Saint James Infirmary 510: Incoming Message.

[Daphne]

[laguna85]

Mother calling?

[laguna85]

Red monster driving!

who the red head?
She have sex with her man

[Haight]

I like this hairstyle for Erin, too bad it's only in her dreams 

Apparently summoning magical murder machines gives you trippy-ass ones too. I suppose we'll find more out about this warlock-looking guy soon.

[GodWilling]

For what it's worth, what I make of this:

1. "I told her not to." Cherry in the woods with the summoned monster, I guess.
2. "She'd be pissed if she found out." Presumably the same she, so still Cherry. So Aiken(?) and Erin have a secret from Cherry. And there's some sex going on. Aiken(?) and Erin do appear to have been lovers. Did Cherry not know? Cherry was sexually interested in Erin, wasn't she?
3. "This is where you get off." Erin figures Cherry would indeed be pissed?
4. Adrian is a relatively passive character here. If Aiken(?) was the smirker, that always looked to be because he knew Erin was going to Wilmot before her other friends did. That could have been because she was going under his influence and direction. He has no problem with Adrian. (Although he does appear to have a problem shaving.) Perhaps Adrian is part of his scheme?

[Haight]

For what it's worth, what I make of this:

1. "I told her not to." Cherry in the woods with the summoned monster, I guess.
2. "She'd be pissed if she found out." Presumably the same she, so still Cherry. So Aiken(?) and Erin have a secret from Cherry. And there's some sex going on. Aiken(?) and Erin do appear to have been lovers. Did Cherry not know? Cherry was sexually interested in Erin, wasn't she?
3. "This is where you get off." Erin figures Cherry would indeed be pissed?
4. Adrian is a relatively passive character here. If Aiken(?) was the smirker, that always looked to be because he knew Erin was going to Wilmot before her other friends did. That could have been because she was going under his influence and direction. He has no problem with Adrian. (Although he does appear to have a problem shaving.) Perhaps Adrian is part of his scheme?

It's possible. I get the impression that Aiken seems fairly benevolent, but when there's a woman involved, even nice guys can get into fights...

[jmundt29]

As "the smirker" Aiken seemed the opposite of benevolent.  From the way he carried himself I assumed the summoning of the Red Thing was his idea way back when.  However, like Reka's boyfriend, he seems to have a caring side.  Frankly, I thought flame-haired Erin was someone else and "I told her not to" was a reprimand for something Erin did and as reprisal or consequence New Girl got a free pass to play with Adrian, but the Summoned thing put a stop to it.  Several bits of GW's theory seem much more plausible but confusing nonetheless.

[GodWilling]

272:-

Cherry: "Erin, we had talked about it."

Erin: "We had joked about it! Neither of us could have done that safely! Aiken said he couldn't do it!"

[jmundt29]

Two things.

1. Our introduction to the Missouri Circle was filtered through a guest artist.  It's possible I've been prejudiced against Aiken as something of a happenstance from the way I perceived the way he was drawn in that guest page and I let that impression set in concrete before we ever got back to him.  I do recall the exchange between Cherry and Erin.  There might be some question as to Aiken's tone during that exchange.  He could have been deadly serious (trying to get them to give up the idea) and that does seem like where we're heading at this point.  Or he could have been half-interested in the experiment.  Or he could have been snooty..."If I can't do it why would you think you could or should?" or he could have presented it as a challenge to both of them to see where it went.  The smirk on his face in the guest page led me down that road and I've been a very long time looking back for where I turned down the path.

[GodWilling]

It's still only supposition that the smirker and Bad Beard and Aiken are the same person, although it seems likely to me. The guest page art could certainly be misleading in terms of general appearance, although it's presumably Aiken pictured in page 276 and he looks like the smirker. I think the intention of the last panel of the guest page was simply to show that only one of Erin's friends already knew that she was going to Wilmot. It's not even that much of a smirk really. (And we can't see Erin's expression.)