I just don’t understand. How come Lestat could kick Armand’s ass into the ground like that anyways back at Palais Royal that time? Sure, he caught him by surprise or wtv, so????? I mean, he was like what? Three hundred and something? Wasn’t Marius like 1500 years when he turned him and yeah okay, I get it Magnus was old but was he that old? And this blonde bitch Lestat was like twenty holy shit.
These are the questions that keep me up at night.
i’m still pissed over this and i’ll keep reblogging it untill someone gives me a reasonable explanation
I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Lestat is “fearless” and a lot of times in VC world the vampires need to embrace their strength to wield it. Armand would’ve had strength if he tapped into it, between the advantage of his age and from Marius’s blood, but he was living underground and not really using it and honing it. Marius explains that a lot in B&G, too, like he would talk about how he’d make these little discoveries and have to practice them and teach Mael and Avicus how to use them because they were like oblivious dumb dumbs and weren’t exercising their GIFTS. And it happens in QOTD, too, with Akasha teaching Lestat how to use the Cloud Gift and all that shit, and it has to do with having the balls to let go and let the Blood guide you and all that. I think a lot of vampires secretly acquire these things and they lay dormant until the vampire has the balls the try them on.
So Lestat, I think, hits the ground running and is willing to push himself, whereas Armand has been rigidly following these coven rules and repressing himself for centuries and doesn’t know how to vampire.
Hmm. Louis would probably believe criticism of his looks (I like the headcanon of various people, including @gairid) that he felt different and weird because of his androgynous beauty as a mortal. But he would protest that he doesn’t care about his looks
There was also a headcanon (@gairid‘s?) that his mother found his eye color strange and ruthlessly criticized him over that and other things about his appearance. Maybe that’s why Louis retreated into art and fiction for his aesthetic tastes, that the ideal of beauty captured by artists and writers was superior to what reality could offer, including his own appearance. The fact that he ran the family business and provided for his mother despite her attitude towards him taught him that actions, things you can change, have more weight than something you’re born with and cannot change, like your eye color.
I headcanon that Claudia playfully called him ugly on more than one occasion, and called him ugly on some not-so-playful occasions later on, too. Only someone he loved that much could wound him like she did about that subject.
Louis probably still has a lingering feeling from his mortal days about his looks, but if confronted about it, would probably roll his eyes and change the subject.
Hm, I mean, I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, I can see where you’re coming from… sometimes I’ll start reading a fic from a new writer and feel like they might not have read very much canon, or they’ve only seen the movie(s), so they don’t really have a take on the characters that meshes well enough with mine, so it makes it a little hard for me to suspend disbelief, but other times, I’m really impressed with their ideas! It’s pretty subjective but I like to be surprised *u*
For specifics, it depends what you’re looking for, which characters, pairings, time period, longfic/one-shots/drabbles, angst, fluff. So many!
I have a huge list of faves. HUGE. But the thing about VC fanfic is that we still have to be sort of careful about sharing it bc of reasons (under the cut).
Also, the danger of recommending any fic runs the same risk of doing those Follow Forever posts, which I don’t do, because I’ve seen ppl who were left out feel hurt and excluded. I like fluff and angst, and I ship L/L so most of my faves are L/L specific, and I also really love one-shots from the IWTV-era and TVL-era, and other “missing scenes” from canon books 3-5 and #current vampire happenings which could take place anywhere from 1986 to now. There are alot of good fics that don’t fall into those rubrics, which are very subjective, so ppl are free to reblog/comment with other stuff.
One of my most fave VC fanfics is an L/L-specific one, it’s incomplete but I recommend it whenever I have the opportunity: Gulfport: A British Petroleum Fanfic (Part One) by hw_campbell_jnr– There are 2 parts and, again, it’s incomplete, but this is devastatingly beautiful long!fic. Hipster modern Lestat and Louis, Lestat going by a pseudonym, politics woven in, it’s just too good. It annoys me how good it is. I am annoyed. I would be less annoyed if it were COMPLETED.
Since I’m on the GULFPORT (in caps bc I am just that passionate about it) subject I’ll elaborate a little. Not a lot happens plot-wise, but this is the kind of angst and fluff I really love. It offers an insight into their characters that hits me just right, I haven’t seen anything quite like it. It plays forwards and backwards in the established timeline, Lestat makes these strong statements and then immediately backtracks and scratches them out, harshly, it’s more of a train of thought sometimes than a narrative, it sprinkles in some headcanons, a peek into L/L email exchanges, and a little of Lestat’s recovery from his coma which just… really hurt my heart, in such a good way. It basically killed my muse for any creative fanworks for months after I first read it, bc I felt like, Why bother, if this exists? BC we always need more fanworks, we’re insatiable, fanworks are the lifeblood of a fandom, and even the person who wrote GULFPORT enjoys other’s fresh fanworks 😉
ANYWAY. We all know that there is fic in secret places and I don’t broadcast those places on my blog, in case certain ppl change their mind about their stance on it. However! Archive of Our Own (aka AO3) has a mission statement about protecting fanworks from copyright infringement arguments, so I feel pretty safe recc’ing stuff that’s on there (in no special order):
Retail Therapy by Rebness (@wicked-felina) – what I love about this, among other things, is that it really is retail therapy for Lestat without that needing to be explained, and has a sweet ending ❤
The Hostile Takeover by StellaMachiavelli (@stellamachiavelliici) – is a legendary fic. “Lestat de Lioncourt is a high-flying businessman out for revenge on ruthless boss Santino, with the help of his best friend David Talbot. There’s just one complication: on Santino’s side is Lestat’s ex, Louis de Pointe du Lac.”
Childhood memory– a harsh lesson is learned (not the official title) @devilsfool – not L/L but I always have to rec it, a response to an Ask, a first kiss, child!Lestat.
In short, Anne Rice had waged war on VC fanfic in the mid-90s, sic’ing her lawyers on many fanfic writers, eventually breaking apart fanfic sites (“speculative fiction” or “spec” archives/communities) and driving many of these writers to stop writing altogether or do so in a more underground way ;A;
Currently, she’s had conflicting stances on fanfic, but hasn’t made outright war at nearly that level. I try not to tag her in discussions of it, basically, I don’t try to provoke her by making our caches of VC fanfic known. Especially on Facebook, where she’s very active and might see it. She posted this on her FB in 2014 (I think):
That sounds very #Lestatuesque, share a picture with us if you have any! He does love gold and sequins and over the top patterns and !SPRAKLES! (which, really, is a much better way to spell “sparkles,” n’est pas?).
I-want-my-IWTV 