LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City / Episode 18: TRASH

Summary

Podcast Summary: LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City / Episode 18: TRASH

Introduction

In Episode 18 of LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City, hosts Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski delve into the intricate plot developments of Sarah J. Maas's acclaimed adult science fiction series, Crescent City. This episode, released on February 18, 2025, offers a comprehensive analysis of recent chapters, exploring character dynamics, emerging conflicts, and underlying themes that drive the narrative forward.

---

Discussion of Key Plot Developments

The episode begins with Natalie and Jackie immediately plunging into the latest events of the series, bypassing lengthy introductions. They examine Bryce Quinlan's growing suspicions surrounding her friend Danika Fendyr and the enigmatic substance known as Synth.

• Bryce's Confrontation with Fury (10:00 - 17:30)

  The hosts analyze a pivotal phone conversation where Bryce confronts Fury about Danika's involvement with Synth. Natalie highlights Bryce's internal conflict:

  "Bryce is demanding to know why Danika wouldn't have told her about this," (10:05) capturing Bryce's sense of betrayal and confusion.

  Jackie adds,

  "Bryce is on the verge of tears, though she won't let Fury hear it," (10:56), emphasizing the emotional turmoil Bryce experiences as she grapples with the truth about her friend.

• Synth and Its Implications (17:30 - 28:04)

  Natalie and Jackie dissect Bryce's theories linking Synth to the Horn, a central mystical artifact in the series. They discuss Bryce's attempts to find an antidote and her collaboration with Hunt Athalar, her partner, to uncover deeper secrets.

  Jackie notes,

  "Bryce wants to know if the Synth is connected to the Horn," (21:35), highlighting the complexity of the plot as Bryce navigates her investigative efforts alongside Hunt.

• Emotional Struggles and Grief (28:04 - 43:46)

  The conversation shifts to Bryce's processing of grief over Danika's death. Natalie appreciates the nuanced portrayal:

  "SJM does, you know, work in the world of grief very well," (43:13), acknowledging the respectful and authentic depiction of loss.

  They explore how Bryce feels isolated as others move on, leading to her sense of stagnation:

  "It hurts when other people move on and you haven't yet," (43:42), illustrating Bryce's deep-seated sadness and the challenges she faces in her healing journey.

---

Character Dynamics and Development

• Bryce and Hunt’s Relationship (41:07 - 50:33)

  Natalie and Jackie delve into the evolving relationship between Bryce and Hunt. They highlight a tender moment where Bryce opens up about Danika's birthday, revealing her lingering grief and Hunt's supportive presence.

  Jackie remarks,

  "It's like two mirrors reflecting each other's grief," (50:17), underscoring the deep emotional connection and mutual support between the characters.

• Amelie and Antagonistic Forces (53:03 - 57:48)

  The hosts analyze the confrontation with Amelie, a formidable antagonist. They discuss Hunt's decisive action against her:

  "He spits out that she is to never look at, think about, or speak of Bryce Quinlan ever again," (54:48), highlighting Hunt's protective instincts and the escalating tensions.

  Natalie adds,

  "He's past the point of reason," (54:53), conveying Hunt's unwavering determination to safeguard Bryce at all costs.

---

Themes and Insights

• Trust and Betrayal

  A recurring theme is the exploration of trust and betrayal, particularly in Bryce's relationships. The conversation delves into how Bryce's trust in Danika is shattered, leading to broader questions about loyalty and deceit within her circle.

• Grief and Healing

  The episode poignantly addresses the theme of grief, showcasing Bryce's struggle to move forward while others have seemingly moved on. Natalie emphasizes the authenticity of Maas's portrayal:

  "It's part of the process of grief and not," (43:11) highlighting the realistic depiction of mourning and emotional healing.

• Power and Vulnerability

  Bryce's interactions, especially her confrontations with Fury and her protective stance towards Hunt, illuminate the balance between strength and vulnerability. Jackie notes,

  "Bryce is trying to connect while also wanting to be strong," (44:57), reflecting the complexity of her character development.

---

Notable Quotes and Attributions

1. Bryce’s Determination:

   "Bryce is demanding to know why Danika wouldn't have told her about this." – Natalie Jean (10:05)

2. Emotional Turmoil:

   "Bryce is on the verge of tears, though she won't let Fury hear it." – Jackie Zabrowski (10:56)

3. Grief Representation:

   "SJM does, you know, work in the world of grief very well." – Natalie Jean (43:13)

4. Relationship Dynamics:

   "It's like two mirrors reflecting each other's grief." – Jackie Zabrowski (50:17)

5. Protective Instinct:

   "He spits out that she is to never look at, think about, or speak of Bryce Quinlan ever again." – Jackie Zabrowski (54:48)

---

Conclusion

In this episode of LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City, Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski expertly navigate the multifaceted narrative of Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City. Their insightful discussions illuminate the complexities of Bryce Quinlan's journey, the evolving relationships with key characters like Hunt and Fury, and the overarching themes of trust, grief, and resilience. Through their engaging dialogue and thorough analysis, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the series' intricate plotlines and character motivations, making this episode a valuable companion for both avid fans and newcomers to the Crescent City universe.

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Looking Ahead

Natalie and Jackie wrap up the episode by teasing future discussions, encouraging listeners to stay tuned for ongoing explorations of upcoming chapters. Their dynamic and relatable commentary ensures that listeners remain engaged and eager to continue their deep dives into the Crescent City saga.

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Key Takeaways:

• Bryce's Emotional Depth: Her struggle with grief and trust significantly impacts her character development.
• Synth's Mystery: The substance Synth remains a central plot device, with its implications unfolding gradually.
• Relationship Evolution: The bond between Bryce and Hunt is portrayed with increasing complexity and emotional resonance.
• Themes of Grief and Trust: The series continues to explore profound emotional themes, enhancing its depth and relatability.

---

Quotes for Reflection:

• "Bryce is demanding to know why Danika wouldn't have told her about this." – Understanding how betrayal affects Bryce's trust.
• "It's like two mirrors reflecting each other's grief." – The mutual support between Bryce and Hunt.
• "SJM does, you know, work in the world of grief very well." – Acknowledging the authentic portrayal of mourning.

---

Join the Conversation

Listeners are encouraged to share their thoughts and analyses on the Crescent City series by engaging with Natalie and Jackie on social media platforms. Their discussions not only enrich the listening experience but also foster a community of passionate fans eager to dissect every twist and turn of the saga.

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Stay tuned for more LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City as Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski continue to unravel the mysteries and marvels of Sarah J. Maas's captivating universe.

Transcript

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[Discover Representative]

Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99 of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn [e-mail] credit card based on the February 2024 Nelson Report.

[Natalie Jean]

Welcome to Crescent City with your hosts, Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski. I'm doing good. You know, Natalie, you walked in and I really thought that we were gonna have to go head to head today. I really thought that we were going to have to duke it out for who was sexiest. But I dare say you win today. We don't usually you don't want to pit women against other women. I know that. But like, let's be real. If Amelie and Fury were in a fight, Fury's gonna win.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, I mean, yeah, that's, that's fair.

[Natalie Jean]

That's, that's just a given right there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So are you basing the hotness on the ability to win?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. At least maybe that's just how I view the sexiness of women. Because I really, really want.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Who could kill you.

[Natalie Jean]

I love a hot, mean woman. And, oh, I love one that I'm always like, ooh, is she gonna, oh, is she gonna hurt her?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Is she gonna kiss me? Or is she gonna karate shot my throat battle instead?

[Natalie Jean]

And so maybe that's not everybody's idea of the sexiest woman, but it is to me. And that's why I've only had toxic relationships.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I feel like that's not healthy. This is a problem.

[Natalie Jean]

It's why I'm currently married to a. You know, this is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But you don't see those kinds of men, just those kinds of women.

[Natalie Jean]

Just those kinds of Women. Oh, baby.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But the men. Like your husband is the opposite of scary. I mean, he could physically. Physically, he's capable of being.

[Natalie Jean]

He's big.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

He could hurt people.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, but he doesn't. And he's just a big old teddy bear. And I just love, you know, I love it that sometimes he'll be like, you do realize how strong I am? And he could just like throw me up over his shoulder. And I'm just like, I forget how strong you are.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And he's saying it as a threat to.

[Natalie Jean]

No, he knows I always wanted to bang Gaston. And he knows my feelings about someone just picking them up. I don't want anybody to just pick me up and throw me over their shoulder. But I like it when he does it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Hear that, folks? Is consensual.

[Natalie Jean]

Always doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing or if you know me or not. I say pick me up and throw me right over your shoulder.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Let's not put that out into the Internet.

[Natalie Jean]

Just be constantly under attack. It's like, ah, ah, don't. Don't pick me up. She said she wanted it. Oh, no. But I will. Although if I don't know you, I will. Rag doll. And I am a lot heavier than you would expect.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Anyone is if you ragdoll your body. Try it. If you've never done that. The reason like dancers can do like all those crazy moves and have like, you know, the being thrown over, that's because the person being lifted is also help.

[Natalie Jean]

Pure muscle.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

If you. Even if you're not pure muscle, you still are using your muscles to go against gravity. So if you ever just try to dead weight yourself, it's an entirely different experience picking somebody up that than somebody who's like, actively helping you.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, man. It's why I stopped dragging corpses a long time ago. I'm like, I'm obey somebody else to do it now.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She just drags them in the tabloids.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, yeah, I do with my words and not with violence.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Wordsmith against corpses.

[Natalie Jean]

Yep. I go only against the already dead.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You go to the morgue and roast them, would you die?

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, well, you weren't strong enough to live through that. Meanwhile, cut to me crying, looking at the footage of all those people that died yesterday in the airplane crash. Let's not talk about. Sometimes you just gotta. You gotta cry about it. Everybody. That.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, that's not. Let's not talk about that fun.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay. All right. We'll talk about roasting corpses and style. Thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Let me just live in this Fantasy world today. A little bit longer. Look at us.

[Natalie Jean]

You just. You know what? All you have to do at home, those of you at home that don't get to dress up for a living, just buy a couple wigs and just put it on you. Makes you feel better. They're not that expensive. You can get really cheap ones. It just kind of makes you like, oh, I'm doing something fun and different today.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, put a wig on me.

[Natalie Jean]

Put a wig on it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, really, though, put a wig on it. Because it is there. It's a fun thing to do for fat. I know, like, you don't want to just buy endless wigs, but, like, if you can't even just invest in one nice wig, sometimes you just want to change it up, put on different hair.

[Natalie Jean]

Stop dragging those corpses. Buzz all the hair off. Glue it to your head.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, take their hair.

[Natalie Jean]

Take their hair. I mean, they're not using it anymore.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're right. So Jackie's advice is to grave rob today. So let's get into the.

[Natalie Jean]

Just think.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Or maybe are you being Amelie? Are you being. I mean, problematically because you're Amelie.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes, I mean Amelie, because Amelie's a bitch. Amelie is. In rereading this book, I'm just like, man, I forget how much I want to punch Amelie in the face. And this is why she's got. I'm wearing, currently my Amelie wig, which are tight ass braids, because I feel like she needs to just undo it a little bit.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay.

[Natalie Jean]

I think you need to go get those cobwebs scooped out, bitch. Sorry. Sometimes you need to get plugged down.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think the problem with Amelie is she's not committed to being a. She wants to act like a. But then she's like, sorry, oh, I didn't mean to, like, just commit.

[Natalie Jean]

You're.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

If you're gonna act like that, just be that.

[Natalie Jean]

You're right. Because you know what it is? I'm way more impressed by a person that is being a bitch through and through and being, like, to the core, OB. But she feels like she's more doing it to suck up and make herself be like, you see, I am important.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And that's brutal as well.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like, what if you know morally that that's gross and wrong and you're still doing it. What is wrong with you?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Or be like, yeah, I know it's wrong because I'm the biggest in the pack.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, exactly.

[Natalie Jean]

No, that's why you're not getting laid. Sorry. Sorry, Emily, you can't be a flip flopper. If you want to get laid.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. Unless you find another flip flop, then you got a pair.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, God.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And everyone hates flip flops. Not everybody does. But I. I hate them, man.

[Natalie Jean]

Hate them.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I know. It's another controversial take out of my mouth. Hate flip flops with passion.

[Natalie Jean]

But jelly shoes, though.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, no, I love jelly shoes.

[Natalie Jean]

Up. I will take it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Love a jelly shoe. I also love sandaled heels. I love different kinds of open toed shoes. Flip flops make me mad. Especially on an airplane.

[Natalie Jean]

Put socks on.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Socks on.

[Natalie Jean]

Put at least some socks on. And I mean, I'm sure I've brought up the Katy Perry smelly.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Oh, of course. You have that smell like fruit.

[Natalie Jean]

And that also fills me with an abject rage that I just think about, like, oh, you want your open foot. Also slightly reeking of fake orange for some reason.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Also, we do have to talk about this book. But I have to say.

[Natalie Jean]

And. Yeah, but we've got more things to say about sandals corpses. Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Also, those Katy Perry, they just like a thing you stick in between your big toe and your second toe. There's not even like a strap.

[Natalie Jean]

It's bad for your toes because your toes got a grip too hard.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It is very bad flip flops, by the way. Maybe why I hate them the most is they are really bad for your shins.

[Natalie Jean]

And your shins.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. If you want shin splints, it's a great way to get them.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. So enjoy your beach experience with your splints, bitches. I'm sorry, it's the only. It's the wig is so tight.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Are being omly because then you apologized immediately.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, my God. Yes, I'm being omly right now. I'm sorry. I'm annoying myself.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay, you got to get in to more bad surprise news about Danika.

[Natalie Jean]

Yikes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Danika has more secrets.

[Natalie Jean]

She just keeps giving and not in the ways that we're asking for.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And she just keeps doing this to Bryce. Bryce, in post mortem, is learning so much about Danika's life that she didn't share with Bryce. And it's really especially kind of a betrayal, I think, because Bryce had so openly shared herself with Danika and believed Danika was also doing this.

[Natalie Jean]

That's what friendship is supposed to be, bitch. Okay?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Allegedly. And still, like, she was not telling her all of these things. And Bryce has no perceivable clue why this is happening. However, in this moment, Bryce is still adamant that Danica was not just selling synth. Because if you'll recall, where we left off is Therian. They're sitting on the edge of the river. Therian informs them, unfortunately, they are selling synth on top of the river. And he saw Danika with those shipment boats. But Bryce is saying, no, no, no, whatever. Maybe I don't know Danica as much as I did, but she's not a bad person. Or she wasn't a bad person. She wasn't selling the drugs. And you're like, are. Are you sure? Are you really sure about that girl?

[Natalie Jean]

Because you making a lot of assumptions. And the only person you're making an ass out of is you. And you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You. And it's a sum you.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So Hunt is not accepting. He does obviously didn't really know Danika. And he's like, on paper, this looks pretty bad.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Therian goes on to explain a little bit more about what we've already suspected. That synth was created for medicine, technically, but is being trafficked in the streets to the great detriment of humans. Sort of.

[Natalie Jean]

God. Fentanyl much?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, it's like the reverse opioid crisis.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Or we have here on earth side. But this is like one that makes you like magic to death. Yeah, you get magic to death.

[Natalie Jean]

That's like so cool. That's a problem. It's so much cooler than a fentanyl death. Because there's nothing cool about a fentanyl death. Everybody test your things if you're gonna do drugs.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I know we've just said this a hundred times because we talk.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm gonna say it. I will say it every single time.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Test if you're gonna do drugs.

[Natalie Jean]

Test.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Gonna do hard drugs. You better test them.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm going to be so mad at you if I find out you die because you didn't test it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yep. They mull over the idea that the synth and horn could be related. And Bryce considers if that's why Danika was seen with shipments on the river. So maybe, you know, Danika was trying to do something with the horn and that's why she was with the. Sydney. They're connected. And it does seem at the moment like Bryce is kind of grasping at straws, but yeah, a little. But maybe it's because the synthetic fell in her lap.

[Natalie Jean]

And maybe she was doing something else with it. Maybe she was using it as a deodorant like people use crystals.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thought it was flour.

[Natalie Jean]

She was making cookies, girl.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So, you know, we're gonna see what's happening here. Brunt returns to the apartment and Bryce calls Fury while Hunt is at the gym. So Hunt goes Downstairs to the. The apartment gym. And she waits until he's gone because she doesn't really want him to hear the conversation. But she's like. She calls Fury and she's gonna beat me up.

[Natalie Jean]

Now, I know we're Amelie and Fury right now, but, like, you gonna beat me up?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No.

[Natalie Jean]

You're bad. You're mad, you're scary.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't know. I don't feel scary today. I feel hormonal because I. My period's a coming.

[Natalie Jean]

That means you're the most scary of them all. Isn't that awesome? Wield that power. You're the most powerful. You are. All month. Everyone should be running in fear. Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You never know what's gonna come out. You never know which. I don't even know which emotion's gonna come. It's an exciting adventure.

[Natalie Jean]

I have to assume this because I haven't bled in a long time. So I try to remember the reverie of strength.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I always forget you don't have periods because the birth control use.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, baby. Not a long time. I don't even know. I'm barely a woman.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're. You're fae.

[Natalie Jean]

Am I? Yeah. Oh, I wish I had the strength. And I wish I had the preternatural beauty or.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I feel like your skin looks great today. Did you just get a facial or something?

[Natalie Jean]

No, it's the muse. I'm really doubling down on the muse. Man, it's working, that muse life. I tell you. Everybody, don't skip on the snail museum.

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[MasterCard Representative]

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[Discover Representative]

Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99 of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover learn [e-mail] credit card based on the February 2024 Nelson report.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, okay, big snail.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm big. I'm. I'm big goose over here. I make no money from the snails. Goosh. I don't even know how they squeeze it out of them. I hope comes out of their eyes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Or I hope it's ethical.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I bet they're not just ripping the shells off those fucking snails.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, God.

[Natalie Jean]

Are they out into the Cosrx bottles? I don't know what they do.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Don't they naturally excrete slimes?

[Natalie Jean]

Or is it like, you know, almonds, where they just stick them in a bunch of water and just suck it out?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, we don't want to talk about that because there's some water criminals in California. The wonderful company who make all the almond milk stole all California's water and they own it.

[Natalie Jean]

Just drink oat milk instead.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oat milk is way less bad with water. At least you have to spread out the milks.

[Natalie Jean]

We gotta spread out your milks. Everybody have a little bit of so I wonder a little bit of cat.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Of course, this is all pointless because there's like six billionaires who actually are causing all the destruction. And they're not going to change.

[Natalie Jean]

It's not us.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But, you know, it's so nice to be conscience. Yeah. As the we go careening into the. The other.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So let's see. Sorry city. Back to Crescent City City. So Bryce is actually pretty shocked that Fury answers the call. Because, you know, remember, she's barely spoken to Bryce since the murders, and she just cuts the chase. Barrels directly into Fury. After barely any greeting, she wants to know what Fury knows about Synth and what Danika had to do with it. Fury warns her not to mess with Synth, insinuating Bryce is asking because she wants to party on it.

[Natalie Jean]

Fury. It's like you don't even know where Bryce is mentally anymore because you haven't been a friend.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's really insulting, to be honest. Bryce is pissed, and after clarifying, she hasn't done drugs in years.

[Natalie Jean]

Thanks.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thanks for checking in, by the way. And tells her about receiving intel from the mer. Fairy balks, but then concedes that Danika had mentioned something about Synth to her. Incensed, Bryce demands to know how Fury could keep this info from her. But then Fury shoots back that she did tell her to stay away from it. All the way back in the scene where she and Bryce are standing outside the club in chapter four.

[Natalie Jean]

Damn.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She even calls it by name, even though at the Time we didn't know what that was and maybe didn't pay attention to it. But in that scene, Fury says, synth, stay away from it. That's some bad shit.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, my God. And I trust Fury. Everything that she says is the truth. Unless it can't be.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So she was warning Bryce at the time, but Bryce is like, she's pissed still, obviously. And, yeah, she informs Fury that that drug might have something to do with Danika's death, but she doesn't know exactly how. She demands to know why Danika wouldn't have told her about this. So Bryce is sort of confronting a few things in this conversation. One, that Fury, though, but also just like. Like, didn't really tell her anything about this drug. And she's also coming to grips with the fact that, like, Fury and Danika might have known stuff that also about all of this going on and didn't tell her this whole time.

[Natalie Jean]

And what else does Fury know about Danika that she's not telling her?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She's demanding this. And finally Fury just unloads it. Danika didn't want her to hear about this drug and start taking it.

[Natalie Jean]

Judge much.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bryce is stunned and probably a little humiliated by that, which I would be that her friends thought so little of her that they needed to keep her from information. Because this synth, you know, essentially, she's just a little human and she might want to be more like her big, strong friends and she would take the drugs and this is like, obviously, like, so humiliating. And Bryce is on the verge of tears, though she won't let Fury hear it. Fury, sensing that anyway, changes the subject, wanting to get off of this topic, telling her, listen, she'll be in town soon. She's working at the summit. Maybe they can go get dinner or something, which is such an LA invite.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, let's.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, my God, we have to get love.

[Natalie Jean]

We definitely are gonna see each other. We're totally gonna hang out. And then you never do unless you really want it to happen, and then you make it happen. But I feel like Bryce is so angry in this. Like, there is a Comes a point when Bryce does need to realize how much she's grown and realize that she was that person back then. Because, let's be real, if you are a human surrounded by. I'm sorry, half human surrounded by magical people, wouldn't you take the drug if it was offered to you? I certainly would in a fucking heartbeat I would.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But, like, also, there's a level of infantilizing there, especially because they were also.

[Natalie Jean]

Partying hard they could take more than she could.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sure. But, like, shouldn't she have informed decisions making about herself? She's an adult.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't know. I see her side, but I also feel like if it were me, I'd be like, don't fucking tell me you're telling me you don't think I can control myself. Like. Like what?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, and that would piss me off. But I also am very aware of the fact that there was a time in my life when I couldn't control myself.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

See, this is the difference, I think, between eldest child and youngest child, where I'm like, don't I know what I'm doing.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, don't tell me what to do. And I'm like, tell me what to do. Tell me what to do.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Or you're just used to having guidance, like, from older siblings, where I was just like, not one's better or worse. It's just like, I control myself and the others.

[Natalie Jean]

Forge your own path. And I'm proud of you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But both, I think both sides are valid. They get off the phone, and Bryce feels. Well, she's furious at Fury, but she will not be deterred. I was tired when I was writing this. I then wrote. Wait, what? You call me deterred?

[Natalie Jean]

Well, Jackie and Deterred over here. I'm gonna keep getting through this story, I guess. Would you call me that does sound like your great shock jock name, though. The turd.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She gets on a call with Rune and launches into questions about the synth run. Explains that the info he's gotten from the Medwich is more focused on finding an antidote, which makes sense. Yes. And she's been testing the. The Medwitz. She's been testing the venom she's extracted from Hunt. Because if you recall, when they were in the Night Garden, they were about to get kissing.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, another block.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Then they got blocked. They got. And blocked by the crystal. By a dumb little demon who doesn't like love, apparently. And let them kiss.

[Natalie Jean]

Can't you attack after they kiss?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right. Don't you want to see it, too?

[Natalie Jean]

I know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So then he gets bitten by the crystal Os. And when that happened that night, he was like, I can't use my magic. Like, it stopped. So she's testing it now. And she has this theory that she can use her magic to heal someone who's been dosed with crystallos. Wait, with Synth. With synth. I keep getting those things confused. So she's like, wait a second. Maybe because the crystal venom numbs magic, maybe we can use it on synth, which is the thing that, like, creates too much.

[Natalie Jean]

Too much magic to suppress it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Though the conversation is serious. They are having a more siblingy conversation. Like Ruhn and Bryce, even though this is an intense conversation, they are kind of being more friendly to one another than they had been. And they're kind of like teasing each other.

[Natalie Jean]

I love it. I love their siblingy relationship.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bryce is teasing him about having a crush on the Medwich. And it's just things that, like very casual conversations that siblings would have that they weren't having for like 10 years or whatever.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes. And not as just like Kurt, only the information that needs to be passed and then it's over. Over. They're actually talking.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. As they talk, Bryce theorizes that perhaps Danika was tasked with tracking down the street synth only to find out someone was trying to use it to awaken the horn. So her theory, which is plausible, I guess, because she was working for Redner Industries. So, like, it could be said that she was tasked to go get this stuff off the street. And then in that. In like, in that process, she had intel that somebody was trying to use a synth on the horn, and so that's why she took the horn.

[Natalie Jean]

It might be that you. You know, I think it's good to explore a lot of possibilities.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. But she doesn't have proof of any of this, of course. But she's doing whatever gymnastics she can to not believe Danica was doing some underhanded dork sided work girl. But, you know, the dark sided lady.

[Natalie Jean]

Dark sided?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Dark sided? No, that's from wife swapping.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh. Oh, yeah. You know, I never fell into the trap of wife swap, surprisingly, because I feel like that is something I would really fall hard into.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You can watch retrospectives now. Some of them are really, really upsetting. But that lady's funny.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She kind of became a queer icon, like, unintentionally fun. But anyway, let's see then. Rude reveals something that Bryce was unaware of, that a few years ago, like, before everything had happened, Rude and Danica ran into each other at Redner Industries. And Ruhn asked Danika to convey an apology to Bryce about their old school fight. Danika told him to go fuck himself.

[Natalie Jean]

Hell, yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And it almost took it to blows.

[Natalie Jean]

Ain't her fight. You got something to say to Bryce, go fucking. You got a phone? You can give her a text, you can give her a call. No, thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I get. I agree with you. And I again have a slightly also other side of it, which is I think Danica's still infantilizing Bryce by not telling her.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, the fact, that's where it's wrong. I feel like her standing up for her and saying, you go talk to her yourself. Hell no. I think that's right. But not telling her about it. You're a hundo p right? That she was trying to protect her, but to a point that it wasn't helping anything. You're just keeping her in the dark and then it borders on lying to her because then you are just lying to her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Again, Bryce doesn't seem angry. At least she doesn't seem shocked that Danika didn't tell her. But also I think appreciated that she did scream at Ruhn. Like Ruhn was telling this as like a kind of a half fond memory, basically being like Danika really looked out for you, but also wasn't your bigger sister. Like you were the same age you met in college. And why are you not being told things that happen like that. But anyway, that's just my opinion. In the next chapter, chapter 60, she and Hunt are at the apartment later that night talking about their next moves.

[Natalie Jean]

I wish it was horizontal moves, but that's not what they're talking about.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, they have to do. They have to go save the city.

[Natalie Jean]

From the demons or whatever.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She's told all of her theories. And he watches her try to then go onto her computer and log into Danika's old Rednar Industries account as being like a temp, not temporary, like a part time employee. He doesn't necessarily have the same conviction as Bryce that the synth is connected to the horn. So he's kind of just being like, I guess if you want to go down this path. But he sure doesn't mind sitting on the couch next to her while she tries to connect the dots.

[Natalie Jean]

Her fingers shook only slightly as she typed in Danica's username, having seen it so many times on her phone in the past. Defendir. Defendir Defender. She'd never realized it until now. Fury's harsh words rang through her head. Bryce ignored them. Wha. Defender. Her name's Defender, but it's also her name.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well played. So Chamos. Well played.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, but she's thinking outside of the box. Although we're just thinking inside of the box. Thank you. Uh. Oh. Have you been working me with me for too long? Have you been working me too long? Natalie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You better work. You better work. I mean, it gets.

[Natalie Jean]

I've got to make the toys, I've got to make the trains. I think I was an elf in that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Potion.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

What are we talking About.

[Natalie Jean]

I think that that's. When you said, get to work, I thought Santa Claus. So that's the only work I know. I know that the elves work. And outside of that, like, two other.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Do the other people.

[Natalie Jean]

Do other people do things? I don't understand. Do they put on wigs and talk about being horny?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, this.

[Natalie Jean]

Right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think that's what everybody does, right?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, it's fine.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Of course they have the issue of trying to crack her password. If her account even still exists. None of the obvious ones that she tries or the two, you know, the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, sixes that she tries.

[Natalie Jean]

I think she would come up with something probably a little more difficult than that even back then, even though this was years ago.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's true.

[Natalie Jean]

I. My password was like sandwich for a really long time.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I feel like Danica also just wouldn't give a about it.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, you're right. Like, she's too busy thinking about all of the other secrets she has to upheld.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Which again, like, a good password would help her keep the secrets. But, you know, girl's got a lot going on.

[Natalie Jean]

Girl's got a lot going on secrets.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So Bryce goes through all of the info they have so far, and as the reader, I think it's helpful because he's helping us relive the exposition going on.

[Natalie Jean]

Because you know what? Again, this is a plot that continues to unfold over many, many hundreds of pages. So I appreciate the summary.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So here we go.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce shut her eyes, foot bouncing on the carpet as she recited the horn.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Could possibly be healed by the synth in large enough doses.

[Natalie Jean]

Ah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Synthetic magic has obsidian salt as one of its ingredients.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The crystal oath can be summoned by obsidian salt.

[Natalie Jean]

Hunt remained silent as she thought it through.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The crystal Os was bred to track the horn. The crystal's venom can eat away at magic. The Medwich wanted some venom to test if it's possible to create an antidote to synth with her magic or something. The last sentence takes Hunt by surprise because he didn't know this new thing that she had just learned from Ruhn.

[Natalie Jean]

It's like every few minutes there's a new huge piece of the puzzle, which is crazy because much happens in this book and this. Oh, God, she's so good at writing such a, like, all over the place mystery. But it is a little difficult to track sometimes. Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So she explains what run wants to help the wed witch do, which is to provide, you know, crystalos venom. Bryce tentatively suggests they try to summon a demon. But Hunt assertively shuts it down. When she tries to argue, he looks at her with emotion, saying that he can't watch her be at risk like that somebody's feeling feelings, okay? He gets a message from Micah to come into the Ox and tells her he'll be back. She tepidly agrees to not summon a demon in his Fine.

[Natalie Jean]

It was apparently acceptance enough for Hunt to leave, but not before ruffling her hair and leaning down to whisper, his lips brushing the curve of her ear.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

J.J. would be proud of you.

[Natalie Jean]

Her toes curled in her slippers and stayed that way long after he'd left. Man always with the toe curling. Oh baby man, no.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You know something's coming.

[Natalie Jean]

You know man, start slipping once the toes start curling. Everybody, if you have a locked AT&T.

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[Natalie Jean]

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[Jackie Zabrowski]

Cut to the next morning and Bryce is walking towards the kitchen where Hunt is making breakfast. He suddenly goes alert like he's looking for danger. He tells her she's bleeding. She's like yeah, it's my period.

[Natalie Jean]

This is. You know we talked about this for many times in the world of Twilight you think about what can you think about the world of the Fae of things that can be smelled and things that can be that they are attuned to that would just be so annoying. Like yeah bitch, I'm bleeding. Deal with it. And then he's like oh I just. I was.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Shouldn't he be used to it at.

[Natalie Jean]

This point and know the feet like know what it means like the feeling and like the smell of someone bleeding. Periodly. It's gotta be different than getting sliced.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It has to be. Because it's a completely different, like, texture and stuff. Stuff.

[Natalie Jean]

Right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

There's. There's, like. There's. You're sloughing off.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, man. They love the word slothing when talking about the uterus. I tell you, man, just. Just scoop it right out of there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Scooping it. But anyway, we get some period lore. We actually already kind of learned this in. In Acotar. If you are following Acotar stuff, that Fae have rare periods. Bryce, being a half human, half Fae, kind of landed in the middle where she gets one every three months. Which doesn't sound like a bad deal.

[Natalie Jean]

No.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Hunt responds appropriately, awkwardly. Do you need something? Which is technically very sweet.

[Natalie Jean]

It is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's like he doesn't know what to do. So just like, I can give you eggs.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm just very. I'm glad that so much has changed in the dynamics of partnerships that this is not, hopefully not accepted behavior anymore of just someone going, if you have your period. If you are in a relationship with a person that does not have a period, I. It's. It's like everybody knows that a person that has uterus mostly might be bleeding once a month. And for that to be like a.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, get over it. Yeah, it's so performative too. Like, shut the up.

[Natalie Jean]

But I know Hunt is not doing that in this instance.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

He is being.

[Natalie Jean]

He is doing it, but it just. Sometimes when that kind of stuff. When I see that stuff in, like, sitcoms, I'm like, It's the year 2025.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Are they still doing that in sitcoms?

[Natalie Jean]

I don't. I mean, I. I assume maybe like.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The Tim Allen one, I think.

[Natalie Jean]

And he's got so many sitcoms. They just. And I hear about all of them from My mother loves. Oh, my mother loves them. And then she'll, like, repeat back a joke to me. And I'm just like, you know that, like, we don't need to have these kind of gender stereotypes anymore. But, you know, that's fine. Someday the boomers won't be here anymore and we will have different sitcoms.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Can you, like, believe in such recent time, husbands couldn't. They were too mortified to buy tampons for their wives, like, at the store. Like, what. What do you mean?

[Natalie Jean]

I don't.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

How do I pick?

[Natalie Jean]

I could completely understood back in the day when Murder Fist used to do this. That was my old sketch group that I did with a lot of people at lpn. We used to make blood condoms and I. They would always send me to go get the condoms. Not because they didn't want to buy condoms, but because you specifically had to buy unlubricated condoms and they didn't get. I'd have to go in and buy a party size of unlubricated condoms and they didn't want to seem like creepis. And that I understand. So what I would do is I'd always make a joke. Like, yeah, I like it when it's more difficult. I think it's better this way when it's not slid right in. And I would go above and beyond to make. But then you're just making the person checking you out uncomfortable. You don't have to do that either.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, they're probably not even thinking about it.

[Natalie Jean]

But I have to make a joke about it or else I'm just a 22 year old buying 56 unlubricated condoms.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yep.

[Natalie Jean]

Anyway.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That old tale.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So he swiftly drops the subject as he's handing her the breakfast that he's made her.

[Natalie Jean]

Which is, which is sweet. Sweet.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Over breakfast, Hunt gently suggests that they try some different points of view about the horn. But Bryce sort of, sort of cuts him off saying, oh, I can't actually work on it today. Jesiba needs a bunch of like stuff done at the library. And also you can't come down to the library because she's gonna be watching the cameras.

[Natalie Jean]

Do you think you could just lie to the umbra mortis? You do realize still at the end of the day, he's the umbra mortis.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And he obviously knows she's lying because she clearly wants to go look stuff up without him. Look watching over her shoulder. Yeah, but he allows her to just make the lie because he likes her. Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

How dare he allow her to have any freedom of choice. But he does because he kind of wants to her. Yeah, I'm sorry, he really wants to.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh yeah, he does. Cut to later in the day and Bryce is in the basement of Griffin's looking for more info on the horn and how it might connect to the Synth because, you know, hun doesn't really want to follow this path. He wants to. To. He's like, it could be, but I think we need to start from the beginning and like try some other stuff out. And she's like, yeah, well anyway, you can't come inside today. So Hunt has respectfully remained on the roof. She's not getting anywhere and she's getting frustrated. She to the point where she has to Apologize to Lehiba for being mean and snapping at her.

[Natalie Jean]

Never yell at Lily.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Don't yell at Lili. Both females are periodically startled by the knock knock that Jesiba has so graciously added to the aquarium. Who we met. Lili warns Bryce to be careful when feeding him. And then that leads Bryce to thinking about the feeding process, which involves opening a hatch at the top of the aquarium, placing food on a platform, which then sinks into the water when you hit a switch.

[Natalie Jean]

It's kind of like how Jeff feeds me as well, because you can't get close to my gnashers or else I go to town.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Are you in a tank? Tank?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Yeah. But it's like one of those oxygen tanks. So I'm just, like, kind of high and laying on the bottom being like, yeah, that's kind of. Give me another chicken, Jeff. But they do have to be alive. I like to watch the rfk. Yeah, exactly. I always compare my life to rfk. It's like there's just so many idiosyncrasies.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Kind of nuts. You were engaged to Cheryl Hines for a while. I forgot about that time in your life.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. You know, and I was like, you gotta start selling candles. And she did.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And she did. Near us. We've seen her in the booth. It's really weird.

[Natalie Jean]

Near us. I want to ask her about RFK so desperately.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, it's too late. It's over, baby.

[Natalie Jean]

It's over.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bryce hasn't been too worried thus far because the knock can't breathe air and it will kill him swiftly. He even comes out for like a second. Besides that, he always hides on in the rocks at the bottom when she drops all of his stakes in, which is. Wow, look at him. Fancy getting steaks?

[Natalie Jean]

What are you in an outback? Yeah. Please. How dare you?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I misgendered. I'm sorry. That does little to soothe Lily, who is petrified of. I keep calling it a hymn because I just think his energy is toxic.

[Natalie Jean]

Interesting. Wow. Because he wants to put you down. Yes, but it's an it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's an it filled with sorrow. Lili asks Bryce why Jesiba keeps her in the knock. That she's a person and she doesn't deserve to be owned. Bryce, who's stressed and being short with Leelee, tells her that's how the world works with the Asteri and the angels in charge.

[Natalie Jean]

So just get over it, Bryce.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Lili asks if Bryce ever wondered what life would be like without the Aerian charge, which. Which sets. Which sets Bryce into An angry panic. She demands Leeley to be quiet. Big Brother is always watching and all that. She does not want her to express dissension, or it will be the guillotine for them both.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, my God. But think of how little that guillotine would be. It would be kind of cute as they, like, pulled her up. I don't. I can't. I can't even make the joke.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're thinking of a hangman.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I was thinking. Yeah, yeah. I was thinking of the game Hangman.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Because you were pulling. Are we talking about her getting pulled up?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I was imagining the other, the executioner, pulling her up by her neck. On it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's a noose. A guillotine is the thing.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, chop her head off. Either way, snapper neck. I want that little cute thing dead.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And then you're gonna roast her.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Give me that corpse. Taking her hair so I can have a laugh at work.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, God. All right. Weird energy today. Lily huffs, saying Hunt talks to her about it.

[Natalie Jean]

It's Amelie. Amelie has taken over my spirit. It's not my fault.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I know. I know it's not. Don't blame her.

[Natalie Jean]

Thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Lily says, well, Hunt talks to me about it, to which Bryce shoots back. He's already a slave and he has nothing to lose.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce, she's in a weird energy today.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She's going through some. Some feelings, but she's taking them out on Lili, which is not cool.

[Natalie Jean]

Not cool.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Don't say such things, Bibi. There's always something left to lose. Ouch.

[Natalie Jean]

I love you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And it's unfortunately true.

[Natalie Jean]

It's why I have her now tattooed on my body. Yes, everyone. She, Leba is a large part of my SJM tattoo, because I need her with me always.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, wait, but don't. If even read the book, don't say it.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm sorry.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We cut over to Hunt's pov. We cut over to Hunt's POV on the roof, and he's worried about Bryce, sort of going, I wonder if she's mad at me. So he. Wait.

[Natalie Jean]

I love an emo boy, though, especially he's broody on the roof.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Broody and moody.

[Natalie Jean]

I love it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, in theory. We talked about this. In theory.

[Natalie Jean]

That's funny.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

In real life, an IRL not so great at.

[Natalie Jean]

Have some confidence, damn it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. So he waits on lookout all day where he said he would remain on the roof. And then as she's leaving for the night, he follows her from the sky, maybe giving her a little space. To his surprise, though, she doesn't aim for home. Instead, she walks into a bakery, quickly walks out again, holding a box rocks, after which she seems to head towards the river. Hunt just keeps an eye on her. Finally, she sits on a bench facing the water. And after a minute, sick of waiting.

[Natalie Jean]

Until she deigned to talk to him about whatever was eating her up, Hunt landed quietly before sliding onto the bench's wooden planks, the box between them. What's up? He couldn't take it anymore.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, it just like. Like two. It's like three hours.

[Natalie Jean]

It's so cute. I mean, she's been sitting there for quite some time. Sometimes you gotta sit and stare and raw dog for a bit.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, sure. You can see Bryce is sad. And after a moment, she reveals that it's Danika's 25th birthday. She tells him no one else remembered that they did last year. All of the people who loved her did make sure to check in on one another, but they all forgot or chose to move on the second year around. This, of course, would be tragic, but.

[Natalie Jean]

It is a part of the process of grief and not.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And everybody processes it differently.

[Natalie Jean]

Differently. And some people want to still celebrate and be in it, and some people. It's easier for them to just forget or move on, and they have to for their own self preservation. And it's so. I love that SJM does, you know, work in the world of grief very well. I feel like. I think that she gives a lot of respect to it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

And this is a. This is a beautiful this. Because it hurts when other people move on and you haven't yet.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Especially if those friends are also not even checking on you to see if you're okay.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You know, when she tells him that what she got at the bakery was a pile of chocolate croissants because they were Danica's favorite and she always wanted them on her birthday. He realizes his parade of memories goes through his head of her eating those in the recent weeks. And he wonders if it's a way for her to keep Danika close to her. She tells him she can't move on the way everyone else seems to have done. So even though everybody else is kind of use it, utilizing their grief to just, like, move forward. She feels stuck. She feels like she's, like, perpetually in this. This cycle of grief. And then I guess in order to relate, he goes into a reverie about Shahar, which is like.

[Natalie Jean]

It's like, bro, there is a time and a place. Like, I understand. But that is his biggest Grief. Like.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I know, I know.

[Natalie Jean]

It makes sense that he wants to connect. You're right. It is to connect. But also, it's like, don't bring up the. He was to be a normal.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like, clearly, Bryce, like, has feelings for you. I don't know. I.

[Natalie Jean]

Obviously. But I know I'm having a very.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Immature response to it, but I'm just like.

[Natalie Jean]

Like, you, like, shah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right now, you're like, Bryce is already sad.

[Natalie Jean]

I think you're also seeing it, like, you're putting yourself in that position that if you were in that place of just, like, I can't think about you and the other person you love right now. Okay. Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But again, she's also trying to still pretend that she doesn't have feelings for him at this point. So she's like, yeah. Oh, wow. Yes. That's so sad for you. But he talks about Shahar, that he fell in love with her the moment Moment he saw her, and she helped him recover from the grief of losing his mother.

[Natalie Jean]

There's a lot to unpack there, Hunt. There's a lot more that needs to be discussed that I don't know if Bryce is capable of doing right now.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Me, personally, none of that would necessarily. That information would make me hot. No, but go off king.

[Natalie Jean]

But also, it is good that he has so many emotions, because, like, I want to be like, yikes, red flag. But in reality, if I were in that situation, of course I would melt. And just think about, like, him even being able to communicate his feelings. You know, like, think of the men that she's surrounded by in her life. That. And also her friends. I'm not. How dare I say, the men, the people in Bryce's life that are not very good at communicating their emotions. No.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think that I'm being immature in the situation. I think he's trying to share his feelings with her. And not in a weird way.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes. But I think that you're. I think that your immaturity towards it is completely valid.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

Like, I like you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bryce wants to know if he still loves Shahar that much. And he says that he'll always love her for the fact that she brought him out of his sorrow, which.

[Natalie Jean]

That makes me meal.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Cause at least in that moment, he's saying, well, like, she. She's special because of this and not just being like, yes, I'll always hold a flame in my heart for her. Nothing will change.

[Natalie Jean]

Only because everybody knows that if you have loved passionately before, they always. No matter what happens with it, it always is a Portion of you that. That was a large part of your heart for a long time. And that's always gonna be complicated. And sometimes it's not complicated. And you're like, I wish that part of me never existed. But it's still in there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh yeah. I just realized this fury have fayers.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't think so.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Not to completely just derail what you were just saying.

[Natalie Jean]

No, I don't think so.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You guys, I have to check now I'm.

[Natalie Jean]

Because if she has Fae ears and we have to start this episode over, flip out. I'm gonna puke all over the table. Onyx hair. Mysterious woman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Veneer class. Yeah, yeah. Doesn't say damn. Although her hair isn't a short bob right now. And how dare you not have a haircut.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Her haircut doesn't happen until the second book.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, okay. So take that physical description.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She wears a high ponytail until later in the series.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, she is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Spoiler, guys. She gets a haircut.

[Natalie Jean]

You know what? I. We might need to edit that out. I. I don' Know if we can know this information yet. It doesn't say. And I feel like it would say she had fay ears if she did.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Wait, what kind of veneer is she? Oh, they don't know. Okay, unknown.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, they just know that she's got preternatural speed, grace and reflexes of the veneer, but just the veneer. So I feel like they would know if they. If she had fay ears.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Interesting chat. Let us know what you think about it.

[Natalie Jean]

Years.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So even though I have my feelings about his discussion, it didn't deter Bryce. No, because after this information she calls him her mirror. I guess because they are both lamenting over women who were cut down in their early years and their grieving processes. Hun seems to agree with her and asks her if she thinks that that's bad.

[Natalie Jean]

A half smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Mouth.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. No, it isn't.

[Natalie Jean]

So you have all of these cutest moments and I guess you know it's good. Even though little horny girl over here, I'm just like, no, you must make now. But it's good. Elongates it. It makes you really want it when it happens. I think it's good. Deway.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I've literally never done that. I was just going through all my. Oh no.

[Natalie Jean]

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. I love it. But it's good. It makes it mean more.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So they.

[Natalie Jean]

So I was gonna keep making that sound.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So they. This is like kind of a big admission on both Sides that they're like, I guess we're mirrors of each other. Do we need to get one of those best friend necklaces? That's like a heart.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, my God. That's really cute.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They share this also, this emotional moment when she calls him her friend and acknowledges that she gives him shit, even though, like, she gives him shit, that he puts up with it, that he doesn't run away from her rawest self.

[Natalie Jean]

He's not scared.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

He's not scared of the real her. He smiles big and tells her that he likes all of that.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, and it's just whenever, like, even just, like, the mention of him smiling big and just, like, the smile going to his eyes, you know how rare that is for Hunt. And it just.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, you know, it's fine as hell.

[Natalie Jean]

Here it is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They both seem more at peace after this, and Bryce goes to wish Danica a happy birthday by opening the box that sits between them. His eyes on her face and not at the box, Hunt watches her smile falter and she quickly closes the lid back up. She attempts to grab the box away from him, but he's quicker and snatches the box into his lap.

[Natalie Jean]

Inside lay half a dozen croissants, carefully arranged in a pile. And on the top one, artfully written in a chocolate drizzle, was one word. Trash on the croissants.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You fuckers. You got nothing else to do.

[Natalie Jean]

Don't do that on the croissant. It's like, okay, I guess. Write it on the inside of the box. You're gonna. You're gonna. You can say a lot of shit to me. Don't fuck with my food.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, I'd still eat it.

[Natalie Jean]

Of course I'd still eat it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thanks for the free chocolate.

[Natalie Jean]

Slack the chocolate off. Yes, I certainly would. But don't. With her food that's up.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

He watches Bryce's face flush with embarrassment and grief. Rage clouds his judgment as she implores him to just throw it away and forget about this.

[Natalie Jean]

He had a good idea of who had done it, who'd had the message altered, who had shouted that same word, trash, at Bryce the other week. Week when they'd left the den.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Don't.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce pleaded, but Hunt was already airborne. Why'd you do it? I'm a. I'm a deceitful, and I don't have the courage to go after you, even though, yeah, I already said trash to your face. But then you're gonna go, and with a bitch's food, you're gonna go to an. An open establishment to Fuck with a bitch's food. I wanna shave her head myself and put her hair back on my head and dance around in her skin and be like, who's the corpse now, bitch?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, no. Oh, wow.

[Natalie Jean]

Don't fuck with my food. I guess I just need really everyone to know not to fuck with my food. Like, will not do that. I will corpse dance.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, man. OM Ravenscroft of cold.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm a pigtail.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We cut to just shortly later as Hunt barrels through the front door of Moonwood Bar. Which sounds cool. And I want to go.

[Natalie Jean]

I know. Oh, thank God there's a whole world of werewolves in the Sims now. Because there is a whole raven. There is. I forget the name of where you go. Like the space for the werewolves and like. So I could do this without Amelie. Or I guess. Oh, my God. Do I have to build Amelie and then kill her in the game?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes.

[Natalie Jean]

All right, well, I know what I'm doing. Next week on the Sims, where the.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

This is the Ox's intel has told Hunt where Amelie is at the moment. She's getting her drink on at this Moonwood bar.

[Natalie Jean]

Like a.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

When Hunt appears, she looks smug, as though she imagines she's just going to be taunting him, knowing he can't really do anything, even though you're big and scary, but he's past the point of reason. Oh, she doesn't know. Just how hard he is for Bryce. Hard enough that he's willing to take severe punishment from Micah to make his point clear. Before Amelie can get three words out, he's wall slammed her in a chokehold. He spits out that she is to never look at, think about, or speak of Bryce Quinlan ever again.

[Natalie Jean]

Amelie scratched at his wrists, her boots kicking at his shins. He only tightened his grip. Lightning wrapped around her throat.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Do you understand?

[Natalie Jean]

His voice was frozen. Utterly calm. The voice of the umbra mortis. He shouldn't. Oh, no, he shouldn't do it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, no, he shouldn't because he should get in trouble. But in. In this realm, Amelie is a warrior opponent. So I feel like it's okay.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah. I'm not upset. Gender wise. No, no, no. They. Amelie is very strong. I mean, I. No, he goes after her because he knows she's strong. She's not like I.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like, I. I feel like not bullying her.

[Natalie Jean]

No, he's going after a worthy opponent. Opponent. So I actually think it's even better that he views her as an opponent of like. I'm not looking down on you and your powers and your skill just because You're a woman. I know how strong you are, and I'm going to treat you appropriately. Take that, Amelie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But he shouldn't be doing this, because there's gonna be a hell to pay.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, don't. Don't. I can't.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Ethan appears suddenly and questions what's happening, but surprisingly, doesn't challenge Hunt in this moment, only asks what Amelie did so he. That leads me to believe he knows how much they've been tormenting Bryce. Everybody knows I'm a bitch and lets it happen.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes, which.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's another story.

[Natalie Jean]

And also not only lets it happen, but like Amelie, you should look into that as well. About your feelings about Ethan, the fact that he did not come to come protect you and did not, like, come to your aid and not in a way of, like, she's strong. She can take care of herself. In the way of. Of. You're a. And what did you do?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But she was actually in love with Connor.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

He zaps her enough that she tries to fight off agreeing to the these terms, but eventually, she nods that she will lose Bryce Quinlan from her vocabulary.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, you damn right. And also, I was thinking more in the pack manner rather than, like, the love manner.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, I see that.

[Natalie Jean]

Like, he didn't, like, immediately go in and protect her from it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Of just like, you're supposed to be, like a unit.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, like, that's. Of just like a. No, you're a.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You did it to yourself. Hunt releases her and watches Ethan's face as recognition dawns on him. The fact that it's Danica's birthday. He at least has the class to look ashamed, I guess. He storms out only to find Bryce on the roof on a phone call, panicked, trying to find him. Atypical for her. When he touches down on the apartment roof, she's not angry and demanding. She looks almost like she's terrified.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, because he's the umbra mortis.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Though she does call him an idiot. She asks him if Amelie is dead. Her fear is of what will happen to Hunt. He seems to realize it.

[Natalie Jean]

In that moment, Hunt crossed the distance between them. Him, took her hands.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're my mirror. You said so yourself.

[Natalie Jean]

He was shaking for some reason. He was shaking as he waited for her to respond. Bryce looked at her hands gripped in his as she answered.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. Then it's the next morning.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, you think you're just like, okay, is this it? Is. Are they. Is it. No, no, no, no. Cut to the next morning. All right, great.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We find Bryce making an appointment with the unnamed Medwich. When she greets Hunt in the kitchen, she reveals to him that she's going to help the Medwich get Crystallos venom. She means, of course, from her old wound.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, thank you, Bryce. We appreciate you. I think this is good. I think it's good that you got to this place that we can work on this for you, but it's good for you. So it's a little winner.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So she is ready to extract what is causing her ailment. That seems like yes, of course she does want to help the cause. She wants to find out what's going on. But is she also emotionally healing and ready?

[Natalie Jean]

Starting to move on, starting to grow, Starting to realize her growth as well.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Because there's a couple extra muscles in her life now.

[Natalie Jean]

But also, I just want to beat the out of Amelie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh yeah, she's annoying.

[Natalie Jean]

God, she's so annoying. She thinks she's so right too.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh yeah, she definitely does.

[Natalie Jean]

And I'm really glad that this wig is way too small for my head because it makes my head so tight as her and I feel like she would be this tight.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I think so. She's wound up.

[Natalie Jean]

Gotta get them cobwebs out. No time soon.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You too much of a or not enough?

[Natalie Jean]

Think about it. Please read up until chapter 63 for next week.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Welcome to Nada Yada island.

[Natalie Jean]

Next on Metro's Nadiata island podcast.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I almost, almost fainted when the four new bombshells arrived. Four free Samsung Galaxy A16, 5G phones at Metro. No way. And finding out the fourth line is free. Thanks God. Heated. That's wild. Join Metro and get four free Samsung.

[Natalie Jean]

5G phones only at Metro plus tax.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bring four numbers and an ID and.

[Natalie Jean]

Sign up for any Metro Flex plan not available currently at T Mobile or.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Been with Metro in the past 180 days.

[Natalie Jean]

Great brands, great prices. Everyone's got a reason to rap because they have framed jeans.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Nike. Yes. Just so many good brands.

[Natalie Jean]

Vince, Kurt, Geiger, London, Rag and Bone and more are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. You never know what you'll find, but you know it's going to be so good. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack.