Saint James Infirmary 626: By Invitation Only

[Daphne]

[macavity]

RSVP

[Haight]

Was Cherry not a bad person before she got messed with? Somehow I don't believe that...

[jmundt29]

Agreed.  Also, there's another weird thing.  Shade Jakob seems to be talking and thinking like Quip Shirt.  We have limited experience of Jakob's syntax and thought process, but it's different than this.  Could this actually be a remnant of Quip Shirt camouflaging to intimidate Erin?

[Haight]

Agreed.  Also, there's another weird thing.  Shade Jakob seems to be talking and thinking like Quip Shirt.  We have limited experience of Jakob's syntax and thought process, but it's different than this.  Could this actually be a remnant of Quip Shirt camouflaging to intimidate Erin?

Is Quip Shirt the be-ponytailed member of Erin's D&D group from her youth? That'd be interesting.

[jmundt29]

Yup.

In fact that's a chunk of Erin's last conversation with him that Shade Jakob is referencing to make his point.

[Haight]

Yup.

In fact that's a chunk of Erin's last conversation with him that Shade Jakob is referencing to make his point.

What page is that on?

[jmundt29]

What?  This page.  Panel 4.  He's replaying her memory of that Skype conversation.  When did they Skype?  Oh...man.  I'll look.

[mns_95125]

If this really is a fragment of Jakob (a Jakobite?) then its ability to casually pull stuff out of Erin's mind has some disturbing implications.  Erin's spell is designed to transfer Cherry's injuries to Erin, where they can subsequently be healed.  If the spell sees what Jakob did to Cherry as an injury... Erin may wind up with Jakob inside her.  (Phrasing!)

[Haight]

What?  This page.  Panel 4.  He's replaying her memory of that Skype conversation.  When did they Skype?  Oh...man.  I'll look.

Wait, that's the same guy? I thought the LaVey lookalike wasn't the same dude as the ponytailed gamer.

[GodWilling]

Aiken.

Aiken.

His name is Aiken.

Aiken.

Anyway, I love the tree roots theme of this page.

Jakob's eyes have changed colour. But maybe Erin's never seen his eyes. Although that would suggest he's a figment of her imagination rather than an actual presence in Cherry's head.

Or maybe it's that dreamscape lighting.

This doesn't appear to be a trap. Not the kind I want anyway. I know it's vitally important to the story but I don't really care if Cherry lives or dies. But Erin's going to want to save Cherry if Jakob's telling her not to. So presumably she shouldn't.

[Foxrun]

If this really is a fragment of Jakob (a Jakobite?) then its ability to casually pull stuff out of Erin's mind has some disturbing implications.  Erin's spell is designed to transfer Cherry's injuries to Erin, where they can subsequently be healed.  If the spell sees what Jakob did to Cherry as an injury... Erin may wind up with Jakob inside her.  (Phrasing!)

I hope mns is right. I've been saying for a while that something needs to happen to make Adrian take the offense instead of moping around sad because he has beautiful brainwashed slaves. I think having him lose Erin to Jakob would be a perfect kick that this story needs

[jmundt29]

So you should like the Jakadrian whiffs and stretches we seem to be getting recently.

While Adrian being more aggressive about defense and harem expansion would and will be entertaining, losing Erin either permanently to the nightmare of the Kupplers or temporarily so that warring over her leads to her early and possibly grisly death is just depressing.  It's Dice Roll #2.  And while I hate Dice Roll #1, #2 is the worst future iteration we've seen played out so far.

#1 is depressing and perhaps a little glum in its Walter Mitty outside-his-head existence, but the second is actively horrible.  Erin is dead and Adrian is debilitated and possibly fatally wounded.

[GodWilling]

Wait, that's the same guy? I thought the LaVey lookalike wasn't the same dude as the ponytailed gamer.

He was the one who didn't have a ponytail in the guest page (g2).

The guest page would appear to serve little purpose unless the buxom wench is Cherry, the Dianic thing on Wednesday is at least the kind of event where Cherry might summon a demon and get herself hurt, and the guy in the black t-shirt is someone who's closer to Erin than any of the others are. (And there's perhaps a suggestion that he was somewhere between guiding and manipulating Erin.)

256 confirms Erin was indeed in a relationship with someone who bought her what appears to be the ceremonial blade whatsit that she used in 198. And that person wasn't a buxom wench.

The Dramatis Personae page (which ignores guest pages) gives 483 as the first appearance of Aiken.

But 276 would certainly appear to imply that that's Aiken with Cherry in hospital. There he certainly looks more like the guy in the guest page. And frankly, using a picture of Cherry with someone who wasn't Aiken to illustrate a scene where Cherry talks about discussing Erin with Aiken, would have to be considered serious misdirection.

[Daphne]

Yes, that's Aiken in #276.