When we last left our heroes...

[GodWilling]

823 is interesting. Vik and Miel are both identified as characters in that page. Adrian is getting this information from a representation of Echo that is "from Cherry's memory". How that works is anyone's guess, but we see Cherry apparently on her first visit to Jakob's apartment, then being shown the watch, so my guess is that it's her enslaved in the next panel, and then she's possibly telling Jakob what she knows about Erin, or identifying Erin as a suitable target for him. Whether that implies that Cherry was also there when Miel was greeted by Danielle is... who knows? But was Vik really there when Cherry was taken? Did that really happen? Vik was also in The Cloud with Cherry when this tale was being recounted, so might he have been influencing what Adrian was being told? I don't know. But if we take it at face value then it definitely gives us a link between Vik and Jakob, and might even explain why Cherry's monster came for Vik.

I believe a close examination of the chronology places us currently on Sunday 22 January. Mallory's calendar in 79 suggested the pole dancing would be on Saturday 28 January. We were advised early on that time in SJI is impressionistic, which I think translates as: don't examine the chronology closely.

[jwik01]

It's been an eventful couple of weeks! At the outset of the reread I thought I'd try to keep track of the calendar but then I figured there was a good chance there might be one or several timeskips, everybody goes to sleep Monday night and we see them getting coffee on a morning but it's actually a morning in March, that kind of thing.  But if the current date is Sunday the 22nd then Saturday the 21st has come and gone since Caitlyn started recruiting bodies for Astrid's party "on Saturday," and if the next Saturday coming is Poledancing Birthday Saturday, that conflicts with the general assertions that people are free "on Saturday" for Astrid's orgy, since the birthday plans predate it.  What makes the most sense to me is that the current day of the week is somewhere in the Tuesday-Thursday range, Astrid's party is on the next Saturday (so less than a week away) and Mallory's birthday party the Saturday after. 

There's basically two possibilities. Either what Echo conveys she saw is stuff that Cherry saw Echo see, which would certainly require her to have witnessed Echo witnessing Vikram's blowjob, or else what Echo conveys she saw is stuff that Echo, the real Echo who exists in a brainwashed state in NYC somewhere, saw and Cherry's magic conjuration of Echo's imago drew from the real Echo's memories. And yeah, that presumes that what Echo conveys is stuff that somebody actually witnessed, not stuff being made up on the spot by the Zenon monster or Cherry. 

My expectation is that everything shown on 823 did happen, and whether the actual source is Cherry's memories or Echo's memories is unimportant, but that's because it's what I would do if I were writing this story. Likewise, my guess about the days of the week and scheduling is based more on my sense of pacing than anything in the text.

[mns_95125]

I know Daphne says we shouldn't examine the timeline too closely, but I'm going to do it anyway along with my reasoning.  TLDR: I think it's Sunday, January 22nd, but there are a few things that don't quite fit.

• #1-#5: Date unknown.
• #6-#11: The following day, based on Adrian's being hung-over from the prior night's drinking.
• #12: Christmas day, based on the fact that Christmas gifts are being exchanged.
• #13-#78: Monday, January 2nd.  This is the Night of the Watch.  Danielle went to the clinic on this day, and in #79 the calendar has a marking on January 2nd that reads "Le clinique.  Merci, Adrian!".
• #79-#115: Wednesday, January 11th.  Mostly - this set may cover multiple days and contains elements that are very difficult to reconcile chronologically, particularly #79 and #97.  The first panel of #79 seems to be the day after the Night of the Watch, as it says that Derek "cleared out overnight".  The third panel indicates that Zenon is on vacation and Amy is sporting long hair.  The fourth panel has Jacqui in a distinctive yellow top, which she is also wearing in her later appearances in this range of the comics, implying that they take place on the same day.  The final panel of #79 gives us our first evidence locking events to specific dates.  Raven's upcoming visit to the Infirmary is Thursday, January 12th.  Jacqui and Danielle's stripper event is Saturday, January 28th, also confirmed by Jacqui in #82.
  
  #97 is hard to put into order.  Zenon has now returned from vacation.  #62 said he would be on vacation for "a week" back on January 2nd, which would imply he would be back by the 11th, except he wasn't as of the third panel of #79.  Amy cut her hair sometime between that panel of #79 and #97.  This suggests that #97 takes place on a later day than that panel of #79.  On the other hand, events in #99 are on the same night as #93, which seems to be on the same day as other parts of #79.  On the gripping hand, Amy has short hair when she shows up to sleep with Jacqui and Laura in #106, which is again on the same day as #99.  Basically the chronology here doesn't seem to make a lick of sense.
  
  My reaction here is to assume this day is Wednesday, January 11th, and that the minor things that don't fit can be ignored.
• #116-#144: Thursday, January 12th.  Amy refers to her threesome with Laura and Jacqui as "last night".  Raven goes to the Infirmary on this day, and the calendar from #79 refers to that being scheduled for the 12th.  This is more evidence supporting the belief that First Harem Night was the 11th.
• #145-#168: Friday, January 13th.  Danielle got her job at the airfield the prior day in #125 and is asked to "start tomorrow", and in #154 she is working and filling out new hire paperwork.
• #169-#227: Saturday, January 14th.  Events continue directly from the previous day.
• #228-#307: Sunday, January 15th.  In #202 Erin says "I have tech tomorrow" and in #167 Weston makes a reference to "tech on Sunday", and Erin goes to tech rehearsal in this comic set, so everything lines up.
• #308-#417: Monday, January 16th.  Events pick up where they left off, e.g. Miriam and Reka's discussion in #310 seems to follow directly from their tryst with Weston the prior night.
• #418-#517: Tuesday, January 17th.  Ezra came to town the prior night, Johannes and Einfreidur are still there.
• #518-#646: Wednesday, January 18th.  Q's comment to Kanti in #530 is clearly referencing the events of the previous day.
• #647-#688: Thursday, January 19th.  Amy and Hayley's dialogue in #649 and Caitlyn's reference to "last night" in #654 when she slept with Coates.
• #689-#747: Friday, January 20th.  Erin and Raven slept together the prior night and wake up together.  Erin also refers to Reka's "booty call", which would have been the previous day.
• #748-#990: Saturday, January 21st.  There is another temporal incongruity here.  In #754 Hitomi's phrasing of her invite to Amalthea implies that "Saturday" is in the future, but by my estimate it is Saturday.
   If we assume this is a reference to the following Saturday, that would put Astrid's party on January 28th, the same day as Jacqui and Danielle's stripper event.
• #991-: Sunday, January 22nd.  Adrian wakes up in bed with Miriam in #992, which locks this to the prior night's events.  Everything up to the most recent comic is on this day, although this comic set includes an extended flashback to 1986 and Kanti's dream sequence.

[jwik01]

Wow, laid out like that, even bearing in mind that of course we see the characters going to bed each night, I'm surprised at how short a time frame this takes place over, not even two full weeks for the bulk of events.

[GodWilling]

I'll just add that this:

I would caution everyone not to be too obsessed with exactly what the date in SJI is; the timekeeping is... impressionistic.

was in the thread for 86, roughly where you'd expect it to have been. As I've said before, I suspect it was realized that the fact that Zenon was supposed to be away for a week had been overlooked, and things had to be adjusted on the fly to make his re-appearance not be too early. The calendar appeared pretty much at the point where there was a break in the chronology.

[jwik01]

Am I wrong that Saturday seems to be double-booked with Astrid's orgy party and Mallory's poledancing birthday? Y'all have convinced me that the timeline hangs together much more closely than I gave it credit for, so that discrepancy is the only thing that sticks out.

[mns_95125]

My best guess is that both events are currently slated for January 28th, so there is double booking going on.  Perhaps the people doing the Astrid party invites just don't know about the pole dance party?  I'd have to go back and see who knows what.

[Sharque]

Is this an accurate chronology of events?

992-present is one day (Dani watch examination, coffee shop history lesson, Kanti dosed with Pink Clouds, searching for Dinah, sexcapades, Dani and Amalthea, Laura’s perfume incident [ongoing])
748-992 is one day (Cloud incident, Cherry fully healed, Zenon, Airport incident, other sexcapades)
689-748 is one day (beginning of the cloud incident, Dani begins recruitment, Aiken arrives
649-689 is one day (Miriam and Heidi, Adrian wants the truth from Rain, sexcapades)
518-649 is one day (Compton and the Twins, rehearsals, Miriam’s second ritual, tits and holes, saving Cherry, Coates and Astrid, Aiken is summoned, Dani’s promise)
417-517 is one day (Brother and Sister, Jakob flees, Dani and Julien, Vik shenanigans, Cherry’s wild creature)
301-416 is one day (Dani and the Watch, Fencing, Miriam’s first ritual, Airport drama, Adrian and Miriam)
227-300 is one day (Rehearsal, Rain gets the broken watch, Caitlyn and Dani vs Clouds, Cherry’s arrival, Jakob is alive, Miriam’s frustration)
195-226 is one day (Caitlyn and Pink Clouds)
169-191 or 192 is one day (Laura’s uncertainty, Hitomi and Coates, Dani hit by car)
144-168 is one day (Derek looking for Caitlyn, Reka and Weston with Erin)
116-143 is one day (Snowball fight, Raven and Erin, Kanti and Q)
79-113 is one day (Miriam’s arrival; Pink Clouds with Kanti)
13/14-78 is one day (Night of the Watch)
6-13/14 is one day (NY resolutions/Introduction of Zenon and Derek)
1-6 is one day (Adrian arrives in Kearsage)

Total 16 days from issue 1 to present day?

[Tony]

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