I used to be with it. But then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’. And what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary to me. It’ll happen to you.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the ending of Memnoch the Devil lately. More specifically, about how I’ve seen people dismiss Armand’s attempted suicide along with the rest of the book, as it being too out of character or too far into the realm of “later canon” to be worthy of much attention.
But the thing is, the young me that read MtD for the first time and had no access to the internet wasn’t able to do ~research~ and obsess over what Anne might have intended with this thing or the other, which meant that I was completely free to interpret everything I read in any way that I wanted.
So when I read about Armand running into the sun after hearing Lestat’s story, my mind went straight to that quote from Queen of the Damned: “’I’ll tell you what I fear,’ Armand had said, intense as any young student. ‘That it’s chaos after you die, that it’s a dream from which you can’t wake. Imagine drifting half in and out of consciousness, trying vainly to remember who you are or what you were. Imagine straining forever for the lost clarity of the living.’“
And so I saw Armand as someone who had lost the will to live centuries ago, and was simply going on out of fear that there was nothing after death. And I saw Lestat’s “revelation” that there was as the push that finally gave him the courage to end it. I still can’t completely shake off that interpretation and it still breaks my heart.
vampires getting super invested in nutrition so they know how to take care of their humans, and then being horrified at what humans will actually consume:
three-day-old coffee
twenty piece chicken nuggets
one (1) granola bar as a meal
their own fingernails
humans lying about what they eat:
“How do pop rocks even work?” “They’re made of tiny larvae that explode when they come into contact with human saliva.” “… That can’t be real.”
the constant exasperated repitions of “human stuff” or “vampire stuff” whenever they don’t understand each other
humans dabbing garlic on their pulse points when they’re pissed
“C’mon, I’m starving, why are you like this?” “Are you sorry?” “Yes” “What’s the magic word, Clarence?” “Please?”
vampires that forget humans are delicate and accidentally hurt them
humans that act like wounded dogs over minor injuries just to watch vampires fall over themselves apologizing
vampires exaggerating time for comedic effect:
“I haven’t heard this song in forty years” “This came out in 2004″ “It’s been forty years. I have aged.” “You literally have not.”
“When was the last time you did any laundry?” “1965″ “Fuck you.”
telling vampires to “go back to your coffin” when they’re grumpy
humans constantly asking “how did they do this in your day?” about every single daily task
vampires who hoard tools and appliances from the time period they most enjoyed
young vampires flipping off the sun and screaming at it about evolution
old vampires who pull their collars up and frown behind their sunglasses
erroneous threats based on abilities no vampire actually has:
“I’m gonna show up to your wedding as a swarm of bats and shit on the cake”
Caffeine is a natural blood thinner so it could have some interesting effects for them. Not sure what though.
They’d probably also jitter quite a bit, depending on whether or not they absorb things more readily through their food (which one would think they would due to needing to absorb the things they need from blood) which could make the risk of addiction fairly substantial.
So yea, I think it would, though how that plays out is up to you and your worldbuilding 🙂
Unwanted butting-in from medical human and caffeine addict: caffeine isn’t so much a blood thinner, but it does act to boost metabolism and acts to release adrenaline (small doses). Obviously the specific effect will vary based on your vamp mythos and what you’ve decided vampirism means in your story, but I can see this used in an interesting way or two…
For instance, if your ‘verse uses cold vamps (ie room-temperature or slightly above), caffeine and a few other substances could act to help them raise their body temperature to “pass” with a human date (other things being alcohol for the vasodilatory properties, cinnamon for metabolic boost, taurine/guanine, plus the strategic application of hot packs). NICUs will give underdeveloped premies caffeine drips to aid development and raise core temp, so this isn’t completely left-field.
It also increases heart rate (particularly in “overdose”), which, if you have still-beating-heart-just-super-slow-heart-rate vamps, they might use caffeine to take their heart rate from “almost a stone” to “a very very very slow, but marginally realistic, human heart rate”. Again, passing for human on a date…
Just remember, caffeine is also a diuretic, and they may need to use the bathroom. And a male/bepenised vamp in the bathroom pissing blood into a urinal just tickles me pink.
Other thoughts: if vampires eat blood, and digest blood, then their poop will look very dark and tarry, and stink like the ending of worlds, and their puke will look like coffee grounds. Just a word to the wise.
Note to Scripty-Followers: @thebibliosphere‘s blog is SO VERY MUCH NSFW. I love her, but do not say I did not warn. Gods alone, so very NSFW…
I will have you know I only posted twice about sex related things yesterday. (Multiple reblogs of the same post don’t count, I was helping people with their vampire erotica problems, I should be sainted for my restraint)
and “caffeine isn’t so much a blood thinner”, my doctors lied to me, bitches gonna get stitches. Thank you for that about the heart rate and the body temp, I’ll be using that.
This isn’t all that random, I’ve had far more random questions than this!
^So much love for Brad that as miserable as he may have been WAS, this was perfect, capturing that kind of orgasmic quality while being fed on ❤
In the vampire chronicles mythos, are there any benefits/positive reinforcements for humans that are fed on?
Not sure what “benefits/positive reinforcements for humans that are fed on” means… but I do get the impression that it’s a deeply intimate act, that the vampire doing the feeding is doing their best to keep their victim calm and complacent, ecstasy is a pretty good state to shoot for and that would be beneficial? I mean, if the vampire’s intent is to finish off their victim then there’s no real benefit for the human, lol, but if not an intent to kill, ecstasy is a pretty positive reinforcement! There is some fanon that the vampire can make it a really painful and negative experience if they want to, with the speed that they draw the blood, etc.
I know the vampire itself experiences a sort of euphoria when feeding, but is this also true for the human?
I don’t have my books w/ me either, but I distinctly remember the ecstasy they describe experiencing when they’re being fed on as mortals. Daniel goes into a state of being almost addicted to the feeling (and to the drops of blood Armand gives him in measured amounts).
This is intensified when they’re being given the Dark Gift, the part when they’re almost completely drained. It’s an immersive sensory experience for both the vampire and the mortal.
There’s fanon that a mortal does experience certain physical enhancement in their senses from drinking vampire blood, but just being fed on would probably not enhance them, as Louis dragged his sorry butt back to Pointe du Lac after Lestat fed on him the first night. He seemed pretty bent out of shape.
I-want-my-IWTV 