Jaime Lannister (AU) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
princetonprince) wrote2012-05-29 03:46 pm
princetonprince) wrote2012-05-29 03:46 pm
(no subject)
Jaime Lannister, when he walks into the bar where we're meeting, could be any high-powered businessman off the street, in for a late drink with a colleague, except for the deep, enticing black of his eyes. He pauses a moment by the door, then walks through as easily as any sighted person, joining me at the bar. His gray suit and the barest flecks of gray in his blonde hair make him look distinguished, but the faint scars around his eyes do as much to make him look dangerous as the eyes themselves.
After being blinded in April of last year, he resigned as CFO of his family's company, Lannister Innovative Technologies, and withdrew from the public eye to recover. In March, he resurfaced as a new vampire, when he famously spent his first night tearing through New York City, smelling people. In June, he agreed to sit down with me, looking better than ever -- and apparently feeling it too. The Lannister charisma is famous; Jaime's twin sister, First Lady Cersei Lannister, is widely credited with securing the election of her husband, Robert Baratheon, to president. Tonight, the charm was turned up to eleven, and it's easy to see how someone unprepared would be helpless to it.
So what about your family? How did your wife and children take it?
I talked it over with them. My younger two children were too little to understand, I think, so we explained it to them in the simplest terms possible. I thoroughly discussed it with my wife [Tamara Drawdes-Lannister] first, and we weighed the pros and cons together. My first priority in this decision was my family, and we decided the benefits outweighed the risks. My oldest just thought the idea was amazingly cool, and once the younger were assured that I would still be around and that I'd still be the same person, they were comfortable with it. We keep in touch by cell phone so I can speak to them or know when I need to go home. That took a few weeks to get used to, just like everything else, but we're doing pretty well now. I end up mediating a lot of arguments by text message.
Text message?
I have Siri on my phone. It works pretty well, Siri is a lot less clumsy than most of the specifically blind-accessible phones out there.
And what about your siblings? How did your father react?
I told them all in advance, of course, and took their feelings into consideration. My brother [Dr. Tyrion Lannister, of Doctors Without Borders] promised to support me no matter what my decision was, and that he knew I'd make the right choice, whatever that was for me. My sister asked me to consider how it would affect the whole family, but was otherwise supportive. My father...well, I don't want to air dirty laundry.
So he didn't take it well?
He's never really understood the complexities of the vampire issue.
Tell us about those complexities. What are the legal implications of your new status?
Well, I think legally I'm not married to my wife anymore, and she could remarry if she wanted. Marriage vows end at death, and...well. [He chuckles.] But as far as I know she has no plans to do so, and I'm still legally the father of my children and financially responsible for them, which seems like an odd contradiction to me. I'm eternally grateful for my circumstances, because if I were any middle-class, working American, and my wife so chose, I could end up financially responsible for myself plus her, three children, and a new husband, and facing the kind of discrimination vampires face in this country, and trying to adjust to a new type of life? I'm not sure it would be possible and I don't see how that's fair, whatever else you might say of vampires.
What's it like, being a new vampire?
It's...a little like being a baby, to be honest. [Laugh.] With the exception of diaper changes, pretty much everything a baby needs, a newborn vampire needs. It's hard to tell when I'm hungry, so I need to drink on a schedule. I don't sleep through the day. It's tough sometimes, but it's a lot easier living with the person who turned me.
Speaking of which, there must be a story there. How did you come to be turned?
Well, I'd been friends with Eric Northman for awhile.
[Interrupting] Friends or friends? Your reputation with men is pretty famous.
[Laughing.] Just friends. We met through some mutual business contacts, friend of a friend of a friend sort of things. When I was blinded about a year ago, he saw that it was hard for me, so he offered, saying it might mitigate my loss, that I'd be able to navigate the world more easily with other senses compensating. I didn't accept right away, of course, and he gave me all the time I needed to get everything in order, discuss it with my family, make sure I was ready. Well, as ready as I could be. I don't think anyone can ever be truly ready.
What was your first night as a vampire like?
It was...[He pauses for a long time, looking pensive.] Overwhelming. It still is, sometimes.
And what's it like being a blind vampire?
It's...different. It's not like being sighted, but it's not like being a blind human, either. At the risk of inviting bat comparisons, I have a kind of echolocation. I can tell where people are by the sounds of breathing and heartbeats. I know where I am by sounds bouncing off walls, my hearing is better so I can tell what's going on in a room without needing to see it. I still have my cane, but I don't think I've used it in months.
One last one before we go: what's your favorite blood type?
[Laugh.] Honestly I don't think I've settled on one yet, it all tastes good to me. But I can tell you my favorite Tru Blood flavor is O positive.
[ full page pictures, embedded with the caption "Jaime as a human in September 2010" ]
After being blinded in April of last year, he resigned as CFO of his family's company, Lannister Innovative Technologies, and withdrew from the public eye to recover. In March, he resurfaced as a new vampire, when he famously spent his first night tearing through New York City, smelling people. In June, he agreed to sit down with me, looking better than ever -- and apparently feeling it too. The Lannister charisma is famous; Jaime's twin sister, First Lady Cersei Lannister, is widely credited with securing the election of her husband, Robert Baratheon, to president. Tonight, the charm was turned up to eleven, and it's easy to see how someone unprepared would be helpless to it.
So what about your family? How did your wife and children take it?
I talked it over with them. My younger two children were too little to understand, I think, so we explained it to them in the simplest terms possible. I thoroughly discussed it with my wife [Tamara Drawdes-Lannister] first, and we weighed the pros and cons together. My first priority in this decision was my family, and we decided the benefits outweighed the risks. My oldest just thought the idea was amazingly cool, and once the younger were assured that I would still be around and that I'd still be the same person, they were comfortable with it. We keep in touch by cell phone so I can speak to them or know when I need to go home. That took a few weeks to get used to, just like everything else, but we're doing pretty well now. I end up mediating a lot of arguments by text message.
Text message?
I have Siri on my phone. It works pretty well, Siri is a lot less clumsy than most of the specifically blind-accessible phones out there.
And what about your siblings? How did your father react?
I told them all in advance, of course, and took their feelings into consideration. My brother [Dr. Tyrion Lannister, of Doctors Without Borders] promised to support me no matter what my decision was, and that he knew I'd make the right choice, whatever that was for me. My sister asked me to consider how it would affect the whole family, but was otherwise supportive. My father...well, I don't want to air dirty laundry.
So he didn't take it well?
He's never really understood the complexities of the vampire issue.
Tell us about those complexities. What are the legal implications of your new status?
Well, I think legally I'm not married to my wife anymore, and she could remarry if she wanted. Marriage vows end at death, and...well. [He chuckles.] But as far as I know she has no plans to do so, and I'm still legally the father of my children and financially responsible for them, which seems like an odd contradiction to me. I'm eternally grateful for my circumstances, because if I were any middle-class, working American, and my wife so chose, I could end up financially responsible for myself plus her, three children, and a new husband, and facing the kind of discrimination vampires face in this country, and trying to adjust to a new type of life? I'm not sure it would be possible and I don't see how that's fair, whatever else you might say of vampires.
What's it like, being a new vampire?
It's...a little like being a baby, to be honest. [Laugh.] With the exception of diaper changes, pretty much everything a baby needs, a newborn vampire needs. It's hard to tell when I'm hungry, so I need to drink on a schedule. I don't sleep through the day. It's tough sometimes, but it's a lot easier living with the person who turned me.
Speaking of which, there must be a story there. How did you come to be turned?
Well, I'd been friends with Eric Northman for awhile.
[Interrupting] Friends or friends? Your reputation with men is pretty famous.
[Laughing.] Just friends. We met through some mutual business contacts, friend of a friend of a friend sort of things. When I was blinded about a year ago, he saw that it was hard for me, so he offered, saying it might mitigate my loss, that I'd be able to navigate the world more easily with other senses compensating. I didn't accept right away, of course, and he gave me all the time I needed to get everything in order, discuss it with my family, make sure I was ready. Well, as ready as I could be. I don't think anyone can ever be truly ready.
What was your first night as a vampire like?
It was...[He pauses for a long time, looking pensive.] Overwhelming. It still is, sometimes.
And what's it like being a blind vampire?
It's...different. It's not like being sighted, but it's not like being a blind human, either. At the risk of inviting bat comparisons, I have a kind of echolocation. I can tell where people are by the sounds of breathing and heartbeats. I know where I am by sounds bouncing off walls, my hearing is better so I can tell what's going on in a room without needing to see it. I still have my cane, but I don't think I've used it in months.
One last one before we go: what's your favorite blood type?
[Laugh.] Honestly I don't think I've settled on one yet, it all tastes good to me. But I can tell you my favorite Tru Blood flavor is O positive.
[ full page pictures, embedded with the caption "Jaime as a human in September 2010" ]
