Saint James Infirmary 580: Sudden Opportunity

[Daphne]

[mns_95125]

We've seen the Erin/Miriam thread and the Adrian thread.  This looks like the Danielle thread.  We've got the mind-link trifecta.  Good call by Godwilling.

[GodWilling]

I'm so rarely right that I reckon it's more likely that Miriam has a memory of Jakob telling Dani what he wanted her to look like, and Raven has acted on it.

[mns_95125]

I'm so rarely right that I reckon it's more likely that Miriam has a memory of Jakob telling Dani what he wanted her to look like, and Raven has acted on it.

This time, you were right.  Now that the mind-link has pulled everybody in, I hope we're ready to move on to the next phase, whatever that is.

[GodWilling]

I was just remembering that idea I put forward that Erin might have changed Miriam's memory of events, so that the man they were all calling Master was actually Adrian rather than Jakob. Well, all the right ingredients were there...

I hope we're ready to move on to the next phase, whatever that is.

I'm hoping that moving on to the next phase won't just mean someone putting all this right by clicking their (her) fingers. I'm certainly interested to see more of how Evil!Adrian goes. Is this another demonstration of Caitlyn's knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

As I may already have failed to keep to myself, I'm very keen to know why Hitomi is there while this is happening. Unlike Caitlyn, she isn't obliged to do whatever Adrian commands. But does that mean she's there to save Caitlyn or to make things worse? (Is it wrong of me to hope it's the latter?) And does Adrian know where the watch is? (Let's hope Dani hasn't got it.)

Yeah, if moving on means fixing this then I'm not ready yet.

[mns_95125]

As I may already have failed to keep to myself, I'm very keen to know why Hitomi is there while this is happening. Unlike Caitlyn, she isn't obliged to do whatever Adrian commands. But does that mean she's there to save Caitlyn or to make things worse?

I'd be surprised if Hitomi had been sent explicitly to deal with this situation.  I don't see how anyone could have predicted this would be going down in advance; Erin's dialogue strongly suggests this is an accident.

From a dramatic standpoint, I'm hoping that Hitomi is there to illustrate how Evil!Adrian has changed, by serving as his first victim.  She asked him how one joins a harem.  I can see him answering her question by saying "I'll show you" followed by the Watch dropping into scene.  If Hitomi was sent to infiltrate the harem and Evil!Adrian learned of it after reprogramming her, that could also lead to a harem war that might even persist after Regular!Adrian returned.  Regular!Adrian has shown a tendency to rescue women from mind control before; what would he do if he found out Coates and Astrid were trying to collect the entire cheerleading squad?

[GodWilling]

So now I've got an image of Evil!Adrian using the watch to enslave Hitomi and then Regular!Adrian hopelessly waggling his hypnocock in front of her to try to retrieve the situation.

I don't see how anyone could have predicted this would be going down in advance; Erin's dialogue strongly suggests this is an accident.

Well, accidents will happen.

Erin turned on the bell tower equipment apparently by accident. As a result (I think we think), Hitomi wound up in bed with Coates and Imani, met Astrid, and is inside the SJI now with instructions to do... something. And by that I don't just mean this is all Erin's fault.

Rain apparently has access to a live-action version of Google Earth. Erin and Cherry can make monsters out of blood. Who knows what Astrid can do? (And I'm taking "I'm sure she'd love to meet all of them" in 446 to mean it is Astrid.) My biggest fear about Astrid is that she'll turn out to be one of Rain's sisters - or Polly's sister, or whatever.

Dramatically, it feels wrong to me that Hitomi would be sent in and then be taken by Adrian before we find out why she's really there. It's not impossible, obviously. But it just feels messy. I'm also not sure where you go with a character who's been given the "tits and holes" programming using the watch.

[mns_95125]

Well, accidents will happen.

They happen, but they're also inherently unpredictable.  I just don't buy the timing.

Dramatically, it feels wrong to me that Hitomi would be sent in and then be taken by Adrian before we find out why she's really there.

I think it also works for Adrian to take Hitomi and learn about her mission as a consequence.  "Um, Master, there's something I really ought to tell you about how I was trying to steal your slave Caitlyn..."

I'm also not sure where you go with a character who's been given the "tits and holes" programming using the watch.

True, if that programming leaves them mindless.  As I said elsewhere, I hope that the T&H programming is a form of clearing the deck in preparation for rebuilding a new, more useful personality out of the left-over bits of the old.  Miriam seems to have received crystal-based T&H programming but was still pretty mindful afterwards.  There's apparently a difference between the T&H programming we've seen to date and actually erasing someone's mind as was done to Meaghan and (probably) Echo; at least, Jakob's dialogue in #571 indicates that.

[raven]

We haven't seen Mallory, Jackie, or the nurse. Mallory might actually be able to resist it considering her library wards. That being said, I hope not for a while.

[GodWilling]

They happen, but they're also inherently unpredictable.  I just don't buy the timing.

Adrian leaves the memory of Echo behind him, and finds himself sharing a house with Dani - another of Jakob's thralls. Then he gets a job working for Jacqui, the mother of the half-sister he never knew he had. All I'd say is I'm never confident calling anything an accident in this comic.

None of which is to say this isn't just an accident.

"Um, Master, there's something I really ought to tell you about how I was trying to steal your slave Caitlyn..."

Do you actually think Hitomi is trying to steal Caitlyn? People keep presenting it that way and I don't get it. Hitomi has all the access she needs to Caitlyn at home. And we've had intimations that the seduction of Caitlyn has been working - she appears to trust Imani and Hitomi, and take their sexual interest in her to be natural enough (which I admit it is).

What Hitomi has been asking Caitlyn for though is an introduction to Adrian. And clearly she and Imani are following a plan in that regard. I could see that plan simply being to infiltrate the harem to gain inside information, but Caitlyn's already in it, and she's hardly what you'd call a reticent person. On the other hand, Hitomi has mostly been asking questions about the harem this evening - including how to join it.

One obvious idea that makes sense to me is that they're after the watch. Another is that there's a team combatting the abuse of mind control at Wilmot and they're investigating the SJI harem. Which could make this a bad time for Adrian to start acting like a bastard. I'm not sure what the mantis squad would do to the head of such an abused harem.

That being said, I hope not for a while.

I thought this was going to last a couple of pages. I'll be quite happy now if it isn't "resolved" by 600.