namozi: (72)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-02-28 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
That tiny bit of interest Armand devours greedily, hungry for it in a way that surprises him. Being desired in such a way is hardly novel, but being desired by a man who dissected his ugliness and weakness brutally yet still asked him to come back here for a puzzle of all things, who kissed him in a dirty little bodega- well, that's a different beast.

The corners of his eyes crinkle a bit in mirth to hear the answer to his earlier question, charmed again that Daniel found his way back around to it. "I was more a fan of the Green Hornet that era I admit. If you are looking for impressions to dredge up."

He pats Daniel's cheek before pulling away, sitting elegantly on the bed and patting beside him in forceful invitation as he starts tapping away at his phone again. "Award shows, galas, fundraisers, gallery openings, opera, high society events, certain upscale restaurants- admittedly far less reason to go to the latter now, but the idea remains. Weddings, I suppose." He crinkles his nose as if that's the distasteful gathering of all of those.
namozi: (45)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-03-02 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Armand makes himself comfortable, not quite the intimacy of lounging against Daniel but shifts himself so they share the space seamlessly. Happy to show his phone screen, which is on some sleek website that screams overpriced rich people nonsense based purely on the somehow gaudy minimalism. "I would be curious to hear what impressions you are permitted by law and good taste to attempt- perhaps a dark navy would work well."

He considers Daniel for a few moments before tapping something on screen- oh there's a price tag for whatever's happening and it is indeed eye searingly high. More expensive than Daniel's first and potentially second car high. Not billionaires though, just multi million.

"You chafe against such uniforms, I take it. Daniel Molloy is not one for button ups and ties," Armand drawls, somewhere between biting mockery and maybe a hint of fondness. "I have never been to a wedding as an invited guest. We drained several wedding parties in Paris over the years, it was good practice for the coven."
namozi: (60)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-03-04 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Chatty. It's enjoyable in a way, though Armand will never in his undead life admit it's a step up from the silent stillness of the penthouse on any given day. He taps away at his phone, taking only a moment to try and remember if he saw that interview. Not that he will ever admit to following Daniel's career unless it's in a sinister, pragmatic way.

He doesn't remember it. Shame, he would have been interested in that interview, if only because of the era he was quite taken with Dogma. And Osmosis Jones.

"What year was that?" he does ask, a few more taps before he pulls the phone to his ear and starts speaking to someone on the other line in smooth french. The conversation is short, the phone dropped to the side when he's done as though now they simply waited.

"You and Louis are similar in your incessant need to make your wealth bracket a singular part of your personality," he muses. Probably not a compliment. The question has him glancing over, more curious that Daniel would find anything 'kinda romantic.' The admittance makes him want to indulge so he does, taking a few moments to unearth those hunts from his memory and make a decision.

Largely that time period was dissociative for him, dull and exhausting, but just like in the catacombs the hunts were a singular pleasure to break through the muck. "Hm, there was one shortly before the Great War, on one of the bridges of the Seine. Rich enough they paid to have the water cleaned somewhat, and the dim light casting the waters black hid the sins of the city's filth. Candles floating on the water, deeply indulgent. They looked like stars dotting the stream. Celeste nearly fell in gazing upon them- she was still a fledgling at the time, easily taken with sensation.

"We stole the bride for our next show," he sounds almost nostalgic about it.
namozi: (64)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-03-07 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
The nineties, Armand did spend a lot of that decade learning technology and hiding said obsession from Louis lest it be agitating rather than endearing. That's probably why he missed it, and he makes a mental note to scour the wasteland of the internet.

He preferred the internet in the nineties. Slower paced in all things and wild, bramble growth.

"You are like Louis in many ways besides. Your complicated relationship with sexuality, for example," Armand offers, a glance over with an innocent enough look that says yeah, this is basically meant to get under Daniel's skin. Or perhaps he just enjoys that it does, wants to dissect Daniel and see what part of it makes him squirm.

Maybe literally, Daniel is much more durable now. He wonders if vivisection is counter culture enough for Daniel's taste or one of those things that would tip his fledgling into needless histrionics over his own well-being. Poor Daniel, tortured in a decidedly mild manner for a few measly days when he spent several decades putting his own brain in a blender for a string of momentary highs.

"She spent most of the party mulling in increasing dismay over 'to death do us part' and the seeming eternity of it. I found that a poetic touch," Armand answers, then tilts his head at the question. "I do not miss that time period, no. I did not lie when I told Louis it was a job I never desired and was trapped in."

A beat. Tentatively, as if half expecting Daniel to use any sliver of truth against him, he offers, "I suppose if there was anything worth missing it was the plays themselves, more so when we began working with the projectors. I've always found mixed media compelling."
namozi: (103)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-03-10 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Of course Daniel, your own relationship with sex has nothing to do with family or your environment, I am sure. Only pointless, fickle, dumb matters. Inconsequential."

There's the doe eyes again, pure, weaponized Rashid purely to be mean for no real reason than he likes it. He will not, can not allow himself to register the enormity of what it means that Daniel Molloy is the first and only person he's ever been ugly with in a way that felt freeing.

Given the ugliness it's probably a bit jarring when Armand goes bright suddenly, an honest to god grin. "A delightful piece, was it not?"
namozi: (22)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-03-13 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
There are times Armand regrets the loss of Daniel's thoughts. Well, okay he regrets it often when they interact, even when he refrained from indulging the option was always there, waiting. A failsafe, so much easier than word and gesture and expression, all matter that had a thousand different meanings. He can never edit Daniel's mind again, he cannot reach in to pluck understanding, he cannot know anything Daniel says for certain.

At times it is difficult not to flee on that knowledge alone, and yet here they are. Daniel always pondering away, sharp observations Armand must now wait for Daniel to divulge should he wish to. He must accept any seeds planted are ones he will not see until they bloom.

He blinks once at being called a dork, as though this is a novel experience to consider- because it is, given most vampires are flowery dramatic shitheads who wouldn't be caught dead using the word 'dork' and they're ninety percent of his social life. The look grows sharper when Daniel touches his chin, as though waiting for a kiss he may or may not return sweetly or with a bite-

No, he's being shown a video. Armand considers being disappointed by that for all of a moment before ah! Well, the bizarre style immediately grabs him, and it's a real shame he was busy playing mutual toxic fucked up Stepford wife bullshit with Louis in the eighties because he'd love the theatrical, puffed up weirdness of it all. "Why do the creatures look like that?" he asks, clearly charmed by it.

Enough he ignores Daniel for a few moments, shifting only to lean against him somewhere between sweetly and seeming very much like he's using Daniel as convenient, comfortable furniture. "Hm? We can do both." So yes, summoned for ankle measuring. "If you're good and do not squirm it will be over before you know it."
namozi: (21)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-03-25 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
The power of vampirism is Armand can simply bring the table to them, though he does not do that. His eyes are set unblinking in the screen, only glancing away to the box when presented. In some ways it feels like a trap, though he isn't entirely certain what end of it is the snare. Daniel presenting a hobby and expecting engagement mirroring his own enthusiasm without tipping the scale to insulting apathy or unpleasant fervor? Perhaps the opposite, a pastime sometimes considered childish or dull, where sincere interest would be boring.

The truth is a guy who genuinely enjoys picking lint off the sofa and keeping everything in their neat little boxes with a side passion in dissection is one who feels a very genuine flare of interest on the matter. Even as he settles for mirroring Daniel's enthusiasm as a safety precaution, at least until he gets a better understanding of why it is Daniel brought this before him.

He tries not to get attached to the idea that each of these little offerings, puzzles and delightful animations, are offerings from Daniel's own interest with sincere intent. Given both their track records there's a good chance that would end in fire and brimstone one way or another. At least the heat is comfortable, as is Daniel's well known personal failings with interpersonal relationships. Some might call that common ground and not tactical advantage.

Anyway Armand considers saying Daniel was very good in San Francisco when Armand made him be, but he has the foresight to register he may be denied puzzles if he casually brings up Daniel's torture and all the histrionics his fledgling fell into about it. Worse, he might move away and Armand is quite cozy where he is, reaching to pluck up a puzzle piece and examine it.

"Then squirm and prolong the process, I will enjoy myself either way." Daniel's discomfort was and is cute, like abandoned animals in cardboard boxes probably. He smothers his own amusement when Daniel calls him a mad scientist. Unfortunate the bond likely gives away he enjoys the comparison more than when people call him otherworldly in his beauty or something similar.

"Do you enjoy it? For how often you pin your subjects to squirm under your relentless gaze perhaps you would enjoy being examined until you have nothing left to give."
namozi: (49)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-04-03 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"You did no such thing. What you did is closer to offering up your weaknesses on your own terms, and made them into an armor. Look at the ugly truths of my life, you say, in your own words with only an editor to keep you honest.

"You would find the experience far different, having an antagonistic creature dissect every word to find the rot underneath the gilding," Armand answers, though rather than accusation he almost sounds approving, in his own way. A clever way of keeping control of the narrative, to protect himself, Daniel might be a survivor after all.

He begins sorting the pieces as he speaks, some system that seems based on shape and color.
namozi: (67)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-04-04 11:19 am (UTC)(link)
Well, Daniel got him there. Armand considers that for a few fleeting moments, those spiraling days as an interview of a different kind. An unsatisfying one, he never really did get the answers he was seeking. All that came of the mess was a broken companionship and doing puzzles with the man who spearheaded its destruction.

Cuddled up, even, to the man who heralded his divorce. Slotted into his side and enjoying it more than he wishes he realized.

"I directed, I did not create," he answers after a beat, hands moving a little faster with the satisfying work of organizing and sorting. Despite the deflection he cannot help a sliver of surprised pride at the animations being considered at all. "Self effacement- you do not consider writing creation? Your damnable book and all it's kohl caked admirers with chipped black nail polish and mournful sighs are not proof?

"What do you consider yourself then, a taxidermist? A curator? A nosy neighbor peeking through the windows, jotting notes?"
namozi: (16)

[personal profile] namozi 2025-04-19 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
"Curious, yes. Loudmouth, very much so. Unfortunately for the rest of us you contain multitudes," Armand answers with an airy wave of the hand, moving the edge pieces of the puzzle into a little pile. "If you did not you would be dead."

Now he seems curious about making piles of the pieces in similar shapes, for whatever reason. Not helpful but at this point he seems to be going about the puzzle not unlike a kid just making a mess or making piles of his toys instead. Focused on it as he leans against Daniel, though his attention couldn't be more obviously on Daniel himself.

Enough that he even breaks his nonchalance to look to Daniel, assessing as he asks, "What is the truth of Daniel Molloy 'when you get right down to it,' then?"