I think I could have dazzled in the 20′s and 30′s! I would have thrown lavish parties that lasted for weeks, mingled with writers and artists of the era, delighted in the spread of Jazz, and made another fortune running gin, whiskey, rum, moonshine and vodka up and down the coast. I would have rubbed elbows with Capone, Maranzano, Luciano….perhaps they would have even given me some sort of nickname hmm?
As for the 60′s and 70′s, it was quite the tumultuous time….I don’t really care for much of the fashion but I would have found a great deal of enjoyment in the art and music. I would have also been a regular at Studio 54 and then CBGB’s (in the eighties, I did visit CBGB’s often when in NYC). I would have thrown myself into music and probably would have started recording much earlier than the eighties. The drug culture was interesting as well and it might have been fun to experiment a bit more….I would have loved meeting Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust phase).
However, the aesthetic of these eras have lasted throughout our brief history, thanks to the leaps and bounds made in preservation, and aside from the dead, we can revisit each as often as we like.
I assume you wanted a fluffy answer (and I answered something similar here in a fluffy way) I mean I have an OTP tag that is dominated with Lestat/Louis and I was all well and prepared to answer you as such, but when I really thought about it… and was talking about it with thelionscrimsonclaws…
I remembered this quote:
“I don’t like myself, you know. I love myself, of course, I’m committed to myself till my dying day. But I don’t like myself.“ – Lestat de Lioncourt, Memnoch the Devil.
And I feel like I doubt whether canon!Lestat can truly trust any of all his lovers to be the ONE TRUE LOVE. I think his one true love is himself, and his mission to find the answers he needs, so really, LIFE ITSELF.
Lestat/Life = OTP!
No one is better than he is at beating himself up and then healing from it; he’s had to rely on himself and his own judgment for most of the big decisions in his life. For better or worse.
Also, I think Lestat requires a lot of different interactions with different lovers, no one individual seems able (or willing) to satisfy all these myriad needs. Everyone who loves Lestat intimately seems to accept that they will have to share him, but he has an enormous amount of love to give, there seems to be a limitless supply for all of them ❤
Spoilers ahead…
Of the ones you mentioned, each one was a unique relationship. He’s never the same exact person, he behaves differently in different pairings.
Louis: If there were a One True Love, it would be Louis. Their relationship, while volatile, even lethal at times, is something they both cleave to. Louis has learned from Lestat’s example and has become stronger over time, emotionally and physically (although he was always somewhat of a BAMF). Lestat has gained the skills of inner peace and patience from Louis’ example. Their chemistry has been the best of any pairing; they’re not two halves of one whole, but two individuals who challenge each other, who strive to surprise each other still, and in my opinion,that’s what the best relationships do.
However,
Louis tried to check out of the series w/out permission at one point, and well… that can’t be ignored.
Nicolas was Lestat’s first real long-term relationship at a time when Lestat desperately needed love and nurturing and wanted to give it back, too. Nicolas is the first person who really listened to him and they both helped each other immensely… but I don’t think that relationship could ever really work, because deep down Nicolas and Lestat always wanted different things out of life.
Akasha used Lestat. She held him in captivity and drugged him on her blood and her mental illusions, keeping him in a disoriented state by screwing with his Deathsleep patterns. She made him believe it was love, but it was really more a form of addiction. She needed him as a pawn in her grand scheme, both bc he’s a total studmuffin and also to win over the vampires that were loyal to him. She said to him that he would be her “instrument:”
“You are my only true companion, my finest instrument…. But as the stars are my witness, you will aid me in my mission. Or you will be no more than the instrument for the commencement, as Judas was to Christ. And I shall destroy you as Christ destroyed Judas once your usefulness is past.” – Akasha, Queen of the Damned.
So I wouldn’t call Lestat/Akasha a loving relationship, but hey, if you like it, that’s fine, too, I’m a #Ship and let ship girl!
Rowan Mayfair – to be honest, I can’t remember much of this pairing except that Lestat seemed captivated by her for no apparent reason other than that she was a strong woman and had a kind of tortured soul, which he recognized as being like his own. He promises her the Dark Gift:
“And the night will come when we’ll share the Blood. I promise you. The Dark Gift will be yours.” – Lestat, Blood Canticle
But AR diverted from canon with Prince Lestat, essentially rendering the Rowan/Lestat ship null and void. AR decided to sink that ship. I couldn’t really envision Rowan as being part of the coven, and it would be painful to see Louis shoved aside YET AGAIN to make way for YET ANOTHER fledgling.
…Fortunately David Talbot hasn’t minded being relegated to the background, and only getting brief moments of (dubcon) intimacy from Lestat. David knows he has to share.
♛ Ten! Such limitations. Technically, adding ten to the previous five makes it fifteen, and really, that’s enough to share with the public. Some things I adore about him are inexplicable, and many things are too private to share. I’d love to tell you these of course, but bragging of such things is not worth the guaranteed retaliation for such a breach in our privacy.
So you want a wall of text? You shall have one, visage gris.
The bottom line is that Louis coaxes out a better version of myself. I don’t always do things for his approval but when I get validation from him it’s as if the sun has broken free from the clouds. I find relief in his gaze, in his arms. I want to give him everything. I hope that I mean a fraction of what he means to me.
1. His eyes: Let’s start with the obvious. I’ve often described his eye color, but what I mean to share here is about his eyes in their expressiveness. He can be vicious, he can cut me deeply with a glance. When he looks at me with lust, his pupils widen, leaving only slivers of the brilliant green. My surrender is inevitable. Of course I have to play it like I still have some autonomy, he can’t know that he has such an effect *winks*
2. The way he pleads with me not to do certain things that I am SURE will be worth the effort.
3. The way he trembles with rage rather than fight me because he is too much of a gentleman to lower himself to my level.
4. The way he says he told me sowhen I do things despite his advice and come crawling back to him.
5. The way he lets me apologize without degrading myself by literally apologizing.
6. The way his body seems to fit with mine in so many variations,
the way he collects himself beside me, tucking a leg underneath himself, like a panther. As if he were made for me. Fun fact: he was. (As if that needed to be said.)
7. The pride I have in him when he flexes his powers, which he does! Occasionally! He dislikes it the way mortals dislike the gym, but he’s always a little arrogant after accomplishing even the smallest thing (as are mortals leaving the gym). He’s learning to move things with his mind. Seeing his eyes light up as a vase scoots along the mantel is… it’s indescribable. I can barely contain myself from hurling myself on him and cuddling him to death at such times.
8. No one cries as beautifully as he does. Those eyelashes forming patterns wetly together… the red tinge bringing out the green of his irises even more than usual… I admit that I sometimes used to torment him into tears when I couldn’t draw the love from him I needed. That’s a bitter truth. I had issues of my own at the time. I don’t do that anymore, at least not deliberately. He cries now for different reasons, when he does at all.
9. His strength and beauty when he does fight me (or others) is mesmerizing; I think he knows it has that effect on me and uses it to his advantage.
10. His silhouette on the balcony w/ the lights of the street haloing him. Ethereal among the lush plants and night-blooming blossoms.
Confirmed. It’ll likely stay in storage too because none of us are flamboyant enough to pull off trying to wear it.
Who Wore It Best? The Vampire Lestat or this Disturbing Lady Mannequin?
Poll Results:
The Vampire Lestat: 60%
Disturbing Lady Mannequin: 2%
“Why Are You Showing Me This Picture?”: 38%
You and I both are well aware that is not my cloak. No one dyed the wolf fur red. Don’t show me classics from Liberace’s closet (who, by the way–was he actually mortal and is he actually still alive?).
But I assume the statement is true. Has it dry-rotted by now, or has it been preserved?
Everything is preserved. Our Archives are fitted similarly to many museums, with temperature controls and limited exposure to handling for items that time has rendered fragile. Fabric is infamously weak to mishandling. Your cloak, however, has managed to endure well within its containment.
With the advancement of technologies, we have updated our facilities to a superior level of Preservation Storage. So your cloak might very well exist for another century or two.
I-want-my-IWTV 