The energy has calmed down after the necessary time spent on corpse-hiding, the ride back to the hotel, and the promise of direct access. (Lestat can't be blamed for his lack of cellphone when the one he was given didn't work as it should. Or didn't appear to. Certainly doesn't now, wherever it was abandoned in New Orleans.) He sits leaned forwards, his focus on the device.
"Bonsoir, mon cher," is as soft and dreamy as it always was, despite the amount of time it's been, despite the medium, despite Molloy's presence. Despite the book.
Or maybe a little bit because of Molloy's presence, because of the book. "Are we keeping you up?"
A strange overlap of voices, and the way he feels his heart lurch at Lestat's, the way his smile widens slightly at Daniel's.
"Hello, Lestat," a warm dip in tone that Louis is more conscious of, considering Daniel's presence on the line. "Hello, Daniel. It's only a few hours past dawn. I don't mind."
To say nothing of time spent awake while entertaining Daniel, before Daniel became a more nocturnal creature.
Louis rises from his seat, treading towards the windows as he asks, "And you two have been busy, I believe."
Something? It's inelegant. A monosyllabic mental sound that serves as a psychic squeeze to his shoulder that's meant to be supportive, and honestly, is probably as much bracing for Daniel as it is the other man. He didn't want to hide this from Louis, he just didn't know how to bring it up. He really was going to loop him in, and had hoped by then (tomorrow, maybe) that he'd have found a way to open that wasn't 'Okay before I tell you, you have to promise not to be mad.'
"Yeah, I got jumped," he says aloud. "Lestat showed up just in time. One that went down, dunno what became of him decisively but maybe dead, and a woman, Germanic-sounding, who fucked off. I got a phone off the male, and sent it in to be cloned and opened up. I should hear back about it tomorrow or the next night."
Lestat showed up just in time. He likes how that sounds, properly heroic, a flick of a glance to Daniel before setting his eyeline down on the phone again, as if this would be able to provide him with information.
No one tell him about video functionality.
Are they allowed to smoke in this hotel room? Lestat is retrieving his cigarettes regardless, hands going through the elegant motions of lighting up, a flicker of the fire gift lashing across the end. At that question, his smile twists wry, and he adds, "Being provocative, I've heard."
"I've extended an invitation to those who object to my collaboration with Daniel," Louis corrects, a precursor to the answer: "I had the pleasure of entertaining one of my detractors this evening."
How is he?
Oddly unsettled by the thought of the two of them in a room. The phone is a miracle of technology, but it is inadequate in this moment.
Louis turns from the skyline, the slants of sunlight, to look around once more. The new furniture, plush yellow upholsery, the flowering plant blooming on the table. The progress made in reorienting his home, reminding himself that he lives here.
Daniel and Lestat feel very far from this room.
"I'm unharmed," is the answer. "It was a short conversation."
Daniel raises his eyebrows, staring at the phone he's holding horizontal in his hand, as Lestat goes to violate the terms of the suite. (It's fine. Daniel has money now.) Louis breaking the news himself will help, hopefully.
A light speed snatching that might have caused some friction burn, and fine ash scatters into the air from the sudden displacement of Lestat, smoking his cigarette and sitting across the room to Lestat now right here, device stolen.
"Who?" is the first thing that manages to skip the queue of things he wants to say. Paces some strides away in case Daniel gets big ideas about whose phone this is. "Are they dead? Are you alright?"
Louis had answered that, yes, but maybe he's lying, and will now say the truth.
"What the fuck is the use of a private skyscraper in Dubai," an infinity away from him, Lestat, who saves people in the nick of time, c'est ridicule, "if you are telling everyone where you are?"
While Louis has grown adept at intuiting Daniel's questions, it turns out he needs more than a single word to operate from.
Lestat's voice, suddenly closer, louder. A rapid patter of questions that Louis absorbs, one hand settling across his chest, the other keeping the phone lifted to his mouth.
"They're sealed in a coffin, soon to be returned to whichever master they serve," Louis offers, submitting to the demand for information without objection. "I'm unharmed. As I said, it was a short conversation."
Rashid is overseeing the removal of a great deal of blood splatter in the hallway as they speak. It is hardly worth commentary.
"I prefer to invite the attention. I am well placed to receive our critics, while Daniel is touring."
Louis is older. He has been drinking from Armand for years. And he is responsible. Louis is the one who talked.
Clear and firm. Serious. Louis will be able to hear him through the phone, hear him in his head. Important to declare this, as 1) it is the truth and 2) he's not entirely sure about his continued safety if Lestat decides this means Daniel is at fault.
"In fact, I told you I was worried about you, and that I thought you should move. You said bye, and then like, thirty fucking seconds later, it was 'Fight Club at my exact address'."
His kids have done stuff like that before. Tantrums. Louis.
"Hey but— you should interrogate that guy, first."
The moment Daniel speaks up, fast, is punctuated with the remarkably elegant pivot of Lestat turning back to look at him. As if to ask, has he been in the wrong place, Daniel? But if he is asking that, if he had been, then this hasty amendment does something to convince Lestat that he would be the wrong man to ask.
Absorbs the rest. Takes a drag of his cigarette, and then sweeps a hand, like, exactly! at Daniel's question.
"And then also," with the kind of sarcasm that inserts a if I may provide some feedback,, "kill him, Louis. What are you worried for, that they will sentence you to a more concentrated death than the one they wish upon you now?"
"I thought I might make a more compelling point were I to return him to sender in his present condition."
Though Louis had killed nearly an entire coven. (Sam, a DJ. An agent of the Talamasca. Armand, roaming somewhere, silent.) What's one more added to the list of his transgressions?
"I'm not afraid," gently, as Louis pads away from the windows, through the hallways of his home. "Not for myself. I would like to know that you are taking some precautions on this tour, assuming Lestat doesn't intend to accompany you for the entirety of it."
Louis has tried not to press Lestat. Not to trap him into some kind of explanation as to his plans, his intentions. He had expressed a preference for the states. Louis has not pushed the matter further.
"Killing is at your discretion," is Daniel's vote. Hands in air in an 'I surrender' gesture. He does sort of agree with Lestat, but a murder morals argument breaking out right now is not a good use of their time. "It'd just be nice to know."
(Armand had sent him a message via a meal. Still slightly panicking about it. Is there anything for Louis to sift out of this guy? Don't think about it. Don't. Stop. Let them suggest that, just shut up.)
"I can hire security, if it'll make you feel better. Lestat is, obviously, not obligated to hover. But, look, Louis, if we can get an idea of who might be coming, that would be the most proactive, safe thing to do. Instead of relying on tripped alarms and luck."
But I am afraid, Lestat might have said, if Molloy were not seated here, if their conversation did not momentarily close the loop between them despite his possession of the phone. Unhappiness in his expression, occupying that beat of time to bring cigarette back up to his mouth.
And then a swerve of his focus, back to Daniel. Needle sharp. Like maybe he overheard something he wasn't meant to.
Smoke releases between his teeth as he says to him, "I am heading to New York. I have a meeting." New information to Louis but also Daniel, given the haphazard nature of this journey, the lack of urgency on Lestat's part. Case in point, he adds, "But I can go the long way."
A half-second pause, contemplation of what sort of meeting. Financial? Perhaps so. Lestat cannot have been tending overmuch to his accounts in the past years, and Louis doubts the millenial would have prompted him.
"I'd be grateful," comes across the line, a softening of tone. Lestat will do as he pleases. It is something, if he chooses to curb that enough to trail after Daniel.
But to Daniel's concerns:
"There are many of them, Daniel. A great many vampires are very displeased with me, for speaking to you," Louis says this calmly, treading across bare floors. Claudia's dress comes into view. Paul's portrait. Green vines climbing across smooth walls. "I will acquire a name, if you like. But I believe it will be identifying one threat from the many."
Is it meant as a comfort, when Louis adds: "I believe them to be unified only in their desire for my death. I've heard them squabble over the rest."
(He's thinking about how good Louis is at mind reading, but he used it to HURT DANIEL'S FEELINGS maybe he's raw about bringing it up, don't worry about it!! jangles car keys look how cool Louis is)
"The more the merrier."
God, a meeting. If he was serious, then a talent agent, maybe. Great. Let a lawyer teach him how to use a phone. He wonders how much interest Lestat's gained on his ancient French Scrooge McDuck vault.
"You're probably right, but it'd still be nice to know. And if there is a quieter, coordinated effort, from people who aren't dumb enough to brain-chatter about it so loudly, the more information we have, the better."
Somewhere in Manhattan, there is an up and coming lawyer who is trying to figure out whether vampires are real and one is in fact speaking to her in her brain at strange hours of night, instructing her towards the inherited portfolios of the old French firm and preparing them for his eventual arrival, or she's insane, and doesn't know which one she would prefer. The paperwork is shaking out, though.
Here, Lestat does not look overly assured for the news that the vampire world has found, at last, a commonality, and that is trying to kill Louis. They just made up, after all.
(Jingle-jangle? It's true, Louis is so cool.)
"You must entertain the idea that what you are hearing is what they desire you to hear, chéri. And it would be nothing at all for you to empty this one's mind of information before you send your message."
If he is two point four seconds away from flipping out, it's disguised in his voice, earnest appeal.
"I'll question him," Louis acquiesces. "Tomorrow evening, when he's better able to speak."
There are vampires much older, much more powerful than Louis. This hadn't been one of them. Louis sees no reason to elaborate beyond that, but he is compelled enough by the necessity of a more thorough interrogation.
Will this satisfy their collective curiosity? Lestat's, maybe. Daniel's, likely no.
"You're good at it," is encouraging. Supportive. Daniel worries about Louis more than he worries about himself. Being alone is fine. Being alone right now might not be fine, but only time will tell. "It doesn't have to be harmful. Just efficient."
You can mindfuck people!! Daniel has total faith.
"DC, then Boston, then home to New York. Toronto next month." A beat, then, because it's a painful offer, but a sincere one. Because he really does worry more about Louis' safety than his own. Not that Daniel is keen to die or sacrifice himself, but he's aware this is borrowed time. Party hours. "I can cancel any of them. All of them, if I have to. At this point, promotions are just a smug victory lap. Not that I don't enjoy it. Of fucking course I do. But you know what I mean. It's whatever, man, if it turns out it's way too dangerous for me or for you or both of us, that's the priority, right?"
Lestat has sunken back down to sit where he was before, Daniel's phone still in hand and held out to facilitate the conversation.
Something uniquely frustrating to be a participant in a conversation between the two people who engineered this particular crisis to begin with. To drag his name into it as well. Oh, part of him is thrilled by it, is tempted to cackle at the absurdity, see what part of the mess he can make bigger himself—
Then there's the other part, clinging to each measured word coming through the phone. Impenetrable glass. This part is sulking, mainly.
"I can come to Dubai," is probably not what Daniel was looking for. "If you're going to be stubborn, and despite how much I have going on."
Something self-aware in the midst of the scatteredness. He will only have something going on if he chooses to. Right now, nothing tethers him anywhere, save a special interest in keeping at least two vampires alive.
"You deserve your victory lap," to Daniel. "I don't have any desire for you to cut it short."
Daniel has declined Louis' apologies. He has taken the gift in stride. Louis refrains from saying, It's the least I can give you, for the inconvenience you've suffered.
"And you have a meeting," to Lestat. Reasonable, respectful, despite the part of him that would welcome Lestat in Dubai. "I wouldn't like you to miss it."
So perhaps yes, Louis intends to be stubborn. To relentlessly choose this controlled discord, instability after long stasis. To make himself the point of the spear as he shakes free of his isolation.
"I'm not defenseless," Louis reassures, a note of humor coloring his tone.
—Wry and warm? It's a gift. Nuked a coven, Scared even Armand off (people not polled in this assessment: Armand), once bit a hole through a 20 year old junkie's neck.
"So no big deal to hoover info out of some jerk's head. And we'll just, you know, keep behaving very normally over here. You want me to give him your number, or does he have labors to complete first?"
Louis can't see it, but he'll surely be able to imagine the way he's pointing at Lestat to indicate 'him'. A bit reckless to highlight that Lestat might be in the dog house, but we have fun here. Gives them something to argue over on the train ride to DC besides crossword puzzle clues.
What's worse: Daniel teasing him about his divorce, or Daniel thinking so fondly of Louis? In front of his salad?
Lestat purses his lips, and then tosses the phone back to Daniel, a fast frisbee of motion that takes a vampire not to fumble in the catching. He will have to decide how upset he is once Louis replies, and how. But for the record—
"Je n'ai pas de cellphone."
He doesn't have much of an excuse, if you think about it. Smartphones are more intuitive than a rotary dial and an army of switchboard operators and he had no difficulty in using this technology to try to crawl back into Louis' good graces. Fond memories.
A moment of contemplation, where Louis resists the urge to say: What happened to the one I left with you?
It's gone. The minutia of how it went missing is not going to change this. Louis had known for weeks it was a lost cause, defunct and written off and asking after it will change nothing.
And covered, perhaps, by the jostling movement on the other end of the line. Enough to prompt a more hasty interjection, hopefully a distraction as he offers:
"I'll have Rashid collect your appearance dates," since Louis is trying for hands off. Daniel has his tour. Lestat has his meeting. Louis can attend them from afar, at least until: "Perhaps I'll join you in New York, if it's not an imposition."
Where the imposition is less Louis and more the many vampires who would like to rip Louis to shreds.
Daniel's french vocabulary is bad, grammar worse, but he still knows that French people say 'portable', and for whatever reason, hearing Lestat say cellphone in that sentence is—
???
If he finds this guy charming it's the fucking end for him, of course he missed the evolution of tech slang in his mother country if he's been hiding in a basement in America for a century. Oh NO. The other vampire can probably even brain-sense the reason for Daniel's strange pause. Whatever, not correcting his French out loud (at least not... right now), but the face he pull is briefly absurd. Trying not to laugh at himself.
Anyway. Louis did not actually answer, and so, no phone commentary.
"You? Never." He grins. "When's the last time you've even been in the city? Not a real question, because I'm sure every gallery has new exhibits by now. It'll be great."
Very normal, nothing insane will happen. He's sure.
There is a whole jangle of things that could hit wrong. The psychic hiccup where he senses Daniel pausing over his incorrect French, Louis' absence of clear confirmation about whether he deserves his number because even though Louis did very much try to give him that thing already, there is no underestimating Lestat's ability to feel ignored or excluded, and speaking of, Louis has been to New York, has visited art, undoubtedly with Armand, and he wouldn't have thought to ask if Louis would like to see exhibits because he doesn't know save from a book what Louis has been up to—
Anyway. White noise. White noise dissolving into a whine at the back of his brain which quiets down because Louis wishes to come to New York to see him (and Daniel) and doesn't wish to impose on him (and Daniel).
The breakneck change from the beginnings of a tantrum to a fond smile is probably only assuring in a short term kind of way. He's still charming.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
"Bonsoir, mon cher," is as soft and dreamy as it always was, despite the amount of time it's been, despite the medium, despite Molloy's presence. Despite the book.
Or maybe a little bit because of Molloy's presence, because of the book. "Are we keeping you up?"
no subject
A strange overlap of voices, and the way he feels his heart lurch at Lestat's, the way his smile widens slightly at Daniel's.
"Hello, Lestat," a warm dip in tone that Louis is more conscious of, considering Daniel's presence on the line. "Hello, Daniel. It's only a few hours past dawn. I don't mind."
To say nothing of time spent awake while entertaining Daniel, before Daniel became a more nocturnal creature.
Louis rises from his seat, treading towards the windows as he asks, "And you two have been busy, I believe."
no subject
Something? It's inelegant. A monosyllabic mental sound that serves as a psychic squeeze to his shoulder that's meant to be supportive, and honestly, is probably as much bracing for Daniel as it is the other man. He didn't want to hide this from Louis, he just didn't know how to bring it up. He really was going to loop him in, and had hoped by then (tomorrow, maybe) that he'd have found a way to open that wasn't 'Okay before I tell you, you have to promise not to be mad.'
"Yeah, I got jumped," he says aloud. "Lestat showed up just in time. One that went down, dunno what became of him decisively but maybe dead, and a woman, Germanic-sounding, who fucked off. I got a phone off the male, and sent it in to be cloned and opened up. I should hear back about it tomorrow or the next night."
A neat summary, he thinks. All caught up.
"How are you?"
no subject
No one tell him about video functionality.
Are they allowed to smoke in this hotel room? Lestat is retrieving his cigarettes regardless, hands going through the elegant motions of lighting up, a flicker of the fire gift lashing across the end. At that question, his smile twists wry, and he adds, "Being provocative, I've heard."
Secondhand, obviously.
no subject
How is he?
Oddly unsettled by the thought of the two of them in a room. The phone is a miracle of technology, but it is inadequate in this moment.
Louis turns from the skyline, the slants of sunlight, to look around once more. The new furniture, plush yellow upholsery, the flowering plant blooming on the table. The progress made in reorienting his home, reminding himself that he lives here.
Daniel and Lestat feel very far from this room.
"I'm unharmed," is the answer. "It was a short conversation."
no subject
"Are—"
Hey where the fuck did his pHONE GO??
no subject
A light speed snatching that might have caused some friction burn, and fine ash scatters into the air from the sudden displacement of Lestat, smoking his cigarette and sitting across the room to Lestat now right here, device stolen.
"Who?" is the first thing that manages to skip the queue of things he wants to say. Paces some strides away in case Daniel gets big ideas about whose phone this is. "Are they dead? Are you alright?"
Louis had answered that, yes, but maybe he's lying, and will now say the truth.
"What the fuck is the use of a private skyscraper in Dubai," an infinity away from him, Lestat, who saves people in the nick of time, c'est ridicule, "if you are telling everyone where you are?"
no subject
Lestat's voice, suddenly closer, louder. A rapid patter of questions that Louis absorbs, one hand settling across his chest, the other keeping the phone lifted to his mouth.
"They're sealed in a coffin, soon to be returned to whichever master they serve," Louis offers, submitting to the demand for information without objection. "I'm unharmed. As I said, it was a short conversation."
Rashid is overseeing the removal of a great deal of blood splatter in the hallway as they speak. It is hardly worth commentary.
"I prefer to invite the attention. I am well placed to receive our critics, while Daniel is touring."
Louis is older. He has been drinking from Armand for years. And he is responsible. Louis is the one who talked.
no subject
Clear and firm. Serious. Louis will be able to hear him through the phone, hear him in his head. Important to declare this, as 1) it is the truth and 2) he's not entirely sure about his continued safety if Lestat decides this means Daniel is at fault.
"In fact, I told you I was worried about you, and that I thought you should move. You said bye, and then like, thirty fucking seconds later, it was 'Fight Club at my exact address'."
His kids have done stuff like that before. Tantrums. Louis.
"Hey but— you should interrogate that guy, first."
no subject
Absorbs the rest. Takes a drag of his cigarette, and then sweeps a hand, like, exactly! at Daniel's question.
"And then also," with the kind of sarcasm that inserts a if I may provide some feedback,, "kill him, Louis. What are you worried for, that they will sentence you to a more concentrated death than the one they wish upon you now?"
no subject
Though Louis had killed nearly an entire coven. (Sam, a DJ. An agent of the Talamasca. Armand, roaming somewhere, silent.) What's one more added to the list of his transgressions?
"I'm not afraid," gently, as Louis pads away from the windows, through the hallways of his home. "Not for myself. I would like to know that you are taking some precautions on this tour, assuming Lestat doesn't intend to accompany you for the entirety of it."
Louis has tried not to press Lestat. Not to trap him into some kind of explanation as to his plans, his intentions. He had expressed a preference for the states. Louis has not pushed the matter further.
no subject
(Armand had sent him a message via a meal. Still slightly panicking about it. Is there anything for Louis to sift out of this guy? Don't think about it. Don't. Stop. Let them suggest that, just shut up.)
"I can hire security, if it'll make you feel better. Lestat is, obviously, not obligated to hover. But, look, Louis, if we can get an idea of who might be coming, that would be the most proactive, safe thing to do. Instead of relying on tripped alarms and luck."
no subject
And then a swerve of his focus, back to Daniel. Needle sharp. Like maybe he overheard something he wasn't meant to.
Smoke releases between his teeth as he says to him, "I am heading to New York. I have a meeting." New information to Louis but also Daniel, given the haphazard nature of this journey, the lack of urgency on Lestat's part. Case in point, he adds, "But I can go the long way."
no subject
A half-second pause, contemplation of what sort of meeting. Financial? Perhaps so. Lestat cannot have been tending overmuch to his accounts in the past years, and Louis doubts the millenial would have prompted him.
"I'd be grateful," comes across the line, a softening of tone. Lestat will do as he pleases. It is something, if he chooses to curb that enough to trail after Daniel.
But to Daniel's concerns:
"There are many of them, Daniel. A great many vampires are very displeased with me, for speaking to you," Louis says this calmly, treading across bare floors. Claudia's dress comes into view. Paul's portrait. Green vines climbing across smooth walls. "I will acquire a name, if you like. But I believe it will be identifying one threat from the many."
Is it meant as a comfort, when Louis adds: "I believe them to be unified only in their desire for my death. I've heard them squabble over the rest."
no subject
"The more the merrier."
God, a meeting. If he was serious, then a talent agent, maybe. Great. Let a lawyer teach him how to use a phone. He wonders how much interest Lestat's gained on his ancient French Scrooge McDuck vault.
"You're probably right, but it'd still be nice to know. And if there is a quieter, coordinated effort, from people who aren't dumb enough to brain-chatter about it so loudly, the more information we have, the better."
no subject
Here, Lestat does not look overly assured for the news that the vampire world has found, at last, a commonality, and that is trying to kill Louis. They just made up, after all.
(Jingle-jangle? It's true, Louis is so cool.)
"You must entertain the idea that what you are hearing is what they desire you to hear, chéri. And it would be nothing at all for you to empty this one's mind of information before you send your message."
If he is two point four seconds away from flipping out, it's disguised in his voice, earnest appeal.
no subject
There are vampires much older, much more powerful than Louis. This hadn't been one of them. Louis sees no reason to elaborate beyond that, but he is compelled enough by the necessity of a more thorough interrogation.
Will this satisfy their collective curiosity? Lestat's, maybe. Daniel's, likely no.
"Where is your next stop, Daniel?"
no subject
You can mindfuck people!! Daniel has total faith.
"DC, then Boston, then home to New York. Toronto next month." A beat, then, because it's a painful offer, but a sincere one. Because he really does worry more about Louis' safety than his own. Not that Daniel is keen to die or sacrifice himself, but he's aware this is borrowed time. Party hours. "I can cancel any of them. All of them, if I have to. At this point, promotions are just a smug victory lap. Not that I don't enjoy it. Of fucking course I do. But you know what I mean. It's whatever, man, if it turns out it's way too dangerous for me or for you or both of us, that's the priority, right?"
He looks at Lestat. Right??
no subject
Something uniquely frustrating to be a participant in a conversation between the two people who engineered this particular crisis to begin with. To drag his name into it as well. Oh, part of him is thrilled by it, is tempted to cackle at the absurdity, see what part of the mess he can make bigger himself—
Then there's the other part, clinging to each measured word coming through the phone. Impenetrable glass. This part is sulking, mainly.
"I can come to Dubai," is probably not what Daniel was looking for. "If you're going to be stubborn, and despite how much I have going on."
Something self-aware in the midst of the scatteredness. He will only have something going on if he chooses to. Right now, nothing tethers him anywhere, save a special interest in keeping at least two vampires alive.
no subject
Daniel has declined Louis' apologies. He has taken the gift in stride. Louis refrains from saying, It's the least I can give you, for the inconvenience you've suffered.
"And you have a meeting," to Lestat. Reasonable, respectful, despite the part of him that would welcome Lestat in Dubai. "I wouldn't like you to miss it."
So perhaps yes, Louis intends to be stubborn. To relentlessly choose this controlled discord, instability after long stasis. To make himself the point of the spear as he shakes free of his isolation.
"I'm not defenseless," Louis reassures, a note of humor coloring his tone.
no subject
—Wry and warm? It's a gift. Nuked a coven, Scared even Armand off (people not polled in this assessment: Armand), once bit a hole through a 20 year old junkie's neck.
"So no big deal to hoover info out of some jerk's head. And we'll just, you know, keep behaving very normally over here. You want me to give him your number, or does he have labors to complete first?"
Louis can't see it, but he'll surely be able to imagine the way he's pointing at Lestat to indicate 'him'. A bit reckless to highlight that Lestat might be in the dog house, but we have fun here. Gives them something to argue over on the train ride to DC besides crossword puzzle clues.
no subject
Lestat purses his lips, and then tosses the phone back to Daniel, a fast frisbee of motion that takes a vampire not to fumble in the catching. He will have to decide how upset he is once Louis replies, and how. But for the record—
"Je n'ai pas de cellphone."
He doesn't have much of an excuse, if you think about it. Smartphones are more intuitive than a rotary dial and an army of switchboard operators and he had no difficulty in using this technology to try to crawl back into Louis' good graces. Fond memories.
But the one he was given didn't work, so.
no subject
It's gone. The minutia of how it went missing is not going to change this. Louis had known for weeks it was a lost cause, defunct and written off and asking after it will change nothing.
And covered, perhaps, by the jostling movement on the other end of the line. Enough to prompt a more hasty interjection, hopefully a distraction as he offers:
"I'll have Rashid collect your appearance dates," since Louis is trying for hands off. Daniel has his tour. Lestat has his meeting. Louis can attend them from afar, at least until: "Perhaps I'll join you in New York, if it's not an imposition."
Where the imposition is less Louis and more the many vampires who would like to rip Louis to shreds.
no subject
???
If he finds this guy charming it's the fucking end for him, of course he missed the evolution of tech slang in his mother country if he's been hiding in a basement in America for a century. Oh NO. The other vampire can probably even brain-sense the reason for Daniel's strange pause. Whatever, not correcting his French out loud (at least not... right now), but the face he pull is briefly absurd. Trying not to laugh at himself.
Anyway. Louis did not actually answer, and so, no phone commentary.
"You? Never." He grins. "When's the last time you've even been in the city? Not a real question, because I'm sure every gallery has new exhibits by now. It'll be great."
Very normal, nothing insane will happen. He's sure.
no subject
Anyway. White noise. White noise dissolving into a whine at the back of his brain which quiets down because Louis wishes to come to New York to see him (and Daniel) and doesn't wish to impose on him (and Daniel).
The breakneck change from the beginnings of a tantrum to a fond smile is probably only assuring in a short term kind of way. He's still charming.
"I would like that," sweetly, earnest.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)