#and Claudia runs to him

[starry-skies-writes]

Claudia “You’d do anything for family” last name

and Soren being the only family she has left.

(I refuse to believe she’d choose Aaravos over him when it comes down to it)

“Choose the egg. If you have to choose, choose the egg”

but DID SHE??? NO. She chose SOREN over the magical being that apparently has the power to destroy the world (even if her dad’s path would’ve made her choose otherwise).

Family comes first, always.

[dreadfuldevotee]

Let Louis be arrogant, self-involved and not the most observant person in the room. This is the man who said he didn't know Lestat could fly even though they floated together in the pilot ep. The man who looked his daughter in the face and said she was wrong when she told him that his new boyfriend put his hands on her in a scene 10 minutes after the one where he told said boyfriend to stop being a dick to her. Louis Du Lac gave up on photography after a year when he received critique from someone other than his own machination of Lestat, even though he knew the photos would be a lot better if he exercised just a little patience. its fuuuun, it makes him interestiiiiiing

[fuctacles]

Eddie, begrudgingly: Dustin's older brother is kinda fine :/

I had a craving for best friend's older brother AU so I wrote some but it's not my forte I'm out of ideas so that might be it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Edit: jokes on me I guess [Part II] [Part III]

Eddie was about to knock on his freshman friend’s door when there was a loud commotion on the other side and the door opened by itself. A guy, probably around his age, nearly ran into him in his haste to leave the house. He startled, taking Eddie in. And then taking a double take, the way Eddie was used to people doing at the sight of him.

“Who are you?” the guy asked, scrunching his nose and not meeting Eddie’s eyes.

He felt his hackles rise, venom building in his throat and ready to spit. He wasn’t expecting this on a Saturday on his friend’s doorstep, but he guessed this was the kind of town where you just couldn’t wear your battle vest in peace anywhere. His upper lip twitched ready to form a snarl, when suddenly the guy's features softened, a spark of recognition lighting up his eyes.

“Wait. Let me guess. Eddie?”

Eddie faltered, taken aback by the sudden shift in tone. He frowned.

“Yeah?”

The guy's face warmed up with a smile, and Eddie was not ready for that kind of emotional rollercoaster this early in the morning.

“Dustin’s stories do not do you justice,” he says for some reason, eyeing him again. Eddie wants to shrivel up and hide. What the fuck was happening. “He’s waiting for you in the kitchen,” he said, stepping to the side to invite him in. “I have to go to work, so you two be good, okay?” he says before waving a cheery goodbye and closing the door, disappearing just as abruptly as he showed up in front of Eddie. The inside of the house suddenly seemed dull.

Another ray of sunshine peeked from the kitchen, toothy grin and hazelnut curls.

“So you’ve met Steve!” Dustin grinned in place of a greeting.

Eddie gawked at him.

“That,” he pointed at the closed door. The sound of a car leaving the curb tickled his ears. “Was Steve?!”

“The adopted brother Steve? The Star Wars fan Steve? The badass older brother Steve?”

“Yes, all that,” Dustin nodded enthusiastically.

“I thought he was, like, 16!” Eddie flailed and it sounded like a petulant whine even to his ears. He winced.

Dustin frowned at him like he was being stupid. Eddie didn’t like that gaze, but unfortunately at this point, he was getting used to it. His younger friend leaned on the kitchen door frame watching Eddie toe off his shoes.

“He’s 19. What gave you that impression?”

Eddie frowned at his scuffed Reeboks. He nudged them with his toe to line up, looking for an answer.

“The adopted part, I think? He’s almost an adult, who adopts that old?”

He knew he had said the wrong thing as soon as he said it. He looked up at Dustin, whose face twisted uncomfortably.

“Shit, sorry man. I didn’t mean-”

Dusting clicked his tongue impatiently, interrupting him.

“It’s fine. This is an unconventional arrangement,” he said in that way when you heard something repeatedly. “I can tell you more, but after we make that character sheet, okay?”

Eddie nodded, eager to abandon his social faux pas. The Henderson’s were an unconventional unit, and that’s what he loved about them, at least from the stories Dustin shared. The guy was a little freak, just like Eddie, so it checked out his family was just as unconventional. So was Eddie’s after all.

The parallels made him warm up inside, the familiar need to protect his younger friends flaring up.

“Deal,” he nodded, following his friend inside the kitchen, where notebooks and DnD manuals already littered the table.

A couple of hours, two coffees and an unsolved argument about the intricacies of multiclassing later, they decided to take a break and Eddie could finally feast his eyes on the family photos on display. He stood in front of the newest one standing front and centre on the mantle. Steve was smiling shyly to the camera while Claudia Henderson had her arms around his shoulders and Dustin was grinning wide from his other side, hair ruffled by the older boy's hand.

“How long he has been living here?”

Dustin’s head popped out of the kitchen where he was rummaging for snacks.

“About a year. Remember the Starcourt fire?”

“Yeah?” Eddie frowned, taken aback by the seemingly unrelated question.

“Well, he’s been there and-” the boy frowned, fully stepping into the living room and crossing his arms. “Shit, Mom says I shouldn’t be babbling it around. That it’s Steve's story to tell.”

Eddie hummed, cocking his head.

“Your mom is very smart.”

Dustin unwrapped his arms, clenching his hands together.

“I guess I could tell you I mean who are you gonna tell? You just-”

Eddie raised both his hands, stopping him.

“Dude, he interrupted with all the disapproval his drug dealing nonconformist self could muster. “She’s right and that would be breaking your brother’s trust.”

“Uh. Yeah,” Dustin gulped, looking adequately ashamed at proposing the idea. “You’re right., he nodded.

This lasted about half a second because nobody could stop Henderson from being an egocentric know-it-all and since he was wrong he was now going to overcompensate for it. Of that, Eddie could be sure.

“We can go to his workplace and you could ask him!”

Eddie raised his hands again.

“Hold your horses Henderson, we’re not harassing your brother at work.” The boy was actually pouting, the little shit. “I am not that determined to hear it. I’ll just catch him another time I visit.”

That was the wrong thing to say because he wasn’t planning on being a recurring guest initially. Or maybe it was the right thing to say since Dustin positively beamed at the implication.

Maybe it was because the kid’s presence has been a good influence on him as well.

Also, while the story of Steve’s adoption didn’t seem that interesting before, the idea of a mall fire being somehow involved raised questions that were now itching the back of Eddie’s tongue. He had to ask them at some point.

*

“There’s this guy,” Eddie starts one day during lunch break. 

“Oh-ho,” Gareth murmurs with disdain, the crumbs from his sandwich falling from his lips.

“Not like that,” Eddie glowered at him, slapping against his arm. Even though it was kinda like that. “He’s picking up Henderson after Hellfire today and if we run into him, I want you guys to be civil.”

“We’re always civil,” Jeff frowns at Eddie’s backhanded accusations.

“Yeah, especially when you guys are mooning after Mrs. Wheeler.”

The comment raised a wave of loud protests from his friends.

“I am just saying-”

“You’re just saying that guy is hot and we shouldn’t ogle him?” Gareth, the worst friend he has, raised his eyebrow.

“No, I’m just-”

“You calling dibs, Munson?” John the Traitor, the Backstabber, joined in. Johned in, if you will.

‘No!” Eddie protested, maybe a little too loud. A couple of heads turned but when they saw the ruckus was coming from the freaks table, they quickly lost interest. “He’s the worst. A hunk of jock with stupid hair but!” He rose a finger. “He’s Henderson’s family. And what do we do with family members in Hellfire?”

“Lure in.”

“Lull into a fake sense of security.”

“Cast charm person.”

“Exactly,” he smirked, pointing his finger at each of them in approval. “This case is no different.”

“It feels different,” Gareth murmured under his breath, earning himself another smack on the shoulder.

*

Eddie wrapped up the session and was giving out experience points to his players when a soft knock interrupted his counting. He frowned at the door.

“Speak ‘friend’ and enter!” he hollered to his sheep’s utter glee. He grinned at them.

Dead silence was all the response he got, so he assumed whatever normie was bugging them got discouraged. But then, Henderson was turning around in his seat, yelling at the door.

“It’s from Lord of the Rings! You know this one!”

There was a shuffle on the other side where apparently, Steve came already to pick up his brother.

“Oh! Um… Melon? Was that it?”

“You may enter!” Eddie commanded with a grin straining at his cheeks. Dustin was doing a good job educating his jock brother, apparently. 

The guy pushed the door open, taking in the table full of teenagers. He waved hesitantly.

“You guys finishing up?”

“I’m handing out points, we need just a few minutes,” Eddie waved his hand. “And it’s Mellon.”

Steve frowned.

“That’s what I said.”

“Sure you did,” Eddie cocked his head condescendingly, ignoring the eyes of Corroded Coffin members staring at him. “Now sit and wait,” he gratuitously offered, snapping his fingers and pointing at a nearby bench, like Henderson’s older brother was some kind of dog.

To his surprise, he nodded shortly and obeyed, sitting down and watching him expectantly. Eddie took it as his cue to proceed. He coughed to gather his sheep's attention and went back to his meticulous calculations.

*

“That didn’t look like Charm Person to me,” Gareth hissed as soon as the younger members of Hellfire had left.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Eddie scrunched his eyebrows, throwing him a look while he stuffed his campaign notes into his bag.

“You told us to be nice, but you ordered him around like he was one of the kids,” Jeff pointed out, arms crossing.

“I did not”

“You totally did.”

Eddie’s eyes narrowed as he straightened up.

“What is this? Mutiny? Among my own kin? Ungrateful little herd I had nurtured on my own breast-”

He was interrupted by a cacophony of grossed out noises.

“Spare us the imagery, please.”

Eddie huffed indignantly, closing his bag.

“Then quit yapping. It was a singular lapse of judgement on my part,” he said with finality, throwing his bag over his shoulder. Without looking back, he walked off, hand raised in a goodbye, “Toodles, bitches.”

And he was gone.

Gareth sighed.

“Man, I love Eddie, but sometimes…” John cut himself off, shaking his head. 

“Yeah.”

*

Eddie’s been on the fence about it for some time now. But the time was ticking and he did say more than once that ‘86 was gonna be his year, so maybe it was time to pocket his ego and make some calls.

Some very, very humiliating calls.

Sighing deeply he imagined himself going to the woods and digging up a deep hole. There he imaginary buried his pride, made a fancy map to find it later, hopefully in time for his graduation, and finally dragged himself back home and in front of his phone. Next to it, he tacked on a list of numbers of all his newest sheepies in case of emergencies. Like Hellfire scheduling.

He sighed once more, slumping dramatically before dialling the first of the numbers. As he listened to the dial tone, he squared his shoulders, decided a more confident pose was in order. He was now a man of action, taking his fate in his own hands. His pride was buried deeply in the darkest corners of the forest and only a courageous-

“Har- Henderson residence, this is Steve speaking.”

Eddie’s mind went blank, completely thrown off. Who was he calling again? What for?

“Hello?”

“Is this how you pick up the phone? Did I get the wrong house? Is this the British Queen?”

“... Eddie? Is that you?”

Busted.

“What gave me away?”

“Ah, only the dramatic nonsensical ramblings.” Steve answered, amusement in his voice. 

“Thank you, I pride myself in those.” No pride! Pride is buried deep in the putrid soil of a forgotten battlefield! “But I’m here for the superior Henderson, please and thank you.” Ah yes, the Charm Person again. Somebody could think Eddie buried his Charisma along with the pride.

“Sorry, Claudia is at work right now.”

Eddie scrunched his nose, confused, the gleeful tilt to the voice in his ear irking him. Then he remembered the mom. A staple in most households.

“Har, har, Steven. The smart one.”

“Please never call him that to his face,” the man said with a resigned sigh.

“There wouldn’t be enough space in the room for both our egos if I did.”

Steve laughed then, softly and genuinely, before calling out for his younger brother.

After a loud rattle, Dustin’s lispy voice finally reached Eddie’s trailer.

“What's up?”  

The man braced himself for what he was about to request.

“I need your help with an assignment.”

*

The door opened before he could even knock. Again.

“I thought I told you not to inflate his ego.”

“No, you told me not to call him smart. It is merely a by-product of my desperate attempts at graduating,” Eddie shrugged matter-of-factly. “Besides, I don’t respond to the likes of you.” He punctuated his words by seizing the guy up before brushing past him inside the Henderson’s house.

“The likes of- Excuse me?!”

Eddie was skipping towards Dustin’s room.

“Hey big guy I’m here for my tutoring!” he announced himself, standing in the open door to his friend’s room, who quickly beckons him inside. Steve’s heavy steps follow and soon he’s the one standing in the door frame, arms crossed, while Eddie bounces on Dustin’s bed.

“What do you mean the likes of me?” he asks, almost pouting. 

“Mainstream,” offered Dustin, shuffling through stuff on his desk.

“Jocks,” added Eddie, still bouncing with glee, hair following up and down.

“Normies.”

“Pop listeners.”

“Mom friends.”

“Conformists.”

“Okay, I get it!” Steve threw his hands in the air, stopping the list that probably wouldn’t come to an end otherwise. “You’re the cool guys, have fun having your cool stuff,” he huffed angrily, grabbing the doorknob. Before he closed the door he threw one seething glance at Dustin. “Do not. Ask me for snacks,” he hissed before slamming the door shut.

Eddie flipped back on the bed, a wide grin splitting his face.

“Man, your brother is so easy to rile up,” he chuckled gleefully.

“Right?! He’s so bitchy,” Dusting turned around towards him, signature smile in place. Eddie hollered.

“He is!”

Alas, a slap of palms interrupted his delightful trashing around.

“I believe we have some physics to cover?”

Eddie groaned. Right. He didn’t come here to bother the older Henderson. Booo.

[Steddie masterpost] [Ao3] [ko-fi]

[eyestrain-addict]

I might be misremembering but it's crazy that real lestat (that we know of) never refers to claudia as "ours", only ever refers to her as Louis' daughter. But dreamstat (AKA louis' imagined version of lestat) refers to her as 'our daughter'. This version of Lestat is both a taunting presence and also a comforting one and in this moment it's clear he's supposed to be comforting- meaning I think that Louis longed to hear Lestat take paternal ownership of Claudia the same way Lestat longed to hear Louis say I love you. Like a "this is it. We're a family. You're my husband and the father of our daughter"

A lot of notable things happened in this episode obviously but this is the one thing I can comprehend at this very moment

[stuck-in-jelly]

Angsty Magefam headcanon of the day

Although Soren was more than willing to corporate and help with the sealing and uncovering of his father’s hidden passageways, he was unable let anyone do anything with Claudia’s old bedroom.

For the past 2 years and a half it has remained untouched for the most part. No one goes in there except for Soren on Claudia’s birthday.

It started when they got back from the Spire. Her birthday had just passed, and they had a surprise party planned months in advance for her as usual. Except, of course, she’s not there this time.

But a small part of him hopes hopes that maybe she came back home, so he went into her bedroom to see any signs that she had been there that she had returned to at least grab a few things.

But he found nothing. Everything was just as she had left it when they went on their journey to Xadia.

So he just sat there in her room alone, thinking about the gift he had gotten her that he hid in the panel behind her bed frame. He considered fishing it out but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

The next two years after that he went into her room in the early morning of her birthday with poorly made pancakes and coffee and sat down on her bed to enjoy them alone. Soren spends most of the morning in there.

He spends that time dusting a bit and talking to ‘her’ to catching her up on his life and what’s been going on in the castle. He tells her how much he misses her and really hopes she comes back home.

[wellijustfinnihedoneofthebooks]

Everyday i wake up and think abouthow sad i am that lestat the musical is objectively a horrible musical because i really do think interview with the vampire would probably make the best musical ever

[crowleysfall]

“claudia joined the coven what was louis supposed to do” idk defended her against the people making fun of her?? believed her when she told him his new boyfriend had just threatened her instead of dismissing her?? i love louis as much as the next person but that man has been failing claudia like CRAZY

[wait-this-isnt-itunes]

Louis de Pointe Du Lac - a playlist

Features: DAUGHTER - Beyoncé // Bloodsport '15 - Raleigh Ritchie // NFWMB - Hozier // Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Nina Simone // A Dangerous Thing - AURORA // Time Is On My Side - Irma Thomas // Hard Out Here. - RAYE // Hell Is Near - St. Vincent // Crude Drawing Of An Angel - Caroline Polachek // Never Be Mine - Kate Bush // Breezeblocks - alt-J // What Kind Of Man - Florence + The Machine // Deadly Valentine - Charlotte Gainsbourg // + more

[natandacat]

Anyone else thinking about a late 70s/80s era where a severely relapsing louis seeks out a daniel whose addiction has just gotten worse post-interview, featuring the worst bender in vampire and human recent history intermingled with a truly toxic and codependent romance... and of course who's there, with mop and mindlessness, to clean it up... by erasing their memories once again...

[fayevalcntine]

The whole "Claudia is now his sister"/Louis' sibling comparisons are never gonna sit right with me because that's never going to erase the fact that Claudia exists as a vampire partly because of him. Their relationship will never have this clearly defined role of siblings in the same manner Louis had with Grace or Paul, even if he was their older brother and was implicitly given the role of providing for them as the successor and manager of his family's estate. Because Louis was never responsible in part for their creation, the reason why they existed the way that they do in terms of behavior and life itself.

It also makes his betrayal of her all the more heartbreaking in ways that him and Grace drifting apart never will. He was her father, and didn't provide emotional support for her. She had to turn the tables and try to assume the role of being on an equal level because of this failure but this doesn't make him not choosing her any less painful than it did the first time. Even as they shift roles, take or give emotional responsibility one has towards the other, the fact that Claudia exists the way she does because of him and Lestat will always be there.

[izzymalec]

LOVE how interview with the vampire is just men competing about who's the biggest bitch

[mister-ancunin]

i. what the hell. oh my god.

[iwtvdramacd18]

Claudia would have loved putting images of Lestat through the quality fryer I think

[pynkhues]

I apologize to reach out to you from a side blog I am just not comfortable to do it from my main. I agree with everything you have said so far about louis except the part about how armand is a trophy spouse but that’s a topic for another time.

I think interview with the vampire fans are being incredibly unfair to label any fans of the show who have a different read on louis’s character as antiblack. I agree wholeheartedly that nonblack people especially white people have an innate antiblackness because antiblackness is global and exists in nearly every culture. However there are nonblack people who are dedicated to knowing their place and comforting their antiblackness and are very aware of the antiblack tropes that are often used for black characters in media. However I don’t believe you to be antiblack or any other interview with the vampire fan who has a not-fem read on louis as antiblack either. I have a lot of black friends in the fandom who agree louis is androgynous at best but he is not feminine and neither is he hyper-masculine. He likes being a man and he is attracted to masculinity as a concept and performs it himself just like the other men on the show. There is no canonical confirmation or even clues that louis is gender non conforming or that louis wants to be feminine. This is to say that does not at all mean he is hypermasculine or a dominant sex fiend- he truly is not hypermasculine. I think fans who want everyone to only have a specific fem reading of louis and try to beat everyone else into submission by accusations of antiblackness are doing a lot of damage to this fandom and the well meaning people in it. I have come here from the hamilton fandom and these types of accusations were very normal there and the hamilton fandom for a long time was made fun of by the entire internet for its endless in-fighting over characters and I think iwtv as a fandom is headed for the same fate. It is very saddening and very heartbreaking to see people who have not displayed any abuse apologia like you be accused of abuse apologia and racism. I think louis’s masculine personality makes perfect sense for the time he existed in. During Jim Crow black men were seen as ‘less masculine’ by white men just because they were black. The fandom argues that not viewing Louis as feminine is antiblack but stripping away his masculinity in the time period of Jim Crow is also anti black that is how black men were emasculated by white men back then. It makes sense that louis as a black man in the 1910s and beyond would perform masculinity-not hyper masculinity- because white supremacists took away masculinity from black men to dehumanize them and take away their social power. I believe it’s much more antiblack to ignore the historical time period Louis lives in so you can force a feminine reading on him because that is what aligns with your fetish. A lot of interview with the vampire fans are ‘fujoshis’ who have previously consumed boys love media in which often the ‘bottom’ is feminized because these stories are written by women who aim to feminize the bottom because they either view bottoming as inherently a feminine thing -which is not a progressive social view but a rather conservative one- which is why boys love written by gay men do not fall into these tropes. This of course is not the case for all boys love media but it is a present trope. I wish for iwtv fans to not use inflammatory language to control people who utter a different view of Louis. It is very dangerous to try to beat everyone who views Louis differently-and not in a racist way either- into submission by accusing them of racism when they prove to be well educated on racial matters like you have. I want everyone especially that user who replied to you calling you a white supremacist to know that you are being dishonest with your intentions. You are just angry people are able to see Louis as the actual version he is on screen and not as the fanonized version. Please stop this latent form of violence and abuse which is accusing everyone of being racist and please look inwards yourself as to why you wish to control how other people think of Louis especially people who are not racist and do not box Louis into racist tropes and readings. Please stop this harassment

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, these were both really insightful and interesting reads, and I really appreciate you taking the time to send them.

[ivyithink]

I just want to let you know that I am obsessed with the reverse AU where Claudia is the adult and loustat are the teens in the family. It's such an interesting idea and loustat look so cute in your art! Thank you for making it

Thank you so so much, I’ve very glad you enjoy both the idea and the sketches for it!!! I gotta admit I’m kinda obsessed with it too, I would LOOOOOVE to read some fics exploring this new, very different dynamic! And, like, it obviously changes the plot as drastically as everything else, but wouldn’t it be interesting to try and keep certain key moments unchanged somehow (but reversed), and then how would it end ultimately? The same horrible way for the boys that it ended for Claudia? THE ANGST POTENTIAL. But in a different fic I literally just want to see a much better functioning (because Claudia’s running things) (though it still would not be totally healthy…) vamp fam taking Paris by storm, stealing Armand’s theatre (would he still even have it, without Lestat in the picture??? see so much stuff to explore!) and enjoying life being two proud vamps + one still a bit on the fence about it all, but at least his family loves him and lets him read quietly in the back row.

Anyway, sorry for this essay, as you can clearly see, I’m also quite fond of this au, so 1. might draw for it again, nobody be surprised! 2. if you have fics with this idea — gimme gimme gimme those links, I’m very curious!!

[rosasappho]

SCREAM