Dueling immediate instincts: worry about Louis, whose move away from him to make himself less offensive is painful to see. He hopes, for a strained heartbeat, that Lestat will notice and understand. See that Louis is fucking scared of him. But it doesn't happen, Lestat goes on, and the pause from Daniel after is awful. I own the night, out into the world, but after a mental asskicking from Armand, Louis is like this against his maker's bad mood.

The second instinct is to get in his face about it. Bark back and argue. Daniel is never afraid when he should be, and he isn't afraid of Lestat, even though he's very aware of what the vampire is capable of. He shoved a hand into Armand's stupid psychic nuke, he'll stand between Lestat and Louis, he doesn't give a fuck.

Neither despair nor hostility are going to work. Think about it. (Thinking hurts.)

"You're right."

Well. Sort of. Maybe. Close enough that Daniel is going to give it to him in hopes of de-escalation. Please see you're scaring Louis. Please care about it. For fuck's sake.

"I did hope for never, because I didn't want anything to happen. And you know that Louis coming here, with me and you, specifically, has been about safety. Armand is something he and I are still fucking processing and it's just been really hard. Maybe we aren't making the best decisions about it. And since I'm sure you were eavesdropping - which we're taking a whatever on, it's fine - you know we know that."