[witchkingofneworleans]

Gentleman Death in silk and lace, come to put out the candles. The canker in the heart of the rose.

Will you come to me?

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[denngrove]

First attempt at a graphic 1920s art deco sort of style! Its an invitation for a movie night I'm hosting for my friends who know absolutely nothing about Interview with the Vampire

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[musingswithmemes]

Send "🫂" for my muse's reaction to yours hugging them!

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[witchkingofneworleans]

Continued from here with @minaharkerdailymirror

Cabbage. That was always how it began. It was the only thing that Lestat could really get away with these days. He couldn't very well tell his father and brothers what he thought of them. That would be inviting too much aggression immediately and although Lestat was growing stronger, he wasn't quite strong enough to be able to fight them and win.

His father had glared at him fiercely with the only eye that still held full sight, the other growing cloudier by the day. Lestat hoped he would fully lose his sight one day. That would be a day he would like to see. Lestat had remained quiet for a few moments, cutting into his meat slowly and methodically before hissing cabbage again.

His father had slammed his fist on the table so hard that it knocked over his wine goblet. The wine spilled into his lap and he was furious. He heaved to his feet and menacingly advanced on his son, spitting out curses and Lestat tried not to shrink into his seat. Then, before his father could reach him and slap him, Gabrielle was suddenly there standing between him and his father and spitting at him in Italian with the viciousness of an angry cat.

As his father engaged with her in the argument, Lestat had taken that moment to slip away and leave them to it. He had silently thanked his mother for intervening this time but sorrow weighed down his feet as he climbed the stairs for all of the times she hadn't intervened before.

When he had reached his room, he hadn't been alone for all that long. The door had opened and his back had stiffened, shoulders tightening, unsure who was coming through the door. When he saw that it was Mina, he relaxed entirely, slumping back against the bedframe. With a tired smile, he gestured for her to come over. He waited until she was settled in the bed.

When she nudged him, he moved just enough that she could get more comfortable. Yes, there would be further recriminations if they were discovered but Lestat didn't care if Mina didn't care and clearly she didn't if she was there with him.

"I don't ask for anything else anyone would want." It was one of the sad truths of his life. Lestat only wanted a normal family, not this twisted nightmare that was the decaying remains of the proud De Lioncourt's. His ancestors would be spinning in their graves if they could see what had happened to the family name.

"No, I'm not, but at least Mother intervened this time. It saved me a headache and some bruises." The words were exhaled on a heavy sigh.

[reticent-vampire]

Interview with the vampire 1.01 | The Vampire Lestat

[rodrickheffeley]

we have never been back like this before

[witchkingofneworleans]

❝ i do not know how else to love you if not like a sinner. ❞

@symphonyofmalice

Lestat didn't need to be loved in any way other than the way that Nicolas offered him. Love was love, it didn't matter if it was pure or coloured by the darkness that lurked around the edges of the most brilliant man that Lestat had ever encountered in his existence. It seemed to preoccupy Nicolas more then than it preoccupied Lestat. He was long past his crisis, having experienced that fairly early on into their closer association. Virtue didn't really matter to him. They weren't going to be getting married and there would be no condemnation from a fractured church that Lestat would care about. They could live the life that they wanted with no barriers because they were artists and nobody really cared about artists in the same way. They were already on the fringes of society so what did it matter?

"I don't care about sin or condemnation and damn the devil, damn every holy order. All I need is you. You are all I have ever needed." Lestat's voice was impassioned as he reached out and took hold of Nicolas, curling his fingers around his lover's wrists. "Just love me, be with me."

[symphonyofmalice]

"Ah, but will you still feel that way when your feet are to the fire?" Nicolas pointed out. Nevertheless, a moment later, he made a dismissive gesture, brushing his hand through the air. "But that is not what I mean."

Nicolas wasn't looking for absolution. He'd given up on that notion the first time he'd picked up a violin bow. The sacrament of confession taught that you could only be forgiven for sins you felt true contrition for. And he realized, in his awakening in Paris, that he wouldn't regret his sins- he'd only regret getting caught.

But what Lestat was inviting him into- or what he was building with Lestat, it was hard to tell- was different than his brief, semi-anonymous experiments and one-night stands as a student. The two of them were living together, loving one another with a degree of commitment that made a mockery of marriage.

"If you don't give a damn about the consequences, if you can have anyone, don't you want more than me?" Nicolas saw the way ladies looked to Lestat. And, as long as he was careful, the blond rogue could have his pick of the willing men of the city, too. If he was losing all inhibitions, why stop short? "You are like a thief who steals one jewel and leaves the rest of the treasures untouched."

[witchkingofneworleans]

Lestat could never regret it, he didn't care a damn about any of the rest of it. He didn't know if he even believed in any of it. He had once but that belief hadn't been enough to sustain him. It had done more harm than good in the end. It had taught him the fundamental lesson that hope had a sting in her tail, that it could be all the more deadly when it was taken away.

"Nothing can change how I feel about you and why would I want anyone other than you? My perfectly, imperfect, cynical man." Lestat's lips twitched upwards into a smile that he couldn't have hid even if he had wanted to. As he spoke, he reached out and ran his fingers through Nicolas' hair. It was something he greatly enjoyed doing. Then again, Lestat greatly enjoyed all the moments of closeness and intimacy between them, even if it was just them carelessly brushing their fingers against each other when they reached for the same cup or plate.

"The other treasures mean nothing when I already have the greatest of them all." He tried not to inwardly wince when he heard the words because they were meant to be some grand, romantic statement, and it didn't quite ring like that in his own ears.

[symphonyofmalice]

Nicolas actually snorted at the grand declaration. The damnedest thing was Lestat actually meant it, every word. The idiot with his big smile and his gentle fingers, was being completely earnest. It was the naive kind of love that prized a simple but colorful pebble at the beach over silver and gold.

Not that what they had was love, not really. Not true or pure or holy or any of those other words that got attached in prayers and poetry. But Nicolas was all right with that. If what their parents had was proper love, he didn't want it. If what he and Lestat had was nothing more than animal lust, well...he'd prefer to be a beast.

He leaned in to kiss Lestat on the lips. Maybe he could steal a bit of that smile into himself.

[witchkingofneworleans]

If it had been anyone else, Lestat would have been annoyed by the snort but it wasn't followed by an scathing comments and so Lestat didn't take it as derision. He would refrain from saying it in the future but the sentiment that motivated it was something he would happily express again, just in a different, better way than that. Nicolas was everything Lestat had wanted since the moment he had first clapped eyes on him. It hadn't been love at first sight but there had been something there drawing him to the darker haired man with those deep, dark eyes that promised a future that he could never have contemplated. As the time had passed, and they had grown to know each other better, that was when the love had grown and Lestat had discovered that he truly did love with all his heart and all his soul. He loved deeply, intensely, with all that he had. He did not know much about love of course, had certainly never seen it, but this was love to him and that was what mattered.

When Nicolas leaned in to kiss him, Lestat wrapped his arm around Nicolas' waist and drew him closer, keeping them together. It was a sweet kiss to begin with and Lestat liked that but he hungered for more and so, he chased that hunger, deepening the kiss, wrapping Nicolas' hair around his fingers and tugging with a touch of insistence.

[endiness]

Mets-moi dans mon cercueil, Louis, Louis.

[mcflymemes]

"STOP PUTTING YOURSELF INTO DANGER!" PROMPTS *  assorted dialogue for expressing your fear that the person you care about might get themselves hurt if they keep acting like this, adjust as necessary

i thought i told you to stay back.

i love you too much to let you get hurt like this.

this affects me, too, you know.

every time you leave, i sit up all night waiting, praying you'll come back alive.

you keep pulling stunts like this and something bad will happen.

do you have a death wish or something?

this isn't fair to me.

i deserve better than this.

i didn't get any sleep last night because i was so worried about you.

you promised me you'd stop going out at night.

i don't like hearing this.

you've been risking your life, and for what? so you can feel like a goddamn hero?

i said i would handle it.

what the fuck are you doing here?

you told me you'd stay put.

so much for laying low.

you remember how bad it was last time.

seems like you haven't learned anything.

i believe you promised me you'd lay low.

i can't keep doing this.

don't give me that look.

we'll discuss this later.

this stops now.

i'm tired of picking up the pieces once you've left.

you keep throwing yourself into danger.

you don't give a shit about yourself, do you?

i'm sitting here, worried out of my mind, while you're out doing god knows what.

that was really stupid of you, and you know it.

i thought you knew better than this.

what's your excuse this time?

you do realize what this does to me, right? seeing you get hurt like this? you know it hurts me, too?

you really don't give a shit how this affects me, huh.

that was the dumbest possible thing you could have done.

i need you to stop throwing yourself into harm's way.

that was completely unnecessary.

they had it handled.

you didn't need to step in like that.

why do you think you're invincible?

the last time you pulled a stunt like this, it nearly got you killed.

i can't just sit here and watch you get hurt.

what are you trying to prove?

you just like fucking with my heart, don't you.

this shit hurts me, too, you know.

you're not the only one affected by this shit.

you've got a lot of people counting on you to come home every night.

what happens if you don't come back?

you think we can just carry on without you?

you think i can handle things if you end up dead?

i'm not sticking around to watch you get hurt.

you're not even slick.

you think you're invincible, don't you.

quit pretending you've got everything under control.

let someone else do it for a change.

you can't keep putting yourself through shit like this and expect me to just sit back and watch.

i'm done with this.

next time you do this, i'm not coming back.

promise me this is the end.

look me in the eyes and tell me you'll stop doing this.

let the authorities deal with it.

you're making a big mistake.

is it worth dying for?

i've dealt with enough pain over the years.

[witchkingofneworleans]

Episode 5 headcanons and thoughts.

Marius telling Lestat that he was unworthy just makes him think of his father and how much of a beast of a man he was. He hears that echo in his mind as he flees and it affects him deeply, even though he has no relationship with Marius. He tried to focus on Akasha speaking to him, Akasha believing in him and it almost prevented him from leaving. He feared what Marius could do to her. He feared that she would be confined to the life of a statue once more and nothing more than that. He wants to free her but he can't place her liberty above his own and so, he runs. It takes decades before he forgets. It takes decades before his dreams of Marius morphing into his father fade away.

Lestat hasn't hallucinated Claudia at any point. He has dreamed of her of course but never intrusively hallucinated her. He knows that if he starts singing about her, if he even considers it for more than a few seconds, then she too will come and visit him. Doing the song brings her to him and she never really leaves and as painful as it is, he doesn't want her to leave. He wants to indulge even just for a few moments, to remind himself that he did love her more than he hated her and wishing that he could believe the same was true of her.

Lestat was deliberately echoing Akasha when he told Louis (regarding New Orleans) 'I am she and she is me'. He also knew that his call to Louis to come to him was going to work eventually because it had worked when Akasha had done it and it was the only way he knew he could reach him. Echoing these things that Akasha said makes him feel comforted as well, because he feels as though he is touching and honouring that connection between them that can never die. Akasha is who he thinks of when he is at his lowest. Speaking her name helps give him strength when he feels so weak. She is the unspoken love that walks with him through the world. He considered going back more than once, to try to find her, but decided against it. She had not called for him. If she did, he would know and he would go.

Lestat was deeply hurt by Louis' disregard after the shooting, but he wasn't surprised by it. He knows that Louis has grown more self absorbed and that Lestat has dipped low in his estimation. He understands but that understanding doesn't make him feel any better. He is wounded by it but his feelings have to take second place when he discovers what Louis is doing with Regina. That is the most pressing issue because Lestat isn't going to let Louis torture himself with this delusional farce. Yes, Regina looks like Claudia but the differences are fundamental to him. Even if she didn't look like Claudia, he would have told Louis that she did not. If he has to lie to him to keep him safe then so be it.

Lestat was punishing himself for the shooting, for Christine being injured, for endangering all of the band through his actions. It is why he initially dismissed them all. It is why the recording studio is heavily fortified. It is why he insists on going outside in the sun repeatedly. It was less to do with getting the anguished cry for the track and more to do with punishing himself in a physical way in an attempt to alleviate some of the emotional pain he is experiencing.

[witchkingofneworleans]

If Lestat's heart worked the same way that it had before, then it would have spasmed in his chest at the sight of her because it was her. There was no denying that fact. His vision was far better than it had ever been before but even if it hadn't, he had known her for so long that her image was clearer to him than any other good thing from his past. Time seemed to stop and he just stared at her across the street, his hand twitching at his side. She looked different, stronger and more confident but also darker and harder, like someone or something had broken her heart. It made him want to break apart the world with his bare hands.

His glasses would be a lifesaver but there were other changes that he knew he wouldn't be able to hide from her. He should turn away and leave, pretending that he hadn't seen her and just merge into the crowds of people in Paris. There were enough of them, he could do it easily, but he just couldn't look away. He also couldn't stop his feet from carrying him closer to her even though his instincts screamed at him to move away, to go and leave. This would do nothing but bring him great pain and he knew it but it was unavoidable.

"Bonsoir mon amour. It has been a long time, no?"

@minaharkerdailymirror

[minaharkerdailymirror]

Mina had stopped off in Paris to do a few hunts in the city and earn some money. While, she preferred rural areas because they were under served, they didn't pay well. Cities were snake pits, where everything gathered to feast, and so there was always money to make in a place such as this.

She wore a dress tonight, her hair was pinned up off her neck to show the scar if anyone looked too close. She was between hunts. She'd killed a shapeshifter impersonating a judge. Easy enough to make it look like an accident. No one would even think twice. The man had been drunk and fallen in front of a carriage

The wife and children living in terror of the thing wearing his face would sleep easy now.

And so Mina set to spend her evening as a regular person. She needed nights like this. 8 years hunting, she was exhausted. She didn't know how much more she had left in her.

But she couldn't go home. And she certainly couldn't go back to Auvergne. There was no one there now. She didn't have...a place for her.

Perhaps Mina should go make her place. Maybe go to the New World They said it was big, they said there were places unexplored. Maybe Mina could go there and find hunts no one ever recorded.

Mina was looking through day old fruit and considering how much it would be to buy a ticket when she was approached. At first she thought it was just another man approaching her to be a bother, and Mina was ready to fight him off if need be. But the voice....a bit deeper than last time....

She looked up, and it took a moment to process who stood in front of her. He was older, far more handsome, and in far richer clothes than when she left him, but it was him.

A tear slipped down her face and a gasp left her. Her mask fell away and something tender crossed it as she reached up to caress his face, "Lestat?"

and then she was embracing him. She cared little about how it might look to others, she buried her face in his neck and kissed it. She'd not seen him since she was 15, she'd not written him since she was 23. It'd been eight years since then.

"I've missed you, so."

[witchkingofneworleans]

He should have pulled away when she moved to embrace him. She would feel the difference in him with such close contact and yet Lestat, as ever, was selfish. He craved her touch, a comfort from so many years ago as he had tried desperately to survive in the darkness of the Auvergne. Mina had been his light before she had been forced to leave. Then, had come Nicolas into his life and the rest was a sore history that he would prefer not to think of or recount unless it became necessary to do so. He shouldn't have enjoyed the moment, his fear and need for survival and safety should have made him step back but he didn't. She had touched him, he was already damned, and so he wrapped his arms around her and returned the embrace, breathing in deeply the scent of her. It hadn't changed.

"I have missed you too. More than you could ever know." There was a thickness to his voice, as though he were almost being choked by his own emotions. It took a measure of control to ensure that he didn't squeeze her too tightly. She was a beautiful woman and that didn't surprise him a bit. She was his Mina and he was her Lestat and it was them against the world. At least, that was the promise they had made to each other as they had curled up together beneath his blankets, tracing patterns on each other's palms and trying not to giggle at the tickling sensation.

[endiness]

[latinolenfent]

ME AND MY FANS JUST WON A MILLION DOLLARS

[candycandymemes]

Send "You're really pretty" for my muse's reaction

[witchkingofneworleans]

❛ What would you have me do? ❜

@minaharkerdailymirror

It was a difficult situation and Lestat had wept about it once and had trashed his room a few times when Cressida wasn't around. He still had his own feelings on the subject and found it difficult to regulate those. He didn't want to show her that ugly side of him again. He was trying really hard to be better for her. The fact that Mina refused to speak with him was fuel to the fire and it couldn't be contained entirely. He was thankful that he was able to keep it together long enough that she wouldn't see it at least.

At first, there was nothing different about the night. Cressida and Louis had been debating their latest choice of book to read together and Lestat had been playing with chords on his guitar by the window. It was a fairly relaxed beginning and yet his heart was heavy. He'd dreamt about Mina. That was why he thought he was still dreaming initially when he saw her step out of a car onto the sidewalk. He had continued strumming and watching the image of his old friend. It was only when she looked directly at him and nodded her head tersely that he realised that this wasn't a dream.

He abandoned the guitar and bolted out of the room and out the door of the townhouse. Cressida and Louis continued on in their fashion, oblivious to what was going on. He approached her, trying to avoid running at her. This wasn't the old days, those times were long gone.

Lestat told her he missed her, it was the first thing that came to his lips. It was the golden truth, the one that mattered the most. He missed her so badly that it hurt every time he breathed.

Then, she asked the question. He wanted forgiveness, yes, but he knew that it would be too much to ask for from the outset. He had wounded her deeply and he couldn't deny that responsibility. It had been his decision and it had been a lousy one at that. He has prioritised him and his family over their friendship and it had been a betrayal. He wanted forgiveness and he was willing to work for it.

"Give me a chance to prove myself to you, again. Give me a chance to show you that I am so, so sorry." There was a waver in his voice that he couldn't hide.

[minaharkerdailymirror]

It had hurt when Lestat broke up with her and chose Louis. And she left for a clean break and she traveled and worked on discovering who she was outside Lestat. They had still talked. Texted back and forth…and she’d cried when they reunited.

But this….this has been different. This is the longest she’d gone without talking to him in decades. And it hurt, because there were experiences she’d had that she immediately had wanted to tell him….but then remembered. Nightmares she had that she could only talk to him about, only to deal with the pain that they weren’t talking.

But what was done was done, and Amina had become an expert at seeing Cressida without having to see Lestat.

Until today.

She’d felt the punch to the gut when she saw him at the window, she nearly turned around and drove off and canceled tonight but then he saw her. And she could only give a stiff nod and hope he understood enough that she wanted to be left alone. He didn’t. And he was outside before she knew it. She stared ahead when he had the audacity to tell her he missed her. How could that be? He had the family he wanted in there.

She’d asked the question in hopes he would say something like ‘talk to me’ or ‘forgive me’ and she would tell him ‘no’ and leave. They had mourned Claudia together. She stood by him through his grief, and his rebuilding and that damned book. And she was the one that got excluded

His request that she give him a chance made her look at him finally, she heard the waver in his voice, and she just…shook her head, her anger was calm….which spoke on itself how pissed and hurt she still was, “How do you plan to do that, Lestat? Hm? Your mouth says one thing but your actions say how little you value me. I was your companion until you got who you wanted. Then I was your family until you got them back and shoved me to a corner in another room. What role am I to be next for you to replace me with when you get someone you actually want? You can hardly get upset that I believe you when you show me how you feel about our relationship.”

And even then that wouldn’t have been so bad if he didnt claim he valued her more highly than he had.

“If I did this to you,” she finished, “You wouldn’t speak to me either.”

[witchkingofneworleans]

He really would do almost anything to fix this with Mina. It was very much true that you only fully appreciated what you had in your life when you lost it. Lestat was happy that his family was back together, that he had Louis and Cressida had them both, but that wasn't quite the entire truth. Mina was part of that family, and there was a part of his heart that would always belong to her. He needed her back in his life. He needed his best friend because there truly had never been any other friend in his life who could equal her. What they had forged over decades couldn't be over. It just couldn't be.

If it was actions that she needed, then actions he would give her. Without a further thought or a single doubt, Lestat sank to his knees in front of her on the sidewalk. He didn't care what anyone would say if they saw. This wasn't for them. This was for Mina. He wanted to reach out and take hold of her hand and his hands were already moving to do so. He realised and he forced his arms to drop to his sides. He wouldn't crowd her like that.

"My family isn't my family without you Mina. You are part of it and I am so sorry that I made you feel as though you weren't." He had no shame as the tears welled in his eyes. He had hurt her and she had left and it had hurt him. It was fitting that she should punish him like that but the time for punishment was over. He needed to make this right.

"I would speak to you though, after trashing a room perhaps, and do you know why? Because being angry with you is better than not being with you at all."

He could only hope that she felt the same.

[witchkingofneworleans]

For the last time; when I type duck or ducks I literally mean duck or ducks. If it was fuck or fucks I'd absolutely be typing that autocorrect!

[platoapproved]

The words began to pour out of me as they had out of him, and soon we were talking about a thousand things we had felt in our hearts, varieties of secret loneliness, and the words seemed to be essential words the way they did on those rare occasions with my mother. And as we came to describe our longings and dissatisfactions, we were saying things to each other with great exuberance, like “Yes, yes,” and “Exactly,” and “I know completely what you mean,” and “And yes, of course, you felt that you could not bear it,” etc. —THE VAMPIRE LESTAT