#sorry assad

[armandyke]

It is wednesday my dudes

uuaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHH

[angrybubbles]

Assad never forgets what Armand is.

Armand is a vampire. A predator. A dangerous man. A man who is barely holding himself together with the remaining threads of his willpower.

A willful and hurt teenager trapped in the body of a man.

"I'm not sure how he gets up every day." Assad said that once. And the more time he spends with Armand the more he sees that so much of what gets him up is routine.

Armand will get up and fold his clothes. If Assad rises with him, he'll make the bed. He'll make a cuppa for Assad, then slip out the window to hunt for his own meal.

Assad is then left to ponder this monster who shares his face and that he lets into his bed.

The monster who holds his face to gently, reverently tracing the lines of his face. Who kisses the tears away when Assad is pushed too far. Who kills a person every couple of weeks, and then spends hours in front of the computer watching an Excel Accounting course.

It's one thing to know a monster in concept, to present the image of one on screen.

It's entirely another to have one attached to your neck as he makes love to you.

It's entirely another when it wears your face as it rips into someone's throat.

Assad didn't know death could look so beautiful.

[angrybubbles]

princess stuck in the tower assad.. armand's relationship with the coven deteriorating much faster because he is hiding this secret from them, which is making him more paranoid and quicker to snap. assad, in turn, having a shit and weird time, alone for most of the day and half convinced he's having some sort of psychotic break, especially when armand is not there and he convinces himself he must have made armand, and perhaps all of this up.

armand who visits in the early morning when the coven has just fallen asleep, who goes back to the theater to rest (he's paranoid about a coven member somehow, impossibly, waking up and finding him gone, but also scared to sleep somewhere he's not used to, near this strange mortal who can't be). coming back in the afternoon, until nearly sundown when he is to be back at the theater when his coven wakes.

there is a lot of mistrust and violence, the first few weeks. interrogating assad, disbelieving everything he says. inspecting him. trying to slip into his mind. trying to torture him into a confession (of what? witchcraft? armand doesn't even know).

but then assad is afraid to sleep during the night. the dark unnerves him, and he's convinced armand or some other vampire will come back during the night and end him. armand doesn't come every day, so he never knows when to expect him. so he starts falling asleep during the day. and asleep, soft and vulnerable, armand finds him fascinating. stares at him for hours, experiences his dreams with him through the mind gift, and only then does armand start softening up on him. maybe then he starts letting assad out of the room, maybe even outside of the little house in the outskirts of the city he has hidden him away in. taking him out for coffee in the afternoon and buying him the entire menu just to watch him eat.

the fresh air and the sight of others does wonders for assads mental health (he's now only 15% convinced he's hallucinating everything), and the kindness that armand offers gives way to real conversation and an almost normal, very tentative friendship... which gives way to the nonsensical (to a 16th century mid 20th century man) rambling. which gives way to the downright begging to being allowed into the theater (if not to perform then just to watch! if not the plays then just to visit during the day! please please please please please).

I think armand would go from stalker -> my evil kidnapper -> the dungeon torture master -> off-putting guy who is maybe not that bad even though he holds me hostage -> omg isn't it really nice that he let me touch grass and doesn't even hurt me anymore unless i bring out his trauma on purpose -> my rich acquaintance that takes me out to eat and redecorated my cage I mean room when I complained about sleeping on the floor -> my kind friend that listens to me talk about shows that don't exist yet for hours -> my sugar daddy that takes me to the theatre whenever I ask (not his though :/ ) and let's me live in his second home for free , isn't he the nicest sweetest man on the world <3

yea I don't think assad is making it out of this one without an insane case of stockholm syndrome... it's fine though armand only hurts him when he asks for it now so it's ok ☺️ couple goals, even

If Zamand was a game, each route would be which flavor of Stockholm syndrome and trauma would you like?

The "good' ending is still leaving scars on Assad's brain that will never be healed, but that's what happens with Gothic Horror.