the hedgehog can never be buggered at all

It has done me irreparable damage not sleeping well for the first 20 years of my life. It IS worth figuring out if there is a deeper underlying issue if you feel like you are not sleeping well. Even knowing if there is something wrong medically or not is a great stepping stone to either managing symptoms if you are going without treatment or figuring out what next might be causing poor sleep.

I sleep SO MUCH BETTER NOW. I wake up and FEEL like I have slept that sleep. I started dreaming, something that I could count on one hand over 20 years before getting treatment. My bones, muscles, and joints hurt less, my eating habits leveled out, I am more emotionally stable and able to focus.

Everyone harps that sleep is important, and logically you probably know that

*takes you gently by the shoulders*

She had shut her mind off to me for some time then. And so I was left to revisit old haunts, desperate for connection. "Claudia, come home. I know I hurt you. I know I can make it right again."

It's not her. It's not anything like her.

Our Vampire Lestat episode 5 recap is live! 🩸✨ @hellotailor writes about Lestat's memories of Akasha, the continuation of Louis's tangled mess with Regina, and additional fuel for the Devil's Minion fire.

Of the latter, she writes:

For this relationship to work out, Daniel has to accept Armand as he is, and I think we see hints of that already. His initial reaction to Armand’s confession was defensiveness and disgust, demanding that Armand “prove it.” But once Armand really gets into the thick of his monologue, he brings Daniel to the brink of tears. Eric Bogosian plays this as if he’s physically trying to shake off the intimacy of their shared memories, as Armand talks about watching Daniel weep after his estranged daughter’s graduation. Armand claims that his feelings for Daniel outweigh his decades-long partnership with Louis, because neither half of that marriage could have the man they wanted. He only kept Daniel at arm’s length because he was mortal, but now that they’re both vampires, they might finally come together as two lonely halves of a maker/fledgling bond.

Hard to believe we're nearing the end of the season already! This episode has so many interesting elements—Akasha, of course, and the way you can start to see Louis and Lestat's storylines coming together outside of, like, divorce-baiting shenanigans (love those too ofc).