LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City / Episode 01: Lighting It Up - LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City

Summary6 min read

LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City – Episode 01: "Lighting It Up"

Hosted by The Last Podcast Network

Introduction

In the premiere episode of the much-anticipated new series, LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City, hosts Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski dive deep into the intricate world of Sarah J. Maas's popular adult science fiction novel series, Crescent City. Released on October 22, 2024, this episode titled "Lighting It Up" sets the stage for a comprehensive exploration of the series' first chapters, offering listeners a blend of plot analysis, character insights, and world-building discussions.

Overview of Crescent City Series

Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City is renowned for its rich tapestry of characters and a meticulously crafted universe where ancient magic intersects with modern technology. The series follows protagonists Bryce Quinlan and Danika Fendyr as they navigate a city filled with veneer—sentient, magical beings—and human inhabitants. The narrative weaves themes of power, prejudice, friendship, and love against a backdrop of political intrigue and supernatural conflicts.

Episode Content: Chapter Two Breakdown

Character Introductions and Relationships

The hosts begin by revisiting Bryce Quinlan and Danika Fendyr's introduction in Chapter Two. They discuss how Danika's transformation from her human guise to her wolf form introduces the shapeshifting aspect of the veneer. Natalie Jean expresses a longing for shapeshifting abilities, stating, "I want to be able to, like, attain an animal form if I want one" (08:38), reflecting the allure of the series' magical elements.

Jackie Zabrowski highlights the dynamic between Bryce and her half-brother, revealing early tensions:

"Somebody who... doesn't like Sabine and her half brother" (18:55).

World-Building Elements

The discussion delves into the complex world-building Maas employs. The concept of Gates, particularly the prominent Heart Gate, serves as both a mystical relic and a modern-day tourist attraction. Natalie Jean muses about the practicality and spectacle of such gates:

"It would be funny to watch them like on a camera being like, oh, I can't..." (27:10).

The hosts explore the significance of Luna's Horn, a relic whose theft propels much of the plot's tension. They analyze the societal structure where Micah, an archangel, holds authority akin to a city governor, enforcing brutal punishments such as crucifixions, which Natalie Jean vehemently opposes:

"I would say I'd be very, very sorry for anything that I did if I was crucified" (13:02).

Themes of Prejudice and Power

A significant portion of the episode examines the underlying themes of prejudice and power dynamics within Crescent City. The release of Briggs, a human rebellion leader, exacerbates tensions between humans and veneer. Jackie Zabrowski notes:

"Humans obviously get a lot of the brunt of the prejudice" (53:06).

Bryce's dual heritage as half human, half Fae places her at the intersection of these conflicts, fostering internal and external struggles. The hosts discuss Bryce's pride in her human side and her disdain for the veneer's treatment of humans, highlighting the complexity of her character.

Character Analysis

Bryce Quinlan

Bryce is portrayed as a strong, independent woman battling societal judgments due to her voluptuous figure and mixed heritage. Jackie Zabrowski commends Bryce's confidence:

"She kind of considers shortening garbage... got a lot of beef with a lot of people" (17:22).

She grapples with unfulfilled aspirations, such as her dream of becoming a professional ballerina, hindered by societal standards of beauty:

"I have a professional ballerina friend named Juniper" (56:33).

Danika Fendyr

Danika serves as Bryce's steadfast companion and leader of her wolf pack, the Pack of Devils. Her authoritative presence and protective nature are emphasized throughout the discussion. Natalie Jean appreciates Danika's charisma:

"You're so cool as Danika. You're such a... she's got so much charisma" (34:17).

Connor Holstrom

Connor is introduced as Danika's second and a potential romantic interest for Bryce. His earnest yet slightly awkward demeanor sparks intriguing chemistry:

"He challenges her, asking if messing with all these whack human guys has made her forget how she feels about him" (61:02).

World-Building Insights

The Drop and Veneer

A central concept discussed is The Drop, a ritual where veneer inject a drop of their magic into gates, symbolizing their connection to Crescent City. Natalie Jean compares it to A Court of Thorns and Roses:

"It's reminiscent of the drops of power that the lords give to Feyre in Acotar" (33:01).

This ritual's significance in granting immortality and binding veneer to the city underscores the series' intricate magical system.

Sci-Fi and Cyberpunk Influences

The coexistence of ancient relics with modern technology lends Crescent City a unique cyberpunk aesthetic. Jackie Zabrowski draws parallels to Rome's historical sites amidst contemporary landmarks:

"It's kind of like going to Rome or something... thousands of years old building and then there's like the Wendy's" (27:30).

This blend creates a vibrant, multifaceted setting that enhances the narrative's depth.

Relationship Dynamics and Personal Reflections

The hosts share personal anecdotes and reflections on their own friendships and relationships, drawing parallels to Bryce and Danika's bond. They emphasize the importance of camaraderie and mutual support:

"They depend on each other for it... they're being silly. And we also get..." (36:03).

Natalie Jean relates to Bryce's desire for independence while cherishing deep friendships:

"It's a point in Your life when you're not really turning to your family... you still keep up. So you like, you still keep up..." (37:25).

Emotional and Psychological Layers

The episode delves into the characters' emotional landscapes, particularly Bryce's internal conflicts regarding her heritage and personal relationships. The tension between her loyalty to Danika and emerging feelings for Connor adds complexity to her character arc.

Jackie Zabrowski highlights the nuanced portrayal of relationships:

"It's the beginning of this relationship forming... the beginning of this relationship forming" (78:37).

Conclusion and Future Directions

As the episode wraps up, Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski preview impending plot developments, hinting at deeper explorations of ancient relics, political unrest, and evolving character relationships. They encourage listeners to continue following the series:

"For our next episode, please read until part two, the Trench" (78:34).

The hosts conclude with enthusiasm for the upcoming discussions, promising to uncover more layers of Crescent City's sprawling narrative in future episodes.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

Natalie Jean at [08:38]: “I want to be able to, like, attain an animal form if I want one.”
Jackie Zabrowski at [17:22]: “She kind of considers shortening garbage... got a lot of beef with a lot of people.”
Natalie Jean at [13:02]: “I would say I'd be very, very sorry for anything that I did if I was crucified.”
Jackie Zabrowski at [53:06]: “Humans obviously get a lot of the brunt of the prejudice.”
Natalie Jean at [33:01]: “It's reminiscent of the drops of power that the lords give to Feyre in Acotar.”
Jackie Zabrowski at [27:30]: “It's kind of like going to Rome or something... thousands of years old building and then there's like the Wendy's.”
Jackie Zabrowski at [78:37]: “It's the beginning of this relationship forming... the beginning of this relationship forming.”

Final Thoughts

Episode 01 of LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City successfully sets the foundation for a thorough exploration of Sarah J. Maas's intricate series. Through engaging dialogue and insightful analysis, Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski provide both fans and newcomers with a compelling look into the challenges and allure of Crescent City's world. Future episodes promise to delve deeper into the series' mysteries, character developments, and the ever-evolving dynamics that make Crescent City a standout in the adult science fiction genre.

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Transcript699 lines

[00:20]
Natalie Jean
Welcome to Crescent City with your hosts, Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski.
[00:32]
Jackie Zabrowski
Some lube. Some talking lube.
[00:34]
Natalie Jean
Talking lube. Talking lube. We're not talking lube today.
[00:39]
Jackie Zabrowski
No, unfortunate. Not lube time.
[00:42]
Natalie Jean
No.
[00:43]
Jackie Zabrowski
She really edges you. In these, this series, a lot of edging happens. I mean, I'm saying. Woo. That's a lot of edging. Like, I, I'm. I. It makes me feel like I'm gonna go insane.
[00:57]
Natalie Jean
I know, but by the time you get it, man. Black holes on Jacob, what' black hole are you referencing? Depends. Depends on what you're searching for. You're welcome.
[01:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
Okay.
[01:11]
Natalie Jean
Sometimes, man, you just gotta throw it out there, you know? You just gotta think about the black hole sun music video that we were all traumatized to watch.
[01:21]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah.
[01:21]
Natalie Jean
Over and over and over. Traumatized, though. Really?
[01:24]
Jackie Zabrowski
That's.
[01:25]
Natalie Jean
It's.
[01:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
That scared you, right? As a kid, that video scared the crap out of me, I guess.
[01:29]
Natalie Jean
You know what it was? I think that, like, I was so drawn to it, and I realize now, sexually, I was very drawn.
[01:36]
Jackie Zabrowski
The faces, like the big faces.
[01:38]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. I think that's where maybe where my monster began. I don't know. Maybe. I. I've been trying to find the origins of, you know, my sexual tingles and it's, you know, that's something for a therapist to get in there and.
[01:53]
Jackie Zabrowski
Sexual philanthropy.
[01:55]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Let's talk about it.
[01:58]
Jackie Zabrowski
Shut up.
[01:58]
Natalie Jean
My goodwill. It's not.
[01:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
It's not the right word.
[02:00]
Natalie Jean
I was gonna go with it, though, and I, you know, I'm here to. Yes. And you, Natalie, forever and ever.
[02:05]
Jackie Zabrowski
Sexual excavation.
[02:08]
Natalie Jean
Sure. Escapades. I'll take it.
[02:10]
Jackie Zabrowski
What's the. What's it called when they dig up dinosaur bones? What's the person called?
[02:15]
Natalie Jean
Grunge them out. A grunger.
[02:17]
Jackie Zabrowski
No.
[02:17]
Natalie Jean
Indiana Jones.
[02:22]
Jackie Zabrowski
Thank you.
[02:23]
Natalie Jean
Thank you, Ryan. The word is archaeologist.
[02:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
Sexual archaeologist.
[02:27]
Natalie Jean
I mean, again, is that not Indiana Jones?
[02:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
Well, it makes me think of Jurassic park, and they're both very sexy in that movie and. No, there's multiple sexy people.
[02:37]
Natalie Jean
Are we really sleeping on wanting to bang archaeologists or. I guess since I guess people love Indiana Jones. I'm fairly new to Indiana Jones, so.
[02:46]
Jackie Zabrowski
You are?
[02:46]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, I watch it for the first time during quarantine.
[02:49]
Jackie Zabrowski
Wow.
[02:49]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. I'd never seen it before, and I was like, wow, these are really good. But then I remember doing Indiana Jones and Star wars back to back, and.
[02:56]
Jackie Zabrowski
I choose Indiana Jones every time.
[02:58]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Wow.
[02:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
Sorry.
[02:59]
Natalie Jean
Because, like, I had never seen Star wars before either, and I was like, I know the story. I kind of got Bored Both.
[03:05]
Jackie Zabrowski
Both series. Great dark rides if you're a Dark Ride fan.
[03:10]
Natalie Jean
Oh, yeah, that and the. Oh, man. The Indiana Jones Show. I don't know if they still do that, right? The Indiana Jones Show. Do they? With the ball. It was there a few years ago. It was there a few years ago. Hell yes. Yes.
[03:24]
Jackie Zabrowski
Just in Florida, I think. Not here.
[03:26]
Natalie Jean
And I always wanted to because I remember they had like a Full House episode where they watch it and she keeps. Oh yeah, I remember that one everywhere. And she thinks she sees Ste as Indiana Jones. But then I realized I'm also very sexually attracted to every like, like off center Indiana Jones. That they would get to play Indiana Jones at the Universal.
[03:47]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, yeah. Way more than Steve.
[03:49]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, man. Steve. Wasn't it Kirk Cameron?
[03:57]
Jackie Zabrowski
No Kirk Cameron. That would be weird if she was dating her brother on the show.
[04:00]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, it should be.
[04:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
No, that wasn't her brother.
[04:02]
Natalie Jean
I would be like, whoa, you both want to. I mean, you're both success. Put them together. I mean, everybody always is confused whether or not I'm Henry's wife or his sister.
[04:12]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, God. Yeah. That's true.
[04:14]
Natalie Jean
And it is difficult to say that to his wife.
[04:16]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah, they get us confused sometimes. It's. It's fine.
[04:22]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, it's fine.
[04:22]
Jackie Zabrowski
I like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will say we got to start this episode. But they. They did a marketing. It was ABC in the 90s. They did. Disney did a marketing promotion.
[04:35]
Natalie Jean
Step by step and everything with all step by step.
[04:38]
Jackie Zabrowski
It was Full house. And did it ever work on me? Because I just. Now I'm in a theme park. Adult. And I blame them.
[04:46]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. I was about to say you hate Disney as well, but I forget you love Disney.
[04:49]
Jackie Zabrowski
I love parks.
[04:51]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, you love. I see. It's just. They're not enough thrill rides. I need more thrill.
[04:55]
Jackie Zabrowski
I do love a thrill ride too.
[04:57]
Natalie Jean
You're right. All right, all right.
[04:58]
Jackie Zabrowski
You know what? You know what else? You know I'm ready for some sun ball.
[05:03]
Natalie Jean
No, you're not. We all know we say it last time. And everybody knows the one portion of these books that I'm like, I understand. I want to think about these big wolves playing a ball game. But like, I also like that she understands that I don't care about how the game works. Teach me the rules. Don't tell me about the game. I don't give a shit. I like that. It's just kind of vaguely like a soccer football.
[05:29]
Jackie Zabrowski
I love that. I know some of you love, like learning about Quidditch and stuff like that. I Hate, I. I black out that whole section.
[05:38]
Natalie Jean
I feel like it's the same thing that I go up against while trying to play board games. I'm like, I gotta learn rules. I don't care. I immediately shut off, and I'm like, yeah. Everyone's like, I've got to get out the guidebook. Says the person that just started playing.
[05:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
DND in my house.
[05:52]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, we're playing DND in your house, Natalie. You don't want to be a part of it, but. And yet you are a part of it, whether you want to or be or not.
[05:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
You know, I'm not anti. Just never begun it, you know, I mean, it's a journey.
[06:03]
Natalie Jean
It's interesting. You say you're not anti as you would walk through the room with an interesting, sexy girl scowl on your face towards the nerds in the dining room.
[06:13]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, I don't know if you recall, but I was fashioning this brick wall at the time.
[06:17]
Natalie Jean
I mean, for anyone that is watching us on YouTube, can we please give it up for Natalie and the brick wall? You did a great job. Natalie's like, I want a brick wall. I wanted to have texture, so she created this.
[06:29]
Jackie Zabrowski
I mean, I didn' the brick.
[06:31]
Natalie Jean
She fashioned it brick by brick, and I am amazed by brick. But it is fun because you gotta remember in this world, you know, we're inner city girls, right? And. And wolves and shapeshifters and whatever else we want to be.
[06:48]
Jackie Zabrowski
Which, by the way, again, if you are watching this, we are. Yes, wearing the same costumes as episode zero, because zero doesn't count.
[06:55]
Natalie Jean
No, we will film ourselves. And, I mean, do you also think that this is gonna be the last time we dress as Bryce and Danika? I don' though, no.
[07:03]
Jackie Zabrowski
But we met. We're gonna swap them around, I think.
[07:06]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[07:06]
Jackie Zabrowski
I want to be Bryce at some point.
[07:07]
Natalie Jean
Hopefully, it's the only thing we swap.
[07:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
Ew.
[07:09]
Natalie Jean
All right. You're watching the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. It's not my fault.
[07:13]
Jackie Zabrowski
Get it? Oh, God, don't even get me started.
[07:16]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, I bet.
[07:17]
Jackie Zabrowski
Get me started.
[07:21]
Natalie Jean
Do they hit the balls? Do they catch the balls? But they got balls.
[07:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
Do they. Do they swallow the balls?
[07:27]
Natalie Jean
Oh, see, if it was the amount of balls they could swallow, that's a sport I could probably get into watching.
[07:33]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah, like, like a eating competition, but for, like, with a sport. Yeah, like with maybe.
[07:40]
Natalie Jean
I guess that they're.
[07:40]
Jackie Zabrowski
Maybe it's like a ball of sun and they have to like, oh.
[07:43]
Natalie Jean
Oh, God.
[07:44]
Jackie Zabrowski
Pac Man.
[07:45]
Natalie Jean
Oh, it's like, oh, the mouths don't do it, Natalie. Get off that field, Natalie.
[07:52]
Jackie Zabrowski
I'll win.
[07:53]
Natalie Jean
All right. Congratulations.
[07:55]
Jackie Zabrowski
All right, so we've introduced a ton of characters already in Episode zero, but that's just the tip of the character iceberg in these books. It is thick.
[08:04]
Natalie Jean
There's so many characters in this book. We're gonna get through the world building together, guys.
[08:11]
Jackie Zabrowski
We return in this episode to chapter two after meeting BFFs Bryce and Danica at Bryce's work Griffith Antiquities, an antique shop on the outskirts of the old square district of Lunatheon. So where we were was Danika had come to visit Bryce at work, and she showed up as a lady. And then when she went downstairs to take a shower, she appears again, but now in her wolf form, which is not fair.
[08:39]
Natalie Jean
I want to shape shift. I want to be able. I know that technically she's not a shapeshifter because she is a wolf, and that is different everybody, but I just want to be able to, like, attain an animal form if I want one.
[08:53]
Jackie Zabrowski
One animal or any animal.
[08:55]
Natalie Jean
I think any animal. I think the more that I read of this world, of all of these worlds, I think that I would like to be able to just, like, oh, I need to be small. Make. Oh, I need to be big. Make me a dragon.
[09:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
A dragon.
[09:10]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[09:10]
Jackie Zabrowski
I do feel as though it's a little risky, becoming a butterfly and stuff, which is more of a throne of glass. A tog, if you will.
[09:17]
Natalie Jean
I know.
[09:18]
Jackie Zabrowski
Situation.
[09:18]
Natalie Jean
But why? As I was saying, I was like, girl, this is throne of glass. Don't bring this into this world.
[09:23]
Jackie Zabrowski
No, but becoming a little bug, that's. That's so you could. Everything's gonna kill you.
[09:30]
Natalie Jean
You can do a lot, man.
[09:32]
Jackie Zabrowski
But I guess you can spy and you can.
[09:34]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, you can get away, but you.
[09:36]
Jackie Zabrowski
Can also just go, clap. You're dead.
[09:38]
Natalie Jean
Clap. Your dead. But can't we, any moment of any point in our life, Natalie, get clapped to death? Clapped to death.
[09:46]
Jackie Zabrowski
I don't know. I'd like to see try.
[09:48]
Natalie Jean
Whoa. Oh.
[09:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
Ow. That would take a lot.
[09:53]
Natalie Jean
I didn't do it. She big.
[09:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
So as their friends were introduced to them, we're learning about them, their world. There's this guy, Briggs, who is this mean man who's been released, and it has something to do with Danica's job. Danica's essentially like a detective police, like a guard. And this guy Briggs has been released from jail, and they're worried about it because Briggs got put into jail by Danica and her crew. Right away, after all of this information we're getting a text from Connor Holstrom.
[10:32]
Natalie Jean
Okay.
[10:33]
Jackie Zabrowski
Who Bryce recalls is Danika's second, which means he's a wolfie. Danika's the leader, if you'll recall. And this is her second. And he. I don't know. He sounds like he might be hot.
[10:44]
Natalie Jean
Oh, baby, these wolves, I cannot. Give me paws. Let me scratch.
[10:52]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah, I can. I would definitely see, like, these are your. These are your types.
[10:56]
Natalie Jean
I'm a wolf pack kind of bitch.
[10:58]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. In this chapter, Bryce and Danika are hitting the pavement. Danika for duty reasons. And Bryce informs Danika that she needs to do a task for Jesiba regarding something called Luna's horn. So we talked about that a little bit last episode.
[11:11]
Natalie Jean
We did.
[11:12]
Jackie Zabrowski
But they both are heading out of Bryce's business for the night.
[11:16]
Natalie Jean
They're making their way downtown, blocking, mask, veiling mounds. And they're not homebound.
[11:23]
Jackie Zabrowski
So they both leave the antiquities, and we get a little bit of a view of the Crescent City landscape. A. It's a nice way to kind of get the feel of the city as they're talking and walking through this, like, bustling town. The city that they're inside of. Yeah. And they talk about the Luna's horn issue, that at this Luna's temple, which is a part of the ruins inside of the metropolitan city that's sort of modernized, there's this relic called Luna's horn, and it's important. It's missing now, and they're trying to figure out where it is. So Micah, who is an archangel.
[12:03]
Natalie Jean
Okay. So big scary person.
[12:08]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yes. So Micah is the guy who basically serves. He's called the governor. He's, like the mayor of the city. We're going to learn more about archangels and angels as we go along. But Micah is the guy who, like, runs town, and he's offered a reward for finding this horn because it's, like, a big deal that it's missing. And. And on top of that, we learn through their conversations that the consequences for crimes in Lunathian are very brutal, very scary. So there's an entire area of the part of town called the cbt. Cbd, which is the central business district. There's like, a center, sort of like maybe in days of yore, where there would be like, a hangman.
[12:49]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Like a stocks or something like that.
[12:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
But they have instead, people get crucified. And so somebody who.
[12:56]
Natalie Jean
Somebody's like, not cool. Crucifying somebody.
[12:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
It's not cool. I'm not okay with it. And I'm gonna be on record as saying it.
[13:03]
Natalie Jean
I would say I'd be very, very sorry for anything that I did if I was crucified. And I'd probably shriek that over and over again, I would assume. But it is just the idea of that being what hap. Like, I would be, oh, talk about church mouse. I wouldn't do anything. I'd be like, no, thank you. I'd rather not. I'll just be a good girl. Let me be a fun, you know, get drunk by myself.
[13:28]
Jackie Zabrowski
I get. I. I'm with you. But I also think that's why they keep getting all these rebellions cropping up, because people don't like being crucified.
[13:36]
Natalie Jean
Oh. And they don't like the archangels for some reason.
[13:39]
Jackie Zabrowski
Well, they seem like they're a little bit of ball busters.
[13:42]
Natalie Jean
Yikes. And ain't like the angels that we are.
[13:47]
Jackie Zabrowski
No, not like me angels.
[13:50]
Natalie Jean
Although I do wish we looked like biblically accurate angels.
[13:54]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, my God, every day I wish.
[13:58]
Natalie Jean
Look me in my eyes. But no one ever knows which one and choose one.
[14:03]
Jackie Zabrowski
So, yeah, this is already, like, you're gonna get crucified for stealing, so you don't really want. And, man, no spoilers. But we learned about some horrible punishments in this book.
[14:15]
Natalie Jean
This.
[14:16]
Jackie Zabrowski
When we get to the one punishment, I'm gonna be like, we're not talking about this punishment enough.
[14:21]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. There. There are multiple points in Crescent City that actually made me a little nauseous with how she writes her to and how she writes her violence sometimes her tortures.
[14:33]
Jackie Zabrowski
She's so good with her tortures. So.
[14:36]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, we learned this line, Natalie, on certain days, depending on the wind and the heat, the smell of blood and rotting flesh could carry for blocks.
[14:47]
Jackie Zabrowski
So.
[14:47]
Natalie Jean
Ah, summertime.
[14:49]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah.
[14:49]
Natalie Jean
Right. Living is easy.
[14:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
I mean, I will say New York sometimes does just smell like that.
[14:54]
Natalie Jean
Oh. Just. Especially in the middle of, like, July and August. You don't want to be on a city street. Yikes.
[15:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
But here we're getting the sense that while they have. There's, like, a sense of freedom with these girls, they're not, like, they can wear, like, sexy clothes and they're, like, being playful and they have a friendship, but you're also in this. Yeah.
[15:16]
Natalie Jean
See, my bazoombas are out. My bazoombas are hanging out. And they're being hidden by the computer. So don't worry. I'll just jut him out every once in a while so you can see them off to the side.
[15:26]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. Just for a little treat. Yeah. And. But at the same time, the cr like to. There is. There is an iron fist over top of the people of this. Of this city, in this world.
[15:38]
Natalie Jean
A lot of threats in the ether.
[15:41]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. So as they walk about, Bryce thinks about how much is on Danika's shoulders compared to her own. Because she's young. I mean, they're both in their early 20s, but Danika is the granddaughter of the pack leader of her wolf kind. And so she's held to an extremely high standard. And she's constantly under scrutiny, especially from her mother, Sabine Bomb, whom Bryce hates.
[16:09]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. I think they don't like each other. Yeah.
[16:12]
Jackie Zabrowski
The feeling is extremely mutual.
[16:14]
Natalie Jean
Mutual. But, like, also think about, like, I'm sure you had the friends that your mother hated because you're like, you just encourage, encourage, encourage. And it's like, yeah, encourage us to be really cool and do drugs. Way too young.
[16:31]
Jackie Zabrowski
Also, though, I've found in. In life, sometimes the mothers who are, like, pointing the fingers at all of the kid. Their kids, friends, their kids, usually the worst. Yeah. They're not the one. And they're getting mad at everybody else's children. And it's like, mothers really be doing that sometimes.
[16:46]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. And also, like, Danika is certainly not innocent. Like, she's out. It's not like she's prowling the city streets going like, you're bad. You shouldn't do that. Like, Right. No, she's, like, out there hurting people.
[16:58]
Jackie Zabrowski
And as we learn the background of these two young females or Fae slash wolf women.
[17:05]
Natalie Jean
Thank you, Natalie. I was about to be offended.
[17:08]
Jackie Zabrowski
I'm sorry. Sorry that. You know, perhaps Bryce really isn't quite so bad. But we don't know yet. Maybe Sabine's correct. Maybe. Maybe Bryce is just a piece of garbs. Yeah, but she really.
[17:23]
Natalie Jean
She kind of considers shortening garbage. I was like, it's going to take too long. Got to keep going.
[17:28]
Jackie Zabrowski
So the feeling from Sabine is that Bryce is kind of Dani's trashy college friend and that she needs to, like.
[17:36]
Natalie Jean
Get rid of her. I've been that friend before.
[17:38]
Jackie Zabrowski
Not me.
[17:39]
Natalie Jean
I know.
[17:40]
Jackie Zabrowski
Not me.
[17:40]
Natalie Jean
Never me. No, I mean, I lied. Yeah. It was every. It was always how funny. My mom really never thought about how often she'd find lighters in my pockets. And I'd be like, man, everyone around me, smile. Smoke cigarettes. Mommy, you are really. You had everyone around me smokes.
[17:57]
Jackie Zabrowski
You were really good at being good.
[18:01]
Natalie Jean
Everyone around me did smoke cigarettes.
[18:02]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, yeah. But you were good at. You were good at. Sorry, Linda, if you're listening, you were good at secrets.
[18:07]
Natalie Jean
Sorry, Linda.
[18:10]
Jackie Zabrowski
So they're walking, and then as they walk, Danny's talking about how she's gonna have to deal with this. She's gonna get berated tonight for. For messing some stuff up inside of her job. And she mentions. Mentions that at this big meeting where all of these, like, authority leaders are basically going to come yell at her brother will be there. Oh, she's a brother, you say?
[18:32]
Natalie Jean
Half brother. Bryce didn't bother to correct her. Half brother and full Fae prick.
[18:39]
Jackie Zabrowski
And so Bryce is like, asking Danica, why are you telling me this? Yes. So she has this half brother that she apparently doesn't like very much. And apparently Bryce has beef with a lot of people because so far we know she doesn't like Sabine and she doesn't like her half brother.
[18:55]
Natalie Jean
Which I also think is funny that you're like, at first we don't know. Is Bryce the problem in this? And then immediately she's just like, kind of coming off with such, like, hard, bitchy energy, but, like, in a fun way. And we all love a fun bitch.
[19:11]
Jackie Zabrowski
And we love some gossip.
[19:12]
Natalie Jean
Yes. Also right out the gate, you really see that Bryce Quinlan is very different out the gate from other characters of other series of SJMs.
[19:26]
Jackie Zabrowski
Everything immediately is way different. I mean, the cell phone discussion comes in, like, in the first couple pages.
[19:33]
Natalie Jean
That broke my brain. I was like, cell phones? But wait, Renaissance Muit cannot understand, what.
[19:40]
Jackie Zabrowski
About the loots that are supposed to be no loots. So as they're walking, Bryce is thinking about these thoughts, and she's toying with this necklace that's around her neck. As she's doing so, Danika went on.
[20:10]
Natalie Jean
Patrol armed with claws, a sword and gun. But Bryce's daily armor consisted solely of this. An Arkesian amulet, barely the size of her thumbnail, gifted by Jesiba on the first day of work.
[20:24]
Jackie Zabrowski
Hmm. So this necklace is pointed out in a way that makes it seem like it might hold some importance.
[20:32]
Natalie Jean
And why did Jesiba give it to her on her first day of work?
[20:35]
Jackie Zabrowski
And what does it do?
[20:37]
Natalie Jean
Dunno. But she's toeing with it.
[20:39]
Jackie Zabrowski
There's three circles intertwined on this necklace, but we don't immediately know what that means. When I first read this, I heard Archeron in my mind.
[20:49]
Natalie Jean
The three sistahs.
[20:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
Who knows?
[20:52]
Natalie Jean
Who knows if that has anything to do with it?
[20:55]
Jackie Zabrowski
As they walk the streets of Crescent City, we get a sense of their easy companionship and love for one another. Even as they discuss really heavy subjects, like this terrorist Briggs, who has been released from prison. Bryce takes A call from her mom. And we get a brief intro into her mother, Ember Quinlan, who is the human part of the half human, half Fae that makes up Bryce. Bryce and her mom have tension because Ember worries about Bryce's safety living in the city.
[21:22]
Natalie Jean
Just like a mom.
[21:24]
Jackie Zabrowski
She's just being mom. But then as her mother's sort of arguing with her in this like very. It's not like a serious phone call. It's really, I think just to get an intro to her mom.
[21:34]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[21:34]
Jackie Zabrowski
In general, Bryce is thinking about how she's actually fine because her stepfather, and she considers her stepfather her real father as far as she's concerned, uses his sort of missionary training. He. He has a background that makes him very well versed in guns.
[21:51]
Natalie Jean
So her stepfather's also like really sexy to some people when they read about him.
[21:57]
Jackie Zabrowski
To some people?
[21:58]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. To some people like me, it's me.
[22:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
No, he seems great. Like, even just being like a strong father figure is like.
[22:05]
Natalie Jean
I know.
[22:06]
Jackie Zabrowski
I don't know why it's asking so much.
[22:07]
Natalie Jean
He's the father who stepped up.
[22:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
He's the father stepped up. And she. That's her dad to her. And he's also a human, but he is very tough and strong and taught her how to use guns. This is also a new addition to the Massiverse because modern weapons are being introduced to the story. And that changes a lot. It really adds a level of darkness to the series, in my opinion, because we're going from swords and laser lightning hands and all that stuff. Now we're dealing with machine guns and.
[22:39]
Natalie Jean
Also thinking about how severe the punishments are in this world. You talk in crucifixion. Talking Sabine and how she talks about her own daughter in such like, visceral, brutal ways. Jesiba out the gate already threatening to turn people into animals if they piss her off. This already, like, the stakes are much higher in this world than the other worlds. I feel up top.
[23:03]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. It's like. I feel like it's my life. Like my. The stakes from my life. This all the time, you know?
[23:09]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[23:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
There's just always stuff coming at me and I'm like jumping over stuff and hitting blocks. I think I'm talking about Mario Brothers.
[23:16]
Natalie Jean
I was about to say it was like, yeah, I. You do go. I can't even do it.
[23:22]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, now I can't think of it now I'm thinking of Mickey Mouse. Wait, what's he.
[23:27]
Natalie Jean
Go see him. I'm more particular too.
[23:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
But that's.
[23:31]
Natalie Jean
But that's. That's Wario. Waluigi.
[23:34]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah, that's true.
[23:35]
Natalie Jean
Thank you.
[23:38]
Jackie Zabrowski
Very good job. Yeah.
[23:40]
Natalie Jean
Just a much more intense world. And honestly, at first, it kind of put me off. It does to a lot of people.
[23:48]
Jackie Zabrowski
We hear that a lot from. From readers who fell in love with some of the other worlds she's written. And then they come to this and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. What? Hang on a second. So you do have to sort of shift your mind to get into these books. And I will say that if this is your first time reading through or you're just thinking about it, I love this series. But you love it. You do have to shift into. It's a different genre almost, but there's.
[24:12]
Natalie Jean
Call it romanticy.
[24:14]
Jackie Zabrowski
No, I'd call it. I would call it a murder mystery, cyber punk, sci fi fantasy with erotica.
[24:24]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[24:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yep.
[24:26]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Fentarotica. Yeah.
[24:27]
Jackie Zabrowski
Fantrotica. Yeah. We'd have to come. We have to come up with a short name for it.
[24:33]
Natalie Jean
All right. We'll figure this out.
[24:34]
Jackie Zabrowski
All right. But if you put your mind in that mind space, it might be a little bit easier for you to start to, like, accept this and then be like, oh, actually, this is great. And it is. It's really. I love the world, I love the characters, but it is, like, more of a murder mystery, to be honest.
[24:50]
Natalie Jean
And it's worth it.
[24:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
It so is. There's kissing. Don't you worry.
[24:54]
Natalie Jean
Oh, yeah. And you're begging for it by the time it happens. I just remember being bright red as I listen to it because I was so excited. All right, and we're not there yet.
[25:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, let me get to the ones. Let me get to that.
[25:11]
Natalie Jean
You know what?
[25:12]
Jackie Zabrowski
I know there's a scene. Oh, my. All right, so we'll.
[25:17]
Natalie Jean
We're a bit.
[25:18]
Jackie Zabrowski
We're off. We're ways off.
[25:19]
Natalie Jean
Sorry. Yeah, we're still. We're still setting it up.
[25:21]
Jackie Zabrowski
So Bryce is on this phone call with her mom, and her and Danica's sort of, like, shouting over Bryce's shoulder because Danica has this strong relationship with her mom, too, because they're BFFs. And so. So Ember's trying to get Bryce to come home and visit. And Bryce and Danika are sort of being like, oh, we can't. We have. We're busy. We can't leave because mom lives outside of Crescent City.
[25:43]
Natalie Jean
Mom, I just want to get drunk and fuck random people at the bar.
[25:47]
Jackie Zabrowski
She doesn't say that, but that's what she's inferring. Yeah. So they kind of get off the Call quickly and kind of brush off mom and we'll get to learn more about her later. This whole time, the duo has been walking towards this giant rose quartz sculpture that's in the shape of a gate. And it's in this, like, kind of center of part of town. If you look at the map at the beginning of the book, you'll see that there are these seven gates marked in a perfect pentagram type shape.
[26:15]
Natalie Jean
One of seven in this city. All carved from enormous blocks of quartz hewn from the Laconian Mountains to the north. The old square gate was often called the Heart Gate.
[26:26]
Jackie Zabrowski
Man, I want a big rose quartz gate, dude.
[26:30]
Natalie Jean
Right in front of your house. Just be like, I am a goddess.
[26:34]
Jackie Zabrowski
I imagine it's like super unethical to mine that kind of stuff for that size.
[26:40]
Natalie Jean
No, there's no way. It's little hands. Little bloody hands. I mean, you could get out in the desert. I don't know where quartz is in the mountains. And you can go find it yourself. I know I did find some quartz in the Rocky Mountains. So I would assume look to the mountains.
[26:57]
Jackie Zabrowski
Look to the mountains. I wish that I could, though. It would be an incredible addition to my home.
[27:04]
Natalie Jean
Also. I feel like it would really scare any kind of delivery people or at least like entrance them in some kind of fun way.
[27:10]
Jackie Zabrowski
I do think somebody would probably come try to steal it.
[27:13]
Natalie Jean
It would be funny to watch them like on a camera being like, oh, I can't. I strained too hard.
[27:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
As this book meshes ancient fate sort of features and something akin to, I would call 2013. There's like this overlap that you might see. Like we were just talking about. It's like a cyberpunk dystopia sci fi thing, which I love it. So we're seeing like these ancient relics mixed in. It's sort of like going to Rome or something where you see like, you're just like there's, you know, thousands of years old building and then there's like the Wendy's.
[27:58]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[27:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
And you're like, what?
[28:00]
Natalie Jean
What is happening?
[28:02]
Jackie Zabrowski
So I like that. And that's kind of what they're. I think what she's trying to get across is that they're going towards this big gate and.
[28:08]
Natalie Jean
But that there's a lot of history that they include in their world still.
[28:13]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. And she's here describing this sort of mystical relic creation that's been turned into basically a tourist trap. And I think it's a really good way of capturing the vibe of this city that Mass is laying out. So there's these seven gates and we have. We can list them off. I don't know if that's super helpful.
[28:30]
Natalie Jean
Right now because we're not dealing with all of them yet.
[28:32]
Jackie Zabrowski
Are going to eventually be dealing with all of these different gates. But if I just tell you all their names, you're not going to remember.
[28:38]
Natalie Jean
No, I mean, I. I'm looking at this list and I was like, I read those books and I don't remember those gates. So.
[28:44]
Jackie Zabrowski
But they are going to keep appearing during the story. Just so be aware of that also.
[28:52]
Natalie Jean
That the gates all bear the same plaque. The power shall always belong to those who give their lives vibes to the city.
[29:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
Very intense. It's a little bit extra.
[29:03]
Natalie Jean
Wow. Yeah, it is. But you know, we are here for the over dramatic.
[29:07]
Jackie Zabrowski
It's true. But now as a tourist attraction, what they were used for before is kind of. Not really. It's not important anymore. It's sort of just this fun quirky thing which you can speak into one and hear people at the other gate. And I don't know if you Were you ever in that. In that. Where is that? Not Times Square. Oh my God. What's the big train station called in New York?
[29:30]
Natalie Jean
Grand Central Station.
[29:32]
Jackie Zabrowski
Have you ever been a Grand Central into that one section where you can whisper to the one corner and they can hear you on the other corner?
[29:37]
Natalie Jean
Oh, yeah.
[29:38]
Jackie Zabrowski
That's what it made me think of.
[29:39]
Natalie Jean
Yes.
[29:40]
Jackie Zabrowski
It's sort of like.
[29:41]
Natalie Jean
It feels like it's like a secret that no one else knows about, even though everybody knows about it. But.
[29:46]
Jackie Zabrowski
But that's sort of the idea that you are. You can talk to the people through the gates and everybody's like, ha. And they like say fart on it and stuff. You know, I mean, I definitely say Bart. Yeah. And so people also come and make magic wishes to these gates. It's sort of what I would equate to throwing a coin in a fountain.
[30:02]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[30:03]
Jackie Zabrowski
And it's something that Bryce and Danica discuss having participated in a million times the way you would if you were a local and you just pass the same fountain. You probably had like this ritual with your friend where you like toss a coin in, but instead of that, that.
[30:15]
Natalie Jean
Are like a time when you got real hammered and found yourself in the fountain. And then there's a bunch of pictures of you in the fountain. But you got to get rid of the pictures of you in the fountain because you shouldn't have been in the fountain the first place. And if anyone in campus found out about you Being in the fountain, you might get expelled from school. I don't know anything about that.
[30:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
Is that a real story?
[30:31]
Natalie Jean
It is. It's me. It's me. I'm the problem. It's me.
[30:36]
Jackie Zabrowski
You had a fountain at your school? I guess I. At my school. Small, yeah.
[30:39]
Natalie Jean
We had a big old fountain, but then it would always, like. People would put, like, buddy, wash it in, and there's bubbles, and, like, it was always, like, the site of the prank.
[30:47]
Jackie Zabrowski
It does seem like a faulty plan to put a fountain in a college, because college kids are just going to keep.
[30:54]
Natalie Jean
We're going to get drunk and go inside of it, swimming it, of course, put soap. Always fucking with it. But it was like a historical fountain, which is why they're like, you can't go inside of the fountain. And, man, did we just fucking. We're like, yeah, fuck you. Fuck you.
[31:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
Was that a sculpture of, like, a person?
[31:11]
Natalie Jean
There was, like, a big. I think, like, I don't know if it was like, an angel and not an archangel, but, like. Like, just one. I don't know. Something with the wing. I don't know. Usually I would say it was pretty.
[31:21]
Jackie Zabrowski
Drunk, knowing I was pretty drunk when.
[31:23]
Natalie Jean
I was in that fountain. All right? I wasn't doing it sober.
[31:26]
Jackie Zabrowski
Okay, well, someday, let's find out what that's. Maybe that statue is something that's really powerful.
[31:33]
Natalie Jean
Probably, like, important to college or something.
[31:36]
Jackie Zabrowski
It's going to change our lives when we find out.
[31:38]
Natalie Jean
I don't know. Now, did you want to get into the Drop right now?
[31:43]
Jackie Zabrowski
I'm not going to that much. We will be bringing it up because.
[31:47]
Natalie Jean
At this point, I was so I. I'm gonna be real with you. I'm excited to go back through the drop, because when I first read it, I was like, what the fuck are you talking about? Yeah. And because. Let's just say the gates have something to do with the drop. We're not gonna deal with it right now.
[32:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. And it's brought up in this manner that Jackie was just talking about. When the book is in its first chapters, the term the drop comes up, but is not fully explained at all. So you can tell it's something important, but it doesn't tell you anything else. She doesn't tell you anything else right away. So you are sort of left with, okay, something happens.
[32:22]
Natalie Jean
Living in a nebulous space together, guys. But get comfortable because it's warm. Yeah.
[32:28]
Jackie Zabrowski
So we will be discussing what the drop is coming up. Don't you worry. So as Bryce and Danika have participated in this. This little ritual at the gate a million times, they decide they want to do it a million one times. And because they're passing by it and. And when you do this, the person or the veneer who come and do this, they have to drop a little drop of their magic into the gate every time they do it. So it's like, I don't know where the power comes from. The well of their souls.
[32:59]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, the pools of your essence.
[33:02]
Jackie Zabrowski
If you're an Acotar reader, it's reminiscent of the drops of power that the lords give to Feyre in Acotar. Except in this world, it's given over. It seems like very common.
[33:12]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Because I feel like in Acotar, like, that was a real big thing.
[33:15]
Jackie Zabrowski
Big, big. A real big freaking deal. But here it just seems like people do it all the time.
[33:21]
Natalie Jean
And we'd actually learn in time became rote and.
[33:24]
Jackie Zabrowski
And it is actually something that'll come up a lot more in the storyline. But the veneer in this world are used to putting their drops in to these. These gates, and it's not a big deal.
[33:34]
Natalie Jean
So they wanted my brain. It was very difficult to try and distinguish that veneer didn't just have really big fake teeth because I was thinking about all these, like, magical beings.
[33:47]
Jackie Zabrowski
I do love that. So big to me, I hear venereal disease.
[33:50]
Natalie Jean
Oh, see, you know, man, this is why we gotta have these conversations.
[33:54]
Jackie Zabrowski
Perspective, perspective. So there. They want to do this again. But there's this huge, long line of tourists waiting. Like, boring. You know, when you're a local and.
[34:05]
Natalie Jean
Just like, what, am I gonna go to the Eminem store in Times Square off?
[34:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
I'm not gonna wait in that line. But luckily for them, Danika has credentials, because I know that sounds like I'm being Natalie.
[34:17]
Natalie Jean
You're so cool as Danika. You're such a. Like, you're. You're like really feeling it. I just, like, I can't even believe I'm sitting next to you.
[34:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
Because Danika's so cool. Yeah, no, it's like. It's like kind of hard to be Danika because she's just got so much charisma and like, power and just like, really important. Yeah. Thank you.
[34:40]
Natalie Jean
You're welcome.
[34:41]
Jackie Zabrowski
Thanks, Jackie. I mean, Bryce.
[34:42]
Natalie Jean
Thank you.
[34:44]
Jackie Zabrowski
So she, again, has these. She has to flash her credentials to get past this crowd of people because they don't want to wait in the line because they're locals, but they want to do their little drop in. In the gate.
[34:54]
Natalie Jean
I get it. We're Cute.
[34:55]
Jackie Zabrowski
And she's talking about her. We're talking about her ox badge. Of course.
[35:00]
Natalie Jean
Yes.
[35:00]
Jackie Zabrowski
Flashing her credentials doesn't mean her breasts. Even though.
[35:03]
Natalie Jean
Oh, man. Oh, but these babies get me into a lot of places. Let me give you a. A little treat for those watching the YouTube. Oh, I can't see the.
[35:12]
Jackie Zabrowski
Wow, she's really going for it.
[35:14]
Natalie Jean
There you go. No, I really wanted to make sure everybody saw.
[35:18]
Jackie Zabrowski
That was really. It's almost like asmr, because you could.
[35:21]
Natalie Jean
Hear the dress, all the ruffling.
[35:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
So they. They flashed Danica's badge. They pass all of these tourists because they want to see this beautiful gate and they want to stick their little magics in it so they can make a wig. And I think I would be super pissed if I was one of the tourists. But then again, they also kind of know who Danika is, so it'd be sort of like if Malia Obama.
[35:44]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, they hate everybody ain't us. Like, that's the thing. Like, you only hate cuz you ain't cutting the line.
[35:48]
Jackie Zabrowski
So I, like, I'd be annoyed at first, but then I would see it's Malia Obama and be like, oh, my God, look, it's me. And so they're all kind of excited to see Danica. And they also are just ogling Bryce.
[35:58]
Natalie Jean
Because she's hot to be hottie. Yeah.
[36:02]
Jackie Zabrowski
So they have.
[36:03]
Natalie Jean
Good Lord, Bryce Quinlan's so hot. She is just thinking about how often SJM writes about her big, bulbous ass rippling underneath her clothes. I'm just like, wow, SJM is definitely an ass or a legs. It's one or the other.
[36:16]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah, no, I. I could see that. Definitely.
[36:19]
Natalie Jean
Right.
[36:20]
Jackie Zabrowski
So the two of them have obviously some really serious problems that they're dealing with right now and a lot on their minds, but even. So they go and make silly wishes after taking all this time to cut in front of everybody to get to the gate. They're just being silly. And this highlights their relationship. I think we're supposed to see them as. Yeah, this effortless, like, ease between them and their silliness is earned through all of the strife they've gone through. But together they can still have fun and they depend on each other for it. And I think that's a really. It's a. It's a good way to just explain that through the. The word.
[36:56]
Natalie Jean
Well, and also think about, like, your friendships from early 20s and how you just. Like, I lived and died by them. I needed them. They were my every. Like, it's a point in Your life when you're not really turning to your family. I feel like it is a point when you're trying to become independent. But you're not yet, but you're not. So you like, you still keep up. So you like, you need your web of friendship to kind of like, like hold you guys all together. And it's like I feel like those are the times when it's like I live or die for my friends.
[37:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yes, for sure. And they have that feeling for each other and they're being silly. But we also get. Bryce is mulling over this thing called the drop in these first few chapters that we just mentioned. This will be an important aspect of the story and of their lives as veneer in this world. And veneer. By the way, if we haven't explained it by calling it teeth or STDs. The word veneer is V A N I R. And it's any sentient conscience conscious beings other than humans and traditional animals.
[38:03]
Natalie Jean
Animals, yeah.
[38:05]
Jackie Zabrowski
So any of the things like the flame, the. The flames and the wolves and the fae and all the things were about to be introduced. Our veneer. We don't get a ton of info yet about what this drop is, but we glean that it involves a ritual where the semi immortal veneer gain their immortality. Before then they're almost as fragile as humans. And most veneers seem to make this drop after they've turned a majority age. It also becomes clear that the time of the drop is chosen by each individual person. Bryce and Danika have decided that they will make the draw drop together at the age of 27. Which is still some years off from where they are in the story. So they really worry about each other's safety because they are a little bit more fragile. And even though Bryce isn't really set to get much more power with her half Fae heritage.
[38:55]
Natalie Jean
Just a half Fae.
[38:57]
Jackie Zabrowski
I don't. Would you to me when I was 27, that's not the time I would want to do. I was not healthy that time in my life.
[39:06]
Natalie Jean
No. I. My I. Technically I think I. I'm in the best place health wise I've ever been in my life. So it's like can you wait until I get the 20s out of my system and then I settle down in my 30s?
[39:19]
Jackie Zabrowski
That would be great even physically because I was not taking care of myself and I was very frail.
[39:25]
Natalie Jean
Oh yeah. I had no muscles.
[39:27]
Jackie Zabrowski
I was. Yeah.
[39:28]
Natalie Jean
I couldn't beat the out of anybody like I can now. Yeah. Also I was drinking very, very, very heavily. No, there was no way I could. Could make any kind of like large life decision in my 20s. But you feel like you're already old enough when you're in your 20s. You do feel like I'm independent now. I don't need. I don't need that shit. So it also makes you feel fairly invincible while feeling vulnerable because they know that they don't have their immortality or they haven't made the drop yet. Like, it's gotta be scary, but it also has to be exciting because you just get clapped. I'm saying this for adventure people. I'm not an adventure person. I'm more of a binge watch Netflix on my couch kind of gal. But for those that enjoy the thrill of the hunt, you know, I feel like that would be. It would make more sense for you to.
[40:22]
Jackie Zabrowski
Interesting. You say the thrill of the hunt.
[40:23]
Natalie Jean
Hunt. Don't. Natalie. I'm gonna slip out of this.
[40:29]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh my God.
[40:30]
Natalie Jean
I can't even think about Hun Athelor. Okay, okay.
[40:32]
Jackie Zabrowski
He's coming. He's not there yet. So. Danika, while Bryce is not meant to inherit that much power because she's only half Fae. Danika, on the other hand, is supposed to inherit a whole boatload of power.
[40:45]
Natalie Jean
And that's gotta be really scary to think about, especially as someone that young and that strong. Already about like, imagine even just thinking now. You're about to come into a lot, lot more power. What does that mean? What's it going to do to my brain? What's it going to do to my life?
[41:02]
Jackie Zabrowski
And not only that. In this world, you have essentially what royal lines are. And Danika is that. So she's going to be held responsible for a lot of things, which is probably why she's fucking off so much. Because I would. I'd be so pissed, man. But we know this because we learned that the young kids in this world get blood tests and they get like an. An estimation of how much power they're meant to have when they're older. Older. After Bryce and Danika leave their silly wishes with the heart gate, we find ourselves back with Bryce when she go. When she returns to their shared apartment later that evening. So Bryce and Danica live together. And it's near where Bryce.
[41:45]
Natalie Jean
We used to live together. You remember? I do you remember that we used to live together? Natalie. It's probably for the best we don't live together anymore while also working together.
[41:53]
Jackie Zabrowski
But it might be a lot.
[41:54]
Natalie Jean
We had fun.
[41:55]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh yeah, it was great. It was.
[41:57]
Natalie Jean
It was a lot of wine.
[41:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. We were not. We weren't like, crushing life, but we were better off than at this time period in their lives where they're sort of just like living in a dump. Which. That's fine.
[42:12]
Natalie Jean
They're in their 20s. They're in their early 20s. It's part. I guess it's grown up. I know I say it a lot, but I guess that is growing up.
[42:18]
Jackie Zabrowski
It is.
[42:19]
Natalie Jean
Sometimes you gotta live in a bit of a dingy environment.
[42:22]
Jackie Zabrowski
I do think you do miss out on something if you've never lived. Lived in a hovel.
[42:27]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. With, like, way too many people. Or like, you never. Or like, people are always on the couch or sleeping on the floor, like. Yeah, I loved it. I mean, I'm glad I don't live that life.
[42:36]
Jackie Zabrowski
Not now, but.
[42:37]
Natalie Jean
But at the time, I loved it because the party never stopped.
[42:42]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. I walked in and stopped making bump. Yes, Natalie, did I already incorporate that song into later in the script? I. I did.
[42:51]
Natalie Jean
Wow. Well, you're just. It just runs in your veins right now.
[42:55]
Jackie Zabrowski
It's true. So Bryce is back at their apartment, and where their apartment is is pretty close to where her job is. And it's the old town section of Lunatheon, which, you know, describes. It's this. It's the Williamsburg of the 2010s. It's like the. It's overpopulated. It's packed with people and lots of shitty apartments, lots of energy, and that's where they live. It's not fancy. Despite Danica coming from wealth, it's more just. Danica doesn't want to live like that. And she wants to live with Bryce, who can't afford a fancy apartment.
[43:32]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, dude.
[43:32]
Jackie Zabrowski
And it's here we meet Danika's posse, which calls itself the Pack of Devils. In the wolf world here, packs are broken up by different leaders inside of the wolf community. I don't know how to call it. I don't know what to call it.
[43:50]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[43:50]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. So Danika is the leader of her pack, if you'll recall. And then we. We meet all of the other wolves who are make up the pack of devils. It's Connor and Ethan, the Holstrom boys. There's Natalie. Hey.
[44:04]
Natalie Jean
Whoa.
[44:05]
Jackie Zabrowski
Bronson, Zelda, Zack and Thorn. Some of these wolves will be more prominent in the story than others. And you'll have to sit with. Wait and see which ones.
[44:16]
Natalie Jean
Yes, Natalie. Anything you see, Natalie.
[44:18]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. So if you'll recall, Connor is Danica's second and Natalie is Danica's third. The rest of them are their different Part that, you know, they do different jobs in the pack. And then Ethan, which is Connor's younger brother, is technically just an honorary pack member. He's just like, hangs out with them all.
[44:38]
Natalie Jean
Like the kid brother that loves to tag around. And he's growing up and you're just like, well, I guess you can join us for our hangs. You know, a little bit like me and what I did to my older brother and his friends.
[44:48]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, that's true. You're right.
[44:50]
Natalie Jean
What about me? Me? What about me?
[44:52]
Jackie Zabrowski
I there too, you know, like, they all want Ethan. There. There's not. They're not like, get out of here, Ethan.
[44:57]
Natalie Jean
He's like, come on, guys, let me into the party. Yeah, they're not. He's not that much younger. He is like a me. Where it's like, oh, it's just enough space. Where it's like, you're definitely younger, but you still can hang with everybody.
[45:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah.
[45:10]
Natalie Jean
Like me. Right, Natalie?
[45:11]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah.
[45:12]
Natalie Jean
Thank you.
[45:13]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah.
[45:14]
Natalie Jean
I needed reassurance every second of every day. I'm fine. I have a therapist.
[45:21]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, God. So the wolves and the other veneer end up in these auxiliary positions based on their magical heritage. We're getting a lot of explanation.
[45:31]
Natalie Jean
I know.
[45:31]
Jackie Zabrowski
I have to. You have to lock in because we are explaining a lot of this world.
[45:34]
Natalie Jean
It's why I have, like, I. I'm trying to sit back and let you explain more and not. Introduct. Introduct. Interrupt you introduct. You know what, Natalie? I was sick of introducting you, and it is difficult for me. No, there's just a lot. There's a lot of information. So I'm trying to let. Let it breathe.
[45:54]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yes. So this. This wolf pack is by heritage, chosen to already have become auxiliary members. They have to protect.
[46:03]
Natalie Jean
Protect the people of the city, not just other wolves. Everybody.
[46:08]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yes. Their. Their job as the wolves of this position are they must buy their magical heritage, which is like a little bit 1984. Ish. But they probably don't have that book in Midgard because It's not the 21st century there, so it wouldn't make any sense.
[46:24]
Natalie Jean
And even if they did, I don't think Danica or any of the wolves or Brothers Rice is reading it. Let's be real. They've got other things to do. I don't think sitting down with a good book and a cuddle is something they enjoy contemplating. Yeah.
[46:41]
Jackie Zabrowski
About interrupting society. So, yeah, it is kind of like, wow. You don't get a choice at all. You have to become a cop.
[46:49]
Natalie Jean
But I Also imagine it is a. It's such a huge sense of pride for them that their pride probably more. They more see it as a. As a. A huge responsibility, but in, like, it's because they are important kind of way.
[47:04]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. Hopefully. You want that job, though, right? What if you wanted to be a graffiti artist or something?
[47:09]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, I mean, I don't want that job, but I would love to be a wolf. And I guess if I was a wolf, I guess I'd do it if I had. Yeah.
[47:16]
Jackie Zabrowski
But I mean, that's what, like, you fall in your father's footsteps.
[47:19]
Natalie Jean
My father's footsteps. He didn't want me to become a copy.
[47:21]
Jackie Zabrowski
So even though we're getting a little bit of the dystopic. Dystopic. That's not a real word, but I like it. Dystopic feel of 1984. We still. Don't worry they're not wearing big baggy jumpsuits like in 1984. They got fashion all through this book.
[47:37]
Natalie Jean
They're so hot.
[47:38]
Jackie Zabrowski
So huzzah for that. The wolfies in this scene are all wearing casual sports clothing like you would see at people sitting at a baseball game because they have just returned from Ethan. Ethan's sunball game. A sport, again, we don't get described. Which I am endlessly thankful.
[47:54]
Natalie Jean
Thank you, sjm. We know there's balls. We know there's big, hot people playing with balls.
[48:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
We can watch them do other stuff. It's cool.
[48:04]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, I'll watch him bend over. I'll watch him get back up. I'll watch him walk away. Yeah, there's lots of things I watch him do.
[48:10]
Jackie Zabrowski
Do you want to watch a man just bend over a bunch?
[48:13]
Natalie Jean
Have I told you about wrangler butts? Butts.
[48:15]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, yes, I do know that. But do you like when they're bent over, like. Or do you just want to see them standing? Because I feel like bent over is like, are you gonna. Are you gonna get behind him and hump on them?
[48:29]
Natalie Jean
No, no. I think I would just want to stand behind them and pretend like I was gonna grab their butt. And I do the. I think it's more that.
[48:38]
Jackie Zabrowski
Consensually.
[48:39]
Natalie Jean
Consensually. Yeah, I definitely consensually. So, I mean, if you're behind them and they can't see you, I'm just saying. No, no. Consensually. We must never. No.
[48:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
So they. They're wearing clothes that we might associate.
[48:55]
Natalie Jean
With big, sweaty boys. Yeah.
[49:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
Beyond the magic and the shape shifting, etc, the scene is set in a way that a lot of us can probably relate to, which is a bunch of 22 year olds hanging out, stuffed onto couches, eating pizza and drinking cheap beer. There's a cozy sense, to me at least, of the young companionship of the bunch of somewhat naive young adults. All kind of protecting each other.
[49:22]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[49:22]
Jackie Zabrowski
And so it's a nice feeling. They are all very close, especially Bryce and the Holstrom boys, in very different ways. So Bryce mentions in her thoughts that she feels very close to Itha. She might have some different feelings for Connor, though.
[49:39]
Natalie Jean
Oh.
[49:40]
Jackie Zabrowski
We learned a little bit through this scene that Connor and Bryce have a bit of an eye for one another.
[49:46]
Natalie Jean
It's definitely a. I don't like you. I don't.
[49:50]
Jackie Zabrowski
I don't like you. Stop it.
[49:52]
Natalie Jean
Idiot. Stop what?
[49:53]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, God.
[49:53]
Natalie Jean
And then her, like, tits are just like dangling out and she's like, oh, stop.
[49:57]
Jackie Zabrowski
Right, Stop.
[49:58]
Natalie Jean
You idiot.
[49:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
You stupid, dumb.
[50:00]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, it's a lot of that, which, you know, I was real big into when I was younger. I was way into that whole, like, I'm too busy for you.
[50:10]
Jackie Zabrowski
I think that's like, also very common at that age.
[50:13]
Natalie Jean
At that age, yes.
[50:14]
Jackie Zabrowski
Because it's very hard to be vulnerable. And so sometimes it's easier. It's like one up level from being in fourth grade and just like slapping each other.
[50:22]
Natalie Jean
Exactly. And it's like you don't quite have the emotional communication yet. And that's okay there. You got to figure that out. Yeah.
[50:28]
Jackie Zabrowski
There's no. What are you rushing for? For so.
[50:31]
Natalie Jean
Well, we know what they're Russian for.
[50:35]
Jackie Zabrowski
Is that a sex reference?
[50:37]
Natalie Jean
You know, it was, but then I realized it sounded like I was trying to say something about the Russian people, but I meant that they were Russian to have sex. And then I was like, oh, I don't.
[50:48]
Jackie Zabrowski
She doesn't. She does not mean to disparage the Russian.
[50:51]
Natalie Jean
No, no, they're just Russian have sex.
[50:53]
Jackie Zabrowski
So they're doing that sort of like half flirt with each other. But Bryce is adamant that she won't date blustery alpha wolves.
[51:02]
Natalie Jean
She hates alpha holes.
[51:04]
Jackie Zabrowski
She says, I will not. Never. Ew, yuck, yuck. Connor, I hate looking at you.
[51:10]
Natalie Jean
Yummy, yummy. I hate it.
[51:11]
Jackie Zabrowski
So Danika has returned also from the meeting she had been summoned to earlier where she was getting berated and she's in a bad mood because of it. But she's come back home now to join Bryce and the other wolves. Not only did the horn of Luna get stolen in this blackout that had just happened in the city. City, but Two CCU students, which is Crescent City University, were also murdered during that time. So it was as the horn was getting stolen, these two students were ripped apart. And it was on Danica's watch.
[51:45]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Where were the wolves that were supposed to take care of them? But also. Yeah, you wrote here, too. They were ripped to shreds.
[51:53]
Jackie Zabrowski
A lot of people get ripped to shreds in these books.
[51:56]
Natalie Jean
There's a lot. Yeah, man warning you. Turning bodies into ribbons.
[52:00]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. So Danika also isn't happy about this, but she doesn't fully explain what's happened. She just tells everybody, Essentially, she got screamed at by a bunch of people, including her mother. And this mystery begins to unfold in these first couple of chapters. Is this mysterious Briggs behind the murders?
[52:21]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, because he just got out of prison.
[52:23]
Jackie Zabrowski
Is he going to go after Danika?
[52:25]
Natalie Jean
Interesting.
[52:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
He's a human rebellion leader, and he hates the Vanir. He commits violence against them, in fact. And so this presents this emotional conflict in Bryce right away in the story.
[52:36]
Natalie Jean
Which comes up again and again, especially with her heritage being half Fae, half human, in a world where I don't even know if it's established yet at this point, that, like, there is, which I think you would assume, sadly, that there is a lot of. I guess is the word. Racism.
[52:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
Prejudice.
[52:51]
Natalie Jean
Prejudice, yeah. Prejudice between the different kinds of people. So it is what makes Briggs so scary because he's a human going against the veneer.
[53:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
And they get. Humans obviously get a lot of the brunt of the prejudice.
[53:06]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[53:06]
Jackie Zabrowski
They're sorrow.
[53:08]
Natalie Jean
We.
[53:08]
Jackie Zabrowski
I know.
[53:09]
Natalie Jean
Powers.
[53:11]
Jackie Zabrowski
I know. So. But Bryce is very proud of her human heritage, and she seems to take umbrage with the way some veneer treat humans in this world. So, in one way, she is sort of a green with Briggs. Cause. But while it may have merit, he's also committing violence at random. He's trying to kill. And it seems like that's not a great way to go about it either. So it seems like war is complicated.
[53:37]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, I've heard that. Heard that.
[53:41]
Jackie Zabrowski
Bryce and Danica debrief in the kitchen about their evenings.
[53:44]
Natalie Jean
Are they taking off the underpants?
[53:46]
Jackie Zabrowski
No, but they are going to ham on some pizza.
[53:49]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, they are.
[53:50]
Jackie Zabrowski
They're eating pizza and they're chatting in the kitchen about all of their woes and about how they're worried about what's going on. And. And the other wolves are in the living room, the other room in the apartment, watching TV and pretending like they're not eavesdropping on what Bryce and Danika are talking about. Because they start to get into some juicy stuff.
[54:11]
Natalie Jean
Oh, yeah.
[54:12]
Jackie Zabrowski
Danica makes it clear that she doesn't like this dude that Bryce is seeing. She's actually going to be going on a date with this guy that same evening. And Bryce doesn't seem particularly thrilled by this guy either.
[54:26]
Natalie Jean
Danika just said it.
[54:28]
Jackie Zabrowski
If he grabs his phone to check his messages before his dick's barely out of you again, please have the self respect to kick his balls across the room and come home to me. Fucking hell, Danika.
[54:39]
Natalie Jean
Bryce hissed.
[54:40]
Jackie Zabrowski
Say it a little goddamn louder.
[54:42]
Natalie Jean
The wolves had gone silent. Even their munching had stopped, then resumed just a decibel too loudly.
[54:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
So Bryce is kind of seeing this guy. His name's Reed. He's a human guy. And he's just a quote, okay. At sex guy.
[55:01]
Natalie Jean
Which again, like, at that age, if they are awful in every other way, that sex better be mind blowing.
[55:08]
Jackie Zabrowski
Well, I think it could be. Maybe just because she's not willing to accept her feelings for Connor yet. Maybe that she might have actually caught some feelings for Connor.
[55:20]
Natalie Jean
But she's like, I can't, bitch.
[55:22]
Jackie Zabrowski
She says, I can't. I'm dating this other fucking guy.
[55:25]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. And he's really rich and he treats me bad.
[55:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. So take that.
[55:32]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Connor.
[55:33]
Jackie Zabrowski
Something I love about Bryce is that she's unafraid of herself and her body. And even if her.
[55:39]
Natalie Jean
She got nothing to be scared of with her body.
[55:41]
Jackie Zabrowski
And she talks. I mean, openly. She's. It is a part of her life because people treat her differently because of her curves. And she also. It comes with other consequences, like not being able to become a professional ballerina like she had hoped to. Which I could personally, as a dancer, relate to. Especially growing up as a ballerina who was never skinny enough. That's changed a lot in culture, but not fully. And yeah, you know, even if you are. Especially in the 90s and 2000s, if you were exceptionally talented. Not that I was that talented, but even if you were, if you had boobs and a butt, they didn't want you. Yeah, they didn't want you. And especially if you're tall, too. So Bryce was kind of kept away from her dream of being a dancer just because she has a life. Luscious body and has bodacious tatas, which is not fair.
[56:34]
Natalie Jean
Rocking ass.
[56:35]
Jackie Zabrowski
But we learn in Bryce's thoughts that she does actually have a professional ballerina friend named Juniper, who we will also be meeting soon.
[56:44]
Natalie Jean
We certainly will.
[56:45]
Jackie Zabrowski
She's a part of Bryce and Danika's core group, the Core group consists of Bryce, Danika, the ballerina Juniper in the mysterious Fury.
[56:54]
Natalie Jean
Talk about another book character that every time I read about Fury, just. Just want to slip and slide. Slip and lie down the street.
[57:05]
Jackie Zabrowski
Wow.
[57:05]
Natalie Jean
Which is difficult.
[57:06]
Jackie Zabrowski
You would be like, what?
[57:08]
Natalie Jean
Someone please get me off of this line. I'd like for it to end. I was just talking about slip and slides not that long ago because a friend of mine was having hardcore slip and slide action. I'm not talking about being horny. I mean an actual slip and slide. And I was like, you are 38 years old. Didn't it hurt to throw yourself over and over again? And they said, yeah. And it was great. Yeah. I was like, I feel like I wouldn't get back up again if I threw myself. Parties for me. Yeah. You want to slip and slip.
[57:38]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah.
[57:39]
Natalie Jean
Very different than it does sound like. I'm talking about a swinger party, but very different.
[57:43]
Jackie Zabrowski
Nope, just a regular.
[57:44]
Natalie Jean
Just regular actual slip and slide.
[57:46]
Jackie Zabrowski
Just butts on.
[57:49]
Natalie Jean
Butts on. Yeah.
[57:50]
Jackie Zabrowski
It's just gonna be dark tarps with water.
[57:53]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Oh, God. I always wanted Alligator Alley. Remember that? That one might.
[57:57]
Jackie Zabrowski
Okay.
[57:58]
Natalie Jean
Alligator had in the.
[57:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
One of my most cherished things I ever got because we moved Alligator Alley. We Crocodile Mile. Which was essentially the same thing.
[58:06]
Natalie Jean
Yes.
[58:07]
Jackie Zabrowski
I was so excited when my mom bought it for us because we didn't get a lot of those kind of things. And I was so excited, I blew it up myself as, like, a 10 year old and almost blacked out because I saw my hair.
[58:19]
Natalie Jean
Oh, my God. Yeah, it's huge.
[58:22]
Jackie Zabrowski
But I was so excited to use it.
[58:24]
Natalie Jean
Oh, my God. That's amazing.
[58:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
Wish I still had that.
[58:26]
Natalie Jean
All right, we'll have to get a new one and then just come in next week. Just covered in black and blues, just like we've been showing ourselves on the floor.
[58:35]
Jackie Zabrowski
We already got bruises all over.
[58:36]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, that's just because we have adhd. It sounds like we hit these. No, we're not hitting each other. It's just when you have adhd, sometimes you have spatial awareness issues.
[58:46]
Jackie Zabrowski
I also just hurt my. Myself for fun.
[58:49]
Natalie Jean
Well, yeah. You like? Yeah, you're. You're crazy, girl.
[58:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
I'm so wild like you guys. I'm just, like, quirky.
[58:54]
Natalie Jean
You're just a Danica is what you are.
[58:56]
Jackie Zabrowski
Just being a bit of a Danica. We'll learn more about this crew later on. On, we get a sense that these two protagonists, Bryce and Danica, have their struggles, but also have this beautiful network of friends and loved ones who all look out for one another.
[59:24]
Natalie Jean
I think that's also what I like about this book is feeling that way about our group of friends. Like, I do feel this way of, like. Yeah, I. I could see. I don't know. I know that we're comedians and we're not prowling around taking care of everyone, but we could if we wanted to. Imagine holding me like, hi, I'm old wolf, and I am going to get you.
[59:47]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah, I can't imagine it. Actually. I feel like he has screamed that.
[59:51]
Natalie Jean
Bit at some point before. Yeah. When he's got his wolf days. Everybody does.
[59:56]
Jackie Zabrowski
But he's not going to actually do anything after. So Bryce has to get ready for this date. She puts on a tight little number, but she shows her disregard for old Reed. This guy she's about to see who, by the way's father owns a magic tech company, which just sounds like, you know, slimy.
[60:17]
Natalie Jean
It sounds like a slime ball.
[60:19]
Jackie Zabrowski
A little bit of an Elon.
[60:20]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[60:20]
Jackie Zabrowski
Vibe. So he's loaded, but not really putting any effort into her hair or makeup, which is kind of to show she doesn't really care because otherwise it's something she might enjoy putting herself together. That's not. Everybody doesn't want to put their hair makeup together. But Bryce certainly is one who likes that cramp.
[60:40]
Natalie Jean
Yes.
[60:40]
Jackie Zabrowski
And so the fact that she doesn't means she simply doesn't care about Reed very much.
[60:45]
Natalie Jean
No. Maybe she'd act differently if she was going on a date with Connor. I don't know.
[60:48]
Jackie Zabrowski
Maybe. I don't know. Maybe we'll find out. It sounds kind of like she just wants to get laid, to be perfectly honest.
[60:55]
Natalie Jean
I mean, I. I don't think I ever really put on makeup for those experiences either. I think you kind of just show up.
[61:02]
Jackie Zabrowski
You like you.
[61:03]
Natalie Jean
I guess. This one. Huh? We're doing this again. Great. Get over here.
[61:07]
Jackie Zabrowski
As she's leaving for her. And then you say, thank you very much.
[61:09]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. You say, thank you for not giving me an orgasm. Yes. I will go home and be sad about it.
[61:14]
Jackie Zabrowski
As she's leaving for her date, there is an exchange between her and Connor. And there is definitely a lot more interest in Connor here. Even though Bryce pretends like she don't give a care about him.
[61:25]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Very interesting difference of what's going on in her head versus what she's saying.
[61:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
But they both know better. He's not fooled by this. It's a very sweet scene where the big, strong wolf bro, Connor, is clearly nervous, but determined to convince Brights to go on a Date with him. Not in a pushy way, but he knows as well as she does that she likes him as much as he likes her.
[61:46]
Natalie Jean
Oh, yeah. They can feel the intensity between them.
[61:49]
Jackie Zabrowski
He challenges her, asking if messing with all these whack human guys has made her forget how she feels about him.
[61:56]
Natalie Jean
No, it has. Hadn't. But she said, her voice mercifully calm despite her thundering heart, connor, I'm not.
[62:04]
Jackie Zabrowski
Going out with you. Danika's bossy enough. I don't need another wolf, especially a male wolf, trying to run my life. I don't need any more veneer shoving into my business.
[62:15]
Natalie Jean
His golden eyes dimmed.
[62:17]
Jackie Zabrowski
I'm not your father.
[62:20]
Natalie Jean
He didn't mean Randall. Oh, we got daddy issues, man. Daddy issues. Issues. There are daddy issues in a couple of these stories. SJM Very curious. Curious if SJM has any issues.
[62:37]
Jackie Zabrowski
Well, I don't know. But this is something that she's. I'm pretty sure, not trying to hide. She is, in fact, adopted, and she seems to have a very good relationship with her adopted parents. Who she calls her parents.
[62:52]
Natalie Jean
Hell, yeah.
[62:52]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah.
[62:53]
Natalie Jean
Good for her. But Lord knows about the other past, and we'll never know. And that's okay.
[62:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
That's okay. But Daddy. Daddy.
[63:00]
Natalie Jean
Daddy.
[63:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
Bryce's daddy did something. What'd you do? Daddy?
[63:04]
Natalie Jean
And we don't know who Daddy is.
[63:06]
Jackie Zabrowski
Not yet. This line of negotiation, though, that Connor is using is the wrong tactic to use with Bryce. She's like, peace, boy.
[63:15]
Natalie Jean
Don't want to hear it.
[63:16]
Jackie Zabrowski
I want to hear about it.
[63:17]
Natalie Jean
So. Oh, we're gonna talk about my father right now.
[63:20]
Jackie Zabrowski
I was feeling a bit all fuzzy inside, but now I just want to punch you the dick.
[63:25]
Natalie Jean
Not the way to get into this pent over here.
[63:29]
Jackie Zabrowski
As he tries to block her from leaving the room. Not scarily, but just saying, like, wait, wait, wait.
[63:34]
Natalie Jean
No, no, wait. Like, let's talk. Wait.
[63:36]
Jackie Zabrowski
She reflects on how he is actually acting like her bio father from what Ember has revealed to Bryce about him. Ember was only 19 when she got pregnant with Bryce, and though we don't know much about bio dad yet, she relays in her thoughts that he has a lot of power. And Ember ran fast and far when she realized that she was pregnant. She wanted to get away from Bryce's bio dad for whatever reason. I wonder if we'll ever get a flashback about how they met. Because without spoilers, I don't think we ever learn how they. They met originally. And I can't imagine how they did.
[64:15]
Natalie Jean
I am, I will say after the last book where we learn more about Ember, I will say. I would imagine that they're teeing that up for the future.
[64:24]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah, that's quite. That's probably true. You're right.
[64:26]
Natalie Jean
Sorry. Really trying to say. I'm like, how do I say it without spoiling anything?
[64:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
No, you didn't spoil it. Thank you.
[64:32]
Natalie Jean
Thank you.
[64:33]
Jackie Zabrowski
You're welcome. Bryce brushes him off as she is leaving out the front door. And Danica says something that's a little odd to Bryce. She says, love you.
[64:46]
Natalie Jean
Danica met her gaze from across the room, her eyes still wary but faintly amused. She winked.
[64:54]
Jackie Zabrowski
Light it up, bitch. Light it up, asshole.
[64:58]
Natalie Jean
Bryce replied, the farewell sliding off her tongue with the ease of years of usage. But it was Danica's ass added love you as Bryce slipped out into the grimy hallway that made her hesitate with her hand on the knob.
[65:12]
Jackie Zabrowski
This takes Bryce off guard because Danika doesn't say the words I love you very often. Light it up is more their speed.
[65:19]
Natalie Jean
Which is obviously they're like, shorthand term for I love you. Also. Go kill it. Hell yeah. Love you. Support you.
[65:25]
Jackie Zabrowski
Right? And Bryce isn't offended because she knows that Danica's mom is cold and that Danica doesn't know her dad, and she didn't really grow up using the term for affection. So her saying it tonight, it makes Bryce consider staying in with Danika, assuming that it has something to do with the verbal berating she just received earlier in the evening. So she's like, maybe Danika needs.
[65:49]
Natalie Jean
Needs a little extra time to hang tonight.
[65:53]
Jackie Zabrowski
But then she kind of just shrugs it off. She's like, I'm overthinking this. And she heads into the the city. As chapter four begins, Bryce is in this fancy restaurant waiting for her date read. She is less than thrilled about all of this for many reasons, but one is that he's very late. And also people in the restaurant are all giving her the stink eye.
[66:15]
Natalie Jean
You don't need to deal with that shit, Bryce. And I'm also saying that to anyone who gets disrespected while dating someone, it's one thing for one thing, one person to be late. They hit you up and then, oh, you know, it's that. But this person, over and over again, doesn't treat her right. And then on top of it, you're not even gonna, like, make me feel good, but then you're gonna be late and not say anything about it. And you can definitely tell that this is like a similar. Like, I'm sure this is not the first time she has been disappointed by him. No.
[66:46]
Jackie Zabrowski
And the thing is, she doesn't give a fuck about this guy either. But she. She is definitely at this point feeling really disregarded. And he's not worth even, like, being annoyed with almost. You know what I mean?
[66:59]
Natalie Jean
Just a Richie Rich.
[67:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
So she's at this place called the Pearl and Rose. And it makes me think of something that might be in Tribeca or Beverly Hills where it's snooty kind of business people.
[67:10]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[67:11]
Jackie Zabrowski
Restaurant. Somewhere Patrick Bateman might go with his colleagues is what I'm thinking of. So she tries to ignore the glares and the sneers from the other patrons who perhaps sense her lack of money or are just maybe slut shaming her.
[67:26]
Natalie Jean
Because sure, it's slut shaming.
[67:27]
Jackie Zabrowski
You know, they're. They're judging her for her looks.
[67:30]
Natalie Jean
Half breed. She could nearly hear the hateful term as they thought it. They considered her a lowly worker at best, prey and dumpster fodder at worst.
[67:42]
Jackie Zabrowski
So I think it's safe to say the. The term half breed is an insult because she is half human, half Fae.
[67:50]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Think about it. Cher.
[67:53]
Jackie Zabrowski
Cher.
[67:54]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. She's got a song and I. It's. You know, it's a banger. But it can't be anymore.
[68:01]
Jackie Zabrowski
Can't do that. No, ma. As she sits and waits, slowly getting drunk on expensive wine, Connor begins to text her. Her. While he was being more goofy and sort of arrogant when they had the confrontation in their apartment earlier, now he's become more vulnerable with her via text.
[68:19]
Natalie Jean
I think it's worth it. You and me. Give us a shot. He added. I'm crazy about you. I don't want anyone else.
[68:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
Swill, man.
[68:31]
Natalie Jean
Especially when you're on a date with someone that is completely disappointed, disregarding you. And he just. What? I'm just.
[68:36]
Jackie Zabrowski
I. I don't want anyone else. Is very sexy. She's beginning to melt a little when homeboy deigns to show up for their date 45 minutes late. And that's a no for me, dog.
[68:51]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[68:52]
Jackie Zabrowski
Without even a text.
[68:53]
Natalie Jean
Without a text. Boy.
[68:56]
Jackie Zabrowski
Bye.
[68:57]
Natalie Jean
Don't deal with that, girl.
[68:59]
Jackie Zabrowski
Speaking of Patrick Bateman. That's the impression I get from Read. Yes.
[69:02]
Natalie Jean
Very much so.
[69:04]
Jackie Zabrowski
A yucca from American Psycho, if that's not clear. Handsome, but empty. Disregarding. Just sort of like an empty shell of a handsome guy so wrapped up.
[69:14]
Natalie Jean
In his own existence he doesn't give a shit about Bryce and her. But also, like, time or schedule.
[69:19]
Jackie Zabrowski
Completely not interesting. Not a captivating Person never had to try because he was a rich.
[69:26]
Natalie Jean
Yes. I think that that's the saddest part. When you meet a really rich person when the only thing interesting quote unquote about them is that they're really rich. And it's like you have all this money. And I know that doesn't necessarily mean you have the time to have a bunch of hobbies, but like, you should have some other things. Right. Get a boat. I would assume if I was really rich.
[69:47]
Jackie Zabrowski
I think it's because they might have grown up in a life and a family that just didn't make themselves. Them to make any hobbies come from passions and like, effort. You know what I mean?
[69:58]
Natalie Jean
You're right.
[69:58]
Jackie Zabrowski
And like. Like learning comes from striving for stuff. And if you're just born into a family that's like, no, you're already special. Don't worry about it. We have the money. Just don't even. Just. Here's a bank account. Here's a credit card. I think sometimes that can just make you never become a person.
[70:13]
Natalie Jean
Right.
[70:14]
Jackie Zabrowski
But that doesn't. Not to say if you came from wealth, you can't be interested because plenty of rich kids are super interesting and talented and fun.
[70:21]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Because they're given the. That's support and that's awesome. And I love to see. I feel like you never feel like, oh, I wish I had money. When I see a really rich person that's like doing a bunch of shit, I'm just like, hell yeah, man. You go be that rich person.
[70:33]
Jackie Zabrowski
Absolutely. I mean, you could even say that with like, with. With Mass. I don't think she's struggling growing up, but she became this very fascinating, cool, interesting person from the privileges that she had.
[70:46]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. And starting to write so young and wanting her stories to get out there when it's like, really. It seemed like she came from the kind of place where she probably didn't have to worry about getting a job necessarily. But she worked her ass off.
[70:57]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. But anyway, enough on old dumbass Reed. We've talked too much about.
[71:02]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, get out of here, Reed.
[71:04]
Jackie Zabrowski
She takes her assessment on of the fit. You know, he's physically fit. Reed. To acknowledge a bit of establishing information. So she's like looking him up and down and thinking to herself about how back whenever there were only humans on this earth and we learned that factoid in that moment that their planet Midgard was only humans for a long time.
[71:28]
Natalie Jean
It was only these veneer come from.
[71:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
Well, so humans occupied the world. And then at some point in the past. Something happened 15,000 years prior. Bryce called it the crossing. In her mind. Mind describing a rip in the very sky where the veneer poured through. And she thinks about how reeds fit and how humans had to be fit because their only chance to not be completely killed by these veneer who showed.
[71:53]
Natalie Jean
Up through the sky was to run them. Yeah.
[71:56]
Jackie Zabrowski
To get run away. And you know, can I just say, I am ready for the rip in our world.
[72:05]
Natalie Jean
Why you'd be immediately, literally, literally ripped to shreds.
[72:09]
Jackie Zabrowski
Now I want to see. I want to see some. Some, Some phase.
[72:13]
Natalie Jean
If I was a veneer and I fell out of the sky like it was raining cats and dogs, I think I'd probably also be scared. I mean, I'd be scared enough to lash out.
[72:24]
Jackie Zabrowski
You don't want to see some sexy angel.
[72:26]
Natalie Jean
Oh, I can't do anything for it. Please rip through it. Please pour down from the sky. I just know that we're going to be the first to go, Natalie.
[72:35]
Jackie Zabrowski
You and me.
[72:35]
Natalie Jean
Yep.
[72:36]
Jackie Zabrowski
Specifically.
[72:36]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. It's going to be rough. Cuz we're going to be at the forefront being like, we accept you. We love you.
[72:41]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, yes.
[72:42]
Natalie Jean
And then like, I wanted to be a part of you.
[72:47]
Jackie Zabrowski
That's the thing. We want it too much.
[72:48]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[72:49]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah. So essentially these veneer poured in from somewhere else that we don't. They don't know. No one on Midgard knows where they came from. And they've essentially invaded the human land. Before the risk shift that this happened 15 years prior. It was the time was called he Human era. And then after ve. For Veneer era, there's actually.
[73:12]
Natalie Jean
Which is interesting because there are still humans. So it's interesting that they call it the veneer era, where it's like. I mean.
[73:17]
Jackie Zabrowski
I mean, humans kind of like old news after a bunch of shape shifters show up.
[73:22]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. That are doing cool.
[73:24]
Jackie Zabrowski
So there's actually a lot of background poured out through Bryce's thoughts right now. Some of it I'm gonna hold off of because we're not gonna need it yet. And it's just gonna be like.
[73:33]
Natalie Jean
Wait, what? Just confusing. Yes.
[73:35]
Jackie Zabrowski
But there is thoughts going on about the guy. Briggs is a part of this thing called the human Rebellion. And there's a war raging on in this other territory in her world called Panjiran, which sounds a lot like Pangea to me. I don't know if that is intentional or not. Which Pangea was like the original. Original continent.
[73:57]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. When it was all one big old.
[74:00]
Jackie Zabrowski
Chunk of land together.
[74:01]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Skunk baby.
[74:03]
Jackie Zabrowski
Skunk Regardless, we can't reference anything out of Crescent City on the map in this book. And the Panjiran territory is outside of Crescent City. The war has been waging for 40 years between the veneer and the humans and is troubling to Bryce for many reasons. One of which is that her, one of her BFFs fury is involved with it. Though no one, not even Bryce really knows what fury does. Does some kind of mercenary God.
[74:26]
Natalie Jean
Isn't that hot. Again, you know, one of those things I will never be described as is mysterious. And I love a sexy mysterious character like fur either.
[74:36]
Jackie Zabrowski
I don't know how to be mysterious.
[74:37]
Natalie Jean
No, no, no. I wear my heart on my sleeve.
[74:40]
Jackie Zabrowski
Outside of Lunathian. We're going to wrap this up soon. I'm going to give you a little bit more background description and then we're going to wrap it up for today. But outside of Lunathan human humans, this is important for the storyline are much less accepted than inside the city walls. And even then Bryce here still has a hard time. Even more so judged perhaps are people like her. The quote unquote half breeds. She notes in her thoughts that the half human, half Fae females like her often end up in the sex trade in the seedy section of town known as the meat market. Whether they wanted to or not. Not. And Bryce, for what it's worth, had to choose allegiance between humans and Fae. And she decided to choose Fae allegiance because it gave her more protection. But she doesn't really like the Fae very much. She'd rather be a person. She thinks people are better. Like morally, I guess.
[75:39]
Natalie Jean
Yeah. Well it seems like there's a lot lot to do with the fae that are very untrustworthy in this world. Which is very different than the other two series as well. Especially in the beginning that I. I feel that I had not felt this kind of anti Fay sentiment as much. And it's interesting as time goes on and like of what time period in the history of how people feel about Fae just because like they don't understand them and they speak a language that a lot of people don't understand and their weapons are better and their protections are better. And so of course you know, you're scared of people that have that kind of power.
[76:19]
Jackie Zabrowski
I mean fair.
[76:20]
Natalie Jean
But I'd also align with that section of me.
[76:24]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah.
[76:24]
Natalie Jean
Even if I hated Daddy.
[76:27]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah.
[76:27]
Natalie Jean
Like Faye will give me more magic.
[76:29]
Jackie Zabrowski
I wanted magic.
[76:30]
Natalie Jean
Yes.
[76:30]
Jackie Zabrowski
Give me magics. So she's thinking through all these things as she's kind of half staring at Reed just Like, being disgusted by him. And as. As this is happening, she also is still getting texts from Connor and Danica. And Danica texts her saying, listen, give Connor a chance. And I think it's Danika, her encouragement and the fact that Reid showed up so late. It seems to be the straws that broke the Reed's peen.
[77:01]
Natalie Jean
Whoa, that doesn't make any sense. I thought you were gonna make it like the Reed was being broken in half like a read, but I.
[77:08]
Jackie Zabrowski
That would make more sense.
[77:09]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, but let's break that peen in half too.
[77:12]
Jackie Zabrowski
So that's it. She bails. She's like, bye, bye, Reed. I'm the out of here. Enjoy your night or whatever for you, girl.
[77:18]
Natalie Jean
I know it's difficult to bail on a date sometimes, especially when you're not paying for that date and especially when you don't have the money to pay for dinner yourself. And.
[77:27]
Jackie Zabrowski
But yeah, I mean, if I got a day with that rich guy, him, let him pay for it.
[77:30]
Natalie Jean
Oh, yeah.
[77:31]
Jackie Zabrowski
Also, she's got a big hunk waiting for her, so it's not that. Probably that difficult for her at least.
[77:35]
Natalie Jean
Like, to go flirt with, you know.
[77:37]
Jackie Zabrowski
So she seems like she has turned the corner. We have. We have come to a time in her life because she's known Connor for years where she's like, all right, I'm gonna give Connor a chance. So it seems like we're watching the beginning of this relationship forming. She then walks off on Reed and decides to then call Fury and Juniper and make plans to meet them at their favorite hangout out, the White Raven, which sounds awesome.
[78:04]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, dude.
[78:05]
Jackie Zabrowski
It's an ancient temple ruins that has been converted into a nightclub.
[78:09]
Natalie Jean
And I'm not, you know, a nightclub kind of gal, but if it was ancient ruins turned into a club. Yeah, sign me up.
[78:17]
Jackie Zabrowski
Yeah, it sounds fun. She texts Connor that she'll agree to a date that Saturday, but if he's late, she's done.
[78:25]
Natalie Jean
Good for you, girl. Establish boundaries.
[78:28]
Jackie Zabrowski
And it's mostly like, most likely in response to the blatant disregard read just showed her. Yes, Connor is over the moon. And obviously he's not going to be late. He's like, obsessed.
[78:38]
Natalie Jean
Yeah.
[78:39]
Jackie Zabrowski
And he tells her in text that she looked delicious when she left the apartment.
[78:43]
Natalie Jean
Oh, my God.
[78:44]
Jackie Zabrowski
Alert much, Connor?
[78:47]
Natalie Jean
And also, it's kind of scary because he's a wolf, so it's like, also a little.
[78:51]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, my God, he's gonna bite my arm off.
[78:53]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, she likes it. Yeah. So welcome.
[78:57]
Jackie Zabrowski
Let's. Should we stop here?
[78:59]
Natalie Jean
Yeah, let's stop.
[79:00]
Jackie Zabrowski
Let's stop here because we are about to get into a whole new section of learning a bunch of new information process all of what you've been told. I expect a book report from all of you.
[79:10]
Natalie Jean
No, we're the ones giving you the book report. Oh, we are?
[79:13]
Jackie Zabrowski
Oh, I thought I was teaching them.
[79:14]
Natalie Jean
Oh, yeah.
[79:15]
Jackie Zabrowski
And then they. We have to grade all their papers, which I don't really want to do.
[79:19]
Natalie Jean
But we're not going to read them.
[79:21]
Jackie Zabrowski
Someone's got to teach these kids.
[79:22]
Natalie Jean
Kids. Someone's got to teach these kids.
[79:28]
Jackie Zabrowski
Let's get out of here. Okay, bye bye everybody.
[79:32]
Natalie Jean
For our next episode, please read until part two, the Trench. This show is made possible by listeners like you thanks to our ad sponsors. You can support our shows by supporting them. For more shows like the one you just listened to, go to lastpodcastnetwork.com.