Clément Chabernaud in “Ledamné” by Jeff Burton for Vogue Hommes, F/W 2013
@i-want-my-iwtv About the tattoo ask, I asked this question a while ago and this was Anne’s answer.
Oooh, thanks @frankenland!
Much appreciated. @wavesofwood, check this out. If we accept the author’s words as canon, we can say definitively:
1) Tattoos that the vampire tries to get AFTER they have been turned: Will vanish in 24 hrs.
2)
Tattoos that the vampire has BEFORE they have been turned: Will fade/lighten/change (see comment from @monstersinthecosmos on my post about this,
below)
@monstersinthecosmos adds:
i remember Anne said on FB once that someone’s tattoos would probably go really light and lacey/elegant looking after they’re turned, but remain in a way that looks ~ethereal~ lolol
^I’d have to find the post but I would imagine that AR means that the tattoo will “go really light and lacey/elegant looking” over time, not at the moment of turning, but it could be interpreted either way.
It would have been nice if she had answered your whole question and included whether any of them DO have tattoos, and maybe
accepted your compliment graciously, but OH WELL.
“I love you the more in that I believe you had liked me for my own sake and for nothing else.” – John Keats
–
Louis and Lestat. I doubt there were many quiet moments like this because Lestat is Lestat and does not have an inside voice, but I’m sure Louis appreciates them all the more for their rarity. I always imagine Louis to be fond of bundling up in thick blankets while Lestat wants one thin sheet or nothing at all. When they snuggle outside of their coffins, that is.
Lestat: Put them on. Please? *brandishes fairy wings*
Claudia: Go away. You’re an embarassement.
I have an unhealthy crush on Mael, can you say some stuff about him? Just Mael stuff please?
(Hello! I want to give you a good answer, but can you give me a little more info?
Maybe:
- about what you love about him?
- casting ideas for him?
- are you looking for headcanons?
- or canon stuff about him? Quotes?
I had typed up a few responses, but I deleted them, bc I was afraid of striking the wrong tone)
I will tell you there were two active Mael RPers in the fandom: @thevampiremael, and @maelgallia, you might reach out to them, or browse their archives for Mael stuff!
@diesxirae drew a fanart w/ Mael in it recently, too.
Ok but tattoos and vampires?? If you were to have a tattoo and get turned into a vampire, do u think it would fade since the vampiric blood supposedly erases all the “imperfections” or not?
Hello! This question, actually, is much deeper than it appears.
I’ve addressed it physiologically before, and originally, I was going to link you to that privately, but then I remembered a tattoo from years back (under the cut bc it was under a cut on the person’s blog), and it inspired me to make further considerations, more in the context of the purpose of a tattoo. In that secondary but equally meaningful aspect, I haven’t addressed what the tattoos represent to the ones who wear them, and why the erasing of a tattoo could be devastating to a fledgling vampire. (As always, this response is only about Ricean vampires.)
I’m answering this with good intentions, just the exploration of this deeper question and context. I’m not trained in the issues that I will touch on, but these are just my thoughts on the topic at hand, and not meant to be authoritative in any way, shape, or form. I invite anyone who has gotten tattoos or is thinking about getting them to share your thoughts on this, to get some more perspective.
[^X is @page537‘s VC quote tattoo!]
PART I: The physical aspect:
I don’t remember any tattooed Ricean vampires in canon, so I can’t say definitively whether the tattoo ink would remain or not :- This may be a question for the author. For our purposes:
On the one hand, as @thebibliosphere added to one of my posts: “I treat vampires as just very long living humans, which means even tattoos fade over time as the skin cells regenerate.” [X] I’m inclined to agree. I also think a tattoo could be removed from vampire flesh “by scraping/cutting/etc. off the tattooed skin and letting it regenerate to its natural state).” as @skeletalroses put it [X].
HOWEVER! On the other hand, the ink could be flushed out along with anything else on the body that is incompatible* to the vampiric parasite at the time that the vampire is turned (*“incompatible” meaning “unnecessary,” like the bodily organs for solid food breakdown or whatever else that are flushed out). Is a tattoo, or the ink thereof, an “imperfection” also an “incompatible” thing? I don’t know. So would the vampiric blood erase a tattoo? It’s possible!
– PART II –
People get tattoos for a wide variety of reasons, here’s just a few (and the first three I’m asterisking & bolding bc I feel like those are the reasons that I didn’t address properly before, and I want to try do so, albeit in a limited way, further down).
- *To change something about themselves bc they are unable to change a larger aspect of their lives, possibly they want to transition from one gender to another, and are not financially able to do so,
- *They are in the process of changing
a larger aspect of their lives, maybe they are gathering more information about the processes in order to make informed decisions about transitioning, or are taking HRT and gradually seeing the changes, or they have a specific quote/motto that is helping them through the change,
- *To show that they have MADE a change about themselves and want to commemorate/celebrate that change, maybe they transitioned genders, or accomplished a life-long goal,
- For protection/good fortune/etc., – my cousin has a viking rune of protection
on his sternum, Angelina Jolie has a number of tattoos for blessings and other reasons,
- To be part of a group – symbols that indicate allegiance to a group or religion,
- To advertise one’s interests – like getting a Superman logo might draw other fans of the character to you and strike up a friendship or more,
- (Some ppl do get tatts purely bc they’re aesthetically pleasing)
- Etc….
Those first three are my focus right now, and I have not undergone a life change of that magnitude so I do not wish to offend anyone by presenting any misinformation.
But I can speculate that it is a deeply meaningful body modification. In some cases, it’s the only body modification that can be made and it has tremendous value to the person who chooses to have it. On a related note, when ppl ask about vampires and hair dye, I think this may be a similar kind of body modification, something that one can do if they are unable to do the larger desired change.
>>So a mortal gets a tattoo, or several, that help them feel like they’ve made at least that change to their bodies, and it helps them, whether it’s for a change desired, a change accomplished, or a change-in-progress.
- If that mark is erased when they become a vampire, what does that mean about the change that the tattoo was about?
-
Is it erasing the change
desired/accomplished/-in-progress?
- If that mark is erased, is being a vampire a sufficient replacement?
- What are the consequences of erasing that mark as it pertains to the change desired/accomplished/-in-progress?
- What emotional impact would it have on the vampire that that mark was erased?
So when this question is asked, it’s also about the fact that when someone chooses to get a tattoo for the sake of representing CHANGE, will that representation of change last into eternity? Would the mortal WANT it to? Would they be devastated that it was gone? These are all considerations and I don’t have the answers.
On the other hand, and on a lighter note,
- Does this mortal really want that conversation-starter of a Superman logo on their thigh for ETERNITY?
- How frustrating would that be to be stuck with something they’ve decided they DON’T like and/or support anymore, and keep getting asked about it repeatedly??
- It could make for some intriguing vampire emotional exploration. #NO REGERTS indeed.
Again, a tattoo that I remembered from years back, which inspired me to make these considerations, is under the cut bc it was under a cut on the person’s blog originally.
@daniel-james-molloy‘s VC tattoo [X]:
seeing someone’s work on ao3 after seeing their username on tumblr is like seeing your friend dressed up in formalwear when 2 hours ago they were eating pizza in their sweats on your couch
and then when you see a writer who you know mainly from ao3 on tumblr it’s like running into the local news anchor at the grocery store
you know who they are but they’ve never seen you before
Top Ten Spookiest Classical Pieces
Perhaps I’m feeling macabre, but tonight I’m digging out my favorite spooky classical pieces and listening to them. So I thought putting together a top ten list of these would be fun while I drink my scotch. Note: These are not really in any particular order. I love them all.
1. Beethoven: Piano Trio in D major, op. 70 no. 1, “Ghost” – 2nd movement. Rattling of chains, shrieking of spirits; the nickname of this trio fits it well. The first and third movements are good as well, but only the second movement is really spooky.
2. Schubert: Der Leiermann (from Winterreise). A heartbroken young man sings about the hurdy-gurdy, an outcast who sits just outside the village and plays his instrument while dogs snarl at him and people ignore him.Particularly chilling is that this is the last song of an hour-long cycle, and it drones on without clear resolution, ending with the line: “Strange old man, should I go with you? Will you accompany my songs on your hurdy-gurdy?”
3. Mussorgsky: Night On Bald Mountain. You may know this one from Disney’s Fantasia, which is featured during the Witches’ Sabbath sequence.
4. Schubert: Der Erlkönig. Based on a poem by Goethe, this song tells the chilling story of a father and his ailing child riding through the woods on horseback, while a malicious spirit tries to lure the boy away, unseen and unheard by the father.
5. Saint-Saens: Danse Macabre. Death plays his fiddle in the cemetery, rousing all the skeletons from their graves and dancing with them until they have to slink back at the first light of dawn.
6. Brahms: Ballade in D minor, op. 10 no. 1, “Edward.” Based on a Scottish ballade, the story is of a mother who knows that her son has murdered his father – she just wants to hear him say it himself.
7. Shostakovich: Viola Sonata. Shostakovich composed during the height of Soviet censorship, and his music almost always has a hunted, almost panicked feel to it. He composed this viola sonata just a month before his death.
8. Shostakovich: String Quartet no. 8 in C minor, op. 110. Between the frenzy of the second movement and the insistent “knocking on the door” of the fourth, this quartet can really put you on edge. What makes this music even freakier is Shostakovich’s musical signature (D E-flat C B) throughout the work.
9. Mussorgsky: The Hut of Baba Yaga the Witch (from Pictures at an Exhibition). This one always sounds like Baba Yaga’s “Hut On Chicken’s Legs” is chasing me through the woods, but that might just be my wild imagination.
10. Scriabin: Piano Sonata no. 9, “Black Mass.” Some of the directions that Scriabin writes in the score are “mysteriously murmuring”, and “with a sweetness that becomes increasingly poisonous,” which is a pretty apt description for much of this work. It begins mysteriously, then builds in tension until it all explodes in some kind of orgiastic climax. It ends just as enigmatically as it begins.
Mindblowing eclipse shot from NASA.
Quincy
,
Illinois
✤
✤ – a memory that involves romance/love
“Lis. That’s what Lestat calls me. French for lily. I didn’t like it at first. I remember the first time he called me that, I got upset. I thought it was condescending of him. I’m not his delicate little flower, I used to think. But it wasn’t something he just threw around, I began to notice. He used it rather sparingly, only saying it when he spoke softly and genuinely. And I came to love it. He didn’t use it for anyone else. See, he would use other french terms when trying to get a meal out of someone. He would seduce them, calling them mon coeur, and mon amour. But lis was reserved for me. No one had done that for me before. No one had ever called me anything but Louis. And so I grew to love it. And I still do love it. He still calls me lis when he wants my undivided attention, or when he wants to calm me down. It’s become one of my favorite words, and nothing sounds better than hearing it whispered in his voice. His lily.”
I-want-my-IWTV 