#this is the first time i've drawn armand

[goldfish-inhaler]

quite literally the first thing i thought of when i saw the original

[devilsminion-armandaniel]

Interview can be read below as well.

As Interview with the Vampire flies head-first for season 3, one star of the show has teased his potential return for future seasons – and hinted that we could see a fan-favourite chapter from Anne Rice's books adapted.

Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com about where he sees Daniel's journey going in future seasons, Field said: "I would love to [return].

I think there's so much to explore with Daniel Molloy, old and young. We’ve got so much literature in Anne Rice's wonderful books, certain chapters, certain things that can be explored, so I would be over the moon to explore it.

"Eric and I have discussed things about the character, which I know that we would love to talk more about or show more in an upcoming season, whatever that looks like. But Rollin [Jones, showrunner] is so amazing, I'm sure whatever he decides to do, it'll be great. And if that includes me, then, gosh, lots to happen maybe."

Field is no stranger to Rice's books and what the show's fandom is hoping for, adding that he would love for The Devil's Minion, the iconic chapter which details a romantic relationship between young Daniel and Armand, will be adapted.

"Look, of course, there is a very specific chapter, which I know a lot of people love," he pointed out.

When I've met fans, they've certainly discussed it with me, or just talked about it. And I read it multiple times. And it's truly amazing. So to take that at some point and intercut it, with whatever season happens, that would be amazing.

"But also, obviously Daniel’s memory pretty much is wiped out for a lot of what we've seen so far. But I think it would be interesting to see how he's still manipulated by them, and still very much drawn into that world. And you know, we've already seen that memory is a monster, as the tagline goes, and what happens further to Daniel, which he thinks is his life construct, really, possibly could have been the vampires the whole time. And that's awesome."

[thenightling]

Interview with The Vampire Season 2 episode 5

There are so many things wrong with this episode. i'll just do bullet points. 1. This part of the story was so unnecessarily drawn out. 2. Armand says "Up the fangs." Dear God! Just when I think these idiots can't stoop any lower I realize they are doing the "straw fangs" thing that makes absolutely no sense. They are not mosquitos. They don't take the blood up into the fangs. Are mosquitos the only blood drinking creatures people know about now? Did everyone forget vampire bats are real? The fangs aren't straws. They're just to open the flesh. "Up the fangs, down the throat." How does that even make sense?! If the blood went into the fangs the blood would go into the upper skull and never reach the throat. 3. Lous attempting suicide in the sun doesn't happen in the books until the novel Merrick and it's Lestat who saves him. 4. Lestat is starting to finally feel like Lestat. 5. I was right about Armand messing with Louis's memory. *Simspons Nelson laugh* Haha! 6. This is the second time I've seen them kind of mock the original novels. First acting like it's somehow soapy that the vampires in Paris (where Lestat was made a vampire) would remember Lestat. And now acting like it's a "silly fantasy" that Lestat would find the Interview with The Vampire book and feel the need to tell his side of it. 7. All the descriptions about Lestat are from the book but from when he was badly wounded after Louis set him on fire. 8. Making Marius a groomer who passed Armand around like a party favor is just... eww. Anne loved Marius as a character. And until she got weird in her later 90s books she had said Marius never touched Armand (See Armand's story as told in The Vampire Lestat novel from 1985.)

[0junemeatcleaver0]

Do you think Armands real problem with Benedict is the fact he sees what an acolyte he could have become for Marius if they hadn't have been separated so tragically by supposed deaths and then abandonment because of him falling under the cults spell to survive?

Okay, so instead of taking a nap like I should definitely be doing right now, I'm going to answer this instead because I've not stopped thinking about it since I first read it hours ago lmao

Also, I'm not going to bother to go back and dig through the book, I'm giving myself full permission to go off memory and *~vibes~*

So I personally think that Armand is projecting quite a bit onto Benedict, tbh. It's jealousy, for sure, but there's a bit more to it than that, I think.

There are clear and obvious parallels to be drawn between the two characters. Benedict was a monk, Armand was basically training to become a monk. They were both made by powerful vampires who they had romantic relationships with while still in their teens. Both hopelessly devoted and in love with their Masters (at least at a certain point).

And if I weren't absolutely zapped from being an adult today, I'd probably attempt some poignant spiel about projecting onto the mirror-world image of yourself and how big a knee-jerk reaction can be when you find yourself occupying the space on the attraction/repulsion spectrum where the two feelings meet.

Because that's what I think this is to an extent.

I think, yes, Armand feels some type of way thinking about how things could have turned out for him and Marius if the Coven hadn't quite literally torched his whole life and then absorbed him.

I think Armand also has some identity issues--its a motif that follows him throughout the entirety of his character arc. Because of his backstory, I don't think he's got a clear idea of who he is outside of his relationships to other people. And while I don't think he legit would boil himself down to "I'm the teenage vampire with religious trauma and a very old boyfriend" (lol), I do think that having someone around whose history so closely mirrored his own to a certain extent would have had his hackles up.

But beyond that, I think in his mind Benedict's biggest sin is doing things Armand wouldn't do--or doing them differently to how Armand would do them.

Like when Armand is livid with him for having killed Maharet in her own home. And you might think at first that he's mad because you would be--what Benedict and Rhosh did was fucked up. But then he goes on to talk about how much he wanted to go speak with her and ask her questions and they killed her before he could do that.

And I'm thinking to myself, "Bud, you sure this isn't actually about the break in and murder? Because that type of thing would be especially upsetting to you in specific?? For reasons??"

And then Benedict was like, "Shut up, cult leader. You're not free of sin here either", and Armand tells him to hurry up and die (which is lowkey hilarious).

And from there, Benedict goes on to wrap his speech up like this (yes, I know I said I wouldn't pull out the book. I lied.):

"Those of us made young," he said, "we never grow up. Five hundred years or a thousand. It makes no difference. Time gives us room to be forever stupid and blind with the confusion and passions of the young, vulnerable to the masters who made us and ensnared us." (Blood Communion, page 107)

And then Armand shoots back with this:

"Oh, stuff and nonsense," said Armand. "I was never a child. I was a man before I was ever Born to Darkness, you imbecilic creature! Maybe you were a child, in your monkish robes, with your dark Christian longings, and maybe you still are. But I was never young. And I have learned through suffering and anguish and loneliness such as you, cowering in the shadow of your master, have never known." (Blood Communion, page 108)

And I can't help but feel like this is an argument Armand has had with himself. That he's had the thought before that perhaps a part of you freezes at whatever age you were turned. That being turned so young might have long lasting effects on a vampire. That he may have gotten the short end of some stick here.

But he cannot allow Benedict of all fucking people to be the one to point that out. Refuses to give Benedict the win there and so he pushes back in what I think is a really telling way. Bringing up Benedict's past as a monk as though it has any real bearing on this conversation ('dark xtain longings'? Weren't you prepared at one point to bury yourself alive for God? Pot, meet kettle). And then going on to throw Benedict's attachment to Rhosh in his face.

I don't know. Part of me feel like the thing in this scene that really cemented Armand's distaste for Benedict is the fact that he's walking away from his Master. He's been in his favor, under his protection for so long and he's willingly giving that up.

Part of me can't help but wonder how much of him looks up to Benedict for that, and how much of him loathes Benedict for that.

[leslutdepointedulac]

11, 14, 15 for armand/louis please 🤧♥️

11. What their first impression was of each other

Armand took one look at Louis and was like 👁🫦👁 He knew that man could teach him so much about the centuries to come and that almost made him come. He said "Damn bbg you fine, think you can teach me about horse-drawn carriages?"

Louis' first impression of Armand was that this is a sweet little angel of a boy who could do no wrong ever, and that he would let that man hit like there's no tomorrow. Even after Armand was like "I'm not that great y'know", Louis was like, "I've had worse. You'll be okay, trust me. I mean, it's not like you're gunna kill my daughter or anything is it?" Louis would've let Armand take him through literal hell and back when they first met, and he would've thanked him 🤧

14. What nicknames they call each other

Armand gives Louis all sorts of nicknames which are super off-putting and that to literally anyone else, they would sound weird and not that sweet at all. But Louis thinks they're the most endearing, romantic things he's ever heard in his life. Things like:

My darling termite (this is because Armand feels as though Louis eats away at him with his love)

My sweet cockroach (because of Louis' endurance through life)

My moth-eaten love

Dark angel

(I've realised there's a bit of a theme here with insects 😭 That's not intentional lmfao)

Louis gives Armand much more genuinely sweet and sappy as anything nicknames which Benji and Sybelle think are quite frankly disgusting. To the point where they're fake gagging in the background whenever Louis says one of them, things like:

My heaven

My angel

[You're] The one who completes me

My saviour (this is usually said if Armand is ever having a night where he's feeling as though he's not enough for Louis, so Louis reassures him by referring to the fact that he helped him when he most needed him after Merrick)

15. What they would change about each other

Armand would want to change Louis' views in vampirism. For the most part, Louis has the whole vampire thing down, and he's not so put-off by it like he used to be. But on occasions, when Louis' having a bad night, he'll slip backwards a bit and regress back into the whole, 'Vampirism is bad'. Armand wants Louis to have an easier time fully accepting his nature, without also having to worry about him backtracking his progress in his views on it.

The thing that Louis would want to change about Armand, would be to live in the moment a bit more. With Armand's obsessive behaviour when it comes to needing to know everything about everything all the time, he often tends to miss out on the little things in life. Louis does love that Armand is so eager to learn about what's new and trending today, and he is more than happy to indulge him in his curiosities. But sometimes Louis feels that Armand is moving at a million miles an hour, and he would want him to maybe slow down a bit, and let things come to him in their own time without him feeling like he has to chase after everything constantly.

[ca-suffit]

Do you believe lestat would've saved claudia if he had the strength to save both cause i saw alot of people say that Jacob too

I'm combining this with this other ask too

Did you see Jacob saying that in the trial (where they are gonna die where Claudia is gonna die) Louis hates Lestat but also falls in love with him again? Like what is that... :/

a) re: Claudia. It was not my initial reaction to agree with hearing that when Jacob said that, but having read the books and based on some other things I'll explain in a sec......yes, it's prbly true.

I don't remember if this was a fandom post here or not, but wherever I saw it, there was a post once getting into how someone can care about u but still harm u. This is usually the biggest disconnect between the fandom (and sometimes Sam Reid himself) and the character of Lestat. In his book, he talks about how he cares about Claudia. U do see examples of it in the show as well. But overall how much did *she* rly feel that from him? How much did he explain the motivation of his actions that hurt her? How many times did he chose the cruelest way to do anything? The fandom is ready to always excuse everything away bcuz of whatever reason in his backstory explains it. Does Claudia ever know this tho? What does his trauma matter to her when he's only passing it on to her in different ways?

There's been a lot of good comments I've seen regarding how he defends her in the trial rehearsals too. How he's allowed to abuse her but nobody else is. How he can compliment her there finally bcuz she's under the scrutiny of others and *now* that's his daughter, *now* that's his blood. I mean, he was always seen bragging when she'd "take after him" before too, but u know what I mean. There are multiple ways to look at all of this and I think they all should be considered. That is the point of the show. Book ppl who are only looking to excuse their fav character are missing a lot of commentary regarding patriarchy, race, father / daughter relationships and whatever else.

The trial, to a degree, does follow the books and Lestat *is* shown being distraught at Claudia's death there too. It's not an act but we haven't gotten more of the pieces yet from the show canon. It also doesn't mean he's going to suddenly change to become another character. A majority of what Louis is haunted by regarding Claudia is based in all the ways he feels like he failed her. That will most likely be Lestat's perspective too. A lot of their shared grief is how much they fucked up someone else's life bcuz of their relationship and how she ultimately suffered the most bcuz of it. This is a common struggle for parents to examine as their kids grow up and give feedback on the experiences of being raised by ppl who maybe didn't have their shit together v well.

b) re: Loustat at the trial. This again ties back to their history as a couple and as parents, as well as both coming from abusive pasts. On the surface, it makes no fucking sense why Louis would be sitting there having *any* positive thoughts about Lestat in that moment. But he's been hallucinating him for so long and waiting for him to be real again that some part of it is still a relief. Circumstances being what they were, when they first made eye contact, u can see and feel the shift. It's even timed in Armand's notes.

Louis has always struggled to "hate" Lestat. He wouldn't have been able to kill Lestat if Claudia hadn't been there, u see him struggle in the 70s interview, u see him struggle in the Dubai interview. Lestat is the first real relationship he ever had. Louis comes from trauma and is drawn to trauma and he passes on trauma to Claudia too. This is Lestat too. This is a large part of why their relationship and all of these relationships are so compelling. It's real, it's tragic, it's fucked up. Louis continuously wants to be with Lestat but also kill Lestat and it's for so many different reasons. Some are all about Lestat and some are about Louis and his own self-loathing.

Being raised in trauma makes u easily susceptible to codependency. Abuse can deepen this bcuz it can make a relationship feel more "real," especially if that's what ur brain has associated with "this is what being loved feels like" (which is what happens if ur abused as a kid by ppl u rely on to survive). It's been established that Louis doesn't like "boring," but stuff like this is not sustainable either, even for vampires. We're still in the "idk wtf I'm doing" stage of anything for all of them and we'll have to see where the show is taking us for what direction this goes in over time.

I mean, this scene sums it all up p well.

[nothing-but-paisley]

20 Questions for Fic Writers! ✨

tagged by @monstersinthecosmos and @hekateinhell thank you! 🖤

1. How many works do you have on A03? 28, all public

2. What’s your total A03 word count? 70,744

3. What fandoms do you write for? Vampire Chronicles & AMC IWTV. I also write Hannibal fic and dabble in Star Trek (need to get into some ds9 fic one of these days.) I also have a twitter account (@murdertherapy) where I give advice as Hannibal Lecter, but I've back burnered it for the time being due to The Horrors. Might make a tumblr for it one day.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Touching and Touched, Only a Name, That Essence Rare, Amnesiac, By Any Other Name

5. Do you respond to comments? Absolutely, they make me so happy! But I get a little self-conscious about how to respond to them since I don't know how to take compliments, so I'm always just like, thanks 🙂

But I really do cherish all of them 😭

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Gotta be Gethsemane, the fic where I did what Anne maybe ultimately wished she did and killed Daniel. This is one of my favorite pieces I've written in fandom or otherwise and it really helped me process some things.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I'm sure it's my spirk fic Touching and Touched, they are so fuckin sappy I love them.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I've been pretty lucky in that I've never gotten a mean comment on ao3 or any shade about any of my fics (that I've seen lol).

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Listen, I think that horniness is the engine of all drama. All fiction is inherently erotic. What is a Greek tragedy but a super drawn out communal orgasm?

But yes, I write smut almost exclusively lol. People are (usually) at their most vulnerable and raw during sex, and this is an incredibly powerful way to explore character dynamics as well as their inner lives, traumas, and hidden drives. I'm especially drawn to BDSM/kink in general.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Yes! I just wrote a VC/X-Files crossover called Amanuensis in which Mulder and Scully investigate the Night Island that was tons of fun, but it's not something I make a habit of for whatever reason.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, but it's something I would definitely be open to!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Devil's Minion, Hannigram, Garashir, Spirk, Mulder/Scully. They all make me insane in unique ways! I'm also partial to Armand/Marius/Daniel--any Armand ship really! Super normal about him :)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I WANT to finish my Knight of Swords series one day, but I'll try keep plugging away at it.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, 100%. I want everything to be a screenplay lmao. I have written multiple fics that are just text conversations, transcripts, etc.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I can be impatient when it comes to writing descriptions/actions, so a lot of that stuff is as bare bones as possible. I would like to become better at creating a sense of depth and scale and grandeur rather than just sketching things out (and writing longer fics instead of just oneshots all the time).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Neutral, I think it can work when used sparingly (but then I've dropped a few caro mios in my time).

19. First fandom you wrote for? Doctor Who in the ancient pre-ao3 times.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Apart from Gethsemane, I was really happy with how By Any Other Name turned out (the fic where Armand roleplays that Daniel is Marius without his knowledge). Basically anything that's a combination of heavy angst and smut with an optional lil sliver of comfort--that's the good stuff.

tagging: @fofoqueirah and @butchybats and @desertfangs (feel free to ignore if you've done this already lol)

[uncivilcivilservice]

for Armand -

11. How did you “fall in love” with this character?

25. What kind of fan-fiction do you read about this character? If you don’t read fan-fics about them, why not?

50. Link your fav song, playlist, aesthetic board, fan-fiction, reference pile, personal artwork, analysis post, meme, headcanon, or quote for this character. Whichever one (s) you are most comfortable with!

11

I am fairly sure I came across posts by @hekateinhell that tumblr showed me because mutuals of mine had started watching and posting about the AMC show, and in a rare instance of an algorithm reading me correctly, tumblr thought I might be interested in the books. I was very quickly of the opinion that this was the Character Of All Time and that I had to read the books

25

My tastes for fanfic involving Armand arr much wider than my fanfic tastes have ever been in the past. I will read about this little freak in almost any context, any universe, any time period, any genre. As long as it has that Armand je ne sais quoi, I'm intrigued. (the exception being self inserts, I can't personally do self-inserts)

50

Man how am I meant to choose, first off I suppose you can have my current Armand Vibes playlist, and I am not going to apologise for Still Alive from Portal being in there

Fanart, oh god... turns out I have 94 pages in my Armand tag, I've literally just spent an hour going through it, and there is too much amazing art to shout out, so here's a small sample

This excellent Armand/Marius art by @kaelio that lives in my head every day

This drawing of Armand squeezing into his skinny boyfriends shirt that was drawn based on a headcanon of mine by @this-writer-needs-coffee

This classic coven master Armand art by @sheepskeleton-art

And yet more great coven master Armand by @birdblacksocialclub

But oh my god are we spoiled in this fandom for art, I could have been here all day shouting out the amazing artists and their work

[st-armand]

Disco Demolition

( Reposted from @armands-sanctum ) Summary: You're in a disco group, performing for your first time at a rock music festival as a special guest, you meet Hobie amidst the fray.

Author's Notes: Request for @barkbarkbo <3, not a song fic but definitely seems like one, I feel like this couldve been better but I've been sitting on it for days and I'm still getting used to writing and flushing out characters in each piece. CW: Fem!Reader, reader is the keyboardist and sometimes lead singer, the band is coded to be Chic and A Taste of Honey. Not beta read but ill be re-reading it after posting

Word Count: 1.9K Masterlist

People everywhere, and expectation hanging in the air. The music bellows through the street blocks, reverberating through the cement jungle. Bodies expertly navigating the space through music stands and merchandise booths.

Hobie’s band the Spider Slayers have already finished their seat, sweat drips from his scalp and down the nape of his neck, getting caught inside of his leather choker, causing the cow hide to slip around mindlessly and uncomfortably. Reeling from the high of guiding droves of people to an auditory paradise of striking chords, and vexed riffs, giving them all he can give, them taking it—and bestowing their adoration, an offering to their melodious liberators. The Spider-Slayer set ends, the dust settles, and everyone sobers from the experience, ready to participate in another. The groups boots thud together in a dulled tandem to the breakneck drumming of the other performers. They take in the goods offered at the festival, perusing street foods, festal drinks and garments. All in joyous moods, and aching limbs, ready to immerse themselves as the participants.

Two young adults stand in the fray of people, freshly printed, high glossed sheets in hand.

“ ‘IN VOGUE’ First performance Set D 12:30 Come get a taste of aural honey”

They stand out amongst the droves of punks and other alternative people— chic mini skirts, tailored satins, high waisted extravagant flares, that painfully snatch the small of the waist, sequenced gems, thick platformed boots, heels worn down from walking and dancing in place. A pair of rhythmic dancefloor idols amongst a cohort of hardcore fanatics. But regardless you all shared the space considerately, anticipating the cultural exchange of synths and shreds.

The two adults dance subtly to the high energy chords that decorate time and agitate their eardrums. You tumble back a bit, trying to comfortably balance in your platforms after a long period of standing, brushing your hip into an obscured figure. Before you can even croak out an apology, you watch your band member and best friend Zera perk up with some unrecognizable expression.

“Hey! Tall, dark and, handsome! Yeah you!”

Hobie doesn’t even register that you’ve bumped into him, so accustomed to people tripping over his streetlight frame, but he does pull a furrowed pierced brow to the call of your friend, he maneuvers through the rat-king of people, towards you and Zera, band close to his heels.

When your gazes locked, you’re drawn into a ruse of inaudibility, overtaken by the unnamed man’s beauty. Silver metal glinting and casting a bright shine into your eyes, a lopsided grin perfect to meld your lips into, and free emergent hair that shades you from the devastating gleam of the sun. You’re taken in by the strong undercurrent of his countenance, senses drowned in the visage of a god amongst men, like Mary of Magdalene taking in the image of her benevolent savior as she’s primed to be stoned. A punk prophet coming to liberate you from the pop music hoax.

“What’s all this then?”

Zera notices the trance Hobie coaxes you into and leads the conversation.

“We’re IN VOGUE, performing for the first time tonight!”

“You should come see us handsome, huh? Bet my friend would really like that,”

Hobie’s eyes rake down your form leisurely and thoughtlessly, consuming you in your exaltation a Venusian image of a human, body rocking and swaying, dancing effortlessly, heeled feet coordinating to every chord and hit of the drum. You draw him into a melodic perplexity of movement he didn’t know could be concocted from the heavy guitar, and you do so instinctively.

“Names ‘obie, ‘obie Brown, but you can keep calling me handsome.”

Zera, Hobie and his bandmates chat amongst each other as you come down from the veil of delusion the tall man cast over you, as you return to your senses Hobie glances between the two of you noting the lack of musical instruments in your space.

“Don’t see yall wit’ any instruments?”

“I play the bass, my friend plays the synthesizer, but we all play a lil’ bit of everything.”

And that was the truth, depending on the songs played, others would take up a classical approach playing strings, or horns, other times you’d be the only instrument working the synth keyboard with your hands like a blue collared machinist while everyone else creates a vocal concoction alongside the electronic harmony.

“Alright, we’ll stay to see you play, good luck by the way!”

The group waves their goodbyes after a few more rounds of congratulations and good lucks to the first time performers, you watch the band saunter off, being eaten by the sea of other attendees.

Zera turns to you with a shit eating grin, “Sexy seemed to be real interested in you huh? The others look good too, I’ve got my eye on the drummer.”

As the evening settles into the night, time decorated with eardrum rattling rock music, In Vogue prepares backstage for their first performance, harmonizing, hydrating, cracking jokes, and gossiping about the inhumanely attractive members of the Spider Slayers, everyone is hyped to preform. But the most prominent thought on the minds of the band was the reality they were in, forced to perform at a rock music festival considering the climate of the Disco scene, criminally oversaturated with nepotism babies, industry plants, and drug bemused performers more concerned with the high than the art of musical conception. In Vogue stood out amongst their peers as a group of young adults consecrated with the talents of auditory synthesis and a certainty in their sound.

As the curtain call ends for another set of performers, In Vogue prepares for their entrance, being ushered in by the host,

“And today we have a special performance, a disco delusion, ready to get us all ‘jive’ to their rhythm, for their first performance ever we welcome, In Vogue.”

The crowd cheers, but some members seem disinterested at the idea of a pop music group performing at their festival, but luckily all are kind enough to give them an opportunity to grace their ears with something out of their normal.

You and your band step onstage, your respective instruments awaiting you, Zera takes her position on bass, and you take your position at the pair of synthesizer keyboards, fingers glossing over the worn keys preparing yourself mentally to give parts of you you’ve never given to anyone, to an entire maritime of people.

Zera the most extroverted is the first to speak into the mic, “We know we’re not the usual crowd of folks to preform, but today let us guide you through an aural mediation of funk!”

And with that, the high beam stage lights wash over you all like a summer rainfall, and you bask in it for a moment before you lead the group with the first hit of your key and an opening bassline.

The crowd begins to move and sway to the movement of the baseline and the synths until you all sing in accord,

“Oh, what, wow, he’s the greatest dancer!” “Oh, what, wow, that I’ve ever seen!”

Your eyes scan the crowd for a particular punk and his band, you mentally dedicate the song to him even when you can’t immediately make him out in the mass of battle jackets and plaid.

You move closer to the mic to sing, “One night in a disco on the outskirts of Frisco, I was cruising’ with my favorite gang,” “The place was so borin’ filled with out-of-towners tourin’ I knew that it wasn’t my thing.” “I really wasn’t carin’, but I felt my eyes starin’ at a guy who stuck out in the crowd.”

The viewers still seem to be assessing the performance before showing any negative or positive emotion, taking the music as it’s given to them raw. “He had the kind of body that would shame Adonis, and a face that would make any man proud.”

The crowd starts getting more excited at the tonal capacities you all hold, dancing to the drum snares and kicks, letting In Vogue conduct them through the aural honey of disco they’ve advertised, discothèque mystics mediating the movements of a sea of breakneck thrashers and moshers. Amongst the dancing alternatives, you finally find Hobie, in his Herculean beauty, dancing and swaying in tandem to song, your eyes lock onto each other, a lightening strike of excitement and a wave of inspiration furthers you to dance more, to sing harder, and to offer yourself as a sacrificial lamb to your audience. Zera smirks, watching the epiphany that graces you the moment you catch sight of Hobie.

“The champion of dance, his moves will put you in a trance, and he never leaves the disco alone.” “Arrogance but not conceit, as a man he’s complete, my crème d’ la crème, please take me home.”

Hobie looks upon you like a child being embraced by the tenderness of Christ, to him you’re an choral seraphim, bringing him to rapture and into a salvation from the punk rock everyday he experience. Hobie loves all music, especially made by black people, and today is a culmination of that, letting his body groove freely in a way he hasn’t done since dancing with his grandparents in the sanctuary of his childhood home while perusing their dust-stained records.

“He wears the finest clothes, the best designers heaven knows,” “Ooh~ from his head down to his toes,” “Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci, he looks like a still, that man is dressed to kill.”

As you preform, you’re experiencing a oneness that you’ve never felt before alongside your group, despite being friends for years the idea of creating a band was something sloppily put together, a smorgasbord of creatives looking to imprint space and time with their own colors, but today you feel like In Vogue, like this was something meant to happen, like the way the stars and the sun move in accordance with each other to create a surplus of astrological alignments.

“Oh, what, wow, he’s the greatest dancer!” “Oh, what, wow, that I’ve ever seen!”

“Oh, what, wow, he’s the greatest dancer!” “Oh, what, wow, that I’ve ever seen!”

As the song ends with a few more minutes of instrumentals, the perfect time for you all to focus on getting as funky as your viewers, dancing and jiving, a few members abandon their original instruments to pick up violins, shredding the strings with shrill melodic cries before everyone else’s instruments return to the skirmish. You all play until there are no more notes, and no more lyrics to be offered, you all hold a breathe to wait for their reaction. And the audience’s response doesn’t disappoint, they whoop and cheer for you, the grueling work is over, and there is celebration to be had after the hard work.

“Thank you everyone for allowing us into your space tonight, we’re all happy to have a cultural exchange of music!”

You walk off stage, attendants lugging your instruments behind your group.

As you wade backstage while another group goes to perform, heavy footfalls shake you out of your reverie. And there stands Adonis himself, Hobie, his eyes glazed over, and a wide grin etched onto his marble features.

“Did p’etty damn good out there ‘f I do say so myself!”

Zera takes the time to introduce the groups to each other, as they chatter amongst themselves Hobie pulls you aside, a piece of paper with something sloppily scrawled onto it, he urges it into your hand with a telling twinkle in his eye.

“Maybe next time we can all groove together, yeah?” “Yeah I’d love that.”

[saintarmand]

8, 17, 21 & 22 for the iwtv ask thingy! 🤍

8. Who's your favorite actor?

jacob anderson. come on now. they're all great but he is ethereal. second place assad zaman

17. Have you read or watched anything because it was referenced in the show?

oh just a few things

love's coming of age by edward carpenter

chéri by colette

nausea by jean-paul sartre (louis was reading this in ep6 when lestat and claudia are playing chess while talking about nicki. you can't see the full cover but i went detective mode and figured it out)

madame bovary by gustave flaubert

a moveable feast by ernest hemingway (s2 first look "esurient hearts beating as one, the rumbling beast of the moveable feast")

iolanta (tchaikovsky opera)

don pasquale (donizetti opera)

pelléas et mélisande (debussy opera)

a doll's house (henrik ibsen play)

a streetcar named desire (tennessee williams play) + the movie with marlon brando

i didnt read the full text but i did hunt down and read parts of "de masticatione mortuorum, the chewing dead" that claudia mentions, full title "dissertatio historico-philosophica de masticatione mortuorum" by philip rohr (1679) (view the original manuscript here + english translation here)

i havent finished all of emily dickinson's poems yet but im getting there! (some of these i had read before ofc but im reading them all in order now)

ive also previously watched nosferatu (and rewatched it for iwtv) and the trimph of the will (NOT rewatching 💀 that was for a film history class) and ive read dante's inferno which louis mentions ("if i was to join dante's wood of the self-murdered...") and i highly recommend it!!! absolute fav

there's also stuff that wasn't directly referenced in the show but the fandom has drawn parallels to, that i've read and watched for that reason.

anne carson's an oresteia (to better understand all the agamemnon iphigenia clytemnestra electra comparisons people make)

giovanni's room by james baldwin

rebecca (1940 film)

theres def more movies but i cant remember lol

and theres some nonfiction books i've yet to finish bc im slow at nonfiction

the vampire: a casebook by alan dundes (cited by writers as s2 inspo! about irl vampire folklore)

black new orleans 1860-1880 by john w. blassingame for historical context

the theatre of fear and horror by mel gordon, on the grand guignol aka the inspiration for theatre des vampires (i did finish this one except for the summaries of all the plays, i decided to skip that there's so many. very engaging read and gives a lot of insight into the some of the bts stuff we've seen about the theatre)

louis's favorite movies from the tale of the the body thief!

la belle et la bête (1946)

the company of wolves (1984)

the dead (1987)

i may be forgetting some stuff. there's also so much more on my list that i mean to get to. a prayer for owen meany by john irving, of "memory is a monster" quote fame is locked and loaded for example

if anyone's interested to hear my thoughts on any of these feel free to ask i would love to talk about it!!!

all this and i've still only read the first 6 of the actual vampire chronicles. and im still procrastinating starting merrick

21. What was your favorite monologue of season one?

HMM the obvious one is louis's confession. ive watched the whole sequence from the funeral to the end of the episode a truly unhealthy number of times. also claudia's coffin monologue

22. Who's your favorite character? Why?

LOUIS. probably because i relate to him so much. instant connection. tricked into loving myself. also like hes literally louis how could i not love him do i need to even explain this

when i started reading the books i didnt care for book louis that much lol but i did become an armand stan. possibly bc i also relate to him im selfish like that i guess. also just his whole backstory and the way it informs everything he does is so fascinating to me. ppl say hes incomprehensible and hes literally not. everything he does makes sense when you consider his life experiences

iwtv ask game

[rainbowcarousels]

Ten 'Once Daniel has returned to Trinity Gate' headcanons that no one asked for:

Trinity Gate is a matching Christmas pajamas household. You know you're truly considered a member of the family when you get a pair. Lestat eventually gets his in silk but the same design. Armand, once they've at least opened a dialogue because Marius is also important to Daniel, sends some to Marius and invites him because he's still family and they're trying to sort themselves out.

They don't always spend the day together. Daniel can get overstimulated and Louis is still an introvert, so sometimes they like to have their own space. Armand is the exception - given the choice, he never sleeps on his own. He knows he'll wake first and loves to be curled into someone else's arms. It helps remind him that whatever he dreamt, he's not alone anymore.

Armand braves the intense scents of Lush so Louis can have his variety of candles that aren't as artificial as the Bath & Bodyworks ones. Louis rarely buys them for himself, but when Armand notices he's low on one or feeling down, he likes to give them to him.

Daniel cannot figure out what to get people for their first holiday together until he decides on animal adoption and experience. It ends up being a hell of a family day out: Armand's red panda hangs off his arm and sticks out his tongue, much to his lovers delight. Sybelle is very excited to throw the bloody meat to her new lion friend and Benji laughs himself stupid as the Penguin fusses around him, curious about their companion for the evening. Louis reads to his giant turtle and for a while, everything becomes turtles for him: sweaters, candles, blankets, books, documentaries. Daniel ends up feeling pretty proud of his first attempt to do a 'family' gift.

The first time Daniel really struggles with the noises and intensity of New York, Louis pulls him into his room - a lot more muted than his own or Armand's by his own request - and lets him lay with the curtains on the four-poster Armand insisted drawn and reads aloud to give him something to focus on so he doesn't spiral. It marks a turning point in their individual relationship, that even if it's not inherently romantic, they do very clearly love each other and it's both their homes.

Louis is the first one to split his time between France and Trinity Gate. They all end up doing it just because they don't like being apart for that long and Lestat, being Lestat, also shows up at Trinity Gate half the time during the periods they make it back there. It's unofficial, this Lestat shaped addition to their ongoing relationship, because no one really talks about it. Daniel breaks the stalemate because this is the third time they've come back to TG and tried to squeeze into Armand's giant bed with him and he just says, "I think I've lost track of who's in a relationship and who isn't." Diagrams are drawn.

Daniel and Armand still get into early morning debates from time to time, much to the annoyance of anyone else who's decided Armand's bed is fair game save perhaps for Louis. It ranges from 'do souls exist' to 'is toby the Scranton strangler'. Louis got sucked into the one about whether Jessica Fletcher is a serial killer and had some very strong opinions on the matter.

Daniel manages to surprise everyone over breakfast by asking if he's dead. Louis informs him that yes, he's a vampire without looking up from his book but Daniel clarifies he means that he means in terms of his mortal identity, he has no idea if he's dead or not. Does he have a grave? Did he have a funeral? There's no way Armand wouldn't know, this is right up his friendly neighbourhood stalker street.

Louis walks in on what can only described as simulated oral sex, apologises and asks if he's left his book in there and retrieves it. He does ask later why two vampires would be interested in doing that, but Daniel says it's psychosomatic, Armand in his mouth, his hand scratching through his hair, it still makes him tremble all over and it works as foreplay before drinking. This leads to Louis trying it, but without the memories of doing it as a source of orgasmic pleasure as a mortal together, it doesn't really have the same effect. It's worth it to see Lestat's response when he asks to try it with him; deer in horny headlights is a good look for him.

Armand develops a deep seated love of the fake monster houses that pop up all over. He even decides to volunteer for one, having a great deal of fun playing a monster for the night in a way that makes some people run and others laugh. "You can take the vampire out of the theatre," Louis says, but he at least approves of raising money for charity. He's trying to move past seeing himself as damned, as a monster, but acknowledges Armand's relationship with being seen as one is far more complicated than his own and wants to support his endeavours.

[thebonerpit]

Idk if anyone follows my posts enough to even notice this but you may have seen me talking about a lot of new things I've watched so far this year, both tv and film. I kind of made a mini resolution to do this because I found, especially at the end of 2023, that I was stuck in a rut of either rewatching old things or mindlessly flipping through YouTube videos I had little to no interest in. There's so much media out there I'm interested in and now I feel almost reinvigorated to go through it and I've been having a blast.

Most of the time I'll probably just reblog a gifset or two with thoughts in the tags but I finally watched the Interview with the Vampire tv show and I have FEELINGS (mostly good)! Spoilers for season one and I do talk about book things that eventually happen so beware in case you don't know and want to continue the show completely blind...

So I kinda put off watching this at first because the Vampire Chronicles books are some of my favourites, and while it did have its own issues, the 1994 film holds a special place in my heart. I was like... do we really need anything else? But I'm glad I gave it a chance because the show was able to go so much further in so many aspects and also now we have a chance to actually see even more of the book events take place!

I'm gonna say up front that almost every character felt very different from how they are in the book except for Lestat. Lestat was actual perfection and I cannot BELIEVE someone did a (dare I say) even better job than Tom Cruise who gave the performance of his life in the film. Sam Reid's Lestat is unhinged and dramatic and terrifying and sad and cringe and yet also loveable and it was a masterpiece of acting. For the majority of the other characters I really didn't mind the differences and in some instances I thought they were actually improved. Daniel Molloy, for example, who is basically Anthony Bourdain? Perfection. Louis who is yes kind of pathetic and dramatic like the book, but also is volatile and complicated which Lestat is drawn to right from the beginning instead of only after having his little breakdown caused by his brother's death? Excellent. Armand who is older and looks nothing like the Armand described in the books but I can see without any problem how Marius fell madly deeply insanely in love with him because he's GORGEOUS and has this unsettling serenity about him? Give. Me. MORE.

The only issue I really had was with Claudia. I see people praising her all over the place so I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion but I hated that they aged her up so much. The most compelling thing about Claudia as a character is that she is an adult woman trapped in the body of a literal CHILD. A pre-pubescent child. Not a teenager. It's absolutely horrifying and it should be horrifying. Now, I will say, I saw an article where they talked about part of the reason behind this choice being that they needed the actor to work longer hours and it was impossible for a kid to do that, plus the very intense material, and I fully FULLY support any protections for child actors because the industry is insane. But it does make me sad and I wish there was some way they could have worked around it. I get what they tried to do with teenage Claudia but it just fell flat for me. And also the actress really looks her age (I think she's 20?) so like the few times where people were making fun of her for "playing dress up" or whatever I'm like... she fully looks like an older teen at LEAST what are you talking about lol. Also I thought her accent was kind of bad.

But honestly, that was really the only problem I had with the whole series. I absolutely loved how they went full-on explicit with the Lestat/Louis romance and the chemistry between the two of them was... WOOF. I was actually really interested in the modern portions too, mostly because Anthony Bour-- I mean Daniel Molloy was so entertaining lol. I loved how he pushed and pushed at Louis and their whole back and forth was brilliant. Although putting on my archivist's hat for a second to be outraged at Daniel consenting to wearing the cotton gloves to handle the diaries but then eating a fucking sandwich right beside the book???? Absolutely not lol. It was so much fun to see the Armand reveal (which I was spoiled for somehow but that's ok) especially knowing that Armand eventually turns Daniel and boy oh boy I hope they go long enough to get to that. I loved the continued references to Lestat's love of music which makes me hope they're planting seeds to make rock star Lestat a little more believable lol (god can you even imagine?? And we don't talk about the Queen of the Damned movie ok).

As for S2, I'm so excited for Paris and the Théâtre des Vampires and HELLO Ben Daniels as Santiago!!! Omg so hype for that. And it's going to be so interesting to see the Armand/Louis relationship as well because I mean it's always going to be Lestat/Louis and Armand/Marius for me so Louis being like "he's the love of my life"... girl. (And speaking of Armand/Marius please GOD give us some flashbacks because they are my Vampire Chronicles OTP and I need to see that whole story including my girl Bianca thank youuuuu).

Yeah so overall I'm quite positive about the whole thing and sincerely hope that they get many more seasons because there's so many interesting stories in those books and we've only ever gotten a TINY portion on screen.

[uozlulu]

🍒, 🥝,🍈 for the fic ask game

Thanks for sending an ask :D

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

I think that I gravitate towards dynamics that have a lot of emotion and connection to them. Like you've got the relationships that have a lot of history to them. Asta & Yuno are effectively basically twins and their bond runs deep. EraserMic have known each other for 15 years and they share so much baggage and it's fun to explore how that might have drawn them closer together. Devil's Minion (Armand/Daniel) have like an at least 13 year history if not longer depending on which canon you're talking and there's just so much going on there you can explore.

But deep connections can sometimes be something that's swift and drowning almost like Destiel or they grow on each other like weeds after some time and energy like InuKag and that's also fascinating. This is also why I like the League of Villains as found family because I think their ability to trauma bond to each other quickly is a fascinating thing to explore.

I think in general I'm fascinated by how people can come together, can choose each other be it platonic, romantic, etc.... and it's so fun to write characters that have that kind of charge to them

🥝 What’s your favorite trope/AO3 tag to write?

I love writing crossovers, though I don't do it as much as I could. I think it's fun to either swap scenarios or settings to see what happens or combine casts of things to see how they all interact with one another.

I also like to take inspiration from places like Tumblr, LJ, etc...because I always like to write things I think people are looking to read and I like being able to jump from some post to whatever scenario pops into my head. It's why I have a whole series dedicated to all the inspirations I've gotten from Tumblr over the years.

🍈 Who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favorite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics? Free pass to rant about blorbo opinions.

Oh I have so many blorbos. I have so much affection for a lot of characters in a lot of things I read and watch. I think my blorbo of all time though was Dean Winchester. He's just so relatable on many levels and you can just explore what's going through that head of his, how trauma might have shaped whatever's going on with him. He also felt very effortless to write even though my SPN fics could have been better if I'd been more into the editing process at the time I wrote them.

The thing I could never get into with him the way a good chunk of fandom seemed to was the incest stuff. I have a brother who's about five years younger than me so to me, Dean and Sam are pretty normal siblings when you take away the trauma bonding. Like that episode where Gabriel shows up the first time "Tall Tales" I think it's called had me on the floor because that was like peak sibling content. The wallet scene reminded me of when I was 10 and my brother was 5 and I would babysit him when he was grounded from the TV and I'd have to get the remote control away from him and put it on top of the fridge.

I also think the ending Dean got in SPN was a bit BS because like I always kind of wanted him to eventually become a kind of Bobby to a new generation. To kind of become hunting adjacent, because I think he never could have fully gotten away from hunting, but I think he'd have liked the grow his found family aspect of that and make little gadgets for other hunters to use. Get him to a healthier relationship with Sam while he's at it, like they seemed to be moving towards at the end of season five where Sam can come and go and live a life outside of hunting, though Sam too would probably never be completely free from it.

===

Put a fruit from this post in my ask box and I'll answer fic related questions (You can also ask non-fruit related questions if you have any. That's also cool)

[ladycatofwinterfell]

I know I’m making these posts for an audience of one (1) person and that person is me. But I like writing it out, it’s easier to make sense of all my thoughts and impressions that way. And it will give me something to look back on ahead of or during next season.

And so here it is. Thoughts on episode 8.

Maybe this time I’ll start with what I didn’t like and then do it more or less chronologically. Yeah, let’s do it that way.

The episode felt kinda… idk, clunky to me? It feels like maybe some things would have benefited from being a little more drawn out. And with that I’m especially thinking of the Louis/Armand divorce. After their fight in ep.5 I guess I was expecting more at the reveal that caused the end of their relationship. Something even more explosive. Or an actual confrontation. Though I guess we’ve been slowly seeing their relationship fall apart during the season and this was just the very last thing that cemented the end of it. I also would have liked more of Louis burning down the theatre. The cut between the New Orleans scene and Daniel's tv appearance was also a little abrupt for my taste.

The thing with Armand wanting Louis dead kinda annoyed me at first because it just straight up doesn’t make any sense for me. It just felt evil. It might be the bias that I went in expecting his motivation to be the same as in the books that brought this feeling out in me, but I really wanted that. He wanted Claudia dead so he could have Louis, it was never his intention for both of them to die. Though after a couple of rewatches I'm more willing to accept it. Armand seems to desire stability and reassurance and at that point in their relationship Louis could not promise him that. He refused to join the coven and was actively agitating members of it, which brought danger to Armand. He could not trust Louis to stay with him in the long run and so he chose his coven of 200 years. And when he realised it was not going according to plan he improvised in the hope of that he would land on top. And he did. And so I choose to trust them on this decision for now in the hopes of the next season giving more clarity. This season left Armand’s character in a similar place that Lestat was left in last season, the place as the villain in the story. This season gave nuance to Lestat without changing all of the bad things he did last season. And I hope the same will be true for Armand. And if it isn't I'll take the evil gremlin. I don't hate the evil gremlin. Armand <3

NOW! Good things. Because there are a lot of them. I saw that some people didn't really like this ep and while I consider it the weakest of the season it's still great. So let's talk about it.

Louis' monologue at the beginning of the episode is so good. Jacob Anderson is so good. I've fallen in love with both Louis and Jacob and it's all due to this wonderful performance. Wondering what he could have done differently to avoid ever falling for Lestat and reaching the conclusion that it was inevitable. There was no version of events where he didn't kiss Lestat on the altar (loooooove that they've leaned into the wedding implications of that in both this ep and ep 7). And so there was no version of event where all this could have been avoided, it was inevitable. He's probably right, it was inevitable, and that's part of the tragedy babey! And Claudia is dead. Claudia doesn't exist any longer. Her absence this episode is so striking. While it's all about her she's not truly there and there's a gaping hole where she was before.

His manic planning was also just beautifully acted. And it paired with Dubai scenes of Louis and Armand being like noooo Daniel you don't understand Armand was also a victim :( we prooooomise :( and Daniel just quietly waiting for when he can drop what he's discovered. Seeing Louis burn down the theatre was so satisfying. Setting fire to those who had wronged not him but Claudia and saving her things from that fire. Taking the last physical remains of her and committing murder with them in his bag <3 him knowing he can get Santiago by agitating and mocking him. and saying come to me???????? iwtv writers what the fuck were you on because I want some. All through the season I've been just a little in love with Santiago because of Ben Daniels' incredible performance and the fun pizzazz he brought to the character. With that said I was happy to watch him die after he said the most disgusting thing I have ever heard in my life about Claudia's ashes. Burn in hell bitch. All love to Ben Daniels though.

The scene with Armand afterwards? Where Armand admits to lying but not about that he played an active role in it? He knows he can't deny that he knew it would happen, but he knows he can deny it was largely due to him. Giving him a little of the truth, a bit he's carefully curated, just enough for it to be believable? Excellent.

LESTAT DE LIONCOURT!!! For now we'll just go with that I was wrong and that Lestat was chilling out in the dungeon out of his own free will (even though I still suspect we'll hear a different version later on. and if we don't and that was the truth i'm fine with it). Louis going to him with full intent of killing him that time, of burning him for what he did to Claudia. For crossing an ocean to rehearse a play that would burn his daughter alive. Big fan of them reversing to Claudia being their daughter btw. While she wanted to be their sister, while they called her their sister she never was their sister. That was their daughter. That was their little girl, as tragic as that is. Anyhow. He can't burn Lestat because Lestat has the blood of Akasha in him (Akasha mention let's fucking go). He can't kill Lestat. But he has to hurt him, he NEEDS to hurt him. And so he hurts him by being with Armand. I'm a big believer in that Louis and Armand really did love each other in the beginning and that their relationship was genuinely built on a connection. But that changes in Magnus' tower. That's when Armand becomes the rebound, that's when he becomes the companion Louis kept out of spite because he could not hurt Lestat in any other way then and there.

End of story. Armand breaths a sigh of relief, even allows himself to gloat a little. Too bad for him that Daniel is out for blood and is just itching to bring down his empire of lies. He points out flaws in Louis' story. He points out inconsistencies. And then he slams down the scrips for the trial that has Armand's notes scribbled in the margins. Because it was Armand. Armand had an active role in it. Armand wanted him and Claudia dead. Lestat saved Louis at the trial, and he didn't look very healthy in that version. He looked pale, he looked like the swaying Lestat we saw briefly just before Claudia died. Love how in the version of the trial from the previous ep Lestat wears black while Armand wears white, and when we see them rehearsing it's the other way around. Anyway I fell completely for that it was Armand that saved Louis, I believed it because that's what happened in the book, but it was a nice twist that it was Lestat. I think Sam Reid said he believes Lestat would have saved Claudia if he had had the energy for it, but he was simply not well enough to use his powers to save them both. Cool, doesn't at all make me want to die. Daniel lives for the drama, I'm here for it. His dramatic reveal was incredible. Louis snaps, as one might do when one finds out one's partner of 77 years murdered one's daughter and then fucked with one's head so one can't remember the truth of it. Him throwing Armand into the wall where the paintings were before but that they left bare because they couldn't agree on what to put up there? Fucking poetry.

Louis getting his accent back when he leaves Dubai is so beautiful. He lived in that grey and soulless apartment, spoke in a way that wasn't his own, wore only black. And now he's in New Orleans. He goes on a little tour that includes part of his own life and smiles at the incorrect things said like he's fondly reminiscing about it. And he is. He might have told a story that wasn't entirely how it actually happened in the interview, but it helped him to process some very painful things. It led him to come to terms with it in a way that he simply couldn't before. And now he's treated like a respected person, not looked down upon the way he was when he left New Orleans. And he sees a vampire catching rats, and he follows that vampire.

Okay so let’s get to the elephant in the room. The Louis/Lestat scene. Because while my first thought was Louis, girl, GET UP!! I really enjoyed the scene. Out of everything in the episode that one hit the hardest and how could it not? I’ve already come out as a loustat enjoyer, you know how it is (this show is very much not about shipping for me, but it’s also built on the relationships between all characters and loustat is simply THE relationship). He follows the young vampire and finds a Lestat that's a shadow of his former self. He returned to New Orleans because New Orleans is his home, but he hasn't been living there. He says he has, but that wasn't a life. He's been punishing himself ever since Paris, lived in atonement for what he did. He denies himself everything. Eats rats, lives in a shack, wears the robe he wore the first night he and Louis spent together, he even denies himself the joy of playing the piano. AND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE SEE LESTAT!!!! this is the first time we see Lestat in the flesh and not through someone's memory of him. And he's the most pathetic wet dog of a man you've ever laid eyes on. Gone is the grandiose personality and the seductive presence. He's just so sad. And he has an ipad. Who gave this man wifi??? and taught him to use siri???? I was taken off guard by siri pause, it was very funny. And while it wasn't the same tone as the rest of the scene it worked. Shows we're in the presence, grounds the scene in, idk, realism? Like it's not a big thing, a great happening, it takes place in the real world. With that said it is a great happening and I’ll be thinking about it for the rest of my life. The way Sam and Jacob acted the entire scene is so great (as always with those two). The initial gentleness from Louis at seeing what has become of Lestat. Lestat being a very miserable and watered down version of himself but not without a lot of the same mannerisms as before (the way he moves his head when talking, his little shoulder shimmy, the way he drums his hand against his board). I like Lestat holding the board in front of him like a shield until they get to the point where Louis asked why he didn't say that he saved his life in Paris. And Lestat questioning if it was saving him. Louis thanking Lestat for the gift of time is sooooo touching. He wore vampirism like a curse, couldn't accept it, but he's come to realise that the nights he has ahead of him means something. He can use those nights to learn to live honestly. And it truly is beautiful that after having seen Louis struggle with vampirism for two seasons that he can embrace his own nature in a different way and consider it something positive that he has eternity to do right by himself and others. And Lestat, upon hearing that, asking about if he tried to end his life in 1973. If it was truly so bad he hurt himself. Which ties very well into his doubts about if he truly did save Louis in Paris. And he's clearly spent a lot of time thinking about this because he remembers the exact date and the exact time, both in New Orleans and in San Fransisco, when he heard from Armand. And that's the only time he's heard about Louis since they left Paris!! More than 70 years and all he knows of Louis is that something terrible happened to him in 1973. And when Louis says he was lost he immediately brings up Claudia, because of course it's about Claudia. He can't stop thinking about her either. And perhaps this (apart from the unbreakable vampire bond) is what will always tie Louis and Lestat together from now on. That they are the only two people in the world that understand the loss of Claudia and that knew the joy of Claudia when they lived together in New Orleans. No one else fully understands their pain. Lestat blames himself for the trial, Louis blames himself for the turning of Claudia in the first place. Both of them think themselves partly responsible for her death. And in a way they are, but they didn't mean for that to happen and it will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

New paragraph because Tumblr forbid me from having one that long. It's the first time that has ever happened to me. Cool, I love this show. Anyway Louis heard from Armand that Claudia looked to Lestat in her last moment, but now he hears it from Lestat. He hears Lestat say she looked at him like he was her father, and then try to continue by saying he never was her father but the thing is that he was!! They were always her fathers. She referred to him as her uncle until she refused to be anything but a grown sister, but he was always her father. That was their daughter. Even when things were bad, even when she resented and hated them (especially Lestat), even when she tried to kill Lestat. Claudia was their daughter. In her last moment she did look to her father. The father that didn't save her. Side note, if they do "Claudia was my dark child, my love, evil of my evil. Claudia broke my heart" next season I'll die, I think. Claudia and Lestat are so interesting, character dynamic of all time if I'm being honest. Anyway they hug and it's such a relief for both Louis and Lestat. Finally they're embracing each other, sharing some comfort about Claudia's death, which is something they've both been denied for an entire human lifetime. And there's a storm going on around them, it sounds like the house will fall apart. 1 "Another round in the stormy romance of you two" and 2 "I was just a roof shingle that flew off of your house". Nothing is about Claudia because everything is about the two of them and it's always been that way, but simultaneously everything is about Claudia. And it's so deliciously tragic that everything becomes about her only after she dies. She could not be that while she was alive, she had to die for them to realise that. Just as with Claudia and Madeleine I love that we can't hear what they're saying to each other, again that's not for us to know. It's just for the two of them. Jacob and Sam deserve to have that.

And on a completely different note VAMPIRE DANIEL!!!! I saw him wearing sunglasses indoors and was like wait a moment... and then I saw his nails and YES he's a vampire!! Sad they've already burned half of my wishlist for season 3, but I can't be too upset about it. Daniel upon becoming a vampire immediately returning to his annoying and rash and twitchy 20-year-old self is gold. Becoming dated in his leather jacket and acdc shirt the same way Lestat became in his silk cravats. He's an old man physically but a very young vampire and it shows as soon as we see him. He's cocky and seems to think himself invincible, proudly proclaiming for all that will listen that vampires exist. I saw people upset that his turning was off screen but I like it. We know what's implied, we can definitely imagine approximately what took place after Louis told Armand not to touch Daniel. DID I HEAR MAITRE ONLY WHEN IT'S HOT OR CONVENIENT??? I'm a strong believer in that we'll get devil's minion, only in a different format than the one in the books, I'm not willing to give up on it. Louis and Daniel's relationship continuing is great though, and Daniel calling Armand an asshole wasn't bad either. Daniel pushing for more books because he's high on everything and on top of life. Great idea to make an addict into a creature whose entire existence revolves around the next fix.

Louis wears patterns now! He has a yellow couch! There are flowers on a table and a colourful painting on the wall! Claudia's dress is up on the wall, as is a portrait of Paul! The magnolia tree is gone, it's simply his little garden now. The apartment is his, he himself is his own. And the other vampires want to kill him for Daniel's book, and he lets them know they're welcome to try and fuck with him. Because he owns the night. When I saw him I was at first afraid of that Lestat would also be there with him, and I'm so glad he wasn't. I'm so glad that for now Louis is on his own, learning to live with himself and be himself again. I'm so glad that it ended with the focus on only him. Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pointe du Lac, you will always be famous. Also relieved it's been at least partly confirmed that while Lestat will narrate next season Louis will not take a step back, it's still also about him. I love Louis <3

[thenightling]

Interview with The vampire episode 6 season 2

This show just keeps frustrating me. So now Armand gave the theatre Cuadia ...so they'd spare Louis? To keep the peace? There are hints that Armand wants Claudia dead but I think it might be too subtle for the people watching this. This is the third time (I've kept track) that the show has mocked or insulted the source material. This time by using Louis and Lestat dialogue from the novel for the "pretentious play" which apparently is also Waiting for Godot... with Interview with The Vampire novel dialogue. Why are there so many insulting digs about the writing from the books? The first time it was pretending the threatre knowing who Lestat is was "Soapy" even though Paris is where Lestat came from. Claudia and Louis know that Paris is where Lestat was made a vampire. And there aren't that many vampires in the world so the big coven n Paris was likely to know of him. The Lestat reveal at the end was unsurprising (for book readers). But Lestat souldn't look perfectly fine and puffing on a cigarette. He was in really rough shape (and pretty much delirious) when he was forced, by Armand, to tell the theatre what Claudia had done to him.

Madeleine's transformation felt really drawn out and they completely removed that Armand psychically pushed Louis to make her. They also brush off and diminish an important scene from the books with "Don't care." (in reply to "Yes, Father. At last we are even." I also don't understand the "I am too small." being kept in as to why Claudia can't make Madeleine into a vampire. She's not that small. The actress is 5'3. There are plenty of adult women shorter than that. The line made sense when she was four or five-years-old. (In the novel Louis said she wasn't quite five yet). But not so much here, especially when her actress is nineteen and Armand was seventeen when he was made a vampire in the books. The "If I could switch bodies with you" line from Raglan James really was on the nose and is making me wonder if he's already joy riding in someone else's body. Is he already inhabiting David Talbot's body? Wait... Is Rashid David Talbot already body swapped / hopped? He does end up in a young, dark body at the end of Tale of the body Thief... Also Louis would NEVER refer to Claudia as a burden. And even worse when she asks him if he thinks of her as a burden he doesn't even say no! WTF?! That's NOT Louis!

I never quite got over that the show wants to actually use the rule that vampire maker and fledgling can't read each other's thoughts but they briefly forgot that rule in the first season and had Lestat psychically talk to Louis AFTER having made him a vampire... I'm actually curious about what direction they're going with that. I have to admit I do sort of like the Santiago actor, I wish he was playing Marius instead of someone doomed to die. I'm not feeling well tonight so I think I'll pause my review here.

[tenaciouswile]

Solo "A starry spring night" Marius de Romanus

It was one of those nights where Marius sat alone in his apartment, the balmy air coming through the window and he listened to the music coming from the people who were in their gardens partying. A slight smile crossed his lips as he walked towards his easel, there was a picture drawn from his memory.

A memory from almost forgotten days. You could see a landscape on it, but there was also a house on it, it was his. It was the last memory he had before it burned down. Painting the picture was his way of dealing with his past, the fact that he lost everything that night. He had never been one to openly share his feelings, which also made him a very lonely being. But if you looked at his paintings, all his dedication was there - it was his style and would always be his.

A light sigh escaped his lips and even if he wanted to paint that night, he couldn't that night. He turned away from the painting and took his red coat and wrapped himself in it and left his apartment but before he could leave the house he felt someone grab his arm, holding him back and he looked into two dark brown eyes and recognized Gabriel was holding him back from leaving the house. "Where are you going? Are you sure you want to get out now? I heard the people in the neighborhood are very suspicious. They know you never leave the house during the day. I would advise you to be careful."

Marius knew Gabriel was worried and he gave his friend credit for that, but it wasn't the first time people around him had become suspicious. "I know you're worried, but I've got everything under control. Try to relax and spend the evening with your wife. I'm going to take an evening walk." And with that he left the house and headed towards the park in town.

It was a mild spring evening, he liked nights like this and enjoyed nature as much as he could. But in the city it was more of a challenge to find good places. When he got to the park he sat down on one of the park benches, took off his coat and put it next to him. Now he was just sitting there with his dark red suit fitting in the period of this time, red was his favorite color and matched perfectly well with his blonde hair.

His gaze went to the sky and he imagined what it would be like if it was day, he missed the sun but the imagination was enough that he felt like it was real. This brought a soft smile to his lips when he suddenly heard noises behind him and someone approached him from the shadows.

The thoughts he heard were loud and cruel, causing his icy blue eyes to darken. "I advise you to go. While you still can." It was a little warning and then the man pulled out a knife and waved it in front of Mariu's face. He demanded that he give him his money, which made Marius even more tense since he hadn't eaten in a while either. But the law was strict and with this he had to pull himself together.

A soft growl came from him and he went into the human's head with his voice. "You got lost last night in one of the bars and drank too much. You forget that we met and you're going to have a bad hangover in the morning. And now you're going home." The man got a slightly dopey look and lowered his hand and the knife dropped to the ground which Marius took then.

The young man nodded in a trance and turned around as he slowly walked away. Marius felt the tension leave him when the human had moved away from him and he was alone again. His heart grew heavy as the night wrapped itself more and more around him, even looking at the sky couldn't make the feeling in his heart any easier now.

Because when the night wrapped around him, the loneliness creeped up in him and had a tight hold on his soul. Which also caused his feeling of missing someone to grow even bigger than usual, his thoughts were often with him and he was glad that he had found him again. It was his fledgling Armand. Marius bowed his head and thought of him and oh how he wished he was with him now and he could sit here with him and enjoy this night together. But he didn't know where he was and so his thoughts were only with him that night.