Daniel and Armand have a peculiar rhythm when they speak to each other. They can converse like any other two people, but there is a noticeable pattern that emerges whenever one of them wants something from the other, or simply familiarity emerges in their dialogue. Two minds moving toward the same point in parallel.
They do not exactly finish each other’s sentences. They seem to read each other well enough though.
Armand: Let me help you finish that job.
Daniel: Yeah?
A: Love between vampires can be one thing, or it can be countless things.
D: I will never love...
A: Like Lestat and Sofia. I want to be your maker.
D: Finish the thought, Armand.
A: I want to give you half your life back.
D: Lestat and Sofia.
A: Help you walk in the sun. I knew her as Gabriella. She's Lestat's mother.
D: What?
A: Lestat lays with his mother.
Armand: It was wrong of Louis to enter your memories yesterday. You were invited here as a guest.
Daniel: Cell phones.
A: You were rude, but he crossed a line.
D: Artificial intelligence crunching improbable data.
A: I offer my apology...
D: How do you hide from the cloud?
A: On his behalf. We should probably wait for him.
D: Probably.
A: He'll awaken when the sun sleeps. Your cell phones make you slaves to your fetishes and data retrieval is primarily about profits, so I suspect no one at Amazon is trying to sell us blenders.
Armand’s dialogue is continuous, cumulative. Daniel, however, interrupts and redirects. His words function almost like punctuation against Armand’s longer, more structured sentences. He does not follow the path Armand takes. Instead, he jumps directly to the important point, cutting away all that is unnecessary. Daniel tends to move toward specific statements, because he demands clarity and specifics. He is impatient. Armand's language connects pieces precisely because Daniel's language separates them.
Daniel extracts. Armand explains.
Armand speaks in layers, Daniel peels the layers away.
Their rhythm creates a familiarity that borders on mind-reading, they understand the direction of each other’s thoughts, Daniel's pattern expresses this familiarity even more so. He is more active in this familiarity because his lack of words shows understanding of Armand, which is such a subconscious act for the person who lost his memories of said familiarity, but its trace lingers.
There is also distance in Daniel’s style. Daniel gives the node of the thought rather than the path that led him there. His ability to jump straight to the point is part of his emotional guardedness. He is highly observant, quick. He analyses rather than reveals.
But there is progression from season 2 to season 3. Daniel is vulnerable all the time. He is someone who needs gentleness, he is emotionally incandescent, always close to the surface, always on the verge of something breaking through.
His pattern indicates that Daniel is closed off from Armand, he is emotionally guarded, which just brings this vulnerability to the surface. He is afraid.
They work perfectly together because Daniel identifies the missing pieces or important details and Armand gives context, history, and connection, which is surprising for his character. There is an innate predictability in the way they talk, which hints at past dm as much as everything else, but this level of subconscious intimacy is fascinating.
romaincrisis
