We, as players. have the advantage of seeing things that the MC doesn't necessarily see.
Anyone that's really paid attention will understand that Janie is exceptionally talented and very ambitious, yet humble and self-effacing.
Seo Jun, Trevor, and Prof. Williams all understand how ambitious Jamie is, and Impious Monk uses them and Jamie to convey that ambition to the player.
Jamie finished top of her class at Harvard and fresh out of college she clerked for a federal judge on the Circuit Court of Appeals and then clerked for a Supreme Court Justice in Washington DC. How many law students in the US get to clerk for a SC Justice?
Day 9
Group at the bar acknowledge that Jamie could be a Supreme Court Justice one day.
Day 24
Rockford/Jamie date at Sushi restaurant: Rockford asks Jamie her long term plans. Jamie: 1. loves being an ADA, but there's other things she'd like to achieve in her career 2. she wants a Federal Bench, but she's probably 10 years from being able to seriously think about that. 3. She's thinking about applying to be an adjunct professor for evening law class at El Valiente Community College. Jamie WARNS Rockford: "John, getting what I want might mean leaving Valeria County." Rockford goes, Oh!
Day 33
Seo Jun/Jamie at Café: Seo Jun [about Jamie being ADA]: "You're too ambitious for this job, Jamie. Unless you want to run the office one day."
Day 42
Jamie's home: phone call: Prof Williams: "And a career as a local prosecutor and an adjunct professor at a local law school would be a good path for a lot of people. But I think you belong on a bigger stage." Jamie: "I hope so. I'm enjoying what I do now. But let's see what the future holds." Prof Williams: "The future is now, Jamie."
Jamie understands the dynamic of her relationship with Rockford and knows full-well (from Seo Jun) how emotionally unfulfilling an actual intimate relationship with Rockford might be.
Day 17
Rockford's tells Sean/Donna-Lee his reasons for not feeling romantic about Jamie: 1. They're just friends. 2. He still sees her as just a kid. 3. Her parents think he's a pedo. 4. She's a Carrington.
Day 24
Rockford/Jamie date at Sushi restaurant: Jamie: "This is the first time you and I have ever been out alone."
Day 33
Seo Jun/Jamie at Café: Jamie: "I did have a crush on him. For so long. But I'm afraid he'll always think of me as Trevor's kid sister."
Day 33
Seo Jun/Jamie at Café: Seo Jun: "So you're over him?" "Jamie: "I don't know. I still have feelings for him, but I'm staring to think that maybe it's time for me to grow up and move on. If that's what needs to happen, then I'll accept it. But he'll still be an important part of my life. I'll always care about him as a friend." Seo Jun: "And if he comes to you tomorrow and professes his love?" Jamie: "Then we will immediately engage in 72 straight hours of raucous lovemaking." [players should understand that Jamie's last statement was made with nothing at stake and without the knowledge she'd soon face a difficult choice between career and Rockford]
Day 38
At Cinema, Trevor [to Jamie]: "You know, if you are still planning to bed and wed [Rockford], the last thing you should be doing is asking him to treat you like a sister." Jamie: "I know."
Day 45
At the Carrington Estate: Trevor: "Why haven't you told him about the offer?" Jamie: "Because I want it to be my choice." Trevor: "And if you know that if [Rockford] wanted you to stay, you would." Jamie: "He wouldn't ask me to stay. You know he'd never ask that." Trevor: "I didn't say he'd ask you. But you know that telling him you're leaving might be the only way you're ever going to find out how he really feels about you. You know, I think he really has changed over the last year. He's more open. More emotionally trusting." Jamie: "It's his sister." Trevor: "It's not just his sister, Jamie." Jamie: "How can I think about leaving him, Trevor, with all the growth he's made?" Trevor: "You can't make a decision like this based on hope placed in an unrequited love." Jamie: "It's not that, it's... I wanted to be his friend. I wanted to be here for him. I wanted to show him the value of really opening himself up. Instead it's the same old pattern for him. He allows himself to care about someone and he ends up alone and hurt. How can I do that to him again? Of all people, how can I be the person who proves he was right all along to keep us away?" Trevor: "You're not abandoning him. This isn't the 18th century, Jamie. Rockford will always be just a phone call away. Besides, you have to make the choice that's best for you, not for him. I know you already know that. Just like I know you've already decided what it is that you really want."
Jamie understands that she has a crush on Rockford, puppy love if you like. That doesn't mean she doesn't love him deeply in a platonic sense. Rather, she started to wake up to the fact that some fairy tale romance with Rockford might just be a pipe dream.
With this in mind, why would Jamie drop everything and abandon/put on hold her career goals - given her ambition - just because Rockford's had a couple of weeks of opening up [bearing in mind it took him a fucking year of working with Jamie to get that far]? That's straight-up AVN porn logic at play that frustrated players blame on "bad writing."
On a positive note, let's hope Trevor's statement, "But you know that telling him you're leaving might be the only way you're ever going to find out how he really feels about you" has some significance going forward. As much as I hope it does, I doubt it. Things are likely to get a bit darker in Rockford's world over the next couple of chapters before they get brighter. Anyway, it's going to be a wild ride...
