LPN Deep Dives: HOSAB / Episode 18: Tingle Fingers

Summary

LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City – HOSAB / Episode 18: Tingle Fingers (Oct 7, 2025)

Podcast: LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City
Hosts: Natalie Jean & Jackie Zebrowski
Series: House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas
Episode: 18 – "Tingle Fingers"

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Overview

In this episode, Natalie and Jackie return for a chaotic, laughter-filled deep dive into the next chunk of House of Sky and Breath (HOSAB) in Sarah J. Maas’ Crescent City series. They recap and analyze major battles, the dynamics of the "Hind" and "Harpy," magic-fueled team-ups, and power plays in Lunathion’s courtly and seedy underworlds. With their signature irreverent tone, they oscillate between sharp book analysis and wild tangents—providing fans both book insight and comedic relief.

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Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. Cards, War Stories, and Getting into the Scene

• The episode opens with talk of weed-themed playing cards, memories of punk parties, and juvenile drinking games, all dovetailing into a metaphorical and literal setup for the card game scene with the Hind and Harpy.
• Natalie and Jackie debate whether they're "hot enough" to cosplay as the book’s villainesses ("I think we're just hot enough to definitely be the Hind." – Jackie, 04:03).

2. Pain Tolerance and Gender Comparisons

• Extended discussion about gender, pain, botox, and how tattoo pain charts are usually tailored toward male bodies.
• Notable quote:

  "People that were born as women oftentimes have a higher pain threshold...because we are being punished for having that pussy." – Jackie (07:02)

3. The Monster Battle in the Bone Quarter

• Detailed breakdown of Bryce and Hunt’s intense battle, merging their powers against supernatural threats (the “Andrew, Dice, and Clay” Cerberus-style monsters).
• The hosts compare the absorption of Hunt's lightning to sticky toy hands from childhood—adding a distinctive LPN flavor to the recap.
• Jackie:

  "She’s a bit of a nihilist. So Bryce fills up with Hunt's juice—boy, the other kind of juice—slices at one of the dogs..." (13:03)

Timestamps:

• [11:40] Recap picks up with Bryce absorbing Hunt's lightning.
• [16:30] Hunt discovers he can pull power from the dead gate.
• [17:11] Iconic book quote moment: “Light it up, Bryce.”
• [18:03] Hosts digress into a Spice Girls sidebar, relating villain fusion to 90s pop culture.
• [21:38] The battle wraps; segue to the next narrative POV.

4. Tharion & The River Queen

• Tharion reports to the Queen about murder victims, is chastised and humiliated, fulfilling his subservient role ("He loves bringing her bad news." – Jackie, 22:03).
• Comic references abound:

  "She mocks him, asks if he enjoyed the punishment she doled out before—clearly, she is enjoying seeing his humiliation." (25:38)

5. Hind and Harpy: At the Poker Table with Rune & Ethan

• The main event: a psychological showdown at the bar characterized by sexual innuendo, power plays, and taunting.
• Sound effects and card-shuffling ASMR fill the air as the hosts re-enact the card game.

  "The harpy’s becoming a sex pest and she’s here to check out the pants meat of Lunatheon." – Natalie (38:43)

• Hind's power revealed: she knows disturbingly personal details about Rune and Ethan, rattling them both.

Timestamps:

• [33:41] Scene shifts to the bar with Hind and Harpy.
• [39:28] Hind taunts Rune and Ethan about their secrets.
• [44:44] Hind exposes Ethan’s hidden feelings for his brother's love interest.
• Natalie:

  "Hind pulls out a really nasty little bit of info... she knows Ethan has pined for the woman his brother loved." (44:44)

6. Bryce’s Apartment & Emotional Aftermath

• The crew reunites for a low-key aftermath, decompressing and sharing what each has learned.
• Tender moment: Bryce finally hugging Rune ("It means a lot to Ruhn that his sister is caring about him..." – Natalie, 52:11).
• News breaks that the Triari and Archangels are gathering.
• Hunt shares a charged kiss with Bryce before being called away.

Timestamps:

• [52:00] Reunion and emotional beats.
• [53:29] Hunt’s significant public kiss:

  "Oh my God, that means he totally likes her, totally likes her." – Jackie (53:29)

7. Courtly Drama: Celestina & Ephraim’s Arranged Meeting

• Discomfort, suppressed feelings, and the politics of forced unions are on display as Celestina preps for her “arranged marriage” with Ephraim.
• Hunt offers support ("He’ll have her back for the whole night. Don’t worry, nothing will get him to leave her side tonight." – 60:14), but has to ditch on her minutes later for Bryce’s crisis, leading to awkward tension.

Timestamps:

• [54:46] Celestina asks Hunt if she looks okay before meeting Ephraim.
• [60:12] Ephraim and Celestina's awkward interaction.
• [75:02] Hunt gets Bryce’s coded emergency text and bails, disappointing Celestina.

8. Sabine’s Sudden Attack

• Sabine bursts into Bryce’s apartment, accuses her of interfering in wolf business, and physically attacks her.
• The hosts groan over Sabine's ever-present victim complex and her self-absorption.
• Memorable quote:

  "Main character syndrome much? Bitch, not about you." – Jackie (70:10)

Timestamps:

• [68:01] Sabine’s entrance and confrontation begins.
• [71:22] Sabine hurls verbal abuse at Ethan.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "We usually kink shame, but really we kink explain. Vore is for some people, and that's out there for them to consider." – Jackie (07:52)
• "She’s a bit of a nihilist... Bryce fills up with Hunt’s juice—boy, the other kind of juice!" – Jackie (13:03)
• "Hunt shoots his leveled up lightning into her chest. And she feels it bow to her and channel up the star sword, which is so cool." – Natalie (17:21)
• "You should check. Oh—oh, it’s a milk carton that says 'missing'—and it has a picture of my vagina. I don’t know how it got down there." – Jackie (25:11)
• "The harpy’s becoming a sex pest and she’s here to check out the pants meat of Lunatheon." – Natalie (38:43)
• "But also, couldn't we talk you into it? Usually playing poker with you? I mean, it's like, yeah, we might knife at you, knife at you, but let us into your home..." – Jackie (43:44)
• "Did she suck your dick? Is that what the inside joke is? Cuz I think we get it." – Jackie (74:11)

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Episode Highlights & Flow

• [11:40–26:00] Bone Quarter battle, leveling up of powers, Tharion and River Queen subplot.
• [33:41–51:08] “Sex pest” comedy and mind games at poker night with villainesses.
• [52:00–54:00, 60:10–61:19] Emotional fallout, reunion scenes, arranged angelic marriages.
• [68:01–76:26] Sabine’s intrusion, family drama, coded emergency texts, Hunt’s “ride or die” dilemma.

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Tone & Language

Natalie and Jackie’s language is warm, irreverent, and brutally honest—full of jokes about sex, power, and book tropes, but interspersed with heartfelt moments about trauma, sisterhood, and found family. The episode balances genuine engagement with the Crescent City narrative and comedic free association—whether that means referencing the Spice Girls, Real Housewives, or the perils of tattoo pain.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

• This episode navigates battles, personal revelations, and escalating court intrigue with plenty of asides and laugh-out-loud moments.
• Major character moments are explored, especially the psychological warfare of the villainous women.
• The hosts add unique flavor with their re-enactments, real-life comparisons, and tangents—making the summary valuable for both plot and entertainment.

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Next Time

Homework: Read up until Chapter 37 for the next episode.

“We’re the Hind and the Harpy and we’re out, bitch!” – Jackie & Natalie (76:23)

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

If you're nasty and you can too.

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

Not only that, but if you use our code fayebays at checkout for those events, you will receive an exclusive swag bag from the weekend.

[A]

I'll do anything for a swag bag, Natalie.

[B]

Give it to me.

[A]

Yes, that's right. Use our COD code Faybase F A E B A e [e-mail] to get your $10 off of any of these events.

[B]

Dreamers and readers, baby. I cannot wait for this.

[A]

Gimme, gimme that SW welcome to Crescent City with your hosts, Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski. Yeah, Natalie, I don't know what you came here for, but I've been thinking that we gonna be playing a little bit of car.

[B]

I get it now. I was trying to figure it out.

[A]

We'll be playing a little bit of car.

[B]

Oh, we're here to harass the BO boys.

[A]

Today we harass the boys. And yeah, the only cards I have in my home are weed themed and instead of a joker it is a toer. But I did bring in some cards.

[B]

That makes me think of when I was a older teenager. I found a playing deck of cards that was nude men.

[A]

And I used to. I. I love them.

[B]

And I would carry them around to all the cross punk parties and make every guy would get very upset because it was the 2000s and the late 90s and so homophobia was all the rage.

[A]

Don't show it to me. I'm not gay.

[B]

They all reacted even though punk guys.

[A]

Were generally not as not homophobic in that way. But they'd be like what the get.

[B]

Shut up.

[A]

I look, you've never seen another dick before. Yes you have.

[B]

And it only made me want to take them out more. And I did because we used to play was like a constant.

[A]

Oh man, did we play a Lot of. And, you know, a lot of, like, war, but then to drink and, like, taking shots every time you lose at war.

[B]

War.

[A]

Oh, yeah, you black out real fast.

[B]

No, you know, that's a bad idea.

[A]

You got to learn how to spend time in Tallahassee. And if there is one way to spend it, when you feel like you living in a swamp, baby, just get drunk while you're playing war.

[B]

Sometimes as a kid, you have to almost go to the hospital to learn how to drink responsibly.

[A]

It's figuring out your boundaries and isn't that beautiful, Natalie?

[B]

Yeah, that's. It is so beautiful. I think about my teenage years and what. That's what the first word that comes to my mind is.

[A]

Beautiful. Mature. Beautiful. Yeah. Peaceful. I would feel like all of these words, especially as I just menacingly shuffle my cards at you. B. Tch. Because also, I'm gonna throw it out there. You told me last time I was too hot. I think you're too hot to be the harpy, too.

[B]

Stop it.

[A]

I think you're too hot to be the harpy. I think we're just hot enough to definitely be the hind. I think both of us can be the hind, but you're too beautiful in that beautiful battle suit of yours, bitch. Oh, my God.

[B]

No.

[A]

Yes, I'm saying it. Yes. You gotta hear it.

[B]

I will say this wig has seen better days. It's a really beautiful wig, but because it's braided and falls apart, it goes like. So now it's sticking out of it, but I kind of feel like the harpy would look like she just rolled out of some situationship she was in the night before.

[A]

Tiny. Busted, you know? Yeah, because, like, I don't think she's, like, doing a lot of moisturizing. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like when. When SJM openly doesn't say, and this bitch is really hot, because we know they're all really hot, it means she must be the most busted of them.

[B]

Yeah, she does call her thin lipped once, so that's pretty gross for Lunathians. I'm just kidding.

[A]

Especially when you watch Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and you realize how your whips gotta be all natural, though, right? Yeah, of course. This is what God gave me.

[B]

I hope at least when they get injections, it's just like beef tallow that they just shove in there.

[A]

It would be great. Unfortunately, there was a scene where for some reason, and I'm saying this as a person that has gotten botox before.

[B]

They are all Me as a Botox, Bruises on my face.

[A]

Me, I've never. But they go in and to get, like, a free high, because they have to for their Botox, they get, like, laughing gas. And all of them are getting laughing gas. And I was like, wait, you have to sit really still. Why would they give you laughing gas before they inject your face with a bunch of needles?

[B]

I'm sorry. Botox is not.

[A]

You don't need laughing gas.

[B]

Three seconds.

[A]

Yeah, please. Also, if you can't take it, don't do it. I feel like. And I'm not saying that, like, about all things. I don't feel that way, obviously, about, like, IUDs, but I mean, like, Botox is just like a bop. It's a bop. And if you don't want your face to move, that's how it's gonna be. It's gonna bop.

[B]

It doesn't even. I'm sorry. Listen, I have high pain tolerance. I will say that.

[A]

But Botox is crazy. Like, how do you know you have high pain tolerance? Because here's the thing. I've talked about this a lot when I used to do the show talking sex with Dr. Jordan. She was a sex therapist. And oftentimes, or like, even just the idea of saying, like, oh, like, I have a low libido, or I was saying it's like, in what reference to what? So it's like, also, you have a high pain tolerance, but in comparison to whom and for what? That is a. Such a. Like, we now have found, I think. You know, I talk to a lot of tattoo artists that say, generally people that were born as women oftentimes can have a higher pain threshold than a person that was born as a man. Just because of biologically the things.

[B]

Because we're being punished because we are good sin.

[A]

We are being punished for having that pussy.

[B]

We wanted to ask questions, and you know what happened? We all got periods.

[A]

Yep. That's right.

[B]

That's what happens when you ask questions.

[A]

At your mouth, bitch. But it was juicy. And snake wine.

[B]

That snake was so hot.

[A]

I mean, if a snake told me to eat the apple, I'd eat the apple.

[B]

Sorry.

[A]

Oh, what are you gonna do to me? You gonna strip me, you bad daddy? Satan Snake? Especially if I found out he was Satan Snake.

[B]

We're getting back into Vore for some reason. We were just talking about vor. Why we keep talking about.

[A]

Yeah, oh, yeah, we were talking about Vore. But I. You know, as a monster fucker, I'm not into Vore. No. And that Is not. You know, I'm sorry.

[B]

I didn't mean to say it so judgmentally. I didn't mean that.

[A]

It's, you know, sometimes. Sometimes we kink shame, but usually we king explain. Thank you. And for vor. Is for some people, and that is out there for them to consider.

[B]

Google that if you don't want to know what that is. Yeah, but no, pain tolerance generally is. Yeah. Obviously subjective to people. Like in. That's just a. There's no way to gauge that necessarily. Except I. I would say that just because I grew. If you grew up in ballet, generally, your pain tolerance is going to be a lot higher because point is, you rip. You literally rip your toes apart starting from 12. So I think if you do, like, any sort of extreme sports, anything like that, you end up being less affected by certain kinds of pain. But it's not like I don't. It's not that I don't hurt, like, teeth pain. Forget about it. If I go to the dentist, I don't want to feel my face for four or five days.

[A]

Yeah, but that's because tooth pain goes right into your brain. It's the worst. It's just like. Like, how do you. How do you think. How do you. How do you handle any. Anything else? But while you're talking about this, I also did want to bring up in specifically talking to a tattoo artist about pain. It is interesting that I never realized that there's usually there's, like, a chart for where the pain is hardest on a body for when you're receiving a tattoo. And I never realized that was always based off of male bodies and not off of. And that a female's pain tolerance and where they can accept the pain is very different because of the way our bodies are shaped and, like, where our muscle ends up lying. And I'm not saying, of course, for anybody that is, you know, taking tea or, like, going through, like, a transition. I'm saying, like, people, if you were just biologically and haven't done any changes with your body that like. Like, for example, like, the chest is usually. It is a hard place to get tattooed, but it's much harder for a woman to get tattooed on their chest because our pecs are different. If you're not building those up, I just find it fascinating to, like, that's another crazy thing of like. Like, that makes so much sense.

[B]

It does. Yeah. That. That. That we see. We find that a lot in medicine still, and we have to talk about. Lunathean. We can't talk about it.

[A]

I'M sorry, it just about fades. I was just. We're having. I thought it was an interesting conversation.

[B]

That's interesting. And, yeah. So much of medicine and medical history is based around guys bodies. And it's weird, but there's differences.

[A]

What? And.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it all comes down to a game of cards. What's your favorite game of cards? Is that what we're gonna play? Because in this scene, the harpy and the H playing cards with boys.

[B]

Poker.

[A]

Yeah. I don't even know her.

[B]

I think that's what the harpy's asking for.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Poking him with a knife and. Yeah, yeah. And sexually, too, but not that. Not according to. I mean, I feel like harpies. All knives, Heinz, all info. And together we can get anything done.

[B]

Yeah. Hind is very torture forward. Psychologically tortured.

[A]

Yes. And man, me trying to give a quick rundown. I. I bumped into Jake upstairs and he's like. And what are you dressed as today? And I tried to explain to him who the hind is. And for those of you that have read all of Crescent City, that's a long story.

[B]

I imagine he immediately regretted asking you that.

[A]

You know what? No, he was asking furthering questions.

[B]

So he has read some erotica for us on this show. So he must be into it.

[A]

Yeah, he must be into it because we've cornered him and made him read the erotica. But his, I will say, his partner is also very into it. Oh, yeah. So, yeah.

[B]

Yeah. When we last left off, Bryce had jumped in front of Hunt's lightning in the bone corner.

[A]

So cool. And they're getting together. Their powers are combining.

[B]

We're with Hunt at 32, at chapter 32. And he's briefly in shock as his light hits Bryce Boing. Because it looks like she's. She's doing, like, some sort of suing. Oh, I was saying something else.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

She looks like. For a second, it looks like she's trying to, like, unalive herself. And he's like, what? But then he sees the power kind of combine into the sword. And she runs at the big boy, Andrew, Dice and Clay. The big boys, Andrew, Dice and Clay, who are separated into three in this moment.

[A]

Andrew and Dice and Clay. Thank you.

[B]

They all split apart because they're all gonna launch an attack at her. So basically she decides to. When he's powering up in his lightning, she goes. Instead of his lightning hitting them, I'm gonna step in front of it. I'm gonna absorb the lightning, and the lightning's gonna go through my body into the Star Sword.

[A]

And she doesn't know, like, we don't know that that's what's gonna happen. She thinks maybe something could happen. And that's. It's just Bryce. It's like, oftentimes she's making good decisions.

[B]

Leap in the net will appear, I guess.

[A]

But sometimes, bro, you're just unaliving yourself and you're just getting hit by all the lightning. Not in this case.

[B]

She's a bit of a nihilist. So Bryce fills up with Hunt's juice. Boy, the other kind of juice slices at one of the dogs. I imagine this visual is like, hunt threw his lightning.

[A]

Okay?

[B]

It goes into her. You never get those sticky things. Like.

[A]

Like the hand?

[B]

Yeah. Like when you do good at the doctor's office, and they go like, here's a toy drawer. And it's stuff that costs, like, 3 cents. But as a kid, you're like, what?

[A]

That shit was banned in our home Because I remember we had one of those sticky hand things. I remember I put it in the back window of our van. It baked under the sun, baked onto the window. And my mom could never get it fully off. And I tell you what, that shit, we never saw that shit in the house ever again. What do you mean?

[B]

As a cherished memory of your childhood. I bet she'd love to have it now, wouldn't she?

[A]

Wouldn't she? Yeah. Mom, don't you want me to come and start destroying your shit? Yeah, that. I'm old. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Start chewing on things. I'm like, I'm teething, Mom. I'm teething. She love it. Just me smoking joints. I have to do this.

[B]

So that's what I imagine. So now he's sort of like holding her lightning, like, by lightning. And she's running out swiping at them. And when she does it, they all see. So they. She slices at one. It hits the Andrew, let's say, and it causes bad damage. The other two are like, oh, shit. And they go, I'm out of here. And the reapers start running, too. The reapers are, like, scattering all willy nilly. And he smashed. So Andrew's body, who gets hit by the sword, smashes into Hunt.

[A]

Just a Cerberus named Andrew. Just like. Well, you know, when Andrew gets here, we'll see how things go.

[B]

It's a good disguise. No one would be afraid of Andrew. But Andrew's scary. Andrew's the worst of them all. In my mind, yes. So Andrew's body flings as it gets hit by the sword. It crashes into Hunt who goes flying into the dead gate. This stops the flow of his lightning, leaving Bryce to face Dice and Clay with no Hunt juice.

[A]

So what happened? He got all rung out?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

All.

[B]

All. He complete, finished to completion.

[A]

Oh, congrats. Wow. In the middle of all that. I mean, I know usually it takes a little bit more concentration than that, but good for you.

[B]

You have to hope that's not what you need to come. That's a lot to talk about.

[A]

That on another. You know what I mean?

[B]

Hunt pulls himself up using the black. So he's on the gate. He's the. The same brass black that's in all the gates. He puts his hand on it to stand up, and when he does it, he jumps back. He realizes that it sucks out his power when he touches it. He thinks real hard about it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And he wonders if Apollyon was trying to get him here. Because remember, he came to him in a dream before, right? To try to understand something, that maybe his lightning power is akin to a Thunderbirds. Because if you recall, Thunderbirds can draw power, like electricity out of things and then use it, like, to pull it in and harness it. And maybe he could draw power out of the gate the way the Thunderbirds could harness their electricity. That maybe that he was sent there into the bone zone to get him and Bryce to understand these things.

[A]

Damn, dude.

[B]

He looks at his love at battle with the dogs. And then, much like Bryce, when she sees the dead gate light up in the first book, he slams his hand down on the brass plate. We cut over to Bryce's pov, and her eyes have been drawn to this bright light that is the same moment as soon as he sticks his hand down on it, he sees his. His arm, his chest start to light up. And she gets distracted by. She turns as it flows through his arm, it goes up into his chest, into his body, and the gate begins to darken as though he is powering up on all these souls, Dice and Clay.

[A]

They glob back together, anticipating the next strike. Hunt's voice was a thunderclap as he said behind her, light it up, Bryce.

[B]

Ah.

[A]

He said nothing.

[B]

He said it. She swoons as Hunt shoots his leveled up lightning into her chest. And she feels it bow to her and channel up the star sword, which is so cool.

[A]

And it's like, man, you think for a moment like, I don't want to kiss Bryce, but then you think about his insane power bowing down to her and, like, lifting her up. Just. I. It's just like, I want to kiss. I Mean, I do want to kiss you. The problem is, of all the. The.

[B]

I know, I know.

[A]

She is, to me, the most annoying.

[B]

Most people agree with you.

[A]

But she's so hot. But she's so hot.

[B]

She's so hot. She don't gotta duck, you know?

[A]

But if we could just. If we could just talk these things out, baby girl.

[B]

So the Dice man seems to sense its impending doom, and it turns to run, because these two have now become one once again, just like Spice Girls. But she feels Hunt pick her turn.

[A]

Into the Spice Girls then, and it's just like, well, now I can't kill you.

[B]

Like, can you imagine? That'd be so fun.

[A]

So much flower power. Peace in the 90s.

[B]

That'd be fun. Oh, but if a villain transformed itself into the five Spice Girls, that would be very fun.

[A]

Unless it was like, yeah, maybe it was, like, posh. And you're like, oh, I'm horny, but you're scary. And it's like, that's not the one I would want necessarily. But you're here, and I don't want to get rid of you because you are a. A portion of the Spice Girls. This is.

[B]

This is, you know, the things we have to consider in philosophy.

[A]

Yeah. Were you sporty? I forget.

[B]

I was. I love Spice Girls now. At the time, I was like, too punk.

[A]

Too cool.

[B]

But I think if I had to choose, I'd probably be Baby.

[A]

I like Baby randomly.

[B]

I liked her. I liked her style the most.

[A]

Okay, because. Is it the babydoll dresses and the sucking on the lollipops?

[B]

It's not the sucking on the lollipops.

[A]

It's not the sucking on the lollipops.

[B]

It's because my fashion is forever inspired by Cher Horowitz, and she looks the most like from that movie Baby.

[A]

I get that.

[B]

Mona Mae, the costume creator of she, like, Clueless, unfortunately became my whole personality for the rest of my life.

[A]

Why do you say unfortunately? I love your style. You look great all the time. And maybe if I wasn't so busy pursuing a life of scary, I could be right there alongside you.

[B]

I mean, you have great fashion. What are you talking about?

[A]

Yeah, but, you know, I wish that I could pull off, like, the hammer pants and, like, tiny bra the way Scary used to, you know?

[B]

I mean, very. Who. Who can.

[A]

We can't all be Mel C. Oh.

[B]

You got to just be so tight, you know, or actually just wear it. Who cares?

[A]

I mean, I think it's also that. I think it's also. We don't give a fuck. And all of us. You know what? I. I want all of us. I posit this to you. Dress like the Spice Girl. You always wanted to. Who gives a fuck?

[B]

I want to be like meatloaf.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

The food. Either or. But she feels Hunt pick her up.

[A]

Classic. Comfortable, yeah.

[B]

The dice man. So he runs. She feels Hunt come behind her, pick her up. And the two of them take to the sky, chasing the remaining shepherd.

[A]

Awesome.

[B]

And when above him, they are, like, floating above him. Hunt sends them both rocketing down through the sky on top of the shepherd and stab.

[A]

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab.

[B]

They roll to the ground as the shepherd bleeds out and Hunt shouts for them to run because, honestly, the under king's probably a little peeved right now.

[A]

And they need to get out of there also. I will say it. I don't know if this is going to be kept in. If you keep seeing my face having big smile reactions, because I literally can't stop myself. There is a small dog in the studio, and every time the small dog looks at me or, like, has a little tongue hang out, I just, like. I can't stop my face from reacting. So in case you were wondering, I just watched him, like, step on the table and was like. He was kind of prancing along the table behind the camera. And how do I not react to that? I'm not made out of steel. I'm not actually the hind.

[B]

Jackie thinks there's a dog here.

[A]

Just please, are there no dogs here? I need something to love. I need something to guess.

[B]

No, it's very. It's a very, very cute puppy that's in here right now.

[A]

I'm fine. I'm mentally stable.

[B]

They both go fleeing into the mist towards whence they came. Then we cut over to Tharion, who's standing before his queen with some bad kind of not good news.

[A]

He loves bringing her bad news.

[B]

I mean, he has to. He can't lie.

[A]

It's his job. He is the intelligence, right? He's like her intelligence officer.

[B]

He's reporting the discovery of two more bodies. Both have been assaulted and have been showing signs of torture.

[A]

But were they a peppered. I'm sorry, you want me to say it again? Were they a pepper, Pippa? Because you didn't laugh.

[B]

More like a Pippa.

[A]

Pippa. Get out of here. Pippa.

[B]

Two human scents were detected once again on these bodies. They're standing in the River Queen study, which Tharion describes as a biodome inside of an underwater building, which is cool. She asks him if he thinks it's Pippa and if Emile is here. And he says yes to both questions. So he does think Pippa's the one attacking these bodies. And he does think Emile has made it into Lunatheon and is hiding somewhere like, Pippa.

[A]

You're supposed to be the good one and helping us out, and you're just, like, not.

[B]

Pippa's not. She's a bad one. We don't like her. He doesn't know anything about Sophie. They found nothing on her because the River Queen is also trying to seek that out. The River Queen wants to know his thoughts on whether the Hind is also tracking Emil. He tells her he's not scenting the Hind on any of the humans because I smell. Yeah, you smell.

[A]

I love rubbing it on everybody.

[B]

You really do. And she has all the alibis for the days that the bodies were discovered. And so she's at very least not probably the one doing these crimes. The River Queen simply tells him he better find the boy before the others. He dares to ask her what she wants with the boy, which angers Herion. That's not a good idea to do.

[A]

It's not a good idea, but at the same time, also, River Queen. He is your intelligence offer. Like, you must talk to him about stuff.

[B]

No. The queens. Queen.

[A]

You fucked my guards. Like, shut up. Like, get over it, bitch. You live forever.

[B]

It's why we don't want kings and queens. Because they're like, my authority overpowers anything else. Yes. No, it doesn't.

[A]

Because I would look really cute.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, you.

[A]

Everybody has to do what I say. Oh, you're like the Queen of Hearts.

[B]

Yeah, I like that. Thank you. We just tell you you're queen, you know, we'll put you in a little throne and be like, yeah, we'll definitely do it.

[A]

Yeah. And I just think I'm talking to people, but I'm just talking to myself. And really, what is the difference between that and what I do for a living? Not a lot, am I? People, do you hear us talking? Right? We are speaking.

[B]

Are people listening?

[A]

What was I made for?

[B]

Oh, no, you're. We're just dolls.

[A]

Yep. Oh, I'm just a Barbie ass with no. Okay. Or maybe that's coming from behind. We don't know what she's got down there. I ain't looked yet.

[B]

You should check.

[A]

Oh. Oh, it's a side. It's a milk carton that says missing. And it has a picture of my vagina. I don't know how it got down there.

[B]

Oh no. Where'd it go?

[A]

I guess it's slithering around here.

[B]

I'd have to play runaway train.

[A]

Oh no. Run away vagina. Never come back. Do you have a pack of wool?

[B]

All right, we have to focus. So he dares to ask the queen the question and she's like what? She does the queen of hearts thing. He's like, no, no, I. I'm not questioning you. I'm so sorry, ma'. Am. I. I apologize. My bad. She mocks him, asks him if he enjoyed the punishment she doled out before, which was again cleaning the river up. Clearly she is enjoying seeing his humiliation.

[A]

She'd lowered herself into the stream again. No more than a dark beautiful head among the lily pads. Like one of her sobecks waiting to make a meal of the unworthy dead.

[B]

So Beck, that's a beautiful visual. I love that. But she is threat. She's menacing him. At the very least he thanks her for his punishment, much like a sub would, and masks his anger and pain. We cut back over to Hunt.

[A]

I just feel like the river queen, like you're really like cutting off your fin despite your beautiful face. I feel like, you know, if you guys work together you probably could accomplish more.

[B]

Or she's playing some form of Tandy chess that we don't understand.

[A]

We don't know.

[B]

Yeah. So this is also why I never thought the scene with Hun and Bryce was going to be that detrimental because we're cutting over to these other sort of like non important as dire scenes.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And so now we're back. We're back at the bone quarter and we're with Hunt. Pov. They are stumbling back towards the shore. He's completely wrecked from the power it took to slay the dice man. But he still marvels that they were able to create such a weapon with their powers. Which is beautiful.

[A]

It is.

[B]

And sexy.

[A]

Yes, it is. Oh my God. Could you imagine like, like the party tricks you could have being able to do that?

[B]

Well, also just what you could do alone.

[A]

What that saw though, give me them tingles. Oh my God. Tingles at the end of his fingers. Jesus Christ.

[B]

Tingle fingers. That's the least.

[A]

Come on over.

[B]

Yeah, they call me tingle fingers.

[A]

I guess I'm into that. I don't know.

[B]

Good tangled fingers.

[A]

You have it on your like dating profile. I got tangled fingers.

[B]

Literally or. I don't know. I am curious though.

[A]

Yeah. I'd go on the first date at least to check it out.

[B]

I'm tingle curious so he's marveling at this as they run. They. They're. They're kind of hurt. They're up. They accomplish this great feat and now they're kind of stumbling, staggering through the obelisk discs towards the shore again until he sees the towering front gates that they passed through when they were arriving. Hun can't believe it, but he sees that Tharion has appeared on the water on a wave skimmer. So it turns out in the previous scene, as he was speaking with the River Queen, he saw lightning flashing above in the water because, you know, he's underwater. He sees. He's looking up, sees lightning. And he recognizes it as Hunt, which is pretty on the ball there.

[A]

Theron, he is an intelligence officer, but also, it is, you know, it's sexy. I feel like being able to, like, tell that that's his lightning makes it even sexier.

[B]

It's almost like Hun and Therion and Bryce should, like, you know, debrief.

[A]

Yeah. Whoa. Yeah. I mean, you're all wet. You just got out of the woods.

[B]

I'm very into that fan fiction.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So, yeah, Tharion has appeared on a wave skimmer in front of the bone quarter. He saw the lightning and he followed it to see what was going on because he was like, oh, Hun might be in trouble. Tharion shifts back to merform from the wave skimmer and allows Bryce and Hunt to climb on the wave skimmer where he, like, accompanies them next to it. Even through his exhaustion, Hunt notes that Tharion himself looks haunted and kind of like. But Therian's still very hot. But he's like, you're slightly less attractive right now, you know? Yeah, but also, something's wrong with you.

[A]

You meant in this, that he had a haunted ass. And I was like, I mean, if I thought my friend had a haunted ass, I think I'd let them know and be like, I think he got a poltergeist down there or something. You might want to check on that.

[B]

I think some of our gentleman friends do have poltergeists in their ass.

[A]

Oh, God. And I think it's called lactose intolerance. And I think if they just would listen to it rather than pretending like it's not a thing. Right. But you know what? Don't have that. So I shouldn't. I feel like if I did, I probably also would live that life. So who am I to judge? Yeah.

[B]

Eating some creams.

[A]

I need my creams.

[B]

Bryce takes the front of the wave skimmer, which I love, because her bitch doesn't fall off. You know what I'm saying?

[A]

Whoa. If you read this, the fell off the greatest T shirt of all time.

[B]

Yeah. So they're on the wave skimmer and they start to go. But that's when Sobeck start to appear all around them. Because of course, Varian uses his water power like a cannon and blows a hole through the first one, which is awesome. And they fight their way through the rest of them like so Therian. Like they're not really. You know, it's just another thing.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

They reach the other side and are back on shore of Lunatheon. Tharion shifts back and the three of them rush back to Bryce's apartment and to debrief. But not in the way that I wish. I wish it was the underwear kind. But no, they're just giving each other burning for me.

[A]

You know what? It's not fair. I feel like the word debrief has to mean that you also are taking your clothes off. Can't we talk nude? Like, oh, hello. You know, just like, let's get it out. Let's put it all on the table. This is what I am mad. Especially with business.

[B]

I love taking my clothes off and then going, huh?

[A]

What do you think? Whoa. Right?

[B]

What do you guys think?

[A]

So actually I'd be very scared. I'd be like, never mind, never mind.

[B]

Can you imagine? That's a nightmare.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just judging that. They get inside her door and collapse. Bryce and Hunt looking a mess, depleted and filthy. Tharion is a sad boy. He asks them whether they found info about Emil and Sophie. Because, you know, one of the purposes in going to the Bone Quarter in the first place, if you remember, they had this big meeting in the morning. They were all there, right? So they kind of half know what's going on. And he's like, hey, what's going on? Did you find stuff? And they relayed that they not only don't have new info about Emil and Sophie, they inform him of the other very bad news. You know, about being. Their death is just like basically being. Going through the sailing is like a direct flight through a slaughterhouse. Once you die.

[A]

Yes, that's difficult to get through.

[B]

Yeah. So Tharion's horrified. But Bryce just asks where Ruhn and Ithan are. And we don't know. I mean, we do know the reader. They don't know. They should be back at her place by now. They're not answering their phones. Peck.

[A]

A God. Any God. She sounded like that. Would you be scared? More scared of her? No. You never know. What are your wishes? I'm also a Jinn. I wish I were.

[B]

You're also a Jin. So in this moment, they're trying to figure out where everybody else is. Hunt checks his phone and sees the news that Ephraim has arrived with his Triari.

[A]

It's like we're just. We're dealing with so much, and then you're just gonna throw this into the mix. All right.

[B]

So though Bryson Hunt didn't find any news about the missing Thunderbirds, they have established some hard truths, as well as realizing whether it was orchestrated or not, that they can channel one another's powers, become a super weapon. This is what we've gleaned from the bone Quarter.

[A]

Pretty cool.

[B]

At chapter 33, we're back with Run and Ethan at the bar where the Hind and the Harpy have ambushed them with a game of poker.

[A]

I'm leaving now.

[B]

Rune is trying to take in as much information as he can through observation as the Hind gracefully deals out the cards. Oh, we're getting an act out here.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

Do at least in the mic so you can get some ASMR in there.

[A]

Does our producer like this? He loves it. He's going, yes, I love it. Please keep throwing cards everywhere, and I hope that you leave them where you threw them. I can see him I reading his lips right now. So thank you for giving us this.

[B]

Freedom, letting us do our art.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

He's a supporter. He's a patron of the arts.

[A]

Appreciate you.

[B]

So now the cards are everywhere. So that's fine.

[A]

And that is why I brought them. And I know that I'm probably going to lose some of the cards. And then if I ever want to play cards, I'd be like, why do you keep these cards? They don't have all the cards in it.

[B]

Where do the other cards go?

[A]

Which is what happens if I ever have a game. I think I'm just an explodey kind of gal, you know? Whoa.

[B]

You're like Lucille Ball.

[A]

Yeah, Just like her. Yeah. Don't sleep with me in my bed, husband.

[B]

That's it.

[A]

Her eating the chocolate and not sleeping in bed with Ricky.

[B]

Robbie, were you not an I Love Lucy fan?

[A]

Oh, of course I was. I was just. I love it. If that's what you break her down into of. Ah, you gotta make yourself laugh sometimes.

[B]

That was a wait. I could talk about. No, we can't start talking.

[A]

No, I'll talk about Lucille Ball if you wanna talk about Luis.

[B]

I love I love Lucy so much. Will talk about it all day, but I can't this is not the time. This is not the time, Natalie.

[A]

Not.

[B]

So we're at the bar again, and they have pulled the cards out. Right. This is the full distraction of talking about. Because we put the cards.

[A]

We're pulling the cards out. Yes.

[B]

R. Is trying to take in as much information as he can through observation. As the hind deals out the cards, he notices her ring as it being a sign of wealth, like a. Like a very subtle sign of wealth in her otherwise uniformed body. As she deals the cards, she lazily explains that she. She's only here to introduce herself. He is her half sister's fiance after all. Because, remember, she's related to hypaxia. Oh, the Days of Our Lives. Quite the soap opera.

[A]

Oh, my God. I want to see that teenage story. Like, let's see them together, girl.

[B]

I don't want to see any teenage story ever get them out of my face.

[A]

As long as they are played by people that are obviously in their late 20s and early 30s. Like a Riverdale. That's when I'm. I did have to stop watching the Summer I Turned Pretty, though, because I was like, I think I am too old for this teen romance story.

[B]

I don't even know what that is.

[A]

It's a wonderful story. I watched the first two seasons of it, but I was like, I think I might be too old to watch these young people kiss. Yeah. And maybe that's just on me. I know it's just on me. I'm not putting that on other people. And I wouldn't judge another person for liking it. It's just. I know how I. And I'm just like, yeah. What's that older one do? Oh, yeah. The older one's reading for Quinn now. Okay. But it's like he is in his 20s. But that's a baby in my brain. Well, now.

[B]

Now I feel like it's looking at the. The dads on the shows.

[A]

Oh, I'm looking. Oh, yeah. And I'm peeping them. Mummies, too.

[B]

Mom and Daddy. Ew.

[A]

You just yucked yourself out.

[B]

I did. I hate bringing those words into sexual instances, so.

[A]

Me too.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't. I don't use it for sex. I just use it for fun. Out. Outdoor joking. Sex.

[B]

Outdoor joking.

[A]

Joking. Of course.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

That's when you say that. Those things.

[B]

So it's clear that the hind is trying to mess with the boys here. And Rune, whose thoughts were with. He tries to brush her off, which makes the harpy mad. So. Because Rune is being what they would call disrespectful to the hind as she's trying. She's int intimidating them. It's completely fair for him to be sarcastic with her. But the harpy of course is going to be the harpy and she's being a to them. And then she goes and begins to sex pest Ethan. When she says she joined. She's here with the hind because she wants to get a look at the meat, the pants.

[A]

This is all Natalie. I mean, I tell you every time I bring her somewhere, I'm like, what are you? The harpy is kakule.

[B]

Like everybody, Natalie's coming, she's gonna try to grab you.

[A]

She keeps calling herself tingle fingers. And like we keep saying, she's not made of lightning. But you know, what are you gonna do? Maybe let her live.

[B]

Are you sure though? You don't know if I made it.

[A]

I don't know. I'm not grabbing on your hands. But I keep trying. She keeps trying.

[B]

So yeah, the harpy's becoming a sex pest and she's here to check out the pants meat of Lunatheon.

[A]

Ethan can't meet a blue nathian.

[B]

As she's doing this, she kind of tries to reach out and grab Ethan's arm, like touch his muscles and he grabs a wrist, stops her from doing it and tells her he's not interested. But she clearly enjoys it because he's like hurting her and she's like, yeah, give me more little wolf boy. The harpy then turns her predations on Tarun who reminds her that he's engaged and he doesn't quote, quote around.

[A]

The hind dealt the cards with a swift sure grace.

[B]

Except with Fonz, of course.

[A]

Whoa, whoa. Okay. Somebody is watching you. Someone is watching you.

[B]

So she's of course referencing the fan favorite scene.

[A]

Remember when we were both phones that to go back to our younger days.

[B]

Of three months ago.

[A]

Yep, yep, yep, yep.

[B]

Oh, you mean of when we were.

[A]

We were party. We were party sluts. Yes, and doing that. But yeah, but also when we were fawns. That.

[B]

Yeah, sure, sure. So yes, when the harpy sort of, you know, messes with run and says, well, why don't you come be with me? And he says he doesn't. Around behind reveals that she knows about a very private interaction that he had which obviously Ruhn is jarred by this. How would the hind know?

[A]

And it was in his house, in his bedroom at a party.

[B]

So she's a master spy. But like that is another level.

[A]

So this master spy at your service.

[B]

That would be can you imagine if somebody talked about, like, I would be like, oh, you are a pervert. Like, why are you in my. How do you.

[A]

I mean, maybe I am a pervert. Have you asked?

[B]

That's true. The hind might be a pervert.

[A]

Maybe I'm just a Peeping Tom. Maybe it has nothing to do with. Yeah. Maybe I just like to look through people's windows. Oh, yeah. Get em. Get em.

[B]

Yeah. It's not my spy thing. I'm a pervert at night. Yeah. I just happen to be spying on your bedroom.

[A]

One must have hobbies that they don't monetize. And. And I mean, sometimes it's being a Peeping Tim. Yeah.

[B]

A peeping Tina.

[A]

Tina. Because I said Tim. Which is also masculinity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Masculine. But, yeah, I'm a peeping Tina.

[B]

Peeping Tina. So she's so ruin is shaken, of course, by this. And from this admission from her. He kind of like looks her over, notes the number of darts on her collar, notes the torque.

[A]

Does have good torque on it. Yeah.

[B]

Knows this is a killing expert in front of him and likely has killed Sophie. And she also knows this very private information about him. We know that she killed Sophie, but Ruhn is only thinking that maybe she did. But we know that she did. It frightens him, her power. She reveals that the Autumn King actually suggested that she come and meet him.

[A]

Ugh. It's like that. Ruhn's like, oh, good. Oh, I'm so glad. Are you guys like my father? Yeah.

[B]

Great. My favorite.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Ruhn knows that there are ulterior motives for this gesture from his father, likely to keep Rune in line, almost issuing a threat by bringing the Hind around. Being like, the hind is watching you, little boy. They are all holding their cards now because if you'll recall, they're playing poker through this.

[A]

And Natalie, you're not. Oh, here, I've got a seven pair. Oh, belly up, partner. That's it.

[B]

That's all I have. Whoa. This is actually a good hand.

[A]

Oh, it's because I wasn't really shuffling them. Yeah, I was. I was only menacingly shuffling, not like. Like professionally shuffling, so.

[B]

Well, you should have shuffled better, because I think I won this game.

[A]

Oh, somebody got a straight. But they ain't looking too straight.

[B]

A little curious, if you know what I mean. So Run, as they're all holding their cards. Run. Observes her as she looks down at her own hand. The Harpy taunts him in that moment, suggesting he's ogling behind, and tells him that the hammer doesn't share.

[A]

No, he doesn't.

[B]

No, he doesn't. The Hind smiles at that. Ruhn angrily retorts that much like Ithan said to the harpy, he'll take a pass. He doesn't want to have sex with either of these women that are very attractive.

[A]

It's like, you know, rejection hurts regardless of where it comes from.

[B]

It's true.

[A]

But also, couldn't we talk you into it? Usually playing poker with you? I mean, it's like, yeah, we might knife at you, knife at you, but let us into your home. And maybe that's coming from a beeping Tina. I don't know, maybe. But it's like I. And I know it's like a vampire situation where I gotta be let in, but it's more fun with binoculars.

[B]

Yeah, you better be careful if you let me over your threshold. So through their conversation at this bar, the Hind reveals that she also knows that Run had slept at Bryce's house the night before. Run does his best to not look rattled as she lists off these different things that she knows about him and says casually that he didn't know it was her duty to interrogate Ox members. The four of them spit venom at one another. And then the Hind pulls out doing.

[A]

That just like, oh God. Oh stop.

[B]

The Hind pulls out a really nasty little bit of info. She suggests that Ethan has pined for the woman his brother loved.

[A]

Well, it's almost like I know everything.

[B]

She knows a lot of stuff about these two boys and we pretty much as the reader know that's to be true. But how does the Heinz know this? This Ethan, of course is taken off guard and lets his emotions come through as a job.

[A]

Mad wolf. And it's the guy just, he's hot blooded. He's got a scream.

[B]

Do you think Ethan would have been radicalized by Joe Rogan?

[A]

Yeah, I think especially after losing Connor, I feel like not having a lot of like, like the, the I feel like losing that, that male guidance. I unfortunately do think he would get lost in.

[B]

We can't let him into Lunathian.

[A]

We can.

[B]

So he, he goes, what are you. No, I don't. Ruhn tries to tell him in his thoughts, speak, to play it cool, that she is just trying to get to Ethan. She's trying to make you explode. But the Hind only needles further into him, saying she has access to years of conversations between him and Bryce, him and other people, and that she knows that he secretly resented his brother, waited for the day that Bryce saw him instead of Connor.

[A]

Ethan paled the hind's expression filled with cool contempt.

[B]

And he hates himself even more. Not only for losing his brother, for not being there because of the one traitors thought he had. After learning the news that the path to Bryce Quinlan was now cleared. Did I get that part right?

[A]

Bitch? Step off it.

[B]

Ouchie. You're a bitch, hind.

[A]

Yeah, but she's so good at being a bitch that, man, it's just. It gets impressive sometimes. I feel like sub fills me with rage. And the hind impresses me because. But say that like. Like why? I don't know why. I think it's just because, like, the fact that she's so good at torturing and the fact that Sabine is so, like.

[B]

She's reserved. Maybe that's why I don't. We're both very obviously emotionally like, expressive people, and I always find it impressive when I. So, yeah, maybe it's because the hind is very cool and reserved in her.

[A]

Evilness, where she's just playing poker while she's saying it. And she's just fucking throwing her fucking cards everywhere and they're like, wow, she's the only thing. Oh, no, she's not. She's not.

[B]

She's holding very. She's unbothered. Like this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

She's playing like this.

[A]

Yeah. How do I use my hand? But it is a lot to play poker and also be threatening someone. Actually.

[B]

Yes, it's true. And she's right. Ethan is freaking out and she's just sitting there, like, looking at her cards.

[A]

Which it is so funny because she had just said this, like, ridiculously intrusive thing to Ruhn, who didn't flip back. And then Ethan's just like, yes.

[B]

He'S Ethan. And Ruhn understands. He's trying to convey this through his mind. Speak to Ethan. She is doing this to get you to actually act this way.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Like all trolls, every troll is just trying to get you to go.

[A]

Yeah, that's why you don't give in to the negative comments.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So run's not used to you. Ethan's not used to. They're not used to that.

[B]

He's not used to it. So trying to diffuse the situation that's happening. He Ruhn puts his hand down on the table like guys were playing poker and he has a decent hand. The harpy curses and lays down her worst hand.

[A]

And she's a bad loser.

[B]

The hind, of course, beats them both.

[A]

Ethan didn't bother to show his cards. He'd already shown them. Run realized. Aha. Metaphor much? Yeah. But also, I I think it makes sense that the harpy is a sore.

[B]

Loser and not very good at poker.

[A]

And not very good at it. I feel like she's just. And I'm not saying it's because you're so busted, because busted people can play cards too. Yeah. But maybe. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah, them titties are getting in the way. Sorry. Old Peeping Tina's at the card game.

[B]

So yes, they. They are playing their cards, as one is. Would say could be a metaphor for how they are all acting at the table. So their card game ends. The harpy and the Hind get up to leave behind, smirking at how easy it was to rile the boys up. After lobbing a few more insults at each other, Roon tells them to get out of his bar. As they are about to step onto the street, the Hind turns, her silver.

[A]

Necklace glinting in the sunlight, trickling in, her eyes lit with unholy fire.

[B]

Tell Prince Cormac I send my love, the Hind said.

[A]

But also, yeah, it's glinting in my silver necklace and it just glitters. I'm a on it.

[B]

That'd be cool.

[A]

That would be. Honestly, have a. Have a. Torches. I'm a.

[B]

Yes. And then. And then another one that says I'm a lover.

[A]

Oh, it depends on the day.

[B]

I'm a child.

[A]

Yeah, but you know, she's a sinner and I don't think she's a sight.

[B]

Could not be ashamed. So the end of that section is basically Hind kind of acknowledging that she knows something about their interactions with Cormac. We don't know what she knows, but it seems to be a threat and she.

[A]

Whatever it is, she knows. And especially because, like that Fawn night, that was the night that they had found everything out with Cormac and. Or at least about the betrothal and everything. So she was around, or at least her peepers were around that nighting was.

[B]

Going on of some sort.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And we don't know how much she knows. But also, Cormac had just dropped them off at the bar, so maybe she saw him there.

[A]

Right. Don't know. We don't know.

[B]

So we cut over a rite with Bryce shortly after this, where Ruhn and Ithan have finally reappeared after the interlude with the hunt. She was beginning to panic when she couldn't get a hold of them after her return from the bone quarter. Now they are all playing catch up. Bryce waving off Ruhn's concern over her appearance, even while chastising him for not answering her calls. He seems surprised but emotional when Bryce pulls him into a tight hug.

[A]

Well, you guys have both had a rough day. But I also understand. I would be very. If Henry pulled me in for a hug and be like, ah, ah. I think I would actually like, what are you. What? What?

[B]

But for them, it's. It means a lot to Ruhn that his sister is caring about him because he, of course, the entire first book, she acted like she hated his guts and didn't care if he died.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So all he's wanted was this relationship from Bryce and Bry. Bryce making the move to hug him was like, obviously very emotional to him. So Hunt gets a call in that moment that he's wanted because Ephraim has come with the other Triari and Celestino wants her Triari to come in also to be like her emotional support. So in this moment, as they're all relaying everything that's just happened, Hunt now has to go do this. This leads into what happened with Ruhn, because they're basically like, hey, guys, the trari is all here and they're all like, we know. And then Ruhn leads into talking about the encounter with Mordoch. And then the hind to everyone else in the room. They're all shooketh. And they speculate on whether the hind knows about their espionage. Hunt.

[A]

She knows something's up with Cormac, which is very, very scary.

[B]

Yes. And Hunt, he says he doesn't think she knows enough or else they'd all be dead by now. They all agree that Ephraim's Triari are monstrous. Resigned to what he has to go do. Hunt sighs and walks over to Bryce and cups her cheek, kisses her in front of everyone.

[A]

Oh, my God. That means he totally likes her. Totally likes her.

[B]

Just a light kiss, but it was. It was embedded with meaning embed, if you know what I mean.

[A]

I thought it was only in Jimmed. So far.

[B]

So far, only in Jim did. No, they Wait. No, they did do it.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, there was a. There was a little. There was a little cummies in bed.

[B]

But mostly there was couch.

[A]

There was couch jam alleyway. I mean, honestly, wherever they can get it.

[B]

Love it. He leaves and Tharion tells her he's glad they sorted everything out. Sort of like. Like alluding, like, well, I guess you and Hun are okay then she flips him off. Ruhn hesitantly says that Bryce smells different, and not just from the fight. Bryce tells Ruhn to stop sniffing her, but we know it's from having hunch juices intermingled with hers hunts with Celestina and the rest of the triari at chapter 34. Celestina's nervous. Is all heck about the greeting about to happen? She knows Ephraim if you. If you'll call their friends. And she even likes him. But this whole process is not her choice. And it must be awful, like knowing you are staring down the barrel of a forced union.

[A]

And especially when you live forever. It's like the kind of thing of like. And so like, is this. Is this forever? Is this my actual forever?

[B]

Hopefully in angel relationships, once they breed, I guess they can go do whatever they want.

[A]

I mean, but that depends. What's Ephraim gonna be like? You know, it's like, I think that really depends on what kind of control he has over her. Because, like, this is all a power play, you know?

[B]

At least in this moment, it seems like he's a friend to her and wants well for her. But we'll see. Sometimes shit changes. So.

[A]

Especially when, I mean, after it's a forever thing. And then that's when they show their true colors. So, yeah.

[B]

Celestine asks Hunt how she looks in this moment and how do I look?

[A]

I feel like that's really sweet. And says so much about Celestina. I think this whole scene, it says so of her. Asking Hunt, do I look okay? Do I look okay? Yeah.

[B]

And Hunt, being a well meaning himbo, he says that she looks like a female awaiting an arranged marriage. And while sometimes uncomfortable truths are important to say, she doesn't have a choice in this. So just tell her she looks pretty.

[A]

Come on, bro.

[B]

Which he does after he. He thinks. He thinks. He thunk about it for a minute.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

Oh, pretty.

[A]

You need support right now.

[B]

Know, you know, you know she looks stunning right now. Hunt tries to process everything that's happened that morning while looking unbothered in front of Pollux. Because of course, Pollux is already here now being a part of Celestina's group. So he's just like trying because Pollux is with him as always, is sneering at him across the room. And Hunt's like, I have to look like nothing happened this morning. Who? He's looking at Pollux. Pollux looks like he's practically at half mast waiting for the hind to appear. Because of course they're her.

[A]

Yeah, look at, look at her.

[B]

Look at her.

[A]

Can't wait till I show up.

[B]

Look, the harpy sucks, but she's at least a hype woman for the hind, you know what I mean?

[A]

You're right. And I Feel like we do have each other's backs, and especially in a way that Pollux and Baxian don't.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So it's like we've got, like, a sisterhood thing.

[B]

We love to torture.

[A]

We loved. And honestly, what a great thing to have in common. And we're both really good at it. This is, like, something professionally. This is working.

[B]

Technically, we're boss babes of our career.

[A]

This is my problem and forever my issue. That, like, I want to kiss the heartbeat and hind, but then, like, Pollux and Baxian, I don't want to kiss.

[B]

No.

[A]

And. But that's like a broken thing in my brain where it's like. Yeah, but it's sexy when a woman's a torturer. It's like, that's something you need to go talk about in therapy.

[B]

Yeah, no, but I get.

[A]

I get that's a. That's a problem that you should probably. But I see that as if I'm dating torturers. Guys. I'm not. I'd probably get the ick. Because probably we'd be so obsessed with work.

[B]

Right?

[A]

I mean, just always thinking about, like, I want to slice, I want to.

[B]

Dice, I want to pull. I'm just now noticing how busted these wings are.

[A]

They have seen better days there, but they're on.

[B]

You know, I don't even think I need new ones. I think I just need to reapply feathers.

[A]

Sure. Yeah.

[B]

You can just craft. I'm gonna craft this. We need to reduce waste, Everyone. Let's just make them better. So. And I'll use plastic bags.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

I'm trying.

[A]

So I want you to use real feathers, and I want to watch you pluck them off the birds.

[B]

Yes. The birds that need them right now.

[A]

Yes. So, honestly, as the harpy, I feel like that is how you'd fix your wings.

[B]

You know, I don't want to. I don't want to do that.

[A]

Well, there's no spider silk around. All right. I don't know what to tell you.

[B]

Oh, God, please, no. So Hunt is disgusted, but is glad the hawk at least had to stay back in Panjara. So one of the bad, yucky triari is not there.

[A]

But don't worry, it's another one with an H. I know, man. So that you can.

[B]

The first two or three times times I read this book, I was no.

[A]

Idea what the difference was.

[B]

Now I Now I know very well.

[A]

And now especially, too, in dressing up as them, I know a lot better. But, like, in my brain, the Hind and the harpy were completely interchangeable.

[B]

Who's the hawk? Is Baxian bad or good? I can't remember. So the hawk is a guy and.

[A]

He is not here, not there.

[B]

Celestina thanks Hunt for joining them on her day off and squeezes his his hand. He senses she's actually sincerely nervous and that she's kind of shaking.

[A]

And also how sad is it that like she doesn't have like her or like she's talking to Hunt.

[B]

Does she have.

[A]

That's. It's like I. I imagine the life of an angel is very lonely.

[B]

Nobody thinks about the archangels and how they're feeling.

[A]

No, but that's because usually they're too busy like lording over everyone and taking their power.

[B]

Like out hanging hateful people. Yeah.

[A]

So she's a good one. Maybe.

[B]

Maybe she could be.

[A]

She at least has feelings.

[B]

Sure. He feels sadness for her and tells her that he'll have her back for the whole night. Don't worry, nothing will get him to leave her side tonight. She smiles at him and tells him he's a good male. Hunt's not sure about that, but he is. Minutes later, Ephraim enters Celestina's study where they've all been standing and Hun can see the warmth between the two archangels. Celestina moves to greet him as a friend while he says My mate. Which is awkward. And then they go. Then they go for a cringe inducing kiss where Celestina turns her head turn. But like does it mean to.

[A]

No, but it's like they're used to it because they've known each other for a long time.

[B]

But it's just also two people who are like aren't they don't want you.

[A]

Imagine if I came to work and you told me I had to marry Holden and then he goes and I'm like ah, he's getting his slime on me just by looking at me.

[B]

I think you'd actually be a lot more upset than Celestina in that moment.

[A]

Sure. I think I'd say a couple of things about it. But she doesn't have a choice. So really what is she going to say?

[B]

Say she can't. She can't say anything. So she's not like repulsed by Ephraim, but they're two people who don't want to be sexual together. And so they're trying to be like how do we. And like turning that. You know, turning their heads and stuff. And so she doesn't mean to embarrass him in that moment, Celestina looks mortified and Isaiah, being the good guy he is, jumps in to step forward. He's doing his job as a triari in this moment and stepping forward to greet Ephraim. To change the focus.

[A]

Sandriel's good male. Good on him.

[B]

Sandriel's old Triari stands behind Ephraim. If Ephraim is a good male, from what we can tell for an angel, at least.

[A]

At least not openly. Only abject evil. Yeah.

[B]

Like, how must that dynamic work out when they're back in Panjara? Like they're evil, but he's good. So how does that dynamic happen? You know what I mean? Like Sandriel's army. Sort of like you're getting a lot of like Stephen Miller vibes, but like hot if you're like a decent person. I don't know.

[A]

Yeah. Or do you just find yourself in situations where it's like you are just given job, like you are just given positions that you are like, I guess I'll do this.

[B]

I'm just wondering how it works out there.

[A]

You know, I wonder how they get to the triari. Like, I do wonder if it is like, are. Are these like people that like, that they're plucked from.

[B]

Yeah, I think it's power based.

[A]

Yeah. Of just things.

[B]

Oh, no, wait. The archangels are trained at a school.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

The regular angels that become the trigger, I think are just extremely powerful.

[A]

They're just good at it and they're just plucked and good at like. Pam Anderson was plucked from a football game because she was so hot. Just to start Playboy. Just her whole career started because she had a. I think it was Labat. I forget. It was like a beer shirt on. And they showed her at a football game and she was so hot that Playboy was like, oh, my God, who is that person? And plucked her from obscurity.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And gave her a lot of life that she didn't necessarily want.

[B]

Yeah. I don't know if that's a happy story necessarily.

[A]

I mean, it is, I guess just going back to back, I read Pam Anderson's memoir and then into Joan Rivers memoir, and it's just such a different of like Joan Rivers who just toiled and needed and wanted and then. And Pam Anderson was just like, I didn't like my body, but I was paid a lot of money for how hot I am. And I've never felt beautiful a day in my life. And that just breaks my heart. Anyway, Triari. Huh? Really hot, really powerful.

[B]

Good Lord. So Naomi mutters Yuck. When she notices that Pollux and the Hind are making bedroom eyes at one another in the room.

[A]

I definitely, definitely think she is giving Greta Gremlin vibes, you know, and he's giving it right back. And they're both just. It's as if Spike the Gremlin and Greta Gremlin rather than Greta Gremlin assaulting a scientist. I think if the two of them got together, that's. Or it is giving Evil hormone monster. Hormone monstrous from Big Mouth. But maybe that's just because Jeff and I have always wanted to play the two of them.

[B]

Well, that's.

[A]

It's Maya Rudolph and Nick Kroll as these big monsters, and they're big horn dogs. And, like, Nick Kroll as the monster has a bunch of, like, dicks that he always uses as his little minions and stuff. And they're really horny for each other.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

So I feel like it's that.

[B]

Okay, right, guys? I don't remember what we're talking about.

[A]

Oh, yeah, we're talking about.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Bedroom Eyes.

[B]

They make their political proclamations to one another. All promised to be great and powerful allies, blah, blah, blah. This is very diplomatic, this interaction. Hunt can't help but notice how much more nervous Celestina seems to be than Ephraim. And he has the startling thought that perhaps she's never been with a male before. He realizes with horror that the Asteri probably didn't even consider whether she preferred males or not. Might be alluding to something here. He's distracted when he notes Baxian's cold stare at the golden twins. Talking about these. I don't know what they look like.

[A]

My tits.

[B]

Are they golden?

[A]

Yeah. It's just because I infused him with gold. Schlager. It's not real gold. After I did it, I found out. I was like, oh, I thought I was making 24 karat breasts.

[B]

Those aren't real gold flakes.

[A]

I don't know if it is. I would assume you drank it. So are you supposed to drink gold? Why was it so cheap?

[B]

Big Liqueur has been lying to me for all these decades.

[A]

I'm sorry, Natalie.

[B]

So he doesn't see any sort of camaraderie between Vaccine and Pollux in the hind, which he's just kind of, you know, noting. Because we're kind of trying to figure out what Vaccine's deal is.

[A]

By the way, it is real gold.

[B]

I thought it was.

[A]

It is real gold. Just in case. I know that you were at the. Sitting at the edge of your seat.

[B]

I just remember being As a young person being like, like, oh, classy.

[A]

Oh, it's classy. Oh yeah. While you're just slamming bottle of it.

[B]

So he's, he's noting that he like, back scene's not greeting them with any sort of like, what's up guys? And he's just taking note. We cut back over to Bryce's apartment and Bryce is telling Ethan and Ruhn about everything she's just learned and did at the Bone Quarter as Therian listens on. It's a lot to take in, but probably the worst is learning about what what happened to their friends and family's souls. Which sucks. I don't know what you do with that information.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Ithan tells Bryce that he must find out whether Connor is now on the top of the Under King's shit list and that his soul maybe won't be there for hundreds of years. Like apparently is the norm. So after learning all of this information, they're now like, well, now the Under King's pissed at us. Is he going to somehow punish the souls of our loved ones? Which is great. They ponder over even if they find Connor's soul, what exactly are they supposed to do about it?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Unsettled by the thought, Ruhn moves to asking about just what? Apollyon. I still call him Apollonian all the time.

[A]

That's okay. It's what happens when you read it and you're saying it that way in your brain.

[B]

It's hard to change what Apollyon and the Reapers meant by sending Bryce and Hunt to the Bone Quarter. As they speak, there is a knock on the front door. As Bryce walks to answer it, Ruhn points out that they need to be concerned about the Asteri finding out about what Hunt and Bryce were just able to accomplish together.

[A]

We'll game it out, Bryce said and finally opened the door, a hand locked around her throat, crushing the air from her.

[B]

You little cunt.

[A]

Sabine. Fendir hissed. Thus a bitch is back.

[B]

She is. She's always showing up. Oh, so they have this big worldly kind of problem. Are our families going to be sucked into this food processor even faster? We need to figure that out. Ethan says I have to find Connor. I have to find out. I won't be able to focus on anything else. And as they're having this conversation, she opens the knocking at the door and it is Sabine now interjecting herself. We cut over to Rune's POV in that moment, who was cursing himself for not being more vigilant about who might be knocking at the Door. Because they're in this, like, really mind blowing conversation. He didn't think as the ox, I better inspect who is here.

[A]

Also get a ring cam at this point. Well, even.

[B]

Don't you. Don't they have I. The little eye thing.

[A]

I mean, she wasn't paying attention, so she just opened the door. But I feel like it's like you also have all that, like, magic on the doors. Like, so you'd think that there'd be a little bit more technology out there.

[B]

You think? I guess because there's been a hundred people in and out of her apartment that day. She just.

[A]

She just opened the door. Yeah.

[B]

They were all distracted with this cacophony of new information. And Ruhn wasn't paying close enough attention to the door being opened. He watches as Sabine throws Bryce across the room. The males all jumping to their feet preparing for a fight. But Bryce won't let Sabine see her rattle. And she just is like, something up? What's going on? Sabine? Even though she just threw her across the room into the couch and moved the couch with the force of it. Sabine accuses Bryce of interfering in wolf business.

[A]

Oh, my God. Sabine. Then you deal with it.

[B]

Well, she just wants to start a fight. You know, this kind of people. Which is in reference to her harboring Ethan, of course. Which she and Bryce is like, what do you mean? I don't know. Sabine posits that Bryce took in Ethan to, quote, rob her of her birthright and oh my God, are we always a victim?

[A]

And also like, main character syndrome much? Bitch, not about you. Every.

[B]

There's a lot of stuff going on right now. Sabine, as in, you know, she's like. She's basically saying Bryce is trying to get the sword by holding Ethan in her apartment.

[A]

Oh, my God. I have a sword. I'm good. Bitch.

[B]

It does feel very much like something that would be on the Real Housewives.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Coming in and just. You little. And just pushing her across.

[B]

Oh, and also just having these people going through a crisis and her going, this is about my sword, isn't it?

[A]

Yes. And it's like you don't even know what's going on. So. Yeah. And looking like an idiot.

[B]

Ethan growls that it wasn't Bryce interfering, that Perry dropped him here when you almost murdered him. And she didn't willingly step into this. She just decided to not let Ithan out on the street. Ruhn tells Sabine to grow up and speak like an adult if she has grievances, which of course is not going to happen.

[A]

Bryce angled her Head, though.

[B]

What about this arrangement exactly bothers you? Sabine?

[A]

The way her voice had iced over. Fuck. She sounded exactly like her father. Her.

[B]

She's referring to Ethan staying with her is what Sabine is saying. He's kicked out. Why does she care where he goes? Whatever. But Run is noticing that she. He sees the little traits of their. Their dad in her. In this moment where she's becoming kind of cold. Instead of Sabine answering, she turns to Ethan and tells him he is the disgrace that his brother would be ashamed of. Jesus Christ.

[A]

Christ. It's like heard of a phone, you know? Like, if you've got to say this shit, at least give me the option to hang the fuck up.

[B]

She needs to cause a problem. She needs to be again in the center of everything in my mind.

[A]

Don't you have other things to do? Aren't you supposed to be important? And this is what you're coming over here being like? It's my sword. Having a little mental breakdown at us. Where it's like. It seems like you don't have much control over your situation right now. I don't think.

[B]

She does have a lot to do. She's mad about it.

[A]

It.

[B]

Ethan responds that his brother would tell her to go kick rocks.

[A]

He wouldn't.

[B]

He would be disgusted by you. Sabine. Run watches Sabine's rage and wonders what to do to prevent Ethan from getting killed. In this moment, we cut back to Hunt and the two Triaris are pretending to be casually drinking rose in the study while Celestina and Ephraim chat. Just two gangs gripping their roses.

[A]

Cheers. Yeah. Another mimosa.

[B]

Hunt is trying to hold a conversation.

[A]

His phone buzzed and he fished it out of his pocket to see that a text had arrived from Bryce. Sucks my dick like a champ. Hunt choked, scrambling to switch screens as Isaiah peered over his shoulder and laughed.

[B]

I assume you didn't put that name in there. I don't know why in my mind, Isaiah has become Barack Obama. But. But he kind of has.

[A]

Okay. Is there a reason for it?

[B]

I think it's because he's like a very diplomatic person who is like, kind of buttoned up and is trying to.

[A]

Like, be good to as many people as he can or, like, appear to.

[B]

Like, try to bridge people or something. I don't know why. I just. That's what happened. Sorry, everyone.

[A]

I just also am now seeing Isaiah in the photo shoot with the hat and the smoking of a cigarette. Remember that Barack Obama photo shoot that everybody was like, thirst trap. Thirst trap of when he was in college and he was Smoking. And he had this really hot hat. Hat on.

[B]

Yeah. So.

[A]

Yeah, that's why now I'm just thinking that. But with wings. And I'm here for it.

[B]

I mean, yeah, I'm not mad about it.

[A]

No, not.

[B]

This is not about whether or not he's a good president. Just, you know, he's. He's attracted.

[A]

He looks good.

[B]

So Hunt's like, yeah, no, that's just an inside joke we have.

[A]

Oh yeah, I wonder what the inside joke is.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Did she suck your dick? Is that what the inside joke is? Because I think we get it.

[B]

Yeah. Cuz Isaiah's like, oh, whatever.

[A]

Yeah, bro. Okay.

[B]

He. Then he goes, hunt, I'm happy for you, man. Good for you. Hunt smiles politely and fantasizes about what he's going to do to her later on. That is until he reads the message. Bryce has covertly been texting Hunt during this fight that's happening in her apartment. And he sees the words Sabine here. Isaiah sees the text as well and mutters for Hunt to go. Hunt asks about how he's going to escape the current situation or shituation. As I wrote, Isaiah just repeats go. And that he'll deal with what's going on here. Deal with Baxian, who is now watching them and sees Hunt's tension on his face.

[A]

Seizing his chance, Hunt backed up a step, then another, fading into the shadows of the veranda beyond the study. He kept moving, stealthy until his heels were at the edge of the landing. But as he stepped off, free falling into the night, he caught Celestina looking at him. Disappointment and displeasure darkened her eyes.

[B]

Well, he just said like 15 minutes before I'm gonna be ride or die all night.

[A]

I'm never.

[B]

Nobody, literally nothing could pull me out of this. This room.

[A]

Why did you say it? Why did you not mean it? The fact that Sabine is there. Okay, but you also know that Bryce is there with a bunch of other people. Most likely. And I know that. You know, I would love for him to run to her side, but also, sometimes you gotta go do the job that you gotta do for a reason.

[B]

Well, maybe they should have sucked his dick like a champ. You wouldn't have left.

[A]

Maybe they shoulda. Celestina. You ever think about that as you quake with fear at the thought of a man touching you? I'm sorry, a male touching you.

[B]

Oh, I thought you were gonna apologize for the other thing you just said.

[A]

No.

[B]

Okay, great.

[A]

Well, that's where I leave it.

[B]

We're the hiding in the harpy and we're out Bitch.

[A]

Bitch. Please read up until chapter 37 for next week.

[B]

SA.