Armand could feel the extra energy as he came through the carriageway into the back garden. Not completely sure what it was, only that he could sense them moving in the flat, and there was something sweet and playful and innocent infused in it, thrumming beneath the presence itself. Lestat was home, he could feel that as well, and Louis. Their energies were different from each other, each palpable and distinct. Lestat felt bold and loud and vivid, Louis soft and sweet and comforting. Lestat was a popping champagne bottle, the splatter of paint on a Pollock canvas, a firework in the night sky. Louis was a gentle hand on your back, reassuring whisper in your ear, the slow and seductive pull of dawn.
Iâm here, he told them as he ascended the stairs. He wondered if he should let himself inside, or knock, but instead put his hands in his pockets and waited.
But then Lestatâs face was in the window, his eyes glittery and excited, skin darkened by the recent trip to the sun. The door opened on its own, Lestatâs doing, and it was instantly obvious that heâd chosen to use his mind because his hands were full.
Before he could speak, Lestat extended one arm out, in his hand a single German Shepherd puppy. Three others wiggled against his chest and he cooed in French at them. âHere,â he said, and thrust the one into Armandâs chest. Armand grabbed it instinctively, somewhat bewildered but immediately charmed by the warmth and purity radiating from the creature. âI named this one Armand.â
The spike of anger and reflexive venomous response that usually came out in these moments were quelled by the gentle life in his hands, and he looked away from Lestat to stare at it. It was kicking its legs and squirming but he gave it a little scratch behind its ear to calm it down. It stopped moving and looked at him, eyes so shiny and black, and responded by licking his face. Armand ducked his head so that Lestat wouldnât see his smile.
âCome inside, I want to close the door. Donât let them out,â Lestat said, and backed away to make space.
He saw Louis then, when he cleared the doorway, still snuggling his namesake to his chest. Sitting cross-legged on the velvet couch, Mojo curled up beside him, a solid black puppy in his hands. He was scratching its ears and smiling at it andâŠ
Strange ache in his chest, because heâd never seen that look on Louisâs face before.
âWhere did all these puppies come from?â he asked. Louis looked up at him as if waking from a trance, like heâd been too absorbed to even notice Armand had arrived.
âTurns out Mojo is a lady,â Lestat said. He plopped down on the floor in the center of the room and took turns giving each puppy pats on their heads. They climbed on his legs and chewed on his shirt.
He held his puppy away from his face to inspect it again. It tilted its head at him and whined, and⊠strange ache again as he realized how unusual it was, and how he was straining to remember last time heâd held an animal this close. At home, in Kiev. They could never keep pets in Venice. He felt cold all over for a moment before pulling it to his chest again, feeling its warm little body settling against him and hearing the fluttery little heartbeat.
âWhat are you going to do with them?â
Lestat shrugged and picked one up, rubbing his face against its chubby, furry belly.
âWhy donât you give one to Daniel? Maybe you can win him back.â
*hugs* Sorry this casting stuff is stressing you out, Anon. I feel ya, some of the POTPâs suggestions are really so out there I wonder how they read the same books I/we did. Some of their headcanons are also⊠laughable at best and downright offensive at worst, but Iâm not going there.
TL;DR: I donât think AR and CR are that easily influenced by the suggestions they ask for on FB. Theyâre probably trying to generate and maintain the hype so that as they make their rounds looking for a producer/showrunner/etc., they can point at the fanbase that wants it! I think they also like the attention and enthusiasm (who wouldnât??!).Â
As with her writing, AR will cater a VC adaptation to her own tastes primarily, but thankfully sheâs been very public about standing her ground re: making the current adaptation as faithful to canon as possible.Â
Anon: âI see [Lestat as] much less masculine than a lot of ppl want, I think a part of this is all the part on tumblr makes them all a lot more feminine and beautiful which I really like.â
IMO, this is more feminine: (gonna post a little bit of fanart here and if the original artists want it removed, Iâll remove it, just illustrating a point.)
^XÂ L/L by @claquesous, kind of androgynous to me, but one could say more feminine than masculine, too.
^XÂ L/L by @icestorming. Also what I would consider feminine.Â
And this is more masculine:
^XÂ Lestat by @jodeeeart, to me, this is more heavily masculine, but thereâs still some feminine elements.Â
Keep in mind that finding someone who looks like fanart is asking a lot; weâll have to give the actors a chance to prove that they can ACT like the characters, and hopefully their talent will overcome whatever physical limitations some of us are bound to disagree on (I probably have the WHAT DOES LOUISâ HAIR REALLY LOOK LIKE??!! Debate 1-2x/month, most recently w/ @wicked-felinaâ lol).
Anon: âAR is suggesting these big hairy guys and FB and I just think.. nooo.â
I havenât seen her suggesting âbig hairy guysâ⊠I know she liked Chris Hemsworth at one point or another, and heâs big, not really that hairy to me? But heâs bulked up as Thor right now. He seemed less built up in Ghostbusters, but you make a fair point. My headcanon of Lestat is not a huge mountain of dudebro, so to speak.Â
You should read @monstersinthecosmosâs post about the VC series bc itâs got some very good points about more than the casting aspect that are worth keeping in mind. I asked permission to post a few snippets here, my emphasis added in bold:
I think the posts on FB are mostly just to get everyone excited; Iâm sure theyâre taking the general temperature of everyone into consideration but LIKE THE IDEA THAT MAJOR CASTING DECISIONS ARE GOING TO BE MADE FROM FACEBOOK IS JUST REALLY NAIVE AND STUPID AND IMO NOT EVEN WORTH DISCUSSING BECAUSE ITâS COMPLETELY PREPOSTEROUS.
^See, this is why I donât go on ARâs or the OVCFB pages* that often bc it would take too much time for me to attempt to keep up with all the posts and comments, and tbh yeah, I think @monstersinthecosmos is right!
(*ppl submit links/screencaps of posts that seem to be newsworthy to me, which I really appreciate bc if itâs really something TRULY newsworthy and not just hype, I do share it here.)
BASICALLY the thing everyone needs to keep in mind is that for this to get greenlighted there has to be a viable expectation of profit.
^YES, theyâre trying to generate hype and excitement in the fandom bc thatâs a good thing to do when you want producers, etc., to get on board w/ your project (âLook, our audience is SCREAMING for this TV series, we have the audience READY!â) and also I think CR and AR like the attention (who wouldnât??!).Â
⊠this has to please and appeal to like MAINSTREAM REGULAR MORTALS who havenât read these books. It canât only be fanservice.Â
^EXACTLY.
Iâm kinda cautiously optimistic about all of this. Iâm obviously super paranoid that itâs gonna suck and I would hate for it to be on some shit network, and I would also hate if they had to change it SO much that the core themes of the story are unrecognizable, but Iâm also personally open to changes if itâs gonna make for a compelling show.
Cultural and personal tastes in beauty being one of them.
â Yup!
 The perception and definition that everyone has of beauty is a big factor. Like, recently AR posted a photo of Stephen Amell and said he would be a perfect Lestat, and thatâs almost how he looks in her mind. Many people commented he was too masculine & that Lestat was more androgynous, and, to my surprise, she said she sees Stephen as androgynous, because of the symmetry of his face and how he is overall too pretty.Â
I personally would have never consider Stephen as androgynous, & he looks nowhere near as I imagine Lestat, but I donât even find him attractive at allÂ
ÂŻ_(ă)_/ÂŻ
Another example. She said many times in the past that Matt Bomer looks exactly like how she sees Louis, while for me, the one who looks the closer as how I imagine Louis is Miles McMillan.Â
^Bomer
^McMillan
There is quite a big difference between them, but my âidealâ of beauty for men is more femenine/pretty/androgynous. So, it does depend a lot on what is beautiful for each person. Also, even if the actor looks nothing like the character,once he is playing the character, everything can change. Thatâs what happened with Tom Cruise đÂ
My goal with this blog has always been to share fanworks and positivity (and the #not VC stuff that slips in if I feel like it serves some relevant purpose) and to make people feel included, if possible.Â
Fandom is a nebulous thing, but being supportive of fanworks and ideas is a good way to be inclusive. Itâs made the whole experience so rich for me, and brought some wonderful ppl into my life, whether I talk to them regularly or just see their comments/tags, see their RP or ideas in my dash, etc  ^_____^
Yes, I remember your encouraging comments on the
collab I did w/ @wicked-felina (Rebness). Thank u for sticking with us throughout, your comments really kept us motivated and fast with the updates *hugs* Comments like yours made it so much more fun than if Rebness and I were writing just for each other, and we definitely want to collab again! â„â„â„
I-want-my-IWTV 