The Case of Missing Thorns and Roses

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. Welcome to Spellbound, a Romanasy podcast. I'm Deidre. [00:00:11] Speaker B: And I'm Jillian. [00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome. [00:00:13] Speaker B: How are you doing this week? [00:00:15] Speaker A: I'm doing well. How are you? [00:00:16] Speaker B: Yeah, pretty good. [00:00:17] Speaker A: It's been a good week. Yeah, it's been, you know, relatively speaking. [00:00:21] Speaker B: Yeah, it's been okay. [00:00:22] Speaker A: I haven't ended things, so I'd say that's a plus. [00:00:26] Speaker B: That is a plus. Yep. That is a plus. [00:00:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Things personally, professionally, everything's been on the up and up, so that's good. Yeah. Nothing too notable, I think, to sort of mention. I watched the movie conclave this weekend. [00:00:40] Speaker B: Okay. Yes. What did you think? [00:00:42] Speaker A: I liked it. [00:00:43] Speaker B: Yeah? [00:00:43] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it was, you know, it was fine to watch. I think that they were making it, like, seem like it was going to have some sort of scary plot twist or something at the end, but, no, that wasn't the case. Definitely an ending to make you think and to make you figure out, like, how do you feel about this topic? [00:00:59] Speaker B: Yeah. That was one of Mikey's favorites from this past year. [00:01:02] Speaker A: I really liked it. [00:01:03] Speaker B: I know. I haven't seen it. My parents wanted to watch it on Christmas night. [00:01:07] Speaker A: I remember you. [00:01:07] Speaker B: Like, I'm not really into the Catholic Church right now. [00:01:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it was really interesting. Just all of the pomp and circumstance and the. You know, the whole time I was thinking, how do these people know what goes on when it comes to choosing a new Pope? Has anybody ever been in that process, like, who has, like, gone through the conclave, then come out and been a consultant for a movie production studio? [00:01:31] Speaker B: No, certainly not him. [00:01:33] Speaker A: He was great in it. [00:01:34] Speaker B: Was he? [00:01:35] Speaker A: But I, like, you know, I sent you a note, and I was like, the aging process on this one. I hate to see it. [00:01:42] Speaker B: He's like, old, though. [00:01:44] Speaker A: I know, but I'm like, have we. Has it been that long since Made in Manhattan? I mean, I'm not. Not to say that, like, that was, like, one of the more, you know, notable leading men. That's right. [00:01:54] Speaker B: But that's all I remember him from. [00:01:55] Speaker A: I mean, he was Voldemort for many. For many years. [00:01:58] Speaker B: Oh, God, he was. I forgot about that. [00:02:01] Speaker A: Yeah. And he does have a nephew who is cute and has been no hero. [00:02:09] Speaker B: Oh, hero is his name. [00:02:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:12] Speaker B: Okay. [00:02:12] Speaker A: And he's a cutie. And he's been in a couple of movies that I've seen. There's one series. I can't think of the name of it. It is abysmal. But, yeah, you know, it's in. It's. It's in the atmosphere. And then there was another one that I just finished with Simone Ashley called Picture Perfect. Picture. Picture this. [00:02:31] Speaker B: Wait, Hero. I don't know if he's related to him directly. Wait. [00:02:35] Speaker A: Yeah, they're. They're. His dad is Ralph's brother. [00:02:38] Speaker B: Okay. All right. Well, then, yes. Yes. [00:02:40] Speaker A: Okay. [00:02:41] Speaker B: So did you like that one? Simone Ashley? Like, I don't think she's a very good actress. [00:02:45] Speaker A: It was. If you're just wanting to put a movie on in the background and just like, you know, have something to watch, I think it's fine. Is it taking home any awards? No, not by any stretch of the imagination. I had some notes for it, but, you know, ultimately it wasn't Oscar winning. [00:03:04] Speaker B: It wasn't Oscar winning? [00:03:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it wasn't winning any Deidre Paris 2025 awards. You know, there's a high bar. A high bar for that. But, yeah, that's really kind of been what's going on with me. [00:03:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I went to the protest on Saturday, but let me just say, I went to the Evanston protest. So it wasn't. [00:03:22] Speaker A: You know, you're really moving the needle up there. [00:03:23] Speaker B: Yes, really. But I took my niece or nieces. And, yeah, so apparently one of them told her friend that she went, and her friend, she's eight. Her friend was like, what was the protest like? Were there, like hot dogs and stuff there? And I was like, that's what. That's the energy we should be giving. But focus. [00:03:46] Speaker A: Focus on the important things. Restoring our rights and ensuring that everyone has free and equal access to hot dogs. [00:03:52] Speaker B: You know what I would love if I was there at that protest and a shadow daddy or came out of the shadows and just leaned up against a wall and was eating a hot dog. [00:04:01] Speaker A: And I'd be like, well, this is not anything I need to be a part of. This is not any. I have to get out of here. This is not it. That would have been. That would have made it a perfect situation for you. [00:04:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:04:12] Speaker A: I love that. [00:04:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:13] Speaker A: Okay, well, this week, let's give you a little bit of a rundown of what it is that we are going to be getting after this week. We're going to be doing talk. Starting off talking about a little Bromanasy news. As always, we got to keep you up and about it with what's going on. We're also going to be doing a little bit of our book talk. We're going to be literally unhinged and talking about our book for this week. And then we're going to be trying a new little segment called Rose and Thorns, where we're going to be talking about things that we loved, like very, very clearly zoning in on something that we love, something that we hated, seeing how that feels for us as podcasters, seeing how that feels for those of you listening. [00:04:55] Speaker B: Listening. [00:04:56] Speaker A: And then we're going to be playing another browsing game of mash. Then we're going to be taking our talents back home. [00:05:01] Speaker B: So absolutely love that for us. [00:05:06] Speaker A: So, yeah, let's start off in with. [00:05:07] Speaker B: A little bit romantic Roman News. Yeah. What's going on? [00:05:10] Speaker A: Okay, so one thing that I want to highlight for you. Let me pull up all of my stuff here. So it's been a little bit of another slow week in Romanecy, but there have been a couple of things circulating that I do want to sort of highlight, and if I pull up my saved things here, it should tell me exactly what that is. Okay, so one thing that we need to talk about, and I've seen it making the rounds on Instagram because, you know, I'm an. I'm a girl of this middle stage millennial. I'm not an elder millennial. So I'm not getting things. Breaking news on TikTok. I'm waiting two weeks till it comes to me on Instagram. [00:05:53] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. [00:05:54] Speaker A: So the thing right now is that there is a lot of excitement about the possibility of the actor Josh Houston being cast to play Zaden or Bodhi in the TV adaptation of the Fourth Wing. [00:06:07] Speaker B: Not my Bodie. [00:06:09] Speaker A: He is. It's so interesting, your tie to Bodie when that man has said two words to us across three books. [00:06:19] Speaker B: Let's unpack that later. [00:06:20] Speaker A: All right. So anyway, I am sort of pulling this from an article by E. News, but it's Fourth Wing casting. Will Josh Houston play Zaden? And basically here recently at the. The premiere of the latest season of the Last of Us, a show on hbo, he was approached by a journalist asking him if he was going to be playing leading man Zaden Ryerson for the TV adaptation, and to which his response was, you have to ask the scribes, I suppose. So that tells you that he at least knows a little bit about what's going on in these books. I mean, to know what the. The scribes, you have to. You have to be reading the books. Nobody's just going to tell you about the scribes. Nobody's going to, you know, he has to. He has to know. [00:07:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I thought she said, though. I thought I read something that she didn't want him. She doesn't want him. [00:07:13] Speaker A: I don't know that this article does not say anything about that. Okay. Okay. But what will I. You know, they asked him if it would be, you know, Zaden or Bodhi, and he's just kind of, like, interesting. Yeah, that's, you know, that's great. He's just kind of being cagey. And then he just ended it by saying hopefully, who knows, you know, and just kind of. [00:07:34] Speaker B: I don't like that at all. [00:07:35] Speaker A: You don't like him as a casting choice? [00:07:37] Speaker B: I don't like it. Do you? No, no, not at all. [00:07:39] Speaker A: He's not a casting choice for me, for Zaden, but for me for Bod. Because I don't have. I don't understand your ties. I don't know. [00:07:47] Speaker B: I don't know, because it's. Okay. So I just got so annoyed with Zaden that, like, he was then a replacement for me. You know what I mean? [00:07:58] Speaker A: Perhaps. But, like, he's giving us nothing, you know? [00:08:00] Speaker B: No, I know. That's true. That's true. [00:08:02] Speaker A: So that's a little bit of, like, why I'm like, he's just a blank canvas, right? [00:08:05] Speaker B: Well, like, Asriel is a little bit of a blank canvas. [00:08:09] Speaker A: So. Yeah, just a touch of fuckboy. [00:08:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:12] Speaker A: Going into this next book, I won't let anybody forget that bonus chapter. [00:08:16] Speaker B: No, no, I don't think you should. [00:08:18] Speaker A: No. We're. I'm. I'm holding feet to the fire for that one. [00:08:22] Speaker B: But I was. We had talked about, I think, what's your casting for Zaden? [00:08:27] Speaker A: I don't have a casting for Zayden. But it's not Josh Houston. [00:08:30] Speaker B: No. Well, I was saying Noah Centineo. [00:08:33] Speaker A: Yeah. I think maybe I thought about Noah Centineo at the start, and I think I threw his picture name out there. But you weren't feeling him because you hadn't seen the recruit. [00:08:42] Speaker B: I had seen that, yeah. [00:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And I haven't seen the recruit. I've seen him in all the Boys I Loved before, so I've seen him from a romantic perspective. [00:08:50] Speaker B: Okay, okay. [00:08:51] Speaker A: And you see him from an action perspective. There you go. Maybe that's the answer. [00:08:54] Speaker B: Yeah, there is. There is. [00:08:56] Speaker A: Maybe that's it. I like Noah Centenario. I know he's really silly as a person and as a act. You know, I've seen him in interviews and stuff, but I think he could really do the role. Yeah, he. I mean, it's giving me all the bare bones that I'm looking for. Right, right, right. Not this gentleman. I don't know. All respect to this man, But I don't. I'm not feeling that. The article then goes on just to talk about how Rebecca has mentioned to fans in the last few weeks that she through two scripts for the TV adaptation of the Fourth Wing. [00:09:28] Speaker B: Okay. [00:09:29] Speaker A: She's super excited about what she's saying. Good. But one thing that I thought was really great is that it mentions how she has been adamant about having one requirement for whoever is cast as Aiden, saying, quote, they know how staunch I am against whitewashing Xaden. [00:09:44] Speaker B: Right. Okay. [00:09:45] Speaker A: And I'm here to say yes. [00:09:47] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:09:48] Speaker A: DEI might be disappearing from the rest of the world, but Rebecca is like, not here. I'm not having it. This is my man. This is my man of color. I don't know what you guys are talking about, but he's gonna have a little melanin to him. [00:10:00] Speaker B: I know. And honestly, I feel like that Josh Houston doesn't have enough. [00:10:03] Speaker A: And I mean, I think he and Noah are right. One in the same. [00:10:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:10:08] Speaker A: You know, I mean, there's. There's. They're olive skinned. [00:10:12] Speaker B: Yes. Well, that's what we need. [00:10:14] Speaker A: Yeah. But it seems like Rebecca's like, no, I want more. [00:10:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:19] Speaker A: You know, which we love to see it. Let's see who they cast. [00:10:22] Speaker B: They should do Taylor Perez or whatever his name is. [00:10:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Maybe. I don't know that I'm feeling him for Zaden. I don't know any of these leading men. I'm just like, I'm not seeing anybody out there in the world that I'm feeling. My next article, maybe not romantasy specific, but at least romantasy in my mind adjacent. And that is. Direwolves are back in a big way, baby. [00:10:47] Speaker B: Oh, my God. [00:10:48] Speaker A: We're doing it. [00:10:49] Speaker B: Apparently. It's like, it's been way hyped. [00:10:52] Speaker A: It's been way hype. That's what I was going to talk to you about in this. So I obviously, earlier this week, there were a lot of articles that came out very excitedly about how a company based in Dallas, Texas, called Colossal bioscience biosciences has claimed that they have successfully brought back three dire wolf cubs that are living in a isolated encampment somewhere. But this company is so excited to announce that, you know, they've brought direwolves back after they went extinct 10,000 years ago. [00:11:30] Speaker B: Really? [00:11:32] Speaker A: And they definitely have plans to bring back the woolly mammoth by 2028. Now, mind you, we're living in a global warming crisis. [00:11:40] Speaker B: Yeah, we are. [00:11:40] Speaker A: They want to bring back a woolly mammoth who was living during The. Let me check my notes here. I said, okay, and you want to bring back a woolly mammoth. And. [00:11:51] Speaker B: Yes. [00:11:52] Speaker A: So there's lots of articles about this. I won't, you know, I'm looking sort of at this USA Today article from Mike Snyder about it, but where I originally saw it was a notification came across my screen for an article from the New Yorker about it. [00:12:06] Speaker B: Oh, really? [00:12:06] Speaker A: Yes. And it came out earlier this week even. Okay. So lots of articles now are coming out being like, this has been like overhyped. And a lot of them have cited this article by DT T Max in the New Yorker that came out and it was like one of the first to hit the scene about how the dire wolf is back. And people are like, I don't know, you're jumping. You're jumping the broom. [00:12:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:27] Speaker A: What I thought about as I was researching this this week is the fact that I thought about you because Slate released an article, I think today. Yeah, today's April 10th. But very much in the. In. In the. In the vein of what's important to you. There have been no, you know, medical papers or journal entries that have been published to support these scientific plans. [00:13:00] Speaker B: Oh, the direwolves. [00:13:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:02] Speaker B: Yeah. No evidence. [00:13:04] Speaker A: There's been no evidence. And so where did I see this there? They did not publish a scientific peer reviewed paper along with the media. [00:13:12] Speaker B: Right. [00:13:12] Speaker A: And I know you need that. [00:13:14] Speaker B: No, I need it. My dad won't read it. [00:13:15] Speaker A: I know when I read Said, I was like, this is not passing Larry's. No, this is not passing Larry's test. He's gonna be like, that's all a bunch of. [00:13:25] Speaker B: He'll look at me and be like, will you ask ChatGPT? [00:13:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:28] Speaker B: That has any evidence based. Yeah. [00:13:31] Speaker A: So, yeah. So I think now there's a lot of pushback in terms of number one, what you. I think essentially what they've created is like just another gray wolf. [00:13:39] Speaker B: Just. [00:13:40] Speaker A: Yeah, but like, people are saying you're. We're walking on very thin ice here. And like, what you all are trying to do in terms of playing around with, you know, genetic material that doesn't need to be spliced and put together, and you're creating potentially new species. It's just a mess. [00:13:56] Speaker B: Ooh. [00:13:57] Speaker A: So what I'm saying to you is in 2028, you might not have anything in your 401k, but you will look out your window and see a woolly mammoth. And for that, it's so true, I'm thrilled. [00:14:08] Speaker B: I might not have anything in my 401k. In two months, I, for some reason. [00:14:12] Speaker A: Today I was prompted to log into my Fidelity account. [00:14:16] Speaker B: Oh, don't do it. [00:14:17] Speaker A: And when I tell you I logged on there and I crossed my eyes because I was like, anything. I can't. Everything needs to be blurry on the screen. I cannot even look at it. [00:14:25] Speaker B: Oh no. [00:14:25] Speaker A: I can't even imagine what it's looking like in there right now. I know that's none of my business. [00:14:30] Speaker B: No, that's not in my business. [00:14:31] Speaker A: What my 401k looks like right now is none of my. I'm playing the long game. Okay? [00:14:35] Speaker B: Yeah, well people, yeah, people have definitely made that mistake and they're like, oh, what the fuck? [00:14:41] Speaker A: It's terrible. [00:14:42] Speaker B: What are they going to do? [00:14:43] Speaker A: What are you going to do? [00:14:44] Speaker B: I don't know, man. [00:14:45] Speaker A: I read an article this morning, just briefly glanced at it before I went to the gym about, it was in the New York Times about just the investing strategies of gen Zers right now. And you know how they're not necessarily worried. [00:14:59] Speaker B: Do they have any money? [00:15:00] Speaker A: They've been investing apparently since like the beginning of the pandemic when things like really dropped around that time really, they got, you know, they had nothing but time on their hands to sit online, research, understand how to invest, get on. [00:15:12] Speaker B: These platforms, put on some retin A. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah. [00:15:17] Speaker A: They learned how to invest and they've just been steadily. Good for them. Yeah. And a lot of the kids that were quoted, you know, now they're in college and they belong to like young investors clubs at their, their own college. That's not what I was doing when I was in college, I can tell you that for a fact. It's not what I'm doing at 36. [00:15:34] Speaker B: No. My brother in law gave me a book, how to be rich 10 years ago. [00:15:40] Speaker A: It's sitting on your shelf collecting. [00:15:41] Speaker B: It's sitting on my shelf. And he like regularly asks me if I've read it and I'm like, I have not. [00:15:46] Speaker A: Here's the thing. I thought about it. Not only do you need to read the book, but I need somebody to explain. [00:15:51] Speaker B: I know, I know. [00:15:53] Speaker A: I need somebody to explain the things that are going on in the book to me. Like break it down in layman's terms. [00:15:59] Speaker B: Yes. [00:15:59] Speaker A: Tell it to me like I'm five. Explain it to me like I'm five. [00:16:03] Speaker B: You know, yesterday I saw something about bonds and I was like, bonds. [00:16:07] Speaker A: I know. And I think about like talking to my financial advisor and he's always like, those are pretty much the securest things. In your thing. So that's all I know about bonds. [00:16:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:16] Speaker A: But I know that that's kind of in question right now. [00:16:18] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I know that that's why Trump kind of did the. The pivot, because that the bonds were. Whatever. The bonds were going down. That's all I know. Everything's going down in flames. [00:16:32] Speaker A: Nothing is safe. But, yeah, that's all I have from. From fantasy news perspective today. [00:16:38] Speaker B: What are we reading today? Or what did we read? [00:16:41] Speaker A: Okay, this week, we're reading book two in Pin Cole's series. And what is this series called? My Notes are Kindred's Curse. The Kindred's Curse series. And it's Glow of the Ever Flame. [00:16:56] Speaker B: Glow of the Ever Flame. We're really trying to better. [00:17:01] Speaker A: I mean, you know, it's pitchy. [00:17:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:03] Speaker A: Yeah, we both were. But, you know, I think we'll get there with our harm, our harmony. Yes. [00:17:08] Speaker B: Yes. [00:17:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And yes. What a ride this was. How many pages? [00:17:14] Speaker B: 627, maybe. [00:17:16] Speaker A: Pure adventure. [00:17:17] Speaker B: 37. 37. [00:17:18] Speaker A: It was released in 2023. [00:17:21] Speaker B: I'm still like, we need to talk about that later. Like, her book. Next book is a thousand pages. [00:17:27] Speaker A: We will be splitting it up into. [00:17:29] Speaker B: Parts, and the book after that is 500. So I don't understand in, like, year and a half, how has she come out with. What is that, like, over 2,000? No. Over 3,000 pages. No. [00:17:42] Speaker A: I don't know. This book could have been split into the last. I would say 15% of this book could have been sliced off. [00:17:49] Speaker B: At least. At least. Yeah. And we'll get into that. Like, you finish introducing. [00:17:55] Speaker A: That's really it. So this is the second. Like I said, Pen Cole's second book in her Kindred Curse series. And I apologize for my computer just going down and not having my notes right in front of me. But, yeah. Glow of the Everflame. And what a ride this was. [00:18:11] Speaker B: It was a ride. So I guess I'll start off by the little book report. [00:18:16] Speaker A: Yes, I'm ready. I'm sat for the book report. Yes. [00:18:18] Speaker B: Okay. So in Spark of the Everflame, Book one. Book one, we leave dm, our main girl, off. She is in, like. I don't know, she's in her backyard in the marsh, and there's a crown in the muck. In the muck. She gets really upset. She's really mad about her talking to her dad or whatever. Anyway, a crown appears on her head, like. And you know what? I was thinking about Mario in Mario Kart, when you get, like, those coins and, like, Then they like. Isn't that they, like, spin on the head. That's what I thought. Because it's like. It's like not even on her head. It's like floating. [00:18:56] Speaker A: It's just constantly floating, which I'm like, that has to be something to behold. [00:19:00] Speaker B: They also don't. She doesn't bring that up a lot. How odd that is. You know, people just, like, accept it. [00:19:05] Speaker A: I had to remind myself during certain moments that she was in that there was a crown on top of her head. Like there was a moment later in the book where she goes with two of her friends. Right. We'll get into all this. But she goes with two of her friends through the mortal city. I'm like, you're just walking through the mortal city with your crown on your head. [00:19:20] Speaker B: I know. [00:19:21] Speaker A: But then I went back. I had to go back a page and had to see the specific detail that, like, they use their magic to cover her up so she wasn't seen. And I'm like, thank God you're just walking around. How does it work? Can you shower with it? Does it. [00:19:34] Speaker B: I guess. I think it's like you can put your hand through it. So it's like. [00:19:39] Speaker A: It's fleeting. [00:19:40] Speaker B: Yep. So anyway, so she goes to live at the palace with Luther. So that's our main man and 100 of his cousins, which was very weird. It's again, incest adjacent. [00:19:54] Speaker A: And this is in book two now. And this is book two. Okay, now we're in book two. [00:19:57] Speaker B: Yeah, now we're in book two dot and so, you know, there's some funny business like going on in that family quarter. A hundred cousins. [00:20:04] Speaker A: It's giving the hills have eyes. [00:20:05] Speaker B: Yes. [00:20:07] Speaker A: It's giving West Virginia turnpike. [00:20:09] Speaker B: That's what I can't tell you. [00:20:10] Speaker A: Telling you. [00:20:11] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:20:12] Speaker A: I kept multiple times while we were reading this book. I text you and go, what in the West Virginia turnpike is going on? What in the. JD Vance is happening in here? [00:20:19] Speaker B: Seriously? Oh, my God. Okay, so then all the court politics. Because what they are moving towards in the book is a challenging where anyone in the realm can challenge her to the crown. So then she becomes friends with Eleanor and Taryn, who are both Luther's cousins. [00:20:41] Speaker A: Yes. [00:20:41] Speaker B: And so Taryn trains her and surprise, surprise, she cannot use her magic. [00:20:48] Speaker A: Who would have seen that? [00:20:50] Speaker B: Cannot figure it out. One of the major plot points is she decides to put her mortal dad on her court council. And that is, like, really awful to him. Very awful. Because the other realms are, like, upset with him that she's got a Mortal on the council. He dies. He's killed. And then she goes through, like a Daenerys Targaryen, like, burns down the whole house. They're sitting there naked and it's just a whole thing. By the way, they didn't go into enough of that. Like, they kind of just skipped over that. [00:21:23] Speaker A: They just completely skipped over. [00:21:25] Speaker B: But anyway, so then what happens? [00:21:27] Speaker A: You being butt naked in your father's final resting place, covered in soot? Not appropriate. [00:21:35] Speaker B: Anyway, so the whole thing with Henri and she's like, torn between Henri and Luther. [00:21:42] Speaker A: I don't even stand that. [00:21:44] Speaker B: I can't stand it. I really can't make a decision and make the right one. [00:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And the right one is obvious. You're sitting here debating between a prince and a post. A post. I was about to say a Postmaster General, but he doesn't even have. [00:22:02] Speaker B: Honestly, he's not even a postman. He's a postman's son. [00:22:05] Speaker A: Yeah, he just interns. He volunteers. Sometimes when things get a little overwhelming, he just, you know, he picks up the slack. Yeah, he's unemployed. [00:22:15] Speaker B: He's very unemployed. [00:22:16] Speaker A: And he's part of the manosphere. [00:22:18] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. He wants a trad wife for sure. [00:22:21] Speaker A: What's a trad wife? He stormed the capitol. [00:22:23] Speaker B: He did. January 6th. [00:22:25] Speaker A: He is absolutely just a right wing, Joe Rogan loving bro. [00:22:33] Speaker B: God, Andrew Tate, all of this. All of it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, if he lived today, he would be playing video games right now. [00:22:42] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:22:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:44] Speaker A: And be like, where's my dinner? [00:22:48] Speaker B: Is that what he was saying? [00:22:49] Speaker A: That's exactly what he would say to him. [00:22:51] Speaker B: Where's my dinner? [00:22:52] Speaker A: Yeah. And she'd probably be like, oh, I'll get it anyway. Go ahead. Those are my own issues with her. [00:22:59] Speaker B: I mean, I have so many issues with her. We'll get to that. So she's torn between the mortals and the descended Henri and Luther, yada, yada, yada. She still hasn't used her magic, but one time she goes to the challenging. This is where it gets interesting. Like, it's been 550 pages and this is where it gets interesting. [00:23:20] Speaker A: And you're like, finally, we're here. Okay. [00:23:23] Speaker B: Like, Jesus. [00:23:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:26] Speaker B: And Luther challenges her, but she doesn't let him. Because why doesn't she let. Oh, because she instead challenges the man who killed that mom and son, whatever that was. [00:23:37] Speaker A: I was just so taken aback by that because when we run into that man in the first book, it seemed like he was just like larger than life. Like, I thought that he would have belonged to one of The. The more important houses. [00:23:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:23:49] Speaker A: So then when it was revealed that he came from, like, the lowest house there possibly was, because I kept being like, we're going to run into that man again. We're going to run into that man again. When is he going to pop up? So I was just, like, very surprised when he, like, turned up to be this person from the lowest house in Lumnos. [00:24:04] Speaker B: Right. He wasn't even, like. Yeah, he wasn't even a big character, but I guess, whatever, you know. Anyway, she wins the challenging. [00:24:13] Speaker A: Yep. [00:24:14] Speaker B: So she and Luther take a little boat ride to the island where they do the coronation. [00:24:18] Speaker A: Yep. [00:24:19] Speaker B: And this is when it gets crazy. [00:24:20] Speaker A: Yeah, it gets real crazy. [00:24:22] Speaker B: So they're in some sort of satanic ritual, you know, with, like, the nine crowns there, including the crown of 1990s athletic shorts, umbrellas. [00:24:35] Speaker A: Yes, exactly. There they are making an appearance. [00:24:38] Speaker B: So. So then, boom. A storm happens or a bomb happens. We don't know. [00:24:46] Speaker A: Not boom. [00:24:47] Speaker B: A boom. [00:24:48] Speaker A: There's some sort of boom. Yeah. [00:24:50] Speaker B: And then there's the epilogue with where we find out that her mom has been on the island the whole time and has been planning, like, some domestic terrorism. [00:25:02] Speaker A: The Enemy Within. [00:25:06] Speaker B: So she sets off a bomb, but then realizes her daughter's there. It's a whole thing. So that's where we are. [00:25:13] Speaker A: And no notes. [00:25:14] Speaker B: No, no. [00:25:14] Speaker A: I think that summarizes it absolutely perfectly. I was pretty proud. [00:25:19] Speaker B: I was pretty proud. [00:25:19] Speaker A: I'm proud of you for that. You know what? I think that that should be what you do. [00:25:24] Speaker B: You think so? [00:25:24] Speaker A: Every episode. Because you're wonderful at it. You're great at it. I think it's great. [00:25:28] Speaker B: I'm a storyteller. [00:25:29] Speaker A: You are a storyteller. I love it. Okay, well, let's talk a little bit about our. Our homegirl. Dm. [00:25:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:38] Speaker A: How are you feeling about her in this book? [00:25:40] Speaker B: I. I can't stand her, to be honest. [00:25:42] Speaker A: The most insufferable character I've ever read about in my life. [00:25:48] Speaker B: There's something about. [00:25:49] Speaker A: How many times did I call you on the subject? Lots. [00:25:52] Speaker B: Lots. [00:25:53] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, you really had to talk me off a cliff because I was like, I don't think I can do it. I mean, from, like, day one. [00:25:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Closing the book, like, I cannot do it. Yeah. The only reason I went back, honestly. Well, this podcast. [00:26:04] Speaker A: But if it wasn't for this. I don't know. [00:26:08] Speaker B: I don't. If it wasn't for Luther, I absolutely. [00:26:10] Speaker A: Would not be going back. [00:26:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:12] Speaker A: And they're running thin with me right now. Cuz. I'm like, some action better take place pretty soon. [00:26:16] Speaker B: Oh, they need to already. [00:26:18] Speaker A: Everybody keeps telling them that. I. You know, honestly, I. There are moments of, like, deep emotional connection. And he says, like, the sweetest things that, like, honestly crack my chest open. But then there's some things that I'm like, okay, like, screw off. When he's like, I would. You know, I'm paraphrasing, but he's like, I'd break the world for you. I travel to the ends of the earth. There's nothing I would. I'm like, shut up. What are you talking about? [00:26:44] Speaker B: So annoying. [00:26:44] Speaker A: She's 20, you're 900. [00:26:46] Speaker B: There was something. I clocked a quote of his, and I was like, I don't like this. So he said, are you gonna be a good girl and obey me? [00:26:55] Speaker A: Okay. I thought about you when I read that. Not. Not for any other reason than to know that, like, we talked about not necessarily personally having a good girl kink. [00:27:03] Speaker B: No. Good girl kink. No. [00:27:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So that was interesting. He sent it a couple times, didn't he? [00:27:08] Speaker B: Yeah. It was, like, out of nowhere. Like, it was out of character for him. [00:27:11] Speaker A: It was out of character. He's not that type of man. [00:27:13] Speaker B: No. I mean, we'll see. Maybe in this next book. After page 750. [00:27:18] Speaker A: Can't wait. Can't wait to, you know, finally read a good smutty scene from this book when I turn 50. [00:27:23] Speaker B: Right. But honestly, about DM, I blocked out some of this nonsense because it was too much for my brain in this economy. You know what I mean? [00:27:33] Speaker A: Totally. You got enough on your plate and not enough in your bank account. [00:27:37] Speaker B: I know. I was like, no. The one thing that annoyed me so much is that during the dance scene, they were at some ball. I don't know what it was. And then he asked her to dance. And obviously, they're connecting. They're, like, vibing. And she's like, it's only lust. It's only physical attraction. And we're like, we all know it's not just that. [00:28:01] Speaker A: Everybody knows. [00:28:02] Speaker B: Everybody knows. [00:28:04] Speaker A: It's really. I mean, at that point, it was just insufferable. It's insufferable. I think for me. And this is a little bit. This goes into a little bit of, you know, the. The rose and thorns conversation of later. But. But just overall for me is that she continued to just get in her own damn way. And I think. I think that's intended to be. Pen's lesson is just, like, trusting yourself and, like, you know, finally Getting through all of the self doubt and all of these things. I read a little bit of this in her acknowledgment at the end. Just like, you know, trusting yourself and accepting yourself and like, sort of. But she. There was so much in this that. So much conflict that she caused on her own that was so unnecessary. There was so much miscommunication that was unnecessary. There were a few instances where I would get so irritated because characters, the side characters in this book were lovely, wonderful, amazing, and they were at certain moments, trying to inform her of things that would help her to see the truth or to understand maybe Luther in a different context or see what Luther was doing in a different context. Context. But she was so. She was hell bent on what she believed and what she just knew was right. That she wouldn't listen to anybody. [00:29:24] Speaker B: She would, like, cut them off. [00:29:25] Speaker A: She would cut them off multiple times. People would be like, dm. And she'd be like, I mean it. Don't say anything. And they'd be like, dm. And that. She'd be like, I'm your queen. Don't say anything else. You know what I mean? And that irritated the. Out of me. [00:29:38] Speaker B: I know I couldn't. [00:29:39] Speaker A: And what also irritated me and maybe it's just. Just a symptom of her being like 20 years old, is that she was gullible as. [00:29:48] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. [00:29:49] Speaker A: People could. The sky would be blue, and Eamon, a side character who's sinister, would come along and be like, well, you know, the sky's really purple. And in her mind, she'd be like, am I not seeing things correctly? Is this not right? [00:30:01] Speaker B: Maybe it is. [00:30:02] Speaker A: Of course. Of course the sky would try and trick me for this. You know what I mean? And it's like, think for yourself. You see what it is? [00:30:10] Speaker B: It's ridiculous. And in the middle of this, I was like, okay, what is my eye roll level? And it was high. [00:30:16] Speaker A: My eye roll level. I mean, my eyes were. Yeah, I could see the back of my head with this book. [00:30:23] Speaker B: I mean, I would like, scream. And then Luna would be like, what the is wrong with you? [00:30:27] Speaker A: I know. I would just stare into oblivion and go, she's so fucking dumb. [00:30:32] Speaker B: She's so dumb. You know, one thing that really irritated me about her is, like, her righteousness. Like, she was always, like, just prideful. Yeah. And like, got the moral high ground. I know what's going on. And you're like, no, you don't. [00:30:46] Speaker A: Meanwhile, she do that. And then the next chapter, here she is down in the boat Canal with the guardians. [00:30:50] Speaker B: Oh, my God, I hated that. [00:30:52] Speaker A: What is she doing? I know that was something that was a big irritation for me is that, like, she knows how she feels. She knows that she. She might, you know, especially early on, be a little bit conflicted about how she felt about Luther. But as it went on, she definitely knew how she felt. But she was incredibly clear about not liking Henry. Henri. [00:31:12] Speaker B: Oh, right. And not like being like, I care about him, but I don't love him. [00:31:16] Speaker A: She knew that. And she. But she would still do these, like really just. She had these, you know, she. She made these terrible decisions when it came to enabling him and protecting him and continuing to make him believe that there was hope for the two of them, like even saying yes to his proposal, all for the chance to keep him close. So she didn't feel like she lost herself by getting this crown. And that was just so angering to me because I'm like, you're putting yourself and so many other people in danger because you're just moving forward with this decision that you know in your body is wrong. [00:31:55] Speaker B: Right? Yeah. I mean, they're obviously bonded. She is with Luther and she like feels his magic all the time, which I think is kind of weird. [00:32:03] Speaker A: When they start talking about that robbing behind me, I'm like, no, I don't seem right. [00:32:08] Speaker B: Okay. One thing about Luther, I felt like he was a little bit overprotective of her. So he'd be like, who hurt you? [00:32:19] Speaker A: Okay, I did not like that either. And I know that that is a trope that a lot of girls like is like the who hurt you? Get her, get your hands off of her kind of thing. It doesn't work for me. [00:32:28] Speaker B: Doesn't work for me. I was thinking about this. I've like, never had anyone even protective of me. [00:32:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. [00:32:35] Speaker B: I was like, I was at my parents house. I can't remember. Oh, I was talking to my dad late into the night on Saturday night, because that's who I am. So anyway, so I went home at like 12 o'clock. Whatever. I just drove home. And the next day my mom's like, I can't believe your father let you go home. I was like, mom, where is this coming from? What do you think's gonna happen? She's like, I don't know, you could be on Western. Someone could see you as you're alone. They could carjack you. And I was like, have you seen my car? Yeah, nobody wants that car. [00:33:06] Speaker A: They're like, you know what? It's not worth the trou is not kidding. [00:33:10] Speaker B: And I was like, mom, I don't ever lock my car. [00:33:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:14] Speaker B: Because I don't want them to, like, you know, bang the window and find that it's like that there's a $1 in the console. [00:33:20] Speaker A: You're like, just take it. [00:33:22] Speaker B: I mean, they've broken into my car before. [00:33:24] Speaker A: Have they really? [00:33:24] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Jokes on them. It was $2 in the console. [00:33:26] Speaker A: Damn. [00:33:28] Speaker B: And I was like, all right, time to go to work. [00:33:31] Speaker A: You're like, well, that is me giving back to the community. So happy for you. [00:33:36] Speaker B: But, yeah, I don't like the overprotectiveness. Also, he does a lot of growling, snarling. [00:33:47] Speaker A: Every word that comes out of his mouth is in the form of a growl. [00:33:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:33:51] Speaker A: Anybody that's talking to her, he snarls at them. [00:33:54] Speaker B: I don't like it. [00:33:55] Speaker A: I don't love it. [00:33:56] Speaker B: I know some of the girls like it. You're right. [00:33:58] Speaker A: I know. I mean, I was just kind of telling myself. I'm like, you know, because he's like, it's very obvious to me, especially given what Eleanor and Taryn were saying about the bonds and the unrequited bonds and how unfortunate that is. It feels as though he's right now in a situation where it's an unrequited bond, but not for long, as we can all anticipate. And so it's like he can't help but to be close to her because of whatever this bond is. But obviously he has the COVID of working as her general royal advisor, Whatever the title is, at every 30 minutes, you know, it changes. Yeah. But, yeah, it was a little. If it weren't for that reason, I'd be like, for the love of God, break the apart. Now, here's the thing. If they were together, like, if. If. Well, now at the end of the book, they basically decided that they're gonna, like, try their hand at being together. Right. They're gonna be honest with each other. If throughout this book, they were together all the time, while also both recognizing that they're in love with each other, that would have been so irritating to me all the time. Because this was, like, fun in the fact that they were, like, teasing each other. Will they, won't they? There was still enough of a will they, won't they? In their energy in this book for me. But if in the next book, it's just insufferable because they can't get enough of each other. [00:35:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:25] Speaker A: I don't want to say it's going to be a dnf but she's threatening me. [00:35:28] Speaker B: Close, close, close. [00:35:29] Speaker A: She's threatening me. [00:35:30] Speaker B: I mean, here's my thing with the bond. Like, I feel. I feel like the bond can be used as an excuse to be weird and toxic and overprotective. You know what I mean? Like, in Acotar, it was like, when you first bond together, like, he can't smell you with another man. [00:35:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:49] Speaker B: It's like. It's really weird. [00:35:50] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know. I. Being at this point in my life, in the real world, being who I am, how I live my life and my choices, it doesn't work for me. It's not something that is appealing to me. [00:36:03] Speaker B: No. [00:36:04] Speaker A: In the real world. And so I don't, like, really love a fictional man. That's super. [00:36:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:36:09] Speaker A: Like, overbearing. [00:36:11] Speaker B: I preferred him in the first book. He was more like, oh, yeah, go do your thing. You know, Which I definitely appreciate. He also, like, she needs to make her own decisions. Like, she needs that. Like you were saying, trust herself. [00:36:24] Speaker A: She needs to definitely trust herself. [00:36:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:26] Speaker A: But she. She undermines herself all the time. She sacri. She sabotages herself. [00:36:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:32] Speaker A: It's really unfortunate. Is there any more with. With her that. [00:36:37] Speaker B: Oh, with her. Oh, my God. Okay. One thing I just couldn't understand. So do you remember when, like, oh, her dad died and so that, like, she took, like, a break for grief. Right. And then it was like, you could do an extension on the challenging. Like, it was, like, offered to do 30 more days, and yet she was like, no, let's go through with it. Even if she. Even though she hadn't done any magic, so why didn't she take the goddamn extension? [00:37:06] Speaker A: I thought that I had read that the family was also saying that, like, it may have, like, not looked good to the other houses to extend it. [00:37:13] Speaker B: Oh, maybe. Okay. [00:37:15] Speaker A: Like, there was always things like that. Like, it would have looked questionable to extend it, like, another 30 days or something like that. That's what I thought I read. [00:37:23] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. I don't know, man. I mean, if you can't use your magic. [00:37:28] Speaker A: I was getting. That's something in this book I was getting highly annoyed by. Was like, the weird magic not showing itself at the most inopportune times. And I was like, girl, we gotta figure this out. Like, what's going on? How are you gonna get it? You have to get it. You have to show these people that you are everything that everybody's saying that you are. You know? And even at the end, when she's in the challenging and She's. She's getting her ass beat, essentially, and she falls and cracks her head open. And she has this vision, the same vision that she's been having with her and Luther across, like, a battlefield. She sees this figure who basically asks her, like, you would protect the descended even though they've been so ugly and hateful and nasty to you. And she's like, I. You know, I want a better world for everyone. I want to protect everyone. I forgot about this. [00:38:23] Speaker B: This, okay? [00:38:24] Speaker A: It was a. It was a figure she'd never seen before. This is how she got her powers at the challenging. [00:38:29] Speaker B: Was it the godhood? [00:38:31] Speaker A: It was a figure. It was like somebody she'd never seen before. It seemed like a man to me. Okay, okay. But they were just like. Basically, like. She said, yes, I'll protect everyone. And then they said they were like, you know, here you go, forgotten one or something. And she snaps back, okay, into the challenging. And. And it seems as though her power is stronger in this instance than even we've seen it, because the. The Ghislaine. Ghislaine Challenger. Whoever. The Ghislaine Challenger is, like, pummeling her with all these daggers, and they're not even, like, hitting her skin. Like, she's not, like, she's not feeling anything. She's not at. You know, she's not at risk of anything. [00:39:12] Speaker B: Right when he. Like, when he was about to kill her. [00:39:14] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. So whatever this moment was that she had in that vision with this third character that had suddenly shown up, gave. [00:39:20] Speaker B: Her, which is her dad, it's gotta be her dad. [00:39:22] Speaker A: Give her the power. Or, like, I don't know, is it Lumnos? I don't. I don't understand. But essentially, she then, you know, she binds him with this magic power. She binds her, the other contender with her power, and she's like, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm not gonna kill you. That's not the kind of queen. Did you read the book? [00:39:49] Speaker B: I think I did. [00:39:51] Speaker A: She binds their hands, and then she's like, I'm not going to be the type of queen that just does bloodshed. And so. [00:39:56] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:39:57] Speaker A: She goes back over to the royal box and her back's turn, and he comes over to her. She's a killer. [00:40:01] Speaker B: She's a moron. [00:40:02] Speaker A: And then she just evaporates him. Like, she just completely just, like, zaps him. [00:40:06] Speaker B: And then she's like, oops. [00:40:07] Speaker A: So then she goes on this, like, moment where. This is where I think she really seemed like Daenerys to Targaryen she was like. She raised up on, like, the Silver Cloud, right? [00:40:18] Speaker B: Oh, I was getting Glinda. [00:40:20] Speaker A: Okay. It was giving you Glinda. Yeah, it was giving me Daenerys, because it was just kind of like. I was like, is this for good or is this for evil? You know what I mean? Like, it felt like a little bit of a drunk on power kind of a situation. And so then she shoots out all of these dark vines across the Coliseum, and they completely wrap around, like, the bodies and the faces of every descendant there, even House Corwin Bois, even her family, all her cousins, all the Crois and she. I mean, because Luther even took the vines off around his neck and, like, you know, committed to her. Said that he was committed to her. He recognized her as his queen. And then they kissed or whatever, but then she went individually to, like, the people in the houses, especially the house, having. What's the one with habanero? Yeah. And old bear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like, do you recognize me as your queen? And they're a little bit reluctant, but ultimately they do. So she's just like, you know, she's showing everybody that, like, you thought I didn't have any power. Right, Right. I do. But it's a little bit in my mind, there was a little bit of a voice of, like, is she going to continue to be, like, a righteous queen, or is, like, is there a seed here that this could go in. In another direction? I hope not. But she's so powerful. Yeah. And I'm like, could this corrupt her, essentially? [00:41:44] Speaker B: I mean, we know that she's, you know, easily. [00:41:46] Speaker A: She's not the bright, brightest. [00:41:47] Speaker B: She's not the brightest, and she's, like, easily swayed. [00:41:50] Speaker A: So easily swayed. [00:41:51] Speaker B: Who knows? One other thing. First of all, I was thinking about this, and I was like, part of why it was so long. It was so, like, the metaphors were so overkill. It was like I felt his breath like a wisping shadow in the dark of night or whatever. You know, it was just too much. [00:42:13] Speaker A: There were some lines that I was like, Pen really cooked on that. I was like, I really like that one. That was poetic. But, yeah, there were some instances where I was like, okay, we don't need all this. [00:42:23] Speaker B: Yeah. We don't need it. [00:42:23] Speaker A: It's over. Dramatic. [00:42:25] Speaker B: One more thing. [00:42:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:26] Speaker B: What did you think about godhood? The godhood. [00:42:28] Speaker A: Hate that word. [00:42:29] Speaker B: Hate it. [00:42:30] Speaker A: It sounds to me, when I hear it, it sounds like the head of a penis. [00:42:33] Speaker B: Oh. I was gonna say, for me, it's clitoris. [00:42:37] Speaker A: Interesting. It's a little bit of a. A warshack test. A little bit. What do you hear here? [00:42:43] Speaker B: Rorschach. Yeah. [00:42:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:44] Speaker B: Yeah. That is so funny, because, you know, there's, like, a hood. [00:42:48] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know that God's hiding under there. If he is. A lot of people haven't found it. [00:42:55] Speaker B: It's true. It's true. Very true. [00:42:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I just, like. I don't know. I. I thought about the head of a penis. For whatever reason, that's what it was giving me. [00:43:05] Speaker B: I can see that. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. [00:43:09] Speaker A: I don't like it either way. I don't like it either way. [00:43:11] Speaker B: I don't like it either way. [00:43:12] Speaker A: The Godhead. [00:43:14] Speaker B: No. And they kept saying it like they were serious about it. And I was like, no. [00:43:17] Speaker A: Not the best choice of words. I wonder, did Pin workshop that? [00:43:20] Speaker B: No, probably not. [00:43:21] Speaker A: It can't be. [00:43:22] Speaker B: Yeah. So anything. [00:43:27] Speaker A: Any other notes about Luther? Okay. My overall thoughts on the. This. With the. With Luther in this book. Loved him. Love seeing more of him. Want to see more of him. I absolutely think there is a personality that we are meant to love under the very stony facade that he puts out there. And obviously, we learned about his trauma at the end of this book, which was the story about his being half mortal. He's also biracial. Biracial king. We love it. And the very traumatic situation that caused his scar as a child. And, yeah, I'm really. Like you said, I didn't necessarily love the possessiveness that sometimes is showcased in this, but there, I anticipate that there's going to be a lot of really great sex scenes between the two of them in the upcoming books. Yeah, I hope a lot of really, hopefully. I love really great moments. I hope that he continues to be a really, you know, loving and caring and consensual partner. And, yeah, I mean, he continues to be one of my fave characters, one of my fave book boyfriends. [00:44:37] Speaker B: Okay. All right. So it is yet to be seen with me. Is it? Yeah. I mean, I love. In the first book, I really loved him. But, you know, the security search, I was a big fan of, and we talked about this, the foot massage scene in this book. And you loved that. I did not love that because it was giving me, like, Payless Shoes in 1997. Or not Payless shoes, but like a shoe store where a shoe guy would come up and you were 10 years old and you're like, I don't want to take off my shoe for you. [00:45:08] Speaker A: I was not Getting that at all. Because I was envisioning, I was envisioning laying across the bed. And there's something very sexy I think about, like having, in my experience, having my legs over man's shoulders. [00:45:21] Speaker B: So it was just her ankle that was hooked over the shoulder. But still I, Well, I know. [00:45:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I like that. [00:45:26] Speaker B: I know. I was ready. [00:45:28] Speaker A: He was ready and like, he was doing like really good things, like up her stuff. And I, I, yeah, I thought it was really erotic and I liked it. [00:45:35] Speaker B: I'm just not a foot person. I think that was. [00:45:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:45:38] Speaker B: What it was. [00:45:40] Speaker A: Yeah. You loved a TSA PreCheck search. I, I like a little bit of a. Take my shoes off at the end of a long day and throw my, throw my, my ankles over your shoulder and massage out the knots in my, in my legs. [00:45:59] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I mean, but so far it's been pretty tame. [00:46:03] Speaker A: Yeah, it's been pretty tame. I, yeah. But as far as like, recent book boyfriends that we've read about, I do, I mean, I think he's more caring and genuine and sincere and yes, yes, he does ask for consent before he. [00:46:19] Speaker B: Does a lot of things. Oh, yeah, he does. [00:46:20] Speaker A: Which I really, I really like and appreciate. [00:46:22] Speaker B: And she, Penn is like very conscious of that, you know, of being. Yeah. [00:46:28] Speaker A: And he's vulnerable too. Like, I told you I called you when he was just like showing like how far his scar went and whatever. He was like fumbling with his buttons. [00:46:37] Speaker B: And he was nervous and he like apologized to her several times, which. That's amazing. [00:46:44] Speaker A: This is a fictional man. Absolutely. But yeah, I really look forward to more from him. But did like him in this book? [00:46:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I did. Yeah. I'm, I'm waiting to see what he'll be like in 650 pages. [00:46:58] Speaker A: You think that he's going to be like a Zaden. What are your, what are your, your thoughts? [00:47:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think the other thing that, like, anytime one of these. [00:47:07] Speaker A: Like, book guys who's not Rhysand, mind you, because you, you love a Rhysand and nobody will ever be. [00:47:14] Speaker B: I love a Rhysand. Oh, my God. That's the other thing about this one is like, he wasn't very funny or witty. You know, he was just a little bit too broody. The humor. But there's something about these book boyfriends that like, once we find out how bad the main female character is, it's like that doesn't, that doesn't fit. Like. Why do you like her? [00:47:37] Speaker A: Yeah, why do you like her? I'm like Ileana in This book who's like the foe against dm. And I'm like, her. You want her. [00:47:45] Speaker B: I know, I know. [00:47:47] Speaker A: I get it. I get it. Ileana. It doesn't make sense, girl. [00:47:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Although she's a. She's terrible. [00:47:52] Speaker A: She's trash. [00:47:53] Speaker B: She's trash. [00:47:53] Speaker A: There were a lot of just like slurs thrown around in this book that was like this feels. [00:47:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:00] Speaker A: There were mixed breed, half breed. [00:48:03] Speaker B: Yes. [00:48:03] Speaker A: Mutt. I think at one point it said mutt. They said that maybe. I don't know, maybe that's me projecting because I'm like, we're getting close, huh? [00:48:11] Speaker B: Yep. [00:48:11] Speaker A: That's next. [00:48:12] Speaker B: Not. Okay. Weird anyway. [00:48:16] Speaker A: But yeah, so anything. [00:48:18] Speaker B: I mean, I guess the other thing I had was that I'm obsessed with Sarai. Yeah. [00:48:25] Speaker A: I love Sarai. A queen who knows fashion, she knows court etiquette. I mean, she's basically an advisor in her own right. [00:48:37] Speaker B: For sure, for sure. I mean, I would love a huge bird. Lion to take me under its wing. Absolutely. [00:48:44] Speaker A: She loved her, I guess. [00:48:45] Speaker B: I would love a giant pet. [00:48:47] Speaker A: I would love a giant pet too. [00:48:49] Speaker B: Just walking them down the street. They're. They're three, four times your size. I would love it. [00:48:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I would love a giant birdie. If you could just make her like 20 times her size. [00:48:58] Speaker B: Oh, I know. [00:48:59] Speaker A: She'd be like, I don't know what's. [00:49:00] Speaker B: Going on here, but I think this comes from like. Did you ever go to FAO Schwartz? [00:49:04] Speaker A: No. [00:49:05] Speaker B: Okay. I love the giant stuffed animals. Loved them. [00:49:10] Speaker A: I had a giant like gorilla stuffed animal that said, okay, my corner of my childhood bedroom at one time. [00:49:16] Speaker B: Okay. And held all the rest of the stuffies. Probably. [00:49:19] Speaker A: Probably. It was short lived. But yeah, I just remember liking that one too. Yeah. [00:49:25] Speaker B: Yeah. I would love to have a Sarai. [00:49:27] Speaker A: Would love to have a Sarai. Let's talk a little bit about the supporting characters in this book because I feel as though they absolutely carried this on their back. Like, if you were going to be bored by Luther, if you were going to be annoyed by dm, you were going to find solace in the sides characters. I asked you. Okay, so we meet and we get very close to a number of cousins, just a handful of cousins, one of whom is first Eleanor. And Eleanor is revealed to be who first helps Luther when DM escapes the burning building. The burning building in the first book. And she and DM get very close and I texted you because I was like, do we trust Eleanor? I wasn't quite sure, but I think that's because I don't I don't trust most people or characters in these books, but I think we trust her. [00:50:19] Speaker B: Eleanor. Yeah. I mean, I think that all the people that, like, swore their fealty or whatever to her, that's. Yeah, I trust that group of people. [00:50:29] Speaker A: Yeah. At first, I just didn't know because I didn't trust Eamon. [00:50:33] Speaker B: Yeah. I still don't trust Aon. [00:50:34] Speaker A: No. I mean, he basically informed us there's no way for him to be trusted. No, I wasn't. Speaking of keeping on the Aemon trail. He is a bad character. I was not. I think it was intended before the challenging for the reveal of him being the one who killed the mortal child in the mortal city to be, like, a reveal. But I was like. I knew that was him because Henri had seen him and Luther fighting and was like, oh, that's the guy who killed the child. And I was like, well, it wasn't Luther. [00:51:04] Speaker B: I mean, I didn't pick up on that. And you told me about it. But what's so interesting about this is, like, we've been. We've gone through, like, 1200 pages, and she still thinks that Luther killed a child and is, like, accepting it. [00:51:18] Speaker A: I. That's what I'm saying. That's what was pissing me off the most, is. And that's why I asked you. I'm like. Is part of Aon's magic, like, manipulating people to, like, be gullible to everything that he says? Because I'm like, you cannot believe every word that's coming out of this man's mouth and allowing it to twist. Twist what you feel is true about every single person that you know. You know what I mean? And I realize that she's in a new environment and she doesn't know anybody, and she's trying to figure out what to believe and who to trust. But I'm like. [00:51:44] Speaker B: And she's a. Yeah, you're a. [00:51:46] Speaker A: And the people that like, you know, we're telling you the truth have been nothing but good to you. This. Right, Right. [00:51:50] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. [00:51:52] Speaker A: So don't like Amen. Don't like Remus. Don't like Gareth. [00:51:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:57] Speaker A: Remus being Luther's dad, Gareth being Luther's uncle, being brothers to the former who has died, who is a gay icon. [00:52:08] Speaker B: Gay icon. Yeah. Loved it. [00:52:09] Speaker A: Love to see that. Also, no kids. Just no kids. Just a single one. Income king, really what he is. Yeah, Basically. [00:52:20] Speaker B: Yeah. But you know what? I thought. So I have this theory that he actually wanted to die because they mentioned something about, like, he meant Mrs. He missed his mate. Like, basically, you know, the bonded mate had died. And so part of me wonders if, like, Luther, like, they had a plan. Yeah. And. And then I don't know. And then basically, like, Luther killed him or poisoned him because he wanted to die. Yeah, yeah. [00:52:50] Speaker A: I mean, let's bring suicide in this, but. [00:52:52] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:52:55] Speaker A: I mean, you know, things could. There's various things that can make you want to. It just completely. And maybe that was it. But yeah, Luther comes from some terrible family members. Yeah. But he does have good cousins in Eleanor, as we've mentioned. Taryn, who is Eamon's brother. They seem to be, like, opposite sides of the same coin. [00:53:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:20] Speaker A: Taryn's, like, really cute and funny. Big golden retriever energy with that one. [00:53:25] Speaker B: Yeah. Cassian energy. [00:53:26] Speaker A: Yeah. And then Lily and tell her and tell her. [00:53:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:33] Speaker A: Biracial relationship. We wish the best for them. [00:53:36] Speaker B: Yeah, we do too. Yeah, I do. [00:53:38] Speaker A: And then let's see other enemies in house have an air. We've got Ileana and her grandmother Marta. Marta, who just seems vile. [00:53:49] Speaker B: Yeah. She reminded me a little bit of. What was her name? Marjorie's grandmother in Game of Thrones. [00:53:57] Speaker A: Yes. Okay. Well, in my mind, my casting for her is Judi Dench. [00:54:02] Speaker B: Love it. Love it. [00:54:03] Speaker A: I'm like, she has it in her to be nasty. And Marta was nasty. [00:54:08] Speaker B: Yeah. There were. These were a lot of French names. Martha Ver. [00:54:14] Speaker A: That's interesting. Did you love it? [00:54:15] Speaker B: I loved it. It was French. [00:54:17] Speaker A: It was. It was getting in those veins, scratching that edge. [00:54:20] Speaker B: It really was the Les Mis itch. [00:54:24] Speaker A: I love that. And then there was Maura, the mortal healer. She didn't play as much of a role this time, but she was still supportive. Yeah. And then what was the other one? [00:54:39] Speaker B: What was her name? She was like the military. [00:54:43] Speaker A: Alex. [00:54:43] Speaker B: Alex loved her. [00:54:44] Speaker A: Loved her. So how could I forget about Alex? Loved Alex. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's got, like, a good gang around her that all. And it's revealed that Alex and Taryn have been helping with getting half mortal kids out of the realm. That's a big reveal with Luther in this book, is that he was working with DMs mom to do human trafficking for good. [00:55:07] Speaker B: Yes. [00:55:08] Speaker A: Right out of Lumnos, getting half mortal children to safe and their mortal parent to safe ground. [00:55:16] Speaker B: You know what I gotta say, if I were to go into a man's room and see a bus driver of a goddess in the corner, I would be a little scared. [00:55:24] Speaker A: Me too. I'd be like, what's going on? It'd be Weird. I. I did think that was a little bit odd. I'm like. [00:55:30] Speaker B: Like, he talks. It's like he talks to her. [00:55:32] Speaker A: Well, at least it's a. It's a woman. [00:55:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:35] Speaker A: That. That shaves off a little bit of like the. What's going on? Yeah, but it is, you know. But he does have, like. There's so many things adorning his room, Luther's room, that like, point to his love of mortals and like, descended relationships. Like the woodwork on his desk where all of these mor. Relationships. Yeah. And, you know, Mother. Lumnos bust. That he worships to. [00:56:01] Speaker B: So, yeah, I wasn't a big fan. [00:56:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:56:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So, anything else? Any other side characters? [00:56:10] Speaker A: No. We talked a little bit about Sarai. Love her. Trying to think. Who else? I don't think so. The Guardians this time around. Not. They didn't show up too much in. [00:56:23] Speaker B: This book, thank God. Yeah. Not. I mean, Henri did, but, you know, he sucks. [00:56:29] Speaker A: He sucks and I. He's dating that girl from. [00:56:33] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. What was her name? [00:56:35] Speaker A: Lana. Is it Lana or Lara? [00:56:37] Speaker B: Lara, maybe. Lara, yeah. [00:56:39] Speaker A: The other healer. [00:56:40] Speaker B: Sure. [00:56:40] Speaker A: Dating. They're dating, girl. They're on a weekend trip. [00:56:43] Speaker B: Yes. Okay. [00:56:44] Speaker A: He's telling you they're just friends. I've been down this path before. [00:56:48] Speaker B: I know. No, too many times. [00:56:51] Speaker A: They're just friends. That's his sister. Don't you know? [00:56:55] Speaker B: I don't know. I mean, she just ended up in my photo. [00:56:58] Speaker A: She just ended up in my bed. I don't know. So stupid. [00:57:03] Speaker B: You. [00:57:03] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. [00:57:05] Speaker B: Okay, what else do we think? Should we do theories or do you have theories? You know, I mean, I guess I just have questions. So one of the biggest questions was, you know, when they had that boom or whatever, when they were in the satanic ritual. And there's a lot of like. Just like, cutting, you know, I don't like blood. [00:57:29] Speaker A: So. [00:57:30] Speaker B: But like. So he cut her palm and her blood was supposed to go over the stone or whatever and turn blue. [00:57:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:37] Speaker B: And it didn't. It turned gray. And so basically they were like, you're not the Queen of Lumna. So is that going to come out? That she's not actually the Queen of Lumnos? Like, maybe she's from some other realm. [00:57:49] Speaker A: That'd be very interesting. Right? Because it would turn blue. Right. Because of the blue eyes of the descended in Lumnos. It's just so odd. Yeah. Yeah. That's a really great question. I hadn't even thought about that. Because now the lie of her being a Corbois. Is revealed. Right, right. And so, yeah, I mean, if she's not from any of the houses of Lum, her eyes would. It wouldn't turn blue, and so she's somewhere else. But they seem to be. They seem to say something about who she actually may have been. Right. Like, they. They. They said something. There was something accusatory that they had shot toward her in terms of who she might be. She's like the traitor queen or something there. She's like a traitor of some sort. I don't know. [00:58:35] Speaker B: Okay. [00:58:36] Speaker A: I don't have specifics. [00:58:37] Speaker B: There's something like the queen. The athletic shorts queen. [00:58:42] Speaker A: The Umbros. Yes. Yeah. [00:58:45] Speaker B: There's something going on there. She knows. [00:58:47] Speaker A: She knows something. [00:58:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:49] Speaker A: So it just begs the question of what is. What is dm? Exactly. [00:58:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Also in this next one, I want to go to Umbros. [00:58:56] Speaker A: I know you do. Which is so interesting, because for someone who is so risk averse, you are like, I want to get in the danger. [00:59:02] Speaker B: Not in always. Not in always. [00:59:06] Speaker A: Okay. This makes me also think about somebody in the book that we did not talk about, which was at the ball. She meets all of these representatives from all of the other realms, like two representatives from each realm, and then comes this, like, dark, just overly sexual being representative from Umbros, who is, like, drawing his, like, black manicured fingers down his chest fingernails. [00:59:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:32] Speaker A: And he is, like, putting thought thoughts in. Yeah, you love this. Putting thoughts in DM's head about, like, really, like, you thought. Yeah. You thought anything else was nasty or anything else was, like, dirty. The thoughts he was putting in her mind were, like, of. Of the filthiest that you could do. Yeah. And, yeah, I'm so. I'm interested. We're gonna see him again. [01:00:00] Speaker B: I. Oh, absolutely. [01:00:01] Speaker A: Simon. [01:00:01] Speaker B: Yeah, Simond. Yeah. I know she was a little, like, freaked out by him, but also a little bit intrigued. Intrigued. [01:00:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Do you have a casting for him? [01:00:14] Speaker B: No. Do you? [01:00:15] Speaker A: I said Adam Lambert. [01:00:20] Speaker B: Oh, God. Wait, I thought he was. I thought he was, like. I saw him as black. [01:00:25] Speaker A: You saw him as black? Yeah, I saw his skin as, like. Like white. [01:00:30] Speaker B: Oh, really? [01:00:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:00:31] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [01:00:32] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [01:00:33] Speaker B: I mean, I was thinking, like, Renee Jean Page. [01:00:36] Speaker A: Oh, that would be great. That would be a great casting. [01:00:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:00:39] Speaker A: If he's, in fact, black. [01:00:40] Speaker B: Right. [01:00:44] Speaker A: We've got options for both flavors. Yeah. [01:00:47] Speaker B: And maybe they didn't describe exactly. [01:00:50] Speaker A: I don't know, because in my mind, I think I was just picturing, like, a very, like, tall, like, white, white, like, you know, manicured and like a man with like, lots of. I don't know, like, a lot of fanfare about him. [01:01:05] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Okay. [01:01:07] Speaker A: They. [01:01:08] Speaker B: They described that the King of Meros is black. Right? [01:01:12] Speaker A: Sure did. Yeah. [01:01:13] Speaker B: Okay. [01:01:13] Speaker A: Yes. So this point that you're talking about here, I thought I really like seeing all of the crowns together. [01:01:21] Speaker B: I do, too. I do, too. [01:01:22] Speaker A: And I was seeing characters and seeing castings for them. Probably a little bit easier than I have for, like, other characters in the book. But it was so interesting to see these, like, really unique personalities come together for this. This coronation, ultimately, in the book for. For dm. Did you have any specific ideas or castings for any of them? [01:01:45] Speaker B: I'm trying to think. The Queen of Umbros. I don't know. I would even go for. What's her name? She's South African. [01:01:55] Speaker A: Charlize Theron. [01:01:56] Speaker B: Charlize Theron, Yeah. [01:01:57] Speaker A: I love that. And I thought about her as well. What is the. I have a casting in here, but I want to change it. Who is the. Who's the actress that played the original Gilda in Wicked? [01:02:11] Speaker B: You mean Glinda? [01:02:12] Speaker A: Glinda. [01:02:13] Speaker B: Sorry, what's her. Kristin Chenoweth. [01:02:16] Speaker A: Kristin Chenoweth, yeah. Thank you. Okay. So I sat here and I made, like, a little bit of a list of all the crowns and who I would cast them as. Oh, okay. Because, you know, this is a lot for me, but there's two crowns I don't have anybody for, and it's just. Because I just don't know who would fit that. [01:02:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:02:33] Speaker A: So for Fortos, I don't know if you've seen him lately, but Gerard Butler. [01:02:39] Speaker B: Okay, I could see that. Yeah. [01:02:41] Speaker A: He's like. He's. He's packed on a little bit. He's like a. You know, and I think about him also in the movie 300. [01:02:46] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. He's a little bit of like a menacing. Yeah, yeah. [01:02:50] Speaker A: Thanos, which is the one with the animals. [01:02:52] Speaker B: The animals. [01:02:53] Speaker A: Loved it. I cast her to her as Viola Davis. [01:02:57] Speaker B: Oh, love it. I love that. [01:02:59] Speaker A: Because she was like, really? She was like about it and she, like, was very, like. She was cool. She was, like, direct. [01:03:05] Speaker B: Totally. [01:03:05] Speaker A: For Arborist with the flowers and the thing, I thought of Kristin Chenoweth. [01:03:09] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah, I could do that. [01:03:11] Speaker A: Like, just. She seemed like, you know, kind of chipper and. [01:03:13] Speaker B: What? Yeah. [01:03:14] Speaker A: For sofa sofas. Sofas. I thought of Tilda Swinton. [01:03:17] Speaker B: Oh, perfect. That would. [01:03:20] Speaker A: Nobody is doing androgynous like Tilda Swinton. [01:03:23] Speaker B: Nobody. Yeah, nobody. That was great. [01:03:26] Speaker A: Don't cast any. Anybody else but Tilda Swinton. [01:03:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:03:29] Speaker A: Umbros. Okay, so Umbros is interesting because they said she came back in, like, a younger form, and she was like, full lips. [01:03:37] Speaker B: Right. With black hair. [01:03:38] Speaker A: With black hair. And I immediately thought of Angelina Jolie. [01:03:42] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [01:03:44] Speaker A: She's giving, like, menacing. She could give, like, a menacing, like, younger version of a dark queen. [01:03:49] Speaker B: It's terrible, though. I don't think she's a very good actress. [01:03:51] Speaker A: She's not a great actress. [01:03:52] Speaker B: No. [01:03:53] Speaker A: But I think that she could. She just came to my image, especially with just the. The focus on the large lips in the book. [01:04:02] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah, Yeah. I would even think, like, Jennifer Connelly. [01:04:05] Speaker A: I could see her. [01:04:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:07] Speaker A: But she's so good. I don't know that I could see her. Yeah. [01:04:13] Speaker B: Mm. I don't know. Okay, so what's next? [01:04:17] Speaker A: Oh, and then Meros. That was the crown that. When she looked across the way, the king was black. With dreads. Right? [01:04:30] Speaker B: With dreads. Yeah. [01:04:31] Speaker A: I casted this as Lenny Kravitz. [01:04:33] Speaker B: Oh, love it. Love him. [01:04:36] Speaker A: I thought that was great. But I don't have any other castings for igneos in Mont Monos. [01:04:42] Speaker B: Yeah, the mountain one. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't know. Should we play mash? [01:04:50] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, that's it for me in terms of the book talk. There's nothing left for me. [01:04:55] Speaker B: Okay. All right. Yeah. [01:04:59] Speaker A: Okay. [01:04:59] Speaker B: All right, let's do mash. [01:05:02] Speaker A: Okay. And I'm going to be wink in it. [01:05:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. All right, let's do it. So mansion. Where's the mansion? [01:05:09] Speaker A: Okay. Yes. I have some notes about this. Where? Where is it? Okay, I said I was winging it, but I do have some notes Brighten, too. Okay. So my mansion is in Lumos. [01:05:18] Speaker B: Lumos. Okay. [01:05:19] Speaker A: My apartment is going to be in Arboros. [01:05:21] Speaker B: Arboros. Okay. [01:05:23] Speaker A: My shack or the streets. I'm going to live on the streets of Mortal City. [01:05:28] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. Yeah. [01:05:30] Speaker A: And my house will be in Meros. But I thought about house. A little boat house. [01:05:35] Speaker B: I love that. [01:05:36] Speaker A: And Maros. They're all sailors, it seems. [01:05:38] Speaker B: Maros boathouse. Okay. Okay. Let's see. Boys. [01:05:45] Speaker A: Okay. [01:05:46] Speaker B: Oh, wait. So one of the boys. Let's say Taran. [01:05:48] Speaker A: Okay. I love that. He was gonna be on there anyway. [01:05:51] Speaker B: Oh, really? Okay. Who else? [01:05:54] Speaker A: Luther. [01:05:55] Speaker B: Luther. [01:05:57] Speaker A: And then I'm gonna put down, you know, my man. Why isn't my brain working today? Theo James. This is all around fantasy. And just a wild card in there. Just. [01:06:13] Speaker B: Wow. [01:06:14] Speaker A: And in connection to me watching Conclave put the Pope. [01:06:18] Speaker B: The Pope? Like, the Pope. [01:06:20] Speaker A: The Pope. [01:06:20] Speaker B: Oh, Jesus. [01:06:23] Speaker A: The Pope. Is there any other The Pope. [01:06:26] Speaker B: You know what? They're about to have an rip. [01:06:28] Speaker A: Not yet, but he met with, like, he met with the British royals today or, like, this week. [01:06:34] Speaker B: Really? [01:06:34] Speaker A: I mean, he looked like a corpse. [01:06:36] Speaker B: But he's well enough to. [01:06:38] Speaker A: It's giving Weekend at Bernie's. [01:06:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:06:40] Speaker A: Oh, it is. [01:06:41] Speaker B: It really is. [01:06:41] Speaker A: I hate to see it, but he's doing his best. We listen. We listen the best. At least I'm, like, well versed now on what happens when a poke really are. [01:06:50] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know. The Catholic Church, like, gives me ptsd. [01:06:55] Speaker A: It is. There's something so haunting about it. [01:06:59] Speaker B: It smells like death in there, too. In the church. [01:07:02] Speaker A: Well, you know, back in eighth grade, I had a sleepover with a friend named Emma Roth Russ. And her mother was European and very big, very Catholic. [01:07:12] Speaker B: Very Catholic. [01:07:12] Speaker A: And we went over there for. I went over there for sleepover, and as I was getting out of my mom's 2002 Ford Explorer, she looks at me, she goes, if they start praying to something there, you don't participate. [01:07:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:07:24] Speaker A: She's like, we don't. [01:07:25] Speaker B: We know what's gonna happen if they. [01:07:26] Speaker A: Start praying to some figurine in there. You're not doing it. [01:07:29] Speaker B: Yeah. No. Have you ever been to a Catholic wedding? [01:07:32] Speaker A: I have, yes. But this was, like, 20 something years. [01:07:36] Speaker B: Ago that I was. [01:07:37] Speaker A: I don't remember it. [01:07:38] Speaker B: It's so goddamn long. [01:07:40] Speaker A: It is long. [01:07:40] Speaker B: Oh, my God. [01:07:41] Speaker A: I do remember that. [01:07:42] Speaker B: All my cousins have had it, and it's like, do you really have to pray to the Virgin Mary? [01:07:48] Speaker A: They seem to think so. [01:07:50] Speaker B: Not me. [01:07:53] Speaker A: Heresy. [01:07:57] Speaker B: Okay, jobs. Wait. Yeah. Should I give a job first or. Oh, let's go with Keeper of the laws. [01:08:08] Speaker A: Ooh, I love that. Great job. You can also put down royal advisor. [01:08:15] Speaker B: Okay. [01:08:20] Speaker A: And why don't you just go ahead and just put down HR Manager. Okay. [01:08:24] Speaker B: Yep. [01:08:28] Speaker A: That. That Pack palace staffs hundreds of people. I need to keep everybody in line. I need to make sure they have their benefits. They. They. They're getting training. We've got plans on succession and how they can grow in their career in house cor. [01:08:41] Speaker B: House cor. [01:08:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, one more. I would say just put down. Oh. Put down teacher at the. At the descended school. [01:09:01] Speaker B: Teacher. [01:09:01] Speaker A: Okay. [01:09:02] Speaker B: We're really going with the book, huh? Good. [01:09:05] Speaker A: We're keeping it. We're keeping it balanced. [01:09:07] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. Descended school. Okay, Powers. [01:09:13] Speaker A: You want to give me a power? [01:09:15] Speaker B: Do I have to get one out of the. [01:09:17] Speaker A: No, because these people, we don't know what their powers are, so go ahead. [01:09:20] Speaker B: Okay. We don't know. [01:09:21] Speaker A: I mean, you know, we do, but there's not much to choose from. [01:09:24] Speaker B: There was another power that I thought of last week. [01:09:31] Speaker A: Are you. Are you upset that I didn't put down pasta sex voyeurism as a another job? Maybe you're like, we've always got a place for you here at pasta sex voyeurism. [01:09:43] Speaker B: Seriously? Yeah. How about let's do just having the godhood? [01:09:49] Speaker A: Great. [01:09:49] Speaker B: Mm. [01:09:51] Speaker A: What else I'm gonna say with bottomless. Like a bottomless stomach. Like, I can eat anything. [01:10:04] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. I'm trying to think of what else we could do. You can talk to animals. [01:10:16] Speaker A: Talk to dogs. [01:10:16] Speaker B: Talk to dogs. [01:10:17] Speaker A: That was. That was it. Yeah. That's the next one. [01:10:20] Speaker B: I also had. Oh, get. Oh, go ahead. [01:10:23] Speaker A: No, I was going to say, like, the umbros, folks. Get in people's minds. [01:10:26] Speaker B: Get in people's minds. [01:10:27] Speaker A: Read their secrets. [01:10:28] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. I was going to do. We can do that next time. Although we'll have Dirty Dozen next time, hopefully. [01:10:35] Speaker A: God, but there. By the kindred. Give us some something Lumnos, please. [01:10:42] Speaker B: I had this thing last week. I was thinking of it, like, how much would you love if you, like, every time you saw a dog on the street, you, like, knew his name. [01:10:51] Speaker A: Knew his or her name, and you're like, I'm really. You know, how have you been since the surgery? [01:10:56] Speaker B: How have things been going, you know, their whole life before you even see them? Yeah. [01:11:01] Speaker A: You're like, gonzo. You really need to start being serious. Serious about this diet. [01:11:04] Speaker B: Right. You don't, like, give a. About the people you don't know. [01:11:08] Speaker A: I mean, I don't now. [01:11:09] Speaker B: I know. [01:11:10] Speaker A: I know dogs names that I see and not the owners. [01:11:13] Speaker B: Oh, me too. [01:11:14] Speaker A: Bingo. [01:11:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:11:15] Speaker A: And they're like, how's Sadie? I have no idea. I've known Sadie since she was a puppy. [01:11:19] Speaker B: Oh, really? [01:11:20] Speaker A: Don't know her parents names? [01:11:21] Speaker B: Yeah. No. [01:11:22] Speaker A: God bless them. [01:11:24] Speaker B: All right. What do we think about pets? [01:11:27] Speaker A: Speaking of Sarai. [01:11:29] Speaker B: Sarai. Sarai. Direwolf. [01:11:34] Speaker A: Woolly mammoth. [01:11:35] Speaker B: Topic. Direwolf. Woolly mammoth. Okay. And then. [01:11:44] Speaker A: And birdie. [01:11:45] Speaker B: Birdie. [01:11:47] Speaker A: We always got a ride for my girl. [01:11:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. How many kids? [01:11:51] Speaker A: Okay. Zero. Zero, Zero. [01:11:56] Speaker B: I knew you're gonna say that. [01:11:58] Speaker A: I don't want kids in my real life. You think I want kids in my fantasy life? So all zeros. Put another zero. And then just for hell's sake, just put three. [01:12:08] Speaker B: Three. Okay. [01:12:08] Speaker A: That sounds like hell. [01:12:10] Speaker B: Hell. [01:12:11] Speaker A: God bless the mothers out there. That is a job. Not my job, but a job. [01:12:15] Speaker B: All right. [01:12:17] Speaker A: I should have put that down as his job. Mother. Jack. [01:12:23] Speaker B: Oh, my God. All right, should I do this? [01:12:27] Speaker A: You could do whatever you want to do. Whatever method is. Is calling to you. [01:12:31] Speaker B: Okay, let's do the dots. [01:12:32] Speaker A: Okay. [01:12:33] Speaker B: Okay. [01:12:37] Speaker A: Jesus, you've done, like, eight dots. [01:12:40] Speaker B: I know, but, like. [01:12:41] Speaker A: Okay, stop. [01:12:42] Speaker B: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. [01:12:46] Speaker A: I used to have my friends do 26. [01:12:48] Speaker B: Are you kidding me? [01:12:49] Speaker A: Yes. That's. [01:12:50] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Okay, so you start with this, right? [01:12:53] Speaker A: The manager, you can go. What? In whatever direction you want to go. [01:12:55] Speaker B: Okay. All right. [01:12:56] Speaker A: Creativity, you run the game. [01:12:58] Speaker B: Okay. 1, 2, 3, 4. Well, HR manager, gone. [01:13:06] Speaker A: The gods have smiled upon me. [01:13:14] Speaker B: 10 is gone. Keeper of laws, gone. [01:13:23] Speaker A: Okay. [01:13:29] Speaker B: Another 0. Sc. [01:13:31] Speaker A: No. Yeah, I should have gone. I should have gone with all threes. Or. I'm sorry, all three zeros. [01:13:39] Speaker B: Okay. All right. So should I say it at the end? [01:13:43] Speaker A: Just give me my whole fate at the end. [01:13:45] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. [01:13:53] Speaker A: While we're doing this, we are planning on reading, obviously, book three of the Kindred Curse and our next release. Can't wait for that. What date is that coming out on? What the. Our next. Well, this podcast is coming out. Yeah, let's see. The 17th. No, the 18th. Yeah, sorry, I don't mean to make you lose track. No. Oh, you're not gonna be happy about that one. Not my. [01:14:31] Speaker B: You know, I forgot to pay my gas bill. My gas bill. And I owe, like, $700. [01:14:36] Speaker A: Jillian. [01:14:39] Speaker B: Okay, here we go. [01:14:44] Speaker A: Have you done your taxes, Jillian? [01:14:46] Speaker B: My mom would be up. [01:14:47] Speaker A: It's April 10th. April 15th. I know there's a lot of things crumbling in our government right now, but you better believe they're coming for your tax taxes. They're gonna be ready for that tax bill. [01:14:59] Speaker B: Oh, wait. Okay, hold on. [01:15:01] Speaker A: Not you messing with my future. Not you messing with my future. What is going on? I don't believe the results. [01:15:08] Speaker B: I did this, right. All right, here we go. [01:15:11] Speaker A: Okay. [01:15:12] Speaker B: No, I did it right. Okay. So here you go. Here you go. Okay. Now. [01:15:33] Speaker A: I'm so fascinated about what this is gonna look like. [01:15:37] Speaker B: Okay. [01:15:41] Speaker A: It's coming down to the wire, isn't it? Yep. There you're between two things. [01:15:48] Speaker B: Oh, shit. Okay. All right. Okay. [01:15:51] Speaker A: It's the Pope, isn't it? [01:15:52] Speaker B: This is your future. Okay, we're gonna ask Lori Loomer. She's a palm reader. And this is your future. You live in a mansion named Lumnos. [01:16:03] Speaker A: Wonderful. [01:16:03] Speaker B: Good thing. Married to the Pope. [01:16:05] Speaker A: I mean, we're taking over. [01:16:07] Speaker B: You are a teacher of the descended school. [01:16:10] Speaker A: That tracks. [01:16:11] Speaker B: And this one's great you can talk to dogs, huh? You own a dire wolf. [01:16:19] Speaker A: That's fine. [01:16:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Was zero kids. So you're at. [01:16:22] Speaker A: What's the problem? Also married to the Pope. He's not asking me for sex. [01:16:26] Speaker B: I know he's not asking you for. [01:16:27] Speaker A: I'm out there. I'm out there in Lumo City and Mortal City because I could do whatever the hell I want to. [01:16:31] Speaker B: He's giving you the blood of Christ. [01:16:33] Speaker A: I'm living the body of Christ. [01:16:35] Speaker B: And that's. That's. [01:16:36] Speaker A: And that's that. But not the God hood as I see it. [01:16:40] Speaker B: It's so true. And a direwolf. He's good. He's giving you a dire. [01:16:44] Speaker A: I have no complaints. No notes. [01:16:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Should I do what I would do what I would want my. [01:16:49] Speaker A: Yeah, you tell me what you would want. [01:16:50] Speaker B: Let me see. Okay. I think I would want a boathouse and marrows. [01:16:55] Speaker A: Let's be honest with Lenny Kravitz as your. [01:16:57] Speaker B: Yes. [01:16:57] Speaker A: His descendant. [01:16:59] Speaker B: God, I wish his. His name was here. But no, I would do Theo James. [01:17:02] Speaker A: Okay. [01:17:05] Speaker B: I guess probably they teach her. [01:17:07] Speaker A: Okay. [01:17:09] Speaker B: And then. Yep. I would talk to dog dogs. I would have. Should I choose Sarai or Birdie? [01:17:17] Speaker A: Both. [01:17:18] Speaker B: Chose Sophie's Choice. Okay. Both. And then zero kids. [01:17:23] Speaker A: I think our paths are really similar. I would just switch out. Of course. I. I love a direwolf, but I'd get my baby Birdie back and be James. [01:17:32] Speaker B: Perfect. That is a perfect. [01:17:34] Speaker A: That's a perfect world. [01:17:35] Speaker B: World. Yeah. [01:17:36] Speaker A: Okay. Well, that was fun. [01:17:39] Speaker B: That was fun. [01:17:39] Speaker A: I always love a rousing game of mash. [01:17:41] Speaker B: Mash. [01:17:43] Speaker A: Anything else for you today? [01:17:45] Speaker B: I don't think so. So wait, what did we discuss while. While I was concentrating? [01:17:49] Speaker A: I was just saying that, like, our. This episode's coming out on the 18th. Our next episode got book three. We are aiming to come out on the 25th. Okay. [01:17:56] Speaker B: Sounds. That's good. Okay. 25th. A week after. [01:18:00] Speaker A: Oh, sorry. No, no. [01:18:01] Speaker B: Second. May 2nd. [01:18:02] Speaker A: Sorry. [01:18:03] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. [01:18:05] Speaker A: We're getting it together. [01:18:06] Speaker B: We are getting. [01:18:07] Speaker A: I'm a working woman in America. What do you want from me? [01:18:11] Speaker B: I don't know. You probably should move. We should all move. [01:18:14] Speaker A: Where? [01:18:14] Speaker B: I don't know. They're not in. I know. [01:18:17] Speaker A: I'm traveling to Europe in a couple weeks. I'm afraid of being stoned. [01:18:20] Speaker B: Oh, no. I know. You know, I heard that colleges in Canada are, like, not letting Americans in check at it. [01:18:30] Speaker A: We. This is what we deserve. [01:18:33] Speaker B: I mean, I remember thinking about, like, Brits during Brexit and being like, sucks to be you. [01:18:39] Speaker A: And now look at us. [01:18:41] Speaker B: I know. [01:18:42] Speaker A: Now look at us. [01:18:43] Speaker B: That's bad. [01:18:44] Speaker A: That's terrible. [01:18:45] Speaker B: Well, thank you. [01:18:49] Speaker A: Yes. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. We had so much fun today. Let's see, we will be back again, like we said, in two weeks with our next read. And we, as always, want to thank you, Christian McCann, for listening to us talk about dire wolves or something that might seem like a dire wolf, but maybe not. Might not be a dire wolf. It's fine. And keeping our sound in check as always. [01:19:15] Speaker B: And as always, thank you to the illustrious Lincoln Lodge in Chicago, Illinois. And none of what we have said here is representative of our respective employers. Employers. [01:19:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Every opinion here, everything that we've said is ours and ours alone. [01:19:30] Speaker B: Ours alone. Yeah. All right. Bye.