that, "it’s true tho. Remember Ryan?"

When Y/N grunted in frustration at the memory, Kate nodded in her direction satisfied she proved her point, "so you would be the one that will change my bad taste?"

"Excuse me what?" Kate gulped imperceptibly at the question and stared at Y/N with her eyes wide open as her heart skipped a beat.

"Well fake girlfriend, what makes you so different from my shitty ex boyfriends?" Y/N asked in a low, hoarse voice as she invaded Kate’s space, staring her up with their faces really close and skidding her forefinger up and down the fabric of her tie.

"Well-" Kate cleared her throat to remove the big lump that formed there while mentally slapping herself. C’mon Bishop, you got this. It’s time to evoke that overconfidence you have. "Well for once, I would treat you like you deserve to be treated. I would take you to dates at least once a week and not once every six months. I would treasure our time together instead of dumping you in shabby bars to go play pool with my friends." Kate remarked each sentence, remembering all the times Y/N complained to her how shitty her ex boyfriends treater her, wanting at all costs to be in their position, "and- not to brag, I would worship you like you deserve to be worshipped." Kate drawled the last sentence with a sultry, low voice, leaning their faces impossibly closer, causing their noses to bump gently, as her hands settled back on Y/N’s waist.

Y/N’s breath got shallower the more Kate talked as her pulse increased, her heart ready to burst out of her ribcage. "What makes you so sure my exes didn’t worship me?"

Kate laughed lowly, her breath hitting Y/N’s lips was really testing both of their willpowers, "just a feeling."

"So full of yourself Bishop, aren’t you?"

"I’m just stating facts, baby. I bet my bow signed by Clint Barton that I can make you come in less than five minutes-" Y/N’s breath got stuck in her throat at the bold words spoken by the archer and felt her core clench on nothing at the images flowing into her mind, "-without my fingers entering you." Kate finished with a cocky grin and chuckled when she heard a soft whimper leave Y/N’s parted lips, stopping her amused laugh when Y/N grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the bathrooms, walking them in a stall and locking the door, before slamming Kate onto it and kissing her fervently. Both moaned gently when their lips finally met while Kate’s younger self was literally screaming and freaking out into Kate’s mind. Their lips slotted perfectly between each other and Kate savored Y/N’s taste, her senses flowed by everything that was Y/N. From her delicate perfume of jasmine and a bit of cinnamon, to the remnants of champagne on her lips, from the smoothness of her exposed arms to the softness of her hair that flowed perfectly through Kate’s fingers. Kate’s tongue slid out to lick the seam of Y/N’s lips and the Y/H/C girl granted her access right after with a soft whimper, whispered out right into Kate’s mouth. The gesture was so erotic that Kate felt her legs become putty and almost give out if it wasn’t for Y/N’s body trapping her own on the bathroom stall door. It was now Kate’s time to moan when their tongues met halfway and started a sensual dance that left Y/N’s mind reeling as her core pulsated uncontrollably, asking for attention.

"Fuck, you’re a really good kisser." Y/N murmured when they detached their lips to take a well needed breath, feeling their lungs burning from lack of air, and Kate smirked smugly down at the girl. "Don’t look so cocky Bishop or I’m taking it back."

"I’m just surprised you just said something nice about me." Kate leaned down to peck Y/N’s mouth, already getting addicted to those plump, soft, now slightly red lips, something Kate mentally cursed herself for because she didn’t know if this was going to be a one time thing or not and she really hoped it wasn’t the latter. "Now, where were we?" Kate tapped her lips in a fake, pensive expression before a Cheshire cat smile settled on her face, "right here." In a swift motion Kate inverted their position, being the one now slamming Y/N on the bathroom door and trapping her body there as her mouth found her way back on Y/N’s one, kissing her deeply with their tongues creating slick sounds that increased exponentially their arousals. One of Kate’s hands that settled safely on the Y/E/C girl’s hips, strayed down and grasped her ass harshly. Kate wasn’t sure the moan that followed her gesture came from Y/N or from herself, but she didn’t dwell on it too much when she elicited another one, louder this time, from Y/N when her other hand slid up and wrapped itself around a soft but firm breast.

"Kate."

"Yes?"

"I want you. Now." Y/N succeeded to breath out between soft whimpers right into Kate’s mouth and the archer felt spurts of arousal coming out of her center and ruining her panties some more.

"Mh, someone is needy." Kate simultaneously squeezed Y/N’s left’s butt cheek and right boob as she bit on the girl’s lips hard, soothing the red flesh with her tongue. "I bet you’re dripping. All ready for me to touch you." Kate’s right hand reveled in the nipple standing up under her palm at the craved attention for a few more seconds before sliding slowly down her body, scratching Y/N’s contracted abs on her way down, sliding down her thigh and slipping under the dress. She spent a very little amount of time teasing Y/N some more as her finger traced idle doodles on her thigh, feeling it twitch uncontrollably under her finger’s pad until she finally reached her yearned destination.

As soon as her pointer finger came in contact with Y/N’s clothed core, feeling the fabric completely drenched, the girl let out a lewd, low moan on Kate’s lips, "please Kate."

"Mh, say it again."

"Please Kate, fuck me."

"Mh, I bet your exes didn’t even know how to do it." Kate started moving her finger slowly over Y/N’s clothed clit, feeling it twitch under her pad and almost came at the sensation, "I bet they never made you come." Kate chuckled lowly but when Y/N broke their staring contest, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach at the clear uneasiness of the girl, so she asked softly, "never?"

"Bryan almost did, but he came before I could and then pulled out. Let’s just say over the years I became really skilled with my hands." Kate swallowed at the last phrase whispered sultrily on her lips, before she whimpered loudly when Y/N emphasized her statement by grabbing her cunt with her hand and pushed her middle finger up to tease her clothed entrance. Even with all those layers, Kate was sure that if Y/N kept doing that for just a few more minutes she would have come undone. But she was on a mission. She had to stay focused. So she grasped Y/N’s wrist and unwillingly pulled her hand away from her core and slamming it on the door above Y/N’s head.

"I’m really sorry to hear that. But I’m gonna change that really soon. So buckle up and get ready for the best orgasm of your life."

"I will be the judge of that." Y/N countered back smugly as she bit seductively on Kate’s bottom lip, "now, are you gonna start do something or are you just all talk and no action?"

Y/N didn’t have time to finish her sentence that Kate’s hand slipped in her panties just as the black haired girl growled under her breath before connecting their lips together to swallow the throaty moan Y/N emitted at the contact of Kate’s finger on her aching clit. "Is this enough action for you?"

"Fuck. Wait-" Y/N used the last ounce of clarity she had, to grab Kate’s phone from her right pocket and typed her password in, not at all appalled that it stayed the same over the years, and opened the chronometer app, showing the screen to Kate as she smirked smugly, "a promise is a promise Bishop. You have 5 minutes." Kate stared with her mouth slung open at the challenge presented to her, but she recovered from the shock quickly. She never backed away from a dare. Without saying a word she resumed her movements from her stilled hand and kissed Y/N deeply, letting her tongue out to lick inside her mouth. She felt Y/N replace her phone back into her pocket and her hand resumed her position into Kate’s dark locks as the archer swallowed soft whimpers coming from the girl. "Faster." Y/N’s hips bucked down to meet Kate’s finger movement and create more friction, finding really difficult keeping kissing Kate when her brain was literally short-circuiting at the archer’s touch. Kate noticed that, so her lips focused their attention on the girl’s neck, hearing every small whimper and sigh the girl emitted to give her as much pleasure as she could. She sped up her finger movement before adding a second one to push on the girl’s clit harder and felt her curse on the top of her head, "shit, that feels so good." Y/N’s free hand grasped the girl’s dark locks in an hard grip and pushed the girl more into her neck as her hips found the archer’s fingers rhythm, "inside, Kate. Please." The Y/H/C girl wasn’t giving a fuck at how needy she sounded, but she was experiencing the best sensation she ever felt with a partner and felt her orgasm already building up in her stomach, so she was eager to come undone and into the archer’s hand. That thought alone was enough for her center to drip some more arousal into her panties.

Kate pulled away from the girl’s neck and tutted at her with a mischievous grin on her lips, "if I remember correctly, I told you I would have made you come without entering you. And I’m gonna do that." Kate trailed off and tapped her clit repeatedly before grabbing it between her thumb and pointer finger and pulled it softly. That movement caused a groan to leave Y/N’s lips and in that moment Kate was glad no one entered the bathroom to allow Y/N to be as loud as she could.

"Fuck."

Kate continued her relentless rhythm on the girl’s clit for until she felt the girl’s hips movements becoming more sloppy, so she quickened up her pace and Y/N moaned loudly while slamming her head back on the door, "are you close?" Kate whispered on Y/N’s cheeks and felt the girl nod, so Kate repeated her movements from a few moments ago and pinched Y/N’s clit harshly. The girl came undone with a strangled moan of the archer’s name as her core spurted out all her juices. Kate stared transfixed at the girl coming undone right before her eyes as her hand slowed its movements to let the girl ride out her high as much as possible before coming to a stop when the girl ceased its uncontrollable writhing. "That was the most mesmerizing sight I’ve ever witnessed." Kate whispered, lowering Y/N hand still above their heads and intertwined their fingers, laying their hands between their heaving chests as her blue hues swept over the relaxed features of the Y/H/C girl.

"And that was the best orgasm I’ve ever had." Y/N admitted and the million dollar smile Kate gave her was enough for Y/N to feel like a teenager once again as her stomach did somersaults at the enthralling view.

"See? I told you-" Kate stopped herself to grab her phone and stopped the chronometer, eyeing the screen with a pleased grin on her face before she showed Y/N her phone, "and one minute and 37 seconds before the 5 minutes were up." Y/N was impressed to say the least, not only from the clear skills Kate had but also from the rate she fell over the edge. Kate went to gloat some more but clasped her mouth shut as she heard the door of the bathroom open and close, followed by ticking sounds echoing around the room. When they focused on the voices on the new two occupants of the bathroom, both girl’s widened their eyes as dread settled over them. The motion could have been really funny if it wasn’t for the fact that they were going to get caught by their moms after fucking in a relatively big bathroom stall during a charity event.

"Oh yes, even if she has a really worrisome ability to find trouble, I’m really happy she had a perfect guide to teach her how to be a superhero." Eleanor snickered after trailing off, opening the faucet and washing her hands.

"It must be weird saying that word." Y/N’s mom chuckled alongside Eleanor but in her voice could be heard pride in her tone.

"Shit, it’s our moms!" Y/N whispered alarmed and Kate disentangled their hands to clasp hers on Y/N’s mouth to shut her up and prevent them to get caught.

"Oh not really. Kate dreamed to become one since New York’s attack. I thought I was protecting her, but she was doing it in fact."

"Y/N told me, Kate saved her at your Christmas party. I couldn’t be attend it because I was in LA for business, but Y/N wanted to be there, so she took her ex boyfriend. Ugh I hated that guy. Could you believe he left her when the lights went out? By the time she got out of the building and Kate saved her, he already went home."

Kate listened intently to Y/N’s mom’s retelling of that night and clenched her jaw hard, wanting really badly to punch that douchebag for being a selfish asshole. She got pulled away from her thoughts when Y/N pulled Kate’s hand away from her mouth and kissed her tenderly to calm her down. They dulled their moms’ voices as they kissed languidly, but stopped altogether when they heard something really interesting.

"Ugh, I still don’t know what happened between them. Y/N never told me the truth."

"Neither did Kate. She was always evasive by saying ‘we just stopped talking’ or ‘we grew apart’, so after a while I stopped asking."

"I really thought they would have ended up together."

"Really? Me too! Ugh, Kate was head over heels for her. I found an old notebook she used in high school and it was covered with their initials or Y/N’s name." Kate blushed furiously when Y/N lifted her left eyebrow up as mirth swam in her eyes and mouthed ‘shut up’ at her, only causing for Y/N’s smug grin to broaden.

"Y/N had Kate’s picture as her laptop screensaver and one night I saw her kissing the picture before closing it." As their moms laughed, it was now Y/N’s time to blush furiously as Kate grinned from ear to ear at this new piece of information - they will definitely talk about it later- , before kissing her once again tenderly. "I saw them talk maybe 20 minutes ago. I really hope they get over their grudge and start dating. Kate is a sweetheart."

"It would be a real improvement for Kate. Trust me, my daughter has a really bad taste in girls." Y/N restrained herself from laughing when Kate’s jaw dropped and she stared at the door outraged.

"Ugh, Y/N is no exception. Every single time, her new boyfriend proved to be worst than the previous one."

Kate couldn’t help but chuckled at the livid look on Y/N’s face before she connected their lips once again, deeper this time, to let Y/N relax, feeling her do it almost immediately with a contented sigh. Kate just then realized her hand was still in Y/N’s panties and flushed on her clit. She detached her lips from Y/N’s plush ones, chuckling softly when the girl chased her mouth greedily before regarding her with an annoyed look, but Kate just stared at her with a cocky smirk and Y/N lifted her eyebrow up in a silent question. She answered her when her hand slid from her clit to her entrance, collected the juices from her climax and entered Y/N with two fingers, watching the girl widen her eyes in realization and immediately clasped a hand on her mouth when she saw her lips starting to part to moan at the new stimulation.

"I’m going to the bathroom really quick." Y/N’s mom told Eleanor before doing her business. Kate continued with a maddening slow rhythm, pulling her fingers out almost completely before pushing her hands right back in, Y/N’s hips following Kate’s fingers movements to increase her pleasure. They heard the flush of the toiled and the rushing of the water, followed by the clanking sound of their moms’ heels on the tiled bathroom floor and the door closing shut behind them. Kate waited a few more seconds to be safe they were alone once again, before she pulled her hand away from Y/N’s face, the girl not waisting a second as she released a deep, hoarse moan.

"Look at you, so needy for my fingers." Kate hummed on Y/N’s parted lips and sneaked her tongue in just as she pushed a third finger in and used her thumb to tap on the girls neglected clit, almost climaxing when the girl moaned around her tongue in pleasure, the sound traveling from her mouth, down her spine and right between her legs. "Fuck, you feel so good around my fingers."

"Kate, don’t stop. I’m so close."

"Already?" Kate asked pleased with herself and her smile must have gave her away because Y/N grunted out in fond exasperation and bit on her bottom lip to get rid of that irritating grin.

"Shut up. More fucking, less talking." Kate growled at the request and grasped Y/N’s left thigh greedily and hooked it around her waist, creating a new angle to allow her fingers to push in deeper. Y/N arched her back in pleasure at the new stimulation as she shifted her head to the side to give more access to Kate’s greedy mouth that was leaving small hickeys all over her neck and collarbones, her mind too much hazy to keep kissing. Kate felt Y/N’s walls clench hard on her fingers, a clear sign the girl was ready to climax all over again, so she pushed in deeper and harder and after a few more thrusts the girl was tipping over the edge, coating Kate’s hands with her juices making Kate’s own center to throb wildly for making the girl come twice in the span of 20 minutes.

Kate stopped her movements when the girl’s body slumped back on the bathroom door and used her own body to support her. She took her fingers out and both whimpered at the lost contact before they met halfway in a slow, tender kiss. Kate pulled away moments later and regarded her with a small smile as her eyes shined under the light of the bathroom stall.

"Stop staring Kate, you’re making me blush." Y/N felt the blush on her cheeks, already burning of a crimson color from her climax, feeling it intensify from the intense look Kate was regarding her with.

"Sorry, you’re just so beautiful." Kate admitted absentmindedly and looked down in embarrassment at the admission. A finger under her chin, made their eyes met once again and she gasped when she found nothing but love and fondness in the look she was regarding with as her Y/E/C irises shined brightly.

"So are you Kate." They continued to blush and smile dumbly at each other, feeling like teenagers all over again.

"Y’know-" Kate started after another languid kiss, "my younger self is gloating like crazy right now." Bishop, you big softie, do not get attached once again, or you’ll have to pick the pieces of your once over broken heart all by yourself. Kate’s mind reprimanded her, but she wasn’t minding it any bit, not when Y/N was looking at her that way, like she was the only one in the world.

"I think this will be the worst place to confess this, but… in for a penny, in for a pound… my younger self is beating herself up for acting like a coward." When Kate looked at her confused, Y/N continued to clarify, "You heard my mom Kate. I liked you too Kate, but my stupid younger self was too afraid to admit it. She was too much focused to be the perfect rich girl and was afraid everyone would hate her for being who she was. I watched you from afar, being yourself and not once regretting it. You achieved so much in this 8 years and when three months ago you saved me from that mobster, all my feelings for you came crashing back in. I felt a sense of freedom, like I could be myself and not regret it. I’m sorry, for putting you through all that 8 years ago. But I’m ready to make it all better. I truly mean it when I say, my feelings never stopped during all this time."

Kate sighed loudly and bracketed Y/N’s face to peck her lips gently, "I would lie if I told you the same." Kate almost beat herself up when she saw Y/N’s face fall from her admission, "wait let me explain. I’m not gonna lie, I tried to forget you. You were clear that night. You weren’t attracted to me. So I tried to move on. I dated a few girls and with one of them I almost succeeded in that task, but then I saw you one day at one of my mom’s party, everything came back in. So yes, I tried to forget you, but my feelings stayed the same." Y/N smiled brightly at that and threw her hands around Kate’s neck and pulled her in a searing kiss, both expressing into the kiss what they desperately wanted to say out loud. When the kiss became once again needier as their tongues slid over each other hungrily, Kate’s hips bucked involuntarily to chase some yearned friction. That movement made Y/N come back to her senses and pulled back from the intense kiss, "fuck, you must be drenched by now." Y/N didn’t waste any more time, she unbuckled Kate’s belt and opened Kate’s pants before she slipped her hand in and past her panties to finally touch the black haired girl.

"Wait-" Kate grunted out, fighting against herself from moving her hips to chase her orgasm down and pulled Y/N’s hand from her pants. She didn’t miss the pout Y/N sent her way so she reassured her with a quick, gentle peck. "Let’s go to my place. This stall, even if it’s quite big for a bathroom stall is becoming too small. Let’s go to my place and we can go on all night." Y/N didn’t answer, she silently smothered her dress and fixed her own attire and hair, then proceeded to button Kate’s pants and fitting her blouse back in them, then placed the belt back into place. Before she could turn around she grabbed Kate’s clothed cunt like she did before and teased her entrance with her middle finger once again before retrieving her hand and winking her way and opening the bathroom door, craning as turned around to open the door, leaning her head out to see if the coast was clear and before she could walk out of the stall after opening the door wider, Kate used both of her hands to grasp her ass and squeeze it harshly. When the girl turned around with her mouth hanging open with a mix of shock and arousal swimming in her eyes, her cheeks dusted with a crimson color and her core throbbing wildly once again, Kate merely winked at her, laid a soft peck on her lips and intertwined their hands together, pulling the girl out of the bathroom and the charity event, calling a taxi to take them back to her place where they went on for several rounds until Kate’s bedroom filled with the first rays of the morning.

[miraculouscontent]

Kagami was thankful that Armand didn't ask any questions when she insisted that she wanted to stay behind with Adrien - fencing gear and all - for just a few minutes. She didn't care to waste her time answering pointless questions, and with the stern look she'd given him upon her insistence, he would've been a fool to ask anyway.

Adrien was sitting patiently in the locker room, glancing up at her as she entered. "Hey, so what'd you want a match for?"

A decisive match, Kagami corrected in her head. Still, she said nothing, her eyes encouraging Adrien to follow as she went into the standard fencing area of the school.

She pulled out her saber, tracing her fingers along the length of it. Adrien walked up to face her at a distance, seeming confused but ready to go against her. They performed the standard beat to signify that the fight was about to start.

"You have the first move," Kagami told him, getting into her usual stance and flipping her mask down with her free hand. It was certainly unorthodox to fence without someone there to judge, but she suspected that she wouldn't need one.

Adrien looked at her strangely, but nevertheless flipped his mask down and got into stance as well.

A few seconds passed with Adrien doing nothing. It was very predictable of him, really, so when he finally did lunge at her, it was easy to dodge.

Kagami spoke. "Who is that Lila girl?"

"W-what?"

Adrien staggered, then immediately pulled back, his posture implying that half of his focus had been lost. Kagami sliced the open air in warning, stunning Adrien back into action as they re-engaged.

"The Lila girl," Kagami repeated. "Who is she?"

She couldn't see his expression through his helmet, but the fact that he didn't answer at first said everything all on its own.

"She—she's a girl in my class?"

As he lunged, she parried him. "Don't take me for a fool, Adrien."

Kagami knew there was more than that. She remembered the face of the girl as she was de-akumatized. She remembered the tense atmosphere between her and Ladybug. She remembered what she'd heard the girl lie about on the Ladyblog, along with what Ladybug's response was.

She remembered what Marinette had said.

"I'm not!" Adrien replied. "She really is in my class!"

Kagami gave him a look underneath her helmet. Feinting against him, she countered, "Marinette told me everything."

"Everything?" The apparent hurt in his voice was evident. "But—I thought we..."

"I asked her," she clarified. She advanced on him, causing him to retreat. It was all too similar to their first meeting. "I'd heard more than enough about her and I wanted the facts." She nearly hissed her next words. "You supported a liar, Agreste."

"No! I—I didn't want her to get hurt!"

"So you defended a liar," Kagami stated. "You protected one."

"You saw what happened! She got akumatized when everything came out!" Adrien reminded her as he tried to strike back. "Now everyone is against her!"

There were nerves in his voice, perhaps due to him sensing the buzzing fury Kagami had that was unknown to him.

"And you consider that an excuse?" Performing a quick, short series of strikes to force him back, essentially to wherever she wanted, she continued, "Hawk Moth will seek out anyone he deems a target. Delaying justice for the sake of sparing someone's feelings is pathetic."

Being Fukiya had become so natural to her by this point. She'd seen people be akumatized, had assisted in fights to de-akumatize them, and she herself had been akumatized soon after she'd arrived in Paris. She'd originally thought that akumatization was a sign of weakness, but after becoming a hero, she began to change her opinion.

Everyone had their own blind spots; their own moments of weaknesses. Good, bad, strong, weak, it didn't matter.

People had good reasons and bad reasons for the feelings that cause them to become a target for an akuma. They didn't change because they were akumatized and they didn't get worse afterward. At best, feelings that weren't clear before could be brought to light.

"And on top of that, you're actually friends with the blond-haired girl," she added.

"Chloe?" Adrien asked. "We've been friends since we were kids!"

"And you continue to be despite everything she's done?"

"I know she can be—"

"A bully," Kagami interjected bluntly.

He barely managed to retreat as she lunged at him. "—hard to deal with."

Each thrust and clink of her blade against his, practically leading Adrien all around the school at this point, was a flash of Kagami's emotion. As far as she was concerned, she wasn't fighting Adrien anymore.

She was fighting how she felt about Adrien.

"You let the Chloe girl treat people terribly and you let the Lila girl lie to those who were supposed to be your friends! You did—" She nearly staggered, losing part of her strength and just barely missing being hit by Adrien's saber. "You did nothing..."

She was glad that the helmet hid her face, considering the way she winced as she reminded herself of what was happening.

When she'd first met Adrien, she saw him as little more than a challenger; someone to beat in order to join Armand's fencing class. She didn't care who he was or what status he held in the world, though he'd been a worthy opponent.

She hadn't wanted his pity after the match was decided in his favor, yet he'd pursued her anyway. He believed that she'd beaten him, despite what Marinette had said and despite how it would look on him to admit that he thought he'd genuinely lost. He'd stayed close by after everything was said and done, even though she wouldn't have blamed him for fleeing the person who'd become a sword-wielding akuma in order to get revenge on him.

He’d taken action without being aggressive. It'd caught her eye and made her feel things that she didn't know she could feel.

She loved him. She loved that he could care and be such a good person while not sitting around hopelessly. When she'd told him to change targets, that was exactly what he did.

And now, it was exactly what she'd do. She'd fallen too fast and gotten too excited. He'd pulled the string of a bow back and shot her skillfully in the chest, but the wound healed over time.

The way he so easily took his eyes from her should've been her first hint.

"Chloe's mother—" Adrien stopped, as if realizing what the relationship between Audrey and Chloe was like now. "—she's working on it! Just like Lila! Lila lies because she's alone!"

"And she should stay alone!" Kagami countered as she simultaneously countered Adrien's attempt to strike her. "Yet you allowed her to receive attention and lie to your classmates! You allowed Chloe to do as she pleases and did nothing to discourage her from doing wrong, hoping that she would improve! Am I wrong?"

He went to reply, but became too distracted by dodging her thrust.

"Let me ask you something, Adrien." It wasn't a request. "Did you see how others were affected by the actions of those two? By threats? By lies? By slander? I've been told more than enough to see that this Lila girl is trying to divide Marinette from the rest of the class, and you would have to be a fool not to have seen it. So, either you willingly ignored and allowed these actions to go on—"

Adrien made one, final attempt at a thrust. Kagami parried him, then followed up with her own thrust in return—

also known as a riposte.

He attempted to back away instinctively, but his back hit a bookshelf, allowing Kagami to touch her saber to his chest. Stunned, Adrien looked around and saw that they'd wandered into the library in the midst of their fight.

Straightening, Kagami withdrew from him. "—or you need to pay more attention to your surroundings."

Adrien raised his mask to stare at her, looking wide-eyed and confused. He reminded Kagami vaguely of Chat Noir, who she'd chided multiple times for his decision to joke around when an akuma was wreaking havoc on civilian lives.

Utterly clueless, both of them, as if it were a simple difference in opinion.

She didn't lift her mask in return, instead turning away and muttering firmly, "Good-bye, Adrien."

"K-kagami?"

Even in his cluelessness, he seemed to know that the good-bye meant more than a standard one would, though that wasn't at all relevant to Kagami.

She was going to retrieve her bag with Pollen inside, then leave.

[vcsecretgifts]

Snap shot in time

From: @auburnandamberangel

Merry Christmas @plopofcolour Qotd era Khayman and Armand interaction on the Night Island. Hope you like ^u^

~~~

Armand watched Khayman looking at his upper terrace garden, the plants benefiting not only from the sunshine but also the seaspray. The cacti, the large Saguaros with their armed tall appearance especially had captured the ancients fascination. The silhouettes classic to many a western. They weren’t indigenous to Egypt, effectively a new world plant, and certainly capturing this until recently slumbering vampire. Perhaps as they too were long lived, slow in maturing. He had his cameras slung over his neck and shoulder wanting to capture the bloom on one of them, a first. He recorded all of them on this island. Mementos.

Khayman was a very good guest, polite, and surprisingly unaloof compared to other vampires of a similar age. ‘Mr manners leaves their bodies after the first few thousand years!’ Daniel had observed dryly not to long ago as they say in said same garden, watching the waves. Sitting on the stone steps, snuggly between Daniels stretched out legs. Barely dead himself, so manys ways appeared rude by his modern standards. “Not all are…impolite.” Daniel had nodded, smiling almost as if he’d read his mind and knew he was thinking of the Egyptian. Which was impossible, he just people watched very well. And surely he was an expert in Armand observations by now.

“Ahh but Khayman was nice as a human, not many airs on him plus he’s sweet on you. So you’re the last person he’d be short with.” Interestingly not too much jealousy in that statement. A small possessive kiss to the top of his head, caressing of his arms about his waist. Their guests came and went, things were more peaceful minus some of their vampire brethren. Peaceful between them even. Born in a time of crisis, his home even invaded it wasn’t ideal for them even with a notorious nosey parker like his fledgling. He’d borne so much strain at his hands before being turned, it worried Armand. Sometimes they fought as he instinctually pulled back.

“The fact he’s easy on the eye doesn’t hurt much either does it.” Daniel added laughter in his voice. Teasing. Armand smiled despite himself turning his head. “But I’m famous for a penchant for blondes darling aren’t I.”

“Except Louis.” His beloved kissing his dimples. And others he’d best not mention. Not eager to quote that book at him right now.

“Hmmmm. Nice to not always be predictable then.” Kissing Daniels matching smile. It had ended up being a very good evening that night. Allowing himself to bask in the glow of the memory of it.

Khayman found the sea soothing, the air fresh and the garden a magical oasis. A small movement betrayed his hosts presence, rare to not have an exuberant Daniel or hesitant brooding Marius in orbiting attendance around Armand. Moths to this ’cherubs’ - seraphin now surely more apts flame- A ethereal beauty no matter the flowery language. In his time one destined to be blessed by the gods. A soul just as full of substance as his appearance. To think without her, the mother waking he’d probably not have crossed paths with this one. So artful at cloaking his presence. Deep in thought he was looking at him, but not really seeing him. Caught in a recollection. Unguarded he looked so young, in the eyes the depth and knowledge in them gave his age away. This was the way with their kind. Trapped in their making, the soul grew seen through the orbs alone. Somehow still warmth there, if the mood was right. A miracle considering the heartache had been through in so far centuries. He would do much to make sure he didn’t make those eyes cold. Watching this former coven master navigate so many vampires in his sanctuary, first love mingling with last. Struck by the poise. The former parents guardian, the Roman made said face light up and close down in equal measure. Not his place to intervene ofcourse, though tempting. Best to announce his presence, so Armand didn’t feel too exposed.

“Armand, good evening. Was there something I can aid you with?” Smooth heavily accented voice totally interrupting his reverie. “Did you want private time in your garden?” Previously observed vampire catching him unawares, hoping he hadn’t left himself open to scrutiny thoughts wise. His mind usually locked up tight, some of the first brood lacked finesse with the mind gift, it coming to them later. But what they lacked in finesse, could be made up by brute force alone. Being Marius’ blood line vicariously provided some civility that otherwise may not exist, for a not even five hundred year old former cult coven leader. Ageism was alive and well in their surviving group from Akashas cull. As if age always came with wisdom… Khayman had been gentle and respectful in his manner towards him. Armand appreciated this from his most recent friend. He saw him as he was, no judgement.

“No not at all. I take pleasure in seeing enjoyment from my garden. The cacti have you in their thrall I see.” Genuine smile to the ancient. Moving closer. The garden lit by coloured uplights here and there to make it appealing.

“They are exotic to my old eyes, yes. Beautiful yet dangerous. So like us I feel.” Small smile back. “Your a gracious host, I know it’s not in most of your nature’s to live on mass for long. You’ve been patient where you could have been firm. Silent when you could have spoken.” Khaymans turn to watch and enjoy the view that had nothing to do with the garden, but more it’s creator.

“Ah well, tact or diplomacy is something I’ve always had to have. Never to speak unless it improves the silence or my position in it.” Being quite open now in this admission. Unusually candid for himself truly. He didn’t think he’d regret it in this situation.

“The lone jackel is a hard role to break, though it’s served you well.” The ancient replied. Looking back at the cacti. “How old is this one then?”

“This one is around seventy years. It’s the first year it’s flowered, you’re lucky to have witnessed it.” Itching to take a picture of the flower, and perhaps Khayman too if he was truthful with himself. Just incase his stay was brief and centuries passed until another meeting of minds. “But they can live to around one hundred and seventy five perhaps even two hundred years. Not bad for a desert dweller.”

Khayman eyed the camera, that was the term wasn’t it. One of the magical picture capturers. “You’ll record it with this?” He hadn’t tried anything new in a while. Armand was patient, the best person to ask to try. “How?” He uttered before he had time to edit.

Inquisitive and open to instruction, not your average elder. Refreshing like the sea breeze. “I need a tripod, unless you can hold it steady as a rock. I’ll do both.” Zipping inside and then back out to get it. “I’ll need a long exposure to make the most of the moon light, and a flash for my close ups. The window inside opens for the picked time, the light hits the film and makes an imprint like an eye I suppose but in reverse, or inverse a negative. We can use the darkroom next.” Twinkle in his eye as he saw the ancients eyes widen. “The Polaroid develops as you shake it.” It must sound odd to the others ears.

“Witchcraft then. I’m an apprentice to a modern sorcerer.” Pleased by the laugh this comment brought from Armand.

“Usually I’m called bewitching. But I’ve been accused of worse.” Daniels words echoing in his head, pleased he didn’t blush as easily as said youngblood.

Gingerly taking the camera and going still, statue like as he could. A trick you learnt which came easily with age. Though it usually unnerved younger immortals. *Direct me as if I’m a tripod.* He said is the mind voice. Armands softer hands aiming the slr camera for a closeup. Physical contact was a luxury being a nomad rarely afforded.

Hearing the snap of the inner workings, turning of the spool. With each shot, the flash singing. Armand liked this process, methodical, practised yet still room for error and surprise. *Move back a little so I can get a portrait of it. Perhaps one of and for you to take with you?* Because people leave - eventually. This was always a possibility. Sentiment came with a cost, this he always knew.

A photo to keep. An anchor would be good for times Khayman felt unsteady. Stronger by the year, but wispy in his soul sometimes. A welcome light in the Night Island Villa, to concentrate on. *Yes. A portrait of plant, myself and it’s guardian even better.*

Warm glance, nodding his answer. “This also has a cable to take a photograph at a distance. A bellow balloon, a tube and a metal press.” Screwing it into the button. Then retrieving it from the taller elder. Fixing this on the tripod via it’s own foot. Let’s set ourselves up. Standing and leaning into the framing arms of the cactus, as if the plant was behind them, reaching to hold them close.

Khayman followed the younger ones lead. Moving in closer and realising he could smell Armands hair. Wondering if this was his shampoo or just his natural scent. Vampires sometimes exuded a odour that was unique to them, a spice in the blood perhaps. Marius had made him, imbued with donations by Akasha during his guardianship. Perhaps he had smelt like this in Venice as a mortal. Not something he could easily ask the child of two millennia. Nor share a want to share his blood to strengthen those below a thousand in their coven, truthfully only this one piqued his interest.

Armand had the cord behind his back to depress at just the right moment. Khaymans strong heartrate was hard to ignore so close. “Ready. One two three.” Not using cheese, referring to a dairy product as slang for smiling usually put older vampires in a spin. So a countdown better. Not flinching at the flash or the next long exposure. “Always take more than one for practicality.” Moving to replace the lens cap and concentrate on the Polaroid camera in front of him now. “Arguably this one is like magic.” He stated with a smile. “As Daniel can attest I took so many in our early years here.” Boxes and boxes of them, indulgent expression on his face. He was rich, but some things were priceless that had little monetary value in his collection. “Strike your next pose. Make yourself comfortable.”

Khayman liked Daniel. He was full of life, and hoped that energy didn’t turn downwards into madness. Knowing Armand was concerned with this too, any elder making a first fledgling would be - especially one as fond of forward planning as his host. Smiling nervous about doing something wrong. Hoping irrationally it wasn’t magic, as magic never bode well. Flash and snap. Painless. Wondering what the twins back in Sonomo thought of this new family, Mekare learning after her travelling the wilderness. Focus on Jesse, their link to Miriam.

Armand handed the Polaroid by its framed white bottom edge to the elder. “Now shake it, and you’ll slowly appear.” Charmed by Khaymans expression, bouyed one so old could still feel the wonder of the new. Despite intermittent sleeps. Hope for all of them surely. Watching Khayman watching the photograph as it developed. “What do you think?”

Bit by bit the image appeared - the dark background shading in firstly, the bright green cacti appearing next with its vibrant blooms. Then the paled by time figure, a smile all for the taker. Now one such photo of Armand with or without himself would be wondrous. “A fine picture.” So excited he placed kisses on Armands cheeks stopping before he daren’t put any on those rosy lips. Moving faster than he usually did, enveloping the younger vampire in a hug would perhaps be too much of a liberty. They had time. “One of us next, yes?”

Armand didn’t have time to start at the sudden movement of the ancient. Stealing himself to be squeezed, fortunate it didn’t come to pass. Khayman smelt inviting though, heady blood from their fount. Marius would be jealous no doubt. But he wasn’t here was he. Attending to Pandora, a promise of a return soon. As ever time would tell. Trying not to stare at Khaymans lips. “Yes. An instant portrait next.” Glad of someone who gave as much as he took.

[vampirebabeforever]

starting a petition to change the plot and let armand kill marius with his bare hands (and a blender and a big sword and he can tie him to the back of a car and drag him around as a treat if he wants) in amc iwtv

[welllpthisishappening]

Welllp These Are Books: the June 2021 Edition

I have read a lot of books this month. That should be stated upfront. Just an absolute metric ton of books. Some real good, some not-so good, some inadvertently hysterical. Also, I made that BINGO board. Because, like, you ever have a total crisis of writing-confidence and ignore that potential freakout and the tendency of your coworkers to miss deadlines by reading every free Amazon sports romance you can find? And several full YA series? In one month? No? My experiences are not universal, I understand. Anyway, there’s thoughts and opinions and spoilers under the cut. Everyone read the Once Upon a Con series, I’m begging you.

READ THIS SERIES! PLEASE! EVERY BOOK WAS SO CUTE! EVERYONE IN EVERY BOOK WAS SO CUTE! THE FANDOM STUFF DID NOT GIVE ME SECOND-HAND EMBARRASSMENT!

Geekerella by Ashley Poston Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first. Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise. 

The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston Imogen Lovelace is an ordinary fangirl on an impossible mission: to save her favorite Starfield character, Princess Amara, from being killed off. On the other hand, the actress who plays Amara wouldn’t mind being axed. Jessica Stone doesn’t even like being part of the Starfield franchise—and she’s desperate to leave the intense scrutiny of fandom behind. Though Imogen and Jess have nothing in common, they do look strangely similar to one another—and a case of mistaken identity at ExcelsiCon sets off a chain of events that will change both of their lives. When the script for the Starfield sequel leaks, with all signs pointing to Jess, she and Imogen must trade places to find the person responsible. The deal: Imogen will play Jess at her signings and panels, and Jess will help Imogen’s best friend run their booth. But as these “princesses” race to find the script leaker—in each other’s shoes—they’re up against more than they bargained for. From the darker side of fandom to unexpected crushes, Imogen and Jess must find a way to rescue themselves from their own expectations...and redefine what it means to live happily ever after. 

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston In this third book of the Once Upon a Con series, Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills. On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read. When Vance’s and Rosie’s paths collide, sparks do not fly. But as they begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

— I cannot possibly overstate what an absolute delight this series was. Cute and sweet and adorable. Like rot your teeth sweet with romances that my high-school self would have swooned over. (I would have been so in love with Darien Freeman as a 16 year old, it’s not even funny. Also, I would have been obsessed with Starfield.) Let’s be honest, my current self swooned quite a lot. Reading these books genuinely felt like a love letter to fandom. To the good and bad and trashy parts of it, and it made my heart swell thinking about these fictional kids and the community they found and how much they learned and then they FELL IN LOVE and, like, not to sound like an after-school special, but: THE REP IN THESE BOOKS?!?? HOLY S H I T. So good. So goddamn good. And not, like, shoved to the side. Like, Jess falls in love with a girl. And it gets its swoon-worthy moment as much as anyone else. Plus, bi-librarian dad who wears suspenders??? Sign. Me. Up. Twisting the fairy tales into the stories also worked really well in my opinion. Honestly my only gripe was that Darien found a cell phone number in the white pages, but, like, everything else was a joy. Please read these books. I promise they will make you smile.

IN WHICH I CAN NEVER TURN DOWN A BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge Betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom, Nyx has always known that her fate was to marry him, kill him, and free her people from his tyranny. But on her seventeenth birthday when she moves into his castle high on the kingdom's mountaintop, nothing is what she expected—particularly her charming and beguiling new husband. Nyx knows she must save her homeland at all costs, yet she can't resist the pull of her sworn enemy—who's gotten in her way by stealing her heart.

— Yo. YO. Everyone in this book was horrible! And it was wonderful! I figured out the twist approximately point two seconds after the potential for a twist was possibly introduced and it did not diminish my enjoyment of this book for one second. I am such a sucker for any Beauty and the Beast AU, but this was way different than anything I’d read before and Nyx was a blood-thirsty terror and I loved her. The magic and the world building was fascinating in that I really did not expect Greek gods and goddess, but it was also a welcome turn in a weird, huh, that’s interesting sort of way. And the banter was a-plus, top tier. Even when they were snarking at each other. Especially when they were snarking at each other. (Still a pretty quick turn from enemies to lovers, but I’m willing to overlook that based almost solely on the snark.) Plus, the castle was fascinating. And there were more twists aside from the main twist, none of which I figured out. All of which I gasped over. The end was like—chef’s kiss, fantastic. I would like a novel-length sequel to tell me how everything worked out.

...BUT THE LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD ONE WASN’T AS GOOD

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless—straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in a vain effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her hunt for the legendary sword that might save their world. Together, they navigate the opulent world of the courtly elite, where beauty and power reign and no one can be trusted. And as the two become unexpected allies, they discover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic . . . and a love that may be their undoing. Within a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

— As much as I loved Cruel Beauty, I was like ehhhh on this one. Which is part Little Red Riding Hood (although that seems like a stretch, honestly) and part The Girl With No Hands, which is a fairy tale I have literally never heard of before. Rachelle was just—sorta whiny? Which, y’know, she was cursed and had fucked up her entire life, so fair, but also...annoying. I kept reading mostly to try and understand what the FUCK was going on with the magic. I like to consider myself a relatively intelligent person who can understand most YA novels, but this one was tough to keep track of. Like, sure, the imagery of the Dark Forest was cool, but also what is a Gladspring? I’m still not sure I know. Also, this kind of dragged in some places. Lots of patrolling the palace (whining about life) and not enough magic-fighting or establishing any sort of relationship between Rachelle and Armand. Which just sort of happened? Amidst, approximately, twenty-four different twists that were admittedly cool, but also felt like they came out of nowhere. Everything that happened in Cruel Beauty made sense. Most of what happened here felt like it was shoehorned in for shock value.

YOU WANT MORAL AMBIGUITY? BOY HAVE I GOT MORAL AMBIGUITY FOR YOU. IN GODDAMN SPADES.

The Firebird Series by Claudia Gray Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer—her parent's handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul's guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is far more sinister than she expected.

— Guys. GUYS. These books, oh my G O D. Little known fact about me, but I am trash for cross-dimensional soulmates. The concept of “we’ll find each other anywhere” is one of my favorites, so I was so psyched about these books. And for awhile that’s what I thought I was going to get out of them. But. BUT! What I actually got was something, not totally different, but not entirely great, either. The problem here was that when anyone used one of the Firebird devices to jump dimensions they TOOK OVER THE BODY THEY JUMPED INTO. So, like, that consciousness got shoved to the side while whatever prime!person just took over. Living that body’s life. In a different dimension. And that’s kinda fucked up, right??? Brings in all sorts of questions about consent and morality and let me tell you, guys, this YA series DID NOT ADDRESS A SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Which is also super fucked up!! So, like, Marguerite is just bouncing around dimensions taking over people’s bodies and lives and leaving this, frankly, trail of destruction in her wake. And as if that wasn’t enough!!! In the second book Paul’s soul gets, like, split and she’s got to round up the pieces through dimensions, meeting all sorts of Pauls who are occasionally kind of shit people and he eventually just, like, CANNOT COPE. Seriously, I could not stop reading these. Partially for the moral ambiguity. Partially because I could not figure out why Paul loved Marguerite. Also, capitalism was the ultimate villain. AS IT SHOULD BE, REALLY.

CREEPY FAE WERE KIND OF CREEPY AND THAT’S NOT BAD, BUT LIKE MAYBE THIS WASN’T A GOOD BOOK?

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson Isobel is an artistic prodigy with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life. Furious, Rook spirits her away to his kingdom to stand trial for her crime. But something is seriously wrong in his world, and they are attacked from every side. With Isobel and Rook depending on each other for survival, their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks’ ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

— I’ve seen this book mentioned a lot. As good. And it wasn’t not good, but Isobel was pretty goddamn annoying and kind of dumb and a little self-important and I was mostly here for the creepy fae. That was fun. More fae should have antlers and stuff. Everything in this story happened ridiculously fast. I couldn’t believe it was over when it was over.

THE PROSE WAS VERY PRETTY. I’M NOT SURE WHY THE DRAGON HAD TO BE SUCH A MONUMENTAL DICK.

Uprooted  by Naomi Novik Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

— Let me just say first off, that this should have been two books. Everything happened so quickly, I swear I got whiplash. That being said, as a heroine, I liked Agnieszka a lot. She was understandably freaked by everything that happened, but once she kind of settled, she didn’t take The Dragon’s shit and that was good because The Dragon was kind of shitty. This is why it should have been two books. Because everything The Dragon did felt like it needed some kind of explanation. Or at least some sort of reasoning for why he was such a monumental bastard. Which is why I was a little confused that Agnieszka was in love with him? He was such a dick, honestly. The last third or so of this book was the best because Novik really does know how to write action and the magic itself was pretty fascinating. (I wish it went into more depth, but I think I’m spoiled by fic and that’s not actually how the publishing world works.) Kasia might have been the most interesting person in this story. Girl went through it and just became a total badass. I loved her.

MARAUDER FEELINGS! MARAUDER FEELINGS! SO! MANY! MARAUDER! FEELINGS!

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

— RICHARD GANSEY, MY BELOVED. What a dweeb. A self-sacrificing, sorta sad dweeb. When he wrapped his jacket around Blue, my heart exploded. I think I spent the last fifteen or so chapters with disconcertingly wide eyes and possibly my hand over my mouth. Still not entirely sure why a Welsh king was in Virginia, but I loved it. Was real glad he was there. As promised by that one book rec list I read months ago, the Marauders vibes of these books were off the charts. It was a weird story with lots of weird things and I hope Mr. Grey gets to be happy one day and that Ronan and Adam make out some more eventually. I think they’ll both feel a lot better if they do. Like, about the world as a whole. Has anyone read the Ronan spinoff series? Should I read the Ronan spinoff series?

OK, THIS WASN’T THAT BAD, ACTUALLY

To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise Jason Thorn... My brother's childhood friend. Oh, how stupidly in love with that boy I was. He was the first boy that made me blush, my first official crush. Sounds beautiful so far, right? That excitement that bubbles up inside you, those famous butterflies you feel for the very first time--he was the reason for them all. But, you only get to live in that fairytale world until they crush your hopes and dreams and then stomp on your heart for good measure. And boy did he crush my little heart into pieces. After the stomping part he became the boy I did my best to stay away from--and let me tell you, it was pretty hard to do when he slept in the room right across from mine. When tragedy struck his family and they moved away, I was ready to forget he ever existed. Now he is a movie star, the one who makes women of all ages go into a screaming frenzy, the one who makes everyone swoon with that dimpled smile of his. Do you think that's dreamy? I certainly don't think so. How about me coming face to face with him? Nope still not dreamy. Not when I can't even manage to look him in the eye. Me? I'm Olive, a new writer. Actually, I'm THE writer of the book that inspired the movie he is about to star in on the big screen. As of late, I am also referred to as the oh-so-very-lucky girl who is about to become the wife of Jason Thorn. Maybe you're thinking yet again that this is all so dreamy? Nope, nothing dreamy going on here. Not even close.

— Ignoring the fact that this was almost blatant self-insert, this was a mostly good, occasionally trashy book with brother’s best friend and the one who got away tropes. Which, as we know, are my life’s blood. (Plus, surprise, fake marriage that isn’t really fake?!? Ok. OK!) My only eeek moment was when Olive got super drunk and wanted Jason to like—consummate the marriage and he was like, No Olive, you’re drunk. And then they ended up doing everything except having full-on sex, which felt a little creep and a lot sketch and then it was never mentioned again. Also, Olive needs to find some better friends, God.

EMERSON COD VOICE: HE’S STAAAAAALKING YOU

Marriage For One by Ella Maise Jack and I, we did everything backward. The day he lured me into his office-which was also the first day we met-he proposed. You'd think a guy who looked like him-a bit cold maybe, but still striking and very unattainable-would only ask the love of his life to marry him, right? You'd think he must be madly in love. Nope. It was me he asked. A complete stranger who had never even heard of him. A stranger who had been dumped by her fiancé only weeks before. You'd think I'd laugh in his face, call him insane-and a few other names-then walk away as quickly as possible. Well…I did all those things except the walking away part. It took him only minutes to talk me into a business deal…erm, I mean marriage, and only days for us to officially tie the knot. Happiest day of my life. Magical. Pop the champagne… Not. It was the worst day. Jack Hawthorne was nothing like what I'd imagined for myself. I blamed him for my lapse in judgment. I blamed his eyes, the ocean blue eyes that looked straight into mine unapologetically, and that frown on his face I had no idea I would become so fascinated with in time. It wasn't long after he said I was the biggest mistake of his life that things started to change. No, he still didn't talk much, but anyone can string a few words together. His actions spoke the loudest to me. And day after day my heart started to get a mind of its own.

— Ok, ok, ok, so I enjoyed the Jason Thorn book, right? Was, like, how bad could this other book be? And it wasn’t bad, but it was patently ridiculous. Let me explain what happened. Not entirely sorry for the spoilers. Jack the lawyer sees that Rose is only going to get the space for her coffee shop from her uncle’s will if she marries someone. She WAS engaged, but the guy split. For reasons no one can understand, especially Rose. She’s sad. She’s spent so much money on espresso machines! Enter Jack the lawyer who one random afternoon is like: HEY ROSE, YOU’RE MOSTLY A STRANGER, BUT I ALSO NEED TO GET MARRIED FOR REASONS I’LL ONLY SORTA EXPLAIN, LETS DO THAT. So they do???? And Jack the lawyer continues to be kinda weird and a little shady, but Rose has got the coffee shop and things are going well. Until! She’s got a leaky brain!!! That’s not a joke. Not a typo. Out of goddamn LEFT FIELD, Rose has got some horrible medical condition, so thank God she got married because Jack the lawyer’s got great health insurance. (this is ROMANTIC) and she’s got to have an operation and he stays with her and sleeps in the hospital chair and her coffee shop is somehow still going strong??? On Madison Avenue??? What sit-down coffee shop on Madison Avenue do you guys know that would succeed? None because it’s not downtown. I digress. Anyway, Rose makes a miraculous recovery, she and Jack the lawyer are now almost in love? At least having a shit ton of sex. They’re mostly happily married. Until, part two! The ex-fiance shows up and is like JACK THE LAWYER PAID ME TO BREAK UP WITH YOU. To which Rose is understandably flabbergasted. She confronts Jack the lawyer who fesses that he’s been seriously crushing on her since they met at her uncle’s Christmas party. She doesn’t remember this. He does. BECAUSE HE’S A STALKER. So, he knew about the will stipulation with marriage BACK THEN, which is why he used FIRM RESOURCES to investigate the ex-fiance and found out he was a con man, using Rose with plans to basically steal all her money. This infuriated Jack the lawyer because he thought Rose deserved better and then proceeded to basically con her himself, just in a different way. With marriage! He told her he needed to get married to show he was a family man to make partner. THAT WAS A LIE. He didn’t need it at all. He just—wanted to marry her??? To help her??? What a psycho. She leaves. He continues to lurk outside the coffee shop. They make up. No one mentions the stalking. The end.

I KEEP GIVING HELENA SECOND CHANCES AND SHE KEEPS...NOT DESERVING THEM

All In Series by Helena Hunting Sometimes I need an escape from the demands, the puck bunnies, and the notoriety that come with being an NHL team captain. I just want to be a normal guy for a few weeks. So when I leave Chicago for some peace and quiet, the last thing I expect is for a gorgeous woman to literally fall into my lap on a flight to Alaska. Even better, she has absolutely no idea who I am.Lainey is the perfect escape from my life. My plan for seclusion becomes a monthlong sex fest punctuated with domestic bliss. But it ends just as abruptly as it began. When I’m called away on a family emergency, I realize too late that I have no way to contact Lainey.A year later, a chance encounter throws Lainey and me together again. But I still have a lie hanging over my head, and Lainey’s keeping secrets of her own. With more than lust at stake, the truth may be our game changer.

— Last year I read a hockey romance by Helena Hunting that was very cute and traditionally published and she’s got a bunch more free Amazon books that, for some reason, I keep downloading and reading and they continue to be absolutely ridiculous. That first one was a not-so-secret accidental pregnancy (as previously discussed ONE TIME without a condom mention and bam pregnant) but the second one with Rook’s sister was actually pretty cute. I’m not sure why they all called him Rook. Almost all these series have at least one book with someone recovering from an injury and they inevitably fall in love with their physical therapist. So, that one was pretty ok. None of these, however, were quite as entertaining as (wait for it) QUEENIE AND KINGSTON. WHOSE FRIENDS AND TEAMMATES ALL CALL HIM KING. QUEENIE. AND. KING. Gag. I read it anyway. At least 99% of that decision was based solely on the fact that the story started just after King found out his sister was actually his mom. How am I supposed to stop reading THAT?!? I ask you. Highlights of Queenie and King’s romance included: him calling his mom/sister MOMSTER, Queenie being secretly married this whole time, WITHOUT KNOWING IT, his strawberry allergy that flared up because she’d had a strawberry milkshake and then GAVE HIM A BLOWJOB, her dad finding out they were dating because he was the GM of the team and saw that his starting goalie was having a MASSIVE allergic reaction, Queenie’s eventual ex-husband getting engaged to someone who previously tried to self-inseminate to trap Rook into a relationship (I am not making this up, I swear) and then when he found out that his fiancee’s kid wasn’t actually his, he got into a massive fight and earned a 20-game suspension. THAT’S A QUARTER OF AN NHL SEASON. Tom Wilson got fined five thousand dollars for practically killing Artemi Panarin on the ice! I did not read the last book in this series because it was MORE ACCIDENTAL PREGNANCY and because it was Queenie’s dad and King’s mom and that meant they’d share a sibling. Which is where I draw the line, guys.

THERE WERE SEVEN BOOKS IN THIS SERIES! EVERY SINGLE ONE HAD TO HAVE A SCENE WHERE THE DUDE UNDERSTOOD THAT PERIODS WERE A THING???? LIKE THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE SOMEHOW?!?!

Hot Jocks Series by Kendall Ryan I've never been so stupid in my entire life. My teammate's incredibly sweet and gorgeous younger sister should have been off-limits, but my hockey stick didn't get that memo. After our team won the championship, and plenty of alcohol, our flirting turned physical and I took her to bed. Shame sent her running the next morning from our catastrophic mistake. She thinks I don't remember that night—but every detail is burned into my brain so deeply, I’ll never forget. The feel of her in my arms, the soft whimpers of pleasure I coaxed from her perfect lips…And now I’ve spent three months trying to get her out of my head. Which has been futile, because I’m starting to understand she’s the only girl I’ll ever want. I have one shot to show her I can be exactly what she needs, but Elise won’t be easily convinced. That’s okay, because I’m good under pressure, and this time, I’m playing for keeps.

—I read all of these. All. Of. Them. They were exceptionally quick reads. Every single one had a copious amount of sex in it and a very weird, apparently required scene, where the dude had to be like I’M NOT SQUICKED OUT BY PERIODS AM I NOT THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE OF MASCULINITY?? My favorite one was Grant and Ana’s, though, because it was so goddamn absurd I cannot believe someone wrote it. Basic gist was that Ana was dating someone on Grant’s team (he’s the captain, natch) but the guy was a dick and abusive and so one night Ana decides to leave, but she needs someone to help her and WHO DOES SHE TURN TO??? That’s right, reclusive captain Grant. Who’s spent the last few years watching his teammates marry-up and start families and he’s so jealous, but he can’t say anything because he’s a stoic MAN™. So he takes Ana and her dog (of course she’s got a dog) back to his super swanky bachelor pad and she just sort of...stays there? Video of the boyfriend accosting her at her job gets leaked and the boyfriend gets sent to the AHL which is not really how it would work, but fine. Naturally, Grant and Ana hook up. It’s emotional. Vaguely romantic. There’s no GODDAMN CONDOM. So, she gets pregnant. But, of course. Except! She doesn’t know if it’s dick boyfriend’s or Grant’s. Because he’s the male lead in a free sports romance on Amazon, Grant is the MOST understanding. He wants to help Ana. He would like to continue having sex with Ana. This is ready-made happily ever after. Only Ana’s like...eh?? She doesn’t want it to look like she bounced from one hockey player to the next, but also she sorta did and she kept telling Grant she just wanted to be friends, only to have sex, like, three chapters later. Then she just moved out! Just moved out. Seven months pregnant. Moving out. With her dog. Of course, this is a free sports romance on Amazon, so eventually she moved back in with Grant. Once she realized independence wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. And because he left practice to be there when she had the baby. Oh! And she got a DNA test after. To see whose kid it was. Grant ripped that ‘ish up. Just ripped it up. Which is cool, I guess. But, like, you didn’t want to double check? What if that kid has to go to the hospital? Did she put Grant’s name on the birth certificate? What are his parental rights?? Anyway, they’re all set to live HEA when....THE DICK BOYFRIEND DIES. Straight up. No explanation. Nothing. Just Grant tells Ana he’s dead, she’s like, oh wow that’s sad, they send some flowers to the funeral and that’s THAT. I assume this was to close any potential plot holes on the father of this baby, but it was hysterical and I cannot stop thinking about it. Strangely enough, the one where the couple made a secret sex tape in college and then got back together because it got released may have been the healthiest relationship in this series.

[monstersinthecosmos]

genuinely curious, how could louis be having a more respectful or open relationship with armand when armand started his whole relationship with louis by luring him towards himself with mind control and by doing away with everyone else (claudia, even lestat) who louis loved? lestat is an easier target to criticise because he opens himself up for that, but the implication that the armand/louis relationship is somehow built on better foundations doesn't make sense to me

MY FRIEND these are some very excellent points LOL.

If this is in reference to the post I made yesterday I want to qualify first of all that I did say in the post that “even though it's LMAO ALSO QUITE FUCKED UP but it's VC so heyyyy” and I also did say I was edging a little bit into headcanon territory so I want to ask before we continue that everyone buckles their seatbelts and gets ready to accept VC lore & canon as “People who live for a very very long time and have more space for atonement and forgiveness in their relationships because they have TIME for it where regular humans typically do not.”

On that note I’m also not interested in denying that any of the ships in VC aren’t somewhere on the scale between “toxic” and “abusive” LOL so like. No excuses here!!!!!!!!!!! Armand killing Louis’s daughter/lover is Not Great LOL but I wanna get into why I still think this is better than what he had with Lestat. (If it helps, please remember that I'm not a big Lestat fan so basically you just can’t do worse imo, take me with as many grains of salt as you need.)

So Armand and Lestat are both traumatized abused people who are doing their best and tend to fuck up. Because I think at the end like, VC is ultimately about how people just want to be loved, and I think one of the big themes of the books is that, by making all of these characters terrible people, we still always ask like, do our worst deeds define us and are we still worthy of being loved?

(Cut for length YA REALLY GOT ME GOIN ON THIS LOL)

On Armand’s end sometimes I think about like how we see this progression in the way he treats his lovers (starting with Nicki, leading up to Louis, then Daniel) and alongside we get some insight to how he treats his human pets (Denis, (also Daniel), and then Benji & Sybelle.) He grows a lot and it feels like his emotional growth is super stunted when we meet him in TVL because he’s like this feral cult creature who has not been allowed his own identity or feelings for hundreds of years and it takes meeting Lestat to inspire him to cut the shit.

Even then, freed from the cult, he stays with the theatre. It’s this baby step of like, not feeling he needs to adhere to weird religious zealotry that he doesn’t quite believe, but also not exactly ready to be independent or live his life without the role of the leader. (He learned this from Marius lmfao.)

When Lestat meets Louis, from what he tells us, he loves him immediately because he’s ? beautiful and grumpy? And Louis lets us know that it was because Lestat wanted his home. (Put a pin in this because it goes towards the WHO WAS LYING drama between the two of them because I don’t put it past Louis to make excuses like that instead of being truthful about their feelings.) Lestat is freshly bereaved and super traumatized. He’s also an abuse survivor, caring for his ailing abuser, and it’s very normal for abused people (especially children) to try to CONTROL others so that they feel some sense of control over their lives. Lestat isolates Louis, lies to him, babytraps him, and in all their years together—even times when they’re being otherwise kind to each other—he never gives Louis the answers he needs. Lestat also has drunk from Marius and Akasha at this point and knows how it works to drink older Blood and boost your power, and he never offers it to Louis. He even knows Louis is so weak that he doesn’t even have the Mind Gift. We know from later canon that Louis never drinks from other vampires until Merrick so we know that Lestat never shared his blood and that he kept Louis weak and dependent on him as a means to possess him.

(If we get into later canon I also want to point out other ways in which Lestat treats Louis like an object, comes and goes in Louis’s life as he please, expects Louis to be there when it’s convenient, and doesn’t seem to care that people have entire lives when he’s not around. It’s like having object permanence for other people.)

When Armand meets Louis, though, I just think there’s this moment of spiritual growth for him and he SHARES it with Louis. Whether Armand nudged him to get him there at all, I think it goes towards Armand being imperfect and reckless with people but I don’t think it makes his love and admiration less real. Armand at this point (that we know of) has never been in a respectful relationship with someone who loves him, so I really don’t think he knows how to behave. So Armand, like Lestat, is a wounded abuse victim and his bad behavior shows it in some ways, but there’s a mutual respect between them even though they got off to a rough start. Louis shows up and treats Armand like a person, and respects him, and gives a fuck about things, and Armand wants that. He’s spent the past whatever fuckin 400 years in a cult or in the theatre with these useless tools and Louis walking into his life is like such a breath of fresh air. A REAL PERSON! And it’s kind like the way Marius was Armand’s first vampire, this like elegant man who lived like a regular person, and then when he meets Lestat it reminds him that they’re allowed to live like real people, and then Louis shows up and he’s doing the same but he’s this like, softer version of those two idiots who might actually be his friend.

And on the flip side, on Louis’s end, he’s a bit broken & despondent for the early parts of his relationships with Armand and Lestat both. I think this parallel is important because we can see the way Armand and Lestat each respond to it, even if Louis isn’t completely present.

Lestat: lies to him, isolates him, controls him, etc blah blah mentioned all this already.

Armand: Cares for him, travels around the world to show him things and learn with him, and most importantly at THE INFAMOUS GRASS EATING BREAKUP SCENE, Armand accepts it and LEAVES. He’s like, do you need anything else? Bye.HE LEAVES!!!! He sets Louis free when Louis wants to be free!!!!!!! I’m bawling lmao

That just shows me a lot about the way each of them treat Louis and whether they see him as an object/accessory or not or something to be controlled. A lot of this is like very subjective reading because it’s kind of subtextual/off screen but I think these parallels are important and it’s important to compare Lestat & Armand’s differences and similarities here.

BUT WAIT

I HAVE MORE TO SAY

I think it’s important to look at the way the story frames love/abuse and like the way we sometimes love our abusers. And like this is something I’ve talked about at length before so don’t let me add an extra 10k to this post LOL but like I think IWTV does a great job at like portraying the messy feelings after an abusive relationship and how much you mourn the IDEA of the person even when it doesn’t match reality. (It’s something Anne kinda got sloppy with in the later books and I’ve complained about it a ton but I think it’s shows a lot of goodness and strength in Louis to see the good in Lestat even when it’s an I CAN FIX HIM victim mindset.)

Like  the first half of the book we get to see how much he dislikes Lestat, he’s NOT charitable in the way he talks about Lestat, calls him a fool etc lol, and yet the moment Claudia rescues him from that relationship, he spends the next quarter of the book mourning Lestat and feeling guilty about the way it ended. He also starts really seeing that Claudia is a monster and his feelings towards her become very complicated.

SO MY UNPOPULAR OPINION HERE is that Claudia was ALSO quite abusive to Louis. The power dynamic between them is fascinating, because she’s small and dependent on people for help navigating the world, and yet she has Louis COMPLETELY under her thumb because she knows how to push his buttons and weaponize his own guilt against him.

In that light, you can also view Armand disposing her as another way he’s been liberated from an abuser.

Of course the complication here is like, she was ready to head off with Madeleine so it’s possible that they could’ve just broken up like regular people and she didn’t have to die LOL. Oops!

But the way he checks out mentally after he loses Claudia isn’t unlike how he checks out after he loses Lestat. And again this is a parallel—Claudia keeps him around and continues to use him, and Armand actually cares for him and shows him respect. (AT LEAST I LIKE TO THINK SO LOL.)

Was KILLING CLAUDIA the best way to resolve this? Probably not. But we’re gonna circle back to Armand being a messy & imperfect person who is trying his best to learn how to behave. I think there’s a few things here that are pretty telling:

-       He also kills Denis (who, while not as close to him as Claudia was to Louis, still perhaps they are framed in the text as these children/pets)

-       He spends half the convo with Louis telling him how most vampires are useless and can’t survive immortality. I think he looks at Claudia and immediately knows she isn’t going to survive, and so I wonder if his approach has the mentality of euthanizing a pet.

-       HE CUT OFF NICKI’S HANDS AS A METHOD OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION LMAO

(Were he and Nicki lovers? Stay tuned, don’t let me talk about that right now, but I think he loved Nicki so if he treats people he LOVES like that, if he thinks the resolution is tough love and to euthanize pets. Well. ??? )

Listen he is my son he’s done nothing wrong.

I think Louis and Armand must have had plenty of time to talk through all of this. They were together for a super long time! Louis’s entire attraction to Armand began with the idea that he could learn about their kind and have meaningful conversations. I can’t imagine a version of them where Louis didn’t understand this about Armand, and even though he’s devastated that Claudia was killed, I wonder if it’s the same way he was devastated when he thought Lestat was dead. He’ll be okay, he’ll get over it lol. It’s the guilt talking.

Anywhoo.

I’m gonna stop here because this is getting ridiculous but like I’VE ONLY GOTTEN INTO PART I OF LOUIS/ARMAND. I was talking in my post about IWTV era L/A and tried to focus MOSTLY on IWTV information even though some extra series-wide context popped up but like. This isn’t even getting into when they try again in THE 21ST CENTURY with a Post-Merrick Ultra Louis. 

Part II: TRINITY GATE ERA , after they’ve both been further traumatized, have each attempted suicide, and can come together in peace in the modern world. Armand has had even MORE practice being human with Daniel, HAS LOVED & LOST, and Louis…………… Anne didn’t really tell us that much about him tbh but we know he was having a rough time and feeding on drunk people on purpose so idk man. Lestat is bouncing around harassing him and David and it just feels like Trinity Gate is this oasis, this quiet space where people can go when they need a Lestat break.

(also please omg Ultra Louis has mind gift like that will make it so much easier I’m BAWLING)

Look they’re a great ship I love them so much. 

[zahra-kha]

Dear Diary 36

I’ve written in you less and less of late. This makes for less of a chronicle of my life if I don’t write in you diligently doesn’t it? Well, to be honest, I don’t feel like I need to remember every detail of my life. Especially with everything that’s been going on lately.

However, not all of it has been dark spots. Some of it has been grey, some of it has been bright. I’ve been wading myself through uncharted territory and I can’t say I’ve always made the best or correct decisions but I’m also not perfect. 

I wrote in my previous entry that I didn’t know what I was supposed to do now that my troupe was...the way it was. I didn’t know what my purpose was here in Eorzea. If I’m honest with myself, I’m still not entirely sure. I’m frightened, nervous, and there are times when I feel alone. The people who I thought were my support - it’s a mystery if they ever really cared about me (which I’ll get into in a bit) - turned out to be a source of immense pain. I’m trying to recover from that but I wish I could explain to people how difficult that is. How hard it is to trust again when family betrays you.

There’s insecurities there that weren’t before. When I spoke to Sid, I initially told him that it probably wouldn’t make a difference if I left to return home, because everyone had their lives and everyone would eventually move on with their lives. I said that, but I didn’t really mean that. To be honest, I was just scared. It’s easier to leave than to be abandoned, easier to walk away than learn later you were never wanted or needed. Easier to pull away than get rejected.

But my whole life I’ve been running. I walk forward so I can run from something that’s been chasing me. I felt like this time if I moved forward, without looking back on what I’d gained, I’d lose something really precious. And I felt like something in me would break and never recover.

I spoke with Sid for a while at the Bojza camp - it was helpful. I wasn’t looking for answers, I don’t think I was. Maybe just some clarity from my chaotic thoughts. It was easy to talk to him. He was kind and patient with me as I rambled. He didn’t try to push me in any direction, and I was grateful. I wanted to know a bit more about him, I felt maybe he understood a bit of what I was feeling. I thought maybe if I understood him, it’d help guide me to a decision. Was that selfish? Writing that down, it almost sounds as if I was using his feelings and experiences. But I also genuinely wanted to know more about him. I think he’s an interesting person that carries a profound sadness, but it also seems he’s managed to find happiness and a sense of purpose. 

That’s what I want, a sense of purpose again. Sid wondered if maybe what I’m searching for is what I lost - my family. I conceded that maybe that was it. But I’m just so hesitant in calling another group family again after what happened. I spent half my life with those people, and none of it was real. I loved them, but I was just a means to an end for them.

It would break me, shatter me beyond repair, if I fell into that trap again with everyone currently in my life.

I want to, I so badly want to believe and trust in them. They’ve been there for me, they’ve helped me, healed me. Cared for me during this whole ordeal. Hells, they have bled for my sake. And of course, I have not hesitated to jump into the fires for them as well. But that’s completely different from fully giving my heart. I just...can’t. I’m trying, but every time it’s like something cold and hard grabs hold of my throat and claws down, screaming I’m a fool. Fear consumes me, and I feel as if I’m drowning.

For now, I’m just content to be here. Sid helped me organize my thoughts and realize my path lies here. I want to heal here, and be around the friends who have shown me care. I want to relearn how to believe in true bonds again. I want to walk forward and see where the road takes me, and I don’t want to be afraid - I don’t want to do it alone.

That’s what I’ve decided.

I managed to tell Quin (Leo?) a bit of this, I hope I didn’t worry him too much. I was a bit under the weather when the truth came out, I’d been shot on the battlefield and was recovering - but it was a good talk. It’s amazing, when I first met Quin, I don’t think I had a good impression of him, and I don’t think he had any real impression of me. Now I think of him as a silly little brother. 

Speaking of, Quin and Erith got fake married! That was...interesting? I probably should have done more to stop it but it wasn’t official so I didn’t really see the harm. Uh, save for Erith putting Quin at shotgun point. I don’t know, I don’t really like getting between their dynamics because they have a really unique relationship but it’s quite clear they deeply care for one another. So I just go with their antics. Should I though? Am I enabling bad behavior?  [There’s a drawing of a dizzy Zahra along the margins]

I wonder if festivals bring out romance? There were quite a few couples seeking blessings and marriages, so I guess maybe they do? Erith was looking for a husband for Bernon so there was that. I didn’t really know how to feel about it. Not really lonely? Wistful, maybe? I can’t say I’m looking for a profound relationship, but I think having someone to laugh with and share small moments with would be nice.

Maybe...not quite the same as what Erith and Quin have. Being at shotgun point is frightening. I completely understand why Quin started drinking. Heavily.

I’m rambling, but my mind has been all over the place. I’m avoiding talking about what’s really going on in my head because I’m not sure if writing this down, reliving it, will be easy.

I’m talking about my confrontation with Sahrin.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I demanded answers from him. I think I was expecting him to explain why Sai did what she did. I was hoping he’d smile at me and tell me everything was a misunderstanding, or that they’d been acting on their own accord and he hadn’t know anything.

I didn’t mind Gail putting pressure on him - she understands what it means to be a leader, and how hard it can be to have people do things behind your back, and the heavy responsibility that leadership entails.

I also realize what I’d done to him - I appeared out of no where and threatened him into a meeting right after he’d seen everything he’d built up burned to the ground. Of course he was confused, of course he wanted answers. I’d given him nothing. I’m sure he tried to look into it on his own, but he likely didn’t get very far since he’d been gone so long deal with Armand and was unaware of all that’d been going on.

No one is omniscient, but I wasn’t entirely in a caring mood. People I had once cared about deeply had tried to kill me more than once - I was tired.

Father once told me that there are always two sides to a story, and what you know is always just a small part of a whole. He said it’s always good to know and understand the full picture of things, but never let that knowledge influence how the ending needs to be written. And if I can help it, I should always be the one holding the quill to those short chapters in my life.

Sahrin told us about Sai and Esila, and then he told us about the foundation of the troupe and what its original purpose had been. The first troupe they’d all been in - I knew they had worked for the government covertly, doing their bidding under the belief they were serving their nation. Even if it was unpleasant, someone has to do it.

Sahrin and the others felt the troupe wasn’t looking at the real threat - the Empire. And I suppose I can understand their fear. With the way the empire was expanding, the idea that Thavnair would have remained a free nation forever was questionable at best. The Empire wanted to be a world power, once they’d conquered all they’d truly desired, why not take Thavnair too?  Would we had really been able to stop them, if they had truly put their forces to it? 

"We’ll be on their list eventually.” was a legitimate fear. It was one I’d heard on the lips of some nobles and commoners growing up. Not everyone liked the Empire in Thavnair. Not everyone felt the arrangement we had was beneficial. For all the ones who welcomed them for business and trade, there were those who feared them. 

I guess Sahrin had been one of those people. He’d become frustrated with his troupe and decided to form his own. Except he couldn’t be normal about it, no. He took others who had anti-Imperial sentiment and they all decided they were going to bring in children to train and raise them - and by raise I mean brainwash - into perfect anti-Imperial fighting tools.

I cannot express the emotions I went through upon hearing that.

I mean, yes, it’s preferable to bring children into a troupe’s fold because it’s easier to train a dancer when they’re younger, more flexible, and their minds retain things easier, than to start them when they’re much older. I’m going to try and give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that’s what they - no, what Sahrin was thinking when he started this. I don’t want to think of Sahrin as a bad person. There’s just a part of me that refuses to do that.

But I can’t...forgive him for creating the troupe with those intentions. It really doesn’t matter that ‘he grew a conscious’ with me and changed his mind. Congratulations, I guess? Maybe one day when I’m not feeling so angry I’ll send him a cookie for deciding not to be quite the terrible person he could have been.

Okay. I’m feeling petty. And angry. And hurt. But his admission ripped the floor of my reality right out from under me. I admired him, looked up to him - I had wanted to be like him. I had wanted to grow up and eventually be a role model to others because of him. And then to learn all of that had been based on a foundation of lies - that I had initially been nothing more than a tool for his ambitions...

Even if he had changed his mind, clearly the others hadn’t, and that hurts. And he knew that. He’d known and I guess had been trying to change them. But you can’t change people who actively choose to hate - even if they feel their cause is righteous. There is a right way to go about change, and using - hurting - children is not it.

Sahrin helped us decipher some of the letters, and it honestly made a bit more sense when he put them into perspective. It looks like Esila really was trying to sell me out to some guy named ‘Darling’. I don’t know why he wanted me so badly, but apparently, Cecilia was getting traded to Sabe, and I was gonna get sold off in some auction had everything gone well. In exchange, I guess they were going to get their audience with Orhan and incriminate Sahrin. Sahrin guesses this was all to get a connection back to the old troupe.

They wanted a way back to the old troupe so they lied, cheated, and were even willing to kill to do it. The warmth, smiles, all of those good times we had were all fake.

I was at a loss of what to believe in. I felt like an idiot for falling for their schemes for so long. I should have seen it - hadn’t I grown up surrounded by scheming adults? I should have known better by now.

I told Sahrin I never wanted to see him again, and then after that the rest of the night was a bit of a blur. I know everyone came back to my apartment. I served them drinks and sandwiches. I wanted to make sure Quin was okay. Outside of that, I don’t remember much. They left and I remember taking Bitey and  Fènghuáng away. I still haven’t gone back to the kennel to pick them up. 

I went back to my apartment and I just...suddenly I hated everything about it. It reminded me of home, of my troupe -  and everything went white, then red. My heart felt heavy and my eyes burned. I think I screamed. I know I cried. And then I fled. I ran and ran and ran. Until my legs turned to rubber and my lungs screamed and I fell down...somewhere. I didn’t recognize the surroundings. I think I was around a lot of trees and sand. I just know the breeze felt good against my skin, and the grass was cool and comforting. 

I cried, an ugly, gulping, gut wrenching cry - until there wasn’t anything left. And then I sat back against the cliffs and stared up at the sky until the sun rose. I didn’t want to return to the apartment, so I didn’t.

And then the next day I went and dyed my hair black. I need to find some white clothing, to mark the passing of the troupe, my family, and for Esila. The Esila I knew and loved - not the one who wanted to trade me to I guess slavers. The woman I had known to be a good person.

I will mourn her death, because she had lived, and she had brought me joy, even if it had been made of lies.

[high-fructose-lesbianism]

A Subjective Ranking of all 18 Books in the Vampire Chronicles Extended Universe

18. Blood Canticle (2003)

It took me the longest to read Blood Canticle of any of the books because I couldn’t read more than about 25 pages at a time before the urge to throw the book out the nearest window got too strong. The story is bad, the characters are the worst they’ve ever been and the writing style is full-on terrible. Blood Canticle is one of the worst books I’ve read full stop.

17. Taltos (1994)

I hated the Mayfair Witches trilogy. While Taltos was at least the shortest of the three, it was a terrible conclusion to the trilogy. The Taltos are one of Anne Rice’s worst ideas. Each of the books delves more into their mythology and it gets worst the more it’s explored.

16. Blackwood Farm (2002)

A major issue I have with Anne Rice is she insists on telling these extremely lengthy backstories of characters we’ve just met who I almost never give a shit about. That’s the entirety of Blackwood Farm. It’s the backstory of a character I just met and don’t care about whatsoever. Blackwood Farm evokes the classic Anne Rice style of bad where it switches between just being insane and being fucking boring at the drop of a hat. I skimmed most of the book because it was so boring. But then I’d tune in to some insanely weird shit about intersex vampires or ghost twins giving handjobs or whatever was happening and yeah, my attention would of course be held by such insanity. But invariably, the book would drift back into describing wildly uninteresting events with too much detail and I’d tune out again.

15. The Witching Hour (1990)

The Witching Hour has a three paragraph summary on Wikipedia. It is an accurate summation of the events of the book. So then why is this fucking book 968 pages? That’s my main grievance with The Witching Hour; it’s way too fucking long. It’s the least insane of the Mayfair Witches trilogy but also by far the least interesting.

14. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (2016)

These fucking bird aliens who inhabited Atlantis are just the Taltos 2.0. There’s a lot of insanity and also boring backstory in this one. I skimmed the backstory of the Atlantean bird aliens and don’t feel like I missed anything. What saves this book from ranking lower is I’m a slut for the main VC characters interacting and this one did have such a thing, plus some good Louis/Lestat moments which is my other big priority with the series. Simultaneous highlight and lowlight of this book is when that one dude looses a hand but it gains sentience, breast feeds off him or something and then becomes his perfect clone. Fucking insanity.

13. Lasher (1993)

Lasher is the best of the Mayfair trilogy because there are genuine moments of horror in this horror novel. On the downside, the Taltos are as always, insane. Also, another signature of Anne Rice’s is sexy and sexualized teenage characters which there is a lot of in this book in the form of 13 year old Mona Mayfair, her affair with Michael Curry and the many scenes where this is excused, justified or even somewhat celebrated. That disturbed me and not in the way I want a horror novel to disturb me.

12. Memnoch the Devil (1995)

In terms of writing style, Memnoch is a lot better than many of the books that will rank higher than it. But this is a subjective ranking and I didn’t give a shit about Anne Rice working through her weird, religious baggage in a series that I’m reading to hear about the exploits of sexy, bisexual vampires. The majority of this book is again, a long backstory from a character we just met and I don’t care about. In this case it’s literally Satan which is a good start but Anne Rice sure has a way of taking too long describing everything which leaves me extremely bored by the narrative.

11. Blood Paradise (2018)

Blood Paradise should be lower in this list. It’s objectively extremely poor. Blood Paradise is basically the inverse of Memnoch; I really liked the story but hated the writing style. This one only ranks so high because it is a story that focuses on the lead vampire characters who are my priority. And yeah, I liked the outline for the story. It’s character-based, no major new characters interrupt the narrative and no insane additions to canon are added. Too bad the writing style feels extremely half-assed. Where usually I’m critical of Anne Rice taking way too long to say anything and focusing on unimportant details, this one is the opposite. It feels extremely rushed. A lot of major, emotional scenes that occur between characters are only a few sentences or paragraphs long. But still, at least this one gave me story content that I could just expand upon in my head instead of insane additions to canon that I’d prefer to ignore.

10. Merrick (2000)

Merrick actually might have my favourite ending to any of the VC novels. I loved Lestat resurrecting Louis from his suicide attempt and then that descends into Lestat, Louis, David and Merrick living in what seems to be perfectly happy polyamory. I totally dug that. But of course, the majority of the book is a backstory of Merrick, a character I just met and don’t care about. Also, we get a bit of David backstory which I seem to remember being him mostly creeping on some young boy who was in expedition with him. Not ideal. 

9. Vittorio, the Vampire (1999)

Vittorio is a fairly effective historical horror. Anne Rice did a lot of research and it shows. That’s not exactly my interest but she did well with it. There’s also some really horrific moment where Vittorio meets a clan of vampires in an old castle who do keep humans like cattle and eat babies and stuff. The major downsides is just that this is a character who we’ve never met before and never see again. Also the fact that Vittorio is 16 and is absolutely sexualized. I’ve really grown tired of Anne Rice’s constant belief that’s in almost all of her writing that teenagers are sexy and it’s totally fine to fuck them. It makes me uncomfortable to say the least.

8. Pandora (1998)

This one’s just pretty good. I’ve no major complaints but no specific bits of it I want to champion either. Again, a lot of historical research is done which is not interesting to me but well done. Also nice to have at least one book with a female vampire protagonist.

7. Prince Lestat (2014)

Prince Lestat is not objectively better than the last two books. I rank it this high mostly out of relief. For ages, Blood Canticle was the last book in The Vampire Chronicles. So, when Prince Lestat was released, it was impossible to see this as anything other than a huge upgrade. And of course, I liked that this book returned to focusing on the lead characters of Lestat, Louis, Marius, Daniel etc. It’s still a baffling idea to have Lestat be the vampire head of state or whatever though. But oh man, that Louis/Lestat moment near the end of the book made me feel a whole lotta feelings.

6. Blood and Gold (2001)

This one is another excuse for Anne Rice to do a lot of historical research. And you know what? Better she spends her energies doing that instead of creating weird, tall supernatural beings with specific quirks that are impossible to take seriously. I like the framing of this one because it’s sort of the inverse of usual. Thorne, a new character is introduced but instead of him telling Marius his story, it’s established character Marius who tells Thorne his story. And he does this the first day they met after Thorne’s awakened after several hundred years and they’ve taken a bath together. That’s just good story structure right there. The most memorable part of this story for me is keeping a vague tally of all the people Marius fell in love with throughout the course of the story. In one 100-page stretch, Marius falls in love five separate times. This grew tiresome but I also just thought it was funny.

5. The Vampire Armand (1998)

I’m the most morally against The Vampire Armand. It’s basically the peak of Anne Rice’s love of sexualizing teens. That’s sort of the whole book. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that around the time of its publication, Anne Rice got back into religion. I think she looked over what she wrote and was like yeah okay, maybe I do need Jesus. But I dunno, I remember really liking it. It was well-written and Armand is one of my favourite characters. I think Anne Rice did actually hit the right mixture of the story being sexy, horrific and rather tragic. Also, that bit at the end where Armand eats a drug dealer’s face and heart in front of some new, human friends is one of my favourite scenes.

4. The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)

There’s a lot of good and a lot of bad in Tale of the Body Thief. I love the body swap aspect and this one has some of the best interactions between characters. On the downside, there absolutely is a 2-page description of Lestat taking a piss, he absolutely commits a rape and him turning David into a vampire was #problematic. But even there, the Lestat and David scene is really well-written and works because Lestat is an absolute piece of shit. Tale of the Body Thief is for better and worse, Lestat at his most Lestat. Still didn’t need to hear about him taking a piss in that much detail, though.

3. Queen of the Damned (1988)

Akasha is the only good villain in any of the Vampire Chronicles books. Plus, Queen of the Damned brought all the characters we’d met in the previous two books together and I was absolutely all about that. At this point in the series, I actually did care about the majority of main characters and their interactions were absolutely spectacular. Only downside is again, we get a lengthy backstory of Akasha that I absolutely skimmed.

2. Interview with the Vampire (1976)

Yeah, it’s only number 2. Because while this book is better written and the start of this whole damn phenomenon, Louis is far from my favourite narrator. Dude’s too morose and shit. Still, the writing style is exquisite and it introduced great characters. As the series went on, Anne Rice clearly ran out of ideas but because this one is the first book, that’s not the case. There’s a lot of ideas here and they aren’t even fucking insane. 

1. The Vampire Lestat (1985)

I’m really only into this series because of how much I love Lestat as a character. I read Interview and thought I was done with the series. Interview was fine but I didn’t think I cared about the sequels. However, six months later when I decided to read The Vampire Lestat, I knew within the first two pages that this was going to be a problem for me. This is exactly my brand of bullshit. It’s just Lestat being a sexy and shitty person who makes out with everyone and overreacts to everything. I love him. And in the third act when it’s revealed he’s been in love with Louis all along and then Louis shows up in the present day and they reunite???? Oh my god. 16 year-old me nearly exploded. The Vampire Lestat is really the sole reason The Vampire Chronicles happened to me as hard as it did. I love this book and its ridiculous narrator/protagonist.