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Ok to start this out I’d like to clarify a few things. I know that the general consensus right now after everything major seems to have blown over is that us internet goobers should probably back off and stop milking the situation for clout. There are serious allegations involved in this, genuine victims who have been seriously affected by the situation, and out of respect it’s best to leave it alone and stop talking about it. And I get that totally, honestly I agree. Now that no shit is currently hitting the fan it feels gross, exploitative, and just plain disrespectful to keep blabbering about it all. But truly, that’s not what I’m trying to do here. I’m not going to insert my opinion where it’s not needed or give my commentary about what everyone else has already given their commentary on, it’s not necessary.
Everything has already been said many, many times. What I’m here to do is create an objective and easy to follow narrative of all that’s happened, for the sake of informing those who don’t fully understand wtf is happening and want to know for their peace of mind (because really, it’s insanely complex). I’ve noticed there’s tons of former fans of Lestat as well as fans of the smaller creators involved who want to better understand the situation and need an explanation that can inform their opinions about these creators that aren't colored by other internet vulture’s commentary.
I know because that was me before digging into this and collecting my research. I was a HUGE fan of TVL, like huge. I had a stan account on Twitter and I tracked all his tours so I could go to as many concerts as financially and humanly possible. I was his biggest fan, and hearing all these jumbled accounts and slanders about him confused and upset me. I just wanted to know the truth, so I found the truth, by digging through as many sources as I could, and now I’m here to deliver it all to you. Fans of Lestat, fans of the others, or simply confused internet users with no part in this who just wanna know wtf everyone’s screaming about, I hope you find this useful, and I hope it helps you sort out all the complicated you’re probably having.
Once again, I'm trying to make this as objective as possible, though I may fumble a bit since as I’ve said I am very emotionally invested in the drama. So if I do come off as biased in any of my descriptions please dm me and let me know. Despite my passion for journalism I’m not a professional and prone to mistakes. Of course, my heart goes out to the victims and anyone else who was hurt by all this. And as a general disclaimer please do not harass any of the people I’ll be discussing here, it’s not helpful and I don’t want to be responsible for any harassment, no matter who it’s directed towards. So with that out of the way let’s get into it.
Everything you need to know about “Millenia-Gate” aka the shitshow that got The Vampire Lestat canceled, a comprehensive guide by TalamascaReeves
Potentially, the wildest thing about Millenia-Gate is how humbly it began. It all kicked off because of an innocent, well intentioned anonymous Tumblr ask on a somewhat niche but still successful online artist’s blog. The artist went simply by “Armand” on YouTube, XXarmandXX on Twitter, Armandxthevampirex on Tiktok (where he had his largest following), and Armand1481 on Tumblr. He was known in the art community for his unique artistic style of highly disturbing and dark religious themes combined with a cartoony and bouncy art style that made his work very strange but captivating. His aesthetic was highly recognizable, which was helpful for his popularity, since consistency in brand tends to help online artists grow as creators.
Armand worked in a lot of mediums, claymation and hand drawn animation his most prevalent, but he also occasionally posted his unique outfit designs to his platform. Armand was assumed to be a fashion designer offline (and a rather successful one considering he seems to have money), and when he posted his work to his TikTok he did numbers. His style of editing quick transitions between a concept sketch for a dress or a suit to the finished product appealed a lot to TikTok’s algorithm, and combined with his gothic and edgy style of design, he went viral a handful of times. This series of videos are what Armand was most known for before Millenia-Gate, and if you were mostly unfamiliar with Armand’s art before all this you likely have scrolled past one of his fashion designs while browsing Tiktok at some point or another.
He seemed an unlikely creator to start something like this from the point of view of someone coming across his account without much knowledge of the person behind it. He was popular but not hugely popular, and he rarely spoke in his videos or showed his face. A drama of this scale being linked to him seemed unfathomable. And yet, on October 10th of 2022, all hell broke loose.
“Hey Armand, I love your art! I have a sort of offbeat question, just bcus I can’t stop wondering about it fsr, ig bcus I always found it a lil weird how you never addressed it”, began an anonymous tumblr user, who we'll just call Anon. “I’ve been following you for a long time, ever since I saw you featured on PainteroftheMillenia’s channel, when I was around your age at the time, and I remember you used to go by Amadeo? And I'm just curious why you changed it? Changing your name online isn’t that interesting but with you I'm super curious, maybe bcus you’ve been so cryptic ever since the change. It’s like you're a different person now, not that I’m complaining. I think you’ve improved a lot as Armand, and I honestly prefer your style now. I just wonder what happened there? Thanks, and if u don’t wanna talk about it no problem, I get u don’t rlly talk about urself online anymore, which is probably smart lol.”
For some context, a fact about Armand little known by his audience at the time of the ask is that his beginnings as a creator were pretty out of the ordinary. As a very young teenager, he debuted online as an artist at fifteen when he was featured heavily on the YouTube channel of the man dubbed “the father of art-tube” PainteroftheMillenia, or Marius, as he’s generally called. Marius’s channel was pretty large by art community standards back when Armand, then known as Amadeo as Anon references, was a regular on it. Marius was popularized for his Bob Ross-esc mannerisms and internet presence. He was soft spoken and gentle, “fatherly”. He made relaxing art content, often time-lapses of his work on extremely detailed and impressive renaissance style paintings. His most popular videos however were constructive criticisms of art submitted by his young fans, meant to help them grow as artists.
In 2014 Amadeo submitted his art to be criticized through Marius’s discord server, and his work was then featured on his channel. Marius was blown away by the young artist's piece, since it so resembled the 1500s paintings that Marius admired. He barely criticized the painting, instead he praised it extensively. It can be inferred that the two of them formed a relationship through discord because of this, and within the year Amadeo became a regular on Marius’s channel. The two would collaborate for the art criticism videos, and Amadeo became beloved by Marius’s audience. His quick wit and relatable teen temperament contrasted with Marius’s stern but kind fatherly manner was compelling to a lot of people, and their dynamic was considered very enjoyable to watch by art fans and average internet users alike.
Amadeo drew in more followers for PainteroftheMillenia, and there were a handful of years, up until Amadeo was nearing eighteen, that it was known as their channel together. And then one day, Amadeo stopped appearing on the channel for good. He slowly phased out of the content, until eventually he was never seen on PainteroftheMillenia again. It wasn’t a huge thing, since when this phasing out began PainteroftheMillenia had gradually been losing popularity, a spark had been lost between Marius and Amadeo, their dynamic wasn’t as fun to watch anymore, so they’d been gradually losing fans anyway. Not many people batted an eye when Amadeo was gone, and fans were back to just Marius. Amadeo was of course getting older and branching out, so it wasn’t unusual that he would grow out of his schtick with Marius. And then of course, Armand’s channel sprung up, recognizably the same person, but with no acknowledgment of Marius or Amadeo. Some of Amadeo’s dedicated fans, like Anon, stook around, but most of Armand’s fan base were new fans who were interested in his unique artistic vision. Armand’s art was strikingly different then Amadeo’s or Marius’s, so audiences didn’t often overlap
Armand’s audience were not the type generally who cared a lot about the person behind the account. They followed for the art, not the person, and his fan base wasn’t big enough to obsess over his personal life. So this ask came off as very strange and incomprehensible to a good chunk of his audience who weren't aware of Armand’s history with Marius. The notes on the ask were filled with whats and huhs and “I had no idea about this?” The fact that Armand responded at all was a shock in itself, this ask was not the first of its kind, plenty of ppl had questioned Armand about his personal life or his beginnings, it’s the internet after all. But it was the first question of the nature that Armand had ever acknowledged, potentially because of its kind and non-confrontational tone. Armand likely felt comfortable and non threatened responding to Anon, which is slightly sad imo considering what ended up ensuing.
Armand responded, “Amadeo isn’t who I am anymore. When I started to form my own internet presence I wanted it to be true to the person I felt I was, and that person was not Amadeo. I didn’t want to be associated with him any longer so I changed my name on all my socials. Amadeo (the name) is also linked to a lot of bad memories for me, and it was used by people who hurt me, to the point where hearing it is triggering for me. So I don’t wish to be called it, I’m only Armand now. Armand has brought with it its own scars, but it’s also brought many pleasures. Most importantly Armand belongs to me. Amadeo never felt like it belonged to me, it was representative of what others wanted of me. Never again. If you remember me as Amadeo, purge him from your mind. Scrub him from your eyes when you look upon me if need be so that you don’t see that boy when you see me. Thank you.”
Of course, this sent Armand’s following into a riot. Screenshots of the ask were quickly spread to Armand’s other platforms. His fan base rapidly went from a group of people who didn’t care much for Armand’s personal life to a mob of investigators, digging for videos from the 2014-2017 range in their search for answers explaining the cryptic and ominous nature of Armand’s response. Naturally, the word grooming started to get thrown around, but not with much substance or fire, it was only a rumor, one that would spring up naturally when it comes to the discovery of an unusual online partnership between a man in his 40s and a 15 year old child.
Unsurprisingly, Armand’s vague and unnerving claims of trauma associated with the name Amadeo certainly fueled these suspicions. Armand’s bizarre response became somewhat of a niche meme among the online art community, especially on Tiktok. Tiktok users began spamming Armand’s comment section with jokes along the lines of “Scrubbing my eyes rn fr I saw Amadeo for a moment there”. There were the people who were genuinely concerned of course, and the people who just liked to stir the pot and spill the tea. Eventually the matter divulged into a discourse that no longer centered around Armand, and was more concerned over whether or not it was appropriate to speculate about grooming when no victim has come forward, or whether or not it was exploitive. With that Armand was quickly forgotten in the heat, and Tiktok did what Tiktok does with discourse, buzzed over it for a while before quickly forgetting it and moving on to something else. It was assumed that Armand’s fan base would move on and return to normal, since Armand hadn’t acknowledged the discourse, until of course, he did.
“You are so fucking fake” began Tumblr user xxxxCHILDOFDARKNESSxxxx, who’s first and most dire mistake in sending Armand an ask was choosing to not do it anonymously. “I used to follow you because I rembered you from ArtistoftheMillenia and I thought you were talented but I unfollowed after all this dumb shit drama started bcus I realized how fucking obnoxious you are as a person. First of all, “UWU pwease don’t call me Amadeo it twiggers my twauma :(“ what a load of bullshit. Trauma my fucking ass, the internet has rotted your brain like all the other fake asf chronically online ass people and made you believe you have tRaUmA, No. You got an opportunity any young artist would kill for being featured on a big YouTubers channel and all u can think to do is whine and be ungrateful bcus UWU my trauma WAAAAH. Makes my fucking blood boil. I don’t see what was so fucking traumatizing for you, getting to learn from one of the most talented artists of our age? What the fuck kind of trauma is that? And putting aside that bullshit, the way you talk and write is INFURIATING. It’s SO clearly fake that it makes me want to throw up from embarrassment. You talk like some pseudo gothic cringy emo kid who wants to come off as deep and smart and uses words like “purge” on fucking tumblr and talks in a forced monotone voice so ppl think ur more interesting then u actually r. CUT THAT SHIT OUT, everyone can tell it’s an act and it’s so embarrassing. And yes I’m choosing not to be anonymous for this bcus now you can’t shame me for being a coward and sending anon hate. I don’t give a fuck if u know who I am and your fans harass me, I don’t give a fuck. That’s how much you piss me off.”
Little did xxxxCHILDOFDARKNESSxxxx know how sensitive the nerves they were poking truly were. Their ask was so vicious and so keenly attacked some of Armand’s deepest wounds that the response that ensued was one of pure acid. Fans of Armand’s who had only ever seen his (as xxxxCHILDOFDARKNESSxxxx puts it) monotone demeanor were shocked by his reaction.
“The world would be improved if you just fucking killed yourself now and did us all a favor by PURGING society of the useless waste of space and air that you are, you anti intellectual dog shit, you pollute culture and you pollute art. You are nothing. Your inability to analyze anything beyond the most baseline surface level shit that is right in front of you is dispicable, you fucking idiot. Your idiocy shocks me. Marius did give me wonderful opportunities but he also GROOMED ME, and I mean so very literally, he sexually exploited me and abused me. You are an idiot to believe that you understand the whole situation just by the glimpse you saw of us on the internet. Also, I’d like you to know that I’m fucking autistic, and the reason I seem “fake” to you (are you twelve years old? I wouldn’t be surprised) is because my autism makes me speak and behave in ways people find unnatural or forced. I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you. I wish I could kill you myself but unfortunately you live quite far away from me and I’m too busy to book a flight. However, someone else could always do it for me.” At this point Armand wrote out xxxxCHILDOFDARKNESSxxxx’s address, which I’m not going to repeat because doxing is illegal. “Lock your doors you stupid cunt.” Armand concluded, leaving the internet in shambles, officially activating the most batshit insane internet drama of the year.
“OMFG” - “Ok so Armand came forward as a victim and exposed Marius for grooming him” - “like we hoped he would” - “but he also DOXXED SOMEONE in the process??” - “Instantly undoing his credibility???” - “WTF IS HAPPENING?!?!?” raved Tumblr user -Dumpsterfroggstud- in the tags of Armand’s notorious ask, reflecting the shock that everyone was feeling.
“Remember guys,” began tumblr user BleedingBuTTch in a post of her own within the hour the ask was posted, “Always believe victims first. Just because Armand made some. Um. choices here doesn’t undo the validity of the allegations he’s making. Just bcus a victim does bad shit themselves doesn’t make them less of a victim, and it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take them seriously.”
“It’s always ‘believe victims’ until a victim isn’t being perfect and picturesque and actually has unglamorous trauma or a cluster b disorder that you can’t infantilize or fetishize.” Lamented TranszillaGod when they reblogged BleedingBuTTch’s post.
“WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT HE LITERALLY DOXXED SOMEONE ARE WE GOING INSANE??” retorted Twinkkyslutbagg in a reblog of his own.
And yes, Tumblr was indeed going insane. The discourse was astronomical, it was all the artists of tumblr were talking about for a week, followers of Armand or otherwise. Of course the raving reached Armand’s other platforms, Twitter, Tiktok, YouTube, and his comments and dms were rapidly flooded with desperate and confused questions by fans and drama fiends alike.
“Why the f is anyone taking anything he’s saying seriously?” questioned N1lovergirll in her Twitter post reacting to the chaos. “He literally doxxed someone,, like. Shouldn’t that be an indication of how much of an unstable person he is? Am I just an asshole?”
“Yes, yes you are.” Replied teranasourousBob. “We believe victims (even those who are bad people)” asserted catgurlfreaksterrr.
“Omg guys I DMd Armand asking him about what tf is happening and he actually responded holy shi-” exclaimed Twitter user TBOydogmA, sharing a screenshot of a private conversation he conducted with Armand. “Hey I’m so sorry to bother you.” Began TBOydogmA in the screenshot. “Just me and a lot of people are really confused over what you said about PainteroftheMillenia.. A lot of us are fans or former fans of his and we want to know more so we can decide how to proceed. I’m so sorry you went through that and I want to better support you, but I don’t know how to do that with your radio silence. Are you going to make a post clarifying maybe? Or make a video? Of course you don’t owe us anything but I think it might be helpful to you and your audience (+ Marius’s audience) if you did.”
Armand’s reply was cryptic but illuminating. “I have to come forward with the truth, it’s been long overdue. The people need to know what He did to me. 6:00 pm est time, alert the others, prepare. He is over.” In the screenshot, not eliciting an answer, TBOydogmA simply replied, “Ok wow.”
https://nightcolorz.tumblr.com/private/722685467571732480/tumblr_5FX7Nt4qlX1yRB4oO
“Jesus Christ WTF.” commented ChrunkyMilkers, eloquently summarizing most everyone’s feelings.
Armand’s audience, Marius’s audience, and nearly the entire art community (at least the members invested in online drama) waited with baited breath for 6:00 pm est time to arrive. Armand posted a video to his YouTube channel scheduled to air at 6:00pm as promised, and the clock ticked from 6:00 am est, leaving his fans waiting for a full 12:00 hours. “The End of PainteroftheMillenia”, the video was titled. “Theater kid ass drama queen” read a YouTube comment left by spikybiotcha at 10:00 am est.
Meanwhile, PainteroftheMillenia was rapidly losing subs as he got bombarded with questions and hate. He hadn’t posted a video since the first allegation, which wasn’t unusual for him. Marius discontinued his criticism videos when Armand left his channel so all his videos were extremely high effort, because they all involved showing off his long extensive painting process. Marius usually only posted every 3-6 months at least, so low activity from him didn’t stick out as odd. However, he was noticeably silent on his other socials, Twitter and Facebook, where he was usually known to post every thought that entered his brain. Marius hadn’t posted once since the original Anon, though he was liking posts as usual on Twitter, which indicated that he was still active on social media but choosing to stay silent and under the radar.
A long 12 hours of arguably tasteless memes about the situation, fiery arguments about whether or not the arguably tasteless memes were appropriate when concerning grooming allegations, incoherent and unhinged morality debates, and speculative “discussions” about the people involved ensued. “I seriously think he’s trying to make a spectacle out of his own grooming.” commented chunkychunkchunk0.0 at 3:00 pm est. “That’s gotta be a symptom of smth.” replied reeeeeeee30000 at 3:13 pm est. “He’s so me” inserted BrattyRatty at 3:14 pm est.
It took a solid 10 minutes for the premiere to load because of the sheer amount of people crowded onto the video waiting with bated breaths to hear what Armand had to say. After a frenzied 10 minutes of internet users spamming omfg, Jesus Christ, fml, and where is he??, in the chat, Armand appeared on screen.
He sat in a black void background, back straight, incredibly stark, on a flashy gothic throne that must’ve cost months of my paycheck. He held a tall glass of red wine in his right hand, and in his left a pristine white iPad. He was dressed to impress, in an elegant blood red suit. His curly red hair was glossy with product, and he had a full face of makeup done. It was certainly a choice for a video of this nature. The chat instantly erupted into hysterics.
“OK BUT WHY AM I LIVING FOR THIS????” wrote /// missqueeen/// not even ten seconds into the video. For fifteen seconds Armand sat on his throne unmoving, staring straight ahead with his unnervingly wide brown eyes, wearing a plain black mask over the lower half of his face. This wasn’t unusual in the slightest. Armand rarely if ever appeared in his modern content, the most that was seen of him was the occasional voice over or self portrait. And as Amadeo he was known to wear a similar plain black mask over the lower half of his face when he appeared on PainteroftheMillenia. So this was expected. What wasn’t expected, however, was for Armand to (after the 15 second mark) remove his mask, blink, take a long gulp of red wine, and continue to look straight into the camera. It was now visible to the chat that Armand was also wearing blood red lipstick. “SHIT JUST GOT FUCKING SERIOUS” exclaimed bosssbooty00, echoing the gravity and drama Armand certainly intended for his audience to feel.
“Hi.” Armand said simply, once again, the crowd went wild. Armand noticeably had a very thick Ukrainian accent, which is something long ago noticed by his audience, but still struck me as I watched his video. He also talked with a remarkably similar tone of voice to his online posts. He was monotone and his voice carried an airy and vague quality, as if he was constantly drifting in and out of a dream. He conducted himself as strict and objective in his video, so it appeared like he was actively trying to correct this vague quality of his. It seemed like he was deepening his voice a bit along with this. “If you’re watching this I expect you understand the situation at hand. If you don’t, please try to keep up. I’m not here to do preamble or introductions. I’m here to give facts and evidence.” Armand began.
“When I was fifteen I discovered Marius, or PainteroftheMillenia’s channel, through a..” Armand noticeably faltered. “A friend. I greatly admired Marius’s art, it resembled what I desired to achieve with my own. My family and my church praised me for my artistic talent, and I almost exclusively painted portraits of religious figures, icons. When I realized I was capable of submitting my art to Marius with the chance of it appearing on his channel I was elated. I submitted an older painting that I was quite proud of that I had done of Jesus Christ in the style of icons of the past. I was even more elated when I was then featured on his channel.” Armand appeared distracted for a moment, his large eyes glazed over, he blinked. “I remember exactly what he said to me, to this day.
Marius said: “When I saw this piece I couldn’t believe my own eyes when I read that the artist was thirteen years old when he painted it. Looking upon this I’m so indescribably happy that there are still young artistic prodigy’s being born who will make the masterpieces of the future. It’s like I’ve come across a young Botticelli! In fact, speaking of Botticelli, the only criticism I can think of to give you little Amadeo is to put some love into these paintings of yours. I’m of course overcome by His beauty here, but I also feel an acute sense of dread that I can’t place. I enjoy art that makes me feel overcome with joy, not dread. And I feel that if you worked with joy you could make something truly spectacular.”
Armand gave a long, drawn out, exhausted sigh. He mumbled something quietly, the closed captions clarifying that his words were: “I can not believe it’s come to this.” He shook his head. “I had never experienced joy as I did when I heard those words. It took me a very long time to decipher what he had said exactly since I knew very little English, only having recently immigrated to the US from Ukraine, so I replayed his message over and over again until I felt I had made out the entire meaning. Instantly I went to my canvases and painted furiously, not of Christ or the saints, but of myself. I painted myself with as much vigor and love as if I were indeed a saint, and when I was finished I grinned and wrote Amadeo in bold sloppy child’s lettering in the left corner, signed as if it was my name. I hadn’t known what it meant at that moment, but I knew I liked the ring of it in Marius’s mouth, and that I wanted to speak to him immediately so that I could show him my painting. I went to discord and I contacted Marius. So was my trust in him, I attempted no English nor Italian, and instead wrote to him in my frenzied native Ukrainian. He wrote me back in the same tongue, and he praised my painting in such a way that made me feel jittery and hot. “Beautiful, just as the boy it represents.” He wrote to me.”
With this Armand slowly opened his IPad and turned its screen to face us. On it appeared discord screenshots displaying all he described. In the corner edited was a clearer view of the screenshots. Armand closed the IPad and continued. “We spoke of my art and Marius’s thoughts on it. I soon learned the meaning of Amadeo. ‘Lover of God’, he told me I was. This made me uncomfortable.” Armand paused to take a very long gulp of red wine. “I was facing a crisis of faith at the time. Some unspeakably awful things had happened to me, many men had been cruel to me. I wondered what God could allow such things to happen to his children, especially his children such as I, so devoted to him as I was. It was a difficult time. Marius’s descriptions of me as godly made me feel a profound sadness and helplessness. I told him as much. He ignored me.”
Armand shrugged, breaking his straight posture. His voice when he spoke was noticeably less rigid, a bit wobbly. The chat raved about how he was likely starting to get tipsy from the wine. Some users commented on how he’d potentially be incoherent and drunk by the end of the video. Armand continued, “I don’t think he ever knew my real name. I don’t believe he cared actually. I was Amadeo from then on.”
“Ever since then Marius and I spoke over discord every day and every night. That first night I knew him I didn’t sleep a moment, my eyes were glued to my screen. The next night I had to explain to him that I needed to sleep, and he begrudgingly wished me a good night. I was utterly consumed by him, during the most vulnerable time in my life Marius was my.. everything. He was like a blinding beam of light in my dreary cold world. School was torturous. I was a disabled immigrant, needless to say I was bullied relentlessly. I could barely speak a sentence of English let alone defend myself. After a long school day of being mistreated and misunderstood, by demeaning special education teachers who talked down to me like a toddler and my awful bullies who chased and screamed at me, making bets to see who could get me to cry first, coming home and speaking with Marius was..special. He knew my heart and my passions in a way no one ever had, and he loved them. He loved me. I poured out my entire self to him, and he listened with gentleness and patience. And then he’d tell me I was wonderful, I was intelligent, I was beautiful. It was addicting.”
Armand pulled his IPad out once again in the same manner as before and displayed screenshots of Marius praising him, calling him beautiful once again, as he described. “It didn’t take long for him to ask.. favors of me, not long at all. A week perhaps passed when he asked me to video call. I agreed eagerly. I can still feel my heart fluttering as it did then now, I remember so vividly. I wanted to hear those kind words come from his mouth, the praises. My stomach flipped just thinking about it. When the video call loaded and we came face to face I remember I started to giggle ridiculously. I saw my face and it was pure red. I was dreadfully embarrassed. Marius began to laugh too, and his laugh was deep and powerful. It reverberated right in my gut. My face got redder.
“You know I love that color.” Marius said to me, in choppy and imperfect Ukrainian. I took a deep breath to steady myself. “What?” I stuttered. “Red.” Marius gestured to my face, “I love red. It’s my color.” I nearly choked on my giggles. “Oh!” I said, between laughs.
Marius’s eye’s followed me like he was afraid to miss something, tracking my movements so intensely that I felt exposed. And uncomfortable.” Armand paused to take another one of his long gulps of wine. It was at this point that some viewers began to suspect that he was playing some sort of absurd drinking game, taking a sip of wine every time he mentions feeling uncomfortable because of Marius. “He should be going to a fking therapist not making a video.” summarized DisastrousDisasterDude in the chat.
“Marius and I began to make some awkward conversation. At least it was awkward for me, he seemed entirely at ease. He asked me of my day and of my mood, I told him it was ok. He pried a bit, and I confided to him that my day truthfully wasn’t good, as usual. Kids were mean at school. I doodled during lunch and someone stole my drawings and crumbled up my paper. I didn’t understand the assignments that day because I couldn’t read English, and I got so frustrated I cried. My siblings and parents were all busy after school, so I was alone. I wanted to hug my mom but I couldn’t, and I was scared, alone in my dark and quiet apartment. I was worried someone was going to break in.
As I confided all this Marius listened with his usual gentle patience, and I started to gradually feel at ease speaking to him, as I did when I messaged him over discord. This was Marius and I knew him, I trusted him. There was no reason to feel nervous or awkward. But my jitters were still present, uncontrollable as they were, and I started to feel uncomfortable.” Armand took a small sip of wine. “Physically, as I was drenched in sweat.” Armand shrugged. “I was a pubescent boy after all. In fact I believe I began puberty that year.
Marius noticed. He saw how red I still was, and he saw me fidgeting and wiping the sweat droplets off my forehead. I still remember the way his eyes narrowed as he zeroed in on his prey. He chose to lure me in first.
“There’s no need to be scared.” He reassured me, “I’m here.” I giggled again, high pitched and surprised. “No you’re not!” I reasoned, with humor. “You’re so many hours away! You couldn’t do anything if somebody broke in and tried to hurt me.” At the thought I got quiet and a bit solemn.
Marius tilted his head and smiled playfully. “Mm..I have to disagree. If any man came through your door unwelcome they’d run screaming at the sight of my face on your screen.” I erupted into childish laughter. “What? Why would they do that?” I questioned. Marius gave another one of his playful smiles. “I can be very intimidating.” He said. I snorted. “I don’t believe you, you’re not scary at all. Be scary right now.” I challenged him, and he looked surprised though amused by my boldness. He sat there silently for a moment, as if he was puzzled over how to proceed, and then he shouted suddenly-making me roll my eyes. “That wasn’t scary at all.” I said, trying to hold back another wave of giggles. He grinned. “Well, some may think otherwise.” I couldn’t hold back my laughter at that.
I was rapidly starting to feel better, no longer paying any mind to the threats I believed lurked at every corner. Little did I know that the biggest threat was sitting at his desk at an art studio somewhere, watching me through my screen, making me giggle and blush.
“Are you hot?” He asked me after I had recovered from my laughter. “Um.” I was confused by his question. “Oh, I guess I’m just sweaty.” I shrugged. “It’s fine though.” Marius eyed me for a moment, putting on a performance of contemplation. “You could take your shirt off if you’d like.” He said, his tone casual and nonchalant. “You’d likely be more comfortable without it sticking to your skin like that.”
At his words I looked down at my t-shirt and noticed that it was indeed sticking to my skin because of the sweat, as if I’d been dunked in water. I was overcome with embarrassment. “Oh.” I said simply, feeling trapped and confused, uncomfortable.” Armand gulped down the rest of his wine rapidly, and took a moment to refill his glass, staring straight at the camera as he did so. “Marius continued to observe me with patience and gentleness. I didn’t know what to do, what to say. Marius filled in the silence for me.
“It’s alright Amadeo.” He reassured me, his voice so soft, non threatening. “It’s just me, right? You don’t need to feel awkward.” He chuckled a bit, as if it was nothing for him. “I just want you to feel comfortable, yes? I don’t want you sitting there all sticky and gross.” He smiled warmly.
From his tone you’d think I was a hurt animal who he was attempting to feed from his own hand. I didn’t want to take my shirt off, no matter my physical discomfort. As I mentioned earlier some terrible things had been done to me which were very recent at the time, and showing people my body, even at the pool or in the locker rooms, was something I wasn’t comfortable with at all. But I had a nagging desire to please Marius that wouldn’t leave me. I didn’t want to make him feel like I didn’t trust him, because I did, very much. And I wanted to be his friend, his equal. Someone he didn’t need to talk down to like a hurt puppy. I wanted his respect, but more severely I wanted his approval, and his praise. His love. I took my shirt off.
Once the cold air hit my bare skin I felt disgusting, like I wanted to throw up or cry. Horribly uncomfortable.” Armand threw his head back and took a long swig of wine. “But Marius just watched me with a benign smile. He feigned nonchalance, but I could see the hungry glint in his eyes, and I remember the way the sight made my stomach turn. And yet I also noticed the genuine crinkle of his eyes as he smiled, and the slight red tint to his cheeks that came with it, and that made me feel a bit better.
“There we go..” Marius said softly, his tone tripping with approval and adoration. A cold shiver went down my spine at that, and I giggled again, this time hesitantly and uncomfortably.” Armand drank, of course. “That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” Marius asked, his words teasing. I shook my head, blushing furiously, and I saw Marius’s eyes travel down to where the blush reached my chest.”
Armand paused for a long moment, another 15 seconds passed. He shook his head and sighed. “Marius asked nothing else of me for the remainder of that first video call. The more we spoke the more of me he asked.” Armand took a shuddering breath. “Within the year he’d seen every inch of my body. He said things to me that..no adult should ever say to a child.” He took a sip of wine. “I don’t have the screenshots or the evidence to prove this, though if I did I wouldn’t be able to show them to you all, since the distribution of CP is illegal. But Marius does. He told me he’d been recording our calls when I asked him years later, at seventeen. Of course he may no longer have those videos, if he’s smart he’ll likely delete them when he watches this video. And Marius is a very clever man. It’s why he never said such things to me over our written chats on discord, he knew text would be easier to document and prove than words spoken out loud.”
Armand sighed heavily again, he looked drained of energy. “By sixteen I was going to Marius’s studio and his house to meet him in person regularly. This is where we filmed the videos for his channel together, of course. Much of the same business occurred. Oftentimes he’d hit me, for discipline, as if he were my father, but also for sexual gratification.” Armand shrugged. “I lied to my parents about where I was going, and for a while they were none the wiser. It was only when I was seventeen that they began to pick up on my strange behavior and worsening mood, since as I got older my relationship with Marius began to get strained. As an older teenager I was more argumentative, harder to control. This is also when the beatings started.
Thankfully my parents decided to investigate, and they looked through my phone. They discovered my conversations with Marius and of course, alarm bells instantly went off. Marius was careful with our messages on discord, as I said, but not that careful. He had pet names for me. Angel, cherub, the religious themed ones were his favorite for me. My parents were able to infer what was happening easily enough.”
At this Armand displayed a multitude of screenshots, not explicitly sexual conversations but ones that certainly seemed to allude to such. One of which displayed a seventeen year old Armand seemingly trying to bait Marius into messaging him sexually by attempting seduction, to which Marius responded suggestively with “Be a good boy for me Cherub.”
Armand continued, “My parents reasonably banned me from speaking with or visiting Marius ever again. It’s why I stopped appearing on his channel. I was angry at first. I claimed we were in love.” Armand shook his head. For a moment he appeared overcome with emotion, his eyes glazing over as if filling with tears, but the moment quickly passed. “I believe that if my mother never intervened and helped me understand that what was happening between us was wrong, we might’ve still been together to this day. The thought makes me feel indescribably sick.”
Armand finished off the rest of his second glass of red wine with a single chug. “My parents were too poor to afford therapy for me. I felt so broken and alone in Marius’s wake. For years he’d been funding my art supplies, offering me support at every opportunity. I didn’t know how to survive without him. I was overcome with hopelessness. But through my own strength, and the support of my family, especially my mother, I endured. I picked myself up and I built my own career, my own life. And so Armand was born.
Marius when you watch this, as I’m sure you will, I hope that you feel even a quarter of the disgust for yourself that I feel for you. And I ask you..” At this Armand smiled widely, proudly. “Is red still your color? Because truthly I don’t believe it suits you. You’ve always seemed more like a bright orange type of person, to me at least. Or a beige guy. And red..” Armand shook his hair out so that it framed his face like fire blazing in the dark of his set. “Red compliments my eyes, and it matches my hair. Red is a powerful, strong color. And I’m a powerful, strong person. So..” Armand grinned even wider. “I’d like you to think on that, maybe consider investing in a bieger wardrobe, or a very skilled lawyer. See you in hell, Marius.”
And on that note, the screen went black. That was the end of The End of PainteroftheMillenia.
Discord screenshot implying sexual activity: https://nightcolorz.tumblr.com/private/722685642556997632/tumblr_XgHsyWp2pp6OaAK01