[There's no reply and Armand doesn't take the reply seriously. If you allow yourself to be hurt by his words then you really can't stay around Lestat for long.
To most, it would seem as if Armand teleported there but to Lestat the speedy arrival is nothing out of the ordinary. But what is out of the ordinary is how Armand grabs onto Lestat, burying his face into the other vampire's chest. He holds onto him desperately, fingers clutching into the fabric of his shirt.]
I had to see you awake. I had to see you as yourself.
[He's currently in a chair with his shirt open too. Clearly just relaxing at home. The fact that he looks like the cover of a romance novel happens to be intentional but that's another matter entirely.]
[If there wasn't something so pressing happening to him right now then Armand would definitely be commenting on how Lestat decided to try to be sexy when his lover was so clearly distraught. Of all times, Lestat?
But instead Armand only continues to cling.] Like you were from a different time, I am as well now. 1996 now, to be exact. I don't know why or how but I'll ponder it later. But you, you damned fool, did not listen to me nor did you listen to David. I know I will be angry later but right now I don't care. I only demand you listen to me. [There's kisses pressed to the hard as rock chest of his lover, Armand peppering them there as he speaks.]
[Well now he knows something is wrong. Armand in distress and not scolding him over his choice of dress in this moment? Lestat's not sure he likes this and actually feels concerned for a change.]
1996?
[What?]
Will you just tell me what is going on? You're driving me mad!
You ran into something, something claiming to be Satan himself who wanted you to be on his side. You asked for advice, from David and I. We both told you it was wise to stay away and you did not listen.
I do not know what happened but you came back from what you said was Hell, damaged and traumatized beyond belief. Your eye was missing. [He puts his hand near the eye that was taken, though this Lestat has never lost it. He frowns.] I heard your cries for help so I came to you and once I saw you so broken, it destroyed me. I offered to get you a new eye and I knew something was wrong when you told me that you did not deserve my love. [It may seem like he's insulting Lestat by mentioning this but it's a small joke to lighten the mood.]
You brought back Veronica's Veil, the face of the Virgin clear as anything on it. From there I don't know what happened as I threw myself into the sun. I survived for although I do not have the same powerful blood you do, it apparently takes much more to kill me just as yourself. I was nursed back by my children, I'll tell you of them later, and I visited you. You were in some kind of coma, your eye returned to you by Maharet, and would not allow anybody to touch you. Except I wanted to taste your blood and you allowed me. Only me. Nobody else. [He had to talk about that part. It still made him happy to think about. That despite their challenges, Lestat had allowed this gift and only to him.]
You woke for a short time to hear my Sybelle's piano playing but from what I know, you have yet to fully come out of this stasis you have put yourself under. Lestat, I do not know who or what took you. I do know I felt you gone from the Earth and it wrecked me. I cannot deny I cried seeing you so broken. God, Lestat, what if you had not come back? What would I have done without you? [He's quietly crying now, hiding his face in Lestat's chest once more.]
[That is so much to take in and it sounds like there are so many pieces missing to it. Lestat stares at him for a long time. Because he's doing what he said he would and he's listening.
And... Oh God Armand is crying and it breaks his heart. His face twists into genuine concern as he threads his fingers through that brilliant hair, watching it run over his pale fingers as he tries to piece it together and... No, it still doesn't all make sense.
There is one thing he wants answered first at least.]
[Lestat is always weak to his sadness. It would be something to consider if Armand wasn't tired of games when it came to his lover. It's better for them to be honest with each other. Maybe now more than ever.
At the mention of Sybelle, he does smile.] My child, one of them. The other is Benji. As I mentioned, they nursed me when I was badly burned from the sun when I tried to end my life. I helped them as well. They were in danger and I took them from it. [He frowns. ] Marius turned them, he said he did it for me but I... [It was the last thing he wanted and with Benji being only 12, it's concerning. He doesn't bother to hide that thought away. Better for Lestat to know this.]
I do not want to think of Marius right now. There's a lot to discuss and he is not one of the topics I want to talk about when I have you. [Armand looks up to Lestat and leans up so he can softly kiss his lips.] My heart is still broken from seeing you so hurt. You believe me, don't you?
[His children? That Marius made for him? Lestat is still lost in all this but at the same time he does believe him. Armand is simply too upset to not be telling the truth at this point.]
I believe you. Though I wonder if you should show me what you have seen. At points in your tale I feel as if details are missing.
[Though, one thing makes sense.]
I can believe especially that I would only allow you to touch me or even drink from me if I was so broken. You alone would one I would trust so completely with me in that state.
[Really, it's touching that Lestat would say that and since "returning" to Duplicity, this has settled his weary heart some. Just like the first taste of his blood back in their world had. Part of him would like to tell Lestat he wouldn't let his own mother touch him, much to Gabrielle's anger that Armand be allowed to touch her child. But Armand will not be that petty. Today.
The story Armand has is incomplete because he only knows what he saw. But he shows Lestat frantic, claiming to have escaped Hell, his eye missing and the eye socket fluttering grotesquely as it tried to fix itself. He shows how completely terrified Lestat had been as Armand and David tried to comfort him before Armand's religious obsession took over, causing him to see the veil and fly into the sun as a way of sacrificing himself for his sins.
Only shortly does he show his children, how badly he was burned, how they love him, and then his interview with David for his story. He doesn't bother to hide how he doesn't like David. Then he shows Lestat himself on a church ground, broken and in a coma, his eyes blank and open, unstaring into some void. Covered in dust. So different from how he usually is.]
I joked with David that we knew something had to be wrong if your vanity wouldn't even allow someone to dust you off. [A small joke, not one in any sort of cruelty. Right now Armand cannot imagine being mean to Lestat.]
[He watches every moment that Armand feeds to him. It is all broken because there's only one half of the story. But it does piece together some of the parts that were hard to understand. It even lets him see the children and he briefly wonders at Marius' hypocrisy about one of them.
But then he's petting Armand's hair, pressing soft kisses to where the bloody tears stain his face.]
I cannot even imagine what I could have seen that would lead me to that. I have let my vanity slip in the past but for this? Where all can see me? I wonder...
[Armand leans into Lestat's touch before softly kissing Lestat's lips.]
When I drank your blood, I saw only a glimpse of events that I knew of. Of the crucifixion, of the Virgin... I had believed you before. I knew you did not lie because you couldn't when you had been so upset.
[But that isn't the problem.]
Lestat, your Dominant. They claim to be a Devil, right? The one who hurt you also claimed to be the same. What if this is the same being? What if they are tempting you here as well?
They claim to be the Satan of Pride, yes. However, I don't believe Hatter has any intention of tempting me towards what you telling me happened in our world.
[It just doesn't appear to be their style. Likely because he doesn't fulfill whatever role they have in mind. Perhaps he should be insulted but he's really not.]
How can you be certain of that? The moment someone is nice to you, you assume they can never do any wrong to you. I swear. It drives me insane.
[But he mostly just sounds defeated.] You do realize I cannot live without you, don't you? I will kill whoever takes you from me, I'll torture them until they know even an ounce of the pain I would feel. Be them the Devil or whatever. I wouldn't care. [A little intense, Armand. But he's always been like this.]
I get the impression that they are not the one actually in charge in Hell. I haven't asked about it further but I feel it's safe to assume that much.
[Hence his belief. But now Armand is talking about torturing people for his sake and it's touching. He smiles and brushes his fingers over his cheeks again.]
You are welcome to torment anyone who brings me harm.
[Armand still isn't sure about anything Lestat is saying. It feels like a trick but he doesn't think his lover would listen. Really, Lestat was listening far more than he usually did. Armand didn't want to push his luck.
He shakes his head and leans into the touch.] I don't like that David of yours. For such an intelligent man, he's an idiot. If it wasn't for the fact he was your fledgling, I may have considered teaching him the hard lesson of not judging by appearance. Lestat, he tried to talk about how pretty I looked and was then surprised when I got irate with him. [He presses a kiss to Lestat's hand before biting one of his fingertips to suck the blood that comes from it.
His eyes meet Lestat's as his tongue swirls around the finger and he speaks telepathically:] I fed in front of him. I wasn't so pretty after that.
[Well there's an interesting turn. He chuckles softly as he watches his finger disappear into Armand's mouth. There's that sting of pain and then that wonderful tongue to lap at the blood.]
He simply cannot appreciate that you are so stunning in that moment too. Not like I can.
[He shifts his hand to drag his entire finger over that fang. It rips through the flesh easily and he lets Armand taste him even as the wound heals.]
[Armand draws as much of the blood as he can before the wound is closed up.] He liked Louis a lot but Louis just sadly sat around, waiting for you to awaken. It isn't hard to like someone who literally does nothing.
Oh, and Gabrielle was there. Of course. And she liked nobody, of course. She was especially cross at me for being allowed to touch you. [If he sounds a little smug it's because he is. But even Armand knows not to stay on the topic of his mother for long, especially because he knows how Lestat still adores her.
He wraps his arms around Lestat's waist and offers his neck.]
My point being that you have terrible taste in people. Me included. You shouldn't trust in people so easily. Stop giving away your heart as if it's unbreakable. You can be hurt and you were.
That sounds like Louis. Really it's just his typical state of being if you think about it. Beautiful in its own way but not surprising. I think David just gets lost in his tastes at times.
[But he smiles fondly at the mention of Gabrielle. Oh how he loves her and her distaste for the world.] I imagine she was. I imagine you loved that you got what she didn't too.
[Lestat dips down then, pulling Armand close as he kisses the vein first then sinks his fangs in with a sigh.] You worry too much.
[He would never get sick of the way Lestat's fangs would sink into his neck. The pain mixing with pleasure and he shuddered, that being the only reaction he gave.]
So you say and yet from where I stand, I have seen that my worries stand. I think you just like to have me worry over you. You like the attention and to know you're cared for. You really are a brat.
[Yet he doesn't sound nearly as admonishing when he's allowing Lestat to drink from him.]
[He moans softly, cradling Armand in his arms as he takes another drink from him. The blood tastes different somehow. Another life has been lived in this blood and he can feel that being pulled into him. He's having to almost concentrate more to not just drain Armand from the utter curiosity of wanting to taste every little layer.
But he won't. He doesn't want to harm him. Not tonight.]
[Sex was fun and something Armand enjoyed. That he wouldn't deny. But it was never as intimate as drinking blood from another and especially when him and Lestat drank each other's blood like this. It felt amazing in ways he could never describe and he closes his eyes, head tilted back with a moan.]
I've never been anything but for centuries. Despite better judgment. [He's teasing as he allows a small smile on his face that is more genuine than he usually allows. Lestat is being so nice that Armand feels he can allow this moment as well.]
[Lestat sighs and pulls back from his neck, running his tongue along the length of it. There's no need to heal this wound. Armand's flesh will heal itself.]
I'm hardly the same. I feel...like I know more. I don't think I'll ever truly let go of the coldness that is always inside of me but I suppose I accept its place now. My place as well.
[Perhaps it's a bit sad but it feels a lot more freeing to be able to accept these things now. He looks up to Lestat, hands on his cheeks.]
Drinking your blood, back in our world, it offered me this peace. In a way, you gave it to me. I'm sure you will take it back from me. That's your way. But for now, I love you all the more for it.
If you ever became warm then you would no longer be my Armand.
[He licks his lips then leans in to kiss his lover. His. It doesn't matter who Armand is with or where they are because in the end he will always be his. And he adores that even now.]
[These kind and warm moments between them isn't rare. They bicker more than they occur but they are still existent. But when they do kiss, Armand can only think of how much he cherishes these moments.]
I wouldn't have left even if you told me to.
[Armand starts pushing Lestat towards his bed so he can push him back onto it, straddling him.]
But for now I want to love you. [His ass pushes down against Lestat's groin, grinding.]
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To most, it would seem as if Armand teleported there but to Lestat the speedy arrival is nothing out of the ordinary. But what is out of the ordinary is how Armand grabs onto Lestat, burying his face into the other vampire's chest. He holds onto him desperately, fingers clutching into the fabric of his shirt.]
I had to see you awake. I had to see you as yourself.
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[He's currently in a chair with his shirt open too. Clearly just relaxing at home. The fact that he looks like the cover of a romance novel happens to be intentional but that's another matter entirely.]
What in sweet hell are you talking about, Armand?
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But instead Armand only continues to cling.] Like you were from a different time, I am as well now. 1996 now, to be exact. I don't know why or how but I'll ponder it later. But you, you damned fool, did not listen to me nor did you listen to David. I know I will be angry later but right now I don't care. I only demand you listen to me. [There's kisses pressed to the hard as rock chest of his lover, Armand peppering them there as he speaks.]
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1996?
[What?]
Will you just tell me what is going on? You're driving me mad!
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I do not know what happened but you came back from what you said was Hell, damaged and traumatized beyond belief. Your eye was missing. [He puts his hand near the eye that was taken, though this Lestat has never lost it. He frowns.] I heard your cries for help so I came to you and once I saw you so broken, it destroyed me. I offered to get you a new eye and I knew something was wrong when you told me that you did not deserve my love. [It may seem like he's insulting Lestat by mentioning this but it's a small joke to lighten the mood.]
You brought back Veronica's Veil, the face of the Virgin clear as anything on it. From there I don't know what happened as I threw myself into the sun. I survived for although I do not have the same powerful blood you do, it apparently takes much more to kill me just as yourself. I was nursed back by my children, I'll tell you of them later, and I visited you. You were in some kind of coma, your eye returned to you by Maharet, and would not allow anybody to touch you. Except I wanted to taste your blood and you allowed me. Only me. Nobody else. [He had to talk about that part. It still made him happy to think about. That despite their challenges, Lestat had allowed this gift and only to him.]
You woke for a short time to hear my Sybelle's piano playing but from what I know, you have yet to fully come out of this stasis you have put yourself under. Lestat, I do not know who or what took you. I do know I felt you gone from the Earth and it wrecked me. I cannot deny I cried seeing you so broken. God, Lestat, what if you had not come back? What would I have done without you? [He's quietly crying now, hiding his face in Lestat's chest once more.]
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And... Oh God Armand is crying and it breaks his heart. His face twists into genuine concern as he threads his fingers through that brilliant hair, watching it run over his pale fingers as he tries to piece it together and... No, it still doesn't all make sense.
There is one thing he wants answered first at least.]
Who is Sybelle?
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At the mention of Sybelle, he does smile.] My child, one of them. The other is Benji. As I mentioned, they nursed me when I was badly burned from the sun when I tried to end my life. I helped them as well. They were in danger and I took them from it. [He frowns. ] Marius turned them, he said he did it for me but I... [It was the last thing he wanted and with Benji being only 12, it's concerning. He doesn't bother to hide that thought away. Better for Lestat to know this.]
I do not want to think of Marius right now. There's a lot to discuss and he is not one of the topics I want to talk about when I have you. [Armand looks up to Lestat and leans up so he can softly kiss his lips.] My heart is still broken from seeing you so hurt. You believe me, don't you?
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I believe you. Though I wonder if you should show me what you have seen. At points in your tale I feel as if details are missing.
[Though, one thing makes sense.]
I can believe especially that I would only allow you to touch me or even drink from me if I was so broken. You alone would one I would trust so completely with me in that state.
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The story Armand has is incomplete because he only knows what he saw. But he shows Lestat frantic, claiming to have escaped Hell, his eye missing and the eye socket fluttering grotesquely as it tried to fix itself. He shows how completely terrified Lestat had been as Armand and David tried to comfort him before Armand's religious obsession took over, causing him to see the veil and fly into the sun as a way of sacrificing himself for his sins.
Only shortly does he show his children, how badly he was burned, how they love him, and then his interview with David for his story. He doesn't bother to hide how he doesn't like David. Then he shows Lestat himself on a church ground, broken and in a coma, his eyes blank and open, unstaring into some void. Covered in dust. So different from how he usually is.]
I joked with David that we knew something had to be wrong if your vanity wouldn't even allow someone to dust you off. [A small joke, not one in any sort of cruelty. Right now Armand cannot imagine being mean to Lestat.]
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But then he's petting Armand's hair, pressing soft kisses to where the bloody tears stain his face.]
I cannot even imagine what I could have seen that would lead me to that. I have let my vanity slip in the past but for this? Where all can see me? I wonder...
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When I drank your blood, I saw only a glimpse of events that I knew of. Of the crucifixion, of the Virgin... I had believed you before. I knew you did not lie because you couldn't when you had been so upset.
[But that isn't the problem.]
Lestat, your Dominant. They claim to be a Devil, right? The one who hurt you also claimed to be the same. What if this is the same being? What if they are tempting you here as well?
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[It just doesn't appear to be their style. Likely because he doesn't fulfill whatever role they have in mind. Perhaps he should be insulted but he's really not.]
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[But he mostly just sounds defeated.] You do realize I cannot live without you, don't you? I will kill whoever takes you from me, I'll torture them until they know even an ounce of the pain I would feel. Be them the Devil or whatever. I wouldn't care.
[A little intense, Armand. But he's always been like this.]
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[Hence his belief. But now Armand is talking about torturing people for his sake and it's touching. He smiles and brushes his fingers over his cheeks again.]
You are welcome to torment anyone who brings me harm.
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He shakes his head and leans into the touch.] I don't like that David of yours. For such an intelligent man, he's an idiot. If it wasn't for the fact he was your fledgling, I may have considered teaching him the hard lesson of not judging by appearance. Lestat, he tried to talk about how pretty I looked and was then surprised when I got irate with him. [He presses a kiss to Lestat's hand before biting one of his fingertips to suck the blood that comes from it.
His eyes meet Lestat's as his tongue swirls around the finger and he speaks telepathically:] I fed in front of him. I wasn't so pretty after that.
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He simply cannot appreciate that you are so stunning in that moment too. Not like I can.
[He shifts his hand to drag his entire finger over that fang. It rips through the flesh easily and he lets Armand taste him even as the wound heals.]
He can find others to admire.
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Oh, and Gabrielle was there. Of course. And she liked nobody, of course. She was especially cross at me for being allowed to touch you. [If he sounds a little smug it's because he is. But even Armand knows not to stay on the topic of his mother for long, especially because he knows how Lestat still adores her.
He wraps his arms around Lestat's waist and offers his neck.]
My point being that you have terrible taste in people. Me included. You shouldn't trust in people so easily. Stop giving away your heart as if it's unbreakable. You can be hurt and you were.
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[But he smiles fondly at the mention of Gabrielle. Oh how he loves her and her distaste for the world.] I imagine she was. I imagine you loved that you got what she didn't too.
[Lestat dips down then, pulling Armand close as he kisses the vein first then sinks his fangs in with a sigh.] You worry too much.
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So you say and yet from where I stand, I have seen that my worries stand. I think you just like to have me worry over you. You like the attention and to know you're cared for. You really are a brat.
[Yet he doesn't sound nearly as admonishing when he's allowing Lestat to drink from him.]
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[He moans softly, cradling Armand in his arms as he takes another drink from him. The blood tastes different somehow. Another life has been lived in this blood and he can feel that being pulled into him. He's having to almost concentrate more to not just drain Armand from the utter curiosity of wanting to taste every little layer.
But he won't. He doesn't want to harm him. Not tonight.]
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I've never been anything but for centuries. Despite better judgment. [He's teasing as he allows a small smile on his face that is more genuine than he usually allows. Lestat is being so nice that Armand feels he can allow this moment as well.]
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[Lestat sighs and pulls back from his neck, running his tongue along the length of it. There's no need to heal this wound. Armand's flesh will heal itself.]
You taste so different.
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[Perhaps it's a bit sad but it feels a lot more freeing to be able to accept these things now. He looks up to Lestat, hands on his cheeks.]
Drinking your blood, back in our world, it offered me this peace. In a way, you gave it to me. I'm sure you will take it back from me. That's your way. But for now, I love you all the more for it.
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[He licks his lips then leans in to kiss his lover. His. It doesn't matter who Armand is with or where they are because in the end he will always be his. And he adores that even now.]
You should sleep here when morning comes.
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I wouldn't have left even if you told me to.
[Armand starts pushing Lestat towards his bed so he can push him back onto it, straddling him.]
But for now I want to love you. [His ass pushes down against Lestat's groin, grinding.]
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