Consider it a standin' offer, then, in case y'all ever need it.
[He gives a broad gesture with his hands.] So tell me some a' how y'all went an' spent five centuries as a vampire! There's gotta be some interestin' stuff in there, right? Fresh into the Renaissance!
[Armand doesn't look annoyed at the 'you kids', even though he's almost certain he's older than Sam. It's complicated.]
For a time. It was... traditional to be in contact with vampires of the same city. There needed to be a certain amount of order.
[He shrugs.] Times change. Mortal cities are much larger, so we can follow our more solitary inclinations. It can be tiresome to be around other vampires. [Perhaps the most personal statement he's made so far.]
Huh. That's the right opposite experience I had with other vampires. I was in a whole damn gang, there must've been a dozen of us. An' I ain't gonna disagree that there's a certain amount a' bein' solitary that vampires can do, but we still need some socialisin', same as any other human.
We aren't human. [But he doesn't entirely disagree with the point.] In recent decades I still lived with another vampire. One companion is a different matter than a group. There is less... drama. [A very polite description of round #321 of breaking up the exact same arguments every night.]
Well, we weren't born vampires, we were created. That means we were human first, an' we still got all those ways a' thinkin' an' existin' that don't go away just 'cos we got bit.
[He gestures idly with a hand.]
You ever go livin' alone, then, if you reckon bein' solitary's an important part a' bein' a vampire?
[He's thinking about round #205 over whether someone borrowed someone else's makeup right before the performance. He had occasionally wondered if it was an attempt to hold onto humanity or simply a continuation.]
It's not important, it's common. [There's nothing that important about being a vampire.] To live completely alone wouldn't be as tiresome, but it would bring its own difficulties.
There are few places free of people who like to poke about anything mysterious. You cannot even trust that they will not go and dig up a catacomb while you are trying to take your daily rest.
[He shrugs.] I have spent time alone. If I was home in this... modern era, I would likely be able to do so without the nuisances I dealt with at that time. The internet is a great boon.
Ain't it just, at that. I never would a' met my teacher without it, we were chattin' fer a couple months 'fore I finally hopped across to meet him in Germany. An' one a' my clients, she met all her best friends through those forum things!
Yes, the last time I lived alone was during the '60s and '70s. So far more of my interactions were 'face-to-face'. These days other modes of communication are often encouraged.
[Which he strongly approves of. He hasn't made any 'friends' on 'forums', but he has used it as a way to find people to drain so he won't say it isn't practical for both parts of his life.]
Right, so it sounds like it's less about y'all preferrin' t'be alone, and more like you ain't a fan a' folks breakin' in to yer house while yer sleepin'.
[He rubs his chin idly.]
Which is fair, y'know. I didn't have a coffin fer somethin' like sixty years, though, but maybe I just got lucky that no-one tripped over me hidin' in a cave, heh.
That was the main... motivation behind covens. [And years spent in a coven can make you really prefer to be alone.
He shrugs again.] It used to be traditional to bury yourself in your own coffin each night to remember the gift of rebirth by digging yourself out of the dirt, or something like that. There was a religious element, I believe.
Even vampires change, though there are those less willing to believe that than others.
Well, no offence to yer religious traditions, but I think the fact we are vampires seems like its own gift, right? We got the bad in the good an' all that, but the fact we're dead men walkin' is some real biblical shit all on its lonesome.
[He adjusts his hat idly by the crown.]
What about you, though? You reckon vampires can change?
You do not have to apologize. They were very stupid traditions. I didn't come up with them. [He had gone along with them because he hadn't had anything else.]
I was subject to them. The Children of Darkness [he thinks it's very pretentious and pathetic with it] as we were named. It was all very medieval.
We are not effected by any religious artifact or place. They insisted that we were and so not allowed to go near them or would be punished by God. [Just firm insistence in ignoring objective reality.]
Well, crosses make me break out in hives, but I ain't too affected by it all neither.
[His tone sobers a little.]
That's an awful cruel trick, though, makin' folks believe that the outside world's gonna hurt 'em. Controllin' how they think an' where they're allowed to go, that ain't right. Who was in charge of all that, yer sires?
[It was only one element of the control. One of the stupider ones, in his opinion, but it had worked so he supposes that speaks for itself.]
It was, what do they say... a 'power play'. It is a popular sort of play among vampires, in my experience. I don't know if they believed it. It was a cult, but there are similarities in larger religions and I know some of the people who enforce those beliefs believe in them themselves. [And others don't. Power plays aren't limited to vampires.]
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momijizukamori
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 04:02 am (UTC)[It has for him, anyway. He doesn't have a lot of other vampires his age to ask.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 04:59 am (UTC)[He gives a broad gesture with his hands.] So tell me some a' how y'all went an' spent five centuries as a vampire! There's gotta be some interestin' stuff in there, right? Fresh into the Renaissance!
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:05 am (UTC)No, I could not say that there was much of interest.
[Everyone else seems to think it was boring. Who is he to argue? He considers for another moment.]
We tend to live separately from humans. Just... exist.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:12 am (UTC)[Yes Armand is more than twice his vampire age but he's also pretty sure he's more than twice Armand's human age so it evens out.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:20 am (UTC)For a time. It was... traditional to be in contact with vampires of the same city. There needed to be a certain amount of order.
[He shrugs.] Times change. Mortal cities are much larger, so we can follow our more solitary inclinations. It can be tiresome to be around other vampires. [Perhaps the most personal statement he's made so far.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:39 am (UTC)Huh. That's the right opposite experience I had with other vampires. I was in a whole damn gang, there must've been a dozen of us. An' I ain't gonna disagree that there's a certain amount a' bein' solitary that vampires can do, but we still need some socialisin', same as any other human.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:45 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 05:58 am (UTC)[He gestures idly with a hand.]
You ever go livin' alone, then, if you reckon bein' solitary's an important part a' bein' a vampire?
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-16 06:03 am (UTC)[He's thinking about round #205 over whether someone borrowed someone else's makeup right before the performance. He had occasionally wondered if it was an attempt to hold onto humanity or simply a continuation.]
It's not important, it's common. [There's nothing that important about being a vampire.] To live completely alone wouldn't be as tiresome, but it would bring its own difficulties.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 12:20 am (UTC)Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 01:02 am (UTC)[He shrugs.] I have spent time alone. If I was home in this... modern era, I would likely be able to do so without the nuisances I dealt with at that time. The internet is a great boon.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 07:11 am (UTC)Ain't it just, at that. I never would a' met my teacher without it, we were chattin' fer a couple months 'fore I finally hopped across to meet him in Germany. An' one a' my clients, she met all her best friends through those forum things!
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 07:16 am (UTC)[Which he strongly approves of. He hasn't made any 'friends' on 'forums', but he has used it as a way to find people to drain so he won't say it isn't practical for both parts of his life.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 07:23 am (UTC)[He rubs his chin idly.]
Which is fair, y'know. I didn't have a coffin fer somethin' like sixty years, though, but maybe I just got lucky that no-one tripped over me hidin' in a cave, heh.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 07:27 am (UTC)He shrugs again.] It used to be traditional to bury yourself in your own coffin each night to remember the gift of rebirth by digging yourself out of the dirt, or something like that. There was a religious element, I believe.
Even vampires change, though there are those less willing to believe that than others.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 07:40 am (UTC)[He adjusts his hat idly by the crown.]
What about you, though? You reckon vampires can change?
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 07:43 am (UTC)Yes, I have seen it myself.
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 07:52 am (UTC)(Not that it matters too much. That he thinks they can is plenty to work with.)]
You didn't come up with 'em? Does that mean you were enforcin' 'em fer someone else, or just subject to 'em?
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 07:58 am (UTC)We are not effected by any religious artifact or place. They insisted that we were and so not allowed to go near them or would be punished by God. [Just firm insistence in ignoring objective reality.]
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 08:06 am (UTC)[His tone sobers a little.]
That's an awful cruel trick, though, makin' folks believe that the outside world's gonna hurt 'em. Controllin' how they think an' where they're allowed to go, that ain't right. Who was in charge of all that, yer sires?
Re: Pairings!
Date: 2025-05-23 08:16 am (UTC)[It was only one element of the control. One of the stupider ones, in his opinion, but it had worked so he supposes that speaks for itself.]
It was, what do they say... a 'power play'. It is a popular sort of play among vampires, in my experience. I don't know if they believed it. It was a cult, but there are similarities in larger religions and I know some of the people who enforce those beliefs believe in them themselves. [And others don't. Power plays aren't limited to vampires.]