I really want to try Lestat! I don’t have a wig (well…I do have a white-blonde Viserys wig, but it’s not the yellow blonde I’d need…), but it’s on my makeup test list!
Not sure if you saw it on my Instagram but I did transform my buddy @aegiskitty into Lestat for a fun thing we’re working on and oh, my LAWD, she killed it.
You sweet thing, thank u! Since I’m sort of clawing my way back up to the real world from being sick, this was especially good timing ❤
*~5 things that make me happy~*… in no special order…
1. Retail therapy – not necessarily buying anything, sometimes just the hunt is plenty. But of course, if you find that one amazing jacket/dress/top, you gotta buy it, bc when you’re looking for an amazing jacket/dress/top for a specific event, suddenly no one makes good things anymore!!!
2. 80s and 90s music – mostly the hits, one-hit wonders, and also other songs by artists from that time period that didn’t get as much radio play. I think I love it bc it reminds me of when I was riding the bus to/from school, the idea of being in that liminal space, no seatbelts, dappled sunlight, kids chattering around, the smell of the sunshine cooking the green faux-leather seats, being in transit, clutching a book in my hands, and these songs being so optimistic, even when they were angry (Nine Inch Nails) and/or miserable (Smashing Pumpkins). There was always a sparkle of hope that things could be learned from the darkness. Or maybe that was just my own interpretation.
Among which: I love Duncan Sheik, apparently? Good writing music. I had a friend who was obsessed with his music in high school and kept looking for secret messages in the first letters of the track names, and kept trying to get me to listen to his non-hit stuff, and I just… I think I was refusing to do it, just to keep the game of it up with her. That push-pull. I have to reach out to her and admit that I might be as big a fan now as she was then!
3. My oil lamp – I used to buy candles and that gets so expensive and messy, and it’s wasteful, bc I end up unable to burn through all the wax (unless it’s tealights but those burn so fast), and I hate putting so much trash in the landfills. This is much more efficient bc I can have that friendly little flame and the clear kerosene isn’t too expensive. I like the historical feeling of it, and that ppl had to clean the glass just like I’m doing. I like the smell of the kerosene but some ppl don’t like it.
4. Comfy shoes – I used to have giant pumpkin-shaped slippers and I wore them to their destruction… I wear slippers around the house. I have 3 pairs of slippers now! Not slippers but: my fave black leather boots are comfy, too, and they make me feel like a BAMF. I’ll have to take pics. They fit my calf muscles perfectly, like a hug. Which is special bc my calf muscles are pretty big.
5. Short film viewings/art gallery crawls – I like going to gatherings and meeting new ppl, watch short films, see a bunch of art for a few hours. The variety of it all. I like picking out faves, and meeting the artists and asking them about their process and inspiration.
^I think this last one also applies to my role in fandom, I really love encouraging fanartists and writers, even in other fandoms. I’m not rich by any means, but I scrape together money for commissions now and then. Fanworks are the lifeblood of a fandom and I like to add my applause to the mix. Sometimes I feel like the one in the audience who starts the applause, and that’s fine, too!
It’s Armand and it’s actually canonand one of my favorite parts to visualize in QotD(although it’s honky-tonk not ragtime, but their styles are related) I mean, just imagine Daniel waking up to that, looking completely DONE.
Queen of the Damned, page 88
It’s update time! You were right
@i-want-my-iwtv in your assumption that Lestat would love it.
Now go ahead and imagine them dancing to these tunes.
#IT GOT BETTER
Thanks for the update, @luthi69! If anyone is in a bad mood, just TRY and keep that mood with this bouncy happy music on, JUST TRY.
And now I AM imagining Lestat, Daniel, and Armand paying a jazz band to play this all night at a club in NOLA, dancing to it w/ people and having such a good time ❤
OKAY SO I found this WAY back in my likes and I know this thing about Armand and music has come up recently, and I guess here’s the answer? I didn’t even know Anne had said this on fb until I saw people talking about it on tumblr… @i-want-my-iwtv, tagging you in this just in case 🙂
Turns out that Anne, as usual, is misremembering her own writing – she never said he couldn’t tell them apart, just that he doesn’t have a preference. (I still think her weird headcanon that they all love honky-tonk piano is hilarious and messed-up but that’s just MY opinion lmao)
well, i believe every artist out there has struggled (and still struggles) with the same issues as you, lovely person, so don’t worry that much about it. imo i think an art style is developed rather than ‘found’ if you know what i mean.
i can understand why people want to find the thing that’s theirs and all, but that shouldn’t be the main reason for drawing. an art style is something people grow after they finally enjoy what they’re doing and only after they know art is something that makes them feel things.
an art style is like a kid, right? like, your own child— your personal creation.
ooc. Well, headcanons may vary of course, but the way I read the character and the relationship he had with Armand… Yes, Santino loved him. And I will even say that he loved him very deeply. The love was likely not a very considerate kind but it was real.
I hinge this a) on Santino actively assuring Marius that he did love Armand (in TVA) and b) Santino’s exhibiting very fatherly and sympathetic behavior towards Armand.
Santino is depicted as a very honest and very caring character. His honesty is attested by Marius (B&G) and Santino himself claims to hate evil and to suffer from the way he has to live in the cult. Further: He actually cries when he visits Armand in his cell because the torture was so cruel and he couldn’t stand it (TVA). He is evidently very taken with Armand and compliments him even when there is nothing to gain from it. (also TVA) Because of all of this I say he loved him like a son, or else a protégé.
What he feels for him nowadays is more difficult, I think.
OOC: I totally hear what you’re saying but Santino’s fucked up cruelty in the past done unto Marius, Palazzo Boys and Armand were so horrific, I just have a hard time picturing how you describe him. How can I improve my perspective of Santino?
ooc. I genuinely can’t help you there. If you don’t want to view him in a sympathetic light then nothing I say will change that. Mind you, I started out hating him, too. It took me a while to warm up to him. (cut for length)
This is really good !! I’m always a slut for nuanced understandings of complex characters 😍
^YES! I really enjoyed this response from @desanctii.
Perspective and context can allow us to view a character in a sympathetic light, but if you don’t want to do so, that’s fine, too. Both approaches are equal, we all have our own interpretations of canon.
I’m the way I always was about every new VC book: cautiously optimistic, there may be some great stuff in it, if not, it’s still going to be a Wild Ride as per usual!
Yes, you’re right, the descriptions are a little different, and idk who has control over that. I’m guessing it’s not the author *shrugs*
The U.S. description was more about Lestat still wrangling all the vampires into some kind of monarchy/democracy government and then:
… against his will, he must battle the menacing, seemingly unstoppable force determined to thwart his vision and destroy the entire vampire netherworld.
What now with this ‘unstoppable force’? I thought we already extracted Amel, he was specifically the ‘force’ pestering everybody and tryna start shit!
…and tells the riveting story of the formation of the Blood Communion and how he became Prince of the vampire world, the true ruler of this vast force,
What is ‘the Blood Communion’ is this going to be a blood orgy oh gawds… are all the vampires a ‘vast force’ now, or is he getting YET ANOTHER super power? Weather control and/or lightning, like Thor now?? *ragged sigh*
…and then of his fierce battle of wits and words with the mysterious Rhoshamandes…
Rhoshamandes, a force who refuses to live in harmony at the Court of Prince Lestat and threatens all that Lestat has dreamt of.
Ok, yes, a vampire civil war good BRING IT ON. Hopefully he gets some allies to even it up and make it a fair fight.
….As the tale unfolds, Lestat takes us from blah blah blah France to
blah blah blah
Louisiana
blah blah blah; from
blah blah
the Pacific’s untouched islands to the 18th-century city of St. Petersburg and the court of the Empress Catherine …”
^I’m guessing this last bit re: Empress Catherine will be us sitting down to hear more of Rhoshamandes’ story, we’ll see.
From blah blah blah France, Prince Lestat is grappling to instil a new ideology of peace and harmony among the blood-drinking community.
So no blood orgy mentioned ok, but…
Accustomed to welcoming all of the Undead – from far and wide – into his court, one night he awakes to news of a ruthless attack by a group of maverick blood-drinkers.
^THERE’S A GROUP OF THEM who attack. What would it take to attack a compound designed by vampires to be the safest place for them and teeming with vampires capable of telepathic gifts, a species that is always out for its own protection?
After fleeing to investigate the terror, Lestat learns of several new enemies who despise his rule over the blood-drinking realm, and who are intent on disrupting the harmony he tries so hard to maintain.
GOOD I’m glad the attackers have a group, it’s not just Everybody-Hates-Rhoshamandes on his own, that’d be kind of unfair.
One enemy in particular, the infamous Rhoshamandes, is notoriously powerful. But is Lestat strong enough to take on such evil alone or will sacrifices have to be made?
^SACRIFICES – makes me think a few of the old crew have been taken prisoner or have switched sides? IDK.
Then again, I do think there are enough new characters added in PL/ROA to be used specifically as canon fodder.
Will his cry for peace be heard in a world riddled with violence?
No. Honestly this is a pile of serial killers, murder is what they DO. And then, some ppl just want to watch the world burn, even if peace is offered and on the table.
An enthralling, sweeping adventure, full of drama and suspense, Blood Communion will have readers gripped to the very end. It is not just a compelling tale of a troubled leader, but a novel about the power of ambition, as well as a timely reflection on the struggle of individuals to find and defend their place in the world.
I think it is definitely timely, he is a troubled leader, and I think it’s got the potential to be very good the way Queen of the Damned was good.
“Just so, one loop over the other, then under and through…” he said, the laces of Claudia’s shoes forming into a bow under his nimble fingers. “And pull tight, ma chérie. Simple as that.” Without a moment’s hesitation, her little fingers tugged the laces back open and tried now, for the very first time, to tie them on her own.
They sat on the carpet, her body curled forward in concentration, whispering the directions again to herself as he smiled down above her. He reached out and tucked a stray golden curl behind her ear and she spared him not one bit of attention.
In the warm light of the lamps, I watched them from across the room. We had been together now for some four years, Lestat and I. In that time, I had rarely seen this expression on his face. When he seduced his victims it was with rapt attention, his tongue flicking at his fangs imperceptibly to them, so vulgar to me. He would slink towards me catlike after killing and it was similarly intoxicating. I would let him take what he wanted, and there was lust for him, his wandering hands and whispered praise, but was that love? It left me satisfied, guilty, confused.
This was new, he was patient with the child, embraced her not to consume but with compassion. Their laughter lent a sparkle to the space I had shared with him alone. Together they brought things out of me I assumed I did not have.
“I did it!” said Claudia, her face upturned to him brightly. “Bravo!” he applauded with polite clapping as if at an opera. She shifted position, undid her bow and busied herself with tying it again.
It was in that moment that he glanced at me, his smile still tender and gentle, I felt my heart trip and stop for an instant. He waved me over and I came, entranced. He gestured for my foot. “Oh no, it looks as if,” in one fluid motion he hooked a finger in and opened my shoelaces. “Papa Noir’s laces need tying, whatever shall we-”
“Me,” said Claudia, starting already for the laces. “I’ll fix them for you.” I felt Lestat’s hand on my ankle, his nail lightly stroking my skin, then move up, squeezing my calf as we watched her together. That was the moment I fell in love with him.
A bitter sweet smile found her lips as she glanced out the window, imagining the sun light. “I don’t really remember a lot of when I was human….sometimes a have dreams about it though…like old memories…laughing in the sun, playing hop scotch, and skipping rocks into the swamps. Eating icecream, brownies, I loved sweets….I think I did….going to the French quarter and shopping during the day was so different than at night….crêpes were my favorite.” Resting her head on her hand she sighed. “I use to have dreams of picking flowers in the sun…fading memories….playing with my dolls in the grass…rolling down hills…I miss it all and I wish I could have experienced it with them…Lestat and Louis..”
I-want-my-IWTV 