Saint James Infirmary #833: “Happy Returns”

[Daphne]

Written by: Daphne • Inks: Plutonian Knight • Colors and Lettering: Octavia Moon

[lifmcs]

Either Erin is about to make a move, or Erin is about to make her move.

[mns_95125]

Assuming that Erin is the one speaking that last line of dialog.  That's the most likely case; the outside chance alternative is Vik, who was last seen setting out to look for Cherry and who probably has control over the pink tentacles.  But given that we saw a tentacle probing Cherry's foot while Vik was otherwise occupied, Erin is the more likely.

[GodWilling]

What I've been hoping for since Vik set off to find Cherry is that if Erin attempts to take control of the situation, it will be stymied by Vik.

If we continue to follow the rotation then Vik should be up next. But perhaps these two threads are in fact about to merge, which is keeping my hopes alive.

All we need then is for Aiken to start to intervene only to killed by Adrian landing on him from a great height - itself a fatal fall.

[mns_95125]

LOL.

Maybe we get Erin and Vik allying to take down Cherry, followed by a round of mutual backstabbing.

[GodWilling]

I'd see Erin being taken (in such a way that we believe it's actually happening) as the hottest outcome. So I'm hoping that this is Vik's domain and that he is master of it. Of course it seems unlikely that Vik is master of anything, but I'm intrigued by that panel in 823 that shows what could be him being pleasured by a leashed Cherry. Vik has some issues with Adrian, so it is just possible he might relish taking Erin.

On the other hand it is just possible that I'm going stir crazy. We have been in The Cloud for about four months now, after all.

[mns_95125]

I'm intrigued by the possibility of a link between Vik and Jakob.  I've always wondered about the ring that Vik gave to Amy after he dosed her with Pink Clouds.  It has that red glow we see from scallop-derived mind control tech, and Danielle had an interesting reaction when she looked at it closely, like she recognized the design technique. Was Vik a would-be or actual apprentice to Jakob?

Vik gaining control over Erin and then using her as leverage to try to get something from Jakob would be a fun turn of events.

[GodWilling]

Yeah, until 823 I was seeing the connection as being between Julian and Vik, but if that is Vik in that page then it would seem to place him in direct contact with Jakob himself.

I did wonder though if what we were seeing in that page was a distorted version of history. Adrian was talking (as I (don't) understand it) to a memory of Echo held by Cherry. So who exactly was doing the thinking necessary to answer his questions? Cherry? Adrian? Vik? A mixture of all of them?

My thinking was that maybe Vik inserted himself into Echo's storyboard where we might otherwise have expected to see Jakob. And maybe Adrian stopped the story because he realized that Miel had been extracted from his own memory for inclusion.

If that is Vik... If that is Miel…

Definitely stir crazy.

[mns_95125]

God help us if that was Miel, and the memory was accurate.  Next we'd discover that Adrian isn't Pearl's half- brother after all because Jakob is his real dad.  It's just a short step from there to hey nonny nonny, and I'm afraid then I shall have to call the police.

[bigwad73]

Pretty sure I need a flow chart here.  Not this specific strip, I mean in general.   

[GodWilling]

God help us if that was Miel, and the memory was accurate.  Next we'd discover that Adrian isn't Pearl's half- brother after all because Jakob is his real dad.

That image being Miel wouldn't necessarily point in that direction, because if that's Dani welcoming her in then it's too recent. But I think we know that Jakob was teaching at Wilmot when Patrick and Miel were still living in Kearsarge. And Jacqui first met them there at that time. My current thinking though is that Jakob isn't the father of either of them, but Miriam was born because Jakob wanted her to be, while Adrian was born because Rain wanted him to be.

Of course it's always possible that The Cloud is more real than anything we've seen happen outside it. After all, the core SJI team is Dani, Rain, Erin, Adrian, and Mallory. But that probably just denotes their dream team status.

[GodWilling]

Pretty sure I need a flow chart here.  Not this specific strip, I mean in general.   

I'm pretty sure an SJI flowchart would turn out to be a double helix structure spinning you towards the meaning of life in one direction and madness in the other.

[macavity]

I'm pretty sure an SJI flowchart would turn out to be a double helix structure spinning you towards the meaning of life in one direction and madness in the other.

So 42 in one direction and a rabbit hole in the other.

[laguna85]

Pretty sure I need a flow chart here.  Not this specific strip, I mean in general.   

flow chart like a sponge a lot of holes

[bigwad73]

I'm pretty sure an SJI flowchart would turn out to be a double helix structure spinning you towards the meaning of life in one direction and madness in the other.

So 42 in one direction and a rabbit hole in the other.

Well, a hole of some sort.