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Volume 6 was really short.

[Volume Seven: Palimpest (Issues 542-612)]

Volume Seven: Palimpest (Issues 542-612)

Miriam meets with Reka and celebrates after successfully landing the job at the fish supply store. She asks Reka if she should trust Erin, and Reka suggests they go for coffee to discuss. At Over Roasted, Reka admits that Erin has always had secrets, but that she seems far more stable in the current circumstances than anytime Reka had known her before. She tells Miriam that when Erin is serious, she is serious, implying Miriam ought to trust her.

At the library, Miss Randall introduces Mallory to the Restricted Books Room, which will be one of her responsibilities once she takes headship of the library. When asked by Mallory how long it has been here, Randall remarks it may be older than the college. She also says that, with the room being below the water table, it can be flooded in the case of a serious emergency.

Following their impromptu romp, Compton chastises Laura for her careless handling of hazardous materials but seems unbothered at the tryst itself. After they’ve redressed, Hayley asks Laura if she is now planning on dating her professor as well. Laura asks if she’s jealous and apologizes, realizing that Hayley does genuinely like her, but for the time being is unwilling to commit herself to an admission of love. Amy interrupts their moment, demanding they come and help her with the overflow of students, as Zenon has still not shown himself and something seems to have happened to him. We learn that Kanti had called Amy to inform her of the disappearance of the doctor, whose house seems to have been broken into. She and Q then head to the location where police have found Vik’s vehicle.

At rehearsal, Erin and Reka strip to their knickers and playact their fight as Tybalt and Mercutio, Erin’s reasoning being that they need to run choreography in spite of the late costumer. Raven is coaxed into the toplessness with little effort, and Miriam, though reluctant, is coaxed likewise upon her arrival. She and Erin spar, rehearsing more of the fight choreography. As everyone else packs up for the night, Erin, Miriam, and Raven remain at the theatre. When Miriam confirms she is still up for the ritual, Erin tells her to strip fully.

Amy meets with Dani, who has brought the pendant, and they discuss the influx of female patients who are without their regular programming sessions from the absent doctor. They make plans to deprogram the various other patients Zenon had been abusing. When Hayley arrives, they hide the pendant, and Dani asks if Hayley ever had any sessions with Zenon. When she confirms she did have one, Amy covertly smiles. Laura eventually arrives, concluding a call with Kanti regarding Vik’s car as she enters to find the twins and Dani in bathrobes. The twins quickly don strap-ons and begin double-teaming Laura, with Dani’s assistance. As they do, Dani begins whispering sweet nothings in Hayley’s ear, suggesting they do this same activity sometime with Adrian. Hayley responds hesitantly that she will do anything, indicating they may have already used the crystal on her.

Kanti arrives at the gas station where Vik’s car had been found and speaks with the police. They have yet to find anything beyond a blood trail leading into the woods, and based on the findings in the car, they suggest he likely had some women with him, to Kanti’s dismay. Though she does not know this, we know from previous Volumes that the women in the vehicle were Amy and Laura, who helped Jacqui track Vik the night of Kanti’s abduction.

At an evening lesson with Rain, Adrian discusses the possibility of using the Watch on Cherry in accordance with Erin’s plan. Rain tells him he doesn’t need her permission and that she trusts Danielle on matters of the Watch. Adrian asks what will happen if they don’t, as well as what will happen if they do; Rain replies that Cherry will linger in her coma for some time and then die in the former case, and that she will become Adrian’s responsibility in the latter. Later, at home, he and Mallory prepare dinner for their guests. Caitlyn and Hitomi arrive in revealing garb and begin to acquaint themselves with him. Adrian regales them with some guitar, turning Hitomi on, and she and Caitlyn begin blowing him. They eventually transition to sex, and Hitomi begins asking questions about the harem, seemingly probing for information in accordance with what Imani, Coates, and Astrid have told her to do.

At the theatre, Erin, Miriam, and Raven have all fully stripped and are preparing to begin Erin’s ritual. Raven begins eating Miriam out while she and Erin kiss, and using the sexual connection, Erin transports herself and Miriam into Miriam’s mind. Within, they see dozens of fragmented crystals representing the repressed memories of Miriam’s programming. They press forward in spite of Miriam’s misgivings, Erin claiming she can pull them out at any time, and enter one of the memories, finding themselves in a high-rise apartment with towering windows, red furniture, a gloomy atmosphere, and a facsimile of Jakob, the lingering remnant of him left in Miriam’s mind. In Miriam’s memory, she recalls being with Meghan, who we have previously seen as one of Claudia’s emotionless servants and as a potential fashioner of the crystal for Jakob. Meghan of the memory is as blank as ever, merely droning out “tits and holes” as Jakob uses her to teach Miriam how to suck cock. Miriam begins to be pulled into the memory, and Erin attempts to stop her, but before she can react, she herself becomes fixated on the pendant. In spite of Miriam’s protests, Erin is entranced just as Meghan was and begins to mindlessly fellate the cock presented to her. The pendant appears before Miriam can react, ensnaring her as well; as she tries to offer her final resistance, Jakob claims he looks forward to erasing her mind like Meghan’s once his new invention (the Watch) is ready. Together, Miriam and Erin suck the phantom cock and recite the “tits and holes” mantra.
While the programming of the memory traps Erin and Miriam’s minds in the mental scape, their bodies respond to their new Master’s programming in the real world. They tackle Raven and, via Erin’s abilities, drag her mind into the memories as well. Nude and scared, Raven watches as Jakob deploys the pendant against Ashley (another woman we have seen in Claudia’s possession) before Miriam and Erin appear behind her and direct her own attention to the crystal. Raven resists even as the other two mindless women tease her tits, bend her over, and spread her pussy, but ultimately she too falls to the programming and becomes “tits and holes.” The memory of Jakob appears behind her, fucking her blankly smiling body, while Erin and Miriam flank her on either side on their hands and knees, and Jakob claims to be saving Miriam for something special.

At the Infirmary, Adrian is in the midst of his date with Caitlyn and Hitomi as the shenanigans at the theatre occur. Due to his lingering link to Erin and Miriam via the first ritual which unlocked Miriam’s memories, he is affected by their currently trapped psyches. His attitude becomes far more domineering and controlling, mirroring Jakob’s: he manhandles Caitlyn and Hitomi and refers to them as slaves, his tone casual and dismissive. While it is certainly still Adrian, we have never seen him so possessive, especially of girls which are not technically his own (as Hitomi is not).

Danielle, also a participant in the initial ritual, is similarly affected. While she does not fall to the same fate as the theatre troupe (mentally trapped while mindlessly masturbating in the dark), she does repeat the “tits and holes” motif and retrieves the crystal, which she overtly uses in a break from the four-girl fuckfest she has been enjoying with Laura and the twins to formally enslave Hayley to Adrian’s will. Encouraged by pillow talk from Amy and Laura, Hayley is programmed to love fucking Adrian, to do anything he wants, and to think of him as her Master.

Reka and Weston, who have been waiting for Miriam to text them, notice the time slipping away. When Miriam still hasn’t reached them by midnight, Reka decides to head back to the theatre to check on the girls. Before leaving, she calls Adrian to ask if he’s heard from Miriam or Erin, but leaves him a message when he is too busy fucking Hitomi and Caitlyn to respond. Upon reaching the theatre, she finds the heat on and stumbles upon the three entranced women, still masturbating with blank grins on their faces. Seeming to recognize fresh prey, Erin lunges for Reka and violently kisses her, drawing her into the memory trap as well. As did the other three she attempts to resist, but an enslaved Erin forces her to gaze into the pendant and she ends up as empty as the others. We see the Jakob facsimile training her to blow him before he orders his lineup of four to once more take to their hands and knees and begins fucking her. However, as “Jakob” says he has something for Erin to do, we see that he has shifted to Adrian, indicating that either the ritual or the Watch programming may be crossing the wires in Miriam’s memory to interfere with the original information.

Adrian takes a break from his brutal fucking of Hitomi and Caitlyn and calls Dani right as she finishes programming Hayley. He asks if the Watch has been rebuilt and is functional, and when she affirms so, he calls Julian, who has been using Patricia as a blowjob slave for over 100 issues at this point. Adrian agrees to make the deal, healing Cherry in exchange for Julian giving up Jakob’s location; something about the influence of Jakob’s lingering presence from the memories seems to have made Adrian more willing to take the risk posed. He tells Julian it has to happen that night and tells him to meet himself and Dani at the Infirmary in an hour, and to bring his crystal. He then goes back to Caitlyn and Hitomi, finishes his business with them, dresses, and meets Dani, who has arrived with the Watch. She apologizes, explaining Jakob did not trust her with the Watch’s switch settings, but Adrian seems to have an idea. They meet with Julian and head to the theatre.

En route, Dani explains at Adrian’s prompting that, while the crystals can induce a kind of powerful hypnosis with lingering suggestibility and effects, the Watch is capable of anything in terms of its suggestive power. Adrian seemingly quotes Jakob’s own words on the matter, having gained some insight into the man’s memories from the link to Erin and Miriam, much to Dani’s surprise. As he and Dani head inside, she mentions Jakob disappeared soon after the Watch had been completed, only using it on a few women such as herself. Inside, they find the four trapped women in a masturbatory tangle. Dani explains the “tits and holes” mantra as Jakob’s fetish, claiming he liked his women empty. Adrian has an idea for breaking the women out of their trance and orders Dani to strip. Dani does so hesitantly and allows Erin to pull her into the memory.

Inside the memory, Dani spawns wearing her classic French maid’s outfit and, seemingly, unassaulted by the memory’s power. She sees Reka being fucked by Adrian (who has fully usurped Jakob’s place in the memory) and awakens from her “tits and holes” trance by calling her Meghan and telling her to wake up. Dani says all they need to do to escape is to wake Miriam up, but Erin cannot feel a way out of the trap. Dani’s solution is to use the crystal to order Miriam into position, telling her that the Master is ready to take her. Both in the memory and in the theatre, Miriam asks Adrian to use her, and so he strips and does so. The pleasure shocks Miriam out of her trance, breaking the memory and freeing the ladies. Miriam realizes that Adrian is inside of her and, rather than reacting poorly, urges him on. However, he breaks off their coupling as Raven and Reka regain consciousness. Reka asks for explanations, noticing that Erin and Dani are still KO-ed, but using Julian’s pendant, Adrian instructs them to overlook the missing time, dress, and head home.

Still within the memories, Dani and Erin discover a memory of Jakob adjusting the switch settings; Dani comments that Jakob had made her forget them and excitedly says that they can use the Watch to help Cherry now that she has seen them once more. In the memory, Erin sees Echo clad in French maid-ware and asks if the Watch’s programming can be undone; Dani replies that it can be repressed, but it is all still there. The two escape the dream, awakening on the floor of the theatre. Dani collects her things as Erin asks if they are heading to the hospital. Adrian confirms that they are, but first presents Erin with a gift: a fully submissive Raven, courtesy of a few extra suggestions Adrian gave her, who addresses Erin as Mistress and asks if she can belong to Erin for real. Erin appreciates her gift and has Raven gather her belongings before bidding her goodnight; when she asks Adrian for an explanation, he points out that they have bigger priorities, and they head outside to rejoin Julian in the car and head to the hospital.

Reka and Miriam go home together, dismissive of their missing memories due to their pendant programming. Reka does suggest that she and Miriam double-team Adrian at some point, either because of lingering influence from the crystal in the memory, or because the lingering influence of Jakob caused Adrian to instill the idea in her with his own crystal. Together, they head upstairs to show Weston the time of his life.

With Adrian gone, Caitlyn and Hitomi fool around a little longer, before Hitomi suggests that they head to Coates and Astrid’s place, saying that they’ve been wanting to meet Caitlyn, and Caitlyn agrees.

STOP

“Palimpest” is the final “canonized” Volume of SJI currently categorized by the website, and it was properly released almost two years ago, with no additional volumes canonized in that time. While the cover pages for prospective new Volumes have made new appearances in the 1000s and beyond, with Cover 13 beginning during the early 1010s and Cover 19 currently still expanding on the years-spanning breast enhancement saga, the section of the comic we are about to enter only has one cover, Cover 12, which doesn't appear until the late 600s and would cover nearly 300 individual issues if taken as a singular unit. As such, I will likely proceed from here on out simply grouping the story by arcs/subarcs, rather than trying to codify my own volumes or titles, as they will surely become obsolete anyway.

Back on topic, “Palimpest” largely focuses on one evening: the evening of the theatre and its surrounding effects. While additional plot points are briefly mentioned, such as Miriam’s new job, Mallory’s new position, and Laura’s advisor Professor Compton entering the picture, the primary narrative centers on Miriam and Erin’s attempt to retrieve further information for the war on Jakob from within Miriam’s psyche. This arc is the first time the iconic “tits and holes” mantra makes its appearance, a calling card of Jakob’s unique style control which hallmarks the depersonalization and brutality for which he has become infamous. The lingering effects of the night at the theatre manifest themselves into the modern period as well, as an argument could reasonably be made that reawakening Jakob’s spirit within Miriam is the cause of the current chaos unfolding at Jacqui’s house from the 1200s to the 1500s (but we’ll get to that in due time).

The most immediate impact of Volume Seven is Adrian’s decision to go along with Julian/Erin and Danielle’s plan to use the Watch and heal Cherry. Given her healing at the end of this arc, and her presence in major events of the 800s and 900s, it is a decision with resounding aftershocks and implications.
More unknown in the present but theoretically eventually problematic is the final event chronicled, that of Hitomi luring Caitlyn into Astrid’s clutches. While we have not seen much explicit work done yet in this regard due to the boobtacular distractions currently unfolding, Caitlyn’s reprogramming through unknown and mysterious means by Astrid in the next section are theoretically setting her up as a Trojan Horse in Adrian’s own ranks, intent on slowly poaching the members of the harem and placing them in front of Astrid’s mysterious artifact. However, more cannot be said on this point currently, as Astrid’s plans have yet to be depicted in the serial and remain nebulous (beyond a bunch of sex-slaves, which is something of a given with this series).

Starter Marriage 4.1.37 released. Tons of bug fixes.

Hi, long time fan of the site (probably a decade at this point). Ive never posted on here. Im just worried about the lack of content. Any info would be appreciated. Also are there any other active forums for Daphne et Henri stuff? Would love to join the community. I hope this isnt the end. My yearly membership renews next year but I cant really justify it if theres nothing new. Most of the content on this site is incredible though, so worth it. My favourites are Waiting room and Persuader I think. So good. Hello to all and I hope everyone is doing well. 

I would love to see more than one comic this month if possible.  Two would even be acceptable at this point.  I'm sorry but as good as SJI & EU are I need more comics that are longer in page length

[Volume Five: Jakob’s Ladder (Issues 293-400)]

Volume Five: Jakob’s Ladder (Issues 293-400)

At Princess Pink, Kanti and Q reclothe themselves and are informed by Yves that township PD has called. Q wonders if it has something to do with his probation, but Yves surprises them by saying that they were asking for Kanti and that they need to get to Vik’s townhouse. We don’t see Kanti and Q again this Volume, but we do see Katie and Alex several issues later in the hospital being treated for exhaustion and hypothermia, so it is likely that Vik split after his confrontation with Julian and Adrian and left them behind.

At the Infirmary, the revelation of Jakob’s survival sends shockwaves through the main cast. Dani protests it is impossible while Marliese helps Mallory recover from the trying ordeal of calling upon the Baron. Erin and Adrian discuss her abilities, during which Erin is playful but evasive. She does however mention that Cherry apparently has a very particular, very dangerous power of her own. After examining flight paths along Jakob’s last known trajectory, the group comes to the conclusion that Jakob could have secretly landed his plane, which had been reported to have crashed. For safety, everyone at the Infirmary stays there for the evening, leading to passionate nights had by all. As Amy lies sleeping during the night, Dani notices that the crystal fitted into the ring Vik had given her bears a striking resemblance to the scallops.

Across town, on the same evening, Miriam spends several hours masturbating with a hitachi wand, seemingly very worked up and unable to sleep. The next morning, she gets coffee at Over Roasted and overhears Raven discussing Erin with Reka and Weston. She discusses the unusual relationship Jacqui has found herself in with the two, and they invite her back to their place. She accepts and nearly has sex with Weston, but cries out in protest as he is preparing to enter her. She explains to them she has some psychological block to having intercourse with a man, but she does have join in as Reka and Weston have sex, offering oral and accepting it from Reka in turn.

Hitomi, who has been exploring with Imani and Coates, finally meets Coates’ wife Astrid, still a nebulous figure even in the comic’s present run. However, given what we know about Astrid, it is likely this is the first time Astrid sinks her hooks into the cheerleader, which will lead to further shenanigans down the road.

Miriam drops in on fencing lessons with Reka and Erin, accepting a challenge from Erin and dueling her. She protests to Erin throughout the match that someone must have done something to her and the other members of Adrian’s harem. She suggests that Pink Clouds might be involved, thinking someone has used it on Jacqui, but when Erin informs her of Jacqui’s immunity to the formula, she breaks down suddenly. As they wash afterward, she explains she has memories of Q using PC on Jacqui, which is the only reason she informed on her mother. Erin asks Miriam if she trusts her, claiming that she can help Miriam remember what actually happened, and begins heading to the Infirmary with Miriam and Reka in tow.

At work, Dani calls Adrian and informs him that the ring crystal Vik had contains the same circuits as the scallops. She is interrupted from her call when she suddenly sees Kuppler company deliveries being unloaded in the hanger. She goes outside and begins to call her father, but eventually changes her mind and tearfully hangs up before she can be connected to him. She then calls someone and asks to speak with Johannes Kuppler, Jakob’s brother, to inform him of her survival.

As mentioned previously, Marliese looks over Alex and Katie at the hospital after their abandonment by Vik. She prepares to call Laura so the girls can be given the antidote, but Rain appears and stops her, saying they can use Alex and Katie to find Vik.

Johannes, taken utterly off guard by Dani’s call, decides to fly into Wilmot to meet her in person. He informs his secretary Angela to search for a plane for him. As he leaves, she pulls out a phone and calls someone, eventually revealed to be Jakob, that Johannes has been told of his survival by Dani.

As she heads to the Infirmary, Erin is called by a panicking Danielle, who doesn’t know how to react to the news of Johannes’ imminent arrival. Miriam overhears the name Kuppler and reveals she knows Jakob as a client of her lawyer father’s. Erin abruptly changes course and drags Miriam to the record store. Despite the awkward atmosphere, she drags Adrian and Jacqui into the back room and begins having sex with them to charge herself up for a ritual to recover Miriam’s missing memories. Dani arrives, and the group persuades a skeptical Miriam to join them in the back and strip for the ritual. As they do, Jacqui calls her ex-husband, Ezra, and informs him he needs to come to Kearsarge due to Jakob’s reappearance.

Cherry and Julian stop for gas at a gas station. At the station, Julian uses a crystal pendant to hypnotize the attendant into not having to pay for gas and supplies. He leaves her on her knees with a card for a “free blowjob with purchase” beside her, because he’s terrible.

At her safe house, Claudia is shocked to hear that Johannes Kuppler has called for her, having thought the family did not even know of their existence. She wonders, if Johannes knows about them, if there might be a way out of their situation, and summons Derek, ordering him to intercept Johannes when he lands at the airport and to check on Zenon, who has stopped answering her calls.

In the mindscape brought on by the ritual, Erin helps Miriam recover her memories. While she believed that she and Q had had sex, in reality, she had caught Q with a PC-dosed Katie and had been dosed herself. At some point, she had met both Jakob and Dani, and Jakob had used one of the crystals on her. Contrary to her original story, Jacqui didn’t see anyone distributing PC, but was rather told by Yves about the distribution. She was then programmed by Jakob to keep her from revealing the truth. He sent Miriam to find one of the scallops for him, while Yves removed her memories that he and Sawyer were the ones dealing in PC, replacing those memories with Jacqui. Dani says that Jakob sent her to find another scallop as well, claiming he only had one whole one. Miriam claims Jakob had programmed her to save her cunt for him, hence her earlier freakout when attempting to have sex with Weston, and that he used a scallop fragment to make the pendant. Dani reveals (though without much explanation), that she sabotaged the Watch, and the ritual ends.

Dani now remembers that she found the scallop in the Wilmot steam tunnels, and she, Erin, and Adrian head there to recover the others; Adrian calls Caitlyn to meet with Johannes at the airport in Dani’s place. Miriam explains her false memories to Jacqui, and the two tearfully reconcile. When the reach the tunnels, Erin comments that Dani’s accent had changed; for her part in the ritual, Dani has recovered her own suppressed memories of her time as Jakob’s possession as well. They prepare to disassemble the mechanism containing the scallops, but stop to have sex first. Afterward, they discover that of a possible twelve scallops, four are still present in the device, much to their alarm.

While Miriam and Reka take a spin in the back room to work off the excess arousal lingering from Erin’s ritual, Ezra arrives and exchanges greetings with Jacqui. Afterward, they and Miriam go to Over Roasted, where Ezra eventually agrees to violate attorney-client privilege and tell them what he knew about Jakob, giving in when Miriam reveals that she was one of his victims.

Caitlyn awaits the arrival of Johannes at the airport but sees Cherry and Julian also there. She arms herself with a pistol and approaches, and when they claim they work for Johannes, she asks if they are certain they don’t actually work for Jakob. Julian cuts her off by brandishing the pendant. When Derek arrives and accosts them, they offer him a pliant Caitlyn to distract him as they prepare to intercept Johannes; Julian reveals that his pendant was Zenon’s, meaning he and Cherry were the ones responsible for the break-in a few Volumes ago rather than Marliese and Rain. They greet Johannes and his pilot, Einfríður, and prepare to escort them away. Caitlyn, due to the priority of the Watch programming, is able to shake off the crystal’s influence and holds Derek at gunpoint before tying him up. When she reappears and Julian tries to subdue her, she kicks him in the face. He attempts to draw his gun but is held at gunpoint by Einfríður. They confiscate Zenon’s pendant and are preparing to restrain the two before Cherry lashes out with some sort of power and summons a red being of energy, which wounds Einfríður. Caitlyn and Johannes find that guns seem ineffective against it, so Caitlyn refocuses and fires for Cherry herself, striking her in the torso. They manage to flee before the creature can recover, though it is seen active in spite of Cherry’s incapacitated condition, meaning it is now out in the wild. For their part, Julian attempts to get Cherry to a hospital as she loses consciousness. Sidenote: This marks the last time that Derek has been seen in the story other than a flashback. While Claudia does call him when he finally escapes his bindings, he has not been seen in the flesh since.

Adrian, Erin, and Danielle discuss the scallops. According to Dani, they act as both power source and filter, able to lock into and change a person’s thoughts when properly focused in such forms as the crystal or the Watch. In spite of Cherry’s previous claims that he knew nothing, Dani says that he understood the scientific theory behind the scallops very well, but needed someone like her to realize the ideas.

Between Ezra, Johannes, Dani, and some narrative magic, we get a short glimpse behind the curtain as Jakob himself breaks the fourth wall to reveal some of his history. He apparently taught at Wilmot, which is where he discovered the scallops and began using them to take advantage of female students and faculty. We see that, for some reason, Rain at one point gave him the shattered fragments of one of the scallops, implying she is the one who made him first aware of their existence. Following his teaching career ending in a coverup of some scandal (hushed up by his father’s money), Jakob went into the family business of jewelry with a focus on timepieces. Simultaneously, he was researching the scallops and used one of the fragments to create the crystal, which we see him using to build his original harem. Among their number is Claudia, her maid Meghan, and Dani herself, whom he uses to create the Watch. Apparently, however, eventually his behavior became bad enough that his father’s money could not continue to cover up his dalliances, so he moved on. His narrative ends here, but it seems this is the point where he faked his death and went into hiding, his current precise whereabouts unknown.

At the Infirmary, Dani and Einfríður try to pinpoint Jakob’s possible location while Johannes speaks of Jakob with Erin, Mallory, and Adrian. He claims he needs proof of his brother’s faked death beyond Danielle, which they do not currently have. He does say that Julian has a history with the Kuppler family and expresses slight bemusement at the harem situation. Ezra, Miriam, and Jacqui arrive, and Ez and Johannes begin to discuss the potential fallout of Jakob’s survival. Johannes and the group identify a potential shell company in Claudia’s name which Jakob may be using to launder his funds while “dead.”
Dani eventually uses the crystal on Einfríður in secret, wishing to coax her into having sex with Adrian. Adrian offers to walk Miriam home, and she heads upstairs to get her coat, walking in on Dani and Erin using the crystal. They turn its power upon her without hesitation, priming her to make a move on Adrian as well. Sidenote: From the beginning, girls affected by the Watch’s programming seem to have an affinity for not only serving Adrian, but expanding the harem to as many other women as possible. Perhaps a lingering recruitment strategy for Jakob to swell his ranks? Who is to say?

Adrian walks Miriam home as Johannes and Einfríður settle in to stay in the Infirmary for the evening. Despite her protests to Jacqui’s relationship, Miriam seems willing to accept that Adrian may not be bad for her mother. She also, in spite of not wanting to invite Adrian in, aggressively kisses him on her front porch in accordance with the suggestions Dani and Erin laid in her mind. She begins to proposition him, but Adrian gently turns her down. Embarrassed, she apologizes, while he assures her it is fine, blaming her actions on the memory ritual (which linked the physical sensations of its users for a time afterward). He asks if someone can stay with her, and she prepares to text Reka.

Claudia is called by Derek and, upon being informed that the crystal did not work on Caitlyn, realizes with horror that the Watch is in the wild. She frantically orders him to recover it from Adrian, but as previously mentioned, we do not see Derek again, so he may have simply skipped town.

At the Infirmary, the girls prepare an orgy as they wait for Adrian to return, inviting Laura, Hayley, and Marliese to come and join the fun. When Jacqui double penetrates Dani, Erin, Adrian, and Miriam all react, their arousal linked to hers via the ritual. This results in Adrian and Miriam, in spite of their previous reluctance, throwing themselves at each other and frantically disrobing within Miriam’s apartment. Inside, Miriam enthusiastically consents to sex with Adrian, and right on cue, Reka appears with condoms handy. She calls Weston and gets his permission to participate in the festivities, and then Miriam and Adrian prepare for intercourse. Despite her warning that it has never worked for her before, Adrian successfully penetrates Miriam, claiming her virginity; whatever happened during the ritual seems to have broken Jakob’s restriction on her having sex, and she throws herself into it with gusto. The Infirmary crew is informed by Erin and Dani, who sense the moment through the link, of Miriam’s cherry being popped. Jacqui reveals (surprise surprise) that technically, this is an act of incest, as she had sex with Adrian’s father in college, making him and Miriam half-siblings. She swears them to secrecy, and the orgy continues, Einfríður descending the stairs and joining the fun.

Eventually, Adrian must leave. On his way home, Rain approaches him and sardonically comments that “Zeus would have approved.” He informs her of Jakob’s survival, of which she seems aware (in retrospect, it is likely the Atlas clock was some sort of message from Jakob to Rain that he was alive, though how that might have been communicated is unclear). She walks Adrian home and talks with him about “Odysseus, and how to win impossible battles.” She tells him of the sin of hubris, punished by the gods themselves for the arrogance displayed therein, and informs him it is his duty to keep Jakob’s hubris from being repeated. Adrian vulnerably asks her if he and Erin would have been together in spite of the Watch, and Rain confirms she had feelings for him before the fateful night. Adrian bids her good night and returns home, to find his harem of eight (plus Hayley, who is noncommittal, and Einfríður, who is eager thanks to Dani) awaiting his selection.

STOP

Cherry’s wound at the hospital will result in her being stuck in an extended coma, which leads to much of her remaining screentime being in the hospital before the events of issues 770ish-920ish. Julian, in desperation to save her, will eventually approach Adrian and his women with a possible deal, to be covered in subsequent Volumes.

Johannes and Einfríður’s entry signifies the heightening of the stakes. Jakob is alive, and now people to whom that information would greatly matter are privy to it. The investigation into his whereabouts will persist into the modern day in the real world, as he has yet to be located, and will involve all the players, from Adrian, to the Kuppler family, to Julian, to Claudia.

The recovery of Zenon’s pendant by Caitlyn from Julian at the airport will also lead to more shenanigans, especially when Hitomi’s exposure to Astrid’s currently mysterious powers eventually leads her to rope in Caitlyn, and possibly Danielle and the twins, into reconditioning all of Zenon’s former patients. The SJI women do so under the pretense of gifting Adrian more sexually obsessed women, though Astrid’s own goals are currently far less clear.

It kinda did feel like a panel was skipped

It's unclear whether this was intended to be 1536 or if 1536 was skipped. I could see the previous page leading directly into this, I could also see one page in between of Adrian solidifying influence over Miriam. I'm pretty sure the title "In the Zonev" contains a typo, though.

What happened to issue 1536?

yes what happened with 1536 ? I'm with you

What happened to issue 1536?