Armand - Evil Ver

literally wake up some nights in a cold sweat thinking about this

I need more wholesome Disco Elysium character interactions with kids.

I don't know how to explain this, I know its out of pocket and especially in this fandom, but listen:

Harry playing tag or hide and seek with a group of kids in the middle of an investigation as a way to distract them.

Trant carrying Mikael back to the car after he falls asleep during a party they attended.

This is very niche, but Jean becoming Cuno's guardian/tutor during his junior officer training (their dynamic is running around rent free in my head, like a sort of bedgruging uncle)

I think Kim doesn't like kids? I cannot remember, but regardless I have this image in my mind of him writing something in his notebook, a little shy kid peeking at it, Kim noticing and tilting it towards him to see 😭

Feel free to add or correct these ideas as you like!

Season 1 Claudia doodles

i terribly needed a distraction - and imma upload a timelapse of this in a few days once i check if i am truly content with the result

I think in the future Armand should continue to do his gaslighting, subtle manipulation, narrative weaving, scheming etc except over non-consequential things, and Daniel should just continue to unravel these threads, puzzles, mysteries, lies etc and it’s like foreplay for them.

they did not need to be making all those sounds in front of daniel at the dinner table

Thinking about how, whether he is conscious of it or not, Armand has already partially broken the cycle of abuse he was subjected to, simply by not turning Daniel when he was young.

The precise nature of Armand's very existence is a permanent reminder of what he was forced to live through, regardless of if he even has the ability to process the trauma in the first place. If he so much as catches his reflection out of the corner of his eye, he is reminded of the coveting and commodification of his youth and how the most innocent time of his life was weaponised against him. He is frozen there. His face looks so innocent because it creates a satisfying contrast with his actions narratively, but its also because he was. He was innocent. And that was stolen from him by selfish, greedy people who pretended their actions were out of love.

By letting Daniel go (assuming Devil's Minion era happened in the seventies), Armand protected him from this. Daniel experienced his entire youth and what it was like to age out of it without the fear of no longer having value like Armand did, and then came adulthood. He has lived to an age that Arun never could have dreamt of, that Amadeo was forced to realise, at one point, he would never experience, not in the human sense at least. He'll never have lines on his face like Daniel does. His worry lines and smile lines will never deepen. He won't develop crow's feet from squinting in the sun, which turned its back on him long ago anyway. His hair will never grey. Marius made certain of that.

But Daniel got to have all of that. His beloved got to live his life, fuck it up over and over and make a million mistakes. He had the freedom and the agency to do it. Armand will not see it, but he gave Daniel exactly what was taken from him so long ago. He is not just evil. He does not destroy everything. He gave Daniel the real gift, and now they get to move onto the next stage of Daniel's life together (after a couple seasons of slow burn I would imagine).

Just as he sees the tragedy of his past on his own face, he sees the potential he has to be different on Daniel's. He has immortalised true beauty in Daniel. The beauty of having lived a long life.

every time i see this i start jumping for joy genuinely

god has the face of your first love

late night sillies