claudia loves louis

Freddie Fox as Gwayne Hightower

IWTV  | costume appreciation: 9/∞

costume design by Carol Cutshall

Bailey Bass  | costume appreciation: 4/∞

walk with me. 1. I’ve always been very interested in Claudia’s relationship to money. The fact that she experienced a poverty her parents never did (part of why she thought loustat were angels was bc their house was so nice !), and was at the time of her turning already pretty far past the age of compulsory education for black children in Louisiana and likely already doing some kind of informal or low-paying work, the fact that a big part of what louis feels he can offer her is nice clothes big house jewels fancy pastries she can’t even taste etc etc. like. shed have some complicated feelings about money. Also like most vampires get fuck-you rich ! and we never see Claudia talk about money much at all, despite the fact that trying to get financial independence from her family would make a lot of sense. and like yeah she can’t exactly walk into a business and get a job, she can’t buy real estate (at least not without her parents helping her and thats the last thing she wants.) what is the One (1) field where you can make a shit ton of money even if you appear to the world to be a child? hollywoooood.

2. my baby loves windows retraumatization tea. having to be baby lu was so humiliating but she did it bc it was the price to pay for access to a community to enable her survival. i could see her doing it again to enable a solitary survival where she doesnt need to rely on anyone. also like. the theatre des vampires experience did prove to her that she has some talent and can sell tickets so she’s like ok fine, if i am a saleable commodity then im going to be a valuable one. if this is all I am and will ever be, its gonna make me so rich I never have to deal with any of you fuckers again.

3. The classic child star arc of doing sort of shocking / transgressive things to try to reshape their image when they come of age fits Claudia perfectly. Like imagine if she starts out relatively wholesome child actress then suddenly reinvents herself as a vamp-themed popstar who wont stop talking about murder and burning herself with the sun at public appearances ugh iconic. (also her mysterious lack of aging would be sooo much more uncanny than in an adult and it would freakkkk people the fuck out. So much internet discourse. Subject of so much prurient fascination.)

4. The self defeating nature of it all!!!!! the one avenue she has to potential empowerment and status is just the infinite exploitation machine!! She can never get power she will always be exploited bc shes in a young black girl’s body. any gesture she makes toward liberation get folded back into a Machine that I built to crush her down into something easy to market and swallow. i think she would get into an awful bind with her sexuality in particular where she doesn't want to titllate anyone because she find their gaze repellent but also she rlly resents being treated as a pure virginal innocent child. And she can’t even kill the right ppl abt it bc they’d notice if all the disney execs go missing :/ so instead shes just throwing shit at PAs and draining random people who follow her on insta.

5. she has things to say!! i want to hear her weird dark funhouse-mirror-olivia-rodrigo album idk.

omg i forgot to respond to this. wrong blog for this technically but idgaf modern human au armanlou is basically just a regular abusive marriage & that is of course in the scope of this blog. fame monster by killjester is actually my favorite interpretation of them in a modern au followed very closely by see-through by verseau so inevitably my answer will not be free of these influences but i like to imagine a world where louis has a whirlwind romance w lestat (as in canon) & they adopt claudia (well imo they foster her and then her aunt dies. and they adopt her. but this is way more complex than i can fit into one ask that isn't even abt it) & they stay in nola for a little before they move to paris together all of them . my point is modern human au when louis leaves she's still very young like 28-30 bc she met & married lestat fresh out of her teens & then she thinks she's doing it right w armand by est. immediately that they aren't friends & they start sleeping together casually but then louis needs a restraining order against lestat & louis needs financial support raising claudia & louis needs a support system & armand basically does all of it and this basically pushes them into a serious relationship & of course right after that into marriage. sorry you asked for hcs & this is just my idea of what their story wld look like......hcs are

age gap is real to me armand is lestat's age & thinks he knows best in everything......

every part of the day is planned armand makes louis wake early & gets a personalized pilates instructor for the both of them louis has to eat every meal w armand or at least send him a picture of the food before during & after the meal armand can track his location (louis lost this protracted battle after claudia was sick one day & armand had to pick her up & louis was working & cld not be reached.)

claudia is like eight when louis marries armand but armand is nottt her parent he just kind of hangs around and provides for louis & picks fights w claudia when louis isn't in the room.....not the way lestat picks fights but just constantly discouraging claudia (a child.)'s emotional dependence on louis

they get really into bdsm obviously & they have a contract & this is louis' first time experiencing what it looks like for it to be negotiated like he can state in advance how it's going to be.....of course every time she deviates from armand's mild suggestions she feels guilty & every time armand gives in and doms her she feels extra guilty bc armand is already capital P Providing for them. this is again barely scratching the surface but im going to cite another mutual who described dubai as a power seesaw whose very existence is for louis' benefit.

claudia is so central to this like long after louis realizes she's unhappy & the abuse is stifling & unbearable (which takes like five years) she wld stick it out bc she wld think it's better for claudia--can't put claudia thru another messy divorce with another rich man

i think a little later in their marriage they would get really into picking up thirds like armand just sitting in the corner & telling someone how to fuck louis & i think they stop and just decide to open the marriage when armand realizes louis looks forward to those nights a little too much. the pleasure has to be measured & sensibly doled out. for louis' own good

i think it takes claudia moving out & louis having a breakdown over how suffocated he feels and armand forcibly institutionalizing him for louis to leave......& lately he's been seeing lestat on his lunches and it starts w the intention of the latter to reconnect w claudia but very quickly they start falling in love again & this is before the breakdown & armand knows abt it . so that may or may not have influenced certain decisions armand took

kind of the beautiful crux of their post-divorce no contact to me is when ja got asked if louis was going to send armand the receipt for fixing the wall bc i loveeee jacob anderson's answer that's like louis' got the money. shes got the money she's got time she's rebuilding her relationship w her daughter in her own house this time no man fucking it up for the both of them........bc ofc armanlou is abt claudia can't talk abt their relationship without talking abt claudia