my book-ward lesmand thesis was based on the books existing in-universe btw. Romcom-level misunderstandings of what is and is not telegraphable thru body language/sarcasm. White louis as echo/narcissus pond which somehow gave Armand dbt/confused Lestat for one of those puzzlebox dog dishes. White louis can have internality as a treat if it's also a plot device so it's like.
Lestat: we broke up THIS time bc Louis said we use him as a proxy to care obsessively about each other, which is tiring. I'm diagnosing this as insecure and jealous, for no apparent reason
Armand: wow, that's such a melodramatic way to be existentially wrong, vampirism is typified by obsession
Lestat: exactly! everyone is like this
Armand: exactly. Devil's advocate, he read the book where you said THAT about ME.
Lestat: if you were a lawyer you would definitely be the devil's. I did write that tho.
and without a puzzlebox to distract Lestat he's eventually like. I DID write that tho