#codenamecesare

Hello! Sorry for the delay on this. I used to really love taking asks for Lestat (and I still do!) and I tried, but I can't summon him to answer this topic with a palatable attitude, so you're stuck with me 😅

(FYI this response is for my VC opinions outside of the AMC show, I'm referring to the canon characters or '94 movie)

[^X my edit, not a screencap!]

@codenamecesare's fic the Secret History is one of my absolute faves, in which Lestat told several different stories about where he came from, so Louis in disgust wrote it all off as lies and didn't bother repeating any of it in IWTV! So I highly recommend you check that fic out 💖

Ultimately, I think Lestat loved them too much to lie to them, even for fun, as a "story." In TVL, Lestat says to Armand, "I never lie, at least not to those I don't love." He says it after telling Armand that Les Innocents is going to be destroyed, which I assume was the truth as he knew it. So Lestat claims he doesn't lie to ppl he doesn't love. And I think we can assume he didn't love Armand at that time!

Anyway... I think Lestat knows that telling even a small lie leads to chains of lies, and it would be hard to keep track of the "facts" of these stories... and Lestat might've felt like even in lying, he might accidentally let something slip he didn't want them to know. Even informing them that a vampire's hands can be cut off and reattached later is technically a "truth" that could endanger them by reference to Nicki, even if it didn't name the specific vampire. Another vampire sneaking around could pick it from their minds and use it against them somehow. Or maybe Claudia might try to try it for fun? The possibilities for harm are endless!

(Hit the jump for more, cut for length.)

Summary: Daniel is planning an addition to his model train set, Marius offers him encouragement, buying him some accessories for the addition. They have lived together for some four years, and little interaction has been had under the weight of their pasts. The weight presses in...

To: @superhiki​

From: @i-want-my-iwtv​

Relationship: Armand/Daniel Molloy Characters: Daniel Molloy, Marius de Romanus, (Armand is mentioned) Additional Tags: Angst, Blood, Mentions of Death, Aftermath of Violence, model train sets, Scrabble

This takes place after the events of Queen of the Damned, and in response to the below prompt from @superhiki for the @vcsecretgifts​ exchange of 2020 on tumblr.

Sorry for the late delivery, I had only intended for this to be 3-4 pages, and it overflowed! I really enjoyed writing this, Daniel's voice is sassy and fun, under all the angst, he's so lovable. If you enjoy reading this half as much as I enjoyed writing it, then it'll be a win.

Credit is also due to my collaborator Rebness (@wicked-felina​), and for my cheer squad @lestvt​, @codenamecesare​, and @sanguinivora​ (this last person, certainly not least, who gave me the draft for the opening paragraph and concept!).

@superhiki​'s prompt: "I’m always a fan of Armand, Daniel Molloy, Pandora, or Marius.  

Personally, I love “”“mad”“” Daniel when he is crashing (held captive?) at Grandpa Vampire Marius’ ridiculous home in whatever frosty part of the planet he’s at in Blood & Gold. Daniels’ obsession with model trains, jokes about model trains, and all dopey train paraphernalia is 10000% hilarious to me and will be enjoyed. Especially if Marius is involved and overtly annoyed by Daniel’s fascination. Extra Bonus Points if there is a Christmas Village (WITH A TRAIN) involved. That is the best piece of canon material Anne Rice ever wrote about a single vampire and is tragically under exploited in this fandom. I’m laughing just thinking about it. As a grown man who has spent his entire life bouncing between niche obsessions (much to the chagrin of my entire family) this is up and away a home run, hilarious/endearing bit I cherish about VC."

~~~

Daniel had decided to add a zoo.

The southwest corner, he'd build a set of raised tiers, then the various enclosures, allowing plenty of room for the N gauge model trains, of course. He’d have to strip out the grass and dig into the area that had been the swell of a mountain to do it, but major surgery on the understructure had never bothered him.  Daniel was a “Measure once, cut twice," kind of architect.

Marius had known about this decision without a word passed between them, and about a month ago, silently came into his room and handed him a lunch-sized paper bag of a few animals to start with, those that needed outdoor enclosures. Daniel immediately thought about snakes. He probably hadn’t gotten snakes. No sense in buying snakes for a herpetarium, there would be no windows to see in! Did hobby stores even make snakes? Or spiders? Spiders would be too small for even a model Z set, Daniel scoffed at the very idea.

@codenamecesare replied to your post “hello I just wanted to say that your art is awesome! you surely give...”

Yes! You've brought a lot of fun and beauty to my dash... thank you! Happy holidays

Notpocalypse, I've seen a lot

Yeah, that’s a good one. Thank you!

uncommonsockeater replied to your post “has anyone made or seen a compilation of the clever and perfect...”

not armageddon but i have seen 'apocanope'

48. Life would be way easier if I were easier. (Fact.)“Who said?” Yuuri mumbles after a while.“Hmm?” Victor barely cracks an eye open. Yuuri’s fingers have paused in Victor’s hair, and Victor selfishly wants them to start their slow path down his scalp again.

Yuuri sits up and back on the bed, his knees perfectly folded under him. “Who said you were high-maintenance?” It takes Victor a good minute to remember his own offhand comment, only ten minutes ago. He’d already forgotten about it. Yuuri’s not like that. He holds onto those little things. Lets them churn.

Victor doesn’t get to eye-level with Yuuri quite as gracefully. He has to climb, a little bit, out of the soft, cozy divot he’s made in the mattress. “Would be a shorter list of who hasn’t.” At Yuuri’s look, he says, “I’m fine with it. It’s not like it’s not true.”

maybe they want recs for good ongoing fics?

OH POSSIBLY

Wow okay, sorry for being self-absorbed, friends. SORRY I CAN DO THAT

Warning: I have been reading less lately, and have also been reading some other fandoms (BNHA *cough*)

Here’s a couple fics (most of which I did not actually manage to get to the end of, but which I have enjoyed thus far). PLEASE READ THEM. I won’t be mentioning popular fics I’m following that I think most people already know about. Please be sure to read the tags yourself, because while I mostly write painfully vanilla PG content, it’s not always what I read, mmkay. 

THIS ONE: Undiscovered Country. Do it for yourself and your future. I finally started this.

1. without fear, without metaphor:  Yuuri was never one to use more words than necessary. Underutilized it, even, his family and friends would remark. Still, there was a certain relief that came with easy communication. Then he started wanting to use words for more. He even ran his mouth quite a few times in the past months, much to his embarrassment. And he quietly admitted to himself that it came with the sudden barrage of Viktor Nikiforov into what he expected to be peaceful life and probable retirement in his hometown.

2. Not Cricket:  Victor had wanted to be the Japanese competitor's dance partner, and he could because he didn't have one. Victor had also wanted to be Katsuki Yuuri's coach, and he could because Katsuki didn't have one of those either.Now Victor wanted to be Yuuri's boyfriend- except Yuuri already seemed to have one of those.---Basically, Victor thinks Phichit is Yuuri's boyfriend and is ridiculously jealous.

3. blood is thicker than: “You might be Yuri’s biological parent, Mr. Nikiforov. But I’m his father. If Yuri wants to go with you, that’s one thing,” Yuuri Katsuki’s voice flows quiet and dangerous into the room “but if he doesn’t, don’t think that you’re taking my child away from home,”Or: Victor Nikiforov finds out he has a son. He wants full custody.Katsuki Yuuri isn't going to give up his child that easily.Or: Victor and Yuuri fight a custody battle for Yurio. Shit happens.Or: Yuri Plisetsky starts with one parent, and ends up with two.

4. before it burns me numb: “What do you mean, you had a crush on me?” Yuuri asks. “We’d never even met before the Grand Prix Final last year.” Following their engagement, Victor tells Yuuri the story of how he met, fell for, and pined after Japan's Ace. Not necessarily in that order. An Ep10 coda... with a twist.

If you think Viktor having had a crush on Yuuri for a long time would satisfy all your Viktuuri needs, you’d be right.

5. Sixty Impossible Things: Two weeks after his failure at Sochi, Yuuri receives a text from a mysterious number asking why the fuck he’s ignoring Viktor. So begins Yuri Plisetsky’s all out campaign to get Yuuri to fucking finally text Viktor and end his torment of watching Viktor pine, and so begins Yuuri's descent into a wonderland of texting his idol, meeting his #1 fan(s), and slowly rebuilding his life with a little help from his friends.

*swoony swoon* And some quality Yurio&Yuuri frandship

6. boy next door: “Hi, welcome to the Green Bean,” Yuuri says, in the way that’s become something of a joke between them. “What can I get for you today?”In which Viktor buys way too much coffee from the cute barista at the coffeeshop on the corner, and Yuuri has a terrible crush that Viktor never, ever needs to know about, and somehow it all works out in the end.

Cute A/B/O coffeeshop!

7. offer me (that Deathless Death): It was the curse he and his family were fated to: Death would come for him the moment he turned eighteen, and he could only hope the flimsy wards passed down through the generations would protect him. But Death always won eventually, Death would snatch him up as he had all of his ancestors.But somehow he wasn't what Yuuri had expected. He was a constant presence in his life, barely there. A vigilant spectator to his burgeoning skating career, a gray haired man with a soft expression who found him again and again, waiting for him to let his guard down, but becoming something more, over time."Don't be careless," his sister told him, but they were all careless, in the end.

THE SUMMARY IS LIKE A TRIP ALL BY ITSELF OKAY

8. Lullaby of Birdland: In another world, their story might have started with ‘Hi there’, or ‘Lovely sky tonight’, or ‘Hello, stranger’. Or perhaps something less cliché, something like: ‘A commemorative photo? Sure thing!’But in this one, it starts with an electric blue cocktail, the taste of smoke in the air. And: “You have really talented, um. Fingers.”

I literally only listen to the jazz music I do because of this fic

9. The Long Way Round:  In the wake of tragedy and facing change to come, Yuuri and Victor make the ten thousand kilometre journey from Saint Petersburg home to Hasetsu the old fashioned way- on the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Beijing.

I already knew this would be good because sixpences, but it’s so tragically beautiful

10. Nuclear Hearts Club: Being seventeen and chronically confused isn't always a walk in the park - especially when you've been crushing on your brother's best friend since you were nine. You'd be crazy not to. Victor's the best thing to happen to the world since sliced bread.(Join Yuuri Katsuki on this pine-fueled high school adventure full of teen angst and astronomical fuckery.)

Nothing makes me feel things and cry over prose like butterbeerbitch. I saw there’s a new one-shot too, check that one out!

11. Life Unwoven: Five-Time Consecutive Grand Prix Final Winner Katsuki Yuuri meets Five-Time Consecutive Grand Prix Final Winner Victor Nikiforov.or,In which things are tangled, and untangled, and tangled again. And Victor will always be there to save Yuuri.

*sigh*

12. Human by Choice: When the body of emerging indie director Emil Nekola washes up near the small Oregon town of Quad Axels, FBI Special Agent Yuuri Katsuki is called in to investigate. But as he uncovers more and more of the town's dark secrets, he realises that there are bigger forces at play than previously suspected.After all, still waters run deep, and when you are haunted by your past, you will see ghosts at every turn.

OH HECK YEAH

This is where I have to get into some of my “confidence is very complicated” spiel. Victor, as I’ve written him, absolutely has some degree of imposter syndrome and harbors insecurities about a number of things. I think it’s pretty much always the case that anyone who rises to a position on basically merit will see themselves differently than the outside world—you are always aware of how much Damned Work you put in to get there, and how much you have to put in to stay there. All anyone outside you sees is the perceived effortlessness of your performance.

This leads almost inevitably to a certain degree of imposter syndrome and insecurity.

The way I write Victor is colored by earlier experience. At one point in my life, I worked for someone who was by every possible metric, incredibly successful and powerful. She was literally the first woman who _____ (you could insert about fifteen different things here). Grown-ass men who were themselves incredibly powerful were afraid of her.

She was also incredibly confident. Like, undeniably confident. Anyone who has actually met her and talked to her would call her confident. (Because she was a woman, people who hadn’t met her painted her differently... but those who were in the know knew.)

The thing I discovered working for her was that she was as human as the rest of us. She fretted when she felt her performance was not where it needed to be, or if she thought she didn’t understand something that she should have understood as quickly as she had hoped she would. She was insecure about some...very surprising things.

Great people don’t stop being people just because they achieve greatness.

But here’s the thing—by the time I got to knew her, many decades into her long and incredible journey of ass-kicking, she had become secure in her insecurity. She knew that the things she had done to become great had worked, and so she wasn’t going to question the fact that she was questioning.

I honestly don’t think you get better than that.

By contrast, I have never met a person without self-doubt who was anything other than mediocre. 

The act of doubting yourself is, in a way, a supreme act of confidence. What can be more confident than telling yourself that you can do better? 

The act of protecting yourself from all possible doubts? Of insulating yourself from criticism and refusing to believe it applies to you? 

"They were all going to be blue, but just because those are my favorites doesn't mean they're yours." Victor adjusts a bowed bloom. "So I asked for two of every other color they had, too."

"Um. Why two?" It's really kind of an unreasonably large bouquet.

"I didn't want any of them to be lonely," says Victor.

looking for a rhythm like you by Cesare. 61804 words (WIP), rated T.