Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Smut, Mild Smut Characters: Lestat, Louis, Armand, Daniel Words: 3835 Summary:Drawing near to the holiday season, Lestat, Louis, Daniel, and Armand go to a closed big box store to play with the goods. Goods get played with, in more ways than one.
Notes: This is a belated fic gift* to @thelionscrimsonclaws who had requested “A drabble… involving something rather intimate for the holidays between myself and another soul I am close to, perhaps?”Go by the “time stamps” in parenthesis for the order, the first one is the only one that occurs out of chronological order ;]Also, fair warning, Armand is /extra/ bully-ish here. Huge thank you to @wicked-felina(aka @Rebness) for touchups and beta-reading throughout the process; and @gairid (aka @vampchronfic)for writing some of the ending for me when I got stuck, could not have done this piece without you two!
*From the 2015 exchange! To be fair, I offered to substitute in for their assigned Santa, who flaked. And then I wasn’t inspired until now. Sorry for the delay… *cries*
*hugs* Sorry this casting stuff is stressing you out, Anon. I feel ya, some of the POTP’s 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 I’m not going there.
TL;DR: I don’t think AR and CR are that easily influenced by the suggestions they ask for on FB. They’re 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 wouldn’t??!).
As with her writing, AR will cater a VC adaptation to her own tastes primarily, but thankfully she’s been very public about standing her ground re: making the current adaptation as faithful to canon as possible.
Anon: “I 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.”
IMO, this is more feminine: (gonna post a little bit of fanart here and if the original artists want it removed, I’ll remove it, just illustrating a point.)
^X L/L by @claquesous, kind of androgynous to me, but one could say more feminine than masculine, too.
^X L/L by @icestorming. Also what I would consider feminine.
And this is more masculine:
^X Lestat by @jodeeeart, to me, this is more heavily masculine, but there’s still some feminine elements.
Keep in mind that finding someone who looks like fanart is asking a lot; we’ll 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 LOUIS’ HAIR REALLY LOOK LIKE??!! Debate 1-2x/month, most recently w/ @wicked-felina lol).
Anon: “AR is suggesting these big hairy guys and FB and I just think.. nooo.”
I haven’t seen her suggesting “big hairy guys”… I know she liked Chris Hemsworth at one point or another, and he’s big, not really that hairy to me? But he’s 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.
You should read @monstersinthecosmos‘s post about the VC series bc it’s 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; I’m sure they’re 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 IT’S COMPLETELY PREPOSTEROUS.
^See, this is why I don’t go on AR’s 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 it’s really something TRULY newsworthyand 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, they’re trying to generate hype and excitement in the fandom bc that’s a good thing to do when you want producers, etc., to get on board w/ your project (”Look, our audience is SCREAMING for this TV series, we have the audience READY!”) and also I think CR and AR like the attention (who wouldn’t??!).
… this has to please and appeal to like MAINSTREAM REGULAR MORTALS who haven’t read these books. It can’t only be fanservice.
^EXACTLY.
I’m kinda cautiously optimistic about all of this. I’m obviously super paranoid that it’s 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 I’m also personally open to changes if it’s gonna make for a compelling show.
^AGREED.
Hit the jump for more, cut for length.
But to return to the casting thing briefly, there are ppl suggesting Brad and Tom currently when that is TOTALLY ridiculous, HELLO? they are both 50+ yrs old, not gonna happen but I would take them in cameo roles, or have Tom as the Marquis de Lioncourt *begging the universe*
Anon: “Also, is she really catering her audience to fb? Does she know the amount of young ppl that read vc?”
We are getting an influx of new VC fans from the recent books, and some of them are young ppl, and some of them find her FB page, so idk that you can divide those groups; (a) young ppl and (b) her POTP, bc there is probably some overlap. I personally couldn’t make a blanket statement like “All the POTP want X; and all the young ppl want Y” bc of that overlap and that there are plenty of other factors at play. Cultural and personal tastes in beauty being one of them.
I feel ya! We need more Lestat/Armand fanfic and fanart! #FANFIC REQUEST #FANART REQUEST. With and without lots of sex(ual tension) and all amounts of angst and fluff <333 and yes, @monstersinthecosmos is one of my fave fanfic writers, too.
BTW, I have one short Lestat/Armand fic on AO3… *scoots this link in…* since you’re thirsty for A/L…
A Brief Reprieve–After the events of Prince Lestat, Lestat reflects on certain aspects of his new spirit animal, snuggled up lovingly with Armand by a fire in winter. Slightly AU in that they are snuggled up together lovingly by a fire in winter!
[^Here’s a fanart of A/L for you, source unknown, even reverse-image searched. Tell me the source if you know it!]
Anon, hey, if you’re in creative writing class, then you’re learning, you’re starting out *u* You could be a writer of 10/10 A/L ff yourself someday. The laziness you feel might be more of a fear of failure; I recognize that’s what laziness is for me when I have a mountain of fanworks I intend to do and I’d just rather… y’know… rewatch an episode of the Walking Dead.
ANYWAY Lestat and Armand have referred to eachother in canon as being brothers of a sort, so I tag them #murder brothers, if you want more Lestat/Armand action in my blargh.
Writing can suck at any time: whether you’re just starting out or even when you’re a published author, but there can also be good stuff nestled in among the suck, and like I was often told about drawing, you have to get a ton of bad drawings out before you can get to the good ones. With writing, it’s plot bunnies you want, and good turns of phrase, good dialogue… Then you have to nurture your plot bunnies, and encourage them to multiply by spending time and effort feeding them or talking about them with others. It’s also like exercise, at least for me. It’s a habit/muscle that needs training and attention. It’s been enormously helpful for me to have @wicked-felina as a collaborator, bc we do push eachother to be productive ❤ Your class is probably doing that!
I personally feel like everyone can write, whether you write superficial or deep topics or anything in between, it’s all wanted in fandom. We just had a post going around about VC characters playing Dungeons & Dragons(an anon asked @monstersinthecosmos about that and others jumped in, so yes, that’s pretty superficial, but it’s still something the fandom wants to speculate about! Who knows, a fanfic about that could lead to the exploration of deeper issues.
More on writing under the cut, cut for length.
For me, writing is about 1 or more of these basic setups, sometimes combined and interwoven:
^Now there are alot more things going on than that in that book, lots of interwoven issues that are and are not affected by this main plot.
With writing, at least for me, I like to ask What would Louis/Lestat/etc. think about X situation, place, etc.? Even something as superficial as dessert. Would Armand be jealous that he didn’t get to try some of the really fancy desserts that we have these days like water cake? Would he buy them and prod at them anyway? Would he read food reviews just to try to experience this stuff or not care at all? And so much the better if it DOES lead to something at least a little deeper like Yes, that’s why he made mortal!Daniel try everything on a menu and describe it in detail, he was living vicariously through Daniel. Writing can let you explore superficial and deeper topics.
As far as the smut, I feel you on that, I haven’t written much in that category either. I’ve read some amazing smut so my bar for that is set very high (and I have alot of pet peeves about the writing of it), but someday I’ll conquer that, too. The thing with smut is, is there a point? Is it PWP (”porn w/o plot” or “plot, what plot?”)? Or is it the consensual culmination of a slow burn of like 10k words? Is it a power struggle (Like with that kind of sexual scene between Lestat and Armand in TVL when Armand bites Lestat w/o asking first)? Is it the story of someone’s first time and the awkwardness that might surround that? So smut can be considered a topic like any other, and can be explored like any other.
Anon, don’t be so hard on yourself, start slow, dip your toe in, look at fic you love and try to figure out what makes it so good for you! Don’t be afraid to fail.
The start of our new (and small, we plan on doing 8 at most) series of lost chapters for our Signature Blend collab 😉 by yours truly and @wicked-felina (Rebness).
The start of our new (and small, we plan on doing 8 at most) series of lost chapters for our Signature Blend collab 😉 by yours truly and @wicked-felina (Rebness).
Awww, @wicked-felina and I are happy to have done that to you! Thank you for the compliments ❤ yes, Nicki/Lestat were SO cute and lovely (Anon refers to the Poor and the Dead)
(Armand wasn’t in that fic, so I’m not sure in what context you’re referring to him. I did have him being quite a little bitch in my other recent fic that I did w/ @vampchronfic, Hunting in a Walmart, and yes, I think his beauty helps him get away w/ a lot of questionable behavior!)
Idk what would have happened if Nicki hadn’t “gone insane,” but also if Lestat hadn’t been kidnapped that night ;A; Nicki always seemed to have that darkness in him. Would Lestat have been medication enough to keep Nicki… I hesitate to use the word “sane” here, or “happy,” but would Lestat have been enough to make life seem worth living for Nicki?
There is some fanon that Nicki suffered from mental illness, and idk if Lestat was really equipped to handle the role of being a support and caregiver to someone who might have needed alot more than that *cries forever for Nicki*
I-want-my-IWTV 