I usually order americanos, because I like the strong scent of coffee. I canât taste it ever again but the aroma is enough to bring back memories. Armand will order anything in a hot cup, so people canât see how much he hasnât drunk while we sit there for hours playing card games or watching people walk by. Sometimes he orders their weirder concoctions just to poke at them and see what they look and smell like. Last time we were there, he ordered peppermint mochca.Â
He also insists on doing the ordering after the time I told them his name was Lestat and a goth guy said, âLittle short for the vampire Lestat, arenât you?â I think he was flirting but Armand nearly threw the coffee in his face.Â
Did that scene ever happen? Was that another one of Armandâs lies? It doesnât matter. I wanted to explore the classical motive of David with Goliathâs head, here inevitably twisted, losing its victorious aspect, leaving only the figure of a young boy, holding a severed head.Â
I hope to God that this story was just something that Armand made up; somehow trying to intimidate the others, displaying the cruelty he could be capable of. This whole section though had me enthralled, the middle section of TVA was some of Riceâs best writing in my opinion, and the image of thisâthe Botticelli cherub, dressed in dusty and outdated but once opulent 18th century clothing, beneath the Paris streets, the stench of rot, old graves, and the filth of the city permeating through the earth, in a dark room lit by greasy tapers of tallow candles, hacking apart the body of this thing, this abomination as he sees her, this obstacle to his newest fascination, that of Louis, and he will demolish her, just as the hands were removed from the violinist in a mad attempt to reach Lestat again, this devil with an angelâs face capable of Luciferâs crueltyâits a world of obscenity for its beauty, sublime in its composition of a clash of ideals, and shows like two unlikely titans of evil within the series as the most innocent in the face.
As always, perfectly captured by the wonderful @sheepskeleton
âI tried to grant her fondest wish, that she should have the body of a woman, a fit shape for the tragic dimension of her soul.
Send me đ and a year and I will give you a glimpse at what my characterâs life was like at that point in time.
1986. You were new in the blood and full of wonder, spinning in circles as you saw each corner of the cities that we had chased each other around afresh. And more, increasingly more each night I found myself daring to be happy, letting you open me to each experience. It didnât really matter if we lost our way on the paths we blazed through cities; it just meant more to discover with you. The nights were ours and we were equals in them at last, the sensation of your teeth breaking my skin juxtaposed with neon lights and endless possibility.
And of course, there was always the Night Island to return to; always the crash of the surf to stand in, the beach to wander at will together in intense conversation, and the gleaming white fortress of our own Villa of the Mysteries. It was idyllic. It was everything either of us had ever hoped for, everything I had denied myself and everything that I now gave myself over to.
I will never regret that time, regardless of where the future leaves us.
I donât recall any specific fic where Marius was controlling or abusive though once TVA came out people began to think of him in less of a positive light partly because of  Armandâs specific reveals about him and also because he went against his own advice regarding making a vampire of a child (Armand was 17 which was perhaps why he admonished Lestat against such an action, but then how to explain Benji? Benji was made strong, to be sure, because, well, Mariusâbut he was still very young and Sybele was more than a little addled, so turning her was risky. It was around that time where people began writing more fic examining his darker side.
^Yes definitely, agreed with all of the above.
Re: Benji and Sybelle, yeah, that was truly… there has to be a better word for GIANT HYPOCRITE.
Itâs not explicitly stated in canon (from my quick skim of TVA), so I donât know if this is just my headcanon, but in general, having human âpetsâ (or whatever you want to call humans that are aware their loved one is a vampire and still continue to live or hang out w/ them regardless) is a huge liability for a vampire.Â
TVA spoiler ahead altho its already been spoiled to some extent? but whatever Iâm still tryna be respectful:
Marius might have turned them so that they wouldnât be vulnerable to attacks, in addition to the reasons he gave Armand for turning them.
I have never seen a post or heard smne mention anything like this⌠that would damn or save my soul, and as far as I know, after 20+ yrs in our fandom, I am one of the – oldest – living – members of it on tumblr! <â d’ya see what I did there? bwah so damagedâŚ
So Iâll answer by opening it up to the group, has anyone heard of this? Could be legit.
[meme by @vampchronfic, this was the most appropriate pic I could think to add]
Oh and thanks for the lovely wishes from the future! If the end of â15 is any indication, Sweet â16 is looking like itâs gonna start out a fine year indeeeed.
When I read this it kind of ringed a bell, but I guess the bell must have been underwater because I found quite the opposite in The Vampire Companion
For the âmeant to be an unlikable villainâ I only found that he was supposed to be evil enough for Akashaâs dreams but really wasnât lol
And from the way she is âdisappointed that people liked himâ, I actually found quite the contraryâŚÂ
Went back to the facebook archives to find out if maybe Anne had said something more akin to what you mentioned, but I couldnât find anything there, or in the several written interviews I found in the bowels of the internet.
Hope this helpsâŚ? And yes, I kinda am defending my stale cinnamon roll. Oh, and Happy New Year, Anon & @i-want-my-iwtv đ
Thanks again @luthi69 for digging up this info! omg I get to use this ancient thing…
I am a bad fangirl, I own a copy of the Vampire Companion and have not memorized it with the detail I have absorbed canon… another item I’d like to do this year. Can you guys imagine what AR had in mind for Armand in QotD (does anyone else here not like AR’s abbreviations for the books?) if she wanted him to play a central factor in the plot?
I think it also says something about the power of Daniel. What AR was doing with Armand/Daniel overrode whatever her initial plans for Armand were, his feelings for Daniel basically outshone whatever evil AR was gonna have him do! And that makes their ship that much more powerful and precious in that story, don’t you think?
Itâs Armand and itâs actually canonand one of my favorite parts to visualize in QotDÂ (although itâs 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
Itâs update time! You were right
@i-want-my-iwtvâ 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 â¤
I-want-my-IWTV 