Riki/ The Befuddled Dumbass

I'm genuinely pretty chill with how they handled Nia and Jon in this issue. Dare to say, I kinda like it? I'm still nervous and very apprehensive about the handling of Nia's character within her current conflict, but I actually thought it was a pretty good example of her poor mindset? And wasn't framed as a wholesome little couple!!!!

Basically, Nia was deluding herself. I mean that much was OBVIOUS from the start, that was the whole point of like.... Everything. But I like how blatant it is at this point? Nia says that, compared to everything else, this version of Jon feels real.

But he isn't. Not even close, and he's not Jon. He's not even a fake Jon- he's Key in a disguise. He's everything Nia wants and yearns for and he is still kinda off because this is her fantasy. He "feels real" because she's so far into her own hopes that she can't see what's in front of her: the fakeness of it all. She lets herself fall into it because she wants it so bad, and it's BAD FOR HER!! IT TURNS OUT BAD FOR HER!!!

If he can forgive her (whether he has the right to forgive her on these situations or not), then she can be forgiven, and if she can be forgiven, she's not evil. If he can forgive her, maybe he can love her through it, too, and she'll be absolved of her crimes.

If she can be forgiven, maybe it is actually Jay's fault for not understanding that she had no choice

In the lawyer scene, Louis says he felt like something was going on with Lestat, but didn’t know exactly what. He could tell *gestures vaguely* all that was one big cry for help. While Lestat took Louis’ doctor and his biographer and took on the persona created from the book, Lestat, apparently, hadn’t been directly trying to contact Louis. I’m not sure who dropped contact first, but it’s clear somewhere along the way that they did.

So without direct contact, Louis could still tell that something was going on with Lestat and without even being asked, called the lawyer meeting to check on him. He comes off as reserved, but just the fact he came to check on Lestat says a lot.

In contrast, Lestat had to repeatedly ask, if not beg Gabriella to come to him. He even makes a vodka reference, which some people have speculated was him trying to lure her with all parts of himself, even for things he doesn’t really want to do with her. And then Gabi comes, he tells her he needs help, and she gets off on his wounds.

Back to the lawyer scene, Louis comes to the meeting not expecting anything in return from this. He just wants to know what’s going on. The meeting is called because of the hotel’s damages, but the only reason it’s in-person is to check on Lestat.

And so going to the concert, Lestat flies up to Louis and hands him the book, the one with his thoughts and feelings bleeding all over it.

If someone hurts you, and you lose trust in them, you typically close yourself off to them. Lestat feels hurt by the book, but I think this act shows that he still places major trust in Louis. This is Lestat telling him what’s wrong. He wants Louis to understand what’s going on inside his head.

Then during the Danlou dinner, which is explicitly stated to be Louis fan fiction, Lestat imagines exactly this, Louis empathizing with him. He knows Louis would understand what he was trying to say and why he was hurt, and he even understands, in turn, that Louis wouldn’t have agreed to the book being published anyway.

It’s very interesting because while Lestat doesn’t believe Louis loves him (Lestat imagining Louis not feeling the maker-fledgling bond that Daniel talks about and even thinking it’s weird), he at least thinks Louis cares about him. Or at the very least is sympathetic enough to both understand and feel concern for him.