OVE chapters 21 & 22
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Chapter 21
Suffice it to say, after Tyler’s arson…
[...]
Who was the one whispering into her father’s ear?
I’m sorry, but did this fuckwit seriously ask who was whispering into her dad’s ear? DO YOU EVEN FUCKING HAVE TO ASK?!
IT IS THE ONE WHO FUCKING UPPED THE ANTE AND BURNED A CHILD ALIVE IN FRONT OF HUNDREDS OF WITNESSES.
So what wasn’t she seeingm now?
This isn’t my typo; this was the fucking published book. What the hell.
I WOULD ASK WHERE THE EDITOR WAS, BUT I THINK WE ALL KNOW THAT THERE WAS NONE.
Juliette shot him a warning glare as she walked to the door, but Marshall only grinned. “Goodbye, you menace.”
Chapter 21 summary: A week after Tyler’s attack, and things went to hell in a handbasket. Juliette has been trying to contact all of the hotels to ask if a guest has been making too much noise and leaving too big of a mess, but is getting nowhere. What’s worse (in her opinion) is that Roma has been ignoring all of her messages.
She confesses to Kathleen that she feels like there should have been another attack, and the fact that there have only been 2 is worrying to her. Kathleen reminds her that this person is after money, not to spread fear like Paul wanted.
Juliette goes into her father’s office, to find a nationalist and Tyler. Apparently, they finished the vaccination, and Tyler is jumping on the opportunity for them to make bank from this. Juliette chides the government official by shaming him about letting people in his city suffer, but the man doesn’t give a shit. The guy legit thinks that charging people to not die from this unnatural plague is somehow going to stop the communists from winning. (No, I don’t follow that logic, either.)
Juliette reports back to Kathleen what the man told her: that the white flowers aligned themselves with the commies. Kathleen goes to make a call, and when she comes back, she says that it’s partially true. That it’s not Lord and Roma, but rather, a sect that’s pulling further and further away from the whites by the day. Juliette thinks that this is the commie attempts to get rid of both gangs, and then to weaken the Nationalists. Katleen encourages Juliette to… literally not.
Then Kathleen mentions Rose’s secret boyfriend. It’s obvious that Juliette doesn’t give a shit about it, so I don’t care, either.
Juliette goes to Marshall, to ask about the white’s relationship with communists. He explains to her that most of the whites are refugees who fled from the reign of terror that came down upon Russia… which is way too much Russian political history in a book about Chinese political history wrapped up in a disguise as supernatural Romeo and Juliette. He continues on to tell Juliette about the government official her father had been meeting with. That he’s like a dog who won’t release a bone, so good luck getting the vaccination to the city. Before she leaves again, she tells him to stay inside.
Chapter 22
And all in one breath, Rosalind said, “Because he’s associated with the White Flowers, okay?”
Look, this book barely gives a shit about the main Romeo and Juliette subplot. It really doesn’t have time for a SECOND one with a character that the book also doesn’t give a shit about.
Without waiting for an answer, Juliette hauled Alisa by the arm and took off.
Chapter 22 summary: Juliette rushes back to help accompany her mother to the woman’s temple. In there, Juliette confronts Rose about the rumors that she has a boyfriend. Rose confesses that her boyfriend is a White Flower. She insists that she’s convincing him to leave the whites, but somehow I doubt that things are going to work out for her.
Juliette watches as her mother meets with a client. This probably will be important, but Juliette doesn’t give a shit. She mulls over the plot instead, which is maddening because she adds nothing to it.
As she looks around the temple some more, she sees Alisa sitting in the back corner, reading a book. The young girl tells Juliette she had hoped that nobody would mind since she was in a temple. She goes on to say that everybody is gathered for the funeral, and Juliette panics, knowing that the procession would lead them right past where they are… Where Tyler is waiting for them to come out.
Juliette runs out, only to find Tyler locked in battle with an unnamed white. She herself is then cornered by both Roma and Demetri. This amounts to nothing before Juliette randomly grabs Alisa– who had followed Juliette out– and takes off.
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can i just word vomit for a min...
there was a point in late 2023 where i felt like i overstayed my welcome on simblr and i planned on just wrapping frozen pines up as quickly as possible and moving on. continuing to write when it's clear that the audience for it is dwindling felt so embarrassing that i almost didn't even want to put effort into it anymore, because i was afraid it just looked pathetic (obligatory disclaimer: no one made me feel this way, you're all so lovely, it's just the nature of seeing a community change over 7 years). writing already feels very personal to me and it's becoming increasingly harder for me to put my work out there (again, for reasons unrelated to simblr and entirely related to mental illness 🤙🏻). i know my story is so long that it deters new readers, and so sporadic that it makes old readers drop off with time. this has really been bothering me lately because i don't know what i can do to fix it. i don't think there IS anything i can do.
but. okay. don't make fun of me for saying this. dan and phil returning to youtube kinda changed my mindset? they may be pulling a fraction of the views they got in their peak, but they're happier than they've ever been and they're working on things they actually want to do, not things they think will be particularly popular. seeing that has made me realize that it is possible to keep finding joy in a community that has largely moved on without you. obviously my little blog is nowhere near the same scale, so this feels kind of silly, but i've been thinking about all the things i used to do on simblr that were never fun for me, i mainly did them because i knew they would get notes or because i felt like i had to do it. making cc, lookbooks, sim requests, reshade help (oh my god the reshade help), lot downloads, etc. they DID get notes, but i can't imagine spending my time doing any of that stuff ever again tbh.
on top of that, it makes me sad to scroll through my dash and realize that i don't recognize most of the people i see anymore. i still talk to some wonderful people here who i consider friends and that's invaluable to me (💖), but the broader community aspect is something i no longer feel a part of. and believe me, i know i'm at fault here because it's not like i'm going out of my way to talk to new people or participate in trends like i used to. i don't blame anyone except the passage of time!!
frozen pines, and simblr by extension, played such a gigantic part in my life when i needed it the most. and that's not to say that i don't still care about it, because i absolutely do, but it's a different kind of feeling. i've always promised that i would give frozen pines a satisfying conclusion rather than silently abandoning it someday, and though i do intend to keep that promise, i know it's possible that i might never get there. but i don't want to let my own insecurities get in the way of something i really enjoy doing. writing is an intrinsic piece of me that i'll never quit doing, but sharing my writing on tumblr is something that can't (and shouldn't) last forever. i know that. but i'm going to enjoy it to the fullest while we're all still here together 💞
to anyone who's still reading my silly story after all these years (especially those of you who still check in on my blog even though you're not on simblr anymore): thank you thank you thank you THANK YOUUU. you don't have to change a single thing about what you're doing. this is not me fishing for compliments or putting down an ultimatum, this is just me trying to make sense of my feelings.
but with all this being said, i've decided to quit simblr and start my own exclusive streaming service for $60 a year, i hope you'll all support me as i increase my production value 😌
(just kidding. ily. okay that's all)
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The Chemist chapter 9
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Chapter 9
She decided to wake Daniel up. Once Batman came around—which he probably would in about fifteen minutes or so—the conversation was not going to be very genteel. She wanted a chance to explain—and apologize— before the shrieking and the death threats started.
The fact that she didn’t flee is giving “99 cents short of a dollar”. Kevin all but told her that she’d been set up, and it was also something that she acknowledged too.
WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU STAY?!
“Now will you tell me what happened to your face? Did you have an accident?”
Again with the concern. “No. My injures are related to that new information I mentioned.” She wasn’t sure how to break it to him.
Sudden indignation. His shoulders tensed. “Somebody did that to you— on purpose? For hurting me?”
Holy fucking shit dude. The lady tortured you. I don’t care what she said during her apology, SHE FUCKING TORTURED YOU.
I’m all in favour of nice guys. After reading an endless string of billionaire romances, it’s nice that somebody doesn’t take one look at Julie and say “Hey baby, I’m going to sexually assault you. And you’re going to like it because I’m hot. And also rich.”
But holy fucking shit. Daniel is going around and he’s flat out stupid about how nice he is.
Alex suppressed a sigh, upset with herself for not worrying more about the file’s gaps in information, for not taking the time to find a faraway library where she could have safely searched all Daniel’s family connections.
It’s this, but also the fact that she got the files, and then grabbed Daniel two days later. Like you literally never thought to look into literally ANY of this?
“I would say I was smarter, but I made some pretty huge mistakes in my security here. I think I was just luckier this time.”
No fucking shit. She had such huge, gaping holes that I could have waltzed into her little set-up. Me, an unathletic civilian with no training whatsoever.
Was it safe to go back to her most recent home, the place she’d been living when Carston had contacted her? It would certainly be easiest. There was food there, and no one would have to see her face for as long as it took to look normal again. She didn’t think she’d compromised the house…
But then what? How much of her nest egg had she blown through for this stupid trap? How long would she be able to keep going on what she had?
Man, forget the house, forget the job, forget the money. The department tried to set you up… AGAIN.
Exactly how long is it going to take for it to sink in that the department wants her dead?
Girl, you willingly walked into an obvious set-up with that… What number did she use again? Oh right… THREE GODDAMNED PERCENT THAT IT WASN’T A TRAP.
“But I think your brother can probably fill you in on the details. I imagine he’s better at hiding than I am.”
Bitch, I’m fucking better at hiding than you are. AND YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SPY HERE.
“Are you kidding me? That psychopath tortured you.”
“Not for very long. And she only did it because—”
“Are you defending that—”
Finally, some goddamned common sense!
“You’re the one who pulled Danny into this—”
She literally told him that the mystery agency she works for handed her a file on Daniel and all but told her “Take care of this.”
“So what does it matter? I died. Danny shouldn’t be a target anymore.��
The fact that you are here should have been a huge tip that it isn’t true.
“You’re a problem for the CIA. I’m a problem for my department. At the top, the people involved in both our former workplaces are pretty tight. So they offer me a deal: ‘Do a job for us, and we’ll call off the hunt.’ They must have had it worked out pretty solidly before they contacted me. Fixed the files, got ready to feed me the crisis story I can’t turn my back on.”
Again, 100% of this could have been avoided if Julie hadn’t been so stupid and in a rush. If she’d spent literally any amount of time researching, she would have realised that it was actually a trap.
There was a sudden earsplitting noise—an explosive fragmenting of wood. And then the enraged snarling got a lot closer.
Chapter 9 summary: Julie wakes up from her little catnap, and wakes Daniel up. She then apologises to him for having KIDNAPPED AND TORTURED HIM. He’s like “Ah, what’s a little torture?” The entire thing is maddening; Julie has no idea why he’s so goddamned nice, but tries to chalk it up to the drug she initially injected him with. (I’m not convinced.)
Daniel is more upset when Julie reveals that Kevin is still alive. The two of them talk for several pages about stuff that I literally can’t remember, even moments after finishing the chapter. When Kevin wakes up, Daniel chews his brother out for having lied to him about his job (he wasn’t a drug dealer), where he was (not in prison lol), and then having faked his own death. Again, Daniel is way more upset about Kevin than the goddamned TORTURE.
Julie then points out that obviously Kevin did a botched job of faking his own death. That’s what led to this situation. That both agencies got together and decided that no matter what happened in this situation, that one of their problems would be taken care of. She offers to write to her agency to tell them that she killed Kevin. That way, Kevin and Daniel can go back to whatever they were doing before all of this.
At the end of the chapter, the dog breaks out from the room Julie locked him in.
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