I drank enough tea that I wasn't scared to clink.
And mine is empty.Welcome to our tea is steeping.Uh, what are you drinking this week, Caitlin?
Sorry, I had a burp come up.I was like trying to, you know, not have that be heard on the podcast.Um, I'm drinking glazed lemon loaf.It is my last tea bag here.I think I have some at home, so I will be grabbing mine from home.Good choice.
And what are you drinking?
Water!With a cup for clinkage.Yes, because we are of course now that we actually start recording it starts raining hard.We're hitting the tail end of a hurricane. Um, so it, uh, yeah.
And it's also like starting to cool off outside, which means that inside the heat's kicked on in the office.And so it's, it's toasty upstairs in my cubicle.And I was like, I cannot fathom the thought of more hot.
Downstairs it's normal, but I also have no sleeves today and. Oh, I haven't announced this on the podcast yet.I'm pregnant again!I was wondering if you were going to, but I was like, I'm not gonna bring it up if she's not going to.
My OCD self was like, I have to wait for MD-CBK to roll back around since that's the first of the month.Yay, Caitlin's pregnant again!Surprise for everyone!Me and my husband included.
How far along are you? 15 weeks.I was about to say, I'm gonna make you do the math for once.
15 weeks.So you should have another appointment next week, right?Yep.Nice.It's just the 15-minute, and I think it's in the morning, so I'm gonna work from home until I have to go in.Oh, nice.That'll be good.There's no point.Yeah, no.No, there's not.
So I'll go in, say, hey. Thanks, my blood pressure's cool.Great.Everything's fine.Snazzy.Can I go to work now?See you again in four weeks.Well, and then at the end of October is my anatomy ultrasound.So yeah, I'm excited for that.
Yeah, so that'll be fun.But yes, I am pregnant.So that is where this was heading.Oh, a girl.Yay.So we'll have my poor little middle child's son.
We've already joked about Oreo Halloween costumes in the future because we'll have the firstborn daughter be one cookie, the other firstborn daughter be another cookie, and the little thirdborn daughter be a little cookie, and then the middleborn son be the cream in the middle.
He is the chillest and the squishiest.So, well, I don't know how squishy this one will be.
For now, he is the squishiest.For now, he is the squishiest.
Oh, and when are you due?Do we want to go ahead and discuss?
March.Okay.So who knows how long our hiatus will be this time?Yep, we'll let you know when we go, guys.We may take off until the following September.Who knows?Yep.We'll let you know when we decide.Life is crazy.But it's fine.
But the whole point of leading to this was since I've been pregnant, I've been cooler, which is very different for me.I normally am like sweating it out.
Yeah, but really yeah, she is also like in the evenings the last couple of evenings um My oldest I've had to get my husband in there to be like right She's not listening and getting up on her top bunk because she refuses to sleep on her bottom bunk
I don't know.It's the bigger bed.Why wouldn't you want to?She doesn't.Um, but maybe it's cause all her stuffies are on top.So the dog can't get them.I don't know.Maybe.Um, I think she also likes the stairs a lot too.Yeah.Yeah.But she's up top.
Um, and so my husband has had to put her up there a couple of times.Um, because this one, I don't know if it's just right now I'm stretching a lot because it's like, Up till now, it was my normal chubby tummy.
And then it's like, oh, no, that's a bump behind the chub now.And so now like, it's actually like visible that either I've gained a lot of weight in the last month or I'm pregnant, one or the other.And the stretch.
The stretch on, it's been specifically my right side.It's made me a little bit nervous because it's been hurting.And I'm assuming it's from the stretching in the ribs.I had that exact same thing.That's why I'm laughing.
And I told the doctor and they're like, it's fine.It's normal.
Well, it's just, it makes like anytime I have pains like that, I'm like, okay, I need to sit for a little bit and let my body like catch up.But when you have two kids, that's hard to do.Yeah.You don't have a chance to breathe.
So it's like normally around bedtime and I'm like, okay, honey, I cannot sit in here on the floor with you.I have got to, I've got to go where I can like not be reclined flat, but like,
be semi-reclined on the couch and having no pressure on my tummy.And she's understanding a bit better.She remembers the baby's name, so she'll call her by her name.So it's sweet.But yeah, I'm pregnant due in March.
Jen's pregnant, as we all know, due in December.So our little itty bitty besties are only gonna be three months apart!We're very excited about this.
Also, we're talking about My Draculpa the King today because I waited for the first episode of the month to roll around.Yay!Because of who I am as a person.I like it.So, Lifeline already knew.Yes.
From our group chat.She gets the special announcement in her episode because she's special.
So, surprise!We're talking about episodes 106 to 110.And it's getting spicy. Yay!Spicy in all ways.
Episode 106.May has pulled... 111?I said the wrong thing, didn't I?Yeah, you did.L-O-L.It's 111 to 115.
I did these last night when I was half asleep.It's fine.
Oh, it's a much shorter summary.I like this.May's getting ready for the wedding happening later.Oh, I would have started reading and been like, I don't even know what to read today.
You probably would have just like powered through.
I would have gotten halfway through and been like, I think this is wrong.Yeah.Anyways.It's like when I woke up at 2am the other day thinking it was 7am.Oh golly, that's a bad day.I told you about that, didn't I?I don't know. But it's fine.
We can talk about it later.Anyways.May is getting ready for the wedding happening later in the day when someone comes up behind her and scares her.She yells and throws them over her into the bath and it ends up being rude.
May tells him not to sneak up on women like that and he said he can if the woman is his wife while his robe has become see-through because of the water. They banter back and forth before Rue pulls Mae into the water with him.
She ends up losing her towel without realizing it and is very embarrassed but Rue offers her his robe and the bantering resumes.There is a bit of a time skip to Mae's final preparations for the wedding and her thoughts explain the logistics
Palanquin, palanquin, palanquin. I would've been fine with carriage or cart.I used carriage the rest of the time.Kept giving me Cinderella vibes.I was like, that is decidedly not the vibes of this comic.No, it's not.It's close enough.
On the way to the temple for the wedding when Kozuke's men attack and take control of the carriage.They talk about needing to stay with the carriage to be sure that the woman doesn't get away.
When they open the doors to check, however, the man is shocked.
I hear you say the woman in the Mulan.I feel like you like went into that accent voice tone thing whenever you read that.
A woman shall never amount to anything.Except in Mae's case.It's not good to watch Mulan with me because I just recite the movie along with it.I have to watch the movie by myself.
It's too good though.I love it.Okay, so the wedding nerves.I also remember those wedding nerves.They suck.I wouldn't do it again.It was a good day, but like... the marriage has been much better than the wedding.
Oh yeah.I, the main thing I remember about the nerves, the nerves that probably hit were when I wanted pizza and we ordered a Papa John's and I sat on the floor with a tablecloth covering me and eating pizza.Yeah.
Like literally within 30 minutes of walking down the aisle.It was amazing.
I always tell people that story because that's just like, that's my favorite wedding memory out of all the weddings that we have been in or been to.That's been my favorite.So.
I think. that up until that point in my life before being pregnant, that is the first time I have been hit so incredibly hard with a craving.Like I needed pizza and I needed it right then.So that was my nerves kicking in.It got delivered so fast.
I was surprised.Honestly wonder if they didn't say, hey, it's a bride wants it.She's about to walk down the aisle.Can you please like getting her ASAP?I don't even remember who ordered it.I don't either.It just showed up.I feel like it was,
Um, our friend's mom.Oh, probably.I could see that.I was about to say the name and I said, oh!We all went back in.I've done so good with that so far.I know.Anyway.Isn't this wedding?This is me like... trying to mentally remember.
Isn't this the wedding?Because I had read like a panel and then my daughter started yelling from her room and I was like, oh, here we go again.Um, but isn't this wedding that's the setup for the takedown of Kozuke?
And then also I was like, not me accidentally typing a ZUO first from blood reverie.Oh, cause they're both red haired and they're both like,
the sort of bad, bad guy, like, I would argue that Azuo, or Azuo, or however we say his name, is a badder guy.The badder of the baddies?The badder of these two baddies, but I typed it and I was like, that's not right.
Um, I think that yes, it is the setup because we will find out that later in this next set of episodes.Um, Her fast reaction time maze for throwing Rue into the water was gold.I was pretty impressed.
And also, I thought it was pretty understandable that she was checking him out in that sheer waterlogged robe.
And it's giving a Regency era of men in white shirts walking up out of a body of water.It's like Colin Firth vibes, but not Colin Firth.I've also not ever seen that.
I have not because I don't like Colin Firth and I think he's very unattractive.
Is that the BBC one?Yeah. I have seen that because I have it but I watched it once and I haven't watched it again.
I am just in general I don't I'm not a big Colin Firth fan.That is just my opinion.I don't think he's attractive and therefore 2005 version all the way.
It's so funny that Our taste in men apparently is pretty similar.
I feel like my husband is just a shorter version of yours, but with your personality.
And my husband does seem to have more of your laid back, so you know.That's why we get along so well.We basically married our best friends.
I mean, they tell you that's what you do.It's true.Anyways.Rue and Mae are just... This is such a typical MDCBK one because we're just giggly. Speaking of which, they're just so funny and so cute together.I'm glad you didn't.
That would have been a mess.I would not envy you cleaning that.I wouldn't envy myself.You do have napkins over here.I do.Rue totally knew what he was doing that entire time, though, with what he wore.
I'm sure he planned on getting in the water at some point.I'm sure he planned on that robe coming off.
He knew.He knew it all.Although he didn't seem to plan too hard on her towel actually coming off because like he did avert his eyes because she knew she wasn't comfortable with that.I'm sure he wasn't upset about that.
He wasn't upset but like you could see like it shows him like averting his eyes like he was like um your towel came off.Uh-huh.So I was like I appreciate that.Yes.
But then also his row of see-through made his embarrassment made her brain stop functioning.It is.
Yeah. All in all though, with their plan for the wedding, it was a really smart plan to lean into kind of what they're expecting to happen.
It's like they know they can't stop Kosuke's bad plan for the wedding, so like why not just lean into it and then adjust it for how they can benefit.Smarter not harder, friends.
And then all the patterns on that wedding dress, ooh, that was impressive. Yep.And I totally forgot what happened next here.So I was really excited to go through these.I was like, I know they have a plan.
I know that this is not going to be May, but I don't remember.
The plan for Kozuke.Kozuke's plan.I think that every time.Um, I remember that it, that it wasn't May.It was Akane, but I didn't remember how everything came about.
Cause I remember then that May did end up talking with Kozuke, but I was like, the in between?Yeah.It's gone.My brain has lost it.
Episode 112.Not 107.No.The man realizes that the woman has escaped through a trap door in the bottom of the carriage.
The woman is running and reaches a building to run through its halls and starts to try to go through a doorway when it's slammed closed.
Hayashi is sitting in a chair across the room and says that the woman will not be getting married, she will be dying today.
Hayashi then monologues about how his army will do his bidding and take care of her how he wants and if she goes through the door behind her they will find her.
After going on and on, he tells her to beg for her life, but the woman runs through the doors behind her instead.She then runs smack into Shibasaki, who presumably uses chloroform or something similar to make her- My assumption.Close enough.
I mean, the rag was dipped in something.Yeah, and then she passed out.So yes, then she loses consciousness.
Hayashi comes from the door the woman just ran through and thanks Shibasaki for catching her, but complains that now he will have to wait for her to wake up so that he can torture her a bit more before killing her.
Shibasaki tells him no such thing will be happening, that Kozuke has instructed no harm to come to her, and that Hayashi will have to take it up with him.Hayashi does just that and tells Kozuke what happened.
What had happened was Kozake sets down his smoke and takes Hayashi's walking cane, telling him he would have killed him sooner had he realized what Hayashi had attempted with Mei.
He then, Kozake, then stabs Hayashi and leaves him to bleed out on the floor and goes to the woman.He tells her to pledge herself to him before she opens her eyes.And it's usually me who has all the time, so it's fine.
Well, 1030, I don't know.You were starting to take notes as I was doing my last one and I was like, oh nice.And it's revealed that the woman is Akane, not Mei, that is dressed in the wedding finery.From behind, Mei holds a knife to Kosuke's neck.
Oh no, it scrolled way up to the top.One moment, scrolling back.
And tells him sorry, but she has to. Thank you.Um, so this isn't in my notes.Um, but when you were saying shibusaki and it was like, I had to type that a lot.
Um, all I can think of is the hyenas in Lion King where they're saying, shibusaki, shibusaki, shibusaki. It's a tongue twister.
It really is.I felt like the trapdoor somehow is a meme that I was maybe forgetting about but like I figured you would remember.
I thought you might be tying it with the it's a trap.
Maybe that's probably what it is.
But also like trapdoors are like
everything like yeah how'd they get out a trap door maybe that's just what it is i was like i feel like there's something i'm forgetting here but either way it's genius like yay trap door very nice so the floor being looking like brick cracked me up i mean brick of a carriage i was kind of like oh but is it so i don't know but it made me think of i mean it could also just be like
just like how they were, yeah, or like how those, I don't know how those were constructed or whatever, but it cracked me up because it made me think of back when I was in elementary school, we lived in a different state and we had a flower bed that went the length of the house and the sidewalk, of course, went the front door and then the length of the flower bed till it got to the driveway that was on the right side of the house.
And the door was basically almost all the way to the left.So it was a long like sidewalk and my parents,
decided that they wanted it to look like brick but they didn't do brick yeah they did it's like a stencil like so you have paint like somebody comes out and says stencil and they spray the stuff down yeah and it's textured and looks like brick
But it's just sidewalk.Yeah.It's just annoying on your feet and they did the same thing on our back porch.And that's all I could think of because I was like, it's very vivid memory.Yes, because it was annoying to walk on.Anyways, also, um,
Good luck for them that it was snowing which leaves easy footprints to follow if they followed them quickly enough, which apparently they didn't But then the slanted panels when she was running through the halls really made it seem like she was rushing and almost like overwhelmed dizzy type of thing like losing your breath type of dizzy, so
I really appreciated that, like, mood creation for the rush it felt.
I agree.And with the face of the woman being hidden for this long, I knew at that point that it couldn't be Mae because it was very intentional.At that point I was kind of expecting it to be Rue, but I was like, yeah, I could see him doing this.
His mouth isn't quite feminine enough.That's true, yeah. But it was like, they were, the person was holding their arms up enough over their chest that I was like, I could see this being a man in disguise, like, hiding their form somehow.
It wasn't, but it's fine.And then it was just a lot of, ew, ayashi, boo.
And here is where I realized it was palenquin, palenquin.I don't know how you actually pronounce that because I've only ever read it, so.Yeah, that's fair.
I'm just impressed that you remembered that. And Hayashi is just still so gross, even maimed and crippled, like he has not learned his lesson.
And this is one of the few times that I really appreciated Kozuke because of the boundaries that he set very firmly with Hayashi.
He may be a criminal, but he's a criminal with standards.There we go.Thank you.
He is gray.On the lighter side of morally gray.Yeah, he just, Hayashi totally screwed himself over when he tried to assault Mei in front of Kozuke. I was like, teehee, you won't be around for long.LOL.And then the reveal of Akane, I was like, yes!So.
It's like that.See you never.Episode 113.Mei tells Akane to leave, that Rue should be close by, and Akane tells her to be safe before running off.Mei explains that they were prepared for Kozuke, even if his army was bigger than expected.
She has ten minutes to try and make a deal with him, since she still believes him to be a good man underneath. whatever else he is.I guess I didn't finish my sentence.I feel like it's a full sentence.Oh, okay.I was like, underneath what?
Hint of his facade.When she steps away from him, he turns and sees what she's wearing, immediately telling her to take it off. He tells her that he can't stand to see her wear the uniform of the soldiers that took everything from him.
Mae tries to reason with him, but he refuses to listen, telling her that she is betraying him by not running... that she betrayed him by not running to him after learning what Katsu did to him.When she tells him that...
that does not justify his actions.He tells her that she cannot tell him what justifies them because she wasn't the one captured, imprisoned, and tortured, but he turns away when Mei's eyes tear up after thinking of what he must have gone through.
He continues saying how he can't believe that they actually turned her against him while continually interrupting Mei's attempts to explain.Mei reasons with him using her pain from her brother's death.
Kozuke still won't listen and lays out a history where I forget his name.The Blood King.Whatever.The Blood King.The OG Blood King.
Didn't kill his family and he got to grow up a prince and meet Mei one day and still fall in love with her and marry her.Mei continues to try and get him to see a reason to stop the war but he keeps interrupting her and patronizing her.Patronizing?
I don't know.About being a pacifist.He then rips open the front of her uniform exposing the henna he painted her with before and tells her that he will take all that he wants by force if he must.
Akane's character development, like we've said multiple times, is so nice.Like, she's so much more brave than she was in the beginning, and it's nice to see her, like, putting that to work.
Like, seeing her character development and action that has not just been theoretical.
Yes.We love Akane. And I'm glad Mae never lost the heart of who she is and that she still trusts that Yuta slash Kozuke is a good person.But I was also equally glad that she was not an idiot and still had a dagger on her.
She's definitely come a long way with how naive she was at the beginning.Yeah. And Kosuke is so caught up in his anger and bitterness this whole time that he's just not even giving it a chance to listen to her.
Like she bought him ten minutes and he's like, must evil villain monologue about how much my life sucks and you don't understand.
And that everything would have been the same and been how I wanted it because life totally goes how you want it even if one circumstance did not occur.
Boo.Bleh. Um, I was, uh, I liked hearing Mae use the logic of her brother's death here to prove her point that we don't all need vengeance as well.
Um, he should know that he needs to hear her out before dismissing what he has to say.Like, and the, our pain is not the same, but our arguments are.That'll hit every time.
Yeah.Every time. And then it's like, okay, man, assault is not the way to win women over.Did we not already discuss this with Hayashi?
May is not property.I am not a prize to be won.That's Jasmine from Aladdin.There you go.Let's not move on.
We haven't had an Aladdin reference in a long time.
Um, it was what really infuriated me was the constant interrupting and then shoving at her and tearing her clothes.It's just ridiculous.Like, We have established, neither of them are the same person they were.
However, you should know her base character well enough to know that if she's talking about something, you better listen.
Episode 114.Mae tells Kozake she doesn't want to spend their last couple moments together fighting, and he tells her not to fight with him then, and forces a kiss on her, continuing to kiss her even while she shoves and pushes at him to get off.
She takes a chance and bites his tongue, which makes him stop and back off of her for a minute, which she takes advantage of to draw her weapon and get him away from her. mad that he's wasting the time that they have.
She continues to try and convince him, but he refuses to respond in a cooperative manner, refusing to listen to her pleas.When he hears that she's in love with Rue, his anger tips over to the boiling point.
and he tells her he is going to kill Rue and then take his time with Mei.She stops him again from leaving and telling him that she knows he's not this awful crime lord.His response is that he's not the same, and she tells him that she isn't either.
She asks Kozuke if there was ever a time when he considered Katsu a friend, and he tells her that that died the moment Katsu beat him with the whip, that Mei was the only thing he could think of when he was being tortured.
When Kozue says that he should have known she'd fall in love with someone less broken, she stops him by throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug.
And he is shocked but relaxes and finally lets himself cry for what he lost and what could have been.
At this point, Shibasaki opens the door to the room and tells them that the palace is surrounded and they've been given an ultimatum to surrender or start a war.Shibasaki, Shibasaki, Shibasaki.
Rue would absolutely understand and not blame her in that situation because in the beginning whenever Kozuke is like kind of forcing himself on Mei and forcing the kiss, Mei is like apologizing in her head to Rue.But I do think- It's so sad.I know.
Rue would absolutely understand and he would just rip off Kozuke's balls.
When you started that and you were like in your such matter of fact tone, I was like, And he would understand, and he would just rip them off.But then you have more, I was like, okay, that matches more of the tone I was expecting.
But yeah, he would definitely have no doubts about her.He wouldn't question it one bit.If he had walked in at that point and seen that, this story would not have ended the way it actually ended, because it would be not alive.It would be dust.
And Mei still has faith that Kozuke is going to do the right thing and listen to her.
And that takes so much faith in people and humanity to just believe that he's misguided and that he can make the right choice even after he just tried to force himself on her.
But I was like, okay, why is he so surprised that she fell in love?If he wasn't so obsessed with the past, he very well could have found his simple happiness that he explained out to her with someone and been in love as well.
And then it was, I just was more agreeing with Mae of, yes, you tell him.Why can't he see that if he isn't the same, then neither is she.
Yeah.I loved the speech bubble color change with Kozuke.Um, it was utilized very heavily throughout these episodes.And I was so glad we had these discussions earlier in the
show slash comic about what that meant, because it was really used a lot here.So, and you, it's used to see how much Mae actually does mean to Kozake, which I liked.
It's, I think they're such a good tool to help indicate the intent behind words, because there's sometimes, because this is something that Life Flight still does with Blood Reverie, and like there could be a really calm character
but their speech bubble's black and you're like, mm.You angry?Either you're very angry or you are very bad.Yes.Or you're both.
Um, the hug and the tears on Ko's case and oh, I loved it.
I really did.It was very heartwarming to see him allow himself to grieve.Yes.Cause that's probably the only moment he's actually stopped and like really, really fully thought about it in a sense of processing it.Yeah.It should be suck and ruined it.
Episode 115.Kozuke leaves and gives Mei a potentially final goodbye, telling her he hopes she can forgive him.Shibasaki throws her from him after Kozuke leaves, and she calls him a traitor.
He thinks back to the night where he was wounded fighting Kozuke's men, who also called him a traitor, and he had to go to Mei for medical assistance.
He finds himself noticing Mei in a way he doesn't want to, and tries to create distance by not looking at her much. Mei apologizes for mistaking him for Rue and telling him their hair is similar in the way they wear it.
Shibasaki thinks that Rue is tightening security around her and she has no idea that she is a pawn in all of this.
Mei continued to pry, trying to find out how he was harmed and why he approved of her joining the Corps, while Shibasaki wonders how he should play it since he's not the one who approved it.
Shibasaki tries to find a way to get her to stop asking questions, and he lands on being insulting before pinning her to the bed when she tries to grab his arm to stop him from leaving, telling her not to cross him again.
The next morning, when checking his wound, Shibasaki struggles to stop thinking about Mei when he remembers her comment about his hair and grabs a dagger.
I thought it was really interesting slash sad slash sweet to see Kozuke telling Mei before he leaves that he hopes that she can forgive him and seeing again that speech bubble color change there.
Too bad people don't have speech bubble colors in real life.I would love that actually.That would be so nice.It would.Although maybe it wouldn't be a good thing.Sometimes. There's a few times where I'm like, it's a good thing.
You don't know what my face looks like right now.Or like your text bubbles.Um, I actually really forgot that Shibasaki was kind of noticing how hot Mae was as well.
She's got the main character, poor peasant girl Riz.She does.And then it's also just like a man to get distracted by boobs.Also accurate.And like the cleavage that was visible was like so minimal.It was like the barest little line and he's like,
I'm gonna think about this for days.
Not the collarbone!But accurate.Regency era.
It was interesting to hear his thoughts and how they were a lot deeper in the situation than I realized in the beginning.
I remember appreciating getting his point of view after all of like with this because it helped explain more things and flesh out a side character that I really didn't care much for until it got to this point in the story.Yeah.
It was like, okay, so he wasn't just being a butthole the whole time.Yeah.He was like... There was a reason.There was a reason behind it.He was like... A triple traitor, basically.
Also, I just kind of finished out my notes, not looking at the last scene with the dagger, and then I was like, oh whoops, I made my comment a little too ahead of time. It's a reread, so it doesn't really matter.
But I forgot that Shibasaki was just petty enough to chop off all his hair based off of the comment from May.But then I was like, also that is not very clear that that's where this is going from the end of this episode.
So your last two bullet points had me LOLing, but I also kept thinking when I was reading this that I imagined it was because of what May said, because we didn't see this back when it was happening, just in the flashback.
So when we passed this point in the, like, the main part of the story, I was like, maybe I remembered wrong.Did I make this up in my head?No, I didn't.
Thank you for joining us this week for Our Tea is Steeping and My Dear Cold-Blooded King.So much fun, per usual.
And we hope that you join us next week for... When Joss E. Whistles!The series finale came out this past week. which is like three weeks previous for this episode.So by this point, the Q and A is probably out as well for Stiebelus.So.
And I think we said that we should be able to get through the end of it before I go on maternity leave.Yeah.So I think it's going to line up pretty good with your maternity, like right before that.
So.Very exciting guys.See you later.I was like, Oh, I got to hit the stop button.
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