damnedest: (Default)
lestat de lioncourt. ([personal profile] damnedest) wrote2024-07-27 03:00 pm
followups: by manual. (—0025.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-06 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
Daniel thinks: Lestat has brutalized Louis before, Lestat did not save Claudia. He also thinks: Lestat saved Louis, Lestat condemned himself to abject misery ever since out of shame. He saved Daniel, he's been fine this whole time. He had a bad tantrum, he put Louis into a trauma response (even if he has to earmark that with Louis being in a bad state thanks to Armand).

Looks like he at least feels bad. Does he feel bad about Louis or himself, though.

"Intense and sad," Daniel tells him frankly. "How are you feeling?"

Awkwardly talking around it is for losers. Cough up your innermost demons.
followups: by manual. (—0054.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-06 09:48 am (UTC)(link)
The icons on his desktop are a mess; they're in a very specific pattern that his brain likes, which makes everyone else insane. He has a few projects he'd given up, in the interim years, but he's going to see which ones have any busywork he can do today. Something to half-focus on and help him stay awake.

Bad. Yeah, he believes that.

"He doesn't want to talk to me either," Daniel offers in consolation. "I'm a professional and I only got a few sentences out of him. Granted, I also feel like shit right now, and my technique was leaning heavily towards 'having my own breakdown' versus 'competent and clever support', so what can we do."

Sit here. What they can do is sit here.
followups: by manual. (—0097.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-06 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Were the languages the issue, Lestat. Was that what set Louis off.

Daniel opts not to pick a fight. Tired. And Lestat seems fragile in a wild animal way. Not interested in getting a hand bitten off.

"If only my ego were of any practical use." Alas. Nope. Then he sighs, tapping something absently on his laptop and... doing nothing. "I'm incandescently angry at Armand, I'm terrified for Louis, and I feel like a fucking idiot. It's not the worst breakdown I've ever had but it's unpleasant."

Fuuuun.
followups: by manual. (—0057.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-07 06:47 am (UTC)(link)
"Teetering on the edge of implosion or tears."

Hence being out here.

Daniel had pestered him as long as Louis would tolerate, the both of them processing a silent swell of emotion. At least they'd talked a little. Not that talking is a cure-all, but it's Daniel's primary trick, and it'd done a lot of good for Louis in Dubai. Eighty years of emotional insincerity and manipulation. A long time, even for a vampire.

"Armand really did a number on him." Quieter. "Not just the other night. Since Paris. One long, muffled scream, and I think he's still not sure how much of it was even in his own voice."
followups: by manual. (—0059.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-07 09:44 am (UTC)(link)
Mm.

Daniel could run with that — Is Louis different, or is Lestat's perception different? — but Louis probably deserves better out of him than sitting here and trying to dissect him further, trying to figure out who between the two of them knows the guy best, and about what. (Daniel thinks it's Lestat, anyway, one way or another.) Not everything has to be an investigation.

Quiet for a little while. Sympathetic.

Eventually,

"Are you still angry?"
followups: by manual. (—0005.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-07 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Daniel will not be checking his messages, hearing that. Maybe if they'd interfered less with editing the book he'd give them more leeway, actually pass information along now and again, but he feels like he's done plenty for them.

Then again. Louis wants to talk to Sam. Maybe Daniel can give them some bullshit for a better number to try. Not now, though. Still battling exhaustion and migraines and misery.

And, this. It takes some willpower not to give an exasperated sigh at the self-pity. Come on, man, just because you didn't do everything doesn't mean you did nothing. The silver lining is that, true, being angry won't cause Louis to trust him. Fucking hell, Lestat.

"That's not true." Daniel leans back on the sofa. "He wants to trust you."

Surely that's fucking obvious. Would be even to a blind person. Right? Louis' been desperately in love with Lestat ... forever, Daniel thinks, and nothing has changed that, not even Louis wishing he wasn't, not even Armand's near-century mindfuck. He still looks at Lestat like he hung the moon, even when Lestat is being the most ridiculous creature Daniel has ever seen. In person, and secondhand. Your 'love' was in a box.

"It's just going to take time and work. Shit nobody likes, I know."
followups: by manual. (—0081.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-08 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
Ooohhhhhhh ffuuuuuuuuuuck.

Daniel freezes like a rabbit realizing it's about to be eaten by a wolf, except, you know, he's an adult man (supernatural predator) facing down a much older adult man (supernatural predator) who is now openly crying. About some therapy shit that is beyond Daniel's capacity as a journalist, despite his keen insight.

But he knows how much Lestat cares about Louis. That has to be a start. He sits there for a moment, considers patting him on the shoulder or something. Doesn't. How awkward would that be.

"Be here." Quieter than before. "Just be here. This is new territory for both of you."
followups: by manual. (—0054.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-08 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
'Everything' versus 'what I could'. A theme, with the elder vampires in Louis' life. Daniel thinks it's hypocritical for Lestat to complain about Louis having his own business, but he's not going to say so. Right now, anyway. Maybe another time, because Daniel has no real sense of self-preservation, he's just pretending to for the sake of getting through the day and making sure Louis' okay later.

Also, he has to remind himself: there's something to be said for Lestat having known that Louis and Claudia were trying to murder him for weeks, and Daniel is being uncharitable because he has a bias towards Louis. Hmhm. Well. Alright. How do we handle this.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you about Armand." Does this help?? Maybe not. He's not Louis. "It's been challenging. For me, because I really, really fucking hate seeing people fight,"

(his horrible unease at the way Louis threw Armand across the penthouse, not feeling any satisfaction about it after all, caught there in strange silence, staring at each other)

"and I think Louis is struggling with the vulnerability this all means for him. These aren't decisions made to exclude you."

The world just doesn't revolve around Lestat de Lioncourt, is all. :'(
followups: by manual. (—0030.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-09 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
For a little while, no response.

Armand reasons. Being turned by an ancient monster reasons. Shit he tries to keep behind a locked door, shit Armand leaked to Louis, when Daniel really wishes he hadn't. Should he have screamed? Hoped that Louis would hear him, run back in, throw Armand off of him? But then he probably wouldn't be a vampire; Louis says he was going to offer it to him, but he didn't. He walked away and left him there.

Doesn't matter.

He tries, after a bit more silence—

"It's safety in numbers about the threats over the book, and Louis' shotgunned bet out into the night. Armand is..." What the fuck is Armand. "You're not a guard dog, Lestat, you're a person who's here because we all want to be here, together, you don't have to haul that weight around."

But. He touches his shoulder, or wherever is closest.

"Which is not an attempt to cut you out of Armand stuff. I'm just saying. This is a mess. I know he fucked up your life, too, and that you knew him earliest. I know you do have insight into him."
followups: by manual. (—0077.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-09 07:56 am (UTC)(link)
Lestat just seems like a kid, sometimes. Daniel had said so to Louis. First impressions. Strangely childlike even in the midst of charisma and danger.

Daniel shifts towards him, squeezes his bicep in a way he hopes his comforting.

"Go easy on yourself, go easy on Louis. It's easy to be angry because we all feel so much, I know. But look. You can unwind from all that. And it's going to be okay."

The guy who Louis described dropping him from miles up in the air to crumble on impact, the guy who twelve hours ago made Louis step away from Daniel out if lizard-brain concern. Is the same guy who came to Daniel's rescue, who saved Louis from execution, who is crying on the sofa.
followups: by manual. (—0028.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-09 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Daniel hadn't taken much of that argument personally. As usual, worried about Louis. It helps that he's accepted being, if not actually superfluous, then adjacent to that. He has already fought and lost a bitter war against irrelevancy as his career dwindled and age choked him. It's nothing, to be the third wheel here. On his own time he is successful again and a minor celebrity and he has fucking superpowers. Water off a duck's back to be an annoying side note for Lestat.

"We're cool."

Little hand squeeze. All is forgiven, kiddo!! Don't worry about it. Fuck, what is he doing.

"Want to see if these librarian creeps took any good pictures of you?"

His inbox tab has a worrying number displayed on it.
followups: by manual. (—0014.)

[personal profile] followups 2024-09-09 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
A barrage of messages that he ignores, sifting for pictures. Some of it's like exposure therapy. Will he find one of himself someday, a scene he has no memory of? Will Raglan call him, ask, Hey Molloy, where were you last night?, knowing he can't answer?

Not tonight. Tonight he's trying to move past some of this shit, even if it's just a band-aid. Armand can be another bear trap tomorrow.

He tries to stay awake and alert, but eventually, he starts nodding off. The sun hikes higher in the sky, the room heats up despite air conditioning and heavy curtains, and he really wishes he were somewhere else—

A startle back to full consciousness. Blinking. Huh? He looks up at the arched entryway—
divorcing: (Default)

[personal profile] divorcing 2024-09-10 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
And in the archway, Louis.

A less dramatic figure than a drenched, bedraggled Lestat had struck hours earlier. Straight backed, expression inscrutable, looking at them. Impossible to say whether he had risen from coffin, or had simply passed the hours between their return to the hotel and this moment watching the slash of sunlight move across the room.

Comfortable, even if there is no particular ease in Louis' posture. Joggers today, bleach splatters blooming across soft fabric. Sheer t-shirt, delicacy of the fabric made more so by the heavy-collared speckled wool cardigan pulled over it. Bare feet, silent on the carpet. Louis taking them both in, perhaps assessing how he does, or doesn't fit into the present configuration of the room.

Daniel, dozing. Lestat, intent on the laptop.

Their attention shifting to him, in the entryway.

A moment where Louis' eyes catch on Lestat's and feels that moment of connection like a vise, turning tighter and tighter around his chest, before Louis looks away from him.

"Am I intruding?"

(no subject)

[personal profile] followups - 2024-09-10 23:19 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-10 23:45 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] followups - 2024-09-11 00:31 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-11 00:50 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-11 03:04 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-11 05:15 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-11 16:29 (UTC) - Expand

lol the link

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-12 01:14 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-12 05:20 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-12 16:10 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-13 03:00 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-13 04:21 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-13 16:16 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-14 01:23 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-14 03:06 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-14 04:40 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-14 05:18 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-14 06:08 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-14 19:45 (UTC) - Expand

yada yada, holler for edits

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-15 04:07 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-15 05:15 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-15 06:09 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-15 14:21 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-16 01:13 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-16 14:56 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-17 02:16 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-17 04:25 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-17 06:39 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] divorcing - 2024-09-17 16:06 (UTC) - Expand